omepage of the official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Appreciation Society, ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha is a clearinghouse of information on Douglas Adams and his infamous SF "trilogy," as well as lesser-known projects like the Meaning of Liff dictionary and the computer game Starship Titanic.
For devoted fans—especially those based in the U.K.—this site is a launch pad for Adams research, offering Web links, an events calendar, an author biography, a bibliography of his work and data on Hitchhiker's spinoff projects.
The Appreciation Society publishes Mostly Harmless, a print fanzine whose back issues include Adams-related media reviews, reports from the set of the upcoming Hitchhiker's movie, feature articles, puzzles and interviews. Current and older issues of this 'zine are available through the site; Society members can also purchase other treasures: two-headed "Beeblebears," T-shirts, DVDs and even jewelry.
The people behind this site clearly prefer to meet in person whenever possible, using the Web page as a point of contact but carrying their activities outside the Internet. Even with that in mind, the site could use a bit more material—its level of detail is far from exhaustive, and unlike similar organizations, it refrains from offering excerpts from Mostly Harmless or other tantalizing goodies that might induce visitors to join up.
That said, ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha is an informative and beautifully organized Web page and well worth a visit, especially with the movie's release date looming closer every day.
—A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—April 18, 2005
he number of classic SF TV shows being released on DVD increases on an almost daily basis, expanding fans' chances to catch overlooked treasures of the past. As a result, sites like the U.K.-based Cult TV International—Web pages that celebrate the rich history of televised SF—are more of an asset all the time, bringing fresh interest to old programs by helping interested viewers discover previously unseen shows, revisit childhood favorites and explore the programs that influenced the more recent crop of SF hits.
Many cult TV sites concentrate on the oldest of the old—series from the '60s like Adam Adamant Lives! and The Prisoner. Cult TV International doesn't ignore these mainstays by any means, but the site also contains listings for newer shows: Buffy and Angel, for example, Smallville and the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. Each listing describes the show's concept and characters as well as providing cast information, photos and, in many cases, episode guides.
Cult TV International was revamped and updated in March and is still adding new content. Its discussion forums are shiny and uncluttered—good posting sites for fans who find breaking into established communities a struggle—and its review section currently contains a lone essay on what defines a cult TV series. The Links and Chat sections are still under construction. In the Polls area, visitors can vote for their favorite Doctor Who regeneration, Starfleet captain and incarnation of James Bond.
Up-to-date, informative and dedicated to spreading the word about both famous and obscure genre TV programs, Cult TV International only promises to get better as its site renovations continue.
—A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—April 11, 2005
he official site for Sacramento's popular Trash Film Festival, Trash Film Orgy celebrates bad cinema with relish. Loud, proud and not always in the best of taste, this page is the place to surf to when seeking oddball movie recommendations of the lowbrow kind.
What bottom-of-the-barrel SF movies does TFO recommend? The ever-more-dated Death Race 2000 makes the list, as does a 1959 atomic disaster movie from Japan, The H-Man. Amid howlers like Pumpkinhead and an Alice Cooper flick called Monster Dog, though, a few genuine gems glint atop the garbage heap, like Bubba Ho-Tep and Barbarella, Queen of the Galaxy. Each movie listing comes with a lengthy and irreverent review by site staffers, along with a shot of the poster and a couple of stills.
As with many cult film sites, TFO's features section is regrettably sparse; its articles are well written and interesting but few in number. Its galleries, on the other hand, have been flooded with hundreds of pictures by festival enthusiasts. Many of these images are self-referential parodies of films like Flash Gordon and The Matrix, photo manipulations that transform their subjects to Trash Gordon and The MaTrash. The site has a links page and runs fan polls—the Shatner haiku contest in the poll archives is a don't-miss—as well as a "Today in Trash Film History" section.
If Trash Film Orgy is lurid, cheesy, definitely not work-safe and utterly inappropriate for kids, it is also sincerely enthusiastic about trash cinema and its history. For anyone who looks at a screamingly bad movie poster and feels a sense of guilty pleasure, a quick visit to this site will provide many ideas for future outings to the video store.
—A.M. Dellamonica
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