lauren%LBL-CSAM@vortex.UUCP (06/01/83)
From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@LBL-CSAM>
Greetings. I'm afraid that I cannot point at a comprehensive
guide to SF films on videotape. The lists are continually
changing and (so far) have all been almost totally restricted
to individual distribution outlets and/or studios. It is definitely
a challenge to keep informed in this area -- I get mailings from
a ridiculous number of places who are peddling all manner
of sundry and bizarre videotapes (in fact, there is a company
that sells *exceptionally* strange videotapes which is indeed
called "Bizarre".)
However, I've found that most of the SF-type films that I'd really
like to collect are *not* yet commercially available on tape.
Most of the "recent" releases (i.e. less than 6 years old) are
available, but not a hell of a lot before that. It is particularly
hard to find titles from the early horror genre, such as "The Mummy".
But, what do you expect from an industry that *still* hasn't seen
fit to release "The 5000 Finger of Dr. T." on videotape?
If anybody is interested in any particular titles, let me know
and I'll see if I can find them in my available commercial listings...
----
Sigh. As for the Gor novels... They are (as far as I know)
an almost unique case in the literary world. As others have
already stated, they started out "not too bad" (at least the
first book in the series, "Tarnsman of Gor"), and rapidly decayed.
There are approaching twenty of them now, not to mention other
works by the author (John Lange [who pens the books as "John Norman"])
which are placed outside of the Gor "universe" but are of equal
"quality". Lange even wrote a sex manual ("Imaginative Sex") where
he brings some of his Gorean ramblings into the "real world".
(Lange, by the way, is apparently a professor of philosophy at
Queens College in New York.)
The Gor novels sell very well, and rumor has it that the
publisher (DAW) would crumble without those books. I managed
to read the first three quite a few years ago, and have made
a point to at least briefly sample a few random pages from each
of the succeeding novels as they appeared on the shelves of my
local SF/Fantasy emporium. I mean, you can't make a problem go
away by ignoring it, and I've had this perverse desire to see if the
novels could POSSIBLY get any worse -- so a quick flip through
some pages while standing at the shelf has seemed in order.
Yeah, from my brief skimmings, it appears that they have continued
to decline. I once (briefly) considered writing a satire of the Gor
books, to be called "Heaps of Gor" -- but quickly determined that
it was IMPOSSIBLE to satirize them -- they are already satires --
only the author apparently doesn't realize it (or doesn't care)...
I don't consider these novels to be a particularly serious
threat to society. Let's face it gang, there's all sorts of
really disgusting looking crud lurking beneath the "log" of
civilization, and, by definition, beneath *all* of us. The fact
that these novels sell is simply a concrete demonstration of the
"hidden" side of ourselves -- the side that is only infrequently
discussed in "polite" company, but is real and factual nonetheless.
I suppose novels like these give some persons a relatively harmless
means to vicariously deal with some of their hidden emotions. Of course,
relatively few people overall (I hope!) are "bent" in the direction of the
Gor novels, but I would submit that we *all* have our kinks, though
we might not easily recognize them as such.
I will admit, however, that I occasionally feel this cold chill
running down my spine when I consider one particularly grim
possibility: what if there are Gor "fan clubs"? Can you imagine
the minutes of the meetings? Bizarre, indeed.
--Lauren--
P.S. "...and you may not know it, but [the person standing next
to you] may be from Outer Space..."
"Criswell"
PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE
--LW--