Tag Archives | Science Fiction

I’m Your Venus

The full trailer for Avatar pretty much gives the story away, but that’s okay. I’m excited to see it for a couple of reasons: first, it’s a sympathetic portrayal of resistance to American military imperialism (I don’t know whether these Marines are actually American in the story or whether they’re from a United Earthforce or something, but it doesn’t matter – they clearly represent the American military); and second, this is the closest visual representation I’ve seen to the Venus novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. (Though this clip seems to draw at least as much from Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonrider novels – which, coincidentally, I was introduced to on the same day as Burroughs’ Venus novels.)

Mike Kaluta's adaptation of PIRATES OF VENUS

Mike Kaluta's adaptation of PIRATES OF VENUS


Pop Star

SPOILER ALERT for anyone who still hasn’t watched the last few episodes of Galactica:

I can’t believe I missed this connection before, but the scene toward the end of season 4 where Starbuck is sitting next to a mysterious stranger who may or may not be her father actually has a parallel in the original series; here’s the original Starbuck sitting next to a mysterious stranger who may or may not be his father:

Daddy Starbucks

Daddy Starbucks

(And yes, that’s Fred Astaire as maybe-daddy.) Of course, the stories behind these two mystery-dads turn out to be deeply different; Astairebuck is a solid flesh-and-blood guy with no connection to the ship-of-lights folks. Still, it looks to me like this is one more homage to the original series.


Random Query

When I was in 7th grade, we used a flashy, image-rich math textbook that made such efforts to be kid-friendly that it was almost shameful; I particularly remember a section featuring a battle between “King Strong” and “Gonzilla.” Does this ring a bell with anyone?


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