Pixel Scroll 10/20 Hugo, we have a problem

(1) David Brin urges everyone to make a fashion statement for Back To the Future Day:

Okay so October 21 is “Back to the Future” Day,” when movie houses all over will be holding special showings of BTTF-II, to commemorate our crossing that particular frontier — when Marty McFly and Doc Brown arrived at the ‘future’ of 2015 from the year 1985. Here is a rundown of ways the film was eerily on target… and another… if you set aside hover boards and flying cars and hydrated pizzas. And Mr. Fusion, alas. Hey, everyone wear a DOUBLE TIE that day!  I haven’t heard anyone else pushing that meme, so pass it on starting here!

Mockfry(2) Jim C. Hines’ Icon report includes a photo of a group posed around the “Future Birthplace of James T. Kirk” monument in Riverside, Iowa. Hines is there with Ann Leckie, David Gerrold, Joe and Gay Haldeman, and some others I should probably recognize.

(3) Amanda S. Green considers possible outcomes of Amazon’s new move against fake reviews in “To Pay or Not to Pay”.

I can’t speak for Amazon but I have a feeling what we will see happening is that a number of reviews will simply drop off the site. These reviews will either be directly tied to the sites Amazon has suspicions about or will have key phrases that are oft repeated across other reviews. It is easy enough to code a data crawler to find such similarities. It is basically the same sort of tool that schools use to determine if a paper contains any plagiarized parts.

Amazon might go one step further. Right now, if you look at Amazon customer reviews, you will see some from verified purchasers and then those that aren’t. A verified purchaser is someone who actually purchased the item from Amazon. The only problem with this is it doesn’t reflect those who borrowed a book or short story under the Kindle Unlimited program. This may be the point where Amazon needs to add that as one of the descriptors. I know a number of authors, and readers alike, who have been asking Amazon to do just that. At least that way, people who look at reviews before buying something would have an idea if the reviewer actually put down money on the book in question.

There is always the possibility that Amazon will require you to have purchased an item from them before you are allowed to review it. I’ll admit to being torn about this option. That would keep reviewers like Shiny Book Review from posting reviews on all sales sites. It would kick out reviewers who receive free copies of books unless Amazon has them register as reviewers. This is a path I’m not sure I want to see them go down.

Right now, Amazon gives more weight to reviews written by verified purchasers. As they should.

(4) The Tiptree Award is looking for recommendations. Got one? Click and fill out their form.

Most of the books and stories that Tiptree Award jurors read to pick a winner are nominated by authors and readers. We need your suggestions. If you’ve read a work of science fiction or fantasy that explores or expands our notions of gender, please tell us about it by filling out the recommendation form below. If you have more than one, just fill out the form again with a new recommendation and submit it until you’ve told us about them all.

Recommendations close on the 1st of December, 2015.

(5) Fans and everyone seeking eyeballs for their blog are busy mining the newly-released Star Wars trailer for provocative material like – Who dies in the movie?

The first full-length trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens gave fans plenty to speculate wildly about, but one moment in particular is causing widespread panic across the galaxy — or at least, the Internet. Towards the end of the trailer (watch it here!), there is a one-second shot of heroine Rey (Daisy Ridley) sobbing over what looks like a dead body. So who dies?

(6) Geeks Are Sexy has photographic proof that Canada’s Newest Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, is a member of the Rebel Alliance. Eh?

trudeau

(7) Catherynne M. Valente delivers The Big Idea today at Whatever. You were warned!

Radiance doesn’t have a big idea at its heart.

It has about six. It’s a decopunk alt-history Hollywood space opera mystery thriller. With space whales.

Over-egging the pudding, you say? Too many cooks going at the soup? Gilding that lily like it’s going to the prom? I say: grab your eggs and hold onto your lilies because I am cannonballing into that soup FULL SPEED AHEAD.

(8) Brandon Kempner assesses the chances of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Aurora getting a Hugo nomination.

The Hugo is a murkier award in 2016, given the turbulence surrounding it. 2312 took third place in 2013, and was also third in the nominations. Given the campaigns that are sure to take place in 2016, 3rd place is probably vulnerable to being pushed out. Add in that 2016 is a strong Hugo year (former Best Novel winners Robinson, Stephenson, Leckie, Walton, Bacigalupi, Scalzi, and Liu are all fighting for 5 spots, and that’s not even factoring in Puppy campaigns or buzzy authors like Novik). As a result, I think Robinson will miss the ballot, but a strong year-end push could definitely grab Robinson a spot.

As for metrics, as of mid-October 2015, Aurora has 2,535 Goodreads ratings with a 3.79 score and 264 Amazon ratings with a score of 3.7. Those aren’t great but they aren’t terrible. It’s a rare thing to see the Goodreads score higher than Amazon, but I couldn’t tell you what that means. I think around 1500 Goodreads / 100 Amazon is the cut off to be competitive, so KSR is well above that. Score doesn’t seem to matter for either the Hugos or Nebulas; VanderMeer won a Nebula last year with a 3.62 Goodreads score.

(9) Tobias Buckell is losing readers right and left. Mostly right. “Today’s passive aggressive fan mail: reader will not read more of my books because I don’t speak English English as my first language”

(10) Peter David “Just when boycotts couldn’t get any more stupid: Star War VII”

When the first “Star Wars” film came out in 1977, it was criticized for the overall whiteness of it. The one major black actor, James Earl Jones, wasn’t even given voice credit (his choice). This was answered with the introduction of Lando in the very next film, but still, mostly white.

So now the new film prominently features a black hero and there are actually idiots who are declaring it should be boycotted because of that? I mean, I knew there are people for whom Obama can do no right because of his skin color, but this is quite simply insane.

(11) But Gary Farber says it’s a fake boycott trolled by 4chan.Here’s one of those claiming credit.

(12) Meanwhile, in the interests of being fair and balanced, we bring you the A.V. Club’s post “Conservative pundit bravely comes out in support of the Galactic Empire”.

Star Wars’ Galactic Empire tends to get a bad rap. Oh sure, Emperor Palpatine started the whole thing by manufacturing a phony war to scare people into supporting a leader who would slowly take away their freedom in exchange for “safety,” the entire organization is suspiciously stocked with almost exclusively white human men, and there was that one time it destroyed an entire planet full of innocent people just to prove that it could, but is any of that stuff objectively evil? Conservative pundit Bill Kristol doesn’t think so, according to a tweet he posted this morning in response to a joke about how the Star Wars prequels encouraged conservatives to root for the Empire….

(13) Today In History:

  • October 20, 1932 — James Whale’s The Old Dark House makes its theatrical debut.

(14) Today’s Birthday Boy:

  • Born October 20, 1892 – Bela Lugosi. As they say at IMDB:

It’s ironic that Martin Landau won an Oscar for impersonating Bela Lugosi (in Ed Wood (1994)) when Lugosi himself never came within a mile of one, but that’s just the latest of many sad ironies surrounding Lugosi’s career.

(15) Today’s Birthday Book:

The Return of the King, being the third part of the novel, was released on 20 October 1955, completing the publication of the tome that had begun on 29 July 1954 with the publication of The Fellowship of the Ring. The Return of the King had originally been planned for release much earlier in the year, but Tolkien delayed it due to working on the book’s appendices, to the annoyance of readers (yet another epic fantasy trend begun by the Tolkmeister).

(16) Belfast-born writer C.S. Lewis is to be honored in his native city with a series of new sculptures depicting characters from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe reports the BBC.

Belfast City Council has commissioned six new pieces of public art, including Aslan the Lion and the White Witch.

They will be erected in a new civic square, currently under construction, at the Holywood Arches in east Belfast.

…As well as the lion and the witch, the six pieces of art also include sculptures of Mr Tumnus, Jewel the unicorn, Mr and Mrs Beaver and the Stone Table

(17) Belfast is also where the third C.S. Lewis Festival takes place from Thursday 19 – Sunday 22 November 2015, marking the 52nd anniversary of the death of the author, theologian, academic and creator of the incredible Chronicles of Narnia series.

Across 4 days of Lewis-related events will be reflections and assessments of the cultural significance of Lewis’ rich legacy, the impact he had on Belfast, as well as the strong influence his native city had on his vast body of work.   There will be something for everyone with many magical and free events offered; it’s definitely worth checking out.

Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast in 1898. The C.S. Lewis Festival will recognise and celebrate both his life and his legacy to the world.   Across 4 days of Lewis-related events will be reflections and assessments of the cultural significance of Lewis’ rich legacy, the impact he had on Belfast, as well as the strong influence his native city had on his vast body of work.

(18) Free lifetime memberships for trying it! One of the best book cataloging sites. LibraryThing launches in iPhone app.

We’re thrilled to announce the official LibraryThing iPhone App!

What it does. This is our first version, so we’ve limited it to doing the most basic functions you’ll need for cataloging on the go:

  • Browse and search your library.
  • Add books by scanning barcodes. Scanning to add is VERY FAST!
  • Add books by searching.
  • Browse and upload covers, using the iPhone camera.
  • Do minor editing, such as changing collections and ratings. Major editing sends you to LibraryThing.

(19) Wait, you mean it isn’t fake? “This Software Lets Someone Else Control Your Face”

Researchers created expression transferring software that projects mouth, eye, and other facial movements onto another face in real time.

(20) “Life on Earth likely started 4.1 billion years ago – much earlier than scientists thought” reports Phys.org.

“Life on Earth may have started almost instantaneously,” added Harrison, a member of the National Academy of Sciences. “With the right ingredients, life seems to form very quickly.”

The new research suggests that life existed prior to the massive bombardment of the inner solar system that formed the moon’s large craters 3.9 billion years ago.

“If all life on Earth died during this bombardment, which some scientists have argued, then life must have restarted quickly,” said Patrick Boehnke, a co-author of the research and a graduate student in Harrison’s laboratory.

Scientists had long believed the Earth was dry and desolate during that time period. Harrison’s research—including a 2008 study in Nature he co-authored with Craig Manning, a professor of geology and geochemistry at UCLA, and former UCLA graduate student Michelle Hopkins—is proving otherwise.

“The early Earth certainly wasn’t a hellish, dry, boiling planet; we see absolutely no evidence for that,” Harrison said. “The planet was probably much more like it is today than previously thought.”

The researchers, led by Elizabeth Bell—a postdoctoral scholar in Harrison’s laboratory—studied more than 10,000 zircons originally formed from molten rocks, or magmas, from Western Australia. Zircons are heavy, durable minerals related to the synthetic cubic zirconium used for imitation diamonds. They capture and preserve their immediate environment, meaning they can serve as time capsules.

(21) A New York Comic Con panel on the economics of Star Trek  gathered Trek writer Chris Black; Manu Saadia, author of the book “Trekonomics”; Annalee Newitz, founding editor of the culture site io9; moderator Felix Salmon, of Fusion; Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist; and Brad DeLong, an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley.

“Gene Roddenberry tried to paint our future,” said DeLong, noting that we’ve gone far down that road. “We’re now, in fact, approaching post-scarcity in food and products.”

But, as Newitz pointed out, because “Trek” is a future where money no longer exists, people work because they want to but are therefore supported by other economies. To prove her point, she cited as an example “Measure of a Man,” an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” that centered on the character of Lt. Cmdr. Data, an android.

Even though Data is a crew member of the starship “Enterprise,” unlike his fellow crewmates, he’s a robot. But does that make him a person or Starfleet property?

“We’re constantly being reminded that slavery and low wages support the comfortable, ‘Enterprise’ living,” Newitz said….

Salmon, the panel’s moderator, pointed out that in 2016, “Star Trek” will turn 50 and Thomas More’s book, “Utopia,” will turn 500. He then asked the panel if there is anything utopian about “Trek.”

“We are problem-solving, puzzle-solving, status-seeking creatures,” DeLong said.

Krugman responded by saying: “People have an amazing ability to be unhappy. The problem with utopia is not the lack of scarcity — it’s people.”

[Thanks to Will R., Steven H Silver, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Will R.]

 

542 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 10/20 Hugo, we have a problem

  1. Re: TV brackets, limited series, and one-season runs

    Here’s a crazy idea. What if we were to split the nominees into multiyear and single-year? That avoids the “would there have been a Season Two” question by effectively treating all one-year shows as limited series, and it also distinguishes between the Perfect Gems and the Worthy Necklaces. That is, prematurely canceled series may not have gotten the chance to suck, and it may be unfair to compare them to luckier series that did.

    Plus, come on. Prisoner-original vs. Prisoner-miniseries vs. Firefly. Dude. Duuuuude.

  2. My only real issue with the limited series thing is it seems to me an accidentally anti-Brit rule – we have quite a few. Generally speaking I’m pretty happy with bracket runners putting in the restrictions they’re comfortable with (within reason). Lots of work goes into these and I’d rather people willing to do it felt happy with the experience.

    Ditto. But, yaknow, if you Yankees really don’t think you can win this unless we have to fight it with right hand tied to left leg, well, ok.

  3. @Rev. Bob: It’s a thing we could have done. It’s just not the thing we will do.

    However, after further research,The Prisoner is in. Some sources suggest there was some talk about further series, and 17 episodes is a substantial body of work.This is not an implicit invitation to open the “But what about…?” floodgates, though. 🙂

    All: I am heading out to my appointment with Joe Jackson and his new band. When I come home, we’ll kick off nominations. Now might be a good time for passionate pleas for your favorite “bubble picks.”

    ETA: What I mean is, The Prisoner is in if it gets enough nominations. It’s eligible.

  4. Limited series devotees: Its cool, I’m sure someone will run a Camestros-suggested limited series+story arc version at a later date. 😉

    @Anna Feruglio Dal Dan

    *snicker*

    @Jim Henley

    Gotcha. I’ll get the full list of stuff people have mentioned in this thread up in a bit so people have a solid reference to use for nominations. (So, last chance to get on that. peeps, although I’m sure people wouldn’t ignore anything you put in the thread later.)

  5. Jim Henley: Does it help blur the chalk line if I mention the attempts to “prove” The Prisoner was a continuation of McGoohan’s character in Danger Man/Secret Agent?

  6. A few I haven’t seen mentioned, but that I liked quite a lot (dare I say loved, despite their brevity)–I’d like to nominate:

    Are You Afraid of the Dark?
    Earth 2
    Invasion (2005)
    Jake 2.0
    John Doe
    Journeyman
    Kyle XY
    La Femme Nikita (first version–does it qualify?)
    Land of the Giants
    Legend of the Seeker
    Ocean Girl
    The Odyssey (2002, Canadian show)
    The Secret World of Alex Mack

    Yeah, a fair amount of Disney and Nickelodeon teen shows…my daughter and I watched them together and I enjoyed them immensely.

  7. Speaking of shows for the younger set, would Mighty Morphin Power Rangers be eligible, or would it be disqualified on the grounds of so much footage reused from other shows?

  8. Checking through eligibility to make sure I don’t put up anything misleading at the moment so that will probably take awhile. I’ll still add things that come up.

  9. In this case “suggested” means “mentioned” – positively or otherwise. If you just said “Doctor Who” I put your name down for both of them. Also, if you used alphabetical order when mentioning titles for consideration, marry me!

    I hope I didn’t miss anything..!

    The 4400 (suggested by snowcrash)
    The Addams Family (suggested by Hampus, Camestros, BigelowT) ~ guessing this is the 1964-1966 version?
    The Adventure Game (suggested by Camestros) ~ may not be eligible, needs a ruling
    The Adventures of Brisco County (suggested by Magewolf, lurkertype)
    ALF (suggested by Jim Henley, Will R.)
    Alien Nation (suggested by rgl, emgrasso, lurkertype)
    American Gothic (suggested by rgl)
    Andromeda (suggested by redheadedfemme)
    Angel (suggested by Kyra, snowcrash, redheadedfemme, Rev. Bob)
    Animorphs (suggested by Meredith)
    Are You Afraid of the Dark? (suggested by catrinket)
    Ashes to Ashes (suggested by Will R.)
    Automan (suggested by Kevin Hogan) ~ not sure if eligible? only 12 episodes. needs a ruling.
    The Avengers – UK (suggested by Hampus, lurkertype, Meredith, Will R.)
    Babylon 5 (suggested by Lenora Rose, Petréa Mitchell, lurkertype, Aaron, redheadedfemme)
    Batman – 1960’s (suggested by Hampus)
    Battlestar Galactica – Original (suggested by lurkertype, Lori Coulson, Meredith)
    Battlestar Galactica – New (suggested by Lenora Rose, Kyra, snowcrash, redheadedfemme)
    Beauty and the Beast (suggested by Petréa Mitchell, Lori Coulson, Lenora Rose, redheadedfemme, Cassy B)
    Being Human – UK (suggested by Tintinaus, Viverrine)
    Bewitched (suggested by BigelowT, Meredith)
    The Bionic Woman (suggested by LunarG, Will R.)
    Birds of Prey (suggested by Meredith)
    Blake’s 7 (suggested by Petréa Mitchell, Aaron, Meredith)
    Blood Ties (suggested by Lenora Rose)
    Brimstone (suggested by rgl, Viverrine, Magewolf)
    Buck Rogers (suggested by Will R., Tintinaus) ~ no-one specified whether they meant the 1950s or 1970s-1980s version
    Buffy the Vampire Slayer (suggested by Lenora Rose, Kyra, ULTRAGOTHA, redheadedfemme, Meredith, Rev. Bob, Johan P)
    Carnivàle (suggested by Johan P)
    Community (suggested by Ray, Lenora Rose) ~ likely not eligible because not truly sfnal
    Crusade (suggested by Aaron)
    Dark Angel (suggested by LunarG)
    Dark Shadows (suggested by BigelowT)
    Day Break (suggested by rgl)
    The Day of the Triffids (suggested by Hampus) ~ both tv series look like stand-alones to me, may not be eligible
    The Dead Zone (suggested by Meredith)
    Doctor Who – Classic (suggested by Lenora Rose, Petréa Mitchell, lurkertype, Jim Henley, Aaron, ULTRAGOTHA)
    Doctor Who – New (suggested by Lenora Rose, Petréa Mitchell, lurkertype, Aaron, ULTRAGOTHA)
    Dollhouse (suggested by redheadedfemme)
    Doomwatch (suggested by Doire, Peter J)
    The Dresden Files (suggested by CeeV, Jim Henley, Lenora Rose, Heather Rose Jones)
    Due South (suggested by Meredith)]
    Earth 2 (suggested by catrinket)
    Eerie, Indiana (suggested by Meredith, Petréa Mitchell) ~ may need an eligibility ruling, not sure whether cancelled
    Eureka (suggested by Tintinaus)
    Farscape (suggested by Kyra, lurkertype, Aaron, Meredith)
    Firefly (suggested by Lenora Rose, lurkertype, Jim Henley, Aaron, ULTRAGOTHA)
    The Flash – 90s (suggested by Jim Henley)
    Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe (suggested by Hampus) ~ this looks like a serial, may not be eligible
    Friday the 13th (suggested by LunarG, Kevin Hogan, Rev. Bob)
    Fringe (suggested by Lenora Rose, lurkertype, snowcrash)
    Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace (suggested by Camestros, Kevin Hogan) ~ may be ineligible, but it looks like it was cancelled, so will need a ruling
    Get Smart (suggested by snowcrash) ~ may not be sfnal enough
    The Greatest American Hero (suggested by Hampus, Tintinaus, Rev. Bob)
    Haven (suggested by Meredith)
    Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (suggested by Lori Coulson, redheadedfemme, Meredith)
    Highlander: The Series (suggested by Lori Coulson, lurkertype, BigelowT)
    The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (suggested by Hampus, Kyra)
    Holmes and Yo-Yo (suggested by Hampus)
    I Dream of Jeannie (suggested by Paul Weimer, Bewitched)
    The Incredible Hulk (suggested by Jim Henley, lurkertype)
    The Invaders (suggested by Lori Coulson)
    Invasion – 2005 (suggested by catrinket)
    The Invisible Man – 1975 (suggested by Camestros)
    It’s About Time (suggested by BigelowT, rgl)
    Jake 2.0 (suggested by catrinket)
    Jeremiah (suggested by Petréa Mitchell)
    Jericho (suggested by snowcrash)
    John Doe (suggested by catrinket)
    John from Cincinnati (suggested by Jim Henley)
    Journeyman (suggested by catrinket)
    Jupiter Moon (suggested by Aaron)
    Knight Rider (suggested by Lori Coulson, Petréa Mitchell)
    Kolchak: The Night Stalker (suggested by Jim Henley, LunarG, redheadedfemme, lurkertype)
    Kyle XY (suggested by catrinket)
    La Femme Nikita (suggested by catrinket)
    Land of the Giants (suggested by catrinket)
    Legend of the Seeker (suggested by catrinket)
    Lexx (suggested by Meredith)
    Life on Mars – UK (suggested by Camestros, Meredith, Will R.)
    Logan’s Run (suggested by rgl)
    Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (suggested by Petréa Mitchell, Meredith)
    Lost (suggested by LunarG, lurkertype)
    Lost in Space (suggested by Jim Henley)
    Man From Atlantis (suggested by Will R.)
    The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (suggested by Lori Coulson, ULTRAGOTHA) ~ may not be sfnal enough
    Mann and Machine (suggested by Ken Josenhans)
    Max Headroom (suggested by Kyra, lurkertype, ULTRAGOTHA, redheadedfemme, BigelowT)
    Men Into Space (suggested by Mike Glyer)
    Merlin (suggested by Hampus, Lenora Rose, Lori Coulson)
    Metal Mickey (suggested by Ray)
    Middleman (suggested by Lenora Rose)
    The Mighty Boosh (suggested by Meredith, Camestros)
    Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (suggested by Meredith, Petréa Mitchell)
    Millenium (suggested by LunarG)
    Misfits – UK (suggested by Meredith, Tintinaus)
    Misfits of Science (suggested by Kevin Hogan, Petréa Mitchell)
    Moonbase 3 (suggested by Aaron) ~ not sure about this one, was there ever a second series planned?
    Monkey (suggested by Camestros, Meredith)
    Mork and Mindy (suggested by Hampus, Paul (@princejvstin), Meredith)
    The Munsters (suggested by Meredith, Camestros)
    My Favorite Martian (suggested by BigelowT)
    My Mother the Car (suggested by BigelowT)
    Mystery Science Theater 3000 (suggested by Kyra, Petréa Mitchell) ~ I think this needs a ruling
    The New Avengers – UK (suggested by Meredith)
    Night Gallery (suggested by Lori Coulson, Petréa Mitchell, BigelowT)
    Now and Again (suggested by lurkertype)
    Nowhere Man (suggested by LunarG, redheadedfemme) ~ may need a ruling, questions over whether sfnal (it looks pretty sfish to me)
    Ocean Girl or Ocean Odyssey (suggested by catrinket)
    The Odyssey – 2002 (suggested by catrinket)
    Odyssey 5 (suggested by Viverrine)
    The Omega Factor (suggested by Camestros) ~ only had 1 series but I think that was a cancellation issue rather than intended, needs a ruling
    The Outer Limits (suggested by Hampus, Lori Coulson) ~ not sure if 60s or 90s version
    Out of the Unknown (suggested by Peter J)
    Pan Tau (suggested by Hampus)
    Planet of the Apes (suggested by Jim Henley, Camestros, rgl)
    Primeval (suggested by Camestros)
    The Prisoner (suggested by Kyra, lurkertype, Aaron, Rev. Bob) ~ ruled eligible
    Pushing Daisies (suggested by Meredith)
    Quantum Leap (suggested by Petréa Mitchell, lurkertype, Lenora Rose, BigelowT, Rev. Bob)
    Quark (suggested by Petréa Mitchell, lurkertype)
    Quatermass (suggested by Peter J) ~ personally I don’t think any of these are eligible, but we need a ruling
    Ray Bradbury Theater (suggested by Hampus)
    Red Dwarf (suggested by Hampus, Lenora Rose, Petréa Mitchell, lurkertype, Aaron, Meredith)
    Robin of Sherwood – BBC with Michael Praed (suggested by Lenora Rose, Petréa Mitchell, Jim Henley, Aaron)
    Roswell or Roswell High (suggested by Tintinaus)
    Round the Twist (suggested by Meredith)
    Sabrina the Teenage Witch (suggested by BigelowT, Meredith)
    Salvage 1 (suggested by rgl)
    Sapphire and Steel (suggested by Camestros, Jim Henley, ULTRAGOTHA, Petréa Mitchell)
    seaQuest (suggested by Viverrine)
    The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne (suggested by Viverrine) ~ was this cancelled or stand-alone?
    The Secret World of Alex Mack (suggested by catrinket)
    The Sentinel (suggested by rgl)
    Seven Days (suggested by rgl)
    Shadow Chasers (suggested by ULTRAGOTHA)
    She-Wolf of London (suggested by jayn)
    The Six Million Dollar Man (suggested by Camestros, Will R.)
    Sliders (suggested by BigelowT, redheadedfemme, Meredith)
    Smallville (suggested by Lori Coulson)
    Small Wonder (suggested by Tintinaus, Will R.)
    Space: 1999 (suggested by Jim Henley)
    Space: 90210 (suggested by Jim Henley) ~ I’m totally failing to find this.
    Space Above and Beyond (suggested by snowcrash)
    Space Island One (suggested by Aaron)
    Spider-Man (suggested by Jim Henley) ~ 1970s version?
    Star Cops (suggested by Meredith’s partner)
    Stargate: Atlantis (suggested by Lenora Rose, Aaron)
    Stargate SG-1 (suggested by Lenora Rose, Aaron, snowcrash)
    Stargate: Universe (suggested by Aaron)
    The Starlost (suggested by Jim Henley)
    Star Trek: The Original Series (suggested by Lenora Rose, Kyra, lurkertype, Aaron, Lori Coulson, ULTRAGOTHA, redheadedfemme)
    Star Trek: The Next Generation (suggested by Lenora Rose, Aaron, BigelowT)
    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (suggested by Paul (@princejvstin), lurkertype, Aaron, snowcrash, redheadedfemme)
    Star Trek: Voyager (suggested by Meredith)
    Star Trek: Enterprise (suggested by Meredith)
    The StoryTeller (suggested by Hampus, Lenora Rose, lurkertype)
    Strange Luck (suggested by Magewolf)
    Superman (suggested by Lori Coulson) ~ 1950s?
    Survivors – 1970s (suggested by Camestros)
    Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (suggested by redheadedfemme, snowcrash)
    The Third Eye (suggested by LunarG) ~ pretty sure this is eligible but it could do with a ruling
    Third Rock From the Sun (suggested by Petréa Mitchell, Meredith)
    Time Tunnel (suggested by Lori Coulson, Bigelow T)
    Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (suggested by Petréa Mitchell)
    The Tomorrow People – Original (suggested by Camestros, Kevin Hogan, LunarG) ~ Camestros suggests this wouldn’t be eligible, but since it had six seasons and six years of running I think it would be!
    Torchwood (suggested by Tintinaus)
    Total Recall 2070 (suggested by redheadedfemme, lurkertype)
    The Tribe (suggested by Meredith)
    The Tripods (suggested by Soon Lee, snowcrash)
    True Blood (suggested by Johan P)
    Twilight Zone (suggested by Hampus, Aaron, Lori Coulson, Rev. Bob) ~ I have no idea which one any of you meant – have fun sorting that out, Jim!
    Twin Peaks (suggested by Susana)
    U.F.O (suggested by Petréa Mitchell, Jim Henley)
    Ultraman (suggested by Jim Henley, snowcrash)
    V (suggested by Hampus, Lori Coulson, redheadedfemme) ~ may need eligibility ruling
    Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (suggested by Jim Henley)
    War of the Worlds (suggested by rgl)
    Warehouse 13 (suggested by rgl, Meredith)
    The Water Margin (suggested by Peter J)
    Wild Wild West (suggested by ULTRAGOTHA, rgl, lurkertype)
    Wizards and Warriors (suggested by lurkertype)
    Wonderfalls (suggested by rgl)
    Wonder Woman (suggested by LunarG, Meredith)
    Xena the Warrior Princess ( (suggested by Heather Rose Jones, Lori Coulson, Meredith)
    The X-Files (suggested by Kyra, lurkertype, redheadedfemme)

    ETA: I think I make that 186 titles? Might have miscounted.

  10. @Meredith:

    V is definitely eligible in both incarnations of the weekly series. What is not eligible is either miniseries – the 4-hour V or the 6-hour V: The Final Battle – that, IMO, are the best parts of the franchise.

    (Fun fact: Michael Ironside, aka “Ham Tyler” from the original series, was the bad guy on this week’s episode of The Flash!)

  11. Argh, I just noticed Falling Skies didn’t make it onto the list.

    @Jim Henley

    No problem, I only hope there aren’t any embarrassing typos this time.

  12. @Jim Henley

    Oh! That explains a lot. I haven’t seen it.

    (Also, I found the embarrassing typo. There’s always at least one.)

  13. @Meredith: You did an amazing job. I was just wondering, “Hey, did anyone remember Third Rock from the Sun?” And sure enough, it’s on the list.

  14. @Meredith
    re: the list

    I think there’s an error of attribution which I probably wouldn’t have noticed or mentioned except all 3 of my suggestions only have 1 suggestee and it ain’t me on the list 🙂

    Eureka
    Torchwood
    Roswell

    ETA: I’d prefer the original Twilight Zone. Rod Serling’s voice and delivery were a cherry on top of the great tales.

  15. @junego & Tintinaus

    … I’m pretty sure that was because your icons have very similar colour schemes. Were the comments close together by any chance? I’m sorry!

  16. @Tintinaus @Meredith
    re: The List

    Urk! I didn’t proof read after I posted. There was supposed to be another line at the bottom making clear that I was being ridiculously anal and that Meredith did an amazing job! Damn, I remember typing it!!!! ::slinks away muttering about gremlins::

    Anyway, T, I agree completely. No harm, no foul, what’s important is that they got on the list.

  17. I’m just feeling really sad about the five minute edit timer right now. :p

    eta: I have changed it on my master copy, so should it ever need reposting I WILL BE PREPARED.

    ETA2: Seriously tempted to post the corrected version. BRB, checking for more typos and errors (NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO TELL ME ABOUT NAME ERRORS, EVERYONE. I won’t be rechecking those.)

  18. If it helps, I managed to type “Bewitched” instead of my own name for one of the credits. (That would be the embarrassing typo mentioned earlier.)

  19. @Meredith

    No need for apology. I’d been not deleting all the sugeestions and worrying about going back through to jog my memory and “Ta Da!” here comes your list. Muchas gracias.

  20. (Putting this here because its only idle speculation and I don’t want to distract too much from the nominations, and mostly potentially useful to future bracket runners.)

    I wonder whether goving the most popular ones from this brainstorming session an automatic in might have been worth doing. Perhaps it would have freed people up to be more inventive with their nominations? But maybe they just would have gone with something not quite but almost as popular. 🙂

    For example, four and up would look like this:

    Angel
    The Avengers
    Babylon 5
    Battlestar Galactica – New
    Beauty and the Beast
    Buffy the Vampire Slayer
    Doctor Who – Classic
    Doctor Who – New
    The Dresden Files
    Firefly
    Kolchak: The Night Stalker
    Max Headroom
    The Prisoner
    Quantum Leap
    Red Dwarf
    Robin of Sherwood
    Sapphire and Steel
    Star Trek: The Original Series
    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
    Twilight Zone

    And if that were too many, five and up would look like this:

    Babylon 5
    Beauty and the Beast
    Buffy the Vampire Slayer
    Doctor Who – Classic
    Doctor Who – New
    Firefly
    Max Headroom
    Quantum Leap
    Red Dwarf
    Star Trek: The Original Series
    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

    The five and up list in particular don’t seem unreasonable as guaranteed candidates. It will be interesting to see how many of them actually make it through the nomination round!

  21. Nominations for a TV bracket. Hmm. Looks like most/all of the likely candidates have already been names, so I’mma go for obscure ones…

    Probe, a 1988 series which lasted a mere 8 episodes. Created by Isaac Asimov and TV writer William Link. Main character was Austin James, a Sherlock Holmes-like supergenius with eidetic memory, who was played by Parker Stevenson. SFnal elements very much of the “near future” variety.

    Q.E.D., another short-lived (6 episodes…) series, this one from 1982. Set in Edwardian England, the series was about a “scientific detective” named Professor Quentin Everett Deverill (played by Sam Waterston). SFnal connection: Summat steampunk-y ‘flavor’.

    Manimal, a Glen Larsen-produced 1983 series that lasted 8 episodes. Simon MacCorkindale played Dr. Jonathan Chase, a man with the ability to transform himself into any animal species, and who used this power to fight crime.

    Would any of the kidvid productions of Sid & Marty Krofft qualify?

  22. @Cubist

    I’ll add them to my master list for the brainstorming but for Actual Nominations you want to go here – the rules are different this time so read them before nominating (and choose very wisely).

  23. @Mike, Jim:

    The way I always heard it, McGoohan claimed The Prisoner was unrelated to Secret Agent Man for a very pragmatic reason: legal entanglements.

    Acknowledging a link would have made the later series a derivative work, which in turn would mean all kinds of legal, financial, and possibly creative headaches over the intellectual property. On the other hand, claiming there’s no connection whatsoever meant he could do as he pleased with The Prisoner without having to run it past the Secret Agent Man rights-holders or give them any money.

    Whether the denial of a link was completely true or more along the “I have to say this” lines is, of course, one of the great unanswered questions. I choose to regard it as the latter.

  24. Rev. Bob: I like your thinking about the “real” reason for McGoohan’s statement.

  25. I do remember a Prisoner episode that really leans on the wall of the Prisoner being Drake, or running in the same circles, so I think I like your idea, Bob. McGoohan couldn’t say it was the Secret Agent, and so denied it, even if it was.

    And speaking of The Prisoner, you’ve all seen this, right?

  26. The funny thing is, my Prisoner headcanon puts a rather darker twist on the whole series… and renders the Drake question completely irrelevant.

    The way I see it, the central character is a fan of spy fiction. After being rendered comatose in a car accident, the show is a record of the fractured narrative that plays out in his mind. The various Numbers Two are doctors and specialists, talking to him and trying to get him to wake up. Sometimes they bring in family members or friends, who are all distrusted for serving the same “sinister” agenda – and at the end, when he drives off into the distance, we know he’s never going to come out of it.

    In that setup, all the Drake elements are explained away as set dressing; he is imagining himself in the role, much as a Star Wars fan might cast himself as Han or Luke.

  27. Updated version:

    The 4400 (suggested by snowcrash)
    The Addams Family (suggested by Hampus, Camestros, BigelowT) ~ guessing this is the 1964-1966 version?
    The Adventure Game (suggested by Camestros) ~ may not be eligible, needs a ruling
    The Adventures of Brisco County (suggested by Magewolf, lurkertype)
    ALF (suggested by Jim Henley, Will R.)
    Alien Nation (suggested by rgl, emgrasso, lurkertype)
    American Gothic (suggested by rgl)
    Andromeda (suggested by redheadedfemme)
    Angel (suggested by Kyra, snowcrash, redheadedfemme, Rev. Bob)
    Animorphs (suggested by Meredith)
    Are You Afraid of the Dark? (suggested by catrinket)
    Ashes to Ashes (suggested by Will R.)
    Automan (suggested by Kevin Hogan) ~ not sure if eligible? only 12 episodes. needs a ruling.
    The Avengers – UK (suggested by Hampus, lurkertype, Meredith, Will R.)
    Babylon 5 (suggested by Lenora Rose, Petréa Mitchell, lurkertype, Aaron, redheadedfemme)
    Batman – 1960’s (suggested by Hampus)
    Battlestar Galactica – Original (suggested by lurkertype, Lori Coulson, Meredith)
    Battlestar Galactica – New (suggested by Lenora Rose, Kyra, snowcrash, redheadedfemme)
    Beauty and the Beast (suggested by Petréa Mitchell, Lori Coulson, Lenora Rose, redheadedfemme, Cassy B)
    Being Human – UK (suggested by Tintinaus, Viverrine)
    Bewitched (suggested by BigelowT, Meredith)
    The Bionic Woman (suggested by LunarG, Will R.)
    Birds of Prey (suggested by Meredith)
    Blake’s 7 (suggested by Petréa Mitchell, Aaron, Meredith)
    Blood Ties (suggested by Lenora Rose)
    Brimstone (suggested by rgl, Viverrine, Magewolf)
    Buck Rogers (suggested by Will R., Tintinaus) ~ no-one specified whether they meant the 1950s or 1970s-1980s version
    Buffy the Vampire Slayer (suggested by Lenora Rose, Kyra, ULTRAGOTHA, redheadedfemme, Meredith, Rev. Bob, Johan P)
    Carnivàle (suggested by Johan P)
    Community (suggested by Ray, Lenora Rose) ~ likely not eligible because not truly sfnal
    Crusade (suggested by Aaron)
    Dark Angel (suggested by LunarG)
    Dark Shadows (suggested by BigelowT)
    Day Break (suggested by rgl)
    The Day of the Triffids (suggested by Hampus) ~ both tv series look like stand-alones to me, may not be eligible
    The Dead Zone (suggested by Meredith)
    Doctor Who – Classic (suggested by Lenora Rose, Petréa Mitchell, lurkertype, Jim Henley, Aaron, ULTRAGOTHA)
    Doctor Who – New (suggested by Lenora Rose, Petréa Mitchell, lurkertype, Aaron, ULTRAGOTHA)
    Dollhouse (suggested by redheadedfemme)
    Doomwatch (suggested by Doire, Peter J)
    The Dresden Files (suggested by CeeV, Jim Henley, Lenora Rose, Heather Rose Jones)
    Due South (suggested by Meredith)]
    Earth 2 (suggested by catrinket)
    Eerie, Indiana (suggested by Meredith, Petréa Mitchell) ~ may need an eligibility ruling, not sure whether cancelled
    Eureka (suggested by junego)
    Falling Skies (suggested by Jim Henley)
    Farscape (suggested by Kyra, lurkertype, Aaron, Meredith)
    Firefly (suggested by Lenora Rose, lurkertype, Jim Henley, Aaron, ULTRAGOTHA)
    The Flash – 90s (suggested by Jim Henley)
    Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe (suggested by Hampus) ~ this looks like a serial, may not be eligible
    Friday the 13th (suggested by LunarG, Kevin Hogan, Rev. Bob)
    Fringe (suggested by Lenora Rose, lurkertype, snowcrash)
    Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace (suggested by Camestros, Kevin Hogan) ~ may be ineligible, but it looks like it was cancelled, so will need a ruling
    Get Smart (suggested by snowcrash) ~ may not be sfnal enough
    The Greatest American Hero (suggested by Hampus, Tintinaus, Rev. Bob)
    Haven (suggested by Meredith)
    Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (suggested by Lori Coulson, redheadedfemme, Meredith)
    Highlander: The Series (suggested by Lori Coulson, lurkertype, BigelowT)
    The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (suggested by Hampus, Kyra)
    Holmes and Yo-Yo (suggested by Hampus)
    I Dream of Jeannie (suggested by Paul Weimer, Meredith)
    The Incredible Hulk (suggested by Jim Henley, lurkertype)
    The Invaders (suggested by Lori Coulson)
    Invasion – 2005 (suggested by catrinket)
    The Invisible Man – 1975 (suggested by Camestros)
    It’s About Time (suggested by BigelowT, rgl)
    Jake 2.0 (suggested by catrinket)
    Jeremiah (suggested by Petréa Mitchell)
    Jericho (suggested by snowcrash)
    John Doe (suggested by catrinket)
    John from Cincinnati (suggested by Jim Henley)
    Journeyman (suggested by catrinket)
    Jupiter Moon (suggested by Aaron)
    Knight Rider (suggested by Lori Coulson, Petréa Mitchell)
    Kolchak: The Night Stalker (suggested by Jim Henley, LunarG, redheadedfemme, lurkertype)
    Kyle XY (suggested by catrinket)
    La Femme Nikita (suggested by catrinket)
    Land of the Giants (suggested by catrinket)
    Legend of the Seeker (suggested by catrinket)
    Lexx (suggested by Meredith)
    Life on Mars – UK (suggested by Camestros, Meredith, Will R.)
    Logan’s Run (suggested by rgl)
    Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (suggested by Petréa Mitchell, Meredith)
    Lost (suggested by LunarG, lurkertype)
    Lost in Space (suggested by Jim Henley)
    Man From Atlantis (suggested by Will R.)
    The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (suggested by Lori Coulson, ULTRAGOTHA) ~ may not be sfnal enough
    Manimal (suggested by Cubist)
    Mann and Machine (suggested by Ken Josenhans)
    Max Headroom (suggested by Kyra, lurkertype, ULTRAGOTHA, redheadedfemme, BigelowT)
    Men Into Space (suggested by Mike Glyer)
    Merlin (suggested by Hampus, Lenora Rose, Lori Coulson)
    Metal Mickey (suggested by Ray)
    Middleman (suggested by Lenora Rose)
    The Mighty Boosh (suggested by Meredith, Camestros)
    Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (suggested by Meredith, Petréa Mitchell)
    Millenium (suggested by LunarG)
    Misfits – UK (suggested by Meredith, Tintinaus)
    Misfits of Science (suggested by Kevin Hogan, Petréa Mitchell)
    Moonbase 3 (suggested by Aaron) ~ not sure about this one, was there ever a second series planned?
    Monkey (suggested by Camestros, Meredith)
    Mork and Mindy (suggested by Hampus, Paul (@princejvstin), Meredith)
    The Munsters (suggested by Meredith, Camestros)
    My Favorite Martian (suggested by BigelowT)
    My Mother the Car (suggested by BigelowT)
    Mystery Science Theater 3000 (suggested by Kyra, Petréa Mitchell) ~ I think this needs a ruling
    The New Avengers – UK (suggested by Meredith)
    Night Gallery (suggested by Lori Coulson, Petréa Mitchell, BigelowT)
    Now and Again (suggested by lurkertype)
    Nowhere Man (suggested by LunarG, redheadedfemme) ~ may need a ruling, questions over whether sfnal (it looks pretty sfish to me)
    Ocean Girl or Ocean Odyssey (suggested by catrinket)
    The Odyssey – 2002 (suggested by catrinket)
    Odyssey 5 (suggested by Viverrine)
    The Omega Factor (suggested by Camestros) ~ only had 1 series but I think that was a cancellation issue rather than intended, needs a ruling
    The Outer Limits (suggested by Hampus, Lori Coulson) ~ not sure if 60s or 90s version
    Out of the Unknown (suggested by Peter J)
    Pan Tau (suggested by Hampus)
    Planet of the Apes (suggested by Jim Henley, Camestros, rgl)
    Primeval (suggested by Camestros)
    The Prisoner (suggested by Kyra, lurkertype, Aaron, Rev. Bob) ~ ruled eligible
    Probe (suggested by Cubist)
    Pushing Daisies (suggested by Meredith)
    Q.E.D. (suggested by Cubist)
    Quantum Leap (suggested by Petréa Mitchell, lurkertype, Lenora Rose, BigelowT, Rev. Bob)
    Quark (suggested by Petréa Mitchell, lurkertype)
    Quatermass (suggested by Peter J) ~ personally I don’t think any of these are eligible, but we need a ruling
    Ray Bradbury Theater (suggested by Hampus)
    Red Dwarf (suggested by Hampus, Lenora Rose, Petréa Mitchell, lurkertype, Aaron, Meredith)
    Robin of Sherwood – BBC with Michael Praed (suggested by Lenora Rose, Petréa Mitchell, Jim Henley, Aaron)
    Roswell or Roswell High (suggested by junego)
    Round the Twist (suggested by Meredith)
    Sabrina the Teenage Witch (suggested by BigelowT, Meredith)
    Salvage 1 (suggested by rgl)
    Sapphire and Steel (suggested by Camestros, Jim Henley, ULTRAGOTHA, Petréa Mitchell)
    seaQuest (suggested by Viverrine)
    The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne (suggested by Viverrine) ~ was this cancelled or stand-alone?
    The Secret World of Alex Mack (suggested by catrinket)
    The Sentinel (suggested by rgl)
    Seven Days (suggested by rgl)
    Shadow Chasers (suggested by ULTRAGOTHA)
    She-Wolf of London (suggested by jayn)
    The Six Million Dollar Man (suggested by Camestros, Will R.)
    Sliders (suggested by BigelowT, redheadedfemme, Meredith)
    Smallville (suggested by Lori Coulson)
    Small Wonder (suggested by Tintinaus, Will R.)
    Space: 1999 (suggested by Jim Henley)
    Space Above and Beyond (suggested by snowcrash, Jim Henley)
    Space Island One (suggested by Aaron)
    Spider-Man (suggested by Jim Henley) ~ 1970s version?
    Star Cops (suggested by Meredith’s partner)
    Stargate: Atlantis (suggested by Lenora Rose, Aaron)
    Stargate SG-1 (suggested by Lenora Rose, Aaron, snowcrash)
    Stargate: Universe (suggested by Aaron)
    The Starlost (suggested by Jim Henley)
    Star Trek: The Original Series (suggested by Lenora Rose, Kyra, lurkertype, Aaron, Lori Coulson, ULTRAGOTHA, redheadedfemme)
    Star Trek: The Next Generation (suggested by Lenora Rose, Aaron, BigelowT)
    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (suggested by Paul (@princejvstin), lurkertype, Aaron, snowcrash, redheadedfemme)
    Star Trek: Voyager (suggested by Meredith)
    Star Trek: Enterprise (suggested by Meredith)
    The StoryTeller (suggested by Hampus, Lenora Rose, lurkertype)
    Strange Luck (suggested by Magewolf)
    Superman (suggested by Lori Coulson) ~ 1950s?
    Survivors – 1970s (suggested by Camestros)
    Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (suggested by redheadedfemme, snowcrash)
    The Third Eye (suggested by LunarG) ~ pretty sure this is eligible but it could do with a ruling
    Third Rock From the Sun (suggested by Petréa Mitchell, Meredith)
    Time Tunnel (suggested by Lori Coulson, Bigelow T)
    Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (suggested by Petréa Mitchell)
    The Tomorrow People – Original (suggested by Camestros, Kevin Hogan, LunarG) ~ Camestros suggests this wouldn’t be eligible, but since it had six seasons and six years of running I think it would be!
    Torchwood (suggested by junego)
    Total Recall 2070 (suggested by redheadedfemme, lurkertype)
    The Tribe (suggested by Meredith)
    The Tripods (suggested by Soon Lee, snowcrash)
    True Blood (suggested by Johan P)
    Twilight Zone (suggested by Hampus, Aaron, Lori Coulson, Rev. Bob) ~ I have no idea which one any of you meant – have fun sorting that out, Jim!
    Twin Peaks (suggested by Susana)
    U.F.O (suggested by Petréa Mitchell, Jim Henley)
    Ultraman (suggested by Jim Henley, snowcrash)
    V (suggested by Hampus, Lori Coulson, redheadedfemme) ~ the tv series is the only eligible portion, the miniseries’ aren’t eligible
    Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (suggested by Jim Henley)
    War of the Worlds (suggested by rgl)
    Warehouse 13 (suggested by rgl, Meredith)
    The Water Margin (suggested by Peter J)
    Wild Wild West (suggested by ULTRAGOTHA, rgl, lurkertype)
    Wizards and Warriors (suggested by lurkertype)
    Wonderfalls (suggested by rgl)
    Wonder Woman (suggested by LunarG, Meredith)
    Xena the Warrior Princess (suggested by Heather Rose Jones, Lori Coulson, Meredith)
    The X-Files (suggested by Kyra, lurkertype, redheadedfemme)

  28. &£%^# still managed to forget Slings and Arrows.

    I’m just going to go crawl into a hole now.

  29. Get Smart (suggested by snowcrash) ~ may not be sfnal enough

    If Hymie the robot doesn’t qualify it, surely the Cone of Silence does ?

    ~What did you say Chief ?
    ~He said …

  30. Pingback: Top 10 Posts For October 2015 | File 770

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