Obscure Sci-Fi knowledge

[on:]

OK, first, vote in the Poll, Which is the greatest Sci-Fi show/film out of those that are listed. Then relate to us an obscure factoid of info that you reckon most PEELers will not know. You may only vote if you have an obscure fact. No making things up.

Anyone who re-states an obscure fact will be SEVERELY mocked by a crack team of TMC, Fishyjoe and Kryten, think you're up to it?...

[edit] Not many people know that Mark Hamill, star of the Star Wars trilogy (Luke) voiced the Joker from the ill-fated animated Batman film Mask of the Phantasm [edit]

[Reply #1 on:]

Red dwarf has the same budget as 'Dinner ladies'

[Reply #2 on:]

Tim Russ, the man who played Tuvok in Voyager, tried out for the part of Geordi La Forge.

Incidently, TNUK, Mark Hamill also did the voice of the Hobgoblin in the classic Spiderman, and I thought he was the regular Joker voice in the animated series.

[Reply #3 on:]

I voted for Futurama, which (gasp, big secret) has been seriously maligned by Fox's substandard treatment.

[Reply #4 on:]

I voted for Futurama and my obscure Sci-Fi knowledge is that you are all nerds and I hate you. 

[Reply #5 on:]

Nurdy, change the above post to include a little-known fact about Star Wars, or I will ask a moderator to delete that post. You've been warned!

Sarge, you as well, or I will vote for VF again in the next Poster of the Month.

Rach, how did you find that out?

[Reply #6 on:]

The guy that played Admiral Ossel "In Empire strikes back" also played Hitler in "Indiana Jones and the last crusade", and Mr Bronsen In Grange Hill (obscure Brit school drama).

Dunno if thats obscure enough for you.

[Reply #7 on:]

Please Nix, make him give us an obscure fact. Please, it's all I ask.

[Reply #8 on:]

ok everyone just listen to totalnerduk. 

My obscure knowledge for this post is that I don't really care 

[Reply #9 on:]

 

Originally posted by VelourFog:
ok everyone just listen to totalnerduk. 

My obscure knowledge for this post is that I don't really care   

Hurtful. But thanks    at least I know where my thread stands. (somewhere to the left of gauche?)

In light of your moderator status I'll let the fact that that wasn't obscure slide just this once.   

[Reply #10 on:]

Admiral Ozzel was a chump; that's why he's dead, and he was in Raiders of the Lost Ark as a U-Boat captain.  Now Admiral Piett, there was an officer.  Plus, he played Jesus in Life of Brian.

[Reply #11 on:]

Futurama alumnus Phil (Hermes) Lamarr is also the voice of Static, Samurai Jack, and Green Lantern.

[Reply #12 on:]

Babylon 5

Not very obscure fact, Patricia Tallman who played Lyta Alexanda on B5 also appeared in minor parts on Star Trek TNG and in Dark Skies.

[Reply #13 on:]

 

Rach, how did you find that out?

My friend told me. I think it was in an interview.

[Reply #14 on:]

Star Wars

Though uncredited, George Lucas directed several scenes in The Godfather. He also was originally going to direct Apocolypse Now but was too busy or something so he let Francis Ford Coppola do it.

[Reply #15 on:]

Star Trek

It is widely known that Stephen Hawking has made guest appearances in both Star Trek and Futurama. It is not widely known that the exchange:

"You're blackmailing me?"
"Blackmail is such an ugly word, I/we prefer extortion."

was said on both Futurama and MASH (the series).

The serie MASH was molded on the movie MASH which among other starred Rene Auberjonois in a main character. Rene Auberjonois has also played a major character on Star Trek. And thus the circle is complete.

[Reply #16 on:]

 

Originally posted by Teral:
Star Trek

It is widely known that Stephen Hawking has made guest appearances in both Star Trek and Futurama. It is not widely known that the exchange:

"You're blackmailing me?"
"Blackmail is such an ugly word, I/we prefer extortion."

was said on both Futurama and MASH (the series).

The serie MASH was molded on the movie MASH which among other starred Rene Auberjonois in a main character. Rene Auberjonois has also played a major character on Star Trek. And thus the circle is complete.

And bringing the circle even further, Rene recntly played a character on Justice League, which features Phil LaMarr.

Maybe we should do "Six Degrees of Futurama".

[Reply #17 on:]

Best one is Futurama, and my obscure Sci-Fi knowledge helps me to lock a tractor beam (straw) to my can of cola and commence sucture. (was I using English words there??  )

[Reply #18 on:]

Oh, here's something everyone knew - Boba Fett's ship, Slave I, was made of a jazzed up street light.

[Reply #19 on:]

Ian McDiarmid, who played the Emporer in Return of the Jedi was in the Johnny depp version of Sleepy Hollow, and the ORIGINAL Emporer from The Empire Strikes Back was played by a woman!!

This is my First Posting! I have a brother who is also registered here: totalnerduk.

[Reply #20 on:]

Welcome to PEEL, 3fingercharlie. I hope you'll enjoy it.

[Reply #21 on:]

More trivia: Ray Park was also in Sleepy Hollow as the headless horseman(when not played by Christopher Walken). And Christopher Lee was in it too, although I can't remember what role he had.

So every sith lord except Vader was in that movie.

[Reply #22 on:]

More trivia - In Fifth Element, Priest Cornelius calls the main character (Played by Bruce Willis) Mr. Willis, rather than Mr. Dallas. This happens when he's trying to steal the plane tickets from Dalls.

[Reply #23 on:]

 

Originally posted by DrThunder88:
Admiral Ozzel was a chump

Hey I resent that.

I voted for Futurama, but instead of a fact of my own, I'll correct totalnurduk's fact:
Mark Hamill in fact voices the Joker in all the animated series. When asked why he does it, his answer is that he loves to the the maniacal laughter.

[Reply #24 on:]

OK, I guess I'll have to provide anothge Star Wars fact. Now, the B-Wing fighter, which bears no resemblance to the letter B is named B-Wing for a very good reason. Prior to production, the new ships A-Wing and B-Wing were given tose letters to tell them apart. The guy who got the job of modelling them named the models A-Wing and B-Wing, so the crew knew which model appeared in which sequence and the crew shot the sequences, and named the reels A-Wing and B-Wing. When it got to this stage and nobody had named the ships, they kept the names, to provide continuity for the X-Wing (designed around the letter X to fit its name) and the Y-Wing (designed around the letter Y to provide continuity with the X-Wing being moddeled on the letter X). Mr. Lucas kept it like this because he couldn't be bothered to find a suitable alternative.

OK. If there is anything wrong with that one, I will provise yet another fact, at the cost of the life of whoever points out any errors within it.

 

[Reply #25 on:]

I think the B-wing kinda looks like a lower-case b

[Reply #26 on:]

Another Star Wars fact: Bea Arthur was long considered a talentless nobody. That is until she guest starred on the Star Wars Holiday Special, where she caught the eye of "Golden Girls" producer Leon Goldman. His people called her people, she was cast, and they all lived happily ever after.

[Reply #27 on:]

More obscure info:

There was an American Red Dwarf planned, they might even have filmed the pilot.  Unfortunately, it got canned.  Oh well.

Even more obscure info:

Janet Reno's mother wrestled alligators.

[Reply #28 on:]

They DID film a pilot. The pilot was so shockingly bad that they just decided to show the UK version. After that (now descending into ficticious slander) they all got drunk and played Ping Pong!

[Reply #29 on:]

A-Wings were always going to be painted with blue squadron markings but this meant they disappeared into the bluescreen backdrop so they were repainted red.

The rotatable cockpit idea of the B-Wing was going to be used on the Falcon but they decided against it.

Luke's landspeeder was modelled around a Robin Reliant

TIE starfighter noises come from a mixture of elephant screams and cars on wet roads.

The Stormstrooper blaster rifle is a modified British Stirling sub-machine gun

General Veers also played the bad guy in James Bond: For Your Eyes Only.

The Rebel soldiers from The Empire Strikes Back are members of the Norwegian Army.

Several sound effects from Star Wars are used in Red Dwarf, Blade Runner and Futurama (at least).

The Millennium Falcon appears as a building in Blade Runner.

Patrick Stewart (Jean Luc Picard) is a fan of Red Dwarf.

That's enough for now.

[Reply #30 on:]

I knew all of those up to the bit about General Veers. The ones after it, now they are news to me.
Well done.

*Gapes at the NQ (Nerd Quotient) being so blatantly displayed where any old VF could see it*

[Reply #31 on:]

Nah, I'm not a nerd,

I just have a...keen interest in these things. 

What's a VF?

 

[Reply #32 on:]

Good job Zed...I'm a huge SW nerd and I didn't know half of those things.

But here's another little factoid: the Tantive IV(that little ship with Princess Leia, that gets attacked at the beginning of the original Star Wars) was originally supposed to be the Millenium Falcon. But it looks too much like some other ship from "Space: 1999", so they gave it a smaller role and built something else for the Millenium Falcon.

[Reply #33 on:]

Zed 85, I am a VF 

that's my only little factoid for today

[Reply #34 on:]

Speaking of the Millenium Falcon, its design was based on a hamburger with an olive next to it

[Reply #35 on:]

Chris Barrie (who plays Rimmer on Red Dwarf) was born in Germany and is a big fan of vintage cars, especially BMW's.
It was rumored that Craig Charles (lister) was put in jail for stalking.

[Reply #36 on:]

Probably not too obnscure, but I only just noticed when the BBC re-ran the Indiana Jones Movies, that in Temple Of Doom, Indiana visits a club in China called Club Obi Wan, which is the name of Obi-Wan Kenoobi in Starwars. Both films were directed by Lucas.

Now I have a question: Which was made first?

And one more: Was that a deliberate "in-joke"?

[Reply #37 on:]

Of course it was a deliberate in-joke.  Just like the registration number on the plane in Raiders was OB-3PO, or something like that.  Star Wars was made in the 70's, Indiana Jones was made in the 80's.  My gosh, I thought everyone knew that.  Sheesh, kids today and their lack of 70's and 80's knowledge.  Maybe y'all SHOULD watch That 80's Show.

[Reply #38 on:]

Easier said than doone. I live in England, and only get terrestrial TV.

[Reply #39 on:]

 

Originally posted by Nixorbo:
Maybe y'all SHOULD watch That 80's Show.

I thought that was a pay-with-your-soul-per-view show.