Auriga: Pop Culture Superstar

>> Jordan: Hi, I'm Jordan. >> Kit: And I'm Kit. >> Jordan: Welcome to Starry Time. where stars plus lines >> Kit: equal stories. >> Jordan: In this week's episode, we'll be getting silly and exploring the pop culture of our constellation this month, Auriga. >> Kit: In this episode, we'll share our favorite and least favorite occurrences of this month's constellation and pop culture broadly defined.

And we will end by taking over the brand and wishing upon a star for what we wish existed.

>> Jordan: All right, Kit. Well, this wasn't the easiest one to find pop culture representations of, but after looking at the Wikipedia pages that we do our research on, one jumped out right away for me. And I think I let you know weeks ago what my pop culture favorite appearance of Auriga was going to be. >> Kit: Yeah, let's hear it.

>> Jordan: Perfect. So I looked at the encyclopedia, and the one thing that jumped out at me was the USM United Systems military medical research vessel from the movie Alien Resurrection 1997, which is the sequel to the sequel to the sequel of Alien with Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley. The whole movie pretty much takes place on the USM Auriga. It's like I said, it's a medical research vessel. They're cloning Ripley in this movie 200 years after the original

three movies take place. But, yeah, no, this is like a cloning research vessel. But the clone of Ripley that they've made in this movie, she has part of the Queen Xenomorph, alien DNA in her. So the Ripley in this movie, the clone who's called Ripley Eight, >> Kit: brutal >> Jordan: Yeah, has a little bit of like, uh, alien xenomorph, is she on their side or is she on the human side?

Elements to it, but, yeah, basically, they're using our poor friend Sigourney Weaver as a delivery chamber to bring these xenomorphs, aliens from the Alien series and to create, basically an army of them. So this ship in the movie, it is very dimly lit. It's got a lot of maintenance areas. Oh, for sure, along corridors. Um, but, yeah, no, this, uh this is probably not my favorite of the Alien movies, but. >> Kit: But is it your favorite cloning of Sigourney Weaver?

>> Jordan: No. Well, it was up until Avatar: The Way of Water. >> Kit: Yeah, of course. >> Jordan: Until then. Yes. Yes. Oh, my god. Wow. But, yes. The USM Auriga from Alien Resurrection. >> Kit: So the thing about the Alien's franchise is that those movies are scary. So I love Sigourney Weaver. I love sci-fi. However, I am out on horror Sci-Fi. Too scary. So I haven't seen this

movie but when you said you're going to pick it, I was like, great. I don't need to learn anything else about this. >> Jordan: Alright, Kit, well, at least you know that the USM Auriga is a very important vessel in the Alien mythology. You don't have to watch the film. So what's your favorite appearance of Auriga in pop culture? >> Kit: So, yeah, not a lot of choices. I found a few things that, um, you know, I kind of liked, but definitely did not hit into my

favorites. Um, and maybe after we do least favorites, I'll just run down some of the other things I found that seemed interesting, but I just didn't know enough about to really commit to. But honestly, this is the exact moment for which the Stargate should return. >> Jordan: Oh, finally. You brought in the extended universe in the myths and retcon. Okay, what's going on with Stargate Auriga? I don't know anything. Tell me more.

>> Kit: Well, so on the Stargate itself, Auriga is the 28th glyph. It's in the 28th position. So it's on there. Don't know if they ever go there, but it is on the Stargate itself. And if there's one thing that's true, it's I like young James Spader. So that's where I went with this one. >> Jordan: Perfect. I think that's a great favorite choice. And I know they can only have so many glyphs on that Stargate. So, you know Auriga, you earned it.

All right, Kit, should we talk about our least favorite appearances of Auriga? >> Kit: Yeah, definitely. I can go first on this one. So >> Jordan: Sure >> Kit: What I decided to go with, again, not a ton to choose from, but what I decided to go with was a statue called Auriga of Delphi. >> Jordan: Mhm. >> Kit: It is a life size statue at five foot nine inches of a

charioteer. It was part of a larger statue and a chariot, probably with four or more horses made out of bronze, dedicated to Apollo by Polyzalus for Apollo's help in winning a chariot race. So you might think, yeah, it's an ancient thing, maybe I should like it. It was dated from 478 or 474 BC. So this is, you know, some archaeological find here. But the problem I had with it is first, the person that commissioned it is known as Polyzalus the tyrant. >> Jordan: Oh, not, not a good start.

>> Kit: Yeah, no, not a good start. Not much else about this leader, but that made me worried. And then I also, it has this very like, early classical severe style. The eyes are kind of creepy. And so I wish that had it had stayed buried under the rocks of Delphi, because I didn't need this bronze statue to survive. And it's my least favorite for that reason. >> Jordan: I'm taking a look at it here now, and I'm sure you'll post

a picture on our socials. And, yes, severe is, uh the way I would look at it. Haunting, even. >> Kit: Yes! Right? >> Jordan: No, not a fan either. No, no, not a, uh, fan. >> Kit: No. Where did you go with this least favorite? >> Jordan: So, Auriga I saw was adopted into, like, a lot of constellation names, into a lot of, like, vague, nefarious tech programs and companies. So I basically found the one that seemed like the sketchiest.

And this headline was the one that got me to choose Auriga Space out of all the options. Exclusive headline, "Auriga space emerges from stealth with $5 million funding round." Made me a little uneasy. So, uh, the logo looks great for Auriga space. Good luck with what they're doing, which is an electromagnetic launch system, in theory. So, yeah, Auriga space.

Anyways, so there are a few other things that I found that weren't my favorite or my least favorite, but were just things I found interesting. Um, and I know you found some of those as well. Did you find out about the Auriga Project? >> Kit: The book? Yes, yep. >> Jordan: Yes, the book. All right, I'll just read the, yeah, I'll just read it from the back cover.

Auriga Project. "Ripped from Earth and transported to a strange new world, archaeologist Eliana Fiske is taken captive by the leaders of a native tribe. What do they want with her? She's not sure, but they don't seem friendly. When she discovers evidence of an ancient sacrificial ritual, Eliana fears she'll be next. Can she avoid becoming an offering to their bloodthirsty god? And how in the worlds, plural, will she ever get back home? You'll love this fast paced action in this science fiction

thriller. It's a harrowing tale of survival against all odds. And the gateway to an ancient alien mystery." This is a book by M. G. Herron. I'm guessing it's self published. And it's book one of the translocator trilogy. >> Kit: Yeah, so I saw that, too and I was like, I like, ah, I love a portal. Um, I love the idea of an archaeologist on another planet. Yeah, think think it sounds cool. I did not buy it, and the library did not have it. >> Jordan: It seems like, uh, it was not

necessarily met with rave reviews. But the comments I see here, Aztecs in space, space shifting aliens, mad scientists, magic meteorites, all sounds like stuff I'd be interested in. It's hard to have a new vision. >> Kit: Another thing that I found, so you probably saw this too was Auriga, the main planet where the Endless Legend game takes

place. Um, I am not familiar with this game, but when I looked it up and I looked at pictures from like screenshots from it, it definitely looks like a, ah, Civ Four kind of energy. Or like Civilization. Maybe not Civ four, but just the Civilization franchise. Um, yeah,

so I got this from the wiki. It says, "from the team who brought you Endless Space, Endless Legend is a fantasy style Civ- like four x games set in the endless space universe, but on one particular planet fairly early in the universe's life cycle." And that planet is Auriga. So that sounded pretty cool. And I was like, okay, that seems like a game I could get into.

>> Jordan: Yeah, shoot. I mean, I was going on and on about Masters of Orion last month, but seems like I need to get into the Endless because it's the same thing we were talking about or same thing I was talking about with the four x strategy gaming. Awesome. All right. Yeah, I did see that. I didn't look into it. I didn't even know what kind of game it was. So now I'm a lot more interested. Um, did you have anything else that you found before we should get to what we wish existed?

>> Kit: Um, not much. I did., I always sort of take a look in, ah, you know, Spotify to see about songs that are called Auriga. There were a variety of them. A lot of them were calm, working music, but there was some electronic dance music thrown in

there. So, um, yeah, so I also saw those, but nothing, uh, that I was like, oh, I really want to, uh, shout out in something in particular, but if you're looking for some instrumental music with a little splash of dance music in there, just type in Auriga in Spotify and uh enjoy.

>> Jordan: All right, Kit, we did our best digging throughout the Internet and throughout pop culture to find places where Auriga has appeared. Now let's take over this Auriga brand ourselves and decide what we wish existed under this constellations moniker. I'm happy to go first. >> Kit: Yeah, go for it. >> Jordan: Kit, I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm a very, um, bad driver. And you know what? I don't think I'm the only one.

>> Kit: Mhm. >> Jordan: And we've been talking about self driving cars for decades now. But just like with Auriga space, it seems like a lot of the companies that are getting into this sphere are pretty unethical and maybe even evil. So for those of us out there who don't have any other options, I think Auriga, the ethical charioteer service self driving car is what I wish existed most of all. >> Kit: Wow, that's so much better than everything. I came up

with. Uh, great use of the brand. I didn't come up with anything very good. Um, and I kind of felt like when I was working on this, that I could understand why, uh, there hasn't been a lot of utilization of this particular brand. I kind of like, broadly was like an Auriga car. But I like the idea of being self driving because we back in the Zodiac constellation season, we had a lot of car options. There was like, you know, you know, lots of cars named after

various zodiac constellations. It was like, Auriga seems like a more natural thing than, like, you know, Taurus. But, um, I didn't really like that. I also was like, maybe like, hay rides, like Auriga chariot rides. That could be fun. Like, is anybody doing that so people can, you know, go ride around in a chariot race? That sounds like maybe instead of go karts, maybe that's something we could do. And maybe like Auriga, like, uh, a theme park ride that's chariot themed could also be

cool. That's kind of what I came up with, but honestly, I wasn't really enthralled with anything that I came up with. And I like your idea much better than anything that I came up with. >> Jordan: Chariot racing. Why is it out of style? Bring that back. I bet if you put it on NBC Sports for the 2024 Olympics, you get some eyeballs. So let's bring back chariot racing as, uh, a maybe this maybe a highly specific Olympic sport. >> Kit: I'd love to see Snoop commentate that.

>> Jordan: Yes, that's as good as it gets. >> Kit: The only other thing related to Auriga that I thought a lot about while we've been working on it is like, you know how in cartoons they have, like, Arooga! >> Jordan: Yeah? >> Kit: I would like that to become Auriga! Ummmm, so that's the only other thing which isn't really pop culture. Just something I've been thinking about. >> Jordan: I think Ah-oo-ga we got a good 100

years out of it, at least. Um, so, yeah, let's mix it up a little bit. We need another exclamation. >> Kit: It's just an idea. >> Jordan: This is what we wish existed. There are no wrong answers here. And, Kit, it's only a matter of time before one of our wishes comes true.

>> Kit: This has been Kit >> Jordan: And Jordan. >> Kit: Sisters. Lovers of stars and stories. >> Jordan: And, uh, we'll see you next time >> Kit: On Starry Time. >> Jordan: Aooga >> Kit: Auriga!