Aucbvax.1398
fa.sf-lovers
utzoo!duke!decvax!ucbvax!JPM@MIT-AI
Sat May 23 07:25:46 1981
SF-LOVERS Digest V3 #129
SF-LOVERS AM Digest Saturday, 23 May 1981 Volume 3 : Issue 129
Today's Topics:
SF Books - Cyber SF & Outland, SF Movies - Outland,
SF Topics - Children's stories (Mushroom Planet and Alan Garner and
Tom Corbett) & Children's TV (Rocky and His Friends)
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Date: 22 May 1981 at 0024-CDT
From: hjjh at UTexas-11
Sender: LRC.SLOCUM at UTEXAS-20
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ CYBER-SF (AND INCOMMUNICADO-NESS) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
UTEXAS' connection to the ARPANET has been inoperative for most of the
past 2 weeks, so my communications have been frustratingly curtailed.
2 or 3 messages DID get thru (but \not/ SF-L itself) inwards, tho
Heaven only knows how. They must have had pretty persistent mailers.
Anyhow, don't give up on me, please. The info I \have/ gotten on
robots has been so useful. If "the part" for the IMP doesn't get here
by next week, I'll find another helpful friend's account like the one
I'm using for this message and be able to have minimal communication.
RE-- the Tin Woodman and Major Metal. Evidently they are magical and
EX-CYBORG in Type. Thanks for the explanation.
RE-- animal robots. The list has grown (yet remains overwhelmingly
canine and avian):
Bunch, D.R., MODERAN
Dick, P.K., DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?
__________, DR WHO <K-9>
Goulart, Ron, AFTER THINGS FELL APART [dogs]
Goulart, Ron, CALLING DR. PATCHWORK
Goulart, Ron, HAIL HIBBLER
Goulart, Ron, WHIFF OF MADNESS, A [guard dogs, horse, birds]
Harrison, M.J., PASTEL CITY; [birds]
Heath, P., MIND BROTHERS; [nightingale]
Heath. P., ASSASSINS FROM TOMORROW [hound-like tracking device]
High, P.E., INVADER ON MY BACK [birds, dogs]
High, P.E., MAD METROPOLIS; [insects]
High, P.E., NO TRUCE WITH TERRA
Larson, et al., "Battlestar Galactica" series
(Laumer, K., LONG TWILIGHT;) ?
Leiber, F., SILVER EGGHEADS; [auto-dog]
Saberhagen, F., (Berserker novel) [wolf]
Sheckley, R., JOURNEY BEYOND TOMORROW <THE BEAST>
Stasheff, C., WARLOCK IN SPITE OF HIMSELF; <FESS>
Zelazny, R., CHANGELING; [birds+]
Any others?
------------------------------
Date: 22 May 1981 13:26:25-PDT
From: CSVAX.william at Berkeley
Subject: OUTLAND
My roommate bought an OUTLAND paperback last week. I had to put it
down after 20 pages because it was totally obnoxious to read. It seems
like the writer has outdone himself again, creating a worthless story
& no plot.
I seem to remember a story by A. Clark concerning Jupiter V. It had a
situation where someone was thrown off the moon and they were able to
reach him by waiting one full orbit of the moon for him to return to
the same spot. It takes an impressive amount of energy to move between
the moons of Jupiter, and you can't fall into Jupiters gravity well
just by jumping off the moon. You have way too much kinetic energy...
Bill Jolitz.
------------------------------
Date: 22 May 1981 1737-PDT
From: Jim McGrath <JPM SU-AI AT>
Subject: Outland Review
OUTLAND
By VINCENT CANBY
c. 1981 N.Y. Times News Service
NEW YORK - ''Not many people here have both oars in the water,''
says flinty Dr. Marian Lazarus (Frances Sternhagen), to Bill O'Niel
(Sean Connery), the newly arrived federal district marshal who has
been assigned to the remote mining camp to maintain law and order.
Doc Lazarus is no easier on herself, being aware that the kind of
physicians who take jobs in remote mining camps usually are, as she
puts it, one step ahead of a malpractice suit.
Doc Lazarus is an exception, as is Bill O'Niel, who refuses to
wink or look away when strange things start happening at the camp,
even though production is up and profits are soaring. When the
showdown comes, as it must, it's Bill O'Niel and Doc Lazarus against
the world, as represented by the mining company's greedy agents.
Peter Hyams's ''Outland'' may be the oddest-looking western you've
ever seen, being set not on the American frontier, where it's always
1870, but in outer space, specifically on Io, the third moon of
Jupiter, some time in the not-too-distant future.
It's also a movie of unexpected pleasures, including some
uncommonly handsome science-fiction sets, a straightforward narrative
that recalls ''High Noon'' without that film's holy seriousness, some
wonderfully effective chases through the darkest interiors of this
huge, hermetically sealed moon camp, plus two staunch, robust
performances by Connery and Miss Sternhagen. ''Outland'' is what most
people mean when they talk about good escapist entertainment. It won't
enlarge one's perceptions of life by a single millimeter, but neither
does it make one feel like an idiot for enjoying it so much.
Nothing in Hyams's ealier credits as a writer-director (''Hanover
Street,'' ''Capricorn One,'' ''Busting'') prepares the viewer for the
unpretentious achievement of ''Outland,'' in which Bill O'Niel takes
his stand against a murderous fellow named Sheppard (Peter Boyle), the
mining company's chief agent on Io. It seems that Sheppard, with the
knowledge of the federal marshal who preceded O'Niel, has been
importing from earth and distributing to the miners a synthetic drug
that for eight or nine months increases the user's work capacity
before turning his mind to oatmeal. Thus the explanation for the high
suicide rate at the mining camp.
How Big Bill faces this challenge is pretty much the story of
''Outland,'' though a lot of the fun in watching it also comes from
the look of the ersatz physical world created by Hyams and his
associates, principally Philip Harrison, the production designer, and
John Stears, the special-effects supervisor. More interesting even
than all the fancy,obligatory gadgetry are the mining camp's surreal
living spaces - sleeping quarters that look like stacks of roomy,
designer bird-cages, large, shadowless mess halls and a swinging
discotheque, featuring sound-and-laser-beam pornography and
prostitutes to take the miners' minds (or what's left of them) off the
boredom of their work.
Hyams doesn't pay too much attention to the private lives of his
principal characters. Dear Doc Lazarus has none at all, and Bill
O'Niel's wife, Carol (Kirka Markham), flees from Io quite early in the
movie. After eight years she's become fed up with living in one space
mining camp after another and decides to take their son back to earth,
which he's neve seen. From that time on, Carol is no more than a face
seen on a television monitor from time to time.
The serious business of ''Outland'' is Big Bill's decision to
fight Io's traffic in dope and, by indirection, to bring some humanity
back to a world made entirely out of synthetics.
Hyams has the good sense not to stress that last point. It goes
without saying in the action we see on the screen, and in movies like
''Outland,'' action is intellect and sensibility as well as an end in
itself.
This film is rated R.
------------------------------
Date: 18 May 1981 1451-EDT
From: Eirikur Hallgrimsson <ISSG AT DEC-MARLBORO>
Subject: Mushroom Planet Author/Publisher
While the books must be in a box someplace, somehow my memory has not
been effected by the general malaise.
There is a fourth book: 'Time and Mr. Bass' written some years later.
The series was by Eleanor Cameron, and was published by Little,Brown.
I harbor a wistful affection for the atmosphere that she created.
--Eirikur
------------------------------
Date: 21 May 1981 1208-PDT (Thursday)
From: Mike at UCLA-SECURITY (Michael Urban)
Subject: Juvenilia
Some juvenile-marketed fantasies I have first read and enjoyed as
an adult:
Alan Garner: The Weirdstone of Brisingamen
The Moon of Gomrath
Garner takes a real locale in Cheshire (I have a copy of the
Ordinance Survey Map), a healthy dose of Welsh and other folklore,
mixes thoroughly and produces spectacular results. Weak
characterizations, though. In fact, he didn't write a third in the
series because "I was sick of the little twits," meaning the children
who are the main characters. So instead, he wrote
Elidor ---- Well, it STARTS as a sort of rip-off of the Irish
Book of Invasions, with Childe Rowland thrown in for good measure, but
ends up as a passage-to-adulthood story. Pretty good.
The Owl Service -- Supposedly, this book is for teenagers. Sure,
if the teenager has a degree in Celtic folklore. Superb reworking of
the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion, and at many levels. Interesting
ending.
Red Shift -- Three interwoven stories of young people at three
points in British history. Sometimes obscure, but rewarding. Again,
the "juvenile" label is dumb marketing.
Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising
This is a series of 5 books, the last of which is a Newberry winner.
The first (and weakest) is hard to find as it is from a different
publisher. They are reminiscent in some ways of the early Alan
Garner, but more original in their imagery. The biggest problem is
the lack of real conflict. Characters are constantly reassured that
nothing serious will happen to them. In spite of this, Cooper is able
to produce some ringing scenes! The titles:
Over Sea, Under Stone
The Dark is Rising
Greenwitch
The Grey King
Silver on the Tree
I should also mention Joy Chant's "Red Moon, Black Mountain" and
Ursula LeGuin's "Earthsea" books, which were also originally marketed
as juveniles.
Mike
------------------------------
Date: 22 May 1981 1028-EDT
Sender: PKAISER at BBND
Subject: Tom Corbett books
From: Peter Kaiser <PKAISER BBND AT>
Tom Corbett wasn't just on TV; there was also a series of books. I
have one of them, "Tom Corbett and the Space Pirates". It's good!
---Pete
------------------------------
Date: 22 May 1981 1922-PDT (Friday)
From: Lauren at UCLA-SECURITY (Lauren Weinstein)
Subject: And now here's something we hope you'll REALLY like...
No discussion of television animation and SF can possibly be complete
without some serious consideration of the superb J. Ward productions
of the 60's. These included such features as ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS,
THE BULLWINKLE SHOW (actually a repackaging of Rocky and His Friends),
HOPPITY HOOPER, GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE, and several others. At least
one classic live-action program, FRACTURED FLICKERS, also came forth
from the creative genius of the facility.
Of all these, Rocky and His Friends is deserving of the most mention
in the context of this discussion. The classic program, beginning
with the immortal:
"A loop, a whirl, a verticle climb, and once again you'll know it's
time for ROCKY (and his friends). Starring that supersonic speedster,
Rocket J. Squirrel. (And his friend, Bullwinkle the Moose)."
was clearly produced for an adult audience, and was far ahead of its
time.
Each half hour program consisted of two episodes of the serial
adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, plus additional features such as
the wonderful "Fractured Fairy Tales" (narrated by Edward Everett
Horton), or the adventures of Peabody and Sherman (and their Wayback
machine, which allowed them to visit past eras "as they might have
been" (not, necessarily, as they WERE).
In the course of a variety of serial adventures, each of which lasted
for many weeks, Rocky and Bullwinkle underwent some amazing
situations, including:
1) The search for the Moosberry bush. Only Bullwinkle can locate the
bush whose berries are needed by the U.S. for use as a rocket
fuel additive. Of course, Boris Badinoff and Natasha (the evil
agents from Pottslvania) are doing all they can to thwart their
efforts.) [Boris and Natasha, by the way, were under the command
of "Fearless Leader", who in turn reported to the sinister
"Mr. Big".]
2) The Kerwood Derby. A special derby is invented with an unusual
property. If you put it on, your mind is reduced to the level of
a very young child. A serious brain drain results.
3) HUSHABOOM. A silent explosive. Truly sinister.
4) UPSIDASIUM. An anti-gravity metal is discovered. In fact, an
entire mountain of it (floating in the air, of course, where nobody
ever noticed it) is found. At the end of this segment, Mr. Big
greedily grabs a bullion of upsidasium and disappears into space.
5) The metal munching moon mice. TV antennas are disappearing all
over the country. The populace, not having anything else to do
when TV's don't work, takes to watching clothes dryers and other
related items with glass windows. The economy is at a standstill.
Turns out that Mr. Big ended up on the moon, formed a dictatorship
over the moonmen, and started building large robot mice that were
sent to Earth to eat the antennas and cause the economic collapse.
In this series, we meet those two moonmen, Ernie and Floyd. They
have an interesting weapon, a "freeze" device known as a "Scrooch"
gun:
"How long did you scrooch him for, Floyd?"
"Uh, I had it set to "10"."
"10 what?"
"I don't know. It doesn't say."
A variety of other episodes, including one in which the economy is
thrown into shambles due to masses of counterfeited box-tops, were
also produced.
---
Hopefully the above is enough to trigger more than a few fond
memories. Watching these programs as an adult (when they infrequently
re-appear as local fillers) yields an array of humor that was missed
as a child:
Boris attempts to derail the train on which Rocky and Bullwinkle
are riding, by using a crowbar. Unfortunately, it is an ELECTRIC
train, and Boris tries to lift the third rail. He ends up
sizzling and crackling at right angles from the crowbar as the
train passes by. Bullwinkle sees him through the window:
"Hey Rocky! I just saw some guy who was all lit up!"
Rocky: "He must have come from the club car."
---
With the fading of J. Ward from the scene, some of the most
sophisticated animated entertainment of the 60's also faded into
oblivion...
---
"Hey Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!"
"But that trick NEVER works!"
"THIS TIME FOR SURE!"
---
[Three cheers for Frostbite Falls!]
--Lauren--
------------------------------
End of SF-LOVERS Digest
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