SciFi Surplus #073 Future Disappointments
September 19, 2008
Topics: Fringe, True Blood, James Bond, 007,
We’ve got a great show on the way! SciFi Surplus is all about giving you an alternative to regular talk radio. We give you timely news that you care about and discuss geeky topics from SciFi, fantasy and genre fiction. We also try to work in as much fun as we can. Our big topic in the Council of Great Relevance is “Where’s my jetpack?: Unrealized Promises of Science Fiction”. In the news: Fringe, True Blood, James Bond, and some oldies but goodies from favorite franchises.
SciFi Surplus is presented by GoToMeeting. For a free trial, visit “GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts.”
I’m Casey and joining me on the show today is…
- Producer Girl Friday
- Audio Manager Darren
- X.O. of Surplus One, Vince
- Jeromy the Science Officer
Let’s get our geek on!
Anti-witness News:
- Fringe Ratings Surge
- HBO Renews True Blood
- There’s a New 007 Theme
- Carrie Fisher Is a Sorority Mom
- Shatner Makes Comic Book Deal
- The Chinese are launching a space station
The Council of Great Relevance: Unrealized Future Promises
Today we’re talking about unrealized SciFi promises: Where’s my Jetpack? We’re looking back at some of the predictions of old scifi and ask when will it come, and bringing in some of the current science to show scifi as a gateway to possible future. Whether we’re being dressed by tubes or hopping over to Disneyland Mars, we’re hoping we can show the young geeks the future and they will build it for us.
Jet packs, flying Cars, warp drives, robots, robots, transporters … and more!
Related links and articles:
- Sky Flivver to Hydropolis: What happened to the science-fiction future?”, available at http://www.reason.com/news/show/122027.html
- Interview with Daniel Wilson, author of “How to Survive a Robot Uprising” at: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/robotics/4210553.html
- Food replicators, Researchers have successfully grown meat: http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/scitech/release.cfm?ArticleID=1098
Thirds!
We’ve had good feedback on the two recent debates, so is this something we should keep up? What sorts of topics should we debate? What other things do the listeners want to hear us explore in a Council session? Tell us in the comments on scifisurplus.com, on Facebook, or email us at thegeeks@scifisurplus.com.
Russel T. Davis the producer of Doctor Who, has some stunning information in the book he’s writing about his career guiding the Tardis. One of the ideas that he was trying to pitch was to have J.K. Rowling star in a Who episode and have the Doctor IN the Harry Potter Universe. Obviously this never panned out.
Long-winded dull commercials promoting the Marvel comic book title Skrull are confusing viewers of ESPN where they aired. The commercial looks like a preachy environmentalist decided to pay for, and produce an ad telling people to take care of the planet. At the end of the ad you see a green alien and ask what was that about.
Credits:
- This Episode Producer: Girl Friday.
- Producer: Randy.
- The X.O.: Vince.
- Chief Writer: Bob.
- News Director: John.
- Audio Manager: Darren
- Attorney Princess: Stephanie.
- Science Officer: Jeromy.
- Sugar Mama: BriAnna.
- Voice Talent: Dan
- Voice Talent: Dave
- Voice Talent: Nathan.
- Host: Casey
September 20th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Hey guys! Once again thanks for putting on a great show and keeping us informed.
I’m disappointed that frige didn’t do great in the ratings, and the show wasn’t hokie. I thought the story line was great and it kept me on the edge of my seat. (Acually, I was glued to my laptop, since you can watch the full epoides on the network’s website.)
But after watching the second epiodes I was disappointed. Now we have the charaters, they act like they known each other for years. I must say something about the lab..that is a bit off the wall.
If I had some wierd stuff happening in the world I would not keep goverment classified secrets in the basement of a local collage. You know there is going to be some collage student that going to break in to kidnapp the cow and somehow get zapped, pinched, poked, or consumed something and contract some unbelevable disease, that would either make him super sick or a super hero.
Thanks guys and have a great weekend and keep up the great work.
Kansas Rose
September 20th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Sarah Connor was up against quite the shootout of a football game last week. I was so engrossed in the game I even forgot it was on. I’m sure that particularly hurt their ratings on the west coast when the game was wrapping up (and it did go down to the wire).
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Please … I’m begging you … put a moratorium on skits UNLESS you get a serious comedy writer on board. It’s just getting painful!
I think you can get great mileage out of the sciences broadcasts. I emailed ‘thegeeks’ (never hear back from any of them, though) about it. Once a month sciences segment? That’d go a long way …
I DVR Sarah Connor and Fringe, so I can’t really say what I thought until I watch ‘em. Maybe tonight.
No f@rt jokes. Not even in the outtakes. It’s becoming ‘The Council of Bad Flatulence.’ Puke.
September 28th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Hey guys,
This was a great podisode. Love the whole science aspect that you’ve put in the news and the science element to the discussion on this particular show. You might like to check out TED.com to see new innovative science and entertainment.
Fringe sucked for several reasons….bad acting, bad characters, bad humor and bad plotlines. I’ll give it one or two more episodes before making a final decision but it’s not looking good so far.
As for your questions about future stuff that we’d like to see. I’m waiting for Arthur C. Clarke’s space elevator and now that we’ve got nanotechnology, it might be possible. I’m also interested in how close we are to implant technology like direct brain to technology connections which has been experimented with on disabled people.