Takara_Soong

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Posts posted by Takara_Soong

  3. Posted

    I seriously doubt that Mark Hamill will be picked to play the Joker. Just because he can do a funny cartoon voice doesn't mean he can play the Joker live.

     

    There is probably a reason why hes been washed up for years. Its the same reason why we won't see Hayden Christianson in a major role anymore. They both can't act.

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    You've obviously not seen any of Hayden Christensen's other films. He's a good actor. I suggest you check some of his other roles out before condemning him.

     

    The problem Mark Hamill had was he didn't have much of a resume before being cast as Luke Skywalker so people judged his talent based on that role. At that time we didn't know that George Lucas was no good at getting performances from his actors. We know that now so it should be easier for Hayden Christensen to continue on with his career.

     

    I do agree that being able to do a good voice acting job is very different from playing the character in a movie.

  4. Posted

    Yes, I can understand it too, however, I believe they were only prolonging the inevitable.  It just caused them more pain in the long run.

     

    No one gets over the loss of a child, however, the negative energy involved in keeping her alive would be, to me, more draining, than learning how to honor her memory.

     

    I should add, I believe the way they chose to keep her alive was negative.  Not all parents would fight in the same way they did.

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    The fact they are now calling into question the autopsy report and talking about having other experts come in to review it is sad. I can't believe they are considering further legal action in this matter as well. I know it's easier said than done but they need to let go and try to heal.

  5. Posted

    TNG: Relics

     

    It really looks like the Enterprise is flying toward the Death Star! And oh crap IT'S SCOTTY! :newyear:

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    Never Seen That One Before?

     

    And That Thing In Relkics, The Dyson's Sphere Drarfs The Death Star :congrats:

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    That's for sure. They said the Dyson Sphere had a circumference equal to Earth's orbit of the sun. That's huge!!

     

    Man of the People is an okay episode but I love Schisms just to hear Data's poetry reading. How can you not like the episode that brought us Ode to Spot. LOL

     

    After Spike, I got to watch TOS' Catspaw, followed by TNG's Ménage à Troi and VOY's Real Life. I still haven't quite recovered from the death of the Doctor's holographic daughter in that episode.

  6. Posted

    Physics genius plans to make 'Star Trek' replicator a reality

    By Kevin Maney, Technology columnist, USA Today

    Posted 6/14/2005 10:39 PM    Updated 6/15/2005 1:01 AM

     

    "This machine makes every man self-sufficient. It takes the stickum right out of society."

    That's a quote from a 1958 science-fiction story, Business as Usual, During Alterations, by Ralph Williams. It's about a machine called a duplicator, which aliens drop off on Earth as a test for humans. Put anything on the duplicator's tray and the machine makes an exact copy.

     

    People go nuts, making duplicate duplicators, then making jewelry, clothes, food and money, rendering all products and cash virtually worthless. It's both a dream machine and a nightmare machine, giving everyone what they want but threatening to wreck the economy and the underpinnings of civilization.

     

    So, of course somebody is really inventing one today.

     

    And not some loony in a garage who thinks he's (Please stop me from cursing) Van Dyke in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This is Neil Gershenfeld, director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Bits and Atoms and a certifiable physics genius. He's got backing from the National Science Foundation. He's got interest from the Pentagon, venture capitalists and foreign governments. This week, he's in South Africa, where he's setting up one of his creations in Pretoria.

     

    He calls his machines "fabs," and he's just published a book about his work, Fab: The Coming Revolution On Your Desktop — From Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication.

     

    Gershenfeld's ultimate goal is to invent home fabrication machines that will be as common as Hewlett-Packard ink-jet printers. They will be able to make anything: custom Barbie clothes, MP3 players, cow-shaped cream pitchers, Barry Bonds baseball cards from the 1980s when he looked skinny — you name it.

     

    "We're aiming at making the Star Trek replicator," Gershenfeld says, referring to the machine on the USS Enterprise that could conjure up a cup of coffee or a toenail clipper on command.

     

    How far along is Gershenfeld? Well, in one sense, not very. His fabs look like a cross between a computer and a high school shop class. The gadgets include a laser cutter and a milling machine, and together they make parts that must be assembled rather than churning out whole finished products. Users have tended to make one-off oddities, including a bag for silencing a scream in case you just have to let one loose in a crowd.

     

    But Gershenfeld argues that his fabs today are the historical equivalent of 1970s minicomputers.

     

    Before the 1970s, only big entities could afford to buy computers, which were room-size mainframes. The first minicomputers cost around $25,000 and could fit in a closet, allowing small companies or groups to own computing power. They were followed in the 1980s by personal computers, which fit on a desk and cost one-tenth as much.

     

    And now, computing power is so cheap it can be in teenagers' bedrooms, working on such mission-critical tasks as instant messaging.

     

    Similarly, Gershenfeld's fabs cost around $20,000 and can fit on a couple of tables. They do some basic fabrication that previously required a factory floor. And, Gershenfeld says, the fabs "can do today what you will do later with a single machine that costs $1,000."

     

    It might be hard to accept that a machine will rearrange atoms into 3D products. But there are precedents. If you go into many research and development labs, you'll find a rapid prototyping machine that can make a 3D form out of plastic powder or liquid.

     

    The other day, I met Thomas Mino, CEO of a nanotech company called Lumera. It can change the molecules in a plastic to give it different properties, depending on whether it will be used in radio antennas, circuits for computer chips or devices for drug research. If nanotech factories can build plastic products one molecule at a time, why couldn't that capability someday sit in your office?

     

    Look at it another way: Back in 1975, anyone would've had a hard time believing consumers would eventually have home laser machines that would make optical disks that could each store the equivalent of 150 books. Yet that's exactly what a CD burner is.

     

    In 2020 or so, you might be ready to play Wiffle ball with your kids but can't find the ball. So you'd go on the Web, perhaps finding a Wiffle ball design that's been modified by a aerodynamics graduate student so the ball dips like a Roger Clemens slider.

     

    You'd download the design the way you download a PDF file today. Then instead of clicking "print," you'd click "fab."

     

    The computer would dump the design into your fabricator, which would spray molecules from a cartridge to form the ball. A small fee for the design would get charged to your PayPal account. Otherwise, the only cost would be that once in a while you'd have to replace the cartridge, which no doubt would cost three times more than the fabricator.

     

    As that example shows, in a fab world, hardware will be changeable — programmable — much as software is today. People could tinker with it and sell their customizations online. As Gershenfeld points out, it truly would become open-source hardware.

     

    Gershenfeld dismisses worries that such a machine would undermine the manufacturing economy — just as home printers have not killed off the printing industry. "There will still be mass production for mass markets," he says. "Then for all the stuff that isn't from Wal-Mart, you make it at home."

     

    Even in science fiction, society adapts to the fab. At the end of Williams' story, the characters figure out that instead of an economy based on standardized, mass-manufactured products, the post-duplicator economy would be one of mass-diversity. Their biggest complaint is that the duplicator didn't change things enough.

     

    "The whole framework of our society has flipped upside down," says one character. "And yet, it doesn't seem to make much difference, it's still the same old rat race."

     

    Bummer.

  8. Posted

    I voted no. I don't think there will ever be another phenomenon like Trek. I'm not sure how much appeal it holds to non-sci-fi fans. Like Gamera, I've never watched either series and have no desire to watch them. For the most part, Trek is the only sci-fi I watch.

  11. Posted

    According to Spike's website, all this week three episodes will be aired consecutively on Tuesday to Friday at 1:00, 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. ET. As well, there is TNG at midnight and 1:00 a.m. on Friday nights. Their website doesn't indicate how long the increased schedule will last but we can hope it will be for a while.

     

    Here is what the website has listed for the week of June 12, 2005:

     

    Wednesday: 1:00 Man of the People; 2:00 Relics; 3:00 Schisms

     

    Thursday: 1:00 True Q; 2:00 Rascals; 3:00 Fistful of Datas

     

    Friday: 1:00 The Quality of Life; 2:00 Ship in a Bottle; 3:00 Aquiel; midnight & 1:00 a.m. Descent Parts I & II

  14. Posted

    It is possible too that WWIII showed humans that a need for real change was necessary or we weren't going to survive (I believe Riker said there were 600 million dead from the conflicts). Perhaps contact with Vulcans was one of many factors that occurred to make change stick.

     

    There have always been selfless and good people and there have always been people who were motivated by a desire for power and wealth.  There may actually be more of the former but the latter always win.

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    I believe, or at least want to believe, the numbers of the former vastly outnumber the latter. I also believe that events of the future will finally lead to the former finally winning.

  15. Posted

    According to startrek.com:

     

    As a rule of thumb, the events that take place within the live action episodes and movies are canon, or official Star Trek facts. Story lines, characters, events, stardates, etc. that take place within the fictional novels, the Animated Adventures, and the various comic lines are not canon.

     

    There are only a couple of exceptions to this rule: the Jeri Taylor penned novels "Mosaic" and "Pathways." Many of the events in these two novels feature background details of the main Star Trek: Voyager characters. (Note: There are a few details from an episode of the Animated Adventures that have entered into the Star Trek canon. The episode "Yesteryear," written by D.C. Fontana, features some biographical background on Spock.)

  16. Posted

    I believe that it is considered canon to a large extent if not entirely. I'll have to do some searching but I believe I've read that Paramount and Gene Roddenberry considered it to be so.

     

    As evidence just look at the episode library on ST.COM.

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    TAS is not considered canon except for some information regarding Spock in one episode. Here's the link to st.com regarding what is and isn't considered canon

  18. Posted

    According to thedigitalbits.com website, the 2-disc Star Trek: Nemesis - Special Collector's Edition is tentatively set for release on October 5, 2005. They only had dates available. No word on what will be included for special features, menu art, etc.

     

    Here are the tentative and confirmed dates for Enterprise season sets going on sale:

     

    ENT Season Two: July 26, 2005 (confirmed)

    ENT Season Three: September 20, 2005 (confirmed).

    ENT Season Four: November 1, 2005 (tentative)

     

    Also... and this is something of a surprise... our sources are currently telling us that Star Trek: The Complete Animated Series is tentatively planned for DVD release in September (on 9/6).

     

    There will also be a new Star Trek: The Motion Pictures DVD Collection box set on 10/4, along with a 4-season Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete Series set on 11/1.

     

    Keep in mind, the above (particularly the Star Trek: Animated Series information) is tentative unless otherwise noted and until it's officially announced by the studio. We've heard that The Animated Series was coming to DVD so many times now, only to have it delayed, that I'll believe it when I see it. Still, this comes from a very good source, so cross your fingers.

  21. Posted

    My point was there is no evidence to suggest humans would act that way.  The possibility of alien encounters would have some people looking for a way to profit at someone else's expense just like anything else does now.  People would be racing to get the first Vulcan/Human contract.

     

    Nor, do I understand why knowing there are aliens would bring people together.  Nor do I see any connection between visiting aliens and eliminating poverty.  You have to understand why their is poverty - part of it - particularly in third world countries is a result of people in power exercising dominion over resources.  Would visiting aliens somehow balance the power structure.  Another cause of poverty is people's own choices - would visiting aliens cause everyone to give up their vices?  Would it make people honest or all of a sudden instill a work ethic where it didn't previously exist.

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    It didn't happen overnight. In ST: FC, Deanna says that poverty, disease and war were eliminated within 50 years of first contact with the Vulcans. All of what you say may have been attempted and failed because the Vulcans wouldn't "play the game".

     

    Maybe the Vulcans set conditions for relations such as an end to wars and sharing of resources. I can see where Vulcans would find the way things are done now - wars, hunger and curable/controllable disease running rampant in parts of the world while others have an abundance of everything - as being quite illogical.

  23. Posted

    Not everyone was perfect in TNG/DS9/VOY; many were greedy, corrupt, violent and racist.

     

    In my opinion, knowing they were up against something other then themselves would bring humans together for the most part, and from that unity more would come such as the end poverty and clearly war.

     

    Not everyone changes even when their ways are archaic in comparison; don’t judge the human race off some capitalists.

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    Well said.

     

    There certainly were a number of guest and recurring characters in Trek that showed many of today's not so great human qualities.

     

    I believe that poverty and greed go hand in hand as do helplessness and ruthlessness. Eliminate one, does the other disappear?