The following question was presented:
OK - so first week back at work after being off for three weeks and I have post holiday blues. It was made somewhat better after watching England beat Australia in the rugby world cup (maybe the vote prediction here will come true), but if faded again after watching Lewis Hamilton make a bit of a rookie mistake and throw away his first chance to clinch the Formula 1 title. (Although he will get another shot next week).
Well, what does that lead me to ask? I guess it has to have something to do with getting away again, so in a true science fiction get out of here way, which of the following would you choose as your ride to zip around the galaxy?
(I should probably have this as a quiz [so there's a thought for a round for you Mr O] along the lines of name the TV show / film that accompanies each ship - you could even have it as a picture round).
So, back to the question - which is your favorite space ship?
Results:
Heart of Gold was the clear winner with 33% of the votes selected from the following:
- Millennium Falcon (17%)
- Enterprise (0%)
- Heart of Gold (33%)
- Liberator (17%)
- Gunstar (0%)
- Red Dwarf (including Starbug) (0%)
- Planet Express Ship (0%)
- Shadow Vessel (0%)
- Serenity (17%)
- Tardis (17%)
Graphic of Results:
Analysis:
Very interesting!
A fairly good spread of votes across the different ships. Perhaps that says something about our individual personalities - they say your car is a reflection of your personality so presumably your space ship is kind of the same thing.
I have to say, I think the Tardis is probably the most ingeneous of all the ships given that it's five dimensional. It's also got the whole time travel thing down to a tee, but it's shaped like a police phone box - how uncool is that. Nobody's going to see that coming at you across space and think it poses any threat at all. So again, back to the personalities I guess. I need a space ship that commands fear. I nearly included a Klingon Bird of Prey instead of the Enterprise (as you will note I was only picking one ship from each film or TV show) because I think they look so much more cool. That said, if you take a look at the votes, most of them went to ships without any offensive weaponary to speak of - Tardis, Heart of Gold and Serenity don't really have any attack capability at all.
So maybe I'm on my own when it comes to wanting a vessel that strikes fear into anyone who seas it. A point backed up by the fact that the Shaddow Vessel didn't get any votes and these things pack a mighty punch.
Well, here's to the Heart of Gold for claiming the most votes. I do like the Heart of Gold because of its infinite improbability drive. For those of you not familiar with the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the infinite improbablity drive is explained as:
“The Infinite Improbability Drive is a wonderful new method of crossing interstellar distances in a few seconds; without all that tedious mucking about in hyperspace. As the Improbability Drive reaches infinite improbability, it passes through every conceivable point in every conceivable universe almost simultaneously. In other words, you're never sure where you'll end up or even what species you'll be when you get there. It's therefore important to dress accordingly. The Infinite Improbability Drive was invented following research into finite improbability which was often used to break the ice at parties by making all the molecules in the hostess' undergarments leap one foot simultaneously to the left in accordance with the theory of indeterminacy. Many respectful physicists said they wouldn't go to stand for that sort of thing, partly because it was a debasement of science, but mostly because they didn't get invited to those sort of parties.”
The Guide itself explains that generating finite levels of improbability using an electronic brain and a strong Brownian motion producer (say, a cup of hot tea) was very well understood, but that scientists lacked the means to create a drive that could produce the infinite improbability field required to allow a ship to travel anywhere instantaneously. It was generally concluded that such a drive was virtually impossible.
Eventually, a student (who had been left to sweep up the lab after a particularly unsuccessful party) reasoned that if such a machine were, in fact, a virtual impossibility, then it must also logically be a finite improbability. After working out exactly how improbable, he fed that value into the finite improbability generator, gave it a really hot cup of tea, and managed to generate the infinite improbability generator out of thin air, thus violating the laws of cause and effect. After winning the Galactic Institute's prize for extreme cleverness, he was later lynched by other scientists who had been trying to make the generator for years, who finally worked out that what they really could not stand was a smartass.
Now don't you feel better for knowing that? I guess it's time to put the kettle on to see what effect that's going to have on me.