V: the new series
Just caught the latest episode of V, the rebirth of the classic series. From a network perspective it seems weird that ABC is picking up yet another "a weird event happens, and here's how people reacted" drama. I think it will lead to the crash of Flash Forward. Too bad too, cause i think they both have potential. Anyway, something bugged me about V (Well Alien Dramas in general), and its just a thing that i'd hope people would notice in real life. Mainly its that these giant colony sized ships just randomly appear and everyone believes that these are the first ships here.
I guess i spend more than my fair share of time thinking about how space travel would work. To me, exploration starts with reconnaissance. First, electronic drones/probes sent to monitor planets from orbit, then maybe sending scout ships out to gather more information and perhaps one day contact any life on the ground. Whatever the intent of the observer is, they don't send everything they have immediately. So, say tomorrow ships appear in our sky. In my head there are only two options, the scouts have been here for a long time allowing for safe presentation of the colonial ships (which are by no means the ENTIRE civilization, just one small portion of it), or that massive ship is a scout (which in V's case it doesn't seem to be, why risk your population unless it was an emergency, even then you still send scouts, its the most efficient way to find suitable planets with the necessary resources). That didn't seem to occur to a lot of people in the show. It rarely occurs to people in movies as well. I mean the original "Day the Earth Stood Still" was a great example in how exploration should work in that it was just the one guy and his ship, it wasn't an army, it wasn't a colony, it was just one guy (and his kick ass robot) coming to represent his people and connect. War of the Worlds, same issue, people thought the ships that came were the big ones, once they were gone that was it, hooray the Earth is saved. Independence Day... we took out ONE mothership, and roll credits, Earth is safe. That's never made sense to me, entire civilizations don't put all their eggs in one basket. It's just horrible policy to do so. If we were violent to a scout, all that would happen is a repot would be made somewhere that a scout was either in distress or had gone missing which would prompt wave 2 of scouts, in larger force, and possibly even a rescue craft. We take out a mothership, they either leave us alone, or actually bring a military presence. The only reason they'd leave us alone is if the resources we had that they wanted weren't worth it, and odds are if they send an initial force as large as the one in Independence day, they're really going to want what resources we have.
There, that's my beef with aliens visitng Earth. I mean i'll give the resistance credit for realizing that their intentions aren't all that great. It'll be interesting to see how Stargate Universe handles the issue of encountering a resource filled and populated planet they need to acquire things from seeing how they only have the one ship. But it does prove my point that they are a scouting ship in contact with Earth, despite how the plot makes them so. Destroying the ship and its inhabitants will undoubtedly infuriate the people back on Earth, but in SG-U the people back on Earth seem pretty good at attempting to do that anyway. That's another story.
Also props to the folks at V for reinvigorating the reptilian conspiracy theme. I remember reading all sorts of stuff from people like David Icke, oddly enough most of his books that were completely easy to obtain when i was in high school, near impossible to obtain in college. Not his fault, our network censors tend to block things labelled "Education", "Entertainment" as often as they block "Cult/Conspiracy Theory" categories. Sometimes it does feel like there is a disconnect between the haves and have nots. Whether you choose to peg that as illuminati, or reptilian, or 9th dimensional, it does register with most people as something worth listening to. Could all our troubles be caused by some outside force, could it all be a God's doing, do we really choose the circumstances we find ourselves in? Sure is fun to think about.
That's all i've got for nonsensical ramblings today. but as far as those go, aggressive reptilian alien species that want us all dead is pretty good. better than everyone passing out and seeing 137 seconds of 6 months from now. that must have sucked for the people asleep on the other side of the world. totally caught a glimpse of themself sleeping 6 months in the future. funny and sad at the same time.
I guess i spend more than my fair share of time thinking about how space travel would work. To me, exploration starts with reconnaissance. First, electronic drones/probes sent to monitor planets from orbit, then maybe sending scout ships out to gather more information and perhaps one day contact any life on the ground. Whatever the intent of the observer is, they don't send everything they have immediately. So, say tomorrow ships appear in our sky. In my head there are only two options, the scouts have been here for a long time allowing for safe presentation of the colonial ships (which are by no means the ENTIRE civilization, just one small portion of it), or that massive ship is a scout (which in V's case it doesn't seem to be, why risk your population unless it was an emergency, even then you still send scouts, its the most efficient way to find suitable planets with the necessary resources). That didn't seem to occur to a lot of people in the show. It rarely occurs to people in movies as well. I mean the original "Day the Earth Stood Still" was a great example in how exploration should work in that it was just the one guy and his ship, it wasn't an army, it wasn't a colony, it was just one guy (and his kick ass robot) coming to represent his people and connect. War of the Worlds, same issue, people thought the ships that came were the big ones, once they were gone that was it, hooray the Earth is saved. Independence Day... we took out ONE mothership, and roll credits, Earth is safe. That's never made sense to me, entire civilizations don't put all their eggs in one basket. It's just horrible policy to do so. If we were violent to a scout, all that would happen is a repot would be made somewhere that a scout was either in distress or had gone missing which would prompt wave 2 of scouts, in larger force, and possibly even a rescue craft. We take out a mothership, they either leave us alone, or actually bring a military presence. The only reason they'd leave us alone is if the resources we had that they wanted weren't worth it, and odds are if they send an initial force as large as the one in Independence day, they're really going to want what resources we have.
There, that's my beef with aliens visitng Earth. I mean i'll give the resistance credit for realizing that their intentions aren't all that great. It'll be interesting to see how Stargate Universe handles the issue of encountering a resource filled and populated planet they need to acquire things from seeing how they only have the one ship. But it does prove my point that they are a scouting ship in contact with Earth, despite how the plot makes them so. Destroying the ship and its inhabitants will undoubtedly infuriate the people back on Earth, but in SG-U the people back on Earth seem pretty good at attempting to do that anyway. That's another story.
Also props to the folks at V for reinvigorating the reptilian conspiracy theme. I remember reading all sorts of stuff from people like David Icke, oddly enough most of his books that were completely easy to obtain when i was in high school, near impossible to obtain in college. Not his fault, our network censors tend to block things labelled "Education", "Entertainment" as often as they block "Cult/Conspiracy Theory" categories. Sometimes it does feel like there is a disconnect between the haves and have nots. Whether you choose to peg that as illuminati, or reptilian, or 9th dimensional, it does register with most people as something worth listening to. Could all our troubles be caused by some outside force, could it all be a God's doing, do we really choose the circumstances we find ourselves in? Sure is fun to think about.
That's all i've got for nonsensical ramblings today. but as far as those go, aggressive reptilian alien species that want us all dead is pretty good. better than everyone passing out and seeing 137 seconds of 6 months from now. that must have sucked for the people asleep on the other side of the world. totally caught a glimpse of themself sleeping 6 months in the future. funny and sad at the same time.
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