Persistent, Niggling Questions

[Flying Gremlin]

Publish 50 Star Trek Fivers?

Maybe a Top 10 List?

Change the banner graphic to a progression of ships from the start until the end of Trek?

Publish a Fiver of the new reboot movies with Spock Prime being a fanboy pointing out all the inconsistencies in the new universe?

The possibilities are as endless as Zeke's ability to ignore his inbox.

[NAHTMMM]

Originally Posted by Flying Gremlin

Publish 50 Star Trek Fivers?

It'd have to be 1/12 of 50, so 4 1/6.

[Nate the Great]

Today is Dr. Seuss' birthday...

PNQ #1: Favorite Seuss book?
PNQ #2: Favorite Seuss cartoon?

[NAHTMMM]

#1: I want to say either the Sneetches or Yertle the Turtle.
#2: Have to go with How the Grinch Stole Christmas! for the song.

[Nate the Great]

I'm particularly fond of And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street.

Putting aside Grinch as all of our favorites, what's in second place?

[NAHTMMM]

I guess the Grinch Grinching the Cat in the Hat. The only other one I can remember seeing is The Cat in the Hat itself.

[Flying Gremlin]

How the Grinch Stole Christmas was good, but I saw the cartoon for The Lorax and I thought that one was better, but a little more obscure.

And for book? Green Eggs and Ham. Used to read that to my kids.

[Nate the Great]

So the title of the newest Spider-Man reboot movie is Spider-Man: Homecoming...

PNQ: What were you expecting?

There are plenty more comic book titles that could be used. I was fond of The Spectacular Spider-Man myself. Disney could've even gone with Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man if they wanted to skew a bit younger. The Web of Spider-Man would fit for a more ominous, mysterious movie.

[Flying Gremlin]

Actually, I think it's perfect just the way it is, considering he's getting his debut in the MCU during Civil War.

[Nate the Great]

The toy at 9:04 in this video (pause when the video loads, the timecode is included) is supposed to be the Silver Surfer. That's clearly not the Silver Surfer, beyond them both being silver skinned bald guys.

PNQ: Who does it look like?

I think it's Yul Brynner, and at least one commenter on the video agrees with me. Other commenters go for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Putin, Voldemort, and so forth.

[Nate the Great]

Perhaps some of you have heard about Grant Morrison's summary of Superman in eight words:

Doomed planet. Desperate scientists. Last hope. Kindly couple.

On Twitter someone recapped Batman simularly:

Murdered parents. Broken window. Cowardly lot. Greatest detective.

PNQ: Do you care to attempt the same for other heroes?

Spider bite. Murdered uncle. Great Power. Great Responsibility.
Miracle child. Champion princess's secret. Win with love.
Spoiled brat. Deserted island. Survival training. Hunt evil.
One who lived. Lonely child. Magical discovery. Endure.

[Nate the Great]

So I'm watching a YouTube video and one person asks another something to the effect of "if you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?"

Yikes. There's a toughie for you.

PNQ: What's your one book? All nonfiction (aside from humor) and religious texts are off the table, only pure entertainment books.

[Nate the Great]

So after the unfortunate passing of Anton Yelchin and the news that Chekov won't be recast, I've been wondering what they'll do (not that I'll be watching any Abramsverse films, understand)...

(Incidentally, apparently we're supposed to call it the Kelvinverse, but they took too long to decide on that, so I'm sticking with Abramsverse)

PNQ: Would it be cool to go the route that TAS took and replace Chekov with a new version of Arex? Would a fully CG alien on the bridge work?

[NAHTMMM]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

So I'm watching a YouTube video and one person asks another something to the effect of "if you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?"

Well, the --

religious texts are off the table, only pure entertainment books.

Oh. Uh. Imagine asking that, except it's only one particular thing you can eat. It wouldn't necessarily be your favorite food, it'd have to be a food you like that provides all the nutrition you need. Same thing, books nourish the mind. If I want something funny, something serious, something that goes down easy, something thought-provoking, I can't change my decision.

If the question were about movies, I'd probably go with Close Encounters based on that logic. I don't know of any book that would fit such a criterion, so I guess I'd go with Fellowship of the Ring and hope that nobody notices it's technically a volume of two books. There's enough going on in there to keep me entertained over many rereads.

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

PNQ: Would it be cool to go the route that TAS took and replace Chekov with a new version of Arex? Would a fully CG alien on the bridge work?

They could go the CG route nowadays, it could be fun, but (still not having seen Beyond yet) I wouldn't expect them to do anything to justify the investment.

[Nate the Great]

So if readily published omnibuses like The Lord of the Rings were options, you'd choose one of those? I've seen Narnia, the Baum Oz books, etc. as single volume omnibuses as well.

[Nate the Great]

I have an interest in topology, so I've known about the Klein Bottle for awhile. Cliff Stoll makes glass Klein Bottles. They're beyond my budget for now, but eventually I hope to have one.

Anyway, let's get on to today's PNQ. On this page they show double and triple Klein Bottles. At least, they look like two and three Klein Bottles that have been linked up. Anyway...

PNQ: The page says that only one of these has the topological properties of a normal Klein Bottle (or as he puts it, "One of these is homeomorphic to a Klein Bottle. The other is homeomorphic to a Torus."). Which is which?

[Nate the Great]

I rewatched the SF Debris review of "Skin of Evil" and the discussion about Yar's departure today...

PNQ: What plotlines can you envision for Yar had she stayed on board long enough to get into the era of the show that was more focused on the ensemble?

Granted, had Yar stayed "Yesterday's Enterprise" would've been very different and the Sela arc never would've happened. But what would have taken place instead?

Would there have been a gradual romance between Yar and Data? What would've happened to Worf? Would she have helped harden Troi, who would've helped to soften her in exchange? Would Ishara Yar have been created? Would she have been friends with Ro Laren?

[Nate the Great]

I haven't seen Rogue One yet...

PNQ: Does the CGI Carrie Fisher look that bad?

Because in my experience, this is a problem that if, not solvable, can be severely alleviated by throwing enough money at. And Disney would certainly have deep enough pockets and a deep enough desire to not enrage Star Wars fans.

[Flying Gremlin]

Yes, it was obviously CGI - they still haven't quite figured out that ALL the skin doesn't need to move when someone talks - but I thought it was pretty good.

The first 30 seconds of this video has some stills of the CGI of Carrie Fisher, and the rest is the CGI'd Peter Cushing.

[Nate the Great]

Egads. Can you say "video game cutscene from five years ago?" Makes me think someone was stealing money from the CG budget under the table.

In this case, I would've just had a view of Leia from behind. The costume and hairstyle would've been enough, and only have her be onscreen long enough to get the job done and not one second more.