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Streaming Stars
- 176 statements
- 33 feature instances
- 17 referencing feature instances
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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. |
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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. | |
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Sluggy Freelance (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
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Streaming Stars / int_1c34acd2 | type |
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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 |
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Rocketship Voyager (Fanfic) | hasFeature |
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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 |
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Star Trek: Enterprise | hasFeature |
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Streaming Stars / int_3038d75c | type |
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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 |
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Diablo II (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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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 |
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Star Trek: Discovery | hasFeature |
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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. | |
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Airplane! | hasFeature |
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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. | |
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Discworld | hasFeature |
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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 |
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Star Trek (2009) | hasFeature |
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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 |
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Red Dwarf | hasFeature |
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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 |
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Freelancer (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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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 |
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Avatar: The Last Airbender | hasFeature |
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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 |
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine | hasFeature |
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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 |
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Mass Effect (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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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 |
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Mass Effect 2 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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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 |
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Mass Effect 3 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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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. |
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Streaming Stars / int_7988cb68 | featureApplicability |
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Streaming Stars / int_7988cb68 | featureConfidence |
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Mass Effect (Franchise) | hasFeature |
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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 |
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Star Trek (Franchise) | hasFeature |
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Streaming Stars / int_896000a5 | type |
Streaming Stars | |
Streaming Stars / int_896000a5 | comment |
The Soviet two-part film Moscow — 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). | |
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Moscow — Cassiopeia | hasFeature |
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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. |
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Streaming Stars / int_ac719b97 | featureApplicability |
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Stargate | hasFeature |
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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 |
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The House on the Borderland | hasFeature |
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Streaming Stars / int_aedc983a | type |
Streaming Stars | |
Streaming Stars / int_aedc983a | comment |
The Wing Commander series used tiny particles to show speed, too. | |
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Wing Commander (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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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 |
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2001: A Space Odyssey | hasFeature |
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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 |
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Alien | hasFeature |
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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. | |
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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 |
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Star Trek Beyond | hasFeature |
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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 |
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Journey into Space (Radio) | hasFeature |
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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.) | |
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Johnny Maxwell Trilogy | hasFeature |
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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. | |
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Elite (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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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. | |
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Ernest Saves Christmas | hasFeature |
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Streaming Stars / int_e7d9a0f7 | type |
Streaming Stars | |
Streaming Stars / int_e7d9a0f7 | comment |
A regular background effect in Star Raiders, particularly when traveling through hyperspace. | |
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Star Raiders (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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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 |
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Spaceballs | hasFeature |
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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. | |
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Heechee Saga | hasFeature |
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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.) | |
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Star Trek: The Next Generation | hasFeature |
Streaming Stars / int_ff9ab17f |
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