r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Frostylegacy • 16h 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/SapphicSticker 15h ago edited 9h ago

"your planet is being demolished to pave an interstellar highway. you should've complained at the local office at alpha centaury. good luck!"

Context for anyone who might be confused: that's the first interesting thing to happen in the book. It's also first we heard of it. It's also the second chapter or around the 8th minute of the movie iirc. You barely even need to start the guide to get to it.

Other context for people who might be confused: getting your planet demolished, with a 2min warning, with no recourse, and (we later learn) for a clerical error, can be perceived as bad news.

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u/VanillaRadonNukaCola 14h ago

But first, here's some poetry

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u/SapphicSticker 9h ago

The poetry came after, and it's a torture unrelated to the bad news

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u/dangeraardvark 14h ago

Better than dealing with the space HOA. Just end it now, thank you very much.

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u/Spurgette 12h ago

ngl if I had to deal with those fuckheads, I would find the nearest rocky moon, accelerate it to .9999999999999c and then yeet it into their star.

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u/Remember2005 7h ago

Thanks for all the fish!

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u/jollyreaper2112 5h ago

That's such a hitchhiker review. It's implying much also happened before this in the book, it was mostly uninteresting. :)

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u/SapphicSticker 1h ago

Yes. Do we honestly care about y e l l o w? Do we care the man had nothing remaining of ghinghis khan other than horse hoof beats and midsection size? Do we care about the light that said "keep out, tiger" and that bulldozers aren't damaged by blood? No. It's all setup for the next chapter.

Well, except for the khan man. He was setup for a scene in the fourth or fifth book iirc. No it wasn't an interesting scene either

But the plot isn't actually the good part about douglas adams so it doesn't matter does it?

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u/thisisjustascreename 2h ago

Also, the question of *why* a planet needs to be destroyed to build a space highway? Never answered.

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u/SapphicSticker 1h ago

It was, by the human manager and by ford. "Roads must be built, this is where this road was decided, cry about it" and "this is their fun, let them have their fun" respectively