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Old 10-14-2020, 05:27 PM   #31
Prince Charon
 
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Default Re: [Psionics] The Spice Must Flow... from Skylab

Would it be acceptable to change how Return of the Jedi goes in this timeline? IIRC, at least one of the drafts of the script had the second Death Star being built in orbit of Kashyyyk, and an entire legion of the Emperor's finest troops being defeated by Wookiees with bowcasters, rather than by stone-age teddy bears.
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Old 10-14-2020, 06:59 PM   #32
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Default Re: [Psionics] The Spice Must Flow... from Skylab

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Would it be acceptable to change how Return of the Jedi goes in this timeline?
Only if Lucas's involvement can be curtailed. A plausible way to do that could be to have Lucas to avoid antagonizing the DGA so someone Lucas trusted (e.g. Spielberg) would be able to direct (and thus take the movie off of Lucas's plate). This could allow Lucas to proceed with his 12 movie plan for Star Wars.
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Old 10-15-2020, 06:37 PM   #33
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Default Re: [Psionics] The Spice Must Flow... from Skylab

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Only if Lucas's involvement can be curtailed. A plausible way to do that could be to have Lucas to avoid antagonizing the DGA so someone Lucas trusted (e.g. Spielberg) would be able to direct (and thus take the movie off of Lucas's plate). This could allow Lucas to proceed with his 12 movie plan for Star Wars.
Hmm. Maybe being friends with Roddenberry allows GR to convince GL not to antagonize them?
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Old 10-15-2020, 09:18 PM   #34
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Default Re: [Psionics] The Spice Must Flow... from Skylab

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Hmm. Maybe being friends with Roddenberry allows GR to convince GL not to antagonize them?
Possibly; I don't really know how GR interacted with unions. Could setup the relationship by having late 70s Trek seek to use ILM for SFX (this could also help avoid the need for the company to be reformed).

If you wanted to take a less positive turn, 20th Century Fox thought Star Wars would be a failure in OTL. In a timeline where Star Trek is planning about a dozen TV movies in 77, this might go differently, and Lucas might not be in a position to have as much pull.
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Old 10-16-2020, 06:49 PM   #35
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Default Re: [Psionics] The Spice Must Flow... from Skylab

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Possibly; I don't really know how GR interacted with unions. Could setup the relationship by having late 70s Trek seek to use ILM for SFX (this could also help avoid the need for the company to be reformed).
That's already the case.
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Old 04-11-2022, 03:21 PM   #36
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Default Re: [Psionics] The Spice Must Flow... from Skylab

1977

January 3: A new manga series begins publication in Japan; called 'Cities of Mars,' it's set mostly on Mars in 2027 and later (each year of publication, the story advances a year, staying fifty years ahead). The setting includes significant use of psi-tech and psi abilities, and some use of psi drugs.

January 7: Paramount Pictures announces that while there will not be a new Star Trek season this year, several Star Trek-related telefilms have been ordered, including one starring Mark Lenard that will have a few flashbacks to Sarek's romance with Amanda Grayson and the childhood of Spock.

January 8: The second episode of the Doctor Who serial 'The Face of Evil' is broadcast. The Mordee expedition is implicitly a Federation starship; some of the uniforms of the Tesh resemble modified 'penguin greys,' and doors, corridors, and control panels resemble those on the Enterprise.

January 20: Gerald Ford takes office as President in his own right (as opposed to finishing his predecessor's term).

January 24: Gemini 28, another of the man-and-cargo variant, carries Deke Slayton to Skylab.

February 2: Gemini 25 makes a safe splash-down, and is retrieved.

February 6: Soyuz 24 brings cosmonauts Vyacheslav Zudov and Mikhail Lisun to Salyut 5.

February 14: British tabloid The Sun publishes a story about the Spice, to general disbelief and derision. A number of intelligence agencies begin hunting for leaks, especially after a subtle telepathic examination determines that the reporter only remembers receiving the information in a telephone call that Post Office Telecommunications can find no evidence of.

February 23: A psi drug designated 'Brainstorm' (translated to English) is invented in Soviet Union. The drug is addictive and dangerous to the user (it can temporarily cripple one's psi abilities if abused), but assists the user in forcing their abilities to work better by sheer willpower <see GURPS Psi-Tech p33>.

March 2: Senator William Proxmire suffers a heart attack, and is hospitalized.

March 15: A paper authored by scientists at a number of universities describes the use of transtators to detect & train natural psi abilities. This does not remove the need for the Spice by any means, or even reduce it much, as one must already have detectable psi abilities, and use them in range of a detector, in order for the scientists to know one could be trained. Still, for nations and groups that don't have access to the Spice (or don't know that it even exists), this is the only game in town, and many nations take notice, especially those which have extensive state control of their populations, like the PRC (who also have the advantage of a high popuation and the expectation of near-future Spice manufacture) and the DPRK (who don't, but have very determined leaders). Some begin discussing the use of eugenics to increase their psionic populations (something that does not go over well in a lot of places).

March 29: Argo 1, an unmanned test launch of the Argo spacecraft, goes through without incident. Remote controlled tests of the various onboard systems, including a new waldo design, go well.

March 30: Argo 1's command module returns to the Earth, with the various instruments within showing green.

April 3: Gemini 27 returns to Earth.

April 7: Soyuz 23 returns safely to the USSR.

April 16: C. Gordon Fullerton and Robert F. Overmyer ride Gemini 29 to Skylab.

April 27: Salyut 4 is deorbited.

May 4: Star Wars Episode IV, A New Hope is in theatres. It does better than George Lucas considered likely.

May 10: Argo 3, the first manned launch of Argo, brings five astronauts, including Jerrie Cobb, into orbit. This mission will not visit Skylab, as the purpose is to put the craft through its paces (including the manufacture of the Spice).

May 18: Argo 3's CM makes a safe splashdown, with all crew accounted for and healthy (and a successful cargo of the Spice).

May 27: Gene Roddenberry hires Jim Henson to help make Lts. M'Ress and Arex (and other aliens) look real in an upcoming Star Trek telefilm. He also contracts Industrial Light & Magic to help with the special effects (including construction of several spacecraft models), and begins negotiations with George Lucas for collaboration on a Star Fleet Academy telefilm.

June 6: Test launch of BLACK PRINCE 3, carrying two small communications satellites.

June 15: First 'regular' launch of BLACK PRINCE 3, carrying the Commonwealth's Halley space telescope, a reflecting design with a 57-inch mirror.

June 17: Senator Proxmire suffers a second heart attack.

June 21: Gemini 28 splashes down safely.

June 28: NASA and NASDA come to a cooperative agreement regarding Japanese participation in the expanding Skylab Project.

July 3: Long March 2B tested by the PRC. This launch vehicle is intended to be man-rated.

July 7: Argo 4 docks with Skylab, bringing four astronauts and a lot of supplies. Charles M. Duke Jr. returns to the station, and Joseph Allen has his first visit.

July 12: The Japanese government is briefed on Project MELANGE.

July 19: RASBC enters into a cooperative agreement with NASA, including the incorporation of British & other Commonwealth-built components into Skylab. Canada releases more details on a proposed robotic arm or arms to be incorporated into the growing station, originally intended for the Space Shuttle (and still likely to be used in that vehicle).
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"The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates."
-- Tacitus

Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
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Old 04-11-2022, 03:23 PM   #37
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Default Re: [Psionics] The Spice Must Flow... from Skylab

August 10: The second MOL-derived Skylab module, called Athena, is launched with Gemini 30, carrying Wally Funk and Millie Hughes-Fulford (derided in some quarters as a publicity stunt). Docking is complicated by several errors, but is accomplished after an eight-hour spacewalk.

August 23: The People's Republic of China releases artists conceptions of their manned space capsule design, called Shenlung (heavenly dragon); the vehicle is based closely on Soyuz, but with longer, mostly ovoid orbital modules. There are several variants of the OM, the standard model of which is designated as a 'Laboratory Module.' Most variants appear to be designed to have the option of staying in orbit when the CM returns to Earth, and several have two or more docking adaptors; one, listed as a 'Rescue Module,' is explicitly designed to dock with other OMs, deorbit safely (having a robust heat shield), and softland with the aid of parachutes. The artist also drew variants of the RM nose section with both Apollo and Soyuz docking systems. To the surprise and derision of many, the re-entry capsule and RM use white oak as the main heat shield material (yes, really).

August 26: Senator Proxmire retires from politics.

September 7: The Commonwealth's space capsule design is finalized: the BAC Merlin spaceplane, a vehicle seemingly based on the Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar (a lifting-body glider in front with a disposable service module in the rear), though with a slightly different shape, due to advances in aerodynamics. The space behind the cockpit is modular, being able to serve as a cargo bay, a small laboratory (in which the pilot-scientist will float at 90 degrees to the cockpit's orientation), an airlock (with options for either an American-style, Russian-style, or new variety of docking system), or seating for more personnel (often paired with a docking system). As the main heat shield is below the vehicle, there is no need to cut a hole in it to use the tunnel into the Service Module, should the RASBC decide to include a habitat in that location (in the absence of a need to enter the SM, the tunnel can serve as extra cargo space).

September 12: Transtator experiments at Tokyo University show that the device will sometimes react to martial artists 'raising ki.' It also detects biokinesis and/or probability alteration in a few acupressurists and similar, who are noted for being unusually successful.

September 17: Salyut 6 is launched.

September 28: Soyuz 25 carries Vladimir Kovalyonok and Tatyana Kuznetsova to Salyut 6.

October 3: In the PRC, an accident during experiments with a neurotoxin codenamed 'Blue Fire' (translated to English) reveals that it can boost skill with psi abilities before killing the user. If the antidote (codenamed 'Neurovine' by the CIA agent who first stole a copy of the formula from China) is administered quickly enough, the user will most likely survive, though regular use is not recommended, as the user does take damage while using it, and that damage does not just disappear when the antitoxin is given.

October 4: All chemical weapon stockpiles of Blue Fire are redesignated as 'emergency nutritional supplements' for use by intelligence and special forces. Increased production of Neurovine is ordered.

October 12: Argo 5 brings four astronauts to Skylab.

October 16: A significant UFO incident occurs in Colares, Para, Brazil. One highly-sensitive transtator brought to the area before the end of the incident goes off repeatedly, mostly detecting psychokinetic and ergokinetic effects.

October 23: US spies in the PRC become suspicious about the ordered increase in the production of Neurovine.

November 7: Argo 4 returns to Earth safely.

November 10: The ESA officially announces the selection of their manned capsule design: They will be buying the BAC Merlin (to the annoyance of the French, who wanted the ESA to develop its own proprietary lifting-body design, rather than use an already built and in-testing - but British - design). The Daily Mail publishes a cartoon of an enraged and frustrated Marianne shaking her fist at Britannia.

December 9: NASDA releases a series of artist's conceptions of possible Japanese components of Skylab, as a first step toward an independent Japanese space station.

December 13: Gemini 30 leaves Skylab and splashes down safely.

December 16: A Star Trek telefilm with the USS Federation & crew introduces new 'military style' maroon uniforms, as well as showing Arex & M'Ress. The model of the USS Federation was built by ILM, and is noted in dialogue to be a refit; she has far fewer 'greebles' than one might expect of an ILM design, retaining the smooth lines that audiences expect of Star Trek.


Thoughts?
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Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life.

"The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates."
-- Tacitus

Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
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