OC.TREI%CU20B%COLUMBIA@sri-unix.UUCP (08/27/84)
From: Peter G. Trei <OC.TREI%CU20B@COLUMBIA>
VERY late the other night I saw the first 45 minutes or so of
a very strange, funny movie. I would like to recommend it as a con
film, but I do not know the year, studio, or much else . The movies'
title seemed to be 'The Mad Monster Party', and was done to full
length with stop- motion animation using puppets. The NYT listing was
totally inaccurate, but on internal evidence I would place it
somewhere in the mid-Sixties to early Seventies. The plot, as far as I
saw it, concerned Dr. Frankenstein inviting many of the worlds leading
monsters to his island (in the Bahamas?!) for a convention and
retirement party.
I greatly enjoyed the part I saw, and would like to known more
about this movie. Who made it? When? Did they make anything else like
it?
Peter Trei
oc.trei%cu20b@columbia-20.arpa
-------moriarty@fluke.UUCP (The Napoleon of Crime) (08/29/84)
It was made by Rankin-Bass sometime in 1968 (I know, 'cus I saw it as an
eight-year old in Minneapolis!). I don't remember much about it, but I
believe this was the only one of its kind (unless others were done for
Saturday Morning TV). I particularly remember Phyliss Diller being one of
the animated monsters, a role which seemed particularly appropriate.
"It looks just like a photon pod... but in verrry bad taste."
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
UUCP:
{cornell,decvax,ihnp4,sdcsvax,tektronix,utcsrgv}!uw-beaver \
{allegra,gatech!sb1,hplabs!lbl-csam,decwrl!sun,ssc-vax} -- !fluke!moriarty
ARPA:
fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA@RUTGERS.ARPA:redford%doctor.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (01/17/85)
From: redford%doctor.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (John Redford) I heard from a friend about a movie or TV version of "The Adolescence of P1". Does anyone know anything about it? The book was about a system cracking program which gets loose in the net and eventually attains consciousness. It was unusually accurate for this kind of thing, unlike, say, "Wargames". John Redford
avolio@grendel.UUCP (Frederick M. Avolio) (01/18/85)
> From: redford%doctor.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (John Redford) > I heard from a friend about a movie or TV version of "The Adolescence of P1". > Does anyone know anything about it? The book was about a system cracking > program which gets loose in the net and eventually attains consciousness. > It was unusually accurate for this kind of thing, unlike, say, "Wargames". Yes, I saw it last week on a local PBS station. It was 60 minutes long. It was a fun, low budget affair but by no means was it much more "accurate" than "Wargames" was. -- Fred Avolio 301/731-4100 x4227 UUCP: {seismo,decvax}!grendel!avolio ARPA: grendel!avolio@seismo.ARPA
davidl@orca.UUCP (David Levine) (01/22/85)
In article <416@grendel.UUCP> avolio@grendel.UUCP (Frederick M. Avolio) writes: >> From: redford%doctor.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (John Redford) >> I heard from a friend about a movie or TV version of "The Adolescence of P1". >> Does anyone know anything about it? The book was about a system cracking >> program which gets loose in the net and eventually attains consciousness. >> It was unusually accurate for this kind of thing, unlike, say, "Wargames". > >Yes, I saw it last week on a local PBS station. It was 60 minutes long. >It was a fun, low budget affair but by no means was it much more "accurate" >than "Wargames" was. The PBS children's anthology series "WonderWorks" has a program called "Hide and Seek" which was based on "The Adolescence of P-1." At least, that's what it said in the credits. Actually, the only thing the two have in common is P-1's first line, which is CALL GREGORY. P-1 They've changed the locale from Silicon Valley to Canada (required by Canadian content legislation, I guess). They've changed the hero from a wiseass computer professional to a socially immature high school student. They've changed P-1's origin from a deliberate system cracking program to an accidental outgrowth of a version of Life on a Commodore Pet. The entire plot has been changed out of all recognition. In the TV show, the hero first discovers that his creation has gotten out of hand while he's cracking the school computer to change his girlfriend's grades (sound familiar?). There are supposed system professionals who do nothing but spout nonsense peppered with phrases from the Hacker's Dicitonary. The ending is incomprehensible. Yet, it entertains. Viewed as a juvenile, I think it succeeds. I can mildly recommend the book "The Adolescence of P-1", although it's dated. I can also mildly recommend "Hide and Seek" to those under, say, 16. However, "Hide and Seek" is just another "War Games" cash-in that bears little if any resemblance to the book upon which it is supposedly based. I suspect that the author of the book had no say whatsoever in the story of the TV show. David D. Levine (...decvax!tektronix!orca!davidl) [UUCP] (orca!davidl.tektronix@csnet-relay.csnet) [ARPA] (Gets nasty on Mondays, doesn't he?)
jims@hcrvax.UUCP (Jim Sullivan) (01/22/85)
Path hcrvax!jims (Jim Sullivan @ Human Computing Resources, Toronto, Ontario) Yes, the adolesence of P1 was/is a T.V. short (1 hour) shown recently on PBS' Wonderworks (Monday @ 8:00pm) (i think) It's about a hack (called Hacker) who writes a Life program, and then modifies the program to create new programs....actually an interesting idea. I enjoyed it, although my girlfriend thought it was silly. By the way, it was filmed in Toronto. Jim Sullivan ..!hcrvax!jims
ron@wjvax.UUCP (Ron Christian) (01/25/85)
I caught this by accident the other night on PBS. I can
safely say that it was no more accurate than War Games,
was indeed a limp ripoff of War Games, and was only mildly
interesting. The ending to me seemed especially lame. Unless
there was something subtle there I missed. Anyone else see it?
The master take-over-the-world program was created by the hero
translating the patterns made by a 'game of life' program into
op-codes. Gimmeabreak! Do you really think a computer can cause
RS-232 signals to make a conference phone amplifier product human
speach? Do we really need a computer hero with a name like 'Hacker'?
If you must see this, make sure there is something good on another
channel so you can multiplex during the boring parts.
--
Ron Christian (Watkins-Johnson Co. San Jose, Calif.)
{pesnta,twg,ios,qubix,turtlevax,tymix}!wjvax!ron