Starbase 66

Back in October the Admiral was invited by Unkk to an unprecedented open house tour of the Kennedy Space Center facilities. He recorded this audio while there, and then thought it lost when the Starbase computer core died. What was lost has been found, and though not everyone will find this geek's ear view of the Space Center entertaining, hopefully many of you will. If you'd like to see the photos the Admiral took, they can be found here (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.516169980108.2017634.104700053&type=1) (http://www.simplysyndicated.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/rocket-garden-300x200.jpg)

On this not-so-happy Admiral's Table, Daniel and Rick talk about the final mission of the shuttle Atlantis, and the ending of the US manned space program. (http://www.simplysyndicated.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/rats.jpg) Show notes: (http://starbase66.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/admiralstableheader.jpg) The Admiral travels to Cape Canaveral, home of the Kennedy Space Center, (http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/home/index.html) (no, not that Kennedy) to witness the historic landing of the final shuttle to be launched by NASA. The Shuttle Atlantis touched ground safe and sound that morning, bringing with it an end to the 30-year shuttle program. (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/flyout/index.html) Some say it was a bittersweet ending. Others say it was simply bitter. We here at the Starbase are inclined to agree with the latter sentiment, so deftly expressed by our resident NASA guru, Daniel, AKA UNKK!!TM Regardless, the United States now finds itself no longer the lead dog in the great global Space Race. The Admiral and UNK!!TM revisit some of the highlights of the plethora of scientific, medical, and overall positive products that have been brought to us thanks to the research conducted throughout the life of the shuttle program. We learn that the future is set, actually, at least when it comes to where the remaining shuttles will be sent (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/kscshuttledisplay.html) once they have been de-loused of all their space toxins. As an added bonus, while you listen to this episode of The Admiral's Table, head on over to the Admiral's blog, where he has posted many photos from his recent journey, including his perambulation through the Star Trek exhibit (which is, simply put, 10 shades of awesome, including some shades not known to register to Human eyes) and quite possibly the most awesome flag* to ever be fabricated. But you'll just have to see it and judge for yourself (http://mariuscorner.blogspot.com/2011/07/these-are-voyages.html)... *The resident Bajoran cannot be held responsible for any drunken forays that may or may not end with her tying said flag around her neck like a cape and running through the promenade, loudly humming the Superman theme song.

Emma Lou, Mary, and Shane join the Admiral to discuss the latest amazing season of everyone's favorite gallivanting Gallifrean. Show notes: (http://starbase66.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/admiralstableheader.jpg) Ramp it up, Wholigans! All the way from Raxacoricofallapatorius, it's another Admiral's Table discussion about Doctor Who! Unfortunately, the Bajoran in charge of show notes is just now starting her tenure with the Tennant Doctor, so she's making the logical decision not to listen to this episode. No spoilers, please! So what does this mean, dear listeners? Well, it means that you're going to have dive in to this Admiral's Table without your friendly Bajoran life preserver to save you from the depths of this latest Who roundtable. That's all right though. You're in good hands, as the Admiral has welcomed the Starbase's favorite experts on the subject: the always lovely Mistress Mary, Listener ExtraordinaireTM Emma, and Sir Shane, the Gallifreyan Game Lord from the Greatest Events in Sporting History podcast. (http://www.simplysyndicated.com/shows/sportinghistory/) So turn on, tune in, and Who out! Meanwhile, the Bajoran will continue to make her way through the galaxy, dramamine and rum in hand (one for all that TARDIS spinning, the other for...well, days that end in "Y"). Oh, and here's a lovely mash-up T-shirt (http://www.redbubble.com/people/misskari/t-shirts/6929006-cyber3po-and-r2dalek) for all you Star Wars Wholigans: (http://starbase66.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/c3por2d2_whoniverse.jpg)

This week, Karen and Kennedy go in-depth into the genesis of one of the most successfull comic franchises ever. The Admiral just kibitzes from the background. Show notes: Snap on your yellow spandex, seal the doors to the SR-71 Blackbird, and strap in, listeners! It's time to dive in to the wild, wonderful world of our favorite band of mutants, the X-Men! In preparation for the release of X-Men: First Class, (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270798/) the Admiral sits back with a raktajino and listens as Kennedy and Ro roll out their knowledge of Marvel Comics' Mutant Hero Royalty. First, however, Ro gets her brag-on with the mention of a superhero-sized deal she found online at the U.S. Amazon.com: $5.99 for a four-disc special edition of Superman: The Movie! [Price Update, June 20, 2011: While the super-low price that Ro found for her special edition of Superman is no longer available, Amazon.com's U.S. store is currently selling the set for $7.82. (http://www.amazon.com/Superman-Four-Disc-Special-Christopher-Reeve/dp/B000IJ79UW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308580656&sr=8-1) Get in, listeners!] While Ro squees in anticipation of her impending Superman Supermarathon, Kennedy laments the fact that The Greatest American Hero...well, isn't really all that great anymore. This television show has not aged well, and not even his kids want anything to do with the complete series set he recently purchased. The crew then touch upon one of their more popular "heavy rotation" topics, Wonder Woman, with mention of recent picture postings to the Amazon princess's ongoing Simply Syndicated forum thread (http://www.simplysyndicated.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=104) and briefly mention the impending DC Comics tabula rasa moment coming for all their superheroes. Then it's on to the Mutant Masquerade! Kennedy and Ro delve into the origins, characters, and some of the most popular (and not so popular) storylines to come from the nearly 50 years of the reign of the X-Men, with mention of the famous Byrne/Claremont years, the Phoenix/Dark Phoenix saga, the shockingly awful The Pryde of the X-Men (http://youtu.be/JAKEImjGzu8) cartoon (and the shittiest Aussie accent this side of anywhere!) and the redemptive powers of the superior 90s Saturday morning cartoon... Wait. Let us all pause to listen to the "metal" version of that cartoon's theme, shall we? What went wrong with the comics that almost led to the death of Marvel itself in the 90s? What went wrong with the movies? Can X-Men: First Class undo the damage done by the atrocious Singer-less third X-Men movie? Will our fearless crew discuss your favorite Merry Mutant? And will Ro ever get her wish to see Angela Bassett as Storm?

Once again chaos reigns on the Starbase as the crew open the mailbag. Show notes: Written to the Starbase lately? And by "lately," we mean since...oh, around February of this year? Then this might be your lucky week! That's right, the Starbase crew finally receive all those subspace communications that our listeners have been sending us. Seems that Chuck in the Mailroom (second cousin once removed of Dave in the Brig) was accidentally rerouting communiques to the wrong place! So if you've received a response from us recently, ignore it. Turns out, someone named "Kiki Velour" was getting our messages and responding to them. Don't worry, though. The Admiral sent the Bajoran militia after Kiki and all is well again. Chuck, however, might appreciate being brought back in from his...accidental spacing. Pre-topic tangential musings this week include news on Star Trek 2: The Tribble Shit Strikes Back and that fabled 50 hours of filming (http://www.nbcwashington.com/blogs/popcornbiz/George-Lucas-Does-NOT-Have-50-Hours-of-Star-Wars-TV-in-the-Can-122876484.html) for the Star Wars television show. Kennedy mentions Kevin Smith's Bionic Man comic is now available and Ro mentions that the second season of the Lindsey Wagner Bionic Woman show is now on DVD. Then, somehow, this comes up: And, yes, I do believe Sandra Bullock's character calls Wagner's character "Julie" toward the end of this scene. Believe it or not, the crew are then able to segue perfectly from Bionic Bullock to Nana Visitor's upcoming appearance on Torchwood, then to more Game of Thrones talk, followed up by Kennedy and the Admiral discussing a potential future Superman book club discussion (Ro missed this portion of the show while she was mixing up a fresh Dark and Stormy). She, did, however, return in time to hear about this: All she can say is...Wonder Woman isn't blond. Jeri Ryan, however, is. And her show, Body of Proof, has been picked up for a second season. To celebrate, here's a random Seven of Nine photo. Obviously, the Borg never had to take phaser training. (http://starbase66.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/ryan_phaser_dauntless.jpg) This photo courtesy of TrekCore. (http://www.trekcore.com/) Smallville is over, Darren Aronofsky really should do that Batman movie of his, the Admiral reviewed Pirates 4 for Simply Read, Kennedy still isn't convinced that The Green Lantern isn't going to suck but he and Ro are totally digging the chatter about X-Men: First Class...and finally! Finally, they dive into the mailbag. But you're just going to have to listen to hear about that part of the show...

This week Greg from the Inappropriate Conversations (http://inappropriateconversations.podbean.com/) podcast joins the crew to discuss Gene Roddenberry's three post Star Trek pilots, Genesis II, Planet Earth, and Strange New World. Read on for the show notes Show notes: Yet again, the Kanadian is called away on assignment, so this week the Admiral and Ro welcome Greg to the Starbase! Better known on the SimSyn forum (http://www.simplysyndicated.com/forum/) as GAB, Greg hosts the Inappropriate Conversations podcast, (http://inappropriateconversations.podbean.com/) where each week he tackles topics that are too often deemed "inappropriate" in honest, open, and humorous ways. Before getting to the core of this week's discussion, Ro mentions the passing of William Campbell, (http://www.startrek.com/article/remembering-william-campbell) best known to Trek fans as Trelane from "The Squire of Gothos" and as Koloth from TOS's "The Trouble With Tribbles" and DS9's "Blood Oath." Ro then shows off her Collector Cred by hyping the fact that new collectibles are on their way (http://www.startrek.com/article/new-wave-of-exciting-trek-products-coming-soon) in celebration of big anniversary dates for both TNG and the entire Star Trek franchise. Traumatic feelings over the possibility of Crusher PEZ tracheotomies and mention of Red Letter Media's review of First Contact come up (WARNING: Do not watch if you don't want to taint your opinion of First Contact forever), and then the Admiral breaks the space-time continuum by mentioning this photograph: (http://starbase66.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/starbucks.jpg) What the frak? Greg and the Admiral discuss their recent trips to see The Adjustment Bureau (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1385826/) and Thor, (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800369/) and Ro suddenly and rather disturbingly begins to channel a mystery character from another SimSyn podcast before pulling the Starbase off-course for a tangent on Darren Aronofsky. The Admiral finally watches (and subsequently loves) To Kill a Mockingbird, which has been covered both in movie form (http://www.simplysyndicated.com/myss255-to-kill-a-mockingbird/) and book form (http://www.simplysyndicated.com/bysr-episode-38-to-kill-a-mockingbird-3/) by Simply Syndicated. Last but not least, the Admiral brings Ro the SQUEE-inducing news that her life-long transformation into Dr. Crusher may soon be able to include a working medical tricorder. (http://dvice.com/archives/2011/05/build-a-working.php) On to the topic! After discovering through Warner Archives (http://www.wbshop.com/Warner-Archive/ARCHIVE,default,sc.html) the existence of three Gene Roddenberry pilots on DVD—Planet Earth, Genesis II, and Strange New World—Greg decides that misery does enjoy company. So he sends copies to the Starbase crew to watch. Ro at first interprets this as a declaration of war, but in the end is left questioning the sadomasochistic quality of Greg's friendship with the Starbase. It's decided that Gene Roddenberry was, indeed, a very libidinous individual with his own sadomasochistic qualities as well as a strange obsession with Roman Empire cosplay; Majel Barrett definitely loved him, though, to willingly appear in two of these pilots; Ted Cassidy is disconcerting out of his Lurch persona; Diana Muldaur on a horse is still not enough to make Ro forgive Dr. Pulaski; Burt Reynolds would make a terrible Captain Kirk; and Roddenberry was horribly out of touch with feminism by the 70s and really just wanted the chance to get his own personal fantasy fanfic committed to film. Should listeners watch these pilots? We can only take you so far. You need to choose the red or the blue pill on this one...

This week Kennedy returns and joins the discussion about that unfortunate sub-set of fans, the rabid, douchey fan who just has to make life difficult for the rest of us. Beware, there be tangents galore in this one. Show Notes: The Prodigal Kanadian returns! (Although, thanks to a glitch in the space-time continuum [more than likely caused by Riker and Geordi taking that joy ride with Zefram Cochrane], the Kanadian returned before his return in last week's SuziePalooza...crazy space-time continuum.) In celebration of Kennedy's reemergence from covering the craziness of Kanadian politiks, the crew fire up the Starbase's Tangent Hyper Drive TM for a marathon tour through a cornucopia of geekery, including another shout out to the fabulous Emma for her episode guide (which Ro is still coding; it's hard to find time in between all those random spacings!), the mysterious request for "Episode 10," Kennedy's discovery of the crappy Trek action figures from the crappy Abrams Trek movie at the local dollar store, "May the 4th" mockery and speculation about how an unnamed government official might like to Chekov in the bathtub, Star Wars on Blu-Ray!, Ro-scarring talk of how the Admiral and Kennedy like to spoon while watching Game of Thrones, X-Men: First Class and that groovy fan-made 60s-era poster that Ro wasn't imagining, (http://www.liveforfilms.com/2011/04/22/x-men-first-class-poster-by-phil-noto-is-better-than-any-of-the-official-ones/) Geeky Girls Love Sci-Fi, (http://geekygirlslovescifi.blogspot.com/) that ridonculous Juggernaut meme, (http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-juggernaut-bitch#.TeTi_VtsKzk) the Green Lantern trailers are getting better but Kennedy's still not totally on board, Kennedy has an unmemorable Dick experience while Ro admits to liking Cox more, creepy human eyes and a giant "NO" feeling from Rise of the Planet of the Apes, prosthetics versus CGI, and Stargate 2: The Return of Kurt Russell. (http://weathereye.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/stargate-2-the-return-of-kurt-russell/) Believe it or not, the crew are able to trip the light fantastic through all this and still make it back around to the topic on tap for this episode: rabid fans. In light of the recent cancellation of Make It So: A Star Trek Podcast (http://www.simplysyndicated.com/shows/makeitso/) and Rich's subsequent explanation for said cancellation, (http://techsupportrich.com/2011/04/fk-you-make-it-so/) the Admiral, Kennedy, and Ro do a critical analysis of those fans who unfortunately give a bad name to the rest of us normal geeks by taking their love of fandoms one gigantic leap too far in the douchy direction. Why can't they channel all their energy into fun geekery...like this?

The Admiral has a chat with his friend Erin (http://masalafusion.org) who is a professional television gaffer, belly dancer, and aquatic performer about what it's like to be both on stage, and behind the scenes. (http://www.simplysyndicated.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Phillip-Starr-12-227x300.jpg) Unfortunately the dance to Pink Floyd we talk about is now blocked on YouTube, but even better here is a solo dance by Erin.

This week the gang revel in the effervescence that is Suzie Plakson. Suzie returns to discuss her new music video, and tell us some tales of her life amongst the Star Trek faniverse. (http://www.simplysyndicated.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/suzie-225x300.jpg)

This week the Admiral and Ro Karen discuss, amongst many a tangential sidetrack, the love/hate relationship we have with sequels. Oh, and look what friend of the show Suzie Plakson just did wanna do:

This week Richard Smith joins the Admiral and Ro Karen in a discussion of what books should, or should not, be made into movies.

This week Bella Fox, of the Nerd Girl Pinups (http://nerdgirlpinups.com/index/) web site, joins Ro Karen in trying to squeeze a word in edgewise as the Admiral pontificates on the pros and cons of physical objectification in Sci Fi and Fantasy.

Here it is in all its uncut glory. The Admiral and Daniel from NASA have another chat about the US space program, this time in front of a live, not exactly studio audience. And they take a call.(http://www.simplysyndicated.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/MattDeckerFacePalm-1-300x227.jpg)

Due to a suddenly impossible three-way work schedule collision we have had to dig into the pre-Simply Syndicated archives to bring your our fifth ever episode about our cinematic guilty pleasures.

Last week we talked about the bad guys, this week we give the good guys the once over...and Kennedy tells us about a very scary web site.