Happy Christmas

It hasn't exactly been a great year for humanity in general, but hopefully at this time you will be able to take comfort in your friends and family.

 

We wish you a Happy Christmas and a healthy New Year.

Ron Glass 1945-2016

We're losing a lot of famous people this year, but this one is going to be a particular blow.

 

I'm a fan of Firefly and while all the crew were of course great, Book acted as the ship's conscience. Without Glass' performance, he would have been a far weaker character.

 

Rest in Peace.

 

 

James Bond: Never Say Never Again

When I saw that this was being aired again on ITV4, I finally decided to record the unofficial James Bond movie from 1983 i.e. the remake of Thunderball that Kevin McClory was allowed to make as part of the deal that allowed EON to make the original Thunderball... which honestly isn't that good a Bond movie to begin with.

This is simply put a dire film. The direction is awful, the music gratingly inappropriate at times and the so-called comedy is very, very forced. Connery is the best thing in it and even he's sub par...

After half an hour, I asked myself whether I wanted to carry on with this. The answer is 'only if accompanied by Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot...' because this turkey is only suitable as material for a Dr. Forrester experiment i.e. Mystery Science Theater 3000.

I hope no-one involved this piece of foulness is proud of this junk.

0/10 (Automatically awarded for any movie I decline to finish)

Issue #29 of The Burning Question released

After a long break and a change of editor, the latest edition of the Phoenix newsletter is ought, including the latest news and a feature on the Canadian space series Dark Matter. The newsletter can be viewed here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nofd84qeyiy2fn3/April%20-%20August%20newsletter.pdf?dl=0

Six sims close down after founding members leave site

Two of Phoenix's founding members, husband and wife Ash and Deborah Leighton Plom, have retired from the site due to lack of available time. As a result, due to no-one having volunteered to take over the job of running the sims, the following games have closed down:

• Cydonia
• Vermillion City
• Stargate: Beta Site
• Middle Earth
• Invisec
• Accipiter

It is entirely fair to say that their departure leaves a big hole in the site and will be difficult to fill, but Phoenix will go on.

This writer wishes to sincerely thank Ash and Deb for their six years here (and before that in AJJE), wishing them all the best for their future.

2016 GC and TC election results

Elections and Voting Coordinator Zuzutoo announced the results on Monday and has given me permission to quote his post in full:

Voting has officially closed for the 2016 election for General Coordinator and Technical Coordinator of Phoenix Roleplaying. Many thanks to everyone that took the time to participate in club governance.
As a whole not a bad turn out. 18 members voted, equalling 43% of the eligible list of members (members who have logged in and posted more than once in the last year). Of that group 14 voted in the fist 48 hours, and 4 voted in the last 48 hours. A fairly consistent pattern with past elections. Oh, you want results... not statistics. Fine.
The office of Technical Coordinator, winning 94% of the vote,  goes to Euan Reid. Congratulations sir!
Now on to the big show, the competition for General Coordinator was very close. In Third Place with 22% of the vote was Dale "Soapymac" Brennan. The position of Contender with 35% of the votes goes to Rebecca "Ironette" Forte. Which means the position of General Coordinator for  2016, remains in the hands of the reigning Khalessi, Misty Diamond, holding 42% of the tabulated votes. Congratulations to all on a robust competition. Long live the Queen... or something like that.

Ironette fills the previously vacant role of Contender, but otherwise there is no change in Phoenix's top management.

2016 General Coordinator and Technical Coordinator Elections

Ballot papers for this should have been emailed to members; please email Kevin 'Zuzutoo' Diamond if you have not received yours.

Voting is open until Sunday 17 July.

SciWorld 2016 transcripts

SciWorld 2016 took place on Thursday and Friday, with a talk on space shows by Silent Hunter.

A full sets of transcripts for this and other conventions can be found here.

USS Athena and Odyssey closed

Due to a lack of activity, the Star Trek sim USS Athena has been closed.

In addition, the departure of Mischa Brendel from the site has also led to the decision to close Odyssey, a Firefly sim that has been running since 2010.

New Firefly sim launched - 'Kestrel'

Mike Palmer has launched a new sim set in the universe of Firefly again focussing on a group of mercenaries and continuing a story that began all the way back at AJJE with Prinz Eugen. The sim is described below:

Once again, Captain Gunther Lindemann has acquired a new ship and hired a crew to head into harm’s way in the Black, to bring justice and mercy to the downtrodden of the Rim.  The Kestrel is much smaller than his previous ships, and it is an extremely common, modified merchant vessel that now has some serious teeth to rend any potential enemies.

While the sim is full up at present, there is a waiting list for new players and the sim can be seen here:

http://www.phoenix-rp.com/forum/119/newkestrel/

New Newsletter editor

mlb38, a relatively new player to the site (she joined in August last year) has been appointed as the new editor of The Burning Question following Mischa Brendel's departure from the site.

While it is yet to be confirmed when any next issue will appear, it should not be too long before it is released; regular contributor Silent Hunter has a number of articles already submitted that would be available to form a featured article.

Gareth Thomas 1945-2016

The actor best known for the lead role in 'Blake's Seven', the 1978-1981 BBC science fiction show has passed away. 

I don't tend to post obituaries on the Phoenix blog but his role as freedom fighter Roj Blake was a big part of the show's success and the show was a big influence on me growing up. This dystopian work inspired the name of the character Sue Ling and indeed was the topic of the very first feature article in the site newsletter. 

The galaxy is a sadder place today. 

Rest in Peace.

Dreamcatchers goes inactive

Due to a lack of players, Giorgio has closed down his Dreamcatchers sim. If you wish to know how it ended, please PM him.

New Supernatural sim created

Imzadi, one of our newer players, has created a sim set in the world of the CW show Supernatural, currently in its 11th season.

Here is the description:

Set in March of 2010, Supernatural: Chasing Shadows follows a rag-tag group of Hunters working their Monster of the Week cases across America. When one of them stumbles onto something that threatens not just them, but the entire world, it’s up to our heroes to save the day.

The new sim can be found here 

Greenleaf Skyplex makes a one month time jump

Due to some recent inactivity on the part of the GM which has now come to an end, the setting for this Firefly sim will jump forward a calendar month - meaning that it will now be October 2519.

Dark Matter: Alycidon sim launched

The first Phoenix sim set in the universe of the Canadian space series Dark Matter has launched and can be found here:

http://www.phoenix-rp.com/forum/116/newdark-matter-alycidon/

A fuller description can be found below:

This is Captain Sunita Kumar of the independent transport vessel Alycidon... I am recording this message and jettisoning it into space so there is a record of our fate in the event that we end up not surviving this encounter...

Alycidon is a former high speed 'space ferry' turned into an independent transporter, operating in the outer colonies of human space, outside the reach of the Galactic Authority. This is both a good and bad thing. When the crew discover a stowaway on their ship linked to an organised crime syndicate, things suddenly start becoming very dangerous indeed...

 
There are still crew and passenger slots available - in addition Silent Hunter is also looking for other characters to fill out the universe.

Issue #27 of The Burning Question released!

With so much delay to the November issue of The Burning Question, I decided to put the November and December issue together and the result is now finished.

You had to wait longer, but there are no less than three background stories in this issue. Silent Hunter has reviewed Spectre and I myself have reviewed the latest Star Wars movie. And last, but certainly not least, an in-character interview, written by Misty Diamond. Hopefully the first of many more.

I hope you all enjoy the final issue of The Burning Question of this year and I wish you all a happy new year!

-Mischa, editor-in-chief of The Burning Question