13 February 2013

Mel Brooks thought of it first!

The Times of Israel has an article claiming that a group of Israelis are seriously contemplating a moon shot. With a real rocket!

Now, three decades ago, Mel Brooks made "The History of the World, Part 1" (there never was a Part 2). At the end of the film, he trailered a film (which, regrettably, he never made) entitled "Jews in Space". The trailer featured stereotype ultra-orthodox Jews in a Magen David shaped space ship.



As much as anything, this is why I find it difficult to take this item seriously. I realise I should, especially when they say (or are reported as saying) things like "By 2015, there will be an Israeli flag next to Neil Armstrong’s bootprint, vows the team behind SpaceIL. They’re not kidding", and also when companies as serious as Bezeq get onboard.

The stimulus is Google offering a $30million prize for a successful moon landing and minimal exploration of the same. Why? Because "Google’s purpose, according to the company, is to jump-start private lunar exploration, which, it believes, will be a great springboard to develop new technologies and encourage young people to get more involved in science — inspired by the possibilities of private space exploration."

So read and decide for yourselves whether to take this story seriously (and I don't mean the part about stimulating private enterprise to get involved in space exploration. I'm among those who believe that this would do exactly that and be cheaper at that).

By: Brian Goldfarb

The above mentioned trailer included thanks to Katie.

7 comments:

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Why not? Jews in Space and let the Iranians stew! Imagine a lunar base filled with Jews.



You forgot to include this:
http://youtu.be/ZAZhtT-dUyo

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Thanks for that, Katie. I'd half remembered how funny that was. Now I remember exactly how funny it was.

If you really need a Jewish lift, look out for "Not For Glory" by Joel Rosenberg (science fiction). It has plenty of great Jewish/Zionist in-jokes and boosts. Israelis/Jews have been forced off-planet ("the Moslems took away Jerusalem, for now. We took away [Mecca] for ever."), and the IDF have become extremely effective mercenaries. That chocolate factory in Dimona proved extremely useful!



Plus, one character weighs the value to another character of Am Yisroel in one hand and the rest of humanity in the other. The character so challenged accepts that Am Yisroel outweighs the rest: thus, he is judged a barbarian.


In that context, so am I.


Join the club, Katie.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Funny stuff. Lots of scifi, these days, however, seriously includes Jews as, say, colonizers of the moons of Jupiter and distant stars. Can't think of oa title at the moment.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Nah, can you really see UN as it is really governing something? They can't govern a replacement of a toilet paper roll...

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Heh. I agree. But some of these writers also believe in AGW, or else they just want a topical threat to dramatize their plots.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Thanks, I've ordered the Kindle sample of Not For Glory, though I usual avoid military fiction (even as I write it), including military scifi. Did enjoy Scalzi's Old Man's War, however, which puts the obvious twist on women-in-combat.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Oh, AGW actually became a hot subject even before zombies and vampires. Have you notices how all these new writers scramble for one of the reasons to end the humanity? Fashion, fashion...