Fanfic Writers' Virtual Water Cooler

[Starfist]

I have a Titanic fact for you.

Dr. Robert Ballard, the guy who found the Titanic was on BBC Radio 2 earlier today here in the UK. And he was speaking about the search for the Titanic.

Did you know the search was funded in part by the US Goverment ?
He found the Titanic after completing a job for the US Navy who had lost 2 submarines in the same area during the Cold War. After finding the submarines he was allowed to search for the lost liner. Which they found by following the debris field from the wreck.

[Sealurk]

I have a Titanic fact for you.

Dr. Robert Ballard, the guy who found the Titanic was on BBC Radio 2 earlier today here in the UK. And he was speaking about the search for the Titanic.

Did you know the search was funded in part by the US Goverment ?
He found the Titanic after completing a job for the US Navy who had lost 2 submarines in the same area during the Cold War. After finding the submarines he was allowed to search for the lost liner. Which they found by following the debris field from the wreck.

On a closely related note, anybody interested in undersea exploration might do well to check out Bob Ballard's book "The Eternal Darkness". I thoroughly enjoyed it, and if I'm remembering correctly it covers Ballard's career and interest in deep sea exploration, such as the search for the Titanic, a brief history of undersea exploration in general including the Trieste touching down at Challenger Deep, the tragic loss of the Thresher and the subsequent search for it and the astounding story of the Glomar Explorer and 'Project Jennifer'.

Anybody else remember Dr. Ballard presenting those short factoid segments over the end credits of the first season of seaQuest DSV?

[Starfist]

Anybody else remember Dr. Ballard presenting those short factoid segments over the end credits of the first season of seaQuest DSV?

Yes I do. I believe Dr. Ballard was an advisor on the show.

[Falcon Horus]

I have a Titanic fact for you.

Dr. Robert Ballard, the guy who found the Titanic was on BBC Radio 2 earlier today here in the UK. And he was speaking about the search for the Titanic.

Did you know the search was funded in part by the US Goverment ?
He found the Titanic after completing a job for the US Navy who had lost 2 submarines in the same area during the Cold War. After finding the submarines he was allowed to search for the lost liner. Which they found by following the debris field from the wreck.

That's cool!

*stores info in brain*

Anybody else remember Dr. Ballard presenting those short factoid segments over the end credits of the first season of seaQuest DSV?

I LOVED THOSE!

[Starfist]

I enjoyed watching SeaQuest DSV. Especially the episodes with Darwin the Dolphin.

[mathpiglet]

We watched Seaquest with our boys. They both loved it!

[SaraBahama]

SeaQuest...now there's a show I have not thought about in a LONG time!!


SF: That exchange with Frank was pretty tame...I'm given to understand that he is not averse to injecting "colorful modifiers" into his speech.

[SF_and_Coffee]

SeaQuest...now there's a show I have not thought about in a LONG time!!

Me, either!

SF: That exchange with Frank was pretty tame...I'm given to understand that he is not averse to injecting "colorful modifiers" into his speech.

Heheh. He is indeed prone to doing so. But I think he was still in the same mode of speech he was using with Cadogan, and when he speaks to Cadogan, he usually keeps a civil tongue in his head -- in part because Cadogan generally does. Cadogan is actually his commanding officer in Frank's current situation, as well as being a close friend, and Frank serves as something of an adviser to him.

Frank tends to speak pretty respectfully to me as well; he knows I'm as given to "colorful" language as he is, but he also knows he's fully capable of getting his point across to me with nothing stronger than a single four-letter word, if even that.

[selene0789]

Well, ha-hay! We have a water cooler!

Huh. Now that I'm here, I'm not sure what to say... Bah. I'll come back!

[Starfist]

Hang on there is something I've not done in a while...!

:: Beams in a selection of Easter themed cakes ::

There you go everyone.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Yum! Virtual cake -- the guilt-free treat!

[Sealurk]

Having just watched (where watched means 'had on in the background while I was writing but with low volume') Mission to Mars, it got me thinking, which is never a good thing.

Now, as science fiction and probably science and space fans I'm guessing a lot of you have heard of the Mars Curse, wherein an apparently disproportionate number of missions launched to Mars fail. So here's my question to you all.

Does the same thing apply to film (and television) concerning Mars?

Off the top of my head, we've got Mission to Mars, Red Planet, Ghosts of Mars and John Carter (of Mars) that all did pretty badly and/or were poorly received, and I'm pretty sure there were others - but there must also have been a few that worked. Total Recall, perhaps? What does everybody think?

[mathpiglet]

Thanks for the cake, Starfist. (I couldn't green you right now)

Welcome selene!

Good question Sealurk - I will need to think on that.

[selene0789]

Thanks for the welcome!

As for the Mars question, I think Total Recall is indeed the only decent film that comes to mind...

No wait! Mars Attacks! Even though the movie freaked me out as a kid (couldn't sleep for three nights afterwards), it's still awesome!

The original War of the Worlds wasn't too bad. Still a tad campy, in the way old movies are, but classic. That one was about Martians coming to Earth. Does that count?

[Whytewytch]

Welcome, selene!

Starfist--virtual cake rocks! No calories and everyone gets their favorite flavor.

I think there was a Mars kid movie (Mars Needs Moms, maybe?) that didn't end horribly.