Brilliant. Verity's after BOFH's throne, I see.
Stob treks back across the decades to review the greatest TV sci-fi in the light of recent experience
Exterior: model shot. The Enterprise is seen parked above the equator of a planet. As usual, it is at a peculiar, inward-shifting angle relative to its background. It gives the impression that, far from being captured by gravitational pull, it can only sustain its orbit by continually bearing hard to the left, as though the …
COMMENTS
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Friday 18th June 2021 19:47 GMT Michael Wojcik
Even by Stob standards (which are high, in my opinion), I found this one particularly entertaining. "The Lotus Notes of the 23rd century" indeed.
Somewhere I still have the CD-ROM DDJ sent me of her columns from that august periodical. When I find it again (probably it's in storage waiting for the Mountain Fastness Mk II to be built) I shall enjoy perusing them, even if I have to buy a USB-attached external CD/DVD drive to do so. Well worth it.
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Saturday 19th June 2021 14:30 GMT Blackjack
Re: Always worth waiting for
Murder does get boring.
I mean when was the last time you made a user tap dance as one of the steps to fix their computer? On recently waxed floor?
After all if no one used the medical insurance then the higher ups were going to replace it with something worse...
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Thursday 17th June 2021 09:18 GMT b0llchit
Why can't we have more sci-fi in the real world? Living in the future has two options: 1) we live in harmony, or 2) we are all in agony and soon die a horrible death.
As the HHGTTG already stated, either option is good. Especially when option 2 is acute, we'll soon be free of said agony because of the soon no longer being alive part. Now, take that beer and wait for either.
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Thursday 17th June 2021 11:01 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: You know all will be right with the world...
wot??? I didn't realise that Rex Garrod had passed away - or that he did Robot Wars
I really enjoyed "The secret life.... " series, even sent off for the information pack. Still have it at home somewhere.
I remember him demonstrating a plasma orb globe that he had made from a HV tripler from a broken TV that he found by the road.
Will look forward to re-watching the videos
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Thursday 17th June 2021 11:10 GMT Howard Sway
A bookcase behind him is loaded with suspiciously many learned-looking books
No, no, no, this is the Governor.... He must be situated in front of a forest of outsized Marcos 2 flags. The minions are required to use the bookcases.
Incidentally, it's a great flag, just a white exclamation mark on a blue square with rounded corners. It represents the planetary motto "We know what you did every minute of your lives".
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Thursday 17th June 2021 16:41 GMT amanfromMars 1
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Thursday 17th June 2021 21:01 GMT Kevin McMurtrie
On the surface...
Kirk: Everyone! Get to, work! Stop staring at, your flip-phones.
Kirk: Kirk to Scotty, uninstall everyone's apps.
Scotty: File a ticket
Kirk: Now!
Scotty: These are critical components and there's a process. I could have this done next sprint if the Warp Coils OKRs are allowed to slip a wee bit.
Kirk: Nevermind, Scotty. Offboard deceased Red Shirts 5486 and 75385. Bones, prepare a post-mortem.
Scotty: File a ticket.
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Friday 18th June 2021 09:23 GMT NerryTutkins
"always bearing hard left"
This always bugs me on scifi shows. The ships in orbit always look like they are going around a planet that is only about 10 times bigger than they are. The beginning of Voyager makes it even worse with Voyager flying over the rings of a planet and following their curve around.
Other things that bug me:
Deep Space 9 Opening Credits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TsMyLt2BTM
* The tail of comets is away from the sun, not behind the direction of motion. However, as we pan through the tail and the comet is directly in front of us, there is no sun behind it as their should be.
* Even if you want to think that the trail is somehow left behind the trail of motion (which makes no sense in a vacuum), there is no trail when the sequence starts. It only starts to be created as the credits progress, as if the rock was stationary and leaving no trail until the point the "camera" starts rolling.
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Friday 18th June 2021 19:18 GMT Michael Wojcik
Re: "always bearing hard left"
That's one of the things which always struck me about a lot of classic rockets-and-planets SF, even as a child. In most of those narratives, a given planet has a single, homogeneous culture, or maybe a couple of them. It's like SF authors just substituted "planet" for "country" in their mental models – and their models of countries weren't close to accurate to begin with.
Often the planets are depicted as having only a single ecological zone, too. "Yeah, this is a jungle planet. Just jungle everywhere. Nothing else." If you don't like the weather, go to a different planet.
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Friday 18th June 2021 20:31 GMT jake
Re: "always bearing hard left"
To be fair, SciFi isn't supposed to be a detailed survey of an existing society living on an existing planet. Rather, it's supposed to be entertainment. Escapism.
For example, take Star Trek IV ... while I've encountered a few whales when sailing on San Francisco Bay, and I've certainly encountered a lot of very snotty weather ("If you learn to sail on San Francisco Bay, you can sail anywhere."[0]), I've never in my entire life seen that kind of huge ocean waves on the Bay. It just doesn't happen that way.
To say nothing of "the Cetacean Institute" being filmed at Monterey Bay Aquarium, a well-known landmark that is nowhere near Marin County. Watching them cross the Golden Gate Bridge to get to Monterey from SF was somewhat jarring to us locals.
We won't discuss using the non-nuclear USS Ranger as a stand-in for the nuclear powered USS Enterprise.
Etc.
Most suspended disbelief and enjoyed The Voyage Home anyway.
[0] "If you learn Ubuntu, you'll understand Ubuntu. If you learn Slackware, you'll understand *nix."
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Thursday 26th May 2022 13:17 GMT Anonymous Coward
Hard Left
I thought the Enterprise standard orbit of a inhabited planet had to fit one of two things.
1. Within transporter range if Federation was known.
2. At a radius not to appear too visible in the sky if observing the Prime Directive. Which could be geostationary over an uninhabited / least habited area? Overthinking, minimum
Upvoted the perspective thingy, but yeah come on, artistic licence. Otherwise would all look like shots from the ISS with nought but planet filling the screen.