Youtube search results aren't what I expected!

[Islander]

A few weeks ago, I decided to see if there was a video for Starship Trooper by Yes. I punched in "Starship Trooper", and what came up was the cheesiest thing I've ever seen. On the bright side, it's Sarah Brightman's first hit, at 18 years old.

Sarah Brightman & Hot Gossip - I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Tkx6BgRFE

Last week, I tried again. This time I punched in "Yes". Now I want a 2014 Corvette...

C7 Corvette - Yes, it Really is That Good:

The other night, I did watch a live Yes video from 1972 for Yours Is No Disgrace, and it was pretty good. I'll try for Starship Trooper again another time.

[MechMan]

This one looks good to me.

[thebes]

Check out "Starship Troopers" by Robert Heinlein, and there's a movie based loosely on the novel. Controversial in the sci-fi community at the time (1960 or thereabouts)

[Islander]

Thanks, Thebes. I'm familiar with the book. I may have read it when I was in high school. It was published in 1959, and although set in the future, it reflects the military attitudes of the time. In the last few years, I've picked up a number of old sci-fi books I never got around to reading when I was young, and the attitudes in them are so different from how we see the world (and the Galaxy) today.

The mindsets that seemed normal then are so backwards now, but it gives insight into the times when those books were written. However, making Fifties and Sixties sci-fi stories into movies today often doesn't work too well. Starship Troopers, the movie, is a good example of that. It seems like some directors have fond memories of reading those stories when they were young, but it's been a mistake to transplant them with relatively unaltered social outlooks into the 21st century. Old Superman stories seem very strange to us now, so the modern movies are very different from when Superman was "stronger than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound".

I saw Starship Troopers when it first came out, and I was really disappointed. Most of it made little sense in terms of physics, although Heinlein really did know his science; much better than the director, apparently. The bugs, with no apparent technology, fired rocks from across the galaxy, and were able to hit Earth, flying around in its orbit? Say what? Why did the troops engage them on the ground with small arms, instead of just bombing them? Live fire exercise in the middle of camp? And strangest of all, when one trooper was seized by a bug, the sergeant grabs a rifle, but instead of shooting the bug, he shoots the soldier, then says, "I hope you would do that for me." I'd hope someone would shoot the bug and save my life instead, wouldn't you?

I nearly got a sore neck from shaking my head during that movie.

Sorry about the rant, but I have a lot of respect for Robert Heinlein, and his later books, especially the Lazarus Long ones, were really good, even if men wore kilts and Lazarus was so paranoid that he carried a blaster at all times, even when taking a shower. Heinlein's political views evolved over time, so if you first knew him from his later work, his early stories would seem like they were written half a century earlier, which they almost were.

Have you read Job: A Comedy of Justice? It came out in 1984 and showed Heinlein's humorous side quite well. A man falls in love with an evil woman, and winds up going to Hell to get her. Also, Satan shows up as a Texan Cadillac dealer.

From Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job:_A_Comedy_of_Justice

As for the Yes song Starship Trooper, it's really good, especially the extended guitar duet in opposite channels at the end. It's great to listen to on headphones, as well as over speakers. Steve Howe does a good acoustic guitar solo in the middle, and Jon Anderson's voice is great, as usual. I will pull out the LP and listen to it today.

If you don't have a copy, here it is, with no distracting video. Enjoy!

Yes - Starship Trooper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5iBnZ63uh4

[Islander]

This one looks good to me.

Thanks for that, MechMan! It does look very good. I skipped past your post to reply to Thebes without seeing what your link was for. I'll watch it on the big TV and enjoy it this afternoon. The LP can wait for another day.

The TV is just for the visuals. The sound will be coming through the sound system of course, not the TV speakers.

[thebes]

Thanks, Thebes. I'm familiar with the book. I may have read it when I was in high school. It was published in 1959, and although set in the future, it reflects the military attitudes of the time. In the last few years, I've picked up a number of old sci-fi books I never got around to reading when I was young, and the attitudes in them are so different from how we see the world (and the Galaxy) today.

The mindsets that seemed normal then are so backwards now, but it gives insight into the times when those books were written. However, making Fifties and Sixties sci-fi stories into movies today often doesn't work too well. Starship Troopers, the movie, is a good example of that. It seems like some directors have fond memories of reading those stories when they were young, but it's been a mistake to transplant them with relatively unaltered social outlooks into the 21st century. Old Superman stories seem very strange to us now, so the modern movies are very different from when Superman was "stronger than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound".

I saw Starship Troopers when it first came out, and I was really disappointed. Most of it made little sense in terms of physics, although Heinlein really did know his science; much better than the director, apparently. The bugs, with no apparent technology, fired rocks from across the galaxy, and were able to hit Earth, flying around in its orbit? Say what? Why did the troops engage them on the ground with small arms, instead of just bombing them? Live fire exercise in the middle of camp? And strangest of all, when one trooper was seized by a bug, the sergeant grabs a rifle, but instead of shooting the bug, he shoots the soldier, then says, "I hope you would do that for me." I'd hope someone would shoot the bug and save my life instead, wouldn't you?

I nearly got a sore neck from shaking my head during that movie.

Sorry about the rant, but I have a lot of respect for Robert Heinlein, and his later books, especially the Lazarus Long ones, were really good, even if men wore kilts and Lazarus was so paranoid that he carried a blaster at all times, even when taking a shower. Heinlein's political views evolved over time, so if you first knew him from his later work, his early stories would seem like they were written half a century earlier, which they almost were.

Have you read Job: A Comedy of Justice? It came out in 1984 and showed Heinlein's humorous side quite well. A man falls in love with an evil woman, and winds up going to Hell to get her. Also, Satan shows up as a Texan Cadillac dealer.

From Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job:_A_Comedy_of_Justice

As for the Yes song Starship Trooper, it's really good, especially the extended guitar duet in opposite channels at the end. It's great to listen to on headphones, as well as over speakers. Steve Howe does a good acoustic guitar solo in the middle, and Jon Anderson's voice is great, as usual. I will pull out the LP and listen to it today.

If you don't have a copy, here it is, with no distracting video. Enjoy!

Yes - Starship Trooper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5iBnZ63uh4

I'm pretty sure I've read all of Heinlein's works at one time or another. But I've probably read easily 5000 sci-novels so you'll have to forgive if I have trouble picking out specific works. Contrast Starship Troopers with Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War, a decade later, very much reflecting his own Vietnam experiences. I love sci-fi for the ways it reflects our various realities, posits the future, laments the past and provides more guidance into the human condition than any aliens we are likely to meet. Hell, the most alien thing in the universe may be us!

Now I'm all stirred up. I have to go dig up[ my copy of one of the greatest short stories of the genre, or any other, "Repent Harlequin Said the Tick-Tock Man" by Harlan Ellison.

[Islander]

I'm pretty sure I've read all of Heinlein's works at one time or another. But I've probably read easily 5000 sci-novels so you'll have to forgive if I have trouble picking out specific works. Contrast Starship Troopers with Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War, a decade later, very much reflecting his own Vietnam experiences. I love sci-fi for the ways it reflects our various realities, posits the future, laments the past and provides more guidance into the human condition than any aliens we are likely to meet. Hell, the most alien thing in the universe may be us!

Now I'm all stirred up. I have to go dig up[ my copy of one of the greatest short stories of the genre, or any other, "Repent Harlequin Said the Tick-Tock Man" by Harlan Ellison.

Harlan Ellison is a very interesting writer. I liked Dangerous Visions. It was refreshing to read sci-fi, or as some like to call it now, "speculative fiction", that was not aimed at the youth or young adult readers, and instead appealed to people with interesting tastes, like ourselves.

I was amused to see this bit from the Wiki page on Ellison:

"Ellison voiced himself as a character on the show Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, in the H. P. Lovecraft-inspired episode "The Shrieking Madness". He later reprised the role in the series finale, Come Undone, which aired in April 2013.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2013, Ellison completed work on a forthcoming episode of The Simpsons, voicing "a scene with Milhouse and the Comic Book Guy".^{[citation needed]"}

Speaking of war and sci-fi, have you seen Oblivion, the new movie with Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman? It has an interesting premise, and an interesting twist.

[colterphoto1]

look up Cruise to the Edge and see Yes Live and meet them as well. Michael