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.
— Scott Edelman, Editor-in-Chief
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ormally, Sept. 8 is one of my favorite days. It is, after all, the anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek on NBC back in 1966. So much of my life has been changed by my being a fan of it. I've been privileged to meet people whom I never would have otherwise had the honor to meet, learned things I never would have otherwise learned, gone places I never would have otherwise gone, done things I never would have otherwise done. I wouldn't even be married to the beautiful Nila, which very well may have saved my life.
I guess it's the way things have been going in this country which is depressing me so. We all know this isn't the Star Trek future we wanted—there were only two Voyager probes, no Nomad probes, no DY-100 class of spaceships, no Eugenics Wars or genetically superior tyrants (thank Goddess for that last)—but I keep thinking of the years in the 2020s depicted on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the two shows written as a response to the Republican congressional election victories of 1994, the ones which depict a further widening of the gap between rich and poor, continued pressure on a shrinking middle class, and eventually city-sized prisons, the "Sanctuary Districts," into which those with insufficient resources to get by are herded to keep them out of the way of those with enough by an increasingly tyrannical welfare (and although not shown explicitly, presumably also warfare) state.
I see us moving in this direction. Faster if the Usurper Bush keeps his hold on the White House, slightly slower if Senator Kerry is elected, slower still if a miracle occurs and Libertarian Michael Badnarik is elected, but still moving in that direction nonetheless. There is a momentum in place which in all likelihood cannot be overcome; the Republic will continue to decay into Empire, and there's not a damned thing you or I can do about it, except throw ourselves into the path of the juggernaut and reduce its velocity by having it use us for speed bumps.
Eventually, in that fascinating Star Trek future, things again get better, although not until after a mid-21st century nuclear war and further reigns of terror in the aftermath. That's what we have to hope for, that future in which eventually things get better, while we, our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren try to muddle through the tyrannies and wars and terrors preceding it.
What a depressing way to think on a day which should be celebrated. I guess that's why I've waited until this late in it to write a commemorative note. Anyway, happy anniversary. Let's take the long view, and remember that Pandora's Box did in fact contain Hope.
David K.M. Klaus
david_k_m_klaus(at)yahoo.com
s a long-time reader of this Web site, I have lost count of the negative comments made about some of the crazy programming decisions of the SCI FI Channel, and the observation that the accountants have too great a say in program purchases.
After taking a look at the SCI FI schedule, I have noticed a gaping hole in the program choices on the SCI FI Channel. Where are the sci-fi shows for kids?
I don't expect the SCI FI management to suddenly fund new shows for the kids' market, but to open their mind to the option of buying foreign-made programs, from countries that speak the same language, almost!!
Without trying to be too nationalistic, Australia makes a lot of good sci-fi shows aimed at at 8- to 15-year-olds. I am sure that American children will be more accepting of foreign accents than the executives of the big networks seem to think.
Farscape fans have discovered the joys of Aussie accents and attitudes creating a show that is unlike any other current show on US TV. Let's get the next generation of SCI FI viewers hooked on shows that don't follow the same corporate thinking that they currently see.
Mark Allen
mwallen(at)ozemail.com.au
ravo for Mr. Richard Drake's ("Low-Quality TV Doesn't Deserve HD") assessment of the uselessness of broadcasting SCI FI Channel's current lineup in HD. Crap is crap, and crap is pretty much all that's to be found on the SCI FI Channel at the moment. The halcyon days when SCI FI actually showed sci-fi (Farscape, Invisible Man, First Wave, and for sheer goofiness, MST3K) are long gone, and since Mark Stern, current VP of programming, is on record as saying that SCI FI Channel is "moving away from sci-fi," I don't see that changing.
While I rejoice that Farscape will be making a return appearance this fall, albeit a limited one, it will be a cold day in hell before I tune in [to the] SCI FI Channel as long as the current regime is in place. Since I am not 1) male, 2) under the age of 25, and 3) mindless, and am one of
those much-maligned people who actually like science fiction, I am simply not a desired demographic for the Hammer agenda. Female? Obviously I'm a worthless viewer. I refuse to support a "network" that treats its audience with the contempt [president] Bonnie Hammer and her minions have shown in the past three years.
Yes, I like science fiction, and I emphasize the "science" part of that genre. The kind that involves using your brain, that is, as opposed to watching an endless succession of things that go "boom," or scantily clad "alien" bimbos parading around in silver skin-tight jumpsuits, or all those escapees from Universal's proposed horror channel that currently pass for programming on the SCI FI Channel. I am not a horror fan. And as another letter writer commented ("Foundation Should Be Filmed"), SCI FI could do with a whole lot less in the way of mutant bugs, killer wildlife and alien creepy-crawlies. Personally, I don't see much point in NBC Universal launching a horror channel. They already have the SCI FI Channel—whose devolution from top-notch to lowest common denominator is as terrifying a horror story as anything in their vaults.
Suzanne Schellenberg
suzinsf(at)earthlink.net
n his letter, "Foundation Should Be Filmed," Nicholas Smith says, "I did go see I, Robot, with Will Smith. I was impressed. The special effects were good. Also, Smith did a good job portraying the character of the novel."
OK. Did I miss something? Aside from the Three Laws and a couple of familiar-sounding names, when did I, Robot, the movie, have anything to do with the short stories that make up I, Robot, the book?
Abner Senires
AceTachyon(at)aol.com
believe that] 2001: A Space Odyssey for the '60s, Star Wars for the '70s, Tron for the '80s and Jurassic Park for the '90s were each integral to the science fiction universe for their revolutionary special effects. A new breakthrough I am expecting to make headway in this high-tech decade is how they will give Sam Rockwell (as Zaphod Beeblebrox in the Walt Disney film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) a second head and a third arm. Another intriguing element, as some might agree, should be the depiction of the Vogons, the only alien monsters in the science-fiction universe (that I know of anyway) who have succeeded where all others have failed—in destroying the Earth. Douglas Adams' ingenious writing of Earth's destruction in his grand legacy of comedic science fiction remains memorable. I expect that the Walt Disney foundation will have its hands full trying to adapt this chapter of the Hitchhiker universe into another of its cinematic contributions and retaining its loyal fans at the same time. It will be very interesting to see the results of this new installment of Disney.
Michael Anthony Basil
mike.basil(at)sympatico.ca
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