Science Fiction Trivia

[RockDoctor]

OK, then, in keeping with the last answer: let's have five notable sculptures from science fiction. These should be plot-relevant sculptures/statues (or at least things which people *think* are sculptures or statues); there should be something about them that is important to the story. The simple fact that there's a bust of so-and-so in someone's office would not count.

Usual rules: one per author/universe.

I'm getting perilously closer to the fifth sip at the Poisoned Chalice, but

In H2G2, at one point the Heart of Gold (and Motley Crew) de-improbability into a large cave ... with a very large drop in front of it's mouth. The cave eventually turns out to be a sculpture of a teacup, being hurled by a sculpture of an irate DentArthurDent at a previous time and in a complexly irrelevant context. The sculpture set is on the order of several miles tall, and no explanation was even attempted to handwave away how the flying teacup sculpture was attached to the be-Dressing-Gowned One.

[Disembodied]

Sculptures ? ... OK.
In "The Borderlands of Sol", a short-ish story by Larry Niven, later incorporated (from a different viewpoint) as a scene in one of his "Fleet of Worlds" novels (with Ed Lerner, IIRC), the protagonists meet "by accident" in an art gallery, at a "touch sculpture" by a blind alien with a sonar substitute for vision. The tactile sensations of the sculpture are ... disturbing for humans.
That appearence of the sculpture is quite fleeting, but the alien sculptor made it in {thanks / reverence} to one of these protagonists who rescues the alien after it had been ... is "alien-napped" a word? While another one of the protagonists had been the human who made First Contact with this alien's species. So in the wider story arc, the sculpture ties together several disparate elements of "Known Space". Unfortunately, I've forgotten the name of that story.

I think the sculpture was called "Heroes", referring to Beowulf - of the arm-dislocating variety, not the arm-ripping-off variety.

Um … is the sculpture plot-relevant, though? Or is it just part of the scenery? (There is at least one definitely plot-relevant example I can think of from Niven's "Known Space" stories …)

[Commander_X]

I don't know Dragon Age, but I don't think I can accept this one - it seems more fantasy than SF. But please correct me if I'm wrong! "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", and so on.

<mumbling something about seeing the wood for the trees/>
I do know Dragon Age, and you're totally right.

[Disembodied]

I'm getting perilously closer to the fifth sip at the Poisoned Chalice, but

In H2G2, at one point the Heart of Gold (and Motley Crew) de-improbability into a large cave ... with a very large drop in front of it's mouth. The cave eventually turns out to be a sculpture of a teacup, being hurled by a sculpture of an irate DentArthurDent at a previous time and in a complexly irrelevant context. The sculpture set is on the order of several miles tall, and no explanation was even attempted to handwave away how the flying teacup sculpture was attached to the be-Dressing-Gowned One.

OK … I think I can accept this one. Its sheer irrelevance to anything does make it, in H2G2 terms, relevant. Probably. The giant Arthur-Dent-hurling-teacup statue is in - and figurative, too, so have an MPB.

That makes four. One to go …

[ffutures]

Sculptures ? ... OK.
In "The Borderlands of Sol", a short-ish story by Larry Niven, later incorporated (from a different viewpoint) as a scene in one of his "Fleet of Worlds" novels (with Ed Lerner, IIRC), the protagonists meet "by accident" in an art gallery, at a "touch sculpture" by a blind alien with a sonar substitute for vision. The tactile sensations of the sculpture are ... disturbing for humans.
That appearence of the sculpture is quite fleeting, but the alien sculptor made it in {thanks / reverence} to one of these protagonists who rescues the alien after it had been ... is "alien-napped" a word? While another one of the protagonists had been the human who made First Contact with this alien's species. So in the wider story arc, the sculpture ties together several disparate elements of "Known Space". Unfortunately, I've forgotten the name of that story.

I think the sculpture was called "Heroes", referring to Beowulf - of the arm-dislocating variety, not the arm-ripping-off variety.

Um … is the sculpture plot-relevant, though? Or is it just part of the scenery? (There is at least one definitely plot-relevant example I can think of from Niven's "Known Space" stories …)

If it's the story I'm thinking of, the artist is kidnapped then rescued by Beowulf Shaeffer, who negotiates a deal which includes a non-disclosure agreement about the kidnapping. The artist is somehow omitted from the NDA and later creates the statue as representational art, not the abstract they typically create; Reporters seeing it ask about the reasons for its creation, and the artist then reveals all of the events, causing problems for the bad guys. So the statue is important because it's the way the kidnappers are exposed.

[RockDoctor]

One to go …

Whew - missed the Poisoned Chalice!

[RockDoctor]

If it's the story I'm thinking of, the artist is kidnapped then rescued by Beowulf Shaeffer, who negotiates a deal which includes a non-disclosure agreement about the kidnapping. The artist is somehow omitted from the NDA and later creates the statue as representational art, not the abstract they typically create; Reporters seeing it ask about the reasons for its creation, and the artist then reveals all of the events, causing problems for the bad guys. So the statue is important because it's the way the kidnappers are exposed.

Yes, it is significantly murky. Which itself, is part of the plot. Just what power does the ARM have?

[Disembodied]

If it's the story I'm thinking of, the artist is kidnapped then rescued by Beowulf Shaeffer, who negotiates a deal which includes a non-disclosure agreement about the kidnapping. The artist is somehow omitted from the NDA and later creates the statue as representational art, not the abstract they typically create; Reporters seeing it ask about the reasons for its creation, and the artist then reveals all of the events, causing problems for the bad guys. So the statue is important because it's the way the kidnappers are exposed.

Yes, it is significantly murky. Which itself, is part of the plot. Just what power does the ARM have?

One to go …

Whew - missed the Poisoned Chalice!

Alas! Because I wasn't sure about your Known Space answer, I wasn't counting it. But thanks to independent verification, a steward's enquiry, and VAR, the "touch sculpture" from "The Borderlands of Sol" counts. Which makes five:

1. the Relay Monument
2. the Weeping Angels
3. the hyperspace beacon from "The Repairman"
4. the vast Arthur Dent
5. the "touch sculpture"

Which means RockDoctor is up next …

The (I thought) more obvious Known Space example was the Sea Statue, a.k.a. an ancient alien trapped in stasis. And nobody got Charlton Heston/Troy McClure discovering the collapsed ruin of the Statue of Liberty …

[RockDoctor]

Alas!

Oh, ... Fardles!
And Tanj!
And for good measure, a tanstaafl too!
Now that I've vented my spleen with intergalactic swear words from McCaffrey, Niven and Heinlein, and added them to the browser's speelung choker, let's have a collection of other author's and universe's swear words. Of course, nothing that's a swear word in this universe, because we wouldn't want to trigger the internet cops.
Usual condition of no revisiting a universe once it's been bagged, so Known Space, Pern and Heinlein's Pangalactic Gargling Solipsism universe are off the table already, but I'll allow re-entry of authors ; I've vague memories that McCaffrey had a few other universes with expletives to be deleted.
And just for variation, let's do seven, because I suspect there are quite a few out there.

Try and give a snippet showing usage, if you've got the books in snipable form.

Sounds like the Formula-1 is going to be nice and wet in Belgium, so there will be some fine examples of cursing into crash helmets there. Inspiration as the space ship hurtles through the trackless void to an impending crash barrier of doom.

[Disembodied]

let's have a collection of other author's and universe's swear words.

Getting in early with Drokk!, from Judge Dredd. Still just one answer obviously, but I'd also like to have Grud! and Stomm! taken into consideration.

[hiran]

let's have a collection of other author's and universe's swear words.

Gimboid!

[RockDoctor]

let's have a collection of other author's and universe's swear words.

Getting in early with Drokk!, from Judge Dredd. Still just one answer obviously, but I'd also like to have Grud! and Stomm! taken into consideration.

Grud answer! Obviously getting rained-off in Spa is good for SF swear words.

[RockDoctor]

let's have a collection of other author's and universe's swear words.

Gimboid!

Ummm, from?
I think I know, but since we're eliminating universes, we do need to know which universe that is getting the "with a MBP spot I damn him!" treatment.

[hiran]

let's have a collection of other author's and universe's swear words.

Gimboid!

Ummm, from?
I think I know, but since we're eliminating universes, we do need to know which universe that is getting the "with a MBP spot I damn him!" treatment.

That should be from the smeggin' awesome Red Dwarf.

[ffutures]

deleted - Sorry, never mind - it turns out to be a relatively common word in modern english.

OK, let's try something else - Frak!, from New Battlestar Galactica, used as a substitute for the less TV-audience friendly F*ck!

"Frak" is a potent profanity in the language of the Twelve Colonies. It is a bowdlerized version of the real-life expletive "fuck", and can be used in the same ways:

The term can describe sexual relations:
"You know what? I don't care who or what he fraks. He saved my ass down there, all right?" - Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (TRS: "Flight of the Phoenix")
"You're not still frakkin' Dualla are ya?" - Thrace to Commander Adama (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II")
The term, as a pejorative, can be used to curse someone you vilify or find disgusting:
"Frakkin' rats." - Karl "Helo" Agathon (TRS: "Bastille Day")
"Frak you." - Helena Cain (TRS: "Resurrection Ship, Part II")
"This frakker's mine." - William Adama (TRS: "Razor Flashbacks")
The term can be used in several variations and compound words:
"clusterfrak" - Diana "Hardball" Seelix (TRS: "The Ties That Bind")
"We are well and truly frakked." - Alex "Crashdown" Quartararo (TRS: "The Hand of God")
"You know this game's got frak-all to do with the real thing, right?" - Samuel Anders (TRS: "Crossroads, Part I")
"Frak's sake" - Lee "Apollo" Adama (TRS: "Miniseries, Night 2")
"Talk to me, you motherfrakker!" - Cally Henderson (TRS: "Valley of Darkness") - Galen Tyrol's humorous reaction to this suggests "motherfrakker" is not a common variant, though others such as Kara Thrace have been heard to use it (TRS: "Scar").
"Command frak-up" - Pvt. Scott Kelso (TRS: "Final Cut")
"frakwit" - Chiefs Galen Tyrol and Laird (Pegasus (Extended Version))
"frakkoids" - Chief Tyrol (TRS: "The Woman King")
"I guaran-frakkin-tee you, I will put you down this time for good." - Kara Thrace (TRS: "Scar")

https://en.battlestarwiki.org/Frak