Sy: “All you need is magnetic coating from a floppy disk…The photodiodes of a VHS tape…And an 8-track recording of The Monkees' D-D-D-Daydream Believer.” Harley Quinn S2E12 If you watch modern movies, you may notice the frequent tendency for some character to remark something along the lines of “my phone cannot get a signal”. Peril […]
If a movie is set on a space ship or space station, at some point there is a good chance that someone or something will be blown out of an airlock. Or, some character, depressed or guilt-racked, will attempt to eject themselves from an airlock. Or someone will threaten to or attempt to “space” or […]
I once read the novel “The Clouds of Saturn” by Michael McCollum. In best space opera tradition, giant warships clashed amid swarms of dogfighting fighter craft. Unlike most such battles in science fiction, this took place within the atmosphere of the gas giant. The large ships were airships, and the smaller, heavier than air (HTA) […]
Recently I have been watching the TV series “The Expanse”, and greatly enjoying it. Naturally enough, this reminded me of this section of the Atomic Rockets website, and the comment “…they actually have their spacecraft laid out like a skyscraper, the way God and Heinlein intended.” The skyscraper element is not that obvious in the […]
This started off as a glossary for THS, but has expanded to include terms for many other genres of science fiction, including many new terms that may prove useful. Transhuman Space (THS) has its own terminology, and some of these terms may be unfamiliar to the reader. Some of the sourcebooks have a glossary section, […]
In a previous post I covered the radiowave part of the spectrum and how the frequency of a device might affect its realistic performance. A question that may have occurred to some readers is what frequency range do THS’ virtual implants (VI) work at? This is of particular interest for the Virtual Interface Implant (VII), […]
“Ze’s a blank! Ze’s a blank! Ze has no social rank! Cops will throw hir in the tank! For living like a crank!” “Ballad of a Blank”, Corey Godzilla. Blanks are also known as “nullos” or “the zeroed”. A blank cannot be found in official records. A blank does not legally exist. Typically they minimize […]
Australia in 2100 has very restrictive gun laws (CR 5). This has done very little to curb criminal use of firearms. Several organized crime groups in Australia illegally manufacture firearms. Black market minifacs may be located in remote regions or within urban areas. Some groups use pirated designs, blueprints often acquired from the TSA Web […]
The majority of space science fiction is based on an assumption: Interstellar travel is possible. Either a way to travel faster than light is possible, or there is a way to side-step the necessity by taking a short-cut, usually through another dimension. Like many sci-fi fans, I hope we do reach the stars. But if […]
Version 1.2 Before GURPS Transhuman Space (THS), there was GURPS (Space) Terradyne. Terradyne was written in 1991, so it is interesting to observe how the period it was written in has influenced the future depicted. For example, the USSR still exists on the Earth of Terradyne, although the book does predict a number of republics […]