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Man, see what happens when I temporarily die and come back only to see I've been completely missing out on nerding out to a delightful conversations about robots, including one of my faves: the B9! In fact, I think I have the very same toy, sitting over with some trolls and skulls. It is a fab thing indeed.


Sadly I have to go off to work, but when I return, I SHALL RETURN and DORK OUT!!!
 
Yes, have you seen "Forbidden Planet"? Those are all phrases from the movie. If not, there is only one version to look for.

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The pizza is not included. But it should be!

Seriously, it's a great box set with tons of extras. There are some movies that are just worth buying deluxe sets for, and this is most definitely one of them. "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is another.

Yes, do watch "LIS", the first season is actually quite good science fiction. In the second season they changed the format for a younger audience, and they aren't as good, certainly not real SF, but still entertaining and worth watching. Robby actually makes a few guest appearances.

One thing, in the first dozen or so episodes, you will be amazed at how menacing Dr. Smith and the Robot are. The premise was that Smith had come aboard to sabotage the mission by programming the Robot to go berserk and smash up all the controls. In the early episodes Smith was the only one who could control the Robot and used him as a henchman, often as as a tool to intimidate the others.

It wasn't until the later episodes that Smith decided he would would have better survival prospects by assuming a more avuncular disposition and Will befriended the Robot, who was by that time developing it's own personality. It's a huge contrast to the way we think of the characters, and it was a gradual change.

They are easy to find, too, Hulu has them free.

I wouldn't say the movie should be avoided, but it's NOT "LIS", and I don't particularly care for it. I know people who like it, retconned classic shows aren't my cup of tea. I wouldn't have high expectations, but I'm sure you can find it free online somewhere, try Putlocker, that's usually my go-to site for movies.

And, yeah, here it is.

It's really dark, totally a different feel from the show and completely failed to reproduce the charm and the chemistry between the actors. It did well in theaters, but was universally panned by critics. It also had holes in the plot you could drive a truck through, but I've just read that the home video release had a ton of deleted scenes, so apparently it was drastically cut for time.

It's not good, but honestly, I've sat and watched flicks such as "Battletruck" a number of times, some movies are quite fun if you have very low expectations. :) I love cheesy B movies, I was a huge fan of MST3K.

By the way, while I remember, let me give you the updated link for "K-9".

Let me see, science fiction shows to add to your list, let me think....

  • If you like comedy SF, "3rd Rock From the Sun" is brilliant.
  • You'll LOVE "Andromeda".
  • I'm a big fan of "Land of the Giants" and "Time Tunnel" and "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", all Irwin Allen classics. Not many of the latter is available online, unfortunately.
  • You have GOTTA see "The Sarah Jane Adventures".
  • "The Starlost" is a Canadian show, it's a real classic. You can find it on YouTube.
  • Another one that I am a huge fan of is "Space: 1999". The Eagle is to my mind, by far the best and most realistic of all SF spacecraft. I understand NASA examined the design when they were in planning the Space Shuttle. On Facebook I always have an Eagle as a cover photo.
  • "Stargate" is one of those shows that keeps going in follow up shows, and movie sequels. Now, most franchises lose a lot when in sequel hell, and Stargate has bucked that trend, they are all are excellent. There is a number of movies followed by I think four shows. I lost track at some point, that's one I need to start and watch from the beginning. Watch the movies before the shows, the first one is HERE.
    I never got interested in "Babylon 5", but that's me. It's considered a classic.
  • I've always had a fondness for "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", it's great space opera, especially the earlier episodes. As the show went on, they lost focus and didn't know what to do with it. Of course I've also followed the 1930's comic strips and serials, so it's a franchise I always liked.
  • I loved "Battlestar Galactica" when I saw them new, and still much prefer them to the new series. That's another one that started good then meandered off into mediocrity. It had originally been conceived as a serial with a definite end to the story, but ratings were too good and they decided to cash in on it, but didn't know what to do with the story, and it showed. That was kind of a hallmark of Larson's shows, he started strong and then just milked them dry of ideas, so as a rule of thumb it usually only pays to watch up to the first season, then forget it.
  • If you like fantasy or mythology, there is "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" and "Xena: Warrior Princess", both of which are particular favorites of mine. I'm a bit fascinated with Greek mythology, so I love them. There is also another very good spinoff, "Young Hercules" which is well worth watching.

There are thousands more, of course, but these are a few of my favorites, and I'm sure there are a lot of them that you would like. I've been a big fan of SF literature and media since I was very young. I was one of those who started reading at a very young age, and my passion is in literature, television and movies only a peripheral interest. Except "Doctor Who", of course, Tom Baker is the only god I've ever worshiped. :)

This is the 'corn. I have a bunch more Beanies, somewhere, but when my cat was a kitten she decided she liked them, and one by one she carried them off and hid them. It was too cute for me to object. I know I'll find them when we move. :)

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Stuffed animals is one thing I've never truly outgrown. I have a number of them here that I literally pulled out of trash cans, I couldn't bear to see them carried off. I just have a soft spot for them.
 
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evilbunnyfoofoo said:
when I return, I SHALL RETURN and DORK OUT!!!

If you'll excuse me for changing a quote from Friendship is Magic slightly: THE DORKING WILL BE DOUBLED. :smile: Sorry, couldn't resist, the capital letters made me think of the way Luna speaks to start with. :)

Apologies for the slow reply @Centauress

I've not seen Forbidden Planet, so that's going on the "to watch" list too. :)

That does look like a neat special edition. Know what you mean about sometimes the deluxe/special edition is so nice it's worth it. In our house it's usually games we've gotten sets like that for but we do have a few special DVD/Blu-ray sets as well. Think most of the game ones we have are Nintendo ones, both myself and my husband are Zelda fans and there've been some lovely sets for some of those for example. :) Don't always get them but sometimes everything in the set's so nice they're worth it. And I agree, pizzas should come with great DVDs, a great extra that'd be. :lolpony:

I like when a series (or a book) has interesting character development so that could be interesting. :) I'll look forward to watching Lost in Space at some point. :)

Know what you mean about a spin-off/remake/reimagining not being like the original, can work sometimes but sometimes it's just disappointing, especially if the original was really good. As Watership Down is one of my favourite books and I thought the way the animated movie adapted it was fairly well done I'm interested to see what the new series that, if I remember correctly, Netflix and the BBC are working on will be like. The animated TV series wasn't as good from what I remember, although it's been quite a long time since I watched it and I know it was aimed at a younger audience. (Still baffles me how the film got a U rating over here, PG would make much more sense).

Some naff films can be fun in a "this is so bad it's amusing" way, indeed. :) I think Pacific Rim's a bit like that, there's some bonkers plot points but if you just kinda don't take it seriously and go "giant robots vs. giant aliens" it's entertaining. If you've not already come across it there's a YouTube channel that's called Cinemasins who do "Everything Wrong With..." videos, some of which are for sci-fi films that can be amusing. I was amused when we watched the Chappie one, as they picked out a lot of things that I was going "no, no way that (whatever it was) would happen!" or things like that at when my husband and I watched it. That movie is one of those filled with so many things that you find yourself going "what? no, no, nope," at. XD Won't name any particular examples in case you've not seen it and don't want any spoilers.

Another fan of Stargate! Yay. :smile: I've seen all of the live action shows and movies and am a big fan! :) There were three live action shows, SG1, Atlantis and then Universe. SG1 is my favourite but I can recommend Atlantis if you've not seen it as that's pretty good too. It became known as "the shut up McKay show" in our house because of all the times characters either said that or were clearly thinking it. XD Universe was darker and felt more like the Battlestar Galactica remake (I've not seen the original) with a bit of Star Trek Voyager mixed in rather than the other Stargate series but still worth a watch if you've not seen it. There was an animated series but I've never seen that so don't know if it's any good or not. If you start watching them again then the second and third movies (Ark of Truth and Continuum) should be watched after you've seen series 10 of SG1 as they're set after it and Ark of Truth deals with plot things that were in the later SG1 one series. But yes, if you enjoyed the ones you've seen so far then do keep watching. :smile:

Some of the tie-in novels that were published by Fandemonium were pretty good. I've not read all of them and some of the ones I've read were better than others but some kept the feel of the show very well. As you're a Doctor Who fan you may have heard of Big Finish, the people who did some Doctor Who audio dramas. They did some Stargate ones too, some of those were pretty good as well. :)

I used to watch 3rd Rock From the Sun, not sure if I saw them all though. The series is on our Netflix list as something to watch again. :) I've seen all of the Sarah Jane Adventures and the newer Battlestar Galactia. Used to watch Xena but I don't know if I've seen all of it.

Interesting to hear you weren't fussed with Babylon 5, that's one my husband and I couldn't get into either. From what I've heard Firefly was popular but we didn't find that caught our interest either. Possibly because it felt a bit close to Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star (two sci-fi anime series we both like) but didn't feel as good from the episodes we saw.

The rest I've heard of except for The Starlost, I'll have to look in to that. :) Not sure how I've managed to never get round to Space: 1999, I liked some of the other Gerry Anderson stuff. Space Precinct was interesting if I remember correctly (long time since I've watched it though). I take it that you'd recommend watching the original Battlestar Galactia even if we've seen the remake then if you think it's better? :) We watched Caprica too, that was a series that had potential that ended up being kinda disappointing.

Andromeda's just started repeating from the beginning on TV here so I'm taking that as a sign to watch that and I've set our TiVo to record it. :) I'll keep the others in mind too, thanks. :smile: Nice to have some more classic Sci-fi in mind as quite a bit of what we've watched recently has been more recenti-ish. I like some modern sci-fi but classics are great too. :) Do you like Quantum Leap? Know it's more loosely sci-fi than some of the others but sometimes that works quite well, like in some of the series of Heroes (liked some better than others) and The 4400 (one my husband and I enjoyed too).

I've always loved reading too. :smile: I should probably get round to reading some of the classic sci-fi I've not read yet. There's some obvious gaps :blush: For some reason I've ended up reading a lot of sci-fi tie in novels, Star Wars (which I liked more than the movies :blush: ) when I was younger, Stargate and Star Trek more recently. Some of the authors of tie-in books I've liked have done their own original stuff too so it's sometimes been a nice way to discover new authors as well as enjoy more stories about some great characters. :smile:

That unicorn's pretty neat. :) Interesting style with the big eyes. Your cat clearly has good taste in plush toys, that's cute, bless. :)

Plush toys are lovely things to have no matter what age you are. :) We have quite a few in our house. :smile: The ones in my avatar are the most recent arrivals but there's quite a mixture of characters and types around here, including some I've made. I should take a photo of the horse one who lives on the monitor, he has such a cute little face. That's lovely that you've rescued some like that. :)
 
I am using footnotes to clarify some of my statements, so watch for the asterisks.

That FP box set is actually some years old, and now you can get it cheaply. I paid half price for mine, and that was five or six years ago. I got it cheap because though it was new there was a small dent in the metal box and it was the last copy they had. The figurine also has a defect, one of the ears is missing, but I don't care, I love him and the set regardless.

UPDATE: I take that back, it's now out of print and getting rare. It's available used on eBay, but the cheapest I can find is $45.

EBay: Forbidden Planet: 50th Anniversary Edition (DVD, 2-Disc Set) in tin + figurine

Funny you should mention "Space Precinct", actually. I was actually going to add that to my next reply (this one). I'm a big fan, and I own that box set as well. :)

One I do intend to add is another children's show that had slipped my mind, but it's sheer genius. It's an Australian show, "The Girl From Tomorrow". Most shows, especially those targeted at younger audiences have a pretty much generic plot line. I believe it was Goldwyn who stated that there are only seven original plot lines and everything else is a variation of one of those, and most are based on Shakespeare or Dickens. With this show I can in all honestly say that I have never seen a story line so original.

The characters are absolutely charming, you instantly fall in love with each one of them, and that is important because you really CARE about what happens to them all. The Baddie is fantastic with a wide range of emotions, and you truly want to see him beat but at the same time you can't help but really like him.

It is an absolute MUST see. By the way, whenever you see a title in blue such as the one above, it's a hyperlink that will take you to a page that has it free of charge. I'm actually going through and watching them all again and I'm amazed anew at how good it is.

I really need to read Watership, you know I never have. I did watch the animated movie, but when I was very young, and I can't say that I remember more than a flash or two. On my to-do list.

In LIS the change was really to tailor the show more for children. At that time, the powers that be in the studios felt that young boys were the only ones interested in science fiction, so they moved away from the realistic, gritty and dramatic format to a simpler, more kid friendly format. The network heads insisted on it.

You probably know that Roddenberry had to fight tooth and nail to keep the cliche cute robot and the kid with the IQ level of ten gazillion out of the show. Those were considered to be essential in any SF show at the time. No one took the genre seriously, to them "science fiction" was synonymous with "children's show", and he had terrible difficulty explaining that "Star Trek" was science fiction for adult viewers, not children, they simply could not conceive of such a thing. Ironically, "The Next Generation" included the cute robot and the kid with the IQ level of ten gazillion, which I thought very odd and completely unnecessary. Data proved to be a good character. But I hated and despised the kid. Still do.

LIS predated ST, of course, so it had the obligatory cute robot and the kid with the IQ level of ten gazillion. But the network heads weren't satisfied with it because the Robot wasn't cute and Will was highly intelligent but didn't have a completely unrealistic IQ level, and they felt they had to intervene with the producers to make it fit with their ideas of a kiddie show. It worked, ratings went up, but it ceased to be as interesting for those of us who take the genre seriously.

The same thing happened with "Space: 1999". The first year focused on science and drama, the second they went from scientific problems to hokey "man in a rubber costume" BEMs (Bug Eyed Monsters) for the benefit of the kiddies. Of course, they also introduced Maya, whom I absolutely worshiped. She was a huge role model for me when I was a child, so I forgive them. She makes the second season a treat to watch by herself.

Honestly, the science in "Space: 1999" wasn't really that accurate, and the scripts really weren't that good. Sub par, really. They tended to rely too much on technobabble and they rather wore out a few cliches, such as "a strange, new form of radiation". Most critics panned the acting abilities of Landau and Bain, calling their performance "wooden", but I disagree with them on that. I thought Landau especially turned in a very dramatic performance, but I seem to be in the minority.

The real star of the show was the Eagles and the model work, which was first rate, and rivaled "Star Wars" on a fraction of the budget, and it still looks great today. The monsters really were cheesy, though, so the format change wasn't really a good idea in my view, but no one asked me. Also, accurate SF is just expensive to produce, and they had to lower their budget to get green lighted for the second season.

But the EAGLES! They just take my breath away! And the fact that they are lower tech and not FTL capable just made them more realistic, as did the very practical and versatile workhorse design.

I haven't read novelizations in years, but I have read a lot of them. At some point I just got tired of them. Boxed up in storage I have hundreds of them, literally. Right now I live in a tiny studio apartment and just haven't enough room for more than one very small shelf.

Some of the novelizations were astonishingly good, and some were utter crap, it was always a bit of craps shoot. :) I expect they have gotten better since then.

I would say by all means watch the original "Battlestar Galactica". It's really worth the time, whereas the new one I just couldn't get interested in. As I say, in every single respect the new one is better; at least in every technical way. The special effects, the more adult writing, the added drama, every way that I can list.

But it's not nearly as much fun to watch as the 1978 version. That version had less drama and more action, and the characters were more interesting and the acting was superior. The cast had a chemistry that made you believe the characters were real people, each one a unique individual. I enjoy watching it, and I can't say that about the new one.

The character of Baltar especially, you just loved to hate him in the original. The villain is always the most important character in a story, they make or break the show. A hero is nobody if he hasn't a good villain. In the new one he was just a slimy dork, in the first one he was a former Colonial military officer who had resigned his commission to join the Cylons in a commercial mining venture for profit before the war. When the war started he acted as the Cylon ambassador to the Colonies, and it was he who planned the attack, and it was he who convinced the Cylons to pursue the Colonial convoy. He was the driving force, the main antagonist.

Count Baltar was self assured, and calculating, and a strategist. He lorded over the Cylons he commanded like an emperor, whereas in the new one was just a spineless coward whom the Cylons kicked around and manipulated to their advantage. You could FEAR Count Baltar, who exuded competence and command and always had every situation in control, whereas you had nothing but contempt for the replacement who feared everyone and was completely lost and constantly scrambling from one deception to another in an effort to live a few more days.

And John Calicos played the part to the HILT, he loved the role and it showed. It was he who was the driving force in getting the new show made, and regrettably he passed away just a couple weeks before it was given the green light.

The new character was just NOT Baltar, he was NOT interesting, he was NOT scary, and he was NOT someone you respected as an adversary and he certainly wasn't someone you could love to hate. You couldn't actually bring yourself to care about him at all, except to occasionally wish he would just go away so you can get to the good bits.

I'd have to say that that character alone was why I just felt no interest in the show, I didn't CARE if anyone beat the guy, because you knew he was such a pathetic wuss that all anyone had to do was kick the crap out of him and would spill the beans and Bob's your uncle the show is over. And every time he came on screen I couldn't help but wonder why no one was doing just that, because you wanted to kick his butt yourself.

As I said before, a Good Guy is nothing without a Bad Guy.

The human looking Cylons were also a disappointment. They were actually introduced in the last season of the original show, but really what it comes down is that no matter how often they tell the audience that a completely human looking and acting robot is so much technically harder to manufacture in the story, and that it is much scarier than a traditional robot because you can't tell it's a robot, it still just comes across as a cop-out that screams "we're too cheap to spring for a costume and special effects". I did mention that that final season really, really sucked, didn't I?

The original Cylons were COOL!!!! They looked, moved, spoke and acted like a machine. Think about it; it takes a good actor and a really good writer and director to have a human actor act like a robot, and that's magnified when you have dozens of actors on screen at the same time, especially considering it's very hard to tell them apart. Not to mention the cost, time and effort of making costumes. By contrast, it is really SUPER EASY to have a human act like a human. You pretty much don't have to do anything at all. In other words, it's just a tragic, epic FAIL.

Funny you should mention "Firefly", actually. Everyone raves about it, and a friend from work gave me copies of the entire collection he had burned to DVD-R when he downloaded them, but I've tried watching it four times and never got more than twenty five minutes into the pilot.

It's the actors that annoy me, they all look and act like young actors, they don't look or act at all like the characters that they are supposed to portray, and none of those characters seem interesting to me. In fact, they all look like cliche characters, not at all unique. When I watch it, I just don't buy into it, and I can't get interested in it at all. It bores me to tears, I don't care how good the script or the special effects, the actors and the characters just turn me off completely.

I love "Cowboy Bebop", I have the box set of that as well. :)

Every true fan of SF knows "The Starlost", and you can actually use that as a meter stick to judge a person's interest in and knowledge of SF*. For the general viewing public it's completely obscure, almost unheard of, because it was never of any interest to the general public. It was low budget and a bit hokey looking, but the scripts were superb and so were the characters. For this reason today it is only known by people with a serious interest and passion for hard science fiction, it's not something a "Star Wars" fan would have the slightest interest in.

It is about a generation ship that has been traveling in space for millennium, and none of the inhabitants remember that it's a ship, to them it is the world. Centuries before an undefined catastrophe had occurred and each bio dome was sealed off from the rest of the ship. The crew had all been killed and ship was off course.

A man exiles himself from his primitive, agrarian society, and finds a way through the door from his bio dome and into the ship proper. With no knowledge of technology the first couple episodes involve him, his fiance and best friend trying to overcome culture shock and learn about their surroundings. There is an information computer network, but it's damaged, and unreliable, and a lot of data has been lost, including the nature of the accident that so badly damaged the ship.

It reminded me very much of "Orphans in the Sky" by Heinlein, actually, but it wasn't just a knock-off of it. It's really a must see for anyone who is interested in the ESSENCE of science fiction, which I can sum up in two simple words: "What if?". It is not at all for the casual viewer who just wants to see spaceships and lasers and doesn't care about the plot.

I'm the former type, and have only a passing interest in "Star Wars"**, and a bit of a love-hate relationship with "Star Trek" which I like, but find too soft***. "Space: 1999" is an anomaly for me, it's the exact opposite of the type of SF I usually like, but somehow it just works, and I just adore it.

One thing I have noticed is that ,with very few notable exceptions, bad science fiction makes great movies, while good science fiction makes absolutely terrible movies. The screen is such a limited form of media, you can only represent so much detail, emotions and technical details because of budget, technical and time constraints. Books are an infinitely richer medium, and it hasn't got those limitations.

Also, books and stories HAVE to be plausible because the reader is concentrating on the story, whereas on the screen nobody notices plot holes just so long as the pace of the story is fast enough and there are enough interesting things to distract them.

Take the robots in "Star Wars" for example; what do they contribute to the story? Nothing. They are completely extraneous and serve only one purpose. They distract the audience from the fact that there is no real story.

I mean, when you get right down to it, it's really silly to suggest that an obsolete freighter would be able to outgun and outrun a squadron of modern military fighters. If I told you that this:
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Could whip this in a fight:
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You wouldn't believe it, would you? Yet NO ONE QUESTIONED IT WHEN THEY SAW IT ON "STAR WARS".

It doesn't make sense, but hundreds of millions of people saw the film, and I have never heard anyone point out that glaring discrepancy. All those people saw it, yet not one noticed it. Why? Lots of action and special effects and everyone was too busy thinking about how cute the robots were to devote even a second of thought to the fact that the entire scene was completely ludicrous. Because were distracted from thinking about it.

Let us look at the Death Star. A fixed defense has only one possible use, and that is as a defensive fortification for an immobile asset, for example a planet. The French proved conclusively that a stationary fortification is of no use at all for anything else than that with the Maginot Line. All one has to do in order to defeat it is stay out of it's firing envelope and go around it. For offense you need to take the fight to the enemy, and to do that you need mobile units. Of course, the only war that the French have ever won was the French Revolution, and that was only because the other side was also French. You can always trust the French to be really good as bad examples when it comes to military tactics and strategy.

Even the greatest military mind the French ever had, Napoleon Bonaparte, was appallingly bad at strategy and tactics. He succeeded because he recognized the fact that organization, morale and logistics was what won battles and wars, not tactics and strategy. The best tactics and strategy in the world is useless if you can't get your forces to a position in which they can do the most good or can't keep them supplied with bullets and beans, fuel, spare parts and any of the other millions of things an army in the field needs in order to be effective.

Getting back to Star Wars, why would such a massive, expensive, state of the art, military fortress have such an Achilles heel? I mean, a teenager took it out with one shot. It makes no sense whatsoever. But no one noticed that, because "oooh, look at the lasers and cute robots!"

I actually have only seen a couple episodes of "Quantum Leap". It was good, but it didn't grip my interest enough to watch any more. The lead had very good acting abilities, though, the show depended on it.

It was actually really good SF. Science fiction is not about spaceships, or time travel, or lasers or the future or robots. It can have all of those things, but that isn't what science fiction IS.

What science fiction IS is speculation. You start with a scenario and then ask yourself "what if THIS happened, how can I make that work and seem like it might actually happen?" It doesn't matter what "THIS" is, not really, it merely has to be something unexpected, and then you study that unlikely thing to discover a way in which it actually is possible, even probable, no matter how unexpected it was. Alternatively, you can forget about explaining it, and describe how your protagonist copes with the unusual situation created by the unexpected thing. As I said earlier, it boils down to one question, just two very short and simple words: "What if?".

The original "Twilight Zone" from the 60's was real science fiction, and very good science fiction, though only rarely did it involve spaceships or the other elements commonly associated with the genre. You don't need those to have SF. The same can be said of "The Outer Limits" (I have that box set as well, by the way). And the writers who wrote those stories were not screenwriters, they were all published science fiction novelists.

I could actually recommend some books, that is my real passion. I'm far more qualified to discuss that than I am movies and television.

Oh, this cat is a real character, she has more personality than any other cat I have ever met, and they are all characters.

That 'corn I spotted at the drug store while picking up a prescription one day, and I just had to have it. :D

I'm sorry to write such a long post, but you got me started on a pet subject, and I do get pedantic. :lolpony:

* In literature the genre is abbreviated as "SF". On screen the accepted abbreviation is "sci fi". I am primarily a reader of the genre, and have only a mild interest in a select few science fiction movies and television shows, therefore I always use "SF".

** In order to be called science fiction a story has to plausible, has to use real science and be consistent within it's own framework. "Star Wars" is NOT science fiction, it's space opera. There is zero real technology or science, it's not plausible, and it's certainly not consistent. it's all action and fun.

*** "Star Trek" has been described as "the McDonalds" of science fiction by David Gerrold, who wrote many of the scripts and books, and I must agree with him. It has a plausible basis but is massively oversimplified for a non-technical audience and depends far too heavily on technobabble rather than real science. It's a good stepping stone into hard SF, but that's all it is.
 
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Always nice to get a bargain. :) Especially on something like a set as cool as that. :smile:

Think I may have to have a bit of nostalgia and watch some Space Precinct again. Used to watch it when it was on BBC 2 here. And I've now got the theme tune stuck in my head. :lolpony:

The Girl From Tomorrow sounds interesting, thanks for another recommendation. :) I like things with good characters who you really want to know what happens to. I'm familiar with that 'there's only so many plots' idea, studied some media/film studies stuff and it came up in that. Hero's Journey too.

I'd figured the links were for the shows. I put Andromeda to record on the TiVo because I prefer to watch things on the TV or Netflix if I can. (Personal preference, feel free to call me "goody two shoes" :lolpony: ).

I read Watership Down when I was young-ish and have re-read it quite a few times since. It's one of the few books I have more than one copy of (my original paperback and a couple of illustrated editions). It's one of my favourite fiction books, although I may be biased because I've always liked stories with rabbits in them (possibly because I was told quite a few I liked when I was younger). I also love "The Little Prince", that's another one I have more than one copy of, although in that case it was a case of new translation plus hardback made it worth getting again, plus I have a copy in the original French. :smile:

Agh, that's so annoying when people assume "such-and-such genre/type of programme/type of book is just for kids or whatever". I think things are starting to get better with stuff like animation and comic books but still, why make assumptions like that. :tongue: I know the example you're talking about is from a while ago but you still see it today sometimes, still annoying.

I get the impression most people dislike Wesley (the kid with the crazy IQ from Next Generation). I have a book which has Star Trek cross stitch patterns in it and one of them includes the phrase "Shut up Wesley!". :) Whenever I think about that character I always remember some of those awful jumpers he wore. :lolpony: Data I thought had some interesting moments though. Some good episodes, seem to remember there being one about when AI counts as sentient or something along those lines which seems like it's something that may become more and more relevant.

I think quite a few sci-fi shows are guilty of technobabble. (And now I'm thinking of that bit in one of the David Tennant Doctor Who episodes, "it's my timey-wimey detector, it goes ding when there's stuff". :lolpony: ). I know there's stuff we just don't know about and sometimes if it's fiction making things up is fine but sometimes it can get silly. :lolpony: Interesting when writers predict things right though, especially when it's something that arrives many years later. Am I right in thinking I heard Arthur C. Clarke did that a few times. Satellites I think particularly seems to come to mind. Been a while though so I could be completely wrong.

It's nice seeing well made props and ships and things, and especially impressive seeing some of the older examples when you know computers weren't able to be used in the way they were now (and I sometimes prefer real costumes to computer stuff even now if they're done well, although computers can be used to make great stuff too). Nice when people think about designing things that would actually work, including little details. Although sometimes the BEM type monsters can be amusing. Worst sci-fi monster I can think of off the top of my head is the one from the Tom Baker Doctor Who episode that was basically painted bubble wrap. Creative at least I suppose. :lolpony: I find it interesting to learn how some of those things were made, or trying to work out what props/costumes are made of sometimes.

The tie-ins I read weren't direct retellings of the movie or episode stories, they were new stories with the characters from the movies or series in them. Part of the reason why I liked the Star Wars ones is because the plots were more interesting and they developed the characters more. Stopped reading them when they switched to a different publisher though, read a few and didn't enjoy them as much. The Stargate ones I've read are recentish and I'd say it's still a bit of a gamble whether they'll be good or not. Some of the best ones seem like a story that feels like a written episode of the show but some of them not so good in my opinion. But everyone has different taste. :)

Different then in the case of the two Battlestars then. Agree with you about the new Baltar, kept wondering when he'd end up getting thrown out of an airlock or something. My husband and I still can't work out how he ended up surviving as long as he did.

I do like the original Cylon design. And that's a good point about humans acting like robots being more difficult than humans acting like humans.

We didn't get far into Firefly either. Only tried watching it once but never felt the need to go back to it. Again a different series for different tastes thing I think because, yeah, it does seem really popular (enough to get a movie made to finish it if I remember correctly).

Another Cowboy Bebop fan! :smile: It's a nice example of "not everything is perfect shiny space ships and ports" isn't it? Along with some interesting characters. :)

I like the sound of The Starlost, as does my husband, so we'll give that one a go, thank you. :) The domes on the ship remind me of the ones in Silent Running.

I like the description of Star Wars as space opera, that's a nice way to put it. I'm not the biggest fan of them, although I don't dislike the original ones, although I agree they are filled with stuff that doesn't make sense as you say. If it's any consolation I did go "well that's a stupid design flaw" with the port on the Death star. It was the books I liked, and the ones with good plots and well written characters. I think the way I see it is nothing wrong with that sort of movie if that's what you're in the mood for as long as other types are made too, if that makes sense? To use the fast food analogy sometimes you fancy fast food perhaps but not all the time. (Although in the case of movies everyone's entitled to their own opinion and to enjoy whichever movies they like).

If the Falcon being able to survive against the military ships thing bothers you you'd probably like the "Everything Wrong With..." videos by Cinemasins that I mentioned. :smile: They point out things like that which don't make sense (something I'm sometimes guilty of doing :lolpony: ).

I found that Quantum Leap worked best as a show to watch an episode or two a week rather than marathoning it. We have the DVDs because my husband and I really like it but when we first watched it was one or two episodes a week on TV, he'd seen it before but again as an episode a week. Looked forward to it each week, finding out who the character/story of the week would be. :) Scott Bakula was good in that, he's a good actor. I was amused recently when hearing about Zootopia reminded me of Cats Don't Dance and I realised Bakula voiced one of the characters in that. I played the trailer for my husband to see if he recognised the voice, he didn't and had a bit of a "no? really!" moment when I told him. :)

I agree sci-fi doesn't need any of those to be sci-fi, and good sci-fi. "What if..." is a nice way to describe it because that can include so many possibilities. :)

Book recommendations would be appreciated. :) I've read some obvious choices of ones that tend to be called classics (e.g. Do Androids Dream and some of Clarke and Asimov's stuff) and some that have just caught my attention (for example some by authors who had written tie-in books I liked or ones where the story idea caught my attention) but I know there's big gaps. Heinlein's name rings a bell, although for Have Space Suit - Will Travel. I liked Carl Sagan's Contact.

That's lovely to have a pet with character. :smile:

Nice when you come across things that are "oh, that's very appealing to me" like that isn't it? The horse plush toy who lives on our monitor was like that, saw his face and couldn't say no. I'll try to take a photo of him tomorrow.

No worries, I was wondering if I should apologise for rambling in mine. :smile: I'm very happy to have an interesting conversation about sci-fi. :smile:
 
Oddly enough, my roommate and I were watching the box set of "Space Precinct" when I saw your reply. We just started the one with the space vampire.

I prefer to buy them on disk whenever possible and whenever I can afford them, so I understand. There is just something about having an actual disk or tape. I also have a fondness for box sets, as you probably noticed. :)

Yes, it gets to when people make assumptions as well. Quite a few people dismiss SF books, when in fact it's one of the most difficult genres to write, requiring in depth knowledge of various sciences, including astronomy, engineering, computer, psychology, often military tactics and strategy, history and a dozen others.

Yes, most shows do use technobabble. What annoys me is when they take them too seriously. Doctor Who has always used, and it was a running joke for Pertwee to say "I've reversed the polarity of the neutron flow", for example. The "box that goes ding" and "Timey-Wimey wibbley wobbley" are also tongue in cheek. On Who it's used for humor.

Space: 1999 was bad for it too, and I was always amused that they used a reflector telescope turned around as a "laser cannon", and they were forever using the same props to represent other things. It's a bit of a game to spot them, actually. Like the microscopes looked like they were put together with scrap plastic plumbing pipes, and did double duty as various alien devices such as a "space warp detector".

Animated films are another often underrated films, many of them are very complex and adult, particularly Japanese anime.

"Space opera" isn't a term that I coined, it was actually coined in the 1920's when science fiction literature was experiencing a golden age and all the pulp magazines appeared. Related terms are "soap opera" which we are all familiar with, and "horse opera" to refer to melodramatic Westerns.

Wikipedia: Horse Opera

I agree. And I like Star Trek, I really do, just as I'm a big fan of fast food. I like Star Wars too, taken in small doses.

I've actually seen a number of those "Everything Wrong" videos, as well as the "Honest Trailers" ones. :)

And hey, I like bad 50's flicks too. :)

Bakula is a GREAT actor, and I liked him on "Enterprise" as well.

It's 2am, so I'll probably have to get back to you on books. I'm very much into military SF, and the "Honor Harrington" series is top of the list. The publisher offers the first one in that series online as a free eBook as well. Actually they have an extensive free library, Baen takes a different approach than other publishers. They offer a lot of their books free, and the ones they charge for are quite inexpensive, and they REFUSE to use any DRM (Digital Rights Management, in other words piracy protection). They call it "reader crack", because it gets readers hooked enough to buy it. And they found out that the sales of paper editions actually went UP when they give it to you free, because if you like a book it's natural to want a physical copy of it. And the authors actually make a higher percentage than publishers who charge a lot for their eBooks.

Baen also includes CD's in a lot of their books that contain a number of other books in e format, short stories and other content. They use the free giveaways to drive sales, and it works. I actually own paper copies of books I read there free, so I can attest to it's effectiveness. So don't feel guilty about using it.

Baen Books: "On Basilisk Station"
Baen: Free Library

Another military series that is a MUST read is the Starfire series by David Weber and Steve White. They are INTENSE.

Not knowing what sub-genre of SF you enjoy, I'll list a few that I like, but I'm to skip from sub-genre to sub-genre because I suspect that's the best way to find something you like.

But as I say its late and my mind is getting fuzzy.

One that I think you'll LOVE is "Ghoster" by Dixie Lee McKeone and it's sequels. They are light space opera that has the feel of a lot of the Han Solo novels I have read. She also writes several other types of books under different pen names including romance and cook books. I LOVE these books and I have re-read them dozens of times. They are exciting and oh so FUN!!! They are out of print, so you'll have to look for them used, Amazon is a good place.

Let me think, "Howl's Moving Castle" by Dianne Wynne, and I just discovered that there are two sequels which I am VERY excited about. It was also a great anime movie, but the book is better. I've always been convinced that Howl is based on Peter Davison's Doctor, actually. That one is BRILLIANT, another I've re-read dozens of times. I bought my copy shortly after it was published, and it was very obscure.

Then some twenty years later out of the blue it wins an award for great overlooked literature and all of a sudden it's popular and they make a movie, go figure.

Anything by Douglas Adams, of course, though I expect you know that. My original Hitchhiker's paperbacks fell apart from being re-read so much and I now own the omnibus version.

Same goes for Terry Pratchett, but that's another I expect you already read.

Heinlein is very hard SF and "Have Spacesuit-Will Travel" I think was his second book. It's also one of my favorites. Heinlein's writing style evolved with each book, the later getting more technical. I actually prefer the earlier ones, they had a freshness to them.

I have read a LOT of Heinlein, I read the school library's entire collection when I was a freshman in high school. By my second year the librarian was asking my advice before she ordered new books, it was a bit funny. But I was reading an average of five or six novels a week at the time. But it was a long time ago, and some of it is a bit fuzzy. Do read "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and the "Rolling Stones", you'll love the latter I think.

Being hard SF all the science is exactly RIGHT; it's absolutely accurate as we knew it at the time. It's important to remember that a lot of those were written in the late 40's and 50's. The canals of Mars were a big plot element for example, and we now know that they don't exist and were but an optical illusion caused by peering too long into a telescope. It's rather an interesting window into the scientific knowledge of the past, really.

Asimov you know, do read his Robot books. MUCH better than that bloody movie.

I love Piers Anthony, and read the Xanth trilogy in high school religiously. The "trilogy" is a misnomer, because Anthony has a running joke that he never managed to get a passing grade in math, and he has a habit of cramming several dozen books into a "trilogy". He's still writing them, in fact, I don't even know what number he's at, must be close to forty, lol. The covers even proudly read "The TWENTY-FIFTH book in the Xanth Trilogy!", it's a joke and a cute and clever one.

Xanth is humorous fantasy and it is about a magical land that is built entirely from puns. EVERYTHING in Xanth is a pun. You do a lot of groaning, but it's great fun, i assure you.

I'm fading fast here. Sorry, I'm too sleepy to proof this, so I probably just wrote absolute rubbish, for which I apologize. :)
 
My apologies for not joining in when I said I would. Went on an adventure with the GF and son. Totally blew my moratorium on buying books when I scored 60 plus sci fi novels for ten cents each. I mean, sure my loved ones mocked me. But I can't be brought to shame. TEN STINKIN' CENTS! For Sturgeon, Zelazny, Brunner, Heinlein and MORE! I regret nothing. Also I found an Archer 1950's plastic spaceman. He is so boss as to be my newest best friend until further notice. I promise now that I'm sorta settled back into a normal routine thing I will read all this and catch up. I swear.

I almost fainted with joy when I saw Forbidden Planet has been brought up. You my dears, are my sort of people.
 
Gods, great deal!!! Often you get great prices at library book sales, swap meets and garage sales, too. And I visit the local used bookstore often, of course.

I think I am home myself, lol. I never expected a discussion this good when I joined, lol.

Another good one is the Saga of Recluse, which is fantasy that is written more like SF. It's very good, the books are 500+ pages and there are a LOT of them.

Anything by Gordon Dickson is good, if I had to recommend just one I'd say Mindspan, an anthology of his short stories. I love that book, every story in it is sheer genius. Also read the Dilbia novelettes, there is an anthology collection back in print called "The Right to Arm Bears". Don't let the name and cover art fool you, it's a joke and has nothing to do with the contents; Dilbians never use weapons, they feel it's sissy. It's funny and charming, and a great read, but it's also real science fiction that deals with understanding the Dilbians who are a very alien race and the psychology behind it is fascinating.

Robert Anvil's "Interstellar Patrol" stories are back in print with new anthologies, gotta read them.

Gosh, now that I'm put on the spot, it's hard to think of what to suggest.

I'll say anything at all written by L. Sprague DeCamp, especially the "Compleat Enchanter" series co-written with Fletcher Pratt. An anthology, "The Complete Compleat Enchanter" is back in print.

One series I really LOVE is the "Destroyermen" series by Taylor Anderson. It follows the story of the USS Walker DD-163, a Great War era four-stacker destroyer assigned to the Asiatic Fleet at the start of WWII, that goes into a squall at the end of the Second Battle of the Java Sea to escape a Japanese battlecruiser, and comes out in an alternate world. In this world the dinosaurs never died out and humans don't exist. The crew allies themselves with the Lemurians, a race evolved from Madagascar lemurs, against the Grik, a race evolved from velociraptors.

I am a huge armchair Admiral, and I have a thing about Naval history of that era, and this is wonderfully researched, and each and every ship is a real ship and the battle of Java Sea is as it happened, including the death of Exeter.

The only difference is that the main character ships, the Walker, USS Mahan DD-102 and the IJN Amagi in real life had no history worth mentioning.

In real life Walker never saw combat and by the time the war started was being used to train crews in repairing battle damage and was designated as a damage control hulk. After Pearl she was scuttled somewhere off Hawaii.

Mahan spent her entire career patrolling the Eastern seaboard and was eventually scrapped without firing a shot in anger.

Amagi was the lead ship of the Amagi class, and during construction was damaged in an earthquake and the keel was broken up for scrap, never completed. Her three sister ships, Akagi, Atago and Takeo were completed not as battlecruisers as intended, but as aircraft carriers because of the 1922 Arms Limitation Treaty. This wasn't unusual, we altered the design of several of our battlecruisers that were under construction and completed them as flattops as well. Akagi had a very active career, serving as flagship at the attack on Pearl, finally being sunk at the Battle of Midway.

The author felt that it was fitting as these ships and crews deserved to go down in history instead of being forgotten footnotes, so he gave them one. As the books progress you come to realize that the fact that these ships had a different history is because they too are from an alternate world, not ours, but one very similar. Eventually they find other ships and people from the war that are subtly different than they should be, for example a freighter that had been their own tender, but this one still bore a previous name and was used to ship P-40's to Java, it had never never been used as a tender.

Moving on, I rather like Zach Hughes, though he's a bit obscure and now out of print. he tells space operas, mostly revolving around space tugs, based on his own experiences as a tug captain. He also writes cook books under the name of Hugh Zachery. "Closed System" and "Gold Star" are excellent. There is a sequel to the latter I think, but I can't remember the title.

My absolute favorite author of all time is Keith Laumer, check out his Bolo series if you are interested in military SF. A Bolo is a massive, self aware tank, the ideal thing to guard far off colony worlds where it takes months to get supply ships even at FTL. Later Marks of Bolos were known as Continental Siege Units because they had the firepower of an entire regiment of traditional forces and could engage and destroy attacking spacecraft in low orbit. The last ones were known as Planetary Siege Units as they were equipped with antigrav that allowed them to move quickly across a planet's surface.

Laumer wrote them mostly in short stories in the sixties, and other authors now follow and write them in his style, Baen has an entire series of them.

"The Last Command" is the first Bolo story I ever read (at age eight) and I was hooked from that moment on, I've bought and read every Laumer book and short story I can lay my hands on from that moment to present. That's another you can read free from Baen.

Also read the Retief series, those are humorous looks at galactic diplomacy, based on Laumer's experience with the Diplomatic Corp as a military attache.
 
Replying to @Centauress first post first:

I think that may be a box set that’s going to have to end up in our collection at some point, the more I remember about the series the more I want to watch it again. :smile:

I think it’s nice to have a collection of your favourite movies and TV series. :) I prefer having a DVD or bluray to buying things digitally, I’m the same with CDs. I like having the physical CD rather than buying a digital copy because I like having the little booklets that usually come with them (although I usually rip the CDs so I can listen to them on my tablet and on the computer easily). With DVDs and blurays I like that you get the art and stuff as well (especially if it’s a nicely designed set) and it’s nice to know that it’s a format that should continue to work, don’t have to worry about file types becoming obsolete or anything. It might become old technology but things like the NES are old technology compared to the games systems that are now and people are still using them just fine. :smile:

Digital definitely has a place though, especially for keeping stuff that would otherwise be unavailable still around. I understand that not every series could possibly be released on DVD (although there are still some I’m a bit miffed that there aren’t DVDs of but I think if you ask anyone they’d probably be able to come up with a few) so if digital means that more things are available then that’s a positive I think. :smile:

You’re in good company with the fondness for box sets, the DVDs I can see from where I’m sitting are mostly sci-fi series box sets and anime movies and series box sets (quite a few of which are sci-fi type ones as well :lolpony: ). They tend to be popular presents in our house. :smile: Plus we’ve been lucky and found some good bargains sometimes.

It’s such a wide genre to dismiss as well isn’t it? It’s not like every sci-fi book will be the same, there’s so much variety. It’s like if people assume animation is just for children (and hey, even if the target audience is children that doesn’t mean it won’t be good :tongue: ). I think that’s a less common assumption now but still. The ‘anime/manga is all dodgy stuff’ one got very annoying when that was a common assumption for a while too.

It was thinking of the “it goes ding” quote because it was a fun tongue in cheek thing. :) I agree that the tone can make a big difference. Not technobabble but the Back to the Future films are an example of something that works because it doesn’t take itself (or themselves in this case) seriously I think. Time travel plots on shows that try to take them seriously but then don’t work properly tend to annoy me. There’s stuff in Back to the Future that makes no sense but because it’s more of a light-hearted comedy thing it doesn’t bother me too much.

Amusingly when the topic of time travel comes up I like using the example of the episode of Friendship is Magic “It’s About Time” as one that works. I know not all time travel stories can be that neat but that was one example of a story with time travel in it that didn’t leave me going “wait, no, that doesn’t work!” at it in annoyance. :lolpony: There was an episode in Stargate SG1 that worked too, “1969”, and in that case I think it’s a tone thing again, there’s some humour in it (one of the nice things about that show in general actually, the light-hearted moments that seemed to make a nice balance. I liked the references to various mythologies too as that’s something I’m interested in).

That sounds like a fun game, spot the recycled prop. :smile: A bit like the “guess what ordinary stuff was used to make the prop/costume” game I find fun. :) I’m also guilty of playing a “figure out where the actor/actress can see out of that costume” game, probably because I’m made a few costumes with limited vision myself. :lolpony: When we were watching a couple of shows that had a number of actors and actresses from other sci-fi shows we liked in them my husband and I played one we called “Star Trek, Stargate or Battlestar”. :lolpony: For some of them it was some or all of the above. :smile:

As someone who loves animation I agree. One of the nice things about animation is that you can do so much with it, you’re not limited to what can be filmed in real life (or in a mix of real life and special effects). You can find so many different genres in animation, and that’s lovely. :smile: I’d imagine when some people think of animation they just think of Disney, Pixar and maybe Dreamworks and perhaps the Saturday-morning type shows (nothing wrong with those, Lilo and Stitch is one of my favourite movies, and I love the How To Train Your Dragon movies and series) but there’s so much out there that’s really good that’s not just from those.

Thinking of anime, have you seen “Summer Wars”? That’s a nice example of a ‘what if…’ (in this case what if technology became heavily integrated in to daily life in a way that seems very plausible and not far off where we are now, then something went wrong).

I have heard the term “space opera” before although “horse opera” is new to me though. Makes sense. :)

Different types for different moods and different tastes isn’t it? :smile: I think the ‘taken in small doses’ idea with Star Wars is one I agree with for my own preference. I’d never want to marathon them personally but I can see why people would enjoy that (especially, for example, to watch all of the existing ones before the new one came out). When I say I’m not the biggest fan of them it’s stuff like, for example, I wasn’t in a rush to see the new one (didn’t want to go to a midnight showing or anything) but I did want to see it eventually, if that makes sense? (I mean comparatively to people who are clearly big fans).

Cool. :) I like some of the “Everything Wrong With…” ones because I’m amused that they pick up on some things that I do where I can then go “see, I’m not the only one” (although I’ll still admit to being picky some times). :lolpony: You’ve probably come across “How It Should Have Ended” as well if you’ve seen some of those other two but if not some of those are fun. :smile:

As clichéd as it would have been I was a little disappointed that Bakula going “oh boy…” (or a play on something like it) never made it in to Enterprise (that I noticed anyway). He was good in it though, I agree. :smile: If you want to hear what his singing is like look up “Danny’s Arrival Song” from Cats Don’t Dance, he’s not bad at that either. :)

That ‘try before you buy’ type of thing, where you can read a sample chapter or watch an episode of something to see if you like it, can be good, so having a whole first book or a set like that sounds great. And I’m the type of person who does like to have a physical copy of books I like too. :smile: Same sort of view as with digital video, if given the option I prefer a physical book but eBooks can be great for making more things available and can have other positive points too (being able to carry more books without worrying about carrying around the weight if you travel). Plus it also makes books a possibility on Humble Bundle which is great too. :smile:

The Daley or Crispin Han Solo books? (Or both sets?) :) Either way fun sounds good. Out of print recommendations are fine, quite a few times I’ve ended up tracking down second hand copies of books I wanted to read but that were out of print (or books that I wanted to read again that I’d borrowed from the library years ago which had since gone out of print and the library didn’t have any more). I like to browse for second hand books when I get the chance generally too, found some books I’ve really enjoyed with random browsing. :)

If there was a pony smiley of a pony doing the “YAAAAAAAY!” thing Kermit the Frog does I’d use it here, I LOVE the Diana Wynne Jones books that I’ve read, including Howl’s Moving Castle! One of my friends who is also a fan of hers recommended it to me, when I read it I knew that there was going to be a Studio Ghibli movie made based on it and thought it’d be an interesting book to see adapted by them. I had a feeling that one of the places the door lead to being Wales might change but I thought it’d be something like a generic European town rather than what ended up happening.

Have you read Dark Lord of Derkholm, Deep Secret or The Merlin Conspiracy? I enjoyed all of those (and the sequel to Dark Lord of Derkholm, Year of the Griffin). And now I’m reminded that I really ought to get around to reading some of her other work. :smile:

Both my husband and I are big Douglas Adams fans. :smile: We’ve got the omnibus edition of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy too. :) Made me sad once years ago at work when I said “42” in answer to something and got blank looks, although fortunately when I said “Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, ultimate answer” I at least got the response, “oh, that sci-fi book, there was a movie too, right?”.
Terry Pratchett is an author whose books I need to get around to. Know a bit about them but haven’t read any yet.

I don’t think I’ve read those two Heinlein books, I’ll give them a go, thanks. :smile:

I’ve read the I, Robot book, although it’s been a while and one I wouldn’t mind going back to, I liked the concept of the Three Laws of Robotics. Pretty sure I’ve read one or two of his other robot books too, but not all of them.

I love puns, the more groan-worthy the better, so the Xanth books definitely sound like ones I should check out if that’s the case, thanks. :smile:

@evilbunnyfoofoo An adventure where you get that many books for 10 cents each sounds like a great adventure to me! :smile: Seems very reasonable to break a moratorium on buying books when you can get some great stuff at crazy good prices to me. I saw a card once with a saying on it that I agree with that’s also amusing: “You can never have too many books, the problem is always too little bookshelf space”. Now if someone could invent a bookcase that worked like the TARDIS… :lolpony: And maybe a mini one for my fabric and craft supplies too.. :lolpony: I know technically eBook readers are sorta like that, but it’s not the same to me. :smile:

Always great to find neat toys/figures. :smile:

evilbunnyfoofoo said:
You my dears, are my sort of people

Centauress said:
I think I am home myself, lol.

So glad I joined this forum, I agree with your sentiments, you guys are awesome. :smile:

Saw on the art section on the post of the lovely art with Fizzy and the dragonfly-bunnies that you like Avatar and Korra too @evilbunnyfoofoo ? Once again I find myself wishing for a Kermit-esque “YAAAAAY!” pony smiley. :ponylove:

Not only have I discovered some more great ponies (I now have a couple of G2 ponies on the way to me in the post because of learning about one on this forum then discovering another I liked at the same time :blush: ) and already seen some lovely art and customs I get to have a great conversation, learn about new series and books to enjoy and see cool robots as well. I think these smilies sum up this place: :coolpony: :smile:

In reply to your second post @Centauress

Large books don’t put me off so recommendations of longer books are fine too. :smile: I was the sort of kid who was always happy to get books for presents for birthdays and Christmas (and still love getting them now :smile: ).

I love short stories when they’re done well too, so I’ll check those out as well.

Understanding aliens who are properly different is an interesting concept I think. :) Something I liked about the Mass Effect games when I watched my husband play them (and helped him make some of the decisions) was that there were different alien races who did behave differently. I particularly liked the Elcor, the fact that I think elephants (which they sort of resemble) are interesting animals combined with the way they communicate made them one of my favourites I think.

That’s an interesting idea for an alternative universe story, taking something that would otherwise not have much of a story and giving it one. Interesting concept. :)

Thanks very much for taking the time to give me all of these recommendations. :smile: I really appreciate it, having good books to read is something I love. :smile:
 
Firstly Sam, I must say: You MUST watch Lost in Space if you haven't peeked at it since this thread started. It's a quirky delightful series. As Centauress has said, the first season struck a more serious tone, while the next two descended into a deliciously surreal, off kilter sci fi fun romp. I know some people just hate the show, but to me it was an amazingly fun show with some truly original themes. Jonathan Harris as Doctor Smith especially will always remain one of my favourite all time actors. When Harris realized the character of Smith would need to eventually be removed (as he was a villain), he slowly showed him degrading into a manic lunatic (Harris even had some interesting reasoning behind this which I won't bore you with unless you really wanna hear it) and his exchanges with the Robot became more and more epic in content each episode. I adore it all to this day. I think it's a darn shame it ended like TOS, with a mere three seasons and so much potential untapped.

I suppose you could watch the film, but really it's like apples and oranges. The joy and wonder is gone, replaced with a sour lack of humanity with generic cut out characters and a typical plot for the time. Buggy aliens endanger everywhere and they have more personalty than the crew. I will say that as always Gary Oldman puts in a fabulous performance as Dcotr Smith, but he is nothing like the Smith I love. I tend to not be a fan of retcons and remakes either, but I usually give them a chance. This film failed on all points for me.

---

Centauress: Interesting they're producing more life size replicas of the B-9. I had a friend order one more than a decade ago (seems like he paid between 6000-9000 but I'd have to ask him for more info as my memory fades) then the company folded, leaving him poorer and robot-less. I have to wonder is this the same group under another name or hopefully a better, more honest company that actually delivers their products. I know at the time most of his family thought he was nuts, but hey. If I had had that kind of dosh lying about I would have ordered one as well. Imagine having your own B-9! Heavenly! And you're 100% on the mark about B-9 and Robbie's design. They were functional, filmed well and realistic. I was sort of saddened by the shift over to more humanoid androids (like the Metropolis Maria based C3PO and the like). I prefer my robots to be big and bulky, like say Hammerstein of the Eagle Limited comic ABC Warriors. Oh, and clutter is my life. I find the closest I get to orderly is stacks. And stacks. And stacks.

I might need help.

:blush:

Beanie Babies. Yikes. No one wants to know how many I own, or how many I even have to sell. I've been too sloth to put them up. And all the other assorted toys and whatnot that is amassing in what I jokingly call the library. And rabbits are definitely one of my favourite creatures (hence my name). At one time I had about a hundred that i raised for show animals for underprivileged children, but now I just have two house rabbits: Wellington J Bootstrap and Bismark J Biscuit Box. Being on a farm, we're pretty much drowning in critters, but can't have small outside animals like chickens or rabbits because my wretched neighbour breeds beasts that will rend their cages open and destroy them. Oh for the day he drops off the earth!


Yes, have you seen "Forbidden Planet"? Those are all phrases from the movie. If not, there is only one version to look for.

It's not good, but honestly, I've sat and watched flicks such as "Battletruck" a number of times, some movies are quite fun if you have very low expectations. :) I love cheesy B movies, I was a huge fan of MST3K.

Stuffed animals is one thing I've never truly outgrown. I have a number of them here that I literally pulled out of trash cans, I couldn't bear to see them carried off. I just have a soft spot for them.

I hate to admit how many stuffed animals I own, just because they were beaten up and looked sad. I am a professional dumpster diver, so I'm not shy about rescuing them. :D

I too have a huge affection for really bad movies (or really good movies. Or hell, mediocre movies!) I am known to torture my GF and son with the best of the worst. They will learn to love Ed Woods Jr and Roger Corman or I haven't educated them well. I collect movies by the stack. VHS, lazerdisc, DVD, anything I can get hold of. It's like Pokemon, gotta watch 'em all. I love horror, sci fi, fantasy, animation, foreign, art house... oh I love movies!

Babylon 5 didn't ring my bell either, even with Billy Mumy in the cast. My oldest brother loved it, but then again he liked farscape, another I only watched with minimum interest. I rather think it had something to do with a lot of the plot points brought in by Harlan Ellison (who I love for his short stories, but hate for his TV work, plus also he is a bounder) and Walter Koenig. Koenig can play Chekov forever I suppose, but his bland writing and contrite ideas make for poor viewing. I point out that he wrote the worst ST Animated Series episode The Infinite Vulcan as the only proof I need that he should be barred from a typewriter. Also he is a bitter little anklebiter. (I'd worked with him and Ellison at several cons and both are difficult people, but Koenig only pales in bitterness to James Doohan who was a total downy clowny)

---

Interesting you bring up the eagle design (for me anyway :D ). My best chum and I were just discussing how beautiful the designs were and how they remain (in our probably very biased opinions) some of the best, most realistic crafts of all time insofar as sf shows/movies go. They're so clean and functional! Truly works of art. And I agree about the seasons drastic change between one and two. It was almost jarring, and a bit disappointing to me when I originally watched. Now, I quite fancy the show, but in my youth I was particularly fond of the characters and set up, so I hated the formula being mucked with. I had stacks of the novelizations as well (also Doctor Who) but sadly someone decided they liked them better than me and fled into the night with them. Also they took most of my Doc Savage, for which I hope they choke. I've had a lot of my fannish things stolen over the years (including a bin of my childhood G1s, so the subject of thievery maddens me. And since most of my paperbacks were in storage until I recently yanked out about 3000 to sort, I feel your pain. No one should have to live away from their books. It's disheartening.

---

And a kindred feeling for Star Wars. While I found the characters of Chewie and Han endearing (I didn't give a squat for the rest), I was sitting in the theater as a 10 year old arguing that the little fighters would be shredded to pieces moving at the speed they were without proper hulls. My brother thought they made had force fields around them, but that made no sense to me. Also, I was irked that C3PO was a blatant rip of Metropolis' Maria and even little Huey/Dewey/Louie from Silent Running had been copied. There was so much lifted from so many sources it just pissed me off, even as a kiddo. God, how embarrassing to admit that I was dissecting movies like a cynic at that age.

---

Oh Sam, make sure to try to watch some of these films after Forbidden Planet: Queen of Blood (space vampire dame!), Planet of Vampires (stylish Italian sci fi at its finest, although there are no true vampires, more like space voodoo zombies), any of the Quatermass films... oh. There's so many I can't even decide! Stalker, from Russia based off the great novel Roadside Picnic is fabulous though a bit plodding. Later I'll think of more. Later. Whenever that may be! :unsure:

---

Some sci fi series I've loved: Quark a funny (though somewhat dated) sci fi comedy. Especially hilarious is the character Gene/jean played by a very young Tim Thomerson. Sadly short lived, but entertaining.

Survivors - A 70s british sci fi series following a group of plague survivors. I love it though my son found it dull. He's used to shows like Walking Dead where everyone just kills everyone else and no one really tries too hard to work together.

Starlost (opps! I see it WAS mentioned, but it's so good, I'll leave this here as a double recommendation. It's THAT good. - 70s series about a group of humans exploring a giant spaceship called the ARK which houses small micro habitats, all from various places on earth. One season wonder, but worth the gander.

Blakes 7 - Again, British sci fi. This is a group of social pariahs and criminals fighting a galaxy wide fascist regime.

Lexx - a bit saucy, a bit sexy but never boring. A trio of misfits (including the dreamy dead assassin Kai LOL) and a perverted robotic head fly around space in a living ship and have bizarre misadventures. Occasionally they remember to fight to evil guys who are after them. :D

Fringe- Wonderful conspiracy theory laden adventures with alternate universe themes.

Rick and Morty - animated. Foul and fabulously funny, Rick is a genius who travels the multiverse and takes his grandson along for the ride, usually as a human shield. While at first glance Rick seems to be just a selfish, maniacal sociopath, he's actual far more complex than many characters you'll see in more 'intellectual' fare. Morty is quite often a dupe, but he progresses as a character into a much more rounded being. Looking very forward to season three.

***

If you survived reading all my rambling, you are awesome and get cookies! Whooooo! SUGAR! I'm entering day three of no sleep and think I may just be moving into a new plane of unconsciousness. :D I should be ashamed, seeing how organised the two of you are being, but rabbits are flighty creatures. That's a good excuse, right? :p

I'll hit the subject of SF books a bit later. That's the one that has me salivating the most. LOL. Especially when I saw a fellow James Retief fan. In these PC days, I think he's a character that gets some underserved scrutiny.
 
Haven't tried Lost in Space yet but my husband and I have started watching the Starlost. :) Enjoyed what we've watched so far, the concept of having the different domes so you can have a different story each time seems like it's going to be a nice way to tell the story of the ship. :) Lost in Space is most certainly on the 'to watch' list as well. I'll let you know when we've watched some of it. :smile:

@evilbunnyfoofoo That's a shame your friend didn't get either a robot of their money back. :( Horrible when things like that happen.

evilbunnyfoofoo said:
I was sort of saddened by the shift over to more humanoid androids (like the Metropolis Maria based C3PO and the like). I prefer my robots to be big and bulky, like say Hammerstein of the Eagle Limited comic ABC Warriors.

It makes sense for robots to be designed in a way that works, where they can balance easily and work on tasks without having to worry about their form/design making life more difficult, I agree. Thinking about the robot that actually exists, I forget it's name, that is a human shape but that walks kinda awkwardly.

evilbunnyfoofoo said:
Beanie Babies. Yikes. No one wants to know how many I own, or how many I even have to sell.

There were so many cute ones, so many different designs that were really nice. :smile:

evilbunnyfoofoo said:
And rabbits are definitely one of my favourite creatures (hence my name). At one time I had about a hundred that i raised for show animals for underprivileged children, but now I just have two house rabbits: Wellington J Bootstrap and Bismark J Biscuit Box.

Aww, that's lovely that you did that. :) Love the names for your rabbits. :smile: Do you have pictures of them?

can't have small outside animals like chickens or rabbits because my wretched neighbour breeds beasts that will rend their cages open and destroy them.

That's awful. :(

evilbunnyfoofoo said:
I hate to admit how many stuffed animals I own, just because they were beaten up and looked sad. I am a professional dumpster diver, so I'm not shy about rescuing them.

That's lovely that you rescue plush toy animals too. :) Do either of you restore them or toys too?

evilbunnyfoofoo said:
It's like Pokemon, gotta watch 'em all. I love horror, sci fi, fantasy, animation, foreign, art house... oh I love movies!

The more genres you like the more possibilities there are to enjoy. :) And now I have the Pokémon theme stuck in my head. :lolpony:

I didn't get in to Farscape either (although I watched enough to get that there was a parody of it in one of the later episodes of Stargate SG1). I like a lot of stuff the Jim Henson Company were involved with but that wasn't one that I wanted to watch all of.

That's awful that you've had so much stolen. :( Especially something with so much sentimental value as childhood ponies. :madpony: face at whoever did that!

Agreeing that it's not nice to not have access to all of your books. My husband and I used to live in a flat(/apartment) that wasn't that big and didn't have enough room for all of my books in it. My parents looked after the ones I left with them and every so often I found myself wanting to read a book that was still with them and they weren't close enough to be able to just pop round to pick up a book. We now live somewhere with more bookcase room so I have all of my books back with me now (although I still have some books that won't fit on the shelves that are stored neatly in boxes. I still claim the problem isn't too many books, it's not enough bookshelf space like that card I mentioned said :lolpony: ).

Off topic of what they're mentioned in but: I liked the Silent Running robots. :)

I don't think I've seen the Quartermass films (although I have heard of them), hubby can't remember if he has or not so those go on the list. :)

Sci-fi comedy sounds good. :) Speaking of that type of series/movie, have either of you seen Red Dwarf or Galaxy Quest?

Blake's 7 I've heard of. :) Fringe rings a bell too and Rick and Morty is the one with the characters who look like parodies of Doc Brown and Marty from Back to the Future, right?

I followed all of that so it's fine, don't worry. :) And nice to be able to talk about sci-fi and stuff with people who don't mind the fact that I ramble a lot. :smile:
 
I stayed up all night, so I'm a bit sleep deprived, and not really answering in order of topic, but rather where I want to. Please excuse a lack of continuity.

Funny that you should mention the similarity of the Earthship Ark from "The Starlost" and the ships in "Silent Running", because they were very similar in concept and in design. The Ark was much bigger, but Starlost was made a year after the release of SR, and I always suspected the design was a steal, though there is no similarity in story.

EDIT: Actually, I just read that footage from SR was used in Starlost, so it wasn't inspired by it, it WAS it!!! Footage was also re-used in "Battlestar".

There is an old adage in the world of literature, "Only steal from the absolute best", so I take the copy of the ship design and the robots to be the sincerest homage possible, actually. SR was really a seminal movie, one of the greats.

To show how seminal it was, here we can see some of the other works inspired by SR, which include "Red Dwarf", "MST3K", "Starlost", "Wall-E" and a number of songs.

“Space Precinct” is such an odd blend of gritty police drama and corny SF, with the rather cheap SFX and I just adore the fact that they film close up shots of ordinary American cars when they film someone in a space hopper, lol. It has Gerry Anderson just written all over it!


This is the set I have.

Amazon: Space Precinct Full Series

Regarding the show not taking it seriously, I fully agree. Hard SF is nearly impossible on the screen, and insanely expensive. Very few such movies and shows work, "2001" is a notable exception, but really one still needs to read the book in order to truly understand it. Usually it just comes off looking hokey and pretentious.

It's MUCH better when the directors and writers understand their limitations and convert it to humor. That's always been a tradition with Doctor Who, and your right, "Back to the Future" as well, it was just a lot of FUN.

Have you seen the Epic Rap Battle between Doc Brown and Doctor Who? If not you HAVE to!!! If you have, well it's always worth watching again, I love it.


“It’s About Time” is one of my favorite episodes, I love paradoxical time travel stories!!!

"Red Dwarf" is another of my favorites, and it seems one cannot be a Whovoian and not also be a Dwarfer, and vice versa. I love the way they constantly contradict themselves, it would have made Douglas Adams proud!

I agree about "Stargate" being great because of the mixture of elements, drama, science, humor mythology. It's so diverse and complex that it just works. I admit to not being up on it. There are a lot of gaps in my viewing, I need to have a marathon of the shows until I'm caught up.

I started the "spot the prop" game with Doctor Who, actually, there are a few that they re-used hundreds of times over a period of decades, such as space ship chairs, helmets and one big round metal thing that kept re-appearing. I've no idea what it is, but it was in a heap of debris in the ruins of Skaro in "Destiny of the Daleks" and part of the nose of the Marshall's ship in "The Armageddon Factor" for example, but it can be seen in literally dozens of episodes over a fifteen year period. But a LOT of shows are guilty of it, actually. Studios tend to be very myopic, they never throw anything away, they always manage to re-use even the most useless of junk.

Heck, you know the Optimus Prime truck from the "Transformers" movie? Two still exist and are in Paramount's motor pool where they are used to haul cargo, I've seen them there quite often. When I worked at the courier company I occasionally drove for longer runs in the heavier trucks, because no one else wanted to do it, and I love driving trucks on the open highway. Once in a while we would need a heavy vehicle and we would rent them from Paramount.

Back when Irwin Allen was king of the airwaves he would recycle all of his monsters in his various shows. If a monster appeared in "LiS" you could bet within a month the same monster would appear in "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" with fins and gills glued on, it was quite entertaining. Cheap S.O.B. that Allen was, it was very entertaining. :D

The costume game sounds fun!!! I need to try that as well.

Actually, once in the early 90's I went to the Halloween parade in Hollywood (didn't enjoy it much, too crowded, never went again) and I bumped into a man (literally) who was wearing a Colonial pilot's uniform complete with that great jacket from the 1978 Battlestar, which by then wasn't well remembered.

Of course I spotted it immediately, and commented on how good the costume was. The guy gave me a sheepish look and said, "It out to be good, it's the real thing, I work at the studio and I snuck it out out of the wardrobe department for this. Now I have to sneak it back in before anyone notices!" Hollywood is weird, one time Costner nearly ran into me with his shopping cart at the grocery store.

I haven't heard of “Summer Wars”, but thank you, I'll look into it. A friend recommended "Kiki's Delivery Service" yesterday on Facebook, and I stayed up all night and watched it. Just brilliant and charming, I loved every second. Another friend just suggested "Spirited Away" on FB just a few minutes ago, and I'm downloading it as we speak.

I agree, I used an old Palm Tungsten set up as a book reader for years, the battery finally died. I'm not a cell phone type of person, so I preferred it. The Palm is archaic by comparison, but I always liked it. And it didn't have a bloody phone in it, so it didn't annoy me by ringing.

I'm old fashioned, I miss the days when I could let the answer machine screen my calls and not answer unless I felt like it. Even today, I nearly always manage to conveniently "forget" to take the cell when I go out, or to "accidentally" turn off the volume.

"... The Daley or Crispin Han Solo books? ..." Gosh, I've no clue, honestly. I was fifteen when I read them, and they have been boxed up in storage for nearly two decades. I remember I enjoyed them, but lost interest after a while. :D I think it was Daley, because I liked Daley's other books, such as "A Jinx on a Terran Inheritance". Daley left us far too young, may he rest in peace.

SHOCKED you haven't read Xanth, lol. I thought everyone had. Also read his "Incarnations of Immortality" series, as you like mythology you will love those.

About the shelf problem, that's a chronic problem, yeah a dimensionally transcendental library sounds ideal! While I'm at it I want a dimensionally transcendental purse.

Seriously, in "The Runaway Bride" I laughed for weeks when Tennant said his pockets were bigger on the inside, all of a sudden I realized that it totally explained Tom Baker's coat pockets, and Troughton, and Davison were guilty of that too. It just explained SO MUCH!!!

"... Understanding aliens who are properly different is an interesting concept I think. ..." It is also fiendishly difficult to do in a believable way. Dickens is a MASTER at that, and he goes one further and makes his stories genuinely funny and enjoyable and charming at the same time! Comedy is difficult at the best of times, mixing it with hard SF and complex psychology? Sheer GENIUS!

By the way, I'm always making "42" remarks as well, I tend to get a lot of blank stares. A few odd looks too when I went to work with a towel draped over my shoulders on Towel Day. But who cares, everyone thought I was weird anyway. When I started hormones and transitioned NO ONE was surprised.

Actually, after it came up I decided to watch the "LiS" film and then the pilot of the show. Night and day, the show was SO much better.

As mentioned, the characters were just blah stereotypes with no personality and it just degenerated into a stereotypical SF B movie, only with expensive SFX. Really, a large budget completely RUINS SF films, the producers concentrate on the FX and not the characters or story, and this was no exception.

FX should only be used to enhance verisimilitude of the story, not to dominate the film with script and acting a mere afterthought.

I loved how the the relationships between the Robot, Will and Dr. Smith kept evolving. I always read it as Smith realizing that if he remained the brooding, scheming villain that everyone was eventually going to tire of keeping a guard on him and feeding him, and just space him or shoot him. He actively tried to appear harmless and avuncular. And I think he really did develop a fondness for the Robot and Will. Not love, not even a reluctance to sacrifice them or anyone else to save his own skin, but a fondness.

I understand that this company is new, and they seem to be doing well, though it's a very small specialty niche and a very expensive luxury item. But a lot of people grew up with that show and now later in life are prosperous, and they are interested in something like that the same reason that they will buy a new VW Bug or a Mini because it was all they could afford when they were young. The new ones are NOT cheap entry level cars like the original, but expensive nostalgia items. And they are fun cars without all the mechanical headaches of the originals.

I'd be better off with a second hand Honda or Corolla, but I would totally spend the money on a life-size B-9 and Robby instead.

I really prefer my robots to be big, bulky iron monstrosities with lots of old fashioned 1950's relays clicking away and flashing lights behind a glass panel or dome myself. And K-9 wasn't any different, really, merely smaller, so of course I instantly fell in love with him.

I LOVE your pretentious names for your bunnies!!!!! I'm very fond of such names myself. My teddy bear is named Thaddeus.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who rescues stuffed animals!!!! I always feel a bit daft when I do it, but I just can't stand to leave them.

That's funny, I once met Ellison at a writing convention, when I was a freshman in high school the school librarian got me a ticket. Oddly, she was the only staff at school with whom I ever had any affinity, except for one English teacher.

I really thought that Ellison was going to stand up and start beating people over the head with his chair. I've never encountered such an angry person in my life, he was rude, he was on the verge of boiling over the entire time for no reason, a thoroughly objectionable human being. Bloody good writer, though. His short stories and novels are sheer genius, but I was afraid to get close to him.

My favorite author of all time I mentioned was Keith Laumer, and by all reports he was the same way. Publishers and editors were actually afraid of him. The man stood 6'2", a big burly man who lifted weights every day, former Air Force and every inch a military man. One of his daughters once wrote that he met her and her mother at the airport once, and wherever he went women would stop and stare after him, he was that impressive.

He had a very soft voice that could be mistaken for a woman on the phone, but talking to him was like walking on eggshells, anything could set him off into a towering rage. He's been known to draw a pistol on people for very minor things. His daughter described him as having the personality of a very spoiled thirteen year old boy, he was very difficult to live with.

Interesting person, really fascinating. He owned a tiny island off the coast of Florida and he had the largest collection of first generation Mercury Cougars on the East Coast, he loved them. Most of his were in poor condition, and his excuse was that he kept buying them because he was trying to get enough parts to make one good car. Of course, really, he just liked them and enjoyed playing with the old cars.

He was very prolific in the 60's and then in the early 7o's he had had dinner with his editor during which he flew into one of his famous rages, and when the editor and his wife left early he went to his gymnasium and started lifting weights, and suffered a massive stroke. He managed to call his editor who in turn called an ambulance and went back.

Though he survived, it destroyed him. One day he was an Atlas, the next he was confined to a wheelchair, and his mind was affected. He could no longer grasp scientific concepts, or any of the other complex elements necessary for a writer, he had difficulty concentrating and pulling plots together. And he could no longer exercise and got fat and unhealthy, which depressed him even more than the wheelchair was.

After about six years or so he partially recovered, and no longer needed the chair, and could drive again but he did need a cane or walker to move and was very slow and unsteady.

A young man who worked at the dry cleaners who was a fan and whom Laumer liked wrote that one day he came to the shop in the early 80s, driving a new Cadillac Coupe DeVille, which has really long doors (he couldn't work on the Cougars anymore), and had trouble getting out because another car was parked too close to the lines. Laumer struggled, finally got out and then proceeded to systematically smash the other car with his cane, breaking out all the windows and lights and covering it with dents.

His editors and publishers felt so bad for him that when he decided to return to writing around '79 they couldn't bring themselves to say no. They were afraid that rejection would send him into a rage that would kill him. And he couldn't write any longer, the newer novels were disjointed and read rather like everything I've ever heard of an LSD trip. They were terrible. Critics panned them, they didn't sell well, and they were just bloody awful.

I truly admire Laumer for his military career and his writing which played a big part in teaching me integrity and honor at a very impressionable age, and I greatly admire his skill as a wordsmith, but I am really glad that I never actually met him, I am positive that it would have been a negative experience. As it is I can safely admire him from a distance and sympathize with the devastating blow life dealt such a great man without having to experience his actual personality.

They say one should never meet one's heroes, and I suppose it's true.

I still have a couple Space: 1999 novelizations in storage, lol. I used to have the OST album on vinyl, as well as the OST from "ST: TMP" and "Dark Star". All three are now collector's items. When my grandparents passed away my mother forbade me to come to the funeral and sold off everything I owned in the house, including the antiques I had collected my entire life. I expect the majority of it ended up in a landfill somewhere.

"Quark" was cute, I've only seen a couple episodes of it, lol.

"Survivors" sounds interesting, I'll have to look into that.

I'm a big fan of "Blake's 7", actually. :) I endeared myself to my roommate's brother when I mentioned that the scene of the Enterprise crashing in "ST: Generations" was a direct steal of the scene in the final episode of "B7" in which Scorpio crashes, the scene is faithfully copied right down to the camera angles.

"Lexx" sounds awesome, I've not heard of it, lol. Likewise "Rick and Morty".

By the way, it's "Jame Retief", lol. Have you read "Reteif's Peace" by William H. Keith? He also wrote several Bolo novels, VERY good one, and he keeps them in the same style as Laumer. In the Retief book he keeps all the old running jokes and adds a couple of new gags that Laumer would have loved, like the obsolete android model designated as a "C Series" whose operating system was written in C++ that acted like a gangster out of a Cagney flick and always ended it's sentences with "... ,See?" and said "Si" instead of yes.
 
^^^ I was too lazy to bother proof read that, so it's doubtless an illegible mess. :)
 
I guess if re-using the ship meant that the people making the show could have more budget to do other things it makes sense to do that, especially if the design of the ship works with the story. :)

Now I’ve been reminded it’s been quite a while since I last saw Wall-E, thinking about it I quite fancy watching it again. :)

I know some of the effects in Space Precinct were a bit naff but I did kinda like the little models that were used in the show. :smile: Some of the animatronics were interesting and the robot at the station was kinda cute. :) Looks like the Region 1 box set (the one you mentioned) is going to be the best option (it was released on individual DVDs which seem to be out of print for region 2).

With Doctor Who you’ve got the possibility to go anywhere and at any point in time so there’s so much opportunity to have fun, it’s good that the show does. There’s some lovely funny quotes from the show that still make me smile. And a couple of serious ones I like too. I like the Fourth Doctor’s “there’s no point being grown-up if you can’t be childish sometimes”. :) The Twelfth Doctor’s one about war that ends with “sit down and talk” is one I like too, as I’ve said more than once I wished that people who’ve caused some horrible things to happen in the world had done that (or would hurry up and do that).

I have seen that Epic Rap Battle. :) My husband and I ended up watching a bunch of those in one go once. Not sure who we’d pick as the winners of some of them. :)

If you like that style of story then if you haven’t seen it yet I can highly recommend the episode of Stargate SG1 that I mentioned (1969). It has that type of loop story and also has the SG1 team travelling towards Woodstock in a bus, dressed in clothes that suit the time they’re in. :smile: :lolpony:

Now I’m going to have the ending song from Red Dwarf stuck in my head. :lolpony: Such a catchy song.

Great characters in Stargate as well I think. :) It was a great mix, always going to be one of my favourite series I think (SG1 anyways). And don’t worry, I think the gaps in my list of things I need to watch are fairly big (as highlighted by the conversation, although I’m really enjoying find new fun things to watch so it’s great :smile: ).

I guess with something as long running as Doctor Who was it makes sense that they’d re-use props a lot, especially if it helped to give them more budget to make new things where they were needed. My husband and I’ve been playing a ‘spot the specific prop’ game recently, specifically the green foam in The Starlost. So much of that stuff around the sets! We’ve also been amused by doing impressions of the computer going “can I HELP you”. :lolpony:

That’s cool that the Optimus Prime trucks are still around. :smile: Nice they’re being used too, I bet that’d be fun to drive in one of those. :)

The thought of the monsters being recycled in to sea monsters by sticking fins and gills on them amuses me. :smile:

My husband’s so used to me playing the “where can the actor/actress see out of that costume from” game that I don’t need to say “I think they can see from (wherever)”, he knows if there’s a costume someone probably can’t see well out of on the screen that’s what I’m talking about if I say “through the (whatever/wherever)”. :lolpony: It’s like when one of us thinks a plot of something we’re watching might be similar to an episode of Stargate or Star Trek we don’t need to say “this looks like it might turn out to be like the episode of Star Trek/Stargate where (such and such happens)”, we just go “Picard and the flute” or “Teal’c is a fireman”, things like that. :lolpony:

That must have been cool to see an actual costume that was used on Battlestar in person. :smile:

Kiki’s Delivery Service is my favourite Studio Ghibli movie! :) Lots of the Studio Ghibli films are good but that’s always been my favourite since I first saw it. :) If you’ve not see it yet My Neighbour Totoro is a lovely gentle movie, the sort that makes you go “ahh, nice film” when you get to the end. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind has some impressive animation in it considering when it was made (there’s been several releases of that, some of which cut quite a bit out apparently, so it’s one you need to look for the complete version of, I think the more recent releases should be complete, the DVD we have is) and The Cat Returns is quite fun. :smile:

I use my tablet for reading eBooks (works great for some comics I got digital versions of as it has a colour screen for example). I’m a bit old fashioned when it comes to phones too, for years I only had basic mobile phone, all I wanted to use it for was text messages and the occasional phone call so that suited me just fine. :) Only reason I have a more up to date phone now is because the battery on my basic phone died, it was hard to find a similar one that was good and I was given a hand-me-down. It’s still a pretty basic one though and I’ve not set it up to use the internet or anything like that on it, I only use it for texting still. :lolpony: I have problems with my voice which means it’s not loud enough to be heard on the phone.

The Daley ones were the earlier of the two sets, the Crispin ones were published in the 1990s (1997 the first one, thinking about it they’re nearly 20 years old now. Making me feel old. :lolpony: ).

There’s some big gaps in my sci-fi reading. :blush: I guess maybe because I read quite a mixture of genres (and non fiction) as well so. But yes, a story with lots of puns sounds like my cup of tea so I shall definitely be checking those out. :smile:

A library, craft storage and purse that all work like that, sounds like a reasonable request for us to make to me. :smile:

If you have the technology why not use it in your clothes as well as your home and travel machine eh? :)

To make a whole new species who think/act/etc. completely differently would take a lot of imagination and creativity and good writing to achieve, I can see that would be the case. Nice to hear someone’s done it well, and including humour makes it sound even better. :smile: Great when a writer has lots of skill that works together like that.

Clearly these people who give the blank stares and odd looks are not hoopy froods. :lolpony: I agree with the who cares. If you’re having fun and it’s not hurting anyone then why not (and hurting in this case does not include, say, being confused as to why you’re carrying around a towel, confusion like that isn't going to do any harm :) ). :smile: I was the type of kid at school who didn’t try to copy the ‘cool’ kids or follow fashions or whatever and I’m still that type of person now, “a bit odd/eccentric” maybe, description I’m fine with. :lolpony: Geek is fine too.

Blah, film that’s all special effects with no story or characters or humour or whatever, boo. :tongue: Fair enough I guess if it’s a movie that’s basically going ‘we’re just going to have lots of cool/impressive looking stuff on the screen and action, explosions, etc.’ and that’s all it’s trying to be and is honest about that (not my cup of tea personally generally but different movies different tastes again) but if it’s something that should have a story and good characters (especially if it’s something based on something else that had those) then nope, not good.

If given the choice between a cool robot like that and a car I’d say robot, but as I mentioned I can’t drive. :lolpony:

Robots are more fun that way. :smile:

Nothing wrong with rescuing soft toy animals. :) Nice to give things that would otherwise end up unwanted a new home. :smile:

That sounds scary, being in a situation where you’re worried someone’s going to start hitting people with a chair. :( What a shame that someone whose writing you liked wasn’t a nice person to meet. :( Not nice what happened to Laumer either.

I think in some cases the not meeting your heroes thing can be true, depends on the hero I suppose. :) I’ve met a few authors whose books I’ve liked and those have been positive experiences but equally I can see that not everyone is going to be the same. Same with actors I’d imagine from things I’ve heard, some are lovely to meet others perhaps not so much.

OSTs on vinyl! :smile: I used to have some of my music on vinyl, including a couple of OSTs myself. Is it just me or was it very satisfying when you managed to get the needle of the record player in the exact right spot to start playing the track you wanted? :smile:

That’s horrible, sorry to hear that. :(

So many shows I need to catch up on. :blush: Ah well, lots to look forward to is the positive side of that. :smile:

It was fine, don’t worry. :smile: Apologies if any of my rambling doesn’t make sense (and if it doesn’t feel free to ask/say “what on Earth are you on about?” :lolpony: ).
 
I'm sorry for the delay in replying, it's been hectic.

We had a funeral to attend and then I managed to blow up my PC, I shorted something out while taking measurements inside the case. I'm using an old PC now, and shopping for a new motherboard.

Studios are extreme hoarders, they seem to keep and re-use anything that they possibly can, and that only makes sense. They are also very myopic, they find a use for everything. :)

And it wasn't just on Doctor Who, props from that show are often re-used on other BBC productions. One specific example I can remember is a chair from a ship in "Caves of Androzani" being re-used in Blue Midget on an episode of "Red Dwarf".

And yes, re-using the footage makes perfect sense. After reading that, I remember seeing that ship several times on "Battlestar".

When they filmed the "Space: 1999" episode "Dragon's Domain" they had the graveyard of ships, they re-used a lot of models from earlier in the show, and they also filmed it with off-the-shelf kit models of the USS Enterprise and the TARDIS, but that was never shown, I think they just filmed it with them as a joke.

The "Red Dwarf" episode "Psirons" also has a graveyard of ships, and you can quite clearly see a wrecked Transporter Eagle on one of the asteroids. The command module is detached and drifting nearby. I have screenshots of that, but they are on my modern (and dead) computer.

Yes, the space monsters returning with fins and gills was was a running joke about Allen's television shows, he just had such a small budget compared to the movies, and SF is very expensive to produce. so it was really a matter of economic necessity.

That's funny about similar plots, because that is something else that shows re-use, the plots. For example the Star Trek episode "Arena" was also an episode of "Space: 1999" and an episode of "The Outer Limits" and a few others that escape me at the moment. There is an episode of "Tales From the Gold Monkey" that has a Japanese commander of a base on a small island who loves this old Western movie and dresses and acts like a cowboy and he has all his men do the same. That story is reused on "Battlestar Galactica" and on "Andromeda" and probably others.

I was just thinking about "Wall-E" and "Short Circuit" as well, but it looks as if I need to wait until my PC is back up again, this one is a tad slow. It should be okay to at least stream, we'll see.

Actually, I just had to check my "SP" box set to check the region, I forgot your in the UK. I actually have a region free DVD player that will play them from all over the world so I tend to forget details like that. I adore Gerry Anderson's work anyway, and I think the show is brilliant, and using real cars for the close ups was actually really innovative. Having grown up on Doctor Who in the 70's cheesy SFX doesn't bother me at all, in fact I think it adds charm.

Oh, I quote Doctor Who all the time I've used one as signatures in forums and emails for decades. Even at work, I always had a lot of people compliment me on it.

"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering."
The Doctor, "Dr. Who: The Face of Evil (1977)"


"Doctor Who" is brilliant in every respect and truly innovative, it's unlike any other show ever. I love that the protagonist isn't the typical blaster wielding hero with a weapon studded warship, he's a scientist. He's called the "Doctor" because he makes things better. He carries a sonic screwdriver instead of a weapon, because he fixes things, he doesn't destroy them. It's the exact opposite of the standard SF format.

And the show is flexible and can evolve and change, which is the secret to it's longevity, and as you say the possibilities are endless.

I follow the ERB's religiously, the new one is "James Bond vs. Austen Powers", gotta wonder why that wasn't the first one, lol.

I LOVE that computer from "Starlost"!!!! Apparently the actor who plays the computer is the grandson of Sir William Osler, the Father of Modern Medicine. He was one of the founders of John Hopkins. Interesting bit of trivia.

Oh, I have a thing for heavy duty trucks, I love them. I was never a Transformers fan, not when I was a child or today, and I've not seen the movies, they simply hold no appeal to me. Honestly, it makes sense, it's perfectly good rig and they are expensive, so it makes sense to keep using them.

I am very interested in a lot of movie cars though, so I took note.

Other people have recommended Totorro as well, so that's on my list as well. Nausica and The Cat Returns are new to me, I'll check them out.

With the plethora of literature available, we ALL have big gaps, it's not possible to read more than a tiny fraction of it in a lifetime.

Yes, there was one other person in my office who had read H2G2, and he wore one too the first year I did Towel Day, and so we were using H2G2 slang all day the first year we did it. Everyone thought we were nuts, lol. But they thought that about us anyway, so who cares?

My sister was the one who followed all the trends and fashions, I never cared for it, and I pretty much stuck my nose in a book and did my absolute best to ignore everyone during my school years. I have never been the sociable type of person, and I honestly didn't care what anyone thought, still don't. I kind of march to my own drum. I'm not wealthy so I can't be called eccentric, I have to stick to "weird", lol.

What's really strange is adapting to the fact that geeky is now cool, lol. We somehow became trendy and in vogue. No idea how, it just happened. :D

In a lot of those costumes the actors couldn't see out of them. The first actor to play Davros, Michael Wisher, for example. He played that role very well, and he was completely blind the entire time. I have that episode on DVD, and they mentioned that during rehearsals he always wore a blindfold to get used to it, and he knew he wouldn't be able to take the mask off between shoots, so he wore the blindfold all day during rehearsals.

There is a Russian Star Trek parody called "Star Wreck: The Pirkining" that is brilliant, you can find it on YouTube, where they battle Babylon 5, and there is a great scene in which one of the aliens lifts his mask up to scratch his nose. It's funny.

Yeah, same with actors. I mentioned I used to work for a courier company, I was actually a customer service rep, not a driver, I only drove when they were in a bind. But I haven't watched American television in decades, and I didn't even have my television set hooked up to anything but the DVD player (still don't), so I was constantly on the phone with people at the studios and they were always surprised that I had never actually seen or in most cases heard of their shows. Even more so when I mentioned that I didn't carry a cell phone, lol.

This one guy whom we delivered to would occasionally call to arrange delivery times, he was nice so we always chatted a bit. In fact we got quite friendly, and about six months later that an admin assistant at Fox for a show he worked on told me that during a break he was talking about how much fun I was to talk to. Turned out he was a big actor, I forget his name.

For that matter I've met Jennifer Anniston a number of times, met her when I worked as a security officer. That was funny, because it was before I transitioned. An acquaintance of mine who is a cross dresser used to run this small theater that was also a coffee shop that was open late at night; everyone would go there and hang out when the bars closed. Anyway, this was when "Friends" was big, and Anniston and her friends booked the place for a late night party. I'd never heard of the show, I wasn't interested, and I was bored to tears with the entire thing. I was outside the door and this short woman who was the stereotypical toady comes out and asked me if I knew where "Jennifer" was. Of course my answer was "I don't know, can you describe her?". The woman stared and stuttered, "Jennifer, ummmm, you know, JENNIFER!" so I said, "Is she white? Black? Hispanic? Asian? Tall or short? Fat or thin? Big or small?" and she just kept babbling "You know, JENNIFER! From "Friends"!". and I said, "I don't watch soap operas, you can't describe her?".

I have since seen one episode of the show, and thought very little of it.

Anyway what gets weird is a year later I was working for a contract security company at a gated community in which we lived, and I recognized her from that incident. She didn't recognize me because I was working there as male and had my hair tucked up under my hat; the management was NOT happy about me being transsexual and any clue would set them off. They eventually fired me for it, but that's another story.

But after a few months of working there when I called to get permission to allow her boyfriend in the front gate she told me I seemed very familiar, and I just said, "Oh yes, we once met when I worked elsewhere" and just left it at that. I've no idea if she ever figured it out or not.

The only way I remember her name is from that job, we logged all vehicles entering the gates. It's been a few years, but it used to be that I could rattle off everyone's license plate numbers after seeing them just once. I once did that when I was at a bar with friends, I mentioned that it was a skill I had developed from working over a decade in security, and someone said "okay, what's mine?" and I told them. Next thing you know everyone is asking me, lol. I can't do that anymore, it's been too long since I needed that skill.

Funny, I got along well with actors just because I had no idea who the heck they were and treated them just like everyone else.

Oh, vinyl is the BEST. If I ever get a place large enough I am going to find a vintage cabinet HiFi stereo system, you know the long ones that were so popular in the 1950's and 60's? I love those.

This is a fun discussion!
 
Sorry for taking so long to reply myself. Been trying to get some stuff around the house done and enjoy the nice weather in the garden. Plus we’ve been following the football (/soccer).

Sorry to hear you had a funeral to attend. :( Hope you’ve managed to fix your PC, always annoying when something breaks like that.

Thinking about it that could be a fun game, bit like iron cosplay (the game where you make a costume using random bits and bobs, usually including duct tape) but instead of just costumes you could have iron set/prop making with stuff from studio’s storage units. :smile:

I like when there’s fun head nods/easter eggs in things like that, shame it wasn’t shown, although I can understand why it might not have been.

I’ll have to look for that the next time we watch Red Dwarf (I’m sure it’s something we’ll end up watching again :) ).

It’s the thought that ‘fins and gills, that automatically makes sea monsters, right?’ might be a line of thought someone had. :) Totally makes sense to reuse stuff if money was tight though, and it gives a chance for something someone spent hours of hard work on to be seen again.

There’s been a few things we’ve watched where we’ve gone “Star Trek AND Stargate did this plot”. :smile: Some things make sense that they’d come up in lots of different sci-fi shows/stories I guess. Something I enjoyed that felt fairly original was something that was set on Earth rather than in space but was about someone trying to become an astronaut in the near future. Rather nice slice of life with space themes in it, Twin Spica. (I’d recommend reading the manga rather than watching the anime if you’re interested, the manga finishes the story, the anime was done before the manga was finished and doesn’t include some of the later parts of the story).

Short Circuit! Haven’t seen that in years. That had an interesting robot I seem to remember. :)

We’ve got a region free DVD player too so region 1 DVDs are fine. :smile: Just sometimes easier to find region 2 stuff (especially second hand) sometimes, depending on what it is. The region 2 Space Precinct DVDs are going for silly prices from what I can see though, and are a bunch of individual ones rather than a box set.

Cheesy special effects can add charm to things, indeed. If it fits the tone of the show they can work very well. And some things just don’t need crazy well done/over the top special effects, I think that Red Dwarf with lots of mega detailed CGI might look rather wrong for example. :smile:

Good quote that one, and still relevant today.

I like the way you’ve summed up Doctor Who there (“Doctor because he makes things better, carries a sonic screwdriver because he fixes things”). :) Very true. Whoever came up with the idea of him being able to regenerate so the show could keep continuing and evolving with different actors had a great genius idea. :smile: The combination of that plus a machine which can travel not only anywhere in space but in time as well, how could you ever run out of stories? :smile:

My husband sometimes describes people going “hmmmm,” or “errrrrr,” as being like a computer doing a “loading”-type bar or icon so the fact that the computer, who has a human-looking interface, did that rather than saying “please wait”/”loading” or whatever was nice. :smile: That’s a neat bit of trivia. :)

I like the they’re robots who turn in to cars thing, I’ve always thought that was a fun idea for toys (and I’m still miffed that as Hasbro own both Transformers and the ponies that they didn’t do a transforming toy version of DJ Pon-3’s car from Rainbow Rocks). I’ve not seen all of the new movies, got kinda annoyed with the second one and stopped watching it if I remember correctly. Pretty sure I’ve seen the animated one but don’t remember a lot about it. :unsure:

Hope you enjoy them if you watch them. :) If you like them then it’s worth taking a look at the other stuff Studio Ghibli’s done, see if any others take your fancy, most of them are pretty good. There’s ones I like better than others but it’s a different things appeal to different tastes thing (as is often the case) I think. Be warned if you watch Grave of the Fireflies though, that is a very sad movie. If you like the Ghibli style then you might enjoy Wolf Children. It’s by the same director as Summer Wars but has a Studio Ghibli-kinda feel to it.

That’s a very good point, indeed. :)

If you’re having fun then :tongue: to anyone who doesn’t get it for something fun and harmless like that. :smile: And you’re in good company, even my mum and my husband sometimes say something along the lines of “you’re barmy” to me (but in a nice way, and about things that I’ll agree are a bit mad, for example making a pantomime horse costume :smile: ).

I was one of the kids who could usually be found with a book too. :) I had a small number of friends but had to try and ignore people who used to try and make fun of me for actually wanting to learn in school (gasp, such an odd idea eh?!) and usually not minding homework and other apparently uncool things. I’m glad I did though, I’m happy the way I am so :tongue: to them. Kudos for being someone who doesn’t let what other people think matter and knows it’s OK to march to your own drum, not the easiest thing to do but I think it’s important to be who you’re happy being (if that makes sense? ).

That is odd, indeed. :) Maybe some of it’s because there’s so much technology around now and we’re the ones who know how to make it work. :lolpony:

I didn’t know that that Davros actor had a blindfold on like that during rehearsals, that’s a great idea. Good way to get used to being in a costume where you can’t see. Personally I’ve found it doesn’t bother me to be in a costume like that but when I wear that type of costume it’s at a convention and I’m around people who I trust and somewhere where I know the layout of the area pretty well. :) My husband’s used to helping me when I’m in one of those costumes. :lolpony:

I’ll look that parody up, thanks. :)

I’m possibly a bit of an odd one out but I figure it makes sense to talk to anyone who’s famous just like any other person too. :) They’re another human being after all, just more widely known/recognised by more people. I can’t imagine going up to someone and doing that gushing thing personally. When I’ve talked to authors whose books I like I talk to them the way I talk to other people when I’m talking about books I like. :smile:

I think I can imagine the look on that person’s face when you said you didn’t know Jennifer Anniston, I’ve gotten that kinda “what do you mean you don’t know (whatever/whoever it is)?!” look. :lolpony: Band names I can be bad with for example, particularly stuff that’s in the charts, no idea on a lot of that. It’s the sort of look like you’re from another planet, or suddenly had an extra arm or something, right? :lolpony: Often with actors I’ll end up going “oh, that’s the person who played (whoever) in (whatever)” rather than remembering their names too. :lolpony:

That’s awful that that company were like that. :( If there’s a uniform then fair enough asking you to wear it how it should be worn (assuming that the uniform rules are reasonable), for example if the rules say smart/plain shoes then don’t wear tatty trainers/sneakers but if you’re more comfortable wearing it as one gender than the other then why not? If you’re doing your job well and professionally surely that’s the important thing?!

I’d imagine being able to remember license plates like that would have been a great skill to have working in security, that’s neat that you could do that. :smile: Odd the way some things like that kinda stick isn’t it? Nowhere near as impressive a skill but it used to amuse me when people went “how do you do that?” when I could remember a whole bunch of account numbers (most of which were rather random) off the top of my head where I used to work. They were things I used to write down a lot so they just ended up sticking in my memory after a while. People going “how do you type so fast?” at me amuses me too. :lolpony: More than once I’ve been asked how I can type so fast and not look at the keyboard while I’m doing it. :)

I think I know the type of hi-fi you mean, the long but not that tall, sometimes had speakers at either end, wood cabinet type? Some had a lid you lifted to get to the record player? That kinda thing? Those can be pretty cool. :) Some vintage furniture has lovely designs, things that look nice as well as being functional like that can be lovely. :smile:
 
Sorry for the delay. Things got a bit hectic, had a breakup with a boyfriend (thank heavens), then delays with parts, etc.

Motherboard and CPU cooler arrived and the install went smoothly, but I had some problems after that. First, I didn’t have a power connector for my spare hard drive, and I had to go shopping for a Molex to SATA adapter.

Then my roommate spilled wine in the keyboard and killed it. It took a week for the replacement to arrive. The new one is triple-insulated and completely waterproof, though. It’s also illuminated, which is really cool, and not at all expensive. I’ve always wanted an illuminated keyboard.



For some reason I kept having trouble with Windows Updates getting corrupted and ended up re-installing Windows four times. Odd that; I have worked on computers for decades, I’ve never had that much trouble installing Windows on a computer that had all good hardware.

Then I spent a week researching how to get all my old games to play without CD’s. I like a lot of vintage computer games, and it can be a bit of a challenge getting them to play on modern computers, I had a lot of success with that, actually, most of them; such as “Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2” are installed and working without needing the disk in the drive. Some of them are now free for download in a patched form from the manufacturers.



Anyway, I’ve been quite busy. But I’m really pleased with the result. There is still a bit of fine tuning, setting the memory timing, trimming bloat processes and services etc, but even un-tuned it’s performing MUCH better than it ever has. I never liked that old motherboard; it never performed anything close to what the specs suggest it should.

Twin Spica sounds interesting!

You know, your right about DJ Pon-3’s car; that would totally be doable, and oh SO cool!!! I love Pon-3; she has such pretty colors and she’s weird, lol.

I’ve seen a few of the animated Transformers when I was a kid; I really never got into it. I never bothered to see the films. It just isn’t my cup of tea.

Yes, Wisher spent days wearing that blindfold and being wheeled around in a wheel chair before filming. Apparently he was a chain smoker too, and once the smoke bothered everyone so much they left him in the break room and went back to rehearsal, lol.

Yeah, actors really don’t like people gushing all over them either.

I’m the same way with bands. I really don’t care for much new music anyway, and I’ve always been one of those people who are content to enjoy music without knowing how it works. I have zilch interest in learning personal details of band members. Which is odd, because I live with a musician from a musician family, and her brother has toured with a well known band and her father is well known for movie soundtracks. He was also the vocal arranger for The 5th Dimension.

I do that as well, I usually remember the characters before the actor. :D

Well, it was a different time, and at the time that was just how things were done, and transgender people had no legal recourse. Today I could have sued them, but at the time it was perfectly good grounds for dismissal. Anyway, it was in the past, and there is no point in dwelling on it.

Yes, the license plate trick was one I developed early on, and I don’t think many security officers do it, but I always liked to know the vehicles that belonged on a property so I could easily spot the ones that didn’t. I also got a lot of practice working at that gated community; we logged each vehicle that entered the gate, name of occupant, color, type of vehicle and license plate number. It got to be a habit, and I couldn’t turn it off, it was something that I did without noticing. I can’t do it anymore. That is a skill that needs practice.

Typing is a skill that eludes me, at least typing well. I bought a Mavis Beacon program, it helped. I do ten key by touch and do it fast without errors. But I had too many bad habits with the main keyboards that I was unable to break. I manage a decent (though unimpressive) speed, but I have my own way of doing it.

Yes, that is exactly the type of HiFi set I am referring to!
 
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