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-- Craig E. Engler, Editor
It May Be The End For Star Trek
must say I did not expect the announcement about "professional" wrestlers
being included in Star Trek: Voyager episodes. Though I watch [Voyager] mainly to laugh and
harp (and enjoy a few episodes), I never questioned the integrity of the
show's producers. That is, until now. It takes a lot to shock me, but I must admit
that this announcement did it. It takes me two or three tries to wrap my
brain around a sentence including both "science fiction" and "wrestling."
It may not be a harbinger of the end times for all of us, but sadly it
might
be for the Star Trek franchise.
Rob Scott
robs@eventbooking.com
Wrestlers Or No, Voyager Is Still Good
number of your letter writers have written to request Star Trek: Voyager be canceled. To them I say in
no uncertain words--no, absolutely not!
A universe without Star Trek: Voyager would be a sad place indeed. True, I'm not overly fond of
some of the decisions made by the guiding forces behind Voyager, but I support the show nonetheless. It is the closest Star Trek to the original series to date.
I'm far less concerned about professional wrestlers than the producers' continued insistence on trashing
main characters. Demoting Tom Paris, flunking Wesley Crusher and reprimanding Commander
Riker were all attempts to make these characters real by injecting flaws in their lives and
personalities. Frankly, I'd prefer my heroes without the flaws. If I wanted reality I wouldn't be
watching SF.
Andrew Beery
abeery@gb.frontiernet.net
Voyager Doesn't Need A Sideshow
here no one has gone before... Yep, that's truly where Star Trek: Voyager is going with wrestlers as part
of their upcoming guest stars. Isn't it rather scary that other quality shows (Crusade) are getting
canceled without having a sideshow as a guest star? True, wrestling is very "hip" right
now. Wrestlers are everywhere, even governing a state. If I were a serious actor I wouldn't want
"worked opposite professional wrestler" on my resume. I don't have anything against wrestlers
as people (and my husband is an avid wrestling fan) but until Star Trek: The Sideshow becomes
a series I don't want them on a Star Trek episode no matter how the series may be floundering.
Although if one of the wrestlers were to accidentally smack one of the executives while on the set, it
might knock some sense into them and we'd get some quality Voyager before the entire show keels
over. Just a thought.
Jennifer Montgomery
jmontgo@trib.com
Let Voyager Die In Peace
have but one thing to say to the producers of Star Trek: Voyager:
Are you crazy? Wrestlers? On Star Trek? Gene Roddenberry will roll over
in his grave. I don't know about the rest of you, but I really hate the
idea of wrestlers on Voyager. Like so many people, I will stop watching
Voyager if the producers continue with this. Ratings will drop.
For the past two seasons, Voyager has been getting more and more
pathetic. Let Voyager die in peace. Don't murder it with wrestlers.
Seven of Nine is just a pathetic try to draw more male viewers. Naomi is a
way to draw old people and small children because of her "innocent" acting.
Give us a break! Let Voyager die in peace. Don't rip it to shreds.
Gene Kruler
eugenek@apk.net
Pro Wrestlers Are Actors, Not Athletes
am writing in response to all the letters about Star Trek: Voyager's
stunt
casting of professional wrestlers in the coming season (and in defense of Jeri
Ryan's
Seven of Nine).
First off, our little Borg-babe, in the tradition of Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and
to
some extent Odo in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, has been a perfect outlet for the favorite Star Trek
theme of looking at human foibles from outside the species. Spock's best
episodes were along these same lines. Slamming Jeri Ryan for being a sex
goddess is just feeble reverse sexism from bitter fan boys and girls.
As to the stunt casting of wrestlers, need I remind every one of "Rowdy" Roddy
Piper's not-too-bad performance in John Carpenter's They Live? Also, who is a better actor currently than Jesse "the governor" Ventura? These men (and
women; let us not forget Sable and company) are, by definition,
professional
actors and not sports figures. My concern is when they bring real sports
figures on TV shows, like Dennis Rodman or Shaquil O'Neill. Now those guys
can't act (but they are real athletes).
David Herschel
Skyngangor@aol.com
Vision Is Crucial To Television
rusade's cancellation on TNT is bittersweet to me. As a fan of Babylon 5, Crusade and the
vision of J. Michael Straczynski, I'm happy that the show is no longer under the influence of TNT's idiocy.
The
wrestling-friendly network has surpassed NBC's cancellation of Star Trek for the dumbest move
on
television. But also, I'm saddened by the cancellation because it's indicative of a greater problem in
entertainment. What I mean is there is a dissection of passion, uncompromising vision, and--dare I say
it?--intellect from mass entertainment.
Now granted, there have always been stupid studios, executives and networks, or else we wouldn't
have
been subjected to Misfits of Science. What's different now is that we have 20- and
30-something suits
who've never read anything like the Dune trilogy or experienced Shakespeare's plays or even had
a
multi-layered thought. These geniuses haven't experienced life in any real sense but think the key
to
successful programming is to remove any element of depth from a show. Ergo, they ask for more
sex to
tug at the genitals of the viewing audience (can anyone say Seven of Nine?), or push for
senseless
violence over story and character development. TNT's demands of "less feeling, more
eye-candy," is
followed now by UPN's suggestion of guest-starring wrestlers on Star Trek: Voyager.
If we continue to eliminate thought, vision and ideas from television, what we have eventually is a
medium
that says nothing. Any art form, and I do think television can be an art form, that has nothing to
say
eventually falls silent and is ignored. It would be a sad testament to 2000+ years of human
civilization.
So for those who don't see what all the fuss is about regarding Crusade, watch for Stone Cold
Steve
Austin's scene with Captain Janeway.
Gary Anderson
ga@plowshares.org
Thanks For The Hugo Poll
'd like to thank Science Fiction Weekly for running the Unofficial Hugo
Poll, and everyone who participated. It was great fun watching the tallies
change! While I particularly appreciate the people who were kind enough to
cast a vote for me in the Campbell category, I'm grateful to everyone
who participated and made the poll the fun that it is. Thanks for running
the poll and thanks to the people who voted in it!
Susan R. Matthews
Editor's Note: Congratulations to Susan for being selected by our readers as the writer they thought should win the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer. And congratulations to Nalo Hopkinson, who won the actual award (and who is also an occasional book reviewer for Science Fiction Weekly).
Gordon Van Gelder Is Off The Map
knew my popularity was vastly outstripping Gardner Dozois', but I didn't realize it
had taken me completely off the map. What a joy it is for me to see your Hugo
poll and discover that I've gone right off the scale!
Gordon Van Gelder
Editor's Note: My sincerest apologies to Gordon, who--through an oversight on my part--was inadvertently left out of the Best Professional Editor category in our unofficial Hugo Award poll.
Why Gravity Isn't Science Fiction
read with interest your review of Gravity by Tess Gerritsen. When
your reviewer Curt Wohleber discussed the idea that Gerritsen was bridging
the gap between genres, I had to smile a bit.
Gerritsen was recently a guest on a public radio news program here in
Maine. During the
interview, she stated that she was trying to avoid writing a science
fiction novel! She said that she did a lot of research into space travel,
submarine life forms and other subjects, in order to make her book
"completely plausible." Her implication was that "science fiction" is just
made up from a bunch of wild speculations, with a bit of authorial
indigestion and a bug-eyed monster thrown into the mix. Typical
out-of-genre bias.
I hope that Gerritsen is properly frightened by the fact that her book
is being reviewed on a science fiction Web site. If she doesn't watch out,
she'll be forced to ring a bell and cry out "Unclean! Unclean!"
Bruce E. Hanson
behanson@mint.net
Editor's Note: Since Tess contacted SFWeekly personally and asked us to take a look at her book for possible review in our pages, I have to think she wouldn't be too frightened of having us review Gravity.
Galactica Could Be So Much More
s a long-time fan of Battlestar Galactica (the original series, not
Galactica 1980) I was overjoyed when I heard that Richard Hatch was working
on
a cinematic return to the Galactica Universe. I watched Galactica as a kid,
and enjoyed it very much at the time. I still occasionally watch it now on
the SCI FI Channel here in the United Kingdom, but clearly it is dated and cannot compete
with the more sophisticated SF shows on TV in the late 1990s. I think
the main reason why Galactica needs to return is to fulfill the potential
that it had in the original show, but never really made use of. The basic
premise of Galactica was an interesting one--human survivors fleeing an
inhuman enemy, looking for a mythical planet called Earth. Here was the
horror of war, human tragedy, survival against the odds, relationships
developing in a closed society, the quest for knowledge and a need to
explore the cosmos. The main problem was that executive producer Glen Larson did not really
aim
the show at an adult audience--like Lost in Space and Irwin Allen in the
1960s, Glen Larson and Galactica made the same mistake of assuming an
immature, unsophisticated audience, when in actual fact the kids of the
1970s and 1980s had grown up with Star Trek and demanded more intelligent
scripts, more dynamic, deeper characters, and a message underlying the
whole
show. Thus Galactica could have been so much more. Instead, Larson assumed
that what counted were special effects. Special effects were not enough
then, and too many producers today just assume special effects are enough,
without listening to an audience that demands more.
A return to Galactica would allow the show to really exploit the potential
offered by intelligent audiences. Have many of the original cast members
reprise their original roles--Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer, Tigh,
Cassiopeia,
etc.--but show how they have dealt with years of conflict with the Cylons,
and the loss of comrades and family, including Adama. There is huge potential
here to give the original cast some great opportunities to really
demonstrate that they can do more than take a back seat to space battle
sequences. How does Apollo handle command? Explore the relationship between
Starbuck and Cassiopeia more. Have new cast members playing significant
roles, and laying the basis for future Galactica movies or a series. Make
the Cylons darker, more threatening, more inhuman. Obviously update the
special effects with modern CGI, but don't make the special effects the
focus of the movie. Above all, the new Galactica needs to be dramatic,
intelligent, and meaningful. It needs to be more like Star Trek or Babylon
5, rather than Lost in Space (that is not to criticize Lost in Space--I
loved that series too, but it had its unfortunate faults).
Those fans who argue that Galactica should remain dead ignore the potential
to really create some good science fiction. Many said the same thing about
Star Trek--yet the release of Star Trek: the Next Generation, followed by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager has
really rejuvenated the whole Trek scene. Lost in Space could have enjoyed
the same result, had the producers of the movie been faithful to the fans
of
the original series. Alas, I fear an attempt to re-launch Lost in Space may
have gone nowhere as a result of a mediocre movie. Richard Hatch has the
opportunity to achieve what the producers of Star Trek achieved, and what the
producers of Lost in Space probably failed to achieve--bring back a
classic
SF show, and turn it into truly superb SF entertainment that has
potential to go into a new show, or more movies. He should have the chance
to prove that Battlestar Galactica is more than space battles.
Malcolm Davis
M.R.Davis@pol-as.hull.ac.uk
Continuing Galactica Is The Key
he difference between the two Battlestar Galactica sequels and the
numerous re-makes of various TV series is that the proposed Galactica
movies are sequels to the series, not re-makes. In the examples of TV
series turned into movies, they were all re-makes of their respective shows. Often, the only things
they had in common with
the original shows were the trademarked name and the generalized premise.
Most of the movie re-makes/sequels disregard or openly mock their source
material. For example, The Brady Bunch movie's main premise was to ridicule its source
material. Mission
Impossible's premise was offensive to fans of the original series, because
the whole point of the story was to discredit or kill the characters from
the original show. Most movie adaptations or re-makes of series are done by people who weren't
involved in the
original series. Many of them would rather re-create the show and make it
completely their own rather than continue someone else's work. I have to believe that many of
the film makers responsible for the re-makes are not
fans of the original series. Why else would someone secure rights to a well
established series with all its carefully crafted characters and plot lines,
and then discard almost everything from the original show except for the names of the characters?
This is
what makes the Galactica movies different. Both competing projects underway
have people who were involved with the original show. They both continue
the storyline, not replace it. As a fan of the original show, I look forward
to seeing
the original cast together again. It'll be great to see stuff that they
could never show us due to budgetary constraints, like the huge landing
bays on both the Galactica and the Cylon ship, or even just shots of the Vipers landing or taking
off from
anywhere but the Galactica.
Mike Ling
zenzmurfy@mikeling.com
Judge Galactica After You See It
n response to the recent flack given to Richard Hatch's big screen Battlestar Galactica, Galactica was
my first introduction to television SF so I feel I must a least defend the big screen production
of it for the time being. A while ago I commented on the flack given the new Sliders cast and I
shall repeat that phrase for this cause: please don't knock it until you've seen it.
Regarding the comparison of Lost in Space and its big screen remake to Galactica, I liked the big
screen version of Lost in Space a lot. Enough to see it twice in the movie theater. The special effects and
overall update of the scenario, costumes, and script were fantastic and I dare say, original. The
powers that be knew that the old sixties special effects would not grab the attention of the
generation that
grew up with such visionaries as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. I think that if the same
attention and care given to Lost in Space is applied to Galactica (i.e., the talk of upgrading the Vipers) it
could be an excellent movie with spectacular special effects.
J.S. Slusher
Jennifer@clarb.org
Galactica's Revival Thrives On The Net
support Richard Hatch's project and I run the Battlestar Galactica Revival Homepage
(http://battlestar.homepage.com) Web site, devoted to assisting in the revival of the series. The
majority of Battlestar fans support Mr. Hatch's effort, not the Glen A. Larson/Todd Moyer
project. Todd Moyer has made comments about the direction that he and Larson intend to take
the show; these comments have enraged most of the devoted fans of the series. There are
thousands of fans on the net who are trying to convince Universal Pictures to give Mr. Hatch the
rights to proceed with his proposed project. There is a massive letter writing campaign under way
by snail mail and email, as well as hundreds of sites devoted to the show and the revival effort.
Chris Feehan
CureMode@curemode.com
Dune Needs All Six Hours
inally, the SCI FI Channel is giving Dune what it really needs--a six-hour miniseries. When the movie came out, I thought the producers did a fairly good
job, all things considered. The main problem was that the first film could in
no way capture the full range and depth of the novel. With an excellent
storyline to work with, I'm sure the series will show some of the important
scenes and the effects it had on the main characters. I can hardly wait to
see the final results.
Marc Edwards
marced@asan.com
Banderas Probably Has Some Arab Blood
n his Issue No. 125 letter "13th Warrior Was Not That Good"--about a movie, just for the record, that I
loved--Brian Guthrie asks, "...since when has Antonio Banderas looked Arabic?
What were they thinking?"
The answer to this question is quite simple. From the eighth century until
the
end of the 15th, an ever decreasing (as the Catholic Church and the rulers
of Spain engaged in the Reconquista, gradually taking back what was at its
greatest expanse a vast chunk of the Iberian peninsula) portion of Spain,
especially Andalusia, was controlled by Muslim Arabs and Moors. It was
easily the most civilized and most culturally and technologically advanced
part of Europe for most of that time, and, it has been argued, the real
source of the Renaissance. Banderas, being Spanish himself, is highly
likely to have some Arab or Moorish blood, as a) there was a lot of
intermarriage between the conquerors and the native Spanish, and b) the
native Spanish (native before the Muslims came, at any rate), looked more
like the Celts than the dark-eyed, dark-haired, and dark-complexioned
Banderas. Banderas could easily pass for Arab. Incidentally, "Arabic" is
a language/art style, not an ethnicity.
In conclusion, I would also like to note that I found the treatment of
Banderas' character's Muslim faith touchingly sensitive and positive, just
as was the portrayal of the Viking religion, what was shown of it. This
was
a hell of a lot better than the racist stereotyping of Arabs in many other
films, notably The Mummy.
Jamie Blackman
James.Blackman@HARPERCOLLINS.com
13th Warrior Was Enjoyable, But Not SF
ased on your review of The 13th Warrior, my wife and I went to see
it. I found it to be more of a fantasy or perhaps a visual presentation of
an old folk tale. There really wasn't science fiction to it. Most of what
happened was explainable. The only really hokey part was how the Arab
learned to speak perfect Norse by just sitting around at the camp fires.
However, overall it was a good movie and I would recommend adults see it.
(The fighting parts were pretty bloody--you almost expected to have blood
on your clothes when you left the movie.)
John Ackerman
ACKERMHJ@apci.com
Anne McCaffrey Should Live Forever
hank you so much for notifying me about the Dragonriders of Pern TV show. The very first tattoo I got
was a dragon because I've been so enthralled with the legends and
stories of dragons, and Pern brought it to life for me. Keep it up. And may
Anne McCaffrey live forever to continue her works.
Reading about Pern is the next best thing to riding my Harley.
Linda Robinson
Vtwnldy@aol.com
The Pern TV Series Should Honor The Books
hen I was a freshman in high school I discovered a wonderfully written book called
Dragonflight that I fell in love with and wrote my first of four book reports for the year on. Of
course, I soon had to get Dragonquest, The White Dragon, Dragonsinger, etc., and did the other three
book reports on those as well. I'm 30 now, and I have read every single book based on Pern. I
still love the series as much as I did 16 years ago, and was elated (so elated that my wife thought
I finally went crazy) when I saw in Science Fiction Weekly that it was going to be developed into a
television series. My only hope is that Alliance Atlantis is working as hard as they stated to honor the books.
Todd Behrmann
tbaz@netwurx.net
The Dispossessed Has A Gender Bias
rsula K. Le Guin disappoints me--why choose a male character in her book The
Dispossessed? Since I was a little girl I felt the lack of true female heroines in all narratives, not
only SF. As girls in school we played the roles of Kirk and Spock; nowadays at least there are
Captain Janeway and her female chief engineer to identify with. Everybody is socialized as well
by literature and film as by real living people. A lack of different female identification characters
deprives a girl of a basic kind of socialization every boy gets without a second thought. Should it
not be the task of a female author to help us catch up with all those male heroes? Who can
describe the thoughts of a heroine better than a woman? Although, I must confess, Peter
Hamilton does a very good job--his Louise, Syrinx, Ione and Jezzibella are strong female
characters I really love to see described by a very thoughtful man.
Elisabeth Schabus
elisabeth@schabus.at
