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
Pledge Allegiance To TV Heroes
really like The Invisible Man. The special effects are great, but does everyone have to have an attitude? Whatever happened to just serving your country or doing something because it's the right thing to do? Must everybody have a personal agenda? I know Tricky Dicky destroyed the American people's faith in the United States government, and there are some less than honorable individuals serving in office, but we always can vote them out. The point is there are very mean people in this country who need an attitude adjustment, and one way to begin is with our TV heroes.
Douglas Hayes
hayes3@gte.net
New Religious SF Films Disappoint
lthough the plot of Battlefield Earth honestly didn't contain much proselytizing, it was hard
to tell why it had been made. Oh, except for being largely funded by and
starring Scientologists. Coincidence? The lack of plot this movie showed is
enough to make struggling independent film directors like myself cry
themselves to sleep that this movie got made. Is there a church out there
that would like to fund my film?
I also find myself remembering The Omega Code with disappointment. It was poorly written and had even worse acting (with the exception of
Michael York--who only gets better with age). The Omega Code is
another example of religious films done badly.
Perhaps it's a symbol of the
times that in a culture so diverse religiously (more so than 50 years
ago), religious films that are pretentious and self-assuming do poorly.
Fifty years ago, films like Samson and Delilah and The Ten Commandments
celebrated religion and captured imaginations with stories enacted on film.
Today, the imagination is gone and that's why these new films fail.
Sarah Colgan
idlesatire@aol.com
Star Wars Detracts From SF
es, I am a picky sci-fi film fan. I don't like shallow stories, pointless plots, useless special effects, bad acting, anything under 90 minutes of film (unless it is a damn good film), stereotypical music, so-called "shock value," or anything that detracts from the pure essence of a good film.
Thus, all of the Star Wars films make my "worst ever" list, and Treks I and IV - VIII make my "best ever" list. Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek: Insurrection also make the "worst ever" list because, like Star Wars, they don't have anything to do with the nobility of life, of exploration, of spirit. "Now this is pod-racing." Puhlease.
Films such as Star Wars can do nothing except detract from the quality of a genre as powerful and potent as science fiction--is the word "films" too good for them? How about "movies" instead? While it is very true the masses seem to love these movies, it is because they were made for the masses, not for any creative or inspirational need, but only for profit. The almighty dollar, for the past 60 years, has been slowly leading to the demise of the most creative, inspirational, and above all meaningful genre ever to hit humanity. Anything made for popular consumption--in short, average--is by its very definition low quality.
So let us finally take a stand, and support those who really have vision. Films such as Pi, Blade Runner and Alien are where the future of our beloved sci-fi belongs, and most certainly not in the hands of hacks such as George Lucas. Let us finally unite and make our collective voices heard. Let us send Hollywood a clear message: "No more sequels, no more Independence Days or Star Wars. No more crap! It is time for quality to hit the air-waves again.
I refuse to ever see a big-budget film ever again, and I urge you all to do the same. I tell you this: the only films I will ever see for the rest of my life are independently produced films by people who know the true meaning of creativity, vision, and inspiration.
Wes Herrin
herrin@colorado.edu
Shows Find No Home In Comics
hile I think Marc Wilson's idea of adapting cancelled
SF and fantasy shows to comics is interesting ["Turn TV's Cast-Offs Into Comics," Issue No. 165], I don't
think it's very practical. For one thing, the comics
industry is at an all-time low that hasn't been seen
since the '50s. Top creators like Frank Miller, Dave
Sim, Alan Moore, Jeff Smith, Paul Chadwick and Neil
Gaiman are finding that profits and readership are at a
low point. Back in the '80s, a low-selling title was
considered to have a circulation of around 50,000.
Today people would kill for a circulation of 50,000. The profit margin on
a comic or trade paperback is getting thinner. Adding a
licensing fee from the owners of those properties (and
you know they'd want money) would blow any chance
for breaking even. So I just don't see it as being
feasible.
Randy Barrett
jrbarrett101@yahoo.com
Kindred Fans Directed To Game World
s for Kindred the Embraced, it's long been available in another form. Kindred is, after all, drawn from Vampire the Masquerade, the signature roleplaying game from White Wolf Publications that started off their Storyteller line.
The show's major differences are the subtraction of five of the nine tribes and the whole "darker" tribes of the Sabbat, as well as the rest of the White Wolf universe. Then again, if it had gone more than a half-dozen episodes, who knows....
For those interested in checking out the source universe for Kindred, I'd recommend a bop-over to www.white-wolf.com.
Frank Lazar
fmlazar@lazarvision.com
B5, ST:DS9 Rip Off Literature
uarreling over whether Babylon 5 or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ripped each other off is pedantic, to say the least. Television and film science fiction have always ripped off the real science fiction of science fiction literature. The Vorlons, Shadows and their conflict are directly influenced by E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series, written in the '40s and '50s. Similarly, the quasi-fascistic "Be all you can be/Be a good soldier/Be a happy worker" philosophy clogs almost every minute of every Star Trek episode.
It is not just the plot that makes a show entertaining. The look, the dialogue, acting, art direction and overall feel are far more important. In all of these things B5 was different--original and entertaining. I challenge anyone to find a shred of originality in any Star Trek episode. This is not to say it can't be entertaining.
To sum up: stop arguing over derivative diversions and read a book. The ideas taste better when they are fresh.
Jesse Kleitman
kleitman@aol.com
So That's Where All The Hugos Went
n his Issue No. 166 letter "B5's Originality Hotly Defended," Tom Curran states that "Babylon 5 will always be remembered as the only show in history to win two Hugo awards." Both the original Star Trek ("Menagerie" and "City on the Edge of Forever" episodes) and Star Trek: The Next Generation ("Inner Light" and "All Good Things" episodes) won two Hugo awards, as well.
Henry Blurshan
hblur@yahoo.com
Choose Between Lexx And A Snooze
exx is a bore.
Lexx seems to be a waste of some interesting ideas on sex-starved fanboy fantasies. I saw an episode the other night and quite honestly fell asleep. The script was so weak it wouldn't keep my interest even with the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment. Don't these writers have anything intelligent to say? None of the characters is remotely interesting. They all seem to be the punch line of a bad joke. A lot is made of the art direction, but scene dressing is not a story. Experimental theater needs to know when an experiment has failed.
Alan Katerinsky
alank@buffnet.net
