I didn't watch a movie tonight, but I did watch an episode of "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea", so the evening wasn't a total loss. A computer genius has designed a system to fully automate the Seaview. The onboard "superbrain", as it is referred to, will run every operation on the sub, from the engine room to the navigation deck. It will even fire missiles at an enemy, should that be necessary. This supercomputer makes human command and control obsolete. It makes the Seaview the world's first "driverless" submarine, 55 years in advance of all of these dangerous cars that are being proposed.
You'll never get me in a driverless car, that's for sure, but in the case of the Seaview, a provision in Maritime Law states that any ship has to have at least one passenger to avoid being classified as "abandoned", and therefore open to being towed away and claimed by any vessel that should happen upon it.
Captain Crane (David Hedison of "The Fly" fame) is therefore assigned as the tag-along rider. The computer scientist is so sure of his system that he tells Crane he will literally need to do nothing to run the ship. The computer will do it all (even in 1964). A test run of the modified Seaview is scheduled for immediate launch. Captain Crane wryly promises not to "touch any buttons".
But there is one contingency that no one has contemplated, except for maybe Donald Trump.
The Russians already know about this advanced supercomputer. In Cold War era sci-fi television and movies, they are always the evil masterminds. So : a diabolical Russian General sends a Super Spy to stow away aboard the ship. He does so, wearing a velour zip up suit, moving stealthily with pistol in 90 degree cocked right arm. The Russkie proceeds to sabotage the wiring system of the ship's communications, so that David Hedison is now isolated, cut off from his command.
You know how I wrote about cattle stampedes, and how one might be appropriate at a certain time in any given movie?
Well in this case we have a different situation, because if David Hedison was "The Fly" here, instead of being Captain Crane, this Russian agent - and the time-reversed Donald Trump who sent him in 1964 - would both have thought twice about trying to take over the Seaview.
Because, I mean........the spy is gonna disable the submarine, so his comrades can tow it back to Mother Russia.....but what if all of a sudden The Fly jumped out at him from behind one of those raised submarine doorways?
What if it was The Fly, instead of Captain Crane?
I will tell you what would've happened; that Russkie would've jumped ship and Trump would've nev...
wait a minute.......would he never have been elected president in this set of circumstances?
You might be able to determine the answer better than I, as you are reading this on a Monday morning after a good night's sleep, whilst I am writing it on a Sunday night with eyes held open by toothpicks.
We had good singing in church this morning. Besides our anthem we had two gospel hymns, some of my favorites to sing because you can let loose with the inspiration.
I also watched a 30 minute episode of a show from 1957 called "Decoy", that stars Beverly Garland as a New York City policewoman. This show was recommended to me by Amazon, and I had a purchase credit on Best Buy, so I got the entire series on dvd for six bucks. It's really good. I've watched five eps so far, every one a hard-boiled crime story, and you get incredible Eisenhower era location footage from NYC in every episode, so you can see the city as it was. I've never been to New York but Dad spent a lot of time there, and I would love to see it someday. I feel as if I know the neighborhoods just a little bit, from the movies and TV.
I don't know about you, but I am really on the ropes with this freezing weather. This has been the coldest February I can recall in at least a decade. If there were such a thing as a Microwave Freezer (as opposed to a Microwave Oven), I would feel as if I had been frozen in one, starting from the inside, because microwaves cook you from the inside out. And that's how I am frozen, from my bones outward. :)
I am officially a Popsicle.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment