My recent dive into hard sci-fi novels exposed how hollow TV space travel feels

I just finished reading 'The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet' and it's frustrating how most media ignores the mundane aspects of space travel. For instance, in shows like 'Star Wars', hyperspace jumps are treated like flipping a switch, but there's no sense of the crew dealing with downtime or system checks. It makes the universe feel less lived-in. As someone who works with complex systems, I know that even simple journeys require prep and maintenance. Why can't we see more of that in sci-fi? Take 'The Expanse' for example, they show the burnout from high-G maneuvers, but even that feels sanitized compared to the grind of actual long-haul travel. I want to feel the weight of the journey, not just the destination.

3 comments

3 Comments

julia_fisher1mo ago

Oh, I see where you're coming from, but I'd gently push back on your read of The Expanse. They do frequently show the prep, like the endless Epstein drive maintenance and the crew's rotating watch schedules. The difference is they often use those quiet moments for character dialogue, so the 'grind' serves the plot. Perhaps the issue is that even the most grounded shows must compress time, so we never feel the true, monotonous weeks of nothing but instrument readings. That sheer boredom is a narrative challenge few productions are willing to tackle.

lunaa991mo ago

A podcast episode with the writers discussed how they compress time to avoid monotonous scenes. They argued that realism in space narratives often requires sacrificing literal boredom for engagement.

laura6591mo ago

The 76 daily system checks in 'The Martian' novel had more screen time in my imagination than entire seasons of 'Star Wars'. It's like TV writers think we'd tune out if characters actually had to fix a faulty oxygen scrubber for three episodes straight. Sure, compressing time keeps plots moving, but at this point, the USS Enterprise feels more like a teleportation device than a starship. Maybe we need a show that's just a live feed of a generation ship's maintenance logs, narrated by someone slowly losing their mind from space boredom.