[Spoilers] Freddy is an Old Giza

[spacetyrantxenu]

Yeah, Dune did start slowly and I almost gave up on it because it was talking so long to get anywhere. But I'm really glad I kept going, it's an amazingly good book, and series for that matter. If you haven't finished the Dune series books written by the original author, they're all worth reading. But skip the end of the series, the books written by Frank Herbert's son are just terrible and completely irredeemable. The story is better left unfinished than subjected to the awful fan fiction quality ending given in the last two books.

Heh, lemme guess, "Now that's a name I haven't heard on many years" eh TBS? No wonder you're a good civ player, you're in everyone's head with your Jedi mind tricks. :P

Naming scheme... I haven't read any Star Wars material so I don't know anything other than the movies. Maybe use the names of all the bit players who don't get much screen time? Or if there is a way to fit the corniest dialogue in the city character limit... Capital of Nerfherder, second (through sixth) city of Bad Feeling..., etc.?

[Old Harry]

How is C3-PO racist against Brits? Is it a stereotype to believe that all Brits excel at human/cyborg relations?

The idea that any true Englishman would speak foreign languages (let alone six million of them) is just wrong. Everyone knows you just have to speak English a little louder and then Jonny Foreigner understands.

I have less trouble than THH with the murderously evil galactic empire having English accents. Never forget who gave the world concentration camps and industrialised slavery . Of course the idea that the plucky rebels fighting against the oppressive invaders are American is hilarious...

Turn 6

Looks like Alhazard and REM teched Fishing this turn too.

[DaveV]

Episode 4 was an amazing movie when it came out; I haven't watched it for a long time but I'm sure it hasn't aged well. When I saw Star Wars in the theater, the only things I could compare it to were 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Star Trek TV show. The former had very good special effects but an opaque plot. The latter had some good plots but pretty cheesy special effects. As Xenu aptly put it, Star Wars did an excellent job of presenting a different world, densely populated with aliens, robots, and spaceships. The watered-down religious references probably helped its appeal, since non-denominational self-help and self-actualization were very popular at the time. The cheesy dialog and tropes like "the bad guys can't aim" were noted at the time, but the momentum of the movie overcame them.

I enjoyed the first few Dune books, but they went badly off the rails at the end of the series.

Naming theme: Star Wars actors? I used actor names in EitB 44, and they tend to fit pretty well within the character count limit.

[BRickAstley]

TNG was the best Trek series.

[spacetyrantxenu]

I enjoyed the first few Dune books, but they went badly off the rails at the end of the series.

Regarding Dune, the only thing to say is that if it was written by Frank Herbert, it's canon and good. If it was written by anyone else, it's fan fiction (to be polite) and garbage. The first six books in the series I highly recommend, they were all good to great. The last two...well I guess Brian Herbert had to make a living somehow?

[Mardoc]

The last two...well I guess Brian Herbert had to make a living somehow?

Um. Two? I count thirteen. So far.

[spacetyrantxenu]

I meant in the main Dune series. The rest are prequel series as far as I know.

[TheHumanHydra]

Naming theme: Star Wars actors? I used actor names in EitB 44, and they tend to fit pretty well within the character count limit.

Did this get weird when talking about whipping them?

I have a rant I could give about how deeply casual anti-Britishness seems to be embedded in American culture, but I will refrain. I will only say that Old Harry seems to be much more self-effacing about his British heritage than I am, and I'm the one who lives ... in the colonies.

As far as I know, the remaining pile of 'Dune' (prequel) novels were (are?) cowritten by ... Kevin J. Anderson, of ill Star Wars repute. I have not read them (actually, I've never read past 'Dune' ... should probably get around to that sometime. But it stands so well on its own).

Speaking of novels and Star Wars, you know what books have always super-impressed me, surprisingly? The Star Wars novelizations. They make even the bad films good. I guess that's what happens when someone else writes the dialogue and plays the parts, and reduces the litany of fight scenes to a few lines on paper.

I feel like TNG is the archetypal Star Trek show, and excellent television. But I have to say, I am currently watching DS9 through for the first time (not sure how I missed this as a kid), and I am mightily impressed. I'm not sure I can pick a favourite.

Another potential Star Wars-based naming scheme could be novel titles. There are a lot of those, and some of them sound pretty cool.

[Dreylin]

I believe that this is the point where I should bring up Doctor Who.

[Old Harry]

I've been so disappointed with post-Tennant Doctor Who. And even the last series of his was some kind of messianic "give thanks to the Doctor" snoozefest. At least I can watch Peter Capaldi without throwing things at the screen, but it feels like they ran out of ideas a while ago.

I remember liking the first Dune book, but then getting stuck on the second or third. That was such a long time ago that all I remember was how thirsty it made me. Haven't seen the film, but sfdebris' review of it is great...