Chanur/Kzin

Mekt-Hakkikt

Mekt-Hakkikt

Mpanty's bane
Did any of you read the Chanur series by C.J. Cherryh or the Man-Kzin Wars by Larry Niven (and many others)? I think the developers took a great deal of inspiration for the Kilrathi from these books.
And do you know other (good) sci-fi books with cat like aliens?
 
Mention of this likeness was made in Secrets of the Wing Commander Universe, by Mark Minasi. It detailed missions of WC1 and 2.

I also remember a race of cat like beings in the Star Trek role playing games of the 80's. Now they feature as one race in the game Empires at War.
 
The cat aliens in Star Trek are the Kzin -- Larry Niven wrote a ST:TAS episode that featured elements from his Known Space series, including the Kzinti.

Niven's original Kzin story clearly influenced, at the very least, the Iason incident. :) When WC started it's development cycle, though, the Man-Kzin Wars books had yet to be published. (As for Chanur, aside from being a cat, I never really saw the resemblence...)
 
There isn't really any resemblance at all between the hani of the Chanur stories and the Kilrathi. The hani are quite a bit smaller, for one thing, and are traders, not warriors. They are as different as a housecat is from a tiger.

There are definitely some resemblance between the Kzinti and the Kilrathi, but some definite differences still remain. The Kzin despise torture in any form, while the Cat's relish it. Observe Hawk's story of Iceman's death that he relates to Casey in Prophecy.

Also, though I have read only a few of the Man-Kzin Wars stories so far, the Kzin apparently fight many wars with Humans, while cooperating with us in between wars. The Cats would never make peace until defeated utterly, and then, it seems, they have had a shift in mindset towards us, believing us equals, and therefore, above fighting them. The Cats fight prey species, not equals.
 
outer limits.

Did anyone see the episode of outer limits where a space ship which was giant bomb was being sent on a suicide mission to a catlike alien home planet to destroy it. I believe mark hamel was the commanding officer.

They were being sabotaged along the way and someone figured out that their commander(hamel) was one of the catlike alien females that had been genetically altered to look human. In their culture the females are the size of humans, the males are huge. They end up stoping the commander and killing him, and think they get back on course, but the episode ends with them getting back to earth, some of the earth fleet contacting the ship asking why they weren't doing their mission, and starting scream out that earth was done for because the bomb was on a timer to go of f just as they entered the alien space., and then the crew was like oh, crap, just as their ship vaporizes SOL System.

The whole episode was very wing commanderish, if seeming like a badpath out of a wing commander game, with blair going evil and actually literally having a heart of a tiger, :).
 
I saw that episode but it wasnt Mark Hamil as the guy who turned traitor though the cadet who eventually launched the bomb that destroyed earth was Wil Wheaton.

It was a sequel to another episode where the guy who went bad had been originally captured by the enemy and was locked in a cell with a girl who was slowly mutating into one of the aliens. Throughout the episode he tries to escape but couldnt and as she slowly turns more and more he tells her of Earth's plans to win the war. Well it turns out that she was one of the aliens originally who had been made to look like a human and was changing BACK. Oops.
 
Originally posted by Supdon3
...It was a sequel to another episode where the guy who went bad had been originally captured by the enemy and was locked in a cell with a girl who was slowly mutating into one of the aliens. Throughout the episode he tries to escape but couldnt and as she slowly turns more and more he tells her of Earth's plans to win the war. Well it turns out that she was one of the aliens originally who had been made to look like a human and was changing BACK. Oops.
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FU*K!! I saw that episode, but not completely, I never saw the end! And you just spoilt it, Supdon!! :)
The plot looked pretty damn good though...
 
Sorry about that mpanty. Didnt mean to ruin it for you but i saw it like two years ago. Its kinda like how at this point, you can tell people that in the Sixth Sense, Bruce WIllis was dead.
 
I want to know what the surprise ending to that new Bruce Willis movie is, because I'm far to lazy to actually go see it.
 
Well good thing I was talking about The Sixth Sense and not Unbreakable. Theres a surprise ending there but its not the most important revelation in the movie.
 
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS IN UNBREAKABLE!

I'm far too lazy to see Unbreakable, but for some reason no one has accidentaly ruined the story yet. Why not?! I want to know what happens so I'm not left out of unbreakable related conversations.
 
Yes, I'm absolutely serious, people ruined Sixth Sense really quickly after it came out -- so I figured they'd ruin Unbreakable and I wouldn't have to go see it. But they never did!
 
Ok. Well any one who doesnt want to know, dont read any further....







Bruce Willis is unbreakable because he is what comic books have modified into the modern superhero. A train crash that kills 300 people, everyone else onboard, leaves him unscratched He litterally cant be killed, except by drowning, as far as we know. His son almost shot him to prove he was a superhero but he didnt actually do it. Once Samuel L Jackson convinces Bruce about this, Bruce realizes he has the ability to "see" horrible acts people have commited or intend to. He follows a man he "saw" break into a house and kill the father living there. In the house he finds two girls locked in a closet whom he rescues. Then he confronts the killer. He jumps on the guys back and chokes him while being slammed repeatedly against the wall and gouged in the face. But since hes unbreakable he is able to hold on til the guy passes out. Samuel L Jackson's character is a man whose bones can be broken by almost the slightest touch and figures that there must be an opposite to him so he spends his life trying to find that person. After all that at the end of the movie Bruce Willis "sees" that Sam had spent his life killing large groups of people, including causing the train crash just to find someone who couldnt be broken. That was the surprise ending.
 
I saw the movie, but... Was he unbreakable or not? And he could "see", right? He saw the guy killing the man after he touched him. Very confusing.
 
Originally posted by Fenris
There isn't really any resemblance at all between the hani of the Chanur stories and the Kilrathi. The hani are quite a bit smaller, for one thing, and are traders, not warriors. They are as different as a housecat is from a tiger.
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You are talking about the female Hani. The male Hani are quite similar to the Kilrathi, being big and bullys

There are definitely some resemblance between the Kzinti and the Kilrathi, but some definite differences still remain. The Kzin despise torture in any form, while the Cat's relish it. Observe Hawk's story of Iceman's death that he relates to Casey in Prophecy.

Also, though I have read only a few of the Man-Kzin Wars stories so far, the Kzin apparently fight many wars with Humans, while cooperating with us in between wars. The Cats would never make peace until defeated utterly, and then, it seems, they have had a shift in mindset towards us, believing us equals, and therefore, above fighting them. The Cats fight prey species, not equals.
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Hmm you seem to be the type who does not like the Kilrathi. I think I remember you from the "Kilrathi War" thread. But this is a different topic... :)
I thought the Hani's resemblance to the Kilrathi, apart from the physical and the behaviour of the male Hani, was in their titles with the "Na" for a male Lord, like the "nar" in the Kilrathi names ( I know it means sth different but still a small similiarity). I agree that there are more common things to the Kzin although the females Kilrathi resemble more the Hani than the Kzinti females, i.e. they have roles other than sex.
One difference of Hani/Kilrathi which was very striking for me (but only for me I guess) was: Whereas I love the Kilrathi, I despise the Hani! Oh, how I wished that the Kif, the Knnn or even the Humans would beat the shit out of Pyanfar and her cousins. Can't even say why.... But Cherryh managed, through her great skill, although I hated the main characters I was amazed by her novels and Chanur series.
I guess I will have to read the Atavi/Inheritor series now.
P.S.: Most Kzin also despise the Humans for being weak and in Man-Kzin Wars IV the Kzinti does some nasty experiments with a captured human female. :p
 
Originally posted by Supdon3
Sorry about that mpanty. Didnt mean to ruin it for you but i saw it like two years ago. Its kinda like how at this point, you can tell people that in the Sixth Sense, Bruce WIllis was dead.
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!! :mad:

I didn't see Sixth Sense either!!!!!!!

I'm putting you on my Black List Supdon!!! LOL ;)
 
Mekt-Hakkikt,

At least one major difference you're missing between the hani and the Kilrathi. The Kilrathi are what is termed a "predatory species." Now before you start pointing out that the hani are meat-eaters too, that's not what I meant. A "predatory species" is a race that preys on other species. The seek the destruction or reduction of anyone around them but themselves. (And sometimes each other, too. Kilrathi court intrigues and blood fueds for example) The hani do not approach the other races that way. As for their males, they are aggressive, yes, but they do not take a predatory role like the Kilrathi. Granted, I'm only on The Pride of Chanur, but this is what I have seen so far. The kif are a predatory species, of a sort, as they are pretty much hostile to everyone else.

As for not liking parts of the Chanur stories, I actually don't like Tully that much. I keep thinking, "Come on, man, grow a spine!" Maybe it is just hani misunderstanding of his reactions, but he seems to be something of a coward to me. Baggage.
 
Yeah, Tully sucks! :)
It is true that the Kif are more Kilrathi-like than the Hani (I guess it will not surprise you if I say that the Kif are my favourite species in Chanur). I only wanted to show that when you say that the Hani are smaller and traders instead of warriors you only depict the female Hani. Whereas it is true that the male Hani do not wage war against other species this is mostly due to the fact that they do not have the real power. They are not allowed to leave the planet (some exceptions are made though). The Hani are not depicted as an evil race as the Kilrathi are, even the males not, I fully agree with you. But they (the males) bear strong resemblance in their behaviour to the Kilrathi as you will learn e.g. in the last book of the Chanur series (warning: perhaps a spoiler if you want to read the series) when Hilfy's husband crushes the skull of another mlae which he considered soft. And the males also mostly only care about making children, hunting and fighting. But it is not made that clear in the first book, so if you only read that one you couldn't know.
 
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