The Ultimate Spaceship Face-off

If you're a Star Trek, Star Wars, Dr. Who, or science fiction aficionado, you may like this interactive chart.

Author, Chris Kirk over at Slate has created a "highly speculative search for the fastest ship in science fiction" by comparing the speeds of the Star Trek Enterprise NCC-1701, Star Wars' Millennium Falcon, the TARDIS from Doctor Who, the Heart of Gold from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Jupiter 2 from Lost in Space, and even our very own Voyager 1 from NASA.

Kirk gives a very detailed account of his research in reference to each ship; You will find this by clicking on the image to the right, where you can set a course for the Alpha Centauri, Galactic Center, or Andromeda Galaxy.  

Surprisingly, what may take the Enterprise decades to reach, the Millennium Falcon can reach in hours, the TARDIS in just seconds.

The Evolution of "Star Trek" (Infogrpahic)

This is absolutely terrific.  Especially if you're a Star Trek fan or just curious about the franchise in general.  Thank you Space.com for sharing this amazing piece of work!

Source: SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

On Sept. 8, 1966, an American science fiction icon was born. The “Star Trek” television show lasted only three seasons, but spawned a lasting legacy that has stretched across decades and led to four spinoff live-action shows, a cartoon series and a dozen feature films.

Gene Roddenberry and his team set their show aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, a sophisticated starship with a competent crew of professional astronauts.

A pilot episode starring Jeffrey Hunter was rejected by the NBC TV network as “too cerebral” for a general audience. The show was retooled with William Shatner in the starring role of Captain James T. Kirk. Leonard Nimoy was featured as the alien officer Spock.

After its cancellation in 1969, the show grew even more popular, appearing several times per week (or even daily) in syndication. 

The Star Wars phenomenon of 1977 led Roddenberry to consider bringing the show back to television. Soon the plan changed, and “Star Trek the Motion Picture” appeared in 1979 to lukewarm reviews. Not wanting to waste their investment, the studio replaced Roddenberry at the helm and made several sequel films with much lower budgets.

In 1987, Roddenberry created a new TV show from the ground up with an entirely new cast led by Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard.  “Star Trek the Next Generation” debuted directly into syndication, not appearing on any of the major TV networks. Its popularity grew slowly but eventually it became successful enough to spawn its own set of feature films.

Three more TV series would follow: “Deep Space Nine,” “Voyager” and “Enterprise.” When the latter went off the air in 2005, an unbroken run of 18 years of Star Trek on television was ended.

By 2009 Star Trek had faded from pop culture prominence, but a reboot movie, called simply “Star Trek,” changed all that. Director J.J. Abrams reimagined the original TV series, casting Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in the lead roles of Kirk and Spock. The film became the highest-grossing of the franchise.

In 2013, Abrams’ sequel “Star Trek into Darkness” features Benedict Cumberbatch as a terrorist villain.

Star Wars Family Tree - Take 2

You might remember last month's post from Chart Geek.  Well, today I bring you another great Star Wars Family Tree from graphic designer and illustrator Joe Stone.

New Work
Following on from my Marvel Universe Family Tree series I decided to continue the idea and expand it into other areas of pop culture. As a huge Star Wars fan, and with the news that a new series of films were to be made, it seemed like the only option.

The characters are limited purely to the film and canonical TV series’ (sorry Mara Jade fans - although I’m not ruling out the possibility of drawing up an extended universe version at some point).

Click here to view the full thing on my portfolio site, where you can also download a whole bunch of iPhone wallpapers featuring some of the most popular characters for the price of a tweet.

Star Wars Family Tree

For the Star Wars fan in all of us.  Image courtesy of Chart Geek.

With the new Star Wars movies on the horizon, it’s time to brush up on your Star Wars lore. Plus, if you’re unfamiliar with the Star Wars Expanded Universe, you may want to familiarize yourself with a few of the characters that arrive on the scene after Return of the Jedi. They might feature in the upcoming movies. But keep in mind that that’s a very big “might”. So far, we don’t really know what the new movies are going to be about.

I am Captain Picard, and You are Dr. Crusher

I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but Google is currently updating their websites.  If you're a Star Trek or Science Fiction fan you will love this.  Here is a sample email that will have you ROFL.

"Dearest Jenny, I can't stop thinking about you.  I had that dream about you again last night. Y'know that dream where I am Captain Picard and you are Dr. Crusher.  I miss you so much."  LMAO!

click to enlarge

FATHOMS - An Animated Sci-Fi Film With a Heart

I wanted to blog about this earlier in the week, but I just never got around to doing it, but I'm actually fascinated with movies like this.  It's only a 20-minute film, but the story behind it is what drew me to it. 

Filmmaker Joe Russ has created a film that revolves around a cat named Hippo, and two humans, Sam and Evan who are surviving in a salvage submarine through the remains of New York.  The city was destroyed along with the rest of the world in some sort of Environmental meltdown, which has left most of the earth underwater.  He is hoping to raise $7,500 to finish the film, and is asking for help.  If there was a way, I would, but like most of America, we're in crunch.

Russ describes his movie, "Fathoms" like this:

The ice caps have melted. The air is filled with a poisonous smog. No land. No safety. Sam and Evan, along with their rescued cat, Hippo, pilot the scavenger Arken, a salvaging submarine. Together, they search the endless seas for organic life and raw materials to help rebuild their world.

Sam is still holding onto her past, trying to stay ever hopeful in the face of a ever darker reality. Evan, like a father, is trying to keep them safe and ever moving forward. Hippo has no idea what's going on...he's just a cat!

The suspense, mystery, and struggle unfolds in FATHOMS!

From Joe's website...

About this project

OUR CAST

THE SCAVENGER ARKEN

WHAT'S THE TIMELINE?

Based on the animated storyboard sequence I have created, FATHOMS will be around 20 minutes long...so there is a lot to animate! I am starting full-on production as soon as Kickstarter wraps up. I will be animating through the summer and fall, then rendering, fixing things, and doing compositing in the winter. The goal is to complete the film by the end quarter one, 2012...sooner if possible! Part of the time will be involved in rendering...and a lot of the time will be involved in animating...it just takes time!

THIS IS WHAT FATHOMS WILL LOOK LIKE (FOR REALS)

Update: Joe has reached his goal, and more!  Congratulations Joe!  Can't wait to see the final product!

They Killed Off My Queen!!!!

Last night, when Ryan and I finished watching the season 2 finale of V, we were left dumbfounded, breathless and in total shock.  Glee, I hope you get the hint on how to kill off major characters on a show, not just a bird.  I absolutely loved the finale. Tyler's death was so unexpected, but I'm actually glad he was killed off, seriously he is the biggest twat I have ever seen on TV besides Charlie Sheen of course. Erica will surely be out for Anna now!  I Could care less about Ryan being gone, but I also didn't expect his young daughter to kill him.  Hell, the whole show was full of "unexpected" story lines, and deaths.  This is surely a cliffhanger for the ages - it may even beat out Dallas's "Who Shot J.R." episode.  Um.. No, I don't think so, But it was a thriller and shocker nonetheless.

Not My Queen!!!! Diana, Nooooo!!! As elegant and beautiful as her entrance was, what a waste to finally get her out of the dungeon and then kill her off! After a failed plot to have Lisa kill Anna, the Visitors' High Commander came back with a vengeance and killed her own mother, Diana, in front of the entire ship. While the murder was horrendous, I loved the line Anna threw at her daughter Lisa when she turned back and said, "Now that’s how you kill your mother!" 

ABC, you know what you have to do, don’t you? You have to renew V. It can’t stay like this. The “Evil Lisa” was awesome. As for the inbred child, blissing the humans was something I sort of saw coming.  Also getting to realize Erica’s FBI workers are actually on her side; All along I thought they might be on the other side. It was good to know that there is more help out there.  I could go on for a while about V’s finale but I’ll stop there for now. lol

Please ABC we need Season 3 we really do.

Are You Excited For The Season Finale of V!

If all goes according to executive producer Scott Rosenbaum’s plan, tonight’s V season finale will be a hugely dramatically satisfying hour — and will still leave viewers wanting more.  And wanting more is what Ryan and I want.  I watched the original "TV mini-series" when it first aired back in the 1980's, and I will proudly say it was a really great show.  Ryan and I watched it on DVD before we started watching the new series early last year.

According to Entertainment Weekly magazine, Rosenbaum was told to cut back his episode line to 10 instead of the 22 he had hoped for.  His first thought was, "What the hell do I do?"  The result was Mother's Day (episode title), which will feature several character deaths and a guest appearance by Marc Singer, who was a freedom fighter from the original series.

Rosenbaum also states that he has made the season finale a satisfying conclusion should ABC choose not to proceed with a 3rd season, but he feels the "best of the show is ahead of itself."

Personally, being that he's relying on hope to get him through tonight's show can only mean one thing... it's going to be really good and we are going to be dying for Season 3, but in the event that the show isn't picked up, he did his best to offer a final closure.  Let's pray this is not the case, because I love these damn visitors!  I want them massacred, just not this season.  Diana is coming back for God's sakes!

Here's a sneak to make your mouth water...