Sci-ber Space

by Will Gauvin

Cyberspace, or the Net, is a great avenue to get information on your favourite piece of Sci-Fi, however there are a few things you need:

  • A computer with internet access (at home, work, or from a cyber-cafe)
  • A web browser (standard on a PC is Internet Explorer and Netscape)
  • Time on your hands, as you will become addicted
What is out there?
Almost everything. If you want to know about Dr Who, Blakes 7, Babylon 5, Xena, Star Trek, or your favourite author, it’s probably there. If it is not there, all you have to do is search harder. If you still don’t find it, be the first to create a page on that topic.

Where to start.

The best places to start are at the official homepages. The easiest way to find these pages is to check the credits of shows, or use a formula which will get you 90% of what you want.
  • The majority of sites start with ‘www’.
  • Next type the name of what you are looking for. For example, if I was looking for Babylon 5, I would put ‘babylon5’.
  • If you know it’s an American site, then just add ‘.com’, for UK sites add a ‘.co.uk’, for Australian sites use ‘.com.au’.
Examples that work:
www.babylon5.com
www.startrek.com
www.farscape.com		 www.reddwarf.co.uk
www.buffy.com
WARNING!!! – You make get an unexpected surprise. For example, while trying to find an X-Men site, I ended up at an adult site. If you think you may end up on an adult site, you most likely will.

Fanzines

Another way of trying to find what you are looking for is to get links out of fanzines. These are usually up to date, and provide links to ‘unofficial’ webpages which are generally better, as fans take great care. However, for every good and active webpage, there are heaps of dead or bad ones. Also fan pages may have regional relevance, which is good to remember if you are afraid of ‘spoilers’.

Fan clubs are a great source of information. Here are a few Melbourne based club web pages:

www.vicnet.net.au/~spaceout (Spaced Out)
www.vicnet.net.au/~msfc (Melbourne SF Club)
www.multiverse.org.au (Multiverse)		 www.vicnet.net.au/~gallifrey (Gallifrey Foundation)
www.vicnet.net.au/~dwcv (Dr Who Fan Club)

Another source is using a search engine. The problem with these is that even old and dead pages are still on their databases. Some of the search engines I use are:

www.altavista.com
www.goeureka.com.au
www.lycos.com		 www.google.com
www.dogpile.com
www.yahoo.com

 

Some interesting weblinks:

Dr Who
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/ (Official Site)
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~dwcv/ (Aus Dr Who site)

Red Dwarf
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/4398/index.html (Red Dwarf Heaven)
http://www.pileosmeg.com/ (Pile of Smeg – Links Page)
http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/ (Official Red Dwarf site)
http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~dejmb/rd_drink.htm (Red Dwarf Drinking Game)

Babylon 5
http://www.babylon5.com (Official Babylon 5 site)
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/lurker.html (Unofficial B5 Bible on the Web)
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/9109/ (Old aus.sf.babylon5 web page)
http://interweb.uml.edu/B5/Enc/ (Babylon 5 Encyclopedia)
http://www.brainsurgery.co.uk/b5.htm (Babylon 5 UK Site)

Babylon 5 Humour
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/9109/drinking.htm (aus.sf.babylon5 Drinking Game)
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/9109/b5-sex.htm (Why B5 is better than sex)
http://www.q7.com/~jemiah/babfab/drink.html (Tipple & Geek Babylon 5 Drinking Game)

GLBT Sites
http://www.outworlders.org/ (Atlanta Out Worlders)
http://www.lambdasf.org/gaylacticnetwork/ (Gaylactic Network)
http://www.lambdasf.org/lsf/index.html (Lambda Sci Fi)

Star Wars
http://www.starwars.com/ (Star Wars)
http://parris.josh.com.au/humour/StarWarsDrink.html (Star Wars Drinking Game)

Games (other than Drinking Games)
http://galaxy.pbem.net/NonM4/ManGalaxyNG.html (Play by E-Mail Galatical Warfare)
http://www.technosphere.org.uk/ (Technosphere – Virtual animals)
http://lost.strange.com/mush/mushlist.shtml (MUSHes – Roleplaying on the internet)

Other bits and pieces
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/ (h2g2 – Hitch Hikers on the Net)
http://www.farscape.com/ (Official Farscape web page)
http://www.rockyhorror.com/ (Official Rocky Horror Web page)
http://www.startrek.com/ (Official Star Trek Web page)
http://www.xena.com/ (Unofficial Xena Web page)
http://www.sev.com.au/ (Sev comics – great source of laughter)

Email Groups

The best place to find an SF email group or e-zine is at Yahoo Groups (formally eGroups).  Go to http://www.yahoogroups.com and follow the  links (Entertainment & Arts > Television > Genres > Science Fiction and Fantasy), and you will find a list of Sci Fi and Fantasy email groups. Some of these are very active, and some you will have to be a member of a club, but at least it is a start.