Something about pentrating a tunnel... no, not that you perv...

[smeddley]

As some of you may know, I've recently started watching Supernatural, and an episode brought up a pet peeve of mine.

And that is:

Most storm and sanitary sewers are not large enough to walk through. Yes, there are some old large cities that have huge underground tunnels, and some storm sewer pipes are an impressive 42" - 60" in diameter, but not most of them. And if I recall correctly (and I might not) the episode in question took place in a mid-sized midwestern city. Kinda like where I live.

And I hate to break it to you, Sam and Dean, but 90% of our storm sewer pipes are less than 24" in diameter and most sanitary sewer pipes are 8" in diameter. Not exactly something you could walk around in.

Yes, it makes a great storyline, things hiding in the sewers and bad guys using them to navigate, but it is completely unrealistic. And dangerous. Not too long ago an engineer was killed when he went into an unfinished section of underground pipe was was overcome by sewer gases.

I'm willing to suspend my disbelief for a lot of things, but this one has always really bothered me.

Anyone else have Hollywood Faux Pas Pet Peeves?

Comments

[triskellion.livejournal.com]

I hear you on the sewers. My latest is attics. Modern attics are full of trusses holding the roof up. There's no space in there to have a hidden room or someone hiding out. Oh, you can get around them if you really want to, but between the insulation and the dust that comes in through the vents, it's deadly on the lungs (and the skin. Insulation itches). The space is awkward to get around. And, the insulation is on the ceiling, ie, the floor of the attic. Which means the space has no means of cooling. In the desert, it quickly becomes a hellish sweat shop. No stalker is going to last up there for long, no matter what the CSI writers think.

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

This is why you only hide out in the attic of a model home.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

I have a floor in my attic, because someone kind of finished it, and I suppose you could hide there for a little bit, but it is pretty horrid and in the summer the heat would kill you. In the dessert, I don't think you'd last more than a few hours in an un-air-conditioned attic!

I have a LOT of serious problems with CSI, the top two being:

1) the terminal velocity of a falling body is not 9,8 m/s, Grissom, and you sound like an idiot after solemnly declaring that

2) you can't get a DNA sample after someone's finger brushed up against the side of a TV cabinet