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F-ZeroOne

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  1. F-ZeroOne
    The distance covered in a "one week hyper journey" is the distance covered in a "one week hyper journey". Sorry, couldn't resist - some of the sourcebooks had travel times listed between various systems but I don't have access to them anymore.
  2. F-ZeroOne
    In the West End Games RPGs, starships had a hyperdrive "multiplier" which represented hyperspace speed; say you had a x1 multiplier hyperdrive, a one week hyper-journey took exactly that, one week. But with a x2 multiplier, it took exactly twice as long. The "Falcons" multiplier was "x.5"... sounds very similar to the outline above. And I'm still pretty sure the whole parsec thing is because sci-fi writers have no sense of scale, or indeed, astronomical units.
  3. F-ZeroOne
    I think I'm past my "Must have wants!" stage, though the odd item will still catch my attention. But I got into anime in the relatively early "Akira" days, and almost all of the information available at the time was through magazines like "Anime UK" or "Animerica". I read about some series for years before I actually got to see them, and the 80s/early 90s is still sort of "my" era of anime. I don't generally keep up with what all the kids are watching these days, though I recently subscribed to Crunchyroll which allows me to at least keep an eye on stuff. People of my age are, essentially, the "Star Wars" generation of anime and we still see the odd "for us" release (for example, the recent Bandai "Gunbuster"), but lets face it, anime has always been trend driven (I sometimes joke with fellow fans that I recall the days when anime wasn't about mobile phones... ) and its a different world now than when a nth-generation VHS copy of "Gundam: 0080" was the only way to get your heart broken by Zaku. Even so, though... Turn-A Gundam on Blu-Ray. Damn it Bandai, you promised!.
  4. F-ZeroOne
    "Impersonating a Judge is a crime, citizen. Three years in the iso-cubes."
  5. F-ZeroOne
    I once met a veteran in the Bovington Tank Museum, who talked a little about facing a Tiger tank. His comment was something like "If you saw one of those coming, you made sure your shoelaces were tied!".
  6. F-ZeroOne
    Couple of points: the West End Games RPG books predate most of what appears to be termed the "Expanded Universe"; as I said, they were used to fill in a lot of background material for what came later (at least in the original "Thrawn" trilogy, I'm not very familiar with what came later). Also, as far as Stromtrooper tongues go, bear in mind the sourcebooks for the RPG would have been originally written in the late 80s/early 90s and thus were a product of their technological background at the time. Today we'd probably be talking about retinal tracking technology, like in "Macross Zero"...
  7. F-ZeroOne
    In the West End Games Star Wars RPG (from which a lot of the EU background material was derived), the Stormtrooper helmets did indeed include visual sensors - and also came complete with tongue-operated controls for various suit functions... ...OTOH, Luke couldn't see a thing in his. Couldn't reach the switch marked "VISION ON" with his tongue?
  8. F-ZeroOne
    The opening titles are apparently based on a fan-produced work; when Mr. Moffat saw them he basically said "Lets use that!". There is a bit of a comment over the reworked theme though...
  9. F-ZeroOne
    How I explained it to a friend, who also made a "Top Gun" comparison (with tongue very firmly in cheek! ): "Its more that the trouble is that the Chinese haven't been doing this very long, so they don't know the rules. In the good old days of the Cold War, handlebar-moustachioed plucky RAF lads would form up on potato-munching vodka-sniffing Comradely Tu-95s at sufficient distance to let each other know they knew each other were there. The Russians would then take photos of the latest state-of-the-art RAF equipment (which in those days, meant English Electric Lightnings dating from 1953) and the Byrlcreem Boys would in return take photos of the latest state-of-the-art Soviet equipment (which in those days, was a Tu-95 that still had Igor Sikorskys personal, handwritten signature on the builders plate). The RAF pilots would then show the Russian crewmen any interesting pr0nography they happened to have lying around the cockpit, and the Russians would return the favour by not displaying any Russian pr0nography they happened to have lying around the cockpit. Both sides would then break off and return to base, happy in the knowledge that the forthcoming nuclear holocaust would be fought by friends. Actually colliding with the other guys aircraft, as the Chinese have been known to do, was considered very bad form.".
  10. F-ZeroOne
    You're welcome, technoblue. There are two longer trailers - one for the new series as a whole and one for the first episode specifically. I haven't posted them because, y'know - spoilers. I suspect they won't be too hard to find elsewhere...
  11. F-ZeroOne
    One week to go! Saturday 23rd August, 19:50GMT, BBC One in the UK. First episode is 80 minutes long! There was a press/preview screening a couple of weeks ago; early reports are that Mr. Capaldi is going to be just fine.
  12. F-ZeroOne
    Worth bearing in mind that the article appeared on "The Mail Online" (the web version of the UKs "Daily Mail" newspaper), which has something of a... reputation. Lets just say that the kindest way critics usually refer to the "Mail" is as "The Daily Fail".
  13. F-ZeroOne
    I've been to Bovington a few times, its not that far from where I live. They have probably the coolest British road sign along the way, as its also a tankcrew training area:
  14. F-ZeroOne
    Or, of course, theres this: http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2014/08/06/japan-buy-18000-evangelion-statue-7-eleven Human life-size, but if you were still wondering about costs...
  15. F-ZeroOne
    Regards the cost of life-size anime figures; I saw a life-size (or near life-size) Belldandy in Tokyo once that was going for around 150,000 - 200,000 yen at the time if that gives you a rough ballpark figure.
  16. F-ZeroOne
    Er, I just want to point out...
  17. F-ZeroOne
    It appears early reports of the studios demise may also have been down to early translations of the original reports, which have since been refined.
  18. F-ZeroOne
    Between this, No Mans Sky, Destiny and Elite: Dangerous - among a number of others - its beginning to look like "Space" is the new "Zombies".
  19. F-ZeroOne
    Wait - "D-Day Invasion Stripes" on the Typhoon? Did we fall out with France again or something?! I saw one take-off when I was very young; the overwhelming impression I got was that theres a certain point during the take-off climb where you can actually see gravity trying to snatch it back...
  20. F-ZeroOne
    Also, if it is flyable, its worth pointing out that this is a sub-scale technology demonstrator and not a full size fighter prototype (this has caused some confusion on some other aviation forums, even after it was pointed out its not full size!).
  21. F-ZeroOne
    Someone at BAE Systems has been watching a little too much Yukikaze recently, I think... http://io9.com/the-british-military-is-designing-a-real-life-transform-1602416110 Its nice to see someone thinking a bit outside the box, though that whirring sound you hear is R.J. Mitchell spinning in his grave at the thought of BAE having been the company which "under other names, designed the famous Supermarine Spitfire".
  22. F-ZeroOne
    Er... how did they miss "Everyone dies"?
  23. F-ZeroOne
    Look, just as long as you get forty or so Bs out the door so that we can have a Fleet Air Arm again, I don't care if theres as many variants as there are recolours of the RX-78...
  24. F-ZeroOne
    When the Tornado entered service, it had some teething problems. The Tornado programme had started as "The Multi Role Combat Aircraft". Some wag re-jigged that to "Must Refurbish Canberras Again!". Hmm, a multi-purpose fighter aircraft with early development troubles. What does that remind me of?
  25. F-ZeroOne
    Thanks for the pictures, a friend of mine attended the same event. I've actually flown (as a passenger) in a de Havilland Dragon Rapide like the one in your shots. Definitely a different era of passenger flight - when boarding, they warn you not to put your foot in certain places on the wing - lest you step through it! - and something that you don't really think about until you get in one is that its a tail-sitter. Kind of odd being vertically inclined before you've even started climbing!
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