The People That Help Put the Science in Science Fiction

This isn’t my typical blog post, although it does indirectly involve traveling. In the summer I traveled to the 2024 Comic-Con International: San Diego. I am a big-time geek and enjoy going to conventions with all of my fellow nerds! I love being around like-minded people, who allow themselves to dive deep into the lore and stories they love. Stories from sci-fi, fantasy, gaming, anime, and so many more! In addition to getting my geek on, I had another goal for this convention. My other goal was to find a topic to write a feature story about for a class I was taking.

I went to the panel “How Science Advisors Make Sci-Fi Better” and was so fascinated about what I learned. I just had to write my feature story on this topic. Learn more about this panel on the official Comic-Con website. (I hope they keep this link active for years to come).

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The People That Help Put the Science in Science Fiction

When science advisors are brought into a science fiction or fantasy TV show or movie, they are a valuable member of the team assisting in scene creation, world building, and character development.

Science advisors play a little-known role in the world of television and movie storytelling. These trained scientists – often highly specialized in their respective fields – work alongside creative storytellers including authors, screenwriters and directors, to offer guidance and scientific advice in crafting plot and storylines. Although, science fiction stories aren’t all about scientific facts. “If the science was perfect, you’re gonna be making a documentary,” said Dr. Ron Coleman, a stem cell scientist who advises on the bio-terrorism thriller, Joe Ledger book series. “Science fiction is science and fiction.”

There are many people doing scientific critiques of the media, sorting through shows or movies looking for science faults and explaining how to make them more accurate. This is not what a science advisor does. “We are not the science police.” said Dr. Elizabeth Rega, a biologist and professor, who has worked as a science advisor for many projects, including The Lion King (1994). A science advisor’s main job is to help the storyteller tell the best version of their story.

Scene Creation

Dr. Colemen will be given hypotheticals for a particular problem one of the characters is going to face. He will work with the author, Jonathon Maberry and “come up with the best most scientific way to accomplish them”. Coleman and the Maberry work together to flesh out this particular character and how to solve the problem.

World Building

The physicist Dr. Clifford Johnson has advised on many Marvel projects and was a scientific consultant on Blake Crouch’s “Dark Matter” novel. In the novel, the main character – a physicist – gets sent to a parallel universe. Johnson worked with the author early on, before things were completely set in stone, and flushed out the world and the context.

Character Development

Dr. Rega advised on The Lion King to specifically help with the character of Rafiki. Being a cross between a mandril and a baboon, she helped create this monkey hybrid that still moved like a monkey.

Biologist and vertebrate paleontologist Dr. Stuart Sumida helped Disney make the character Remy, the rat in Ratatouille, look more rat-like. Remy’s original design gave him a loveable look, something innocent and mouse-like. Stuart helped Remy look and move more like a rat. They wanted the viewer to know, upon first look, that Remy was a rat and instill that guttural disgust of seeing a rat in your house. The way Remy originally moved did not mimic the movements of an actual rat. Thanks to Dr. Sumida, Remy’s final look brought back the body shape and gait of a rat. 

Science advisors also help build scientist characters. Everyone can be a scientist, it’s not always the stereotypical awkward male nerd. Scientists encompass a wide range of people and personalities and it’s important to get this range incorporated into more and more science fiction (and all) stories.

Fiction portion of Science Fiction

Sometimes a science advisor can explain the science and do as much as they can, only to be met with the storyteller deciding to go a different way anyway. This is where the fiction element of science fiction comes in. Sometimes the characters in a sci-fi story can do magic, and sometimes the rules of a fantasy world are different and do not obey the same laws of physics as our world. Some storytellers, especially those using science advisors, know they are making scientific mistakes. They know that they have consulted with and listened to a science advisor and choose to go a different way.

Another, and probably more common reason for a storyteller to not always listen to their science advisor is because visually it can take the viewer out of the story. Dr. Erin Macdonald, an astrophysicist who works on the current Star Trek shows, gave a good example of this during a Comic-Con panel. In an episode of Star Trek Discovery, there is a storyline where a spaceship is going to surf out on gravitation waves. Dr. Macdonald explained to them that these waves do not act like ocean waves, they are compression waves. Macdonald worked with the VFX team to visually show how these compression waves would actually look like, and everyone thought that it looked weird and didn’t like the visual.

They made the conscious choice to be less scientifically accurate and show the viewer something more intuitive. It’s the same reason why in movies and TV shows they show fighter jets banking in space. The only reason to show this is to make the viewer understand what is happening, there is no other reason why a fighter jet in space would bank.

Learn More – Science is for Everyone

Dr. Johnson has taken it upon himself to do another job as a science advisor – bring science to everyone. “I think science belongs to everyone and we need to help to put it out there” he said. Everyone learns and comprehends things in different ways, and being able to share science with millions of people across the world in a popular TV show or movie is a great way to do so.

There are many interviews and sources where science advisors talk about their personal experiences. One way is to listen to the podcast Star Warsologies, specifically episode 46: Science Advisors in Science Fiction. Melissa Miller, co-host of the podcast, moderated a panel at the Los Angeles Comic Con about science advisors roles in Science Fiction. There are many ways to ask a scientist; contact professors or graduate students in labs doing work that interests you, sign up for Skype a Scientist, NASA has an Ask a Scientist website, and more.

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I hope you enjoyed a change of pace for this blog and learned a few things about sci-fi you enjoy. It did get me thinking about how I would want to see a type 1 diabetic portrayed in mainstream media. Looks like I will have to start looking into that for future topics. Until then, check out some of my other blog posts, like what it is like going to San Diego Comic-Con as a type 1 diabetic or my diagnosis story.