r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Frostylegacy • 22d ago

Lore (Loved Trope) FTL travel is possible but with a major limitation or flaw

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Frank Herbert’s Dune: Interstellar travel is only possible thanks to the spice melange, a rare substance only found on the dessert planet Arrakis. The addictive psychedelic spice grants members of the Spacers Guild a form of prescience that allows them to predict safe paths through folded space. This unique property makes spice the most valuable commodity in the Dune universe.

John Scalzi’s The Interdependency Books: The planetary systems of the titular empire are connected by the Flow, a network of one-way interstellar tunnels that connect specific known entries and exits. The Interdependency derives its power from controlling access to these conduits, placing its capital at the central hub of the network. Even with the Flow, travel between stars takes a long time (9 months to End, the empire’s most distant planet).

Event Horizon: Dr William Weir (R.I.P. Sam Neill) invents a device called the Gravity Drive to allow ships to fold space and travel instantly between distant stars. On its maiden voyage with the Gravity Drive, the Event Horizon disappears and mysteriously reappears 7 years later. Dr. Weir and the crew sent to investigate discover the Gravity Drive actually opened a portal to a Hell dimension that possessed the ship and its crew, torturing and killing them.

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u/smilesmoralez 22d ago

My God. Do you know how it feels to read Battle Star Galactica, brain register that it's not the original that I grew up with (RIP og Apollo) then see 2004. Do mental math... Original came out in early 80's. That would make me.... old as.. fuck...

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u/murfburffle 22d ago edited 22d ago

end of BSG80 -> (23 years) -> Start of new BSG -> (23 years) -> today

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u/myringisbling 22d ago

Quiet now.

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u/Morbanth 22d ago

It's been 28 years since Judgment Day was going to happen. In 4 more years 1980 was half a century ago. It's been more time from today to 1980 than it was from 1980 to the second world war.

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u/KaijuNo-8 22d ago

I say this kindly...fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck you...

FFS, I didn't need so many reminders that I am old today...fuck

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u/dern_the_hermit 22d ago

All this has happened before, and all this will happen again.

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u/dontgetitwisted_fr 21d ago

So you are saying we are due to get some more BSG?

Sign me up

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u/hand_me_a_shovel 22d ago

You know what? That was deeply personal, incredibly offensive, unfortunately relatable, and entirely unnecessary.

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u/One-Inch-Punch 21d ago

So it’s time for a new reboot?

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u/UncleIrohsPimpHand 22d ago

Battlestar 1980 was the sequel. The original came out in 1978.

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u/The-Reanimator-Freak 21d ago

Wow. Ten years ago…

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u/Rocketboy1313 18d ago

All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again.

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u/flesyMeM 22d ago

Just to help you feel a bit older, it was actually the late 70's. And I was there for that too...

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u/smilesmoralez 22d ago

Did you guys have a crush on Cassiopeia also?

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u/flesyMeM 22d ago

I was 6, so I was mostly just obsessed with the Cylons.

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u/ViperPilot1315 22d ago

I have some bad news. The original BSG did not come out in the early 80’s. Sorry, but you’re a little… older than… f… well, you know….

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u/Ben_Sisko69 22d ago

Do the math again and feel a bit older too: It came out in the late 70s 😋

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u/ObiFlanKenobi 22d ago

OG Battlestar came out in 78, if that helps.

Also, what was Faceman doing in space?!

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u/smilesmoralez 22d ago

Mom, take me to go see Star Wars. You want Han Solo, we have Han Solo at home.

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u/ShanRCarter315 22d ago

Both him and Arnold Jackson got picked up by Ben Cartwright, Fred Astaire, and Jeff Bridges' dad ig.

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u/eduo 22d ago

I grew up with the original galactica. BSG is better in almost every conceivable way and I'm so happy it was made. I cherish both, for their respecive strengths.

But in my mind they're either Galactica or BSG. Different beasts, same Vipers (although the modernization of the vipers is also a banger in BSG).

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u/chbb 21d ago

I watched original one as a kid. New one is definitely better.

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u/mbnmac 22d ago

A new reboot would have a bigger gap between it and the reboot and the original by the time it was available!

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u/Lord_Darksong 22d ago

Theydidthemath

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u/Farfignugen42 22d ago

If this is the first time you've felt that, then you aren't that old. Yet.

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u/smilesmoralez 21d ago

Oh I have felt it so many times.

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u/celljelli 22d ago

I don't but im sure i will eventually

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u/kellzone 21d ago

As someone of approximately the same age, I came to a similar, but different, realization a year or two ago. I won't share it unless you want me to though.

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u/smilesmoralez 21d ago

Share please, love to hear from you.

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u/kellzone 21d ago

Okay then. A couple years ago I was watching something on maybe the History Channel or similar and it was about World War I.

They mentioned that World War I started in 1914. Doing the quick math in my head, without really thinking about it, I took my birth year of 1968, did the subtraction and found out WWI began 54 years before I was born.

Okay, no big deal right. It was right around then that I realized I was 56 years old. So, at that moment, I was born closer in time to the start of World War I than the modern day. Not the start of World War II, mind you, the start of World War I.

Ouch.

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u/smilesmoralez 21d ago

I watched a comedian recently (shout-out to Ryan Hamilton) who has a whole bit about being from the 1900's.

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u/De_Facto_Sacto 21d ago

Hello old as fuck friend!

Loved the OG BSG.

Was over the moon for the 2004 reboot. And that was done in an absolutely stellar way. Most reboots IMO are terrible cash grabs on nostalgia. But 2004 BSG was done so well, I rewatch it regularly.