OT: Sci-fi (was RE: Ultra-portable terminals)

[Bill Campbell]

On Fri, Jul 28, 2006, Kenneth Brody wrote:
>Quoting Fairlight (Thu, 27 Jul 2006 20:50:13 -0400):
>
>> On Thu, Jul 27, 2006 at 07:32:22PM -0400, Kenneth Brody, the prominent
>> pundit, witicized:
>> >
>> > There was a show on the Discovery Channel a few months ago called
>> > "How William Shatner changed the world", and was basically how
>> > things from Star Trek ended up inspiring some of the people who
>> > are responsible for much of today's technology.  (Like the guy
>> > who is credited with inventing the cell phone, who got the idea
>> > from the Star Trek communicators.)
>>
>> Obviously titled by someone that didn't give thought to the fact that
>> Roddenberry was actually the man with the ideas, Shatner was just the
>> actor that brought one role to life.
>
>Actually, the whole William Shatner angle was done tongue-in-cheek.
>As I recall, they did create Roddenberry as the "visionary" behind
>the whole series.
>
>And then there were parts that were created simply because it was
>cheaper to do so.  They didn't have the budget for sets and scenes
>with shuttlecraft, so the transporter was "invented" so that the
>crew could simply "appear" on the planet.

It was certainly better than the old Flash Gordon series where
one could often see the string holding the space ship with sparks
falling out of the back.

Bill
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