Granted, but that's also "1960s background story" bad. I'm happy to give "Tony Stark, mega-engineer who can build anything out of anything AND was also given everything he asked for to build a WMD that his captors didn't understand to begin with" a pass for the same reason I'm willing to give "Bruce Wayne, billionaire who goes to prison voluntarily in order to learn to fight" a pass and "space-baby, from space"[1] and "bitten by magic spider" and "yer a whizzard, Larry" a pass.
Those are your premises. I'm willing to grant those, despite how nuts they are. That's the deal you make with speculative fiction: certain impossible things, set forth as a premise, are accepted despite absurdity and the story proceeds from there GIVEN that those things are true.
And then, sometimes the writers punch you in the suspension of disbelief. Repeatedly. Like how Hogwarts doesn't need a "Defense Against The Dark Arts"[2] instructor, it needs a phys ed teacher because punching a wizard and breaking his wand is WAY faster and more effective than dueling him, or how human bodies don't contain water and steam isn't hot.
[1]: From a trailer in front of Star Trek: "They'll kill him!" "How?". It's always good to be reminded, sometimes, that Jor-El was not only a member of the only race the Legion accepts an unlimited number of members from, but also a very shrewd one, who specifically stacked the deck in favour of his son.
[2]: Harry Dresden lampshades this one nicely, as the Expert In Forbidden Magic laughs at the whole "OMG you're still teaching your doods to do WHAT in response to a Forbidden Magic attack?" thing and then just runs right through it because you'd have to be an IDIOT to use that defense, since it only works against the attacks a Forbidden Magic newb would use.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-05-22 01:16 am (UTC)Those are your premises. I'm willing to grant those, despite how nuts they are. That's the deal you make with speculative fiction: certain impossible things, set forth as a premise, are accepted despite absurdity and the story proceeds from there GIVEN that those things are true.
And then, sometimes the writers punch you in the suspension of disbelief. Repeatedly. Like how Hogwarts doesn't need a "Defense Against The Dark Arts"[2] instructor, it needs a phys ed teacher because punching a wizard and breaking his wand is WAY faster and more effective than dueling him, or how human bodies don't contain water and steam isn't hot.
[1]: From a trailer in front of Star Trek: "They'll kill him!" "How?". It's always good to be reminded, sometimes, that Jor-El was not only a member of the only race the Legion accepts an unlimited number of members from, but also a very shrewd one, who specifically stacked the deck in favour of his son.
[2]: Harry Dresden lampshades this one nicely, as the Expert In Forbidden Magic laughs at the whole "OMG you're still teaching your doods to do WHAT in response to a Forbidden Magic attack?" thing and then just runs right through it because you'd have to be an IDIOT to use that defense, since it only works against the attacks a Forbidden Magic newb would use.