(1) Quirk Books has compiled an array of “Bookish Tights and Leggings” now on the market. For example:
ColineDesign Printed Tights
Jane Austen quotes. Emily Dickinson poems. ColineDesign on Etsy also allows you to personalize your tights with any text you want.
Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly gave me these leggings.
We have our eye of Sauron on this map of Middle Earth by BlackMilk Clothing.
If you’re looking to go into fight some Orcs, these sword leggings by Souvrin will keep you battle ready.
(2) John King Tarpinian remembers the neighbors built a fall-out shelter — today it is a wine cellar. Atlas Obscura looks back to the Cold War days in it gallery “Surviving a Nuclear Attack with Spam, and Other Images from Cold War Fallout Shelters”.
During the Cold War, as the arms race between Soviet Russia and the United States escalated, the perceived threat of nuclear attack became increasingly heightened. In response, the U.S. developed procedures to protect its citizens should the worst happen. In 1956, the National Emergency Alarm Repeater—NEAR—warning siren device was implemented to alert citizens to a nuclear attack. Students were drilled in “duck and cover” practices at schools. Books with titles such as Nuclear War Survival Skills were issued. And the only means of protection against radiation in the event of such a catastrophe was a fallout shelter.
Designs for fallout shelters appeared in pamphlets, subway advertisements and displays at civil defense fairs. President Kennedy even got involved. In September 1961, the same month that the Soviets resumed testing nuclear weapons, Life magazine published a letter from the President advocating the use of fallout shelters. Rather terrifyingly, it was printed over an image of a mushroom cloud.
But that was just one of the many interesting graphical representations of the threat of annihilation. Below, check out our collection of fallout shelter designs and photographs that show just how people in the 1950s and 1960s tried to prepare for the unthinkable.
(3) Last Halloween Curbed posted a fascinating collection of photos of party costumes created by members of the Bauhaus school.
Most people attribute Germany’s Bauhaus school with the following: being on the vanguard of minimalist design, the paring down of architecture to its most essential and non-ornamental elements, and the radical idea that useful objects could also be beautiful. What may be overlooked is the fact that the rigorous design school, founded by modernism’s grandsire Walter Gropius, also put on marvelous costume parties back in the 1920s. If you thought Bauhaus folk were good at designing coffee tables, just have a look at their costumes—as bewitching and sculptural as any other student project, but with an amazing flamboyance not oft ascribed to the movement.
(4) M. Harold Page tells how to conquer the NaNoWriMo challenge at Black Gate, with a collection of links to posts filled with his advice. Two examples…
Some Writing Advice That’s Mostly Useless (And Why): The following writing advice is mostly useless — “Work on your motivation,” “Revise, revise, revise,” “Have a chaotic life,” “Just write,” “Know grammar and critical terms,” “Practice skills in isolation.”
World Building Historical Fiction using Military Thinking: Don’t fall down the rabbit hole of research or worldbuilding. Instead use a layered approach, focussing your world building as you descend from Strategic (villas exist and can be raided for supplies), through Operational (this villa sits on this ground amidst these fields), to Tactical (here is the ground plan of the villa and here are the people guarding it) level.
(5) Timothy Harvey’s “Doctor Who: How To Train Your Time Lord” at SciFi4Me concludes its introduction with a true piece of wisdom:
We don’t watch Doctor Who for history lessons.
It’s an episode recap with the premise —
OK, so if you’ve ever wanted to see what happens when you cross Doctor Who with How to Train Your Dragon, well, here you go.
(6) “10 Alabama actors who had roles in ‘The Twilight Zone’ series” —
Day 5 of Kelly Kazek’s “13 Days of Alabama Halloween,” posted each day from Oct. 19-31 featuring an old news item, spooky legend, historical tale or fun list about All Hallow’s Eve.
“The Twilight Zone” TV series was groundbreaking for its time, not only for its spooky and supernatural content but for its social commentary. Twice, the show’s tales featured Alabama. A 1964 episode mentions Birmingham in a morality tale about hatred and the 1983 movie based on the series also references Alabama in a segment that features the Ku Klux Klan.
But the series has other Alabama connections: At least 10 Alabama actors had roles in the original and reboot of “The Twilight Zone” series, including some of the best-known episodes, such as “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.”
(7) Maureen O’Hara passed away October 24. Her resume was light on genre work, but included memorable fantasies like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Miracle on 34th Street, and Sinbad the Sailor, the latter with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. She never was nominated for a competitive Oscar but received an honorary Academy Award last year.
(8) Many fans are linking to video of a Lenin monument that has been made over as a statue of Darth Vader, part of the “de-Communization” of Ukraine, and David K.M. Klaus says, “I’m not sure that this is an improvement…!”
People dressed as Chewbacca and Stormtroopers from Star Wars attend the unveiling of the Darth Vader monument in Odessa on Friday. The monument, built around a bronze Lenin statue, is part of Ukraine’s de-communisation legislation which was introduced earlier this year. The Darth Vader character attending the event says that he is happy to be made into a monument while ‘still alive’
(9) Today’s Birthday Boy
- October 24, 1915 — Bob Kane (cartoonist; co-creator of Batman) was born
(10) I only thought I had never heard of PewDiePie, the most-viewed YouTuber of all-time. Then I read that he does the Let’s Play! videos. My daughter has watched a bunch of those and shown me a couple.
(11) “The most complete picture of the Milky Way ever” explains Gizmodo —
The picture comes from astronomers at Germany’s Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Of course, this wasn’t a simple matter of an instantaneous point-and-click shot. Instead, to get the full spread, researchers spent a full five years taking photos, which they put into a single 46 billion pixel image.
The entire resulting image was so large, that the photo could only be released in sections…
To see the whole thing, Ruhr-Universität Bochum built a special tool where you can scroll through the full image right here.
(12) Actor Richard Benjamin will do a Q&A following a showing of the movie Westworld at The Theatre at Ace Hotel on November 15 at 1 p.m. Presented by Creature Features. Hosted by Geoff Boucher. Tickets $15.
(13) “Shambleau” read aloud by the author C.L. Moore – the audio from a 1980 spoken word record, posted on YouTube.
(14) Via Andrew Liptak at io9 –
Yesterday, word broke that Bryan Fuller was bringing the sci-fi anthology show Amazing Stories back to life. Now, you can watch the entire first season of the original 80s series over on NBC.
(15) Haven’t had enough Star Wars trailer creativity yet? Science Vs. Cinema co-creator James Darling has mashed together the ultimate supercut for Star Wars: The Force Awakens using all three trailers and the Comic-Con BTS reel.
[Thanks to Michael J Walsh, James H. Burns, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day ULTRAGOTHA.]
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1. Space: Above and Beyond (16)
2. Abstain
3. Robin of Sherwood (12)
4. Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (4)
5. Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
6. The Outer Limits (6)
7. Torchwood (10)
8. The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
@ Liz Carey
re: The New Mother.
I read your review, then went and reread the end of the story.
Hayrff V’ir pbzcyrgryl zvfernq gur pyvznk, gung raqvat fubjrq gung Qrpns, ure qnhtugre, jnf va snpg ure ‘pybar’. Fur jnf vasrpgrq jvgu gur qvfrnfr.
“Grff sryg gur fgnegyrq-svfu syhggre bs Qrpns zbivat, naq fvzhygnarbhfyl jngpurq ure ba gur fperra gjvfg ure uvcf bhg bs ivrj, nf vs ful. N zbgvba, Grff ernyvmrq, fur xarj. N trfgher fur’q sryg fb znal gvzrf.”
Fur xabjf gur zbgvba orpnhfr vg’f n zbir fur urefrys znxrf. Gung’f gur bayl vagrecergngvba gung znxrf nal frafr ng nyy. Bgurejvfr, nf lbh fnvq, vg whfg raqf va gur zvqqyr naq V jbhyqa’g rkcrpg Nfvzbi’f gb cevag n fgbel gung onqyg jevggra. Naljnl, gung’f zl vagrecergngvba naq V’z fgvpxvat jvgu vg! 🙂
FILE 770 LIVE-ACTION TV TOURNAMENT AND BRACKETS
Coreward Region – Round One
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
Space: Above and Beyond (16)
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Land of the Lost (8)
Misfits [UK] (9)
Nope
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
UFO (5)
Robin of Sherwood (12)
Nope
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (4)
Out of the Unknown (13)
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
The Mighty Boosh (14)
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits (6)
Friday the 13th: The Series (11)
Pass me one of those cloths, I’m feeling shaky now
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Slings and Arrows (7)
Torchwood (10)
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
Lexx (15)
There now, that wasn’t too bad.
Could have been worse.
Except 6.
That was uncalled for.
JJ
I don’t believe that I have ever suggested that there is no difference between SF and Fantasy; they are two separate genres, as PTerry acknowledged in the Science of Discworld books.
Junego
My surname is Gamble; this knowledge, along with Google Fu, will find my observations back in the days of Rec Arts SF Written. However, growing up with my surname inevitably led to trauma; in particular when my father tossed me double or quits for my pocket money. I lost, and he kept my pocket money; an immensely helpful way of ensuring that I never bet unless the odds are overwhelmingly in my favour.
I’m sorry, but I feel your life would have gained by such an intervention. You are reduced to hand waves when what you need are some life scientists prepared to agree that bacteria are capable of giving rise to parthenogenesis in humans. There is no such life scientist, because life scientists know perfectly well that it’s a silly idea which only someone ignorant of the life sciences could come up with.
I appreciate that you wish to claim otherwise, and I would be happy to read any research papers you have to hand which support your viewpoint. In reality, however, I’ve talked to one life scientist this evening about this, and she thought it was hilarious. I doubt you are going to find one who differs…
@Stevie
No one is arguing that the proposed SFnal element is likely to happen, it’s darn near impossible to happen. But so is FTL.
Apparently you couldn’t suspend disbelief enough in this story to explore the “what would happen next?” ideas. That’s fine. No one is telling you that you have to do it. There are plenty of good stories that I can’t lose myself in either.
I don’t understand why you’re insisting that other people are somehow wrong for enjoying the story unless and until it’s been proven 100% scientifically accurate. Tastes differ.
Stevie: I’m sorry, but I feel your life would have gained by such an intervention. You are reduced to hand waves when what you need are some life scientists prepared to agree…
You’ve made it clear that you’re willing to accept any amount of handwaving in books you designate “fantasy”. Perhaps you should just be willing to accept that other people, like me and junego, are willing to accept a certain amount of handwaving in our science fiction in service of the story — instead of insisting on posting repeated pompous, condescending screeds about how we’re so incredibly wrong for being willing to do so.
I lived with a doctor (including essentially going through 4 years of med school with them) for twice as long as your daughter has been involved in the medical profession. I am quite sure that I know more about the field of medicine than you do. Yet you don’t see me banging on here about it telling everyone else how wrong they are constantly — or ever, in fact.
That is because, if I ruled out movies, TV shows, books, and other fictional entities which include flawed medical concepts and procedures, it would rule out 75% of EVERYTHING. What a sad, pale existence that would be. Instead, I choose to allow a certain amount of “give” in those things, so that I can enjoy them, and life, instead. It’s actually quite an enjoyable way to live. I encourage you to try it.
Your experience with pregnancy, birth, and motherhood makes you an authority on one thing: your own experience. I encourage you to remember that the next time you feel compelled to launch into yet another pompous, long-winded post explaining why you are the expert on absolutely everything.
I’m sorry if you feel that this is harsh — but I have watched you rip into people repeatedly on this site, and it’s really uncalled for. Everyone else here has a right to their own opinions and enjoyment without you constantly telling them how wrong they are.
@junego — From what I do know of physics, FTL is really, really, really unlikely. From what I know of biology, mammal parthenogenesis is really, really, really unlikely. I don’t privilege one set of handwaves over the other set.
Handwaving isn’t all of a piece, though.
Hypocrisy is the compliment vice pays to virtue may not entirely apply, but I do think that the quality and degree of handwaving required for an implausibility in a story rises with the degree of implausibility.
Consider Drake’s FTL handwaving in the Leary & Mundy books; Drake sets out to have starships with functional, motive sails. This is monumentally implausible.
It’s obvious from the text that Drake knows that FTL needs an infusion of plausibility, and then some considerable extra because there are Thor-and-the-White-Christ motive sails involved. It’s well done in that there’s the necessary stability of treatment — the starships have rules, the rules are followed, and the characters act like they know the theory, though Drake wisely never expresses any of it — and gritty small details that lend emotional verisimilitude; as a reader, you can take comfort in an awareness that the author knew what they were doing constructing the factually unsupported scaffolding of their story.
When there’s mammalian parthenogenesis induced by a bacterial vector, it’s about as implausible as FTL with motive sails. It’s harder to construct an equivalent scaffolding of verisimilitude because there are so many more known facts getting in the way. It’s not enough to have power room crews prone to drinking alcohol from the hydraulic system or cabling that’s dangerous to handle because it’s been optimized for performance rather than safety; you have to explain how something is getting across the most fundamental division in the history of life, the maybe-two-billion-year gulf between the eukaryotes and the prokaryotes.
Since a virus would be much easier to explain, the choice of bacteria makes me think the author doesn’t understand what they’re trying to handwave away, and that doesn’t help verisimilitude at all. (Rather like the observation that David Weber’s Honorverse missiles had performance numbers that required more mass-energy than their total rest mass to achieve…)
Junego
Actually, the bacterial driven parthenogenesis is impossible; FTL is merely highly improbable. There is a major difference between impossible and highly unlikely; one which it is important to bear in mind. Governments do like to elide the differences; after all, that’s how they stay in power.
But I too regard defending women’s rights as incredibly important. I simply differ from the author’s view as to how we do that best…
ETA
Graydon
Yes, two billion years does make a difference..
1. Babylon 5
3. UFO
4. ST: Deep Space 9
7. Torchwood
I will say that if Stevie had started with an attack on the scientific plausibility, I’d have shrugged and moved on. (And, JJ, I don’t see her attacking other people for having a different opinion, though the mode of expression is a bit high-handed. Can you supply a quote if making that accusation?) We each have different breaks in our suspension of disbelief. Some Doctors can never watch medical shows, some bring the popcorn. It was the implausible jump in the first comment, which mentioned nothing of scientific plausibility, only cultural issues, which bothered me. So I consider it all done, as she’s clarified, and it makes more sense. Thanks, Stevie.
Brackets. Yay! Except I haven’t watched nearly enough in this set.
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
Robin of Sherwood (12)
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Slings and Arrows (7)
FTL is impossible with the basic constraints of the universe as it stands for the past 14+ billion years, i.e. ever since there’s been light and a universe. Somewhat longer than the time life has been evolving on this planet. If we’re talking the greater size of impossibilities, I’m going with the physicists.
@junego: Well, exactly. If that isn’t the case, then the story just fhpxf naq vf onqyl jevggra naq unf ab raqvat, juvpu jbhyq or dhvgr ntnvafg gur uvfgbel bs gur zntnmvar. Nabgure cnff va rqvgvat, gb qebc n sberfunqbjvat bs gung zbirzrag, jbhyq unir orra urycshy. I blame the editor.
I was surprised to see where it was originally published, frankly; it read to me like “SF written by someone who doesn’t really know the field and thinks they’ve come up with something Never Before Done!” Which is clearly not the case, viz, the McCaffrey story of 70’s vintage. Which had a happy ending BTW.
I’m surprised and tickled at how many votes “Robin of Sherwood” is getting.
FILE 770 LIVE-ACTION TV TOURNAMENT AND BRACKETS
Coreward Region – Round One
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
Space: Above and Beyond (16)
By all accounts, B5 is the first American scripted series to ever plot out and successfully execute multi-year plot arcs. And, while the first half of season 1 is disastrously bad, seasons 2, 3, and 4 save it. Sorry, Morgan and Wong.
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Land of the Lost (8)
Misfits [UK] (9)
One of these TV shows is good.
I was going to lay down some SERIOUS snark against Land of the Lost from the wikipedia article, until I got to this sentence: “In a 1999 interview, first-season story editor and writer David Gerrold claimed that he largely created the show…”
David Gerrold spend a solid 5 minutes talking one-on-one to me at Worldcon for no reason other than to be a good guy, so the snark is gone. But Misfits is still a better show.
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
UFO (5)
Robin of Sherwood (12)
Abstain! Glorious abstain!
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (4)
Out of the Unknown (13)
One of the two best Star Trek series. I’d be hard-pressed to choose between it and ST:TNG… but I don’t have to! Ah, the glorious early days of brackets.
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
The Mighty Boosh (14)
BSG, like The Wire, should’ve gotten multiple EMMYS for Best Series; it was taking on terrorism and big, complex issues in 2004 when very, very little pop culture was. Go back and read the John Hodgman article if you–come on, Machlin, this is File770. Everyone here read the John Hodgman NY Times article.
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits (6)
Friday the 13th: The Series (11)
There is nothing wrong with your bracket. Do not attempt to control the bracket. We control the bracket. We control File770.
I’d insert iconic quotes from Friday the 13th if it had any. (BAM!)
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Slings and Arrows (7)
Torchwood (10)
I am a professional playwright and even I have to go with Torchwood; you’ve got a ghost one person, at most, sees vs. aliens everywhere. Slings and Arrows is a very good series that I would actually have ruled against for bracketing. Torchwood, though its pilot is mediocre, pretty quickly course-corrected with its 2nd episode… and, frack, Children of Earth, man, Children of Earth.
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
Lexx (15)
Poor Lexx. It never stood a chance.
I think fans of other shows underestimate The Twilight Zone at our peril. “One For the Angels,” “The Obsolete Man,” and “A World of His Own” would not make most top ten Twilight Zone episodes. They would make up the top 3 of most other shows.
JJ
I was diagnosed with severe bronchiectasis when I was five years old. I have long ago lost track of all the hospitals that I was admitted to, much less the number of times I’ve been admitted for treatment. I therefore look forward to you explaining to me all about bronchiectasis, and I’m sure that my doctors look forward to you explaining to them all about bronchiectasis. Let’s face it, you knowing far more about medicine than I do means that they have failed totally.
Incidentally, I have another four consultants in addition to my respiratory medicine specialist. Oddly enough we all get on well together because I don’t expect miracles from them, and they don’t expect miracles from me, but obviously they need you to explain where they’ve been going wrong.
Please feel free to explain to those doctors how you know so much more about what is wrong with me than they do. After all, they think that all the years they have put in on site caring for people actually means something; they didn’t realise that they didn’t need to bother turning up at the hospital because their partners at home knew just as much as they did. They could have left everybody to the cleaners…
@junego & lurkertype —
That’s certainly a plausible reading. It’s not the one that I saw as I read it. V ernq gur ovg nobhg gur zbgvba orvat snzvyvne zrnavat gung fur jnf frrvat gur zbirzrag ba gur fperra, naq srryvat vg ng gur fnzr gvzr–naq ernyvmrq gung vg jnf gur fnzr zbirzrag fur’q orra srryvat sebz gur onol nyy nybat. Orpnhfr ab, gur zbirzrag orvat snzvyvne orpnhfr vg’f ure bja vfa’g sberfunqbjrq, juvyr srryvat Qrpns zbir naq abg srryvat rzbgvbanyyl gur pregnvagl gung fur unq vagryyrpghnyyl vf zragvbarq pyrneyl.
But yes, quite possibly, bad editor, no cookie.
Stevie and JJ: I know you’re both able to go the full 15 rounds and I think it would be tragic if you actually did. Could there be a disengagement for a bit?
Mike
It’s 6.30 am here, and the reason I’ve had no sleep this night is I felt honour bound to stay awake to respond to people’s comments.
I’d love to get some sleep!
@ Graydon
Understand that I’m not defending the premise of this story as cutting-edge, totally factual science. My only real contention is that, to me, it’s no more handwavey than FTL.
“you have to explain how something is getting across the most fundamental division in the history of life, the maybe-two-billion-year gulf between the eukaryotes and the prokaryotes.”
I think you’re mistaken here. My understanding is that mammals are the only animal group that does not still have parthenogenesis as a reproductive strategy, All other animals classes do, either as individuals (occasionally or accidentally) or as whole species (as obligates or on an as needed basis). So the gulf is probably <200 million years. Not inconsiderable, but not 2 billion.
“Since a virus would be much easier to explain, the choice of bacteria makes me think the author doesn’t understand what they’re trying to handwave away, and that doesn’t help verisimilitude at all.”
I went back and checked the story and the only information we’re given is that the bacteria is an obligate intracellular parasite “a bacteria trying to be a virus”. So maybe the author checked more than you think. I have no idea. But I can do head canon about how this might work (which means badly wrt science) just like you (and I) can do head canon about how FTL works (which means just as badly wrt to science).
Some science goofs bother me more than others. This wasn’t one of those times for me.
@ Lis Carey, @lurkertype
Hmmm, I thought it was clear and had been signaled. If you didn’t see it, then I may have done a headcanon or you’re correct and it isn’t clear enough. Too tired to reread it now.
ETA: forgot to @lurker
lurkertype: Well, exactly. If that isn’t the case, then the story just sucks and is badly written and has no ending, which would be quite against the history of the magazine. Another pass in editing, to drop a foreshadowing of that movement, would have been helpful. I blame the editor.
I read it the same way as you. It’s possible that the author was going for a “reveal” there that the expectant mother was bearing a parthenogenetic child. If so, that would have given the story the “finale” it needed. But if so, it just didn’t quite succeed (at least for me). If the sperm they obtained for insemination was infected, the child would have had parthenogenetic capability — but the child conceived from that sperm would not have been a clone of the expectant mother.
@Meredith:
Of course there’s snow in SF. It’s inevitable that somewhere, somehow, a video signal will get corrupted…
@brackets:
1. S:A&B
3. Not-Me of Sherwood
4. DS9
5. nuBSG
6. F13
7. Torchwood
8. TZ, old-skool
Coreward Region – Round One
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Misfits [UK] (9)
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
Robin of Sherwood (12)
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
Friday the 13th: The Series (11)
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
Coreward Region – Round One
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Land of the Lost (8)
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
UFO (5)
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (4)
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits (6)
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Abstain
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
Coreward Region – Round One
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
Space: Above and Beyond (16)
Abstain One of these days, I’ll watch Bab5
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Land of the Lost (8)
Misfits [UK] (9)
Abstain I mean, I’ve seen Land of the Lost, but it really wasn’t very good, and I haven’t seen Misfits.
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
UFO (5)
Robin of Sherwood (12)
On the grounds of a late adolescent crush, assuming if we can stretch late adolescence to mid-20s.
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (4)
Out of the Unknown (13)
Abstain
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
The Mighty Boosh (14)
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits (6)
Friday the 13th: The Series (11)
Abstain
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Slings and Arrows (7)
Torchwood (10)
Ok, this isn’t hard at all, but I am really unhappy to seem my absolute favorite TV show ever being crushed by a show I detest. Nay, not even a show I detest, but a spin-off of a show I detest. Yes, I hate Dr. Who, so sue me.
Bitter, Jim. I am bitter. If you are borrowing Kyra’s dice, that explains things, but does not buy forgiveness.
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
Lexx (15)
Abstain
I don’t actually watch a lot of television, actually.
Coreward Region – Round One
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Misfits [UK] (9)
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
UFO (5)
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (4)
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits (6)
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Torchwood (10)
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits (6)
Friday the 13th: The Series (11)
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
Lexx (15)
1. Babylon 5 – I did a re-watch recently. I skipped some total clunkers in season 1, but s2/3 are absolutely top class, as are the early bits of s4.
2. Misfits – it’s a clever idea, but the characters make my teeth grind.
3. Robin of Sherwood – fun fact, despite being routinely referred to as “you know, the 80s BBC version” in casual conversation, it was actually made by ITV. It was also great.
4. Star Trek: Deep Space 9
5. Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] – I’m mentally screening out various horrible decisions later on, but at its height this was superb. The shift of tone into season 3, for example. This vs B5 would be a debate about which ones last season screwed up the effect of the middle seasons the worst.
7. Torchwood
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5
SA&B had one good episode (which I believe they won a Hugo for?), but the rest of it was a mixture of meh and not-quite-so-meh. I could hardly take it seriously at all after the scene where the aliens sneakily attacked the human space-battleship from underneath.
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Misfits [UK]
Haven’t seen the other one, but I’m voting anyway.
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
UFO
Robin Hood, meh. I’m not sure now whether UFO wasn’t Gerry Anderson over-reaching creatively, but I loved it at the time, and it had a great theme.
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: Deep Space 9
Don’t know the other one.
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
The Mighty Boosh
Hand me a headcloth, this was a difficult one. I liked the reboot of BSG as far as I went with it — about midway through season 3, I think — but I got uncomfortable about the prophecy stuff, which looked like it wasn’t going to have an SFnal explanation, or any explanation at all beyond religious mumbo-jumbo. Considering how the original series went, I considered it time to bail after the Eye of Jupiter.
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits
Didn’t The Outer Limits get a reboot as well, or am I confusing that with The Twilight Zone? Anyway, never liked the movie of FT13 and I never heard of the series, so whichever version of TOL gets my vote.
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Torchwood (10)
I don’t know Slings and Arrows, and I’m denying that I ever saw any Children of Earth episodes, so Torchwood wins.
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original]
A surprisingly difficult one, but Lexx, while quirky and original, was somewhat uneven, and TTZ, while also a bit uneven, is just iconic.
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Land of the Lost (8)
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
Pass
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (4)
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits (6)
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Torchwood (10)
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
@ JJ
re: first child a clone
The initial symptom as given in the story is that an infected sperm would infect the woman and the conceptus would NOT be from that sperm, but would be the first fruit – so to speak – of the disease. So if she was infected by the donor, her child would be a clone.
ETA: I misspelled ‘sperm’?!?
I’ve seen at least one show in each pairing, but I’ve only seen both shows in one of them. And I don’t feel strongly enough about any of the ones in this set to vote for them against a sight-unseen opponent. So:
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
(Turns out I’m much more a book person than a TV person. I’m actually more surprised by how many of these I’ve seen than by how many I haven’t.)
@Lydy Nickerson
It isn’t my absolute favourite show, but I’m similarly miffed about a different pairing; The Mighty Boosh is up against Battlestar Galactica (reboot). I don’t think it stands a chance… 🙁
Coreward Region – Round One
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
Recently rewatched and it still shines, even if the dialog was sometimes a bit clunky. I still prefer Sinclair for some reason though.
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Land of the Lost (8)
Misfits [UK] (9)
Abstain, not watched either.
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
UFO (5)
Urk, forehead cloths time. Going with UFO as it seems to have stuck with me more, but I’d welcome a re-watch of RoS as well.
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (4)
Best Trek series by far.
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
Not a Boosh fan. Too surreal for me.
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits (6)
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Slings and Arrows (7)
Torchwood (10)
Abstain, not a big Torchwood fan and haven’t seen the other.
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
Like what Lexx I’ve seen but the dice have not been kind here.
FILE 770 LIVE-ACTION TV TOURNAMENT AND BRACKETS
Coreward Region – Round One
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Misfits [UK] (9)
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
Robin of Sherwood (12)
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (4)
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits (6)
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Torchwood (10)
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
Bracketty:
1.Babylon 5
5. Pass, not having watched (or heard of) The Mighty Boosh. But noting my love for Battlestar Galactica [Reboot]. It’s too bad they never shot a finale, right?
6. The Outer Limits
8.The Twilight Zone [Original]. I don’t think I watched Lexx, but I Just Don’t Care.
That was surprisingly painless. That never lasts.
Re: The New Mother
I read the end as hinting ng Grff orvat vasrpgrq gbb: gur zra ner fgrevyr, naq gur jbzra tb cnegurabtravp hcba vasrpgvba. V gubhtug gur ovg nobhg gur “gjvaf” svavfuvat rnpu bgure’f fragraprf jnf jung gur snzvyvne trfgher jnf pnyyvat onpx gb.
(I can’t rot13 directly in the text box with my usual widget here, for reasons that escape, I hope I cut and pasted that ok.)
But all through, we hear ubj jbeevrq Grff naq Whql ner nobhg gur cbffvovyvgl, ubj pnershyyl gurl fryrpgrq fcrez hayvxryl gb vasrpgrq, naq jung na vffhr vg jnf, onynapvat gur evfxf bs vasrpgvba jvgu gur evfxf bs n sngure jub zvtug yngre jnag cneragny evtugf. Naq ng gur raq, fur’f fnlvat gung rirelguvat vf nyy evtug.
But now I’m thinking that I misread, not the foreshadowing about the hip movement earlier, which still isn’t there, but the emotional tone of the last few lines. Which, yes, changes the story and gives it a real ending.
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Land of the Lost (8)
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (4)
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits (6)
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Torchwood (10)
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
Sigh. And I was the person (one of the people?) who nominated Lexx.
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Abstain
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
Abstain
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: DS9
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
Battlestar Galactica Reboot
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Torchwood
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone
The New Mother was (for me) good but not great. I’m pretty sure I have 5 better novellas on my list now.
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
No contest, here.
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Misfits [UK] (9)
Not massively bothered about either one, to be honest, but Misfits seems the better choice to me.
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
UFO (5)
Ow. Robin of Sherwood was wonderful… at least the first two seasons. But UFO was (IMO) marginally more wonderful.
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Out of the Unknown (13)
Another painful choice, but the hugely important anthology series edges it over the best of the Trek sequel shows, for me.
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
Never “got” The Mighty Boosh, to be honest.
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits (6)
Enjoyed Friday the 13th, but The Outer Limits has to get my vote, here.
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Torchwood (10)
Another pairing where I’m not greatly bothered about either, but the Torchwood team just barely wins it. (I always think of the original Torchwood lineup as Smug Jack, Thick Gwen, Boring Tosh, That Git Owen and Hang On, There’s Another One Isn’t There? – which I think demonstrates my feelings for the show. But I am just slightly more enthused about this one.)
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
I liked Lexx, probably more than any reasonable person should. But it doesn’t stand a chance in this particular contest.
Coreward Region – Round One
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
Space: Above and Beyond (16)
Abstain I’n not familiar with either though I know of their reputations
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Land of the Lost (8)
Misfits [UK] (9)
Misfits even thought it went down hill rapidly
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
UFO (5)
Robin of Sherwood (12)
Robin while streching my personal definitions a bit.
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (4)
Out of the Unknown (13)
Abstain
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
The Mighty Boosh (14)
Abstain
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits (6)
Friday the 13th: The Series (11)
The outer limits every time
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Slings and Arrows (7)
Torchwood (10)
Torchwood
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
Lexx (15)
The Twighlight zone Only seen a little Lexx and it didn’t grab me.
It does seem we’re comparing apples and bananas though, with a series which could be watched in any order vs. a series with, loose, development. I supose that was the key: where is the dividing line between development and reset for ever and ever, and development to a conclusion.
Coreward Region – Round One
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Land of the Lost (8)
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
Robin of Sherwood (12)
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (4)
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits (6)
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Torchwood (10)
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
Coreward Region – Round One
1. Babylon 5 (1)
2. No opinion
3. UFO (5)
4. Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (4)
5.Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
6. The Outer Limits (6)
7. Torchwood (10)
8. Lexx (15)
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
Space: Above and Beyond (16)
No contest.
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Land of the Lost (8)
Misfits [UK] (9)
Also no contest.
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
UFO (5)
Robin of Sherwood (12)
I’m still angry 30 years later that I got to see so little of Robin of Sherwood, because my Mom wanted to watch bloody “Drei Damen vom Grill” (terrible German series about three generations of Berlin women running a sausage stand) instead.
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (4)
Out of the Unknown (13)
I’ve never liked DS9
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
The Mighty Boosh (14)
Can I have the original Battlestar Galactica instead. I’ve always hated the reboot and could never stomach more than one episode of the Mighty Boosh.
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits (6)
Friday the 13th: The Series (11)
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Slings and Arrows (7)
Torchwood (10)
Only season 1 of Torchwood, though. The rest was crap.
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
Lexx (15)
Coreward Region – Round One
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5 (1)
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Land of the Lost (8)
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
Robin of Sherwood (12)
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (4)
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
Battlestar Galactica [Reboot] (3)
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits (6)
7. THE IMMORTAL BARD VS. THE IMMORTAL
Torchwood (10)
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original] (2)
TV Bracket
1. Babylon 5
2. Misfits [UK]
3. UFO
4. Out of the Unknown
5. Battlestar Galactica [Reboot]
6. The Outer Limits
7. Torchwood
8. The Twilight Zone [Original]
Forehead cloth required for that last one.
Am currently watching the DVDs of Out of the Unknown. A shame that only 20 episodes still survive. The quality of the writers who were adapted was outstanding: John Wyndham, Alan E. Nourse, Isaac Asimov, William Tenn, John Brunner, J. G. Ballard, Fred Pohl, E. M. Forster, Colin Kapp, Clifford Simak, C. M. Kornbluth, Ray Bradbury, Kate Wilhelm, Henry Kuttner, Robert Sheckley, Nigel Kneale, amongst others.
@junego —
I think you’re mistaken here. My understanding is that mammals are the only animal group that does not still have parthenogenesis as a reproductive strategy, All other animals classes do, either as individuals (occasionally or accidentally) or as whole species (as obligates or on an as needed basis). So the gulf is probably <200 million years. Not inconsiderable, but not 2 billion.
The problem of parthenogenesis is one of embryo development and placental formation; some number of developmental steps in the formation of the embryo and the placenta. Not less than four; probably not more than eight. (Remember Dolly the sheep? Agricultural uses for cloning (this cow is the best cow; we want many more instances of this cow…) mean induced parthenogenesis has been looked at in some detail because it might have been easier than cloning. So has a desire to grow organs from something other than fetal tissue resulted in looking at parthenogenesis in humans.)
That’s where the gibberingly unlikely gets in; to have all of that shift at once by chance so pathogenesis was possible and the developmental regulation mechanisms still worked would be most extremely unlikely. That’s your gulf of maybe a couple hundred million years, back to somewhere in the Late Triassic.
But that doesn’t address mechanism. To have the mechanism be bacteria, you have to get the bacteria to alter the DNA of the host organism to make those extremely unlikely changes. No such mechanism exists in the wild; there’s a lot of really surprising chemical signalling going on with bacteria, but no way for the different DNA transcription mechanisms to interact or for bacteria to alter a chromosome and leave a live, functioning cell. That’s the maybe-two-billion-year gap. The combination gives a “multiple heat deaths of the universe” kind of time frame before that ever happens by accident. (Plus the already noted “why would a bacteria evolve to do this? It’s not getting greater reproductive success out of it, from the bacteria’s point of view it was done as soon as it evolved to hijack sperm and became an STI…” If it’s a bioweapon, you run into the Jurassic Park problem; if you can reconstruct reproducing populations of dozens of dinosaur species from fragmentary DNA for an amusement park, why aren’t you revolutionizing nearly everything else and making much more money instead? There’s orders of magnitude more money in agriculture and human medicine than amusement parks. Someone who could make sperm-hijacking bacteria able to alter human somatic and germ-line DNA in such a specific targeted way could find an easier way to wipe out most of the male population. (Some of which are existing science!))
FTL at least has our certainty of ignorance — the unknowns of cosmological physics and the increasing likelihood that the great majority of the universe isn’t baryonic matter — to hide in.
@Graydon:
Shrinking multiple human beings and their ship to the size of a cell is flat-out impossible. Doesn’t stop me from enjoying Fantastic Voyage (or Ant-Man) or calling it SF.
Venus isn’t a jungle planet. Known fact. Doesn’t stop Old Venus from being a good SF anthology.
Nobody’s arguing that human parthenogenesis is possible; you don’t have to keep proving how impossible it is. We get it. We just don’t care enough about that impossibility to let it get in the way of enjoying a decent story. If you do care that much, that’s fine – move on; this story isn’t going to work for you. Just quit saying everyone who does like it is having BadWrongFun.
1. WAR AND PEACE
Babylon 5
S,A&B was just getting good when it was cancelled which is a shame.
2. THAT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
Misfits [UK]
3. THE BATTLES OF BRITAIN
Robin of Sherwood
4. LONG STORY / SHORT
Star Trek: Deep Space 9
5. TOGETHER THEY MAKE TRAGICOMEDY
The Mighty Boosh
A lot of UK comedies don’t do much for me but I tried warching BSG and just couldn’t get into it(damn you shakey cam!)
6. NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE
The Outer Limits
8. GLOAMING VS. GIGASHADOW
The Twilight Zone [Original]
Rev. Bob:
He wasn’t, he was arguing minutiae, as fans are wont to, sometimes.
Even if it is supported, can we not compare each other to the skunk-pups at the drop of a hat, please?