Pondering windmills, Julie hatches a nefarious plot.
Photo by Roger Czerneda
Feb. 23, 2005
More SciFi Villainy
Creating Science Fiction Villainy: The Author Joins In
The only problem with making up these weekly scifi challenges is that they get me thinking as well. In this case, I started jotting down my own evil ideas. (Normally, I'm quite a pleasant person. Really.) So I thought I'd share them with you.
As a reminder, here's last week's challenge:
Challenge: Devise an Evil Plot!
Imagine you are writing the script for a movie featuring an evil villain. Let's call him Dr. Nullpoint. You've been asked to come up with his ultimate evil plot and design the weapon or threat that he's going to use against humanity. The producer of your movie hands you the following article describing a new science idea she wants you to use. How will you use it? What do you think might happen in the story? That's all up to you.
From Science News, Vol. 166, Dec. 18 & 25, 2004, p. 400.
Julie's Evil Plots!
Plot A Dr. Nullpoint uses this fabric to create the ultimate disguise for his secret agents. Flip a hidden switch and what looked like a business suit becomes a bathing suit.
Plot B Dr. Nullpoint makes scarves and ties out of this fabric, which he sends as gifts to world leaders, presidents of corporations, and his favorite movie stars. Little do those receiving the gifts know that the fabric is a recording device. When sent out to the cleaners, the scarves and ties reveal valuable secrets. (Okay, none valuable. Just some odd, interesting things.)
Plot C Dr. Nullpoint uses this fabric to create a tent to hide his other evil weapons. The tent displays a different name and color each time someone walks by, so our hero can't find the right place. (By mistake, George's Pizza is one of the names, confusing several hungry students.)
Plot D Dr. Nullpoint, encouraged by his experiment with a tent, decides to cover his mountain hideaway in the fabric, using it to generate the appearance of a mountain covered with trees, rocks, and snow. (Amazingly, the fabric's image looks exactly like the real mountain underneath.)
Plot E Chosen to give a speech at his old school, Dr. Nullpoint arranges for his fabric to be used for new student uniforms for the occasion. Once up on stage, he uses a remote control to make the fabric transparent. (Needless to say, no one pays attention to his speech.)
Plot F Dr. Nullpoint, needing more money to finance his evil schemes, decides to bet on the outcome of a football game. He exchanges the uniforms of both teams for ones made out of his fabric. In the final second of the game, he uses his remote control to switch the team colors so that his team wins! (This also has the effect of making the students' uniforms in his old school clear again, disrupting their field trip to a nearby museum.)
As you can see, I was having fun and being fairly silly about it. But the underlying idea of a fabric that could change its pattern or be some sort of device is a fascinating one. Letting my imagination get silly is a valid way to think of possible real questions to explore.
For example, what if this fabric could be used to make clothes that changed their appearance or color? I could imagine walking into a busy store and seeing at a glance which store clerks were available to help me and which were busy with other tasks, just from the color of their vests, which would change according to what they were doing.
Another example: What if such a fabric could respond to my environment? There are glasses that turn darker to protect a person's eyes from bright sunlight. What about a bathing suit that could warn me when I needed more sunscreen?
And on a larger scale: What if we could use this fabric to take the place of cell phones and mobile computers? One day, people might talk into their hats! What if we could use this fabric to display messages? A house being burglarized could "tell everyone" by displaying a giant message on its curtains or walls. A tent could "ask for help" in the wilderness. What if artists starting using this fabric?
I think I'll stop now. Not that I'm running out of ideas. But I don't want to hamper yours. Think of some "what ifs. . .?" for yourself. It's more than fun. You might just be on to the next great invention. All from playing with scifi villains.
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