Only We Can Prevent Planets!

Not So Much Literally As In Metaphor And Nomenclature
We'll get to that a bit later on.  First, as there is a visual pun to smuggle past the Web's Facebook Scrutineers (a.k.a. Hamsters) we need a little distraction.
    Pumpkins!
    Why?
    For the UK reader, please see below:

JUM!

     We here in the UK get to see pumpkins in the run up to Halloween, for maybe two weeks, and then they all mysteriously vanish on 1st November.  Hence the above visual reminder.
     Conrad is unaware of how many UK residents actually make use of the scooped-out pumpkin flesh, although it's probably not that high, because pumpkin tastes pretty much of nothing.  If you make pumpkin soup or pumpkin cheesecake or Halloween pumpkin cake, then the flesh adds moisture and bulk but any flavour comes from the other ingredients.
     So.  The pun king doesn't rate the pumpkin.

"Warm Bodies"
A zombie rom-com that is actually not bad at all, and which owes nothing at all to Shaun of the Dead.  It is based on a novel, so it has proper literary legs, and that also means someone went to the trouble of thinking about a plot and characters first, rather than casting a few bright young things and then looking for a script.
     Allegedly it's also based on "Romeo and Juliet", which is also a good historical pedigree (don't forget - "Forbidden Planet" was based on "The Tempest").

No!  Art Department, get it right!

Better

Retrospective
As you know by now, gentle reader, Conrad does not recycle much of BOOJUM!'s earlier material.  On occasion when needs must, meaning either a bit of copy-and-paste or no blog, he resorts to this, whilst informing you, the audience, that this is backdated stuff.  The fact that he has been pounding the keyboard for over eighteen months does mean that there's a lot of reference material to fall back on if necessary - around 600* posts.  Our recent recycle post of 15th January showed, amusingly, that the principal obsessions remain - the principal obsessions.
     Conrad - he may be potty but he's consistently potty.

Teapotty.  Close enough.

"The Tenth Planet"
No!  Not the Doctor Who serial where William Hartnell is replaced by Patrick Troughton in the first ever regeneration.
     No, I refer instead to "Eris", which was a planet discovered in orbit around the Sun, three times further out than Pluto, back in 2005.  It was indeed known briefly as the Tenth Planet, until the International Astronomical Union, a right bunch of buzz-kills, decided that they needed to redefine quite what a planet is - hence the title of this blog.
     They redefined both Eris and Pluto as "dwarf planets", so instead of having ten planets, our Solar System now has only eight.  A twenty per cent cut in our allocation of planets all because of some pedantic hair-splitters.

Hubble Space Telescope photograph of - no, hang on -

Rejected Star Trek: The Next Generation Episode Titles
Once again no negative comments!  I was a touch worried that Americans or excessively-devoted fans might carry out a Denial of Service attack, but <all digits crossed> no bad things have happened.  Yet.
     Let the scrivel begin!

The Baked Now

Cod of Honour

Databore

Angel Cone

Home Soiled

Coming of Page

Heart of Gory

The Arse of Freedom

Skink of Evil

We'll Always Have Pairs

Ah, those make me laugh!  You - well, whose blog is it?  Precisely!


Gerry Anderson Ergonomics: Thunderbirds
Now, don't get me wrong, I loved Thunderbirds and still do, but there are some very odd set designs in the series and I intend to address these right here.
     Okay, when International Rescue get a call, what does Scott Tracy do?
     Firstly, he puts down his drink**, goes over to the hidden wall-swivel and gets sent out to board Thunderbird One.

Step One.  Note Scott's natty dress ensemble.

There's no handrail.  Hope he has a good head for heights.

Scott, sitting pretty

     Now, what happens next?  Thunderbird One sits on a mighty travelling cradle, which then moves off down a funicular track from the Boarding Cavern to the Launch Cavern, in a very impressive engineering triumph.

Don't you just love that TB1-shaped tunneling?

Now ready to launch from the Swimming Pool site

     What Conrad would like to point out is that, if Scott were willing to walk a hundred metres, none of this enormous engineering project with a giant cradle and rails and a special cavern just for boarding would be necessary.  Or - don't tell me, those drinks weren't alcohol-free and he wouldn't be able to walk that far?
     Oh Gerry!

Tomorrow: How to survive an alien invasion

* Wow.  I've been busy.
** That's got to be non-alcoholic, right?  Flying a supersonic jet capable of Mach 23 whilst half-cut - what could possibly go wrong ...