hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (Jerry Hollombe) (02/05/85)
I saw the PBS version of "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank" last night and
thought I'd get my two-cents in before anyone else does (at this end of the
net, anyway).
First, let me say that Varley has long been one of my favorite authors, and
I've read everything of his I could get my hands on to date.
Having read the short story that the PBS production was supposedly based
on, I can understand why little mention was made of Varley in the promos or
credits. With the exception of one or two superficial scenes, there is
virtually NO RELATION between the short story and the TV version.
To those of you who saw the TV version and have not yet read anything by
Varley: do not be deceived or discouraged. Varley's writing is vastly
better than the cliched, predictable, formula tripe they "based" on his
work. [***SPOILER***: Did anyone notice they stole the ending from "The
Shockwave Rider" by another author altogether? ***ENDSPOILER***] I don't
know what it is about TV and film producers that drives them to tamper with
genius, but I suspect they'd revise the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper if
they could get their hands on them.
The TV version completely ignores Varley's universe and comes up with it's
own hackneyed premise of a world controlled by giant, impersonal
corporations, one of which will go bankrupt if they can't find the hero's
body, lost in one of their amusement parks. (Can you see any major
amusement park going broke because someone was injured, or even killed,
there?) Meanwhile the personality of Fingal, the hero, is read into the
corporation's computer to keep him from deteriorating. This is about the
only resemblance to Varley's work apart from a scene where he's being
prepared for his two day vacation in the body of an animal and a later
scene where the heroine, Apollonia, commands him to quit messing with the
computer from the inside. Virtually everything else in the TV version came
from the mind of the screenplay writer, who should be ashamed of himself.
My advice to those who care about such things is to get some of Varley's
books and find out how good his writing really is. Read the original
"Overdrawn at the Memory Bank" and pity the television producers and
writers who couldn't recognize a good thing when they had one.
--
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The Polymath (Jerry Hollombe)
Citicorp TTI If thy CRT offend thee, pluck
3100 Ocean Park Blvd. it out and cast it from thee.
Santa Monica, California 90405
(213) 450-9111, ext. 2483
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