Okay then. In what ways did this neat SF make YTU different from the OTU? Or in what ways did it fill in detail and blank spots?
I'm currently between ATUs (I no longer use my old ATU and I'm thinking about a new one, but I have no clear vision of it yet) so most of the following will either be relevant to my vision of the OTU, to milieu-independent stuff or to general ideas.
Alien/Aliens, Star Hunter, Akira, Abyss, System Shock 1+2, Firefly, and, to a degree, Starcraft, Soylent Green and Ghost in the Shell have influenced the way I visualize MTU. I like technologically-looking technology, not magical-looking technology. My ships have pipes, valves, wire panels, pumps, metallic structural components, crawlways, relays, support beams and, usually, dark metallic walls. Older ships (most ships, that is) sometimes have burned-out light bulbs, flickering fluorescent lights, leaking pipes, malfunctioning equipment, creaking valves, flickering screens and dark hallways.
Major cities on high-pop worlds are a maze of towering skyscrapers, highways, bypasses, dark alleyways, street markets, arcologies, mega-malls, shanty-towns, warehouses and factories. They are typically very busy, not so unclean, and with a large amount of ventilation ducts, sewer tunnels and subways.
Newer colonies tend to have industrial-looking plascrete/metal prefabs, a lot of industrial equipment and a construction-site look. When they age, colonies tend to have a large amount of makeshift structures and open-air markets. colonies created by smaller independent groups (non-government, non-corporate) tend to look a lot better but are usually poorer and lower-tech.
Apocalypse Now, Starcraft and some war-films (usually dealing with WWII), as well as the recent Lebanon War, the current events in Gaza and the civil war in former Yugoslavia influence the way I play out wars. Wars look clean only on the generals' drawing boards; in practice they're a bloody, muddy mess with a lot of smoke, shellfire, burning buildings, civilians caught in the crossfire and a large degree of confusion.
Babylon 5 and the X-Com games have influenced my view of Psionics, especially giving ideas about what psions could do.
The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson has inspired my ideas about terrafomation, long-term colonial projects, counter-culture, fringe politics, colonial independent movements and the influence of living on a colonial world on culture and even spirituality.
And Star Control 2, Starflight, 1&2 and Frontier: First Encounters inspire interstellar exploration, wide-open universes and the weird beauty of extra-terrestrial worlds.
), and Valor's Trial (which will come out in HB in June... so I have a long wait! 
