SciFi Surplus Podcast #060
July 29, 2008
Topics: Pets, The Dark Knight, RoboCop, Mothership, Comic-Con, New Movie Trailers, Mur Lafferty, J.C. Hutchins
Thank you for taking your valuable time to listen to us. This is show number 60 on the feed July 29th, 2008. SciFi Surplus is News, Talk, Geeks and Fun! In the Council of Great Relevance today, we’re going to discuss Pets in SciFi. In the news is The Dark Knight’s box office prowess, Robocop sequel news, space travel with Richard Branson, and news from Comic-Con in San Diego. We’ll also be discussing the slew of recent movie trailers that have come out.
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I’m Casey and joining me on the show today is
Our Producer, Randy
Space Guru, Jeromy
Romulan Princess, Stephanie
Everyone is on board. Let’s get our geek on!
Anti-Witness News
The Dark Knight appears to be in a position to break a number of Box Office records. The Batman movie has brought in over 300 million dollars in just 10 days. This puts it on pace to bring down Titanic as the biggest Hollywood money-maker of all-time.
M-G-M is saying that Darren Aronofsky will direct the upcoming RoboCop sequel. David Self will be the writer. The film is expected to be “fast-tracked” for a 2010 release. The sequel will be set 20 years after the original film.
In real space news, Richard Branson’s “Virgin Galactic” is revealing it’s “mothership.” The joint venture between Branson and aerospace designer Burt Ratan gained much notoriety in 2004 when the mothership predessesor, SpaceShipOne, took home the X-prize for getting a ship to low earth orbit and landing where the flight began. More than 250 people are in line for a 200,000 dollar ride into space for 5 minutes of weightlessness and a grand view of the planet Earth.
Our man on the West Coast, Dave has a report for us from the final day of San Diego ComicCon. Tell us the latest, Dave.
Council of Great Relevance: Pets in SciFi
Many people have a close relationship with their pets and some even refer to them as family. This is no different in the realm of Science Fiction and Fantasy. From Worf’s pet Targ and Data’s cat Spot to Harry Potter’s owl Hedwig and Voldemort’s pet snake Nagini, pets are a way to connect us to the characters in some of our favorite stories and in some cases are relevant and viable members of a shows or movies cast.
Pets have been in Science Fiction for quite some time, harkening back to the days when a giant ape climbed the Empire State Building and a witch once threatened to get a girl and her little dog too.
Many times we see pets become a key plot point in an episode like the classic Trek episode “The Trouble With Tribbles”
A common theme in a lot of TV shows has been what I’d call “Zoo” episodes where someone captures a human or other cast member to collect them in an alien zoo or private collection.
Some of our favorite or most memorable pets
Sloppy Third Part of the Show
Throw a shout to twoguystech.com. Mike let me know that the iTunes subscription button on the site was busted. Two Guys Tech is a podcast about tech stuff like gadgets and networking a cool stuff like that.
You can join our Facebook group and talk in our forum with us and other listeners. There’s a Facebook button at SciFi Surplus.com
Other Topics
Movie Trailers
- Watchmen
- Terminator Salvation
- Tron 2 (TR2N)
- The Spirit
- Quantum of Solace
- Day the Earth Stood Still
- Death Race
Doctor Who’s David Tennant and Trek’s Patrick Stewart will be performing together on stage with The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Hamlet. The BBC is reporting that people seeking autographs will NOT be allowed to bring scifi merchandise for the actors to sign. The only items allowed to be autographed will be memorabilia associated with The Royal Shakespeare Company.
Mention the 7th Son discussion and Mur’s book Playing For Keeps coming out on August 25th.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:59 am
My favorite pet in speculative fiction is Blood from
A BOY AND HIS DOG.
The humans act like animals and Blood the dog is the sophisticated being in the story.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Jim, I got your voicemail. I’ll try to get it into the next show.
Thank you.
August 1st, 2008 at 1:54 pm
What did y’all think of the “Terminator Salvation” trailer? Might McG pull this movie off?
August 1st, 2008 at 10:11 pm
As far as lists go, this is probably one that could have been far more wide reaching than it was. Where was “The Cat” from Red Dwarf? Or Nibbler from Futurama? Or the dog from Legend? Kudos to Jim for bringing up Boy and this Dog. Great film and one that’s all too often forgotten.
August 3rd, 2008 at 10:18 am
For those of us who consider them our animal companions, or perhaps more actually “our owners”, here are examples of stories where the relationship goes beyond the “pet” concept:
Classic SF: “Starship Troopers” by Robert Heinlein, where the dog must be euthanised if its trooper is killed or the trooper goes insane if his dog is killed.
Modern SF: The Honor Harrington series by David Weber, where the treecats select the humans to whom they telepathically and emotionally bond for life.
Observation: a disproportionate percentage of the examples in the “lists” podcasts are based on motion picture and television sources and not written (including audio book) sources.
Otherwise, keep up the good work!
August 5th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
How about (from the facebook page)
Jones (the Nostromo’s cat from Alien).
Bill (the pony that accompanies the four hobbits and Strider to Rivendell, and then accompanies the Fellowship to the gates of Moria. I think Samwise though of him more of a pet than a work animal)
Mr Underfoot and Pixel, the cat who could walk through walls (Robert Heinlein cats) (thanks Tyan)