Web Fed Award-winning Planets

Reviewed on August 26, 2001

I was grateful I took that extra week to get over my hangover when I inspected the link of Flashback. A swirling purple haze obscured most of the view, broken only by the psychedelic throbbing of a strobe light flashing up from the surface. My comm unit crackled and hummed with a message about peace, harmony, and higher consciousness before giving over the channel to some head-throbbing tune wailed by that performer Hagar always referred to simply as ‘The Experience'. This wasn't a planet to visit with a hangover, but one you might accidentally revisit some day if you were a client of Mario's in the 1960s.

I maneuvered my ship into a parking stall reserved for the historically famous – to my right were parked the spaceships of Santana and Jefferson Airplane, to my left one commanded by the Grateful Dead. Elvis's spaceship was berthed here... but had been towed away.

After briefly checking out the visitor's center and the Establishment Exchange, I boarded the Magic Bus, a converted school bus painted with vibrant psychedelic designs and symbolizing the Summer of Love. It dropped me off at an espresso restaurant where sitar music by Ravi Shankar floated softly on the air. Black lights provided the only illumination in this crowded gathering spot, and the scent of fresh espresso and burning hemp permeated the air. On stage a local was doing an "open-mike" reading on philosophy and religious exploration. I left a little light headed, and it finally dawned on me that I was having a flashback – right to San Francisco in the 1960s.

The next place I headed (and where you can still find me this week) was the Golden Gate Park – site of the Human Be-In of 1967. Where there are humans, especially flower children humans, there's usually a scrap of food or a kind scratch behind the ear for canines! I've been allowed to wander all over the park and nearby areas of San Francisco – from Lombard Street to Crystal Lake to Haight-Ashbury, with the throbbing sounds of the rock bands ringing in my ears.

Usually I don't get overly excited over the 'tour-guide' genre of planets, but Flashback has recreated the free-love and flower child era of old Earth with entertaining and often surprising style. A little more proofreading could go on here (is it Jimi or Jimmy?) but it's still a place well worth the exploration.

Oh, and Elvis has left the building to fetch one of Hazed's new certificates for outstanding planetary design. Congratulations, Lobo – you've earned yourself a Carpenter Award!