Re: B5 and Sir Isaac

[minor spoilers for first half of season 4; I will attempt to be vague
in the references so those who haven't seen won't know exactly what I'm
talking about...]

>1) JMS has stated that scientific accuracy is a goal.

Anyone nail jms yet for a glitch he made in a recent ep where a
freighter
is under thrust yet has cargo floating about the cargo hold??  ;-)

>2) There is nothing in the background to think it is non-Newtonian.
>
>Earth Alliance ships, and the B5 station itself, do not have any sort
of 
>artifical gravity, subspace fields, warp drive, or any other
doubletalk.  
>Ships and B5 itself have large rotating sections to provide
gravity-like 
>conditions.  C&C is supposedly in 1/3rd gravity (although how I don't
know, 
>since it doesn't appear to rotate <grin>).  

Well, that depends on the ep. Some eps you can see the stars rotating in
the
background, other eps you don't. There was a *big* discussion on the
rastb5
newsgroup a couple years back (in late season 1/early season 2)
complaining
about the lack of stars moving through the CnC windows; it basically
came
down to physical limitations and their budget; they could do it, but it
would
have blown their budget away. I don't remember the specifics of the
discussion,
only that said discussion was held and people came up with all kinds of
ways
for jms to explain why the stars didn't move in CnC (though some of them
were
kinda ludicrous).

>All-in-all, B5 is remarkably clear 
>of the pseudoscientific doubletalk which passes for science in much
science 
>fiction.  [Lest anyone misunderstand, I don't have problems with
doubletalk 
>per se, I just think that most SF handles it poorly, especially on TV: 

>Writers get to the point where _anything_ can be justified by stringing
enough 
>polysylabic words together.]

At which point I toss it into the category of Science Fantasy, and not
Science
Fiction.  :-)

>3) Ships perform maneuvers Newtonian-like maneuvers.
>
>The Earthforce Starfuries are the best example of this.  With their
long arms 
>and multiple thrusters, these are ships that are designed with
Netwonian 
>movement in mind.  Also, on at least one occasion I can think of, we
have seen 
>them accelerate to a given velocity and then coast, and then delecrate
by 
>turning around.  I think I also remember seeing Starfuries fire while
coasting 
>sideways in one of the first season episodes. 

Yeah, there've been quite a few eps where these things have happened.
One good
example of the 'Furies accelerating, then spinning to slow down would be
in
season 1's "Signs & Portents", when Ivanova's fighter wing went off to
intercept some Raiders that were supposedly attacking a freighter. She
had 2 of
her squadron stay by the jumpgate to watch for fleeing Raiders. At this
point
two 'Furies stopped accelerating, spun, then began decel procedures.

The drifting by and firing in season 1 I think was in part 2 of "A Voice
In
The Wilderness".

Mk
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
"Ya know...this was supposed to be my weekend off. But nooo-o-o-ooo. You
got me draggin' yo' heavy ass...through the burnin' desert, wich yer
dreadlocks stickin' out the back of my parachute. You gotta come down
here with an attitude, actin' all big and bad...AND WHAT THE HELL IS
THAT
SMELL?!? RAAAR!!! I coulda been in a barbecue!! But I ain't mad...is
alright.
It's alllright..."