Pixel Scroll 10/25 The Shapeshifting Starship Captain Who Shouted “Fromage!” At The Heart Of The World

(1) Watch out for bi-Klingual train conductors!

A Trek-referencing TV commercial is nominated for a national award in Austria reports Nina Horvath at Europa SF.

What is it all about? Two men dressed up as Klingons go by underground railway (yes, it is the underground railway, although it goes above-ground in this scene) in Vienna, when they find out that a ticket controller is around. As they haven´t bought a ticket, they decide to confuse the ticket controller (by the way a pretty blonde woman) with Klingon language. But she also replies to them in Klingon and seems to know enough about Klingon culture, to call them “dishonourable worms”. What follows is an advertisement for the “Volkshochschule Wien”, a school where adults can take several courses, e.g. on languages. (Probably also Klingon …?)

Public voting for the winner continues until November 3 here (German language website).

(2) Richard C. White, in “World Building 101: The Village” at Black Gate, vents about cliché adventurers who return to the local village to spend their newfound treasure.

If you’re like me, that scene sounds awfully familiar. It’s appeared too often in bad fantasy stories, bad fantasy movies, and WAY too many role playing games. “But Rich,” you say, “the party has to have somewhere to spend their treasure. Otherwise, there’s no point in giving it out?”

And my response is, “You’re absolutely right, but for the wrong reasons.” Let me explain what I mean. (Good, otherwise this would be a darn short blog entry – Editor).

The biggest problem is, that scene above should be taking place in a large town or at least a small city. A medieval (or pseudo-medieval) village is not going to have jewelers or places to sell magic items (if you’re doing that kind of fantasy). The tavern is not going to have a bevy of barmaids and taverns do not traditionally sell food — that’s what the inn was for (if there even was an inn). And why in heaven’s name would you have a village that close to a dungeon populated by evil creatures anyway? Most sensible villagers would have packed up and moved to safer places years ago (if they hadn’t all been killed in their sleep by the monsters). No, this village in the scenario above seems to have only one purpose — to provide adventurers with a place to stay while they’re off looting the local dungeon de jure. Not only is that not realistic — it’s boring.

(3) A New Yorker profile of Guillermo del Toro from 2011 begins with a LASFS connection —

[Forrest J] Ackerman founded a cult magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland, and, more lucratively, became an agent for horror and science-fiction writers. He crammed an eighteen-room house in Los Feliz with genre memorabilia, including a vampire cape worn by Bela Lugosi and a model of the pteranodon that tried to abscond with Fay Wray in “King Kong.” Ackerman eventually sold off his collection to pay medical bills, and in 2008 he died. He had no children.

But he had an heir. In 1971, Guillermo del Toro, the film director, was a seven-year-old misfit in Guadalajara, Mexico. He liked to troll the city sewers and dissolve slugs with salt. One day, in the magazine aisle of a supermarket, he came upon a copy of Famous Monsters of Filmland. He bought it, and was so determined to decode Ackerman’s pun-strewed prose—the letters section was called Fang Mail—that he quickly became bilingual.

Del Toro was a playfully morbid child. One of his first toys, which he still owns, was a plush werewolf that he sewed together with the help of a great-aunt. In a tape recording made when he was five, he can be heard requesting a Christmas present of a mandrake root, for the purpose of black magic…

(4) The Martian remains in first place at box office, however, several other genre movies failed on their opening weekend.

Four new films, including Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension and Vin Diesel’s The Last Witch Hunter, crowded into theaters this weekend and were swiftly pulverized and left for dead.

And John King Tarpinian says he saw only seven people in the audience at a showing of Bill Murray vehicle Rock The Kasbah.

(5) On Reddit — Author Becky Chambers will be joining us in SF Book Club to discuss The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet on October 28!

Details are yet to be fully worked out, but will look something like the rest: she’ll come in the morning to post a thread where we can ask questions, then come back in the afternoon/evening to answer the posted questions and interact with folks for a while.

(6) David K.M. Klaus questions the taste of using a formation of stormtroopers on the Great Wall of China to promote the next Star Wars film.

Yeah, this is cute — except that it looks just like the mass exercise and marching China used to have and North Korea still does — and “Imperial Stormtroopers”, had they existed, would have been used to rout the students and destroy the statues of the Goddess of Democracy in Tianamen Square in 1989.

Today “Tank Man” blocks the path of an AT-AT walker.

Thanks, Disney! Unfrozen, conventionally-buried-at-Forest-Lawn Unca Walt is a veritable whirligig in his grave right now.

(7) John Hertz responds to the notice in the October 23 Scroll about the passing of Harriett Klausner:

Of more immediate interest to us, Klausner was a pillar of Barry Hunter’s reviewzine Baryon, which came in the mail (Ned Brooks R.I.P.) for years.  She read and wrote fluently and much, and wherever I formed an opinion of my own, well; she had few companions, perhaps no equals.  I don’t believe I’ve seen a later issue than B 129 in 2014, but that if accurate is hardly conclusive in Fanzineland.

(8) I received this link to “The 40 Most Awesome Supergirl Covers” at Comic Book Resources with the admonition “For Historical Reference ONLY.” I’d say the covers are pretty tame – it’s CBR’s own Supergirl header that tends toward the cliché.

supergirl cover

(9) Tufts University political scientist Daniel W. Drezner looked at the Star Wars trailers and concluded that the rebels were “guilty of poor post-war planning” in “’Star Wars, Episode VII’: The Rebel Alliance’s catastrophic success”.

The evidence is right there in this trailer and the previous two. The desert planet of Jakku does not seem to have benefited all that much from the three-decades-old Rebel victory. Daisy Ridley’s character, Rey, appears to be a scavenger, and the planet is just littered with Imperial wreckage. If that hasn’t been cleaned up after 30 years, it’s a good sign that the Rebel Alliance has failed at statebuilding.

He also wonders why they didn’t revive the Senate or let the people know that Darth Vader switched sides minutes before he died.

(10) Time to move to Canada? Netflix will stream Star Wars: The Force Awakens there in 2016.

Fortuitously for Netflix Canada subs, the company’s deal with Disney started with 2015 releases after the previous agreements for the pay-TV window with Corus Entertainment and Bell Canada expired. A Netflix rep confirmed “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is slated to come to the service in the country; under the terms of the deal, that will occur approximately eight months after the movie leaves theaters.

(11) Political scientists should also be looking at the world’s newest nation – it’s in a remote corner of Utah.

There is a four-acre piece of land in northwestern Box Elder County that very few people know about. Even fewer people recognize it as what it’s meant to be — its own country.

A decade ago, Zaq Landsberg, a man from New York, bought the land online with a unique goal in mind.

“The conceptual goal is I want it to become a real country,” Landsberg said. “I mean, that goal is not going to happen. It’s impossible, but going through the motions, (I’m) trying to make that happen.”

The area is known to Landsberg as the Republic of Zaqistan, and he is its president….

Zaqistan has its own flag, a border patrol gate, a supply bunker, a robot sentry that guards the land and even official passports.

“Zaqistan works the best, I think, when it’s wedged up against the real world, and when the passports circulate,” Landsberg said.

The passports look and feel real. You can even get them stamped when entering and exiting his land.

 

One Man?s Sovereign Nation

(12) What, wait, what? William Shatner was The Chairman on the original Iron Chef USA?

(This attempt to import the popular Japanese series preceded the later, successful Iron Chef America.)

There’s a short clip from an episode on YouTube. Chairman Shatner mugs for the camera starting at about :10.

(13) Ann Leckie fans have reported a great disturbance in the force!

(14) While we’re in the midst of this Ann Leckie festival, take a listen to Comedrinkwithme’s musical rendition of “It All Goes Around”.

[Thanks to Martin Morse Wooster, Gregory Benford, Will R., Jim Henley, John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]

269 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 10/25 The Shapeshifting Starship Captain Who Shouted “Fromage!” At The Heart Of The World

  1. Spinward Region – Round One

    1. one’s good but too short, the other’s good but too long. Abstain.

    2. eh… abstain

    3. X-files. doo-doo-doo-doo-deee-doo.

    4. out of fairness, comparing season 1 to season 1. WONDERFALLS by a landslide.

    5. ehhh… both? neither? abstain.

    6. ehhh… Neither. TWIN PEAKS.

    7. Respect to GRRM, but SG-1

    8. Firefly

  2. Meredith Not that not even being on the list (or eligible) stopped people from nominating Futurama.

    Thus proving that Filers are free spirits…

  3. FILE 770 LIVE-ACTION TV TOURNAMENT AND BRACKETS

    Spinward Region – Round One

    1. SPY VS. SPY
    The Prisoner (1)

    4. PRIME DIRECTIVE OR PRIMO DIRECTIONS
    Wonderfalls (3)

    5. *SOMEBODY* THINKS IT’S THE WRONG ACTOR
    Doctor Who [Classic] (3)

    6. LAW AND CONSIDERABLE DISORDER
    Eureka (6)

    8. ONE THEME SONG WAS NOT A HIT
    Firefly (2)

  4. Spinward Region – Round One

    1. SPY VS. SPY
    The Prisoner (1)
    Chuck (16)

    2. THE HORROR, THE (OTHER) HORROR
    Night Gallery (8)
    Mystery Science Theater 3000 (9)

    3. SH;T GETS WEIRD
    X-Files (5)
    Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (12)

    4. PRIME DIRECTIVE OR PRIMO DIRECTIONS
    Star Trek: The Next Generation (4)
    Wonderfalls (3)

    5. *SOMEBODY* THINKS IT’S THE WRONG ACTOR
    Doctor Who [Classic] (3)
    Dresden Files (14)

    6. LAW AND CONSIDERABLE DISORDER
    Eureka (6)
    Pushing Daisies (11)
    Abstain

    7. HIDDEN WORLDS
    Beauty and the Beast [Original] (7)
    Stargate SG-1 (10)
    Abstain

    8. ONE THEME SONG WAS NOT A HIT
    Firefly (2)
    Third Rock from the Sun (15)

  5. FILE 770 LIVE-ACTION TV TOURNAMENT AND BRACKETS

    Spinward Region – Round One

    1. SPY VS. SPY
    The Prisoner (1)
    Chuck (16)

    Surprisingly difficult, but I’ll go with No. 6, much as I love Chuck.

    2. THE HORROR, THE (OTHER) HORROR
    Night Gallery (8)
    Mystery Science Theater 3000 (9)

    3. SH;T GETS WEIRD
    X-Files (5)
    Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (12)

    Another one that’s surprisingly difficult, but X-Files it is.

    4. PRIME DIRECTIVE OR PRIMO DIRECTIONS
    Star Trek: The Next Generation (4)
    Wonderfalls (3)

    No contest.

    5. *SOMEBODY* THINKS IT’S THE WRONG ACTOR
    Doctor Who [Classic] (3)
    Dresden Files (14)

    Sorry, Harry and Paul Blackthorne, but the Doctor wins.

    6. LAW AND CONSIDERABLE DISORDER
    Eureka (6)
    Pushing Daisies (11)

    Pass, I can’t stand either.

    7. HIDDEN WORLDS
    Beauty and the Beast [Original] (7)
    Stargate SG-1 (10)

    No contest, I loved the original Beauty and the Beast and gave up on Stargate after two seasons.

    8. ONE THEME SONG WAS NOT A HIT
    Firefly (2)
    Third Rock from the Sun (15)

    Again, no contest.

  6. Jim Henley: Closing in an hour! As with last round, we have a couple upsets, but almost all victories will be lopsided.

    I’m still disconsolate over UFO. 🙁

  7. Thumb on the scales of BRACKETSES!

    1. SPY VS. SPY
    The Prisoner (1)

    Chuck, at least you didn’t get shut out…

    2. THE HORROR, THE (OTHER) HORROR
    Night Gallery (8)

    It’s still got an outside shot at taking this one!

    3. SH;T GETS WEIRD
    Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (12)

    More like Eff-Files amirite! Plus, the little I’ve seen of Brisco, I liked.

    4. PRIME DIRECTIVE OR PRIMO DIRECTIONS
    Star Trek: The Next Generation (4)

    I wasn’t a huge TNG fan, but my friend Lisa co-wrote the script for the Tin Man episode, but got robbed of a credit because of TNG’s rule that no more than two names could appear on the writing credit. So her maiden name is tucked into the middle of Bischoff’s other coauthor. This vote is for her.

    5. *SOMEBODY* THINKS IT’S THE WRONG ACTOR
    Dresden Files (14)

    An anti-fan of Classic Who, and I liked Dresden enough to hope it got a second season, but this is a weak vote.

    8. ONE THEME SONG WAS NOT A HIT
    Firefly (2)

    I did like the song from the other one, though.

  8. FILE 770 LIVE-ACTION TV TOURNAMENT AND BRACKETS

    Spinward Region – Round One

    1. SPY VS. SPY
    The Prisoner (1)
    Chuck (16)
    Because no matter how much I knew guys like Chuck and the Nerd Herders, The Prisoner had Rover.

    2. THE HORROR, THE (OTHER) HORROR
    Night Gallery (8)
    Mystery Science Theater 3000 (9)

    3. SH;T GETS WEIRD
    X-Files (5)
    Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (12)

    4. PRIME DIRECTIVE OR PRIMO DIRECTIONS
    Star Trek: The Next Generation (4)
    Wonderfalls (3)

    5. *SOMEBODY* THINKS IT’S THE WRONG ACTOR
    Doctor Who [Classic] (3)
    Dresden Files (14)

    6. LAW AND CONSIDERABLE DISORDER
    Eureka (6)
    Pushing Daisies (11)

    7. HIDDEN WORLDS
    Beauty and the Beast [Original] (7)
    Stargate SG-1 (10)

    8. ONE THEME SONG WAS NOT A HIT
    Firefly (2)
    Third Rock from the Sun (15)

  9. FILE 770 LIVE-ACTION TV TOURNAMENT AND BRACKETS

    Spinward Region – Round One

    This region featured more voters, more votes, fewer upsets, but about the same average margin of victory as the Coreward region. There were also some crowd control problems as a couple of Twin Peaks fans excitedly stormed the arena a day ahead of their team’s actual game.

    1. SPY VS. SPY
    The Prisoner (1)
    Chuck (16)

    A couple of people voted for Chuck. A couple more people expressed fondness for Chuck, then calmly blew him away. Number 6 was Number 1 with a bullet – no, an entire magazine – this round. Final score:

    The Prisoner 57
    Chuck 2

    2. THE HORROR, THE (OTHER) HORROR
    Night Gallery (8)
    Mystery Science Theater 3000 (9)

    Our closest match was ultimately not that close. Night Gallery led early but MST3K took a slight lead into halftime. The second half was almost all Tom Servo and whoever those other guys were. The Dark Exhibitors made a late run to pull within 7, but the, what are they, robots I guess? held on to win by 8. Said Museums coach Rod Serling, “I blame myself. I should have talked during the stories, not just before and after.” Final score:

    MST3K 25
    Night Gallery 17

    The Satellite of Love crew takes on the Village next round.

    3. SH;T GETS WEIRD
    X-Files (5)
    Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (12)

    “We just need to play our game not their game and take it one play at a time,” said Countian Bruce Campbell before the match, making even those hackneyed lines sound kinda good. But one play at a time, the Mixed Doubles Team from the FBI calmly racked up a commanding lead and never let up. Final score:

    X-Files 42
    Brisco County 16

    4. PRIME DIRECTIVE OR PRIMO DIRECTIONS
    Star Trek: The Next Generation (4)
    Wonderfalls (13)

    Similar story here. Wonderfalls can take pride in getting almost as many votes as its seed ranking. The team from the Enterprise can take satisfaction in a successful warmup match before taking on the X-Files next round. Final score:

    ST:TNG 46
    Wonderfalls 12

    5. *SOMEBODY* THINKS IT’S THE WRONG ACTOR
    Doctor Who [Classic] (3)
    Dresden Files (14)

    Science (of a sort) stomped all over magic as an overmatched, bewildered Harry Dresden frequently exclaimed, “Wait, I thought my opponent was that other guy. Who are you?” Even if you divided the TARDIS team’s final score by the number of Doctors involved, Dresden still would have lost. Afterward, the walloped wizard was heard to mutter darkly of some kind of “cabal.” Final score:

    Classic Who 52
    Dresden Files 5

    6. LAW AND CONSIDERABLE DISORDER
    Eureka (6)
    Pushing Daisies (11)

    After a shaky first few minutes, Sheriff Jack Carter’s geniuses laid down the law, doubling up their opponents by halftime and never swooning thereafter. Captain Ned’s frantic attempts to revive his team’s fortunes backfired as he kept accidentally re-killing his teammates during time-out huddles. But as one Eurekan said after the game, “Mm. Pie!” Final score:

    Eureka 24
    Pushing Daisies 10

    The Town of Geniuses tackles the Gallifreyans next.

    7. HIDDEN WORLDS
    Beauty and the Beast [Original] (7)
    Stargate SG-1 (10)

    Science fiction continued to romp all over fantasy in this bracket. The Beastie Boys (and Beauties) hoped to use the size of their all-star center, Vincent, to dominate the paint. Unfortunately there was no paint. and the team from the US Air Force were surprisingly mobile considering their signal lack of airplanes. “It was like they appeared and disappeared from nowhere,” explained ADA Catherine of the World Below’s beffudlement. Final score:

    Stargate SG-1 34
    Beauty and the Beast 18

    8. ONE THEME SONG WAS NOT A HIT
    Firefly (2)
    Third Rock from the Sun (15)

    Space travelers faced off in the region’s final match of the day, and the Family of Choice held serve against the Fake Family. But the Big Giant Head can be proud that his team did remarkably well for a 15 seed, racking up double-digit votes and securing special ribbons for trying their best. “These are very popular on Earth,” High Commander Dick explained to the BGH. Firefly awaits a tough opponent in Stargate SG-1. Final score:

    Firefly 48
    Third Rock 13

  10. Aaaah, my first wrong pick– I had Brisco County, Jr. beating Mulder and Scully.

  11. NEVER MIND was about to vote, noticed bracket closed, but I think all my picks won… Well, everything but Pushing Daisies. Sigh. But that’s a pretty decisive vote. Guess i should watch more Eureka.

  12. Xtifr, this post went off into la-la land after I posted it, and Mike couldn’t find it in the Sin Bin. So I’m going to try it again.

    Xtifr: I ploughed through the second and third books of Catherine Asaro’s Skolian Empire series, which was recommended to me recently. So far, I’ve found them enjoyable but not jump-up-and-down great or anything. But I really like the fact that they’re all so completely different. I like authors that do that. It seems to offer the greatest opportunities for growth. So I have high hopes for later works in the series.

    I tore through the entire series earlier this year, and quite enjoyed it. Like you, I noticed that she (like Bujold) does a great job of making each book about something different instead of just a rehash of the last one — and I thought that was interesting, so I sat down and documented it (though I could not remember all the books, and never went back and filled in the ones I didn’t).

    Skyfall
    differing races and cultures
    exploitation by commercial developers
    domestic abuse

    Undercity
    cycle of poverty
    gender oppression

    Stained Glass Heart
    politically-arranged marriages

    Schism
    burden of, and limitations by, parental expectations
    slavery

    The Final Key
    self-worth and self-esteem
    drug addiction
    sexual preference and societal and familial disapproval of homosexuality

    The Last Hawk
    rape and the lasting effects of it
    sexual oppression

    Primary Inversion
    lovers from warring countries (Montague/Capulet)
    PTSD / Depression

    The Radiant Seas
    political machinations
    getting away from it all when the stress becomes too much

    Ascendant Sun
    slavery
    torture / sadism
    peace between divergent cultures

    The Quantum Rose
    domestic abuse / rape
    alcoholism / depression

    Spherical Harmonic
    assault
    vengeance

    The Moon’s Shadow
    conscience and choices
    self-sacrifice

    Diamond Star
    parental expectations / individuality
    contributing based on one’s abilities
    brutality of the music business

    The Ruby Dice
    self-sacrifice
    importance of family

    Catch the Lightning
    gang violence
    willingness to embrace the unknown

  13. JJ, I haven’t read much Asaro because the two I picked up were very torture/rapey. Is that true for the whole Skolian series or did I just get unlucky?

  14. Cassy B.: I haven’t read much Asaro because the two I picked up were very torture/rapey. Is that true for the whole Skolian series or did I just get unlucky?

    It’s not true for most of them; I’m guessing that you happened to get the two I mentioned above for that issue. You might give Primary Inversion a try if you haven’t already, before giving up on the series.

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