Site of the Week -- March 6, 2000
aptain James T. Kirk should have died a great, noble death on the bridge
of a starship, with the fate of the galaxy in his hands and phasers
scorching space around him.
Instead, he was killed by scaffolding in the movie Star Trek: Generations.
The Bring Back Kirk Campaign seeks to remedy that mistake by bringing
Star Trek's best captain back from the dead. William Shatner already
accomplished that goal in his Star Trek novels, but those books aren't part of the "official" Star Trek universe. The BBK campaign wants Kirk
back on the deck of the real Enterprise, if not on the big screen,
then at least on the small one.
The campaign's Web site includes information about where to send letters of protest, a place where visitors can submit letters online, links to other
"Bring Back Kirk" Web sites, and a discussion board where people can vent
their rage over Kirk's untimely death.
-- Kenneth Newquist
Site of the Week -- Feb. 28, 2000
hese days the space program seems to get attention only when NASA
commits a blunder; the rest of the time Americans remain blithely unaware of
the various ongoing projects and active missions quietly adding to
the collective understanding of the Earth, the solar system, the galaxy
and the universe.
Spaceref.com is a large and richly informative site with a broad array of
news, analysis and photos profiling the headline grabbers as well as all those little-known missions. Some examples of what the site is currently covering: Right now a NASA spacecraft, the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous, is sending back the first color pictures of Eros, the largest
asteroid to travel inside the orbit of Mars. And remember Galileo? It's
still tooling around Jupiter, getting reading for its closest flyby yet of
the volcanic moon Io.
In addition to the latest news on American and international space efforts,
Spaceref.com features pages that discuss particular topics in depth, a
calendar of upcoming events and launches, and detailed guides to recent and
future space shuttle missions. There's also a Yahoo-like web directory for
space-related sites and a bulletin board for discussion.
As an added bonus, the site offers a news tracker feature, allowing users to
get automatic space news updates.
For space junkies--and everyday folk wondering what's happening in space these days--Spaceref.com is the place to go.
-- Mark Wilson
Site of the Week -- Feb. 21, 2000
here's something about speculative fiction that makes possible the
evolution of thrilling and provocative films from the merest slip of a short
story in Astounding magazine or from an overlooked novel by a forgotten
author. Often audiences are surprised to learn, if they ever do, that the
summer's blockbuster SF hit--or, conversely, a word-of-mouth fantasy art-house film--is based on anything other than a director's vision or a
screenwriter's whim.
The Fiction into Film List is a useful and apparently exhaustive
effort to marry science fiction, fantasy and horror films to the works on
which they are based. There is some attention to detail and chronology: So,
for example, under 2001 are listed both the short story on which the
film is loosely based and the later novelization. Each film in the fully
searchable catalog is linked to the invaluable Internet Movie Database,
allowing instant access to its production details. Currently available films
and books are also linked to online retailers for easy purchase.
The site makes no attempt to analyze the success with which these stories
were converted into film. It merely uncovers the interesting and sometimes
surprising roots of our favorite movies--or the fact that our favorite
stories were filmed after all--and allows readers and audiences to decide
for themselves.
-- Mark Wilson
