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Daniel of Doulogos Name:Daniel
Home: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
About Me: I used to believe that evolution was reasonable, that homosexuality was genetic, and that people became Christians because they couldn't deal with the 'reality' that this life was all there was. I used to believe, that if there was a heaven - I could get there by being good - and I used to think I was more or less a good person. I was wrong on all counts. One day I finally had my eyes opened and I saw that I was not going to go to heaven, but that I was certainly going to suffer the wrath of God for all my sin. I saw myself as a treasonous rebel at heart - I hated God for creating me just to send me to Hell - and I was wretched beyond my own comprehension. Into this spiritual vacuum Jesus Christ came and he opened my understanding - delivering me from God's wrath into God's grace. I was "saved" as an adult, and now my life is hid in Christ. I am by no means sinless, but by God's grace I am a repenting believer - a born again Christian.
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Daniel's posts are almost always pastoral and God centered. I appreciate and am challenged by them frequently. He has a great sense of humor as well.
- Marc Heinrich

His posts are either funny or challenging. He is very friendly and nice.
- Rose Cole

[He has] good posts, both the serious like this one, and the humorous like yesterday. [He is] the reason that I have restrained myself from making Canadian jokes in my posts.
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This post contains nothing that is of any use to me. What were you thinking? Anyway, it's probably the best I've read all day.
- David Kjos

Daniel, nicely done and much more original than Frank the Turk.
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There are some people who are smart, deep, or funny. There are not very many people that are all 3. Daniel is one of those people. His opinion, insight and humor have kept me coming back to his blog since I first visited earlier this year.
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Thursday, September 29, 2005
Growth...

There was an episode of "Lost in Space" that aired in my childhood called, "Trip through the Robot."

In this episode the bumbling doctor pushes a wrong button which damages the electrical system of the ship (now that is what I call a design flaw!)

As is typical of Doctor Smith, he is in neglect of his duties - one of which is that he is to recharge the robot. In the episode Smith has neglected to recharge the robot for several weeks at the time he makes his button pushing blunder. With the ship's electrical system all haywire, recharging the robot would further damage the ship putting everyone in danger.

Recall that the robot is zealously (some might say, even in an over the top sort of way) preoccupied with protecting the Robinson family, ready to pronounce "DANGER! DANGER!" at a moments notice, but otherwise a doting nanny for Will Robinson. Given his character, we are not surprized to learn that he has deemed it appropriate to wander off into the wilderness to die (so as to prevent the Robinsons from trying to save his live by recharging him.) It is the typical selfless sacrificial gesture that owes more than a nod to Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross - though at the time I wouldn't have understood how the love and sacrifice of our Lord was being plagerized for the sake of entertainment - but that is another thing altogether.

So the robot wanders off to die alone. Will Robinson (the kid) and the Doctor realizing what he is trying to leave the ship and try to track him down so that they can find some novel solution solution to their problem. Since this is a sci-fi show, something weird has to happen to bring the plot home.

In this case the robot has wandered into a "dangerous area" and eventually falls over backwards (face up) from lack of power (apparently, it requires energy just to stand up - who engineered this thing??). In the area where he has 'collapsed' is one of those wonderful plot devices that one could only get away with in the genre - "inorganic growth gas" - which causes the imobile robot to grow to the size of a submarine. Apparently it doesn't affect anything but robots - the stones and even the mineral rich rocks in the area are all normal sized - but that is TV.

Will and the doctor find the robot and decide that since the robot is so big, they can go inside him and "reverse the ions" which of course will shrink the robot back to normal size. Nothing is ever simple in a sci-fi serial, so as would be expected, the interior of the robot seems to be designed to kill anything that comes inside it - is veritable lethal obstacle course. Though Will, the doctor, Don and John have taken the robot entirely apart and put him back together at least twice by this time in the series - still they fail to anticipate or recognize much of the coming danger.

They go in side of course, through a panel that is normally at the bottom of his "feet" - screwing off the giant size screws, then entering in and finding the place where they can reverse the ionic flow they do so, then race like crazy to get out of the now shrinking robot.

They just make it out in time - squeezing through the foot panel - once a gaping maw, now a grated square so small it is a wonder they make it through at all. The moment they are out the shrinkage goes exponential of course - and the robot in a matter of seconds is back to normal - and apparently charged up too.

I don't remember how they fixed the ship or if they did - I was just a kid - but that episode stands out in my memory. I should rent the DVD some day.
posted by Daniel @ 9:41 AM  
2 Comments:
  • At 1:38 PM, September 29, 2005, Blogger Brad Williams said…

    Daniel,

    That is too funny. I must admit that I feel an odd sort of kinship with you, my friend. I too was once a gamer geek extraordinaire, and I still catch episodes of cheesy Sci-Fi flicks as often as my wife will allow.

    I am using my usual alias so as to keep any damage to my reputation to a minimum.;)

     
  • At 1:45 PM, September 29, 2005, Blogger Daniel said…

    In a round about way, gaming was one of the means by which the Lord allowed me to hear the gospel.

    I will post on it today sometime.

     
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