The original post: /r/television by /u/AporiaParadox on 2026-03-12 13:32:23+00:00.
Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. It’s so big that treating sizes and distances realistically would often get in the way of the plot, not helped by the fact that stories are written by normal people who have a hard time grasping just how big space is. As such, sci-fi series often ask you to turn your brain off when it comes to the sheer scale in space, and it’s usually for the best really.
I was reminded of this topic due to recent discussion about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy where mines are set up around the entire Federation territory, but it’s nothing new really. Star Trek has been for decades had strange depictions of scales, sizes, distances, and speeds. Warp speed is as fast as the plot requires, going from one end of the galaxy to another takes either decades or one episode depending on the writer. And Star Trek at least tries to be somewhat scientific, Doctor Who and the Star Wars shows rarely even bother.
So what other amusing examples are there of sci-fi shows just not caring about scale?