Get Your Geek On! *Special Announcement Inside*

If you can tell the difference between a Gremlin, an Ewok and a Tribble, you're well on your way to the tippy top of the geek pyramid. However, it never hurts to learn a few key facts every good Sci-fi geek should know:

• 42 is the Answer to Everything: Douglas Adams's novel The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a staple for every geek's bookshelf (and DVD or BluRay collection). In the novel, the computer Deep Thought was created by pan-dimensional [existing across many or all dimensions] beings to calculate the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything - the answer eventually being revealed to be 42.
• Do or Do Not; There Is No Try: Yoda is one of the most-recognized characters in Sci-fi. Voiced by voice actor and puppeteer Frank Oz, the Jedi Master made his first appearance in Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back on the swampy surface of Dagobah, reluctantly instructing Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Force.
• Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold: Khan Noonien Singh, as portrayed by the late Ricardo Montalban, made his first appearance in the Star Trek original series episode "Space Seed" (S. 1 E. 22, 1967) and later cemented his legacy as a villain in the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Khan had a distinct obsession with the Herman Melville novel Moby-Dick, to the point that his dying words are a reiteration of Captain Ahab's final tirade.
• It's Just a Flesh Wound: The 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail is another staple for the DVD or BluRay collection. Starring Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, this Monty Python parody of the tale of King Arthur's search for the bravest knights of the realm has humored generation after generation of geeks with its silly antics and cheeky dialogue. 
• We Gotta Go to the Crappy Town Where I'm a Hero: In 2002, a little show premiered on Fox called Firefly. The Sci-fi/Western mash-up brainchild of Joss Whedon experienced a short run of only 11 aired episodes before it was cancelled, but the series found a new life thanks to the fervent determination of the fans and the movie Serenity was released in 2005. If nothing else, the Firefly crew and their loyal fan-base have proven one very important thing to the executives at Fox: you can't stop the signal.
• So Say We All: Battlestar Galactica, the futuristic story of humans searching for mythological Earth, first premiered in 1978 on ABC, but was cancelled after 22 episodes in 1979. The series was revived in 2004 thanks to Syfy and ran through 2009, airing 75 episodes and mixing up plots with gender changes: Starbuck, for example, was originally played by Dirk Bennedict, but is portrayed by Katee Sackhoff in the reboot. Another big change: the newer Cylons look like people instead of robotic toasters. 
• Soylent Green is People: In 1973, the late Charlton Heston appeared in the Sci-fi/Mystery film Soylent Green. Set in a very dark and overcrowded futuristic New York, Heston's character Detective Thorn finds himself in a dangerous position against the government when he discovers the new processed food being sold to everyone is indeed made of human corpses. Bon appétit !
• Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey...Stuff: Possibly one of the biggest successes in the genre of Sci-fi, the ever-popular BBC show Doctor Who has been going strong since the very first episode premiered in 1963 with William Hartnell portraying the eccentric time-traveler. Since then there have been ten other actors to take up the role, meaning in total there have been 11 different incarnations of the Doctor, with Matt Smith being the current Doctor: the original show was cancelled in 1989 - Doctors one through seven appeared at this time - after which a TV movie was released in 1996 starring the eighth Doctor. The show was picked up again in 2005 with Doctor nine and is currently in its seventh season with Doctor number 11. The Doctor's constants: his TARDIS and sonic screwdriver.

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*SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: It is my pleasure to inform you all that we will be having our first celebrity interview on January 28th with Manu Intiraymi! If you have any questions you would like me to ask, jump over to our Facebook page or submit them by email to captshinypants@gmail.com with the subject "Questions". You have until midnight CST on January 25th to submit them!

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