Most Wanted (survey)

[evay]

1. Which subsite(s) do you most look forward to new material from?
ENT and Classic BSG.

2. Which current show(s) would you most like to see covered at 5M.net?
How about Merlin? S1 is already on DVD, S2 just finished in the U.S., and S3 is being filmed (or might have just finished) in Wales and France. I understand it's meant to be similar to Smallville, the show itself has plenty of comedy, and there's lots of room for Monty Python jokes. Lots and lots.

3. What other show(s), etc., would you like to see us do?
I actually thought about this a while ago, but I figured nobody would go for it (and that's still probably true): what about fiving some history? Examples: American presidents, Canadian presidents, painters, writers, styles of architecture... I know it's more "Cliff's Notes" than "fivers" but I think it could be funny.

George Washington: the first. Did the thing with the cherry tree. Wooden false teeth. Decent general. Rushmore 1.

Abraham Lincoln: Gave good speech. Civil war. Freed the slaves. Good sense of humor. Rushmore 2. Pay no attention to the JFK conspiracists.

Franklin Roosevelt: The one with polio who had four terms. Rushmore 3.
Theodore Roosevelt: Not the one with polio.

John Adams: Not his son.
John Quincy Adams: Not his father.

Benjamin Harrison: The filling in the Grover Cleveland sandwich.

John F. Kennedy: Sent us to the moon. Gave good speech. Pay no attention to the Lincoln conspiratists.

and Derek, I wouldn't mind a 5MSesame Street...

[Sa'ar Chasm]

Canadian presidents

Prime Ministers.

Sir John A. Macdonald: Drunk. Built railroad. Still drunk. Unelected. Re-elected. Still drunk.

Sir Wilfred Laurier: Very important to high school history classes. Did many things, none of them memorable.

Mackenzie King: Prime Minister. Still Prime Minister. Still Prime Minister. Still Prime Minister. Not Prime Minister.

Trudeau: Roses. Pirouettes. Fuddle-duddle. Cuckolded by Mick Jagger. Way more interesting than any other PM.

Diefenbaker: Had a bunker. That is all.

1. Which subsite(s) do you most look forward to new material from?
NexGen, DS9.

2. Which current show(s) would you most like to see covered at 5M.net?
I don't actually watch any current shows. I got into Stargate about a month before it ended, and by the time I got caught up with ten seasons plus five of spinoff, Atlantis was over. Plus I don't get cable.

3. What other show(s), etc., would you like to see us do?
I'll let you know if I think of one.

[PointyHairedJedi]

1. I'd have to say B5, on balance. I'm not entirely sure why (aside from that I like it, obviously).

2. I'm watching incredibly little TV at the moment. I don't even own one, what I do watch is online and mostly comedy. No ready answers there I'm afraid.

3. There's plenty of pompous drama out there, in terms of TV (The West Wing comes to mind, and I'm saying that as someone who likes it). Books are more problematic I think, so I guess my vague preference is for a bit more non-SF&F film/TV.

[evay]

Originally Posted by Sa'ar Chasm

Prime Ministers..

There ya go. That's why I would need that kind of fiving. I went to high school in two different states and I literally don't even know how many, uh, governmental sub-sections there are in Canada. (several provinces and some territories?) Hell, I learned more about Canada from watching Due South than I did in school. So a five-minute Canadian history would be both useful and interesting.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by evay

and Derek, I wouldn't mind a 5MSesame Street...

What amazes me about Sesame Street is how much of a sketch show it is. I mean, it's like SNL for 3-year-olds. Cookie Monster especially is hilarious with his inability to resist eating cookies and his rather clever, twisted, and scheming ways of getting them. This all applies to old SS, at least. We got the early years DVDs of SS and I'm rather amused at some of the sketches. We don't currently watch the new stuff, so I have no idea if this is still true. (though clearly the Matt Lauer bit leaves hope that things aren't terrible)

[Sa'ar Chasm]

I don't remember Cookie being that snarky. Or maybe I just didn't notice as a toddler.

I think that's Frank Oz getting fed up with doing a kid's show. Patience, Frank. The Muppet Show will be your outlet.

[evay]

Originally Posted by Derek

We got the early years DVDs of SS and I'm rather amused at some of the sketches.

They are riveting! I'm hoping to get all the early stuff on DVD, along with Electric Company, and the hell with anything post-Elmo. Oh, and Schoolhouse Rock has to be in there too. How else are my kids going to learn grammar, history, math, and science? I can still sing the preamble to the Constitution.

[MmeBlueberry]

Originally Posted by evay

I can still sing the preamble to the Constitution.

Schoolhouse Rock leaves out four words from the Preamble, so I never show that one to my kids when they're learning it. "I'm Just a Bill," though, we watch a few times.

Wait - change all but the first verb I used in that paragraph to past tense. I'm teaching math starting in the fall. No more civics. Gotta figure out new excuses for showing Trek clips in class.

[evay]

Originally Posted by MmeBlueberry

I'm teaching math starting in the fall. ...Gotta figure out new excuses for showing Trek clips in class.

Warp speed is calculated in logarithms.

Tribbles should be good for exponents.

The late Star Trek: The Magazine actually used to do filler articles on the percentage of episodes where various stereotypical events happened, like Kirk getting his shirt ripped, Voyager losing a shuttlecraft, Kirk getting the girl, etc. That's charts/statistics.

Bajor used a 26-hour clock, IIRC; that's a basis for teaching "clock math," or introducing the concept of base-something-other-than-10.

Instead of the usual "A train leaves Chicago at 3pm..." try "Enterprise leaves Vulcan on stardate 47523.1 traveling at warp 3..."

[MmeBlueberry]

Originally Posted by evay

Warp speed is calculated in logarithms.

Tribbles should be good for exponents.

The late Star Trek: The Magazine actually used to do filler articles on the percentage of episodes where various stereotypical events happened, like Kirk getting his shirt ripped, Voyager losing a shuttlecraft, Kirk getting the girl, etc. That's charts/statistics.

Bajor used a 26-hour clock, IIRC; that's a basis for teaching "clock math," or introducing the concept of base-something-other-than-10.

Instead of the usual "A train leaves Chicago at 3pm..." try "Enterprise leaves Vulcan on stardate 47523.1 traveling at warp 3..."

Good ideas! I also think I can probably find a host of scenes discussing logic for use with my geometry students. And I made a presentation for the stats class today in which I defined data...that one was almost painfully obvious.

[/hijack]

[evay]

^^ I'm the daughter of two teachers. They'd be ashamed if I couldn't come up with something to use for a lesson plan off the top of my head.

Back on topic: how about 5M Fawlty Towers?

[Wowbagger]

Originally Posted by evay

The late Star Trek: The Magazine actually used to do filler articles on the percentage of episodes where various stereotypical events happened, like Kirk getting his shirt ripped, Voyager losing a shuttlecraft, Kirk getting the girl, etc. That's charts/statistics.

I bought that magazine every month for that feature alone. Two pages. It cost, like, $8.00. And I was in middle school, and it was in 2002 dollars, so that was real money back then.

Anyhow, for the questions:

(1) I was drawn to this site by 5M Enterprise. I have always maintained that 5ME is the funniest feature here -- possibly because it has benefited from being written by only one person through all its iterations -- and I long to see it ended.

Also, I suddenly recall purchasing a hard copy of 5M "Zero Hour" years ago (it cost $5.00), but never receiving a copy. The details are sketchy, though. Did we for some reason run a "buy a fiver" promotion? Or was that a dream? I'm leaning toward dream, because that's a very weird memory.

Anyhow.

More Who is good, though Who is a harder series to parody than Trek, I think, because nuWho, at least, already takes itself so unseriously. I think I would prefer to see more nuBSG, which, while a very entertaining show, was so amazingly full of itself that you could make an entire nuBSG fiver based on booger jokes and it's still be hilarious satire.

(2) New shows? Oi... now I have to admit to how little stuff I'm watching these days.

Remember those VVS8 parodies? Those were a lot of fun, and they also got me reading VVS8, which I never would have done in a million years otherwise. I would like to see a rebirth of the "fanfic" parodies. Lord knows there's a lot of pretty decent fan Trek out there to mock -- Phase II has done some really good work, Intrepid is fun. The audio series produce a lot more material, which makes them eminently parodyable. I'm thinking mainly of Outpost (www.giantgnome.com) here, but I'd be greatly honored if someone fived my show, Excelsior (www.starshipexcelsior.com).

Fringe looked fiveable, but I didn't have the time to keep up with it.

I suspect that the most important thing, Zeke, is that you find something you really, really love watching, and then five that. This website's a hobby for you, after all, and we're not your customers and we're not paying you (except in my $5 "Zero Hour" dream). If fiving is something you do to unwind, not an onerous responsibility, that means you'll have more fun and we'll get more and better fivers as a result.

Of course, you've probably already thought about that, so I'll stop preaching now.

(3) I would love to see Stargate: Atlantis thoroughly fived, but by someone much funnier than I. My SG:A fivers suck. But it's a great show, very fun, but filled with ridiculous events, characters who struggle with dimension, and convoluted turns of plot. The perfect fiver storm.

Death Note could make great fiving. Azumanga Daioh, however, would not. Indeed, AD quite literally fives itself, doesn't it?

My other favorite show right now is Life on Mars (UK), which I'm watching on DVD. If you know it, you see the potential. If you dont know it, go do yourself a favor and watch it. It's time well-spent. (Disclaimer: people complain about the ending, but I'm at the end of season one and spoiler-free, so I don't know yet what they're all on about.)

(Conclusion) ...but, if all that comes of this survey is thirty or forty DW fivers in the next couple of years, I will be a very happy young man.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Wowbagger

Also, I suddenly recall purchasing a hard copy of 5M "Zero Hour" years ago (it cost $5.00), but never receiving a copy.

ACK ACK ACK SORRY I KNOW I'VE NEVER FORGOTTEN I HAVE STAMPS IN MY DRAWER SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS BUT THINGS KEEP COMING UP

SORRY SORRY SORRY THEY'RE STILL COMING AND THERE'LL BE A BONUS WITH THEM FOR THE WAIT PLEASE DON'T HATE ME GUYS

...Um. You can probably tell I've been dreading this question.

They really are coming. I swear. Sorry.