Can someone link me to an article explaining why virtual reality is interesting as anything other than a videogame-moviewatching novelty platform? Or is that the whole story?

From the mid-'70s to the mid-'80s, every time you went to your bookstore's science fiction section this cover practically leaped off the shelf at you.

I also think Michael Whelan's covers had a lot to do with the change toward the "human figure" side of realism on SF books. Not that I "blame" Whelan for this any more than I blame Lucas for Hollywood's post-Star Wars blockbuster-itis; Whelan's covers are beautiful. But I do feel that Whelan's covers ended up…

Recalling my own reactions to these covers when I came across them as a kid, I feel that, unlike the realistic covers that dominate SF today, these images drew you in because they promised a reading experience that would be, in some way, *weird*.

These kinetic sculptures might be interesting, but I'll never know, because the video-makers are so hell-bent on imposing a quick-cut-and-dissolve-to-the-musical-beat structure on the shots that I have no time to appreciate anything. It's like they're actively trying to prevent me from seeing anything clearly.

Ironically, everything was visually interesting *until* the whale showed up. Second half felt less visually inspired than the first.

Yes, that shot too-clearly reveals the humanoid form of the creature. Would've been better, of course, to leave its overall shape somewhat uncertain. Though I wasn't that troubled by it. And I really love the sequence that follows it — the white-hot jets of exhaust from the Narcissus. Beautiful effect achieved…

I'm struck by the machine-like precision with which the falcon's head pivots to keep a stable relationship with the landscape.

I love your all-caps-and-italics-and-bold enthusiasm! That's how I feel! Yep, it's a great moment in the series; like I said above, it's the opening sequence in the whole spectacular endgame of the second season. (Also, a great touch in that scene is that over the images of total planetary destruction and cosmic…

The soundtrack was one of the great strengths of the series.
I've always felt that the memorable piece below was a kind of unofficial "second theme" for the show.

Nice point. Spring water really does fit the theme well.

I can only add my voice to the (deep, heroic bass) chorus of people here who had similar childhood experiences with Star Blazers.

Both King and The Tomorrow People got it from Alfred Bester's novel The Stars My Destination.

(Makes me wonder if this adaptation of "The Jaunt" is somehow riding the coattails of the recent news that a film adaptation of Bester's novel is once again in development.)

Sexy!

So given their function, are they really tentacles or are they really antennae? Because they seem like antennae to me.

Yes - although the phrasing in that entry is a little misleading. Béton means concrete, brut means "raw, unrefined, crude." The French phrase la force à l'état brut translates directly into "brute force." So the negative connotation of "brut" is certainly there in the original French. The fact that all that has…

I'll chime in here and say that I'm very fond of brutalist architecture. The name always felt to me like a smoke screen getting in the way of actually enjoying it. Personally I've always found it to be an engaging combination of stimulating and serene. My own private name for it is "civic modernism" (because I…

Gotta include Alien in here. Where is that film not staggeringly beautiful?
The sequence where Brett looks for Jones could be straight out of a Tarkovsky film.

Fascinating how so many of the really early sea animals have this strange, crude, "blocky" appearance to them. As though evolution hadn't yet mastered all her sculpting tools.

A fine troll, lovely bouquet.