nothing beats that last quote:
"I am happy with my name, although I don't have any dictatorial tendencies."

“The only way I’d vote for him is if he was running against Hitler.”

Wha..?

I have never heard anyone say that before.

That is quite humorous!

Heinrich,
I guess you've never participated in an election where Coleman Young was a candidate.

No, but I smoked crack with him once.

Heh, Meghalaya sounds like it is populated with Hokas. Now why can't we have more tribal cultures like this?

Considering I'm round enough and furry enough, I claim "fugitive Hoka" status.

I think I'll run as Buckaroo Banzai during the next election there... Heh.

Casey,

Just remember--Everywhere you go, there you are!

Bwah!

Buckaroo Banzai: I liked him better than Indiana JOnes, by FAR.

And John Lithgow? What can I say, except:

"History... is-a made at night! Character... is what you are in the dark! We must WORK, while the clock, she's-a ticking!"

A bravura performance.

And who can forget:

"Declaration of War -- the Short Form"

Very timely indeed.

"That's Bigboottay, monkey boy!"

Jeff Goldblum in chaps. Heh.

It's amazing how many of those actors turned out to be big names in their own right...

Hmmm. Does anyone think they'll do a movie about Hokas, considering the movie technology these days?

It would be very cool if they did do a movie based on any of the Hoka stories. I'm not sure that they will though. They've had the FX to do the Dragonrider novels for awhile now, but no Pern movie yet :(

Okay, I give up. What is a "Hoka" or a "Hoka story?"

Dean,
Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson wrote a series of humorous science fiction stories about the planet Toka on which lived a race called the Hoka. They rather resemble large teddy bears, about the size of a 12 year old child, with amazingly strong muscles (especially the neck, they love playing being hanged) and the imaginations of a six year old. The Earth Plenipotentiary to their government (The Five-and-one-half Cities) is introducing them to Earth culutres and they love them. Thus we have Hokans imagining they are the Space Patrol (which doesn't exist) and defeating a rogue planet's space dreadnought battleship because its designers forgot to put any hand-to-hand weapons on board. We have Hokans imagining they are the French Foreign Legion (commanded by Sergeant le Brute). We have a Hokan Sherlock Holmes. They are great stories.

Michael, I would say closer to (say) 9-12 year olds.

The trick is to remember that the Hokas are intelligent adults. They just have a very (very, very!) rich fantasy life.

Dean, one of the features of the series -as Michael pointed out- was to do homage to famous series. He mentioned the Foreign Legion and Holmes (Victorian England): there's also cowboys, Napleonic England (a different country), Bertie Wooster, The Lord of the Rings, and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. oh, and the Jungle Book.

They also lampoon both their own more serious SF works as well as that of their fellow authors.

Two important things to remember about Hokas are:
1)Every Hoka alive is devoted to the planet's liquor. This stuff makes white lightning look like lemonade, and the Hokas have a terrifying capacity to hold their liquor. An unwary earthman can get into a lot of trouble that way!
2)While Hokas don't really believe the fantasy (for example, Hoka Holmes doesn't really think he's Sherlock), they do get so wrapped up in the role-playing that they lose track of reality. This is only (and always) a problem when the current situation is obviously headed for disaster and Ambassador Jones just can't get them to step out of character for one minute. Hilarity ensues. :)