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Penny Arcade - Comic - Rama Said There’d Be Days Like This

DogDog Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
edited July 2020 in The Penny Arcade Hub

imagePenny Arcade - Comic - Rama Said There’d Be Days Like This

Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.

Read the full story here


Unknown User on

Posts

  • OctoberRavenOctoberRaven Plays fighting games for the story Skyeline Hotel Apartment 4ARegistered User regular
    Don't forget the spinoff, Rama Said Knock You Out.

    Currently Most Hype For: VTMB2, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Alan Wake 2 (Wake Harder)Currently Playin: Guilty Gear XX AC+R, Gat Out Of Hell
  • Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    Throw Rama From the Train

    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
  • DjiemDjiem Registered User regular
    It really whips the Rama's ass!

  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    Which one was the one where the Archangel Michael regenerated the old guy so he could marry his underaged love interest without violating his religion? Because "When Harry met Rama" wouldn't even be weird in terms of where that series went after the first book was all about how Earth is just a boring maneuver node to aliens who don't even notice its full of monkeys.

  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    The musical was great, though it probably should have been a two-parter.

    https://youtu.be/RzTg7YXuy34

  • FriendFiveFriendFive Registered User regular
    What? No "Rama 2: Electric Boogaloo" joke? Seems like an easy one.

  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    I never watched the last one. I'm just not into Rama-coms.

  • zepherinzepherin Russian warship, go fuck yourself Registered User regular
    Djiem wrote: »
    It really whips the Rama's ass!
    That pushes the nostalgia button hard.

  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    FriendFive wrote: »
    What? No "Rama 2: Electric Boogaloo" joke? Seems like an easy one.

    The thing about low hanging fruit is that dogs piss on it.

  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KStsPPgeka4

    There are enough of these books that someone has enjoyed them, I'm sure.

    H9f4bVe.png
  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    I wonder how many like me played the game before reading the books.

    I never got very far in because I'm pretty bad at that whole genre.

    steam_sig.png
  • Jgr9Jgr9 Registered User regular
    Ramas at Dusk

  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    edited July 2020
    I wonder how many like me played the game before reading the books.

    I never got very far in because I'm pretty bad at that whole genre.

    I don't think you missed much (if you mean "never got very far in" the books). I tried to read the first sequel, which was where Gentry Lee started crapping out his version. It was just so incredibly awful. And though it's taken me many years to realize, I actually have a fairly low bar for being entertained by scifi. Those books should have been perfect for me, as was the original. But I hated everyone involved just a few chapters in - the characters and the author.

    It was McDune before McDune.

    dennis on
  • TheSchaefTheSchaef Registered User regular
    Clarke is my favorite of the golden age sci fi authors.

    But man, does he love him some transhumanism.

  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    I read Clarke's as a teenager and enjoyed them well enough. It was the first time I'd read anything that involved generation ships. That's literally all I remember.

  • OctoberRavenOctoberRaven Plays fighting games for the story Skyeline Hotel Apartment 4ARegistered User regular
    Hevach wrote: »
    Which one was the one where the Archangel Michael regenerated the old guy so he could marry his underaged love interest without violating his religion?

    Didn't know Rama was in the same universe as Twilight.

    Currently Most Hype For: VTMB2, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Alan Wake 2 (Wake Harder)Currently Playin: Guilty Gear XX AC+R, Gat Out Of Hell
  • CoinageCoinage Heaviside LayerRegistered User regular
    The Rama sequels probably did permanent damage to me reading them as a young man.

  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    edited July 2020
    Hevach wrote: »
    Which one was the one where the Archangel Michael regenerated the old guy so he could marry his underaged love interest without violating his religion?

    Didn't know Rama was in the same universe as Twilight.

    The Rama sequels get WAY worse than Twilight. Twilight would have been an objective improvement for all characters that don't die in the first book (which is pretty good and a rare dose of human humility for science fiction). It's been probably 25 years since I read them, so my memories are fuzzy but not nearly fuzzy enough:
    When Rama comes back, several of the original characters visit again and leave in it. Realizing they're going to be stuck in it for years they get down to making babies, but only brought one woman who insists on having babies with all the men, one of whom is too old to be into it. She tries to sleep rape him but it doesn't work out.

    This guy later falls in love with the woman's youngest daughter in a relationship that is explained in the matter of fact tone in which animes explain that it's technically not creepy at all for the adult main character to be in love with his clearly 12 year old sister.

    In one of the later books, a robot of the race that created Rama reveals himself to be the Archangel Michael, and gives the old guy a new plastic body in the image of his younger self to erase the at that point 80ish year age difference between him and his wife.

    Meanwhile every other human in the series proves themselves to be closet Nazis who just needed a better excuse than skin color and become so horrible to the other aliens, invading their enclosures within Rama and conquering their villages, that the angel robots decide to sterilize all their captive humans except plastic guy and his child bride and send them to a space gulag.

    Keep in mind that the whole premise of the first book was that the alien ship was using Sol as a maneuver point and neither noticed nor cared that Earth was full of apes until they tried to nuke it, at which point it barely noticed but continued to not care. Humans were ants and Rama had more important shit to do than study, let alone destroy them.

    The sequels have his name on them but aren't written by Clarke, who's kind of the Tom Clancy of science fiction, not everything with his name on the cover has actually been touched by his hand.

    The 2001 sequels also go kind of off the rails, but not nearly as much. In 3001: Final Odyssey a woman with a pet dragon lectures a man from the 20th Century for several pages about circumcision.

    Hevach on
  • bob_lazarbob_lazar Registered User new member
    Hevach wrote: »
    Hevach wrote: »
    Which one was the one where the Archangel Michael regenerated the old guy so he could marry his underaged love interest without violating his religion?

    Didn't know Rama was in the same universe as Twilight.

    The Rama sequels get WAY worse than Twilight. Twilight would have been an objective improvement for all characters that don't die in the first book (which is pretty good and a rare dose of human humility for science fiction). It's been probably 25 years since I read them, so my memories are fuzzy but not nearly fuzzy enough:
    When Rama comes back, several of the original characters visit again and leave in it. Realizing they're going to be stuck in it for years they get down to making babies, but only brought one woman who insists on having babies with all the men, one of whom is too old to be into it. She tries to sleep rape him but it doesn't work out.

    This guy later falls in love with the woman's youngest daughter in a relationship that is explained in the matter of fact tone in which animes explain that it's technically not creepy at all for the adult main character to be in love with his clearly 12 year old sister.

    In one of the later books, a robot of the race that created Rama reveals himself to be the Archangel Michael, and gives the old guy a new plastic body in the image of his younger self to erase the at that point 80ish year age difference between him and his wife.

    Meanwhile every other human in the series proves themselves to be closet Nazis who just needed a better excuse than skin color and become so horrible to the other aliens, invading their enclosures within Rama and conquering their villages, that the angel robots decide to sterilize all their captive humans except plastic guy and his child bride and send them to a space gulag.

    Keep in mind that the whole premise of the first book was that the alien ship was using Sol as a maneuver point and neither noticed nor cared that Earth was full of apes until they tried to nuke it, at which point it barely noticed but continued to not care. Humans were ants and Rama had more important shit to do than study, let alone destroy them.

    The sequels have his name on them but aren't written by Clarke, who's kind of the Tom Clancy of science fiction, not everything with his name on the cover has actually been touched by his hand.

    The 2001 sequels also go kind of off the rails, but not nearly as much. In 3001: Final Odyssey a woman with a pet dragon lectures a man from the 20th Century for several pages about circumcision.

    A few years ago, I found out that Gentry Lee wrote semi-prequels to the Rama books, Bright Messengers and Double Full Moon Night.

    I read the Bright Messengers and it was utter trash. It had full on rape, torture, religious sequences, prosthetic lactating breasts and much more crazy plots. It was so bad the I didn't even attempt to read the sequel.

    Double Full Moon Night, from what I read, jumps around a lot and in the end explains why there was a mysterious human family in the Octospider "Zoo" in Rama Revealed. Oh, and something something bad will happen when this small planet's 2 moons both turn Full Moon at the same time...

    I persevered with the Rama series, and kept going back to them every few years because it's quite good, yes, it's spoilt a fair bit by all the religion pushed into our faces and the violence in the latter books. It clearly showed that Gentry Lee was the writer and Arthur C. Clarke was supplying the overall plot. I definitely won't be reading any of Gentry Lee solo books.

  • OctoberRavenOctoberRaven Plays fighting games for the story Skyeline Hotel Apartment 4ARegistered User regular
    Double Full Moon Night sounds like the knockoff version of Three Wolf Moon and I kind of want to see that now.

    Currently Most Hype For: VTMB2, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Alan Wake 2 (Wake Harder)Currently Playin: Guilty Gear XX AC+R, Gat Out Of Hell
  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    dennis wrote: »
    I wonder how many like me played the game before reading the books.

    I never got very far in because I'm pretty bad at that whole genre.

    I don't think you missed much (if you mean "never got very far in" the books). I tried to read the first sequel, which was where Gentry Lee started crapping out his version. It was just so incredibly awful. And though it's taken me many years to realize, I actually have a fairly low bar for being entertained by scifi. Those books should have been perfect for me, as was the original. But I hated everyone involved just a few chapters in - the characters and the author.

    It was McDune before McDune.

    I meant the game. I'm just bad at those adventure puzzle games in the Myst style. I only read the first couple Rama books.

    steam_sig.png
  • Commander ZoomCommander Zoom Registered User regular
    I enjoyed the original and I've been mildly curious about the rest, but have never read any of them.
    This thread is telling me I made the right call.

  • ZomagicZomagic Registered User regular
    ...I haven't read any of this, but I really love the title

  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    If you have kids, you might just want to start with Rama Rama Red Pajama.

  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    Hevach wrote: »
    Hevach wrote: »
    Which one was the one where the Archangel Michael regenerated the old guy so he could marry his underaged love interest without violating his religion?

    Didn't know Rama was in the same universe as Twilight.

    The Rama sequels get WAY worse than Twilight. Twilight would have been an objective improvement for all characters that don't die in the first book (which is pretty good and a rare dose of human humility for science fiction). It's been probably 25 years since I read them, so my memories are fuzzy but not nearly fuzzy enough:
    When Rama comes back, several of the original characters visit again and leave in it. Realizing they're going to be stuck in it for years they get down to making babies, but only brought one woman who insists on having babies with all the men, one of whom is too old to be into it. She tries to sleep rape him but it doesn't work out.

    This guy later falls in love with the woman's youngest daughter in a relationship that is explained in the matter of fact tone in which animes explain that it's technically not creepy at all for the adult main character to be in love with his clearly 12 year old sister.

    In one of the later books, a robot of the race that created Rama reveals himself to be the Archangel Michael, and gives the old guy a new plastic body in the image of his younger self to erase the at that point 80ish year age difference between him and his wife.

    Meanwhile every other human in the series proves themselves to be closet Nazis who just needed a better excuse than skin color and become so horrible to the other aliens, invading their enclosures within Rama and conquering their villages, that the angel robots decide to sterilize all their captive humans except plastic guy and his child bride and send them to a space gulag.

    Keep in mind that the whole premise of the first book was that the alien ship was using Sol as a maneuver point and neither noticed nor cared that Earth was full of apes until they tried to nuke it, at which point it barely noticed but continued to not care. Humans were ants and Rama had more important shit to do than study, let alone destroy them.

    The sequels have his name on them but aren't written by Clarke, who's kind of the Tom Clancy of science fiction, not everything with his name on the cover has actually been touched by his hand.

    The 2001 sequels also go kind of off the rails, but not nearly as much. In 3001: Final Odyssey a woman with a pet dragon lectures a man from the 20th Century for several pages about circumcision.

    I should not have clicked this spoiler and just left my memories of it as “That one with the generation ship.”

  • CoinageCoinage Heaviside LayerRegistered User regular
    It's not Clarke's fault Gentry Lee is creepy horny. Well okay I guess it kind of is. But a black woman is the main character of the sequels, so, uh, progress?

  • EmperorSethEmperorSeth Registered User regular
    dennis wrote: »
    If you have kids, you might just want to start with Rama Rama Red Pajama.

    I prefer the comedic anime adaptation "Rama 1/2."

    But seriously, yeah, don't read the sequels.

    You know what? Nanowrimo's cancelled on account of the world is stupid.
  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    dennis wrote: »
    If you have kids, you might just want to start with Rama Rama Red Pajama.

    If You Give a Mouse a Rama had some cute illustrations

  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    Everybody Ramas.

    H9f4bVe.png
  • Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    Rama, just killed a man
    Put a gun against his head
    Pulled my trigger, now he's dead
    Rama, life had just begun
    But now I've gone and thrown it all away

    *deep breath*

    Ramaaaaaa, ooOoOooh

    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
  • HevachHevach Registered User regular
    edited July 2020
    Coinage wrote: »
    It's not Clarke's fault Gentry Lee is creepy horny. Well okay I guess it kind of is. But a black woman is the main character of the sequels, so, uh, progress?

    The black woman is a rapist who let's an octogenarian marry her underaged daughter, so I give half points at best.

    Hevach on
  • YoungFreyYoungFrey Registered User regular
    I wonder how many like me played the game before reading the books.

    I never got very far in because I'm pretty bad at that whole genre.

    I half did this. I played Starcross (which is just Rama with the serial numbers filed off) long before I read Rendezvous with Rama. And apparently there were at least 3 official Rama games.

  • shadowysea07shadowysea07 Registered User regular
    EMPERORSETH "I prefer the comedic anime adaptation "Rama 1/2."
    Wow I actually know of / watched that one. At least up until the voice actor changes. I like Inuyasha's voice actor but him voicing ranma just takes me out of it too much and doesn't mesh with the character either.

  • H3KnucklesH3Knuckles But we decide which is right and which is an illusion.Registered User regular
    edited July 2020
    EMPERORSETH "I prefer the comedic anime adaptation "Rama 1/2."
    Wow I actually know of / watched that one. At least up until the voice actor changes. I like Inuyasha's voice actor but him voicing ranma just takes me out of it too much and doesn't mesh with the character either.

    Yeah, I had a similar reaction. He plays Inuyasha more as a surly teenager, and it works, but for Ranma's male form he tried to do a similar voice but a lot more spastic and it just ended up super-grating for me.

    The original manga's a lot better than the Ranma 1/2 anime anyway, imho. The main positive of the show was Nabiki being less a villain and more of a trickster; manga Nabs is great for stirring the plot, but the anime version is just a lot more likable. Oh, and the decision to make Ranma's female form a redhead was cute, although it causes a handful of scenes where characters fail to notice the change to no longer make sense.

    H3Knuckles on
    If you're curious about my icon; it's an update of the early Lego Castle theme's "Black Falcons" faction.
    camo_sig2-400.png
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