We delve into what takes a vehicle out of the ordinary and makes it stick in our minds for years to come. We wrap up Fantasy Sci-Fi League 3.0 with some well-deserved participant awards. And we run down the week in geek including widespread outrage over the Netflix price increase and our awesome casting pics for a (sadly, hypothetical) Police Academy remake.
I just started a Netflix account in the last 6-9 months. I LOVE IT!!! I have the plan that gets 3 DVDs and Instant Watch and I plan to keep it. How am I paying for it? I’m dropping HBO and Skinimax. I don’t like the price price hike, but understand (just like Time Warner) Netflix is kind of stuck in the middle.
~Shooter Out
As a kid the car that always stuck with me was MadMax’s car,
1973 Ford XB Falcon Coupe
There just seemed very bad ass about this car when I was a kid.
Though now if I won the lotto I would totally buy the Rx7 Fd as seen in Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift:
This is my fantasy car since it came out…Lamborghini Countach…it may be craaaap…but I still want one. In black or silver.
This is really fantasy, but there have been times when I’ve been stuck in traffic that I’ve imagined my car transforming into a Puddle Jumper.
Still listening to the cast but on the Netflix topic I wanna send you back 10 years ago.
We all had video store card and were paying 5$ a movie and got charged late fees if we did not brought them back in time (usually less then 24hours). Now look at how much media you get for the price on Netflix and do the math at 5$ a piece. We are still winner in my book. Of course it is never cool to pay more but it’s still not that bad.
on the Netflix item, my wife and I consciously had our cable tv shut off a year ago. Our toddler eats up most of our time, so little remains to watch the tube. When we do get time, we both usually do instant watch netflix, or perhaps a DVD together, I’d say 90/10 percent split on that one. Or we have our vast collection of ancient and dusty DVD’s that work well enough.
We use a HTPC and a networked BLU-Ray player for Netflix Instant Watch hooked to the BATV (big a$$ tv).
We think we’ve saved near $1000 during the past 12 months due to not having television. The real noteworthy thing is we do not miss it at all. Of course we cannot watch ‘must see tv’, but that term is a dead as hammer pants (don’t hurt them).
Netflix is our poison of choice at the moment, but if someone else comes along with a better delivery/service/cost model we’ll take our coinage down the block.
The thing that I fear is that the delivery methods will become ‘balkanized’ so that each hold exclusive permission to deliver particular content. Oh you want to watch ‘Breaking Bad’ episodes, you need Netflix. You want to watch “Justified” episodes you need someone else … etc. etc. etc.
Another thought experiment is the future of the ‘television series’ itself. With people snorting up entire DVD collections in a months time will the consumer demand for shortened production schedules preclude the 13/24 episode and then wait a year model? Like mp3 changed the music album concept, will the digital delivery of television cause the episodic series to evolve, die?
( I watch the entire Lost series in 2 months with netflix … loved it all until season 6). Really glad I spent 2 months watch, and not 6 years.
Not an option for me. My HOA provides cable as part of my regular dues. I rarely use it, and recently, have run into problems the rare times I check it. I watch a bit more during primary television season, but Chuck is the only show I’m really looking forward to right now.
Even in stock trim the Aussie Falcon is hot. Have you ever seen the Ranchero version?
And pop culture impact a side, the DeLorean was just a cool car. It had a shape like nothing else, the gull wing doors, and the stainless body. It was just bad ass, and if JD had been able to keep the company running the thing would have made huge waves int he auto industry, I think. In the end, the companies failure made it easy to dismiss the car as a doomed project from a corrupt madman:(
I’m not a car person at all. Really don’t get exicted about cars.
But there is, of course, this:
When I watched the Adam West Batman as a kid, I (like many kids) did not see it as campy. I saw it as real. When there was cliffhanger in the episode with Batman and Robin in danger, I was like “Oh no! They’re in danger!”
Loved that show. Loved that Batmobile.
Funny thing is, I’m up to the Batman arc in my relisten, so I’ve heard a lot about the Batmobiles the past few days. 
I mentioned this during the Twitter discussion, but part of what rubs me the wrong way about the whole Netflix price increase (besides the grasping capitalist paws of the media companies) is the way they tried to spin it to the consumer as something good for us. Just no. I know your costs are going up, and you’re passing them along. That’s business. But telling me that actually this is a good thing, that I am paying more for the same, because they care about the customer? That’s disingenious and what bothers my non-wallet-centered thinking of the issue.
Thank you Sean for the nice FSL 3.0 “The Bus” award! I sure enjoyed “playing,” or what I more appropriately call “creating,” this year! In particular I’d like to thank Sean for creating all the great scenarios. As difficult as it for us to write the solutions I can only imagine how difficult crafting the scenarios just the right way can be.
I’d also like to extend a BIG thank you to Uchiha Daisuke. You made FSL 3.0 go this year from keeping the team spreadsheet to creating the team cards.
Solai, I tried to keep you in one piece this year but I couldn’t leave the flesh eating tribbles just hanging on Kronos from the first scenario. If Sean wasn’t so despondent from his truck getting demolished by the kamikaze Tie Fighter I’m sure he would have been able to do an encore scenario to save you.
But most of all thank you to each and every one of you that created a story. I read them all. They were entertaining as hell. I love the creativity of this crowd. That is what makes be proud to be part of the community.
GWC FSL 3.0 [NO COLON] Story Creators (In order of apperance):
Badgerspoon
Solai
Jonolobster
Baconface
Davidj0207 A.K.A. “The Operator”
Nightwing
Albatross
Casilda
EagleCat
Starsaber
coco
Omra
Zombie Survivor
Janitorbob
Jimeni
ThotFullGuy
SetecAstronomy
frakkintalos
El Jefe
JollyAndy
Uchiha Daisuke
Callmeace
Fenatic
Sithwitch
Devastron
Nickname Boomer
jg35ca
Albatross
Starbuccaneer
Edoz
Solarpilot
If you didn’t get a chance to participate this year I encourage you to write a story for FSL 4 point 0. No story is stupid. Or rather, all of these stories are stupid. After all, we are writing about non existing characters in science fiction, fantasy or action with mythical powers or possession of technology well beyond our means. What matters, in my opinion, is bringing forth your interpretation of those characters given the infrastructure and scenarios Sean gives us. I’m always interested to learn more about the characters through someone else’s eyes.
~Shooter Out
What Shooter said. Amen bruther.
I haven’t heard the cast yet. I just wanted to post my dream car.
Straight from Wiki:
[i]1970 was the pinnacle of performance from Oldsmobile. In order to keep up in the horsepower arms-race, General Motors dropped the cap on engine size in 1970, and Oldsmobile responded by making the Olds 455 V8 the standard 442 engine. Magazine ads using an offbeat mad scientist trumpeted “Dr. Olds introduces as large a V-8 as ever bolted into a special-performance production automobile!” Output was 365 hp (272 kW) and 500 lb·ft (680 N·m), with a 370 hp (276 kW) variant available with the W30 option. A common practice of the era was to under-rate engine horsepower, and the big 455s were reported to actually dyno in excess of 400 hp (300 kW). The revised body style and increased performance resulted in the 442 being awarded pace car duties at the Indianapolis 500 race in 1970. Motor Trend praised the 442, stating that “it’s probably the most identifiable super car in the GM house”.
Those seeking to experience the ultimate in performance from Lansing could order option code W-30 with their 442, which added a fiberglass Outside Air Induction hood (option code W-25), an aluminum intake manifold, special camshaft, cylinder heads, distributor, and carburetor.
Motor Trend tested a 442 W-30 with a 4-speed manual transmission and 3.91:1 rear gears, clocking a quarter mile time of 14.2 seconds @ 102 mph (164 km/h). However, Motor Trend noted that Oldsmobile engineers had earlier posted a best of 13.7 seconds on the same test car with a fresh tune.
New options for the 1970 442 included GM’s Variable-ratio power steering, a console-mounted Hurst Dual/Gate shifter for use with the Turbo Hydra-matic transmission, and the W-27 aluminum differential housing and cover. All Oldsmobile V8s received new Positive Valve Rotators for 1970s to increase engine valve life.
1970 Model Year Spotting Tips: Vertical bars in silver grille, rectangular parking lights in front bumper, vertical tail lights.
A 1970 Oldsmobile 442 was featured in the chase scene of the movie Demolition Man starring Sylvester Stallone.[/i]
No irony. No humor. This is seriously my dream car:
This car has always represented happiness, and freedom. Never got one, but when I graduated college and got my first job I went and got the closest thing I could think of:
I think I am too practical and pragmatic.
When I read the title of the podcast the first thing that popped into my head was the awesome car/horse from Piers Anthony’s On a Pale Horse… But the title was misleading, it was about vehicles we imprinted upon from media or other means as youngsters. So in keeping with that theme I shall reflect upon my youth and offer these:
Detomaso Pantera (saw it in Bubblegum Rally and fell in love with it)
The Vector Here is the early version of it, like the one I saw at the auto show in 1980. And appeared in the ‘Remington Steele’ pilot.
Here is a newer incarnation (1996)of the awesome vehicle…
My friends and I got into ‘kit kars’ for awhile and one of the kits we really liked were the ‘Mantas’, there were two versions the Mirage which was the V8 musclecar version, and the Montage with which you could put in a V4 or a V6. I really liked the Montage and considered for years purchasing the kit to build one, anyways a few years latter the series ‘Hardcastle and McCormick’ came out; and the ‘Coyote’ the kid drove around in was a modified Manta Montage. Anyways here is a picture of one, there were a number of versions of course…
Oh, and I really liked those armored all terrain vehicles (Landmasters) from Dammnation Alley, they were based upon actual Soviet vehicles.
You may know there’s a new Mad Max (reboot?) being made…
Here are the new concept Interceptors… The concepts were designed by Ford Australia, who also made the XB Coupe on which the original was created.
Giddyup…
Filming has been delayed due to the heavy rains in central Australia. Not becasue of flooding but because…well…the heavy rain has resulted in an explosion of wild flowers in desert regions. Apparently there’s something wrong about a violent, post apocalyptic world being set in a technicolour flowery landscape.
gaf…
For all of you who gush over the Ford Falcon, make sure to watch Love the Beast. It’s a movie/documentary from Eric Banna and it’s all about the inexplicable love of his Ford Falcon XB Coupe.
When I first heard of this movie I got it on my TV as fast as possible. I was captivated. Every single part of this movie spoke to me; it’s the movie I would make about my car. I watched it three times in that first week, and have watched it a couple times since then.
Had some down time and wanted to play around some in Photoshop. Was inspired by this arc, and made this wallpaper:
Click for larger version (1920 × 1080).
Still has a little too much of the “Sticker book” feel to it, since I just copy-pasted all the ships onto it. Looks pretty though. The ships are from top left to bottom right,
X-Wing (Star Wars)
Viper Mk. 2 (New Battlestar Galactica)
Starfury (Babylon 5)
F-302 (Stargate SG1/Atlantis/Universe)