in the books, the alien life is practically non-existent. terminus has nuclear energy but the neighboring barbarous planets (anacreon etc) use chemical energy. but if there hadn't been alien life on those planets, then how are there fossil fuels in the first place? and is it possible to make interstellar travels, let alone wage wars with just oil and coal? this was the most baffling thing for me when I read the books years ago. now I started reading them again after the show's disappointment, and it still bothers me.

Isn't the purpose of a space elevator, not having to deal with gravity? but this is at least ten thousand years in the future, surely human beings will have solved the mysteries of gravity by then. how else would they colonise the whole galaxy... and we see in the show that they have solved the gravity. smallest ships can ascend from the surface and go into deep space without having any difficulty, they have hovercrafts in the show. gravity is not an issue in this series.. so why is there an unnecessary space elevator? just for show? (sorry for butchering the grammar, but I hope I could make myself clear :))