Good Job, Brain! - 154: To Boldly Go

Episode Date: June 14, 2015

By Grabthar's hammer, you shall be avenged with trivia overload about science-fiction. What was the true cultural origin of sci-fi? Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers - the copycat race to space story dominance. NGet fuzzy and cuddly with Dana's sci-fi pet quiz (and some heated discussion about Jabba the Hutt). Are you having a bad day? Could it be because of Mercury is in retrograde? BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?! Chris delivers a brutal deep-cut quiz on Battlestar Galactica cast's other acting gigs, and sci-fi movies you probably didn't know were based on books. ALSO: Iceland facts, dementor wasps Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast. Hello, Symphony of Simply Sincere Sinked Simeans. Welcome to Good Job, Rain, your weekly quiz show and offbeat trivia podcast. This is episode 154. And of course, I'm your humble host, Karen, and we are your doctors defeating Daleks and drawing deductions and defending damsels and daughters from distress. I'm Colin. I'm Dana.

And I'm Chris. And thanks to Julian, uh, who wrote in with that alliteration. All right. I have some stuff from our mail bag here. We have a over, well, not overdue, but there is a lobe-trotter postcard. Mm, a late arriving. Yeah. It's from Edward and Liz.

And they say, greeting brains. I'm writing from. Sonny Reikavik, Iceland, where my wife and I are spending our honeymoon. I'm not going to read the whole postcard, but it's... I'm glad they thought of us in the honeymoon. It's so good, there's two of them. Like, they sent a part one and a part two, and it's filled with stuff, including facts about Iceland.

And I just want to share some facts with you guys here. One out of 10 modern Icelanders will publish a book in their lifetimes. That sounds pretty high. They are voracious consumers of literature. Yeah. The majority of Icelanders believe in elves. I love that. The singer Bjork has said in interviews that Icelandic record companies prefer musicians that believe in elves and that construction workers have claimed equipment malfunction in elf territory.

Yeah. Well, it's easier than saying, like, well, I was high on mushrooms. And I crash the backhoe. Some else. Elves. Elves. Very cool. Well, thank you guys.

Eddie and Liz. And congratulations. Yes. Congrats. That's such a cool place to visit. Yeah. I don't know. It's just the funny, the sort of juxtaposition of these two facts.

Maybe they are elves. They're an open race. Yep. Yep. York certainly is. So. Hold on. Wait a second.

Do you guys remember as a kid there was this book? It's a huge book, and it's called Gnomes. And it's almost like a textbook, but it's a kid's book. Oh, yeah. And it goes, talking as if this is a real thing. Right. Like, it's like a Charles Darwinian kind of a, like, study of these gnomes and what they do and stuff. They're not real, Karen.

I know. I'm so sad. I really thought, because it looks like a textbook, and they have these little diagrams and stuff. And I was like, whoa. And it was like, they have a naked gnome tune. No, no, as a kid, I was like, wow. There are some movies in his kid's book. It's kind of weird.

Had such a vivid memory of that. But there's another spread that's like, it shows them what they eat for breakfast because they're little gnomes and like the, the breads. What do they have? They have like ant eggs and they bake. I mean, because they're small and they have like quail eggs and they bake their own like honeybread. I love fictional food. Like fictional food is so cool

Oh, we should do an episode on fictional food Like World of Warcraft I don't know why I'm in this tangent But like World of Warcraft Like I want to eat all the fake food Spiced Mulgore bread And it's like that sounds so good It's probably never good

What's Mulgur? Mulgore is a territory Oh okay Spiced bread from that region But even like Harry Potter Like Harry Potter food is like Right Oh yeah

That's amazing There is definitely There is something to be said for fantasy writers that go overboard with the descriptions of fantasy food because that can be really, I like reading, everybody likes reading the scenes where they all eat and like the descriptions of what they're eating and pumpkin juice and butter beer and it, yeah. Speaking of Harry Potter, actually, this is from Vincenzo, from Twitter. Vincenzo. Vincenzo from Twitter, one of our listeners, tweeted this, a whole bunch of new species

of animals have been found in the Mekong River, including what? They're calling the Ampulix Dementor Wasp. The single sting of the Dementor Wasp, the venom, is injected into like bellies of cockroaches or big bugs. And it blocks their receptors of neurotransmitters. So the cockroach is capable of movement but can't control the body. These are like the zombie cockroaches, right? Yeah, the zombie cockroaches, right? Yeah, so this is another, another bug or another type of wasp that have venom that functions that way.

They are finding a whole bunch of stuff. Just one of the 139 new species discovered by scientists in the greater Mekong region last year. 139 new species just in a year. That's like, I feel like, let's just stop looking. Like, I feel like we're going to run out of things. Yeah, exactly. That's true. The stuff we're finding is like, scary.

I've got to find something that's really bad. I'm going to wish we didn't know. Yeah. All right. Let's get on with our first general trivia segment, pop quiz. Hot shot. Here I have my random assortment. Randomizer.

You guys have your Barnard buzzers. Yes. All right, we got Baby Boomer 90s general and I think maybe a Star Wars one in here. Right. Not Star Wars. Oh, you don't say. It's not random if you're looking at it. No, I just want to make sure what kind I have. No, that's exactly not random.

She wanted into the categories. The pool. The pool. The pool of the constrained pool. All right. Oh, 90s. 90s. All right. Trivia pursued the 90s.

No specific year. Just the decade. Here we go. Blue Wedge. The 19 years. The 19 years. Blue Wedge. What diva sang one.

more for the road as Johnny Carson's last to night show guest. Colin? That was Bet Midler. Bet Midler. Ah, yes. Made it made him cry. Uh, Pink Wedge. Huh.

What movie did Hormel attempt to suppress because of a pirate pig puppet name Spam? Spam. Pirate. A pirate pink puppet name Spam. Dana. Uh, is it? It's one of those Muppet movies. It's the Muppets pirate adventure.

What was it? You're on the retract. What is the name of the film? I had this on VHS, but I don't remember what it's called. Muppets Ahoi. What is it? Muppet Treasure Island. Yes.

I could almost describe the VHS box. I couldn't see the... Spatam. All right, Yellow Wedge. What Argentine guerrilla Fighters long-lost remains were given a hero's burial in Cuba?

Everybody. Che Guevara. Yes, correct. Ernesto. Che Guevara. Purple Wedge, what German sandal maker sold more corks sold shoes

between 1992 and 1994 than in the previous 20 years? Everybody, my favorite. Birkenstah. Yeah. I was going to say Doc Martin. Green Wedge, what tennis player? One, 14 Grand Slam single titles during the 90s.

Everybody. Andre Agassie? Incorrect. No. I'm gonna guess Pete Sampras. Incorrect. Oh, tennis. Oh.

John McEnroe? Colin. Is that Steffie Groff? Steffie Groff. Didn't say it was a dude. Yeah. Yeah. She was unstoppable there for a while.

She got stabbed, right? No. Oh, that was... No, we can't have to say anymore. That was Monica Sella. Monica Sela. Yeah. I forgot about the stabbing.

It was really sad. I mean, it really derailed a huge chunk of her career. Oh, yeah, yeah. And it was like, it was just like an unstable person. It was, yeah, yeah. Man. That was crazy. Yeah.

That was so weird. All right. Last question. Orange Wedge. What was the first band on a major label to debut a complete song over the internet with headfirst Chris

Oh I thought it was Radiohead but I may be wrong I was going to guess Radiohead too Oh really? Yeah

Well they sold an album Yeah but that wasn't The 90s paid as you want Yeah that's in 2000 They gave you a complete song on the internet On a major label

Oh you know what I'm gonna go out on a limb here Was this public enemy Incorrect Okay It is Aerosmith Oh okay Who knew?

I don't, God, I don't remember this. I feel like I, maybe it was just done really badly or, like, not what to appear? Yeah, it didn't. Yeah, if the song were a hit, we'd be like, oh, yeah. And was this, like, a meaty version, like, depends on what kind of connection you had. No, I think it was a regular song. That would be funny, that was. Chip tune, yeah.

They've really gone her new direction. Good job, brains. So, Colin being the resident Star Wars nerd. Yes. So you've obviously absorbed, like, all the trailer and the news and all the stuff about the upcoming Star Wars movie. For The Force Awakens. Yes. Yeah, I have.

I definitely. Do you have a theory? Like, are you one of those people who have theory and what do you think is going to happen? I've, you know, it's funny. I've actually, I've been trying, I've been trying not to let my brain dwell and think about what it might be about. Because I want to try and preserve as much surprise when I walk into that theater. in December. So I've been avoiding a lot of people talking about speculation.

I think that, I mean, the title alone, the Force Awakens, I think it's pretty clear that some element of the story is going to be about a person or people discovering their force sensitivity that maybe they didn't know about, what effect it might have on the universe. But I'm really trying not to get too much into the speculation of the spoiler. I think this is such a funny question because Colin is like the most anti-spoiler person. I know, like, when there's basketball game on during pub trivia, like, he, like, is like, don't let me see the TV. Like, I, like, one dribble and it's spoiled. You want to go in fresh.

But Karen and I, like, we read the Wikipedia articles for the scary movies before we watch that. Yeah, we don't care. Like, I read Game of Thrones recap before the episode. I read the wiki. Like, I've read some of the books, not all of them, but I read the complete wiki, like, to see all the... Yeah, and I'm totally okay. And it doesn't, I don't feel like it hampers, it doesn't dampen the, the enjoyability. It heightens it.

Yeah. Because then I know, like, what to expect. Is there going to be a, you know, wolf being killed and I'll know. What should I watch out for? Yeah, exactly. Like, I like, I like, I like to, I like as much as I can to experience the story fresh. Yeah. And in the spirit of Star Wars, actually, a lot of the big buzz is a Mad Max, Mad Max, Mad Max, Fear Road, Big Buzz currently.

So we thought that today we would talk. about things that are sci-fi! I will start us off here. I've got a tale for you guys of overlapping heroes, imitation, and licensing rights. Wow. Actually, we really like the licensing rights. We do like the licensing rights. Yeah.

It seems so boring, but it's like really scandalous. And you may have assumed that I was going to come in this episode talking about Star Wars. And I promise you, I will get to Star Wars. I will wrap up with Star Wars. But I wanted to talk about something different here. Let's set the stage here with what I have come to learn is an important date in science fiction history. We're going to go back to February 1912. Whoa.

Yeah. Over 100 years ago. The All Story magazine. This was the name of the magazine. The All Story published the first installment of a serialized set of stories of what would become the John Carter of Mars saga. You have probably heard of this before. If for no other reason than just recently, they tried to turn it into a big, huge, successful movie, and it was a big, huge flop. It's Barsoom, right?

The Barsoom series? Yes, the Barsoom series. That's right. So the very first installment of the story was published as Under the Moons of Mars, and the story was credited to Norman Bean. Norman Bean. Now, Norman Bean was a pen name because the story was actually written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who, Most people probably would say he's more known for creating Tarzan and the entire Tarzan saga. But, you know, there are a lot of people out on the Internet who will argue that the John Carter

stories are actually at a longer and more important legacy in terms of the types of stories that they inspired. There are a lot of people who will point to this set of stories as, this is where I consider science fiction started. And you can disagree, certainly. You know, some people, maybe it's Jules Verne, you know, whoever you want. want to choose as your early story, this was a story about someone traveling to another planet encountering foreign technology. And, you know, it sort of fits the general definition of science

fiction. So now back to the name here, Norman Bean. I've read the story goes that he submitted the story under the name normal bean. And it was a very kind of punny name like, like human being. Yeah, yeah. Like I'm, you know, I'm in my normal Ryan telling you this fantastic story. Apparently, the typesetter at the magazine thought it was a typo and helpfully changed it to Norman Bean. And if you haven't read the stories or seen the movie, it's vaguely westernish. It is set on Mars. John Carter, he's a Civil War vet, and he is transported from the American Southwest to Mars, where adventures begin and you can fill in the blanks there.

They were immensely popular. They were really, really, really popular. Part of the reason that they were popular is it was novel. You know, nobody was writing about stories on taking place on Mars. And it kind of just captured people's imaginations. So when this new genre kind of opened up, people are like, oh, we got a whole new genre of stories we can publish. So one of these pulpy magazines of the early 1900s was Amazing Stories. And Amazing Stories is said to be the first magazine devoted to science fiction.

So not just Western or general adventures or anything. Indiana Jones kind of stories, but really being early, early science fiction oriented. In 1928, in the pages of amazing stories, Philip Francis Nolan published a novella titled Armageddon 2419 AD, in which he told the story of Anthony Rogers. Now, we know Anthony Rogers better as Buck Rogers. And I want to talk to you about Buck Rogers, and I want to talk to you about Buck Rogers, and I I want to talk to you about Flash Gordon, because when we go back to sort of those, at least in my mind, the classic heyday of science fiction.

This is like really early. Really early, really early. Sort of like, you know, into the 30s and the 40s is really in my mind, at least, when sci-fi just became a thing. So this was 1928, the Armageddon 2419 story, the lead character, Anthony Rogers. He was a World War I veteran. Oh, my God. He was working for the, this cracks me up.

He was working for the American Radioactive Gas Corporation in the story. Well, I wouldn't have a company called that today. Great company to work for. Exactly. He basically is in a cave, gets exposed to radioactive gas, falls into suspended animation, and this is really the nut of the Buck Rogers storyline is he wakes up 500 years later, 492 years later, to be exact. It has his adventures with aliens and foreign technologies and on and on and on.

This was a big hit. Big, big, big hit. He wrote a sequel called The Air Lords of Han. The Han in his stories were the enemy. You can say maybe race. If you want, let's say the enemies, right. Also a big hit. They drew the notice of the National Newspaper Service Syndicate.

So, you know, even back in those days in the 20s and the. the 30s. There were syndicates that would supply comic strips and features and things like that. No, it was incredibly important. Right. Because, yeah, not every newspaper can generate all that content on their own. So they approached Nolan and said, hey, we want to turn Anthony Rogers, we want to turn it into a strip.

So they turned it into a strip, a syndicated comic strip appearing in the newspapers. They had the probably smart stoke of, let's rename him with something a little more zippy just Anthony Rogers. So they gave him the new nickname Buck. The Buck Rogers came in once the newspaper syndicated strip started. Big hit, everyone loves all the Buck Rogers stories. They made radio serials. They made movie serials.

There was a 10-minute Buck Rogers short film at the Chicago World's Fair, of course, in 1933, 34. As with anything that's a big hit, people want to copy it. So King Features Syndicate, one of the other newspaper syndicating authorities at the times, they're like, hey, you know what, this science fiction adventure stuff, This is pretty popular. We've got to have one of our own that we're distributing. So their first idea was, hey, let's turn John Carter of Mars into a strip. They're like, it's already popular.

We don't need to come up with anything new. We'll just go throw some money at Burroughs, and he'll let us turn it into a strip. And they negotiated with him, and ultimately, they couldn't do it. They couldn't agree on the right price with Edgar Rice Burroughs. So not to be daunted. They basically decided, uh, screw it. We'll just come up on our own hero, and we'll base it on Buck Rogers. So this was the birth of Flash Gordon.

The King Features Syndicate basically commissioned. We need a sci-fi hero to compete with Buck Rogers, down to the same tone, the same general look and feel. The name, Roger. Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, right. In 1934, January 1934, the Flash Gordon strip debuted. I'll give you the very brief kind of high-level here. He was a polo player from Yale University.

You know, I mean, really, in every man, in every man, yeah. He has a sort of borderline mad scientist friend. He and his compatriots, they get flown out into space where Flash Gordon's adventures begin. He fights Ming the Merciless. Again, not a very peacey. Ming, the Merciless. And the Han? You know, this, yeah, there was, I mean, we can just come out and say it.

There was some very thinly veiled racism here. of Asian characters in these trips at the time, it is what it is. And so for the next several decades, the 30s, the 40s into the 50s, there were radio serials, there were movies, there were comics, there were toys, merchandising. I mean, both of them basically just cranking out as much entertainment as they can for the two stories. Universal Studios, the movie production company, they made a lot of the Flash Gordon movies. They made several of them, of course, and, you know, they weren't super high budget, but they made a lot of money back. And when they finished the Flash Gordon series.

They're like, all right, well, what's next? What else can we make? So they made a Buck Rogers series. Now, here's what gets funny. Wow. Wait, so they're double dipping? The same studio. They had made all the Flash Gordon movies, and they're like, well, what are we going to do next? All right, we'll make some Buck Rogers movies. They got

the same actor. They got Larry, Larry Buster Crabb who he played both Flash Gordon and both. Buck Rogers all in the span of a few years. I don't believe. What? Yes. Let's see what he looks like.

You know, he looks vaguely 1930s leading mannish. Like, he's believable as Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon. But people didn't care. That's the thing. It was just grist for the mill. I've read that even a lot of the same costumes and sets would have shown up in the same series. Like, oh, I recognize this costume from both Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.

They were producing those as cheaply as they possibly could. They really were. All right, we're going to flash forward a little bit here. So into the 1970s. We're in the early 70s here. And there is a young director by the name of George Lucas. You've probably heard of him. Fresh off the success of American graffiti in 1973, Lucas was, you know, thinking, all right,

what's the next movie I want to make? And he had in mind a space opera. And specifically, he wanted to make Flash Gordon. He wanted to make a Flash Gordon movie for his next. big project. And this is a quote here. I'm going to read to you. So now this is a quote from George Lucas from an interview that he gave before Star Wars had even proven itself as a hit. Okay? So there's no benefit of hindsight in this statement at all. This is George Lucas speaking. Originally, I wanted to make a Flash Gordon movie with all the trimmings, but I couldn't obtain

the right to the characters. And this, in fact, is true. The Hollywood super producer Dino De Laurentis. Oh, yeah. He held the right to Flash Gordon. in the 70s and and they were they were unable to strike a deal they couldn't get the licensing rights and so again they kind of figured well screw you we'll make our own space opera and come up with our own storyline and that's what he did he went on to create star wars basically out of being unable to get the rights to flash gordon it's funny everybody's like gets turned down when they're when they say they want to use somebody else's IP they're like i'll make I'm like, yeah, and it'll be cheaper.

Right, right, right. Well, I mean, it's funny. And, you know, of course, I mean, in the wake of the huge success that Star Wars had in 1977, you can imagine that all of a sudden, Hollywood was a lot more willing, all right, it was something space. We need something space oriented, get it out there as quickly as we can. And so, indeed, it was in 1980. I don't if you guys have ever seen the 1980 Flash Gordon movie, have ever seen it. It's very campy. It's very campy.

is the first thing to keep in mind. It's, you know, it's not unlike, like, the Batman, the 1960s Batman show. It holds up okay today. I don't think it holds up as well as Dino DeLorentis might have wanted, but it does have an awesome, awesome soundtrack by... Oh, Queen. Queen, yeah. Flash!

Got it! Yes. But what I love about this entire story of the thread all the way through from John Carter to Star Wars is when you can't find the story you want to tell, you make up your own story and it goes on and becomes even more influential. Yeah. That's true. Wow, that's true. Yeah. Steve Cubine and Nan McNamara's podcast

from Beneath the Hollywood Sign. Mary Astor has been keeping a diary. Mary writes everything down. And so this torrid affair with George S. Kaufman is chronicled on a daily basis. In great detail. And Ive pulls out a box and gives

McAllister a ring saying, here's something to remember me by. This article caused Daryl Zanick to hit the roof. Actress Ruth Roman followed that up with playing a foil to Betty Davis in Beyond the Force. I mean, if you can stand toe to toe with her, boy.

And she does because she plays the daughter of the man that Betty Davis kills out in the hunting trip. And it's directed by King Vidor, so he's no slouch. How do you go wrong with that? Speaking of the Oscars, talking about what I call Beginners Luck, it's all about the actors

and actresses who won an Oscar on their very first film. Get your fix of old Hollywood from Stephen Ann on the podcast from Beneath the Hollywood Sign. Did archaeologists discover Noah's Ark? Is the rapture coming as soon as the Euphrates River dries up? Does the Bible condemn abortion? Don't you wish you had a trustworthy academic resource to help make sense of all of this? Well, I'm Dan Beecher, and he's award-winning Bible scholar and TikTok sensation, Dr. Dan

Clellon, and we want to invite you to the Data Over Dogma podcast, where our mission is to increase public access to the academic study of the Bible and religion, and also to combat the spread of misinformation about the same. But, you know, in a fun way. Every week we tackle fascinating topics. We go back to source materials in their original languages. And we interview top scholars in the field. So whether you're a devout believer, or you're just interested in a clear-eyed, deeply

informed look at one of the most influential books of all time. We think you're going to love the data over dogma podcast. Wherever you subscribe to awesome shows. I'm going to piggyback on what you just talked about and here I have a mini quiz and you took one of

the questions for me because you talked about John Carter. You should ask that question anyway. It will feel so smart. That would be funny if in our episodes we have a quiz about what we talked about. What did we talk? Now. Now, now that we're done with the episode. What century was Book Rogers in?

Yeah. There are obviously a lot of literature. There's a lot of sci-fi literature that movies were based off of these books, these stories. So what I'm going to do is I have a couple of movies all within the 2000s. There are movies that you probably didn't know were inspired by a piece. of sci-fi literary work. Okay.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to read the plot, and then you try to name the movie. Okay. All in the 2000s. Okay. Well, here's one summary. When Civil War veteran mysteriously wakes up on the surface of Mars, he becomes embroiled in an epic conflict among the Red Planet's inhabitants. Everybody.

John Carter. Yep. Starring Taylor Kitch. Taylor Hicks That guy is some range What was it? He was in three blockbusters In the same year

They all tanked, yeah Like Battleship John Carter Movies based on board games Movies based on board games Jamongi But that's a fake one Well there's

Hungry Hungry Hippos Clue They signed a whole bunch Well like Hasbro did They signed a deal Like yeah Monopoly

I believe they are developing a monopoly movie. There are no new ideas. All right. Mitigating risk. Uh-huh. That's the name of the risk movie. That's so funny. Okay, sorry.

That's good. That's good. All right. What movie is this? Politician David Norris meets a ballerina named Elise. Mysterious men conspire to keep him away from the beautiful dancer. Oh, that's, uh, that's, uh, the Adjustment Bureau. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Yes, adjustment bureau starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt based on a story called adjustment team written by Philip K. Dick, who wrote, whose, whose materials have been made into movies left and right now. I like what you guys said that in unison, by the way. Yeah. We got so excited. It was like the tone and then what you're saying. Dang, it's also funny, like, the whole thing. His are always sort of, yeah, weird or sci-fi and just kind of strange worlds in some way. Blade Runner. Yeah.

Do Android's dream of electric shape. Scanner Darkly. Scanner Darkly. Um, uh, paycheck. Yeah. He has so many short stories that they would flesh out, yeah, until longer movies. But, like, his stuff, I was looking at his list. I was like, oh, my God, a lot of these were turned into movies, including a adjustment

bureau. I had no idea that was based on. a Phil K. K. Dick story. All right. When Earth falls under attack from invincible aliens, no military unit in the world is able to beat them. Major William Cage, an officer who has never seen combat, is assigned to a suicide mission.

Killed within moments, Cage finds himself thrown into a time loop in which he relives the same brutal fight and his death over again, over and over. Uh, Dana. Edge of Tomorrow? Correct.

Edge of Tomorrow. Oh, I thought we had to name the source. Oh. Can you name the source? That's from the book, All You Need is Kill. Oh, my God. All you need is kill. All you need is killed.

The name of it. By Hiroshi Sakura Zaka. It's a 2004 Japanese, light novel. Have you noticed that now that it's out on video, they've suddenly changed the name. Live Di repeat. Yeah, yeah. It's lived I repeat. Oh, colon, Edge of Tomorrow.

Yeah. Or that's the. That's the tagline, but it's, like, really big on the box. I saw Edge of Tomorrow kind of by accident. I was just like, oh, whatever. I'll watch this. It has good reviews. I don't know what it's about at all.

I loved it. I thought it was so good. And then I was like, this name, I forget what the name is. Like, I'm surprised I just remembered what it was. I guess because I saw it again recently. It's very generic. Yeah, but live, I repeat would have been better. I think you're right.

Or all you need is killed. It's more high content. All you need is killed. Yeah. I mean, the movie's so high. concept. It's like a video game spawn movie. That's how a lot of people describe it.

Yeah. Yeah. Groundhogs Day with aliens. And some gears of war like armor. All right. Next one. An illusion gone horribly wrong pits two 19th century magicians against each other in a bitter battle for supremacy. Supremacy. Colin.

Is that the prestige? Correct. It is the prestige. Christopher Nolan. Very dark. Dark and slow There was another one that came out around that time too Allusionist about magicians

Yeah Edward Norton was in that one And I got one more here Here's the summary When infertility threatens mankind With extinction And the last child born has perished A disillusioned barricat

Becomes the unlikely champion In the fight for survival Of Earth's population Colin. Was that Children of Men? Correct. Children of men

based on the PD James novel of the same name. Who's a bureaucrat? A bureaucrat? Yeah, because I think UK was the only place with a functional government

in the story. But yeah. Who was that? Was that? Clive Owen. Oh, not Clive Owen. Yeah, Clive Owen. Okay.

And relatedly, and of course, I'm only talking about maybe the movie that you didn't know that's not kind of common knowledge that it's from books. I did not include Hunger Games

or Jurassic or the series which is based on Michael Crichton pumped out a whole bunch of Congo Spheres Andromeda Strain and those all got made into movies. But here I have a list from box office mojo

of sci-fi movies based on books that top five movies Top five. Number five. I am legend. Okay. Number four, The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1. Number three, Jurassic Park. Okay. Number two, the Hunger Games.

Number one, the Hunger Games catching fire. Really? They've got three of the top five. That's all time. So that's so far, all Hunger Games movies that have been out are in the top five. Yeah. We still have one more to go. I don't want.

watch a lot of science fiction or read a lot of science fiction Battlestar Galactica Exactly So that's what the quiz is about That's what the quiz is about I feel like I mean Battlestar Galactica has no

It is science fiction in the sense that there is Advanced Technology but they don't A lot of the people are not They're not space explorers They just so happen to be on this ship When all the planets exploded That's true, that's true Oh okay

Except for the sentient robots It's mostly a human drama Right, but even the sentient robots are just sort of like... They have human properties, too. Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah. So Battlestar Galactica could, of course, refer to an original 21 episode, a 1970s TV series, and Galactica 1980, it's ill-fated, short-lived. I mean, hey, the first Battlestar Galactica, I guess, was also ill-fated and short-lived.

Then the sci-fi networks reimagined Battlestar Galatica, which was far, far more popular. It is all about Battlestar, but it is a Battlestar Galactica quiz that you do not have to know a single thing about Battlestar Galactica. Because I'm going to be asking you questions about the actors who have been on Battlestar Galactica and other things that they have done. Oh, man. So it's okay. Have you never seen Battlestar Galactica? I watched it like 10 years ago or something. I think it was 2005, it's my guess.

Sure. You all have pens and paper, so write them all down. And that will keep score. Whoa. Okay. Okay, here we go. Question one. This Battlestar Galactica cast member shares a name.

The cast member shares a name with a winner of Survivor. They shares a full, complete first and last name with a winner of survivor. answers up Colin says Richard Hatch Karen H-33 She wrote on the thing

And like this is the SAT It says Karen also says Richard Hatch And Dana says Edward James Almost A good

A good guest Dana but it is indeed Richard Hatch So you I would say you do need to know Battlestar Galactica Or Survivor

Pull a name out It's like Or a survivor It's going to be a rough quiz So that is one point for Colin and one point for Karen, yes. Richard Hatch, of course, played Apollo on the first show and then played Tom Zerick Insurgent in the second show, yes. And he actually spent the interim between those two fighting for every chance he could get

to get Battlestar Galactica revised. Oh, yeah, he was a big, yeah. But, of course, his efforts did not result in the sci-fi show. That was something totally different, but they would. went to him, and they were like, well, would you like to be on the show? And it was like, yeah, okay. And then they put aside all their differences and worked together. Question two.

Michael Truco, who played Sam Anders on the new Battlestar Galactica, later had a recurring role in 2012 in the eighth season of what sitcom. Wow. Oh, I'm trying to give you as much information as you can to sort of nail it down. 2012. Yes. Eighth season. Eighth season of what sitcom?

So what's, you know, think about what, you know, popular, long-running sitcom may have had its eighth season around the year 2012. Andrews, oh, God, what was in? Karen says, the office, Colin says, how I met your mother, Dana, says, Big Bang Theory, really spreading it out among popular sitcoms. Colin is correct. It is, like, how I met your mother, and he played a boyfriend of Robin. That show has been on for it. How long was it on?

I believe it was nine seasons. I believe, totally. Oh. Yes. Okay. So, one for Colin. Her first ever acting role was in 1998

on the Lifetime original movie, 15 and pregnant. Who may have been that age at that time and on a lifetime original movie and is also on Battlestar Galiftha. That is an A.N.

We have our answers. Dana says Kelly Martin Colin says Katie Sackoff and Karen says Trisha Hefner we're going to say

Trisha Helfer Yes It is in fact Katie Sackoff Oh man First ever acting role Really Darn

She was new to me I had never seen her in anything before Yeah Battlestar I didn't know she was on Battle Star Or else I would have Yeah Because I watch her

Oh sorry Katie Sackoff Who of course plays Kara, Starbuck, Thrace. Just a few more questions, Dana. Okay. Try to hold it in. Like, I have no context.

All right, yeah, yeah, true, true. All right, here's one. Tricia Helfer, who played Cylon number six on Battlestar Glatka, played this character in the recent game, Mortal Kombat, X. This character that she played has been in the series since the first game in the Mortal Kombat series in 1929. Man, I'm so bad with it. Oh, I think I know what this character looks like.

I have no idea what it's called. It was the only female character in the first Mortal Kombat game. It appears again in the most recent one. Call it. Dana says Shunley. Dana's contempt for this quiz. Gross. High of the question.

Colin says, Ice Lady. I couldn't remember any of the characters. I thought maybe there was a court I thought there was maybe like a female scorpion, yeah, I don't know I'm sorry, sub-zero I'm sorry female sub-zero And Karen says Sonia, which is correct

Character Sonia Blade Played in the most recent game by Trisha Helper This actor This Battlestar Galatka actor We're still on the new show by the way This Battlestar Galatica actor In a different project

and a different thing he did, had a line that is pretty well known in sci-fi cinema. And the line is, It's Too Bad She Won't Live, but then again, who does? Name the actor? And you know what? For a bonus point, name the movie.

It's too bad she won't live, but then again, who does? It is the penultimate in... And we're going to be an actor and movie? In a... Oh, yes, actor and movie. actor who is from Battlesar Glatka. This is in a different movie.

Dana says Edward James almost an alien. Collins says Edward James almost in Blade Runner. Karen says Edward James almost in Blade Runner. It is Edward James almost in Blade Runner. He's like a cop. Gaff. Yeah. Yes, Gaff.

And we are now going back in time to the land of the 1970s and 1980s. Man. Dr. Z. on the spin-off Galactica 1980 was played by an actor named Robbie Rist. He had previously performed on the final six episodes of the Brady Bunch as this universally hated character. Final six episodes of the Brady Bunch, Robbie Rist, played this universally reviled character. I may be slightly exaggerating, but not that much. Robbie Rist, then went on to play Dr. Z on Galactica 1980.

Wait, how long was he in the Brady Bunch? The final six episodes. Six episodes? Yes. Delivering the final line of the final episode of the Brady Bunch. Karen says, Sam. Colin says, cousin Oliver 100%. That's what I meant.

And Dana said Cousin Teddy, but meant cousin. I meant the kid. It is indeed Cousin Oliver 100%. Wow, that's... Half a point. I'm adding half a point to date and so it was the it was because the kids on the show were too old. They felt they needed to add a little kid again and this was the most disastrous.

Really? Yeah. Do that on TV all the time though. It's a trope, right? Well, it's called the Cousin Oliver. syndrome. They did it on Married with Children. They did it on the Cosby Show.

They did it on the Cosby Show. Yeah. And there was another very famous one. Family ties. Yes. Oh, Andy. Andy. This British actress played Serena in the original Battlestar Galactica pilot.

Later, she would take the title role in a very popular CBS drama series that ran from 1993 to 1998, named the actress. Oh, is it what's your face? What? Dana. Karen is still thinking about it. Just write down the first British actress that comes to mine. Could be correct.

You don't know. Angelian Lansbury. That's almost, I was like, that's titular, but that's not 90s. It's not titular, though. Murder she wrote. I guess the she, I guess. This is not that much of a story. Karen says, question mark.

Colin says Jane Seymour, Dana says Jane Seymour, it was Jane Seymour, who started in Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, indeed. Also in Wedding Crashers. Speaking of... And designs jewelry. Should I go back in a man... Open hearts collection. Oh, yeah, that's right. I have one final question for you.

And speaking of TV westerns, Lauren Green, who played Commander Adama in the original series, was best known as Ben Cartwright on this TV series. What? That sounds so familiar. Okay, is this series before or after Battlestar? It was before the original Battlestar Galactica. It was an older TV series in which Lorne Green played Ben Cartwright. Colin and Dana surreptitiously looking at the other's answers.

I'm trying to look at Colin's answers. Maybe Colin, yeah. Because I have a feeling Colin knows. Karen says the Andy Griffiths show. Colin says Bonanza 100%. Dana says the Walton's. It is Bonanza, 100%. Colin was alive during that.

Yeah. Fair. Yeah. It's no fair. So, Dana, with a hard won two and a half points. Fought for every percentage point of a point. Oh, my God. Tarrin with four points, but it's Colin with eight points who rocked the Battlestar Galaxca quiz.

That was rough. It's hard. Yeah, yeah. No context makes it real. Right, right, right, yeah, yeah. I actually didn't even know that the actor's name was Richard Hatch on that. He was like the old lady. I'm like, all right, Survivor, yeah.

Oh, so you got it through Survivor. I did. I did. Maybe, you know what, maybe some part of my brain deep in there knew it, maybe. I just think that's kind of funny, that there's an misambiguation page for Richard Hatch. That's like Richard Hatch, Survivor winner, Richard Hatch, Battlestar, Galactica actor. Slash Novelist. He wrote Battlestar Galaxca novels during that down time.

He really never gave up on that dream. He really didn't. He must have gone to like all the comments. I bet he was at every convention signing. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We did. We met him at WonderCon.

We met him at WonderCon. Yep. Cool. He was, he had, yeah. He actually, as I found out on the Wikipedias as I was researching this quiz, Richard Hatch, happy birthday, sir, because a few days ago, he turned 70 years old. Wow.

He doesn't. Wow. He looks. Oh, he looks. He looks 53, max. Well, you know, you age more slowly in space. So it makes sense. Yeah, when you're traveling really quickly.

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Recently, I've been hearing a lot of, like, things are going wrong. Something got fudged up. And they're like, oh, you know what? Mercury is in retrograde. So what does it mean by Mercury in retrograde? In mythology, the planet Mercury was named after the god Mercury, who was a messenger of gods. And he governs travel and communication and learning. And so this is why when Mercury retrograde happens has the reputation of like, oh, it's Mercury.

the God who's sending conversations going haywire because he's the God, government communication. And when the planet is in retrograde, that means like he's tricking everybody. What does retrograde mean? I mean, that's ridiculous because everybody knows that it's actually elves. Oh, yeah. So what does it mean by Mercury in retrograde? This is actual science. This is actual science.

Yeah, the planets are real. The planets are real. The planets are real. They do move on real paths. But this is how I feel about horoscopes. I love horoscopes when it's a good thing and it applies to me and be like, oh, yay, something good's going to happen. And when something bad's going to happen, it was like, who believes in that anyways? Mercury is pretty fast moving and it has an oval, like an elliptical orbit around the sun.

So it's not like a perfect circle. So it will move faster when it's closer to sun because of the gravitational pull. So three or four times a year, the planet. it catches up to Earth's orbit. And Earth is a little bit more regular, a little bit more circular. And so Mercury is slowing down a little bit as it's orbiting. We're still all moving together, but it looks like Mercury is going backwards. So imagine, like, say, you have two cars going the same speed. You're going the same speed, and then the other car slows down. It looks like that car is moving backwards. You're passing it. You're passing it, and it's going backwards.

So that's what happened. That's what retrograde is. It's not really moving backwards. It's slowing down because it's receding. It's receding from us. Yeah. And because the orbit is a different shape than ours. And so that is real.

That is real. Yes. Like people prepare for this. People really prepare for Mercury and Retrograde. They prepare for it? Like, yeah. They just like they're more aware. You want to undertake any major life decisions.

No, exactly. That's what a lot of people do is any big life decision. or anything that is like a purchase that, you know, you're going to invest in a TV, you wait until it's not a retrograde anymore. Or if you have like a wedding or something, like they do plan around. It's interesting. It's like, oh, powerless people looking for patterns to like help them make sense of their lives. Of their lives, yeah. Yeah, that's well put, actually.

Yeah, yeah. So it's kind of science and it's kind of fiction. Interesting. Thank you. I had no idea. I was like, oh, okay, it's something I don't understand. I see. I'll close it out with a lighthearted quiz about pets in science fiction.

Ooh. So these are animals, I would argue, that are pets of other characters in a science fiction movie or TV show or book. All right. So like Chewbacca? I didn't classify Chewbacca as a pet. Han Solo is Chewy's pet. Yeah. All right.

So Barangard buzzer is ready? All right. we'll start out with a crowd favorite who is Lila's pet on Futurama Karen Nibler Nibler from Nablone the Nblonians Yeah okay bonus point follow up

Fry's dog in Futurama Oh my god Oh so sad C-more Seymour Dada's cat on Star Trek Oh we've had this before Yeah

Arthist No no no no no oh sorry sorry The Musketeer is the other Star Trek It's the Beagle, sorry. Einstein. No. It is like someone famous. No.

No, it's a human name, right? Oh, man. Einstein is definitely human. Oh, is it Spot? Spot. Spot. I knew it was something arch or cute or clever in some way. Okay, spot.

Captain Archer's Beagle on the Enterprise is. Porthos. Porthos. How about Dr. Who's pet? Karen. K-9. K-9. Jabba the Hutz pet.

in return of the Jedi. Princess Leia. That's a slave, not a pet. Oh, sorry. That is. Salacious crumb. Sure. Is he really?

I have a different answer. Oh, what? Really? Yes. Salacious crumb is a little guy. Yeah, I don't think he's a pet. The little Muppet. Well, who's the...

Oh, oh. Are we talking about the rancor? The rancor? That's not a pet. He's the pet of the guard. He's the pet of the guardkeeper. The guy who weeps when Luke kills the ranger. No, no, no, no.

I mean, wouldn't the guardkeeper hired a pet. by Jabba the Hut to oversee the Rancor that Jabba the Hut owns like you or I might have you know a gardener come in it's not there it's not his garden it's like I'm just hiring him I'll say reasonable people could disagree

I'm pretty sure Jabba owns everyone's right No I think the guard is it's his pet I agree and also it's the Rancor monster it's not his name you know it's like that's what he is he's the Rancor I should never ask any Star Wars questions. All right.

Doc Brown's dog and back to the future, Chris. That is Einstein. That's Einstein. The main gremlin in the Gremlin's movie. Oh. The cute one, right? Gizmo. Oh, okay.

So in Up, I would like the name of the dog with a robotic collar. Alpha. I mean, there are several. I would say the main dog. Oh, the main dog. Dog. Dog. Dog.

Alpha, beta, and gamma. Yeah. And Doug. Chris. The robotic dog in the original Battlestar Galactica. Oh, I don't know. I only researched human actors. There's a dog.

Yeah, he was a robotic dog. He was a Daggett. And his name was, uh, uh, you're so close. Yeah, it was, uh, um. Biscuit. No. I'm getting close. I like biscuit.

Want me to say? Give me the first letter It was like like Muffet Yes yes Thank you It's kind of close You're like biscuit

You were like daggett And I was like you guys are Muffet Which I believe was a chimp They put in a suit I think it was I think it was Why didn't they just have the chimp

Why don't they have to make it a robot Why does that be a robot dog A dog Oh my god They could just have a train show Yeah Yeah All right

The alien Or the dog alien And men in black Oh Frankie Oh Frank the dog Frank the dog Wow

It is a pug Pug yes Good job Karen Thank you Yes I remember this now The robotic dog

That was on the first show Broadcasting Color Oh, Chris Astro Astro From the Jetson That was the first show

Broadcasting Color Nice And finally Ellen Ripley's pet And one of two survivors At the end of alien Oh what the Um

Wow wasn't it Colin That was Uh So it's been A Wasn't it No No

It's it Oh it's Oh geez It's jinx Not not No It's a person's name Yeah

It is Jasper Sam Jesus He walks in at one point It's like a last name Jones Jones Joneses

Jones that's right Yep Good job you guys Man We're like Jix is from Meet the parents Right

Oh yeah yeah That's right Yeah I got Nipus Can you know All right All right And that is our Sci-Fi episode

Thank you guys For joining me And thank you guys listeners For listening and hope you learn a lot of stuff about the early days of sci-fi, the inspiration, Battlestar Galactica actors and actresses now you know. Deep cuts.

Yeah, deep cuts. I learned nothing. Only burning shame. You can find us on iTunes, on Stitcher, on SoundCloud, and also on Spotify, and on our website, good job, brain.com. And we'll see you guys next week. Bye. It feels really good to be productive, but a lot of the time it's easier said than done,

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