Science Fiction Trivia

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spud42
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Re: Science Fiction Trivia

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HYDRA from the marvel universe... seems to obvious... but maybe thats what you wanted me to think......
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Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by ffutures »

Nite Owl wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 1:42 am
#2 - Tycho Magnetic Anomaly - 1 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Used in both the book and the movie to describe the Monolith found in the Tycho crater on the moon. If memory serves the Monolith orbiting Jupiter was referred to as TMA-2. Cannot recall if either was ever actually referred to as "The Monolith" or "A Monolith" in either the book or the movie? No matter what you may call it, it is still full of stars.
Absolutely right - have a MBP for thoroughness.
Disembodied wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 10:41 am
4 - UNIT - is I assume the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, from Doctor Who.
Partially right, which is why I said it was a trick question - you get the point, but no MBP. They changed it to Unified Intelligence Taskforce after the UN complained!

Three to go (or four if someone spots the ringer).
spud42 wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 11:43 am
HYDRA from the marvel universe... seems to obvious... but maybe thats what you wanted me to think......
Right organization, but I need more before I can give you a point.
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Re: Science Fiction Trivia

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ffutures wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 1:15 pm
Disembodied wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 10:41 am
4 - UNIT - is I assume the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, from Doctor Who.
Partially right, which is why I said it was a trick question - you get the point, but no MBP. They changed it to Unified Intelligence Taskforce after the UN complained!
Good grief … the UN complained about Doctor Who. You'd think they would have better things to do. Although I suppose if I was faced with a choice of writing a stiff note to some horrifying dictator, or writing a stiff note to the BBC, I'd probably go with the latter; some days you just need a win.
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Re: Science Fiction Trivia

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Disembodied wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 2:56 pm
ffutures wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 1:15 pm
Good grief … the UN complained about Doctor Who. You'd think they would have better things to do. Although I suppose if I was faced with a choice of writing a stiff note to some horrifying dictator, or writing a stiff note to the BBC, I'd probably go with the latter; some days you just need a win.
Alternatively, it is a tribute to the respective PR budgets of the UN and Auntie.
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Re: Science Fiction Trivia

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ffutures wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 1:15 pm
spud42 wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 11:43 am
HYDRA from the marvel universe... seems to obvious... but maybe thats what you wanted me to think......
Right organization, but I need more before I can give you a point.
ok this is hijacked but explains better than i can...
HYDRA is an authoritarian paramilitary-subversive organization bent on world domination. It was founded in ancient times, formerly as a cult centered around the fanatical worship of Hive, a powerful Inhuman that was exiled to the planet Maveth by ancient Inhumans. Ever since his banishment, the cult had been determined to bring him back to Earth to commence a planetary takeover.
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Re: Science Fiction Trivia

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spud42 wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 12:09 pm
ffutures wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 1:15 pm
spud42 wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 11:43 am
HYDRA from the marvel universe... seems to obvious... but maybe thats what you wanted me to think......
Right organization, but I need more before I can give you a point.
ok this is hijacked but explains better than i can...
HYDRA is an authoritarian paramilitary-subversive organization bent on world domination. It was founded in ancient times, formerly as a cult centered around the fanatical worship of Hive, a powerful Inhuman that was exiled to the planet Maveth by ancient Inhumans. Ever since his banishment, the cult had been determined to bring him back to Earth to commence a planetary takeover.
Yes - but what is the acronym in the name, if any?
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Re: Science Fiction Trivia

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ffutures wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 7:47 pm
Yes - but what is the acronym in the name {HYDRA}, if any?
I have a very vague memory from reading the comics in the 1970s that there was an acronym, but I'll be bowdlerised if I can remember what. There is a faint bell that there were several acronyms (or backronyms), but I may be projecting from some other part of the small myriad of Marvel universes. Internal consistency isn't high on their scriptwriter's list of big deals.
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Re: Science Fiction Trivia

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RockDoctor wrote: Sat Mar 20, 2021 5:41 pm
ffutures wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 7:47 pm
Yes - but what is the acronym in the name {HYDRA}, if any?
I have a very vague memory from reading the comics in the 1970s that there was an acronym, but I'll be bowdlerised if I can remember what. There is a faint bell that there were several acronyms (or backronyms), but I may be projecting from some other part of the small myriad of Marvel universes. Internal consistency isn't high on their scriptwriter's list of big deals.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you a fail on this - HYDRA was the ringer! It's simply a name from Greek mythology, which for some reason gets capitalized a lot when people are writing about SHIELD and the Marvel universe. It's possible that at some point someone did try to make it into an acronym, but it certainly didn't start out that way and it has never been one in the "main" Marvel universe, Earth 616.

Three to go!

Some hints
FROOMB! is from a 1960s novel
ELE is from a 1990s film
UNEXA is from a long series of juvenile novels published over a span of more than 20 years.
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Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by Cmdr James »

ffutures wrote: Sat Mar 20, 2021 10:43 pm
Some hints
FROOMB! is from a 1960s novel
ELE is from a 1990s film
UNEXA is from a long series of juvenile novels published over a span of more than 20 years.
If I remember ELE is from on of the astroid diaster movies (maybe called asteroid?) and it was something like Estinguising Life Event.
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Re: Science Fiction Trivia

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Cmdr James wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 8:24 am
If I remember ELE is from on of the astroid diaster movies (maybe called asteroid?) and it was something like Estinguising Life Event.
I'm going to call this a near miss - it was an asteroid film, but not Asteroid, and you have one word and part of another correct. Since you've made it too easy for everyone else I'm going to give you this one, but only award half a point. The correct answer is Extinction Level Event, and it's from the film Deep Impact (1998).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Impact_(film)

It's also used in real science.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_event

See also

https://xkcd.com/618/ and expecially the mouseover text.

Two to go!

An additional hint for #1, which is probably the hardest - you can google the book and author; the plot summary doesn't explain the acronym - but if you look closely it ought to come to you.
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Re: Science Fiction Trivia

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More clues

#1 was a novel published in 1964
#6 was in most of the books in a series of 20 juvenile novels published between 1957 and 1979; a twenty-first was never published.
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Re: Science Fiction Trivia

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ok. i knew hydra wasnt an acronym but didnt state it so fair call..lol

and as this isnt the last one, after a fair bit of googleing i found a review on goodreads....
FROOMB! => Fluid Running Out Of My Brakes ! John Lymington . not read it and from the reviews i dont think i will bother.. too many others in my reading list already. Its from a political cartoon of the time concerning the nuclear arms race.. just how it applies i cant find that out.
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Re: Science Fiction Trivia

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spud42 wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 1:25 pm
ok. i knew hydra wasnt an acronym but didnt state it so fair call..lol

and as this isnt the last one, after a fair bit of googleing i found a review on goodreads....
FROOMB! => Fluid Running Out Of My Brakes ! John Lymington . not read it and from the reviews i dont think i will bother.. too many others in my reading list already. Its from a political cartoon of the time concerning the nuclear arms race.. just how it applies i cant find that out.
Yep, exactly right - the cartoon is in the story, not in real life as far as I know, and as I remember it the globe of the Earth is in the car, indicating that there's an impending disaster. When I said to look closely, I was hinting that the phrase is actually visible on a picture of the cover of the book - I think in the Goodreads review!

Have a point and a meaningless bonus point for getting the hardest one right.

Just UNEXA left now, and another clue - the author is British and ISN'T W.E. Johns.
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Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by ffutures »

ffutures wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 1:54 am
Just UNEXA left now, and another clue - the author is British and ISN'T W.E. Johns.
Another clue - it isn't the Kemlo series.
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Re: Science Fiction Trivia

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ffutures wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 7:45 pm
ffutures wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 1:54 am
Just UNEXA left now, and another clue - the author is British and ISN'T W.E. Johns.
Another clue - it isn't the Kemlo series.
Another clue - In later books of the series a pair of telepathic twins are used to communicate with exploratory spaceships; one aboard the ship, the other staying on Earth. This causes problems because they are (shock horror) GIRLS!!!!
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