"Mama, I'm comin' home."

For my birthday this year, we decided to use the Air Canada gift certificate generously provided by my employers as a retirement gift, and pay a quick visit to the United Kingdom.  My lovely wife Karli has some Welsh in her ancestry, and as such when I suggested that we spend a few days in Cardiff as part of our trip, she was excited to have an opportunity to see a bit of her family's origins.

After a few days in London, where I picked up an autographed Joe Abercrombie hardcover and a Star Trek t-shirt at the flagship Forbidden Planet megastore on Shaftesbury Avenue*, we hopped on the train and headed off to Cardiff.

After dropping off our luggage at our hotel**, we headed out to explore, and were instantly charmed by Cardiff.  

One of the old city's noteworthy features are the seven covered arcades, home to retail outlets, dining spots, bars, coffee shops, and various other commercial locations, making for an entertaining stroll sheltered from the fall Welsh rain that we were experiencing.  As I generally do when visiting a new city, I had done a search for used book stores, and found that there was a small book shop, Troutmark Books, located in one of the arcades near the castle - Castle Arcade, in fact.   

After visiting the castle, we crossed the street, entered the arcade, and eventually made a stop at the store.  As I was browsing their science fiction and fantasy section, Karli nudged me and pointed at the used comic bins behind me, where I saw THE ISSUE OF CAPTAIN CANUCK WITH THE COVER ART FROM THE T-SHIRT THAT I RECEIVED FOR MY BIRTHDAY.

Of course, I bought it - of course I bought it!  I can only wonder at the path that this comic book had travelled to get from Canada to a used bookstore bin in Wales, but I was not going to deny it a chance at repatriation - I'd like to think someone would do the same for me under similar circumstances. 

- Sid

* Just for the record, we also saw Hamilton and MJ: The Musical, and I bought a Yellow Submarine t-shirt at the Beatles Store on Baker Street - man (or woman) does not live by bread alone, as they say.

** An unsolicited recommendation: the Cardiff Marriott hotel is excellent.  It's conveniently located close to the city centre, Cardiff Castle, and the railway station, the staff were extremely friendly and helpful, and they were kind enough to reduce our bill when we mentioned that there was a bit of a problem with the HVAC in our room.

"Birthday greetings, bottle of wine?"

Thanks to Paul McCartney, turning 64 has become almost as much of a milestone as 65, at least for those of us who remember the Beatles.  

In recognition of my birthday this year, I was amused to receive a superhero-themed JibJab™ video from my inlaws, Faye and Steve, and my lovely wife Karli presented me with a replacement for my battered Kennedy Space Center NASA baseball hat, and a Captain Canuck t-shirt, both welcome additions to my wardrobe.  

I haven't actually been at home for a birthday for several years, but this year the timing worked out for a trip departure the day after - we leave for a whirlwind six day visit to the United Kingdom tomorrow afternoon, starting in London and then off to Cardiff for a couple of days. 

It's not a specifically geek-oriented trip, although our London stay will undoubtedly include the usual shopping trip to the Forbidden Planet megastore.  Sadly, in spite of BBC Cardiff being the home for production of Doctor Who since its 2005 revival, the Cardiff Doctor Who Experience has been closed since 2017, and the show is not currently in production.  Oh well, perhaps there will be a chance to at least visit the shrine to Torchwood's Ianto Jones, as previously documented in a guest posting by my friend Chris - we'll see how things go!

- Sid  

The Infinite Mickey.

Karli and I attended a matinee show of Mickey 17 this weekend, and I think she summarized our reaction well: if you're curious about the film, by all means go, but if you're on the fence, don't bother.

Why the mixed recommendation?  Mickey 17 is undeniably an interesting movie with a satisfying conclusion, the performances are good right across the board - Robert Pattinson in particular does a notably excellent job as the Mickeys, and Mark Ruffalo's colony leader Kenneth Marshall savagely channels Donald Trump at his worst  - but somehow, it fails to break through into brilliance. 

For anyone unfamiliar with the premise, Mickey Barnes is an affable if misguided loser, suffering from longterm guilt over his perceived responsibility for his mother's death in a car accident.

Hoping to escape from a loan shark with a fetishistic interest in brutally punishing borrowers who get behind on their payments, Mickey and his exploitive friend Timo (an epically underutilized Steven Yeun) attempt to get seats on the next interstellar colonization ship leaving Earth. Timo manages to bluff his way into a shuttle pilot job, but Mickey, lacking in any kind of skills or talents, unwittingly signs up to be an Expendable without reading any of the small print. 

As an Expendable, Mickey's body is scanned and his memories recorded so that a duplicate Mickey can be created every time he dies in the line of duty - and he dies a lot. He is callously treated as completely disposable, being used as a living guinea pig for the effects of solar radiation, and as a test subject for dangerous allergens (and fatally experimental iterations of possible vaccines) on Niflheim, the new colony planet.

His only solace is his girlfriend Nasha, played by Naomi Ackie.  Nasha is a member of the mission's security team, and the only person on the ship who treats him like a human being. 

Things change for the 17th Mickey when he is reported as dead and an 18th Mickey is printed*, when in fact Mickey 17 has been saved from an icy death by Niflheim's grublike indigenous species, the Creepers. Co-existing duplicates are forbidden by law, and both Mickeys are now under a death sentence as the colony goes to war with the Creepers.

The original concept isn't unique - I can think of three or four different novels that feature disposable duplicates, with the Cuckoo Saga series by Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson being the closest in spirit to Mickey 17 in that the tachyon duplicates in their stories are tasked with terminal assignments. 

Without giving away too much, I would have ended the story differently.**  The movie returns Mickey's individuality at the end, whereas I would have had him embrace his multiplicity: in my version, Mickey would use the duplication technology to create hundreds of Mickeys - an army of Mickeys, if you will - who unite to defeat Marshall and his loyalists and bring stability and equality to the colony.

The final scenes would show Mickeys everywhere, a valued part of the settlement and a key part of its now-peaceful relationship with the Creepers.  The film would end with a small group of Mickeys in white lab coats observing the scientist most cruel in his treatment of earlier Mickeys, as he nervously explores an unstable icy catacomb under their supervision - what goes around, comes around.

 - Sid

* One of the running gags in the film is that each replacement copy of Mickey is literally printed, using a machine that deliberately evokes the jerky rhythm of early dot-matrix printers.

** Is there a technical term for the opposite of a spoiler - ie, telling people something that didn't happen in a movie? 

UK 2022: Snapshots.

Some bits and pieces from the UK 2022 trip:

Browsing the Fanasy section at the Notting Hill Comic Exchange – which may even contain some myffic fanasy*, if I’m lucky.

Dear Hamleys' Toy Shop, I was wondering what a three meter Optimus Prime with glowing eyes would cost?  Asking for a friend.

To my surprise, Jelly Babies are COMPLETELY different than Gummy Bears!!!  How could I not know this after so many years of Doctor Who?

I'm sorry to say this, but I saw far too many ten-year-old English boys who reminded me of Edmund Pevensie from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe:  sullen, pouty, a little spoiled, and inexplicably red-cheeked.

All the tables were all numbered 42, apparently it was the pub from The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Shopping again at the Forbidden Planet London Megastore - the geek equivalent of drinking out of the firehose.

...where I bought a couple of books, a 2000AD comic, and a long LONG overdue TARDIS pin!

As we wandered along the South Bank on our last day in London, our unplanned stroll took us into a branch of Foyles Bookshop.  Until that moment, I was completely unaware of Foyles, let alone the almost cult status conveyed upon it in the past due to its archaic (and anarchic) business practices for much of its lifespan. 

It's now owned by Waterstones, and whatever its past sins, I found it to be a well-stocked and pleasant shopping spot - as well as offering one final opportunity to spend money on books before heading home.

All in all, our first pandemic trip went surprisingly well, although we sadly decided to forgo our usual restaurant research in favour of take-out - and one cautious afternoon visit to an almost empty pub for a pint and some onion rings.  As always, Karli was the ideal travel companion for a week of Britannic shopping and sightseeing: Sherlock Holmes, Albert's Hall**, Brompton Cemetery, the Beatles***, Marks & Spencer, West End theatre, Jack the Ripper, Portobello Road, and, of course, Doctor Who.  Thank you again for agreeing to join me, my love!

- Sid

* “But I was thinking, you're in trouble now, Mrs Ogg, 'cos it'd all gone myffic.'

'Mythic?' said schoolteacher Susan.

"Yep. With extra myff. And you can get into big trouble, with myffic.”

Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time

** Apparently I'm the only person in the world who remembers the line about "Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall" from A Day In The Life by The Beatles. 

*** I bought a mug and a T-shirt, it's not always about science fiction.

 

"Out there... thataway."

A few years ago, I signed up for a membership with the Heritage Auctions web site - not because I wanted to start bidding on things, but because their site was an excellent source of high resolution scans of comic book covers and artwork, book and pulp magazine covers, and movie posters and memorabilia.  

However, over time I've started casually following their auctions - they do dedicated comic book and movie sessions every week, and I've always thought that it would be nice to own original comic book art.  Admittedly, anything I've ever been interested in has been far out of my price range - yes, this is the auction house that auctioned off a Frank Frazetta cover painting for 5.4 million dollars in 2019   and the first comic book appearance of the Batman for 1.3 million at the start of this year - but it's a harmless dream to enjoy while I browse.

However, there are more modestly priced lots available, and every now and then I place a bid, just for fun.  Recently, this resulted in the successful purchase of a set of eight lobby cards from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which debuted in December of 1979.  

It's generally agreed that the first attempt at transferring the original crew to the big screen was not a great success, but it's still a significant moment in Star Trek history, and I like the idea of lobby cards - they don't seem to attract the same amount of bidding as the posters, and and at 11x14 inches they're a convenient size to frame, whereas a 28x40 inch movie poster almost requires you to design the room around it.  (Although, gosh, if I had the wall space and the money...).

To my surprise, I won the items with what I considered to be a relatively low bid of $38 USD.* This bid marked my first successful purchase in this area - I had tentatively placed a bid on lobby cards from the 1956 science fiction classic Forbidden Planet at some point last year, but it quickly got too rich for my blood (I strongly feel that the secret to managing auction participation is to not fall prey to bidding fever).

My purchases arrived today, and now that I'm able to examine them in person, I'm definitely pleased.  Oh, there's a slightly compressed corner here and there, and a hint of yellowing on one or two of the cards, but overall they're in excellent shape for printed items that are over 42 years old.

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure I've watched this movie since I saw it in commercial release in '79.  Hmmm...it must be streaming somewhere, right?

- Sid

 

* Okay, this is a lie, as you can see if you compare that with the screen grab at the beginning of this post  $38 is just the auction price.  On top of that I paid a $19 Buyer's Premium, and about as much as those two combined for shipping.  Price of doing business, I suppose - and the original bid was still lower than I expected.

 

The Star Wars.

Until the recent GREAT REBELLION, the JEDI BENDU were the most feared warriors in the universe. For one hundred thousand years, generations of JEDI perfected their art as the personal bodyguards of the emperor. They were the chief architects of the invincible IMPERIAL SPACE FORCE which expanded the EMPIRE across the galaxy, from the celestial equator to the farthest reaches of the GREAT RIFT.

Now these legendary warriors are all but extinct. One by one they have been hunted down and destroyed as enemies of the NEW EMPIRE by a ferocious and sinister rival warrior sect, THE KNIGHTS OF SITH.

Scrolling introduction to The Star Wars, 1974

To celebrate this year’s May the Fourth and Revenge of the Fifth, I took a look at the original script for The Star Wars, an early 1974 draft by George Lucas for what would eventually turn into A New Hope.  This is also the script that concept artist Ralph McQuarrie read before creating the classic paintings that helped Lucas sell the movie to Twentieth Century Fox.

The Star Wars has the same broad canvas as A New Hope: a struggle against an evil Galactic Empire whose gigantic space fortress provides them with overwhelming tactical power. A rebel princess, an aged warrior-mystic and a young apprentice save the day with the help of two comic-relief robots and someone named Han. But it’s not as similar as it sounds…

In the 1974 script, Kane Starkiller, a Jedi-Bendu master who is more machine than man, is father to “ruggedly handsome” 18-year old Annikin and his 10-year old brother Deak.  After raiding Sith Knights kill Deak in a savage attack, Kane and Annikin leave their home on the fourth moon of Utapau, which fans will recognize as the name of the rocky planet where Obi-Wan duels General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith, and travel to the independent Aquilae system, ruled by King Kayos and Queen Breha.  They have three children: two sons, 7-year old Biggs and 5-year old Windom, and a daughter – Leia, the eldest at 14 (which finally explains why she’s a princess in A New Hope – her father was originally a king.)

Once on Aquilae, Kane and Annikin meet with another Jedi-Bendu, the elderly but powerful General Luke Skywalker, who leads the Aquilaean Starforce.  Kane reveals that he is dying and leaves his remaining son to become a Padawan Learner to Skywalker - we don't hear the term padawan in the movies until the first prequel.

Meanwhile, the New Empire plans its final assault on Aquilae, under the control of the grim General Darth Vader and spearheaded by the Empire’s masked Sith Knights, led by Valorum, the First Knight of the Sith.

Aquilae receives advanced warning of the imminent attack from Clieg Whitsun, their agent on Alderaan, the capital of the New Empire, which allows Aquilaean Starfighters to launch an attack on the space fortress.  During the chaos of the battle, a pair of panicked Imperial construction robots, See Threepio and Artwo Detwo, abandon ship in a lifepod and crashland in the planet's desert wastelands, only to be picked up by Annikin as he returns to the capital after forcefully collecting Princess Leia from her classes at the Academy.

King Kayos is killed in the assault, and his senate surrenders to the New Empire. General Skywalker kills the craven council member responsible for the surrender, and Queen Breha abdicates in favour of Leia – Lucas later revives the idea of a 14 year old planetary leader with Queen Amidala in The Phantom Menace.  

Luke, Annikin and Clieg smuggle the new queen and her brothers off the planet with the assistance of rebel agent Han Solo, an Ureallian who is described as “a huge green skinned monster with no nose and gills”. 

Kane Starkiller sacrifices himself by taking the power source from his cybernetic body to power one of the stasis packs used to conceal the two boys, and after a brief tribute to the old Jedi Bendu, they board a Baltarian freighter headed off-planet.

Unfortunately, the freighter is a trap.  The fugitives are split up and captured by Valorum, who threatens to use gas to subdue the Jedi, a strategy reused by the Trade Federation against Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi at the beginning of The Phantom Menace.  Skywalker and Solo escape from their guards, free their companions, and make their escape with the assistance of the two robots.

They steal an Imperial ship and flee the spaceport, pursued by hunter-destroyer spaceships. As they prepare to fight off the Imperial fighters from twin lazer cannon turrets, Annikin confesses to Whitsun that he has fallen in love with Leia, who loves him in return. (A wise move by Lucas to change this up - it's cute when a 9-year-old Anakin falls in love with 14-year-old Padme in The Phantom Menace, it's a bit creepy when he's 18.)

Overmatched by the hunter-destroyers, Skywalker takes the ship into an asteroid belt* in a desperate attempt to lose their pursuers. The Imperial ships turn back, but the asteroids destroy the hijacked vessel, and its passengers board the lifepods as the badly damaged ship goes into orbit around nearby Yavin, one of the Forbidden Planets - forbidden by whom or why never seems to come up.  Clieg and Leia's pod refuses to eject, so Clieg bravely remains on the ship and manually jettisons the pod, only to die in the explosion that follows.

The three escape pods land safely on the jungle-covered surface, but Leia is captured by deformed aliens who are hunting and trapping the primitive Wookees** who inhabit the planet.

Annikin attempts to rescue the princess, but after killing most of the trappers he's knocked unconscious by explosive lazer fire as the survivors flee.  Chewbacca, one of the native Wookees who has been accidentally set lose by Annikin during the fight, frees his companions, one of whom picks up Annikin, and they vanish into the jungle. 

Annikin recovers at the Wookee villages, and after proving himself to the Wookees in ritual combat, he heads off into the jungle with R2, followed by Chewbacca.

Meanwhile, Skywalker, Solo and the two boys have found a scientific outpost occupied by a pair of helpful anthropologists, Owen Lars and his wife Beru, who reappear as Luke's adoptive uncle and aunt in the films.

The general and Solo go to scout the nearby Imperial base, leaving 3P0 to watch over the two princes.  They encounter Annikin at the site of the struggle with the trappers, and follow their trail to the base, which is under siege by the Wookees, who have been unable to overcome the Empire's more advanced technology.

While they plan their strategy, an Imperial squad discovers the two children and 3P0 at the outpost and takes them into custody.

Led by Skywalker and Solo, the Wookees successfully defeat the Imperials using a variety of primitive boobytraps and deadfalls (as repeated by Ewoks in The Return of the Jedi).  Once inside the base, they learn that Leia has been taken back to Aquilae.

Skywalker and Starkiller study plans of the Empire's space fortress from R2's construction database - the first and only time it's referred to as the "death star" in the script - and Annikin disguises himself as an Imperial pilot and leaves with R2 in a daring attempt to rescue the princess, as the general and Solo begin training the Wookees to fly the Imperial starfighters.

The Imperial squad returns to the base with Biggs, Windy and 3P0, where they are ambushed by the Wookees and the captives freed.

As Annikin lands on the space fortress, Vader is torturing Leia before placing her in detention. R2 locates her cell in the Imperial database, but the two are separated and Annikin is captured.  Valorum, the Prince of the Sith, who has somehow been demoted to a regular stormtrooper (perhaps due to the earlier escape?), turns his back on the Empire and helps Annikin to escape. They rescue Leia from her guards, and the trio is forced to escape through a garbage chute.  Vader attempts to crush them using the trash compactor, but they escape after the power is cut off by damage from the attacking Wookee pilots. They reunite with R2 and once again take to the escape pods.

The Wookee space fighter assault is successful, and General Vader dies in the cataclysmic destruction of the space fortress as Annikin and Leia kiss in their lifepod.

 
In the final scene, Queen Leia, "in all of her grandeur" and in front of a crowded throne room, gives Chewbacca a medal, upgrades the robots - no, really -  and declares Annikin the Lord Protector of Aquilae as Skywalker, Solo and Valorum look on approvingly from the sidelines.

Credits roll.

The good news is that Lucas was able to step back and take a second look at the story, resulting in a much tighter script for A New Hope: more dramatic, fewer main characters, a simplified plot revolving around the Death Star plans, and a lot fewer escape pods.

It's interesting to look at how the characters go back into the blender in order to return as the principals of the final version.  General Luke Skywalker is reborn as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and his name goes to the adopted farm boy who replaces Annikin Starkiller as the hero of the story.

Lazerswords, used by soldiers on both sides in The Star Wars, become light sabers, a more evocative name for a more elegant weapon that's used solely by the Jedi and the Sith, and the force of others, a meaningless bit of dialogue in the script, becomes the Force, the energy that holds the universe together.

Leia wisely becomes a more mature princess with serious attitude, Darth Vader gains a mask and membership in the Sith, and Jedi-hunter Prince Valorum of the Sith One Hundred vanishes, only to have his name reused for the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic in the prequel trilogy.  Han Solo goes from being green and gilled to human and hot, thereby creating the potential for a new romantic storyline, and Chewbacca retains his status as pilot - well, copilot, but still.

The Imperial City of the New Empire, located on the gaseous planet Alderaan and perched on a long spire that descends into the clouds, reappears as Cloud City, the tibanna gas mining city administrated by Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back.  The "death star" space fortress gets some capital letters to officially become the Death Star, and the Starkiller family is commemorated by Starkiller Base, the First Order planetkiller from The Force Awakens.

Speaking of the First Order, there's even a casual reference to a First Order trooper in The Star Wars, without any explanation of what the First Order might be.

I couldn't find any evidence as to whether or not the writers of the final trilogy derived the name of the Empire's successor from that one line. It's not impossible - Lucas was a creative consultant on the final trilogy, and apparently shared his rough scripts for the three movies. Based on the number of things that were recycled from The Star Wars, he may have suggested the name of the First Order, but my god, if that’s where it came from, what a small thread from which to weave such a large tapestry!

The bad news is that even after such an epic rewrite, the dialogue is still a problem. One of the key elements in science fiction story telling is the creation of a distinctive vocabulary and nomenclature that helps to establish the world in the story takes place, and although you can see what Lucas is trying to do, it just never quite rings true.

In the words of Jedi Bendu General Skywalker, may the force of others be with you.

- Sid

* The odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field are not discussed first.

** That's not a typo, Chewbacca was a Wookee before he was a Wookiee.

NYNY: FPNY

 

After our visit to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum and the Enterprise Space Shuttle, we head back toward the Lower East Side and the New York Forbidden Planet store, the only North American outlet for the British comic book and collectibles chain.

 

The New York location has a smaller footprint than the London Megastore, and doesn't sell books, specializing instead in comic books, action figures and toys, and comic, movie, TV and video game-related merchandise - but it's just as much of a geek paradise.

 

Karli has generously offered to take care of my purchases as part of my birthday gift, so I judiciously select a couple of graphic novels, and we get into the checkout line so we can pay for those, adding in a Brian Bolland Forbidden Planet New York t-shirt to complement the one we bought at the London Megastore.

My graphic novels of choice are Old Man Logan and The Infinity Gauntlet.  To be completely accurate, they're actually collections of Marvel comics storylines rather than stand-alone stories, although Old Man Logan could easily have been done as a single story.

The Old Man Logan miniseries, originally published in 2008, is one of those alternate universe stories that both DC and Marvel seem to be so fond of* - perhaps more Marvel than DC, although I think that DC's Elseworlds comics from the 1990s and early 2000s are perhaps a bit better than their What If? Marvel equivalent.  (That being said, watch for the animated version of What If? on the new Disney+ streaming service in 2021.)

In this version of Logan's future, the supervillains have won the war against the heroes by forming an alliance and wiping out their opponents, after which the ringleaders have divided up the United States amongst themselves.  Almost 50 years later, a grey-haired pacifist Logan is living quietly as a tenant farmer and father of two in Hulkland, ruled by the Hulk, who has mated with his cousin Jennifer (aka She-Hulk) and produced an inbred cannibal army of greenskinned, rednecked offspring.**

Sworn to never again use his adamantium claws in anger, Logan is savagely beaten by members of the Hulk Gang after he's unable to pay his rent, and the lives of his family threatened if he doesn't make a double payment in a month.  In desperation, he agrees to join the blinded Hawkeye in a road trip across the United States in order to deliver a shipment of super soldier serum to resistance operatives in Washington, where the Red Skull is the new President of the United States.  Over the course of the trip, we learn of the tragedy that caused Logan to renounce violence, as well as getting an overall view of America after the fall of the heroes.

The concept was popular enough with fans that it eventually spawned an ongoing series, but the graphic novel only collects the initial eight issue run.

The collected Infinity Gauntlet series might appear to speak for itself, given the popularity of the two movies derived from the storyline, but that's not necessarily the case.  I say "derived from" but I might as well have gone with "inspired by" - other than the concept of Thanos the Mad Titan eliminating half the life in the entire universe with a single snap of his gauntleted fingers, and the idea of the entire MCU going up against him in battle***, there's not a lot of resemblance to the original comics.

Which, to be honest, is not necessarily a bad thing.  I'm generally not a big fan of massive changes from source material, but in this case, the movie versions offer a much more dramatic and plausible take on the story.  The comics paint an epic and grandiose version of the struggle to defeat Thanos, drawing in the great powers of the Marvel Universe such as Galactus, the Celestials, and the Stranger, and eventually even avatars of the cosmic constants such as Love and Hate, Order and Chaos, and Eternity, the living personification of the universe.  Unfortunately, the story itself is almost ridiculous in its depiction of Thanos and his irrational responses to the possession of infinite power over all of reality.

When we're done at Forbidden Planet, it seems a waste not to make a quick return visit to the Strand, conveniently (and literally) located right next door - which may explain why FPNY doesn't bother to stock books.

 

Because it's a return visit, I only grab a couple of books to add to my previous purchases:  the rapture of the nerds, by Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross, and No Time To Spare, by Ursula K. Le Guin.  For the rapture of the nerds, even if you didn't have me at Charles Stross, I'm obviously going to be intrigued by the possibilities of a geek singularity.  Equally obviously, anything by Ursula K. Le Guin is always a good choice, although the title of this collection of blog postings is sadly prescient, given her death only a month after its publication in December of 2017.

To cap off the day, we have a tasty casual barbecue dinner at The Mighty Quinn, just around the corner and a couple of blocks away on 2nd Avenue, and that's my birthday.  Thanks again to Karli for a great (birth)day out in New York City - I think we managed to ring all the bells in terms of a geek birthday, although it's a shame that we didn't think to bring Dancing Jesus from our London outing, he really does get the party started.

- Sid

* I think that both of these concepts are an inevitable response to new writers and artists coming into their respective comic universes and wanting to take a fresh look at the well-worn trials and tribulations of both heroes and villains.

** It never says whether or not She-Hulk undergoes this experience willingly or unwillingly.  Nor is it explained why the Hulk has joined the alliance of supervillains by killing the Abomination and taking his place, although there's an elaborate Hulk storyline from 2006, Planet Hulk, which  involves the Marvel Illuminati - Professor X, Tony Stark, Mr. Fantastic, Doctor Strange, Namor the Submariner and Black Bolt of the Inhumans - exiling the Hulk from Earth by blasting him into outer space. The Hulk is not happy with them when he makes his inevitable return.  (Parts of the Planet Hulk story inspired the Hulk's career as a gladiator in the Grandmaster's arena from Thor: Ragnarok.)

*** The comic book version pulls a few more heroes into the story  - obviously the movies can't feature the X-Men, the Fantastic Four just haven't made it on the big screen to date, and outside of the world of comics fans, no one has any idea who Adam Warlock is.

NYNY 2019: Virtual Space

In addition to the Enterprise shuttle, the Intrepid Space Shuttle Pavilion provides a wide range of exhibits dealing with the space program in general as well as the shuttle missions:  display panels detailing the history of Enterprise, a Soyuz TMA-6 capsule, dismounted shuttle control panels (which, sadly, don't come close to the real thing), and, for Canadian content, Chris Hadfield's guitar pick and mission patch, along with a video of the commander performing "Is Someone Singing" from the ISS in a video duet with Barenaked Ladies member Ed Robertson on Earth.

 

It also features a couple of VR experiences:  Defying Gravity: Women in Space and and the International Space Station VR Experience.  With no offense to Women in Space (or women in space) I'm a bit more fascinated by the option of a virtual reality tour of the ISS - although it is intriguing to watch headmount-wearing participants walk accurately from location to location in the Defying Gravity area.

The ISS VR program was created by Oculus for their headsets in 2017, working in co-operation with NASA.  The program combines NASA 3-D models and input from astronauts to make the experience as accurate as possible, allowing users to explore the station, check on experiments, dock a capsule, and perform an EVA tour of the station's exterior.

Over half the units are out of order, so Karli and I patiently wait in line for about 25 minutes.  Karli takes a seat first, and then a few minutes later I'm supplied with a sanitary mask, ushered to my module by an attendant, and equipped with the VR headmount and hand controls, after which the VR program starts.

I am instantly spellbound - the illusion of floating in low Earth orbit is compelling and believable.

Space is probably the ideal environment for VR exploration - there's no issues involving movement or walking, it just feels like you're flying.

I spend most of my allotted seven minutes zooming around the station, going out past it into a higher orbit for a panoramic view, and then doing close-up fly-bys of the structure, punctuated by looking down at Earth's distant surface.  Near the end of my session I briefly go inside the ISS, bounce amateurishly along the corridors in zero-G, visit the cupola, and look at some controls, but it doesn't have the same impact for me that the spacewalk did.

 

Higher resolution would have been nice, it didn't have the razor sharpness that I'm used to from my 5120 x 2880 iMac Retina screen at home, but it didn't really matter - I found the experience was so immersive that it was more than a little jarring when the time ran out and unseen hands took the controllers from me.  I could easily imagine spending hours rather than minutes exploring the simulation - maybe it's a good thing that I don't have any kind of VR technology at home.

Although, hmmm...a compatible Oculus Rift S headset comes in at $550 CAD on Amazon™, which is a bit expensive but not ridiculous, but it would also require a substantial upgrade to my PC video card - perhaps more of an investment than strictly practical, regardless of how much I enjoyed it.

 

We make out way out through the inevitable gift shop - yes, even aircraft carriers have gift shops - and Karli buys me a NASA mug and pin as part of her birthday gift to me.  I've had a great birthday morning at the museum with Karli, much thanks, love - next stop, the New York branch of Forbidden Planet.

- Sid