Probably mostly in areas that became extreme over a period of time. The book describes an advanced civilization that seemingly evolved from nothing on a planet with wildly varying temperatures at unpredictable intervals. It seems like there are tons of planetary systems that aren’t as actively hostile to the…

That’s not the theory I am arguing with. I am arguing with the idea that multicellular life would evolve in the conditions described to begin with.

Because good science fiction, especially hard SF like this one should make sense, instead of being built on an idea that seems on the face of it to be obviously wrong.

A game becomes an important part of the story in the books.

I probably won’t watch this, although I am open to having my mind changed. My problem with it is although it is all well written, and I have read the trilogy, I reject the entire concept behind the first book. It doesn’t make sense that multicellular life would have ever developed in that situation, and the rest of…

Back before modern dentistry it killed a lot of people, and even now among people with bad teeth and without the means to take care of them. I remember in one of my mom’s old doctor memoirs (They used to be popular back in the day) the author recounts his brother dying in exactly this way.

“The New George O’Malley”? In this context I’m not even sure what that means?

He was in the X-Files?

I have read the book, two or three times over the last 40 years. Chamberlain was far better casting. my recollection of the character description is “tall”, not “Huge Gym Rat Who Probably Barely Lost Out On Reacher”

I was going to say that the only show I ever saw him on was Homicide: Life on the Street, but I looked at IMDB and that was Danny. Turns out I have probably seen him in a couple of forgettable guest shots on TV shows.

Tried that once, and it seems like it could be could be good, but her obnoxious over the top NPR delivery and weird vocal tics drove me away after one episode. I went to look at her ratings at Itunes, and let’s just say I was far from the only that couldn’t hang because of her vocal quirks.

He seems to be the biggest douche of all of them. He does, or did have great comic timing in Firefly, though, which is the only thing I’ve seen him in.

Seriously? Nobody thought that movie was in the running for anything but Best Actress coming into the awards. The average review I read for the movie was: “Good, not great, not Scorsese’s best work”. If it doesn’t have Scorsese’s name on it, does it even get nominated?

I’ll probably skip it. I read all three books, and I appreciate their innovation, but the problem is that I reject the central conceit of the first book that the whole thing is built on. I read through all of them because I knew it was one of the most important SF series in recent years, but I will admit, it was kind…

I’m sorry for her problems, but I could not possibly care about this book.

We aren’t saying he’s a little too well fed...we’re saying he’s a LOT too well fed. Like I said, I’m not actually asking for an actor who is gaunt and half-starved, I’m just asking for one that doesn’t look like an NFL tight end. There’s a million tall thin handsome guys in Hollywood, so why did they hire Jack…

Could be...haven’t seen the film since I saw it in the theater 40 years ago.

Yeah, I rarely get bent out of shape about physical miscasts as long as they catch the vibe of the character. Perfect example would be Katee Sackhoff as Moretti and Lou Diamond Phillips as Henry Standing Bear in Longmire. She was constantly described as a short ethnic Italian in the books, and he was constantly being…

I’m probably a little older than you, but I remember when every middle-class white family had the works of Clavell, Michener, and Wouk on their coffee table. The popularity of the big doorstop thick historical novel went back to at least the 1940's, probably peaked in the 1970's, and went into a catostrophic decline…

I always envisioned Irulan as tall and willowy, more of an Uma Thurman or Nicole Kidman type. It’s been decades since I last read the book, so I have no idea if that envisioning is part of the text, or completely in my head. I’m sure Florence Pugh will be great!