Babylon 5 vs LOTR
Oct. 1st, 2007 01:50 pmI'm not saying Babylon 5 is a LOTR copy, but with all productions, I enjoy deciding which characters correspond to which LOTR characters. My first effort came from a conversation with I and vyvyan at House:
( spoilers for b5 (and lotr[1]) )
[1] Hm. I think I've asked this before, but is there anyone I know who hasn't read LOTR but is going to?
( spoilers for b5 (and lotr[1]) )
[1] Hm. I think I've asked this before, but is there anyone I know who hasn't read LOTR but is going to?
Babylon space battles
Oct. 1st, 2007 01:45 pmThe space battles have a different vibe from StarTrek. It's not a matter of floating stationary in mid-space zapping each other with phasers and first to 0% shields loses. Fighters dogfight until one ship gets a clear shot with its Big Zappy Guns of Doom and then ka-pow, it slices the other ship in half, and if the crew are lucky, the fusion plant holds, and they die of vacuum, and if most of the crew are lucky, the fusion plant blows quickly and cleanly.
For instance, there's a subtle point, but watch a big ship pow-pow-powing a little one. It's not that it keeps hitting glancing blows, it keeps not quite hitting it, until it does, when it's dead. It feels much more immediate.
On the other hand, no TV series and few films show space battles really well. Limited encounters and "oh my god, look at the size of that fleet", yes, but actually "we're winning, they're winning" no.
For instance, there's a subtle point, but watch a big ship pow-pow-powing a little one. It's not that it keeps hitting glancing blows, it keeps not quite hitting it, until it does, when it's dead. It feels much more immediate.
On the other hand, no TV series and few films show space battles really well. Limited encounters and "oh my god, look at the size of that fleet", yes, but actually "we're winning, they're winning" no.
Sweet in Babylon 5
Sep. 27th, 2007 02:44 pm* I've been watching the B5 box set. It's sweet. I didn't notice this in 94, but on Babylon 5 they actually refer to "searching the interweb". I think I enjoy watching it again more in some ways, because of things like this, that as a teenager I thought were stupid, but now I think are well done :)
* And they also use "Intrusion countermeasures electronic", or ICE for computer security. I *did* read Neuromancer iirc, but I don't remember much of it, I assumed this was a later backronym when I heard it on B5, but I looked it up, and "ice" was that acronym when it was invented in cyberpunk.
* It's funny, the term used in cyberpunk is actually *less* technical than what people say elsewhere, because it supports the idea of "just throw a bit more icebreaker at it, it'll be ok". Was cyberpunk was about what was possible, not how? Maybe that approach to hacking is becoming true, as more and more things are pre-automated.
* Which leads indirectly back to "interweb". Sometimes a less accurate term is actually the more accurate one to use, when the concept it's referring to isn't accurate (like only using the correct number of significant figures, not more). Excluding jokes, "interweb" is execrable to use if you mean "internet" or "w w web". But if you don't know which you mean, isn't it then the exactly correct word? :)
* And they also use "Intrusion countermeasures electronic", or ICE for computer security. I *did* read Neuromancer iirc, but I don't remember much of it, I assumed this was a later backronym when I heard it on B5, but I looked it up, and "ice" was that acronym when it was invented in cyberpunk.
* It's funny, the term used in cyberpunk is actually *less* technical than what people say elsewhere, because it supports the idea of "just throw a bit more icebreaker at it, it'll be ok". Was cyberpunk was about what was possible, not how? Maybe that approach to hacking is becoming true, as more and more things are pre-automated.
* Which leads indirectly back to "interweb". Sometimes a less accurate term is actually the more accurate one to use, when the concept it's referring to isn't accurate (like only using the correct number of significant figures, not more). Excluding jokes, "interweb" is execrable to use if you mean "internet" or "w w web". But if you don't know which you mean, isn't it then the exactly correct word? :)