I think there are three problems:
1.) In Hollywood nowadays, actual writing isn't a priority. How many scriptwriters can you name, who are not primarily famouse for being directors or novelists? The big names in Hollywood are mostly actors today. Hollywood spends millions on big name actors and special effects, and makes scriptwriting an afterthought.

2.) When Hollywood does try to make a serious movie, they don't make sci fi. They go for an "Oscar bait" period piece, or something based on a 19th century novel. I think this is because they don't take sci fi seriously.

3.) Perhaps related to this, when Hollywood does make a serious movie with a sci fi element, they treat it as a parable or a metaphor. It's like they're telling a fairy tail with a moral in it. I think they regard everything outside of the real human world as it is today as all fantasy. I think to many in Hollywood a solar sail probe going to Alpha Centauri, a warp drive, a giant ant and a unicorn are all equally plausible/implausible. Once they cross beyond the world as it is today they seem to see it all as gibberish, and the idea of discussing what is plausible/realistic as silly.

Because of this, sci fi is usually just used as an opportunity for studios to show off special effects. Thus we are treated to a lot of stunning visuals and not much else.

Just a note that this thread goes back to July 2002. g99 apparently hasn't been on since 2003 (premerge days).

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Disclaimer: Avatar is not an official NASA image and does not imply any specific interplanetary or interstellar capability.

The Leif Ericson Cruiser

The problem with the question about traveling at lightspeed and all of the answers to it so far is that traveling at lightspeed is impossible. The answers so far have all been about what happens when you travel at significant fractions of lightspeed, but that's not the same thing as traveling at lightspeed itself, so it's not what the question was about. For that matter, the effects they're talking about for an object moving at a significant fraction of lightspeed are the reasons why you can't get to lightspeed; you can keep speeding up forever and still not reach it because space and time stretch and squeeze in a way that conspires against you; you can always decrease the difference between your speed and light's to a fraction of what it was now, but never down to zero.

* * *

A solar sail can easily be on a collision course with the sun, if it's coming in from outside the solar system at a high speed, trying to use the sun as its brakes, and for some reason not getting enough braking power from it. But then, they should be able to veer enough to one side by tacking...

* * *

The worst astronomy I've seen myself was in a movie from the 1950s or 1960s (as most of the worst science fiction tends to be), but I don't remember the title. It featured another star and its planets suddenly, surprisingly crashing through our solar system, with various planets getting either destroyed/marred or relocated. Humans survive by hopping from Earth to a planet that came with the other star, which ends up orbiting the sun.

How do people ever even find and pick out such an old thread to revive?

Delvo, I think you're referring to "When Worlds Collide".

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I am reminded of how 25% of the people who read my FF story on Marvel.com voted "What? Virgin Galactic is a real company?"

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"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song

g99 is better known these days as Humphrey.

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His spelling has improved considerably over the last 6 years.

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That's what getting married does for you.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

This thread is cute and all, but the fact is most people hate science fiction movies that even try to get the science right. Can you say Star Trek TMP? People want sparkly lights, ray guns, and big boom booms.