Sci-Fi & Fantasy Tropes You Hate But Everyone Else Loves

[Nealithi]

Here is another one:

'That's a direct order'. No one in the military says that. You are told to do something and you do it. Don't do it, and it's not that long before higher ups get involved.

The amount of times I hear this not only in science fiction but modern day placed shows or movies makes it sound like people have an option to listen to a superior.

Yeah, this is kinda over done. But then it goes hand in hand with not understanding security clearances and need to know. As though the writers have heard the terms but have no clue what they actually mean.

[clearspira]

I have been hit in the balls during a fight and I can tell you that the pain is not near as bad as getting randomly hit when you are not expecting it.

At best for me it was a dull pain.

On the other hand, a well placed hard enough kick to the balls can seriously injure a man. There was a story where a angry wife grabbed hee husband by the balls and twisted them ending up killing him.

Here is another one:

'That's a direct order'. No one in the military says that. You are told to do something and you do it. Don't do it, and it's not that long before higher ups get involved.

The amount of times I hear this not only in science fiction but modern day placed shows or movies makes it sound like people have an option to listen to a superior.

Another: huge spaceships bigger than a aircraft carrier will absolutely have more than one officer with the rank of captain. Only one will be the CO and XO will be of equal rank. The commanding engineering officer will most likely be a captain as well. Aircraft carriers have a captain as we in command of the air wing. The whole trope of one officer with the rank of captain kinda bugs me. Star Trek and B5 have this. Though the TOS crew of course by the end were nearly all captains.

I can see the ''that is a direct order'' thing in the likes of Star Trek that is meant to be this super liberal place where people probably aren't all that used to being told what to do on a regular basis. Especially that early TNG era where everyone turned up to work in their jammies.

The interesting thing about the crew numbers is that Gene Roddenberry was a navy man so he probably knew that.

[Deledrius]

"Humans are special" or the, even stupider, "humans are diverse". If a show has aliens or fantasy races, they are going to be infinitely more interesting than the humans. I don't need to be pandered to on account of being a human being, like homo sapiens is some kind of marginalised group.

As for the latter, this is an excuse for aliens and fantasy races to not be diverse. Instead, each will have one culture, prosthetic will be constantly reused and, in general, the whole point of having a different group of beings will be completely wasted.

Just once, I'd like a multi-coloured hyper-psychic winged elf (or whatever) recognise that we're a pretty plain and boring bunch, us humans.

As an inversion, a D&D campaign world I created actually has this as part of the (unstated) backdrop. The campaign takes place in a very large but contained region, with a wide variety of the standard D&D races. They had been gathered here an eon ago by a long-gone group of not-so-nice Planar beings, as part of a giant experiment to engineer a docile and manageable labor force. Humans were the (unfinished) result of that project, making them the least special, the least powerful, least magical, least diverse race, when compared to Orcs, Elves, Dragonborn, Eladrin, Tiefling, Gnome, etc. Whatever a Human might be able to do, there's another group that hasn't had that ability bred out of them and can do it better.

Because, honestly, in a fantasy world like D&D with all of the crazy amazing things these different sapient beings can be, the humans are the least interesting.

[McAvoy]

I have been hit in the balls during a fight and I can tell you that the pain is not near as bad as getting randomly hit when you are not expecting it.

At best for me it was a dull pain.

On the other hand, a well placed hard enough kick to the balls can seriously injure a man. There was a story where a angry wife grabbed hee husband by the balls and twisted them ending up killing him.

Here is another one:

'That's a direct order'. No one in the military says that. You are told to do something and you do it. Don't do it, and it's not that long before higher ups get involved.

The amount of times I hear this not only in science fiction but modern day placed shows or movies makes it sound like people have an option to listen to a superior.

Another: huge spaceships bigger than a aircraft carrier will absolutely have more than one officer with the rank of captain. Only one will be the CO and XO will be of equal rank. The commanding engineering officer will most likely be a captain as well. Aircraft carriers have a captain as we in command of the air wing. The whole trope of one officer with the rank of captain kinda bugs me. Star Trek and B5 have this. Though the TOS crew of course by the end were nearly all captains.

I can see the ''that is a direct order'' thing in the likes of Star Trek that is meant to be this super liberal place where people probably aren't all that used to being told what to do on a regular basis. Especially that early TNG era where everyone turned up to work in their jammies.

The interesting thing about the crew numbers is that Gene Roddenberry was a navy man so he probably knew that.

In Trek I figured that. But you see it in everything even in modern military situations.

[Meushell]

"Humans are special" or the, even stupider, "humans are diverse". If a show has aliens or fantasy races, they are going to be infinitely more interesting than the humans. I don't need to be pandered to on account of being a human being, like homo sapiens is some kind of marginalised group.

As for the latter, this is an excuse for aliens and fantasy races to not be diverse. Instead, each will have one culture, prosthetic will be constantly reused and, in general, the whole point of having a different group of beings will be completely wasted.

Just once, I'd like a multi-coloured hyper-psychic winged elf (or whatever) recognise that we're a pretty plain and boring bunch, us humans.

I agree, especially with “Earth is in danger” that’s so overused.

On the same time, I’m tired of humans being the weakest, shortest lived, etc. species around. If you insist on doing that, then do something with it. Realistically, how close would you want to become with people who only live for a fraction of your lifetime? Imagine how our lives would look to Yoda? We’re sapient goldfish to him.

[McAvoy]

"Humans are special" or the, even stupider, "humans are diverse". If a show has aliens or fantasy races, they are going to be infinitely more interesting than the humans. I don't need to be pandered to on account of being a human being, like homo sapiens is some kind of marginalised group.

As for the latter, this is an excuse for aliens and fantasy races to not be diverse. Instead, each will have one culture, prosthetic will be constantly reused and, in general, the whole point of having a different group of beings will be completely wasted.

Just once, I'd like a multi-coloured hyper-psychic winged elf (or whatever) recognise that we're a pretty plain and boring bunch, us humans.

I agree, especially with “Earth is in danger” that’s so overused.

On the same time, I’m tired of humans being the weakest, shortest lived, etc. species around. If you insist on doing that, then do something with it. Realistically, how close would you want to become with people who only live for a fraction of your lifetime? Imagine how our lives would look to Yoda? We’re sapient goldfish to him.

Or humans are the newcomers to the Galaxy at large.

What if it's humans who are the ancient race who was the one who seeded the Galaxy to make more sapient life. Or humans are the most advanced race and the most powerful and no one fucks with them.

[PapaPalpatine]

Invaders from other worlds who immediately assume that the local flora and fauna will be non-toxic, nutritious, and tasty. Blithely making such assumptions is a great way to develop a fatal case of food poisoning. Also, the "let's chow down on some humans" cliche. Hello? Did you not notice all the other species on the planet that have WAY more meat on their bones? Like oh, I don't know... the herds of bovines humans keep around specifically for their milk and meat?

[Robovski]

I agree but for this provision: we are at the top of the food chain, so I was fine with it in The Two Doctors, the aliens wanted to know what we tasted like AND everything else that was to eat. They were practically gourmands about it. Semi relevant clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCjm4KRjsIM

[Beastro]

One I dislike, though admit it works for good reason, is the Ancient/Precursor one where there's the first race which emerges with Mankind always being one of the younger ones that's the new kid on the block.

The big reason why I don't like it is it makes me wish someone would play with it and make the reveal be that Mankind is actually the first race that has emerged, though that of course wouldn't work with a typical Trek/B5 type setting.

I have been hit in the balls during a fight and I can tell you that the pain is not near as bad as getting randomly hit when you are not expecting it.

At best for me it was a dull pain.

On the other hand, a well placed hard enough kick to the balls can seriously injure a man. There was a story where a angry wife grabbed hee husband by the balls and twisted them ending up killing him.

Here is another one:

'That's a direct order'. No one in the military says that. You are told to do something and you do it. Don't do it, and it's not that long before higher ups get involved.

The amount of times I hear this not only in science fiction but modern day placed shows or movies makes it sound like people have an option to listen to a superior.

Another: huge spaceships bigger than a aircraft carrier will absolutely have more than one officer with the rank of captain. Only one will be the CO and XO will be of equal rank. The commanding engineering officer will most likely be a captain as well. Aircraft carriers have a captain as we in command of the air wing. The whole trope of one officer with the rank of captain kinda bugs me. Star Trek and B5 have this. Though the TOS crew of course by the end were nearly all captains.

The "direct order" is a dramatic device meant to underline a moment of seriousness and contention.

The captain thing I can forgive as Sci-Fi in the model of Trek is inspired by Age of Sail navies more than modern ones.

The one that pisses me off in Trek though is an admiral that comes on board, takes command for a mission and then precedes to take direct command effectively deposing the CO as if they're synonymous and incompatible.

The interesting thing about the crew numbers is that Gene Roddenberry was a navy man so he probably knew that.

?

He was USAAF and flew in B-17s for a year until a bad landing led him to become a crash inspector.

[Al-1701]

I would think these spaceships are far more automated than our current naval ships. So, they can operate with smaller crewed. In the "Ultimate Computer" they were looking at being able to run a Constitution-class with only 20 people. Also, a large portion of a carrier's crew is related the craft it's carrying "pilots, mechanics, munitions experts, etc." We haven't seen a true carrier in Star Trek (some Galaxy-class ships were probably used in the role in the Dominion War by replacing most of their shuttles with fighters).

Speaking of the Galaxy-class, in "Yesterday's Enterprise they were described to be able to carry 6,000 troops which would be more in line with modern crews for a ship of that size.

Actually, BSG addressed this. The Pegasus was described as twice the size of Galactica with half the crew, demonstrating how more automation reduces crew sizes even as the size of the ship itself increases.