Multi Dimensional Rantings and Theories

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:35:00 GMT

Something I just found (no, I don't work for them):

McSweeney’s non-profit student writing center 826LA, home of the Echo Park Time Travel Mart, is selling some really cool Time Travel Posters.

Link

“Voyagers!”

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:54:36 GMT

Voyagers! was a time travel series that aired Sunday nights on NBC from 1982-'83. I was 7 years old and instantly hooked. The lighthearted fantasy concept involved a kid, a pirate and cool watch like time machine (the Omni) that was worn on the belt. As a kid I wanted my own Omni more than I did a Jedi lightsaber.

The show was about a recently orphaned 12 year old named Jeffrey Jones (Meeno Pulce). Jeff is living a dreary life in his Manhattan high rise with his aunt and uncle, who don't like the idea of suddenly raising a kid themselves. One night a time traveler named Phineas Bogg (Jon-Erik Hexum) crashes into Jeff's bedroom. Bogg is a ruggedly handsome man that's dressed like a pirate from the 1700s, who happens to be a member of a mysterious organization called "Voyagers". "I am a Voyager," Bogg says. "You ever hear of one? Course not, no one has," Bogg continues to tell Jeff. Voyagers are people that are trained to "travel through the ages" to keep history on track and make sure it's always on the right path. They don't get into the philosophical aspects of what is the right or wrong history, and there is no need to in a fun show like this. If the Omni flashed red then something was wrong with history. Once the good guys fixed the problem it became a solid green. The Voyagers seems to exist out of our linear time, they appear to be from the past but use technology from the future.

Through a series of mishaps Jeff winds up as Bogg's time traveling companion, and Bogg is unable to take Jeff back to 1982 because his Omni would only go up to 1970. Apparently it was malfunctioning, which led him to land in Jeff's 1982 high rise apartment in the first place. Jeff is a child genius who knows everything there is to know about history. Bogg doesn't know much about history so Jeff proves valuable to Bogg, as Bogg left his Guidebook back in Jeff's 1982 bedroom (remember they can't go back). Jeff basically becomes Bogg's new Guidebook and the two improvise their way through solving problems the best they can.

This was created as an educational series for children, and it worked. They hit it out of the ballpark with this one. I probably learned more about history from Voyagers! then I did from any of my 2nd grade classes. There was always a main plot and then a secondary story line where Jeff and Bogg visited another time line. Sometimes a brief third time story would be thrown in. The best episodes had two story lines that mirrored each other in some way. "Agents of Satan" had Jeff and Bogg land in New England during the Salem witch trials, after escaping being burned at the stake the duo land in 1924 Boston during a séance that just happens to have Harry Houdini in the audience. Houdini never believed in real magic or the supernatural, only the incredibly well staged illusions that he performed. He famously went around the country debunking phonies swindling people out of money, so when Houdini sees our heroes appear out of nowhere and then immediately vanish into thin air he is convinced that ghosts are real. Jeff and Bogg inadvertently turned a green light zone into a red one. This kind of story telling was just flat out AMAZING for a kids show. The writing was top notch. Other great episodes were "Worlds Apart" (Thomas Edison and Lawerence of Arabia), "The Travels of Marco Polo", "Barriers of Sound" (Alexander Graham Bell), "Voyagers of the Titanic", "The Trial of Phineas Bogg" (we get to see the Voyager school) and "Jack's Back" (Jack the Ripper).

I have acquired all the episodes in recent years, complete with the NBC bumpers ("Voyagers will be back after these messages"). A few of my episodes even have some of the old NBC ads from the time, with Meeno and Jon-Erik dressed in costume and telling us "Sundays are the place to be on NBC!", which was a precursor to the "NBC Let's All Be There!" ads a couple years later. I get a flood rush of magical childhood nostalgia when I see stuff like that. I was nervous that show would look just too ridiculous and immature for my adult eyes. I was proved wrong. Sure there are a couple of forgettable episodes and yes there are some corny moments here and there where you can tell this was a children's series, but it's damn entertaining one. The acting can be silly at times, but sometimes you have to just accept a well made show's faults and just roll with it. The stories and the writing were what really attracted me. This was a series aimed at children but written with older audiences in mind, so I can still watch this one as an adult and not feel guilty. The series always dealt with famous historical figures, but who cares? The show had plenty of wit and zany enthusiasm going for it. That other great time travel series Quantum Leap would be there later to deal with the more regular folk. At the end of each episode Meeno Pulce would give a quick narration over the closing credits, telling you that you could learn more about the historic figures visited in this episode through reading, "Take a voyage down to your local library, it's all in books". Unfortunately NBC canceled the show after 1 season. The show couldn't compete against the hard hitting 60 Minutes, and perhaps the complex plots was something that couldn't be sustained. I'll always remember this show though. It's a shame that back in the 80s moron shows like The Dukes of Hazzard lasted for six years and Voyagers! only stayed on the air for one.

Comments reprinted courtesy of scenario of Houston, TX

Here's a quiz I made for this room...

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:15:21 GMT

Would you be a good time traveler?

move over HG Wells

yes...you're the perfect time traveller!

Click Here to Take This Quiz

Quizzes and Personality Tests

If you want to post your results to here...You'll need to copy and paste them and post as HTML, not rich text...I hope to get lots of comments and ratings and see other people's results!

Equip for the Target Date

Fri, 23 May 2008 14:17:45 GMT

Victorian and Edwardian Styled Clothing

http://www.recollections.biz/

Have you ever envisioned yourself back in time..... when genteel women wore delicate lace trimmed camisoles, pantaloons, bloomers, petticoats, blouses, bustle skirts, feather trimmed hats and lest we forget, elegant ball gowns. Made in rich velvets, taffetas, satins, cottons and lavishly trimmed in a virtual treasure trove of laces, ruffles and beaded bodices. Recollections makes it possible for your dreams to come true!

Our design staff has dedicated over 29 years creating fine ladies’ garments and it is our hope that we have recaptured a glimmer of a time gone by. In addition to offering a vast collection of styles, they are also available in a medley of over 60 fabrics in a potpourri of hues, prints and textures. All for you.

Recollections’ designs appeal to many enthusiasts: Members of SASS, NCOWS, or those affiliated with a Victorian or Edwardian era activities. Many have sought our designs for Civil War re-enacting, museum exhibits, costuming for the film industry, stage productions, theater performances, horse-drawn carriage tours, photography, clothing for the staff members at historical sites, ball room dancing and many other activities and interests. Perhaps you admire styles known as Gibson Girl, Pioneer, Old West, Soiled Dove, Prairie dresses or Turn of the Century designs. We offer them all.

For those who are just a romantic at heart we offer styles that can be worn in our day to day life, just with the feminine and modest touch often forgotten by the designers of today…

“Time After Time” Trailer (1979)

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:59:26 GMT

Cassie's going places...

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:14:21 GMT

This week and next, "Times Like This" star Cassie is making a guest appearance in "Rule Of Three", a fascinating and hilarious webcomic by Kelly Ferdinando. There might be some time-tripping going on there... what'll happen next is anyone's guess. Check out "Rule Of Three" here.

Four Thousand Years Ago

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:30:58 GMT

[Ross] was introduced to solitary, that is, confined to his own company in a cell-like room with a bunk that was more comfortable than it looked and an announcer in a corner of the ceiling. So far he had been told exactly nothing. And so far he had asked no questions, stubbornly keeping up his end of what he believed to be a tug of wills. At the moment, safely alone and lying flat on his bunk he eyed the announcer, a very dangerous young man and one who refused to yield an inch.

"Now hear this...." The voice transmitted through that grill was metallic, but its rasp held overtones of Kelgarries' voice. Ross's lips tightened. He had explored every inch of the walls and knew that there was no trace of the door which had admitted him. With only his bare hands to work with he could not break out, and his only clothes were the shirt, sturdy slacks, and a pair of soft-soled moccasins that they had given him.

"... to identify ..." droned the voice. Ross realized that he must have missed something, not that it mattered. He was almost determined not to play along any more.

There was a click, signifying that Kelgarries was through braying. But the customary silence did not close in again. Instead, Ross heard a clear, sweet trilling which he vaguely associated with a bird. His acquaintance with all feathered life was limited to city sparrows and plump park pigeons, neither of which raised their voices in song, but surely those sounds were bird notes. Ross glanced from the mike in the ceiling to the opposite wall and what he saw there made him sit up, with the instant response of an alerted fighter.

For the wall was no longer there! Instead, there was a sharp slope of ground cutting down from peaks where the dark green of fir trees ran close to the snow line. Patches of snow clung to the earth in sheltered places, and the scent of those pines was in Ross's nostrils, real as the wind touching him with its chill.

He shivered as a howl sounded loudly and echoed, bearing the age-old warning of a wolf pack, hungry and a-hunt. Ross had never heard that sound before, but his human heritage subconsciously recognized it for what it was—death on four feet. Similarly, he was able to identify the gray shadows slinking about the nearest trees, and his hands balled into fists as he looked wildly about him for some weapon.

The bunk was under him and three of the four walls of the room enclosed him like a cave. But one of those gray skulkers had raised its head and was looking directly at him, its reddish eyes alight. Ross ripped the top blanket off the bunk with a half-formed idea of snapping it at the animal when it sprang.

Stiff-legged, the beast advanced, a guttural growl sounding deep in its throat. To Ross the animal, larger than any dog he had even seen and twice as vicious, was a monster. He had the blanket ready before he realized that the wolf was not watching him after all, and that its attention was focused on a point out of his line of vision.

The wolfs muzzle wrinkled in a snarl, revealing long yellow-white teeth. There was a singing twang, and the animal leaped into the air, fell back, and rolled on the ground, biting despairingly at a shaft protruding from just behind its ribs. It howled again, and blood broke from its mouth.

Ross was beyond surprise now. He pulled himself together and got up, to walk steadily toward the dying wolf. And he wasn't in the least amazed when his outstretched hands flattened against an unseen barrier. Slowly, he swept his hands right and left, sure that he was touching the wall of his cell. Yet his eyes told him he was on a mountain side, and every sight, sound, and smell was making it real to him.

Puzzled, he thought a moment and then, finding an explanation that satisfied him, he nodded once and went back to sit at ease on his bunk. This must be some superior form of TV that included odors, the illusion of wind, and other fancy touches to make it more vivid. The total effect was so convincing that Ross had to keep reminding himself that it was all just a picture.

The wolf was dead. Its pack mates had fled into the brush, but since the picture remained, Ross decided that the show was not yet over. He could still hear a click of sound, and he waited for the next bit of action. But the reason for his viewing it still eluded him.

A man came into view, crossing before Ross. He stooped to examine the dead wolf, catching it by the tail and hoisting its hindquarters off the ground. Comparing the beast's size with the hunter's, Ross saw that he had not been wrong in his estimation of the animal's unusually large dimensions. The man shouted over his shoulder, his words distinct enough, but unintelligible to Ross.

The stranger was oddly dressed—too lightly dressed if one judged the climate by the frequent snow patches and the biting cold. A strip of coarse cloth, extending from his armpit to about four inches above the knee, was wound about his body and pulled in at the waist by a belt. The belt, far more ornate than the cumbersome wrapping, was made of many small chains linking metal plates and supported a long dagger which hung straight in front. The man also wore a round blue cloak, now swept back on his shoulders to free his bare arms, which was fastened by a large pin under his chin. His footgear, which extended above his calves, was made of animal hide, still bearing patches of shaggy hair. His face was beardless, though a shadowy line along his chin suggested that he had not shaved that particular day. A fur cap concealed most of his dark-brown hair.

Was he an Indian? No, for although his skin was tanned, it was as fair as Ross's under that weathering. And his clothing did not resemble any Indian apparel Ross had ever seen. Yet, in spite of his primitive trappings, the man had such an aura of authority, of self-confidence, and competence that it was clear he was top dog in his own section of the world.

Soon another man, dressed much like the first, but with a rust-brown cloak, came along, pulling behind him two very reluctant donkeys, whose eyes rolled fearfully at sight of the dead wolf. Both animals wore packs lashed on their backs by ropes of twisted hide. Then another man came along, with another brace of donkeys. Finally, a fourth man, wearing skins for covering and with a mat of beard on his cheeks and chin, appeared. His uncovered head, a bush of uncombed flaxen hair, shone whitish as he knelt beside the dead beast, a knife with a dull-gray blade in his hand, and set to work skinning the wolf with appreciable skill. Three more pairs of donkeys, all heavily laden, were led past the scene before he finished his task. Finally, he rolled the bloody skin into a bundle and gave the flayed body a kick before he ran lightly after the disappearing train of pack animals…

Andre Norton, The Time Traders

New Times Like This

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:01:15 GMT

Forget Paris

Wednesday will be my 50th strip! Wiigii! :D

Time Traveling For Fun And Profit!

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 03:43:58 GMT

First of all, thanks for accepting me into this community.

I started a webcomic a few months ago called "Times Like This"... it's about a young lady who builds her own time machine and takes her friends on some misadventures through the ages. The series is mostly humorous in nature, and in terms of scientific relevance, is closer to "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" than "Back To The Future". Check it out at TimesLikeThis.com ... I hope you time-tripping enthusiasts find it entertaining.

Thomas

Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:18:03 GMT

The Sarah Connor Chronicles are premiering this month (January 13th and 14th) in the USA on FOX.

Apparently CTV in Canada has picked up the series too, but I am totally unable to find it on their schedule right now. I hope they haven't dropped the ball.

I know this is sort of last minute and probably anyone worth their weight in a time machine is already up to speed on the premise of the series, but here is the synopsis from the FOX site.

At the end of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," Sarah vanquished the Terminator sent from the future to kill her teenage son, John. Sarah and John now find themselves alone in a very dangerous, complicated world. Fugitives from the law, they are confronted with the reality that still more enemies from the future, and the present, could attack at any moment.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES reveals what happens when SARAH (Lena Headey) stops running and goes on the offensive against an ever-evolving technological enemy bent on destroying her life, and perhaps the world. Her son, 15-year-old JOHN CONNOR (Thomas Dekker), knows that he may be the future savior of mankind, but is not yet ready to take on the mantle of leadership that he's told is his destiny. John finds himself inextricably drawn to CAMERON (Summer Glau), an enigmatic and otherworldly student at his high school, who soon proves to be much more than his confidante - she assumes the role of Sarah and John's fearless protector. On their trail are not only threats from the future, but an intelligent and tough FBI agent, JAMES ELLISON (Richard T.Jones), who soon becomes a powerful ally.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES represents an exciting reinvention of the "Terminator" franchise, in which the strong and intrepid Sarah discovers that protecting her son and stopping the rise of the machines is more difficult than she had ever imagined.

Produced by C-2 Pictures in association with Warner Bros. Television, TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES is executive-produced by Josh Friedman and John Wirth. Toni Graphia serves as co-executive producer and James Middleton and Natalie Chaidez serve as consulting producers for the series. The pilot was directed by David Nutter.

Which basically means it bypasses the third film in the trilogy.

It will be interesting to see how this also stacks up against the new film in development.

Journeyman - This Fall on NBC

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 02:47:25 GMT

FYI, NBC will be trying its hand at a Time Travel show this fall that's being billed as a "romantic mystery-drama". Called Journeyman the show stars Kevin McKidd as Dan Vasser, "a San Fransisco newspaper reporter and family man who inexplicably begins to travel through time and changes people lives".

The cast is a bunch of relatively unknown actors (at least to me). The premise reminds me a bit of Niffenegger's "The Time Traveler's Wife" in that the protagonist travels in time involuntary and is a liability as much as anything.

The general site is here - http://www.nbc.com/Journeyman/

You can watch a preview of the series here - http://www.nbc.com/Journeyman/video/#mea=103612

Should be interesting to see if it lasts more than six episodes which seems to be the going rate for time travel travel related shows in the past 6 or 7 years. I am thinking of That Was Then, Do Over, and Day Break to name a few.

Let's hope this lasts at least as long (if not longer) than the CAVEMEN sitcom airing on ABC this year based on the GEICO cavemen spots. Sheesh.

Timegames!

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 07:12:16 GMT

Adventure Into Another Lifetime

Timegames invites you to adventure into the Life and Times of Charles Dickens' London

In preparation for your Timegame experience the Exhibition Halls at the San Francisco Cow Palace have been transformed into a 100,000 square foot set of Charles Dickens' London. Theatrical lighting throughout casts a golden glow on the streets of London. It is a winter evening over 150 years ago at the holiday season - you are a Timeplayer in lantern-lit Old London Town discovering its theatres, taverns, shops, cafes and dance-parties. The surrounding sights, sounds and sensibilities invite you to sing along, waltz, feast, and toast the holiday!

Once you have decided to leap into the adventure, three easy steps begin your Timegame experience. The rest is serendipity!

To Whom It May Remotely Be Of Interest:

Sun, 20 May 2007 06:55:50 GMT

It occurred to me that some people here might be interested in this community. It's also quite possible that your input would be of benefit to it!

See what you think. What the hey.

Fri, 04 May 2007 07:34:38 GMT

Hey, I've had this article for a long time, and just stumbled across it:

" Uconn professor on quest to prove time travel possible:

Storrs, Connecticut: University of Connecticut physics professor Ronald L. Mallett believes he has taken another important step toward proving that time travel is possible.
"Foundations of Physics," a prominent international journal, is to publish a paper Mallett has written that explains how time travel might be possible, the professor said from his historic Victorian house on Keeney Street in Manchester.
    Mallett said he hopes the publication will lead to approval of federal and private grants that would fund the experiments he needs to conduct to prove his theory. There is, of course, no guarantee.
    "It's not a guarantee, but it is a step in the right direction," said Fred Adams, an astrophysicist at the University of Michigan who invited Mallett to speak there on his theory of time travel a few years ago. "That's exactly how the procedure works," Adams continued. "It's one step of many steps."
    Mallett said he knows this, and so does his partner, Chandra S. Roychoudhuri, a physics research professor at Uconn's Depot Campus in Mansfield.
    Roychoudhuri said he and Mallett were rejected last year for a grant from the National Science Foundation. They are looking for less than $100,000 to conduct an initial feasibility study, but the actual experiment will cost millions of dollars.
    "If the low-level experiments are not done, " he said, "we won't get anywhere."
    Mallett's drive to prove time travel is possible began when he was 10, when his father died of a heart attack at age 33.
"I was devastated," said Mallett, now 58. "That turned my world upside down." The idea of going back in time and trying to save his father was sparked when Mallett read H.G.Wells' "The Time Machine".
    Mallett's theory is based largely on Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity and his special theory of relativity. The general theory states that the closer an object is to a gravitational source, the slower time moves. Under the special theory, Einstein said the faster an object, like a jet, moves relative to the speed of light, the slower time moves.
    This was proved in 1975, when Einstein's theory was tested by using two synchronized atomic clocks - one on an airplane and another on the ground. When the plane landed, the time of its clock was behind the one on the ground, though by only fractions of a second, Mallett said.
    "But this proves you can travel into the future," he said.
    Traveling into the past is a bit more complicated, and that's where Mallett's theory goes beyond Einstein's theories. Mallett believes that light also generates a gravitational field. By creating a circulating beam of light with a laser, the gravity created by that light circle causes a twisting of space, he said. Creating a visual of the theory, Mallett took out a mini-table, with its center filled with a black cloth - the cloth being space. Mallett placed a silver ball, "the sun", in the center, causing the cloth to sink slightly in the middle. He then placed a smaller ball, "Earth", onto the cloth, and it rolled toward the sun.
    " That's what gravity is - the bending of space," Mallett said. " This is what Einstein discovered." Combining his own theory on the circle of light with Einstein's, Mallett believes that not only will the circle twist space, but also any object that is sitting in that space. Mallett envisions that his experiment would involve placing a tiny particle in the space and the particle would be dragged around, just like a sugar cube stirred in a cup of coffee. But Mallett said that one must remember that Einstein also said the closer one is to the mass, the more time slows down. Therefore, time and space can become one if gravity is strong enough, he said.
    To prove that travel into the future and past is possible, Mallett's theory calls for two laser beams connected in opposite directions that would create a ring of light. The ring would form loops of time. Rather than a straight line of past, present, and future, the line would become a loop, where any object or person could travel back and forth from the past to the future and vice versa, Mallett said. " Time gets bent into a loop in that region where space is," he said. " The loop connects the future to the past - that's the key."
    Returning to the Middle Ages or the age of the dinosaurs would not be possible, Mallett said. It would only be possible to return to the time when the time machine was created and activated."

So yeah, I do not know what journal or newspaper this article emerged from; this article was photocopied for me. I'll look into it. But I thought this was very interesting, and I thought I should share it to this group. :-)

What no one has heard for 150 years.

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 17:32:52 GMT

It cracked on its first try-out in 1753. Recast by the Philadelphians John Pass and John Stow, it pealed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and tolled significant doings thereafter until 1846, when another nasty fissure muzzled it for good. Today, thanks to Gary Koopmann, the Liberty Bell can be heard again — on the Internet.

“Let Freedom Ring” - link to .wav files inactive. See above hyperlink.

The Smell of Being Spoiled Rotten

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 23:03:38 GMT

100 Greatest 80s TV Commercials32. Panasonic video system “Just slightly ahead of our time.” You can say that again. This “lightweight” video camera only requires a massive tripod — and an attached VCR — to film your very own movies... of dancing alone on the beach.

=\\=\\=\\=\\=

I think Mr Smug needs a little talking-to.

... In sound broadcasting, Arthur Van Dyck of RCA points out, only one sound is transmitted at a time and this sound, even if it is a complex one, can be represented by one electric current. But no picture can be represented by one current or one anything else because it is composed of many elements. If you look at a scene ten feet square from a distance where the eye can see objects one inch in diameter, there are nearly 15,000 one-inch areas, which you must describe to convey the exact scene to someone else.

Given unlimited time, you might do this with a simple telegraph code. Suppose you arrange a code in which “one” means white, “two” signifies gray and “three” black. By dividing the scene into imaginary squares, 100 each way, numbering them in sequence from one to 10,000, and sending a friend 10,000 digits, each representing the shade in one square, you would enable him to reproduce the scene on a sheet of paper ruled into 100 squares each way.

Obviously, this would be a tedious process. If, however, instead of sending numbers by telegraph code, you transmitted one electric impulse for each square in sequence, the strength of each impulse corresponding to the degree of light in the square it represents, you might send a description of the picture in 10,000 seconds, or two and one-half hours, if you transmitted one impulse per second.

At the receiving end a printing device would be necessary to record each impulse in the same order and location and with an ink intensity corresponding to the current intensity of each impulse. The chief prob lem is one of synchronization between transmitter and receiver. This is the facsimile system, used on wire and radio, except that several impulses are sent each second, so only ten minutes or so are required to transmit a picture, instead of two and one-half hours.

But here’s the rub. Television must transmit moving scenes, sending as many as thirty pictures per second so that, as in the movies, the eye will be deceived into believing it sees a continuous scene rather than a succession of stills. To send thirty pictures per second, transmitting information about each little part of each picture and repeating the process many times each second, a system 18,000 times faster than facsimile is required.

Here we have the primary cause of most of the television engineering problems—the time element, the necessity for transmitting an enormous amount of information very accurately and very quickly...

-Popular Mechanics, August 1938

Now, let's talk about doing that in accurate color. Then, let's talk about recording those images in a reproducible form - a technical marvel that didn't happen until 1956, thirty years after television was invented.

Then, let's talk about microminiaturising the equipment until it no longer requires a truck to carry the camera, and make it possible to even move the video recorder at all. Let's make all of it, including a sufficiently powerful storage battery, light enough for one girl to carry easily.

Then, let's talk about the sonar-ranging technology and solid-state electronics required for that nifty autofocusing feature...

So you're damn right, buddy, that is an incredibly lightweight video system.

The Last Mimzy

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 03:12:50 GMT

A year and a half ago I posted a short story review for "Mimsy Were the Borogroves" by Lewis Padgett Here - http://sooguy.livejournal.com/195792.html

I just recently learned that they have adapted the short story into a movie which is due out March 23rd of this year called "The Last Mimzy" Link to Official Movie Site Here

Looks interesting.

x-posted to my journal

Idiocracy - Film Review

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 15:01:22 GMT

I just finished posting a review of Mike Judge's Idiocracyon my website Andy's Anachronisms. The DVD was released on January 9th, 2007.

A satirical look at the dumbing down of America, Mike Judge’s comedy Idiocracy paints a portrait of dystopian America set 500 years in the future. Lt. Joe Bowers (alternately spelled Joe Bauers), played by Luke Wilson, is literally an average joe who is selected by the US Military to partake in a Human Hibernation Project. Originally slated to be a year long experiment Joe and his companion, a prostitute named Rita (Maya Rudolph), are frozen in individual capsules, but forgotten for 500 years.

When they are accidentally revived in 2505, they find themselves a much different vision of America where corporations such a COSTCO and a sports drink company run much of the world and where the American English language has devolved to a point where it’s a mix of hillbilly, Valley Girl and inner-city slang, and various grunts.

Now viewed as one of the smartest men in America, average Joe – Joe Bauers – is enlisted by the President of America, to help save the nation from itself.

You can read the full review here - http://www.timetravelreviews.com/movies/idiocracy.html

Re: Twilight Zone, and Jack Finney

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 02:05:00 GMT

[Mine Host sooguy mentioned that he reviewed Jack Finney's short story collection, About Time. Oddly enough, I had occasion to visit those same reviews myself some months ago, as I mentioned in a post at the time, here reproduced:]

Second Chance ©1956 by Jack Finney

This story was made into an excellent episode of the new (1980s), excellent Twilight Zone. The main character, a young college student with a love of vintage automobiles, finds the wreck of an honest-to-gosh Jordan Playboy under a tarp in the garage. A sad story: One night in 1923 a young couple raced a train to a crossing - and lost. Both killed.

Well, yeah, but what a car! So the student begins restoring it. Spends the entire summer at it, and painstakingly rebuilds it to showroom condition.

Takes it out for a drive, then, on a fine autumn night; takes it for a spin on the country roads, then comes back into town... and the town has changed. Changed back, rather: He is in 1923. He brought the car back, and now the car has brought him back.

Marveling, he gets out and wanders the streets, looking in shop windows. Behind him, the cinema lets out... and a young couple blithely climb into his car and start it up.

"Hey!" He runs, yelling, jumps in front of them. "You're in my car!"

"Get out of the way, buddy, you're drunk!" They altercate thus for some moments, then the driver settles the argument by practically running him down. He watches the taillights of his summer's long work vanish into the night.

What can he do? He walks home.

He gets home by daybreak - of the present day. The adventure is over. Despondent at his weird fortune, he goes to the garage - and stops. There is the car. It's old, but intact.

"Well, hi!" a young girl says behind him. He turns, and stares. She's beautiful - but he's never seen her before.

He had delayed them. Standing in front of the car, arguing with them, the altercation lasted long enough that now when the driver approached the tracks in 1923 - he didn't even try to race it. The young couple survived.

And their granddaughter is lovely...

The last scene of the episode is the young man and his own new bride tooling off in the Jordan Playboy, the car that had gone full circle and closed the gap in time.

[I saw that episode once, when it aired twenty years ago. That's how good the new Twilight Zone was, that I remember many of its episodes vividly to this day.]

While we are on the subject

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 16:17:23 GMT

Ok favorite TV episode of time travel and in this case
yet another Twilight Zone Episode...
Spur of the Momment (1964)
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spur_of_the_Moment"

This was a great episode abotu time travel of a future version of a woman trying to warn herself
of her life to be and change the path of her life...it was beautifully filmed
almsot art cinemotography of the intense older rider on a black
horse trying to catch up to the younger rider on the white horse...
adn the intensity of the horses hoof sounds and strainign to catch up...
the younger woman terrified riding faster in an effort to get away from the
"stranger" on her path...

Star Trek - Time Travel Collection on DVD.

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 22:04:19 GMT

Okay why didn't someone tell me that they released this a YEAR ago! I only just saw it in the store the other day. It immediately went on my list of must haves.

I may even go out and buy it as a belated birthday present for myself.

In case you don't know what I am talking about here is a blurb from the Star Trek .com site.

For 40 years, Star Trek has embarked on brave and wondrous missions into the far reaches of space. Perhaps the most intriguing and surprising missions the men and women of Star Trek have encountered involve time travel, the Pandora's Box of science fiction. CBS DVD and Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment present for the first time a collection of the best time travel-themed episodes on DVD.

"Star Trek: Fan Collective – Time Travel" chronicles the adventures of the crews from The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, as they confront the perils and opportunities stemming from time travel in attempts to change history for the better. Again voted on by visitors to STARTREK.COM, this collection includes the top ten most popular time travel-themed episodes, including "Yesterday's Enterprise," "The City on the Edge of Forever," "Trials and Tribble-ations" and "All Good Things."

The "Time Travel" set features favorite Trek stars such as William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Kate Mulgrew, Jeri Ryan and more. Included on this four-disc collection are text commentaries on select episodes. The second in a series of four themed Star Trek collections, "Time Travel" is priced to own at $39.99 SRP in the U.S. and C$49.99 SRP in Canada.

This DVD set features Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. The episodes are presented in Full Screen format with English subtitles. It is unrated in the U.S. and rated PG in Canada, with a total runtime of 10 hours and 44 minutes.

Disc 1

* "Tomorrow is Yesterday" – Star Trek: The Original Series # 21. Text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda.
* "The City on the Edge of Forever" – Star Trek: The Original Series # 28
* "Yesterday's Enterprise" – Star Trek: The Next Generation # 163. Text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda.
* "Cause and Effect" – Star Trek: The Next Generation # 218

Disc 2

* "Time's Arrow, Part I" – Star Trek: The Next Generation # 226
* "Time's Arrow, Part II" – Star Trek: The Next Generation # 227
* "All Good Things..." –Star Trek: The Next Generation # 747

Disc 3

* "Little Green Men" – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine # 480. Text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda.
* "Trials and Tribble-ations" – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine # 503
* "Year of Hell, Part I" – Star Trek: Voyager # 176
* "Year of Hell, Part II" – Star Trek: Voyager # 177

Disc 4

* "Endgame" – Star Trek: Voyager # 828

I originally did some mini-reviews of the original star trek episodes on my website.

"Trials and Tribble-ations" from Deep Space Nine is one of my favourites. Through the computer generated effects of the 1990s they were able to insert the crew of DS9 into the original Star Trek episode "Trouble of Tribbles" and weave a behinds the scenes story line. I love the line when someone asks Worf about why the Klingons from the original Star Trek appear remarkable different from the contemporary Klingons

"We do not discuss it with outsiders..." Worf replies in his typical terse growl.

Here's the low down on that episode. http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/DS9/episode/68968.html

Anyone have another favourite time travel related Star Trek episode they want to discuss?

The Third Level

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 19:27:18 GMT

“I turned toward the ticket windows knowing that here - on the third level at Grand Central - I could buy tickets that would take Louisa and me anywhere in the United States we wanted to go. In the year 1894. And I wanted two tickets to Galesburg, Illinois.

“Have you ever been there? It's a wonderful town still, with big old frame houses, huge lawns and tremendous trees whose branches meet overhead and roof the streets. And in 1894, summer evenings were twice as long, and people sat out on their lawns, the men smoking cigars and talking quietly, the women waving palm-leaf fans, with the fireflies all around, in a peaceful world. To be back there with the First World War still twenty years off, and World War II, over forty years in the future... I wanted two tickets for that.”

From "The Third Level" by Jack Finney

Jack Finney's stories are collected most recently in About Time by Touchstone.

Robert Sloan: Martin.
Martin Sloan: Yes, Pop.
Robert Sloan: You have to leave here. There's no room, there's no place. Do you understand that?
Martin Sloan: I see that now, but I don't understand. Why not?
Robert Sloan: I guess because we only get one chance. Maybe there's only one summer to every customer. That little boy, the one I know - the one who belongs here - this is his summer, just as it was yours once. Don't make him share it.
Martin Sloan: All right.
Robert Sloan: Martin, is it so bad where you're from?
Martin Sloan: I thought so, Pop. I've been living on a dead run and I was tired. And one day I knew I had to come back here. I had to get on the merry-go-round and listen to a band concert. I had to stop and breathe, and close my eyes and smell, and listen.
Robert Sloan: I guess we all want that. Maybe when you go back, Martin, you'll find that there are merry-go-rounds and band concerts where you are. Maybe you haven't been looking in the right place. You've been looking behind you, Martin. Try looking ahead.

Twilight Zone: “Walking Distance”

Did anyone see "Brain Man"?

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:45:03 GMT

He is labeled an autistic Savant...
he has amazing abilities with numbers...
And he talks about it here how someone approached him about building a time machine...
"http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/26/60minutes/main2401846.shtml"

Life on Mars - Season 2

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 22:36:15 GMT

You may recall a while back I mentioned the BBC series Life on Mars . It recently aired in Canada (not sure about the USA) on several speciality channels and did fairly well. At only 8 episodes it was just enough to whet most peoples appetite. Personally I have watched the first four eps and I am hooked!

Actually I just found a few "Life on Mars" related icons on LJ (see icon) and was thrilled!).

Anyhow the point of this post was to mention that a Season 2 of Life on Mars is available and will be showing in Canada on specialty channel BBC Canada starting on February 28th. I can't wait!!!

I hope to be updating my review (or lack thereof) of Life on Mars on my webpage http://www.timetravelreviews.com/tv_reviews/life_on_mars.html soon, now that I have seen the series.

Daybreak Cancelled

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 21:50:16 GMT

Poor Taye Diggs, that man can't seem to get a break. After his short lived TV series Kevin Hill was axed in 2004 now, his Groundhog day inspired series Day Break has met the same fate.

Day Break: ABC's Taye Diggs Drama is Gone

As you may recall, ABC recently announced that they were reworking their Wednesday night schedule (in preparation for the return of Fox's American Idol). That left fans of Day Break out in the cold as the Taye Diggs series would be pulled from the schedule after the December 27th episode had aired. There was some hope and speculation that the series would be moved to another night. We now know that's not going to happen.

The Lost-replacing series Day Break has been pulled from the schedule even earlier than expected. The ratings for Day Break have continued to fall since its debut and the latest was no exception. The sixth episode, entitle "What If They Find Him," attracted only 3.1 million viewers. As a result, ABC has yanked the drama effective immediately. Repeats of George Lopez and According to Jim will fill 8-10pm Wednesdays for the next two weeks (both sitcoms begin new seasons in January on Wednesday nights).

There are seven unaired episodes and, as of now, there are no plans to air them on the network (joining fellow dramas The Nine and Six Degrees). The good news is that ABC has said they will post the remaining episodes online, with a new episode being posted every Thursday for the next seven weeks. They may decide to release the episodes for purchase online via iTunes but I'm guessing that will have a lot to do with viewer demand.

From this link - http://www.tvseriesfinale.com/2006/12/day_break_abcs_taye_diggs_drama_is_gone.html

What really burns me is that even though the epsiodes are AIRED in Canada on competing networks, we don't have access to view them online. Apparently the server's check the originating IP and if they are outside the USA it's tough luck. No wonder they alienate audiences and get crap ratings. Same thing happened when I tried to watch reruns of HEROES online. Grrr.