sci fi drinks

Sci Fi Drinks


As a follow up to food, drinks are another topic where Sci fi needs a shake up!



Non-Alcoholic Drinks

Sci fi writers offer some alternatives for non-drinkers: coffee, tea, fruit and health juices, milk and milkshakes. So far I haven’t noticed anyone using any form of sports drink. Tea and coffee are normal beverages in our society, so there’s not too much to say about them yet. Milk and milkshakes are generally warming, healthy drinks, particularly for children.

It’s the fruit, vegetable and health drinks that draw my ire, just as fruit and vegetables did in sci fi food. The nicest sounding drinks are lemon, fruit cup and fruited source water. But then we get drinks that would put anybody off – cauliflower juice, Kelp’s Kool Tonic, Spinach Juice with Pear. There are so many enticing variations of fruit juice that could be used or invented, but instead sci fi writers put viewers off juice with their uncool choices. They’re not as bad with soft drinks, but the heavy reliance on Cola drinks is promoting an unhealthy choice, if not being downright boring and uncreative. Bubbleshock is the most creative, but it was part of an alien conspiracy, and was bad for you.



There is another aspect of drinks that is more interesting: characters become associated with the drinks they favour. This didn’t happen much with food.

Tea – Captain Picard favoured Earl Grey, hot, for his Star Trek adventures.

Cola – In Andromeda Harper loved Sparky Cola.

Juice – Worf drank prune juice when in human company, and blood wine in Klingon circles. This hasn’t raised the status of prune juice, even though he thought it was a man’s drink.

Raktajino was the symbol drink of Deep Space Nine, especially Julian Bashir.



These are the main references in McKenzie’s Sci Fi Dictionary:





Coffee Cappuccino (Eearth Final Conflict: Keys to the Kingdom ); Cappuccino with chocolate sprinkles (Torchwood: A Day in the Death ); Coffee, Jamaica blend, double strength, double sweet (Deep Space 9: Whispers ); Coffee (Stargate: SG1 Urgo /Crusade: Visitors from down the Street); Frappucino (Roswell: Wipeout! ); Mochachino (Hyperdrive: A Gift from the Glish ); Proteinaceous Seed (Star Trek Voyager:  The Cloud ); Raktajino(Deep Space 9: The Homecoming et al);





Fruit/Vegetable/Health Juice Aloe Vera (Goodnight Sweetheart :Easy Living); Cauliflower Juice (Hyperdrive: Weekend Off );Balso tonic (Star Trek: Next Generation: The Host ); Bolian tonic water (Deep Space 9:Paradise Lost); Fruit Cup (K-9 and Company); Fruited Source Water (Flash Gordon:  Pride); Icoberry Juice (Deep Space 9: Let He Who is Without Sin ); Korvino Juice (Deep Space 9:Defiant);Lemon Drink (The Happening ); Prune Juice (Star Trek: Next Generation: Yesterday’s Enterprise ); Kelp’s Kool Tonic (The Nutty Professor 1963); Special Juice (Hyperdrive: Assessment ); Spinach Juice with Pear (Star Trek Voyager:  Eye of the Needle );





Milkshakes and Milk Drinks Banana Guava Shake (Kyle XY: The List is Life ); Banana Milk (The Host); Banana milkshake (Torchwood: Random Shoes); Chocolate shake (Kyle XY :Leap of Faith); Chocolate Wonder (Kyle XY :Grey Matters); Cocoa (Goodnight Sweetheart: Come fly With Me );Curry Milkshake (Red Dwarf); Enyac’s milk (Deep Space 9: Ties of Blood and Water); Martian Shake (Roswell: Pilot); Mercury Milkshake (Roswell: Blood Brother); Strawberry Milkshake (Goodnight Sweetheart season 4 In the Mood );





Soft Drink Bubbleshock (Sarah-Jane Adventures: Invasion of the Bane ); Cherry Cola (Kyle XY: Leap of Faith); Cola (Dinotopia: Contact ); Ginger Beer (Doctor Who: The Unicorn and the Wasp/ Goodnight Sweetheart season 4 In the Mood ); Guarana Soda (The Incredible Hulk 2008); Impact Cola (Slider’s: The Young and the Relentless ); Lemonade (The Nutty Professor 1963/D? The Happiness Patrol ); Root Beer (Deep Space 9: Facets ); Slusho Mix (Star Trek 2009 ); Slushy (Primeval 2/1 ); Sweetwater (Stargate SG1 2001 ); Sparky Cola (Andromeda); Trixian Bubble Juice (Deep Space 9:The Storyteller);





Tea Andonian Tea (Star Trek: Next Generation: Conspiracy ); Chamomile Tea (Kyle XY: Sleepless in Seattle/ Earth 2); Deka Tea (Deep Space 9:The Alternate ); Earl Grey Tea (Star Trek: Next Generation: Contagion et al ); Govaline Tea (Deep Space 9:The Muse); Janaran Tea (Enterprise: Chosen Realm); Klabnian Fire Tea (Star Trek 2009 ); Lemon tea (Star Trek: Next Generation:The Host); Marob Root Tea (Star Trek Voyager:  Ex Post Facto); Red leaf Tea (Deep Space 9: Civil Defense ); Tarkalean Tea (Deep Space 9:Cardassians );Tea (Goodnight Sweetheart :Come fly With Me); Valerian Root Tea (Star Trek: Next Generation: Second Chances);







Alcoholic Drinks :

There is a large number of alcoholic drinks in the McKenzie list, which at first sight makes you think sci fi encourages alcohol consumption. The feeling gets even worse when you see how much the squeaky clean Star Trek Universe drinks. The problem here is taking alcohol out of context. Even though there is a full range of alcoholic drinks, from beer to wine and champagne, as well as spirits, alcohol is usually seen as something to consume to relax or celebrate. People who drink too much are reprimanded or avoided. There doesn’t seem to be any difference in this attitude between American or British series and films, where there were differences in what foods are encouraged. Men and women drink alcohol, not quite equally, but often together in social situations. The important things to realise is that the attitude to alcohol is one of enjoyment in moderation.





But it’s interesting that alien drinks are often more alcoholic than human ones, and that drinking alcohol is often a test of alien manhood (not womanhood) to drink them. Humans sometimes fall foul of this attitude and unless prepared beforehand ( as Riker was for Klingon beverages) always regret joining in. Characters aren’t normally identified with a particular form of alcohol as they were with tea or soft drink. In fact, some characters like Kerr Avon in Blakes’ Seven are identified with not drinking alcohol. It’s more common for characters to share alcohol for special occasions e.g. Reg and Gary share drinks in Goodnight Sweetheart, both for Reg’s retirement and VE night. Whenever Gary has to drink in both time periods he inhabits, he regrets it the next day. When Ron drinks too much in the same series, it is to show what a serious problem he has and how Gary overlooks it.



On a word making basis, it is the alien drinks that promote word invention and playfulness. Apart from Bubbleshock, most drinks have normal names.



These are the listings in McKenzie’s Dictionary for alcohol.





Beer Ale and ambrosia (Battlestar Galactica: Lost Planet of the Gods); Andorian Ale (Deep Space 9: Meridian ); Beer(The Host/ Stargate Atlantis: The Shrine/ Goodnight Sweetheart: The Yanks Are Coming);Bitters (Deep Space 9: Homecoming); Brestanti Ale (Deep Space 9: Blood Oath); Budweiser Classic (Star Trek 2009 ); Guinness (Eearth Final Conflict: The Secret of Strand Hill); Maporian Ale (Deep Space 9: Looking for par’Mach in All The Wrong Places ); Maraltian Seev-ale( Deep Space 9: Duet); Romulan ale (Star Trek: Next Generation:: The Defector ); Synthale (Deep Space 9: Playing God/ Deep Space 9: Bar Association ); Trakian Ale (Star Trek: Next Generation: Lower Decks );





Brandy Alvanian Brandy (Deep Space 9: Body Parts ); Brandy Alexander (Roswell: Viva Las Vegas); Brandy and Soda (Goodnight Sweetheart : The Bells Are Ringing); Cherry Brandy (Goodnight Sweetheart : Just one More Chance); Saurian Brandy (Deep Space 9: Prophet Motive); Yridian Brandy (Deep Space 9: The Sword of Kahless)



Champagne Bollinger ‘69 (Moonraker); Bollinger Champagne (GSw Mairzy Doats); Champagne (Doctor Who: Rose/Doctor Who: The Empty Child/ Star Trek: Next Generation: Datalore/ Torchwood: Out of Time/Tripods: Chateau Ricardeau, France/ Deep Space 9: Prophet Motive/ Stardust/ Star Trek: Next Generation:: Parallels); Chateau Picard (ST Nemesis); Dom Perignon Champagne (Earth Final Conflict:  Horizon Zero ); Pink Champagne (Bionic Woman 2007: The Education of Jaime Sommers ); Kandora Champagne (Deep Space 9: Meridian );



Liqueurs and Aperitifs Alaskan Polar Bear (The Nutty Professor 1963); Black Hole (Deep Space 9:the Homecoming/ Deep Space 9: Playing God); Bombay multi-fling (Star Hyke: Plug’n’Play ); Buzzer (BG The Lost Warrior ); Cardassian Sunrise (Star Trek 2009 ); Choc Mint Liqueur (Goodnight Sweetheart : Pennies from Heaven); Daiquiri (The Invaders: Inquisition ); Harvey Wallbanger (Doctor Who: The Unicorn and the Wasp); Jovian Sunspot (Babylon 5: Spider in the Web); Langour (Deep Space 9: Vortex); Lemon, lime, and bitters (Doctor Who: The Unicorn and the Wasp ); Mai Tai (Dinotopia: Car Wars ); Margarita (Bionic Woman 2007: The Education of Jaime Sommers); Martini(Iron Man); Modela Apertif (Deep Space 9: Dramatis Personae); Passionfruit Martini (Stargate SG1: Memento Mori ); Samarian Sunset (Deep Space 9: Profit and Loss ); Sidecar (Doctor Who: The Unicorn and the Wasp ); Zulu (Spr Banshees)



Rum and Blackcurrant (Goodnight Sweetheart :Out of Town)



Tequila Taelon Tequila (Earth Final Conflict: Phantom Companion); Tequila (Goodnight Sweetheart : Pennies from Heaven );



Vodka (Flash Gordon: The Sorrow ); Vodka, tonic with a slice of lemon (Torchwood: To the Last Man);



Whisky Aldebaran Whisky (Deep Space 9: Prophet Motive ); Bourbon (The Invaders: Inquisition); Jack (Star Trek 2009); JD and Coke (Torchwood: Greeks Bearing Gifts); Poteen (Star Trek: Next Generation: Up the Long Ladder); Rye and Ginger (Star Trek: Next Generation: Manhunt);Scotch (Star Trek: Next Generation: Manhunt/ Deep Space 9: Homecoming/ Iron Man); Single Malt Irish Whisky (Deep Space 9: The Assignment ); Sour Mash (The Invaders: Counter-attack ); Tennessee Whisky (Goodnight Sweetheart :The Yanks Are Coming ); Whisky (Threshold/ Dinotopia: Marooned );



Wine Alberian wine (Flash Gordon: Alliances ); Azalea Springs Merlot (Scanner Darkly); Mint Julep (Lois and Clarke: The Man of Steel Bars); Calamon Sherry (Star Trek: The Next Generation:  In Theory ); Dandelion and Burdock (Goodnight Sweetheart :The Leaving of Liverpool); Klingon Fire Wine (Star Trek: The Next Generation:  A Fistful of Datas ); Mead (Lexx: A Midsummer’s Nightmare ); Mojito (Primeval Episode Six ); Prosecco (Deep Space 9: Rivals ); Rooswine (Stargate Atlantis: Missing); Wine (Star Trek: Next Generation: Family ); Vignon (Battlestar Galactica: The Lost Warrior);



Alien Drinks: Afterbringer – (Andromeda: The Pearls that were his eyes); Arcturian Fizz (Star Trek: Next Generation: Ménage a Troi); Bloodwine ( Enterprise: Judgement); Chech’tuth (Star Trek: Next Generation: Up the Long Ladder ); Coco-no-no (Star Trek: The Next Generation:  Booby Trap ); Fanalian Toddy (Deep Space 9:Explorers ); Fish juice (Deep Space 9: Trials and Tribble-ations); Kanor (Deep Space 9: Profit and Loss); Millipede Juice (Deep Space 9: Prophet Motive); Muskan Seed Punch (Star Trek: Next Generation: Aquiel); Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Series); Papalla Juice (Star Trek: Next Generation: Liaisons Planetwiper Amc ; Quaff (The Flying Sorcerers); Rasslak (Farscape: Nerve); Red Torian (Star Trek: Next Generation:The Mind’s Eye);Rokassa Juice (Deep Space 9: Cardassians); Skaara’s Moonshine (Stargate SG1 Children of the Gods ); Snail Juice (Deep Space 9: Bar Association/ Deep Space 9: Let He Who is Without Sin ); Stardrifter (Deep Space 9: The Storyteller); Synthehol (Star Trek: Next Generation: Up the Long Ladder );

Tanquesary and Tonic (Jumper); Til’amin Froth (Deep Space 9: Empok Nor );TKL (Star Trek: Next Generation: Yesterday’s Enterprise); TKO (Quantum Leap: The Right Hand of God); Tranyas (Deep Space 9: Facets ); Warnog (Star Trek: Next Generation: Rightful Heir );



Drugs

Drugs are generally not shown in a positive light in any sci fi. Some drugs are used to control people or aliens, others are highly addictive and difficult to withdraw from. Characters are not shown smoking tobacco, even when it was considered cool to smoke there were few characters who did so (it might have interfered with makeup and rubber costumes!) and generally no-one smokes pot. Characters like Vila in Blake’s 7 who drinks alcohol and soma, are despised by the other characters. However Dr. Franklin is forgiven for his Stems addiction once he has shaken it off. Keeping your head clear is important in space.



The names for drugs are often quite inventive, moving from real names to more evocative ones. Any drug promising good feelings like Bliss or nectar, should be avoided!



Amnesia Pill (Torchwood: They Keep Killing Suzie);
Beetle Snuff (Deep Space 9 :Prophet Motive )
;Bliss (Eearth Final Conflict Bliss/Doctor Who: Gridlock);
Blissto AmcC Partnership;
Buzzbeanium (Lexx: Patches in the Sky) ;
Dust (Babylon5: Dust to Dust);

Flash (Andromeda: The Pearls that were his eyes); Ketracel White (Deep Space 9 :Hippocratic Oath);

Kryss (Eearth Final Conflict: Sins of the Father); Learning Drugs (Red Dwarf: Balance of Power);

Morpha Battlestar Galactica: Rapture; Nectar (Haze: New Crime City);

Percocet (4400 Hidden) ; Preservanex (Supertoys Last all Summer);

Rapture O5;
Roshna (Stargate: SG1: Deadman Switch);
Shadow (Blake's 7);
Soma – form of alcohol and adrenalin, (Blake's 7, Brave New World);
 Sphinx Green (Weber: Honor Among Enemies);
Stems (Babaylon5 :Walkabout;)
Substance D (Scanner Darkly );
Substance 35 (Stargate: SG1: Watergate);
Ultrazone (robot drug) (Red Dwarf: Beyond a Joke) ;
Vitas (Babylon 5: Voices from the Past);
Vitazoid (Blake's 7: Gambit);