Category: entertainment

In an article posted on Wired.com, Xeni Jardin explores the initial fan reaction to the miniseries remake of Battlestar Galactica. Fans are aghast that producers are changing some basic elements of the show. Starbuck, for example, is now a woman. Thankfully, she won’t be played by Dirk Benedict this time.

We considered seriously how space travel might happen. In outer space, objects in motion remain in motion. You can’t bank against a gravitational pull. There’s a sense of organized chaos, you have to turn your craft around and fire jets in the opposite direction to slow down — just like the old games. When we were developing the show, I ran around telling everyone, ‘Remember Asteroids! Remember Asteroids!’- David Eick, co-executive producer

This kind of approach to science fiction is long overdue. Too many science-fiction shows have completely abandoned the “science” part in favour of cheesy space-opera, like Voyager, Andromeda, and (apologies to fans) Farscape. Any attempt to portray adventure in space that respects at least a few more laws of physics than the current batch of schmaltzy TV crap is more than welcome.

(Oh, and before the Farscape fans lynch me, I really enjoy the show too — more than Star Trek even, which is quite a revelation for me. It’s a great show, but you have to admit… it hardly qualifies as science-fiction.)

Link: Wired News: Fans Battle TV Over Galactica

Ee i ee i oh! (As I typed the the title for this entry, it occurred to me that it could be sung to the tune of “Old MacDonald”.)

Yes, it’s true. William Shatner is blogging at www.williamshatner.com. I only wish he’d start his entries with “Captain’s blog, stardate…”, and continue on to talk about blobby alien things attacking the ship and so on.

If the captain’s bloggings aren’t enough to entice you to his website, then I should mention that you can also purchase Shatner-related merchandise, like Bill “bobbleheads” or DVDs of various things that you’ve never heard of. There are also links to other Shatner-related sites, including a quite prominent link to BringBackKirk.com.

Watching TV: the Rolling Stones, live in Toronto. Wow. Those guys still rock.

In another colossal blunder, BBC claims that the Loch Ness monster or “Nessie” does not exist. An obviously flawed, so-called “scientific” search using sonar beams failed to reveal the evidence that they felt would prove the monster’s existence.

I believe that the BBC is grasping at straws when they try to explain away the existence of a monster as hallucinations, optical illusions, or hoaxes. This new “evidence” only demonstrates that when you set out to prove that something doesn’t exist, you will always succeed. The absence of sonar evidence only proves that Nessie is elusive, which we all knew anyway. Photographs and first-hand witnesses provide enough proof that would stand up even in a US military court of law.

I’m a skeptic myself. I will not believe reports that Nessie doesn’t exist until I see proof. Do you still doubt the existence of aquatic monsters? Maybe you should look at my photographs of the Sea Monster of Howe Sound. I call him Howie.

Where would we be if we doubted everything based on a lack of evidence? These skeptics are the same ones who set out to prove the non-existence of God. But I have photographic evidence of His existence too. He lives under the front steps of the abandoned house across the street, and I’ve seen Him foraging in the alley from time to time. Hold on. No, that’s a raccoon. I’m sorry. I get confused sometimes.

Link: BBC News: “BBC ‘proves’ Nessie does not exist”