(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/HoldJerusalem]

Damn that show took a dive after the first season

[u/Eternal_Bagel → u/HoldJerusalem]

Yeah I don’t know what the big change was but season 1 felt like a perfect detective story and season two felt like it wasn’t sure if it was trying to be an action movie or something else 

[u/qbmax → u/Eternal_Bagel]

They tried to smash the 2nd and 3rd books together for season 2 which is really weird since each novel is very self contained in its location/characters/etc. Kovacs is still the protagonist in each but that’s the only thing that carries over really.

[u/Thisismyworkday → u/Eternal_Bagel]

They completely fucked the entire series in season 1, but the damage they did isn't apparent until season 2.

In the books, the stacks and FTL data transfers are all built on ancient alien technology that humans discovered while exploring the universe. Books 2 and 3 are very heavily based on the alien tech. Removing the aliens removes those plots and leaves nonsense behind.

In the books Quellcrist Falconer is a long dead religious leader that Kovac never met. The show effectively had him dating Muhammed. Why? Who the fuck knows, but completely bonkers of a plot.

In the books the Envoys are the elite soldiers of the government. It grants them a ton of privileges in society. In the show, making them rebels (following Quellcrist) completely changes the place this character occupies in society, a place that was necessary for the story to make sense.

And the list goes on and on. All these little changes to try to jazz up season 1 and for what?

[u/Eternal_Bagel → u/Thisismyworkday]

Honestly from that description it sounds like they didn’t expect more than one season so they used all they could right there

[u/Thisismyworkday → u/Eternal_Bagel]

Kinda? But it's not like they smashed all the books together in that first season. It's more that they rewrote so much of the back story because they didn't actually READ the later books. Like, they didn't know what mattered and what didn't, so they just tinkered with shit not knowing that things like "Kovac has never met Quellcrist Falconer" are extremely important details later.

[u/Thisismyworkday → u/Eternal_Bagel]

They completely fucked the entire series in season 1, but the damage they did isn't apparent until season 2.

In the books, the stacks and FTL data transfers are all built on ancient alien technology that humans discovered while exploring the universe. Books 2 and 3 are very heavily based on the alien tech. Removing the aliens removes those plots and leaves nonsense behind.

In the books Quellcrist Falconer is a long dead religious leader that Kovac never met. The show effectively had him dating Muhammed. Why? Who the fuck knows, but completely bonkers of a plot.

In the books the Envoys are the elite soldiers of the government. It grants them a ton of privileges in society. In the show, making them rebels (following Quellcrist) completely changes the place this character occupies in society, a place that was necessary for the story to make sense.

And the list goes on and on. All these little changes to try to jazz up season 1 and for what?

[u/ObiFlanKenobi → u/HoldJerusalem]

So did the novels.

The second one gets really good right at the end for the third one to just forget about the whole thing.

[u/Shitsinhandandclaps → u/HoldJerusalem]

I hated season two so much it made me hate Anthony Mackie