Fractal
A never-ending complex pattern, created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop. Geometrically, they exist in between our familiar dimensions. Fractal patterns are extremely familiar, since nature is full of fractals. For instance: trees, rivers, coastlines, mountains, clouds, seashells, hurricanes, and so forth. Abstract fractals can be generated by a computer calculating a simple equation over and over.
“Frak!”
A commonly used curse word in both the 1978-79 and 2004-09 versions of the television series Battlestar Galactica.
Frankenstein, Dr. Victor
The title character and narrator of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor is the creator of the nameless Frankenstein’s monster that he spends most of the novel trying to defeat. He attends the University of Ingolstadt, where he develops an interest in the physical sciences, and begins to seek a way to combine the best of old and new science to create a new being. Victor becomes obsessed with the idea of creating a living human form from dead tissue, and eventually sees his vision come to life. Immediately after creating the monster, Victor falls into depression and fear regarding his decision to create life. He refuses his monster’s demands to create a mate for it, but when Victor’s young brother is murdered, the scientist suspects that his creation has committed the crime, and sets off to find the creature. Not fully aware of the consequences of his creating a new race of humans, he spends the length of the novel trying to destroy the same creation.
Frankenstein’s monster
As written by Mary Shelley in her original 1818 novel Frankenstein, the nameless being created from parts of corpses and brought to life by Dr. Victor Frankenstein was an intelligent, articulate and sensitive being. Shelley did not write him as an ugly creature, either: “His limbs were in proportion, and I selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriences only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion and straight black lips.” It was only with the 1931 classic horror film of the same title that Hollywood made the creature a childlike brute. In fact, thanks to posters for the film, showing Karloff’s face made up as the creature with the word “Frankenstein” underneath, most people have come to think that the title refers to the monster, when it actually refers to the doctor.
Freaks and Geeks
Set at McKinley High in the 1980s, the plot focused on two different groups of teenagers: the cool Freaks and the nerdy Geeks. Touching on normal teen/adolescence problems, including acceptance, drugs, drinking and bullying, the 1999-2000 series filmed only 18 episodes, but earned a cult following. Future film stars James Franco, Seth Rogen and Jason Segel were among the cast members.
Freeware
See Adware.
“Fritz”
See Igor.
From Hell
Depicting the tale of Jack the Ripper, and mixing in the social class struggles of Victorian London, Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s 1989-1996 graphic novel series received critical and popular acclaim for its stark images of sex and violence, shown as integral parts of life and death in Victorian England. The collaboration has been praised for its clever point-of-view switches, as well as the high level of fact mixed in with Moore’s imaginative fiction. The plot follows a once-popular (though later debunked) conspiracy theory involving Prince Edward’s secret marriage to a Catholic girl named Annie Crook, the daughter they produce, and Queen Victoria’s loyal physician Sir William Gull, who is called upon several times to perform gruesome acts in order to keep the family scandal from being publicized.
From Hell’s highly researched text includes biographies of major and minor characters, as well as non-fictional accounts of Victorian living conditions. Eddy Campbell, well-known within the comic field for his work on the Eyeball Kid and Deadface series, aptly depicts 1888 London, bluntly displaying the sex and violence of the era with no attempt at concealment or apologies are made. The series was originally serialized in Tundra Publishing’s anthology TABOO. With the demise of Tundra and TABOO, Kitchen Sink Press opted to continue the series as separate volumes. It was later published in a 1999 collection, and made into a major motion picture starring Johnny Depp in 2001.
Fruity Oaty Bar
Snack food featured in a commercial played in a key scene of the 2005 movie Serenity, which is based off the 2002-03 TV show Firefly. According to writer/director Joss Whedon, the ad was designed to be incredibly bizarre.
Frye, Kaywinnit Lee (“Kaylee”)
Portrayed by Jewel Staite, Kaylee is the resident mechanic on the cargo ship Serenity from the Fox sci fi series Firefly and the follow-up film Serenity, both created by Joss Whedon. She has a natural talent for fixing and patching up engines, and was, in fact, hired on the spot after she explained how easily a part could be fixed that the then-current mechanic had deemed unfixable. Kaylee is rarely seen without a smile, and does her best to see the good in every person and situation. As her captain Malcolm Reynolds once said, “I don’t think there’s a power in the ‘verse that can stop Kaylee from being cheerful. Sometimes you just wanna duct tape her mouth and dump her in the hold for a month.” A tomboy most of the time, Kaylee does have strong girlish tendencies. She can make the crew’s occasional illegal behavior appear to be adorable, and she was the culprit behind the floral wall pattern in the ship’s dining area.
FTP
Funeral for a Friend
Directly following the death of Superman at the hands of the mysterious Doomsday, DC Comics launched this epic eight-part series (plus its epilogue) throughout 1993, which included the following issues:
- The Adventures of Superman Issue #498 (January 1993)
- Justice League of America Issue #70 (January 1993)
- Action Comics Issue #685 (January 1993)
- Superman: The Man of Steel Issue #20 (February 1993)
- Superman (1987 2nd Series) Issue #76 (February 1993)
- The Adventures of Superman Issue #499 (February 1993)
- Action Comics Issue #686 (February 1993)
- Superman: The Man of Steel Issue #21 (March 1993)
- Superman Issue #77 (March 1993)
- Superman Issue #83 (November 1993)
The story arc begins as The Man of Steel is pronounced dead. Injured and devastated, the Justice League struggles to stay together in the aftermath of Superman’s death. Meanwhile, in Metropolis, Clark Kent is missing in the wake of Superman’s tragic battle with Doomsday. In the Man of Steel’s absence, Supergirl moves to take up his position as guardian of Metropolis. The funeral for the defeated Man of Steel draws crowds of DC Comics’ most famous heroes to his side, while in Smallville, Ma & Pa Kent hold a symbolic funeral for Clark. Elsewhere, Superman’s archenemy Lex Luthor becomes paranoid that Superman is faking his own death. Supergirl opens Superman’s tomb to find it empty, and his body stolen! The body turns up at Project Cadmus, where even they fail to detect any signs of life! But maybe they can learn what made him so special. Also, the strain of losing his son becomes too much for Pa Kent, and he suffers a heart attack. After seeing his son in the afterlife, the word spreads: Superman is back! As the Man of Steel makes his rounds to announce his return, he soon learns that the world is a much different place than the one he left a few months ago….
Written by Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson and Roger Stern, with art by Jon Bogdanove, Brett Breeding, Rick Burchett, Tom Grummett, Jackson Guice, Doug Hazlewood, Dennis Janke, Dan Jurgens, Denis Rodier and Joe Rubinstein, Funeral for a Friend was a highly successful story arc for DC, along with the entire “Death of Superman” campaign.
Furry
A person with the peculiar fetish of dressing up in full-body animal costumes as part of a sexual act.
Fury, Nick
Alias “The Man in the Mystery Mask” and “Mr. Anger” among others, Nick Fury debuted in Marvel Comics’ Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #1 in 1963. Fury became a legendary hero in the early years of World War II, taking missions into Europe alongside his friend Red Hargrove, under the command of Lt. Samuel Sawyer. Fury fought the Nazis in Northern Africa, then was reunited with now-Capt. Sawyer, who made Sgt. Fury the leader of the U.S. Rangers’ First Attack Squad, aka the “Howling Commandos.” A close friend since a mission in Holland, Timothy “Dum-Dum” Dugan served as Fury’s second-in-command. The Howlers occasionally worked alongside Captain America (Steve Rogers) and James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, who became significant allies. Fury’s left eye was damaged by a grenade, and lack of medical care eventually aggravated the wound. At one point, Professor Berthold Sternberg gave Fury the “Infinity Formula,” which retarded Fury’s aging process. Late in the war, Fury joined the OSS (which would later become the CIA). Fury was selected as director of SHIELD, an international intelligence agency equipped with state-of-the-art technology by Tony Stark, and as the leader of SHIELD, Fury faced the likes of Hydra, AIM, Scorpio (his own brother Jacob) and the Hate-Monger (Adolf Hitler’s clone). When SHIELD was beset by a conspiracy at its highest level by the Deltite, Fury allowed the organization to disband and later rebuilt it as a smaller unit he could more closely monitor. Fury also discovered he had a son, Mikel, who took the identity of Scorpio at first, but later joined SHIELD.
Nick Fury was portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson in a string of Marvel hero films, including Iron Man and The Avengers.
Futurama
Brainchild of The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Futurama was a popular animated series on the Fox network that aired 1999-2013. New York City pizza guy and slacker Philip J. Fry was making a delivery to a cryonics lab on New Year’s Eve 1999 when he was accidentally flash-frozen. Reawakened in the year 3000, 31st Century New New York, he finds work at his great-great-great-(etc.)-grandnephew’s Planet Express delivery service. Together with hedonist robot Bender and one-eyed love interest Leela, Fry travels to the farthest reaches of the universe. Along the way, the crew discovers strange alien life forms, freaky mutants, intergalactic conspiracies, and the jar-preserved heads of 20th Century celebrities. Using contemporary culture and science fiction alike as comedy ammunition, Futurama was originally cancelled by Fox in 2003. However, after a few successful direct-to-DVD maxi-episodes and a rerun deal on Comedy Central, Fox revived the cartoon, and it lasted until the fall of 2013.
Futureworld
In this 1976 sequel to 1973’s popular Westworld (film), a few years have passed since the scandal that cost several lives at the original Delos resort. Since that time, the company has spent billions of dollars revamping their resort and safety measures, re-opening as Futureworld. Two reporters are sent to cover the grand opening, but an insider leads the pair to believe the attraction is not what it seems. Their investigation leads them into some dark motives involving robots and human cloning. The film starred Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner, with a cameo by Yul Brynner, who reprised his famous role as The Gunslinger.
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