I have a website devoted to parodies of the song
I am the very model of a modern major general
here. So I sometimes look around the web for more. I recently came across
We are the very models of the throwback starfleet criminals
here. The tune isn't really the tune of I am...general but it's very impressive, especially to someone over 60 who both knows Star Trek and does not know what technology can do.
a) It is NOT sung by fans in costume. (More on that later.) It's actually sung by the actors who played those roles, in the costumes they wore for the show. What's really impressive is that all of the actors are dead.
b) The images looked just like the characters, and the voices sounded just like the characters.
c) I assume AI was involved. How much? Did AI write the song? Do I care so long as it's funny?
d) My main point: this would have been impossible X years ago for some value of X (readers--what do you think X is?) and hence I am impressed. How old do you have to be to keep being impressed by these things? And when will it stop being impressive? Lance had a blog post about impressive visual effects in movies becoming standard and hence not impressive, see here.
e) It was really very good! Of course, as a fan of novelty songs, Gilbert and Sullivan, and Star Trek, I am predisposed to like it.
f) To understand the entire song you need to have watched three specific episodes recently. This reminds me of a prior post see here about technology making it possible to produce good songs about niche topics.
After seeing that video, I looked around for more Star Trek songs. I found quite a few, here are my favorites:
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A song about Dr. McCoy to the tune of The Devil went down to Georgia.The song's title is I'm a doctor not a ... It's here
A song about Miles O'Brien (ST:DSN), to the tune of I
'm Gonna Be (500 miles). The song's title is
I would fix 500 faults. It's
here. I'm impressed with the video and with anyone who can identify every episode it refers to.
A song about Picard trying to talk to a Tamarian, a species that only talks in metaphor, to the tune of
Walk like an Egyptian. The song's title is
Talk like a Tamarian. It's
here. It's based on one episode,
Darmok. That's niche!
A song about the episode of
Shore Leave from ST-TOS, to the tune of
Life in Wartime. The song's title is
Life During Shore Team. It's
here
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So, AI is producing really good star trek music videos with the actors from the show singing and playing instruments (I know it's not really them but it the images are just like them.) Is there a downside? For me, as a fan, this is great.
But there are also YouTube videos made by fans (I presume they are fans) playing the roles. So they don't look like the characters, the songs aren't as clever as the AI-generated material (there are probably exceptions). I am sure it's still FUN for them. But will they stop doing it and have AI do it for them? If so then have we, as a culture, lost something? More generally, if writers depend too much on AI we may lose the ability as a society to produce original material. And past some point AI might run out of material to use.
Here are some fan-produced music videos:
Hit it Warp Five This one is based on ST-SNW. Contrast: ST-TOS was on TV in the 1960's when there were a very limited number of channels. ST-SNW is on Paramount+ which you either need to pay for or watch at your mom's house and your nephew's house (that's what I do) so there just aren't that many people watching. Hence this song may win the award for most niche. And niche wins the award for word-of-the-day.
*than in the title
ReplyDeletethanks, fixed.
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