We truly have nothing against famed astrophysicist and “geek-cool” (whatever that means) Neil deGrasse Tyson. Any jokes directed his way are meant entirely in jest, though we’re still not sure if we’d invite him as our guest to a dinner party.
Anyways, Tyson has made a quirky habit of pinpointing the scientific plot holes in Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters. His criticisms boil down to a simple statement: “IRL it wouldn’t happen this way.” It’s a cheeky routine—though slightly obvious that Hollywood cuts corners when it comes to science—and he ostensibly utilizes the popularity of such creations to educate the greater public about “the real science” behind it all.
A noble goal, to be sure. He’s done it once again with this summer’s biggest upcoming movies: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Baywatch, and Alien: Covenant.
His main criticism revolves upon the common refrain that sound doesn’t travel in space and all those cool explosions and pyrotechnics you hear in Guardians wouldn’t actually happen. You would hear nothing, and it would be a very boring movie.
With regards to Covenant, he did level a provocative complaint that humanity would never send people to a planet first. We would send robots because if something could kill us—like a scary xenomorph—it would kill the robot and we’d know not to visit that planet anymore. Though, when you think about it, that complaint isn’t really science. It’s pure logic.
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