The El-aurians: Have they completely stopped trying?

[Damaramu]

Hmm....I personally never use the term "japanimation", prefering anime.

But just how are you guys pronouncing it?

JAP-Animation? I always thought it was JAPAN-IMATION? You know? With no emphasis on the "jap" portion but on the "japan" part as a whole.

Oh well...nevermind.

[Setzer]

Anime, you fucking racist prick!

It's not japanime, japanimation, or fucking any stupid fucking inbred pun like that!! Just ANIME!!!!

Continue....

I agree. Is American animation called USAmation, or Americamation?
Are British cartoons called Britainimation?

[Setzer]

Anime, you fucking racist prick!

It's not japanime, japanimation, or fucking any stupid fucking inbred pun like that!! Just ANIME!!!!

Continue....

I agree. Is American animation called USAmation, or Americamation?
Are British cartoons called Britainimation?

[Vympel]

Patrick Degan, you need a new title. Padawan learner just doesn't do your posts justice ... I am always amused by the time I finish reading them.

[VF5SS]

Well I'm even more offended by the use of the words "Japanese" and "Japan." They sound to close to "Jap" and are not even the proper terms. From now on I expect everyone to use "Nihonjin" and "Nihon" which if translated literally for English use are "Land of the Rising Sun People" and "Land of the Rising sun."

I just love "Land of the Rising Sunimation"

[Slartibartfast]

I noticed that Doctor Soran had no head bumps or anything of that manner? So what's the point? Why did they make Soran an alien is they aren't even going to paint pink dots (or the like) on his head?

So? Guinum (sp?) looked human.

Guinan is the exact same species as Soran.

There have been tons of aliens on ST over the years that look exactly like humans.

I really don't see the problem here.

They used at least some cheap make-up to make them look alien (with Klingon I think it was just big eyebrows, but there was one case of a Klingon disguised as a human, he basically shaved a bit here and there (the episode with the station and the Tribbles).

[Utsanomiko]

Well I'm even more offended by the use of the words "Japanese" and "Japan." They sound to close to "Jap" and are not even the proper terms. From now on I expect everyone to use "Nihonjin" and "Nihon" which if translated literally for English use are "Land of the Rising Sun People" and "Land of the Rising sun."

I just love "Land of the Rising Sunimation"

The problem people have with the term is that it's a pun that was created solely to poke fun at Japanese productions (these are probably the same kind of people who have 'buy american' bumperstickers on their Ford 'boats', despite the fact that most products that are actually made in america are poorly made).

Does anyone have that quote from Ragtime, where the father asks Coalhouse if he can "play any coon-songs?", and the narrator notes that he calls them that because he doesn't know any better? Also, on a separate note, can I call Life is Beautiful a 'wop-flick' as long as I don't see it as offensive, or I continually deny it's intent of mockery?

[VF5SS]

I still think otaku make a big deal out it. I'm just having fun, that's all

[VF5SS]

To get on topic...

Well to me an alien should be truly alien. I'll use an example I'm more familiar with, Transformers. I've been around the fan community and read many fanfics and I've seen a lot of cookie cutte stories with standard sci-fi plots with Transformers plugged in. The worst offender was a very violent war story where the characters spoke in normal slang. Warpath says, "Watch me smack some shit up and get the fuck down" or somethng to that effect. I had always believed that for one thing, they could be more alien if their faces lacked the ability to convey most human facial expressions, as a robot wouldn't need to smile. Just a little mouth piece, sometimes shaped like a human mouth, that moved up and down when they talked. Plus there would be expression in their eyes, just blank cameras. Maybe their voice would have a few somewhat similar tones to a human's. The trick is to have them interact with a human. Ya know, use that human's impression as an insight into how this alien thinks and how it is recieved by the reader. Just my two.

[Utsanomiko]

I find that with my own writings (mostly game designs), I try to keep any aliens in it from being too androcentric. I figure if I'm going to make up a ficticious setting, I could at least make some significant differences, one of which is avoiding androcentricism.

I'm working on a MMORPG right now, and I'm attempting to include 80-100 separate unique species as playable options. In order to add variety, I'm trying to keep them from being too androcentric, so about roughly half of them are 'humanoid' (arms & legs connected to a torso, typical sensory organs.), but by being such a broad classification, it technically applies to any species that even resembles most earth-like life, such as insects, crabs, and anything more advanced. And out those, only half again could be classified as having a specifically earth-like appearance (as in mammilian, reptilian, insectoid, etc.) Most of this type will, at best, have only a few attirbutes that are vaguely comparable to terrestrial life-forms, such as "Well, the natives of Sigma Draconis are kind've like newts or lizards with gills instead of a mouth, but look almost like a camel wearing a gask-mask. Oh, they're also really tall and thin, and have four arms, but that doesn't really help in the comparison."
For variety, a half a dozen or so might even be completely different, like sentient biological fluid-like species, or coral structures. I'll have to brainstorm on these alot more than I have.

But not only am I trying to keep the different species unique, but also interresting and likeable. There'd be no point in having so many if players got lost in the menagerie of contrived, characterless aliens that are too flat to keep track of all of them, let alone identify with them (ie, "Are the Mirphakoids the ones that look like coat-racks, or the ones that look like tall plants?" "You mean the really tall palmtree-like plants, or the birch-tree like ones with lots of legs?" "Aren't those same species, from the Arturus Sector?" "Hell, I haven't a clue now."). Hopefully, good cultural/historical backgrounds will keep this to a minimum, as well as varying psychological make-ups among lifeforms (such as most aliens' inability to differentiate between human faces/gender/race, lack of common morals, varying social concepts of 'self' and 'reality', etc, etc.) So there's alot to balance there, and I'm hoping I can get Spanky The Dolphin to sketch some for me (If he'll get off his lazy ass).

Anyway, I've gone on about this enough already (hope it still sounds topic-related, and not some kind of plug). Personally, I feel Star Wars has done a good job of balancing varyiety with memorability, though not as much lately despite CG technology (alot of them are starting to have Gungan-esque amphibian/reptilian spotted skin, and frog-like appearances. Get a new skin texture, ILM! and I want to see a Verpine or an Ugor in Episode III!