Starivores
January 14, 2015 8:24 PM Subscribe
Astrivores, surely? Starivores sounds stupid.
posted by axiom at 8:37 PM on January 14, 2015 [26 favorites]
posted by axiom at 8:37 PM on January 14, 2015 [26 favorites]
Starivores! Nothing but Starivores! Gimme those Starivores.. don't let them end!
posted by Cookiebastard at 8:41 PM on January 14, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Cookiebastard at 8:41 PM on January 14, 2015 [6 favorites]
If this wasn't a STNG episode it should have been.
posted by Curious Artificer at 8:51 PM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Curious Artificer at 8:51 PM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
Stellavore!
But I also am delighted by the idea of a hyperintelligent monster who swallows the sun. CHOMP.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:52 PM on January 14, 2015 [7 favorites]
But I also am delighted by the idea of a hyperintelligent monster who swallows the sun. CHOMP.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:52 PM on January 14, 2015 [7 favorites]
Kids today. This was, per my recollection, every episode of TOS.
posted by ~ at 8:55 PM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by ~ at 8:55 PM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
I always thought it would be interesting if they could monitor the nebular clouds laden with sugars for signs of metabolic byproducts. Solar-system sized filter-feeders, pursued by planetary-sized predators...
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:59 PM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:59 PM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
Ooh, stellavores is nice
posted by clockzero at 9:00 PM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by clockzero at 9:00 PM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
We must all agree now to keep this idea away from Steven Moffat at any cost.
Also: Sundiver by David Brin; even though that was within the sun rather than existing in the mass exchange between a binary star system. Still counts I think.
posted by Grimgrin at 9:01 PM on January 14, 2015 [7 favorites]
Also: Sundiver by David Brin; even though that was within the sun rather than existing in the mass exchange between a binary star system. Still counts I think.
posted by Grimgrin at 9:01 PM on January 14, 2015 [7 favorites]
Pretty sure Grant Morrison already had Superman beat one of these.
posted by middleclasstool at 9:02 PM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by middleclasstool at 9:02 PM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
Stellavore, basilisk. Basilisk, stellavore. Great. Now, who wants appetizers?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:12 PM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:12 PM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
Oh God, I felt just like this the other night after all those wings.
posted by newdaddy at 9:15 PM on January 14, 2015
posted by newdaddy at 9:15 PM on January 14, 2015
RIP Ferro Lad.
posted by benzenedream at 9:15 PM on January 14, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 9:15 PM on January 14, 2015 [10 favorites]
eeek
posted by wreckingball at 9:17 PM on January 14, 2015
posted by wreckingball at 9:17 PM on January 14, 2015
Potomac Avenue: Grey Goo already ate the appetizers, and the tray, and the table, and maybe we should just go out to a bar? Universal Surveillance knows a really great place.
posted by Grimgrin at 9:22 PM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Grimgrin at 9:22 PM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
I seem to remember this was kind of the plot of a (non-Dune) Frank Herbert book. Can't think of the title. It was good, though.
posted by Ratio at 9:52 PM on January 14, 2015
posted by Ratio at 9:52 PM on January 14, 2015
KHAN!
"Mliss Abnethe, a psychotic human female with immense power and wealth, has bound a Caleban (called Fannie Mae)
Freddy Mac joins the bureau of sabotage in the "Dosadi Experiment"
posted by clavdivs at 10:10 PM on January 14, 2015
"Mliss Abnethe, a psychotic human female with immense power and wealth, has bound a Caleban (called Fannie Mae)
Freddy Mac joins the bureau of sabotage in the "Dosadi Experiment"
posted by clavdivs at 10:10 PM on January 14, 2015
I've almost completely forgotten the plots of Whipping Star and The Dosadi Experiment, except for the existence of the Bureau of Sabotage. I suppose they weren't as memorable as the Destination Void series or something.
posted by jeffburdges at 10:12 PM on January 14, 2015
posted by jeffburdges at 10:12 PM on January 14, 2015
"Naomi Wildman, what have you done with my purse."
I'm enough of a Voyager buff to know who Naomi Wildman is, but I don't get the reference.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 10:20 PM on January 14, 2015
I'm enough of a Voyager buff to know who Naomi Wildman is, but I don't get the reference.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 10:20 PM on January 14, 2015
...who Naomi Wildman is, but I don't get the reference.
posted by Ursula Hitler
To her purse, to her super powers, or merely to the star eating gel pack she downloaded from Q?
posted by clavdivs at 10:54 PM on January 14, 2015
posted by Ursula Hitler
To her purse, to her super powers, or merely to the star eating gel pack she downloaded from Q?
posted by clavdivs at 10:54 PM on January 14, 2015
Heliovore or heliophage?
posted by lumensimus at 11:27 PM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by lumensimus at 11:27 PM on January 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
you've heard about me
i'm the one
got a great big mouth
i'm gonna eat your sun
i'm hungry now
i'm gonna eat it soon
and for dessert?
i'm gonna munch your moon
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:47 PM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
i'm the one
got a great big mouth
i'm gonna eat your sun
i'm hungry now
i'm gonna eat it soon
and for dessert?
i'm gonna munch your moon
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:47 PM on January 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
Imagine jammin
In a Dyson sphere
Got it trapped
An like a vac
Stardustcomesinto
My home
It's hanging
Dumb phone
Thumb jamming
Those photoelectric
Total synthetic captun Kirk
Murther f$()@r got spun
He's hanging like puns still slamming
That planetoids nuclei for
Becoming for fuel for something...
Wow. Two gun shots to the north two blocks
[going to go and close this ditty up]
posted by clavdivs at 12:04 AM on January 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
In a Dyson sphere
Got it trapped
An like a vac
Stardustcomesinto
My home
It's hanging
Dumb phone
Thumb jamming
Those photoelectric
Total synthetic captun Kirk
Murther f$()@r got spun
He's hanging like puns still slamming
That planetoids nuclei for
Becoming for fuel for something...
Wow. Two gun shots to the north two blocks
[going to go and close this ditty up]
posted by clavdivs at 12:04 AM on January 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
> Heliovore or heliophage?
Heliophage, or sola(ri?)vore. Best not to mix your Greek and your Latin. (That's also why stellavore and astrophage.)
On the other hand, I keep reading starivore as starnivore. I like the sound of that; at least it rhymes.
posted by narain at 12:35 AM on January 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
Heliophage, or sola(ri?)vore. Best not to mix your Greek and your Latin. (That's also why stellavore and astrophage.)
On the other hand, I keep reading starivore as starnivore. I like the sound of that; at least it rhymes.
posted by narain at 12:35 AM on January 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
I disagree with this thread. Not only should we keep "starivore," we should immediately rework related scientific terminology to match. For example: the lion is a meativorous breastal; larval bothbians are generally plantivorous; and so on.
posted by No-sword at 1:22 AM on January 15, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by No-sword at 1:22 AM on January 15, 2015 [9 favorites]
I think it's time to stop all that 'television automobile' crap: 'star eater' for me ('my arse' more like, but that's by the way).
posted by Segundus at 1:27 AM on January 15, 2015
posted by Segundus at 1:27 AM on January 15, 2015
DC Comics already got it right with the simple "Sun-Eater", it's the hyphen that makes it. Really the name for any planetary threat needs to meet one condition: would this look good in huge type on the front of the Daily Planet?
posted by jason_steakums at 5:36 AM on January 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by jason_steakums at 5:36 AM on January 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
I, too, like Heliophage.
This also reminds me of Fred Pohl's novel The World At The End Of Time. A major character in the book didn't quite "eat" stars, but would live in them and 'possess' them.
I personally think it's less likely that a *cough* Heliophage would be an actual "creature" than something we would consider a "civilization" that has adopted this kind of thing as a way of life.
posted by doctor tough love at 5:53 AM on January 15, 2015
This also reminds me of Fred Pohl's novel The World At The End Of Time. A major character in the book didn't quite "eat" stars, but would live in them and 'possess' them.
I personally think it's less likely that a *cough* Heliophage would be an actual "creature" than something we would consider a "civilization" that has adopted this kind of thing as a way of life.
posted by doctor tough love at 5:53 AM on January 15, 2015
There was also Fred Hoyle's "The Black Cloud", where the titular cloud doesn't eat stars, but does surround then and use their light for food. Which has bad consequences for Earth when it arrives in our system.
posted by happyroach at 6:55 AM on January 15, 2015
posted by happyroach at 6:55 AM on January 15, 2015
"Or some one especial thing: and especial time: an especial place. A thing the size of the Brooklyn Bridge. It's alive in outer space—something the size of Central Park kills it—
It drips."
-Charles Fort
posted by tspae at 6:57 AM on January 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
It drips."
-Charles Fort
posted by tspae at 6:57 AM on January 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
Stella Vores sounds like the name of a late 70s TV actress who never really made it big.
posted by The Whelk at 7:15 AM on January 15, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 7:15 AM on January 15, 2015 [3 favorites]
"Ha ha, welcome back folks! Tonight we have actress and comedienne Stella Vores on the show, and thank you for joining us, Stella! Now I suppose I'll just get right to it, because the audience wants to know, are the rumors of you and a certain Mr. Reynolds true?" *audience ooooohs!*
*Stella opens her mouth to respond and the entire studio is vaporized by the raw heat of a thousand consumed suns*
posted by jason_steakums at 7:31 AM on January 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
*Stella opens her mouth to respond and the entire studio is vaporized by the raw heat of a thousand consumed suns*
posted by jason_steakums at 7:31 AM on January 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
Sounds like C'tan propaganda to me. Start looking for these creatures, and next thing you know all of humanity's been converted into an army of Lovecraftian zombie Terminators.
posted by McCoy Pauley at 8:29 AM on January 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by McCoy Pauley at 8:29 AM on January 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
Frederik Pohl's The World at the End of Time has a bunch of them. Didn't like the book but half of it is from the viewpoint of a creature living in a star.
posted by yoHighness at 8:35 AM on January 15, 2015
posted by yoHighness at 8:35 AM on January 15, 2015
I will swallow the sun, and digest the moon!
posted by I-Write-Essays at 9:16 AM on January 15, 2015
posted by I-Write-Essays at 9:16 AM on January 15, 2015
Neat.
Reminds me of a similar riff on the theme that perhaps some cosmological observations are actually intelligent life, that we simply don't recognize on account of the technology scales of difference involved. That being that perhaps some distant red giant stars could actually instead be us observing the waste-heat results of Dyson spheres. (I suppose it's probably likely that was a more believable idea decades ago and less so now, what with telescopes with more oomph etc.)
posted by Drastic at 9:27 AM on January 15, 2015
Reminds me of a similar riff on the theme that perhaps some cosmological observations are actually intelligent life, that we simply don't recognize on account of the technology scales of difference involved. That being that perhaps some distant red giant stars could actually instead be us observing the waste-heat results of Dyson spheres. (I suppose it's probably likely that was a more believable idea decades ago and less so now, what with telescopes with more oomph etc.)
posted by Drastic at 9:27 AM on January 15, 2015
Stella Vores sounds like a Scrabble hand that was almost but not quite a winner.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 10:25 AM on January 15, 2015
posted by a lungful of dragon at 10:25 AM on January 15, 2015
Drastic, I remember hearing the theory that dark matter could be made up of Dyson spheres, and that the universe was filled with ancient and powerful civilizations to be so widespread like that. A very efficient Dyson sphere would look a lot like a kind of MACHO so it was at least plausible.
I think the evidence for MACHOs has petered out in recent years so I guess that's sunk. But it would have been neat. Or frightening. Or both, like a tornado.
posted by traveler_ at 1:33 PM on January 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think the evidence for MACHOs has petered out in recent years so I guess that's sunk. But it would have been neat. Or frightening. Or both, like a tornado.
posted by traveler_ at 1:33 PM on January 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
It sounds like a big mining operation to me, with the clear description of heavy metal expulsion. The details are hard to see, the millions of little heavy metal gathering ships, or wormhole funnels channeling off product.
Meanwhile someone on our planet has already made the deal for water-fuel. Oh see the oceans are so high, surely we can spare some. After all we have all that water stored in the Ringwoodite down near the mantle.
Maybe one of the big mining companies is actually from off planet. Anyway, if they want our sun, we are going to be chilly.
posted by Oyéah at 8:08 PM on January 15, 2015
Meanwhile someone on our planet has already made the deal for water-fuel. Oh see the oceans are so high, surely we can spare some. After all we have all that water stored in the Ringwoodite down near the mantle.
Maybe one of the big mining companies is actually from off planet. Anyway, if they want our sun, we are going to be chilly.
posted by Oyéah at 8:08 PM on January 15, 2015
Late seventies actress who never made it big-Rula Lenska. No wait-
Hello, I'm Johnny Cash, and I have come to eat your sun. Your sun is Sue isn't it?
Uh no, actually our sun is Sol.
Oh, never mind.
posted by Oyéah at 8:15 PM on January 15, 2015
Hello, I'm Johnny Cash, and I have come to eat your sun. Your sun is Sue isn't it?
Uh no, actually our sun is Sol.
Oh, never mind.
posted by Oyéah at 8:15 PM on January 15, 2015
Ooh, stellavores is nice
No, they is not. We do not likes them, not one bit.
posted by senor biggles at 10:26 PM on January 15, 2015
No, they is not. We do not likes them, not one bit.
posted by senor biggles at 10:26 PM on January 15, 2015
Mixed messages: Our latest message to ET could be full of LOLcats and celebs. We should try to do better, or keep quiet altogether
posted by homunculus at 5:39 PM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by homunculus at 5:39 PM on January 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Kitty pictures will doom us all! Or actually, maybe save us.
posted by JHarris at 8:25 PM on January 17, 2015
posted by JHarris at 8:25 PM on January 17, 2015
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posted by turbid dahlia at 8:37 PM on January 14, 2015