Science Fiction Trivia

[Massively Locked]

And Dennis Quaid as Gordo.. Amazing cast. Not to mention Sam Shepard's super cool Chuck Yeager..

Dennis Quaid- of course! Can't believe I completely forgot about him. And totally agree on Shepard as Yeager. When I was growing up, I remember seeing Yeager in tv ads for something or another. I vaguely knew that he was a flyboy general, and that was about it. When I watched TRS, I was like: "THAT'S what he did?!?!"

Ok, proper hint, here he is portrayed by another actor I quite like.

Don't recognize him. He looks a little bit like Christian Slater.

It definitely has its moments. It's produced by Ronald D. Moore (who was behind Battlestar Galactica "The Superior remake").
Its premise: In an alternate timeline in 1969, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov becomes the first human to land on the Moon, which properly kicks off the space race..

That jogs my memory some- I may have heard Ron Moore talking about it in an interview or at a con. That's definitely an interesting premise.

OK- I've reached the limit of my knowledge on this one. We know he was one of the Mercury 7. If anyone's on target, step on up.

[Old Murgh]

When I was growing up, I remember seeing Yeager in tv ads for something or another. I vaguely knew that he was a flyboy general, and that was about it. When I watched TRS, I was like: "THAT'S what he did?!?!"

I had read reviews for Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Simulator for C64 around the days of Elite, so his authority was somewhat established for me too.

Don't recognize him. He looks a little bit like Christian Slater.

Ok, that's Nick Searcy, a little heavier and older than Slater. Some would remember him as the folksy US Marshal Kentucky field office boss in Justified. This still is however from HBO's thorough space age series From the Earth to the Moon.

As mentioned the two middle pics are from my Apple+ series, For All Mankind, and the right one shows Chris Bauer (surely many will remember his utterly unforgettable performance as stevedore union leader Frank Sobotka in The Wire season 2) portraying the character in question. And as mentioned above, Kyle Chandler portrays the same man, in First Man..

So with all clues spilled, who can name this personage?

[Old Murgh]

So with all clues spilled, who can name this personage?

Well, not all.. If this doesn't open it up:
This astronaut distinguishes himself by having been medically disqualified from flight duty on account of erratic heart activity, idiopathic atrial fibrillation, but remained in the program, eventually becoming Flight Crew Operations director, until finally being declared medically fit for flight status and finally getting his trip to space in 75 at the then-record age of 51.

His long presence at NASA causes his character to be present in quite a few films including The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, Apollo 11, From the Earth to the Moon, Moonshot, The Astronaut Wives Club, Hidden Figures, First Man and For All Mankind.

I bet someone among you could name him without resorting to evil Google.

[Massively Locked]

Was he played by Gary Sinise in Apollo 13?

[Old Murgh]

Was he played by Gary Sinise in Apollo 13?

No, Sinise played Ken Mattingly, a person with considerably less hair.
Chris Ellis played this one in Apollo 13, an actor I can't say pops out for me.

[ffutures]

OK, I cheated and looked up the heart condition - the answer is behind this link

https://tinyurl.com/yzc5v4aj

played by this actor in Apollo 13

https://tinyurl.com/ypycwfff

[Old Murgh]

OK, I cheated and looked up the heart condition - the answer is behind this link

Yes, the answers were Gene Kranz and Deke Slayton, names that have particularly stuck with me since Harris’ Apollo 13 and by Searcy’s deeper portrayal in From Here to the Moon, and were cool to see sci-fied in For All Mankind. I register that everyone else didn’t nerd out on this..

But with 3 points ffutures has fought to deserve the coveted chalice, and will pose the next question.

[ffutures]

OK, I cheated and looked up the heart condition - the answer is behind this link

Yes, the answers were Gene Kranz and Deke Slayton, names that have particularly stuck with me since Harris’ Apollo 13 and by Searcy’s deeper portrayal in From Here to the Moon, and were cool to see sci-fied in For All Mankind. I register that everyone else didn’t nerd out on this..

But with 3 points ffutures has fought to deserve the coveted chalice, and will pose the next question.

WHAT???? You (expletive deleted)...

OK then.... nice easy one. This character, who is NOT Albus Dumbledore (because SF, not fantasy) was a long-lived educator whose policies and dislike of a small child can arguably be blamed for the collapse of an interstellar government and the rise of several dictatorial regimes. Name that educator!

[RockDoctor]

who is NOT Albus Dumbledore (because SF, not fantasy)

Yoda was not Albus Dumbledore. Everyone noted Dumbledore's height, in exactly not the way that everybody noted Yoda's height.

was a long-lived educator

Yoda

whose policies and dislike of a small child

That would be Anakin. If I remember correctly the time I watched those movies ...

can arguably be blamed for the collapse of an interstellar government

Star Wars all over.

and the rise of several dictatorial regimes. Name that educator!

Ah, now that doesn't fit Yoda quite so well. Darth and the Vadarites (a good band name?) keep on striking back, but does that count as one dictatorial regime or several? And IIRC in the business of entertainment, wasn't Disney (a.k.a. Mauswictz) saved economically by Star Wars, so that's a second dictatorial regime ... But on the whole, I'd Yoda still for go.

[ffutures]

Well, I said it was a nice easy one - Yoda for the win. His lack of attention led directly to the rise of the Sith, creation of the Galactic Empire, and eventually to the failure of Luke's Jedi school, rise of the First Order, and death of the New Republic.

The virtual chocolate-covered Death Star with poisoned chalice goes over to you. Pray that it decides not to disintegrate your planet....

[RockDoctor]

Well, I said it was a nice easy one - Yoda for the win. His lack of attention led directly to the rise of the Sith, creation of the Galactic Empire, and eventually to the failure of Luke's Jedi school, rise of the First Order, and death of the New Republic.

The virtual chocolate-covered Death Star with poisoned chalice goes over to you. Pray that it decides not to disintegrate your planet....

Oh bloody hell.
Well, since it's chocolate-covered, I can think of at least one SF story with "chocolate covered" (plus-or-minus hyphenation, I forget) in the title. So that'll make it easy to Google.

Answers on a postcard - sputtered Handwavium script on 32-gauge Unobtanium plate - to the usual address.

(This is when I remember I have several notes for chalice-fillers in my draft messages. I'll try to remember to check next time.)

[ffutures]

Oh FFS - the first one in ages I can do without even thinking about it, and I only just handed over.... Sigh....

"What Can You Say About Chocolate Covered Manhole Covers?" by Larry Niven, in his collection All The Myriad Ways

[RockDoctor]

Oh FFS - the first one in ages I can do without even thinking about it, and I only just handed over.... Sigh....

"What Can You Say About Chocolate Covered Manhole Covers?" by Larry Niven, in his collection All The Myriad Ways

You've got it, and I've got to admit that you deserve the chalice back for putting the idea very firmly into my mind.

IIRC from the preamble/ blurb there was some sort of writer's party game where you were given a challenge phrase (in this case, "chocolate covered manhole covers") and had to come up with a story using it.

[ffutures]

OK, since I seem to be lumbered again...

The Martian and Robinson Crusoe on Mars are probably the most famous novels stories of people stranded on the red planet.

Let's have something a little more obscure - a 1960s novel in which a teenager discovers antigravity and is promptly marooned on Mars by the failure of a vacuum tube. Book and author, please.

[ffutures]

Clue - the author was not an astronomer or astrophysicist, but at least one common term used in planetary astronomy (not relevant to Mars) originated in one of his stories.