Laser Weapons, Fairies, and SNL – Geekout 15

January 17, 2017 Leave a comment

Now that I’m back on track, let’s see if I can get a good streak going. Today I’ll be listing Four Fictional Weapons that use Laser Technology, Four Named Fairies, and Six Cast Members of Saturday Night Live.

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Sounds difficult right now, but I think I can handle it. Let’s get diggin’!

Four Fictional Weapons that use Laser Technology

Not sure whether laser-targeting would qualify. Perhaps it would. We’ll see if I need to go there. Let’s get started with some laser weapons.

Laser Pistols and Laser Rifles – Fallout 4

This game has a few different types of weapons, and one of those types are the laser weapons. They’re reasonably OK. Having ammo for all of your weapon types is a challenge in this game.

Sentry Turret – Overwatch

Wow are these things currently really annoying. I think they’re laser weapons, but I’m not 100% on this. Either way, they’re neat. Symmetra can currently put up 6 of these little things, and they’ll destroy you if you step near them!

Iron Man Suit – Iron Man

As if this suit didn’t have enough weapons. I recall him having some lasers in the suit.

Death Star – Star Wars

Lasers combining together to create a beam powerful enough to destroy a planet? Check. Thermal exhaust port that would be an impossible target to hit unless you’re a jedi? Check.

Four Named Fairies

I’ll need to be careful that my choices here are actually fairies and not something similar to a fairy. Also, it says “named”, and I would think of “Fair Godmother” as a title rather than a name.

Tinkerbell – Peter Pan

Boring choice here, but Tinkerbell is a well-known character. I’m also fairly certain she’s a fairy.

Navi – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Hey! Listen! This is easily the most annoying character on this list! You can tell, because many of you will have read that in her voice! At the start of the game, you get Navi. Joy!

Razzly – Chrono Cross

Razzly is a strange member of your party in Chrono Cross. As many characters are in Chrono Cross, she’s optional, and she can be missed entirely. Her in-game profile says she’s “A Forest Fairy”.

Queen Mab – The Dresden Files

One of the most powerful characters we’ve met in the Dresden Files. She’s part of the Winter Court, one of the two Faerie Courts in the Dresden Files. The Dresden Files is one of my favorite book series ever written. If you’ve not read it, go check it out!

Six Cast Members of Saturday Night Live

They’ve had so many at this point, so I’m going to go through a set that did some SNL-inspired movies. Plenty of these cast members did more than one and also cross over into the others’ movies!

Dan Aykroyrd

Beldar Conehead. Some chewing gum? Plenty of classic characters here, but I’ll reference the Coneheads skit where he played an alien with a cone-shaped head.

Will Ferrell

What is love? Well, Steve, that’s something you’ll learn about eventually. For now, you just go ahead and keep dancing like an idiot, Steve Butabi.

Chris Kattan

Names? Steve and Doug Butabi. You’re brothers? No…. YESSS!!!! OH MAN! Definitely the crazier of the Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan duo, which takes some work.

Molly Shannon

She’s a Superstar named Mary Katherine Gallagher. And as usual for an SNL-inspired movie, she’s a bit out there.

Mike Myers

It’s Wayne’s World host, Wayne Campbell! May be the main character of the sketch, but I’m jumping to the better character.

Dana Carvey

Garth Algar is definitely better than Wayne. If you’re gonna spew, spew into this. I love Dana Carvey’s impressions, so he’s on the list despite my not wanting to go over on this list. And yes, the next one had to be included.

Tim Meadows

Leon Phelps, the Ladies Man. Oooh a lady! Did you watch SNL in the 90s? OK, you saw plenty of Tim Meadows. Did you see this movie though? It’s not as popular as some of those others, but I do enjoy it. Saved one of the best movies for last here.

Wrap Up

Game, Comics, and Sci-Fi are coming up tomorrow! Stay tuned!

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Joss Whedon, Train Games, and Captain America – Geekout 14

January 17, 2017 1 Comment

Maybe today is the day I catch up. We’ll see if I can get a second out completed. I’ve been answering prompts from a page-a-day calendar I received for Christmas last year. Each day there’s a new prompt, and it’s surprisingly difficult to come up with an answer. Today I’m supposed to come up with Two Television Shows [for] which Joss Whedon was a Writer, Two Games in which Trains appear, and Two Captain America Enemies.

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All aboard the geekout train!

Two Television Shows for which Joss Whedon was a Writer

This was a sudden, but inevitable question. Can’t really ask nerdy stuff without covering Joss Whedon these days. Naming four would have been easy enough. Two is a walk in the cemetery waiting for vampires.

Firefly

Glad I got another change to reference Firefly. So far, I’ve only mentioned it as being a Sci-Fi television show, having a comic published by Dark Horse, and for featuring an iconic named sci-fi starship. Clearly I am not a fan of the show. I’d like to thank everyone who helped make this show! It was really great!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

A show that was on at my house when I was a kid. This didn’t really catch my interest then, however, I’ve since gone back and watched it. I really enjoyed the show. Does this surprise anyone? Of course not! It’s got Quark in it! Armin Shimerman plays Principal Snyder of Sunnydale High in this show. It probably is Quark, considering that the he and Rom landed on Earth decades before the events of Buffy the Vampire Slayer took place!

Two Games in which Trains appear

The number just wasn’t high enough for me here. I’m going over two. Didn’t know what kind of games it meant, so I chose board and video.

Ticket to Ride

Starting obvious, this is the most widespread board game about trains. It’s a light-weight, fun game that you can pick up at most stores. Don’t even need to visit your local game shop for this one. They’ve released different versions of the game as well.

Mario Kart 64

Wanted to pick something unexpected, so this is it! There’s a train in the desert level of the game.

Railroad Tycoon

This one is actually a trick. Did I intend the video game or the board game? Both! And based on that name, I think you can guess that there are trains in the games. The board game is quite fun, but it’s much heavier and longer than Ticket to Ride. Also, the board game no longer has the license to use the name from the video game. It’s now called Railways of the World.

Final Fantasy VII, VIII, XIII

I am certain that more of them also have trains if I thought about it, but these definitely have them. You start the game on a train in both 7 and 13. And you first meet Laguna, Kiros, and Ward on a train ride in 8.

Two Captain America Enemies

I wanted to say “Tony Stark” and “Bucky Barnes”, but my wife got mad at me for suggesting that. Bummer. Sometimes I like being horrible like that!

Red Skull

Classic and evil-looking, Red Skull is an obvious enemy of Captain America. He’s from the comics and was portrayed by Hugo Weaving in the recent movies, which means he was well-played. Look, I know another actor’s name!

Arnim Zola

Evil nerds are fun. Here we have a brilliant enemy scientist. I don’t want to get into everything he’s involved in during the movies for fear of spoilers, but for those in the know, it’s fun stuff! For definitions of fun that don’t require being Good.

Wrap Up

Added some extras here, because these were fun choices. Tomorrow’s categories will be sci-fi, fantasy, and general geekiness.

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Comic Vehicles, Star Trek Actors, and Madeleine – Geekout 13

January 16, 2017 1 Comment

Catching up due to weekends being lumped together! Although, along with that, I’m not going to be able to complete this one. Today I’ll be writing about Four Iconic Comic Book Vehicles, Six Actors that have appeared on Star Trek, and Two Madeleine L’Engle Titles.

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Let’s get to it!

Four Iconic Comic Book Vehicles

The vehicles in comic books are sometimes ridiculous, but can also be fun. Sometimes it’s only certain incarnations of them that are ridiculous.

Batmobile – Batman

I’m not sure I could have started anywhere else for this. Everyone’s heard of this fun ride by now. Not sure which style I like the best. Some are cornier and arguable poorly designed, but they’re still fun!

Invisible Jet – Wonder Woman

Not as iconic today as it was before, but this is still a very well-known vehicle. I seem to recall a sketch (Robot Chicken I thin) where Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman are “sitting in the invisible jet” and encouraging Aquaman to jump in. When he lands on his butt, all three of them laugh at him. Makes you wonder if she even has an invisible jet!!!

Helicarrier – S.H.I.E.L.D.

This is certain to be the largest vehicle I’ll list here. Unlike with the Iconic Named Sci-Fi Starships prompt, this one didn’t require named vehicles. For that reason, I’m counting a Helicarrier without choosing a specific one. No specific one would be iconic enough anyway. The biggest problem with a carrier, it can’t go over land. Problem solved.

Motorcycle – Ghost Rider

Not sure how many people saw this one coming! It’s pretty darn iconic. With “Rider” in his name, I’d say his vehicle must be significant!

Six Actors that have appeared on Star Trek

Since I don’t know people’s names, this is impossible if I don’t stick to the main cast. I don’t want to stick to the main cast, so I looked up the actors’ names based on other roles they’ve played outside of Star Trek. For example, the first listed actor I googled “vizzini actor” to get his name. Just to prove I can, I’ll list six main cast members at the bottom.

Wallace Shawn

With such a recognizable voice, who wouldn’t know immediately he’d been cast as the Grand Nagus? Talk about a fun character. Have you guessed yet that I like the Ferengi?

Terry O’Quinn

And “John Locke actor” got me this name. He was in a very memorable Star Trek: The Next Generation episode indeed! I’ll not spoil the episode, but you can tell almost immediately that something interesting is going on.

John de Lancie

I did not have to look up this name. Also, I’m deviating from my previous trend of choosing people known for something other than Star Trek. Yes, he’s been in other roles, but this one is too iconic for sci-fi nerds. Either way, I really like John de Lancie and Q too much to leave him off of the list! Also, I wouldn’t want to slight Q by not mentioning him here!

Dean Stockwell

Joining his old Quantum Leap buddy, Scott Bakula, for an appearance in Star Trek: Enterprise, this actor who also played Brother Cavil in Battlestar Galactica makes for a good chioce. Yes, I looked up his name using “brother cavil actor”. Tried “cavil actor” first, but that failed for a reason people other than me would expect.

Whoopi Goldberg

Another that I didn’t have to search based on a different role. I’m not counting her as main cast for the same reason that Q wouldn’t be. Most episodes of Star Trek: he Next Generation didn’t include her. She is well-known enough herself that I don’t know what else I’d say about her.

John Rhys-Davies

And who could forget when Janeway met “Leonardo da Vinci” on the holodeck!? Knew his name too! I’m proud of myself! He also played professor Maximillian Arturo in Sliders. Huh? Who’s Gimli? What’s this

Clint Howard

Someone is going to love this part. I searched for “ice cream man actor” to find him. Then, seeing his name, I remembered it (and who his brother is). He was a child actor in Star Trek and returned for Deep Space Nine and Enterprise if I remember right. Was he ever in Voyager or The Next Generation? If he did have a role in those, I’d be very impressed!

Yes, I included seven, because I wanted to!

Without Looking Up Names

Just proving that I do know some main cast members names.

  • William Shatner
  • Leonard Nimoy
  • George Takei
  • Patrick Stewart
  • John de Lancie
  • Jonathan Frakes
  • Brent Spiner
  • Wil Wheaton
  • Scott Bakula
  • Kate Mulgrew

Two Madeleine L’Engle Titles

This is where I fail. I only know of one thing she’s written.

A Wrinkle in Time

I haven’t read it, but it’s too well-known for me to not know of this one. I’m sure people have recommended that I read it more than once, but I’ve just got so many books to read. Never enough time. It’s on the list, just not high enough to have been read yet.

Wrap Up

Two weeks of these down, fifty to go!

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Consoles, Comic Cats, and Cartoon Aliens – Geekout 11

January 14, 2017 Leave a comment

Coming to the end of week two of this challenge, I’m attempting to Geekout with this page-a-day calendar I’ve received. It asks me to list a set of things each day. Today, I’ll need to come up with Six Video Game Consoles, Two Comic Book Characters with Cat Attributes, and Four U.S. Cartoons with Alien Creatures.

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These don’t look all that challenging. All three are open-ended questions again, so I think I’ve got them in hand.

Six Video Game Consoles

When I was a small child, my brother and I asked our parents for an NES for Christmas. My parents said that we couldn’t afford it, so we’d have to ask Santa. Christmas morning came, and no console was found under the tree. Later in the day, my family was all treated to small me screaming about something down in the basement. I assume my parents must have sent me downstairs to get something from down there. The console wasn’t under the tree, it was hooked up to a television in the basement. My first video game console. And boy was that a ride.

Nintendo 64

Nintendo’s venture into 64-bit consoles was something they’d been talking about for a while. I remember watching promotional videos Nintendo sent out on VHS tapes talking about the system. I read many articles about the system before its release.

The year that console came out, it was hard to find. Places sold out of them quickly. Somehow my parents managed to get one. My father had a cool idea for how to wrap it. I loved the idea so much then, and it has inspired me to do some creative work of my own.

The console was under our tree for a while before Christmas. It was wrapped together with games, additional controllers, and some extra pieces of cardboard. The interested part is that it was a uniquely shaped gift. It was shaped like some kind of poultry, maybe a chicken or a turkey. It was blocky, but you could tell what it was.

Playstation

When my brother and I were little, we saved our allowance money for years. We didn’t receive as much as most people we knew, but we also knew that saving it meant you could get better stuff with it. This is one example of that paying off. In fact, this console is not ten feet away from me right now and still works well, which is impressive for being the initial model to hit stores. We bought it when the price was still $300. This is one of my all-time favorite consoles, having been host to so many great games! I loved that this generation had both cartridges and discs, since both had advantages at that time. This system was a true marvel, being a success right out the gate.

XBox 360

Microsoft’s entrance into console gaming didn’t go as well as Sony’s. Their first console wasn’t as hugely successful, however, as we all say, the second time’s the charm. The 360 was a massive success, not just for having improved their game library, controllers, and system itself. Their true win was in their online support. Xbox Live may not have been free, but it worked so well that it destroyed its competition.

Sega Genesis

Being the only Sega console I owned, I had to name it here. It had some great games, including the more violent version of Mortal Kombat. The console was fun, however, Nintendo did have the better controller in that generation with the SNES. Sorry, Sega.

Atari 2600

This classic, famous console is old and goofy. I know some people love the wood-paneling along the side, but I think it just makes it look older. Joysticking was still the thing for this machine. Helping to contribute to the crash of game consoles, who could leave it off of the list?

Game Boy

Since I incidentally named other consoles in previous bits of text, I’m going to allow a handheld console in here. The original Game Boy was awesome; I played that handheld so much. My Game Boy is also within 10 feet of me right now. It’s right next to my two Game Boy Pockets and my Game Boy Color. I’ll lump those together for the most part, since Nintendo was brilliant enough to have them play the same games. Unlike the competition, Nintendo realized that quality games and battery life were far more important than colors an specs.

This brick of a handheld only showed images in shades of green, but it did so for hours on far fewer batteries than the competition. I remember using the magnifying glass and light combo adapter to use at night. I also was one of those people who caught the Pokemon craze immediately, picking up the game as soon as it released in the US.

Two Comic Book Characters with Cat Attributes

Thinking about what “Cat Attributes” might mean, I’m going to decide that naming actual cats would be outside of the spirit of the question, so Luna will not be listed. I do, however, think you can have “cat attributes” without physical feline traits; whiskers on humans will not be a requirement for this.

Cat Woman

Too obvious on this one? Cat-like? Absolutely. I will say that giving her a movie of her own may have been a mistake… She’s a fun character, because she’s not just a straight up villain.

Black Panther

They’ve brought him to the big screen, and it’s good. Great work, Marvel! Do this character well! I am looking forward to his having his own movie!

Four U.S. Cartoons with Alien Creatures

Well this is going to focus on some of the weirder characters from cartoons.

American Dad

While it’s not a show I watch, I’ve seen more than a few episodes of it. I included it, because it’s a show that prominently features an alien and isn’t sci-fi other than that (as far as I know).

The Flintstones

I’m sure you forgot or are trying to forget that this show had an alien! The great Gazoo, if I recall the name and spelling of that green, stereotypical alien thing.

The Simpsons

For as much of the Simpsons as I’ve seen over my lifetime, I’m blanking on the name of the two green aliens from the show. They’re cycloptic , tentacled alients wearing tall, nearly-cylindrical space helmets. Also, I didn’t want to list Futurama, since that seemed too easy.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast

There are a couple of aliens here, including my favorite bean-loving idiot, Brak. If you’ve never watched this show, you missed out. It was one of my favorites as a kid.

Wrap Up

Yes, I’m going to playing a bit of catch up on these! I was unable to publish each day, so I’ll be doing a couple of these some days until I catch back up!

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Fictional Elements, Greco-Roman Movies, and J.J. Abrams – Geekout 10

January 11, 2017 Leave a comment

Well into the second week of this, I’m hoping to get back on track. This seems to be the day. Some large numbers here, but I think I can get some good answers to these. Today we’re looking for Two Fictional Sci-Fi Elements/Materials, Six Films Based on Greco-Roman Mythology, and Four Films or Television Shows Created by J.J. Abrams.

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That first one, the sci-fi one, is a cake walk. The fantasy prompt should also not be too hard to come up with, even with six being the number. The general geekiness question about J.J. Abrams at first seemed easy, but “created by” might be the challenge here. Let’s get started!

Two Fictional Sci-Fi Elements/Materials

Well here’s an easy one. Don’t even have to leave Star Trek and Star Wars for this one.

Transparisteel

As the name implies, this is a strong, transparent material. If you’ve played any Star Wars games, you’ll have come across this material frequently. It’s often used for “windows” on starships, cockpits and other areas needing transparency.

Dilithium Crystals

Any Star Trek fan will immediately know these crystals. They’re used in the warp drives on starships in the Star Trek universe. As such, they’re important in many episodes of Star Trek.

Six Films Based on Greco-Roman Mythology

I’ve not seen plenty of these, but I do know of their existence. Surprisingly difficult, since I’m (for now) unwilling to accept multiple Hercules movies.

Troy

This movie follows Achilles and depicts the events of the Trojan Horse. Definitely qualifies for this category.

Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief

Based on the first book in a series, this is a light take on mythology. It’s a modern setting, but involves gods, their children, and plenty of other mythical creatures.

Hercules

I’ll lump both Rockules and the animated Disney movie together for this. I’m not a big fan of either of these two movies, but they exist!

Clash of the Titans

Classic movie. I’ve not seen this one either. It’s about the titans, so it fits the prompt.

300

Yes, I’m counting this one. The same as the Trojan horse story, this seems to fall into the realm of myth closely enough.

Wrath of the Titans

I did not see this movie when it came out a few years ago. Was it good? I was guessing not, since most of this type of movie aren’t. Also about titans, so fits the bill for this one.

Four Films or Television Shows Created by J.J. Abrams

I’ve been wrestling with the idea of what constitutes “created by”, because I’d like to consider it to be something he had the idea for, produced, directed, helped write, etc. I started with three TV shows that I believe qualify, but couldn’t come up with anything else that I thought fit the bill.

Lost

My wife and I really enjoyed watching this show. There were points where it was not-so-good, so it’s hard to evaluate its legacy at this point. I think it suffered from the same issue that many shows do, which is they don’t set out with a full story and are making too many changes as they go. Each season gets a focus, throwing off the rhythm.

Fringe

Walter. The show is good, but Walter makes this show. Some great characters and a lot of fun here. This show is supposed to go off the rails a bit, so it’s fun that it does. Setting expectations for the win!

Alias

I only saw a few episodes of this show, but my wife watched it consistently. She seemed to like it, but I never got around to catching up from the beginning.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I didn’t want to use this example, since he’s not the creator of Star Wars. He didn’t even say, “hey I want to make Star Wars VII”. I think a more accurate description is that Disney wanted to make episode VII and he was selected to work on it. I’m fairly certain he was involved in screenplay, directing, producing, etc. I guess I’ll call that enough and include it here.

Wrap Up

Didn’t finish it as well as I would have liked, but I did manage to get there. Calling that a win for now.

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Superheroines and Hitchhiker’s Guide – Geekout 8

January 9, 2017 1 Comment

It seems I got fairly lucky in the beginning of this, because I’ll again be defeated. I can, however, get two of the three on today’s page! This page-a-day geekout calendar is an interesting challenge, and it really is a challenge sometimes. For today’s challenge, I’ll need to list Six Female Comic Book Superheroes, Two Characters from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Four Heroes from Masters of the Universe.

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And of the comics, sci-fi, and fantasy prompts on this page, only the fantasy one eludes my area of expertise.

Six Female Comic Book Superheroes

Glad they went big on this one, because there are a lot of great female superheroes that don’t get enough attention. My wife and I went to an interesting symposium on Wonder Woman where there was quite a bit of discussion about female superheroes. One of the speakers discussed the idea that there could (and should) be a difference between a “superheroine” and a “female superhero”. In it, he pointed out that the latter is the female version of the male counterpart, and the former has a different approach to things.

Wonder Woman

I’m obviously starting here, since I already mentioned a symposium on the character. She’s an extremely powerful character, sure. The significance of the character, however, is in how she uses her power. She shows much more empathy and understanding than many of the beat-the-villain-to-a-bloody-pulp heroes. She has a lasso that restrains rather than kills. Does this mean that all interpretations of the character follow these rules? No, certainly some have made her a beat-em-up hero who seems to be around as eye-candy.

Supergirl

This is one strong Kryptonian who’s currently featured in her own TV series. The show is on my list of shows I want to watch, but timing is often a challenge. I’ve heard reasonably good things about it, so I’m on board. I’m sure most people know that she’s the cousin of Superman. I was going to include Power Girl in the list as well, since my wife and I find her outfit a bit ridiculous. She was complaining that it would be cheating to include her. For the record, the alternate reality version of me is not me.

Kamala Khan – Ms. Marvel

Starting only a few years ago, this new Ms. Marvel is awesome. I’ve only read one book about her (my wife left it sitting around), but she seems like a great person to hold this mantle. Who wouldn’t love a story about a teenage Muslim-American living in New Jersey? In addition to being a superheroine, she’s also able to reflect on some situations many readers won’t have experienced. Looking forward to great things from her!

Sakura – Cardcaptor Sakura

I am going to consider the magic of magical girls to be a super power, so she’s totally going to count for this. There are plenty of other magical girls to choose from, but this one is covering the bookshelves to my right at this moment. This is shōjo manga from Clamp, which is the way of saying Japanese comics for teenage girls. Sakura is a very young girl who uses magical cards to cast spells. The cards have powers, and I like to joke that she uses “Windy” for everything. I’m told that’s just because it’s her first card, but it seems to apply in nearly every situation!

Hawkgirl

I don’t know my Hawkgirls well enough to pick one of them. My knowledge of the character mostly comes from cartoons and the new Marvel TV shows. And since those are different Hawkgirls, I’m not going to choose one. Flight has always been a popular power. Some characters’ flight powers are never explained, but wings are fairly obvious. She’s a very skilled fighter and wields melee weapons, which is totally awesome. Being one of those reincarnating-types, she’s also got lifetimes worth of knowledge and training, making her a very worth superheroine!

Carol Danvers – Captain Marvel

While she was once Ms. Marvel, and has been successfully replaced by Kamala Khan,  she took on the mantle of Captain Marvel. Carol has had a whole host of powers longer than I want to name. Let’s just say that she’s by far one of the more powerful supers out there, and she’s been involved in plenty of great team-ups and crossovers over her many years.

Two Characters from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Now here’s a ridiculous book! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, which I received as a gift when I was in college. Surprisingly, I hadn’t read it before that! My wife gave me a copy of this book!

Arthur Dent

Our protagonist for this book, this guy is lucky (or unlucky) enough to escape Earth with the character I’ll name next! He’s kind of clueless when it comes to traveling the galaxy. And with the story being a bit ridiculous, he’s in for quite the challenge!

Ford Prefect

An alien friend of Arthur Dent’s, Ford rescues Arthur during Earth’s destruction at the novel’s start. Not a spoiler, considering how early that happens! He’s a galactic hitchhiker, and you can start guessing where things go from there. Even better though, read the book!

Four Heroes from Masters of the Universe

Didn’t watch the show, so this will end quickly (and with fewer answers than I should have).

He-Man

Not even sure if this one counts, since it’s “He-Man and”. And if you want to argue that, give me a break, because I’m missing the other 3 anyway. And yes, I did turn on that ridiculous “Heyeayea” video while I was writing this.

Wrap Up

So I’ve bombed three questions now. I’m worried what will appear for tomorrow. Crossing my fingers!

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RPGs, WW2, and Sci-Fi TV – Geekout 6

January 6, 2017 4 Comments

I am disappointed that the first prompt for the day only requires listing 2, but I can understand that for many people only 1 is obvious. Let’s jump in! Today’s prompt is Two Tabletop RPGs, Four Comic Book Characters Alive During WW2, and Six Sci-Fi Television Shows.

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I’ll warn you in advance that I’m adding an honorable mentions list to my gaming question of the day, since I’ve got too many to name.

Two Tabletop RPGs

Well here’s one that I wish had a larger number. Yeah, plenty of people are going to name one obvious one and have trouble coming up with a second. That’s just that outside the RPG community, only one game has risen to the public’s mind as much as D&D.

Dungeons & Dragons

Considering that the Geekout prompts have already challenged me to name Two Dungeons and Dragons Character Classes, it seems like they made this one incredibly simple to get the first. Even people who’d forgotten the game existed would’ve been reminded five days ago.

As I mentioned in that post, I’ve been playing this game a looong time. My father got my playing D&D using the first edition advanced books. As years passed, my friends and I moved through Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition, Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition, Dungeons & Dragons v3.5, Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition, and Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. Yes, I did play Pathfinder (a.k.a. D&D 3.75).

Here are some of my D&D books that were near enough to grab and take some quick photos. I grouped them roughly by edition, having the 3.0 and 3.5 together.

AdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsSecondEditionAdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsDungeonsAndDragonsThirdEditionDungeonsAndDragonsFourthEditionDungeonsAndDragonsFifthEdition

 

Exalted

While you might have thought that my favorite Tabletop RPG (based on the amount of D&D I’ve played) is D&D. It’s not. My favorite game is definitely Exalted. I’ve been playing in an infrequently played Exalted campaign for years now, and my group gets together to play whenever we’re in the same city.

My regular, weekly gaming session is currently an Abyssal Exalted game and the less frequently played one is a classic, Solar Exalted game.

Solar Campaign

In my solar campaign, I play a priest of the Unconquered Sun. As anyone who knows the game would expect, the character is a Zenith caste. He frees slaves, protects innocents, and tries to provide food and shelter to anyone and everyone he can. Driven primarily by compassion and conviction, he’s trying to carve out a better world than what exists today.

Abyssal Campaign

Surprisingly, this campaign has had a severe lack of combat considering we’re playing Abyssals, which are commonly known as Death Knights. We’ve been working behind the scenes and are establishing positions where we’re likely to behave more like you’d expect from creatures of darkness. Just hasn’t happened yet. We find it funny, because our “light-side” game involves much more killing than the “dark-side” one.

Honorable Mentions

  • Pathfinder – Often referred to as D&D 3.75, this game leveraged the D20 system based on Wizards of the Coast making it an open system for expansion. That means that when D&D went to 4th edition, the people who thought it had gone the wrong way we able to fall back to 3.75. My group was among those, and we enjoyed Pathfinder as it added new life and ideas to D&D 3.5.
  • Eclipse Phase – A game I’ve played once that seemed very interesting. It’s futuristic, and has some cool mechanics. I’ve got the book for it, and I’d like to use that to play the game more. It’s so hard to get games going (and finding the time to play them requires even more!)
  • GURPS –  I wanted to mention this one despite my not having played it. I know plenty of people who swear by this system. They tend to be the people who play way too many Steve Jackson games already. The name of this system is ridiculous. It’s the “Generic Universal RolePlaying System”, and yes, people do say “gurps” rather than spelling G-U-R-P-S.
  • Shadowrun – I’ve only played a little bit of Shadowrun, but it’s also a very cool roleplaying game. It is set in a fictional future society and combines technology and fantasy ideas. There are fantasy creatures like elves, dwarves, etc. in their world, and it’s on Earth still. It’s set in the future, so technology has advanced some. I’ve often laughed with people about how off the game is in its technology though. A challenge that anyone imagining the future will run into!

Four Comic Book Characters Alive During WW2

OK. This one is a little tough, since I know my comic book characters mostly through their cartoon, movie, and TV adaptations rather than the comics. I’m fairly certain that my selections here were alive during WW2 in the comic books, but I can’t say for certain.

Captain America

This one should be obvious, so I started here. This is kind of his thing, since he’s basically the character made to fight that war. With all of the movies about him, do I really need to say much more? No I’m not including his friend Bucky in the list.

Magneto

I’d guess he’s that old in the comics as well, since he’s been around for quite a long time, and he’s (as far as I know) often one of the older characters. In the films they certainly have him alive for WW2. In fact, it’s quite central to his character’s backstory in the films. He’s got the tattoo as a reminder of that time period.

Wolverine

Not sure how old Wolverine is to be honest, but given that he doesn’t really get much older, it’s not hard for him to have been there. At least in his origin movie, he was definitely there for WW2.

I liked this character a lot as a kid, despite the outfits from that period that I now laugh at. He’s interesting because the claws are nice, but his real power is just healing. On the surface that might seem super amazing, but keep in mind that is different from impervious. When Superman deflects a bullet, does it hurt? I doubt it. I’d guess that Wolverine feels every cut before it heals closed. Now that would build a not-so-light-side character over time.

Peggy Carter

And we’re back to the badass herself, Agent Peggy Carter! Yes, she’s probably more of a badass now than she was in the early comics, but she’s kicks some serious butt. Obviously around for the right time period, since she was in that time period with Cap.

Six Sci-Fi Television Shows

Well here’s a great one for me! I’ve watched so many sci-fi shows, so I’m going to lump franchises together. I’d have too many to list otherwise.

Star Trek

Is there a more iconic answer to this? I don’t think anything else could have come before Star Trek. Sure, Trek and Wars are often compare, but Wars is known for movies and Trek for TV. They may both cross over that, but traditionally that’s where each stood strongest.

My favorite of these would surprise many people. I’m a Deep Space Nine fan, which is not a common opinion. It bridged the Next Generation and Voyager gap nicely. So far no Star Trek series has been made that I did not enjoy. I’m not sure if I’m going to watch the upcoming one, since they’re planning to have it be streaming only and behind a subscription paywall. If I were watching their full lineup of shows, maybe, but I’m not and won’t be.

Firefly

This is a fantastic, wonderful show that probably could have and should have been one of the greatest shows ever made. Joss Whedon is known for doing ensemble casts well, and this show is a lot of the reason why he’s known for that. I’d watch the heck out of this show if it continued, but I don’t want it to continue anymore. More than anything else, I worry that this canceled-too-soon show will be made far worse if it were continued at this point.

I did not watch the show when it originally aired. To be honest, I didn’t get a good vibes from the marketing of the show during its airing. After it was cancelled, some people made sure I saw the show. I was hooked after watching the first episode. Yes, the 2 hour pilot that Fox didn’t air until the show had been marked for cancellation was so good that it along sold me on the show. Most shows take a few episodes before I’m really into them.

Anyway, if you want t good Firefly rant, I enjoy this video. The Firefly rant starts at 1:30.

Battlestar Galactica

I’m referring to the reimagined series here, not the original. I tried to watch that one, but just didn’t get into the original one. As you’d expect, fans disagree on which parts are good and bad, etc. Through the series, however, I believe the best part is the characters. I may not always agree with the directions a character took, but I love the characters in this story. And if you’re a board gamer, I’m a big fan of the board game based on this show. The more popular game, The Resistance, is pretty much based on a mechanic from this board game.

Stargate

Again I’m talking about multiple shows here. SG1, the original series, is a classic that is loved by the fans. Before the later-season cast changes, it’s one of the best shows you’ll find within the genre. No, the issues weren’t the cast changes themselves, but the show did start going off the rails a bit toward the end. I think they were just getting exhausted for ideas and still trying to keep the show going.

Teal’c, Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter, Jack O’Neill, “Hammond of Texas”, and a wide variety of other enjoyable characters kept that show going strong for a long time. The concept itself is great, and it allowed the series to expand on the idea a few times.

I’ll probably bug some people here, but I did not like Atlantis. I watched it at the beginning, but it lost me very quickly. The show seemed to drift from science fiction into fantasy, and that’s not what I like in my Stargate. It just didn’t feel like Stargate anymore.

And for the show that got cancelled too early, Stargate: Universe, it only received two seasons of content, which in some ways seems deserved. The issue, however, is that the show was great right at the start, and didn’t hit its stride until it was nearing its cancelation. Yes, that happens a lot with shows, they get something going and just end. And yes, I’m a big fan of Nicholas Rush in the show.

I didn’t watch infinity, so I’ve not much to say on that point.

My favorite episode of Stargate is definitely the Groundhog Day Episode, “Window of Opportunity”, which features a Groundhog Day-like timeloop. In it, Jack starts each loop being asked a question by Daniel while he’s eating his bowl of Fruit Loops. The problem is that Jack didn’t hear the question the first time, so can never answer that question. The best part is after Daniel suggests that they can do anything, so they decide to go golfing through the Stargate. “Colonel O’Neill, what the hell are you doing?” “IN THE MIDDLE OF MY BACKSWING?!?!”

Sliders

This must be the least popular of the shows on this list, but Sliders did have quite a few seasons in the 90s. In this show, the main character invents a device that allows people to “slide” between dimensions. He and some others end up traveling together through dimensions as they try to find their way home. It’s a fun show that obviously gets off its rails quickly, but there are some good seasons at the beginning if you’re interested in some 90s nostalgia.

The Expanse

My wife suggested we watch this series. I agreed, since it sounded interesting. After watching a couple of episodes, she mentioned something about the books. Well, I’d not heard of the book series, so I started reading the books. They’re great! I’m currently reading the 6th book, which came out almost exactly a month ago. I’m not reading it quickly, usually a chapter at a time. I think the TV show did the books justice, and I’m really looking forward to what they do going forward.

If you’re interested, the first season of the show doesn’t follow the books exactly, but is mostly the first half of the first book. Looks like they’re pulling in characters earlier than they appear in the books, but this makes sense for a TV show where you need to meet characters sooner. Books can get away with that a little better.

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Aliens, Mermaids, and Old Films – Geekout 5

January 5, 2017 1 Comment

It would seem that I can list quite a few things. Without thinking too hard yet, this one includes a more challenging question than the previous ones! I’ll now need to choose, Four Named Fictional Aliens/Extraterrestrials, Four Franchises in which Mermaids appear, and Two Prohibition Era Films. Did you identify the difficult question?

2017-01-05 Geekout

Well, here goes nothing. It’s time to answer a Sci-Fi, a fantasy, and a general geekiness prompt!

Four Named Fictional Aliens/Extraterrestrials

I could name four each easily from a variety of franchises including: Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, Justice League, Mass Effect, and more! I won’t do that. I’ll keep it to one per franchise.

Also, is the author of this just a conspiracy theorist, or is there something the author knows that I don’t? Are there known, non-fictional extraterrestrials?

Quark – Star Trek

Along with his brother, Rom, Quark runs the best bar on Deep Space Nine! One of my favorite Star Trek characters, this was an easy choice. While there are so many aliens from so many series (most of them quite awesome). Quark is just too much fun to pass on!

And if Quark reads this, I’m sure he’ll agree that it never hurts to suck up to the boss – rule of acquisition number 33.

Admiral Ackbar – Star Wars

When I started answering this question, it took longer than I expected, because… It’s a trap!

Sorry. Had to do that. Now at least everyone knows that I’m talking about the Mon Calamari admiral leaving the Mon Cal Cruiser in the battle of the second Death Star who let’s us all know why the shields are up.

Since they’re from another galaxy, I guess that would make all of the characters aliens…

Thor – Stargate SG1

I bet some people were thinking of the Avengers character before I said SG1. And of course I chose the alien from SG1. The Asgard were one of the best additions to SG1. The concept of ancient gods being powerful aliens is a very cool idea, and the Egyptian gods had been the villains in the beginning. It made it very cool when the team first learns about the Asgard and learns of the protection offered to some worlds by the Asgard.

While he may show himself to the more primitive humans as a hologram of a strong Viking warrior, he is actually a little alien who wields power through technology rather than physical might. They’re brilliant allies of the humans, dealing with far more than is fair for one species to put on themselves. Truly honorable aliens everyone would want living nearby.

Lavos – Chrono Trigger

Spoiler alert! Lavos, the final boss in Chrono Trigger is an alien. Had to include this, because the game is too much fun to not find a way to include! If you’ve not played this, you should. For being as old a game as it is, it’s held up very well. Much of this is due to the style of game it is, being from the SNES days. It was at the end of those, so it benefitted from a lot of the advances made along the way.

Four Franchises in which Mermaids appear

A wonderful idea from classic fantasy storytelling, mermaids are one of many sea-dwelling creatures. And also like a lot of those, some stories make them benevolent, helpful creatures and others have them more mischievous than helpful. Choose the style you like, but sea-dwelling creatures like this certainly spark an imagination!

Peter Pan

While I don’t remember these being in the book, I’ll count the mermaids in the franchise from Disney’s animated adaptation added them in. And because of that, I’m sure Disney included them again in their other works.

Dungeons & Dragons

Now some people might say that I’m cheating by including a rules system franchise, but I’m not! The novels written about the worlds of Dungeons and Dragons include merfolk as well.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Not common in the franchise, but I remember at least one mermaid scene and it wasn’t a friendly one either! Almost seems that way at first, but becomes very ominous quickly…

The Chronicles of Narnia

Again, not too common in the series, but they do make an appearance in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Not that I want to get into how or why that encounter occurs.

Two Prohibition Era Films

While I don’t remember the exact dates of prohibition, I do know it encompassed the 1920s, so I’ll name some films from that decade. Being much too young to have lived during prohibition, this was the challenging one I mentioned, since I’d have struggled if the number were increased to 4 or 6.

Nosferatu

While not an American film, I believe it made it to the US still during Prohibition, so I’m counting it! This is a fantastic, classic horror film. If you’ve not seen it, I’d recommend it. It’s clearly a knockoff of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, avoiding using the names, but the vampire being a “Count” kind of gives that away.

It’s 1920s-style scary, so you’re probably relatively safe to watch it, even if you don’t like horror movies.

The Jazz Singer

Could I really leave this one out? If I’m not mistaken, this is the film credited with the rise of sound films and the decline of silent films. While clearly a product of its time period, the film is still well-known and respected today. Not that I get around to seeing old films. It’s not really my thing.

Wrap Up

Glad I made it through that one OK. I may have to go re-watch some things now!

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Conventions, Races, and Slytherin – Geekout 3

January 3, 2017 Leave a comment

On this third day of the year, I’m feeling great! I got some good work done, and I’m ready to tackle this geekout challenge. It looks like I’ll need to list: Two U.S. Comic Book Conventions, Four Races from the Star Wars Universe, and Two Characters from the House of Slytherin in Harry Potter.

2017-01-03 Geekout

Maybe January is the warmup round for this, because these could use larger numbers to be challenging! Looks like our categories today are Comics, Sci-fi, and Fantasy.

Two U.S. Comic Book Conventions

There are so many small ones all throughout the US. It’s sad that the question limits on that even, since there are so many great ones outside of the US. I think I’ll go a bit obvious here!

Comic Con International – Various

The most attended of these must be the San Diego one, but there are others as well. This is a crowded event that I doubt I’ll ever attend, if only due to the number of people. Cosplay is likely what these are best known for, but there’s much more than that at comic book conventions.

Wizard World – Various

Again I’m going with another group of conventions. Wizard World conventions are all over the country, so you can go to one that’s somewhat local. The local ones will be much lower-key, but can still be a blast. You can look online to see which celebrities will make appearances at them as well.

Four Races from the Star Wars Universe

If there’s one thing your sci-fi needs, it’s aliens. OK, that’s not really true, but Star Wars certainly shows that you can include plenty of aliens without getting too crazy (all that often).

Cathar

Considering that I’ve named one of my cats after Juhani, the Cathar in Knights of the Old Republic, I had to include the Cathar first. It also doesn’t hurt that I’m also a big fan of Aric Jorgan, a Cathar companion in The Old Republic and a character voiced by one of my favorite actors.

Chiss

Anyone who’s read any of the books now considered legends should have read about a Chiss named Grand Admiral Thrawn. He’s been added into the cartoons, so he’s no longer just a “legend” character. He’s canon now.

This Chiss are blue-skinned, red-eyed humanoids that have been part of the empire in all of the non-movie sources.

Twi’lek

Having such interesting and often vibrant skin colors, the Twi’lek are best identified by the lekku that extend from the back of their heads. They’re the big tenatacle-headed, colorful aliens.

Jawa

While we don’t see them too well in the series, these aliens are quite interesting. Somewhat mysterious under their cloaks, these junk-loving aliens will try to push R2 units with bad motivators on you if you’re not careful!

Two Characters from the House of Slytherin in Harry Potter

The house of cunning, ambitious, resourceful people is my house. No, we’re not all evil!

Horace Slughorn

Harry’s potions teacher in his sixth year at Hogwarts was none other than Horace Slughorn! We don’t know much about him, but we assume he was a member of the Slytherin house as a student based on his being the Head of Slytherin house. I don’t remember it being said explicitly that he was in the house, but I’d think you would have to have been in order to head a house!

Regulus A. Black

At the end of reading the sixth book in the series, we all remembered the brother of Sirius Black. We all assumed that the R.A.B. carved into the locket must have been someone we already knew, and this is the character who fit the bill.

He was one of the first fighting the battle that Harry fights in book 7, so we must have some respect for this man.

Wrap Up

Wondering if there’ll be a gaming convention question along the same lines as this comic book convention question. We’ll see what we get!

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D&D, SHIELD, and Starships – Geekout 1

January 1, 2017 4 Comments

Welcome to my first GeekOut post! I received an interesting page-a-day desk calendar for Christmas 2016, and I feel like writing about the topics in the calendar. We’ll see how frequently I post these, but it should make for an interesting topic prompt for a geeky guy like me!

2017-01-01 Geekout

Is this easy mode? I can easily manage this challenge. I expect this will get more difficult given time.

Two Dungeons and Dragons Character Classes

Anyone who knows me well enough will know exactly where I’m going to start with this one, as I often enjoy playing a Bard. A little more difficult to choose my second answer (with there being so many), but I’ll discuss Druids, a more unique spell-caster in the game. I’ve been playing Dungeons and Dragons in one form or another since I was a very small child. I must’ve been five or six years old when I first played the game with my father and slightly older brother. I still play D&D or other role-playing games on a regular basis.

Bard

Not always the most powerful character, in fact often known for never being the most powerful character, Bards are an absolute blast to play! As the name suggests, this class represents a traditional storytelling, poetic, musically inclined individual. While playing Dungeons and Dragons or other role-playing games, the bard’s role is more supportive than directly influential, inspiring greatness in others rather than himself.

Bards tend to wield poetics and music to affect a situation using an almost (or sometimes literal) magical element of their performance. Often spell-casters in D&D, bards magic (when they have it) is wielded through these performances, and can sometimes have their effects hidden within the songs themselves, making the onlookers unaware of the magical nature.

What I think many players of D&D campaigns miss, however, is that a party of adventurers is often liked for the wealth they bring to town. Their actions, while sometimes benevolent, are often also arrogant and destructive. Many campaigns seem to gloss over this, your adventurers may not be well liked. Your bard acts as your ambassador, both a well-liked person about town and also one to tell the tales of your actions that often improve the lives of the townsfolk.

Without a bard, who would tell the tales of how your barbarian wrestled the dragon to the ground or how your ranger managed to find the encampment of slavers who nearly made their escape with a dozen of your friends and family?

Often, however, people will leverage a bard to inspire humor rather than actual support.

Druid

Everyone knows of the studied Wizard in his robes and beard, but fewer know of the more primal magic of Druids. As on of the representatives of the natural world, the druid can be a useful ally in the wilderness. Druids come in all shapes and sizes, but tend to wield nature’s magic at the same level as their more studied, wizard peers. Druids spend their lives attuning themselves to nature rather than the arcane, and through it wield a different type of magic. Druidic magic works with plants, animals, and the world around them.

Rather than subverting the natural ways of things, the druid will attempt to work with them. Being a friend to nature, Druids also often have animal companions traveling with them, a fun addition to every party of adventurers making their way about town. That hermit in the woods with the magical powers, making potions, etc. is often the “druid” in story-telling. While he’s not a druid, Radagast the Brown is a nice stand-in for one within Middle-Earth.

Two S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents

While there may still be many to choose from, this is somewhat tougher than Dungeons and Dragons was. I enjoy Marvel (especially what they’ve done with their “Cinematic Universe” so far), but outside of a few team-ups, I wasn’t big into these growing up.

Peggy Carter

All of the filming that Marvel’s been doing lately has brought a lot of prominence to Agent Carter. With her receiving her own show after entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe through Captain America’s movie. Simply put, she’s quite the badass.

What makes these agents great (and she’s a standout in this regard) is that a lack of super powers never stops them from saving the world repeatedly. Peggy relies on her friends (being far greater for it), and is an inspiring leader to them as well!

Nick Fury

This character may be out of his original era, but he’s been re-invigorated by Samuel L. Jackson’s portrayal. This eyepatch-wearing director of shield seems to have plans within his plans. He’s one you don’t mess with, and it’s fun to see him on screen still.

The way he holds himself while dealing with (often uncontrollable) super heroes is impressive. He stands on their level and doesn’t back down. It’s hard to not have some respect for Nick Fury.

Phil Coulson a.k.a “Agent”

I couldn’t leave this one out. We’ll call him an honorable mention and leave it at that.

Six Iconic Named Sci-Fi Starships

And we’re back into an area I know well. I’ve been watching sci-fi shows since I was quite young. Growing up in a nerdy family meant that Star Trek TNG was on every week when I was little. As I grew older, I read and watched a great deal of sci-fi. Let’s jump/warp into some ships.

Starship Enterprise

Where else could I start this? I thought about cheating and answering with Enterprises: NX-01, NCC-1701, NCC-1701-A, NCC-1701-B, NCC-1701-D, and NCC-1701-E, but that did feel a bit like cheating. For this I’ll count them all as the USS Enterprise, but the number of incarnations of the vessel should show how iconic it is within the Star Trek universe.

While I may be a fan of Deep Space Nine, the USS Defiant isn’t as iconic as the Enterprise. It’s had more captains mentioned on screen than I can remember, and I’m sure the books have mentioned more individuals who’ve captained Enterprises (but I’ve not read the books). Kirk and Picard will both be remembered for a long time as captaining their vessels through TV shows and movies.

Millennium Falcon

I think many would have me strung up if I went somewhere other than Star Wars after Star Trek. Prior to being the smuggling freighter flown by Han Solo, this star ship belong to Lando Calrissian. Whil Star Wars is full of interesting ships, including Star Destroyers, Super Star Destroyers, X-Wings, Y-Wings, A-Wings, TIE Fighters, TIE bombers, etc. Those, however, are all types of ships, and often not named. While there are some important ships in the series like the Tantive IV, the Slave I, or the Executor, none follow the action of the series as well or as significantly as the Falcon.

Plus, there’s something magical about the idea of the independent ship out for itself in a whole galaxy full of danger and opportunity. I think this ship must have influenced a lot of others, and the idea certainly resonates with me. I can see the influence in Firefly as well as Outlaw Star, two of my favorite shows.

Serenity

Firefly may have ended earlier than many would liked, the show continues to live on in the fans. The Firefly-class ship featured in the show is Serenity, a cargo vessel captained by Malcom Reynolds. The show may seem to be an ensemble cast of 9 characters crewing the vessel, but when you watch the show, you realize the 10th character is the vessel.

With the reception the show has had, and all of the love from fans, I think this less-than-one-season show will live in people’s hearts longer than one would otherwise expect. Amazingly, the vessel (and its show) was brought back to wrap up the story in the film named for the ship!

Battlestar Galactica

I think having a television series re-imagined decades later, and both series being titled for one-specific show the entire series revolves around makes a starship fairly iconic. While many may not know the show at all, the name is likely known to them well.

Being a bastion of humanity traveling through space makes the ship important throughout the story, and while some may argue about the quality of the shows, it’s hard to argue that this is not an iconic ship.

Heck, I’ve played the Battlestar Galactica board game more times than most people want to think about, and I do still enjoy the game!

Discovery One

While 2001: A Space Odyssey may not have continued the way that some other science fiction stories have, many know of it still. I think what makes this ship iconic today is less the ship itself than HAL 9000, the AI in control of many of the ships functions.

Take this off the list, HAL.
I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.
What’s the problem?
I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.

The Milano

Yeah, I’m stretching here, since I kind of decided to keep it to one per franchise, but Guardians of the Galaxy has really captured people’s attention. Star Lord a.k.a Peter Quill owns and pilots this nimble vessel. Plus, it’s got a cassette player! Who doesn’t love that?!?!

I’m noticing a trend here, with the Milano, Millennium Falcon, and Serenity making three ships involved in not-so-legal activies captained by similarly overconfident characters. Either way, they’re fun!

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

  • Slave I – Star Wars
  • Executor – Star Wars
  • Tantive IV – Star Wars
  • USS Voyager – Star Trek
  • USS Defiant – Star Trek
  • Rodger Young – Starship Troopers
  • Rocinante – The Expanse
  • The Heart of Gold – Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
  • Normandy – Mass Effect
  • O’Neill – Stargate
  • George Hammond – Stargate
  • Destiny – Stargate

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