Recently, Richard sent me a photograph of a gizmo that resembles the orrery on this site.
Which prompted the following response.
Dear Fellow Voyager:
Hello! I see that you are a devoted fan of the inspiring and educational NBC television show Voyagers!, like myself. Welcome to the BBS home of Voyagers!, where you can meet many like-minded people who love nothing more than to discuss our favorite show. Consider us your one-stop shopping location for all things Voyagers!. (And blindingly fast, too, thanks to our new 1200-baud line modem!!)
We here like to call ourselves “Voyagers”. (Note the lack of an exclamation mark (“!”), which many of our members feel is an important means for keeping us fans distinct from that brotherhood of noble time-traveling adventurers like Phineas Bogg and Olivia Dunn. But maybe someday we will all have Omnis of our own, and then we can add that exclamation mark!!)
Please feel free to look around and introduce yourself in our various “rooms”. This is a big BBS (the largest Voyagers!-related bulletin-board system anywhere!!), but don’t be afraid to get your feet wet. And we are a friendly bunch, so don’t worry about meeting up with Drake in any dark alleys 🙂 !! We have a healthy discussion forum where some of our members like to discuss what might have happened if Phineas and Jeffrey DIDN’T fix history. We have started to call this our “Alternative History” room. (Wow! Alternative history!!)
As you may know, NBC (National Broadcasting Company) has not scheduled Voyagers! in its prime-time lineup for the past 25 years. (I blame that evil Drake!!) But we Voyagers are trying to fix that, and our petition drive is picking up momentum. We are up to 13 signatures and growing!! Please consider signing our petition if you would like to see more Voyagers! on TV soon. Once we amass enough signatures, we will print out our petition and send it to the president of NBC, Brandon Tartikoff^H^H^H^H^H^H^HJeff Zucker. (If you know anybody who can fix a dot-matrix printer, let me know!!)
And remember, if you’d like to learn more about history, take a voyage down to your local library (or BBS!!).
Awesomely yours,
Voyager Ian
I’m a bad person.
Great, now everyone knows that I get my inspiration from bad 1980s entertainment. Maybe we can make it a pop quiz: which circa-1980s movie inspired the Flash app on the contact page? Hint: There’s a really tenuous connection to Minnesota native Kevin Sorbo. And Whitesnake.
–Voyager Richard
Huh… I have a guess, but I’ll hold on to it for a little while. I think I can get the Whitesnake connection, but I’m not sure about the connection to Kevin Sorbo. (Wasn’t he from Anoka, MN?)
Bad 80s entertainment? I respectfully disagree. I have many fond memories of watching Voyagers when I was however old I was then. I was crushed when it got cancelled. I’ve been cautioned more than once that nostalgic fondness for things doesn’t make them good however it does mean I can’t just stand blithely by while ill is spoken of the dead. Voyagers! was edutainment and it promoted libraries. For that alone it deserves our thanks.
I will have you know that in 3rd grade, when Mrs. Turnquist made us choose team names for our work groups, I lobbied long and hard (as only 3rd graders can) that the name of my team should be “The Voyagers!” (note the exclamation mark).
I was outvoted.
Actually, I think it was 4th grade, and Mrs. Hanson. But my point remains: Voyagers! was clearly a seminal influence on the man I am today.