Three Things To Love About The Big Bang Theory

In a recent episode of "The Big Bang Theory," the boys meet a doctor who's attracted to Leonard's fiancee Penny. Just like them, the doctor loves comic books and Sci-Fi movies. Unlike them, he's a urologist to filmmakers and movie stars. He invites them to his house, where he shows them actual movie props from grateful patients. Then he locks them inside, and hurries back to Penny's apartment to pitch a little woo. Leonard and his friends barely notice, so enraptured are they by his movie props, as well as his selection of video games. 

Incidentally, the urologist is wonderfully played by Billy Bob Thornton, who can currently be seen in cinemas in the thought-provoking drama "The Judge."

As a fan of Sci-Fi movies and old arcade games, I thought I would share my personal favorites from the urologist's collection.

1. Favorite Alien: To Thornton's right is a Martian from the movie "Mars Attacks." It's a comedy/action movie that stars great actors like Michael J Fox, Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Danny Devito, Martin Short, Glenn Close, and even music legend Tom Jones. It's wacky, wonderful, and best of all, a grandmother who everyone thinks is crazy saves the day! Plus, it features these great Martians. If you haven't seen it, go out and get it! You've got to watch this movie!

2. Favorite Robot: To Sheldon's left is Robby the Robot. He's one of my favorite robots ever, and not just mine. Lots of filmmakers have included him in short, cameo roles in their own movies. His first movie was "Forbidden Planet," which also starred Leslie Nielson in a serious role. It's a standout 1950's Sci-Fi movie, and while the plot may move a little slowly by today's standards, it's still well worth watching.

Bionic fans: Richard Anderson, who later achieved world-wide fame as Oscar Goldman, played a crew member aboard Captain Nielson's spaceship.

3. Favorite Game: I used to play lots of games in arcades, but the one video game I really enjoyed, but haven't found a good way to play since I "grew up," is Donkey Kong. So it was nice to see Leonard really enjoy playing it too. You know, if a urologist locked me in his "fun room," I wouldn't mind spending a few hours in it, if I could play Donkey Kong too.

That is, as long as he didn't use the time to hit on my girl.

Well, there you have it, three things that I loved about a recent episode of "The Big Bang Theory." Did you see this episode? If so, what was your favorite movie prop, character, or game? Please let me know. I'd love to hear from you.

Dragon Dave

A Day Devoted to Comic Books

Yesterday, I had a day devoted to comic books. See, I've been reading a series lately, "Skaar Son of Hulk," and I needed a particular issue. I knew a store that had it, but it was a good drive away. My wife and I had originally planned other things, but she's seen I've been enjoying it, so she suggested that we drive to the store and buy it. So now I'm the proud owner of Skaar #8, and look forward to reading the entire four-issue story arc involving Skaar and the Silver Surfer on the wonderful world of Sakaar (the planet in which the mammoth "Planet Hulk" is set).

While there, the gentleman behind the counter noticed that I had picked up a couple older issues, and mentioned that they had a greater collection at another store. He said that it was located just a few blocks away. I had no idea that this company had another store, and so I thanked him, and we drove over there. You know how the guys in "The Big Bang Theory" are always perusing the $1 comic books whenever they visit a comic book shop? Well, this shop had lots of older $1 comics, and as I had brought my list with me (I keep a list of all the comics I have and need in all the series I collect), my wife and I had fun perusing the boxes. We were delighted to find several comics that finished off series we had been collecting, such as "The Micronauts," "Outcasts," and "Vision and the Scarlet Witch," as well as some other titles we wanted or were curious about. All in all, a fun day was had, and now we look forward to the many fun evenings of reading that lay ahead.

While we did our searching, I overheard a lady behind the counter talking with another customer. They were talking about several TV series they both enjoyed, and their mutual passion was obvious as they enthused about the various story arcs and characters--the things that worked for them, as well as those that didn't. While I haven't seen the shows they were discussing, it was nice to hear their passion and affection for these programs. It inspired me to carry on with my own writing, in the hopes that someday some readers might feel the same way about my work. I suppose, in a way, that's the reason I'm collecting comics now. Some of these issues I may never get around to reading (although I hope to), but they intrigue me. Some I collect because I like the overall series, or the characters involved, even if the individual issues or some of the story arcs aren't everything I wish they were. And then there are some series that really sneak up on you and surprise you, such as  "Skaar Son of Hulk." It's complicated, it's visual, and it challenges me. Yes, really: a comic book that challenges me. There's a lot there that I'm sure I'm not getting, but I look forward to rereading Greg Pak's stories, and know I'll probably get more out of them then than I'm getting on my first read-through. (The artwork is also impressive). 

Anyway, I had a great day, in which my passion for one story led me to others, and I got to hear some folks enthusing about the stories that got inside them, and became part of their lives. What a great way to spend a Saturday!

Dragon Dave

Rediscovering Comic Books With Stan Lee

I've watched “The Big Bang Theory” on TV for several years now.  One thing that always intrigued me was the sign in Stuart’s shop that read “One Dollar Comics.”  One dollar comics?  What kind of comic books could you buy for a dollar?  At Stan Lee’s Comikaze, my first comic book convention, I discovered that you could buy quite a lot of old comic books, some of them for as little as one dollar.  Among those were the comics I missed out on in my youth.

After my friend took me to the movie theater to see “Star Wars,” he also introduced me to “Star Wars” comic books.  Back then, the only places you could purchase comic books were the spinner racks in Liquor stores, and no respectable church attendee ever entered such places, right?  But in this as well, my love for Science Fiction and Fantasy triumphed, and I braved official scorn to peruse the spinner racks in such stores regularly.  In the process, discovered a variety of titles that, while told more simply than in movies and in books, nonetheless transported me to worlds of wonder.  The only problem?  Sometimes months went by when, for whatever reason, I couldn’t track down the latest issue of a favorite title.

During college I finally got smart, and subscribed to the comics I loved most.  But after graduation, my interest in comics waned as prices rose and the industry changed, until amid the demands of an evolving life, I forgot about them altogether.

Yes, in case you're wondering,
I am a Conan fan.
(And a Red Sonja fan,
and a King Kull fan, and...)

Since Comikaze, I’ve tracked down several comic book shops in my area.  Perhaps I suffer from EAS (Easy Amazement Syndrome), but I’ve been stunned to discover that I could plug some of the most gaping holes in my collection, and do so affordably.  I can relive the excitement of the comics I’ve held onto through the decades, and experience, for the first time, those adventures that I missed out on, because I could never find them in the shops.

I used to wonder why guys with genius level intelligence like Sheldon, Howard, Raj, and Leonard preferred comic books to novels.  After spending the day writing and researching, I sometimes lack the focus necessary to immerse myself in a novel, particularly the more demanding and challenging ones.  A comic book offers a literary alternative to TV for the fatigued brain, and reading the comics of my youth reminds me of that earlier era, when I fell in love with Science Fiction and Fantasy, and began to dream of writing my own stories. 

Given the way Stan Lee has reawakened my love for comic books, maybe someday I’ll have to write him into one of my stories.  How about Stanley, loveable handyman by day, but gruff, international crime-fighter by night?  How about A. N. Sleet, the cool visionary who always wears Raybans?  Or hey, consider Teal Sen, a caped crusader from the planet Levram?  Ooh, think of the possibilities!

Dragon Dave

Sheldon Cooper Loves Trains

While Sheldon Cooper on "The Big Bang Theory" is incredibly smart, he’s still childlike in many ways.  When his friend Leonard hosts a Christmas-themed Dungeons & Dragons night, Sheldon ruins the game by locking up Santa Claus and throwing away the key.  It seems that one year Sheldon asked Santa to resurrect a loved one, and when this didn’t happen, he held a grudge that he’s never relinquished.

It thus comes as a shock to him when Santa appears in his living room.  Despite his hateful actions, Sheldon nonetheless expects Santa to give him something he’d really like.  His eyes light up at the thought that Santa might give him a train set.  They blaze when he thinks that Santa might even go further, and give him two or three.  Instead, Santa repays his hurtful act by lighting a canon and blowing Sheldon away.  Even in our dreams, it seems that justice still rules.

Often, the limitations of those around me bother me more than my own.  I find myself surrounded by people who speak or act unkindly, show less sensitivity toward my needs than they could, or display no desire to repay the  kindnesses I have bestowed on them.  I know, to a certain extent, that this is merely justice repaying my own past unkindnesses, thoughtlessness, and insensitivity.  Yet it can be so easy to excuse my own limitations, while blaming others for theirs. 

As Stephen R. Covey said in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, I can choose to act, or be acted upon.  I can choose to model myself on the person I wish to be, or I can allow others’ defects and limitations to define me.  I know who I want to be: giving, caring, and forward-looking.  I do not wish my actions to be dictated by previous injustices, but empowered by the ideals I wish to embody, and the world I desire to inhabit. 

In "The Big Bang Theory," Sheldon Cooper doesn’t engage in friendships so much as he forges contracts defining acceptable actions and behaviors with those in his life.  In this way, he limits the actions of others, while maximizing his own freedom.  Should a friend or roommate violate such an agreement, this will allow Sheldon to perpetrate any act of nastiness or cruelty necessary to correct the other’s behavior, and thus realign the scales of justice. 

Although it may not have been my intention, I know that at times my words, deeds, or perhaps even my lack of action have hurt and disappointed others.  So I can understand when others repay my evil with their own.  That’s bottom-line Human interaction: "An eye for an eye."  Often I find myself viewing and interacting with others in such basic terms.  But on the whole, I aspire to mature beyond such a childlike mindset, to be more adult than that, to trade in mercy and grace rather than justice. 

To give others trains, even if they don’t deserve them.

Dragon Dave

Related Dragon Cache entries

Stephen Hawking and “The Big Bang Theory”

Stephen Hawking and “The Big Bang Theory”

In the March 30, 2012 issue of “Entertainment Weekly,” an article heralded two special cameos in upcoming episodes of the popular sitcom.  One featured the voice of Leonard Nimoy as Sheldon’s conscience, spoken as if by the character’s beloved Spock action figure.  Last week’s episode featured another of Sheldon’s idols, the world-famous physicist and author Stephen Hawking.  

Most everyone knows the fierce struggle Stephan Hawking has waged against Lou Gehrig’s disease over the past decades.  It’s an amazing struggle of perseverance that he has not only survived so long, but also contributed so much to the scientific community.  In a way he’s become a pop culture hero: an indomitable spirit waging war against his failing flesh, a brilliant mind struggling to convey complex subjects to everyday man.  Some might even view him as an oracle: perhaps, if we ask him just the right question, worded in just the right way, he might choose to tell us some of the secrets of the universe!

In 2001, noted physicist and science fiction author Gregory Benford spent an evening with Stephen Hawking.  As the two men were friends, this was not a formal interview, but a casual conversation.  With you and I, the conversation, no matter how unusual and wide-ranging, might be easily forgotten.  But thanks to Stephen Hawking’s wheelchair computer, as well as an attentive assistant, Dr. Benford received a transcript of their conversation, which he used to formulate a magazine article, and has since reproduced on his blog.  I read along, trying my best to follow the two men as they spoke of such exalted topics as the beginning of the universe, baby universes, and even “onion universes.”  Yet, try as I might, I could not twist my cortex (or any part of my brain) around concepts these men batted around more easily than I would expound on the ideas underlying Fiction, “Star Trek,” or Dragons.  

Perhaps a few drawings would have helped.  As Dr. Benford writes: “I feel that any device is justified to span such an abyss of incomprehension.”

Again, what fascinates me is not just Stephen Hawking’s understanding of the universe, but that he can interact with others so readily.  With just a few hand-movements, Hawking responds intelligently to any question, using words, phrases, and sentences he’s comfortable with.  He’s not willing to just sit back and let his wheelchair-computer (or others) do his communicating for him.  In last week’s episode of “The Big Bang Theory,” he could have just sat there for his scene with Jim Parsons, the actor who portrays Sheldon.  He, or others, could have overlaid the dialogue at a later time.  Instead, as Parson’s reported, “he didn’t want that.  He wanted to be the one doing it during the scene.”

Brilliant physicist, best-selling author, and actor: is there anything that Stephen Hawking cannot do?  I may not have his brilliant mind, but neither do I suffer from his physical limitations.  His example becomes yet one more that powers me in pursuit of my goals.  If Stephen Hawking refuses to let anything stand in his way, why should I?  

Why should you? 

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The Fellowship of Condor

The Man in the Box

What Drives Us

From Gregory Benford’s Blog

Leaping The Abyss

Hawking Humor…

The Fellowship of Condor

Locals call San Diego “America’s Finest City.”  It offers tourists attractions that residents enjoy year-round, including Sea World, the museums of Balboa Park, and a world-famous zoo.  It also hosts world-renowned events.  For example, tens of thousands of Science Fiction and Fantasy fans (including our good friends Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard) descend on our downtown each summer to celebrate ComicCon.  But it is another local SF event, Condor, that I mark down as a must on each new calendar.

Condor offers up a full slate of programming, with a stable of knowledgeable and fun guests that keep the panel discussions from growing stale.  What it lacks in bags of swag and lavish media presentations, it makes up for with its quieter, less-hectic atmosphere, and the accessibility of its guests and panelists.  Each year brings a new Guest of Honor whose wealth of experience in writing fiction gives members plenty of talk about, as well as a role model to learn from.  This year’s special guest will be Dr. Gregory Benford, an author whose Hard SF stories have won major awards. 

If Science Fiction is Fantasy with rivets, then Hard SF not only provides schematics for the rivets that hold a fantasy world together, but demonstrates what happens when the rivets fail.  Few SF works that I have read in recent years reveal those rivets, in quite an easy-to-comprehend way, as Jupiter Project by Dr. Benford.  In this early novel, JABOL, a space station orbiting Jupiter, is threatened with closure due to tightening budgets.  His young protagonist, Matt Bowles, has spent most of his life on JABOL, and fears being forcibly relocated to Earth.  Dr. Benford paints such a compelling portrait of Matt’s life and work on JABOL (as well as operations on Ganymede, which supports the station), that by the time the novel is over, I, like Matt, have fallen under JABOL’s spell.  Perhaps of greater importance, the novel highlights the potential importance of a space program to Earth, and warns of the implications for humanity, should we fail to ascend to the stars.

To prepare for Dr. Benford’s upcoming visit, I’ve read several of his early novels.  They reveal a visionary author of growing skill and tremendous range.  I hope you will follow along as I celebrate these entertaining stories, starting with Jupiter Project.  If you live nearby, come and enjoy The Fellowship of Condor’s Members, and meet an author who has been entertaining and inspiring us for over four decades. 

Dragon Dave