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
Blame Fox for Titan A.E.'s Failure
'm sometimes at a loss as to why some movies make big bucks and some flounder. Titan A.E. is a fine example. Most reviews were positive. I've seen it twice and recommended it to my friends and every one that saw it enjoyed the movie. So why did it drop out of sight so quickly? I think the movie was poorly marketed. The second time I saw it, three people came up to the ticket booth trying to decide what movie to go see and asked, "What is Titan A.E.?" The previews before the movie were all geared toward little kids, even though the movie itself was supposedly aimed at teenagers. I really liked the soundtrack but never once did I see or hear about it in the advertising. Fox has only itself to blame for the poor reaction this movie made. Maybe it will do on video and DVD what it should have done in theaters.
Bob Palomino
TriggeR58@aol.com
Heroes Can Empower Viewers
'm writing in response to Ed Zimmerman's Issue No. 168 letter "Telefilms Keep Heroes Alive." He states that Star Trek doesn't count as hero/character-driven genre TV, because it comes in with a predetermined contract obligation, and that episodic television in general doesn't count either. That's not fair! Some of the most memorable characters in sci-fi TV have been heroes to some people. Geordi LaForge is a hero to the blind; Albert Einstein (Alien Nation) is a hero to the mentally handicapped; and, yes, in his own campy way, even The Mantis is a hero to the physically handicapped, which I happen to be. Granted, most of the time, he ran around in a cyber-suit, but it was still a handicapped man inside that suit. That was all that was important to me. Mantis told me that I would be able to do whatever I wanted in life, even if science would have to help a little, in the end.
Adam Boudreaux
TrekAdamG@webtv.net
Mixing Margaritas In The Military
have been a fan of Spider Robinson ever since about the third page of "The Guy with the Eyes" back in 1971. His writing has resonated with me for years.
Just as an aside, he has a very respectable fan base in the U.S. military--folks who never read SF, folks who rarely read for pleasure at all--will search bookstores for more Callahan's stories. At first blush, this is very strange, since Robinson's stuff is about as far from the stereotypical idea of a G.I. as you can get. But the fact is, I have seen dog-eared copies of his books in missile launch centers, in A.L.C.E. packs in Bosnia, aboard S.A.C. bombers and aboard Navy submarines.
Seems like I recall him advising his readers to "never show this to anyone above the rank of corporal" but I know of at least one U.S.A.F. Brigadier General that has a shelf in his office that is "strictly Spider."
But now Callahan's has moved to the Keys. I have this terribly disturbing thought of Robinson teaming up with Jimmy Buffett to collaborate on a book and an album. Be still my heart, this ugly world would never allow something that good to happen.
Edward C. Stalker
stalkere@hotmail.com
Is Anyone In Hollywood Listening?
esse Kleitman's kvetching in his Issue No. 167 letter "B5, ST:DS9 Rip Off Literature" about how "Television and film science fiction have always ripped off the real science fiction of science fiction literature"--though delightfully cranky--does, I believe, miss some much better targets. So let me get crankier.
In the same issue of Skiffy Weekly (and past issues, too) there has much speculation over the remaking of Planet of the Apes. Is Hollywood so brain-dead that they have to cannibalize their own past? There are lots of really good stories out there that would make fine movies. Just about anything by Alfred Bester (the writer, not the Psi Corps cop). Heck, even a modestly budgeted filming of a R. Lionel Fanthorpe novel would be preferable, at least to this jaded soul, than remaking Planet of the Apes.
Next thing you know there's going to be a big-budget, special-effects-laden remake of My Mother the Car, probably starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Or perhaps our eyeballs will be assaulted by the John Travolta remake of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Well, at least no one would be so crazed as to do a remake of Psycho ... right?
As for J. Michael Straczynski and E. E. Smith's Lensmen series--he's acknowledged his debt to the books. As the Lensmen say, Clear Ether!
Michael Walsh
MJW@mail.press.jhu.edu
Give Space Stations A Chance
wish to apologize for my error referring to Babylon 5 being the only
TV show to win the Hugo award twice. I do know it was the only one to win
them consecutively. I should have checked my facts more closely. Please accept my apology and know that there was no malicious intent.
All this Babylon 5 and Star Trek debate arose four weeks or so ago when I
said the reason Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and B5 were not liked by some hard-core Trekkies is that
they are not optimistic. Someone took my letter wrong and thought I had
said that B5 and DS9 were not alike--they are. I said they were not like
the other Treks. I apologize for not wording my letter better and causing this mess. I like both shows, and although I prefer Babylon 5, that is my right, as it is if anyone feels the opposite.
All I was saying is that people should give things a chance, and really
watch them, not have them on while you are eating dinner, but watch them, before judging them.
Tom Curran
adelrond@hotmail.com
Let's Go Home With The Bad Witch
'm not much of a Wizard of Oz fan but I've seen the Dark Side of Oz and found it to be extremely on-key and downright interesting. Did you know the movie was actually based on a girl who was depressed and needed some time to think about her issues and deal with them? That explains why everyone in the movie is mirrored by a relative or person in her "Reality," not to mention why the way back home was always in her hands from the beginning. I mean can you picture Dorothy singing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" if she was happy?
Anyone who has watched the director's commentary on the Girl Interrupted DVD knows that he filmed the movie with Oz as a center theme. Many of the scenes were filmed in sync with Oz, like the scene in which Winona Ryder enters the hospital ward for the first time with Whoopi Goldberg, which was shot to echo Dorothy's first steps into Oz with the good witch. Both Whoopi's character and Angelina Jolie's character were made to echo the relationship of good witch and bad witch. It's the same plot line--she didn't know what was wrong with her but, during her escape from the world, she somehow found the strength to go home, provided she dealt with her issues.
Theodore Wilczynski
calivaughnj@yahoo
Call For More Bear, Less Bull
ore movies need to be made based on stories from the great sci-fi masters. For instance, Greg Bear makes well thought-out and exciting stories. One of his best novels is The Forge of God. Just because people aren't dying at a rate of one every few seconds doesn't mean that a movie based on it will be bad.
Nowadays all sci-fi has to be action but the good plots get thrown out the window. If Arthur C. Clarke tried to produce 2001: A Space Odyssey now, he'd end up with an alien race called the Monolithians who plan to conquer the Earth. Has true sci-fi died in the face of the greatest crisis it has ever faced? Or will it be reborn out of the ashes of the next 20 or 30 action/sci-fi movies played on the silver screen?
Daniel Ocasio
asimovforever1@cs.com
Star Wars As An Ice-Cream Truck
egarding the "Star Wars detracts from SF" issue. Anyone
who thinks space opera is harming "real" science fiction is
in dire need of a sociology lesson. Star Wars is actually
preserving the future of SF.
Right now, the comic book industry is learning the tough
lesson of what happens when an industry/genre's material is
produced almost exclusively for older readers. After comics
stopped making comics that were accessible to youngsters,
they now find that there is no influx of new fans and the
whole industry is teetering on the brink of collapse.
Star Wars draws in kids. They're lured by Artoo Detoo and
Jar Jar Binks because that's what kids are interested in.
But they get hooked on the fascination of space travel and
its infinite possibilities. When those kids mature, they
will want their space stories to mature, too. Bradbury,
Asimov, Heinlein, et al. will excite them the way Star Wars
used to.
Space opera has its place. It's the jumping-on point for
the next generation of fans. And even professional
astronauts. I don't know how many astronauts said they were
inspired by Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and the like.
As an end note: movies should never be the measuring stick
of any genre. Novels begin with an idea and are then
polished by the writer's point of view. Movies begin with
an anticipated profit margin, which is then polished by
anticipating what will make the movie appealing to the
lowest common denominator. George Lucas is one of the
extremely few producers allowed to put together
movies without compromise.
Daniel Preece
fumetti@hotmail.com
Hello X-Jet And Bye-Bye Blackbird
aybe this is a petty gripe, but I think calling the X-Men's plane the "X-Jet" is a ridiculous attempt to market the movie more easily to toy manufacturers. The Batmobile and Batplane are one thing, but "X-Jet" sounds more like a new kind of printer or copying machine. The Blackbird (the name used in the comics and cartoon) is a much better name.
This is, however, my only gripe with the movie. I am not bothered by the different costumes, and I have long said that if ever an X-Men movie were to be made, Patrick Stewart and Halle Berry should get the parts of the Professor and Storm.
Alex K. Rich
Skamp44@aol.com
