Why not? They animated the K'zinti didn't they?

If I understand correctly, Niven's kind of a stinker when it comes to intellectual property. The Kzinti were originally planned to be introduced to Star Trek Online, but they couldn't secure the license and so we now have the Faresans, which is basically just a recolored Caitian.

Yes, but you "know" what they're really supposed to be. Kinda sucks.

Yeah, it sucks...except for the whole "intelligent female" thing.

What also sucks is that you can't play a Gorn female.

That they are, or they aren't? Or that it was dropped completely from the STO lore?

I remember an Anthology, Cathouse, where some "primitive" Kzinti females were located in stasis and they turned out to be more-or-less equal to average human intelligence and super-pissed their race has engineered their females into breeders. I assume it was canon, because Niven: Tight control of IP. Or maybe that was one of the things that set him off, as I do remember a friend had written some published fic that pissed Niven off.

I'd be pretty conflicted, since the only reason I joined the Klingon side was to play a Faresan.

...poorly worded sentence. I meant that the Faresans are different in that they have intelligent females.

Ya! We arre Smarrt! Fire ALL THE THINGS!

Aha. Okay. I get the impression you've both read a tale or two by Mr. Niven and you most likely know of the mention of K'zin on colony worlds having intelligent females, right? Mr. Niven pointed out in one of his novels that the K'zinti actually had an ancient culture with a strongly defined caste system where females were considered "Insignificant" except for breeding and cub rearing. Anyway, I had to read these comments a few times to realize this is all over a Computer Game, and it makes me wonder if the programmers had read any of Larry Nven's works, or that they most likely might have found the "Alien"characters too difficult to animate? I chatted briefly with Mr. Niven at a Loscon a few years ago, and we had a nice discussion about the giant "Bandersnaches" which frequent his stories. I'm not surprised that he's overly protective of his "Intellectual Properties" though. After all, his "Known Space" type stories were considered pretty original back in the late 1960s and 1970s when I'd read the novels as soon as they'd come out, and I really like his style of writing.

So what's going on Fellahs? I'm delighted to read there's an on line computer game featuring characters from Mr. Niven's universe, but is this all about not being able to "Play" the "Alien" characters Correctly?

Ahhh, a coward!

I don't think I've ever seen an illustration of a Pierson's Puppeteer before. I'm gonna be envisioning this doofus next time I read a Ringworld book =D

I was thinking "That looks like a puppetter.. IT IS a Puppetteer!"

A Puppeteer pointing out that it's head and lips are really hands and fingers.

Stylistically, these put me more in a mind of Bob Clampett's animated Beany & Cecil. HB always struck me as more rigid, at least the Yogi bear derived sections of it.

Who's to say the Leakin' Lena wasn't built using a General Products hull? It certainly was space-worthy...

Yeah, you're right, this does look more Bob Clampettish than Hannah-Barbara-like. But then Clampett's cartoons were a big influence on me as a kid- A bigger influence than the Hannah-Barbara cartoons, though Quickdraw McGraw is still a favorite of mine. That's why I draw a lot of horses.

If I recall my "Known Space" lore correctly, Clampett (specifically his sock puppet of Cecil) was the inspiration for the Pierson's Puppeteers in the first place.

Also... KABONG!

I was a Hanna Barbara kid in my yoot. Although I tended to hang more in the Alex Toth end of the pool.

I liked the Alex Toth end of the H-B pool, too, Space Ghost was a great looking character, I just wish his show hadn't been produced by Billy Sol Hurock- No stories, but things sure blowed-up pretty good.

Yeah, honestly the only story I solidly remember of the original SG was the one where some evil alien left a robot pilot inside the phantom cruiser that took it on a rampage, which had a strong resemblance to the Johnny Quest episode with the robot spyder.

I got most of that vintage on DVD now and some hold up and some don't. I think the biggest loss of luster for me was the Herculoids. Loved 'em when I was a wee tad, now I envision some sixties era Mom in the kitchen hearing Don Messick's monster noises and nothing else emanating from the TV room and wondering to herself "WHAT is that child WATCHING?" Try queing up an episode on youtube or something and shutting off the visual and you'll hear what I mean.

Johnny Quest (which I know mostly predates Toth's involvement) is still unquestionably awesome, and I have a great fondness for Shazzan. (If not for Barney Phillip's booming delivery as the titular genie alone. The art direction is also generally gorgeous.) Mightor (a.k.a. Caveman Spaceghost) is a simple pleasure. (Moby Dick, it's sidecar, not so much.)

A lot of these characters could be revived, but they'd need handled just right else they'd be just more screeching nails on the pop-culture blackboard.