Join us at the Oolite Anniversary Party -- London, 7th July 2024, 1pm
More details in this thread.

Science Fiction Trivia

Off topic discussion zone.

Moderators: winston, another_commander, Cody

User avatar
RockDoctor
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 787
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 9:05 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by RockDoctor »

spud42 wrote: Tue Jul 18, 2023 11:13 am
I think RockDoctor gave you your 5th....
a journalist the changes his disguise in a phone box/booth... lol its quite comic really....
I didn't. I got perilously close to answering the question, then supped from the chalice (See also : Pier's Anthony, "On the uses of Torture").
As far as this recently-sedimented protofossil is concerned, taphonomy is my future, not question composition,.
--
Shooting aliens for fun and ... well, more fun.
"Speaking as an outsider, what do you think of the human race?" (John Cooper Clark - "I married a Space Alien")
User avatar
RockDoctor
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 787
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 9:05 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by RockDoctor »

Coming soon in this Millennium's Daily Planet (ed. & prop JJJ ? ), Lois Kent on why the suspicious webs on her [anatomy redacted for Hayes Act compliance] prove that she's not SuperSpiderAnt .... regardless of her being as hard-hearted as Irony Man.
Oh hang on.
There's a challenge.
OK, Supperman emerges from the phone box (how are Hollywood going to explain that to Generation Mobile?) grabs the Chalice of doom and drop-kicks it towards the horizon wanting to be filled with ...

FIVE PARODY Characters. (Universes, places.)

Usual terms of no recurring universes (though I will allow recurring Authors). My parody of Super AntMan standing as prime example, and I'll raise (so ban) Rendezvous With Rama as a reaction to Ringworld as a secondary exemplar.
Specific exception : Mr "Underpants Outside Trews" from Smallsville is, as always, open to endless parody. Because ... well he is. Unavoidably.

I'll also take the Ooniverse off the table. Obscuration.OZP as a parody of MaskingVeil.OXP isn't accepted.
--
Shooting aliens for fun and ... well, more fun.
"Speaking as an outsider, what do you think of the human race?" (John Cooper Clark - "I married a Space Alien")
User avatar
ffutures
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 2142
Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2013 12:34 pm
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by ffutures »

RockDoctor wrote: Thu Jul 20, 2023 12:17 am
Coming soon in this Millennium's Daily Planet (ed. & prop JJJ ? ), Lois Kent on why the suspicious webs on her [anatomy redacted for Hayes Act compliance] prove that she's not SuperSpiderAnt .... regardless of her being as hard-hearted as Irony Man.
Oh hang on.
There's a challenge.
OK, Supperman emerges from the phone box (how are Hollywood going to explain that to Generation Mobile?) grabs the Chalice of doom and drop-kicks it towards the horizon wanting to be filled with ...

FIVE PARODY Characters. (Universes, places.)

Usual terms of no recurring universes (though I will allow recurring Authors). My parody of Super AntMan standing as prime example, and I'll raise (so ban) Rendezvous With Rama as a reaction to Ringworld as a secondary exemplar.
Specific exception : Mr "Underpants Outside Trews" from Smallsville is, as always, open to endless parody. Because ... well he is. Unavoidably.

I'll also take the Ooniverse off the table. Obscuration.OZP as a parody of MaskingVeil.OXP isn't accepted.
OK, that was good enough for my question...

And I can instantly come up with something for yours - Terry Pratchett's The Dark Side of the Sun which is a parody of various authors, primarily Frank Herbert and Samuel R. Delaney, in a galaxy with a Mysterious Progenitor Race (TM) which has disappeared. The main influence is probably Dune, but there are also echoes of Asimov's robotics series, Babel 17, etc. One of the reviews from Goodreads:

Pratchetts version of Dune. A classic style space-opera with all of the problems that implies but shorter and with the usual Pratchett wit. It isn't a comedy though, in fact while its not overly serious you could barely even call it a satire. About as funny as The Fifth Element.
As i said it has all the problems of space-opera, too many characters, too many names, too much technobabble, too many weird concepts etc. but its short so not as annoying. There were still several occasions when i literally have no idea what happened, mostly action sequences.
Also a lot of Discworld terms thrown about so longtime fans might get a kick out of that.


https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/181010
User avatar
spud42
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 1568
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2014 10:11 am
Location: Brisbane,Australia

Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by spud42 »

Bill the Galactic Hero, Harry Harrison.
Arthur: OK. Leave this to me. I'm British. I know how to queue.
OR i could go with
Arthur Dent: I always said there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe.
or simply
42
User avatar
Nite Owl
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 526
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2018 4:08 pm
Location: In The Dark

Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by Nite Owl »

Humor is the second most subjective thing on the planet

Brevity is the soul of wit and vulgarity is wit's downfall

Good Night and Good Luck - Read You Soon
User avatar
Disembodied
Jedi Spam Assassin
Jedi Spam Assassin
Posts: 6883
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2007 10:54 pm
Location: Carter's Snort

Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by Disembodied »

Helen A, the villain in the 1988 Doctor Who story "The Happiness Patrol", is a thinly disguised parody of Margaret Thatcher. She's also assisted by Kandy Man, an evil robot version of Bertie Bassett.
User avatar
RockDoctor
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 787
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 9:05 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by RockDoctor »

Ffutures' "The Dark Side of the Sun" by Pterry - which neatly takes the question of "who is being parodied in this Discworld volume?" off the table. along with Ringworld parody Strata. Actually, since I've got a collection of Pterry short stories ("Blink of the Screen") beside the bed at this moment, I'm wondering if there is a Pterry book, story, or punctuation mark which isn't a parody of something else.

spud42 gets the second parchment into the Chalice of Fire with Bill the Galactic Hero from Harry Harrison - which was also one of my "usual suspects"

Nite Owl's example of SPIDER-HAM rings no bells for me. ... Oh gods (and by "gods" I mean Cthulhu and his Tentacled Monstrosities) how that makes me fear how Spider-Girl appears in that universe ... and the third parchment goes into the Chalice.

Disembodied Doctor Who story "The Happiness Patrol". ... an evil robot version of Bertie Bassett. I don't remember the episode (I'm not sure if I had a telly then, but if I did I certainly wasn't watching Dr Who.) But I'll take it as it stands. The robot made of Licquorice Allsorts rings a bell from somewhere. Fourth entry into the Chalice ...

Looks like this one is going to come to completion pretty quickly - which parodies many "teenage love" story lines.
Better get into my ship - I've some computers to deliver to Maonle.
--
Shooting aliens for fun and ... well, more fun.
"Speaking as an outsider, what do you think of the human race?" (John Cooper Clark - "I married a Space Alien")
User avatar
ffutures
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 2142
Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2013 12:34 pm
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by ffutures »

I didn't mention Strata because I've used it too many times before.

Just to prove that the Doctor Who episode exists

https://doctorwhofromthestart.wordpress ... ss-patrol/

Image
User avatar
RockDoctor
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 787
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 9:05 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by RockDoctor »

Thank you for spreading the scriptwriter's childhood traumas to the rest of us. I shall wake up screaming for weeks now.
--
Shooting aliens for fun and ... well, more fun.
"Speaking as an outsider, what do you think of the human race?" (John Cooper Clark - "I married a Space Alien")
User avatar
spud42
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 1568
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2014 10:11 am
Location: Brisbane,Australia

Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by spud42 »

i have a craving for Liquorice Allsorts now.....
Arthur: OK. Leave this to me. I'm British. I know how to queue.
OR i could go with
Arthur Dent: I always said there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe.
or simply
42
User avatar
Cholmondely
Archivist
Archivist
Posts: 5114
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:00 am
Location: The Delightful Domains of His Most Britannic Majesty (industrial? agricultural? mainly anything?)
Contact:

Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by Cholmondely »

spud42 wrote: Tue Jul 25, 2023 1:19 pm
i have a craving for Liquorice Allsorts now.....
Can you get them, down under?
Comments wanted:
Missing OXPs? What do you think is missing?
Lore: The economics of ship building How many built for Aronar?
Lore: The Space Traders Flight Training Manual: Cowell & MgRath Do you agree with Redspear?
User avatar
RockDoctor
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 787
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 9:05 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by RockDoctor »

Cholmondely wrote: Tue Jul 25, 2023 1:56 pm
spud42 wrote: Tue Jul 25, 2023 1:19 pm
i have a craving for Liquorice Allsorts now.....
Can you get them, down under?
Umm, possibly in a pre-digested form, from [Brexit reflex] pthilthy immigrants. But even considering the idea will e taken as evidence of (checks Home Orifice Dictionary) empathy, which is (or will soon be) a jail-able offence.
Don't bother to try the "common human decency" defence. They don't accept that. If it doesn't fly with "Central Ingland Conservative Party" then you're obviously guilty of IndThink, and due for the Salt Mines.
New Salt Mines are being developed in Cheshire, as the Middlesborough ones are personned by people of suspiciously left-wing tendencies.
--
Shooting aliens for fun and ... well, more fun.
"Speaking as an outsider, what do you think of the human race?" (John Cooper Clark - "I married a Space Alien")
User avatar
RockDoctor
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 787
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 9:05 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by RockDoctor »

spud42 wrote: Tue Jul 25, 2023 1:19 pm
i have a craving for Liquorice Allsorts now.....
Basset-o-phile.
They'll be painting it on your front door this time next week. Regardless of how you thought your neighbours would burn you at their stake.
--
Shooting aliens for fun and ... well, more fun.
"Speaking as an outsider, what do you think of the human race?" (John Cooper Clark - "I married a Space Alien")
User avatar
Cholmondely
Archivist
Archivist
Posts: 5114
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:00 am
Location: The Delightful Domains of His Most Britannic Majesty (industrial? agricultural? mainly anything?)
Contact:

Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by Cholmondely »

RockDoctor wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 12:13 am
Umm, possibly in a pre-digested form, from [Brexit reflex] pthilthy immigrants. But even considering the idea will e taken as evidence of (checks Home Orifice Dictionary) empathy, which is (or will soon be) a jail-able offence.
Don't bother to try the "common human decency" defence. They don't accept that. If it doesn't fly with "Central Ingland Conservative Party" then you're obviously guilty of IndThink, and due for the Salt Mines.
New Salt Mines are being developed in Cheshire, as the Middlesborough ones are personned by people of suspiciously left-wing tendencies.
RockDoctor wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 12:16 am
Basset-o-phile.
They'll be painting it on your front door this time next week. Regardless of how you thought your neighbours would burn you at their stake.
Uh Oh! Is all this something to do with a tendentious thwarting of your burgeoning taphonomical tendencies? Or is this an exhibition of the results of a Thargoid Thought Experiment?
Comments wanted:
Missing OXPs? What do you think is missing?
Lore: The economics of ship building How many built for Aronar?
Lore: The Space Traders Flight Training Manual: Cowell & MgRath Do you agree with Redspear?
User avatar
spud42
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 1568
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2014 10:11 am
Location: Brisbane,Australia

Re: Science Fiction Trivia

Post by spud42 »

Arthur: OK. Leave this to me. I'm British. I know how to queue.
OR i could go with
Arthur Dent: I always said there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe.
or simply
42
Post Reply