Arthur C. Clarke is one of my favorite science fiction authors. I devoured the science fiction grandmaster’s books as a kid and I couldn’t tell you how many times I watched 2010: The Year We Make Contact in high school (and listened to the soundtrack while studying in college). Of course, I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey … Read more
The Geek Tree has a long and storied history at Nuketown. Beginning with a humble 4-foot tree back in the late 1990s, the Geek Tree is now a 9-foot-tall (albeit narrow) tree packed with ornaments from dozens of movies, TV shows, books, and other geeky inspirations. While I’ve spent a fair amount of time discussing the … Read more
I’m kicking off the Ornament-a-Day 2019 with 1999’s Naboo Starfighter. Taken from Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the Naboo Starfighter is an unpowered ornament that still manages to shine thanks to its highly reflective silver underbelly and engine pods. The silver sheen is offset by the Naboo fighter’s yellow paint job. It’s a distinctive ornament … Read more
The rocketship-spangled skirt of the Geek Tree is once again covered in geeky Christmas and birthday presents.
The Geek Tree is back and its brighter and louder than ever. Expanded to a 9′ tall narrow tree in 2016, this year’s Geek Tree includes a new power 2017 ornaments from Hallmark as well as older 1990s-era ornaments that my parents gave me. To learn more about the Geek Tree and its previous iterations, … Read more
What is the Geek Tree? It’s a Christmas tree with a speculative fiction theme. And what’s speculative fiction? Speaking broadly, it’s a genre comprised of science fiction, fantasy and horror, though in the case of the Geek Tree, it’s primarily sci-fi. The tree is re-built annually by Ken Newquist, Nuketown’s editor.
The Geek Tree has grown. In previous years, that meant additional ornaments. This year it truly grew higher, going from 7 feet to 9 feet as I upgraded to a new, taller tree. The goal of the new tree was to add some more surface area for ornaments and put off the day when I’ll … Read more
The Geek Tree finally has an angel.
For years, the topper of the geek tree — my personal ode to speculative fiction in Christmas tree form — had a Santa Yoda at the tree topper. Yoda was great, and I’m sure he’ll return to his place of honor eventually, but this year I had a true angel … a Weeping Angel from ThinkGeek.
Another Christmas, another couple of ornaments for the Geek Tree. This year sees three new ornaments join the fleet: the U.S.S. Vengeance from Star Trek Into Darkness, the xenomorph from Alien, and the flying DeLorean from Back to the Future, Part II. There’s also a string of TARDIS Christmas tree lights; they are too bulky … Read more
The 2014 edition of the Geek Tree is up. As has been our tradition for years (exactly how many years I can’t recall) I setup a dedicated Christmas tree for all of my geeky ornaments. It typically goes up the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and is packed with all manner of genre ornaments representing Star Wars, Star Trek, Ghostbusters, Loony Tunes, The Hobbit, the Marvel universe, and many more.