Microts: Difference between revisions

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'''Rimmer:''' How long's a hanaka?

'''Kryten:''' Curiously enough it's exactly the same as one Earth minute.

'''[[The Ditz|Cat]]:''' 5 hanaka! That only gives us 28 hours.~~|''[[Red Dwarf]]'', Emohawk}}~~

'''[[The Ditz|Cat]]:''' 5 hanaka! That only gives us 28 hours.

|''[[Red Dwarf]]'', Emohawk}}

Fictional universes call for fictional measurements of time. After all, why would an alien culture use the same words for time as an Earth-based culture?

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* In the [[Darkover]] books, a Darkover day is twenty-eight hours. Why twenty-eight? Presumably (in the author's attempt to retcon this), the original [[Lost Colony]] approximated the Earth hour (before they forgot their origin), but adjusted to a new day length.

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==

* [[Trope Namer]] ''[[Farscape]]'s'' alien characters commonly use 'microt', 'arn' and 'cycle' in place of 'second', 'hour' and 'year' (roughly). John Crichton (the only Earth character in the series) picks up on it, and often counters with nonsense of his own.

** Microts seem to alternate between seconds and minutes, depending on the needs of the story.

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*** Or microts are used figuratively, as is done with seconds in English. When someone says "Gimme a second" he or she is not literally asking for one solitary second, but rather a moment's time.

*** In the early episodes, their usage of units varies a bit. However, by the first third or so of the first season, they're pretty firmly established. A microt is roughly a second (180 microts = 4 minutes = 240 seconds; 1.3 seconds per microt), an arn is roughly an hour, a "solar day" is roughly<ref>or not roughly, since "solar" on Earth references our star, Sol...</ref> a day, a weegen (only used once, by D'Argo) is roughly a week, and a cycle is roughly a year. A metra is on the same order of magnitude as a kilometer and a motra is on the same order of magnitude as a meter.<ref>This distinction is explicitly made between Jool and Crichton in "What Was Lost (Part 2): Resurrection", when they specify that 600 motras is just over half a metra, and is a reasonable running distance</ref> "Square dench" (square inch?) and "milon" (mile?) are also used, though rarely. See? Easy!

* ~~The original 1979 ''~~[[Battlestar Galactica ~~Classic~~|Battlestar Galactica]]'' series used "microns" for seconds, "centons" for minutes (or for hours in the series pilot), "centars" for hours, "sectons" for weeks, and "yahrens" for years.

* [[Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)|The original ''Battlestar Galactica'' series]] used "microns" for seconds, "centons" for minutes (or for hours in the series pilot), "centars" for hours, "sectons" for weeks, and "yahrens" for years.

** "Yahren" is pronounced ''exactly'' like the German ''Jahren'', the dative form of the word ''Jahre'' meaning "years". In fact, the plural of "yahren" in old BSG was "yahren". So yes, BSG did just rip off German.

** "Yahren" is pronounced ''exactly'' like the German ''Jahren'', the dative form of the word ''Jahre'' meaning "years". In fact, the plural of "yahren" in old ''BSG'' was "yahren". So yes, ''BSG'' did just rip off German.

** In real life, "micron" is slang for micrometre, is one-thousandth of a millimetre, but that would mean that when the Cylon raiders were "ninety microns and closing," they were 0.09~~ ~~mm away. But seriously, folks, the Viper coordinator probably meant the raiders would arrive in 90 seconds on their present course and speed.

** In real life, "micron" is slang for micrometre, is one-thousandth of a millimetre, but that would mean that when the Cylon raiders were "ninety microns and closing," they were 0.09 mm away. But seriously, folks, the Viper coordinator probably meant the raiders would arrive in 90 seconds on their present course and speed.

** The show hung a Lampshade on it in the episode ''Greetings From Earth'' where other human space colonists used seconds, minutes, and hours while Apollo said "Wait just a centon!" trying to figure it out.

* ~~Re-imagined ''~~[[Battlestar Galactica ~~Reimagined~~|Battlestar Galactica]]'' averts this, except for some documents visible onscreen in Armistice Station in the Miniseries, which use original-series terminology. Spoken dialogue and other writings have "years", "minutes", etc.

* [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|The 2004 ''Battlestar Galactica'']] averts this, except for some documents visible onscreen in Armistice Station in the Miniseries, which use original-series terminology. Spoken dialogue and other writings have "years", "minutes", etc.

* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', Daleks use "rels" to indicate a short period of time, which varies between about one and two seconds from one episode to another.

** Time Lords in the [[Expanded Universe]] measure time in spans and microspans.

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== [[Web Comics]] ==

* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' the dragons and Nemesites measure time in "zarps." Since "half a zarp" seems to equal at least a short night's sleep, we can guess a full zarp is probably something between 12 and 16 hours. An author's comment when they first appear compares them to [[Transformers|astroseconds,]] [[Battlestar Galactica|centons,]] and [[Doctor Who|rels.]]

* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' the dragons and Nemesites measure time in "zarps." Since "half a zarp" seems to equal at least a short night's sleep, we can guess a full zarp is probably something between 12 and 16 hours. An author's comment when they first appear compares them to [[Transformers|astroseconds,]] [[Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)|centons,]] and [[Doctor Who|rels.]]

* The trolls in [[Homestuck]] call years "sweeps", although the Alternian year is equal to around 2.17 Earth years.

* In ''[[Escape from Terra]]'' most Belters use a decimalized calendar and time-keeping system designed by the Mars colonists. Particularly "centimes" (about 14.8 minutes, if my math is correct) and "decadays" (10 Martian days).