We kick off a discussion of vehicles in sci-fi by defining the term “vehicle” and delving into why they’re so important to us both on and off the screen. We talk “state of the podcast” and give you a glimpse of some of our future plans for the cast and site. And we run down the week in geek, including the pre-order availability of the Honorverse-extending book A Beautiful Friendship, ABC’s licensing of All My Children for continued production and online delivery (and what this might mean to the future of sci-fi), the awesomeness of a special edition of Dorkness Rising, and the final launch of America’s Space Shuttle program.
Two podcasts in two days after the delay this week. Awesome. Thanks Chuck & Co.
uber sweet
Tim Tams from Pepperidge Farms are not as good as Tim Tams from Australia. Their chocolate tastes better than ours! I order Aussie ones from About Australia in San Antonio…along with Caramello chocolates and Vegamite (which normally comes in jars and is made by Kraft). 
And yes I like Vegamite on buttered toast or English muffins.
Though ordering from About Australia is seasonal too, unless you want mostly melted stuff showing up at your doorstep.
Portal 2 Soundtrack Links (thanks to Shacknews for compiling a great article with links to everything):
http://www.shacknews.com/article/69150/portal-2-soundtrack-volume-2
Methinks that perhaps what Audra was thinking of were Jeep CJ’s instead of Wranglers, Wranglers are more like SUV’s and are enclosed. Whereas CJ’s are the classic open top vehicles we all think of when we hear the word JEEP. 
Personally I would like a post if there is a delay, simply so that I know everyone is OK. You are like family to me an if there is a major delay in a podcast the first thing that comes to mind is ‘are they alright’?
You are people with lives and issues like anyone else, the occassional delay is inevitable, don’t sweat it. Illness, technical issues, family emergencies and the lot are all going to come into play at some time or another. You are friends first and podcasters second, I hope you never put the cast before family or health but find a happy balance.
God bless and keep it fun.
Personally, I start to get withdrawal symptoms every Sunday (that’s Saturday evening in Texas) if a 'cast is late.
I’m not American & but even I reckon that they deserve a 4th of July break so there’s nothing to apologise about.
Talking about Mac trucks & Tranformers reminds me of another franchise from that same period that hit me as a child - M.A.S.K. !
I had a bunch of toys from that collection, including Rhino (another Mac truck), Piranha, Condor, and that oil trailer from the villains side ^_*
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Hey, I was thinking the same thing
It’s got the Wrangler CJ - The one that launches into a speedboat
Bikes, mac trucks,etc…It’s got it all
Then you have things like Speed Racer, Pole Position, Jason and the Wheeled Warriors, Biker Mice from Mars, SpeedHawk, Airwolf, Blue Thunder.
Even at a push, Centurions where they become incorporated.
Do Mechs count…If so, what counts as a good mech?
OMFG!!! you just sent me into a total nostalgia coma! I sat here for about 3 minutes remembering M.A.S.K. Then spent 20 minutes googling it. I miss the '80s. The toys, the half hour commercials for said toys. (Sigh)
How about Sky Commanders & Mech Warrrior?
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Firefly, the shot/s where Mal first sees Serenity, that’s as good a film-ic example of love at first sight as I can recall.
Okay, lets take a serious look at Voltron and Gundam. In the first its not the whole universe that needs saving, but a small collection of planets possibly all in the same system where one very beleaguered monarchy only had a princess, the aid to a dead king, a handful of mute sentient mice and the five robots. If you’re the aid and five guys manage to waltz into the castle in the middle of the final enemy assault which will leave your boss’s daughter in a dungeon if she’s lucky and you skewered in afterthought - sure, why not hand them the keys to the unstoppable giant robot the King never bothered to use!
As for Gundam it wasn’t about a bunch if kids being handed this powerful robot, but military intelligence not being able to really bother with a prototype ship and its units after all of its senior staff went and got themselves killed. After the literal junior somehow managed to deliver the ship back to command, during which it was involved in the deaths of several enemy commanders, it was put in the front lines as an active target.
That is THE scene I always think of when I think of loving a vehicle. You can tell in just one look that he would do anything for that ship.
“You know what the first rule of flying is? … Love. You can know all the math in the ‘Verse, but take a boat in the air you don’t love, she’ll shake you off just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells ya she’s hurtin’ 'fore she keens. Makes her home.”
-Malcolm Reynolds.
Such poetry from the man who treats his swampass with his mother’s hairdryer… :eyebrow:
http://forum.galacticwatercooler.com/showthread.php?p=376951#post376951
Sorry for the double post, but I figure the two are somewhat unrelated.
I figured since Audra swooned over the wranglers I’d post a picture of mine.
1997 Jeep TJ SE. I bought this guy in 2005. It was a bit smaller back then, most of the mods have been from me. Jeeps have a certain feminine appeal. The local papers do top 10 lists every year in the driving section. For many years the wranglers are in the top 5 of both, girl cars, and gay cars, meaning girls and gay men are a large buying demographic of Wranglers. I can’t explain that, but I do understand the appeal of the vehicle. It’s an icon for freedom. It was created to fight against oppression in WW2 and that sense of freedom, and undying willpower is still in the soul of the modern vehicle.
When I drive my Jeep, I feel free. I know that if I want to, I could drive off the road, through the highway ditch, and into the horizon. Many things stop me from doing that, but the capabilities of my vehicle do not. My Jeep is far from perfect. It’s been bashed around, the seat is worn and makes my back hurt after an hour, the rear axle is now bent and the tires wobble, causing vibration at highway speeds. I’ve added so much weight to it that the small 112hp (stock) engine can’t move it very fast, and because it’s so underpowered it gets horrible mileage, this list goes on, but none of it matters to me, because I feel good driving it.
It’s been to the brink of death and back with me, and it never let me down. When a complete stranger on a 4x4 forum put the call out that his Bronco was stuck up on a mountain after a blizzard, we answered that call along with a motley crew of other 4x4 drivers. We drove through a second blizzard, on top of 4 feet of snow. Spinning the tires would dig in until you were resting on the body and would have to shovel your way out. At one point I jumped out the door for a bathroom break and sunk up to my waist in the snow. It took 4 hours to go less than 10 miles up this mountain. Every vehicle was broken and limping on the way out. A dodge pickup broke it’s brake lines when the tire chains came loose. The winch on another vehicle packed it in, causing electrical system problems. A small Suzuki barely had a clutch on the way down the trail. My Jeep drove out, almost as I had driven it in, with fewer snacks, and a little less gas.
One time, while out at a local trail another Wrangler had gotten stuck in the mud. It was about a foot of mud, with two or so feet of water on top. I spooled out my winch and hooked it up. The ground was so slippery that on the first tug my vehicle simply slid towards the mud pit. I threw it in reverse, and floored it. 4000 rpm in reverse (yeah 5500rpm is technically the redline, but if you even heard 4000rpm you’d shut it down there as well) while the winch spooled inwards, it took about 3 seconds for every light on my dash to start blinking randomly and, rather than the quick warning beep, and solid tone screamed at me until a few seconds later the stuck vehicle began to back slowly out of the mud pit. I don’t recommend this ever, and there are much safer ways to extract a stuck vehicle, however, all those other ways require lots of work and take a long time. These guys had an 8 year old with them and the wife was on the phone screaming about how they’d be late for dinner. I turned the Jeep off, and back on again after a few seconds. No warning lights or sounds, everything was okay.
I could keep going on about stories, but suffice to say that my Jeep has been good to me, even though I’m rarely good to it. I love it as much as one can love a vehicle. It gets me to where I’m going, and back home, whether thats to the top of a mountain in a blizzard, or to work every weekday morning. It has the loyaty and will of a good soldier, just as it was built to be.
Here’s a question for the hive mind. What makes a vehicle iconic? Was the X-Wing inherently cool or cool because it was in Star Wars? (The Millennium Falcon is excluded because it’s. Obviously awesome in its own right.) Would the A-Team van been as memorable if it were in Three’s Company instead?
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long nose … no butt … you mean like zeeeess ?
ooph … that mental image hurt my karma dude. I dig the thought experiment, but the idea of Jack, Janet and Chrissie ( not to mention Mr. Roper) in THE VAN is just wrong.
I have to go lie down in my bean bag chair for a bit