# Trivia / "Did you know" facts...



## phase38 (Oct 4, 2006)

Lets see who can come up with the most interesting facts and snippets of info about ANY science fiction work..

Ill start with a couple :

Thunderbirds (at the time) was the most expensive children's program. It cost £22,000 per episode (approx $41,400) which is the equivalent in todays money of £800,000!!  (approx $1.5 million)

The director of The Time Machine 2002 movie Simon Wells is the great grandson of HG Wells.


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## carrie221 (Oct 4, 2006)

Star Wars:

Return of the Jedi was originally titled Revenge of the Jedi - but later underwent a title change, due to the fact that, according to Lucas, A Jedi would never take revenge.


In The Empire Strikes Back, ILM designers sought a "radical" design shape for Boba Fett's ship - and ended up using a street lamp plucked off a post outside the ILM building. Also in Episode 5 Boba Fett did double duty, he also played an imperial officer taking Han away


Crossover Facts:

In the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indy escapes with the golden idol in a sea plane with the registration number OB-3PO. This, of course refers to Obi-wan and C-3PO from StarWars. 


In Episode 1 After Queen Amidala talked to the senate. You can see a senate pod with three E.T. Senators in it.  *

*


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## dwndrgn (Oct 4, 2006)

I can't think of a thing.


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## phase38 (Oct 5, 2006)

Carrie... excellent facts!


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## Nesacat (Oct 5, 2006)

Because I've always loved the big guy.

*Godzilla:*
The original 1954 movie Godzilla was produced in Japan entirely in Japanese. This version stars a young Raymond Burr (before he became Perry Mason). 

However, the original Japanese version did not include Burr’s character; Burr was added later for the American audience.  Only his lips (and those of other actors in his specific scenes) actually mouth English; all other actors in the movie were speaking Japanese. 

There is never a scene with Burr AND the other major actors together, as his role was spliced in later.  Nor is Burr ever shown with Godzilla in the same scene. 

And Burr’s character was named ... Steve Martin.


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## phase38 (Oct 5, 2006)

Fantastic....  That must have been hard work!


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## Harpo (Oct 5, 2006)

Nesacat said:
			
		

> Because I've always loved the big guy.


Which big guy? Raymond Burr or Godzilla?


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## phase38 (Oct 5, 2006)

In 1992, a US network pilotted an American version of Red Dwarf. Robert Llewellyn was the only member of the original UK cast to star in it... 

It failed after the pilot.

http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/index.cfm?frameset=deck05/down_time_fs.html&page=red_dwarf_usa.html


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## carrie221 (Oct 5, 2006)

phase38 said:
			
		

> Carrie... excellent facts!


 
Thanks


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## Dave (Oct 5, 2006)

Denis Lawson, who played Wedge Antilles in the original _Star Wars_ trilogy, is the uncle of Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi Wan Kenobi in the prequel trilogy.

Dan O'Bannon and John Carpenter were fellow students in the graduate programme in film studies at the University of Southern California. They fell out when their student film _Dark Star_ was released with Carpenter credited as the lone director.

Chris Carter, of the _X-Files_, first worked for _Surfing_ magazine for thirteen years, becoming senior editor at twenty-eight.


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## phase38 (Oct 6, 2006)

Dave said:
			
		

> Chris Carter, of the _X-Files_, first worked for _Surfing_ magazine for thirteen years, becoming senior editor at twenty-eight.


Strange how he moved over to Sci Fi..... dude.


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## ScottSF (Oct 7, 2006)

Star Wars

I saw the ET's also, fun stuff.  

In the DVD version of Return of the Jedi when People are celebrating on Couroscant, if you zoom in on the crowd you can see people beating up storm troopers.


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## ScottSF (Oct 7, 2006)

phase38 said:
			
		

> In 1992, a US network pilotted an American version of Red Dwarf. Robert Llewellyn was the only member of the original UK cast to star in it...
> 
> It failed after the pilot.
> 
> http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/index.cfm?frameset=deck05/down_time_fs.html&page=red_dwarf_usa.html


 
Get OUT!  I didn't know that


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## Nesacat (Oct 7, 2006)

Harpo said:
			
		

> Which big guy? Raymond Burr or Godzilla?



Definitely Godzilla. hands down. No doubt at all.  

From Jurassic Park: Lost World -
When the T-Rex chomps down on the traffic light in San Diego, there is a sign nearby that reads "No Dinosaurs".


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## tiny99 (Oct 7, 2006)

To expand a little on Carrie's crossover facts.....R2D2 and C3PO are hidden in hieroglyphics in the Well of Souls In Raiders of the Lost Arc. Indy threatens to blow up the Arc with a bazooka .....this is in the same Tunisian canyon where we first meet Obi Wan (Star Wars IV). And the Temple of Dooms opening nightclub sequence is set in "Club Obi Wan". You could probably find a lot more if you look really hard.


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## PTeppic (Oct 7, 2006)

tiny99 said:
			
		

> To expand a little on Carrie's crossover facts.....R2D2 and C3PO are hidden in hieroglyphics in the Well of Souls In Raiders of the Lost Arc. Indy threatens to blow up the Arc with a bazooka .....this is in the same Tunisian canyon where we first meet Obi Wan (Star Wars IV). And the Temple of Dooms opening nightclub sequence is set in "Club Obi Wan". You could probably find a lot more if you look really hard.


The UK movie magazine "Empire" had a feature on the Indiana Jones series about one or two months back: it featured loads of such cross-over facts.


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## tiny99 (Oct 7, 2006)

I know there are definitely loads more....can't think of them for the life of me. Although I do know that in the original film version of Moby Dick, vapour trails from a jet aeroplane are visible in the sky when Starbuck contemplates killing Ahab.


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## j d worthington (Oct 8, 2006)

Did you know that Frank Herbert's novel, *Hellstrom's Hive*, was inspired by a 1971 film entitled *The Hellstrom Chronicle*? For more on this odd little film (which is done very much like a nature film-style documentary, with elements of speculation on how insects will rule in our stead one day), I offer the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hellstrom_Chronicle

(Though I've not seen the film since its initial broadcast, it made a heck of an impression at the time, and any Herbert fan should definitely look this up...)


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## PTeppic (Oct 8, 2006)

j. d. worthington said:
			
		

> Though I've not seen the film since its initial broadcast, it made a heck of an impression at the time


There's always risk in such recollections, of course.

I've been caught out a couple of times by "I saw it then and it was amazing; I'll get it on DVD now..."

Also, I've just started doing a brain-backup, kind of a "everything in" memoirs, or at leasted to, and the amount of stuff which I've been researching that I did at the time and it's not as exciting or interesting now...


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## j d worthington (Oct 8, 2006)

Yes, there is always that risk. I'll be honest, though, in saying that I've been very lucky in that very, very few times have my memories betrayed me on this sort of thing. Also, it wasn't the story ... there was little of that ... or the acting ... which was, appropriately, dry and almost nonexistent, as Hellstrom was an entomologist basically narrating a film about insects... but it was very skillfully done, in that it presented the thesis that the sort of societies that insects build, their organization, and their utter pitilessness (not to mention the resistance of many kinds to enormous doses of radiation and various hazards that could completely eliminate the human race), plus their massive breeding instincts, would eventually have them replacing us ... and not necessarily after we'd done ourselves in... so quietly and convincingly that it was extremely chilling. So don't go into this one looking for flashes and bangs ... this is the sort of thing that very quietly goes under the radar and niggles at you.

I saw the film as a school assignment -- which tended to have me in a mind not to enjoy such things, anyway -- and when Herbert's book came out, I thought it was a brilliant idea to take the ideas presented in the film and use them as the basis for the Hive, and to have Nils actuall make such films in the book ... it made the film even more powerful, in some ways, as it now came across not only as a scary thesis, but as an attempt to throw the gauntlet down without us knowing it, to let us know we were already on the way out, and there wasn't a damned thing we could do about it -- the Hive was about to swarm. 

I've also spoken to people who have seen it since, and they, too, find it eerily compelling, so it may just be one of those very lucky pieces that hit just the right tone for those willing to see beyond the flat tone of the eponymous character, who really has no personality as such. Also, for those who like such things, the photography in this thing was absolutely amazing... one of the earliest uses of the techniques that have later become state of the art, actually getting inside their mounds, hives, etc., and seeing how they interact; things we'd never really seen before in such detail. It did win some awards, including one from Cannes, as well. If I can lay my hands on a copy, I'll let you know how it stands up....

And now, my apologies for getting the thread off-topic, and back to the "Did you know" facts....


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## phase38 (Oct 10, 2006)

j. d. worthington said:
			
		

> And now, my apologies for getting the thread off-topic, and back to the "Did you know" facts....


lol... these facts are ace. I just wish my brain had the capacity to store them all!


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