<![CDATA[io9: rocketeer]]> http://tags.lifehacker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png <![CDATA[io9: rocketeer]]> http://io9.com/tag/rocketeer http://io9.com/tag/rocketeer <![CDATA[The Science Fiction Gadgets That Make You Go... Wha?!]]> We have a serious love affair with the cool gadgets of science fiction, but every now and then one will come along that will make you scratch your head and say "What!?" Yes, even in the world of scifi, you can sometimes go a bit too far. Check out our list of beyond-the-pale gadgets.

  • The Masks from Mission Impossible: The latex masks which could apparently turn a thin Tom Cruise into a chunky Philip Seymour Hoffman weren't exclusive to the movies. They used a fair share of these disguises throughout the television show, and the best part was when they'd cut from the live person to the dead looking fake mask being peeled away to reveal the operative underneath. At least MI:3 showed us a bit of how the machine that makes them works, but it still doesn't explain how they fit so well. The company that makes those could have made a fortune at Halloween every year.
  • drd2a.jpgThe Translator Microbes in Farscape: Science fiction properties have tried for years to get around the problem of everyone speaking English on new worlds lightyears away from Earth, and this has led to everything from The Universal Translator in Star Trek, to the Babel Fish in Hitchhiker's Guide, and the telepathic translating done by the TARDIS in Doctor Who. So, by the time Farscape came around, the writers decided to make them injectable translator microbes that let you understand whatever languange was hurled at you. Other people could understand you as well, but only if they were likewise injected. They didn't work perfectly, and often failed to translate slang like "dren" and "frell."
  • Almost Everything in the 1960s Batman TV Show: Batman has had a slew of his own wacky gadgets, both in the comic books where he has an outfit for every possible encounter, and in the television show which really took the cake in creating bizarre items for Batman. Almost everything he used was a "Bat" something. In this clip from the show, you've got probably the lamest Batman gadget ever invented: The Bat Ladder. What exactly makes this a Bat Ladder, and why did he need to label it? In case he lost it somehow? Que ridiculo. Then there's the Bat-copter, the "Bat Auto Mode," and the Shark Repellent Bat Spray, which apparently makes sharks explode. He even has Barracuda, Whale, and Manta Ray repellent in there too.
  • doctor_who_302_the_shakespeare_code_01_psychic_paper.jpgThe Psychic Paper from Doctor Who: While this seems cool at first, eventually you start thinking it was an easy stopgap by the writers to get around the Doctor showing identification. In the old Tom Baker episode "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" (featuring the Doctor as a sleuth in Victorian London) the Doctor is asked to turn out his pockets, and he has everything in there from jelly babies to a toy Batmobile. We sure would have loved to see what Christopher Eccleston or David Tennant has crammed in there. Maybe a junior g-man badge would have worked just as well.
  • The Giant Amplifier from Back to the Future: Doc Brown was an eccentric inventor, to be sure, but why on Earth would he create a massive speaker? Watching this movie again, it seems like it was just created for comic effect, and surely it would have blown out both of Marty's eardrums, scrambled his brain, and broken a bone or two in the process. Slight chance of overload my ass. Maybe the terrorists had asked him to build this thing too.
  • UnstableMolecules.jpgReed Richards and his Unstable Molecules: Unstable molecules sound like they'd be, well... unstable. Seems like just an easy way to explain why the Human Torch's clothes don't burn up, or why Sue Storm doesn't have to strip naked every time she turns invisible. Were the Thing's blue shorts made out of unstable molecules too? No idea what he needed them for. Reed supposedly made a fortune for the Fantastic Four by selling the patents to all of his inventions, but were most of them stolen? One thing is for sure, while he could seemingly invent a teleportation device out of a wristwatch and sticks of gum, he sure couldn't invent anything to turn Ben Grimm human again. So, how did Reed invent these things? In the movie the cosmic rays did it, but in the comics, it was just pure Reed Richards pseudogenius. It's also the name of an awesome graphic novel about the "real life" Fantastic Four by James Sturm.
  • The Jetpack from The Rocketeer: Now, don't get me wrong, I wanted one of these things so bad that I could taste it. Who wouldn't want to slap on a funky helmet that makes you look like a hood ornament, a cool leather jacket, and just take to the skies? The problem was that later I realized this thing would totally burn your ass off. I mean, the flames shot out mere millimeters from his butt... how on Earth did he not scorch himself? Asbestos pants? Even one little throwaway line could have someone explained this, but now I just imagine Cliff Secord in a hospital bed with third-degree burns covering his backside. Plus, how could he even bend his legs upwards without melting those boots?
  • dicktr2.jpgDick Tracy's Magnetic Space Coupe: Dick Tracy is probably best known for his two-way wristwatch radio, which later became a two-way television and eventually housed a computer to help him solve crimes. However, in the 1960s things got a lot more ludicrous when Tracy and Co. traveled to the moon via his Magnetic Space Coupe. While they were there, Tracy met "The Governor of the Moon" and his daughter, "Moon Maid." She eventually married Tracy's adopted son Junior, and they had a daughter together who... sorry, my brain just exploded.
  • The Antigravity Belt Buckle in Ultraviolet: Or "Ultraviolent" as I like to call it. Milla Jovovich's badass vampire, er... "hemophage" with a conscience used this round little belt buckle to change her personal gravity, meaning she could walk on the ceiling, climb up walls, and it could even make her motorcycle drive up the sides of buildings. While we could (barely) buy the nanotech/portable hole technology in her wristbands and in that white plastic backpack, this thing just sent it over the top. What would keep her from flying off into the sky?
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<![CDATA[The Rocketeer Has Left the Building]]> News broke yesterday that Dave Stevens, creator of The Rocketeer and Bettie Page fan, has died following a long fight with leukemia. Stevens, whose geek credentials include a stint working on Hanna Barbera's Super Friends and Godzilla cartoons in the late '70s, made his name creating The Rocketeer in 1982.

Due to Stevens' perfectionist tendencies, the character appeared rarely in comic books over the following years, despite being adapted into a movie by Disney in the early 1990s. According to Stevens' friend, Mark Evanier, his reputation for outstanding quality despite his low output stood him in good stead once the disease took its toll on his work:

We tried to get together for dinner every month or so but it wound up being more like every six months. The last time, he joked that it was lucky he had such a reputation for slow production. Now that he was unable to work for weeks at a time, no one noticed that his output had declined.
Stevens passed away on Monday. He was 52. Dave Stevens [News from ME]]]>
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<![CDATA[Paul Giamatti Wears Fully-Functional Rocket Belt in "Pretty Bird"]]> One of the films at Sundance that flew under the radar this year was jetpack fantasy Pretty Bird, based on the book The Rocketbelt Caper. The film is billed as a comedy, but the real story is both weird and disturbing — more of a comedy of errors. It explores the story of an engineer who built a rocket belt that can fly you around like the Rocketeer, and who was subsequently kidnapped and tortured by his angel investor. But the really crazy part? The belt prop actually worked.

Paul Giamatti starred in and produced the film, but was scared shitless by the rocket belt, which can send your ass up in the air for 30 seconds before it cuts out. "It's a real thing. But they only fly for 30 seconds, and they're incredibly dangerous, but they exist." While the belt in the film runs on compressed air and crossed finger, the belt in The Rocketbelt Caper hasn't been seen since the benefactor kidnapped the inventor and held him captive in a box after he refused to cough up the ten million bucks a judge awarded him in a court case. Lesson learned? Angel investors are stranger than science fiction.

Real-life rocket man stuns Giamatti [USA Today]

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<![CDATA[Rocketeer Might Be Re-Rocketing Into Theaters]]> Billy Campbell wants to bring the Rocketeer back to the audiences who didn't turn out in droves to see the original in the 1991 adaptation of Dave Steven's graphic novel. If you have time to check this out on DVD or the Disney Channel (where it seems to turn up every other day), then you'll see that besides the acting, the film hasn't aged that well. Today's special effects could make this thing fly again, as long as they don't saturate it with CGI.

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<![CDATA[Bring Home The Head Of Arnold Schwarzenegger]]> A genuine casting of Arnie's head from Batman & Robin is just one of the bizarre movie props available on eBay right now. You can also own the robot head of Robin Williams from Bicentennial Man, and the original helmet from the Rocketeer movie. Or if your loved ones are really obsessive, you can get them some even weirder crap.

If you're not satisfied with Robin Williams' head, you can also get his eyes and arm (also from Bicentennial Man) as well as some sort of weird animatronic prop. Also on eBay:

  • A ton of props from Southland Tales, including a belt worn by Sarah Michelle Gellar, Gellar's character's business card, an American flag, dog tags worn by Janeane Garofalo's soldier character and a wedding cake topper.
  • A weird-ass tumbler that John Travolta drank out of in Battlefield Earth. Probably still coated in his saliva.
  • A sign from the precog police station in Minority Report.
  • A crew-member uniform from Star Trek: Generations You could wear it to a Halloween party. But instead you'll probably just keep it in an acid-free box and fondle it occasionally.
  • The "tachyon admitter" the Fantastic Four used to separate the Silver Surfer from his surfboard in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
  • Conference-room furniture from the Transformers movie. Just think, you could, ummm... use it in your conference room.
  • A rubber pick-axe and crampons from Alien vs. Predator.
  • A sign, in some alien script, from Ultraviolet.
  • A zombie plague victim mask from Resident Evil: Extinction.
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