I can't agree at all. I loved TOS when I was a teenager and it was new, but watching it now... wow, how cheesy can you get? Yeah, most of the episodes were very good, but a few... just wow. The one where aliens beam Kirk to some planet to battle a guy in a cheesy dragon costume was maybe the worst. I don't recall any TNG episodes that sucked so badly. And what of the TNG episodes with actors from TOS? Plus, TOS never had bad guys anywhere near as nasty as the Borg.
IMO DS9 was better than TOS, too.
The trouble with Voyager was the casting; Janaway isn't believable as a ship's captain. And Neeelix was the Jar Jar of the Star Trek universe.
I couldn't get past that horrible theme song Enterprise had, so I never watched any of those.
That said, I have copies of every episode of TOS, TNG, and DS9.
The problem with time travel is that there is no analytical method to say what would happen, since we have absolutely no clue how or if time travel would work in any way shape or form.
I just rented that the other night, and I agree. It was even better when I watched it again the next day. A copy will surely soon reside either on my bookshelf, my hard drive, or both.
If Niven was right then most science fiction is fantasy. Time travel is no more unbelievable than faster than light travel, which a very big chunk of SF has.
I haven't read that one, but your citation says "It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1973 and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1974." It couldn't have been THAT bad.
I think I'll visit the library tomorrow and see if they have a copy.
In what way? Which one? City on the Edge of Forever? IMO that was one of the best episodes, and the folks who give out the Hugo awards agree with me, as do critics:
The filmed version of "The City on the Edge of Forever" is considered the best episode of the original series by many critics such as Entertainment Weekly.[9] TV Guide ranked it #68 in their 100 Most Memorable Moments in TV History feature in its July 1, 1996 edition, featured ranked it #92 on the 100 greatest TV episodes of all time,[10] and ranked it #80 on its list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time."[11] IGN ranked it as number one out of their "Top 10 Classic Star Trek Episodes".[12] Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode an 'A' rating, describing it as a "a justly revered classic".[13]
It is one of the most widely acclaimed episodes of the original series of Star Trek. It was awarded the Hugo Award in 1968 for the "Best Dramatic Presentation" at that year's World Science Fiction Convention. It was twenty-five years before another television program received that honor again, and the next recipient became the episode "The Inner Light" from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Harlan Ellison's original version of the teleplay won the annual Writers Guild of America Award for best dramatic hour-long script.
As is the holodeck, in which -everything- can be simulated.
Again, why? What's wrong with simulated reality? Did you think The Matrix was unbearable as well? You'd probably hate the book I'm in the middle of writing (Here's a chapter).
Actually three things, I forgot about the "aliens" that all look like humans with a different makeup artist. Yes, I know the explanation and it sucks
I agree with you there and made fun of it in an earlier chapter. The "explanation" in TNG is downright stupid, as Earth and Romulus were seeded before we were even mammals. Insanely stupid.
There are two kinds of Star Wars fans, those who were adults when EPIV came out, and those who saw it as kids. I was 25 when Star Wars came out, and I liked the prequels as much as the earlier three.
The only raping was Lucas changing EPIV dor the digital version, IMO.
Time travel is the weakest of all SciFi plot devices, reserved for authors who are completely out of ideas.
OUCH! And here I thought that was pretty original =(
So, Isaac Asimov was completely out of ideas in 1955? To tell the truth, I used to dislike time travel stories not because "the author is out of ideas" but because of its impossibility... but a few chapters into Eternity it struck me that interstellar travel was equally impossible.
I take it you don't like Tolkein or Pratchett either, because "magic is the weakest of all plot devices, reserved for authors who are completely out of ideas"... or any other genre you don't like?
The reason there's record breaking temperatures there in recent years is Anthropogenic Global Warming
Yes, that's a carbon feedback, as I said. You can't pump millions of tons of previously sequestered carbon into the atmosphere and expect there to be no effects.
Ever wonder why it's so hot in Australia right now? Not only is it summer there, but Earth's orbit is at perihelion, closest to the sun on January 3. In 20,000 years or so, the northern hemisphere will be summer at perihelion. That's why the south pole is colder than the north pole; it's farther away from the sun in winter than the north pole is in its winter.
There are other cycles, such as the wobble of the Earth's axis.
Of course, there is the 100,000 year problem and other problems. "Various explanations for this discrepancy have been proposed, including frequency modulation[12] or various feedbacks (from carbon dioxide, cosmic rays, or from ice sheet dynamics)."
The carbon feedback is what we're seeing now; the sun's affects only change on huge, slow time scales (except the seasons and axis wobble, of course).
Everything I know about it is from wikipedia; I'm no expert. You should read the wiki articles, they're very informative.
PS why can't you download public domain music and video for free? And where do you get your free interenet access from?
Here is your free public domain library, and you can get free internet access via wi-fi at a lot of places; bars, McDonalds, Laundromats, etc. Often there are private persons who deliberately leave their systems open as well.
Religion exists because lights in the sky go boom and it doesn't rain when you want it to and things happen you can't understand.
No, religion happens because some folks experience something greater than the physical world, and impart that knowledge to others. No, I can't prove God exists, nor can I prove pain or sentience exists; both can be too easily faked. But whether or not I can prove it, I feel pain and am self-aware.
religion is quite literally at odds with modern life.
Most religions are, Christianity certainly is. Modern life is all about the money, "clawing your way up", greed, selfishness, lasciviousness. It is completely contrary to everything Christ taught.
If it ain't based on cold hard facts it has no business governing anyone other than the individual who believes it.
California proposed something like $100 per plant tax on growers and then another $50 per ounce at the time of retail sale.
Well, in negotiations you start high and let then talk you down (I swear that pun was unintentional). I've known growers, and a single plant will yield a half a pound. I doubt the tax will be much, people will just grow it themselves if it's too high. How much is the tax in Colorado, Washington, or Amsterdam?
At any rate, I'd rather the tax go to the government than some Columbian drug cartel.
Back in "your day" what did you do when Ma Bell screwed you over, like by forcing you to pay a monthly rental fee for your phone, or charging insanely high long-distance charges?
Back then, corporate ownership of the government wasn't yet complete, so the government sued them for unfair practices and broke them up. Microsoft almost got broke up, but then we elected Bush (which was the real beginning of the total corporate ownership).
Don't get me wrong, sociologically in many ways it was better back then, but most things have improved. We seem to have started spiralling down since 2000.
What'd you do when Ford, GM, and Chrysler all conspired to keep important safety features out of cars
We didn't even know about it until Nader wrote his book, after which all hell broke loose. All of a sudden they started putting seat belts in and using disk brakes, etc.
CEOs were always sociopaths, but they hid their sociopathy better. The Tucker was way before my time; I hadn't heard about that until I saw some show on the History Channel. But that was more like MS, Google, and Apple conspiring to kill a small upstart with a better phone OS; damage to the customer is indirect, unlike Sony's XCP trojans, movie studios suing their customers, or Oracle not patching their buggy platform.
You only stopped buying from the crappy American automakers when a cheaper option came along (the Japanese).
Japanese goods had been historically low quality, so it would have been like divorcing your chubby wife and marrying a fat women with a bad attitude. When the oil embargo hit and prices tripled overnight and gas stations ran dry, folks looked to gas sippers -- VW and Japan. People discovered how much better the Japanese cars were and started buying them.
These businesses get away with this nonsense for two good reasons: 1) American consumers are fairly apathetic and won't take a stand if it means going without something they've now come to regard as a necessity, or that having it will be more difficult than by doing nothing. 2) Monopolies can exploit this tendency to great effect.
Very true, as well as your following paragraph. "Ma Bell could do it", thinks the PHB, "Microsoft could do it, we can, too!" I agree, that is a large part of the problem.
I do applaud the young folks for the Occupy movement. Too bad it seems to be losing steam.
Slashdot Mirror
That was hilarious.
You have much to learn, grasshopper.
I thought it was a very clever pun.
just learn that you can't post a "less than" sign into comment
Yes you can, just use a little html. < becomes <.
Star Trek is not about good versus evil.
Klingons and Romulans aren't evil? The Borg aren't evil? KHAN isn't evil?? Kirk in the alternate universe isn't evil?
So your Klingon?...
What about my Klingon?
I can't agree at all. I loved TOS when I was a teenager and it was new, but watching it now... wow, how cheesy can you get? Yeah, most of the episodes were very good, but a few... just wow. The one where aliens beam Kirk to some planet to battle a guy in a cheesy dragon costume was maybe the worst. I don't recall any TNG episodes that sucked so badly. And what of the TNG episodes with actors from TOS? Plus, TOS never had bad guys anywhere near as nasty as the Borg.
IMO DS9 was better than TOS, too.
The trouble with Voyager was the casting; Janaway isn't believable as a ship's captain. And Neeelix was the Jar Jar of the Star Trek universe.
I couldn't get past that horrible theme song Enterprise had, so I never watched any of those.
That said, I have copies of every episode of TOS, TNG, and DS9.
The problem with time travel is that there is no analytical method to say what would happen, since we have absolutely no clue how or if time travel would work in any way shape or form.
Stephen Hawking says you're wrong.
Clarke's law #3, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
FYI Time Travel plots are for the feeble minded writer
If Harlan Ellison is a feeble minded writer, then how did he manage to win about every SF award there is?
I just rented that the other night, and I agree. It was even better when I watched it again the next day. A copy will surely soon reside either on my bookshelf, my hard drive, or both.
If Niven was right then most science fiction is fantasy. Time travel is no more unbelievable than faster than light travel, which a very big chunk of SF has.
I haven't read that one, but your citation says "It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1973 and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1974." It couldn't have been THAT bad.
I think I'll visit the library tomorrow and see if they have a copy.
Time travel in Star Trek is ridiculous.
In what way? Which one? City on the Edge of Forever? IMO that was one of the best episodes, and the folks who give out the Hugo awards agree with me, as do critics:
As is the holodeck, in which -everything- can be simulated.
Again, why? What's wrong with simulated reality? Did you think The Matrix was unbearable as well? You'd probably hate the book I'm in the middle of writing (Here's a chapter).
Actually three things, I forgot about the "aliens" that all look like humans with a different makeup artist.
Yes, I know the explanation and it sucks
I agree with you there and made fun of it in an earlier chapter. The "explanation" in TNG is downright stupid, as Earth and Romulus were seeded before we were even mammals. Insanely stupid.
There are two kinds of Star Wars fans, those who were adults when EPIV came out, and those who saw it as kids. I was 25 when Star Wars came out, and I liked the prequels as much as the earlier three.
The only raping was Lucas changing EPIV dor the digital version, IMO.
There is a difference between science fiction and science fantasy. Time travel belongs in the realm of science fantasy.
Sorry, I don't quite understand where you're coming from there. Why is it fantasy, because it's impossible? So is interstellar travel.
Let's see you do better with a $10,000 budget.
Some Finnish kids did a damned good job for less.
Time travel is the weakest of all SciFi plot devices, reserved for authors who are completely out of ideas.
OUCH! And here I thought that was pretty original =(
So, Isaac Asimov was completely out of ideas in 1955? To tell the truth, I used to dislike time travel stories not because "the author is out of ideas" but because of its impossibility... but a few chapters into Eternity it struck me that interstellar travel was equally impossible.
I take it you don't like Tolkein or Pratchett either, because "magic is the weakest of all plot devices, reserved for authors who are completely out of ideas"... or any other genre you don't like?
The reason there's record breaking temperatures there in recent years is Anthropogenic Global Warming
Yes, that's a carbon feedback, as I said. You can't pump millions of tons of previously sequestered carbon into the atmosphere and expect there to be no effects.
the sun has no effect
Ever wonder why it's so hot in Australia right now? Not only is it summer there, but Earth's orbit is at perihelion, closest to the sun on January 3. In 20,000 years or so, the northern hemisphere will be summer at perihelion. That's why the south pole is colder than the north pole; it's farther away from the sun in winter than the north pole is in its winter.
There are other cycles, such as the wobble of the Earth's axis.
Of course, there is the 100,000 year problem and other problems. "Various explanations for this discrepancy have been proposed, including frequency modulation[12] or various feedbacks (from carbon dioxide, cosmic rays, or from ice sheet dynamics)."
The carbon feedback is what we're seeing now; the sun's affects only change on huge, slow time scales (except the seasons and axis wobble, of course).
Everything I know about it is from wikipedia; I'm no expert. You should read the wiki articles, they're very informative.
PS why can't you download public domain music and video for free? And where do you get your free interenet access from?
Here is your free public domain library, and you can get free internet access via wi-fi at a lot of places; bars, McDonalds, Laundromats, etc. Often there are private persons who deliberately leave their systems open as well.
Religion exists because lights in the sky go boom and it doesn't rain when you want it to and things happen you can't understand.
No, religion happens because some folks experience something greater than the physical world, and impart that knowledge to others. No, I can't prove God exists, nor can I prove pain or sentience exists; both can be too easily faked. But whether or not I can prove it, I feel pain and am self-aware.
religion is quite literally at odds with modern life.
Most religions are, Christianity certainly is. Modern life is all about the money, "clawing your way up", greed, selfishness, lasciviousness. It is completely contrary to everything Christ taught.
If it ain't based on cold hard facts it has no business governing anyone other than the individual who believes it.
Agreed.
California proposed something like $100 per plant tax on growers and then another $50 per ounce at the time of retail sale.
Well, in negotiations you start high and let then talk you down (I swear that pun was unintentional). I've known growers, and a single plant will yield a half a pound. I doubt the tax will be much, people will just grow it themselves if it's too high. How much is the tax in Colorado, Washington, or Amsterdam?
At any rate, I'd rather the tax go to the government than some Columbian drug cartel.
LOL, I don't know if that was a compliment or an insult! I'll take it as the former. At least you're reading the stories.
Back in "your day" what did you do when Ma Bell screwed you over, like by forcing you to pay a monthly rental fee for your phone, or charging insanely high long-distance charges?
Back then, corporate ownership of the government wasn't yet complete, so the government sued them for unfair practices and broke them up. Microsoft almost got broke up, but then we elected Bush (which was the real beginning of the total corporate ownership).
Don't get me wrong, sociologically in many ways it was better back then, but most things have improved. We seem to have started spiralling down since 2000.
What'd you do when Ford, GM, and Chrysler all conspired to keep important safety features out of cars
We didn't even know about it until Nader wrote his book, after which all hell broke loose. All of a sudden they started putting seat belts in and using disk brakes, etc.
CEOs were always sociopaths, but they hid their sociopathy better. The Tucker was way before my time; I hadn't heard about that until I saw some show on the History Channel. But that was more like MS, Google, and Apple conspiring to kill a small upstart with a better phone OS; damage to the customer is indirect, unlike Sony's XCP trojans, movie studios suing their customers, or Oracle not patching their buggy platform.
You only stopped buying from the crappy American automakers when a cheaper option came along (the Japanese).
Japanese goods had been historically low quality, so it would have been like divorcing your chubby wife and marrying a fat women with a bad attitude. When the oil embargo hit and prices tripled overnight and gas stations ran dry, folks looked to gas sippers -- VW and Japan. People discovered how much better the Japanese cars were and started buying them.
These businesses get away with this nonsense for two good reasons: 1) American consumers are fairly apathetic and won't take a stand if it means going without something they've now come to regard as a necessity, or that having it will be more difficult than by doing nothing. 2) Monopolies can exploit this tendency to great effect.
Very true, as well as your following paragraph. "Ma Bell could do it", thinks the PHB, "Microsoft could do it, we can, too!" I agree, that is a large part of the problem.
I do applaud the young folks for the Occupy movement. Too bad it seems to be losing steam.