Buffy the vampire slayer will be dead!

[evergleam]

Heeeeee. Chrichton made a Buffy joke. I love this show. :)

And? Can he just go crazy in every episode? Cause I find it highly amusing.


ETA: Okay, but can someone explain to me how Chrichton can survive in the vaccuum of space? Shouldn't his head have exploded? I'm willing to suspend disbelief on most things, but that? Um, no.

Comments

The Straight Dope to the answer

[(Anonymous)]

Cecil Adams covered this in one of his columns a few years ago.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_147.html

Plus, Kubrick had one of his actors portray that in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and from what I understand, Kubrick was obsessive about accuracy in that movie.

Collin

Re: The Straight Dope to the answer

[(Anonymous)]

the guy says survival might be possible only citing the loss of bodily fluids into vapors as a main culprit of decompression damage. but id be inclined to compound those effects with the arguably even more severe effects on the stability of molecules in the body in general. specifically, cellular membranes and other structures which rely on hydrophobic interactions which are nullified with the loss of fluids. this, combined with the loss of pressure balances and the outward forces of all fluids could account for almost anything exploding, even eyeballs.

proof that makes the concerns over cellular structure valid is found in numerous articles, where it is found that good survival times under space vacuum conditions occur for certain bacterium which are evolutionarily well adapted to survive in nearly anhydrous conditions. this is compared to bacterium that require more moisture for survival and experience complete structural breakdown, similar to what might happen to a large portion of human cells. my 2 cents just after a quick pondering and med article search.

i agree with pop culture on this one, youll blow up and its unlikely youll have more than say 10 seconds of any structural stability, given standard thermodynamic factors involving conformational destabilization and breaking of bonds. that time is more an approximation from personal observations and studies though =)

[puppetoflove.livejournal.com]

Okay, but can someone explain to me how Chrichton can survive in the vaccuum of space? Shouldn't his head have exploded? I'm willing to suspend disbelief on most things, but that? Um, no.

No. Never, ever ask that. People YELL at you! They say "Regina, it's a GOOD show! Give it this one thing! Okay? this ONE THING!"

So . . .GIVE IT THIS ONE THING!

[evergleam83.livejournal.com]

So we've been through this before, huh? ;)

Heh. I guess I can give it this one thing. :)

[saava.livejournal.com]

Oddly, the vacuum thing never bothered me. By that point I just loved the show so much that I was willing to say, "Oh, whatever." Others have said that it IS possible to survive in vacuum for a few seconds - but not as long as Crichton was actually out there.

Also? He references Buffy again in S4. :)

[evergleam83.livejournal.com]

Well, I've apparently been corrected by my science-inclined friend that it is possible, though I still think it would be unlikely he'd be fine.

But! The alternative would be that he died and there would be no more show. And as I can't have that, I'll believe that he could survive just fine. ;)

And yay for Buffy references. I love his pop culture rambles that no one else ever understands. :)

[(Anonymous)]

Well, how long was he out there? Remember, "If you take a lungful of air with you you can last for up to thirty seconds of course..."

[evergleam83.livejournal.com]

I dunno, it seemed longer than 30 seconds, but I suppose it doesn't matter. It's a TV show that needs its main character to survive harrowing situations such as that one. ;)