Saturday Six – Acronyms

Welcome to the Saturday Six, where each week I let you get to know me a bit better with the help of a list. Any idiot can do a Top 5 list, which is why I kicked it up a notch to a Top 6. This week’s topic: Acronyms

As nerds, we tend to take things to excessive extremes. Be it memorizing Pi to as many places as we can, to being able to name all the James Bond films in order, or knowing all of the Infinity Stones. Our heads are full of useless information. But I think the most pointless inane thing in my head is a knowledge of the full name of several acronyms. Why do I know that on Knight Rider the Knight Industries Two Thousand fought his evil enemy Knight Automated Roving Robot? I don’t know why. But I do. And that makes me a nerd. The same goes for knowing all the entries below.

1. T.I.E. – Twin Ion Engine – The various armored transport toys spelled out their full names right on the boxes, but I don’t think it’s ever mentioned on screen or anywhere a casual fan might see it that TIE ever stood for anything. This is one of those things that shows you went and read all the Expanded Universe novels and technical manuals.

 


2. V.I.S.O.R. – Visual Instrument and Sensory Organ Replacement – Star Trek was full of those same types of acronyms that were never said on screen what they meant. The GNDN pipes, ODN conduits, the MIDAS array, the LCARS computer. But I love this one because it works on two levels. It’s an acronym, and an actual visor. OK, it’s really a hair clip spray painted gold, but you know what I mean.

 


3. T.A.R.D.I.S. – Time And Relative Dimension In Space – There is some heated debate of whether dimension is singular or plural, becasue of course there is. This really just makes it on here for this Robot Chicken clip.

 


4. H.A.R.D.A.C. – Holographic Analytical Reciprocating DigitAl Computer – Every episode of Batman The Animated Series is awesome, but I loved “Heart of Steel” more than most. It was the only episode that ever got a direct sequel. Plus it was the introduction of Barbara Gordon into the DC Animated Universe. And it had a evil computer trying to pull an Invasion of the Body Snatchers style plot to replace people with robot replicants. But I love the idea of an acronym where one of the initials is in the middle of the word.

 


5. M.A.N.T.I.S. – Mechanically Augmented Neuro Transmitter Interception System – I’m probably one of the very few people who remember this show, let alone watched it. Starting as a two hour backdoor pilot movie in the middle of the summer on FOX, it did well enough to get picked up for a series. They put it on as the lead in for the Season 2 of The X-Files, but frankly, it was dumb. Starting off as as super hero show, it got retooled at midseason into a weird sci-fi fantasy show involving time travel and alternate dimensions. Needless to say, it was a genre show on Fox that wasn’t the X-Files, so it was canceled after one season. I’ve always remembered this stupid acronym though, even though it was only mentioned once in the pilot, and then just changed their mind about explanation for the name of the show from “Your exoskeleton has a long ass name” to “Your exoskeleton’s helmet makes you look like an insect”. This is pretty much the most meaningless piece of trivia I know.

 


6. M.U.S.C.L.E. – Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere – Everyone had some of these as a kid. In fact, you probably still have some on your desk right now. They were hugely popular. Most people thought they were called Muscle because they were all all wrestlers (at least they were in the American storyline). But nope, they actually had a really long name. They were the first to start that trend of tiny toys with long names, but they were the best. Many others followed, like Monster in My Pocket, Coolest Ultra Tiny Individuals on Earth (the M.U.S.C.L.E. for girls), to Battle Beasts. Basically, if you collect any type of tiny figures, you have M.U.S.C.L.E. to thank.

 

JohnScott is the proud owner of a life size replica Captain Kirk Chair. He is a hoarder of Comic Books, Transformers, and Star Trek action figures. He attended Space Camp as an adult. He has taken vacations to the closing of the Star Trek Experience and the final night Shuttle launch. He has been known to yell at his television when the kids can't put together the damn statue in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. When not writing for InsufficientScotty, he is a Software Engineer for a major healthcare communications company. You can Email or follow on Twitter @NotEnoughScotty or Facebook