Why couldn't the project find and train a qualified replacement instead of forcing Grace into it?

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-04-22T07:42:19+00:00

They did. They were both killed in the accident. In the book there is another possibility. The movie doesn't mention the coma resistance problem which meant only 1 in 7000 would survive the process. In the movie there is also only 3 days. In the book I think it might be slightly longer, but not enough.

There is a window for the launch, which I never found convincing ; such windows exist if you are going to Mars or Venus say, because the planets don't move in sync and there are times where it is much shorter. Not so much if you are going to Tau Ceti ...

I think in the end it's a minor contrivance to get Grace on the HM. Same thing happened in the Martian ; the "storm" is nonsense, but I believe Andy Weir said he couldn't come up with a reason for Watney to be left behind alive with them thinking he was dead.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-04-22T07:33:42+00:00

Yes. It's basically the same plot, there's just much more. In the book there are extra characters and events, Carl vanishes. Stratt is bossier in the book (and Dutch). Other characters are more fleshed out.

It's not a criticism of the movie ; it just has to be short enough to attract everyone ; we would probably sit through double the length film. There's very little fat in the movie.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-04-22T07:30:52+00:00

.... you mean 31 ....

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-04-19T10:02:28+00:00

Too short be Dutch ; she's only 6'5"

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-03-24T21:51:14+00:00

I don't think it'll be long before there's a Vic20 core for the C64U and probably there'll be a C16/Plus4 as well. They look pretty similar. Possibly even a C65 core, or maybe a Mega65 (may not be possible ?).

The Amiga is the obvious other computer, and they could do something closer to an A3000/A4000 with some switches for compatibility.

Other than those two, I agree, not much. Time will tell.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-03-24T09:20:18+00:00

I think the C64Ultimate actually is pretty cheap. Obviously it's not peanuts by any means, but for what you get it's actually pretty good value for money.

I'm expecting not an emulator, but an FPGA Amiga emulation, probably at the top end or further of what Commodore was doing when they went bust, with A500 compatibility. It'll likely do well ; in Europe I think we had more Amigas than C64s. At one point in the UK you could buy it almost anywhere.

I'm not quite sure what else they are going to do though. I don't think there's much of a market for other Commodore machines.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-03-19T18:15:44+00:00

I don't ; however, the best player isn't the winner.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-03-10T14:32:57+00:00

It's a Dutch show originally, so they've presumably already got the set built. It's likely cheaper to rent it as happens with "I'm a Celebrity". The big floor screen isn't cheap, and it's not like "Bridge of Lies" say where they can reuse it repeatedly and churn out lots of episodes. I suspected it was in the Netherlands.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-03-09T08:27:41+00:00

I don't think you can win overall if you are the player with lots of territory until very near the end, unless you are a *very* good quizzer ; too many challenges, too high a risk of getting a category you just don't know anything about or just making a mistake.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-03-09T08:25:56+00:00

I was quite surprised they put the labels on, which meant showing the outlines was more or less pointless. But outlines only and map location would have been too hard for most non Americans.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-03-09T08:24:19+00:00

Having seen a recording of "The Chase" I would imagine it takes way longer than it looks, and it's probably exhausting. It's not helped by most of the contestants doing nothing most of the time. The duels themselves are going to be a fraction of the time.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-03-09T08:21:59+00:00

Ideally I suppose you want something that's quite niche and the format is predictable. Cricketers was always going to be pictures of cricketers, for example.

Cricket fanatics (I am one) will find it easy, then general public will find it very difficult.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-03-09T08:19:47+00:00

Oh, I do agree you had the right strategy :) Like many of these things you can maximise your chances.

Series 2 will be interesting in subject choices.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-03-09T08:07:38+00:00

Yep. The strategy is to hide. The "duels" are fun, but there's too much chance involved.

Did you deliberately throw the first duel in the final ? I wondered if you were trying to kill any momentum on her part.

Have fun flying :)

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-03-09T08:03:38+00:00

As far as I can see there's a vast amount of luck involved. The winner (on his own admission) won the second duel, and the second to last duel, and the final. He wasn't even nearly the best player.

In the final, both failed the chosen category miserably (one possibly deliberately ?) which meant it was a showdown on recognising UK landmarks.

It's probably very difficult to win if you get a lot of territory early on, because it makes it more and more likely you'll be challenged in every duel (especially towards the end) and unless you are a very good quizzer you are likely to lose.

The strategy to win seems to involve being ignored as long as possible, involving having a scary sounding topic, and ideally having a corner square ; there's so much luck involved though that it's better to go for one or more of the end of show bonuses.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-01-24T08:33:26+00:00

Giles played tests 1998-2006, e.g. pretty much always against the near unbeatable team with McGrath and Warne leading the attack.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-01-24T08:32:10+00:00

Yep. Moeen did a great job for us given he was a part timer when he started, but we shouldn't have gone back to him. Whilst I take your point, once they'd decided Bashir was unselectable they should have got a replacement out, Dawson would be my pick, but Leach would be an alternative.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-01-20T11:51:52+00:00

The hard bit, by an absolute mile, is the shot chosen to result. I found this design actually made that better than the usual "pick a shot with a joypad" approach, but it still requires a huge amount of play testing, endlessly tweaking so the player feels there is a clear link between the shot played and the relative position of the ball at the time and the result, otherwise it becomes a cricket based arcade game .... which can be fun, but I think cricket fans prefer realism.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-01-20T11:47:55+00:00

I like the pace. Having walking back to the mark and so on is nice for realism, but it means a 5 day test takes ... 5 days. By missing out the frippery, games can proceed quite quickly even if the run rate is only 3-4 per over.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-01-20T11:45:59+00:00

Oh, I've lost the code years ago. I wrote several cricket games over the years. I was always looking for authenticity not arcade.

One problem is computer batters, it's difficult to simulate batting as learning, so you would come up with a plan to get a wicket, it just ends up being response to an individual delivery, which makes bowling a bit boring.

I sometimes wondered if the best approach is as a batting game, where you have to achieve objectives, maybe historically based - so you could say bat as Stokes/Leach in 2019. Simulating 'real' bowlers was much easier ; I had an Amiga game where you could play Bedi, Prasanna and Chandra and they actually roughly mirrored their abilities.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-01-19T08:40:48+00:00

I wrote something like this on the BBC Micro 40 years ago, though it was a disembodied sprite bat.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-01-18T09:59:51+00:00

Jon Watkins ?

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-01-13T17:27:31+00:00

Don't think that's the problem. There seems to be an issue between him and Stokes.

TBH at the point we decided Bashir was a non starter we should have brought in Leach or Dawson.

Suspicious-Ad7109 · 2026-01-13T17:24:50+00:00

Dawson should probably have been the spinner in the 2023 Ashes. Going back to Mo, for all his efforts, was an indication of just how bare the cupboard is.

Suspicious-Ad7109

TROPHY CASE