edward@ukecc.UUCP (Edward C. Bennett) (11/04/85)
Well all you cynics, I hope you all saw NBC's Amazing Stories on November 3rd. The episode, "The Mission", is surely one of the best hours of television to be seen yet this season! Briefly, the story is about the crew of a WWII bomber. During a rather nasty mid-air collision with debris, the plane's landing gear is destroyed and one of the crew members is trapped in the belly gun turret. The episode, directed by Steven Spielburg, was swiftly paced and drew to a completely unexpected climactic ending. Spielburg, working without little kids and cardboard parents, gave us a story charged with true emotion and real suspense. All along we just knew that Jonathan would get out the turret alive, but how was a complete mystery. Anyone out there who claims to have figured out the ending before it happened is going to be lying. It was THAT amazing. The character development in the story was much better than I have come to expect from a TV show. I felt myself feeling the frustration and helplessness of the crew. And when that landing gear finally came down, I felt a rush of relief and happiness. A truly wonderful story. For those of us who held out a hope that Spielburg would get this series going, the wait was worth it. I know that it's too much to ask to have a story of this calibur every week, but this episode makes you want to. -- Edward C. Bennett UUCP: ihnp4!cbosgd!ukma!ukecc!edward /* A charter member of the Scooter bunch */ "Goodnight M.A."
roger1@ihlpg.UUCP (Mills) (11/04/85)
> > Well all you cynics, I hope you all saw NBC's Amazing Stories > on November 3rd. The episode, "The Mission", is surely one of the best > hours of television to be seen yet this season! > > Briefly, the story is about the crew of a WWII bomber. During > a rather nasty mid-air collision with debris, the plane's landing gear > is destroyed and one of the crew members is trapped in the belly gun > turret. The episode, directed by Steven Spielburg, was swiftly paced > and drew to a completely unexpected climactic ending. Spielburg, working > without little kids and cardboard parents, gave us a story charged with > true emotion and real suspense. All along we just knew that Jonathan would > get out the turret alive, but how was a complete mystery. Anyone out there > who claims to have figured out the ending before it happened is going to > be lying. It was THAT amazing. > The character development in the story was much better than I have > come to expect from a TV show. I felt myself feeling the frustration and > helplessness of the crew. And when that landing gear finally came down, > I felt a rush of relief and happiness. A truly wonderful story. > > For those of us who held out a hope that Spielburg would get > this series going, the wait was worth it. I know that it's too much to > ask to have a story of this calibur every week, but this episode makes > you want to. > > -- > Edward C. Bennett > > UUCP: ihnp4!cbosgd!ukma!ukecc!edward > I saw this episode, and was very disappointed. The first 55 minutes was some of the greatest television that I have ever seen. The last five minutes sucked. After all the effort to make it as realistic and horrifying as possible, to have a cartton ending is despicable. I guess it's my fault, I should have known better than to be watching television anyway. rlm -- Roger L. Mills ihlpg!roger1
agb@reed.UUCP (Alexander G. Burchell) (11/06/85)
In article <1398@ihlpg.UUCP> roger1@ihlpg.UUCP (Mills) writes: > I saw this episode, and was very disappointed. The first 55 minutes > was some of the greatest television that I have ever seen. The last > five minutes sucked. After all the effort to make it as realistic > and horrifying as possible, to have a cartoon ending is despicable. You are missing the point. The whole episode led up to that climax, and although I cannot claim that I guessed how it was going to end, after watching the ending I thought back to how this had been foreshadowed. The ball-turret gunner (I forget his name unfortunately) had been depicted as one who has "got that old imagination". He even said that he wanted to be a cartoonist for Disney. And while it may have been a "cartoon ending", that again was the idea. What was *the last thing* you would have expected? I'll bet that it's just what happened. BTW, who does the (truly Amazing) computer graphics that start out each episode? I was quite impressed with the realistic surface textures and was especially amazed by the knight in shining armor. Does anyone know if they are using the technique for generating metal that was developed by Carlos Sequin (sp?) at Berkeley? (I forget the details, but it was something to the effect that light reflecting from metal was the color of the metal, not the color of the light, as it is for other types of surfaces [perhaps the other way around...]) Alexander G. Burchell UUCP: ..!{decvax,ucbvax,hplabs,ihnp4,zehntel}!tektronix!reed!agb MAIL: Box 172, Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Dr., Portland OR 97202
ndd@duke.UUCP (Ned Danieley) (11/06/85)
In article <311@ukecc.UUCP> edward@ukecc.UUCP (Edward C. Bennett) writes: . . . . > Briefly, the story is about the crew of a WWII bomber. During >a rather nasty mid-air collision with debris, the plane's landing gear >is destroyed ... BTW, how did this happen? I assume the landing gear was up, and it looked as if the debris came from only one side of the plane, yet they showed BOTH tires destroyed (shredded rubber). Any ideas how this could be? Ned Danieley decvax!duke!ndd
pauer@puff.UUCP (11/06/85)
Of course no one guessed the ending! It was such unmitigated bull that
only the writer himself (Spielburg) could know what was going to
happen.
I've liked the stories so far, but this one really left me feeling
cheated. I really was hoping the main character was dead when they
took him out of the turret!
Cartoon wheels, "He's creative, that and a penny will take you anywhere",
what a load of crap!
Pauer
"Regnadkcin"crm@duke.UUCP (Charlie Martin) (11/07/85)
Well, no, actually the Amazing Cartoon Wheels was a terrific half-hour (maybe 20 minutes) tv show. After that, I was beginning to get a little anxious for something happen already dammit! -- Charlie Martin (...mcnc!duke!crm)
dv@well.UUCP (David W. Vezie) (11/10/85)
In article <2114@reed.UUCP> agb@reed.UUCP (Alexander G. Burchell) writes: >BTW, who does the (truly Amazing) computer graphics that start out each >episode? I was quite impressed with the realistic surface textures and was >especially amazed by the knight in shining armor. Does anyone know if they >are using the technique for generating metal that was developed by Carlos >Sequin (sp?) at Berkeley? (I forget the details, but it was something to >the effect that light reflecting from metal was the color of the metal, not >the color of the light, as it is for other types of surfaces [perhaps the >other way around...]) The "Amazing Stories" opener was done by Robert Abel and Associates. I suspect that the chrome on the knight is the same chrome used on the sexy robot in "Brilliance", the commercial they did for American Can. I'm not familiar with Carlos Sequin's (sic) reflecting technique, but the man who first gave realistic specular highlights to computer graphics is Rob Cook. He started the work at Cornell, but Rob is currently working for Lucasfilm. Circumstances temporarily beyond my control force me to remain anonymous. This is being sent to you via a friend at another site. --whoever (I'm the friend... reply to me, and I'll forward) -- David W. Vezie /!well!dv - Whole Earth 'Lectronics Link, Sausalito, CA {dual|hplabs} (4 lines, 166 chars) \!unicom!dave - College of Marin, Kentfield, CA
glw@rayssd.UUCP (Gregory L. Wing) (11/23/85)
> In article <2114@reed.UUCP> agb@reed.UUCP (Alexander G. Burchell) writes: > >BTW, who does the (truly Amazing) computer graphics that start out each > >episode? I was quite impressed with the realistic surface textures and was > >especially amazed by the knight in shining armor. Does anyone know if they > >are using the technique for generating metal that was developed by Carlos > >Sequin (sp?) at Berkeley? (I forget the details, but it was something to > >the effect that light reflecting from metal was the color of the metal, not > >the color of the light, as it is for other types of surfaces [perhaps the > >other way around...]) > > The "Amazing Stories" opener was done by Robert Abel and Associates. > I suspect that the chrome on the knight is the same chrome used on the sexy > robot in "Brilliance", the commercial they did for American Can. Skeaking of amazing computer graphics, has anyone seen the latest Mick Jagger video? It's really impressive. Especially the textures of the walls and floors. Does anyone out there know who put that video together? Gregory L. Wing -- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Gregory L. Wing {allegra,linus,raybed2,ccice5,brunix}!rayssd!rayssde!glw | | Raytheon SSD / Box 330 / Portsmouth, RI 02871-9988 / 401-847-8000 x 4107 | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
daemon@houligan.UUCP (12/10/85)
>> BTW, who does the (truly Amazing) computer graphics that start out each >> episode? I was quite impressed with the realistic surface textures and was >> especially amazed by the knight in shining armor. > > The "Amazing Stories" opener was done by Robert Abel and Associates. > I suspect that the chrome on the knight is the same chrome used on the sexy > robot in "Brilliance", the commercial they did for American Can. I just got to see a "behind the scenes" video about how these commercials, plus the Rotatract razor ad, were made, when I started working here (Gould Computer Systems, Ft Lauderdale). They like to show it to all the new people, as the Abel crew used Gould number-crunchers to generate the images. It was only appropriate that I hadn't had time to watch an episode of Mazing yet, what with moving and all (but I have them all on tape). Although it's not evident (to me, at least) in the titles, the promo I saw showed a closeup of the book, and it even has a "leather-grain" binding. Very highly detailed graphics! --tgi Personal: Craig Strickland (alias "tgi") Financial: Gould Computer Systems Division, UNIX Development Physical: PO Box 409148, Ft Lauderdale, FL 33340-9148 Vocal: 305/587-2900 x5014 UUCP: {brl-bmd,ccvaxa,pur-ee,sun}!csd-gould!midas!tgi decvax!sii!trixie/ Other: CompuServe: 76545,1007 Source: BDQ615 Telex: 650-272-3350