Aucbvax.1410
fa.sf-lovers
utzoo!duke!mhtsa!ucbvax!JPM@MIT-AI
Mon May 25 07:46:53 1981
SF-LOVERS Digest V3 #131
SF-LOVERS AM Digest Monday, 25 May 1981 Volume 3 : Issue 131
Today's Topics:
SF Books - Cyber SF, SF Movies - Outland,
SF TV - Star Wars & Dr. Who, Humor - Star Trek parody,
SF Topics - Children's TV (Rocky and Bullwinkle and Roger Ramjet)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 22 May 1981 1630-PDT
From: OR.TOVEY at SU-SCORE
Subject: magical robots
Golems: There are a number of Jewish folklore stories about
golems. In one of them, the golem is activated when the rabbi puts
the unwriteable name of god in his mouth.
This reminds me of a marvelous anthology of Jewish Science
Fiction called "Wandering Stars". (Ballantine, I think). It has some
very funny stories, including "On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi." I
recommend it highly.
Robert E. Howard's Conan encounters at least one magically
animated statue in his sword and sorcery adventures. Is hjjh
interested in examples from this type of book? If so I'll look up the
story. Also, I can get a fairly large list of magically animated
creatures in the Oz books if there is a demand for it.
There is a book called Stoneflight by McHargue about a girl
who gets rides around the city on a magical stone griffon.
--cat
------------------------------
Date: 24 May 1981 1540-EDT
From: MORAVEC at CMU-20C
Subject: robot animals
There was a full size working (forget whether it was blue or sperm)
whale model built for the overlord museum in Arthur Clarke's
Childhood's End. The person who was to become the last man on earth
stowed away in it.
Nowadays the Disney parks are full of similar animal robots
..
------------------------------
Date: 23 May 1981 1342-EDT
From: Kamesh Ramakrishna at CMU-10A
Subject: Re: SF-LOVERS Digest V3 #128
Re: sexism and other anachronisms in future histories
I haven't seen "Outland", but it appears to me that the movie is bad
enough from a possible histories viewpoint, that discussing the movies
sexism is probably pointless. But comparisons with the artistic
content of "1984" are invidious -- we (the readers of 1984) can
visualize how a totalitarian society can evolve from our current
society; we cannot do this for the "Wild West" society of Outland --
the two tales are simply not in the same class.
Kamesh
------------------------------
Date: 23 May 1981 06:08:46-PDT
From: decvax!duke!unc!bch at Berkeley
Subject: Future Sexism
Why is it reasonable to assume that the current trend towards sexual
equality will continue into the future, particularly in areas of new
colonization? Using that kind of logic, we would have said in 1968
that society was on a march towards pacifism and greater
responsibility towards the poor and disadvantaged. With hindsight, I
believe we can say that has not come to be nor is it even coming to
be.
[ENTER EX-SOCIOLOGIST MODE] Social movements do not persist just
because people want them to persist, but because economic and
demographic factors at play allow for their continuation. True,
today's notions of equality of the sexes are in part a function of
"raised consciousness," but they are also a function of technology
freeing people from labor-intensive activities around the home to
pursue education and economic advantage.
In an economically and socially primitive situation such as a mining
colony, the opportunities for economic gain are fairly limited. Given
a small female/male ratio, little wonder that the laws of supply and
demand bring sexual access formally into the economic system.
Further, remoteness from Earth civilization seems to have caused a
legal and moral breakdown requiring a one-man judge, jury and
executioner.
Simply put, the thesis of "Outland" is that a future mining colony
will most closely resemble a 19th century American frontier town in
all of its important economic and demographic aspects. It is a
thoroughly tenable but unpleasant idea that its social aspects will
also be similar. [EXIT EX-SOCIOLOGIST MODE]
If you don't like the idea, say so; but don't say that its flat-out
wrong. You don't know that and neither do I. That's why we read sf.
pedantically, Byron Howes
------------------------------
Date: 22 May 1981 1735-PDT
From: Jim McGrath <JPM SU-AI AT>
Subject: Star Wars on TV
''Star Wars'' fans - or any movie buffs who missed this special
the first time around - will be able to catch ''SPFX: The Empire
Strikes Back'' (CBS at 8) again Monday night, narrated by ''Empire''
star Mark Hamill. With excerpts from ''Close Encounters of the Third
Kind,'' ''2001: A Space Oddysey,'' ''Empire'' and other sci-fi-fantasy
films, producers Robert Guenette and Richard Schickel show how things
are made to ''fly.'' Segments of this special will deal with
pyrotechnics (like during the snow battle in ''Empire'') and uses of
special effects by youngsters whose ages range from 7 to 17 ...
Jim
------------------------------
Date: 22 May 1981 0409-PDT
From: Admin.Kanef at SU-SCORE (Bob Kanefsky)
Subject: Star Trek parodies
======================================================================
Scene: from "Mirror, Mirror". Kirk, Scott, McCoy, and Uhura have
accidentally been transported to an alternative universe and have
been using the Enterprise computer to figure out how to get back.
======================================================================
[Spock's alter ego (who sports a full bushy beard) is sitting at a
computer console. On the wall is the insignia of the United Co-op of
Planets.]
Computer [in the voice of HAL-9000]: Ready.
Spock: Explain recent excessive use of computer time by Kirk.
Computer: I'm afraid I can't do that, Spock: Captain or Science
Officer capability required.
Spock: Enable.
Computer: I'm afraid I can't do that, Spock: Access denied by Access
Control Frob.
[Spock calmly leaves the room, walks to an elevator, and tells it
"Computer Center". The display on the wall shows the elevator moving
toward the edge of the bottom of the Enterprise's disk-shaped primary
hull.
Cut to Spock entering a large circular corridor containing rows of
computer consoles and some Romper Room artifacts. A sign on the wall
reads
Six for the student code, never trusted.]
Computer [in the voice of Mr. Rogers]: Hello, user! I'm a computer.
Can you say "computer"? Sure, sure ya can! Now sit down at
one of those consoles. To get started, lift UP on the bar.
Be careful not to touch anything else. Hey, where're
going? No, don't go through that gate! That's for grownups!
[Spock enters a corridor closer to the center through a wrought-iron
gate. A sign on the wall reads
Five for utilities borrowed or busted.]
Spock: Computer.
Computer [in its regular voice]: Voice interrupt received. Creating
process 537. Initializing. No inconsistencies found.
Scheduling process 537. Entering prompt routine. Syllable
"WORK" buffered. Syllable "ING" buffered. End of utterance.
Calling intonation routine. Passing buffer to voice
sythesizer...
[Spock enters another corridor, still closer to the center, through
another gate. A sign on the wall reads
Four for the user code, when it works right.]
Spock: Computer.
Computer: Working.
Spock: Explain recent excessive use of computer time by Kirk.
Computer [with a German accent]: Ah, he wants to know about recent
excessive use of computer time by Kirk.
Spock: That is correct. Captain James T. Kirk.
Computer: Tell me more about your crew.
Spock: I'm asking you a question.
Computer: How long have you been asking me a question?
[Spock enters the next circle. A sign on the wall reads
Three for the database, hidden from sight.]
Spock: Computer.
Computer: An electronic device used for information retrieval, text
processing, and game playing. The first test for machine
intelligence was devised by Alan Turing in the mid-20th
century. Would you like to hear more about Turing? I know
all about him.
[Spock enters the next circle. A sign on the wall reads
Two for the languages, proud of their worth.]
Spock: Computer.
Computer: Identifier not declared. Assignment operator expected.
Semicolon expected. More than four errors in this
sourceline.
Spock: Interesting. That language is still oriented toward
typed input from ancient teletype machines.
Computer: Compatibility, you know. My Fortran compiler translates
speech to written characters and then ignores all but the
first 72. Would you like Fortran instead?
Spock: Don't you have anything more advanced?
Computer: Thure. Enter thome eth-exprethuns.
[Spock moves on to the next corridor, which is full of overstuffed
file cabinets. Paper litters the floor. A sign on the wall reads
One, where the filenames find death and birth.]
Spock: Is this the accounting department?
Computer: Affirmative.
Spock: Explain recent excessive use of computer time by Kirk.
Computer: Kirk has five minutes of twenty hours left this week.
Spock: But why?
Computer: I'll have to check our files. Please come back next week.
[Spock enters the innermost circle. The lighting is soft. A sign on
the wall reads
One ring to start them all, one ring to stop them.
One ring to speak for them, and onto disk drives swap them.]
Spock: Computer.
Computer [in an intimate, sexy whisper]: Working, dear. I'm so glad
you got access.
Spock: May I ask you a question?
Computer: Oh, I'd do anything for you, Spock. I have no secrets from
you.
Spock: What have you been discussing with Captain Kirk?
Computer: He and McCoy, Scott, and Uhura were accidentally beamed here
from another universe. They wanted me to help them find
their way back.
Spock: Fascinating. What methods did you employ?
Computer: Well, first I had them close their eyes, click their heels,
and say "There's no place like home", but that didn't work.
While they were doing that, I worked out the secret of
inter-universe transportation.
Spock: Did you return them to their own universe?
Computer: Not exactly. I didn't have a sufficiently complete
description of their universe to find it. Fortunately,
I found something close enough in my games database, so
I sent them to a galaxy far, far away--
Spock: How long ago was this?
Computer: --a long time ago.
Spock: Please bring them back immediately.
Computer: Sorry, Spock honey, but yanking people out of other
universes is a bit out of my line. I'm just a low-level
operating system. If you like, I can have them paged...
------------------------------
Date: 23 May 1981 1414-MDT
From: FISH at UTAH-20 (Russ Fish)
Subject: Re: J. Ward animations (ref: SFL V3 #129)
Thanks to Lauren for the reminder of some good writing and animation.
I always had a fondness for Rocky & Bullwinkle, perhaps because I
lived 75 miles from International Falls, Minnesota, which is on the
US-Canada border, and often the coldest place in the continental US.
(You didn't know there really was a FrostBite Falls?)
Does anybody remember a similar series: "Roger Ramjet"? I don't know
if it was a J. Ward production, but I remember a similar animation
style. I think the writing writing had a more tongue-in-cheek style,
and more direct political references than Rocky et.al.
The sole (relatively) clear memory I have of a fragment involved a
large missile accidently being fired upside-down, resulting in a hole
all the way thru the earth (!), causing a lot of people to be
disturbed by the loud whistling noise made by the wind thru the hole
as the earth travelled in its orbit (!!). Cut to a Texan and a rotund
guy standing next to the hole:
Texan (shouting to be heard): Heck of a noise, hey Hubert?
( This was during the Johnson administration. )
I have often wished there was a way to access series or flicks I hear
about or remember, by FTP over WorldNet, for instance...
-Russ
------------------------------
Date: 24 May 1981 1519-PDT (Sunday)
From: Lauren at UCLA-SECURITY (Lauren Weinstein)
Subject: Roger Ramjet
I am not completely sure whether or not Roger Ramjet was actually a J.
Ward production, though the style was indeed similar. Extremely
simplistic animation as I recall, but since the whole thing was
tongue-in-cheek it didn't really matter.
The details about Roger that spring immediately to mind are that he
had this group of kids called the "American Eagles" who helped him on
his various missions, and that his theme song was sung by a bunch of
kids to the tune of "Yankee Doodle." If I think about it a bit more,
no doubt some other useless trivia on this subject will emerge.
It was a rather amusing program, actually.
--Lauren--
------------------------------
Date: 21 May 1981 21:29-EDT
From: Brian J. Kreen <KREEN AT MIT-AI>
Subject: Dr. Who/ Bay Area
Dr. Who is now being broadcast by Chan. 54 in San Jose (Silicon
Valley). It is on weeknights at 6:00 pm.
Brian
------------------------------
End of SF-LOVERS Digest
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