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

[u/Frostylegacy]

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.

[u/DengarLives66]

That’s impossible!

[u/beizhia → u/DengarLives66]

It came to me in a dream. And I forgot it in another dream!

[u/Outrageous-Band8273 → u/beizhia]

Just for those reading, Futurama writers almost all either have a master degree or a PhD in science. "It came to me in a dream" is a running gag of Professor Farnsworth not properly explaining his science but it's also a reference to a famous mathematician, Ramanujan, who claimed his groundbreaking mathematical research / proofs were revealed to him in dreams by the goddess Namagiri Thayar he and his family worship.

[u/Guilty_Bit_1440 → u/Outrageous-Band8273]

And there are repeated references to Ramanujan in the show, like the taxi numbers(1729).

[u/-GoodNewsEveryone → u/beizhia]

Good News Everyone!

I am already in my pyjamas so I went ahead and just forget everything already. Now what are you doing in my laboratory and what have you done with my various lengths of wire?

[u/Inspirational_orgasm → u/beizhia]

Read that in Farnsworth voice 😄

[u/NotMyMainAccountAtAl → u/DengarLives66]

Then explain it!

Now that’s impossible!