Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2019 May 22

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May 22

Soviet Chainsaw

Hi All. Please would someone be able to tell what is happening in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwLZUeaIR38

between 20:24 and 20:27 he appears to apply a liquid and and an electric current to the item. What for? What is the aim of this and what is the desired outcome? What is the liquid applied. Unfortunately I can't watch this with volume and suspect it may be in Russian anyway. Any help would be great. Thanks all Anton 81.131.40.58 (talk) 14:24, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

At 20:57 if you turn on cc, the subtitle says "orthophosphoric acid + zinc battery case". --TrogWoolley (talk) 14:54, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

To what end?

That is a very cheap way to do zinc electroplating. He turned phosphoric acid and zinc into zinc phosphate (and hydrogen, which bubbled away). The zinc phosphate solution is applied to the blade using electricity to get the zinc ions to stick. I assume it works fine, but I haven't seen anything that uses zinc in zinc plating for a long time. Chromium is used in just about everything that I know of, but it is still called zinc plating to differentiate between plating and going full chrome. 12.207.168.3 (talk) 15:56, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

Just to note, zinc plating is commonly called galvanization; technically all electroplating would be "galvanization" (since it involves using a galvanic cell to accomplish the plating process), but AFAIK, the term has evolved to refer only to the zinc plating of iron or steel. Zinc can also be "chemiplated" rather easily without any electric current; I have used two separate methods (one using zinc in boiling concentrated sodium hydroxide solution, and another using zinc in boiling concentrated zinc chloride solution) to chemiplate zinc on copper coins like pennies. It works relatively well and easily in a school class setting. If you put the coins in a flame or on a hot plate after plating them, they turn a brilliant gold color from the alloying of copper and zinc to form brass.[1] --Jayron32 17:50, 23 May 2019 (UTC)

Star Trek

I saw part of a Star Trek episode on TV last night and wonder what series it was from. The main things I noticed was that the crew members wore purple uniforms and the captain (or maybe one of the crew) looked sort of like Tim Allen, and the ship itself was like a more bulbous version of the TOS and TNG Enterprises. I've seen some of TOS, TNG, and DS9 but there are more that I've only slightly heard of, so thanks. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 20:11, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

After some clicking I think it may have been Voyager, but I didn't notice Captain Janeway on the screen in the bit that I saw. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 20:16, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

Maybe it was Tim Allen and what you saw was not Star Trek but Galaxy Quest? --Wrongfilter (talk) 20:20, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

Hmm, I just looked at a youtube clip of Galaxy Quest and it's sort of possible. That would explain Tim Allen. But I found the purple uniforms on the TV show to be "colorful" as it were, and the YT clip wasn't like that. Oh well, if it's on again I'll try to notice. I saw less than a minute of the show and wondered what it was. Thanks. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 20:33, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

The Orville has more colorful uniforms and a captain that faintly resembles a 40ish Tim Allen. 97.82.165.112 (talk) 20:42, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

Wow, I hadn't heard of that show but again I found a youtube clip. It might be that. I remember thinking the thing I saw had to be ST because the ship resembled the TNG Enterprise so distinctly (though it was blobbier). I couldn't quickly find clear shots of the Orville but it imitated ST in so many other ways that it might have done the same with the ship. Thanks. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 21:42, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

The starship Orville on the series of the same name has a distinctive body shape with loops at the rear. I presume this shape was chosen precisely because it was not a design commonly seen on Star Trek. I don't actually remember what the starship Protector in Galaxy Quest looks like, although I've seen it multiple times, because it's not seen much from the outside in the movie; but this is what it looks like according to a fan website, which I assume is correct. I like the guess that it was actually Galaxy Quest. As to uniform colors, here's a shot from the movie with four of the principal cast members (L-R: Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tim Allen, Tony Shalhoub). --76.69.46.228 (talk) 22:27, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

Hmm, I don't remember about the loops but the engine nacelle looks Treklike enough that it's possible that it was the Orville that I saw. I also remember there was an alien or two aboard the ship, whose getup was around halfway between the TNG "nose bump" aliens and Babylon 5 full-on prosthetics, so I figured it was a post-B5 Star Trek. Although, TNG had Ferengi. It could still have been Galazy Quest I guess too. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 22:52, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

I think the only alien-looking character (loosely speaking) in the main crew in Galaxy Quest is the one played by Alan Rickman; see my link above. (More precisely, he's played by the character played by Rickman). Alien species on board The Orville include Maclins and a Xelayan. Does that mean it's The Orville after all? --76.69.46.228 (talk) 23:52, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

Say, do you have access to TV listings from last night that would enable you to just look it up? --76.69.46.228 (talk) 23:45, 22 May 2019 (UTC)

I was thinking about that and the answer is I don't know. I'm not much of a TV watcher these days. There's listings on xfinity.com but that site doesn't like the browser I'm using. If it was a rerun it might be on every night, so I could just check if it's on tonight. Those aliens might be the ones I saw, so the Orville theory sounds promising, but I can't be sure without seeing it again. I'm glad to find out about it even though I don't feel likely to become a regular viewer. I'm surprised and amused that they got away with making such a show. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 01:22, 23 May 2019 (UTC)

Oh, we are being silly, just focusing on what things look like. What can you say about the story in the bit that you saw? Can you remember any dialogue? --76.69.46.228 (talk) 09:48, 23 May 2019 (UTC)

Afraid I don't remember any dialogue, and the TV sound might even have been off. I do remember there was a space battle where the enemy (or maybe allied) ships were sort of spherical, not Death Star spherical but a little more Miyazaki-like. That supports the Orville theory perhaps. I'll look on youtube again. I mostly remember wondering what the show was, seeing what I thought was a USS Enterprise-inspired ship, and figuring it was a Star Trek descendant of some sort. It didn't occur to me then that it might be otherwise. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 04:09, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

I see Voyager is on now. I'm not 100% certain it's the same show I saw a couple nights ago, but it looks pretty likely. The ship looks about right and the uniforms fairly close. I also noticed the ship had a loop in the back like the Orville, though the on-wiki pictures don't show it, hmm. Anyway, thanks for all the help. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 07:25, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

No, no loop on the back of Voyager. Anyway, you're welcome. --76.69.46.228 (talk) 07:47, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

Kate Mulgrew looks like Tim Allen? Clarityfiend (talk) 20:13, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

No there was another Allen-resembling character on the screen. Mulgrew wasn't in that scene or else I (probably) would have recognized her. I've seen a few Voyager episodes though I found the show pretty dull. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 05:36, 25 May 2019 (UTC)

Was it Star Trek: Discovery? (Assuming that the blue uniforms are kind of purple-ish, maybe Anson Mount looks like Tim Allen, there was one episode were both sides were fighting with spherical drones...not sure about the ship with the loop though) Adam Bishop (talk) 10:52, 25 May 2019 (UTC)

A remote possibility is Andromeda. The Andromeda Ascendant does have loops. Clarityfiend (talk) 19:41, 25 May 2019 (UTC)

Just added for amusement: in this quiz published in the last few days on Sporcle.com, on on the Star Trek question, one of the decoy answers is Galaxy Quest. --76.69.46.228 (talk) 06:42, 26 May 2019 (UTC)

The episode where I saw (or thought I saw) a ship with a loop was a couple days after I posted this question. That episode was definitely Voyager. I have no way to be sure about the earlier episode and can't rule out Discovery, which I don't think I've seen at all. I'll try to watch some Discovery clips tomorrow I guess. I hadn't heard of Andromeda but it doesn't seem that likely. It was interesting and nice to see that Majel Barrett Roddenberry got to make some shows of her own though. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 08:49, 26 May 2019 (UTC)

Haven't yet gotten to watch any Discovery, but there's a TNG episode on right now, which suggests the station is bouncing around between series. So that makes Discovery more plausible. 05:01, 29 May 2019 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.164.113.165 (talk)