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Streaming Stars

176 statements
33 feature instances
17 referencing feature instances

Streaming Stars	type	FeatureClass
Streaming Stars	label	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars	page	StreamingStars
Streaming Stars	comment	Real spaceships transiting the void would move at incomprehensible speeds, however, you wouldn't know that by looking out the window. In media, this is unacceptable. A moving object must give the impression of speed and motion. Enter the streaming star field. Look out the window or canopy of any TV or movie spaceship and you'll see a background of stars flowing past like telephone poles. This happens whether the spaceship is moving at sub- or super-luminal speeds (though super-luminal velocities will have some additional effects). As Douglas Adams pointed out, space is big. This means that stars are really far away. Galaxies are even farther out. There will be very little Motion Parallax in a star field seen from a spaceship moving through the solar system or even between nearby stars. In captain dummy talk, that means you simply won't see a star move in relation to you, unless you're a) within said star's solar system (and then it'll just be the one), b) moving really, really fast, like cross-the-galaxy-in-a-day fast, or c) turning. Anyone who's driven down a long highway in a wide flat area can see this effect to a lesser extent: that mountain far to your left doesn't really seem to move much as you go. Our sun, and even just the Moon, which is much closer, give an even better example; they don't seem to move at all as you move. In fact, even if you flew so fast that you could see star movement (but still sub-luminal), the actual view would surprise you: the stars before you would brighten and concentrate in the center of the field of view, while the ones behind you would dim and diverge all over the field of view.note While light from the stars ahead of you would indeed blue-shift, this effect would apply to the entire EM spectrum, so that IR wavelengths would be shifted into the visible spectrum. Likewise, the red-shift of stars behind you would shift UV wavelengths into the visible spectrum. In either case, the perceived colors of stars would change very little. If you accelerate to this speed quickly (without dying from the huge amounts of acceleration required), the end result would give the impression that you are moving backwards. Of course, from a production standpoint, even if you averted this trope, you could theoretically still convey motion with the starship moving across the screen, though probably not in a way that says "warp speed". Video games often get around this by having particles of space dust that will naturally fly past the camera to convey movement, but of course, this can't apply to FTL speeds either. Compare and contrast Heavenly Concentric Circles, when heaven (and, sometimes, space) imagery is riddled with concentric patterns.
Streaming Stars	fetched	2024-04-03T11:59:11Z
Streaming Stars	parsed	2024-04-03T11:59:11Z
Streaming Stars	processingComment	Dropped link to HeavenlyConcentricCircles: Not an Item - FEATURE
Streaming Stars	processingComment	Dropped link to RealLife: Not an Item - FEATURE
Streaming Stars	processingComment	Dropped link to StarWars: Not an Item - CAT
Streaming Stars	processingComment	Dropped link to playingwithatrope: Not an Item - FEATURE
Streaming Stars	isPartOf	DBTropes
Streaming Stars / int_1beda93b	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_1beda93b	comment	In a webcomic review for Sluggy Freelance of all places it's used as a backdrop for part of the video. Here's the link.
Streaming Stars / int_1beda93b	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_1beda93b	featureConfidence	1.0
Sluggy Freelance (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_1beda93b
Streaming Stars / int_1c34acd2	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_1c34acd2	comment	Rocketship Voyager. Captain Janeway has a This Cannot Be! reaction to seeing this for the first time, as none of them have ever traveled faster than light before.
Streaming Stars / int_1c34acd2	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_1c34acd2	featureConfidence	1.0
Rocketship Voyager (Fanfic)	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_1c34acd2
Streaming Stars / int_2250e67e	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_2250e67e	comment	Star Trek: Enterprise. Hoshi complains that the stars are going past her window the wrong way. Rather than lampshading the technical inaccuracies of this trope, it turns out she just hasn't got her space-legs yet. However due to a continuity error, the stars end up moving the wrong way past the Captain's mess, as if the room has somehow shifted from the bow of Enterprise to the starboard side.
Streaming Stars / int_2250e67e	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_2250e67e	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Trek: Enterprise	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_2250e67e
Streaming Stars / int_3038d75c	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_3038d75c	comment	A truly bizarre incarnation of this trope appears in Diablo II: the starry background of the Arcane Sanctuary area is always moving while the character is standing still, the stars streaming towards the right. The stars move much more quickly towards the right when the character runs to the left, perhaps to strengthen the sense of movement in that direction. It sort of breaks down, however, when running in the opposite direction because the stars still accelerate towards the right.
Streaming Stars / int_3038d75c	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_3038d75c	featureConfidence	1.0
Diablo II (Video Game)	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_3038d75c
Streaming Stars / int_353b7af3	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_353b7af3	comment	Star Trek: Discovery combines the traditional streaming stars effect with the aforementioned gravitational lensing from Star Trek Beyond and shows what it would look like from the POV of someone on a starship at warp.
Streaming Stars / int_353b7af3	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_353b7af3	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Trek: Discovery	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_353b7af3
Streaming Stars / int_35a060cc	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_35a060cc	comment	In Airplane!, the stewardess gets high while watching this trope, perhaps a dig on how people allegedly got high on drugs before watching the Stargate sequence in 2001.
Streaming Stars / int_35a060cc	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_35a060cc	featureConfidence	1.0
Airplane!	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_35a060cc
Streaming Stars / int_468bebb0	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_468bebb0	comment	In the Discworld universe, the stars are actually balls of fire about a mile wide, so this happens gradually as A'Tuin swims through space, and the constellations change regularly. It would actually be possible for a time traveler to identify the era by what stars are visible.
Streaming Stars / int_468bebb0	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_468bebb0	featureConfidence	1.0
Discworld	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_468bebb0
Streaming Stars / int_50e2e357	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_50e2e357	comment	Star Trek (2009) uses this trope in a similar way that Star Wars does, to represent the reality-bending acceleration into warp. Like Star Wars, a ship's view during warp travel is a chaotic opaque vortex, a departure from the traditional aesthetic.
Streaming Stars / int_50e2e357	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_50e2e357	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Trek (2009)	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_50e2e357
Streaming Stars / int_5d354f8	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_5d354f8	comment	Averted in Red Dwarf. The book even notes that Lister finds the view awe-inspiring at first, and later deeply boring. Reverted in the "Remastered" TV episodes, where the static view out of Lister's porthole was altered to make the stars move. Pretty much sums up the remastered episodes really...
Streaming Stars / int_5d354f8	featureApplicability	-1.0
Streaming Stars / int_5d354f8	featureConfidence	1.0
Red Dwarf	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_5d354f8
Streaming Stars / int_61de95d6	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_61de95d6	comment	Freelancer does that with tiny little particles that only show up when the viewpoint is moving. According to the manual, they're added by your ship's computer to make it easier for pilots to judge their speed at a glance. You can turn them off in the menu.
Streaming Stars / int_61de95d6	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_61de95d6	featureConfidence	1.0
Freelancer (Video Game)	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_61de95d6
Streaming Stars / int_72262aee	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_72262aee	comment	A bizarre example takes place in Avatar: The Last Airbender when Aang is trying to "let the cosmic energy flow" through him as stars spin by. The starfield returns to normal as he lets go of transient attachments and accepts the reality of the Avatar Spirit... or at least that's what the Guru is trying to impress upon him.
Streaming Stars / int_72262aee	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_72262aee	featureConfidence	1.0
Avatar: The Last Airbender	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_72262aee
Streaming Stars / int_73d7930f	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_73d7930f	comment	In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a moving starfield view is justifiable, as the eponymous space station rotates... but the same windows change between panning and non-panning views in various episodes!
Streaming Stars / int_73d7930f	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_73d7930f	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_73d7930f
Streaming Stars / int_76686539	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_76686539	comment	In Mass Effect, whenever the Normandy moves from system to system, the loading screens show the light "approaching" (read: entering the mass effect envelope and moving faster) the Normandy as blue-shifted, while the light "trailing" (read: exiting the mass effect envelope) the Normandy as red-shifted.
Streaming Stars / int_76686539	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_76686539	featureConfidence	1.0
Mass Effect (Video Game)	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_76686539
Streaming Stars / int_7668653a	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_7668653a	comment	In Mass Effect 2, while the Normandy is moving between systems, Shepard can walk around inside the ship and look out the windows in the observation decks or bridge, and the stars are shown barely moving at all, with blue-shifted light passing the vessel.
Streaming Stars / int_7668653a	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_7668653a	featureConfidence	1.0
Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_7668653a
Streaming Stars / int_7668653b	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_7668653b	comment	Mass Effect 3 has a Loading Screen of the FTL-traveling Normandy SR-2 seemingly not moving against the background of the stars for the same reason.
Streaming Stars / int_7668653b	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_7668653b	featureConfidence	1.0
Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_7668653b
Streaming Stars / int_7988cb68	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_7988cb68	comment	Mass Effect shows this realistically: In Mass Effect, whenever the Normandy moves from system to system, the loading screens show the light "approaching" (read: entering the mass effect envelope and moving faster) the Normandy as blue-shifted, while the light "trailing" (read: exiting the mass effect envelope) the Normandy as red-shifted. In Mass Effect 2, while the Normandy is moving between systems, Shepard can walk around inside the ship and look out the windows in the observation decks or bridge, and the stars are shown barely moving at all, with blue-shifted light passing the vessel. Mass Effect 3 has a Loading Screen of the FTL-traveling Normandy SR-2 seemingly not moving against the background of the stars for the same reason.
Streaming Stars / int_7988cb68	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_7988cb68	featureConfidence	1.0
Mass Effect (Franchise)	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_7988cb68
Streaming Stars / int_81692f99	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_81692f99	comment	Another Star Trek send-up, the Australian Sev Trek: Pus in Boots, explained that the streaming stars were actually the screensaver on the bridge viewscreen.
Streaming Stars / int_81692f99	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_81692f99	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Trek (Franchise)	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_81692f99
Streaming Stars / int_896000a5	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_896000a5	comment	The Soviet two-part film Moscow â€” Cassiopeia shows blue streaming stars moving past the ship when viewed from the outside, despite the ship moving at near-light speeds (about 0.93c).
Streaming Stars / int_896000a5	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_896000a5	featureConfidence	1.0
Moscow — Cassiopeia	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_896000a5
Streaming Stars / int_ac719b97	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_ac719b97	comment	For that matter, the Stargate sequence from Stargate applies too. However on a much smaller scale than most insulters - they are traveling at least ten lightyears in just a few seconds, so the speed is REALLY big. You can also always say that the wormhole actually travels through entirely different universe/dimension/portions of space etc., but that'd be just mean. In both the film and the series, the stargate sequence is only there for the benefit of the audience and is mostly absent from later episodes (unless it's plot-relevant). The people traveling through the wormhole are dematerialized at this point and don't really exist as physical objects.
Streaming Stars / int_ac719b97	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_ac719b97	featureConfidence	1.0
Stargate	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_ac719b97
Streaming Stars / int_adeb41ed	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_adeb41ed	comment	Justified in The House on the Borderland, where the narrator sees stars wheeling overhead so fast that they appear as bright streaks circling the planet. As he's traveling forward in time at incredible speed, on his way to the end of the solar system, that's just how the Earth's own rotation would make the night skies look.
Streaming Stars / int_adeb41ed	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_adeb41ed	featureConfidence	1.0
The House on the Borderland	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_adeb41ed
Streaming Stars / int_aedc983a	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_aedc983a	comment	The Wing Commander series used tiny particles to show speed, too.
Streaming Stars / int_aedc983a	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_aedc983a	featureConfidence	1.0
Wing Commander (Video Game)	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_aedc983a
Streaming Stars / int_b3788a5d	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_b3788a5d	comment	While not technically a streaming starfield, the Stargate sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey deserves special mention. The starfield in the exteriors also move because it just didn't look good if it didn't, Kubrick tried it the right way but went with wrong because it made for a better looking shot.
Streaming Stars / int_b3788a5d	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_b3788a5d	featureConfidence	1.0
2001: A Space Odyssey	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_b3788a5d
Streaming Stars / int_b9a0d78d	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_b9a0d78d	comment	Alien. Originally the red-blue shift was to be used when the Nostromo was moving past light speed, but this was one case where dull realism was deemed more appropriate to the movie's dark tone.
Streaming Stars / int_b9a0d78d	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_b9a0d78d	featureConfidence	1.0
Alien	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_b9a0d78d
Streaming Stars / int_bc274933	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_bc274933	comment	Averted most of the time in 3-2-1 Penguins! Played straight however in "The Doom Funnel Rescue" when B.I.N.G. presses a button that cause the Rockhopper to travel at a speed of Warp 10.
Streaming Stars / int_bc274933	featureApplicability	-1.0
Streaming Stars / int_bc274933	featureConfidence	1.0
3-2-1 Penguins!	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_bc274933
Streaming Stars / int_c211d8bf	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_c211d8bf	comment	Star Trek Beyond adds some cool gravitational lensing to the streaming stars.
Streaming Stars / int_c211d8bf	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_c211d8bf	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Trek Beyond	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_c211d8bf
Streaming Stars / int_c6482e0b	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_c6482e0b	comment	In the first BBC Radio Serial in the Journey into Space trilogy, Operation Luna, they encounter UFOs during their return from the moon and black out; when they wake up and turn the cameras on to look outside, the stars are streaking past them. In a subversion, it turns out that this is because the ship is tumbling; even though the ship has been accelerated to time-bending speeds once they get the tumble under control, the observed motion is next to nil.
Streaming Stars / int_c6482e0b	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_c6482e0b	featureConfidence	1.0
Journey into Space (Radio)	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_c6482e0b
Streaming Stars / int_cb2db091	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_cb2db091	comment	Averted in Only You Can Save Mankind, the first book of the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy, also by Terry Pratchett, where Wobbler creates a video game "Journey to Alpha Centauri". Apparently if you leave it running for several hundred years a message appears saying "Welcome to Alpha Centauri. Now go home," but the view doesn't noticeably change at any point along the way. (It changes. It just does it in real time.)
Streaming Stars / int_cb2db091	featureApplicability	-1.0
Streaming Stars / int_cb2db091	featureConfidence	1.0
Johnny Maxwell Trilogy	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_cb2db091
Streaming Stars / int_d4f11a60	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_d4f11a60	comment	Elite II: Frontier and its sequel First Encounters, also both using a Newtonian flight model, have "stellar particles" which can be turned off, which is highly recommended for manual maneuvering.
Streaming Stars / int_d4f11a60	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_d4f11a60	featureConfidence	1.0
Elite (Video Game)	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_d4f11a60
Streaming Stars / int_e2fbdfeb	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_e2fbdfeb	comment	In Ernest Saves Christmas, Santa's sleigh has a "Priority Delivery" mode that makes it accelerate with Star Wars-style warp effects.
Streaming Stars / int_e2fbdfeb	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_e2fbdfeb	featureConfidence	1.0
Ernest Saves Christmas	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_e2fbdfeb
Streaming Stars / int_e7d9a0f7	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_e7d9a0f7	comment	A regular background effect in Star Raiders, particularly when traveling through hyperspace.
Streaming Stars / int_e7d9a0f7	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_e7d9a0f7	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Raiders (Video Game)	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_e7d9a0f7
Streaming Stars / int_e885c808	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_e885c808	comment	Both used and spoofed in Spaceballs. To catch up with a fleeing Lone Starr after he goes "light speed" (invoking Streaming Stars), the villains' spaceship shifts to "Ludicrous Speed"; this produces a plaid pattern. (That's pretty ludicrous all right...)
Streaming Stars / int_e885c808	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_e885c808	featureConfidence	1.0
Spaceballs	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_e885c808
Streaming Stars / int_e9e37e8	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_e9e37e8	comment	Averted in the Heechee Saga, where the ships are described as catching up to light emitted from behind them and eventually just seeing a mottled sploch on the front viewscreen from all the old light.
Streaming Stars / int_e9e37e8	featureApplicability	-1.0
Streaming Stars / int_e9e37e8	featureConfidence	1.0
Heechee Saga	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_e9e37e8
Streaming Stars / int_ff9ab17f	type	Streaming Stars
Streaming Stars / int_ff9ab17f	comment	In Star Trek: The Next Generation, the effect for stars at warp speed is upgraded to short, rainbow-colored streaks. According to some sources, those streaks shown out the window while at warp aren't stars, they're nearby pieces of space debris or gas lit up by the passing warp bubble — since even at warp nine (~1000 c), distant stars shouldn't be seen moving anywhere near that quickly. The 'debris' theory would explain why the "stars" are tiny dots even when shown to clearly be right next to the ship. (Turning at warp is a Bad Thing that gets a stern warning from your engineer, but it is done at times, and evidently, stars are about the size of baseballs as the ship moves around and through 'em. It must be seen to be believed.)
Streaming Stars / int_ff9ab17f	featureApplicability	1.0
Streaming Stars / int_ff9ab17f	featureConfidence	1.0
Star Trek: The Next Generation	hasFeature	Streaming Stars / int_ff9ab17f

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Streaming Stars	processingCategory2	Faster-Than-Light Index
Streaming Stars	processingCategory2	Spectacle
Streaming Stars	processingCategory2	Speculative Fiction Tropes
Streaming Stars	processingCategory2	Stellar Index
A New Hope / int_1eadc644	type	Streaming Stars
Ernest Saves Christmas / int_1eadc644	type	Streaming Stars
Moscow — Cassiopeia / int_1eadc644	type	Streaming Stars
Spaceballs / int_1eadc644	type	Streaming Stars
Thor: Ragnarok / int_1eadc644	type	Streaming Stars
2001: A Space Odyssey / int_1eadc644	type	Streaming Stars
Crusader (Video Game) / int_1eadc644	type	Streaming Stars
Freelancer (Video Game) / int_1eadc644	type	Streaming Stars
Garry's Mod (Video Game) / int_1eadc644	type	Streaming Stars
Wing Commander (Video Game) / int_1eadc644	type	Streaming Stars
Xain'd Sleena (Video Game) / int_1eadc644	type	Streaming Stars
Overused Sci-Fi Silly Science (Website) / int_1eadc644	type	Streaming Stars
3-2-1 Penguins! / int_1eadc644	type	Streaming Stars

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