Miami, We Have a Problem

[ffutures]

I'm not a CSI Miami fan but I happened to see the episode shown on C5 last night, Miami, We Have a Problem which borrowed some common SF tropes and actually used them fairly effectively.



Basically, the mystery is a corpse that turns up in Miami and eventually turns out to have died in space, aboard a commercial shuttle flight (yes, in CSI Miami there are commercial space shuttles that appear to be about ten times larger than anything flown to date).

To cut a long story short, it turns out that the victim was killed for one of the classic SF reasons. I won't say which one, because although the premise is flawed in various ways (most notably in the method used to dispose of the evidence, which would just aggravate the problem that's the reason for killing him), the plot more or less worked - there was a LOT of stupidity about covering up the crime, but it was actually enjoyable, especially if you want to play "spot the SF cliche" and are reasonably familiar with 1940s-50s SF. Worth a look if you can stand watching Horatio Caine remove his glasses every 30 seconds...

Comments

[sirernest.livejournal.com]

Let me guess. They did Godwin's "The **** Equation"? (censored to make it not _too_ obvious for others who read this and don't want to think about it until after they have seen the episode)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Not quite - but pretty similar. The one where time and number of people is very important.

[lonemagpie.livejournal.com]

I've never seen a CSI Miami episode, though I have the pilot episode on the Grave Danger DVD and do like the original CSI. I'll have to look out and see if they repeat this one, and give it a try.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

It has its moments - including some free-fall work (not sure if real or faked) aboard the Vomit Comer.

[nelc.livejournal.com]

Somewhere I read the opinion that CSI:Miami should be read as a sci-fi series, what with its fancy glass Minority Report-style displays with 3D graphics, forensic tests that are way faster, more sensitive and reliable than anything in our world. Not to mention the Hollywood Photoshop filter that can extract a recognisable face from a reflection in a car wingmirror shot from (high-definition) CCTV. (Though all the CSI shows have that.)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Never ever watch an episode of CSI with a microbiologist. You end up either with crushed hands/arms or deaf.

Enhance!

and all work on the computer involves randomly tapping keys on the keyboard even when the interface is clearly graphics and not command line based.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Oh, the science in this one wasn't much better, but they were using some SF tropes well enough to amuse me.