SciFi Tech Talk

A pair of astronauts heads to Jupiter to investigate a radio signal sent from a mysterious monolith on the moon, but their tranquil trip is endangered when their on-board computer begins acting oddly. The simple plot of director Stanley Kubrick’s inspired space adventure (co-scripted with noted science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke) belies the profound philosophical implications of this classic film, which inspires viewers to ask questions about the nature of advanced civilizations … and of human consciousness. Nearly half a century after its release, the film’s groundbreaking special effects are still breathtaking, and its ending still mind-bending. -- iTunes

Over twenty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa’s District 9 as the world’s nations argued over what to do with them. Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National Unit (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens’ welfare - they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens’ awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA. The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe, contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most valuable - he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: District 9. -- iTunes

The film depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in November 2019 in which genetically engineered organic robots called replicants – visually indistinguishable from adult humans – are manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corporation as well as by other "mega–manufacturers" around the world. Their use on Earth is banned and replicants are exclusively used for dangerous, menial or leisure work on off-world colonies. Replicants who defy the ban and return to Earth are hunted down and "retired" by police special operatives known as "Blade Runners". The plot focuses on a brutal and cunning group of recently escaped replicants hiding in Los Angeles and the burnt-out expert Blade Runner, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who reluctantly agrees to take on one more assignment to hunt them down. - Wikipedia

Rule 34: If you can imagine it, there’s pornography about it on the Internet.Meet Edinburgh Detective Inspector Liz Kavanaugh, head of the Innovative Crimes Investigation Unit, otherwise know at the Rule 34 Squad. They monitor the Internet for potential criminal activity, analyzing trends in the extreme fringes of explicit content. And occasionally, even more disturbing patterns arise...Three ex-cons have been murdered in Germany, Italy, and Scotland. The only things they had in common were arrests for spamming -- and a taste for unorthodox entertainment. As the first officer on the scene of the most recent death, Liz finds herself sucked into an international investigation that isn’t so much asking who the killer is, but what -- and if she doesn’t find the answer soon, the homicides could go viral. - iTunes

Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is a member of the Men in Black (M.I.B.), a secret non-government agency that polices extraterrestrial aliens seeking refuge on Earth, living normal lives in disguise as humans around New York City. Operating from a base at a Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority ventilation station, they fund themselves using patents on alien technologies released to the public and maintain secrecy using neuralyzers to erase memories of alien sightings, also disguising aliens as humans and pets to maintain their secrecy, and that way they monitor currently 1500 aliens around the vicinity of New York. - Wikipedia.org

In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent 30 years into the past, where a hired gun awaits. Someone like Joe, who one day learns the mob wants to 'close the loop' by transporting back Joe's future self. - imdb.com

Spaceships are a crucial part of many sci-fi stories. In this episode we talk about our favorite spaceships and the technology behind them including craft from Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Dr. Who, Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and others.

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training. Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers, Ender suffers greatly. Is Ender the general Earth needs? - Amazon.com

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is book written by Douglas Adams that has been at one time or another a book, a radio play, a tv show, a computer game and a feature film. Originally written as a trilogy it grew to 5 books and adopted the subtitle ‘an increasingly misnamed trilogy’. The story revolves around the misadventures of the human Arthur Dent and a cast of disreputable associates.

The crew of a commercial deep space mining ship, investigating a suspected S.O.S., lands on a distant planet and discovers a nest of strange eggs. - imdb.com