The Letters to the Editor department is intended to be a forum for our readers to express their own opinions and ideas. While we appreciate the many complimentary letters we receive each day, you won't find them on this page. Instead, you will find letters that go beyond or even contradict what we have written, letters that offer a different perspective and provide a different view of science fiction. If you would like to submit a letter, please use our feedback form or send a message to scifiweekly@scifi.com.
-- Brooks Peck, Editor
Keep Wheel Off The Screen
or being among the greatest science fiction/fantasy books written, I don't hear The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan mentioned very often. So when I saw Richard R. Laajala's Issue No. 149 letter, "Wheel Deserves More Than A Miniseries," I was excited to see WoT mentioned. And then I read his letter. And he is absolutely right. I was horrified to see the words "miniseries", and "NBC purchasing the rights to". What next, Leo Di-can't-act-io to play the character of Rand? Excuse me while I gag.
Staci Meyer
angelsfire25@hotmail.com
Will Gladly Park For Wheel
would have to agree with Martin Cahn that the best way to treat The Wheel of Time series is as an ongoing weekly series. The tapestry Jordan weaves is intricate and detailed and cannot possibly be appreciated in just eight hours. Since I first started reading the series, I have hooked no less than four other people on this series. I'd be parked in front of the TV every night it aired, even having a VCR.
Mari Cotton
Maricotton@aol.com
Hollywood Should Broaden Its Look
have grown up on since fiction thanks to my father. I agree that the casting for the new Spider-Man movie should only be unknown actor. Average old Joes do a much better job than some of our more known actors. All new SF and fantasy TV series and movies should have unusual faces. They should be realistic people because not everyone is pretty on the outside (or inside for that matter) in the real world. We will look and feel the same way thousands of years from now, why not have our heroes be the same way? Not all females are size six and not all males look like they belong in soap operas. It's time to cast new faces for our imaginations, not just young but older people as well.
Andrea Widolff
cindersix@aol.com
The Best Superman Is Animated
egarding the latest arguments in who's playing which superhero, I can't say that I agree with any of the choices that have been made so far. George Reeves was a good Superman for the '40s and '50s, a muscular dodderer who pulled off the all-American feel that Superman had back then. Christopher Reeve was, in my opinion, perfect as a Superman who really could have been Clark Kent (much like Michael Keaton played the unassuming Batman). The problem that I had with Dean Cain as the Superman hero was that he looked too heroic just as Clark Kent. (As a romantic hero, he was great, which I guess was what the show was looking for.) After the '80s films, the comic idea of Superman flowed from what Reeve and even Cain did on screen.
As for Wonder Woman, I've yet to hear a really satisfying suggestion come up. Princess Diana may have started out looking like a typical woman, but Lynda Carter's Amazonian portrayal (tall, regal, and yes, buxom) dictated where Wonder Woman the character would go for years after that. My hope for the Amazon princess is that directors and writers will look to George Perez's masterful retelling of the Wonder Woman legend, when DC re-launched the title in the mid-eighties. Now that was storytelling.
I have this sinking feeling that films based on comics characters are just going to turn into run-of-the-mill action flicks, when they are really much more archetypal than any ordinary human being can pull off. With perhaps the exception of the original Superman movie, the very best representation of our DC heroes out there on screen today can be found only on the Batman/Superman Adventures every Saturday morning. If any director wants to learn how to do a Superman or Batman or any DC hero right, then by God they should sit themselves in front of that class act cartoon and learn their stuff.
Mayumi Hirtzel
pmxo@pobox.upenn.edu
Wonder Woman Is No Angel
onder Woman is "wholesome and pure"? I was born in 1974 and grew up abroad, and when I first saw a picture of Wonder Woman, I could hardly believe my eyes. High-leg, skin-tight leotard with plunging necklines on a buxom woman? I'd say that's pretty exhibitionistic. A female "super hero" character that looks like a Playboy Bunny? Now that's unwholesome.
And as for how many men (or women) "real" women have, they have exactly as many as "real" men do: as many or as few as they like. Some even opt to have none at all, especially if the selection is limited to someone who has very narrow views on how women ought to act.
Nigel Kugas
isetta1@yahoo.com
How About Lawless As Wonder Woman?
agree with Diane Catanzaro and William J. Gallant [Letters, Issue No. 150]. Nicolas Cage is a great actor, but I do not think he is believable as Superman, and Madonna as Wonder Woman is ludicrous. I think Kevin Sorbo would be great as Superman; he already has the lovable, righteous, good guy down to an art. I think he has more to offer as an actor than the industry gives him credit. I also think they should consider Lucy Lawless as Wonder Woman. She definitely is believable as the strong, do-right type.
Susan Davis
sdavis@colfin.com
The Others Characters Are Clichés
would like to know what other show named The Others is airing on NBC, as the show described in your review has little relation to the show that I have seen.
Characters described as "vivid, interesting and well drawn" I have found to be clichéd, boring and comprised of most common stereotypes that can be found when a production company attempts a paranormal based series.
Ellen, whom you state "isn't afraid to exploit her talents," does so in direct contradiction to the fact that she seems to believe in karmic balance and fuzzy-wuzzy new age sentimentality. Her mixed up message of "The universe is a Friendly Place, my child" vs. the cold hard cash she collects from her clients casts a pall on those who actually practice the craft and is insulting.
Mark Gabriel, empath and doctor, is one of the most manipulative people I have seen on television. Elmer, though solidly portrayed by Bill Cobb is also the source of the some of the most melodramatic dialogue ever heard on a network series.
Marian Kitt whines and dithers. Her lack of commitment to The Others communicates an unwillingness to commit to anything at all, rather than reluctance to become an "Other." Albert is cantankerous and a bully, crude and rude.
Warren is nuts.
The writing also leaves much to be desired. Weak plots and weaker villains (specifically "Eyes" and "Souls on Board") leave the viewer wondering why exactly these people think they can save the world, which, from the hints dropped throughout the first five episodes, is where their creators and producers would have them end up.
The producers seem to rely more on special effects than actual creepiness, just as they rely on stereotypical psychic characters.
Glen Morgan and James Wong, of early The X-Files fame managed to become severe handicaps to that series and neatly ran Millennium into cancellation within a year and half, must come to the realization that the end is as important as the beginning and that there can be no success without decent follow-through.
Now, despite my feelings and opinions, I will continue to watch the show until I can no longer stomach the sticky sentiment and deus ex machina endings which neatly tie all strings up. To paraphrase Elmer "There's a great show coming. I can feel it."
M.C. Abel
mcabel@aol.com
Earth: FC Attacks The Wrong Problem
recently read that Earth: Final Conflict is making shorter stories that only take up a one-episode time slot in order to make the show less complicated, and therefore attract more viewers. But I'm afraid that I must object. I don't think that this is a major problem that the show needs to worry about. I think that Earth: Final Conflict needs more advertisement. I have no idea what time or what station Earth: FC is shown on. The only way I know about it is by flipping past it every now and then while channel surfing. And whenever I do run across it while flipping through the channels, it's always late at night and on two different stations at two different times. Earth: FC needs to give its viewers a specific time and place to tune in. I think it would do well in a Wednesday or Thursday evening slot like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel. Babylon 5 had plots that spanned several episodes, but it got very good ratings because everyone knew when to watch it. I think that the crew at Earth: FC should consider this before they sacrifice quality for quantity.
Dylan Ramey
dyl@n-link.com
Don't forget that Earth: Final Conflict is a syndicated program, so it's completely up to your local broadcast affiliate when to air the show. If you don't like how your local affiliate handles the show, you should let them know. --Brooks
New Anakin Rumored
dd a new name to the long list of contenders to play Anakin Skywalker: Chris Masterson (My Best Friend's Wedding). The Dark Horizons Web site reports that the actor told an Australian radio program that he will be doing a movie that begins filming this summer.
When pressed on whether it was Episode II, "Chris apparently became nervous and said he could not talk about it, refusing to be pushed on the issue," the site reports.
Jeremy Schwartz
jermy@rocketmail.com
