ecl@mtgzz.UUCP (e.c.leeper) (11/06/85)
Contrary to what edward@ukecc.UUCP (Edward C. Bennett) says, "The Mission" was not "one of the best hours of television to be seen yet this season!" [If you haven't seen the episode, this may not make sense. It will in any case reveal the ending.] Bennett goes on to say: > 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. While roger1@ihlpg.UUCP (Mills) says: > 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. Frankly, the whole thing reminded me of "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin. Summary/spoiler: Teenage girl stows away aboard emergency relief spaceship which is carrying vitally needed drugs. (She wants to visit her brother.) Ship has only enough fuel for pilot; girl's weight will mean it doesn't make it. Ship has been stripped of everything unnecessary before takeoff. Seemingly only choice is to space the girl. After much cogitation, pilot hits upon solution...he spaces the girl. The point of all this is that life's a bitch (as they say) and sometimes there will be situations that can't have happy endings. You can't spend all the money in your bank account and have more magically appear. You can't keep dumping toxic waste and in your backyard and then wish it away. YOU CAN'T LAND A BOMBER ON WISHES!!! Godwin realized this and wrote a classic short story; Spielberg either doesn't realize this or (more likely) realizes that the public doesn't want to hear the unpleasant truth that sometimes there's no happy ending. So he coddles them, tells them, "There, there, whatever you do, there will be some way to fix it up. Just wish hard enough and everything bad will go away." Feh! Evelyn C. Leeper ...ihnp4!mtgzz!ecl ****************************************************************************** * Get a Usenetter on the ballot at Confederation! * * Nominate MARK R. LEEPER for Hugo for Best Fan Writer in 1986! * ******************************************************************************
terry2@ihlpm.UUCP (Nelson) (11/06/85)
roger1 @ihlpg.UUCP (Mills) says: > > I saw this episode, and was very disappointed. ... > > .... to have a cartoon ending is despicable. Evelyn @ihnp4!mtgzz!ecl (Leeper) says: > The point of all this is that life's a bitch (as they say) and > sometimes there will be situations that can't have happy endings.... > YOU CAN'T LAND A BOMBER ON WISHES!!! ...... > Feh! > C'mon, people! Ease up a little!! The name of this show is AMAZING STORIES remember?! It seems too many people expect too much from this show (yes, even considering all the hype). It's not a bad show and the stories have been amazing (interesting?, different?). This show, added to a "list" of other excellent shows, makes for fairly good entertainment. -- ..ihnp4!ihlpm!terry2 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- "All this is | Terry Nelson | because of me Keep | AT&T Bell Laboratories | and not my It | Naperville, Illinois | employer!" Warm =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (11/07/85)
> So he coddles them, tells them, "There, there, whatever you do, there > will be some way to fix it up. Just wish hard enough and everything bad > will go away." > Feh! > Evelyn C. Leeper I think I liked this episode a lot more than a lot of you, and now I think I know why. I think that, deep down inside, I really DO believe that you can change external reality by "wishing hard enough"; actually by mental force. It is just that we do not yet know how to do it, or do it repeatably or consistently. Maybe we need to evolve more, or be given the secret by aliens, or achieve higher planes, or something... Remember that I was the one who attacked an earlier Amazing Stories for unscientific portrayal of meteorite impacts, and not for the totally unscientific "animal magnetism" that the story hinged upon. This episode illustrates what I described as the proper technique of fantasy (in this sort of story); a totally realistic and accurate environment and detail, with ONE (or one unified set of) fantastic element(s). That element can be totally off-the-wall, unscientific, inexplicable, nonsensical, etc. It is the insertion of that element in the otherwise totally realistic environment that makes the fantasy, and having only to suspend disbelief for that (not for everything else, too!) lets you appreciate the contrast and leads you to think "what-if"s later on. Will
edward@ukecc.UUCP (Edward C. Bennett) (11/08/85)
In article <1384@mtgzz.UUCP>, ecl@mtgzz.UUCP (e.c.leeper) writes: > > [ Summary of a short story deleted ] > > The point of all this is that life's a bitch (as they say) and sometimes there > will be situations that can't have happy endings. You can't spend all the > money in your bank account and have more magically appear. You can't keep > dumping toxic waste and in your backyard and then wish it away. YOU CAN'T > LAND A BOMBER ON WISHES!!! Godwin realized this and wrote a classic short > story; Spielberg either doesn't realize this or (more likely) realizes that > the public doesn't want to hear the unpleasant truth that sometimes there's > no happy ending. So he coddles them, tells them, "There, there, whatever > you do, there will be some way to fix it up. Just wish hard enough and > everything bad will go away." > Evelyn C. Leeper Lighten up Evelyn! You're attacking the story as you expect it to be scientifically accurate. This isn't NOVA, this is fantasy. You seem to be well read in science fiction and fantasy. Do you write angry letters to the authors complaining that their ficticious worlds are scientifically unfounded? Of course not! Remember reading fairy tales when you were younger? Do little pigs really build houses out of straw? Of course not! This brings me to my next point, but read this first... Alexander G. Burchell writes: > Summary: One needs a willing suspension of disbelief. > > 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. I think we have all been missing the point. Amazing Stories isn't supposed to be high-intellect science fiction. It's on TV, remember? It has to be understandable by John Q. Public. More importantly, television shows such as this must be understandable by, and entertaining to, *children*. And what director has made his name largely on movies for/about children? Steven Spielburg. Also, children aren't interested in 'drama'. They don't want to hear about the world's problems, they want a happy ending. (If you want a depressing ending, watch a Made-for-TV-tragedy-of-the-week. Gag!) What if you told "The Mission" (up to the climax) to a child, and then asked them to suggest an ending? You might get something like..."Jonathan could wish reeeal hard and make two great big wheels appear and the plane could land and he would be alright". (Try saying that the way a 5 year old would and you'll get my drift) That's what this show is all about. Imagination. Sure it's been a bit dumb a times, but who said imagination was supposed to make sense? I haven't asked any little kids what they thought about "The Mission", but I would think (hope), remembering that they tend to have more free imaginations, that they loved it. My point is this: I think that as we become more educated we lose some of our sense of imagination. We become constrained by our knowledge of what is, and more importantly what isn't possible. We've been looking at Amazing Stories with the wrong eyes. Quit using the technology set and use the imanginative pair and the stories are much more enjoyable. -- Edward C. Bennett UUCP: ihnp4!cbosgd!ukma!ukecc!edward /* A charter member of the Scooter bunch */ "Goodnight M.A."
barb@oliven.UUCP (Barbara Jernigan) (11/08/85)
> > The point of all this is that life's a bitch (as they say) and sometimes there > will be situations that can't have happy endings. You can't spend all the > money in your bank account and have more magically appear. You can't keep > dumping toxic waste and in your backyard and then wish it away. YOU CAN'T LAND > A BOMBER ON WISHES!!! Godwin realized this and wrote a classic short story; > Spielberg either doesn't realize this or (more likely)realizes that the public > doesn't want to hear the unpleasant truth that sometimes there's no happy > ending. So he coddles them, tells them, "There, there, whatever you do, there > will be some way to fix it up. Just wish hard enough and everything bad will > go away." > > Feh! > Evelyn C. Leeper Yeh, you're right, it probably would have been stronger to have killed Jonathon -- but I, for one, am glad they didn't. I *KNOW* life's a bitch -- so does that mean my fantasy has to reflect that? If I want glooomy endings, I'll watch the news, thank you -- or perhaps *good* stuff like *King Lear*. If I want light entertainment (*LIGHT* entertainment) I'll watch things like Amazing stories -- where I expect and *WANT* happy endings. That's my two cents -------- ___________________ ______________\ ___________ | ______ / . / / o .ooo. ./ /. . o@ooo0 Barb .ooooo. .ooooo. .oooo oo..oo oo...ooo ooo..ooo \ .oo oo oooooo oooooo ooo ooo "What is the function of the artist?" Amanda demanded of the talented tresspasser. "The function of the artist," the Navajo answered, "is to provide what life does not." .... "Logic only gives man what he needs," [the magician] stammered. "Magic gives him what he wants." --Another Roadside Attraction
naj@uiucdcs.CS.UIUC.EDU (11/09/85)
I agree with all who enjoyed this episode. By the way, did anyone
notice exactly what the priest was saying as the belly-gunner was doing all
of his wishing...? Something to the effect of, "As we now pass from this
world into the next..." At this point the pilot tried the wheels and they
worked. I liked this "alternate universe" interpretation.
Alan Josephson
Department of Computer Science
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1304 West Springfield Avenue
Urbana, Illinois 61801
USENET: ...!{pur-ee,ihnp4}!uiucdcs!naj
CSNET: naj%uiucdcs.csnet@csnet-relay
ARPANET: naj@a.cs.uiuc.edurlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (11/13/85)
> C'mon, people! Ease up a little!! The name of this show is AMAZING > STORIES remember?! It seems too many people expect too much from > this show That's what being "amazing" is supposed to mean... -- "There! I've run rings 'round you logically!" "Oh, intercourse the penguin!" Rich Rosen ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr
edward@ukecc.UUCP (Edward C. Bennett) (11/14/85)
In article <2123@pyuxd.UUCP>, rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) writes: > > C'mon, people! Ease up a little!! The name of this show is AMAZING > > STORIES remember?! It seems too many people expect too much from > > this show > > That's what being "amazing" is supposed to mean... > > Rich Rosen I think what the original poster (was it me?) meant was you can't expect mere things like reality from television. -- Edward C. Bennett UUCP: ihnp4!cbosgd!ukma!ukecc!edward /* A charter member of the Scooter bunch */ "Goodnight M.A."