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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t's a shame that Bakshi's work is not critiqued more in the retrospective than it should be; done cel by cel rather than computer-generated, carefully crafted and wonderful art ... giving Wizards a C in review and comparing it to Antz is insulting to viewers in more ways than one. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Antz, but it isn't Wizards and is aimed at a different population.
I watched Wizards at a time when full-length adult animation was not all that common, and welcome. I have a well-worn VCR copy of it beside The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and The Rats of NIMH, other favorites. They may not meet the exacting standards of modern viewers looking for the bells and whistles of 21st-century entertainment, but they were made in the 20th century. A little respect for old school, here. Not even Disney movies age all that well and are [also] filled with anachronisms. I suggest watching it with Heavy Metal and maybe even another Bakshi classic, Fritz the Cat.
It's a shame more people aren't making social commentary with their animation nowadays.
Ro Abreu
mizz.crow(at)gmail.com
Reviewer Adam-Troy Castro responds:
I don't look for "bells and whistles" when reviewing old movies that didn't have access to our current technical innovations. They can be primitive and still work on their own intended level. But when a movie ages badly on a story level, as Wizards definitely has, I will say so.
Best,
Adam
t's always seemed a shame that, to the best of my knowledge, Bakshi never acknowledged his indebtedness to the then—(I think)—late Vaughan Bodé (1941 - 1975) for the art and character style of Wizards. I could be wrong about that, but if he did, I never saw a reference to it. The review's credit-lead includes "additional art by Micheal Ploog," who has a great comics history, but nothing is otherwise said about the art beyond Bakshi's reliance on rotoscoping. I'd forgotten how bad that was in Wizards, I just remember it overwhelming the animated Lord of the Rings attempt.
I can't give you a history of how seminal Bodé's cartoon style and attitude were in that period, but check the name in any search engine and you'll find several Web sites that display his artwork, and it will be immediately seen how the characters in Wizards are practically line-for-line copies of his.
Ross Chamberlain
rossworx(at)cox.net
hatever you're paying Adam-Troy Castro for his movie reviews, it's not
enough. His review of The Suckling made me chuckle aloud in a few places. Though I've not seen the movie, I'll hazard a guess that the review is vastly more entertaining than the movie could ever hope to be. Some friends of mine and I enjoy the occasional bad movie, and I mean to suggest The Suckling (perhaps the "l" is a typo?) for our next get-together.
Although I've not been watching the recent Battlestar Galactica series, and have only been skimming the storm of letters about it, I couldn't resist responding to Nick James' call for "knowledgeable etymologist[s]" ("OED Should Define "Frack"") to come up with an OED definition for "frack" ... really, Funk & Wagnalls seems more appropriate somehow. Anyway, though my knowledgeability is a matter of debate, and I'm certainly no professional etymologist (couldn't pass the physical) here goes:
First, the obvious joke: "Frack" is what a Japanese manga artist gets from their editor (though it's probably spelled "furakku.")
Seriously, "frack" has long been a quasi-acceptable substitute for the well-known four-letter word beginning with "f" and ending with "k." I'm positive it predates either series of Battlestar Galactica. Usually it gets paired with "frick" as in "frickin', frackin' ..." or "frick and frack here" (usually used in a derogatory fashion to refer to two people whose identities may or may not be known to the speaker). Not sure if it's actually made it into any dictionaries yet, but it's been around for years as slang. Now that I think of it, most of the times I've seen it used have been in comic strips, so perhaps it's used most often as an alternative to the ever-popular "%$#@!"
Stewart Tame
SBTame(at)Webtv.net
Reviewer Adam-Troy Castro responds:
I thank Stewart for his good taste and discrimination, though I shudder at the thought of my review of The Suckling inspiring anybody to actually see it. It's not "so bad it's good," but merely bad.
Best,
Adam
t appears that Harlan Ellison has some major issues with Steven Spielberg concerning the director's remake of War of the Worlds ("Ellison Talks Spielberg's War"). He is certainly out of line on some issues, such as blatantly calling Spielberg an egomaniac and bluntly saying he is not a genius. I am sure that Spielberg will show some regard to H.G. Wells since he is releasing a film based on the acclaimed author's arguably most classic story. It may not be 100 percent as parallel to the original version written by Wells, of course, the Orson Welles broadcast and the original movie version in 1953 were not either. We should all know both War of the Worlds and Steven Spielberg too well, and Mr. Ellison should, as respectfully as humanly possible, learn to be more open-minded and get his facts straight before he makes such as unmitigated complaint. For the sake of creative professionalism, it is certainly not asking too much.
Michael Anthony Basil
mike.basil(at)sympatico.ca
'm sick to death of all the letters complaining about the overt sexuality that they read into Battlestar Galactica or Enterprise or whatever. They must be considered by people who know them to be old-fashioned prudes. If you want "safe" sci-fi, go back to the original Star Trek. Oh, wait, you wouldn't want to see the women on that show dressed up in miniskirts. I think all of you people must think everyone has the body of a doll, no sex organs need apply. If you don't like what you see, then turn it off. Let those of us who enjoy it alone. Have you ever read [Robert] Heinlein? Can you remember a story about an old man having his brain transplanted into the body of his secretary who only wore paint to work? All good entertainment has its roots in real life. In real life, people have sex and, if we're lucky, we all enjoy it.
Well, apparently not all of us.
Gary Roelli
gjwr(at)excite.com
ood grief! What is with all the complaining about the sexuality and other adult humor that is being used in such shows as Battlestar Galactica? What? Adults can't have sci-fi shows aimed at just them, and not the kids? It is not as if they are getting Full Frontal. And as for the "bad" language these shows use; an example was made of Farscape (one of my all-time favorite sci-fi shows) that it didn't need any of that for ratings: What a crock! They cursed, all the time, albeit in a different language, and I know of several episodes where it got overtly sexual. You don't have to let your kids watch. This is one of the most uptight countries in the world when it comes to Adult Themes On TV; loosen up a little, give it a break.
Dana Adams
dana.adams(at)insightbb.com
just wanted to tell Jessica Lucens that she will not be getting "flamed" from me for her letter "Sith Neither Amusing Nor Satisfying." On the contrary, I feel she was being very generous. After seeing such brilliant
films as The Lord of the Rings, both of the Spider-Man movies, and even Pirates of the Caribbean, there is no acceptable excuse for how poor Revenge of the Sith was. The film did not flow well, the "acting" was wooden, the script was juvenile, and the key moment, the "seduction" of Anakin Skywalker, was poorly written and acted; the plot was not believable, and even the CG was rubbery-looking and not as advanced as in the other movies.
Who knew that [George] Lucas would show his amazingly cruel and calculating villain from the '70s and '80s to be nothing more than a whiny teenager? It makes me wonder how Lucas lost his directing skills. American Graffiti and the first Star Wars were fun, lighthearted movies. I am very disapointed to think of what the Star Wars prequels are, and what they could have been if he had done as well with them.
Dan Poffenbarger
dpoffenbarger(at)hotmail.com
ather than the flaming that Jessica S. Lucens anticipated ("Sith Neither Amusing Nor Satisfying"), I'd like to congratulate her. The emperor has no clothes, and Jessica has seen through the illusion. Star Wars, in modern times, is entirely FX-driven, with abysmally bad scripts and lazy plots. The mighty machine is geared toward one thing: selling more product to the faithful and the hard of thinking. Both brainwashed into believing that Star Wars delivered on the promise it once held. Star Wars failed, and it was all Lucas' fault.
The truth, as Jessica correctly surmised, is that Lucas can't write dialogue to save his life, and is inadequate as a director. The original Star Wars borrowed heavily from many better written sources, and was carried by Harrison Ford and Alec Guinness. Mark Hamill was an unconvincing lead actor, as proven by his pitiful career since 1977, and Carrie Fisher crumbled under the pressures of fame. What does that leave us with? A dodgy asthmatic bloke in a resprayed Nazi helmet, a walking rug, a whistling three-wheeled bin and a supposedly endearing android that moved as if he had steel hemorrhoids. Hardly the stuff of which classic SF is made.
Lucas, once he'd made his first hundred million, could easily have employed others to work cinematic magic. A great writer, such as J. Michael Straczynski, and a great director, such as Ridley Scott, who together with the FX people and quality actors would have forged a really fabulous set of prequels. Imagine, if Darth Vader had been made as frightening as the Shadows, and the Sith were as deadly a foe as an Alien. Instead, all we got was more plastic plot, and bloody Jar Jar Binks. The final insult is that Lucas is to receive the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award. What exactly is this great achievement, squeezing more dollars out of the gullible than anyone else in cinema history?
Nathan Brazil
nathanbrazil(at)freeuk.com
ear Mr. Edelman: A sincere thank you for your considered reply to my initial letter,
which I note you have also put into your Letters section ("Wayne's Music Is Out of This World"). It has never been a policy to write to a reviewer, or an editor, and especially since you did respond, I'm sure you feel that should be the end of the matter. However, I do feel some final comment needs to be made having read Mr. Sirois' "response" to my letter—and perhaps this second letter might also be put into your Letters section as a "close of play" on this matter.
My points are:
1. Reviewer Al Sirois responded:
It's well to note that all that was made available to me for review were the CDs themselves in blank envelopes—no packaging and no booklet. An Internet search turned up no other works attributed to Doreen Wayne. I went by the provided information from the record company for the page count, etc. As for my opinion of the work—well, I'm entitled to that.
Mr. Sirois, or Al as he is clearly known by his followers, clearly states that only the CDs arrived in blank envelopes—no packaging and no booklet. This is most odd, as it is almost unheard-of for a record company to simply send discs without the packaging and some form of information sheet—other than a page count.
But what is even more strange is that your reviewer, however, in his review goes into detail explaining about the package itself—"All of this comes packaged in a deluxe 12-by-12-inch hardback presentation case (coincidentally the size of the original LP release—hmmm!), with a 76-page perfect-bound book of full-color paintings and other images that Wayne commissioned for the original album. Some new art is also included."
How can Al have known all this about the package when he is emphatic about the absence of anything arriving but the CDs? It is only in the booklet that the credits, bios, lyrics, script, images, etc. are in, including Doreen Wayne's. And since his own search on the Internet found nothing about Doreen, how could he have come to such conclusions about her and other aspects of his review?
Yet Al denigrates Doreen's work and the absence of any other credits she might have had. That's not good journalism. He goes on to suggest that other authors may have done a better job at the adaptation. He mentions, for example, D.G. Compton, whose predictions about Mars are as unscientific as Wells was scientific, something Doreen understood and respected in her adaptation.
2. Clearly Mr. Sirois wants to demonstrate he is well versed with H.G.'s The War of the Worlds and is knowledgeable about the writers who really should have adapted this work for Jeff Wayne. However, what is ironic is that JW has over the years met many of these acclaimed sci-fi writers at sci-fi exhibitions and other functions, met Frank Wells while he was still alive, and was invited and spoke at H.G. Wells Society seminars with distinguished members of the society who are also great achievers in writing and other areas of the arts and science.
JW has been congratulated for composing and producing a close and sensitive interpretation of H.G.'s work, set it in the time and exact placements of H.G.'s work, stuck very close to the storyline and its characters, unlike the Yanks who continually have to ignore what H.G. created and put it into an American context. Always, the quality of the writing of Doreen Wayne's adaptation is also singled out for her participation.
It is also interesting to note that soon after JW's Musical Version of TWOTW was released, the publisher of the major H.G. Wells books wrote to Jeff asking him if he would consider composing and producing other H.G. Wells stories as a follow-on to TWOTW because of Jeff's "feel" and respect for the essence of H.G. himself and his various visions, and that his music communicated to an international audience.
To emphasize his point he refers to Doreen as Jeff's mother—as if that was the only way she got the gig. Sorry Al, Doreen was not Jeff's mother and not a blood relative in any way.
3. My first e-mail wasn't about Mr. Sirois having to like any or all of TWOTW. In fact, I emphasized in my letter it was absolutely his right to say what he thought, as any reviewer should do. It was the simple fact that there were errors and omissions in his review, including referring to TWOTW as a "rock opera (more properly an oratorio)," Mr. Sirois claims.
This is something JW has never referred to TWOTW as, because it suggests something far too grandiose for his own liking, and it puts his work into a genre that was never intended. That's why JW called it a "musical version." In other words, a musical interpretation of TWOTW. By calling it something that it isn't is again poor journalism.
And an oratorio is itself defined as a musical composition for voices and instruments that has a religious theme, often telling a sacred story but not using costumes, scenery or dramatic staging. Alas, and hmmmmmmmm!
4. In respect of his comments about the music and the relentless disco beat that drove Al senseless would suggest such disco beats last for all 96 minutes of TWOTW. Whoops again. The only composition that is driven by the "beat of that era" is the composition "The Eve of the War"—just one of 13 compositions on TWOTW.
Your reviewer states "Because of that relentless disco beat, I found the original 'rock opera' to be less than compelling, musically." Well, to repeat myself, TWOTW is no rock opera (or was it an oratorio, Al?), and perhaps his listen to TWOTW was, in fact, only a peripheral one.
If he had listened to it in its entirety he would have noticed that "Thunder Child" is composed in the meter of 7/4, which, unless you have one leg shorter than the other, you couldn't possibly dance to. JW deliberately composed it in that meter to give a subtle "wavelike" lilt as the song describes the climatic battle on sea at the end of the first half.
Or how about "The Red Weed" that appears as Parts 1 and 2 at the start of the Second Half—with its multiple time signatures and composed in two entirely different keys to give the impression of both beauty and death? JW conducted the "Red Weed" from the podium, because it is mostly a "free-form" composition without any noticeable rhythm at all.
Relentless disco beats, Al? I don't think so.
5. Mr. Sirois mocks the lyrics, too—"Hayward has to sing such lyrics as 'The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one.' One hopes he was well paid." Unfortunately, Al makes a total alien of himself and his knowledge of TWOTW by H.G. Wells as the lyric is almost a verbatim sentence written by H.G. himself, and only adapted by JW.
And once again, how is Al getting such credits for lyrics, performers, etc., without the booklet? Hmmmmmmmmm and alas again!
Your Mr. Sirois claims to love and know H.G.'s TWOTW intimately. Perhaps he does. But then again, perhaps he doesn't. What he certainly does not know is JW's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.
With sincere best wishes,
Jonathan Smith
HGWELLS1898(at)aol.com
Reviewer A.L. Sirois responds:
As to my knowing what the packaging consisted of—the info sheet that came with the CDs described the packaging. I do always try to say something about the packaging if it is notable, and in this case I felt that it would be proper to mention the relatively elaborate presentation even if I didn't see it. Otherwise, I have nothing else to say. Mr. Smith and I must agree to disagree. Time to move on.
Best,
Al
ow, I would agree that the bloated "special edition" is probably not worth the price, but to say that the original was uncreative and mediocre is a complete disservice. In a timeframe when rock operas were few and far between, The War of the Worlds by Jeff Wayne stands out as a rich, respectful representation of a timeless story.
[SFW reviewer A.L. Sirois] said that Burton phones in his piece? Sorry, no! He is every bit the consummate actor in this project. "Hayward has to sing such lyrics as ..." What is wrong with those lyrics? Every beat and rhythm in this album is representative of the sounds of the time it was released. Sure, it may not hold up to today's scene, but then, other music from 10, 20 and even 30 years ago doesn't, either. I think it is a shame to dissuade people from at least seeking out the original album. It is well crafted and worth a listen.
Sean Prescott
[address withheld]
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