OT Which would you Choose

[dogscoff]

I looked at the question as "which of these sci-fi universes will most allow me to live in techno-utopian comfort."

Originally I thought about one of the Trek ones, with the intention of resigning from Starfleet immediately and getting a safer job as a trader or something, cruising between different planets to see all the different planets meet all the different aliens.

However, then I thought about how phonging annoying the whole Trekoverse has become, and how all the aliens are just humans with bumpy heads and voted for Firefly. Sure, life would be difficult and dangerous, but it would sure as hell be fun. What's more, you get to hang out with Kaylee (yum). Besides, I reckon you could do pretty well for yourself in the Firefly universe, stealing and scavenging like they do on the show, and there'd be lots of interesting sights to see.

Mind you, given the option I'd probably choose the Honorverse over any of the previous options (but again, I'd resign from the military immediately. Too damned dangerous.) You'd want to make sure you were living in a stable and civilised part of the galaxy though (ie Manticore, Solarian core), Weber's galaxy is pretty cutthroat and if you don't arrive with any useful skills/ resources life would be extremely hard.

My absoulte favourite option though, would be to live on a Culture orbital or GCU: All your material needs taken care of by benign, God-like Machines; insanely powerful tech and body mods/ upgrades; limitless time and resources for every possible form of leisure you can imagine (and plenty more you can't); a whole galaxy of interesting aliens to live amongst and worlds to explore; effective immortality if you want it... Now *that's* how you want to future to look=-)

[narf poit chez BOOM]

SG-1: Not really. Sure, cool planets to explore. But, on the other hand, constant threat of annihilation. Plus, it's gone totally over the shark.

Star Trek: The original series, early. When Starfleet had courage, Spock actually thought about using violence and there were space traders. (Harry Mudd, Cyrano Jones). I'd also imagine there'd be more non-human-clone aliens than shown on screan - Very low special effects budget. Some of the book univeres in particular would be cool.

Firefly universe: No thanks. I like my modern comforts and a reasonably sane government.

Babylon-5: Living conditions are almost universally bad. And I have a great dislike of minbari. Something about them being psychotic and genocidal. Along with most of the other races.

Deep Space 9: The only other Star Trek I'd consider living in. The characters are a lot more 'real' than TNG or some of the late TOS.

You forgot a few:

Star Wars: Are you kidding? Unless you're rich or a Jedi, life is harsh, brutal and short for nearly the entire galaxy. And Jedi don't have it much better. Either than or you live on a rich planet and their 'benevolent' government. Given that those people couldn't even organize to fight off an invasion, I'd pick somewhere else.

Aliens: No. Way.

Honorverse: I see much war, death and pain in the future. No thanks.

5th Imperium: 350-year life span, 700 if I decide to risk my neck in the military. That's a plus. Rational government - Constitutional Imperium - Not so bad. Tech that'll turn me into a cyborg with no downside? Where do I sign? Genocidal aliens coming? Ok, that's bad. But, on the plus side, world-size ships to blow them up with and real Nova bombs make me feel rather secure.

Culure: Nope. That place is just waiting for an Out of Context event to squish it.

The Caves of Steel: Sentient robots, cool. Being squished into a communist arcology, not cool. Skip.

The Foundation: The Empire at its height? Only read one book, but that seems like it might be a place to check out.

Man-Kizn Wars: No. Do I really need to explain?

Berzerker: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. No.

Commonwealth, Alan Dean Foster: The two words I can never recall having read in that rather long multi-series are 'Elections' and 'Religious Freedom'. No. Besides, giant space vaccuum coming to kill them all.

Doctor Who: If I get to be a Time Lord (With TARDIS at hand) and survive the end of Galifrey, sure. Otherwise, I'd need to know where I'd end up.

1632 series: Nope. Far too primitive technologically.

Ok, that's enough.

[Randallw]

I tried a culture book a few months ago. It seemed to be a popular series so I gave it a look. Of course from the start I despised the Culture and agreed with the changeling guy. The Culture is just lackies of AI's. The book is currently half read and lying under my bed. I have no plans to read further.

[Captain Kwok]

I'd like to be on the Enterprise - it seems every week would bring a new random adventure.

[dogscoff]

Randallw said:
I tried a culture book a few months ago. It seemed to be a popular series so I gave it a look. Of course from the start I despised the Culture and agreed with the changeling guy. The Culture is just lackies of AI's. The book is currently half read and lying under my bed. I have no plans to read further.

Yeah, Horza bora Gobochul is one of my favourite characters as well. How far did you get? Did you get to the tunnels?

You need to read some of the other books to get a broader view of the Culture. My favourites are probably Excession (I love all the Mind-talk in there, I'd happily move to the Cultureverse for nothing more than a chance to chat with a Mind) and Use of Weapons, which is just so dark it's, well, completely frkn opaque.

[Tim_Ward]

From the poll options, SG1. Easily the highest chance of survival. Second choice would be Babylon 5, I'd never go anywhere near any space borne construction run & maintained by star fleet. I am unfamilar with the fire fly universe.

[JAFisher44]

Well, I voted the Enterprise (TMP Era) but I would prefer to live in the Federation in my head. Not the one plagued by bad writers.

[Hugh Manatee]

Given the options I'd take serenity(dangerous yes, but damn what a ride, and yeah, kayle=yum), then DS9(aside from the occasional crossfire a trader here could make a ton of cash and be up front for a lot of history), then the enterprise(preferably D, that thing was a luxury liner), but if I had more to pick from, I'd take post peace keeper war Moya, or Lexx after it eats earth(or in that proffesor dudes spaceship full of naughty school girls....).

Also might like to take a spin on the Heart of Gold, the Bebop or Outlaw Star.

[Randallw]

dogscoff said:

Yeah, Horza bora Gobochul is one of my favourite characters as well. How far did you get? Did you get to the tunnels?

You need to read some of the other books to get a broader view of the Culture. My favourites are probably Excession (I love all the Mind-talk in there, I'd happily move to the Cultureverse for nothing more than a chance to chat with a Mind) and Use of Weapons, which is just so dark it's, well, completely frkn opaque.

I recall they had just left the ringworld that was blown up and Horza killed the captain and replaced him. The culture agent told the crew who he was. It had promise. I liked the ringworld, and the spaceship combat stuff, but I can't stand the stance it takes. I wanted the Religious aliens to win. Normally I would never support aliens over humans but the humans in the book aren't human, they're slaves to machines and I know a later book discovers Earth.

The Culture destroying the ring world merely so the enemy don't get it reminds me of Soviet scorched earth policy.

I saw one episode of Firefly that was mostly boring though I liked the alliance ship at the end. I merely couldn't get into "Cowboys in space". We were discussing Joss Wheedon after I overheard a friend call him a whore. I asked him why he was calling my 6th cousin a whore, and we got to talking. He pointed out Star Wars was cowboys in space but I said Han solo didn't wear a trench coat and use a revolver.

[dogscoff]

Randallw said:
I recall they had just left the ringworld that was blown up and Horza killed the captain and replaced him. The culture agent told the crew who he was. It had promise. I liked the ringworld, and the spaceship combat stuff, but I can't stand the stance it takes.

Fair enough. bear in mind though that your view of the Culture in that book is coloured by Horza's outlook. When you read the others you see it from a different point of view. It's supposed to be different to the society we live in though, and it's supposed to be challenging.

I wanted the Religious aliens to win.

Who says they don't?

Normally I would never support aliens over humans but the humans in the book aren't human, they're slaves to machines

No, not slaves at all. The Minds and drones don't need slaves, they could exist perfectly happily without any humans at all. In fact, you could argue that their existence would be considerably easier without. No, they keep humans around and make life (very) comfortable because they like them. Minds are whimsical like that, and that's what's so appealing about them. They are very much like the old Greek/Roman Gods: Insanely powerful, but obsessed with watching/ tinkering in human affairs. Maybe that makes the humans in the Culture more like pets than slaves (and this is explicitly said in at least one of the books- excession I think), but they do still have freedom- people leave the Culture all the time, and humans are definitely respected.

In fact you could argue that they're *more* human than us: Without the stresses and pressures of trying to scratch a living/ accumulate wealth/ stay alive etc, they have the free time and resources to devote to *being* human. The Culture would probably argue that we are slaves to our economy, and they would probably be right.

and I know a later book discovers Earth.

Actually that's in one of the first Cuture books: A short(ish) story in State of the Art. It's extremely funny. They are in orbit around 1970s Earth, sending down people in diguise to learn as much as possible about Earth society. The bit where one of them watches Star Wars and then asks the ship for a working lightsaber is brilliant.

The Culture destroying the ring world merely so the enemy don't get it reminds me of Soviet scorched earth policy.

Note that they evacuated it first.
An Orbital (not quite a Ringworld) is a massive structre, but not such a big deal to the Culture. I think their resources are so vast and their attitudes are such that the loss of material things doesn't bother them too much. They'll just build another one. Hell, I wouldn't put it past them to go back, scoop up every bit of matter from the original and put it back together from the same bits. Just because they can- Like I said, whimsical.

I saw one episode of Firefly that was mostly boring though I liked the alliance ship at the end. I merely couldn't get into "Cowboys in space". We were discussing Joss Wheedon after I overheard a friend call him a whore. I asked him why he was calling my 6th cousin a whore, and we got to talking. He pointed out Star Wars was cowboys in space but I said Han solo didn't wear a trench coat and use a revolver.

Firefly takes a little getting used to but once you're in, you'll love it. Note that it is the ONLY science-fiction anything that my wife actually likes (and she doesn't just like it, she loves it too=-). If it helps, ignore the "space" bit and concentrate on the cowboys bit. In fact, even that is irrelevant. JW's stuff is all about the characters. You could dump the crew of the Firefly or the cast of Buffy in just about any setting and it wouldn't matter, it would still work.

I really don't see any reason for anyone to call JW a whore- he makes good, entertaining TV that people like to watch, and he gets paid for it. What the hell is wrong with that?