# Pop culture within science fiction; the good and the bad **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies, star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [September 21, 2025, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260 "2025-09-21T14:19:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2025, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/81 "2025-09-22T22:59:18Z")
> **[Jizz/Legends](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Jizz/Legends)** > > Jizz was an upbeat, swinging genre of music, most notably performed by Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes and the Max Rebo Band. Other notable jizz bands included Bobolo Baker's All-Bith Band, Evar Orbus and His Galactic Jizz-Wailers, Hutt, Figrin D'an... This quote definitely ranks amongst the “bad” in SF pop culture “A jizz band without a Bith has its work cut out for them. A jizz band without a kloo horn should find a new gig.” ---
**Author:** ![de\_Worde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@de\_Worde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/de_Worde)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/82 "2025-09-22T23:16:33Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > For his Martian novels, Edgar Rice Burroughs created a chess-like game called [jetan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jetan). I have heard that die-hard fans have played it. They also play a game of chance on Barsoom called yano, though ERB doesn’t describe in detail how it’s played. Something to do with numbered balls and holes. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2025, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/83 "2025-09-22T23:19:14Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Or in other words: if you want to quote the 23rd-Century Shakespeare, you have to be as good a writer as the 16th-Century Shakespeare. And nobody is. You haven’t experienced Shakespeare until you’ve read him in the original Klingon. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/84 "2025-09-22T23:21:06Z")
Oh maybe? It’s been years. I thought we didn’t see any of it….maybe punchlines with the crowds laughing uproariously? I do remember Londo not getting what was so funny about them. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2025, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/85 "2025-09-22T23:22:45Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The music played in the Cantina was known as “Jizz music” in older Star Wars publications, although I believe it was changed at some point. But they still haven’t changed Dr. Seuss’s _Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?_ (likely because there’s a plausible alternate pronunciation): > And, oh! Just suppose > you were poor Harry Haddow. > Try as he will > he can’t make any shadow! > > He thinks that, perhaps, something’s wrong with his Gizz. > And I think that, by golly, there probably is. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2025, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/86 "2025-09-22T23:47:34Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Even when _Star Trek_ originally aired, schools didn’t have inkwells! (At least not that I noticed in historical documentaries like _Leave It To Beaver_.) And cans? Assuming stuff still came in cans in the future, what do they tie them to? Transporters? I was born in 1962, our school desks had anachronistic inkwells, probably because our school had no budget for new desks. But being residents of the 1960s, we had ball point pens, and no need for ink. (I did try calligraphy in 5th grade and spilled an entire bottle of india ink on my pants, but that’s a story for another time). Maybe people who were kids when Shatner and the writers were kids had inkwells. That’s about the only way it makes sense. Which is to say, the comment make no sense. Kirk was a brat that tortured cats or dogs by tying tin cans to their tails? I guess dipping hair in inkwells is how Kirk learned to be the ladies’ man he grew into? So much for the enlightened future. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/87 "2025-09-23T00:04:08Z")
I’ve often thought that Kirk’s backstory should have been that he was born and raised in the 23rd century equivalent of an Amish community that had decided to freeze the technology they used at pre-computer levels. That would have automatically given Kirk an excuse for in-character exposition. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/88 "2025-09-23T00:28:45Z")
As a child, I went to school in San Diego. I’m guessing they had a budget. I know I’ve seen desks with inkwells, but I think it was a museum-like presentation. William Shatner was born in 1931, and Gene Roddenberry was born in 1921. Ballpoint pens were patented in 1938 (Europe) and 1943 (Argentina) and didn’t really get big until after WWII. (I have fountain pens from the ‘50s.) So both Roddenberry and Shatner would remember dip pens and inkwells from their childhood; but it occurred to neither that many people might not know what a ‘pen’ is in the 23rd Century, much less a dip pen. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/89 "2025-09-23T00:29:56Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Either there are culturally imposed limits on how much and how far you use holodeck technology In particular, I would think that creating holographic versions of your actual crewmates, whether for pornographic reasons or for any other, should be something that’s strictly forbidden. That is, assuming Starfleet cares anything about respect for its personnel. Which may be assuming too much. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/90 "2025-09-23T00:42:42Z")
Given sensor technology the potential for spying is enormous. Really this touches on a subject I’ve been considering for it’s own thread: the potential for technology to do anything that’s doable and what happens to humanity then. When the limit is a Krell machine that effectively enacts magic. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/91 "2025-09-23T02:13:28Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > But they still haven’t changed Dr. Seuss’s _Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?_ (likely because there’s a plausible alternate pronunciation): That’s obviously short for “gizzard”. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/92 "2025-09-23T03:04:02Z")
I once read a Trek send-up where their version of Starfleet Academy had a required course in 20th century popular culture. They didn’t say why, it just was. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/93 "2025-09-23T03:55:34Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > In the original _Battlestar Galactica_, they measured time in “centons” and “microns”, and profanity consisted of the verb “frack” and the noun “felgercarb”. As a kid, I loved it. If I watched it today, I’m not sure if I would enjoy it, or cringe. I bet you would do both. > **[Unusual Euphemism - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnusualEuphemism)** > > The characters are talking about an embarrassing issue by using a rubber-ducking euphemism that the scriptwriters just made up. Many Science Fiction shows make up such curse words so as not to offend Standards and Practices, probably because … For the cursing actually works for me, as it does in a newer (but still not new) show Farscape. They get away with it, because it’s an “alien” language, but we all know what they mean. And it means the dialog feels just a touch more natural, rather than people never cursing the way they do in more sanitized/bowdlerized work. It also had an in-universe version of playing cards (Pyramid, played with hexagonal cards), and the terribly weird looking sportsball game played by the main characters. But you’d still wince at the hair styles, how “weak” otherwise strong female characters would be when called for, and a lot of era-appropriate tropes. Still, better than most. Farscape, which I just mentioned, does an amazing job on creating various alien worlds, assumptions, the whole nine yards. A concrete example is the game Tadek, which one of the main cast gambles too though the details aren’t ever explained. So lots of epic world building, but it contrasts it with a then-current Human’s perspective, who is (meta!) trying to adapt by applying our own pop culture tropes to describe or utilize. A favorite line: “We don’t understand the R2D2 crap. We’re going to use the Star Trek system. One blink for yes, two for no.” > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Grayson, from the Honor Harrington series. Specifically to the music - Grayson was founded by highly religious luddites from Idaho (travelling in starships) who found such a hostile environment they had to quickly revise their rules to survive. (Just amplifying, Der\_Trihs and others are also 100% correct) ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/94 "2025-09-23T12:15:49Z")
There was an 8-series adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s _The Watch_ that aired in 2021. They changed it from a fantasy setting to something more steampunkish, and made all dwarves human-sized, not just Captain Carrot. In one episode, iirc the cops masquerade as a metal band to get into the “bad” part of Ankh-Morporkh (I know, it’s all bad, I’m just paraphrasing). Cheery Littlebottom, played by a non-binary with a deep voice, sings lead in a death metal-like song they perform, using a gutteral language with lots of “och” sounds. I think they were singing about minerals. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/95 "2025-09-23T12:40:43Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > > [@Lumpy](#): > > > > Either there are culturally imposed limits on how much and how far you use holodeck technology > > In particular, I would think that creating holographic versions of your actual crewmates, whether for pornographic reasons or for any other, should be something that’s strictly forbidden. That is, assuming Starfleet cares anything about respect for its personnel. > > Which may be assuming too much. Didn’t Barclay get in trouble for creating holographic characters of the bridge crew in TNG? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/96 "2025-09-23T14:24:32Z")
They were pissed, but polite enough to be more concerned about Barclay’s deepening holoaddiction. He was decompensating, progressively losing his ability to cope with real life. At that point he was more pathetic than obnoxious. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/97 "2025-09-23T14:54:43Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > They were pissed, but polite enough to be more concerned about Barclay’s deepening holoaddiction. Until Troi saw Reg’s version of her as “The Goddess of Empathy”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/98 "2025-09-23T17:12:51Z")
Woven throughout E.M.Foner’s EarthCent series is the notion of vastly more advanced and ancient aliens collecting kitchen gadgets from Earth - and he makes it work! ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/99 "2025-09-23T18:01:05Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > In the original _Battlestar Galactica_, they measured time in “centons” and “microns”, and profanity consisted of the verb “frack” and the noun “felgercarb”. As a kid, I loved it. If I watched it today, I’m not sure if I would enjoy it, or cringe. I liked The 100’s version better. Humanity survived in a space station for almost 100 years and the punishment for anything was getting floated into space. So “float you” and “go float yourself” were their go to insults. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260/100 "2025-09-23T18:16:40Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > OK, maybe even in the 23rd Century Iowa was still a bit behind the times; but inkwells? Even when _Star Trek_ originally aired, schools didn’t have inkwells! (At least not that I noticed in historical documentaries like _Leave It To Beaver_.) And cans? Assuming stuff still came in cans in the future, what do they tie them to? Transporters? My elementary school, which I graduated from in 1963, had inkwells in all the desks, and I’m sure it still did when Star Trek aired. Anyhow, I suspect there are no apple trees on Vulcan, so I suspect Kirk’s words might be from still reading Tom Sawyer or something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-within-science-fiction-the-good-and-the-bad/1023260.md?page=6)