Comments on: Star trippin’ on The Big Bang Theory

By: mike burkhart

mike burkhart — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 17:58:40 +0000

Lets not be to hard on him I still have to look at an astronomy book to know the cloeset stars and star maps and plainasphers to know what the sky will look like on any given night (thats why I keep my Golden guides and Peterson guides handy)

By: réalta fuar

réalta fuar — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 12:12:57 +0000

If Neil Tyson is ever on the show, I sure as hell hope they make fun of his arrogance (and parody his publication record!) That could lead to more laugh out loud TBBT humor.

By: Bipedal Tetrapod

Bipedal Tetrapod — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 02:16:50 +0000

@34 reidh
Obvious troll is obvious.
Do not feed it.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:59:12 +0000

@34 reidh – It tells us you broke Wheaton’s Law.

By: reidh

reidh — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 23:48:39 +0000

The actor playing the King Geek on that show, is a self outed GAY. What does that tell us about Bad Ass-tronomy?

By: DrFlimmer

DrFlimmer — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 10:19:14 +0000

@ #26 John

Well done, dude! Well done, indeed!

By: Jack Hagerty

Jack Hagerty — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 05:23:03 +0000

21. JB of Brisbane Says: “that would have been just before Irwin Allen threw your technical appendix in the bin and said “Don’t give me all this research stuff – running and jumping action, that’s what this show needs!”, wouldn’t it?”

Pretty much. But as long as the ratings stayed up and the sets had 10,000 blinking lights, he was happy.

- Jack

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 01:00:43 +0000

Hey Phil. You need to work on Bill Prady to get you on the show. Neil Tyson posted something last week that he’s going to be in an episode, so you need to be in one as well.

By: Phil Plait

Phil Plait — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 22:58:41 +0000

Just to be clear, all I did was send him pronunciations. I wish I had helped actually write it.

By: Barber of Civility

Barber of Civility — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 21:46:39 +0000

Y’know, Phil. After I stopped laughing (yes, real people do laugh at this show), I asked MBH if she thought maybe you had participated in creating that little ditty. It’s cool to find out you did!

Those of you who think the show is inane need to get off their haughtiness. Season 4 is hilarious! Oh, wait, but you are too busy watching “reality” (whose, anyway?) TV.

Talk about bogus!

By: Mooney

Mooney — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 21:09:10 +0000

Having been an audience member myself, Markle, I can assure you that you’re wrong.

Feel free to cling to irrational beliefs in the face of refutation, though!

By: Markle

Markle — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 20:58:28 +0000

TBBT is too sit-commy to watch. It’s inferior to Three’s Company. I don’t believe you when you say there is no laugh track. People couldn’t possibly laugh at those things.

By: John

John — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 19:24:16 +0000

@ DrFlimmer

Don’t worry, DrFlimmer, becasue as far as I understand the H.E.S.S. scope has been recording radio waves from American skies since each show began, so they are on file somwhere at the facility.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say…BAZINGA

By: DrFlimmer

DrFlimmer — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 19:03:14 +0000

TBBT is SOOOOO awesome. Season 4 had a very good start from my point of view (Episode 4 was SO hilarious I was literally rolling on the floor!!!). Too bad that I cannot watch it for the next few weeks. That’s the disadvantage at being at a location where is only (but also at least) a very slow internet connection. But hey, it’s the H.E.S.S.-site in Namibia. So, greetings from the other side of the world. It’s bl**dy awesome here! (Haven’t seen the stars yet, but that will happen any time soon…)

By: Adrian Lopez

Adrian Lopez — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 17:42:03 +0000

I’m not sure it makes much sense to speak of the correct pronunciation of words that are no longer restricted to a particular language. Heck, even in the context of a particular language words can have different pronunciations according to the region of the speaker.

Matt (4) disputes the pronunciation of the word “Procyon”, but it seems to me either way you pronounce it (Pro-see-on with the accent on “pro”, or Pro-sigh-on with the accent on sigh) is a very American way of pronouncing the word (because of the “oh” in “pro” and the sound in “on”).

I’m not saying we shouldn’t strive for a consistent pronunciation (e.g. 1.21 Gigawatts instead of 1.21 Jigawatts), but ultimately we cannot escape the fact of regional differences in pronunciation. After all, that’s how new languages evolve.

By: Georg

Georg — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 11:48:08 +0000

“Pronunciation”?
Rofl!
to name the misuse of Latin or Greek words by
English or American native speakers “pronunciation”
is really funny.
There are very few Americans which ever succeed to
articulate certain consonants and vowels.
:=)
Georg

By: John

John — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 09:41:02 +0000

Love the TBBT…great show.

But wait, [quote]“David sent me an email a while back asking me if I could lend a hand (well, a vocal cord) to pronouncing some of the names which weren’t all that obvious.[/quote]

Isn’t David (Saltzberg) a professor of physics and astronomy…surely, he would have heard of these names throughout his career without having to ask Phil. Hmmm…so many ego’s?

John

By: JB of Brisbane

JB of Brisbane — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 09:16:59 +0000

@Jack Hagerty #14 – that would have been just before Irwin Allen threw your technical appendix in the bin and said “Don’t give me all this research stuff – running and jumping action, that’s what this show needs!”, wouldn’t it?

By: baryogenesis

baryogenesis — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 06:05:39 +0000

Well I saw that episode and groked all of the star names ….but certainly hadn’t memorized an order… The script is often “middling”, but I’ve learned to love it. It’s got so much going for it science-wise.
Supposedly, there are in-jokes on the White-board. I would not be capable of catching the physics calculations there, but one thing I noticed in a previous show on the board was basically “One solar radius = one AU” with no other reference.

By: Gary Ansorge

Gary Ansorge — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 03:52:09 +0000

Black Hole Theory is my favorite. There’s enough subtlety to keep this old dawg laughing all night long. Of course, since I dropped my sat TV subscription, I have to watch it on NetFlix, so I’m about a season and a half behind, but it’s well worth the wait.

Gary 7
PS It does help to actually know some physics, etc.

By: Chris S.

Chris S. — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 03:40:03 +0000

“Definitely watch Community instead on NBC. Much better.”
^this

studio audience, laugh track… either one kills the comedy for me. cool to see you got mentioned though. lotsa people watch it (for some reason i can’t understand, but they do!)

By: Doug Watts

Doug Watts — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 03:28:05 +0000

Pronounciation of star names is a bit equivocal. As I understand, most are Arabic translations of Greek names. So do you say them as the Ancient Greeks did or as the Arabs did?

By: Phil Plait

Phil Plait — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 02:11:41 +0000

Hiro Kitty (10): Golly, thanks for being the wet blanket this post so desperately needed!

Also, not to smack you around too much, but there is no laugh track. It’s a live audience. I know for a fact; I watched a taping last year. And yes, it was awesome and way too much fun. Dave gave me his copy of the script! I gave it to my daughter.

By: Christine P.

Christine P. — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 01:58:49 +0000

Missed it. Still, cooooooool.

By: Jack Hagerty

Jack Hagerty — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 01:17:12 +0000

2. Chris Says: “I actually never heard Alpha Centauri called Toliman before.”

Allow me to quote from the about-to-be-published ARA Press book on “Lost in Space”:

“Astronomers rank the stars in a constellation by their
brightness using a Greek letter and the Latin constellation
name, so ‘Alpha Centauri’ refers to the fact that it is the
brightest star in the constellation Centaurus (the centaur).

“Alpha Centauri isn’t just the brightest star
in this constellation; it’s the third brightest start in the
entire sky after Sirius and Canopus. This means it has
been known since antiquity by people living south of the
equator and all stars this bright were given names. Arab
astronomers (whose names we still use) called it Toliman,
which can be seen on most star charts, like this one.”

This is from the technical appendix I wrote explaining some of the science behind the original LiS pilot. Yes, before it turned into a “Monster of the week, Will/Robot/Dr. Smith show,” there was some actual research done for the series.

Look for the book in about a month. It’s currently about to be shipped to the printer.

- Jack