Stories by Williams

Of Invincible Aliens that were Easily Vanquished

by storiesbywilliams on February 26, 2013 in Books, Movies, Sci-Fi, Series and tagged achilles heel, alien invasion, Battle: Los Angeles, Battlefield Earth, battleship, borg queen, captain picard, h.g. wells, Independence Day, John Travolta, Kang and Kodos, L. Ron Hubbard, locutus, M. Night Shyamalan, martian tripods, martians, Paul Verhoeven, Q, rihanna, science fiction, scientology, signs, Star Trek, Star Trek TNG, the borg, The Day of the Triffids, the simpsons, The War of the Worlds, Transformers, uss enterprise, USS Missouri, uss voyager

If there’s one thing that’s become an annoying cliche in commercial science fiction movies, and even some novels, it’s the idea of a super-advanced alien race that come to Earth, proceeds to kick ass, but then gets beaten by a ragtag bunch of superheroes by the most implausible means. You know what I’m talking about, […]

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Hilarious Patrick Stewart Roles!

by storiesbywilliams on February 8, 2013 in Sci-Fi, Series, Video and tagged American dad, avery bullock, Dune, extras, family guy, gurney halleck, house atreides, I Love Patrick Stewart, patrick stewart, seth macfarlane, Star Trek TNG, swordmaster

Patrick Stewart has to be one of the most awesome actors around, and not just because of his Shakespearean training. No, this is a guy who is equally at home being completely irreverent as he is serious, and I love him for it. So in honor of this guy, I thought I’d fish through the […]

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The Future Is Here: The Braille-Streaming Implant

by storiesbywilliams on December 14, 2012 in News, Sci-Fi, Technology and tagged argus II, braille-steaming implant, cochlear implant, eye device, Georgi LaForge, hearing impairement, neuroprosthetic implant, prosthesis, retinal implant, science fiction, second sight, Star Trek TNG, visual impairment

Imagine, if you will, a revolutionary new technology that sidesteps visual impairment and allows a blind person to process visual information by transmitting braille patterns directly into their retina. Might sound like the stuff of science fiction (a la Geordi LaForge), but thanks to a recent development by the company Second Sight, it is scientific […]

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Religion in Sci-Fi

by storiesbywilliams on September 24, 2012 in Authors, Books, Sci-Fi and tagged 2001: A Space Odyssey, 3001: Final Odyssey, Alastair Reynolds, Aldous Huxley, anakin skywalker, arrakis, Arthur C Clarke, asbolution gap, bene gesserit sisterhood, chasm city, children of dune, darth vader, duncan, Dune, dune messiah, emperor palpatine, f451, farhenheit 451, firstborn, flow my tears the policeman said, foundation, Frank Herbert, fremen, FTL, gene roddenberry, george lucas, god, god emperor of dune, guy montag, h.g. wells, harkonnens, hyperspatial drive, i robot, indoctrination virus, Isaac Asimov, judea-christianity, justice, kaballah, Kefitzat Haderech, kwisatz haderach, leto II, luke skywalker, midichlorians, monoliths, Obi Wan, one state, padishah emperor, Paul Atreides, Philip k dick, picard, PKD, prescience, Qui gonn Jin, Ray Bradbury, redemption ark, revelation space, robert a heinlein, sandworms, sky haussmann, sky's edge, spice, Star Trek, Star Trek TNG, Star Wars, starfleet, stranger in a strange land, the big three, the enterprise, the exegesis of philip k dick, The Force, the jesus incident, the lazarus effect, the shape of things to come, VALIS, VALIS trilogy, war of the worlds, World State, yevgeny zamyatin

Since its inception as a literary genre, religion has played an important role in science fiction. Whether it took the form of informing the author’s own beliefs, or was delivered as part of their particular brand of social commentary, no work of sci-fi has ever been bereft of spirituality.Even self-professed atheists and materialists had something […]

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Worlds of Star Trek

by storiesbywilliams on June 17, 2012 in Movies, Sci-Fi, Series and tagged atomic horror, bajor, bajoran wormhole, betazed, Bill of Opportunities, camp khitomer, captain janeway, captain kirk, captain picard, captain sisko, cardassia prime, cardassian empire, commander riker, deanna troi, deep space 9, dominion war, ds9, eugenics war, ferengi, Ferengi Commerce Authority, ferenginar, grand nagus zek, khan noonien soong, khitomer accords, kirk, lwaxana troi, mccoy, mount seleya, remus, romula warbird, romulus, rules of acquisition, spock, star trek nemesis, Star Trek TNG, star trek voyager, star trek: first contact, starfleet, starfleet academy san francisco, stark trek ds9, stark trek III the search for spock, stone of gol, terok nor, the bajoran wormhole, the dominion, the dominion war, the prophets, the romulan star empire, the Sacred Marketplace, the united federation of planets, the vulcans, time of awakening, Tower of Commerce, vulcan, Zefram Cochrane

In honor of the other sci-fi franchises I’ve covered in my “Worlds Of” series, which includes my own (shameless!), I’ve decided to throw some credit and attention Gene Rodenberry’s way. His Star Trek franchise is not only one of the most popular science fiction franchise of all time, it’s also hailed as one of the […]

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Utopia in Popular Culture

by storiesbywilliams on June 3, 2012 in Movies, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Series, Video games and tagged A Big Piece of Garbage, Aeon, Aeon Flux, alpha centauri, Avatar, bender, Breens, Bregna, cryogenic prison, demolition man, edenic, eudaimonia, Eywa, Fry, futurama, future society, idyllic, In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela", kilrathi, kim stanley robertson, larry niven, Leela, man-kzin wars, Monica, Monicans, na'vi, obi wan kenobi, pandora, planetary organism, raymond cocteau, replicators, san angeles, sid meiers alpha centauri, Star Trek, Star Trek TNG, Star Wars, starfleet, technology tree, terran confederation, the empire, the galactic empire, the galactic senate, the jedi, the mars trilogy, the old republic, the united federation of planets, transporters, trevor goodchild, utopia in popular culture, utopian, utopian sci-fi, victory conditions, warp drive, wing commander series, Zapp Brannagan

Aeon Flux: Fans of this animated cult-classic are sure to understand why this show has made the list. In the futuristic setting of the show, events revolve around an ongoing conflict between two societies. On the one side, there is Brenga, a police state run by the autocrat Trevor Goodchild. On the other is the […]

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Technology in the Star Trek Universe (updated!)

by storiesbywilliams on May 30, 2012 in Movies, Sci-Fi, Series and tagged 1984, aldea, Alien, aliens, battletech, beam me up, beaming, bone knitter, cloaking device, custodian, deflector shields, dilithium chamber, Dune, dystopian, George Orwell, holodeck, hypospray, matter anti-matter, matter-energy transporter, medical tricorder, phaser banks, phaser cannons, phaser rifles, phasers, replicator, science fiction universes, Star Trek, star trek ds9, star trek the original series, Star Trek TNG, star trek voyager, star trek: insurrection, Star Wars, technology in the star trek universe, Terminator, the aldeans, the borg, tricorder, uss defiant, uss enterprise D, utopian, warp bubble, warp drive

I’ve wanted to do a post like this for awhile, ever since my conceptual post on Galactic Empires in fact. After doing my research on what distinguished one from the other, I noticed just how central technology, or the perception thereof, is to it all. And let’s face it, Star Trek has had a lot […]

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Cool Ships (volume IX)

by storiesbywilliams on May 19, 2012 in Cool Ships, Movies, Series and tagged Alien, B5, borg cube, borg sphere, cardassia, cardassian union, cardassians, corellian, CVS-101 Prometheus, dominion, dominion war, empire, forerunner shield world, galaxy-class, halo, halo wars, jem'hadar battleship, k't'inga-class cruiser, klingons, LV-426, mechas, mon calamari, negh'var class cruiser, new republic, primus-class, prometheus, prometheus movie, rebel alliance, robotech, sdf-1 macross, SLV-111 Daedalus, space jockeys, spacejockey ship, star trek ds9, Star Trek TNG, Star Wars, strident-class star defender, super star destroyer, the breen, the coventant, the derelict, the federation, the nostromo, unsc spirit of fire, uss defiant, uss enterprise D, uss valiant, vor'cha-class cruiser, vorchan-class

Borg Sphere: This first example shows us that thought they were obsessed with simple geometric shapes, the Borg were capable of thinking outside of the cube. If anything, the sphere is a more perfect shape and aesthetically way more pleasing, so its a wonder why they didn’t do it sooner. Making its first appearance in […]

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Cool Ships (volume VIII)

by storiesbywilliams on May 17, 2012 in Cool Ships, Movies, Series and tagged 2000 dune miniseries, alliance escort carrier, arrakeen, arrakis, battle of bilbringi, battle of installation 05, battleship yamato, battlestar flight pod, Battlestar Galactica, boomer, caprica, cardassian union, centurions, cloaking device, corellian, corellian freighter, Covenant, cylon heavy raider, cylon raider, darth malak, darth revan, david lynchs dune, disruptors, dominion war, Dune, flight pod, FTL, gamilons, general martok, grand admiral thrawn, halcyon-class cruiser, han solo, imperium, interdictor-class cruiser, jedi order, klingon empire, kobol, KOTOR, mechas, milennium falcon, negh'var class cruiser, ornithopter, paul muad'ib, photon torpedoes, protoculture, quasar fire-class cruiser, robotech, scattered, Sci-Fi, science fiction, sharon valerii, space ships, star destroyer, star trek ds9, Star Trek TNG, Star Wars, star wars: knights of the old republic, starbuck, the farm, the great war, the leviathan, thrawn trilogy, truce at bakura, usnc in amber clad, valkyrie, vf-1 veritech, vladivostok-class missile frigate, yt-2400 freighter

Battleship Yamato: A couple times now I’ve given praise to ship designs that went beyond the usual airplane/ seafaring paradigm. But what can you say about a spaceship which is a carbon copy of a old sea battleship? I don’t know, gutsy maybe? That its paying homage to the original? That’s all I can really […]

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Cool Ships (volume VI)

by storiesbywilliams on May 11, 2012 in Cool Ships, Movies, Series and tagged Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, lightsaber, Star Trek TNG, homeworld, halo, Covenant, jedi order, corellia, boba fett, sith wars, firefly, reavers, cortana, star trek ds9, cloaking device, cylons, millennium falcon, dominion war, romulan empire, klingon bird of prey, cylon raider, slave I, the ebon hawk, star wars kotor, KOTOR, klingon empire, corellian freighter, revan and malak, taris, event horizon, gravity drive, lewis and clarke rescue ship, mothership, Kushan fleet, Kharak, homeworld war, pillar of autumn, flood, forerunners, forerunner installation 04, the scimitar, star trek nemesis, shinzon, reaver ship

Back yet again with a sixth installment in the Cool Ships series. Like last time, I took this opportunity to tackle some overlooked examples, and some new ones as well. In addition… You know what? Screw the introductions and final thoughts, let’s just get into this! Bird of Prey: There’s nothing like a classic, and […]

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