Hi folks newbie here and I gotta say I love the site! I'm an actor by trade (Though astronomy 101 was required in undergrad... I complained a lot that the Physics students weren't required to take theatre
) Anyway As a Superman Geek I was reading Mr. Platt's Good/Bad Science review of Superman Returns and thought I might be able to clear a few things up in the DC Universe.
Most of it (of course) was dead on
Bad:
Superman, like the NSA, is watching over us. We see him floating above the Earth, well outside the atmosphere, cape flapping slowly, as he listens. He hears a noise, and knows it's time to fly back down and save the day!
image of Superman floating over the Earth
Good:
Yeah, well, you know, no sounds in space and all that. Silly.
But worse, perhaps-- why was his cape flapping? He wasn't moving, so the cape shouldn't be either. Yes, I know, the Apollo flags appear to flap in footage,Bad:
Superman, like the NSA, is watching over us. We see him floating above the Earth, well outside the atmosphere, cape flapping slowly, as he listens. He hears a noise, and knows it's time to fly back down and save the day!
image of Superman floating over the Earth
Good:
Yeah, well, you know, no sounds in space and all that. Silly.
But worse, perhaps-- why was his cape flapping? He wasn't moving, so the cape shouldn't be either. Yes, I know, the Apollo flags appear to flap in footage, but that's because the astronauts were moving the flagpole trying to get it upright in the surface. With Superman floating motionless, his cape should have been, too. By the way, I missed this; Mrs. Bad Astronomer is the one who caught it.
No way to know this unless one reads the Superman novels but Supes tends to bob a bit when he hovers. It's kind of a meditation technique. Slowly up and down then still. (How his cape got stretched out behind him? No idea.)
Bad: The bad guys are on a rooftop, and have a very large gun. As Superdude approaches, the bad guy starts shooting at him, with bullets ricocheting every which way.
Good: Superman, you should know better! Those bullets are still traveling very quickly, and when they ricochet off can still kill bystanders. We see buildings all around, so those bullets should have been taking out windows all over the place. Anyone working late would get a nasty surprise, if they weren't actually killed outright.
This is right but I just wanted to point out that in the old 50's TV series was worse because along with standing there letting the bad guy use all of his Bullets (Said bullets flying everywhere.) The Bad guy would throw his gun at Supes and Supes would... duck.
Bad:
Lex Luther stabs Superman with a piece of green kryptonite.
Good:
His suit can stop bullets, but not a sharp rock? Sure, you might say, his suit is made from materials from Krypton, so only Kryptonite can penetrate it. But then how was his suit made? Did Martha Kent use kryptonite needles?
The suit is made from the "Cloth" that made up his blanket and bed inside the ship that first brings Superman to Earth. It couldn't be cut normally but it could be unraveled and rewoven (Is that even a word?) The needle Martha used came from a sliver of the afore mentioned ship that Clark helped to put the eye in.
Bad:
Superman catching the Daily Planet ball-like thingamajig An earthquake-like event rolls through Metropolis, causing wide-spread destruction. The giant "Daily Planet" ball-like thing on top of the Daily Planet building falls off. Superman catches it, and plops it down on the ground.
Good:
Well actually, he plops it on a car, and he didn't seem to check to make sure the car was empty. Maybe he used X-ray vision.
Anyway, just like with the plane above, all that weight from the metal ball on his hands would have punched a hole in the ball (is there a name for something like this-- I have to keep calling it the ball, which sounds silly). Strength isn't the issue, tensile strength of the material is.
Let me state clearly that I have nothing but respect for Mr. Platt. This sight has been a HUGE help in dealing with a guy who insists that the Moon Landing was a hoax and for that I thank him. Having said that there is a bit of pleasure in this because of the Astronomy prof who would roll his eyes and make snide comments about my being an actor when I asked almost any question.
It's a Globe.
