Talk:Satellite of Love (Mystery Science Theater 3000)

References cleanup

It seems to me that the "references" section needs some cleanup Jfiling 01:08, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

Could you be more specific? ~ Jeff Q (talk) 05:41, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

Possibly what they are referring to is that it doesn't need to have a listing of every time the SOL appears or is mentioned by name in any given episode of the show moreso than it should hold a References section that falls in line with the rest of the sections across Wikipedia that are used for citing information in the article. Trivia regarding the SOL, perhaps regarding how it happened to gain its moniker if it is known, would also be a consideration. 75.2.4.4 20:22, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

That makes some sense. However, the references (which I added) are not there to show each time "SOL" is mentioned; they are there as citations for each factual statement made in the article, which is what Wikipedia articles are supposed to have. I concede the format could use some cleanup. I think the most appropriate way to get it more in line with proper WP referencing policy is to replace the in-line episode citations with WP footnotes that direct to the References section, where all such info will be available without interrupting the flow of the text. There remains the problem of how to format episode citations, as (A) Wikipedia articles are not reliable sources, and (B) non-commerical tapes and DVDs (i.e., the non-Rhino stuff) are questionable as well (although MST3K surely must have the most widely organized system for making episodes available for any modern TV show). I'll take a shot at this, probably leaving the episode citations (plus wiki links) in the current format. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 00:58, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

I've just completed a first pass at proper referencing. There are several statements I've had to tag as needing citations, as I don't recall the relevant episodes off-hand, and I somehow missed sourcing most of the first "Layout" paragraph, but this should show how factual statements can be made with specific sources cited out of the way in a "Footnotes" section. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 07:29, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

Question

Is the idea of a spaceship sharing a name with a popular song an intentional reference to the Heart of Gold from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? --Rubber cat 02:02, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

It can't be, since your assumption that these ships are necessarily named for songs is inaccurate. There is no evidence that that Hitchhiker author Douglas Adams made any such connection. The phrase "heart of gold" was ancient before its use for a 1915 silent film title, the 1972 Young song, a 2001 Firefly episode, a 2004 science-fiction novel, or a 2006 Queensland film festival, all of which most likely borrowed the ancient expression phrase independently. There is some chance that your implication that MST3K's "Satellite of Love" is an allusion to the Lou Reed song is true. But even The Satellite News, official record-keeper for MST3K, is ambiguous on this point (see "Subtleties, Obscurities, Odds and Ends: Where have I heard the phrase "satellite of love" before?"), suggesting both the song and the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon as possible original sources. (I believe it is an intentional reference to the song, but my belief is irrelevant — we need a reliable source for such a claim.)

Trying to reach for conclusions based on such factually unsupported coincidences is a major reason to avoid original research when writing Wikipedia articles. Far too many people want to see connections where they just don't exist. Unless someone can produce reliably published research, it's unlikely we could even reasonably speculate on who "first" tried to name a spaceship after a song, let alone whether any later attempts are intentional allusions to earlier ones. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 04:21, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for your detailed response! However, I didn't say or intend to imply that Adams named the ship Heart of Gold after the song, only that it happens to share its name with it. Apologies for my wording. --Rubber cat 12:31, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

Shape

The "bone shape" of the SOL could be a reference to the opening sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey where the bone a primate throws up into the air segways into an orbiting satellite. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.164.202.130 (talk) 14:07, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Or it could just be a set-up for the joke in "The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy" [102], where the demon dogs attack the SOL because it's shaped like a bone. (It was more like a top at KTMA, and the demon-dog episode is suspiciously early in Season 1.) In any case, it's just speculation without reliable sources. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 07:34, 1 October 2013 (UTC)