If you look through classic films you’ll find many things that seem impossible, but are they really? Now before you go calling me a techno-optimist, many things can exist only in the world of fiction, but there’s more that fits in reality than you may think. While we can obviously do so much more in 2019 than in the 1980s, that’s not always what makes the difference. However, I highly doubt that the filmmakers put physics and plausibility into account. I still find it interesting to know.
Before we get started on what is possible we need to establish what is complete fantasy. Consider Star Wars, we could enter into a long discussion about the Force, but I am more concerned with science. There is sound and explosions in space and while they certainly make it more interesting to watch sound cannot travel through a vacuum and O_2 is not present to sustain the combustion. But instead of a strict “yes” or “no” let’s look at something relying on semantics. Technically speaking you can “dodge” a bullet. It is possible to move out of the line of fire before the round is shot, but a human being cannot move fast enough to see a bullet fired then move out of the way.
Now that we have set a bar on what’s impossible, let’s take a look at James Bond’s Lotus/submarine. I’m sure most would have doubts about such a vehicle, but however impractical, Top Gear has replicated such a device and shown that one could create an underwater car. Looking elsewhere in the Bond universe, in Moonraker Bond could feasibly pull off the maneuver (falling from an airplane, catching up to someone with a parachute, stealing it, then using it), granted successfully stealing the parachute would be less likely (but he’s the protagonist so of course he will succeed). Now why don’t we shift gears, in the third Back to the Future movie Doc Brown manages to get the train to go 88 miles per hour which (ignoring the Macguffin fueling the engine) is quite reasonable. The fastest steam locomotive could reach speeds over 120mph (modern trains capable of going even faster).
Looking at the technology that we have access to today, while many gadgets wielded by protagonists remain in the world of fiction, more of them are falling into the realm of reality. And even though it is important to keep a realistic mindset about technology and its consequences I remain optimistic about what we can create. It is not a matter of what we can accomplish, but how.
NOTE: There are a vast number of things in movies that defy or challenge science and this barely begins to scratch the surface so I could not include everything and merely choose some of my favorite highlights. Some other cool sci-fi quandaries are linked below.
Mythbusters – Dodging a Bullet