Those who have sung Karaoke with me know that I often sing the the lyrics that I thought I heard rather than what’s actually on the screen, a peccadillo that ties in with my concept of “personal continuity,” i.e. only acknowledging stories that fit with my personal thoughts on a given franchise. For MY James T. Kirk, ‘The Way To Eden’ happened. The continuity-error-laden Star Trek V didn’t. Back when there was no internet, I had to use the local library (and the huge number of books that my mother and grandmother always seemed to have lying around) to figure out what the deal was with things like Zorro, Doonesbury and the female reproductive system, and sometimes my information was incomplete or based entirely on inference. Even now there are still some areas of pop culture, seemingly within my appropriate age and interested brackets, that I’ve never really learned about as I prefer the story in my head. (I didn’t realize that the Thundercats weren’t just radioactive giant sentient Earth cats until college, for instance.) It’s a habit that I see reflected in my kid, who has developed a huge love for the razor-toothed Japanese TV mascot, Domo, despite neither knowing nor caring what his “official” deal is…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) always kind of found a quiet noble side to Muffy Tepperman’s enthusiasm, if not her pretension, asking: What’s your favorite bit of pop-culture that you know next-to-nothing about?
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Yeah, “Star Trek V: The Final Insult” does not exist in my world either.
As far as a favorite: Transformers. I’ve only seen a couple of 80’s episodes and the animated movie.
“Star Wars: Legacy” because all of my knowledge of it comes from wikis and other sources. I’ve never read a single issue, but I’m utterly fascinated with a lot of the concepts (and of course think Darth Talon looks yummy).
Similarly, I absolutely adore Akibaranger even though I’ve only seen one episode. I’ve read up on the series in The Morphin Grid (Power Rangers and Super Sentai wiki) as well as overviews by people who have seen it, but I have yet to see more than the first episode.
Pokemon. I have no idea what it is. All I know is you “gotta catch ’em all” or something. I always assumed it was some kind of scavenger hunt. Rodrigo’s comments inform me there is some kind of fighting involved. Either way…
That yellow guy always looked cool and cute both. I would totally catch ’em all if I was a pokemon… or something.
“I always assumed it was some kind of scavenger hunt.”
In some ways it is.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. love the enthusiasm that surrounds the show and I really love seeing all the fan art and cosplaying that comes out of the show . . . but the show’s not really for me. Still. I love that corner of the Internet!
Pretty much anything by Neil Gaiman. I hear that Sandman is pretty awesome as well as some of his novels. They are on my “to read” list but I have never gotten around to it. They are supposed to be gods or something?
sherlock holmes. as much as i enjoy the current BBC series (and that’s pretty damn immensely), and as much as i enjoy the downey movies for the popcorn entertainment they are, i’ve never had the patience to sit down and read many of the original doyle stories. i DO know, however, that sherlock holmes probably wasn’t the jason bourne-esque ninja hand-to-hand fightmaster he seems to be in the downey movies.
second place…..it’s gotta be a toss-up between star trek and doctor who. i have friends who love both (sometimes at the same time….eeewwww….), and have sat down to watch a good number of episodes of both series, in some of their respective incarnations (original series star trek, TNG, DS9….some of the tom baker doctor, but mostly the post-relaunch eccleston/tennant/matt smith episodes)….yet, i don’t really know much about either franchise other than they occasionally offer a decent adventure story where i spend half the time asking those predictable “who’s that? why’s that guy do that? why’s that giant salt shaker have a plunger sticking out of it? why does professor x look like the terminator all of a sudden??” questions. most of the time i’ve gotten answers, and feel like i’ve accumulated enough knowledge to barely (BARELY!) hold my own if something came up in conversation. but as much as i enjoy sitting down to watch star trek or doctor who, i’ve never really felt the impulse to seek it out myself, when i’m sitting in front of the tv alone.
actually, scratch that. after re-reading matthew’s blurb, i’d like to change my answer to “the female reproductive system.”
Comics and video games in general!
My girlfriend states: Superman. She knows a little bit. Mostly from the dini-verse superman and that one show with Dean Cain.
I say… Doctor Who. All I know about the show (or shows, however the fans prefer) is what I hear on the podcast. Sounds so intriguing, but I just haven’t the time nor the inclination. Maybe if I’m locked in a room with just a laptop at some point I’ll check it out on Netflix.