The Secret of Signals

Today marks the 40th anniversary when a group of three men shook the dirt of this mud ball from their shoes, in order to plant their feet where no man has gone before. Today marks the anniversary of the take off of the Apollo 11.

You might be considering dusting off your version of "The Right Stuff" to honor the occasion, but I'd like to recommend another film, a gentle, quirky charmer from Australia, called The Dish.

The Dish is a semi-fictional, semi-biographical accounting of the part that the telescope at the Parkes Observatory in Australia played in the Apollo 11 mission. Late in the Apollo 11 planning mission, NASA officials decided to telecast the first moon steps via television, and the Parkes telescope, along with the telescope at Honeysuckle Creek, also in Australia, would be the primary receiving stations for the signals. They would then send these signals on to NASA in the US, which would, in turn, broadcast the show to the world.

The movie focuses on fictional members of the Parkes Observatory crew, and one individual from NASA, as well as the people in the town associated with the observatory. Though based on a real event, some of movie's storyline was fictionalized for artistic purposes. However, much of the movie reflects history as it happened, including the gale force winds that kicked up just when the telescope was needed, putting both it and the people operating it at physical risk.

The cast of the movie includes Sam Neill as the leader of the Australian crew, ably assisted by Patrick Warburten as the NASA rep. In my opinion, though, the story line that takes place in Parkes, where Roy Billing plays mayor, was just as compelling.

No mad chases, no computer graphics, or robots that turn into cars. This is a movie about a telescope in the middle of a sheep paddoc. And it's the story, ultimately, of Apollo 11, and how one single event made the world just a little smaller.

You can catch "The Dish" online at Amazon Video on Demand, iTunes, Netflix Watch Now, or wherever you get your DVDs. If you're considering a double feature, you might also want to check out Space Cowboys, another charmer that doesn't disappoint.

And in celebration of Apollo 11:

• On Eagle's Wing: The Story of the Parkes Apollo 11 support
• How the Moonwalk was seen live in Western Australia
• It's all a hoax: Six percent of Americans think the Apollo 11 landing was a hoax via 3Quarks Daily
• But 25% of British respondents to a survey felt the Apollo 11 landing was a hoax via Danny Ayers
• Scientists and others fight back against the myth, with Moon Base Clavius
• Follow along with Apollo 11 with We Choose the Moon -- a realtime recreation of the entire Apollo 11 mission
• NPR story on the erased Apollo 11 tapes - rather represents NASA to me: acts of astounding brilliance and bravery, occasionally marred by bureaucratic screw ups
• The Apollo program pages at the Smithsonian
• NASA Apollo mission audio and video media
• Docking of the command and lunar modules from the Guardian.
• NASA Apollo 11 media
• Boston Globe collection of Apollo 11 photos - stop whatever you're doing, and click this link, now.
• From doughnuts to liftoff, Apollo Launch was a blast from CNN
• NASA Apollo 40th Anniversary pages
• Partially restored HD Apollo 11 videos

update Fascinating comment thread related to a review of the book "Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon". Note that the Gene Kranz referenced in the thread is the Gene Kranz who was the flight director for the Apollo missions. He was played by Ed Harris in the movie, "Apollo 13". Sometimes comments, even acrimonious comments, are like little snapshots of history.

Plus, irreverent look at the moon landing, by The Onion. And there's a video, too. Neither is safe for work, kids. No, really, I mean it.

And the last word, or should I say note, goes to the Chairman of the Board

Good times for science fiction fans. This week marks the return of the popular series, Eureka, on the newly named SyFy channel. No, not "see-fee", "Sci Fi".

This week also marks the debut of the new series, Warehouse 13. If you don't have the SyFy channel on cable, the pilot for the show can be found at Hulu, at the SyFy show site, and also available, for free, in HD quality, at Amazon Video on Demand, and iTunes.

I watched the show using my Roku box and via Amazon VOD. The digital quality was excellent, the streaming more than sufficient.

Warehouse 13 is about a secret government-run warehouse in the badlands of South Dakota, which contains all manner of supernatural and super science oddities. The main characters are a mysterious woman, known as Mrs. Frederick (played by C. C. H. Pounder), who recruits members for an organization to locate, and bring back, whatever dangerous oddities still exist in the wild. The crew consists of Arthur "Artie" Nielsen (played by Saul Rubinek), the long time team member, who is newly joined by two Secret Service agents: Peter Lattimer (played by Eddie McClintock) and Myka Bering (played by Joanne Kelly). He's loose, she's uptight, and yes, this has been done before. However, they pull it off well, especially the Bering character. And Saul Rubinek is excellent in the show, taking his character, Artie, beyond the typical mad genius who is above emotional turmoil. The man gets mad, looses his cool, worries about people, but still manages to come off quirky, and fun.

The pilot has the team hunting the jeweled comb of Lucretia Borgia, allowing for a strong female protagonist, making a nice change from the typical science fiction program, with male or monster baddies.

Will you like Warehouse 13? If you like Steampunk, Eureka at its more serious, X-Files, at its lighter and quirkier moments, you'll probably like Warehouse 13. At a minimum, you can check out the pilot for free.

Other things to watch this week:

• Watching "Maxed Out" on Netflix Watch Now. "Maxed Out" is a documentary on the credit card business, and is both fascinating, and more than a little chilling. If you don't have access to Netflix Watch Now, it's also available as Amazon VOD, and on iTunes. Recommended.
• Watching the Doctor Who special show, "The Next Doctor" via iTunes on my AppleTV. This show features the tenth Doctor Who, David Tennant, who will be ending his stint this year. A pity, too, as he was an excellent Doctor. Frankly, I'm not sure about the next, much younger Doctor. It's an interesting experiment on the part of the series, but could backfire. Regardless, "The Next Doctor" is prime Doctor Who, and any Doctor fan will want to view it. It's free for you folks in the UK. The rest of us will have to get it through iTunes, or via DVD or TV (BBC America).

• Watching "The 3D Sun", on Hulu. This 30 minute documentary put out by NASA covers Stereo, positioning satellites in parallel, equidistant from the earth, in order to provide a 3D look at the Sun's activity. The show features excellent interviews, a nice overview of how the Sun's activity impacts on the us, and wonderful visuals. Of course, what we've come to expect from NASA. If you can't access Hulu, you can access the video at the STEREO Mission site. It's also been released to theaters as 3D, but I hate the stupid glasses. Watch it on your computer instead.

  

• For all you old Star Trek fans, You can access shows at YouTube, as well as the CBS.com site, in addition to accessing on Watch Now, and on iTunes. In other words, there's always some Star Trek to watch. It has to be better than watching the latest episode of "You Can Dance!"

Happy viewing.

I had a Netflix account until Blockbuster came out with their, "Turn in a movie, get a movie" plan. It was a novelty to go into the local Blockbuster, turn in an envelope and get a movie. It was especially nice because online DVD rental places aren't always good about sending that next video.

Recently Netflix came out with it's responding shot: watch a movie online. Depending on how many movies you rent at a time, you can watch so many hours of movies online a month. It's an interesting concept, though the original announcement was somewhat misleading because the plan is only now being rolled out and we'll only be available to everyone in June. Additionally, you have to watch that movie within a web browser, which doesn't provide the best viewing experience.

Late last week I switched back to Netflix, but it wasn't because of this new deal, it was because of the old deal. One reason to have a service like Netflix is that you can access older or more unusual movies; movies that your local video rental shop doesn't have. Yet when I put these items at the top of my list at Blockbuster, they're never sent; even when shown as available in the queue, I would never get them. Blockbuster would pick movies from the middle of the list or the bottom over these movies–there was no rhyme or reason to how it made its shipment decisions.

As a test, I put three items that have been at the top of my list at Blockbuster for close to two weeks at the top of my newly re-awakened Netflix account. The next day, all three items shipped.

Netflix also has a better interface. It's easier to find the movies I want, it's recommendations are better, and it's faster and less cluttered than the Blockbuster interface. Disregarding the 'deal' to turn a movie in for a free one, or watching movies online, when it comes to the 'core' business of providing DVDs based on a queue, especially older, foreign, or more unusual movies, Netflix is better.

It might not be 'Web 2.0', but all the gewgaws in the world won't compensate when you let your core business flounder or fail.

I've had a small all-in-one television with VCR and DVD for quite a while. The VCR isn't that great and the DVD isn't doing very well, and I've thought about getting something new. I especially wanted something that would work with my PC, since I'm getting rid of cable, and am downloading the few TV shows I don't want to miss from iTunes, and now Amazon's new Unbox.
This week I splurged on a new 27-inch widescreen HDTV LCD flat panel from Best Buy. I didn't go high end or even middle, opting for their inexpensive store brand (on sale) saving money for a Sony progressive-scan HDMI up converter DVD player. The Monster HDMI cable between the TV and the player actually cost more than the player, and the TV is not a black lit, which means the blacks in the picture are not as crisp as the higher end, but it still blows the doors off my regular TV.

When I got home, my two new movies–This Island Earth and the original unaltered and unedited Godzilla movie (Gojira)–had arrived so they had first honor of being played on the new TV. The color and richness of This Island Earth made the movie seem brand new rather than an old favorite. Even Gojira seemed crisply black and white.
Today I decided to try Amazon's service. I have iTunes on my Mac, and anything I download for that can also play on my PC. However, iTunes downloads are tiny and not particularly good expanded out past an iPod size.

The Amazon purchase prices are too high for movies, and even the rental isn't especially cheap if compared to Netflix. However, novelty, sweet novelty. I rented a old favorite I haven't seen in years and years: the Birds. I then hooked my computer to the TV through the VGA connection and sat down to enjoy this excellent movie in beautiful, rich color. Though not as crisp and saturated as the HDMI connection and the upconverted DVD from the player, the movie was wonderful.

Oh, I'm spoiled. I'm terribly spoiled.

Thanks to Slashdot for pointing out Boston.com's top 50 Sci-Fi shows.

Starting from the, urh, bottom:

50. "Earth Final Conflict" — I'm not sure I even remember this one. However, it was on television when I was right in the middle of the hottest part of my consulting and writing business; had started at a dot-com; had watched the dot-com fail; moved from Portland, to Vermont, to Boston, to San Francisco; oh, and got divorced. I don't think I watched a lot of TV.

49. "The Wild Wild West" — Loved it.

48. "Third Rock from the Sun" — Didn't follow it strictly but did watch from time to time. Cute. Liked the daughter, she could kick butt.

47. "Buck Rogers in the 25th Centruy" — Now what is there about spandex that isn't to love? This was disco sci-fi, and campy, as Batman was campy. Speaking of which, will probably show in the list later.

46. "That was Then" — Now, I did manage to catch this, and the premise was very interesting. They never give shows such as this enough time to find their audience. Speaking of Serenity, this will probably be showing up later, too.

45. "The Greatest American Hero" — The good thing, about the only good thing, about this show is that my cousin, Robert Culp, was in it.

44. "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" — Gag me.

43. "Nowhere Man" — Again, I saw this because I've always liked Bruce Greenwood. Blinked and it was over.

42. "Science Fiction Theater" — I was too young for this show. Yes, there is actually a television show that I would be too young to remember.

41. "Futurama" — Never saw it.

40. "The Thunderbirds" — Come on, folks! Puppets in rockets! How cool is that?

39. "The man from U.N.C.L.E" — I had a crush for the longest time, way into my adulthood, for Illya Kullyakin. And I prefer dark haired guys typically.

38. "Batman" — See? Told you! Two guys in tight spandex…Holy Butts, Batman!

37. "Space 1999" — I really liked this show. I thought it had an odd feel to it that set it apart from other shows of the time. The only other program that came close in feel was The Prisoner — remember that one? And the bouncing ball?

36. "The Bionic Woman" — Okay, I confess: I liked this show. At least in the beginning; towards the end, it became bizarre.

35. "Battlestar Galactica" — A cut above, both the historical show and the modern one. Especially after last night's show of the modern edition, which I consider to be one of the finest television shows dealing rape and the objectification of women I have seen.

34. "The Avengers" — Lovely show, wonderful actors, great accents, interesting stories. A classic.

33. "Lost in Space" — Never missed a show. Again, this seemed like a typical show of the time at first glance; family values and all. But it explored some very interesting concepts, and the writers demonstrated imagination with some of the story lines.

32. "My Favorite Martian" — It never really rang my bell.

31. "Alien Nation" — Wonderful show that matured in concept as it aged in time. How best to look at our own problems of racial fear and bigotry than by creating another species and using them as object lessons. Spoiled milk, anyone?

30. "Voyage to the Bottom of the Seas" — Another great show. Is it just me or could Sci-Fi channel dump their abysmal made for TV movies and replace them all with these wonderful old shows? And improve hugely?

29. "Six Million Dollar Man" — Never cared for Lee Majors, so didn't like the show.

28. "Adventures of Superman" — Oh now, this is the old one and I do remember these. Loved it — strong female lead, wholesome man with bulgy muscles in tight…wait, we've been down this one before.

27. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" — Loved the show, except for the last year or so when it started getting strange. Except that I did like it when Buffy and Spike, well, remember the carpet?

26. "Stargate Atlantis" — Watch it as part of the Friday night lineup. Not the best of sci-fi though.

25. "The Jetsons" — Cartoon, so just never got into it. I liked Marvin the Martian and Warner Brothers, but that was about it. Don't like games either. I was not a fun child.

24. "Wonder Woman" — When I was younger and a little more gravity defiant I was told I looked like Wonder Woman. No, really. Some homeless guy on the street assured me it was so.

23. "Tales from the Crypt" — not my thing.

22. "Andromeda" — Lot's of pretty people going nowhere. Didn't care for it.

21. "Quantum Leap" — Some of the most imaginative scripting in television. Some amazing stories.

20. "The Hitchhiker" — The premise was good, but the execution was flawed.

19. "Dark Angel" — Haven't seen it. Is it on now? Where?

18. "V" — I liked this show. I didn't love it, and didn't go out of my way to watch it, but I liked it.

17. "Firefly" — Just number 17? Idiots. Best show on TV. Ever.

16. "Flash Gordon" — I saw the movie, which was deliciously cheap and tinsely; but never the television show.

15. "Logan's Run" — Take a great story line and really screw it up and you have Logan's Run.

14. "Star Trek: Voyager" — I never got into this one. I think I was getting tired of Trek about then. No where near as good as many later in the list.

13. "Outer Limits" — I loved this show. Remember the one where the person from the future came back in time and seduced a woman to return with him, but then by doing so, changed history and he wasn't there? Reminds me of weblogging.

12. Xena: Warrier Princess" — I like tough women who can kick butt, but this show left me cold. I guess I'd rather do than watch. Hee. Just joking.

11. "Lost" — I didn't watch the first year, but I'm thinking of renting it. It seems to be intriguing.

10. "Sliders" — This was a good show. Again, not a great one, but good.

9. "Mystery Science Fiction Theater" — If you don't like this, you lose your Sci-Fi good fandom badge. What better way to watch the old, bad movies?

8. "Dr. Who" — Don't hit me, but I never watched Dr. Who. Why, I don't know, except every time I would try to watch, there was so much that seemed to be assumed. I may try this again.

7. "The Twilight Zone" — Some of the finest, brightest, and most adult television of all time.

6. "Stargate SG-1" — I like this show, and the humor that's an implicit component. I'm not sure about the new cast, though. Other than I really enjoyed Vala as a character.

5. "Babylon 5" — I liked Babylon 5. Another show with strong female leads. "Sooner or later, we all go boom!"

4. "X Files" — The most distrubing show I have seen on television was from the X Files. It was the one where the folks were heavily in-bred, and it was too much for me. I was sometimes a fan of the show.

3. "Star Trek the Next Generation" — Oh, of course I liked this show. How can I not like Woof? This show demonstrated that one can be older and sexy. In fact, it demonstrated that one can't really be truly sexy until one is older. I like that in a show. (Oh you young, firm things — lighten up, your turn will come.)

2. "Battlestar Galactica" — Oh hey, it got a slot of its own. Well, after the recent shows, I agree with this. Very powerful, especially the one last night. How can a station that puts out the crap it does on Saturday night host this amazing series boggles. It really does.

-and I know what 1 will be, it will be-

1. "Star Trek, the original" Of course. If it weren't for Star Trek, I don't think we would have the sci-fi channel, or even the movies we've had. It kept the genre alive through a very dry period, and then re-sparked it again when we were ready.