igh heroics and high adventure combined time and again in the 1950s with
early space operas such as Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. Five decades later,
the childhood fans of such series may be in their 60s, but their passion for
them has never faded.
The Solar Guard Academy represents the vanguard of these space cadets
who never grew up. The site's loosely organized sprawl covers every aspect
of two major 1950s series: Tom Corbett and Space Patrol.
Rather than focus on surface details like cast information and plot
summaries, the site delves in to the minutiae of the series. Fans will find
testimonials from folks who actually worked on the series, advice on
collecting memorabilia and even a documentary on the restoration of a
Space Patrol rocket model. Particularly nice are the links to
modern-day books and fan fiction that attempt to recapture the glory of the old
series. It's one thing to be in love with a Golden Age; it's another thing
entirely to try and recreate it.
umanity has spent thousands of years watching the planets of our solar
system,
but only the last few decades doing something about getting to them.
Romance to Reality chronicles those modern endeavors by
summarizing five decades' worth of plans to explore--and colonize--the
Moon and Mars.
The dreams of generations can be found here, packaged into broad
categories corresponding to the decades between the 1950s and today.
Visitors can learn about the plans of scientist-heroes from each era,
from Wernher von Braun's space-station-driven extrapolations to Carl
Sagan's thoughts on melting Mars' polar caps. There are also
summaries--260 in all--of intriguing plans by less famous engineers and
scientists.
The site's writeups are concise and readable, and while some may seem a
little dry, all are permeated by a sense of wonder. The author, as well
as the writers of the articles he annotates, are driven by future
visions of what could be--as well as the determination to make those
visions real, no matter how long it takes.
ne of the biggest complaints about The Phantom Menace was that
it didn't give nearly enough screen time to its visually cool but utterly
undeveloped villain, Darth Maul. Maul-hungry Phantom fans need look
no farther than Pulpphantom.com, where they can see the spike-headed baddie
shooting up, chatting about spice bars, and disco dancing with Queen
Amidala in the John Travolta role from Pulp Fiction. The site's
bright, vivid animated scenes faithfully recreate Pulp Fiction
almost line-for-line, but with a Star Wars twist, casting Boba Fett
as Samuel L. Jackson, Darth Vader as Ving Rhames, Queen Amidala as Uma
Thurman, young Obi-Wan Kenobi as Bruce Willis and so forth. The resulting
cartoons are not quite parodies of either Fiction or Phantom,
they're a colorful and surprisingly appropriate amalgam of the two.
Currently, Pulpphantom.com offers 15 episodes, with new ones added
periodically. The earlier episodes are short and crudely animated, but each
new one is a little longer and more ambitious, with better sound and more
motion. Recent installments, which take longer to load, provide
while-you-wait distractions, such as a "Beat Jar-Jar Binks bloody"
minigame. And all the episodes feature sharp, dynamic pop art that makes
the characters instantly recognizable. (A highlight is Han Solo, hanging
out with his multi-pierced wife Leia and bong-sucking pal Chewie, in Eric
Stoltz' self-centered dope-dealer role. "Hey, mi Falcon es su Falcon!")
Fans can also download Pulp Phantom desktop patterns and screensavers, or
play the Pulp Phantom slot machine.
The site's both a hobby and a practical advertisement for the web
designers at WarMedia.com, who pepper their main site with a lot of
interesting extras, including an interactive game where players penetrate
WarMedia headquarters to learn more about the company's
business-to-business capabilities. The company's sites are well worth
exploring--they're well-designed, irreverent, creative, and a lot of
fun.
igh heroics and high adventure combined time and again in the 1950s with
early space operas such as Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. Five decades later,
the childhood fans of such series may be in their 60s, but their passion for
them has never faded.
ne of the biggest complaints about The Phantom Menace was that
it didn't give nearly enough screen time to its visually cool but utterly
undeveloped villain, Darth Maul. Maul-hungry Phantom fans need look
no farther than Pulpphantom.com, where they can see the spike-headed baddie
shooting up, chatting about spice bars, and disco dancing with Queen
Amidala in the John Travolta role from Pulp Fiction. The site's
bright, vivid animated scenes faithfully recreate Pulp Fiction
almost line-for-line, but with a Star Wars twist, casting Boba Fett
as Samuel L. Jackson, Darth Vader as Ving Rhames, Queen Amidala as Uma
Thurman, young Obi-Wan Kenobi as Bruce Willis and so forth. The resulting
cartoons are not quite parodies of either Fiction or Phantom,
they're a colorful and surprisingly appropriate amalgam of the two.