The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Marvin

00:06

0

Q: Trying to find a book title, mid ‘60’s SF

A book I read in the mid-late 60’s, has humanity (except for one light cruiser) wiped out within minutes across space. The light cruiser, named Challenger, hides in a lunar crater, sends off small lifeboats with gene banks, blanking all viewports so each lifeboat heads in an unknown direction. Ev...

Donald.McLean

00:43

twitter.com/KellyLepo/status/1347754947547455489

Marvin

00:58

0

Q: Mountains on Coruscant?

In Star Wars Legends, there is the visible Manarai Mountains mentioned in Timothy Zahn’s book, Heir to the Empire. There is also Monument Plaza which is the highest and only visible mountain on Coruscant. If I were writing a fan story that was set on Coruscant which of these should/would I use. I...

star-wars star-wars-legends

-2

Q: Where does the character Kreann originate from

Who is behind creating the character Kreann on this site because it's not me

story-identification

Marvin

01:24

-2

Q: Can we see Ian Troi in the real night sky?

The alien's natural form was a glowing white light that traveled in space. It was able to penetrate a starship's hull in order to observe the inside. However, it could also take humanoid form by impregnating an individual and being born. When the alien did this, it had a very short gestation peri...

story-identification star-wars star-trek anime quotes

Marvin

02:15

0

Q: Star Trek how should I watch it what order exactly

What is the best order to watch and read Star Trek. Every thing from TOS and then beyond it

star-trek star-trek-tng suggested-order uss-enterprise chronological-order

b_jonas

02:30

@Alex thanks, fixed

Is it actually about a giant plant, or is that supposed to say planet? — Alex 2 hours ago

Alex

@b_jonas A story about a giant plant with inhabitants would be interesting, though.

b_jonas

@Alex Giant plant with inhabitants => scifi.meta.stackexchange.com/a/6728/4918 xkcd.com/1498

Alex

Maybe that's a hint that I should read the rest of the Discworld books?

DavidW

03:02

@Alex No, you should read all of Sir Pterry's books. :D

@b_jonas Clement is a great suggestion!

Alex

@DavidW I think I have a long way to go. Only read 8 so far.

DavidW

I was trying to think of an out-of-copyright author to lower the barrier to entry, but didn't think of him. The most recent I could think of is Piper, and that's pretty marginal.

(Not as bad as Doc Smith, but still...)

@Alex Well, obviously I'm not seriously going to push you to read something you didn't enjoy enough to read on your own. You'll read them at your own pace or you won't.

That said, his last 20 Discworld books are much better than the first 20. Maybe not so much gag-a-minute, but much better stories.

Alex

I definitely enjoyed the ones I read.

I never made a conscious decision to stop.

DavidW

Well then you have years more books to look forward to enjoying. :)

Alex

Kind of just fell by the wayside.

b_jonas

03:17

@DavidW Thanks

@DavidW Out of copyright author? I like Jules Verne's books and keep re-reading them, but I don't think he's much of a topic challenge.

DavidW

Verne would at least be better than Wells; other than 20 000 Leagues and Mysterious Island most people probably haven't read very much, and he has a deeper oeuvre.

Hmm... Verne wouldn't be the worst choice. I should read the Robur novels.

(Hah, listen to me. More like "I should add the Robur novels to my giant to-be-read pile and hope.")

b_jonas

04:22

I like this one! He wrote some interesting/thought-provoking stories, but I've realized in the past few years I missed some of them, and I wouldn't mind rereading the rest. Plus the novels are all fairly short, so they wouldn't be to onerous for someone to casually pick up. (As opposed to, say, Tad Williams.) — DavidW 1 hour ago

@DavidW Sure, if it weren't for the general problem that the libraries are closed

@DavidW Is 20000 leagues actually popular?

Marvin

0

Q: Kids' short story, an alien kid body-swaps with her Earth pen-pal to get away from bad alien world?

Story is a normal Earth girl is meeting her alien pen pal, who she talks to about everything. When the pen pal arrives, the girl goes with her in her flying (?) car and hears more about the alien world, which the alien says sucks. The girl asks to go home, but before they drop her back off, the a...

story-identification short-stories aliens childrens-novel

b_jonas

I think the popular ones are Michel Strogof, Journey to the center of Earth, around the world in 80 days.

jv.gilead.org.il/rpaul has a FAQ that states which ones are the most popular, but the server is down right now

I haven't read 20000 leagues or Robur and its prequel or sequel or whatever it is for a long time

I do quite like Mysterious Island, and I should buy a copy of it, I even figured out which edition I want, but then haven't done much about it for a while.

I guess eventually I should also buy a copy of Mathias Sandorf

But of course, regardless of topic challenge, feel free to ask about Jules Verne, or talk about it in chat.

Well ok, that's not quite true. I did search it on used book store sites, marked it on two used book store sites so they'd notify me if there's a copy available, and asked in one on-site store.

DavidW

04:44

@b_jonas But you pointed out that some of them are out of copyright, hence should be legally available online. That at least gives an entry to people completely unfamiliar with his work.

@b_jonas Who can say what's popular these days; the field seems far more fragmented than it was a couple of decades ago. But it used to be one of those books, like War of the Worlds, Brave New World or The Hobbit that you could assume pretty much everybody knew.

@b_jonas Interesting. I would have said all of those less so (at least for readers), Michael Strogof much less so.

Perhaps it depends on the quality of the translation that was available at the time.

Libraries are completely shut down in your area? Here at least you can reserve books online and the system will call you when they're in and you can go up to the door and have them handed to you.

It's not as nice as browsing, but it's better than nothing. My favourite bookstore does the same.

xkcd

05:11

Hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll be able to resume our apple-focused updates, because we have SO MUCH to say about Cosmic Crisp.

Marvin

06:34

1

Q: Short Story - Man recreates the woman of his dreams but without the essentials for life

Looking for the title of a short sci-fi story, in which a guy was able to 'recreate' the woman of his dreams, only it was conceived still and dead, since her body lacked all the essentials of life. The guy was arrested for murder, then an autopsy reveals she has no organs, it was basically, a bea...

story-identification short-stories

Marvin

07:25

0

Q: Cartoon movie. Something about an anime/game character coming to real life. He used cards to summon dragons or something

From what I remember the protagonist was very energetic and had spiky hair, probably red, and also a sword nail. He used cards and i remember that in the movie he summoned a dragon with them or Something like that. As I recall, at the end of the film he ends up becoming king of the prom or whatever

movie anime cartoon animation

Marvin

07:51

0

Q: D. C. Fontana - 'The Wings of Space'

My memory may be faulty, but I could have sworn that I read (sometime in the 1970s) that the late D. C. Fontana was developing a science fiction TV show called 'The Wings of Space'. I have found a number of sites around the internet dealing with her work and none mention this show, which was supp...

star-trek-tos star

Feeds

09:34

Darths & Droids: Episode 1943: O! ’Tis Red in the Docking Bay

posted on January 12, 2021

AncientSwordRage

10:16

@b_jonas that series is so good

> “The way to deal with an impossible task was to chop it down into a number of merely very difficult tasks, and break each one of them into a group of horribly hard tasks, and each of them into tricky jobs, and each of them...”

Marvin

10:52

1

Q: Anime where humans have robotic creatures and power them by crystals

I saw this anime on YouTube some years ago, I remember that its name was one word but maybe it was just named like that to not be removed from YouTube. In the first episode, I think that the main character (a young boy) either arrived from another word, or had amnesia, I'm really not sure on this...

story-identification anime

Marvin

11:18

1

Q: Very Sexual 1960s SF Short Story/Novelette

This story is most definitely a product of the late 1960s/70s because of its sexual nature. I am pretty sure it was in one of the American magazines of the period, although it might have been an anthology (Dangerous Visions, maybe?). The time is the near future. The hero is being chased by somebo...

story-identification

Marvin

12:36

-2

Q: What are all of the captain's catchphrases have we seen so far in Star Trek?

Like Picard's iconic "Engage!", all (most?) captains say something before warp. Earlier in the Star Trek: Discovery, it was funny seeing Saru trying to find a killer catchphrase. Star Trek: Discovery finale nailed it when What are all of the captain's catchphrases have we encountered in the enti...

star-trek

AncientSwordRage

13:37

@Marvin buries head in hands

Marvin

13:53

1

Q: Short Story (60s or 70s) about TVs with 500 channels taking over the US psyche

Likely from an annual awards anthology or collection. Cold War theme. Russian/Chinese(?) state actor develops 100s of channels of TV content tailored to every type of individual in US to influence behavior. This was back when there were only 3 network stations and before cable was a thing so 50...

story-identification short-stories cold-war

Rand al'Thor

14:51

@DavidW So the bounty got auto-awarded on that old Asimov ID question - no really convincing answers :-(

Also, I notice your rep is almost at 44444 - just need to get four upvotes and accept something.

@AncientSwordRage I'm not sure that question's so unclear. Compare with:

22

Q: Does every Doctor have a catchphrase? If so what are they?

What are the catchphrases of the eleven (at the time of this posting) Doctor incarnations in Doctor Who? For example I know of a few: Chris Eccleston (9th Doctor): Fantastic! David Tenant (10th Doctor): Allons-y!, I am so sorry Et cetera. Does anyone have a list of all of the doctor's cat...

doctor-who

TheLethalCarrot

@Randal'Thor There are two examples of a catchphrase for one character in the question/comments. I know nothing of Star Trek but that doesn't look like a good sign

DavidW

@Randal'Thor I'm sorry I couldn't come up with anything better. I really gave it a good shot; I even looked up all references to Asimov in the NESFA recursive SF list, searched for stories (not mentioning Asimov) that discussed "laws * robotics" and (independently) time-travelling robots...

@Randal'Thor Or get more than 4 upvotes and go nuts downvoting things... *evil grin*

Cereal Bot

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Percent

posted on January 12, 2021 by tech

Click here to go see the bonus panel!Hovertext: Technically he only strongly suspected she was heaven-sent. Today's News: Algorithms to Live By is a good book that I put off a long time because the title sounded like a self-help book.

AncientSwordRage

15:12

@Randal'Thor I think they're clearer in having a catch phrase of sorts, but even then the question didn't make it that clear it's actually the catch phrase before engaging warp drive

Also the highest voted answer is a CW, and the second highest contradicts the other

b_jonas

@DavidW They are completely shut down for my purposes. I can't reserve books and pick them up. Technically in the university library maybe I could, it's a bit unclear, but definitely not in other libraries. Not that if they reopened it would help too much with Hal Clement, I think I searched in the catalog and his books aren't much available anyway.

For Hal Clement, I may have to look in used book stores, which are open, but I don't know if there are even translations.

Ok, it looks like at least a few books of Hal Clement will be available in libraries. A translation of one called Star light, an original called Close to critical published by Gollancz (1966) – these are the few foreign books that get to libraries only from donations, usually from the collections of dead people, and that one big donation from the British Council library when they removed presence of their organization in Hungary.

To clarify, I have already read Mission of gravity.

Star light is apparently a later sequel about Mesklin, I hope it would be understandible without the volumes before it.

And one more: translation of Blot, which I understand isn't about Mesklin.

Apparently “Blot” is a short story, available in a mixed volume of sci-fi.

@DavidW Around the world in 80 days may be irrelevant, it's probably more well known because of a successful movie or something. But then, we do have multiple questions (not by me) about its final twist (the only Sci Fi part) on Sci Fi, so some people must have read it.

But checking Wayback, web.archive.org/web/20200820114842/http://jv.gilead.org.il/FAQ/… you're right:

“Which are the two best-known Jules Verne titles worldwide? The two best-known titles are Twenty thousands leagues under the seas and Around the world in 80 days.”

I was wrong then, not Michel Strogoff. Why 20000 leagues under the sea? Seriously? That's one of the more boring books.

Or maybe I just irrationally dislike it.

Around the world in 80 days I can understand: it's dense with story, easy to digest for young people, doesn't have too much of the scenery descriptions that make the other Jules Verne books much more enjoyable, yet still manages to be a good book.

It's not my favorite, but I don't dislike it either.

In that case, take Michel Strogoff and Center of Earth as just my favorites.

DavidW

15:38

I think Around... has a boost (in the English-speaking world, at least) in being well-known because it's one of the few that had a memorable (1961) movie. Certainly I remember bits of it quite well from watching it as a child, while I don't remember any of 20000 Leagues... (1954), Journey to... (1959) or Mysterious Island (1961) even though I can't imagine I wouldn't also have seen at least one of those.

b_jonas

@Marvin Interesting. scifi.stackexchange.com/q/21380/4918 two similar short stories, one of which turn out to be the answer to this new question.

@Marvin Oh great. It's one of these nondescript animes.

Rand al'Thor

@AncientSwordRage Some of the Doctors are clear in having a catchphrase (Allons-y and Geronimo), but even in the answers to that question most of the things listed for other Doctors aren't really catchphrases.

b_jonas

Also now I have a question that I want to cross-post to an SE site, but I'm not sure if there's an SE site that deals with it.

Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2021 January 1

= January 1 = == Is it bad to put speakers right next to a wall? (Home audio equipment.) == I want to buy a new three-piece speaker set for home, to listen to music and everything else. I'm asking Refdesk for advice on where to put these to get good accoustics. I had the impression that it is somewhat bad to put a speaker right next to a wall, and better to leave some space behind the speaker. Now obviously I don't live in a mansion, so I won't have a huge room with a meter of empty space around my setup, but I do have at least a little bit of play with where to put the speakers. So I'd like...

Rand al'Thor

@b_jonas History SE maybe?

b_jonas

Wait a moment, there's an answer there that I missed because it's edited above the question instead of below.

No, I didn't miss it, it's from today.

It says pin for “laureates of the Praemium Imperiale”

apparently an honor from Japan

Let me try to find images of the badges for that prize

Maybe… now I have to find images of Ricardo Muti from the concert too.

AncientSwordRage

16:07

@Randal'Thor so in hindsight maybe not a great question?

b_jonas

16:21

youtu.be/MxSuxWgnxGc?t=21 has the best view of the badge so far, and it looks as if it had five petals instead of four, but it's still not good enough quality to be sure.

Ah, the speech might be better youtube.com/watch?v=OZf2mxVSPsk

It looks five-pronged there, but still not clear enough to exclude the match.

I'd like a 1080p video of that speech.

b_jonas

16:40

Well, that's a close enough match that I probably won't cross-post the question.

Marvin

18:00

1

Q: Can't remember a specific comic from 60's or 70's

I remember reading a sci fi comic when I was young, early 70's, about a criminal who's sentence was having his mind transferred to a war like robot where he would die infinite deaths but his mind would just be transferred to another robot. In the end, he beats the system by allowing a tank to cru...

story-identification comics

Donald.McLean

18:12

Greetings, Earthlings.

AncientSwordRage

@Donald.McLean Greetings fellow earthling, how goes it?

Donald.McLean

18:29

Not too bad. I thought it was amusing that one of my co-workers helped hack together some Slack emojis with space/astronomy themes.

AncientSwordRage

@Donald.McLean I saw those on twitter

it's a shame no one told the new user about the help center or tour here: scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/241775/… :/

DavidW

@Donald.McLean Ahoy!

Marvin

18:53

2

Q: How old is Hedwig?

We all know how old Harry is, but what about Hedwig? Sure you might think it doesn't matter but I'd like to know more.

harry-potter

Donald.McLean

@Marvin I like Harry Potter, but some of these questions are getting a bit stupid.

TheLethalCarrot

Not exactly an exciting question but not really stupid relative to a lot of what gets asked

DavidW

@Marvin Old Hedwig fine, how you? ... sorry, wrong joke. :)

PearsonArtPhoto

19:58

LOL, in my mind, the first few years of SFF were the best years, when it was young and trying to figure out what it would be. We even made the top 100 list for new websites, I think in 2012 or so.

Donald.McLean

20:10

The book that I asked about in my story ID question, my first activity on this site, is now back in print and available as an e-book!

Marvin

20:36

1

Q: Late 1930s Nuclear Holocaust SF Short

I read this short 1930s story in the 1960s; it was certainly in one of Ultimate Publishing's magazines - Amazing, Fantastic, or one of their all-reprint mags. All I can remember is that some kind of giant nuclear fire is threatening the whole world - how it started I don't know. The MC flies a he...

story-identification

b_jonas

20:52

@Donald.McLean scifi.stackexchange.com/a/14592/4918 Michael Kurland, The Whenabouts of Burr

Marvin

21:02

0

Q: The Fat Death ?? - BookSeries pre 1982

Between 1978 and 1983, I read three (?) books in a series which described a future world in change. (The books I read were in Danish, translated from English.) The change depended on the location of the suns, and one of the phases or events was referred to in Danish as FAT DEATH. There were proba...

story-identification books

0

Q: B-flick movie where a man is searching for parts to repair his robo-wife

I vaguely recall a made-for-tv? movie (25ish years ago) and I remember some plot points but I can't seem to track it down by googling. I may be mis-remembering some of the details. A corporate suit comes home and starts to get romantic on the kitchen floor with his wife but the dishwasher overflo...

story-identification b-movies

Donald.McLean

21:20

@b_jonas Correct

Marvin

0

Q: Cartoon episode where a character's prosthetic arm turns him evil

I remember watching an episode of a cartoon on TV sometime between 2009 and 2013. I don't remember what channel I was watching it on, but it was almost certainly a rerun. In it, a character who was missing an arm (or perhaps just a hand) had a prosthetic arm given to him by one of the other chara...

story-identification cartoon fantasy-genre

Babel fish

21:44

1

Q: What's the significance of the hoofed figure walking a fish in "A Day at the Park"?

"A Day at the Park" is an excellent philosophical comic by Kostas Kiriakakis, featuring two rather odd-looking creatures discussing the merits of questions and answers. (It applies very well to some discussions on Stack Exchange, notably "We're Rewarding the Question Askers".) The two main charac...

symbolism comics kostas-kiriakakis

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The Restaurant at the End of the Univ…