It was a hard one for me. Star Wars has been around a lot longer, and is something I've enjoyed to some extent since I was a kid. But there have been only six "official" movies, at least three of which (the prequels) were kind of weak. The Marvel movies are newer—I'm counting from "Iron Man 1" to the present—but there…

Same story here. I remember buying mine at the old California Museum of Science and Industry in L. A. when I lived there as a kid. It typically failed to impress people, but I personally thought it was very cool.

I'm an avid amateur astronomer. Last week I had a routine eye exam, and they used those drops that cause your eyes to dilate. My exam was late enough in the afternoon that the effect hadn't completely worn off by the time the stars came out on a rare clear night here in the Seattle area. It was amazing what a…

Relevant to IO9'ers: the word "geek" used to mean "a performer who bites the heads of chickens in a carnival or circus." When you look it up in very old dictionaries, that's often the first definition. I hope no one here insists on sticking to that one!

I was at a Star Trek convention years ago where some speaker (it might have been Walter Koenig?) said they'd briefly considered putting a joke line at the beginning of Star Trek 4 about Saavik staying on Vulcan for a 9-month leave of absence. I'm not sure if he was kidding or not....

I remember seeing this short film a few years ago and heard it had been picked up to turn in to a feature film—so yes, I'm pretty sure there's a connection (and I'm assuming the creator is being appropriately credited and compensated!). The short film is great; the trailer for the new movie, not so much.

It's actually based on an old short film called "Pixels" which came out a number of years ago (and is available on YouTube). The short film is actually pretty great; I agree, though, that this new movie looks unimpressive.

Many here are probably already aware of this, but the idea for this movie was taken from a short film that came out a few years ago:

I was wondering about that too.... Although, given the time frame on the video (1 second = 1 hour), it took almost a full day for that small block of tin to transform, so I guess a large organ pipe could take weeks—which does seem consistent with the rest of the story.

My wife and I came across this one driving through Richland, WA a few years ago. We dubbed it the "Space Mountain Church."

For those who are interested, Sky and Telescope magazine routinely runs detailed articles on topics of this kind. They've covered at least half of these during the past few years. Fascinating stuff. (And no, I don't work for Sky and Telescope or anything, I just enjoy reading it.)

"Star Trek," and very specifically the character of Spock, helped me get through my teenage years. I've been a lifelong "Trek" fan ever since. I'm sure many others here have similar stories.

"Out of the Silent Planet" is definitely under-rated. Though I'd loosely call it science fiction, I'd put it in something of a different category than "Foundation." (I haven't read "Dune.") As someone who considers myself a Christian, the biblical parallels don't bother me, though I could understand how a…

Good to know... it does seem odd that they'd turn a fairly "R" rated book into a kids' series. But I've enjoyed the other books of yours I've read, so it would be fun to read your first. (And having had some music published, I know there's always a special connection to that very first work you have in print!)

I'll have to check that out! I had no idea there were other novels that took place in the same "universe."

"Up the Line" is a favorite of mine as well. It would make a fascinating movie.

I noticed that too... I also noticed the constellation Orion in the lower left corner, rotated about 90 degrees from how it should be (the belt stars should roughly line up with the plane of Earth's equator, with Orion's "shoulders" above and his "feet" below).

Speaking of the James Bond franchise, back in the 1960's those movies were coming out at the rate of one per year. (Starting in the 1970's they slowed down a bit, but were still averaging one every two years until the late 1980's.) So there actually is a precedent for sequels coming out that frequently—and doing so…

Yes, people tend to forget that sequels are as old as filmmaking itself. The "Thin Man" franchise—6 films in all—was huge back in the 1930's. In "Back to the Future 3," where Doc and Marty are getting ready to drive the Delorean through a 1955 drive-in movie theater, the movies listed on the marquee are all sequels.…

Last year's movie "Space Station 76" did a great job exploring the theme of "a future that never happened." It's a very dark, twisted, and generally weird movie—and not at all what I expected—but I thought it was very artfully done.