I'm aware there's a project in the pipeline, but this isn't about that - other than using it's existence as a jumping off spot. I've always been very intimidated by the idea of writing a science heavy SF story because of the level of research necessary to get it right. So I'd likely never actually write something like this, but I do want to kick the concept around some with fellow creative minds as well as science geeks. It's widely understood that if the moon were actually blown out of earth orbit it would be cataclysmic for the Earth. A credible Space 2099 project would have to address that right up front. My solution to this would be to propose that a significantly sized asteroid (say for instance, "Texas sized" as the one in Armageddon was refereed to) was captured by earth gravity and has fallen into a steady orbit. One somewhat closer than the moon, thus making it a logical location for a colony/space station which would serve as a way-station to the moon, and points more distant. It would be THIS which is blown away. Now the initial questions I want to throw out are these 1. what realistic device would be credible as a reason for the asteroid to leave orbit? A shock wave from the explosion on the moon (they don't really have shock waves in a vacuum so it would have to be like, debris or something, yes?)? A collision with some other NEO? A weapons test of some sort gone south? My initial thought would be that there was a trial run of some sort of FTL technology (or some other really high tech mcguffin) gone awry. A variant might be that the movement were deliberate, either overt or covert, for reasons which would be explored. 2. Is it within the boundaries of credibility that such a colony would be able to remain self-supporting when cut off from the Earth? Would it be reasonable to, perhaps, theorize a one-way trip supply run that would catch up with the asteroid and deliver those things which they would need to achieve sustainability? Certainly we'd be looking at a generational thing, and given the issue of heat one would assume your colony would have to be largely underground (I'm thinking something like what Heinlein described in TMIAHM). 3. do you settle for an entirely self-contained story universe - all drama comes from within this community (which could be very large - wth an area that size you could have millions of residents) or is it absolutely necessary to find a plot device which puts the humans in contact with other races? On the one hand, I could see creative possibilities in telling "everyday" stories which just happen to be set in this situation (military v. civilian conflict, setting up a government, dealing with folks who couldn't handle the events, so forth and so on - maybe your main character is the Head of Security for the base or something?) - I don't see why their wouldn't be a wealth of such stories. On the other hand, would a potential audience be unwilling to accept a space-based show that did not encounter ANY alien races (BSG notwithstanding since the Cylons essentially function as the aliens) Anyway, Discuss! (and if no one gets into it here, i may well try this again in a more heavily trafficked forum)
I think I've said before that I've contemplated my own update of Space: 1999. Since I don't particularly mind blowing up the Earth (it does, after all, obstruct my view of Venus) I was going to use the moon just like in the old show. But my idea would also work for a captured asteroid. For that matter, why does it have to be captured? Use Ceres and you avoid the whole issue! Anyway, my thought was that a super-duper particle accelerator is constructed along the entire circumference of the moon (or Ceres) and when fired up accidentally generates a space warp or wormhole and yanks the moon (or Ceres) off into the big black. I'm presuming the colony or station or base would already have been set up to be self-sustaining or nearly so. I like the space warp idea because then you get past the whole drifting-thru-space-too-slowly-to-get-anywhere-interesting problem. Even better, you can say that either the now-unstable moon (or Ceres) pops back into the warp at random intervals or else the crew of the base can fire up the accelerator whenever they like, tho they have no way of navigating. It also allows for both self-contained AND alien contact stories. Yes?
Reposting my ideas from the Space 1999 thread a few months ago: http://wordforge.net/showthread.php?p=2283971&highlight=space 1999#post2283971
If you want a Space:1999-like scenario--the moon as interstellar starship--to be even slightly plausible, you probably shouldn't go with any mechanism that "hurls" the moon out of Earth orbit. It would take a huge disruption for that to happen, something like a rogue Jupiter-sized planet passing through the Solar System and flinging the moon off into deep space. Even at that, there's several huge problems: (1) the forces required would doubtless shatter the moon; (2) the forces required would do similar bad things to the Earth; (3) the moon--if it did hold together--would be on a ballistic trajectory through the galaxy...it's course could not be controlled and it could not be "slowed down" to visit other worlds; and (4) the velocity would be nowhere near FTL, so it would be a looooooong time between planetary stops. I much prefer the accidental warp/quantum field scenarios... It's been suggested that the moon "warps" from planet to planet, sorta like the Lost in Space movie...capable of huge FTL leaps, but unable to navigate. In the other thread, I suggested that the moon not move at all, simply shift from quantum reality to quantum reality. Every episode could entail visiting a new Earth in a different reality. Like Sliders, someone suggested in the other thread. Here's an idea: COMBINE those two. The moon doesn't move; it "shifts" into a pocket universe. Someone finds a way to generate "exits" out of this universe, and every episode is exploring where the exit goes. Sorta like Deep Space Nine, only the other end of the wormhole keeps moving. An ongoing project would be gathering data to refine the exit location and get everyone home.
Wow, there really is a remake in the works. I don't know if I should be happy - this was the first scifi show I ever saw as a child, even before Star Trek. But then, it was boring back then and is even more so today. Of course when I was six I didn't really get the, *cough*, slight inconsistencies in the show's science They will have to change the setup dramatically. These days you just can't sell how the moon conveniently passes another solar system every week at sublight speeds. I can see some convoluted SG:U thingy where it 'jumps' and 'stops' at regular intervals or something. Or they could go the SG:U route completely and make a very boring show where the crew talks and fights all the time without much else happening. I give it three episodes in that case.
