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“How often it is that the angry man rages denial of what his inner self is telling him.” — Collected Sayings of Muad’Dib, Dune.
“The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife.” — Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #48, Star Trek.
“The one beside you is yourself.” — Dalek proverb, Doctor Who.
“Understanding is a three-edged sword.” — Vorlon saying, Babylon 5.
What are your favorite proverbs from science fiction?
Image: Paramount
Meredith Woerner of io9 compiled a gallery of sixteen geeky wedding invitations, including professionally-made comic books and Star Trek and Star Wars-themed invitations. The ones pictured above are more straightforward, but nonetheless awesome. They’re autographed by Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion of Firefly.
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YouTube user qcotms wrote lyrics for the orchestral music that opens Star Trek: The Next Generation. In this video, he performs them. At his YouTube channel, you can also hear his lyrics for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis.
Ashtar Command is either a band or a New Age religious group, or both. At any rate, here is a performance of a band by that name of “Deadman’s Gun”, a song from the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack. Guitars, a string set, and an accordion — great choices for a fine song.
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Zork was a text-based computer game from the late 1970s loosely based on Dungeons & Dragons. Brian Gaines, the artist responsible, wrote:
I loved Zork so much that a high school buddy and I made ourselves stained glass windows of the logo in 1983. To the best of my knowledge, they are the only such windows in existence (but I could certainly be wrong)
Link via Make | Photo by Flickr user Jason “Textfiles” Scott used under Creative Commons license
Previously: Rap about Zork
In our most recent Questions of the Day, we discussed our favorite episodes of classic Star Trek and The Next Generation. To conclude the topic, let’s talk about Deep Space Nine.
I thought that this series was a bit boring until the Dominion War got rolling in Season 4. Deep Space Nine broke with the episodic tradition to present a long, serialized story arc — a risky venture, as the broadcasting experience of Babylon 5 illustrates.
Nonetheless, my favorite episode is Season 1′s “Duet“, not a story from the Dominion War narrative. A Cardassian war criminal passes through the station and is promptly locked up by Major Kira. Gul Darhe’el does not deny his actions, but joyfully boasts of slaughtering Bajorans during his world’s occupation of Bajor. Yet as the investigation continues, his story begins to unravel. This is not Gul Darhe’el, but a mere military filing clerk who, overcome with guilt about his participation in war crimes, is pretending to to be Darhe’el. Aamin Marritza’s hope is that by going on trial on Bajor, he will force the Cardassian people to come to terms with the atrocities they committed.
Kira wants to hate this Cardassian — all Cardassians, actually — but she can’t. She can’t help but sympathize with Marritza and his misguided attempt to heal the wounds of war.
This episode was a glorious piece of writing. Harris Yulin, a veteran actor of vast experience, executed the role of Marritza masterfully. I can watch it again and again.
What’s your favorite episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine?
Image: Paramount
LA-based artist Misha does a lot of pop culture work, including paintings featuring Super Mario Bros., Star Wars, The Big Lebowski, and Donkey Kong. The above work is modeled after Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Stan Lee, of course, is God.
off It’s been done before, but not this well. This one is finely executed, down to the warped film and John Williams theme played on a piano. It was made by a French team in 2007 and modified this past June.
via technabob
Previously: The Empire Strikes Back (1950)
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Welcome to this week’s caption contest. The winner, who will be announced on Friday, will get a free t-shirt from the NeatoShop!
So look around the NeatoShop and type in your choice of t-shirt with your caption. Submit only one caption per comment, but you can leave as many comments as you like. Please make sure that you provide a t-shirt selection or your caption will not be considered.
Image credit: unknown, via Boing Boing
WINNER — Thom:
The tentacles all go to eleven.
Congratulations, Thom! You win a Mosaic Skull t-shirt from the NeatoShop!
In our last Question of the Day, I asked readers to identify their favorite episode of classic Star Trek. Commenter Kevin R proposed that we talk about some of the other series, including The Next Generation, and I think that’s a fine idea.
Mine is “The Inner Light.” In it, an alien probe causes Jean-Luc Picard to experience a full life — including marriage, friends, children, and grandchildren — in a single moment. Then it was gone, like the civilization that built the probe. It is a sad and wistful tale, brilliantly crafted, and greatly deepened Picard’s character.
What’s your favorite episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation?
Image: Paramount
What is the meaning of a double rainbow, asked Yosemitebear. The greatest minds are still pondering this mystical conundrum. In the meantime, YouTube user Disasteradio remixed the double rainbow video with scenes from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey in which Bowman approaches the monolith.
via reddit
off In a brief 2009 interview, Mark Hamil denied ever shooting the long-lost lightsaber scene from Return of the Jedi.
It’s a conspiracy!
In the comments, propose elements of and motivations for this plot.
via blastr
You do what you have to do to pay the bills. Flickr user torakamikaze suggests that Sonic may have to resort to selling off his gold rings.
Link via Super Punch
The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra once performed an operatic rendition of the theme music and story of Final Fantasy VI. Eliot Hagen integrated it into the video presentation of game, and the result is this amazing video. Full credits are available at the video link.
Link via Geekosystem
Power Girl is very popular among both faculty and students. Once again, cartoonist Caldwell Tanner offers a set of funny cartoons, this time depicting Marvel and DC heroes in their college days. Six more at the link.
Link via Nerd Bastards
Previously by Caldwell Tanner: Video Game Characters in College
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Scottish DC writer Grant Morrison has some interesting observations about the social class differences between Batman and Superman:
Bruce Wayne is a rich man. He’s an artistocrat. Superman grew up as Clark Kent on a farm bailing hay, and he’s got a boss that shouts at him if he’s late to work. He’s actually more human; Batman is the fetish fantasy psyche of the aristocrat overlord who can do anything he wants, and that’s fascinating. The class difference between the two of them is important.[...]
People often forget Superman is very much a put-upon guy. Bruce has a butler, Clark has a boss
Link via Comics Alliance | Image: DC
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OMG! Shatner was fooling around at a con and decided to photobomb some Trek cosplayers posting for a picture!
Well, possibly. But look at the name in the bottom left corner. It’s Rachel McCauley, a professional photograher and photoshop artist.
Be assured that if The Shatner wished to photobomb you, you would be photobombed. Nothing could stop him. But I suspect that this isn’t real.
Since I was about seven years old, I loved Star Trek and had managed to watch every episode in syndication by the time that I was ten. Although there was competition, to me, the most gripping episode was and remains “The Doomsday Machine.” The dramatic tension is riveting, especially when Kirk and Scotty managed to bring the Constellation back into combat and then drive it down the planet killer’s throat. And William Windom’s depiction of the mad Commodore Matthew Decker was excellent in its exquisite detail. Quite appropriately it was nominated for a Hugo Award and was Jimmy Doohan’s favorite. You can watch the whole episode here.
Which is your favorite episode from the original Star Trek?
Image: Paramount
“I say that we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.” You know, over the years, I’ve found that there are very few problems for which this is not an appropriate solution.
via reddit
Marvel has come out with a new webseries. The Handi-Cats is about a blind, flying supercat and a bionically-enhanced disabled cat who try to correct the BP oil spill. It’s based on a bestselling memoir by Gwen Cooper about a blind cat who brings meaning into Cooper’s life.
A long-lost scene from Return of Jedi was displayed at Star Wars Celebration V. It shows Luke tinkering with a lightsaber. Someone secretly recorded it and uploaded it to YouTube. Watch it while it’s still available.
via Ace of Spades HQ
At Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando, George Lucas presented The Daily Show host Jon Stewart with an action figure modeled after him. It comes with an interchangeable head — one with a goatee and one without. You can view more pictures at the link.
Link via blastr | Photo: Techland
Artist Steve Thomas made three LOTR travel posters in an Art Deco style. I’d love to see one for Mordor.
Link via Super Punch
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In one particular set of Peanuts strips by Charles Schultz, Snoopy is writing a novel. In 1981, Len Wein from DC Comics took the script from these strips and turned them into a Batman comic.
For real. Click on the link to view Peanuts original and the resulting Batman comic.
Link via Geekosystem
A computer animation studio called Moonlight House created this modern remix of the title song from the musical Singin’ in the Rain. This time, Stormtroopers and R2D2 take the place of Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor.
via Fanboy
In Back to the Future II, Marty McFly purchases a sports almanac providing 50 years of sports statistics in the hope of gambling his way to wealth. He doesn’t use it, but in an alternate timeline, Biff Tannen does. An infographic (excerpt above) from NFL Injury argues that the scheme wouldn’t be profitable for several reasons.
Link via Geek Tyrant
Matthew Johnson has a fascinating hypothesis about the Mutant Registration Acts in Marvel Comics — a series of US laws that require mutants to submit to government oversight and monitoring. These story arcs have been seen as representative of the way that racial and ethnic minorities are sometimes treated. But Johnson thinks that there’s a more everyday parallel that fits the core audience. Mutants represent teenagers:
The X-Men series is often described as being a metaphor for the oppression of minorities, but when looked at it this way it becomes clear that the metaphor doesn’t stand up: if superhuman mutants really existed society would have a legitimate reason to fear or at least be wary of them, something that has never been true of any oppressed minority.
But if the metaphor that’s supposed to be at the heart of the series doesn’t work, why has the comic been so successful? Because the X-Men don’t represent oppressed minorities, they represent oppressed teenagers. (This may also explain why comic books about characters who are actually part of oppressed minorities generally fail to sell.) Nobody feels more persecuted than teenagers, especially the nerdy, white, middle-class teenagers who have traditionally been the main audience for comics. In the hyper-dramatic world of the teenager, breaking up with your girlfriend (or, more likely, being turned down for a date) has the same emotional impact as your fiancee being disintegrated on the Moon, and being hunted by giant robots is exactly equivalent to being told to buy something or get out.
Link via reddit | Image: deviantART user mechasoldier
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Use a pole next time.
Cracked has an infographic (selection above) illustrating how long-running TV shows rise, plateau, decline, and die a slow death over time. Scott Edelman at blastr thinks that it’s particularly applicable to science fiction. I agree, and Stargate SG-1 springs immediately to mind. That show lingered on too long. But episode 200, which was explicitly fan service, made it all worthwhile.
Which science fiction shows do you think suffered particularly prolonged deaths?
Gary Kurtz was the producer of the first two Star Wars films, as well a contributing director. He has a lot to say about George Lucas’ motivations, and it’s not positive:
“I could see where things were headed,” Kurtz said. “The toy business began to drive the [Lucasfilm] empire. It’s a shame. They make three times as much on toys as they do on films. It’s natural to make decisions that protect the toy business, but that’s not the best thing for making quality films.”
He added: “The first film and ‘Empire’ were about story and character, but I could see that George’s priorities were changing.”[...]
“The emphasis on the toys, it’s like the cart driving the horse,” Kurtz said. “If it wasn’t for that the films would be done for their own merits. The creative team wouldn’t be looking over their shoulder all the time.”[...]
“We had an outline and George changed everything in it,” Kurtz said. “Instead of bittersweet and poignant he wanted a euphoric ending with everybody happy. The original idea was that they would recover [the kidnapped] Han Solo in the early part of the story and that he would then die in the middle part of the film in a raid on an Imperial base. George then decided he didn’t want any of the principals killed. By that time there were really big toy sales and that was a reason.”
Link via Geekosystem | Photo by Flickr user simononly used under Creative Commons license
