January 1st, 2010
JEFBOT.203_2010
So today’s strip is basically the counterpoint of this strip from a couple weeks back. Yes, I enjoy and appreciate all the cool technologies we have at this moment in time but as a kid I was promised so much more! I remember reading Arthur C. Clarke’s masterpieces, 2001 & 2010 back in the eighties, and I couldn’t wait to visit moon bases and start taking trips to Saturn (well, Jupiter, after Stanley Kubrick’s take on the material). I’m not even going to mention the jetpacks and hoverboards most people my age expected. Is it even possible I’ll get to take a trip to the moon in my lifetime? SpaceShipTwo is a heartening start, but seriously – this is what we were promised:
I guess it’s time to play a little EVE online to cheer you up.
Reality is overrated…
i thought about getting into EVE online, Xantix, but it seemed like that game would just take over my life (kinda like WOW did for a while). also heard mixed reviews on it but i’ve always been intrigued. how is it?
Well, it is a bit complex at first. And it is one of those games you either love or hate.
I, a casual gamer, like the fact that your learn your skills even when you are offline.
And, when you play, most of the actions are “automatic”. You tell your ship what to do and then watch as it performs your commands.
Meaning that, you could play and watch a movie (or draw a webcomic strip) simultaneously without too much effort.
Of course, some parts of the game are more, say, life sucking. ^_^
Anyway, they have a 2 weeks trial if you want to have a look.
thanks for the info! color me intrigued. might pick up a new PC later this year at which point i’ll pick up that demo. (my current PC is ancient and i’m trying to keep games off my mac).
Unfortunately we spent all our space program money killing people.
“Take care, beware, of greedy leaders”.
G. Harrison
true, sadly. astonishing to think that we could put a man on the moon decades ago and we aren’t further along now, AFDad.
That ship looks a lot like Omega class destroyers from Babylon 5 series. Oh, I loved that show.
Anyway, I have my fingers crossed for you, if you cant make it happen in real life, maybe you will score a good Sci-Fi movie. That should cheer you up.
B5 was one of my favorite shows for the longest time, Maryz! actually, the new Battlestar Galactica took B5′s place as my favorite sci-fi show until they blew it with the finale. now B5 is back at the top of the list.
and: that spaceship is actually the Leonov, from the movie 2010, although the B5 designers must’ve been inspired by it, cuz the destroyers look like modified versions of it.
yes! landing a part in a good sci-fi movie would definitely help with the sighing.
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I know its Leonov, but I have to say, that when I was reading the book, I immagined it a lot different and somehow menaged to forget a rotor section for gravitation. Needless to say 2001 and 2010 are some of greatest Sci-Fi pieces ever but books were still better. And Robot Chicken guys were kinda right when they labeled the movies as today being considered as classic and totaly boring. Dont take me wrong I dont have a problem with the movies at all, but the fact stays they are slow paced.
yep, the books were so much better, though i do still like the movie 2001 even with its slow pace. haven’t watched 2010 in quite some time but i’d be surprised if it holds up. even back in the eighties when it came out i remember not liking it as much as the Kubrick film. i might hafta add it to my Netflix queue, just for fun, tho.
i also remember liking the book, 2061 but still haven’t read 3001 yet. now seems like a good time to dig that out.
I loved the BSG finale… I was worried going in.
unfortunately, the more distance i get from the BSG finale the more i dislike it, Stan. maybe i should give it another chance but it’s telling that the final (half) season is the only season i haven’t bought on DVD and i haven’t revisited any episodes since nor watched the standalone movies or Caprica. without getting into spoilers i can’t go into what i didn’t like about it but it’s truly tainted the entire show for me.
I really am looking forward to flying cars within my life time, if the world doesn’t end of course. I’m afraid a jet pack will set my shoes on fire.
Hey, is it just me or are JEFBOT’s sideburns growing out? Or is that just my eyes playin’ tricks on me?
yeah, flying cars like the spinners from Blade Runner would be cool, Foxmouse. and yeah, i agree – jet packs always seemed like a dangerous idea. even the ones that have actually been created like the one from the ’84 olympics seemed kinda unstable.
re: sideburns. jefbot just hasn’t shaved them in a while. don’t worry, he’s not goin’ all mutton-choppy on us.
Aw… I like sideburns. A little scruff is always good in my book!
Flying cars in Fifth element were epic and flying take away/restaurant ship was better still.
As for Jetpacks, one of my favourite qoues of StarWars EVER is this:
“A lot of the younger soldiers thought we oughta be zipping around the battlefield on jetpacks. But one direct hit, and you’re grounded. Maybe forever.”
―Bren Derlin
yeah, the Fifth Element flying car scene was pretty cool. much better than when Lucas ripped it off in episode ii.
I have a feeling that JB will soon have his daydreams coming true. Love what you did with this strip as well! The details in the ship and the planet.. just wow.
I myself have been wondering when we’re going to get our flying cars, hover boards like in Back To The Future, jet packs and our trips to other planets as well. For now we’ll just have to keep daydreaming, reading, and watching. (And who knows, maybe someone who reads your strip has an idea to make any or all of these things possible someday.
) Hope everyone had an amazing start to 2010!!!!!
yeah, i waited a long time for those hoverboards from BTTF 2 to come out, Spanky. sadly, they never did and now i’d be afraid of hurting myself on one of those things. but i’ll take a hovercar if they develop one! oh, and good advice: “daydreaming, reading, and watching” are a few of my fav things!
hope you had a great start to 2010, too!
Yup. I remember when I was a kid and all excited about getting my driver’s license someday I was told “ah, there will probably be flying cars when you’re that age”.
There were no flying cars. Only old Dodge Darts from the 70′s
ha! those dodge darts were pretty cool though, John.
That’s a Babylon 5 dreadnought, isn’t it?
looks like one but it’s actually the russian-made Leonov, from 2010, Randy. props to everyone who’s bringing up Babylon 5, though.
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Thank God for virtual reality, EVE, and Freelancer to hold us over.
maybe the new KOTOR & Star Trek online will have some fun space exploration, smuggling and ship battles in it, too, Kerubim. and as i asked Xantix above: how is EVE online? worth getting into? know that i have a very limited time budget each week for video games so can’t sink regular hours into it.
you crazy little freak!
yep!
I love compliments like these…
Nitpicking time: the human destroyers from B5 had no artificial gravity – they simulated it by rotating the main section around the long hull. Where Jefbot is supposedly standing, there is no gravity. Also, its not to scale
i had no idea so many JEFbot readers were Babylon 5 fans as well! very, very cool. although i can appreciate the nitpicks, the ship isn’t a B5 Destroyer, it’s the ship roy scheider and the russians take to jupiter to find out what happened with the Discovery and the monolith in the movie 2010. also, jefbot has magnetic boots on.
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yeah… where the eff are my flying cars?
And are we really going to nitpick the gravity method and scale of a fictional spaceship? Shall we also discuss the asexual reproduction of the Smurf colony?
you know i’m always down for a good discussion about asexual smurf sex, 11teen.
Asexual nothing, there’s one female servicing a large colony of males. The Smurfs are clearly reptilian.
are you talking about Smurfette, Foxmouse? cuz if memory serves, she was created by Gargamel and not a true Smurf until Papa Smurf made her one through magic. so we don’t know if she’s capable of reproduction. or is there some later fiction i’m not aware of? a Smurf Queen, perhaps!?
with that rule 34 around you never know XP
Well, on the official Smurf site (Peyo) only Smurfette is mentioned on their character page. Wikipedia however lists two other females that were added to the cast in both the cartoon and the comics: Sassette Smurfling and Nanny Smurf.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_characters_in_The_Smurfs
So, in total, there are three canon female smurfs; two of which were made by magic, Sassette and Smurfette. Nanny Smurf was not made by magical means.
I stand by my reptilian theory. *snicker*
thanks for sharing that video.
it was beautiful!
ps. wheres that music from?
not sure where the music came from, bianca. i think it might be an original mix from whoever posted that clip on youtube. i kinda dig it, too!
exactly how i feel. sigh.
let’s all sigh together, calilac: *sighhhhh…*
i feel much better.
I thought we’d be flying in cars like the Jetson’s! …God we were lied to!
Great strip as always Jefbot!!! …and Happy New Year, even if we’re not in space…
HNY, Funnyshaffer! yeah, after watching the jetsons, i figured we’d all at least have robot maids by now! *sigh*
Witch Sci-Fi show had Jerri Ryan displaying her…uh…outfit?
heheh. you must be thinking of her in star trek: voyager as seven of nine, Jeff. nothing hotter than a woman in skin-tight lycra with cybernetic implants, amiright?
Not from the 80′s myself but from being a extremely into sci-fi I have had my few hopes that we would be able to go to a few other planets.
Now just to get those hover cars to come out and I will be planing a party. XP
nice strip
hope i get an invite to your hovercar party, Z.
Deal you just need to buy all the hover cars for everyone
done. can’t wait!
I truly feel sorry for you and your shattered dream, jefbot. I truly do. But like HELL I’M GONNA GET ANYWHERE A SPACESHIP IN MY LIFETIME – THIS ONE OF THE NEXT ONE!!!!!!!!!
>____<
Me and Space are NO-NOES. Even the Deep Blue sea and me are NO-NOES and at least that one has a bit of my curiousity. I think it’s far more easily achieved to get to live underwater. Heck. There’s still a lot we have no idea of the liquid world.
i’d be terrified to live underwater, Sonitan! i’ve seen too many movies (The Abyss, Jaws, Sphere, etc.) where the underwater facilities are flooded and everybody drowns due to either human or creature error.
then again, things always seem to go wrong in outer space, too. hmmm. i’m torn.
Exactly! think about ALIENS, man!!!!
*hides under computer desk with laptop and flamethrower bazooka*
*looks around*
Never can’t be TOO prepared.
All I need to win is a save button so that if I die I can go back to where I last saved and then I will be fine XP Wait that game logic, *Puts neon sign over Sonitan desk advertising a tasty meal while I run and hid*
Thinks about alpha centauri all the time and sighs also
ahhh… how i’d love to visit alpha centauri, JF3. *sigh*
I thought 2010 took all of the mystery away — the same things that made 2001 a great movie.
We were promised jetpacks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Were_Promised_Jetpacks
http://s0.ilike.com/play#We+Were+Promised+Jetpacks:Quiet+Little+Voices:49196856:s51054084.12651722.22481880.0.2.173%2Cstd_95f49a95ff5744c6b57a716b0806290b
i kinda dig this!
Oh, here’s the whole song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5ZhBAylbN4
agreed, Stan. although it’s been a while since i’ve seen 2010 i don’t remember it having the uncomfortable weirdness of the unknown that 2001 did.
I also miss the future – but forget rocketships and flying cars already! Those things are not interesting anymore. It always upsets me when some dotcom billionaire blows his money building rockets instead of doing something actually interesting, like Paul Allen’s mouse brain map.
yeah but the technology to make flying cars happen could be really interesting, shagbark! i think everything could benefit from a little antigravity.
and: agreed. mouse brain map = very cool.
haha! funny cuz it’s true.
glad you dug it, skinny!
Ha! Very funny, bot. I fly in space ships all the time. Unfortunately, soon after, I get the munchies.
that kind of space travel is not approved or condoned by the creator of this strip.
Wilfred was so happy when he realized we where in orbit….
were you in the TARDIS?
It’s what people do. People see how fast things are progressing now and think it’ll keep getting faster and more advanced
faster and more advanced! i can’t wait, IDrankTooMuchRootBeer! heheh.
i miss the doctor.
i have four years of catching up to do, so i don’t miss “the doctor” quite yet, bianca!
A Monolith DID appear in Denver on New Years Eve. I guess that’s something.
http://digg.com/odd_stuff/Monolith_appears_in_Denver_on_New_Year_s_Eve
totally. rad. if i make it out to denver this year i’m totally gonna visit and touch it, Eric. can’t wait to evolve!!!
OMG Wil Wheaton just Tweeted about your comic!! He’s a fan of yours!! How exciting…I am like totally Geeked out right now
wil’s been one of JEFbot’s earliest supporters, ESQ, sending many readers here via his tweets and blog. all the more astonishing (and proving that he has an awesome sense of humor!) considering this strip: JEFBOT.66_Force of Wil
and where is my Rutger Hauer-shaped replicant?
replicants might be all around us and we wouldn’t even know, Petra!
Is that a speedsuit I spy on Jefbot?
he’s actually just wearing Roy Scheider’s outfit from 2010, Kraven.