Like astronomy? Like The Guild? Like Fwhil Fwheaton? Then you’ll love this:
This is the latest in a series of pretty funny videos from Spitzer Science Center called IRrelevant Astronomy. They’ve had lots of great folks on them, including Felicia Day, Sean Astin, and Betty White! Awesome.
In this one, Amy Okuda (Tinkerballa from The Guild) is the actor, and Wil voices the robot as well as a slightly more cheesy (not evil) version of himself. These are great videos, fun to watch, and also edumacational. I highly recommend them. Watch this one through all the way to the end…
May 26th, 2010 at 10:14 am
Hmm… The blog says “no comments”. That sounds pretty good..
“No comment.”
And where’s the creepy candy coating?
May 26th, 2010 at 10:15 am
I love the girl’s facial expression when Irwin asks if they will fill the ring with 1 billion earths.
May 26th, 2010 at 10:46 am
Love all the Star Trek and Star Wars references.
May 26th, 2010 at 11:18 am
“Where’d all the stars go?”
“Don’t worry. I’m still here.”
May 26th, 2010 at 11:38 am
I love this approach to presenting science to kids. It was for kids, right?
I do wish they’d have tightened up the editing a bit, though. We’re in the age of rapid information absorption. Could have shaved 2 minutes, easily.
And Amy Okuda seriously needed some hairspray so she didn’t have to keep flicking her hair out of her eyes. Dum ol’ girls.
May 26th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
On Star Trek TNG – what did they call it when Wesley Crusher got a zit?…………. A facial anomaly. sorry!
May 26th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Shove a cork in it Wheaton! —– a catch phrase for the ages!
(I keed, I keed.)
May 26th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
That is one goooooood looking astronaut. And the human’s pretty cute too.
May 26th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Darn you, IR-2.
May 26th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
3 minutes shorter and less Valley Girl line readings and this would be GOLD! Now, it’s just Silver.
May 26th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
We played a bunch of these on the big screen during Skepticamp Atlanta last weekend.
May 26th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
Frakkin’ cool!
May 26th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
OK, so Amy did the line really well, and *sure*, this was probably a zero-budget production, but they really, really should have given her a desk to rest her hands on (and then “fixed” with CG). You know, so that she didn’t look like she was just sitting there!
May 26th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Wait! The credits said that Ed Wasser did the voice of IR-2. Does this mean that the Shadows have their own talk show now? I’d better decide what I want in case I get invited on!
May 26th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Better in 720p HD from their website:
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/videos/irrelevant/
May 26th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Ya gotta love the pic of Wil with the “cheesy” smile…or is that his usual smile?
I do have this sudden desire to buy his book.
May 26th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Amy Okuda is hot.
Highly recommend the HD version.
May 26th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
This is the best thing ever.
May 27th, 2010 at 12:28 am
Link sent to college freshman son, with a rocket!
On his last visit home he complained that they were learning about Kepler’s orbital equations. Le sigh. I tried to tell him that the historical context was important.
(by the way, Pete, my boy… I am not the only “Chris” who comments here)
May 27th, 2010 at 2:08 am
[...] Spitzer Science Center’s IRrelevant astronomy videos continue to earn serious geek cred – They already did a funny video featuring Felicia Day from The Guild and various Joss Whedon [...]
May 27th, 2010 at 11:21 am
[...] Bad Astronomy. Gerelateerde Astroblog:Nog meer van die IRrelevante video’s Tags: infrarood sterrenkunde, [...]
May 27th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
I wish the woman (I didn’t catch her name, I’m horrible with names) explained less and more briefly. For example, when showing the new ring, she wouldn’t have started into an explanation into how its made of small particles and whatnot. She would have said “Swich to infrared mode and you’ll see it.”
Really, she just explains way too much, like a schoolteacher. The narrative should be more interwoven with the plot and what’s going on.
May 27th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
TUBA
May 28th, 2010 at 12:55 am
Great one, funny & clever with a neat mix of SF, one-liners and astronomy refs.
However, my all-time fave satire & science videoclip would still have to be this one :
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/10/26/felicia-day-collides-galaxies/
With Felicia Day on the eventually upcoming Andromeda -Milky Way collision.
@22. Zixinus : No, I disagree with you there. I thought Amy Okuda did a superb job & explained very nicely & not too much at all.
May 29th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
Could the annoying robot be a tribute to another Irwin :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Irwin
too?
December 6th, 2011 at 2:15 pm
Will there ever be new episodes? It’s been almost a year since “Astronomy Anemone.”