Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Transport Debate

Last night's Big Bang Theory had Sheldon asserting definitively that the order of cool-ness is thus:
Jet-Pack > Hoverboard > Transporter > Bat-mobile > Giant Ant
EW's recap suggested that Transporter > Hoverboard.

And, this raises all kinds of questions. 
  • Isn't the transporter coolest of all since it can move you anywhere instantaneously, even possibly onto a ship traveling at warp?  If we ignore the massive energy requirements and the risks of just a minor screw up aside, it is hard to find a better way to move from place to place.  
    • Disapparation is similar but poses its own challenges of splinching and unresolved questions of range (Voldemort seems to have a range that simply convenient for certain parts of the books).  Still, disapparation is pretty convenient and much better for the environment, but can only be performed by Wizards and Witches.
  • Is the Bat-mobile really that cool?  Sorry, but being carried by a giant ant, rat or kangaroo seems just more interesting than a pimped up ride.  
    • Is there a cooler ride in Comic-book-dom?  The Fantastic Four fantisticar is pretty lame.  The X-Men have a modified XR-71 Blackbird, which is pretty cool.   What am I forgetting?  Well, web-swinging is actually one of the coolest ways to travel.  
  • Which giant animal would be coolest?  Ant?  Rat? Kangaroo?  I guess the hopping would make a Kangaroo pretty uncomfortable.  I guess I would go with Rat since it would be hard to hold onto the Ant.   
  • And we can put Iron-Man's suit within the jet-pack category as its coolest form.  Check out who is producing jet-packs!!
 So, I guess I would have it as:
Transporter > Jet-Pack > Hoverboard >  Web-Swinging > Giant Rat > Bat-mobile


More importantly, it seems like the hoverboard is something one can make right now!!!


So, if one focuses on just that which can be accomplished right now, Jet-pack > Hoverboard >>> Bat-Mobile

Especially if it can go on water!  


Alas, no, it cannot.  Marty McFly has not yet been topped.  And, yes, this hoverboard question proves once and for all that google and youtube make our lives much, much better!

4 comments:

brev00 said...

The transporter cannot be beat for sci-fi efficiency, but, don't forget, it is the decidedly uncool population of Star Trek that uses it. To continue with this cool by association argument, the Batmobile would have to be the coolest mode of transportation since only Batman uses it. Batman easily beats out Marty McFly or even McSpiderboy. That leaves us with only the white t-bird from American Graffiti in the running. Finally, using math symbols to convey one's cool argument is only slightly more cool that translating everything into Klingon.

Mrs. Spew said...

Coolest: Dragon, giant scorpion, Batmobile, skybike, jet pack, hoverboard. Web-swinging is too hard on the arms.

Steve Saideman said...

Ah, Dragons! Well, very cool. But then again, too cool as they can fly so high as to chill/freeze their passengers, and holding on us very tough. But cool.

Giant scorpion? Mrs. Spew must have forgotten how terribly unreliable scorpions can be, as illustrated by the Scorpion and the Frog parable. The scorpion is likely to sting at an inconvenient moment (well, any moment is a bad time to be stung by a giant scorpion).

And yes, web-swinging can be hard on the arms, but the related spidey-strength should compensate unless one is trying to stop a speeding train.

Anonymous said...

Oh the times I have wished for a transporter!! No more long distance plane travel wow.
I have dreamed of having one to visit cool places O/S when I have no time!!