Hollywood Science

Basic Information

Hollywood Science is very bad science.

Hollywood Science is a trope, and is most common to bad Science Fiction.

Hollywood Science is when the writers of a Speculative Fiction show or movie Did Not Do The Research, or They Just Didnt Care, or they were just genuinely clueless about the way science works in the real world.

• Alien Sky
• Elements Do Not Work That Way
• Energy Weapon
  • Frickin Laser Beams
  • Laser Blade
• Explosive Decompression
• Hollywood Density
• Hollywood Psych
• Hollywood Silencer
• Improbable Taxonomy Skills
• Liquid Assets
• Magic From Technology
• Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense Of Scale
• Space Does Not Work That Way
  • Asteroid Thicket
  • Batman Can Breathe In Space
  • Explosions In Space
  • Explosive Decompression
  • Gravity Sucks
  • In Space Everyone Can See Your Face
  • Spacesuits that aren't pressurized.
  • Old School Dogfighting
  • Space Based Weapon Has Cutoff Range
  • Space Friction
  • Space Is Cold
  • Space Is Noisy
  • Space Is An Ocean
  • Stealth In Space
  • Two-D Space
  • Weird Moon
• Square/Cube Law, Violation of
• Technicolor Science
• Variable Terminal Velocity
• Unit Confusion
• You Fail Astronomy Forever
  • Weird Moon
• You Fail Biology Forever
  • Hollywood Evolution
• You Fail Physics Forever
  • Slow Electricity
  • You Fail Nuclear Physics Forever

See Also

The following may have a little in common with Hollywood Science, but are most definitely not the same. Hollywood Science is unintentionally bad science.
Intentionally outside the mainstream:

• Applied Phlebotinum
• Artistic License
• some disciplines of Alternative Science

Displaced by a Paradigm Shift:

• The Great Politics Mess Up
• I Want My Jetpack
• Science Marches On
• some other disciplines of Alternative Science

Sources

Bibliography

1. TV Tropes Wiki

Game and Story Use

• Hollywood Science generally happens because of ignorance and sloppiness. If you do your homework, your campaign will not have to fall victim to those.
• Of course, if your game is closely modeled on subject matter that includes Hollywood Science, it may actually be the right call to preserve the technical inaccuracies.
  • For example, Star Wars just won't feel right if you ditch Asteroid Thicket, Old School Dogfighting, Space Based Weapon Has Cutoff Range, and Space Friction in favor of realistic Newtonian Physics and Relativity.