#sci fi set

[guillotineman]

On the set of Alien: Romulus (2024)

[andyoullhearitagain]

Literally they could have stopped making Deep Space Nine and made seven seasons of this show and I would have been happy.

[spirk-trek]

Interior shots of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-69) · ˚ ⊹ ⋆ . ✧ ˚ ⊹ ⋆ . ˚ . ✧

[cubbihue]

So, a changeling is sort of like a p-zombie?

(For the unaware, “p-zombie” stands for “philosophical zombie”. It’s a thought experiment in philosophy that describes a being that’s outwardly identical to a human, but does not have a consciousness; that is, a p-zombie does not think whatsoever, although it looks like it thinks to an outsider observer. There’s a whole wikipedia article on it that explains the concept better than I can!)

They don't exactly think, as in "I dont want this" "I like that". But, Changelings do have a form of "Consciousness". It's just that their consciousness is more like a series of commands or tasks than actual formulated thoughts.

Timmy's Changeling has a very advanced "consciousness". It can predict future actions and reroute its tasks to pick only the best options for its situation.

We fill their heads with static to ensure that the Changeling does not form thoughts about anything. Thoughts leads to opinions, and opinions leads to incorrect actions. A proper Changeling should have more static in their mind than a TV screen on a defunct channel!

Bitties Series: [Start] > [Previous] > [Next]

[probablybadrpgideas]

The "I know a Guy" mechanic, but you can't just make up a new npc to help. Instead, you can once per session point at an established npc and say, "aw, shit, that's my ex."

[humanoidhistory]

On the set of Alien with Ridley Scott, Ian Holm, and Sigourney Weaver.

[70sscifiart]

Selections from the 1992 Japanese art book Illustrated Transportation, by Nobuo Otobe and Osamu Hirao. The full list of artists is available here.

[charseraph]

Inspired by @turbofanatic and @deadwooddross

[ilovemesomevincentprice]

Vincent Price and Patricia Cutts -

The Tingler (1959) dir. William Castle

[space-blue]

Scavengers Reign trailer

[fuzzyghost]

[frogshunnedshadows]

Some photos of the Star Trek The Next Generation Enterprise-D sets, from the STTNG Interactive Technical Manual CDROM, 1994.

[spirk-trek]

Star Trek Set Tour 5/?: Sick Bay

[ossidae-passeridae]

Why Acolyte doesn't feel like a Star Wars story

Here it is: Star Wars is, at its core, a story about hope. And Acolyte doesn't have hope.

An explainer:

Star Wars has been around long enough now, and spawned enough media, that it can be classed as its own genre of work. Like any genre, this means it has conventions that authors/creators need to follow and be aware of in order for their works to fit within the genre. And the core conventions of the Star Wars genre are pretty simple!

a) There is a mystical power known as the Force, which some people can use, and

b) There are two factions - light and dark, good and evil - which are constantly fighting each other, and

c) Even in incredible darkness and overwhelming odds there's always hope for a better future.

(Obviously, like any genre, there's more specific tropes as well - there's a cute droid sidekick who's probably mostly Warcrimes by volume, somehow you're on Tatooine again, if you're in a cantina you're about to get into a fight, etcetcetc)

Within those conventions, there's an enormity of stories one can tell. Bildungsromans, war stories (both gritty and otherwise), romances, there's no shortage of options.

But you've got to keep to those conventions above. If you don't use these genre conventions when you're making your Star Wars story then... you're making something else. And that fine! But at that point it's not a Star Wars story anymore and people will be disappointed because they expected a meiloorun and you gave them an orange.

Andor is the obvious comparison to Acolyte, being a "gritty" series or whatever, but if you watch it it's clear from the outset that it's unambiguously a story about hope. It's drenched in it. The entire story is working towards a victory, and the sacrifices needed to get there are rendered worthwhile by the force of that light. We understand why it's important that the characters keep trying despite their suffering, because of the hope for a better future.

Acolyte doesn't have that.

As @intermundia put it here:

it was such an angry show, resentful and accusatory, full of liars and hypocrites, showing hope to be false and trust to be foolish

It doesn't even subvert the genre; that sort of narrative would build up hope only to crush it at the last minute. It simply doesn't seem to understand the world it's in. And for an Officially Produced Show, that's... certainly a choice.

[probablybadrpgideas]

cyberpunk game but instead of hit points track the integrity of each character's adblocker

[itsjesscapade]

this went in an unexpected direction but i'm glad i followed through