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.
-- Craig E. Engler, Editor
Really liked Mars Attacks!
Just a note on Tasha Robinson's review of Mars Attacks! While I agree that the movie was painfully long in getting started, I still enjoyed it, obviously much more than Tasha did. The opening credits gave me the right opening mood for what to expect: This is a cheesy late 50s early 60s sci-fi movie with late 90s special effects and a campy respect for the genre. As a friend told me, Burton said in an interview he loves little silver flying saucers. And all that comes with them, IMHO...
It had dark humor with a mean streak, yeah ... so does every other movie coming out now. As for mass murder and mayhem, ID4 was great in depicting that. But in 'Attacks!, it's the silver flying saucers, with the bottom-mounted death rays, and the little brain-headed evil martians storming the streets...do you realize, if this flick fell through a time hole and landed in '59, if would be the biggest SF blockbuster in history? They'd have taken it seriously! It would have scared the hell out of them. And I laughed all the way through it. While still being pleasantly rocked by the special effects, which were just fine by me!
While I still note the flaws that Tasha points out, and see what she's talking about, it didn't spoil the movie for me. I'm just one of the (I guess) specific group of weirdos that Burton was making the movie for! And, as a long time convention and SF fan, most of us belong to one or more groups of weirdos or another, yaknowhatImean?
Synapse
synapse@anet-stl.com
Editor: I'm glad Burton was able to connect with you, Synapse. I've heard both good and bad things about the movie, but I have yet to see it myself (though I do have one of those cool, wobbly-brained toys.)
You missed the boat
Sorry, Tasha, but I really think you missed the boat on your Mars Attacks! review, mostly concerning the beginning. Yes, it is long, and yes, the characters are unlikeable, but that's the point. This flick is a parody of 70's disaster films as well as 1950s sci-fi flicks, and in both of those genres the set-ups are long and the characters are so damn likeable! The filmmakers always tried way to hard to make the characters just so nice it got annoying. I think the problem with the film is Burton's eye for parody may have been a little too sharp this time.
Jeff Holland
servobot@neo.lrun.com
Editor: Score another point for Burton, and good for him...I'd personally like to see more SF movies out there. (Admittedly I'm biased.)
It was supposed to be fun and campy
I recently read your review of Mars Attacks! I viewed the movie and I would disagree with your review on one major point: It was a fun campy movie. It was not pretending to have a major theme but pure 50s-style alien invasion fun. This was a very violent, funny, silly film to relax me from the stresses of the holidays. The silliness was wonderful. Did anyone notice the mix of 50s-style military and modern everything else? What about the not-so-subtle slams against the current administration? I would give this movie a go-see-on-the-big-screen rating. It was worth it and a lot of fun. Who cares about style and plot content in a movie intended for pure fun?
Theo
tpoodsch@idir.net
Editor: Okay, I'm going to see the movie...tonight. I promise. On the big screen. Really.
Where's the fifth Chtorr book?
Here's a suggestion for a news item or interview: Find out whatever
happened to David Gerrold's fifth book in his Chtorr series. I'd certainly like to know.
Brian Clark
brian@cs.unm.edu
Editor: This question comes up a lot, so I spoke to David about it. He told me that part of the book is written and that he will finish it someday, but right now he's tied up with other projects (including a television series) so it won't be anytime soon.
Seeks opinion on Paramount Web crackdown
What does Science Fiction Weekly think about the crackdown on Star Trek Web sites? In Wired, Steve Silberman wrote an interesting article about it (although he failed to mention Luca Sambucci, who provided much of the information and is a leading Trek site force). The crux of the debate lies with the question: Are Trek fan sites Trek domain or fan domain? The debate about Internet freedom rages on...
Meg
gibralto@walrus.com
Editor: As a news publication we really don't take sides on this type of issue, but I will say that I think the debate is really about how far Paramount wants to go in enforcing its copyrights and trademarks. It will be very difficult for Paramount as well as other companies to retain control over their rights while not alienating their fan base.
