In 1977, George Lucas modeled his space opera after the matinee adventures he watched as a child. Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and Zorro were all garnished with damsels in distress. Beautiful women placed in peril allowing the male hero to rescue them and save the day. The hero fought off armies of foes while the damsel sat by idle, an inanimate object with no power over her own destiny.
A Depiction of Star Trek's Original U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 (Special thanks to Jeff Quan at http://www.jcquan.com for the use of the cool art!)
A few months ago GWCers The Operator, ThotFullGuy, and DawnAZ flooded my Twitter stream with references to the Starship Enterprise. While it was clearly evident The Operator and ThotFullGuy were discussing the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 from the 2009 Star Trek reboot movie, DawnAZ wasn’t nearly as specific. In fact, I listed off 10 different Enterprises off the top of my head in a reply requesting her to specify. It turned out that the exact ship wasn’t relevant to her Enterprise reference, but the conversation reminded me how fondly I regard the many ships called Enterprise. For those that have served on board an Enterprise or watched the various Enterprise versions on the movie or television screens over the years the name Enterprise has a special reverence in our hearts. If you search the internet you will find many web pages devoted to these fine ships. By no means am I attempting to duplicate the many long hours of work it took to assemble those fine resources. Rather, what follows is simply a list of my favorite Enterprises and where I’ve run into them over the years. I think even the most die-hard Enterprise enthusiast might find a surprise or two. So enjoy the tour and as always, drop a comment below. I’d love to hear what you have to say on the subject.
As I write this blog entry, 2010 is coming to a close and New Year’s is right around the corner. After enjoying Tron: Legacy last week with family and friends, I started to wonder what will be the holiday movie blockbuster next year. From there it was a short trip to wonder what the entire year’s worth of movies would be that interest me. So the list that follows is exactly that: dates and names of movies that I’m looking forward to in 2011 and beyond. Of course the dates get a little more fuzzy the farther out it is, so take them with a grain of salt. If I’ve missed any, please be sure to let us know in comments. If you’re interested in some in particular, let us know that, too! Here’s hoping that 2011 will be a great movie year!
Disney's 2010 Tron Legacy Film (Picture courtesy of Disney's Tron Legacy Website)
Sean posted a great blog post about the ten things he learned from Tron 1982. I know I’m late to the party, but after just seeing Tron tonight, here are ten things I learned from seeing Tron Legacy
The 8 1/2 Foot Tall 2010 Shooter Family Geek Christmas Tree
I’m sure just about everyone reading this article has some sort of a holiday tradition. Our family has several and usually includes the boys in the family going to see whatever SciFi blockbuster is out. This year our plans are to see Tron Legacy together. One of our other long lasting traditions involve each member of the family receiving a Hallmark Christmas Tree Ornament in our stockings. My mother, Mom Shooter, has been responsible for assembling this gift each year for the past 20 or 30 years. Everyone has one or two series that they follow from year to year. My father, Dad Shooter, has received the Classic American Car series every year since 1991. The girls usually end up with a Disney series ornament. I have received the All American Trucks series off and on since 2000, but each and every year Mom Shooter makes sure I receive some sort of a SciFi Hallmark Christmas Tree ornament. In fact, our family have received so many Hallmark ornaments that we’ve had to add a second full-sized tree in our home to handle all of our favorite ornaments. For those of you that follow me on Twitter, you’ve already seen our “geek” tree, but for those of you who didn’t get the chance, here’s a little tour of the vehicle and ship ornaments on our tree.
Continue reading »
We mentioned in the cast a while back that I had an original Tron movie bit for the arc but it never went anywhere for two reasons, the audio I recorded for it sucked horribly and it wasn’t that funny anyway. So instead, I give you a quick overview of – Ten things I learned from Tron.
10. When planning a major felony chicks in high heeled running shoes always up the ante.
9. Further proof that writing chess programs leads to AI with massive megalomania issues.
8. No matter what the circumstance, anything that happens after the sentence “Bring in the logic probe!” isn’t going to end well.
7. When a computer states “I can run things 900 to 1200 times better than any human.” be afraid.
6. One can lead a rich and happy life only speaking the words yes and no.
5. That is a big door.
4. Never write a bunch of tank programs. In the long run it won’t be good for you.
3. Stealing from someone smarter than you can go south in a hurry if they decide to descend to your level to get even.
2. Lightcycles ya’ll, lightcycles. Nuff’ said.
1. The MCP did have a heart. It actually invented the amber alert system way before its time. Don’t believe me? Check this out, “30-56-99 are correct. Limited 4 and 8 are missing.” What we see here is the MCP’s plan to empower at least 99 operatives to locate bits that are missing. May the users bless little limited 4 and 8 and I hope they found their parent programs.
It’s interesting that after seeing Tron Legacy some of the characters going forward learned the same things I did. Kind’ve makes me proud really.
“Are you reading that for the first time?” a stranger asked me on the New York City Subway.
“Yes” I responded somewhat cautiously looking up from my book. As a New Yorker, I am not used to unsolicited literary commentary in public or any kind of interaction with strangers, ever.
“I envy you” he replied simply and in a moment was gone.
At first I was tempted to brush off this exchange. I closed the book for the first time in two days and considered what had just happened: A person was so moved by a book he felt obligated to engage a stranger in the subway to share the importance of the novel. I glanced at the cover which really didn’t give anything away of the plot, just standard sci-fi ships flying in space. The story was becoming with each passing word my absolute favorite science fiction novel of all time. In the coming years when asked what my favorite book was I would name this one and every book I read after this would be compared to it.
That novel? Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.
Confession #1: I watched Caprica out of loyalty to Battlestar Galactica. BSG brought me back to the scifi genre. Somewhere between leaving college and rebuilding my life after my divorce I stopped watching science fiction. Somewhere between the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager television shows simultaneously airing I decided to focus on my career and my post graduate education. Somewhere between Shooter Jr being born and actually paying for cable television I lost track of shows like Andromeda, Farscape, and Babylon 5. But BSG brought me back and I owed BSG, Ronald D. Moore, and everyone else involved to watch Caprica.
Continue reading »
SyFy's New Series Haven - Check it Out!
This summer SyFy introduced a new treat for Friday viewers. Eureka and Warehouse 13 were split to plug the Tuesday and Friday summer timeslots left vacant by such names as Stargate Universe, Caprica, Merlin, and Sanctuary. So, on July 9, 2010 SyFy introduced us to a new Friday show, Haven. The show has many aspects that I know would appeal to GWCers like unexplained supernatural phenomena, Warehouse 13-like artifact powers, Sanctuary style mutants (although all in human form…so far), X-files mystery, and a town full of common Northern Lights style folks.
Continue reading »
SLINGERS from Mike Sizemore on Vimeo.
It’s got circa-1960s style and spaceships. It’s got con artists in black-tie formal wear and holographic roulette wheels. It’s got a classic casino heist storyline and a self-aware pistol with a sense of humor. It’s got women in cocktail dresses…and one who changes out of hers into a spacesuit in an airlock. Slingers has all the anachronistic juxtaposition a sci-fi fan could hope for in a TV show, and it promises to return a level of playfulness to gritty, naturalistic sci-fi that we haven’t seen since the days of Firefly. If this all sounds too good to be true, it’s probably because it isn’t…yet.
My introduction to Simon Pegg was via Shaun of the Dead, which I first watched around Halloween last year for our ’08 GWC special. And, of course, I saw him in Trek 11 (or one, depending on how you’re counting.) But my first real Simon Pegg experience came over the last week or so as Audra and I made our way through his 1999 series Spaced. Pegg co-wrote space with his co-star Jessica Stevenson, and it’s awesome — a real tribute to the geek lifestyle (and what it’s like to have a family of friends).
I’ve got Hot Fuzz on my Netflix list and can’t wait to check it out, too. But I noticed that Pegg and his ex-flat-mate/eternal-TV-sidekick Nick Frost co-wrote a movie that’s apparently pushing through production right now. It’s called Paul, and it’s the story of two sci-fi geeks who detour their post Comic-Con road trip through Area 51 “where they come across an alien named Paul.”
Having seen the two-hour premier of the new SyFy series Stargate Universe, I am stoked for what looks like another well-crafted, action-filled sci-fi drama. As we’ve seen in shows like Battlestar Galactica, established actors can bring the skill and gravitas required for a good dramatic series — in this case, Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty, Eragon), Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba, Stand and Deliver, Young Guns), and a host of experienced television actors.
Compared to previous Stargate series, SG-U‘s serious and gritty style stands out, more reminiscent of BSG than of the campy humor and geeky in-jokes we’ve come to love, particularly in SG-1. We get colored filters that make the world look gray and inhospitable, and we get shaky cameras. Most importantly we get realistic characters who hook up in the storage closets and people who get wounded (and killed) in action in a way that feels more true-to-life than say, the way Star Trek: Voyager scrubs the deck clean of pesky casualties and carpet stains only moments after an explosion decimates the crew.
GWCers on Flickr
Recent Blog Comments
on #42: Juan Chooses a Tablet { Looking forward to the reasoning behind the Ipad, in a similar position but so far I can't justify the price + data contract despite a... } – May 09, 4:26 PM
on #321: Avengers Pt. 4, Thor { First off - it is great to be back. I have been away for a couple years. I was listening during the original run of... } – Apr 24, 7:23 PM
on #28: Nyan Nyan Nyan Nyan Nyan (Cat) { I would like at least one episode where Audra doesn't try to "beat" along with the intro. It gets old. Thanks. } – Apr 21, 12:50 PM
on #31: Sight Unseen { The episode commentaries seem to becoming less about the show and more about everything else. You guys get off track easy, and tend to stay... } – Apr 04, 11:19 PM
on #37: Draw Something/360 Cloud Sync Fail { I was sick too! You and I might be carrying around each others germs. } – Mar 29, 6:39 AM