h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have no idea how many times I have seen this movie. But, it's next on CMT. As it is 'fund raising week' on PBS, I had to find something else to watch instead of the usual Sunday line up.

The first time I saw 'Top Gun' was about two weeks after it hit the theaters in 1986. It was the weekend after school had finished for the Summer and I went with a friend, who I didn't know had been considering the USAF, until he saw that movie and realized he was not that comfortable with heights or the idea of falling from them (as he put it).

Two weeks later another friend brought a little 6 week old puppy from her aunt's dog to my house. It took us thirty minutes to name the puppy. He ignored the usual dog names, didn't even twitch and ear at all the names of singers, writers, even Dickens. So, friend asks what the most recent movie and who was in it? Tom!, nope... Merlyn, nope, Cougar, nope Goose... nothing. Maverick! The puppy hopped over to me. Friend says 'Maverick' puppy trots to her. And Maverick he was for the next 17 years.

Top Gun hit the American Movie Classic network when the dog was about 15. Every time someone said 'Maverick' on the screen, the dog twitched his ears.

Merlyn was to be the name of the black labrador I got from the man who lived next door in 1994.