SFL@SRI-CSL@sri-unix (12/06/82)
Reply-to: SF-LOVERS at SRI-CSL SF-LOVERS Digest Monday, 6 Dec 1982 Volume 6 : Issue 98 Today's Topics: Books - Martin/Vinge's TRUE NAMES, Ellison's STALKING THE NIGHT- MARE + SHATTERDAY + DEATHBIRD STORIES, Clarke's 2010 T.V. - Mazes and Monsters, Star Trek worst episodes Movies - ideas for Lucasfilm, Star Wars / TESB / Revenge of the Jedi's other ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 3 Dec 82 22:26:21-PST (Fri) From: harpo!npoiv!eisx!pyuxbb!pyuxdd!pyuxjj!mhuxm!mhuxh!mhuxa!mhuxt!ea From: gle!mhtsa!allegra!phr at Ucb-C70 Subject: Re: True Names Jim Frenkel (the former editor of the Binary Star series at Dell) said at a panel at Apricon V (a NYC one-day con held last month) that the security leak which allowed you to get copies of Binary Star #5 by mail-order from Dell has indeed been stopped, and that \\Dell will reprint 'True Names' in trade paperback form in mid-1983//. This would seem to confirm the rumor that Dell hoarded the remaining copies to hang onto the pub rights. The book will probably contain True Names all by itself, in a horribly overpriced edition with large type, lots of blank pages, and so on, like Jonathan Livingston Seagull. ~= I think this action is despicable. Ace issuing SF in trade paper before regular paper was bad enough; Dell has gone one better in the eternal struggle for greed. Hardcovers, at least, have aesthetic merits and carry some promise of withstanding the test of time, etc. Trade paperbacks are nothing but an excuse for higher retail prices. (Exception: publishers like Starblaze can justify it, because they're only able to sell a limited number of copies and need to make back their investment). Everyone should write letters to Dell deploring what they've done, and demanding a rack paperback reprint of Binary Star #5 (Nightflyers is a good story too). =~ PS. Has anyone asked Vernor Vinge what's going on? Does he show up at West Coast cons (I'm in New Jersey)? PPS. Jim Frenkel, who's a very nice person, is now running his own publishing house called Bluejaybooks. I wish him well. P3S. I've been told that the WSFS constitution was amended at Chicon IV to allow works which received inadequate distribution in the year they were published to be eligible for Hugo nomination a second time. Can anyone confirm or comment on this? ~= Might True Names yet win the Hugo award that it richly deserves? =~ Note: stuff enclosed as in '~= ... =~' is designated as flame. See other net traffic for explanation. --Paul ------------------------------ Date: 5 Dec 82 13:54-PST From: mclure at SRI-UNIX Subject: Ellison His latest, STALKING THE NIGHTMARE, isn't up to the level of the one immediately before it, SHATTERDAY... perhaps because of the inclusion of much older material (from the late 50's no less) when Harlan's narrative style wasn't quite as refined. And the rewrites can't gloss over that fact. However, many of the personal anecdotes are very entertaining (working at Disney, working on The Starlost, working at a carny, guest of a call-in radio show, dying, etc.) I really enjoy Harlan's extractions from his personal life. A few years ago I happened to pick up a copy of his DEATHBIRD STORIES which I now list among my 10 all-time favorite books and which made me an Ellison aficionado. That collection is really quite amazing in its depth and power. Admittedly, it is a selection of his best work up to the time but for my money it is *the* best book he's published. By the way, Ellison is one of the very few authors whose hardcovers I purchase. They are beautifully produced, especially when they have the Dillon covers like SHATTERDAY or DEATHBIRD STORIES; however, both are available in paperback for the more budget-conscious. Stuart ------------------------------ Date: 5 Dec 82 12:13-PST From: mclure at SRI-UNIX Subject: 2010 review n567 0431 05 Dec 82 BC-CLARKE-12-05 A BOOK REVIEW By Roland J. Green (c) 1982 Chicago Sun-Times (Field News Service) 2010: Odyssey Two. By Arthur C. Clarke. Del ReyBallantine Books. $14.95. (Roland J. Green is a science fiction columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times.) Arthur C. Clarke's return to fiction also is a return to the familiar territory of the classic science fiction film ''2001: A Space Odyssey.'' It is a thoroughly triumphant return, one of the outstanding works of Clarke's career. The book is a sequel to both the film and the novel based on its screenplay. In both, an alien artifact, the famous black monolith, is discovered in the moon crater of Tycho. An expedition goes out, in the book to Jupiter and in the film to Saturn, seeking further traces of the aliens. HAL 9000, the super computer controlling the ship Discovery, goes out of control and kills all but one of the astronauts. The sole survivor, David Bowman, discovers another monolith, which turns out to be an interstellar gate left by the aliens. He passes through it to the world of a distant star, is transformed by the aliens into a being of pure energy, and as the Star Child returns to Earth to scout and explore. In ''Odyssey Two'' David Bowman plays a secondary role. The character most on stage is scientist Dr. Heywood Floyd, sent to Jupiter aboard the Soviet spaceship Alexei Leonev as part of an expedition seeking to learn what happened to the Discovery, David Bowman and HAL 9000. In his Star Child form Bowman tours Earth, then returns to Jupiter to warn the Leonev expedition of the danger the aliens' plans represent for them. There are other complications, as well, such as a Chinese expedition that at great cost to itself discovers life on the Jovian satellite Europa, and the problem of bringing HAL 9000 back to life and sanity. Where there was a conflict between the book and the film, Clarke has followed the film, and ''Odyssey Two'' is stronger for it. Jupiter and its satellites appear to be a livelier place than Saturn, particularly in light of the knowledge gained by the Voyager probes during the 1970s. Clarke has integrated this new knowledge into the story in his usual deceptively effortless fashion. He is arguably the best of modern SF writers at depicting the wonder of the universe, but his rather austere prose can obscure this for readers unduly preoccupied with style. He also has integrated into the novel all his other customary themes. He explores the supplanting of human intelligence by computers, the evolution of intelligence itself beyond the limits of matter, the problems of space flight and extraterrestrial life, both sapient and non-sapient. Not that ''Odyssey Two'' is a pure novel of ideas, assuming for the sake of argument that there is such a thing. Clarke's dry wit is as inimitable as ever. Indeed, the passage of years and the breakdown of taboos in SF seem to have ripened it, or at least given it new fields to roam. Clarke's characterization calls for a special if brief discussion, if only because it is so seldom judged by appropriate standards. This is a novel, not a series of character sketches. It also is a novel about reasonably rational human beings, scientific and engineering professionals, on a dangerous mission in a highly artifical environment. This tends to rule out the exotic sexual proclivities or politically fashionable vices that would appeal to those with narrow definitions of ''characterization.'' An objective reading of ''Odyssey Two'' will find Dr. Floyd an excellent example of the character primarily serving as a viewpoint, but also brought admirably to life by the breakup of his marriage. It will find Dr. Chandra, HAL 9000's creator, a powerful picture of almost religious dedication. Any review can only skim the surface of a book so full of riches as ''Odyssey Two.'' Indeed, it will take more than one reading to do justice to a work that has to be ranked second only to ''Rendezvous with Rama'' among Clarke's novels. ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 82 19:08:33-PST (Sat) From: decvax!cwruecmp!honton at Ucb-C70 Subject: Dr. Who My sister recently became a Dr. Who fan and wants to know where she might get a hold of posters of the characters, etc. Please send me any pointers to such items. Also, Dr. Who fans, can you send your favorite plot, trivia, history etc? thanks, chas ( ..decvax!cwruecmp!honton) ------------------------------ Date: Thursday, 2 Dec 1982 09:14-PST From: urban at rand-unix Subject: Mazes and Monsters About a year ago or more, I briefly reviewed a mainstream novel entitled "Mazes and Monsters". This novel purports to deal with the effects of fantasy role-playing games on a group of bright college students. In fact, it's a rather poorly written college-romance story. At the time, I said it was the sort of thing that would end up as a movie for television. December 28, on CBS. Mike ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 82 21:26:22 EST (Sat) From: John R Bane <bane.umcp-cs@UDel-Relay> Subject: Re: Movies in space, and ideas for Lucasfilms I am not 100% sure of this, but I seem to remember that somebody gave Lucasfilms the use of a Getaway Special slot on the Shuttle. I don't know what could be done cinematically with one of these (they have to fit in a meter-long, half-meter-wide cylinder). Does anyone else know anything about this? - Bob Bane P.S. Lucasfilms has a VAX, supposedly known as the Dagobah system. Are they on sf-lovers? ------------------------------ Date: Thu Dec 2 1982 15:16:01 PST From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@LBL-UNIX> Subject: Trek I'm certainly not a hard-core Trekkie, but it clearly seems to me that the best episode (by far) was the ORIGINAL PILOT entitled "The Cage". This is the one hour show (before Willie Shatner was brought in) from which "The Menagerie" was later pieced together (along with inconsistent new filler material). Many of the lines from "Menagerie" that don't seem to make much sense (in the "flashback" footage) make perfect sense when viewed in their original context. As it turns out, some footage that would have helped keep everything logical was stricken when "Menagerie" was edited, since some of the "Cage" dialogue was considered too "racy" (ha!) to be used in its original form. Rumor has it that only B&W prints of "Cage" are currently extant, even though the footage from the show that we see in "Menagerie" was in color. Certainly the print I've seen is monochrome. I'll leave it to one of you *real* Trekkies to chronicle the history behind "Cage" and the startup of the show on NBC. It's an interesting tale. --Lauren-- ------------------------------ Date: Sat Dec 4 19:04:35 1982 From: decvax!idis!mi-cec!rwg@Berkeley Subject: The Omega Glory -- The worst Trek? Reply-to: decvax!idis!mi-cec!rwg at Ucb-C70 I'm surprised at the comments on "The Omega Glory." Yes, it has one of those "Lost in Space" endings that you try to hide from people when you are introducing them to Star Trek. But this is a fabulous episode up to the point where Kirk and Tracy are captured by the Yangs. I wouldn't mind seeing it redone, with the first two-thirds untouched and a new ending bolted on. Rich ------------------------------ Date: 3 Dec 82 18:27:55-PST (Fri) From: npois!houxm!ihnp4!ihuxf!larry at Ucb-C70 Subject: Support for OB1 == clone I just carefully listened to the video tape of episode 4 "A New Hope". When Luke askes his uncle about old Ben, his uncle replies: "I don't think he exists anymore. He died about the same time as your father." What a strange statement when you take it out of context! He doesn't THINK he exists --but-- he died the same time as Luke's father?!!? Heavy indications of OB-1 being a clone! Speaking of clones, why were the Jedi fighting them? How 'bout this: the process of cloning produces one good clone and one bad clone. (Much like the Star Trek episode where the transporter splits Kirk into a good and bad person.) This would back up Vader being Luke's father --via the evil clone (call him LFC-2 for Luke's Father Clone 2). Then, could the "other" be Luke's father's good clone? (LCF-1) Great Story! Luke and LCF-1 verses Vader (LCF-2) and the Empiror, who must be OB-2, the evil Ben!! Larry Marek Bell Labs, Naperville ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 82 21:02:29-PST (Sat) From: harpo!floyd!cmcl2!philabs!sdcsvax!sdchema!pha at Ucb-C70 Subject: Re: The Other Did it ever occur to any of you out there that "the other" might be a character not yet introduced? It's possible! Nevertheless, I elect either Boba Fett or Luke's Father's good clone. Paul Anderson sdcsvax!sdchema!pha ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 82 09:06:05 EST (Sat) From: Andrew Scott Beals <andrew.umcp-cs@UDel-Relay> Subject: cloning around.... By Andrew.umcp-cs@udel-relay and Andrew.umcp-cs@udel-relay (ahem, sorry) If we're gonna get totally silly: It seems to me that Han Solo is substancially (sp) older than both Luke and Leia. (leia has allways seemed to be a fres young .. to me, and han as seemed to be about 35 or so)...anyway, leia is a clone of solo (oh, give me a clone, of my own flesh and bone...), with one chromosomal change. that would explain why she's ignoring luke and going after han. -andy ------------------------------ Date: 4 Dec 82 23:05:35 EST (Sat) From: Andrew Scott Beals <andrew.umcp-cs@UDel-Relay> Subject: RotJ the Other etc... actually, leia got knocked up (to coin a phrase) by chewbacca ("i'd rather kiss a wookie" "that can be arranged"). sillyness forever! -andy :-) ------------------------------ Date: 5-Dec-82 14:09:33-PST (Sun) From: research!sjb@Berkeley Subject: Star Wars <--> Tolkien In reply to Jon's (JSol's) comments in ''another other,'' here's something to think about (I'm not sure whether or not I'm serious at this point!): A SW <--> Tolkien relationship. The way Jon brings out the traits of the main characters in TESB, it is very easy to contemplate the following relationships: Luke <--> Frodo Vader <--> Sauron The Emperor <--> The Ring Obi-Wan <--> Gandalf Yoda <--> Elrond Adam ------------------------------ Date: 5-Dec-82 5:49PM-EST (Sun) From: Nathaniel Mishkin <Mishkin at YALE> Subject: Meta-"Other" Discussion Here's something to think about: while we-all are sitting here chewing the electronic fat about the "other", there must be tens (if not 100s) of people tucked away at Lucasfilm and elsewhere who KNOW the whole truth. Perhaps the most expeditious thing to do would be to beat up one of them. I mean, sure, they must have signed in blood saying they wouldn't divulge the story, but when threatened with bodily harm, most people come around. Just kidding, -- Nat ------------------------------ End of SF-LOVERS Digest ***********************