Your humble scribe has long asserted that having a theme takes a bit of the heavy lifting out of being creative, as the foundations have already been provided. Since I'm not sure how long I can keep the construction metaphor going, let us look at tonight's theme - Mars. I actually came up with this idea a month ago, and it's taken that long for it to filter into reality as it's been in competition with the other Themes - letters of the alphabet in reverse order, and - has there been anything else?
Well, here we are. I promise this won't all be relentlessly military in nature.
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| The Mysterons on Mars Not, I have to say, good neighbours |
Okay, no mention of anything relentlessly military would be complete without mention of an obscure and little-known branch of the British Army known as the "Special Air Service". I say that tongue-in-cheek; of course it's one of the most widely-known secret forces in the world*, but only after the Iranian Embassy Siege of 1981. Prior to that it was assumed to be a kind of Postal Delivery In Uniform.
They have their own website, named above, although reading it will not, I am afraid, turn you into a super-warrior who can speak seventeen languages whilst disguised as a bottle of Guinness. The link, should you prove curious:
http://www.marsandminerva.co.uk/
Mars, Bagnold And NASA
That's BRIGADIER Bagnold to you, you idle young scamp! This chap founded the Long Range Desert Group of North African fame in the Second Unpleasantness. They would travel enormously long distances to get hundreds and hundreds of miles behind enemy lines, perform some raffish piratical deed and then disappear.
To manage this they had to be experts on the desert; how to survive in it, how to travel across it, how to navigate it, how to read it. There is a particular brand of Englishman who positively relishes such a challenge, and that's where we encounter Ralph Bagnold.
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| Bagnold's Back Yard |
His abilities and experience were so highly valued that he was invited to address NASA with his thoughts on the surface of Mars. Not bad for a human!
Mars-La-Tour
Hmm. We do seem to be a bit Relentlessly Military so far, don't we?
Anyway. This was a battle of the Franco-Prussian war, 16th August 1870, back in the days when the European nation's recipe for quelling boredom was to go to war with one another. In it's way this was a quite modern war, with the French managing to snatch defeat from victory at this battle and a later one.
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| I got the date right! |
Mice From Mars, Biker
Okay we're stretching a bit with the title, it's just that I'm trying not to be completely Relentlessly Military.
These were three anthropomorphic mice from Mars, who rode bikes.
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| Motor bikes, that is |
Besides fighting evil aliens and shizzle.
Which pretty much sums up BMFM
Pyramids Of Mars
I could call this Classic Doctor Who, but I won't, although it is and in fact I have. It ties up Victorian England, Egyptian mythology, Mars and pyramids, although you don't see the Martian ones IIRC, which is a bit of a swizz.
| Martian robots building a pyramid-shaped missile. (I think - it's been a while) |
Oh, and a little corrective for those people who have been making that classic mistake: the Ice Warriors are NOT Martians! Yes they live there, and that's it.
Mould Mars Mars!
Here I mean "mars" as in the sense of "spoils", and also as in the classic confectionery chocolate bar.
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| Even I would not tackle. |
"But Conrad!" I hear you cry. "That's nothing to do with Mars. Have you lost it? (not that you ever held on tightly to it in the first place)."
Pay attention: Marr S
Close enough.
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| Also close enough. |
- tricked you, this is the end of today's theme. Thank you for reading, and remember - keep watching the skies! And monitoring the radio, because of the Mongolian Amateur Radio Society***.
* This is probably as good a working description of Irony as you are likely to find.
** But I will do. You see if I don't. Just as soon as I find it ...
*** A real thing.
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