New USS Enterprise NCC 1701

New USS Enterprise NCC 1701I decided to take the official wallpaper of the Brand New Starship Enterprise from the Star Trek Movie site and see if I could improve on it since I thought the original was a bit fuzzy and boring.

This is what I did.

1. Increased Blacks with Selective Color
2. Shadow / Highlight
3. Reduce Noise
4. Sharpen
5. Painted Light Blue Border
6. Shadow / Highlight a little more
7. Curves, down.

Below is the original, let me know what you think of the changes

Sci Fi Stuff

Предприятие обои

Read more...

Battlestar Galactica Finale : A Historical Moment

I honestly think that it is a historical moment for Television history.

Battlestar Galactica, a show which many people thought would be just another sci fi show for geeks has proved itself worthy as a masterful piece of epic storytelling.

Daybreak Part II, the Finale.

I am still reeling from it, the story itself is action packed, intricate, tragic, optimistic and epic. I am not going to go too in depth with the synopsis of this episode since anyone who reads this will have undoubtedly already seen it. If not, STOP now!

The birth of our current civilisation, I always hoped that Battlestar Galactica would somehow make us all the end result of the story and it certainly appears that the 'earth' they previously found was a clever piece of mis-direction by the writing staff. I liked how they all 'seeded' the planet by landing groups of people in various continents.
Kara is an angel, or something like it. I like that. Religion has always been a big part of the Battlestar Galactica universe so why not.

Did Galen go to Scotland? he said he found an island with highlands and no people. Well since I am a Scot, I quite like the idea that one of my ancestors is a Cylon engineer. Us Scots are very clever you know and now we know why :-)

The scene with Laura and Adama in the Raptor as they fly over the flamingos in Africa was very touching and emotional. It was a tragic end to their own personal story and very fitting given that their destination has finally been reached.

Am I the only one who feels a great sense of loss that this show is over?

Sci Fi Stuff.

Read more...

Daybreak Part ONE : Review

So, the first part of the finale has aired with 2 more parts to go then....um, well. That's it. The greatest TV show ever has ended and lets hope to the gods the ending lives up to the standard that Battlestar has set for itself.

I really enjoyed Daybreak part 1, but was still left a little frustrated about it. The backstory of Roslin, Starbuck and Baltar was excellent, but I am not entirely sure what the point of it was. It seems that this close to the end, we really need some resolution for the show and because I am a sucker for happy endings, I'd really like to see them get home. Somewhere.

The military recon and tactical set up for the assault on the 'colony' was very good but those shots of the 'colony' looked like something out of Babylon 5 (a sci fi classic) and not very Battlestar-ish. Obviously the galactica is going out in a blaze of glory and this, I am sure, will be amazing, but what after that?

Because the 'colony' is orbiting a black hole, I keep wondering if they are going to to use as a plot device. We all know that black holes and singularities have been used extensively in the sci fi genre but usually in he form of time travel or crossing over into multiple dimensions etc. There is no way that BSG is going to go down that line, is there?

Either way, I eagerly anticipate the finale with bated breath. Come on Battlestar, its been a bit weird this last few episodes but we know that you can end this in an Epic fashion.

Sci Fi Stuff

Read more...

New Star Trek Movie Plot

Below is a spolier of Synopsis of "Star Trek 2009" with a few more details revealed.

"Are you willing to settle for an ordinary life? or do you think you were meant for something better? something special?"

One grew up in the cornfields of Iowa, fighting for his independence, for a way out of a life that promised only indifference, aimlessness, and obscurity.

"You will forever be a child of two worlds, capable of choosing your own destiny. The only question you face is, which path will you choose?"

The other grew up on the jagged cliffs of the harsh Vulcan desert, fighting for acceptance, for a way to reconcile the logic he was taught with the emotions he felt.

In the far reaches of the galaxy, a machine of war bursts into existence in a place and time it was never meant to be. On a mission of retribution for the destruction of his planet, its half-mad captain seeks the destruction of every intelligent being, and the annihilation of every civilised world.

Kirk and Spock, two completely different and unyielding personalities, must find a way to lead the only crew, abooard the only ship, that can stop him

"the wait is over"

Taken from... Comic Book Movie >>>

Read more...

Star Trek Trailer 3 : Is it the Best Trailer Ever ?

Is it the greatest ever trailer?

After seeing it in HD Glory over at Apple I was truly optimistic that this new Star Trek reboot may be the saviour of the Star Trek Universe. Not only in this trailer do we see amazing Visual effects and action but we get more of a glimpse into what the story is all about.

Bruce Greenwood tells a young Kirk about his father, how he was a Starship Captain for only 12 minutes and saved 800 lives doing so. (presumably aboard the USS Kelvin?)

We see and hear more from all the other crew, including more dialogue from Spock and McCoy.

Simply put, the music, the editing, the visual effects and the small tease into the actual synopsis makes me almost wet my pants with excitement. Anyone have a towel?

By the Way if you want to see and save the HD Version of this and many other Trailers from Apple.com/trailers then head on over to Mozilla Add-ons and do yourself a favour and download the Embedded Objects 1.9 add-on. This will allow you to (legally I presume) download those awesome HD trailers without buying Quicktime Pro.

Science Fiction Stuff.

Read more...

Islanded in a Stream of Stars : Battlestar Galactica Latest

Let's face it, Battlestar Galactica is falling apart. The ship, that is.

The series took another few baby steps toward resolving the story... but with only two episodes left, will baby steps be enough? We get some bad news right away: The goop isn't repairing Galactica as expected, and Boomer has doubtless taken Hera to The Colony, a sort of roving Cylon homeworld. Adama is a bit too busy throwing a pity party to listen: "I've had it up to here with destiny, with prophecy, with God and the gods." You and me both, brother. I'm ready for some of these prophecies about destiny to pay off.

On Colonial One, Apollo tries to convince the new Quorum that Adama can command the fleet just as well from the Cylon basestar, considering Galactica's condition. The Quorum is a bit too enthusiastic about this: They immediately start calling dibs on various bits o' battlestar. Apollo is not happy at the thought of his dad's flagship being stripped for parts.

Starbuck, meanwhile, is listening to Baltar sermonize about angels. Uh-oh. She confronts him in the head, hilariously peeing while they talk. Baltar's newfound religion is genuine, he swears, and she gives him her corpse's dogtags since he's all science-y. Anders, meanwhile, has been hooked up to a makeshift hybrid pool on Galactica in an attempt to reboot his brain. It didn't work, but he did use the goop to infiltrate the ship's electrical system, which is causing power surges. Starbuck asks for a moment alone, then has a really touching scene about just wanting "her Sam" back. Just as she's about to put a bullet in his brain, Sam grabs her hand and starts hybrid-babbling. Among his words are the familiar ones about Starbuck being the harbinger of death, and leading "them" to "their" doom.

Read more @ Zap2it.com

Read more...

Battlestar Galactica Desktop Wallpaper 2 : 1024 x 768, 1152 x 864, 1280 x 960, 1600 x 1200

Battlestar Galactica Part 1 Wallpaper >>
Suitable for 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 1152 x 864 & 1024 x 768 monitors and desktops

Battlestar Galactica and the Colonial Fleet
Image by Lee Stringer

Battlestar Galactica
Image by Lee Stringer

Battlestar Galactica Port Flight Pod
Image by Lee Stringer

Battlestar Galactica Part 1 Wallpaper >>

ScienceFictionStuff.com

Read more...

How Battlestar Galactica Will End...

This is my theory only. This is a way I'd like to see how Galactica will end.

As the Battlestar deteriorates, the fleet are still limping through space. Hera and Boomer are gone and the Galactica might, just might be capable of one more jump before they must abandon it.

Out of the blue, the Dradis goes off and Adama sets condition one throughout the ship and the fleet. They surely believe that Cavil has found them and they must flee, until the Dradis discovers that the approaching ships are neither Cylon or Colonial.

Sending a hostile challenge and ID, the action moves out into space where we first see the approaching vessels. They not entirely dissimilar in design to the Galactica but much smaller and there are 3 of them.

Inside the lead ship we see a control room which appears to look like a mixture of Cylon and Colonial technology and a human looking commander who speaks in English. He cannot understand what the Galactica transmission is saying since they do not speak the language of the colonials but they discover a way to communicate after several frustrating minutes tweaking the computers to send and receive text based messages.

Tigh reads the broken language and discovers that the approaching vessels are in fact from Earth, a new Earth.

We find out that these people left Earth long before the final five in small groups via a secret program to colonise space since they prediced the impending holocaust with the Earth based Cylons and that they have indeed found a new Earth.

Relationships are forged, trust is gained and the fleet follow their new found Cylon friends to their new shining planet. New Earth.

Finally we see Boomer and Hera with Cavil back in his Cylon baseship and they talk. Cavil wants to know the fleets location and decides to torture Boomer for information. Boomer kills herself.

The End.

Image by Lee Stringer

What do you reckon?

Read more...

Battlestar Galactica "Someone to Watch Over Me" Review

SPOILERS!

Kara is suffering from illusions and flashback images to her dead self in the cockpit of the crashed Viper back on Earth. She spends a bit of time drinking and makes friends with a Piano Player in the bar. Through this we get a little insight into Starbucks past with her dad and she remembers a tune that her dad used to play and with a little coaxing, her new found friend manages to get it out of her. The song turns out to be the very tune that awoken the final 4 Cylons. "all along the watchtower". The Song song sheet also perfectly matches a drawing that Hera gave her early in the episode.

This whole part of the episode was good but very slow in places. Another story in the episode is about Boomer and her fate to be extradited to the Cylon baseship. The Cylons want her to be put on trial and executed for siding with Cavil in the Cylon civil war. President Roslins agrees but Chief Tyrol wants to help her. He re-connects with her in a very emotional way and via Cylon projection, Boomer shows the Chief her virtual house that she retreats to within her head.

Chief Tyrol helps Boomer escape by essentially 'swapping' her for another '8' model and Boomer escapes Galactica in a Raptor but not before stealing Hera and blowing a hole in the side of the already deteriorating Battlestar by using her FTL drive too close to the hull.

Boomer is gone. Galactica is falling apart and Kara is no closer to finding out what the hell happened to her 'other' self....

Great episode...... but this close to the end I hope for some major developments from the last 3 episodes!

7/10

Read more...