The Orville Episode 3 - About a Message

In our original cut of this podcast, I think I used the phrase "fundamentally different" four consecutive times. I really need to prepare my talking points better.

This is where I took over writing the blurbs. I appreciate the "reindeer games" allegory. It strikes me as something that would've been part of the writers' pitch, and I admire The Orville's restraint in keeping it to subtext instead of spelling it out explicitly.

Bortus (Peter Macon) moves viewers through the Moclan legal system and introduces a constellation of issues related to gender identity. The crew try to see their way through the reindeer games.

Available in podcast form at anchor.fm.

The Orville Episode 2 - Alara vs Television

I like "Command Performance" but not as much as I did the first time. It does a lot of things right, for sure - "woof," keeps the Krill in viewers minds... I'm not military, so I can't speak as to what having a green Lt. is like, nor as to how plausible it is that the aliens would be fooled by their own holography.

Longer comparison of Tasha Yar, Ro Laren and Kira Nerys can be found here. 

"Command Performance" leans heavily on Star Trek tropes, but makes good television with it and gives Halston Sage (Alara) great opportunities as one of the crew's most junior members.

Available in podcast form at anchor.fm. 

Tales of Monkey Island

Considering this over Thanksgiving. Escape from was released in 2000, Tales of was released in 2009, and it's 2019 now, so we're about due for another, right?

Ron Gilbert wrote this a few years after Escape from Monkey Island and a few years before Tales of Monkey Island. Wonder how he feels now.

The Orville Episode 1 - Mercer and MacFarlane

We started recording these commentaries between seasons one and two, back in... wow, April 2018?

I start this first podcast out kind of rough. Still getting used to the sound of my recorded voice, figuring out what I want to say as I say it... I get better as the season goes on. That we have any polish at all is thanks entirely to VanVelding, who's been doing a Star Trek podcast for a while, and handled all the production on this podcast too.

Seth MacFarlane has a long, loving history with Star Trek. His new television show, "The Orville," is built on that foundation. Hosts SkilTao and VanVelding talk about those foundations, MacFarlane, and his alter ego, Ed Mercer.

Available in podcast form at anchor.fm.

Turkey Day (cont'd)

Did you see there's a 13 Dead End Drive movie? Loved that game as a kid. Concealing which pawns each player owns is a neat idea, if a little transparent as an adult. I've heard the movie compared to the ol' Clue adaptation, and Chris Evans seems to think it's Robot Chicken.

Rest of this post is gonna mostly talk about YouTube.

Thoughts While Gaming on Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving, from my hole-chewer to yours

JumpShip Class Numbers for 3025

The best candidate I've found is a simple geometric sequence where each class has 27/50ths as many ships as the previous class.

Qty	- Class
920	- Invader (32% are commercial)
497	- Merchant
268	- Scout
145	- Star Lord
78	- Monolith
42	- ??
23	- ??
12	- ?Explorer? (HM:FWL, p127, 152)
7	- luxury liners (HD:FS, p173)
4	- ??
2	- ??
1	- ??
etc	- various

The top five ships add up to 1908. That's how many stars the old 3025 map shows in the Successor States. 

MW1e claims there are 450 "actively settled" worlds, and the House Atlases describe 156 as highly populated, leaving 294 others. There are 294 Invaders in commercial use.

145 worlds have more than a billion people. That's one world for every Star Lord.

The Successor States have 268 Scout vessels for 270 regiments' worth of House 'Mechs. Could be why there's a Suns regiment and a Capellan regiment which replace all their 'Mechs with tanks.

I've been using this sequence for a while as a fast approximation (it's easier than looking up my old MW1e estimates). Wouldn't have considered it seriously if not for conversations with Frabby and a Simulated Knave.