Pop Culture (Classic Journeys Era)

CINEMA

The Grufzgar Trilogy

A group of armed terrorists have taken over a building in New Paris, La Terre. The hostage situation makes it impossible for the local law enforcers to resolve the situation. "Captain, they're doomed!" "No, Smith. There is one person that can save them." Cue the angry metallic music and in comes Gruf the Rough, Grufzgar, a menacing Zangali with a taste for chewing rocks and drinking Molsh. Armed with two rifles and a wide array of explosives, he bursts into the building, kills the terrorists and rescues the hostages without so much as a scratch. "Gruf smashererer the bad," he states before the last scene of the holomovie fades to black. This movie was such a hit that it spawned two sequels, one that sent the one-Zangali army machine against a drug lord in Luna and a third that explained his past while also pitting him against a powerful corporation and assassin robots. All three movies were of great success and critical acclaim. All three also end with the same line, thus making it a common catch phrase. The character has also become a cultural icon: "I'm going to beat him up." "Who do you think you are? Gruf the Rough?"

Lostpaw: Memoirs of the Blind Demarian.

A lost kit, blinded at birth in a horrible accident, stowed away for slaverly on a unknown destination. Rescued by fate, arriving in the hands of an elderly, loving Castori, taking the poor child in as it's own son. A story of a young child turning into a young man, learning through experiences that he is indeed not a Castori, despite all the years being told as much. A tragic tale of deceit, love, and reconcile.. and total crap. A high budget film that quickly dropped out of sight, the horrible writing drowning the subpar acting, and musical score that would make a drunk Timonae fiddler cringe. Some of the more famous reviews bombasted it as 'A chick flick for the new age!' and 'Holy crap, what is this?'

The Blood Brothers Trilogy

A trio of buddy action films in the early 2990's, starring Donovan Li and Daniel Zubruski as a pair of inept assassins. Lots of bad jokes and explosions were the series' trademarks, along with Li's catch phrase "You just made one mistake...You forgot to watch your back.", which would be immediately followed by Zubruski shooting the bad guy in the back of the head. The series didn't hit mainstream attention until the second film, in which the duo hijacked an RNS ship to thwart a group of pirates attempting to kidnap the Sivadian queen and start a war.

Rise of the Zangali

A 2956 Martian cult classic involving twenty five foot tall bipedal, radioactivity-breathing lizards who emerge from the red Martian soil and wreak havoc on Mars. A controversial scene that was cut from the original (but restored in the director's cut) involves a Zangali breaking through the outer wall of a children's hospital and pulling the floor down such that the children slide one by one into his waiting maw. As he turns away, a twitching child's foot hangs from the corner of his mouth. The movie fades to black as the last man and woman on Mars lie in hiding in the Outback, uncertain of their fate.

ART

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

Painted in 3001 by artist Carduus Reslienki, this controversial piece depicts the mixed emotions of the Lunite people upon the Death of Earth.

MUSIC

The Siege of Tumbledown's Tower

It is the longest Demarian opera performance known to exist in recorded history, lasting eight and a half hours and featuring the voices of no fewer than three hundred Demarians.

Organ Grinder

A heavy metal band often known to perform on Tomin Kora.

December and the Thul Concert 3002

During the height of the ATRV crisis, frontman and singer Xavin Carazz, drummer Thunderhand and flutist Windsong came together to perform on Sanctuary in a benefit concert. The proceeds helped fund researching a cure for the ATRV virus. The concert was recorded on audio and holo, and includes a rendition of Carazz's hit song "December and the Thul" which topped the charts for weeks after it was released.

LITERATURE

Meet Me Where The Stars Shine Brightest: The Recorded Voyages of Terry Pippen

In the year 2999, an escape pod landed on Sivadian soil. The single living person inside was a self-proclaimed explorer by the name of Terry Pippen, a man who had been missing for several years and even presumed dead. He embarked on what he told the universe was the greatest exploration mission of all times in his vessel, the Pioneer, only to return without a ship and crew. He claimed to have encountered the greatest marvels in the universe beyond the reach of what is known space. These claims have never been proven, but even so he published his memoirs in this book. Critics have labelled it nothing but a hoax, but Pippen argues the veracity of his tales up to this day.

Within the book, Pippen describes a world where its inhabitants are translucent, a world where an abandoned temple was filled with mirrors that could foretell the future and reveal the innermost secrets of the soul, an asteroid where the soul of a haunted priestess slept in wait for revenge over a treacherous lover, a creature who claimed to have created the most interesting 'toys', among them one that could feed off dreams -- all these among others. The book ends with an account of a derelict object that the Pioneer found which inexplicably made his entire crew insane, forcing him off the vessel inside the pod that would eventually arrive on Sivad.

Pipper has been accused of murder and fallacy, but one thing remains the truth: his work has been the steppingstone for many eager explorers and, to this day, one of the most talked-about pieces of writing ever to grace the universe.

GAMES

Olezeet Quest

A action RPG game set in the late 20th century in which you play the character 'Vez Pratt' in a desperate attempt to save the world from an army of exploding alien books. Due to appauling gameplay and suffering some of the worst music ever composed the game was banned in Sivad. This act drew enough attention towards the game that it became a surprise hit that developed a wide fanbase. Now the game is a thing of legend and has had equally terrible sequels including Olezeet Quest 2: The Curse of the Mutant Lightbulbs and the spin off movie Final Olezeet.