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I don't see why this should be a problem. NASA will fix this at the NASA/USGS Rotational Tuning Facility #9?

Just as long as the pods are not giant white balls

You actually included some R.E.M. lyrics:
"We've gotta catapult our precious bodily fluids to the moon."

Well, you had 'moon' too, but I'm not going to be too anal about it.

Deep Space 9 and Farscape, but also The Prisoner and Sapphire and Steel.

Also, I suppose it was unavoidable to have a list focuse on English-language productions, but I would NEVER leave out Raumpatrouille, a superb German series from the sixties.

I would also remember Star Maidens, although I might not put it among the best 50... :)

http://www.retroweb.com/prisoner/prisx60r.jpg

Just watched a rerun of that old show The Prisoner. It's an interesting meditation on modern society, and our struggle to retain dignity and humanity in the face of anonymous authority. THIS is the point of the thread, not how comfortable you find your cell.

These were field tested extensively on The Prisoner, as can be seen from the picture.

Anyone else reminded of The Prisoner? (Rover is pic in upper right corner.)

You mean something like this?

Rover will obviously take you to The Village where you will become A Prisoner and get interrogated by Number 2!

I will not be pushed, filed, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! (My life is my own.)

Rover will obviously take you to The Village where you will become A Prisoner and get interrogated by Number 2!

I will not be pushed, filed, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! (My life is my own.)

So including information for someone else's benefit, that would have to be researched anyway in order to understand a subject, is unimportant now, just because I'm a busy man?

Infinitely cooler to me is that fact that one co-plaintiff is none other than Glenn Fleishman, author of the Furioso Font, recognizable to "Prisoner" fans everywhere as a clone of the "Albertus" font used in the classic TV show.

And I am not talking about trolls or crapflooders. I have several karma 50 accounts in addition to this one.

If Slashdot would implement anything like what your propose you'd have a perfect society in The Prisoner sense. Bright colours and "happy" people but no real discussion or dissent. "I am not a number, I am a free man!"

The only difference would be that we all would know who the Number One is.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/technology/tumblewe ed_rovers.html

http://www.retroweb.com/prisoner.html

What do you want?
Information!
You won't get it!
By hook or by crook, we will!

I believe I've found [some pictures] of the NASA prototype!

The Prisoner?

Get Drunk In Sydney

Consider this, though: I argue that the brilliance of SF is that it can address very volitile social issues, like racism, environmentalism, sexism, etc., and do so safely. People may dismiss a story about slavery, for example, but when you change the races to Gorthos enslaving Kangoids, you can tell the same story, and get the same message across. Those of us who grew up in the 70's and 80's all clearly remember the fear of nuclear war, right? The most memorable episode for me was the one called "Experiment in Terra", where Apollo ends up on a suspiciously "earth-like" planet, and has to diffuse a nuclear confrontation between "The Eastern Alliance" and "The People's Nationalist Force". The allegories were clear, even to my 10 year-old brain. It was then that I learned the true power of Science Fiction, and officially became a nerd.

for(int i = 0; i < 20; i++)
{
It's the End of the World As We Know It
}

I don't think I can take that much R.E.M. I'll end the world myself before that.