This is the first of eight related posts constituting our May 2022 MonSFFA e-meeting.
1) INTRODUCTION
Welcome to our 26th virtual MonSFFA meeting.
As of today, Québec’s mask mandate is lifted. While the directive remains in effect aboard public transit and in hospitals, essentially, the government has withdrawn the requirement that citizens wear protective face masks in most public settings. We are the last jurisdiction in North America to drop this mandatory COVID-19 mitigation measure, which many disliked or actively opposed, but which most accepted as prudent and necessary in order to bring the spread of the constantly evolving virus under control.
Medical experts are warning that while the recent sixth wave has abated, COVID-19 is still extant and potentially dangerous should a fresh variant of the virus flare up in the weeks or months to come. Certainly, people especially vulnerable—the elderly, the immunocompromised, or those under-vaccinated or unvaccinated—should continue to mask, practice social distancing as much as possible, and avoid large indoor gatherings. In Ontario and other provinces, where mask mandates were dropped several weeks ago, some folk nevertheless continue to wear their masks in busy stores and other public venues.
Canada’s vaccination rates are among the highest in the world, with a fourth shot—the second booster—now available to most. Governments national and local have apparently concluded that society can no longer tolerate COVID-19 limitations, and so, Canadians have all been left to make their own, we hope informed choices, free to continue with or not now-familiar COVID-19 cautions.
Meanwhile, pandemic-related staffing shortages and supply-chain issues continue to plague our recovering economy and society in general, as does the still-raging war in Ukraine, local and national political machinations, and rising inflation, most glaringly apparent in unprecedented two-dollar-per-litre gasoline prices and the ballooning cost of groceries!
It all enough to compel one to seek an escape from reality for a while! Let’s try just that for the next few hours, shall we…
This MonSFFA e-Meeting will unfold both on ZOOM and right here on the club’s Web site over the course of the afternoon, beginning with this first post, and followed by subsequent posts at 1:30PM, 2:30PM, 2:45PM, 3:00PM, 3:15PM, and 4:15PM, with a final post at 4:45PM. All posts will be available concurrently on MonSFFA’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/MonSFFA), however, note that the interface best suited for taking in this meeting is this very Web site.
We cannot quite yet assemble in large numbers indoors. As such, this May 2022 virtual meeting has been prepared especially for you, MonSFFA’s membership. Sit back, check out each of the afternoon’s posts, scroll down leisurely through the proffered content, enjoy, and contribute your thoughts on what we’re presenting by way of each post’s “Leave a Comment” option.
At the end of the day, let us know of your opinion regarding specific topics, or the meeting overall. Your input helps us to tailor these virtual meetings for maximum interest and enjoyment.
And, of course, you can participate more robustly, as well, on ZOOM!
2) JOIN THIS AFTERNOON’S VIDEO-CHAT ON ZOOM!
To join our ZOOM video-chat, which will run throughout the course of the meeting in tandem with the Web site-based content presented, simply click here and follow the prompts: This Afternoon’s MonSFFA e-Meeting on ZOOM
If you’re not fully equipped to ZOOM, you can also join in by phone (voice only); in the Montreal area, the toll-free number to call is: 1-438-809-7799. If you’re from out of town, find your ZOOM call-in number here: Call-In Numbers
Also, have this information on hand as you may be asked to enter it:
Meeting ID: 863 4185 0434
Passcode: 683280
3) MEETING AGENDA
In This Afternoon’s Virtual Meeting:
4) QUICKIE QUIZ!
We offer, for your amusement, this third and final installment of our series of Quickie Quizzes. How well do you remember the titles of old genre television productions or movies?
We all, on occasion, have trouble recalling the title of a classic SF/F TV show, or of a particular episode, or that of an old sci-fi movie we haven’t seen in many years! It’s on the tip of our tongue, and we recall certain particulars—a memorable alien or monster featured, a cast member or guest star, a specific scene, an unforgettable ending—details major or minor that, for whatever reason, have stuck with us all these years. But we can’t quite put our finger on the exact title!
We stammer, we sputter, we cluck our tongues, and we finally utter something like, “It starred what’s-his-name, that guy who was in that other movie!” Or, “You know, the episode where they…” Or, “the one with the…”
Below are a baker’s dozen such paltry descriptions of SF/F television series, episodes, or of films; can you extricate the exact title for each from the cobwebbed recesses of your mind?
Good luck and play fair; no resorting to Google for the answers! You can, of course, ask a friend for help, provided that friend’s name isn’t Siri or Alexa!
1) What’s the title of that recent television comedy series about two cops who investigate preternatural incidents, kind of like The X-Files but played entirely for laughs?
2) What was the name of that sci-fi series about the U.S. Air Force’s exploration and development of space? It was set in the not-too-distant future, and aired on CBS around about the dawn of the real Space Age!
3) What was the title of that Time Tunnel episode where hostile space aliens are first injected into the storyline?
4) What was the title of that old sci-fi sitcom starring Catwoman as a beautiful female robot?
5) What was the name of that low-budget, sci-fi/comedy movie about a voluptuous female android? You know the one… The film starred 1980’s Playmate of the Year, a young, novice centerfold model and actress from Canada!
6) What was the title of that original-series Star Trek episode, the one where the Enterprise first time-travels?
7) What was the name of that monster movie with a giant, stop-motion, dragon-like creature that nests in the art-deco spire of the Chrysler Building and preys on the citizens of New York City?
8) What was the title of that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode where Quark and company, en route to Earth, end up travelling back through time and crash-landing their shuttle near Roswell, New Mexico?
9) What was the name of that short-lived TV series about a pair of Air Force officers assigned to investigate UFO incidents? It aired on NBC not long after the theatrical release of Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
10) What was the name of that old sci-fi/horror TV movie about a construction crew who find themselves stalked by one of their earth-moving vehicles, which seems somehow “possessed” by a strange, malevolent, otherworldly force?
11) What was the title of the seaQuest episode that marked the final appearance of Roy Scheider’s Captain Nathan Bridger?
12) What was the name of that cool but convoluted sci-fi series? You know, the one with these pale-skinned, bald dudes in black suits called “Observers,” and a parallel universe, plus an alternate timeline, and this team of special investigators trying to figure out WTF was going on!
13) What was the name of that cult sci-fi/horror series about a teenaged boy who finds weirdness afoot in the small town to which his family has moved? There were inside-jokes and references to the horror genre in particular worked into each episode!
The answers will be revealed later this afternoon in our 4:45PM post!