Rationalizing a Firefly - Serenity type setting

[mindstalk]

I'm amused at FTL being considered more acceptable than a multi-world system with unspecified terraforming.

Whedon's been explicit about "being on the losing side of the Civil War" being a key part of his inspiration. (Not that Whedon's family was; seems pure Yankee AFAICT, he's just intrigued.) Some people accuse him of whitewashing by losing the slavery issues; I think they're nuts. For that matter, there's still near-slavery on the Rim, and Whedon's also said he doesn't think of the Alliance as clearly bad guys. *Parts* of Alliance, now...

[Irish Wolf]

Originally Posted by mindstalk

I'm amused at FTL being considered more acceptable than a multi-world system with unspecified terraforming.

Because FTL is also part of the setup - at least, there's no mention of cryogenic suspension or other forms of long-term hibernation being routine that I can recall. All those people, and all that equipment to set up the first colonies, must have gotten there somehow...

What I can believe is that there was a faster FTL method known, but that it was deliberately destroyed and the records erased to prevent people from even trying to go back to Earth-that-was. I can also believe that the first steps of the method were rediscovered, giving a short-range FTL capability, but that any further progress is deliberately and carefully suppressed by the Alliance, partly for political reasons and partly for the same reasons they got rid of it in the first place.

That would be a lot more believable to me than a system that just happens to have that many naturally-occurring Terra-grade worlds in that many orbits around a single star, or that they had the ability to move entire Earth-size planets but somehow lost that ability (while misplacing an entire world).

[mindstalk]

Uh, as we've already said: they do have cryogenics, though we don't know the maximum duration, and Miranda wasn't "misplaced", it was considered a failed colony.

And if you take the Paul Birch route of mass stream flybys, they needn't have lost the ability to move planets (within a system, not between stars), it just wouldn't come up after you'd finished moving them, because it's expensive infrastructure, not some magic planet-moving drive.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Irish Wolf

My problem is that I can only handwave so many times before my waving wrist gets sore. I'm supposed to spot them this miraculous system that they just happened to stumble across while fleeing Earth-that-was using an FTL drive that they just happened to somehow forget the principles of shortly after arriving, while they just happened to maintain terraforming technology, as well as the ability to move planets which isn't even mentioned in the show despite its obvious value both as a survival technology and as a weapon.

That's too many "just happened"s for me to handle. YMMV, of course.

They don't have FTL - they have high STL. Nowhere does it claim they ever had FTL.

But we see high STL.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

It does, actually.

But I think we both know my list went a bit beyond warm or cool clothing.

:)

Special gear and drugs includes Antirad, Gravanol. environmental suits, high gravity harnesses, etc. Go to Mars, right now, with no environmental suit. You will DIE.
Even a partly terraformed Mars would probably be pretty hostile. And I think there is drama and fun to be had with that.

That's axiomatic due to the lack of oxygen.

One can survive the average 6 mBar surface pressure, and the bitter cold, without a pressure suit, provided one has a pressurized oxygen mask. It's not comfortable, and will result in edema... but it's only the lack of oxygen that's deadly.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

it's only the lack of oxygen that's deadly.

Gets a mite chilly, most places.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Irish Wolf

]Because FTL is also part of the setup - at least, there's no mention of cryogenic suspension or other forms of long-term hibernation being routine that I can recall. All those people, and all that equipment to set up the first colonies, must have gotten there somehow...

Officially the trip took about a century.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Officially the trip took about a century.

Which requires enough of a violation of physics to might as well use FTL.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

That's axiomatic due to the lack of oxygen.

One can survive the average 6 mBar surface pressure, and the bitter cold, without a pressure suit, provided one has a pressurized oxygen mask. It's not comfortable, and will result in edema... but it's only the lack of oxygen that's deadly.

Needing a mask and oxygen tanks counts as special gear.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Needing a masking and oxygen tanks counts as special gear.

Less hospitable than Antarctica isn't exactly a nice tourist trap.