Yes, today is Red Nose Day, and people all over the UK are being funny for money. Even 10 Downing Street has its nose on, all for the good cause of raising money to fight poverty and bring relief to those who need it. Also known as Comic Relief (and brought to this country by the likes of Robin Williams and Whoopie Goldberg), this is also the biggest viewership night on BBC1 each year. The event usually includes a Doctor Who segment, this year they are doing a Sarah Jane Special (in case you were wondering why it was mentioned in a SciFi blog). So go get your Digital Red Nose and contribute what you can!
Mike Brotherton has posted a thought provoking article about Why Science Fiction rules, and why most people just don’t get it. It’s worth a read, and if you communicate to the public (Teacher, Journalist, etc.) you should also be aware the next round of his Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop still has a few days before registration closes, but you have to hurry. Funded by NASA, the training is free and comes complete with an observatory or two at the University of Wyoming. Even Lex Luthor is looking for a Bailout these days… what is the world coming to?
I enjoyed what Family Guy did with Star Wars, as well as the Robot Chicken Star Wars Special, and now Family Guy is at it again. This time around, they are shooting for TNG: Not All Dogs Go to Heaven, which will air on the 29th of March. The fun part is they pulled in the entire original cast for the party, and Wil blogged about it, so you can get a behind-the-scenes feel for the session.
The first of the new Red Dwarf specials, with the title Back to Earth, is in production now. It will be aired on Dave TV about Easter or so, and will hopefully be available on DVD for the rest of the world not long after that. Of course, there are already spoilers online, this being the internet and all. If you are not sure if you are ready for more Dwarf, take the quiz and see how you do. I didn’t do as well as I expected, getting the result:
You scored: 7/10
Whoah, man, cool scoring! You’re certainly no Duane Dibley. Feel free to hang with the Cat and strut your stuff anytime.
This was my first Blog entry, back in 2003. I started the site in 1993 as a way to get my bookmarks from any computer with internet access (not all that many, that year), and switched to a blog format a decade later. As Holley says, I may be slow, but I get there in the end…
The funniest SciFi show of all time, Red Dwarf is a creation of the BBC.
The premise was simple. Our hero made a mistake (involving a kitten he tried to smuggle on board), and he was put in stasis until the ship got back to earth, where he could be cashiered out. But before that happened, another crew mate forgot to tighten down a shielding plate, and the entire crew died of radiation poisoning; the ship drifted into deep space.
As our story opens, it is 3 million years later; Dave Lister is awoken from stasis, and finds out he is the last living human being in the universe. His crew mates on the ship are a demented computer named Holly (started out with an IQ of 12,000; these days, an IQ of 12 is about the best it can manage); A Hologram of the poor sap who caused everyone to die, named Arnie Rimmer; and the descendant of the cat he smuggled on board that got him in trouble, named Kat.
From that simple start, a wonderful reality grows. An American version was tried, with Frasier’s Daphne as Holly and Treks Jadzia Dax as Kat, but no one bought it and tried to release it. Too bad, it would have been fun to watch grow. But the BBC version kept on evolving, and won a world-wide audience.
As I enter this info, 8 seasons of TV are behind us, and their first feature-length movie is in production. Several books have also been released, which expand and enhance the story.
If you don’t already know and love this show, you should check out the web site, and look to your local BBC/PBS station to catch it. My personal favorite is Season VIII, but all of them are good. Here are a few links to get you started…