Science Fiction Trivia

[Commander_X]

[...] but I don't recall any shuttles.

Although I wouldn't be able recall ( ), I also couldn't find any mention of such, besides the "skybike" smuggled aboard. Sorry!

A Culture General Systems Vehicle[...]

#1

Lexx had those bug shuttles [...]

#2

[ffutures]

I'm pretty sure that the aliens in Independence Day used some sort of shuttle inside the big saucers, but they also carried fleets of attack ships so I may have mistaken them for an internal transport system - I'm really not going to watch the bloody thing again to check!

And the big ship in Wall-E has little mobility pods for the passengers, I think.

[Commander_X]

I'm pretty sure that the aliens in Independence Day used some sort of shuttle inside the big saucers, but they also carried fleets of attack ships so I may have mistaken them for an internal transport system - I'm really not going to watch the bloody thing again to check!

They might had, but, the closest glimpse we had for the interior of their saucers was around their main weapon. The mother ship on the other hand was presented more generously in the interior, we can "presume" some of the ships passing by were shuttles, but there is no evidence.

And the big ship in Wall-E has little mobility pods for the passengers, I think.

#3

[cbr]

From The Black Hole, those 'moonbuggies' on rails ?

[Disembodied]

"The Stone", a 290km-long (and then some …) asteroid ship in Greg Bear’s Eon. Internal travel requires aircraft (and "tuberiders", when things start to get stretched).

[Commander_X]

From The Black Hole, those 'moonbuggies' on rails ?

#4

"The Stone", a 290km-long (and then some …) asteroid ship in Greg Bear’s Eon. Internal travel requires aircraft (and "tuberiders", when things start to get stretched).

#5

All yours big D!

P.S. Two other examples I had in mind were Excalibur in Babylon 5 Crusade, and more recently, Ark Hyperion in Mass Effect: Andromeda.

[Disembodied]

OK, another five … five times in SF when stars were actively destroyed/made to explode. Just going nova isn't enough: someone or something has to trigger it.

[spud42]

first is obviously the Vogons destroying our sun for a hyperspatial bypass.......

[Disembodied]

first is obviously the Vogons destroying our sun for a hyperspatial bypass.......

The Vogons only destroyed the Earth, I think … as far as I remember they left the sun alone.

[Cody]

Greg Bear's Anvil of Stars: if memory serves, a whole system is eventually destroyed, which I think included the star.

[Disembodied]

Greg Bear's Anvil of Stars: if memory serves, a whole system is eventually destroyed, which I think included the star.

I think you're right … that's one (unless someone knows different!).

[ffutures]

Stargate SG1 - in one of the episodes they lure the Go'auld into an unihabited solar system then drop a spare Stargate into the sun to trigger a supernova (I think). You sort of hope that they checked that there weren't any occupied worlds within say 50 light years or so...

later - yep, a supernova - full summary here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus_(Stargate_SG-1)

E.E. "Doc" Smith did this several times, most notably in the final book of the Skylark of Space series, Skylark of Valeron where they basically blow up most of the starts in a galaxy to get rid of the evil chlorine breathers, creating a quasar, while evacuating all of the oxygen breathers to a third galaxy. This astonishing act of genocide is apparently a good thing.

[Disembodied]

Stargate SG1

That's two.

E.E. "Doc" Smith did this several times, most notably in the final book of the Skylark of Space series

Yes - multiple times, right enough! That's three …

[Cody]

I hesitate to mention this, as I gave up after the first two novels, but I think The Saga of the Seven Suns has some staricide going on.

[Disembodied]

I hesitate to mention this, as I gave up after the first two novels, but I think The Saga of the Seven Suns has some staricide going on.

Hmm … not something I've read. From googling they do seem to be able to turn gas giants into mini-stars, though, so it's not impossible. That makes four: one more for the prize!