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Remake Plan 9 From Outer Space!
ecently I've seen a spate of letters commenting on the
current trend of remakes. Now, I don't like remakes
any more than the next person but I recently came
across an interesting little tidbit. John Huston's 1941
adaptation of The Maltese Falcon is considered
among some quarters to be a landmark film in all
aspects. And yet it's a remake. It's even a remake of a
remake. Falcon had been adapted to film two previous
times. Needless to say, if the powers-that-be at Warner
Brothers had said, "No way, Huston! We're not going to
make that loser again!", we would have been deprived
of a great movie that people watch over and over again
to this very day.
Randy Barrett
jrbarrett101@yahoo.com
Encourage Kids To Read
dd my voice in support of Susan Conner's PTA suggestion! ("Protect SF--Join The PTA" Issue No. 179). For those of us writing SF, J.K. Rowling has done a great thing. I regularly visit elementary and middle schools, and I'm delighted to say virtually all of the kids I meet are fully engaged with Harry Potter. This means the television is off, which is a first great step, and it means they open a big book undaunted by its length. It also means that these kids, in ten years, will be adult readers with money to spend on books--and they'll remember that it was speculative fiction that gave them such great joy.
The teachers I meet also are enthusiastic, not only about Harry Potter, but about any lists I can come up with of age-appropriate speculative fiction. The teachers, who are on the front line, know very well what turns their students on, and it's not the timeworn classics, but the fresh, energetic voices of contemporary authors that do it. More power to Harry!
Louise Marley
LMarley@aol.com
Encourage Readers To Pay
he Star Trek book line is apparently being run by Quark.
There is a seven-book series entitled The Gateway being released next year. The first six books will be published in paperback. To get the conclusion of the story, readers will be slammed with a 23-dollar hardcover in part seven. To paraphrase Spock, if he were from Ferenginar: "Live long and profit!"
R. Lloyd
rrobot34@aol.com
Eglee Is Not Of The Body
o Charles Eglee, executive producer of Dark Angel, is proud of his
ignorance of science fiction? In his interview with SCIFI.COM he says,
"I don't know anything about science fiction. I never read it as a kid.
I'm not a comic book guy. I don't particularly go to see sci-fi
movies."
We've had that before. The result was the mediocre Earth 2, a show
with great production values, but no soul, producing turgid stories of
the sort that were old in the 1950s.
Let's hope the writers that Eglee employs are not likewise as ignorant
or else this much-hyped show will prove to be little more than a lame
Buffy meets Barb Wire pastiche.
James Ellis
ellisj@cadvision.com
A New Hope Arises For Batman
or the first time in awhile, I'm feeling a cautious sense of hope for the Batman movie franchise. Dumping Joel Schumacher as a director can only help, as will getting Frank Miller to work on the script with Darren Aronofsky (I can only wonder whose contributions will shine through). Certainly going back to the roots of the story (i.e., dumping Robin and Batgirl) can only help.
My only trepidation is that Aronofsky doesn't have any experience directing a movie with a large budget. While I have no doubt that he has native talent, being avant-garde doesn't always guarantee that a director can handle the task of overseeing such a large project (one has only to look at Terry Gilliam's first major budget project, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, to see how overwhelming such a task can be for a director that lacks that sort of experience).
Be that as it may, Aronofsky can hardly do worse than Schumacher, who never seemed to have any sense of respect for the project, preferring to ruin Burton's dark vision in favor of something atrociously camp and, frankly, stupid. The simple fact that Aronofsky is working with Miller suggests that this, at least, won't be an issue.
I'll be sure to keep my fingers crossed.
Andrew Lias
anrwlias@hotmail.com
Super-Origins of Dylan Hunt
hank you very much for the Robert Hewitt Wolfe interview concerning his
writing endeavors for the new Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda television
program. He mentioned that the show is based on various ideas from Gene's
vast vault of undeveloped ideas, but never said outright that the Genesis
II and Planet Earth pilots were the creative sources for the new show.
The Dylan Hunt character was in both programs (played by different actors),
and because of an earthquake, was held in suspended animation until he was
discovered a couple of centuries later by the subterranean members of Pax.
Dylan and his crew from Pax were supposed to traverse the earth via an
ancient mag-lev train (called a sub-shuttle in the pilot), trying to put
civilization back together.
Genesis II did not pass muster at CBS at the time, and neither did a
revamped version of the show called Planet Earth on ABC. Now Dylan has
moved into space in what will hopefully be his chance at the big time with
yet another revamped concept around him.
Fredrick D. Gilmore, Jr.
obit@hevanet.com
Big Bang Theory Of Trek Endings
n response to Virgil Yancey's Issue No. 179 letter, "Consider 'Happily Ever After' Trek" wanting a more "rosy" ending for Star Trek: Voyager:
First, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's ending wasn't exactly a happy one for fans. But it was a mature and satisfying episode for the characters. Worf became Federation
ambassador to the Klingon Empire; Ezri Dax and
Bashir found lust and romance; O'Brien got promoted
in his duties; Kira now commands the station; Odo got
to go home to his people; Sisko became (or already
was) a Bajoran god, and the Dominion War ended.
Everyone's situation improved dramatically. The only
thing that didn't happen was that, unlike on other Star
Trek shows, the crew didn't stay together. Deep Space Nine's
ending affirmed an axiom: The only constant in the
universe is change. Nothing stays the same for
eternity. A very mature viewpoint and a rare thing to
see in television today.
And Voyager's end, if written in a logical and mature
manner, would end much like DS9 if the crew does find
its way home. The minute Voyager made it home, half
of its crew would be arrested and court-martialed for
treason and other crimes committed as members of
the terrorist Maquis.
Personally, the thought of such an ending becomes
more appealing the more I ruminate over it. As
everyone knows, happy endings are not very satisfying
and are sometimes just plain boring. It is conflict that
drives any form of story-telling and that would be the
best way for Star Trek: Voyager to keep people in their seats until
the final roll of the credits.
Star Trek: Voyager began with Maquis/Federation conflict--why
shouldn't it end that way?
Roman Gheesling
tienlung@hotmail.com
Happy Landings For Voyager?
n response to Virgil Yancey's Issue No. 179 letter, "Consider 'Happily Ever After' Trek," I agree that Star Trek: Voyager needs to end on a happy note. The way Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ended makes it hard to bring back the crew as a whole for a movie or reunion show. Star Trek: Voyager should end with them making it back to the Alpha quadrant. They will come home to a heroes' welcome but then will have to get back to a "normal" life again. Janeway has had so much freedom to do as she wishes but then would find she has less freedom to interpret the prime directive. The producers would be able to combine the two crews for a future movie.
Hopefully Paramount will listen to their fans and let Voyager have a happy ending.
Randy Moisan
rmoisan@salem.mec.edu
VCRs To The Rescue!
wanted to respond to Erik Matthews' Issue No. 179 letter "SCI FI's Conspiracy Revealed," complaining about SCI FI's showing of the Outer Limits episodes from Showtime. I've recently discovered this show (I never knew about the new series). I am very happy that SCI FI picked up this show, because otherwise I might never have seen it. As for the format of showing four shows in one night, I prefer it that way. I simply record it on Monday night and watch one episode a night during the week. That's much better than having to tune in five nights a week at a specific time. Don't knock SCI FI for showing this great series. Instead, thank them.
Bob Cusolito
bc0365@yahoo.com
SFWeekly's Knitting Approved
his is in regard to Jay Phillippi's Issue No. 179 letter, "SFWeekly: Stick To Your Knitting."
I too have been enjoying your coverage of the new TV season. However, Phillippi's question, "But how on earth does Ripley's Believe It or Not qualify?", has me puzzled. I'm not sure if it's currently airing but I know that SCI FI has aired Ripley's in the past. I suppose one could just as easily ask them why they picked it up. If nothing else, I would say that Ripley's is excellent source material for SF--I can easily imagine an X-Files episode being written based on some bizarre fact from it. Shows like Ripley's and In Search Of ... feed the imagination regardless of whether they're fact or fiction, and feeding the imagination is what SF is all about.
As for Crossing Over with John Edward ... again, if nothing else, one can argue that if SCI FI is airing it, it's worth at least a brief mention now and then. Also, it deals with the paranormal and/or stage magic, two topics in which SF fans have traditionally been interested.
As I see it, the purpose of SFWeekly isn't just to report on science fiction but to report on topics of interest to SF fans. The science columns aren't fiction, after all. While I'd agree that if SFW reported on nothing but straight science and programs like Ripley's they'd be due for a name change, as long as they bring us plenty of news that's unarguably SF-related I won't begrudge them a few gray areas here and there.
Stewart Tame
sbt@ans.net
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
ay Phillippi is free to be offended by the idea that Crossing Over with John Edward is fiction ("SFWeekly: Stick To Your Knitting," Issue No. 179) just as Pat Buchanan is free to be offended by the idea that the Bible is not a science textbook. However, offence being taken at these ideas does not render them false. If John Edward (or anyone else, for that matter) had any sort of paranormal power, he would apply for and win James Randi's $1,000,000 prize, but in reality he is nothing more than an actor.
Brad Ackerman
bsa3@cornell.edu
Yesterday's Fiction: Today's Facts
hile I can respect Jay Phillippi's point of view that SFWeekly contain only items pertaining to fiction ("SFWeekly: Stick To Your Knitting," Issue No. 179), it strikes me as extremely narrow-minded. It's like being upset with Encyclopedia Britannica for containing items that are non-British. While I'll probably never watch Ripley's Believe It or Not, I appreciate the fact that, thanks to your article, I am at least aware that it is available.
It is possible to be a fan of both science fiction and science fact, and I believe that SFWeekly does an admirable job of reporting both. I look forward to Wil McCarthy's articles on reality-based science, and lament the fact that SCI FI no longer includes fact-based programs such as Inside Space. As any avid reader of science fiction will attest, many of the things we view as commonplace today would not exist if not for the science fiction of the '30s, '40s and '50s.
I also feel that the best thing we could do to increase support in our floundering NASA space program would be to produce a 30-minute weekly update of NASA projects, past, present and future.
Pat Owens
pjowens@att.net
