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Is This Something?

There are a lot of sci-fi stories about Century Ships, ships that travel at sublight speeds to distant stars, taking, well, centuries to arrive. Passengers and crew are either kept in suspended animation for the trip, or, in the Generation Ship version, they live out their lives on the ship, giving birth to children, who themselves grow up and give birth to more children, who give birth to another generation -- and then six or seven generations of ship-bound people later, they finally land on the planet.

That's the plan, anyway. In stories about such ships, there's always a problem, naturally.

My favorite problem -- and I have no idea who did this first, as it's been done a lot -- is where the mission is forgotten by the tenth generation or whatnot, and computer memory banks have been knocked out by a meteor or something, so you have 10,000 people on a ship not knowing why they're there, inventing myths to explain how the Steel World was created, and frequently conducting Raids against the enemy tribes of the Steel World.

Oh, I looked it up: Apparently the first entry in that genre was Brian Aldiss' Non-Stop (also called Starship), first published in 1958, and his first novel.

Imma read that this weekend if it's on Kindle.

Update: Commenters tell me Heinlein got there first, with a novel called Orphans of the Sky, an expanded version of an earlier story called "Universe." It also features the passengers of a generation ship degenerated into barbarism and mysticism, having no idea they're on a space vessel at all.


But anyway, there are a lot of written stories about such ships, but few movies.

Well, Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence are rectifying that in the new movie Passengers, in which, get thisl there's a problem with the Century ship, and they alone are awoken out of suspended animation 9 years too early, and now have to kill nine years before their arrival.

Okay, Imma get that one too.

If they arrive at all. Because, get this, there are further problems too, which the trailer suggests without explaining the nature of the problem.

Eh, I'd give it a shot.

Ever notice we have a lot of "science fiction" movies without one genuine trope of science-fiction, other than "In the future, all people will fight with robots and armored vilians a lot? And also, a Chosen One will have SuperPowers of some kind?"

Posted by: Ace at 08:30 PM




Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Hello sf thread in the mists

Posted by: Deplorable @votermom at September 21, 2016 08:33 PM (Om16U)

2 hmmm..chris pratt

Posted by: concrete girl at September 21, 2016 08:34 PM (ebeSq)

3 I'm reading an sf book by a Moron (I think) which is intriguing - alternate history with a strange mystery about electromagnetic discoveries.

Posted by: Deplorable @votermom at September 21, 2016 08:34 PM (Om16U)

4 Uh, I think Heinlein did a story about that before 1958....it was adapted to radio...lemme look...

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 21, 2016 08:34 PM (g6yUI)

5 Look, a shiny new thread!

Posted by: Michael the Deplorable TEXIT at September 21, 2016 08:35 PM (nvMvs)

6 Yeah, Heinlein did Orphans of the Sky about '41...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphans_of_the_Sky

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 21, 2016 08:36 PM (g6yUI)

7 "Universe" by Robert Heinlein, published in 1940.

Posted by: Richard Uhler at September 21, 2016 08:36 PM (AWVFG)

8 Passengers looks interesting. That and Arrival which I also want to check out.

Posted by: Richard McEnroe at September 21, 2016 08:36 PM (Kucy5)

9 I had an idea for a horror movie version of a generation ship with the young crew figuring out that the have been eating the elderly crew for 500 years.

Posted by: Big V at September 21, 2016 08:37 PM (maBJJ)

10 I read a version where the captain of an exploration ship had gone mad and refused to wake up the return captain and ruled the descendents of the original crew as a despot for hundreds of years. (why they had an outward and return crew I cannot remember)

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 21, 2016 08:37 PM (rwI+c)

11 I think the last book I read in a somewhat similar vein, not a passenger ship but a forgotten mission, is "Wool" by Hugh Howey.

Posted by: no good deed at September 21, 2016 08:37 PM (/O5Ax)

12 My least favorite sci-fi movie cliche (yes, I still say "cliche" instead of "trope" or "meme") is "We all have laser rifles and we've been shooting them all over the place... but we're waiting for the situation to be solved by two people who are fighting with knives."

..."Guardians of the Galaxy" is the most recent example.

Posted by: RKae at September 21, 2016 08:37 PM (i+OYT)

13 And also, a Chosen One will have SuperPowers of some kind?

I hate hate HATE 'chosen one' plots.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 21, 2016 08:38 PM (g6yUI)

14 Universe -- where the generation ship passengers grow tobacco and fight mutants.

Posted by: Robert Crawford at September 21, 2016 08:38 PM (BxY7X)

15 Ace, there has already been a pretty good movie about this subject called Pandorum. Try watching that. It's pretty good and pretty creepy. Not great, but good.

Posted by: John J at September 21, 2016 08:38 PM (TZXEx)

16 Mmm...Jennifer Lawrence...

Posted by: Insomniac - Irredeemably Deplorable. at September 21, 2016 08:38 PM (0mRoj)

17 Ace: seems like they woke *90* years too early in the Passengers trailer. A much more dire situation than 9 years too early.

Posted by: bzero at September 21, 2016 08:39 PM (c/IcE)

18 i put up the correctin about heinlein... i'll try them both

Posted by: ace at September 21, 2016 08:40 PM (7Ny35)

19 Why do you support an industry full of people who hate you? Not being snarky, just honestly curious.

Posted by: Bernette at September 21, 2016 08:40 PM (JSys4)

20 I hate hate HATE 'chosen one' plots.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles

----

Ditto.

Fuckin' "birthmark" stories! "Oh, he's special! Save the special child!"

No. Sorry. No one is special. No one is "born to" anything.

I'm talkin' to you, Harry Fuckin' Potter.

Posted by: RKae at September 21, 2016 08:40 PM (i+OYT)

21 For some reason I am reminded of Snowpiercer.

Posted by: fluffy at September 21, 2016 08:40 PM (eiFlk)

22 Milton Lessor The Star Seekers 1953 Winston Sci Fi Series

Posted by: Xknight at September 21, 2016 08:41 PM (ziwL/)

23 how to pass time with Jennifer Lawrence?
The mind boggles.

Posted by: wooga at September 21, 2016 08:41 PM (V08/T)

24 Great, just what the universe needs, a sci-fi chick flick.

Posted by: James T at September 21, 2016 08:41 PM (gfEKG)

25 Ace, there has already been a pretty good movie about this subject called Pandorum.

Yeah. I liked Pandorum. Plenty of weirdness in that.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 21, 2016 08:41 PM (rwI+c)

26 Ok...but who do they want me to vote for?

Posted by: Mr. Feverhead at September 21, 2016 08:42 PM (j1Wvr)

27 I haven't yet read Non-Stop, but Orphans of the Sky is quite good.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 21, 2016 08:42 PM (2lndx)

28 NINETY YEARS TOO SOON...yeah that would pucker you right up.

Posted by: Rob in Katy at September 21, 2016 08:42 PM (w4YkT)

29 The Heinlein story was also adapted as an episode of 'X Minus One' radio show in '55, which is why I remembered it...

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 21, 2016 08:42 PM (g6yUI)

30 For some reason I am reminded of Snowpiercer.

Which I still haven't watched but have had it in my queue forever.

Posted by: no good deed at September 21, 2016 08:43 PM (/O5Ax)

31 I saw the "we woke up too early" plot line in that hit film...RocketMan, *sighs*.

Yeah, I was bored that day.

Posted by: Thrawn at September 21, 2016 08:43 PM (cC/ZB)

32 doctor who took this basic plotline (century ship) and put it on a planet with, IIRC, constantly-reincarnated fighters fighting a war that began so long in the past they've all forgotten why they're fighting at all.

There was an interesting TWIST to it, which I won't spoil.

Posted by: ace at September 21, 2016 08:43 PM (7Ny35)

33 For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 21, 2016 08:43 PM (rwI+c)

34 In the trailer they said 90 years not 9 years

Posted by: Alphabaker at September 21, 2016 08:43 PM (s+gIW)

35 Waking up,9 years early? Hope they have lots of ass wipe packed.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at September 21, 2016 08:43 PM (voOPb)

36 There was another century ship story in which the travelers awake coming close to their arrival at the new planet only to see another ship warp in front of them with people from earth that left decades after they did.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at September 21, 2016 08:44 PM (V3IFq)

37 I think I could kill 9 years with Jennifer Lawrence...well ok, 9 minutes...aright, aright, 9 seconds.

Posted by: gebrauchshund at September 21, 2016 08:44 PM (PlgOo)

38 Waking up,9 years early

Good thing there was plenty of meat in the freezers.

wait ...

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 21, 2016 08:45 PM (rwI+c)

39 Yep, we got to comment @4 before the Heinleinians (Hein-leiners!) threw in that correction. In the absence of any Wellsers (what a cruise that would be) or Verniacs, I think it's fair to say that it is Heinlein's world, and we are just cruising in it.

Yeah, I know he was "just a writer." But he wrote'n'wrote'n'wrote.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at September 21, 2016 08:45 PM (H5rtT)

40 >>>Waking up,9 years early? Hope they have lots of ass wipe packed.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at September 21, 2016 08:43 PM (voOPb)
Sci Fi really has not addressed the crucial issue of what advances have been made in ass wiping technology.

Posted by: Banana Splits Guy at September 21, 2016 08:45 PM (mNS8n)

41 Nine, would just be like a bad marriage...

Posted by: Rob in Katy at September 21, 2016 08:45 PM (w4YkT)

42 The three shells.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 21, 2016 08:45 PM (rwI+c)

43 Jim Ward's rpg Metamorphosis Alpha was based on this idea, too. MA heavily inspired Gamma World.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 21, 2016 08:45 PM (2lndx)

44 We can get generations to keep our American experiment going intact. No way we can pull it off in space.

Posted by: josephistan at September 21, 2016 08:46 PM (7qAYi)

45 David Gerrold covered that in his Star Trek novel, "The Galactic Whirlpool." It was a lost L5 colony that gave itself engines and went flying off into deep space. It was in the Dark Days before The Motion Picture, but a fun read. Lots of great diversions, including the time Kirk surrendered the entire Federation to Emperor MacMurray. (He'd been an explorer who settled on a planet he named Noah, because it had three suns. The suns he named after his three cats -- Signpost, Shadow, and Fred.)

Posted by: Jenos Idanian at September 21, 2016 08:46 PM (xFoH/)

46 Don't worry this is totally original.

For instance, we have a wise ass, talking weasel who pilots the Century ship.

Oh, oh, and we also have an anthropomorphic steel-toed workboot that goes around repeating a single phrase -- "I am boot." -- but see, it means al sorts of different things in context, and everybody finds it hilarious!.

Posted by: the makers of Passengers at September 21, 2016 08:46 PM (H9MG5)

47 Sci Fi really has not addressed the crucial issue of what advances have been made in ass wiping technology.
Posted by: Banana Splits Guy at September 21, 2016 08:45 PM (mNS8n)

Ahahahaha, he doesn't know how to use the 3 sea shells!

Posted by: Rob Schneider at September 21, 2016 08:46 PM (cC/ZB)

48 Ace, since that's your favorite problem, you should really check out Hugh Howey's Silo series (aka Wool). It's not spacey science fiction, but it's great at pacing out huge revelations.

Douglas Adam's Mostly Harmless (the conclusion of the Hitchhiker's Guide series) does that trope, too, but the result is the series ends on a very down note.

Posted by: red sweater at September 21, 2016 08:46 PM (IMo04)

49 g'early evenin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at September 21, 2016 08:46 PM (KCxzN)

50 Jennifer Lawrence got $20M and 30% of profits for Passengers.

You go girl.

Posted by: Walter Freeman at September 21, 2016 08:47 PM (21hN3)

51 No one remembers The Starlost?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069638

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at September 21, 2016 08:47 PM (IqV8l)

52 44 - CAN'T not "can." Big difference.

Posted by: josephistan at September 21, 2016 08:47 PM (7qAYi)

53 If it's got Chris Pratt, it's definitely something.

Posted by: sinalco the deplorable powering through at September 21, 2016 08:47 PM (yODqO)

54 RE: Passengers

Please don't suck.

Please don't suck.

Please don't suck.

Posted by: alexthechick - I control the vertical at September 21, 2016 08:47 PM (dEQP3)

55 Nine years in a ship with lefty-moonbat Lawrence.

How big is this boat?

Posted by: cicero Kaboom! kid at September 21, 2016 08:47 PM (tRRKo)

56 Is there some reason that Gateway and the Heechee series has not been screenplayed?

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 21, 2016 08:47 PM (rwI+c)

57 I thought it was that they were woken up 90 years too soon, not 9

Posted by: gman at September 21, 2016 08:48 PM (88jLm)

58 Nine years in a ship with lefty-moonbat Lawrence.

How big is this boat?

Posted by: cicero Kaboom!

----

You're gonna need a bigger boat.

Posted by: RKae at September 21, 2016 08:48 PM (i+OYT)

59 There was a movie called Pandemonium, or something like that. It was okay, produced by Paul W.S. Anderson which should tell you everything you need to know.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at September 21, 2016 08:48 PM (AroJD)

60 No one remembers The Starlost?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069638



I have the entire series torrented. And in honesty, I kind of quit watching after the 4th episode.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 21, 2016 08:48 PM (rwI+c)

61 No one remembers The Starlost?

That is the sloooooooooowest show I think I've ever seen.

With the production values of a Canadian sitcom.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 21, 2016 08:48 PM (g6yUI)

62 There a book by Greg Bear called Hull 03 that I like.

It's modern (2010) version of that Generation Ship genre.

I can't exactly recommend because it's very strange and probably has narrow appeal.

Posted by: eleven at September 21, 2016 08:49 PM (qUNWi)

63 Oops, sorry, shoulda read the comments. And I got the title wrong.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at September 21, 2016 08:49 PM (AroJD)

64 90 years fellas, not 9. Much different scenario. I'll probably see this, I like Pratt and Lawrence.

Posted by: Steven S. at September 21, 2016 08:49 PM (iYydO)

65 Jennifer Lawrence? I'm stuck on a ship alone with her for nine years? I can tell you how I'd spend about 3 minutes every few days!

Posted by: Weasel at September 21, 2016 08:50 PM (Sfs6o)

66 >>>43 Jim Ward's rpg Metamorphosis Alpha was based on this idea, too. MA heavily inspired Gamma World.

hah, i know, that's how I ended up saying Aldiss' novel was the first -- I looked up Metamorphosis Alpha to see what book that ripped of and saw it was "Non-Stop."

Posted by: ace at September 21, 2016 08:50 PM (7Ny35)

67 Here's an idea. A Century Ship heads for the second star from the right. The crew are all volunteers & are all in for the Big Mission, to live & die on a spaceship. Their kids are OK, not as gung ho as the parents, but still keep on with it. But each generation gets further & further removed from the Big Mission & they devolve, as people will, into Tribes until you get a civil war in a spaceship.

Posted by: josephistan at September 21, 2016 08:50 PM (7qAYi)

68 Hasn't it been noted several times around here that Jennifer Lawrence is a major league asshole? Just getting that out there to tone down the enfappening.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at September 21, 2016 08:51 PM (H5rtT)

69 59 There was a movie called Pandemonium, or something like that. It was okay, produced by Paul W.S. Anderson which should tell you everything you need to know.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at September 21, 2016 08:48 PM (AroJD)

So Milla Jovovich had a huge role in it?

Posted by: Rob Schneider at September 21, 2016 08:51 PM (cC/ZB)

70 Jennifer Lawrence?

At least Anne Hathaway does butt stuff.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 21, 2016 08:51 PM (g6yUI)

71 >>>Ace, since that's your favorite problem, you should really check out Hugh Howey's Silo series (aka Wool). It's not spacey science fiction, but it's great at pacing out huge revelations.

i gave the first one a shot -- I was kinda bored and did not feel inspired to read the others.

Posted by: ace at September 21, 2016 08:51 PM (7Ny35)

72 68 Hasn't it been noted several times around here that Jennifer Lawrence is a major league asshole? Just getting that out there to tone down the enfappening.
Posted by: Stringer Davis at September 21, 2016 08:51 PM (H5rtT)
-------------
Oh. Guess I just got my 3 minutes back.

Posted by: Weasel at September 21, 2016 08:52 PM (Sfs6o)

73
Wasn't "Rendezvous With Rama" sort of along the lines of a century ship?

Also, there was an episode from season 1 of "Space:1999" that had that idea. "Misson of the Darians."

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at September 21, 2016 08:52 PM (9P3OG)

74 $20M? Anyone ask her for her views on income inequality?

Posted by: Kodos the Irredemably Deplorable at September 21, 2016 08:52 PM (p19eY)

75 Nine years of sexual tension with J. Law.

How is this a problem?

Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 08:53 PM (Wd0WT)

76 The trailer looks interesting.

Posted by: rickl the deplorable at September 21, 2016 08:53 PM (sdi6R)

77 So J-Law will be making the sammiches, right?

Posted by: josephistan at September 21, 2016 08:53 PM (7qAYi)

78 This movie looks SOOOOOO boring and I love Sci Fi.

Posted by: Max Power at September 21, 2016 08:53 PM (q177U)

79 I hate it when he says "Eh" or "Meh." It a B.S. douchebag affectation.

Posted by: Stay Golden Ponyboy at September 21, 2016 08:53 PM (znChc)

80 >I looked up Metamorphosis Alpha to see what book
>that ripped of and saw it was "Non-Stop."

If you've actually played or just read MA, you're definitely going to find Orphans of the Sky familiar. I know he doesn't say it influenced him, but there are strong similarities.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 21, 2016 08:53 PM (2lndx)

81 Ace, there has already been a pretty good movie about this subject called Pandorum. Try watching that. It's pretty good and pretty creepy. Not great, but good.
Posted by: John J at September 21, 2016 08:38 PM (TZXEx)



That's a good potboiler that is better than it should be because you have Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster fighting to the death over who can see the most scenery.

That's a compliment by the by.

Posted by: alexthechick - I control the vertical at September 21, 2016 08:54 PM (dEQP3)

82 79 I hate it when he says "Eh" or "Meh." It a B.S. douchebag affectation.
Posted by: Stay Golden Ponyboy at September 21, 2016 08:53 PM (znChc)


Jew-boy sez, stay away from "feh" if you know what's good for you.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at September 21, 2016 08:54 PM (9P3OG)

83 Rama wasn't inhabited, except maybe by machines.


And yes, 'Mission of the Darians' would qualify...

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 21, 2016 08:55 PM (g6yUI)

84 Here's the TWIST...

They're dead the whole time or they're insane and the spaceship journey is a shared hallucination.

Posted by: M. Night Shyamalan at September 21, 2016 08:55 PM (cC/ZB)

85 I'm reading Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson which is about a century ship where everything goes all to hell because there's no real law enforcement mechanism. It's not great, but not bad either.

Posted by: Xander Crews at September 21, 2016 08:55 PM (1qMH6)

86 >>>Just getting that out there to tone down the enfappening.

Eh, my bunk does not discriminate over politics.

Posted by: wooga at September 21, 2016 08:55 PM (V08/T)

87 Spoiler alert - The whole thing was just imagined by an autistic child.

Posted by: josephistan at September 21, 2016 08:56 PM (7qAYi)

88 Gotta admit it looks pretty good outside of the phoney wooing and romance shit.

Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 08:56 PM (Wd0WT)

89 i gave the first one a shot -- I was kinda bored and did not feel inspired to read the others.

Posted by: ace at September 21, 2016 08:51 PM (7Ny35)


Oh, fair enough. The short story beginning hooked me hard, and so I may have been more willing to stick with it to the end. Plus, I had a coworker I was next to all day long at work who was really into it, so we could talk about it to pass the time.

Posted by: red sweater at September 21, 2016 08:56 PM (IMo04)

90 Sigh. Chew. Chew the most scenery.

I need more booze.


SciFi did Ascension which has an interesting take on the Century Ship idea.

Posted by: alexthechick - I control the vertical at September 21, 2016 08:56 PM (dEQP3)

91 Jennifer Lawrence Hope Soloed the world and now I can't for think of one good reason why she doesn't have a gold medal.

Posted by: Fritz at September 21, 2016 08:57 PM (wOc4Q)

92 Didn't the rather annoying flick "WALL-E" have this idea?

Posted by: Curmudgeon at September 21, 2016 08:57 PM (hSD8y)

93 81 Ace, there has already been a pretty good movie about this subject called Pandorum. Try watching that. It's pretty good and pretty creepy. Not great, but good.
Posted by: John J at September 21, 2016 08:38 PM (TZXEx)


That's a good potboiler that is better than it should be because you have Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster fighting to the death over who can see the most scenery.

That's a compliment by the by.

Posted by: alexthechick - I control the vertical at September 21, 2016 08:54 PM (

Kinda liked AIR myself.

Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 08:57 PM (Wd0WT)

94 >>>Eh, my bunk does not discriminate over politics.

Posted by: wooga at September 21, 2016 08:55 PM (V08/T)

I AGREE

Posted by: Banana Splits Guy at September 21, 2016 08:57 PM (7h4Fr)

95 84 Here's the TWIST...

They're dead the whole time or they're insane and the spaceship journey is a shared hallucination.
Posted by: M. Night Shyamalan at September 21, 2016 08:55 PM (cC/ZB)


Talks right into the camera at the audience:

"I see . . . suckers."

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at September 21, 2016 08:57 PM (9P3OG)

96 3 minutes?

What to do with the other two minutes, 45 seconds?

Posted by: Anon a mouse... at September 21, 2016 08:58 PM (C9pBZ)

97 They're dead the whole time or they're insane and the spaceship journey is a shared hallucination.

Ridiculous. How about the computers have rebelled and are keeping the crew in a communal hypersleep to use them as batteries.

Eh? Eh? Never saw that coming, right?

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 21, 2016 08:58 PM (rwI+c)

98 84 Here's the TWIST...

They're dead the whole time or they're insane and the spaceship journey is a shared hallucination.
Posted by: M. Night Shyamalan at September 21, 2016 08:55 PM (cC/ZB)

Dude. Get out. Just go.

Posted by: sinalco the deplorable powering through at September 21, 2016 08:58 PM (yODqO)

99 @55: "Nine years in a ship with lefty-moonbat Lawrence.



How big is this boat?"

You're on the boat alone with her. It's not like you're going to have to hide her body from yourself after she gets on your nerves.

Posted by: FaCubeItches at September 21, 2016 08:59 PM (rznWS)

100 "Passengers" sounds vaguely like a story from an old "Tales From the Crypt" comic book. Only probably not nearly as fun.

Posted by: Ex-liberal at September 21, 2016 08:59 PM (gsdjp)

101 Actually, if its as good as the trailer I might break my ban of watching a movie at the theater. I think all of the early great SciFi writers had story lines that spanned several books covering this type of story.

Posted by: Gmac- 'All politics in this country now is dress-rehearsal for civil war' at September 21, 2016 08:59 PM (t8sCk)

102 87,
Elsewhere..

Posted by: Anon a mouse... at September 21, 2016 08:59 PM (C9pBZ)

103 >>>The short story beginning hooked me hard, and so I may have been more willing to stick with it to the end.

wasn't the twist that there was no twist?

Posted by: ace at September 21, 2016 08:59 PM (7Ny35)

104 There was a - people asleep, not sure where to land - story.

The computer is checking off a list of pre-programmed exoplanets.

But, certain planets, when discovered are in between the 'No Way in Hell' and the 'Yeah, Verily' parameters, a human - a clone of the ship's captain - is woken up to make the decision to stay or keep searching.

So far 6 (?) 'Nuh uhs'. Clone 7 discovers the bodies & their logs. Each captain has a choice. To wake up a clone of his wife or let her sleep.

Posted by: Adriane the Cynical SciFi Critic ... at September 21, 2016 08:59 PM (AoK0a)

105 You know, at 68 I'd take a gamble on a century to get off this rock. Cause it's getting pretty dicey here.

Posted by: Eromero at September 21, 2016 08:59 PM (zLDYs)

106 Spoiler Alert: Chris Pratt is a AI Robot and there are others awake on the ship.

See Prometheus.

Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 09:00 PM (Wd0WT)

107 Charlotte, thugs shooting each other, as usual, but now downtown during a "protest", aka attempt to riot.




Posted by: Nip Sip at September 21, 2016 09:01 PM (NbJXF)

108 JSYK: Passengers was a 2007 Black List (best unpurchased screenplay) winner. There's a PDF of the original script floating around the net if you look around.

Posted by: Walter Freeman at September 21, 2016 09:01 PM (21hN3)

109 I bet Chris Pratt is the sixth clone of himself or something

Posted by: Sam Rockwell at September 21, 2016 09:01 PM (7Ny35)

110 @70: "At least Anne Hathaway does butt stuff."

Son, all girls do butt stuff.

Posted by: Bill Cosby & Roman Polanski at September 21, 2016 09:02 PM (rznWS)

111 I remember "The Starlost." Well, I remember Harlan Ellison's shrieking complaints about how badly the producers butchered it. I think he may have had a point -- the pilot's title (Ellison always had a great way with titles) was changed from "Phoenix Without Ashes" to "Voyage of Discovery." Eek.

Also, surely this group remembers the fantastic MST3K episode that featured "Space Mutiny"!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vb2U89EJG4

Posted by: Sausage McMuffin at September 21, 2016 09:02 PM (T9DQN)

112 There's a PDF of the original script floating around the net if you look around.
Posted by: Walter Freeman at September 21, 2016 09:01 PM (21hN3)



I wonder if they're going to go with the original story as to why both Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence are awake.

Posted by: alexthechick - I control the vertical at September 21, 2016 09:02 PM (dEQP3)

113 'What to do with the other two minutes, 45 seconds?'

Enough time for a sandwich?

Posted by: freaked at September 21, 2016 09:03 PM (BO/km)

114 O/T but DAMN I hate Microsoft now....and I used to be mostly neutral.



I had an old RiskII CD I wanted to reinstall on the computer. It wouldn't install. The only option when running the installer was to uninstall everything even when the game was already uninstalled.


Tried compatibility modes. Nothing.



A search finally turned up a thread in a Microsoft forum about a "Security Update" which rendered old games like mine unplayable. I found and uninstalled that one update and the game plays fine now.



Microsoft lost me with trying to force me onto Windows 10. I have a lot of video editing I'm going to need to do so I guess my next computer is going to have to be Apple.



Bastards...bastards all around...

Posted by: Stateless Infidel at September 21, 2016 09:03 PM (MHGhr)

115 >>>>There was a - people asleep, not sure where to land - story.

The computer is checking off a list of pre-programmed exoplanets.

But, certain planets, when discovered are in between the 'No Way in Hell' and the 'Yeah, Verily' parameters, a human - a clone of the ship's captain - is woken up to make the decision to stay or keep searching.

So far 6 (?) 'Nuh uhs'. Clone 7 discovers the bodies & their logs. Each captain has a choice. To wake up a clone of his wife or let her sleep.

...

sounds just like a Doctor Who last season I was impressed by, yet it turns out to have been... a ripoff.

Posted by: ace at September 21, 2016 09:03 PM (7Ny35)

116 Charlotte is working out nicely.

Posted by: Soros at September 21, 2016 09:03 PM (9mTYi)

117 Not sci-fi, but it IS a movie. Saw this over the weekend. 3rd movie of the Robert Duvall trilogy.

Duvall says it's the last of the 3, Lonesome Dove, Open Range, and Broken Trail.

You simply cannot go wrong with the man.

Posted by: irongrampa at September 21, 2016 09:03 PM (X35Yt)

118 BTW, Heinlein's take is better than Aldiss'. At least I thought so. "Non-stop" is very -- I don't want to say dated, because Heinlein's take is also dated. But it's very much "of its time," whereas Heinlein's is more timeless.

If you like this theme, there's also Gene Wolfe's "Long Sun" books...

Posted by: Ex-liberal at September 21, 2016 09:04 PM (gsdjp)

119 Ace, there's an awful riot going on in Charlotte, NC right now.

Posted by: Jane D'oh, Proud Deplorable at September 21, 2016 09:04 PM (1ZOkK)

120 I only do sci-fi these days as audiobooks, and not a lot of it, so if anyone has recommendations I'd love them but I don't have anything to contribute.

Posted by: JEM at September 21, 2016 09:04 PM (TppKb)

121 This is really nothing more than the same shit that happens during the CIAA basketball tournament.


CIAA, use to state for Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association, now it's the "Central".



Usually at least 4 or 5 get shot during that "tournament", which the democrat city gives $500,000 to have in the city.

Posted by: Nip Sip at September 21, 2016 09:04 PM (NbJXF)

122 Fuckin' "birthmark" stories! "Oh, he's special! Save the special child!"

No. Sorry. No one is special. No one is "born to" anything.

I'm talkin' to you, Harry Fuckin' Potter.
Posted by: RKae at September 21, 2016 08:40 PM (i+OYT)

I hate those movies.

Posted by: Damien Thorn at September 21, 2016 09:05 PM (Om16U)

123 'Also, surely this group remembers the fantastic MST3K episode that featured "Space Mutiny"! '

Is that the one that the inside of the ship looked like if was filmed in an old chemical plant? Lots of railings to fall over?

Posted by: freaked at September 21, 2016 09:05 PM (BO/km)

124 Ever notice we have a lot of "science fiction" movies without one genuine trope of science-fiction, other than "In the future, all people will fight with robots and armored vilians a lot? And also, a Chosen One will have SuperPowers of some kind?"


Hmmm. Where did they ever come up with that sort of formula?

Posted by: Hercules at September 21, 2016 09:05 PM (z/Ubi)

125 124 Ever notice we have a lot of "science fiction" movies without one genuine trope of science-fiction, other than "In the future, all people will fight with robots and armored vilians a lot? And also, a Chosen One will have SuperPowers of some kind?"


Hmmm. Where did they ever come up with that sort of formula?

Posted by: Hercules at September 21, 2016 09:05 PM (z/Ubi)



Don't know. Must be a pretty new idea.

Posted by: Beowulf at September 21, 2016 09:05 PM (z/Ubi)

126 123 'Also, surely this group remembers the fantastic MST3K episode that featured "Space Mutiny"! '

Is that the one that the inside of the ship looked like if was filmed in an old chemical plant? Lots of railings to fall over?
Posted by: freaked at September 21, 2016 09:05 PM (BO/km)

That's the one. "Railing kill!"

Posted by: Sausage McMuffin at September 21, 2016 09:06 PM (T9DQN)

127 Protesting does not look good, praying for the police right now.

Posted by: spypeach at September 21, 2016 09:06 PM (nyYhO)

128 Alistair Reynolds writes excellent science fiction tha revolves around Century Ships. Also, Robert Reed. I highly recommend them both.

Posted by: tubal at September 21, 2016 09:06 PM (d6TTt)

129 The reporters seem confused about the definition of 'protester' vs. 'rioter'

Posted by: Mike Hammer at September 21, 2016 09:06 PM (9mTYi)

130 Ace, there's an awful riot going on in Charlotte, NC right now.

A whole bunch of trannies that really, really need to pee?

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 21, 2016 09:06 PM (g6yUI)

131 @93: "Kinda liked AIR myself."

Screw you, pal.

Posted by: Jessica Savitch at September 21, 2016 09:06 PM (rznWS)

132 So what's the over/under on CarBQues during tonight's riot?

Posted by: weft cut-loop at September 21, 2016 09:07 PM (V3IFq)

133 >>>56 Is there some reason that Gateway and the Heechee series has not been screenplayed?

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 21, 2016 08:47 PM (rwI+c)<<<

Dude, prayer fans would look AWESOME with lots and lots of lens flares!!

Then again, what wouldn't?

Posted by: J.J. Abrams at September 21, 2016 09:07 PM (jV8Mq)

134 111 - Also, surely this group remembers the fantastic MST3K episode that featured "Space Mutiny"!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vb2U89EJG4
Posted by: Sausage McMuffin at September 21, 2016 09:02 PM (T9DQN)

Rip Steakface!

Posted by: josephistan at September 21, 2016 09:07 PM (7qAYi)

135 Oh, what was that generation ship SF novel which had the original teletubbies in them? 60s or 70s

Posted by: Damien Thorn at September 21, 2016 09:07 PM (Om16U)

136 I wonder if the stars of this movie are Progressive lunatics?

Posted by: tubal at September 21, 2016 09:07 PM (d6TTt)

137 Ace, did you watch Ascension? That 4-5 part mini-series on Sy-Fy that was about a generation ship, but um not exactly.

Its available on Netflix.

Posted by: buzzion at September 21, 2016 09:07 PM (z/Ubi)

138 >> Ace, there's an awful riot going on in Charlotte, NC
>> right now.

It's not on Drudge, it's not on FoxNews, so I guess it's not happening.

(the above is sarcasm. trolls not understanding the concept https://goo.gl/ji19Q)

Posted by: JEM at September 21, 2016 09:07 PM (TppKb)

139 Jane, it's not a big deal, just the usual thugs looking for a fight. Like I said, 50% Black Youth unemployment means a lot of thugs with nothing to do.




They have bused in hundreds of "protesters" from Durham and Raleigh.



Downtown at night has turned into pretty much thug city every night.

Posted by: Nip Sip at September 21, 2016 09:07 PM (NbJXF)

140
I had an idea for a Century Ship plot where several hundred ships had launched before FTL drives were invented. Then, the big thing was search and rescue ops to find the old C ships, retrofit them and jump them to their destination (which had already been built up over decades of work).

The main plot though was kind of noir-ish. An S and R crew finds one quite by accident, but everyone's dead on board, even in the suspended animation pods. Because decades before, some assholes followed the ship, took it over and looted all the fuel cells before abandoning it on it's normal trajectory. Problems arise when the S and R crew start stabbing each other in the back out of greed for what they find on board.

Then I realized, the story I was working out was kind of a rip-off of Ghost Ship. Shit.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at September 21, 2016 09:07 PM (LuZz8)

141 Ace, there's an awful riot going on in Charlotte, NC right now.

Stay safe, horde & friends ...

Posted by: Adriane the Cynical SciFi Critic ... at September 21, 2016 09:07 PM (AoK0a)

142 Add a couple more twists and you have Dark City.

Posted by: Mr Book at September 21, 2016 09:07 PM (XoldI)

143 Off anti-Christ sock

Posted by: Deplorable @votermom at September 21, 2016 09:08 PM (Om16U)

144 What are they rioting about? Is this the one about the guy with the bible, I mean gun?

Posted by: freaked at September 21, 2016 09:08 PM (BO/km)

145 Nip - Are you showing your underwear? Seems to be a trend down there.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at September 21, 2016 09:08 PM (9mTYi)

146 This women has to be on PCP.

Posted by: Nip Sip at September 21, 2016 09:08 PM (NbJXF)

147 Duvall says it's the last of the 3, Lonesome Dove, Open Range, and Broken Trail.

That damn Lonesome Dove and Duvall are at the top of my list of westerns. I agree irongrandpa.

Posted by: dartist at September 21, 2016 09:09 PM (3zi7q)

148 @106: "See Prometheus."

Do we hafta?

Posted by: FaCubeItches at September 21, 2016 09:09 PM (rznWS)

149 J Law peaked with Silver Linings Playbook.

I've never seen a 22 year old girl Hit The Wall before. But she did

And Chris Pratt looks like he has had molti pastici surgerichi.

Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 09:09 PM (Wd0WT)

150 145
Nip - Are you showing your underwear? Seems to be a trend down there.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at September 21, 2016 09:08 PM (9mTYi)

Pent up tranny hate is really ugly.

Posted by: Nip Sip at September 21, 2016 09:09 PM (NbJXF)

151 there's an awful riot going on in Charlotte, NC

zzzzz...

Posted by: Hillary! at September 21, 2016 09:09 PM (oFSUK)

152 Heh. Fox reporter about to be attacked.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at September 21, 2016 09:09 PM (9mTYi)

153 Wait, it's not Chris Pratt and Jennifer Laurence that are dead...

It's the ship that's dead.

What a TWIST!

Posted by: M. Night Shyamalan at September 21, 2016 09:09 PM (cC/ZB)

154 Awful riots in Charlotte? Le sigh. I guess it's something we'll just have to learn to accept as part of everyday life.
(Taken from the sayings of the Mayor of London).

So get with the program, dhimmis!

Posted by: tubal at September 21, 2016 09:10 PM (d6TTt)

155 For those of you looking for new, harder sci fi, I definitely recommend the novel "Corsair" and (even though it has a few dull lib-tropes) the Expanse series. The former is set 15 minutes into the future and is a little thriller-y. The latter is the hardest science fiction that's ever made it to TV.*

*Watching TV and movies is still gay.

Posted by: fightwinger at September 21, 2016 09:10 PM (KIzm1)

156 SF Chronicle (yeah, okay) has something Charlotte-related at the top:

https://goo.gl/dCZdrK

Posted by: JEM at September 21, 2016 09:10 PM (TppKb)

157 Heh. Fox reporter about to be attacked.

Please let it be Geraldo.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 21, 2016 09:10 PM (g6yUI)

158 Pent up tranny hate is really ugly.
Posted by: Nip Sip
------------

No kidding. I've been looking for a girls room for thirty minutes.

Posted by: Tranny at September 21, 2016 09:10 PM (9mTYi)

159 Charlotte is going tits up tonight. Turn to Kelly File. I'd advise the reporters to GTFO while they still can.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at September 21, 2016 09:11 PM (SEXy3)

160 "For some reason I am reminded of Snowpiercer.


Which I still haven't watched but have had it in my queue forever"

Keep it there. That's about 20 minutes of my life that I would like back. Don't even get me started on the delusional "life is a zero sum game" politics of this incredibly annoying movie.



Posted by: John J at September 21, 2016 09:11 PM (TZXEx)

161 Kelly is saying that "This is your version" to the BLACK chef of police who has seen the video.


She has turned into a race baiter

Posted by: Nip Sip at September 21, 2016 09:12 PM (NbJXF)

162 Philip K. Dick did a good one called A Maze Of Death.

Posted by: EmpireHasNoClothes at September 21, 2016 09:12 PM (ve0bY)

163 I'd advise the reporters to GTFO while they still can.

Yeah, that is scary. That chick was acting like the media shot a protester in the street.

Posted by: no good deed at September 21, 2016 09:12 PM (/O5Ax)

164 >> (Taken from the sayings of the Mayor of London).

That's 'Londonistan', kuffar.

Posted by: JEM at September 21, 2016 09:12 PM (TppKb)

165 Apparently the youth of Charlotte did *NOT* like this trailer.

Posted by: eleven at September 21, 2016 09:12 PM (qUNWi)

166 OOOOoo. There goes some C4 gas...

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 21, 2016 09:12 PM (9mTYi)

167 Ace, I love you, but there's a war going on in Charlotte, NC tonight.

I'm waaaay down in Georgia, but would appreciate the same sort of coverage NYC gets.

Posted by: Jane D'oh, Proud Deplorable at September 21, 2016 09:13 PM (1ZOkK)

168 Alastair Reynolds had a subplot about Century Ships. Three ships were sent to the same planet. After a century and more, each ship's crew devolved into a tribe. One of the ships tossed out a third of its crew and their supplies, IIRC, so it got to the planet first and set itself up as its aristocracy. The other ships, when they arrived, had to suck it up and be the first ship's slaves.

"Chasm City" was the book.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 21, 2016 09:13 PM (6FqZa)

169 "Nobody strands me on a spaceship for a hundred years. I work for the New Yorker. I'll write an expose so hot you'll need oven mitts to read it. Trust me."

She sounds like Trump.

Posted by: Walter Freeman at September 21, 2016 09:13 PM (21hN3)

170 Chief of police is bitch slapping Kelly and her baiting.



She is embarrassing.

Posted by: Nip Sip at September 21, 2016 09:14 PM (NbJXF)

171 Well, Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence are rectifying that in the new movie Passengers, in which, get thisl there's a problem with the Century ship, and they alone are awoken out of suspended animation 9 years too early, and now have to kill nine years before their arrival.

Only *nine* years too early? Is that all? That's nothing. Heck, I could do 9 years standing on my head.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 21, 2016 09:14 PM (kPGdd)

172 Beowulf? Hercules?

Puleese.

Posted by: Shri Krishna at September 21, 2016 09:14 PM (C9pBZ)

173 160 "For some reason I am reminded of Snowpiercer.


Which I still haven't watched but have had it in my queue forever"

Keep it there. That's about 20 minutes of my life that I would like back. Don't even get me started on the delusional "life is a zero sum game" politics of this incredibly annoying movie.



Posted by: John J at September 21, 2016 09:11 PM (TZXEx)

I enjoyed Snowpiercer. Watched it 3 times.

Hoping for a sequel or a prequel.

Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 09:14 PM (Wd0WT)

174 >> Charlotte is going tits up tonight.

So in other words a significant chunk of Charlotte wishes to be Kandahar.

Posted by: JEM at September 21, 2016 09:14 PM (TppKb)

175 Since the thugs consider themselves Taliban sympathizers, treat them as such.

Posted by: Jane D'oh, Proud Deplorable at September 21, 2016 09:14 PM (1ZOkK)

176 Looting for justice has begun.

Posted by: no good deed at September 21, 2016 09:14 PM (/O5Ax)

177 "I've never seen a 22 year old girl Hit The Wall before. But she did"


Was this before or after 'the fappening'?

Posted by: cicero Kaboom! kid at September 21, 2016 09:15 PM (tRRKo)

178 Any links to a stream in Charlotte?

Posted by: dartist at September 21, 2016 09:15 PM (3zi7q)

179 they alone are awoken out of suspended animation 9 years too early, and now have to kill nine years before their arrival.


--------

ace,

I believe that is sixty years too early . Not nine.


Loose shit.



Posted by: Mortimer, deplorable at September 21, 2016 09:15 PM (zu88C)

180 See Prometheus.

Are you painting a house? I'd rather watch that dry, given a choice.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 21, 2016 09:15 PM (6FqZa)

181 Chasm City" was the book.
Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 21, 2016 09:13 PM (6FqZa)

Reading it right now. Excellent. Highly recommend.

Side note, for science fiction lovers, Neal Asher is also outstanding.

Posted by: tubal at September 21, 2016 09:15 PM (d6TTt)

182 Race riot thread above top...


Or a riot thread....

Posted by: Stateless Infidel at September 21, 2016 09:15 PM (MHGhr)

183 They just smacked around the CNN reporter live on camera.

Posted by: Walter Freeman at September 21, 2016 09:15 PM (21hN3)

184 152 Heh. Fox reporter about to be attacked.
Posted by: Mike Hammer at September 21, 2016 09:09 PM (9mTYi)


D-Lamp is one of the rioters?

Posted by: rickl the deplorable at September 21, 2016 09:16 PM (sdi6R)

185 #BlackBehaviorMatters

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 21, 2016 09:16 PM (g6yUI)

186 Agreed that Snowpiercer was a stupid anti-hierarchy analogy, straight out of Bolshevik agitprop.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 21, 2016 09:16 PM (6FqZa)

187 Your movie idea sounds a little bit like Pandorum (2009).

Posted by: gastorgrab at September 21, 2016 09:16 PM (u6OFe)

188 153 Wait, it's not Chris Pratt and Jennifer Laurence that are dead...

It's the ship that's dead.

What a TWIST!
Posted by: M. Night Shyamalan at September 21, 2016 09:09 PM (cC/ZB)

The people who are asleep are communicating and attacking the ship with their pheromones.

Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 09:17 PM (Wd0WT)

189 "They just smacked around the CNN reporter live on camera."

So they've got some socially redeeming value after all.

Posted by: John J at September 21, 2016 09:17 PM (TZXEx)

190 livestream charlotte... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFvhipw3hIw

Posted by: Mr Book at September 21, 2016 09:17 PM (XoldI)

191 See Prometheus.

Are you painting a house? I'd rather watch that dry, given a choice.
Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 21, 2016 09:15 PM (6FqZa)

Word. That movie reeked. Hard to cram so much bad into two hours.

Posted by: tubal at September 21, 2016 09:17 PM (d6TTt)

192 America can absorb another riot.

Posted by: Kodos the Irredemably Deplorable at September 21, 2016 09:17 PM (dB1+n)

193 186 Agreed that Snowpiercer was a stupid anti-hierarchy analogy, straight out of Bolshevik agitprop.
Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 21, 2016 09:16 PM (6FqZa)

But it was colorful!!!1!1!

Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 09:18 PM (Wd0WT)

194 Since we have gotten the nation's ugliest mayor, http://tinyurl.com/zwswzml , a democrat, our racial love has blossomed.



Seems like the threat to protest in the "rich areas" was bull shit.



I guess I'll feed my dog some food instead of thug.

Posted by: Nip Sip at September 21, 2016 09:18 PM (NbJXF)

195
160
"For some reason I am reminded of Snowpiercer.




Which I still haven't watched but have had it in my queue forever"

Keep
it there. That's about 20 minutes of my life that I would like back.
Don't even get me started on the delusional "life is a zero sum game"
politics of this incredibly annoying movie.





Posted by: John J at September 21, 2016 09:11 PM (TZXEx)







The ending was pretty good. Well, the last scene. You know, where the girl and the kid emerge from the wreckage and see that there's life outside the train. Namely, the polar bear that almost certainly sprinted down after the end credits and ate them alive.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at September 21, 2016 09:18 PM (LuZz8)

196 Jane, I put up a Charlotte thread, but you're crazy if you think I'm just going to keep watching tv news and reprinting what everyone interested can see with their own eyes at 9:20 pm.

Posted by: ace at September 21, 2016 09:18 PM (7Ny35)

197 @112: "I wonder if they're going to go with the original story as to why both Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence are awake."

Judging by the trailer? Yup.

Posted by: Walter Freeman at September 21, 2016 09:19 PM (21hN3)

198 Pandorum's in the file of "underrated Paul Anderson movies" next to Event Horizon. (Although the fanbase of Event Horizon has since made that one overrated.)

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 21, 2016 09:19 PM (6FqZa)

199 191 See Prometheus.

Are you painting a house? I'd rather watch that dry, given a choice.
Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 21, 2016 09:15 PM (6FqZa)

Word. That movie reeked. Hard to cram so much bad into two hours.
Posted by: tubal at September 21, 2016 09:17 PM (d6TTt)

It's Better than Alien3.

Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 09:19 PM (Wd0WT)

200 Reports that someone was shot and killed outside the Ritz in Charlotte

Posted by: Shri Krishna at September 21, 2016 09:19 PM (C9pBZ)

201 Looting now.
They tried to push Harrigan but his body guard stepped in. They pushed CNN reported down, his body guard didn't do his job.

Posted by: gNewt....in the basket...forever censored at September 21, 2016 09:20 PM (GZRGf)

202 196 Jane, I put up a Charlotte thread, but you're crazy if you think I'm just going to keep watching tv news and reprinting what everyone interested can see with their own eyes at 9:20 pm.

Posted by: ace at September 21, 2016 09:18 PM (7Ny35)

Thanks for that. Seriously. That's what Drudge and WeaselZippers is for.

Posted by: tubal at September 21, 2016 09:20 PM (d6TTt)

203 It's Better than Alien3.
Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 09:19 PM (Wd0WT)

Well, yes. Banana Splits Guy hardest hit.

Posted by: tubal at September 21, 2016 09:20 PM (d6TTt)

204 Solaris with Clooney was totes Awesome!!!

Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 09:21 PM (Wd0WT)

205 67
Here's an idea. A Century Ship heads for the second star from the right.
The crew are all volunteers are all in for the Big Mission, to
live die on a spaceship. Their kids are OK, not as gung ho as the
parents, but still keep on with it. But each generation gets further
further removed from the Big Mission they devolve, as people
will, into Tribes until you get a civil war in a spaceship.

Posted by: josephistan at September 21, 2016 08:50 PM (7qAYi)


Then, one of the Tribes decides, "screw the Big Mission -- we'll import people from another space ship, give them stuff, and win popularity contests!!!"

Posted by: deplorable cthulhu at September 21, 2016 09:22 PM (EzgxV)

206
The Nostromo (of Alien) wasn't exactly a century ship, but it was probably a many-years ship, maybe a decade ship. Ripley was out there for 53 years before they picked her up for the sequel.

Posted by: iforgot says God bless Fleegle at September 21, 2016 09:22 PM (5o5ek)

207 Event Horizon isn't even SciFi, really. It's horror.

Pandorum is scifi.

Posted by: John J at September 21, 2016 09:22 PM (TZXEx)

208 Jane, I put up a Charlotte thread, but you're crazy if you think I'm just going to keep watching tv news and reprinting what everyone interested can see with their own eyes at 9:20 pm.

but, but, but ... they have Halloween masks on and $hit.


literally, protestor looks like a bad She-skeletor Cosplay...

Posted by: Adriane the Cynical SciFi Critic ... at September 21, 2016 09:22 PM (AoK0a)

209 I bet they wished it was nine years.

Nine with JLaw sounds pretty good.

Sixty?

Not so much.

Posted by: Mortimer, deplorable at September 21, 2016 09:22 PM (zu88C)

210 203 It's Better than Alien3.
Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 09:19 PM (Wd0WT)

Well, yes. Banana Splits Guy hardest hit.
Posted by: tubal at September 21, 2016 09:20 PM (d6TTt)



That was Alien Resurrection.

Posted by: buzzion at September 21, 2016 09:22 PM (z/Ubi)

211 I found Event Horizon to be faaaarrrrrr too bleak.


Zero redemption. Nothing to root for. No hope for anyone.

Err....wait...didn't one person survive?

Posted by: eleven at September 21, 2016 09:22 PM (qUNWi)

212 203 It's Better than Alien3.
Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 09:19 PM (Wd0WT)

Well, yes. Banana Splits Guy hardest hit.
Posted by: tubal at September 21, 2016 09:20 PM (d6TTt)

That would be Alien Resurrection, which is worse than Prometheus as well.

Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 09:23 PM (Wd0WT)

213 Oh man, I hated Event Horizon. I'm not a fan of Sam Neill.

Posted by: no good deed at September 21, 2016 09:23 PM (/O5Ax)

214 That was Alien Resurrection.
Posted by: buzzion at September 21, 2016 09:22 PM (z/Ubi)


Correct. My bad.

Posted by: tubal at September 21, 2016 09:23 PM (d6TTt)

215 The Nostromo got to the planet in 3 weeks.

Ripley only was on the lifeboat for 53 years by accident.

Posted by: John J at September 21, 2016 09:24 PM (TZXEx)

216 Alien3 had its moments...

and the Russian Solaris was like a slower-paced 2001

Posted by: Banana Splits Guy at September 21, 2016 09:24 PM (7h4Fr)

217 214 That was Alien Resurrection.
Posted by: buzzion at September 21, 2016 09:22 PM (z/Ubi)


Correct. My bad.
Posted by: tubal at September 21, 2016 09:23 PM (d6TTt)



No. They're bad. Both of them.

Posted by: buzzion at September 21, 2016 09:24 PM (z/Ubi)

218 >>>> Damien Thorn at September 21, 2016 09:05 PM (Om16U)<<<<<

If it wasn't for Jerry Goldsmith shouting "He's the devil!" every time Damien pops up on screen The Omen could just as easily be Gregory Peck's descent into madness. Nothing happens in that movie that can't be rationally explained.

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living at September 21, 2016 09:24 PM (x3uSY)

219 Solaris with Clooney was totes Awesome!!!


I'm probably alone but I liked it.

I'm fine with boring Sci Fi. That's my favorite kind. The stuff for the Comicon crowd is what's boring to me.

Posted by: eleven at September 21, 2016 09:24 PM (qUNWi)

220 Hey, Ace, since you're reading this thread I'd love to hit you up with a copy of my novel "A Place Outside The Wild" for your ereader. It's subversive sci-fi in that you don't know it's sci-fi until a certain point in the story.

Posted by: Emile Antoon Khadaji at September 21, 2016 09:24 PM (rvzMR)

221 It's Better than Alien3.

Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 09:19 PM (Wd0WT)


Now that's a bar that's set pretty low.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 21, 2016 09:24 PM (kPGdd)

222 Heck, I could do 9 years standing on my head.
Posted by: OregonMuse at September 21, 2016 09:14 PM (kPGdd)

9 year's WITH Jennifer Lawrence. That and a baseball to bounce of a bulkhead, and I'd be good.

Posted by: Jean at September 21, 2016 09:25 PM (ngn8T)

223 "Cities in Flight" is a multi-generational thing, but everyone's awake (and immortal). I read it when a kid and am enjoying re-reading it.

PS: It's four novels by James Blish.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at September 21, 2016 09:25 PM (AroJD)

224 That was from the trailer BTW.

Sixty years early.

The trip was supposed to take 90 years. So they woke up after 30 I guess.

Posted by: Mortimer, deplorable at September 21, 2016 09:25 PM (zu88C)

225 Ace,
Actually, I believe they were actually awakened 90 years too early and thus the "huge problem", or at least the first of them...

...meh, this is mostly a vehicle (pun intended) to get the two hottest stars to hook up in a movie.

My favorite story in this particular genre (forget the title) was about a group of people who leave earth in a suspended animation ship bound for an earth-like planet and then generations later, a second group leaves using wormhole-generating technology to get to this earth-like planet first and promptly enslave the "late arrivals". The most interesting aspect was that both groups consisted of all races and were divided along technological lines.

Posted by: SGT York at September 21, 2016 09:25 PM (ITvKk)

226
The Nostromo got to the planet in 3 weeks.
----------------

Shoulda known I'd run smack into a geek.

Well anyway, it was equipped to float around for 53 years.

Posted by: iforgot says God bless Fleegle at September 21, 2016 09:25 PM (5o5ek)

227 Hey, Ace, since you're reading this thread I'd love to hit you up with a copy of my novel "A Place Outside The Wild" for your ereader. It's subversive sci-fi in that you don't know it's sci-fi until a certain point in the story.
Posted by: Emile Antoon Khadaji at September 21, 2016 09:24 PM (rvzMR)


Oh great, give away a major plot point, would you?


Posted by: OregonMuse at September 21, 2016 09:25 PM (kPGdd)

228
Event Horizon isn't even SciFi, really. It's horror.

Yeah, I was expecting SciFi and was disappointed.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at September 21, 2016 09:27 PM (IqV8l)

229
211
I found Event Horizon to be faaaarrrrrr too bleak.





Zero redemption. Nothing to root for. No hope for anyone.



Err....wait...didn't one person survive?

Posted by: eleven at September 21, 2016 09:22 PM (qUNWi)







Two people. The guy who blew his air tank to get back to the ship during EVA.......and Vanessa Redgrave's kid.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at September 21, 2016 09:27 PM (LuZz8)

230 227 Oh great, give away a major plot point, would you?


Now all of the Horde readers are furiously paging back through what they've read already, trying to see what they missed.

Muahahahahahahah.

Posted by: Emile Antoon Khadaji at September 21, 2016 09:28 PM (rvzMR)

231 Most of the Science Fiction I love has not been, and probably never will be, made into movies.
That's not necessarily bad, because I'd rather not see stories I love turned into shiity movies.

Posted by: tubal at September 21, 2016 09:29 PM (d6TTt)

232 Most of the Science Fiction I love has not been, and probably never will be, made into movies.
That's not necessarily bad, because I'd rather not see stories I love turned into shiity movies.



X1000

LOTR is this for me.

Posted by: eleven at September 21, 2016 09:30 PM (qUNWi)

233 <<That's not necessarily bad, because I'd rather not see stories I love turned into shiity movies.>>

Rendezvous With Rama falls into that category for me. It wouldn't be hard to make into a movie, but because it is solely about exploration and the hazards that come with it, some idiot director would insist on punching up the story with fighting action.

Posted by: SGT York at September 21, 2016 09:31 PM (ITvKk)

234 Yeah this movie will be more feminist brainwashing wrapped in Sci Fi.

I'll pass.

Plus J Law has hit The Wall.

Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 09:32 PM (Wd0WT)

235 The Signal was a surprisingly good movie.

Posted by: Pepe, the Irredeemable at September 21, 2016 09:33 PM (Wd0WT)

236 Fred Saberhagen had an amusing take on the genre in one of his Berserker stories. Humans on a particular planet (not Earth - I don't recall if the story ever clarifies how the humans got there, or how their technology level declined to pre-space flight) come to the conclusion that FTL is impossible. So they build a giant colony sleeper ship - with the exception that there are two maintenance technicians who are intentionally left awake (one male, and one female; and procreation with an eye toward reproducing is one of their job tasks). One of the berserkers (AI warships that exist to wipe out all biological life) comes out of FTL near the colony ship, and sets the plot into motion.

After the Berserker is eventually defeated, one of the techs announces that they're going to turn the colony ship around, as the berserker has just proven that all of the scientists back home were wrong, and FTL is indeed possible, meaning that there's no need for the hoops that have to be jumped to get the colony ship and its cargo to its destination.

Posted by: junior at September 21, 2016 09:34 PM (nsZ+m)

237 Larry Correia makes fun of the Chosen One trope. In his Monster Hunter International books there are Chosen Ones all over the place. "Which apocalypse are you in for...?"

Posted by: Richard McEnroe at September 21, 2016 09:34 PM (Kucy5)

238 "The Starlost" is the first thing I thought of when reading this thread. It was mentioned a few times here already. Truly dreadful production values and bad writing doomed this series, but I never forgot it, just because the premise had so much potential.

I gave it a chance because Kier Dullea was in it, but it is pretty unwatchable by the standards of any decade.

Posted by: Deplorably Rusty Nail at September 21, 2016 09:34 PM (S2VsH)

239 We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.

Posted by: Don Q. at September 21, 2016 09:35 PM (qf6WZ)

240 231 232 Yeah, try to remember Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser being played by a couple of hot young millenials-with-an-edge.

Posted by: Richard McEnroe at September 21, 2016 09:36 PM (Kucy5)

241 @233 Rendezvous With Rama falls into that category for me. It wouldn't be hard to make into a movie, but because it is solely about exploration and the hazards that come with it, some idiot director would insist on punching up the story with fighting action.

-------------------

Because of that, the second and third books (which were horrible, imo) are probably much more likely targets of a movie.

Posted by: junior at September 21, 2016 09:36 PM (nsZ+m)

242 On the subject of generation ships, The Oceans are Wide is a cool story. The crew/colonists are organized along a caste system. It starts with a palace coup. The dying captain's son is displaced by his uncle and is sent into hiding among the orphans.

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living at September 21, 2016 09:37 PM (x3uSY)

243 Short story: "Starship day" (it's online). Well done.

Posted by: Malcolm Kirkpatrick at September 21, 2016 09:38 PM (IbUUZ)

244
178
Any links to a stream in Charlotte?


Posted by: dartist at September 21, 2016 09:15 PM (3zi7q)


Heh. I wonder what happened to that goofball in Oakland who did live reports from the middle of Occupy?

Posted by: deplorable cthulhu at September 21, 2016 09:39 PM (EzgxV)

245 <<Because of that, the second and third books (which were horrible, imo)>>

I didn't even bother with the third. Part Two was obviously written to make a buck or two and nothing more.

Posted by: SGT York at September 21, 2016 09:39 PM (ITvKk)

246 Peter F. Hamilton is a very good science fiction writer. He writes BIG books, but with good science, and as a bonus, good character development. Worth a look, along with Neal Asher, if you have not tried either of them.
(Pro Tip - If you have never read Asher, start with his Polity Books, NOT the Agent Cormac Series. Just my opinion.
Also, Asher is not, shall we say, a fan of religion. He's also not a fan of Socialism.
Both of these attitudes occasionally come out.)

Posted by: tubal at September 21, 2016 09:40 PM (d6TTt)

247 I recall a story from my youth that I read about a century ship (can't recall the title or author). Plot basically has two guys go into suspended animation for about 300 years to travel to Alpha Centauri. When they awaken, they find there's a civilization there - and they're from earth. Technology has progressed such that the same trip that took them 300 years can now be done in three hours.

The people there have been awaiting their arrival for decades. They're met at the spaceport dock by a few graduate students looking to get their degree in 'ancient earth culture'. The two guys basically are looked upon as 'oddities' since they have no concept of the basics of life in that time.

Posted by: Wamphyr at September 21, 2016 09:41 PM (Vf2lq)

248 Earthsearth Parts I and II is good. A radio drama from the BBC which covers a generation ship gone astray.

I've listened to it twice

Here's a link to part I:
http://tinyurl.com/h97utkr

Posted by: .86c at September 21, 2016 09:42 PM (APdPY)

249 another vote for The Long Sun books by Gene Wolfe. in fact, his New Sun, Long Sun and Short Sun books all take place in the same universe

Posted by: Bigby's Ouija Board at September 21, 2016 09:42 PM (U0lQa)

250 If I was stuck on a ship for 9 years with Jennifer Lawrence I know what the hell I'd be doing.

Her.

Anyways, I still want someone in hollywood to succumb to Games Workshop's draconion IP terms and conditions to make a genuinely great Warhammer 40,000 based scifi movie. The universe it just too great not to make a dumb popcorn-face-stuffing-fun-movie out of it.

Posted by: Defenestratus at September 21, 2016 09:45 PM (e8+zH)

251 IIRC there was a webmovie a few back with a few random strangers waking up on the ship totally WTF. They might have been getting chased by zombies also.

Posted by: DaveA at September 21, 2016 09:45 PM (8J/Te)

252 41 Set phasers on Charmin UltraSoft.

Posted by: Richard McEnroe at September 21, 2016 09:46 PM (Kucy5)

253 Posted by: Defenestratus at September 21, 2016 09:45 PM (e8+zH)

The Warhammer 40K Universe would make the SJW heads explode...

Just like Hammers Slammers...

And the Dorsai...

and John Henry Falkenburg's Legion...

or a CORRECT version of Starship Troopers...

Posted by: Don Q. at September 21, 2016 09:49 PM (qf6WZ)

254 Wamphyr,

I think that is an Asimov story but I don't recall the title.

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living at September 21, 2016 09:49 PM (x3uSY)

255 Heck I have in my stash an unfinished generation ship story. My first exposure was Fritz Leiber's 'Ship of Shadows' that won a Hugo when Hugos mattered.

Posted by: Anna Puma at September 21, 2016 09:52 PM (A73dY)

256 @84 Here's the TWIST...

They're dead the whole time or they're insane and the spaceship journey is a shared hallucination.
--------------------

Reminds me of a short story that Asimov wrote (found in 'I, Robot', iirc). A robot is tasked with coming up with figuring out a way to get two test pilots through a successful hyperspace jump. The robot comes up with a solution, but is a bit vague about some of the details. But this is Asimov, and his Three Laws are in play, so a drive is built based off of the robot's solution. After all, the drive must be perfectly safe.

The jump is performed, and the two test pilots have a shared "hallucination" that they've died and are in Hell while the test ship is in hyperspace.

At the end of the story, you learn that the hyperspace solution had essentially caused the two test pilots to cease to exist for the duration of the jump.

Posted by: junior at September 21, 2016 09:53 PM (nsZ+m)

257 @250 Anyways, I still want someone in hollywood to succumb to Games Workshop's draconion IP terms and conditions to make a genuinely great Warhammer 40,000 based scifi movie. The universe it just too great not to make a dumb popcorn-face-stuffing-fun-movie out of it.
-----------------

I've heard 'Event Horizon' described as a very good example of The Warp from WH40K.

Posted by: junior at September 21, 2016 09:55 PM (nsZ+m)

258 Anyways, I still want someone in hollywood to succumb to Games Workshop's draconion IP terms and conditions to make a genuinely great Warhammer 40,000 based scifi movie. The universe it just too great not to make a dumb popcorn-face-stuffing-fun-movie out of it.

They already made a movie based off of world of warcrap. Do we really need this?

Posted by: StrawMan at September 21, 2016 09:56 PM (lidp8)

259

Posted by: Wamphyr at September 21, 2016 09:41 PM (Vf2lq)
The short story is Far Centaurus by A.E. van Vogt. The protagonists towards the end of the story manage to travel back in time, arriving at the Earth they departed from in a future spacecraft.

Posted by: My Ridiculously Circuitous Plan at September 21, 2016 09:56 PM (EIB5Y)

260 I have an idea for a generation ship story that has the slight twist that they have to keep accelerating the whole time.

Not sure if I'll ever get around to writing it, but I like the basic idea behind it.

Posted by: .87c at September 21, 2016 09:56 PM (APdPY)

261 If you are interested in *spoilers*, this guy reviews the script back in 2009 when Keanu Reeves was attached to the project. It was then described as Sci-fi Dark Comedy.

http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com/2009/04/passengers.html

Posted by: The Narrative at September 21, 2016 09:56 PM (R+30W)

262 Ryk Brown wrote Arrival, about a century ship, well a colony ship arriving.

Also of note is his newest book, Escape, is available for preorder, 27th it hits the street.

Posted by: The irredeemable garbone at September 21, 2016 09:56 PM (9dH/8)

263 /sock

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at September 21, 2016 09:57 PM (R+30W)

264 Charlotte is about ready to have huge economic growth!!!!!

Posted by: Paul Krugman, former Enron Advisor at September 21, 2016 09:57 PM (1JnAL)

265
<<That's not necessarily bad, because I'd rather not see stories I love turned into shiity movies.>>

Rendezvous
With Rama falls into that category for me. It wouldn't be hard to make
into a movie, but because it is solely about exploration and the hazards
that come with it, some idiot director would insist on punching up the
story with fighting action.





Posted by: SGT York at September 21, 2016 09:31 PM


Yeah, I'm not sure I wanna see RWR turned into a movie. On the contrary, IMO, it would be incredibly hard to do.... to do well, that is. You'd need a gifted writer, for starters. There really isn't much in the way of dialogue, in the book, so you'd need a first rate adaptation that doesn't screw up the script. Secondly, RWR would require a Kubrick, or someone approaching him, talent wise to realise the book. The key to RWR is the visuals. Clark did a great job of conveying the awe inspiring spectacle of the story and it would need someone special to capture scenes. It wouldn't be enough to just bang out a script and CGI the shit out of it and say "done".

Posted by: otho at September 21, 2016 09:58 PM (lmIoG)

266 I found 3 anthologies - Universe 4 Terry Carr, Orbit 10 - Damon Knight and The Best of Cordwainer Smith - in an old bookstore in South Georgia.

Total cost - 3 dollars


Jackpot!

Posted by: Mortimer, deplorable at September 21, 2016 09:58 PM (zu88C)

267 Lots of good books; it's a back story in more than one of CJ Cherryh's universe. There are a few TV shows; Space 1999, Battlestar Galactica, and recently on SyFy channel a series, or short series maybe? called Ascension? Had some good twists along with the standard plots and subplots.

Posted by: ama at September 21, 2016 09:59 PM (lkApI)

268 @265 Otho

It'd need someone like Lucas then, you mean?

Posted by: .87c at September 21, 2016 09:59 PM (APdPY)

269
@265 Otho



It'd need someone like Lucas then, you mean?



Posted by: .87c at September 21, 2016 09:59 PM


LOL

Posted by: otho at September 21, 2016 10:01 PM (lmIoG)

270 Every frame would be sooo dense.

Posted by: .87c at September 21, 2016 10:02 PM (APdPY)

271 269
@265 Otho



It'd need someone like Lucas then, you mean?



Posted by: .87c at September 21, 2016 09:59 PM


LOL


Posted by: otho at September 21, 2016 10:01 PM (lmIoG)


Just write in a Kick Ass Warrior Princess...

and you could see it to Disney!

Posted by: Don Q. at September 21, 2016 10:02 PM (qf6WZ)

272 Ace,

I would recommend reading Gene Wolfe's "Long Sun" books. There are 2 compilations that bring all 4 books together, "Litany of the Long Sun" and "Epiphany of the Long Sun." There are also some spinoff series, he did which are still good, but the core series is better IMO.

Good reads.

Posted by: Croaker at September 21, 2016 10:03 PM (TUPmX)

273 There's a sub-genre, where they think that they are on a generation ship, but they're not. Forget the name, but there was one where they found out they had been in the "Generation Ship Experiment" in a warehouse for a few centuries.

The novel "Eon" was its own sub-genre. That involved a generation ship that, instead of reaching its goal, found something bigger than the Universe and started exploring that.

Posted by: algore at September 21, 2016 10:05 PM (kf1Nc)

274 #20

Not a birth mark. It was a scar resulting from an attack that backfired and killed (somewhat) Voldemort for reasons that nobody was entirely sure about. They knew Voldemort was going to return eventually, so they needed to keep the kid under wraps and observe him to see if they could figure out what had happened when Voldemort seemed unbeatable and well on his way to conquering the world.

The Potter series shoplifts from much that went before it but fair is fair.

Posted by: Epobirs at September 21, 2016 10:08 PM (IdCqF)

275 9 Years with J-Law AND Alexandra Daddario, then I'd be interested. I'm open minded like that.

Posted by: Puddleglum at September 21, 2016 10:09 PM (20X6f)

276 There was also Werner Herzog's "The Wild Blue Yonder", which featured Brad Dourif as a descendant of a multigenerational vehicle that had come here from the Andromeda galaxy. They started out highly advanced, but the radiation, inbreeding, etc. took its toll. As Dourif's character said, "...when we got here, hundreds of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of years later, those of us who arrived here just... sucked." To make matter worse, the humans figured out a faster means of propulsion that made Dourif's ship obsolete!

Posted by: Golem14 at September 21, 2016 10:09 PM (Nj9O9)

277 Don't forget "Star Lost"

A truly horrible 70s sci-fi show that writer Harlan Ellison couldn't get far enough away from.

It's all on YouTube.

Posted by: AlexC at September 21, 2016 10:10 PM (cCQ+4)

278 9 Years with J-Law

----

SIXTY!!

The trailer said 60 years!


Look, we just finished almost 9 years of Barack Obama.

Now imagine 60!!!


Posted by: Mortimer, deplorable at September 21, 2016 10:13 PM (zu88C)

279 oh forget it

Posted by: Mortimer, deplorable at September 21, 2016 10:14 PM (zu88C)

280 Orphans of the Sky was also the main inspiration for one of the first major attempts at a SF version of Dungeons and Dragons. It was called Metamorphosis: Alpha. They later reworked some of it and drew on other books like Hiero's Joiurney for another game system called Gamma World.

My favorite item from Gamma World was the shark-like creature who used telekinesis to 'swim' through the ground aka landsharks.

Posted by: Epobirs at September 21, 2016 10:14 PM (IdCqF)

281 Update: Commenters tell me Heinlein got there first, with a novel called Orphans of the Sky, an .....

--------------------------------

Can't get a jump on youse guys. I started reading this article and headed straight to my shelves to pull out my May 1941 copy of Astounding with the cover story of "Universe" by Heinlein. (I hope it's valuable as it has a penciled $1.50 on the cover and I bought it in the early '70s at Shorey's in Seattle. ) Then I continue reading and see I've been beaten.

But not beaten as much as Huma's Carlos is beaten.

Posted by: John Pomeroy at September 21, 2016 10:16 PM (mXHrk)

282 Phil Dick had a story that first appeared in Playboy about a man on a sub-FTL voyage in cryo-sleep when something goes terribly wrong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Hope_I_Shall_Arrive_Soon

Posted by: Epobirs at September 21, 2016 10:18 PM (IdCqF)

283 ace, try Wool again.

Posted by: Harun at September 21, 2016 10:20 PM (dZQh7)

284 29
The Heinlein story was also adapted as an episode of 'X Minus One' radio show in '55, which is why I remembered it...

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 21, 2016 08:42 PM (g6yUI)
-------------------------------Remember the name? I've heading out on Friday for a 4 hour cruise.... I'm sorry a 6-hour drive to see my mom and in my wife's car with crappy radio, so I'm burning CDs to listen to. I found a bunch of X-1 at archive.org. Lots of good stuff. Nightfall, A logic Name Joe, but nothing I can connect to either Universe or it's expansion.

Posted by: John Pomeroy at September 21, 2016 10:21 PM (mXHrk)

285 I do not know if anyone watched it or it was mentioned. A movie called, Pandorum. It was a 7 out of 10 in my book. Barbarism and other.....cannot explain it much or will screw up story.

Posted by: David at September 21, 2016 10:24 PM (dzlaS)

286 Im sure someone mentioned this but it's 90 years, not 9, so it's really a problem, not just a little time to kill.

Posted by: docweasel at September 21, 2016 10:25 PM (czmJ5)

287 hey wouldn't living on that ship for 90 years be a bit like Groundhog day? And I guess you could do all kinds of self-improvement stuff since you have nothing but time, but what's the point? Probably just sit around and watch old videos of Superbowls while eating cheetos and drinking beer?

Posted by: docweasel at September 21, 2016 10:26 PM (czmJ5)

288
Anyways, I still want someone in hollywood to succumb to Games Workshop's draconion IP terms and conditions to make a genuinely great Warhammer 40,000 based scifi movie. The universe it just too great not to make a dumb popcorn-face-stuffing-fun-movie out of it.
Posted by: Defenestratus at September 21, 2016 09:45 PM (e8+zH)

----
So would I but I don't see that ever happening.
Still you might want to check out this clip of a fan made film "The Lord Inquisitor". A german animator has been working on this for 5-6 years now.
youtube.com/watch?v=cZc6cr6G2E4

Posted by: Darth Randall at September 21, 2016 10:27 PM (v3DL/)

289 I have an idea for a generation ship story that has the slight twist that they have to keep accelerating the whole time.

Not sure if I'll ever get around to writing it, but I like the basic idea behind it.

Posted by: .87c at September 21, 2016 09:56 PM (APdPY)


"Tau Zero" by Poul Anderson. A sub-light starship driven by a Bussard ramjet hits something, and they can't turn the damned drive off. Relativity kicks in...

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 21, 2016 10:31 PM (Bvr/A)

290 61
No one remembers The Starlost?


That is the sloooooooooowest show I think I've ever seen.

------------------------
Slowest show ever has to be Last of the Summer Wine. A BBC "comedy" series that just ended a couple of years ago after 35 or so years. It was where every BBC actor went to die. But it's pretty good, once you've gotten into it. (after 3 or 4 years)

My local PBS channel, however -- even though there are decades of episodes of Summer Wine -- continues to show 2 years over and over and over.


Posted by: John Pomeroy at September 21, 2016 10:44 PM (mXHrk)

291 181
Chasm City" was the book.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 21, 2016 09:13 PM (6FqZa)



Reading it right now. Excellent. Highly recommend.

---------------------------------

Yeah. Chasm City is very good. Read it a couple of months ago.

Recommended here as well.

Posted by: John Pomeroy at September 21, 2016 10:49 PM (mXHrk)

292 The worthing saga by orson scott card is one of my favorites (he wrote ender's game)
Yeah so there's some rare "mutant" people with mental abilities /psychic powers but, a main stream in the story is they are going to colonize another planet and the ship gets hit and wipes out the entire memory bank - of the people not the ship. Their memories are like "canned" and waiting to be reimplanted when they wake up. Only the captain who wasn't in deep sleep is unaffected and ends up having to raise basically a village of adult infants

That's just one of many skews in the book but it's really good

Posted by: Mst3k at September 21, 2016 10:52 PM (Z53PH)

293 @292 The worthing saga by orson scott card is one of my favorites (he wrote ender's game)
Yeah so there's some rare "mutant" people with mental abilities /psychic powers but, a main stream in the story is they are going to colonize another planet and the ship gets hit and wipes out the entire memory bank - of the people not the ship. Their memories are like "canned" and waiting to be reimplanted when they wake up. Only the captain who wasn't in deep sleep is unaffected and ends up having to raise basically a village of adult infants
----------------

Close. There's one other guy whose memories aren't destroyed. Worthing debates just quietly killing the guy while he sleeps (since the values of the hedonist and decadent society that they're both from clash with the morals that Worthing has taught the colonists), but ultimately revives him and explains what happened after the colony has been established.

The guy doesn't agree with the morals that Worthing has provided to the colonists, but ultimately decides not to interfere.

Posted by: junior at September 21, 2016 11:06 PM (nsZ+m)

294 I read the script yesterday - it's pretty much a Rom-SciFi for most of the movie. And they wake up 30 years into a 120 year journey, so 90 years too early. Leaving them realizing they will die on the ship and never reach their destination.

Posted by: professor_chaos at September 21, 2016 11:10 PM (ESWK5)

295 Passengers. This looks good.
"There's a reason we woke up early."
I'll bet they're both androids, tasked with repairing the ship if it malfunctions, but they don't know it.

Posted by: Matt_SE at September 22, 2016 12:04 AM (ECsmS)

296 A world where they realize they're on a ship...

Phantasy Star III.

Not the best in the series, but I enjoyed the game as a kid all the same. Sega Genesis for the win.

Posted by: NJRob at September 22, 2016 12:11 AM (o1h4V)

297 I read a story like that a long time ago where people had been frozen until a medical cure was discovered for whatever was killing them, but instead in the distant future nobody gave a shit about them and thawed them out for slave labor instead.

Posted by: Matt_SE at September 22, 2016 12:22 AM (ECsmS)

298 ****
"Tau Zero" by Poul Anderson. A sub-light starship driven by a Bussard ramjet hits something, and they can't turn the damned drive off. Relativity kicks in...
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 21, 2016 10:31 PM (Bvr/A
****


I knew someone would beat me to it.

Posted by: fightwinger at September 22, 2016 12:33 AM (wlCJ7)

299 26 Ok...but who do they want me to vote for?

Posted by: Mr. Feverhead

Being a felon, Robert Downey Jr. can't vote so he needs to vote vicariously through you, and since he's a felon, he knows better than you how YOUR vote should be used.

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at September 22, 2016 12:53 AM (AM83x)

300 Ok. I know the plot and the ending. Still trying to find the script. Everywhere seems to be deleted.

Posted by: NJRob at September 22, 2016 12:57 AM (o1h4V)

301 A RomCom space movie. Kill me now.

Posted by: Corona at September 22, 2016 07:32 AM (ragzU)

302

nice read

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at September 22, 2016 09:46 AM (qCMvj)

303 Similar concept TV series called Ascension.

Ascension
http://imdb.com/rg/an_share/title/title/tt3696720/

Posted by: Captain Betty at September 22, 2016 09:59 AM (Uuryv)

304 Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri has a nice twist on this plot... malfunction on the space ship, wakes up certain crew members... who realize the ship is going to crash, and the only thing to do is get into the lifeboats -- and lots of ideological tension.

Nice set up for why a "United Humanity" still ends split into several factions, for the Civilization game that Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri was the masterpiece edition of. That whole game was excellent and if you've never played it Ace, you really missed out on a great sci-fi adventure. GOG games has it now.

Posted by: Vanceone at September 22, 2016 10:21 AM (IQzhs)

305 It also features the passengers of a generation ship degenerated into barbarism and mysticism, having no idea they're on a space vessel at all.
Maybe it's just me, but that sounds a lot like "Lord of the Flies"?

Posted by: snake_plissken at September 22, 2016 09:21 PM (Nnmy9)

306 A generation ship would be like a large Guppy Aquarium run by robots and computers.
Has anyone ever owned a large Guppy only fish tank?
I have one now, 35 gallons, I started with five yellow guppies, two males three females, eventually there were only one male and two females then the brood was born.
After several generations I had over a hundred multi sized yellow guppies, I introduced an Orange tail and within a year had and even mix of pure yellow, pure orange and a combination of the two.
Last year My grandson brought me one black tail guppy which I put in the tank, now I have some of the most beautiful colored guppies.
The tank occasionally has a die off for unknown reasons, with 75% of the population dying, heater problems, disease and mix matched water quality.
The Guppies always bounce back and re-populate.
They have their own version of birth control, Infanticide by dinner table, big eats little.
I expect a generation ship would after a generation or two begin to resemble my Guppy tank and by the time they got where they were going would no longer be human in the real sense of the word.
One thing for sure, they would be cannibals not Vegans.


Posted by: obsidian at September 23, 2016 11:23 AM (ARK2U)

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