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-- Craig E. Engler, Editor
S:A&B beats insipid Sliders
find it utterly insulting that The Sci-Fi Channel would
seemingly puff out its chest in pride that it has rescued the insipid
Sliders from cancellation. Where were you when Fox's vastly superior
Space: Above & Beyond hit the trashheap? Don't even try to
insinuate that Sliders is anywhere near S:A&B in
quality science fiction television -- the proof is in the creators: James
Wong has been picked by Chris Carter to replace him on Millenium -- 'nuffsaid.
Tim Simon
timboo@midwest.net
Batman deserved an F
ou give Batman & Robin too much credit, even with a D
rating.
Batman was originally created as a dark character and should always remain
a dark character. The '60s TV show did the character a major injustice--and
so did this movie.
While I like Arnold Schwarzenegger, the character of Mr. Freeze was
badly
miscast. Arnold just didn't fit into the role.
Robin was represented as being a whiny brat in this movie and just spoiled
the mood.
The only character I really liked (other than Alfred, which was a part
that
was actually written well in this movie) was Batgirl. I liked Alicia
Silverstone as Batgirl. She fit the part well--not to mention the costume.
The part of Bruce Wayne's girlfriend was mainly window dressing, as was the
character of Bane--which is a shame, since Bane deserves a movie with the
caped crusader to himself.
I really didn't care all that much for Poison Ivy, though she was
probably
the best villain in this movie. (Which isn't saying much.)
Finally, there was just too much crammed into a two-hour movie--seven different
subplots all going on at the same time. (Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Bane,
Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze and having Alfred being sick.)
For the next movie, let's go back and investigate the original Batman
movie, which is undoubtedly the best of the lot. It succeeded where this
one
failed by putting the humor in its place where it was needed and by giving
us one memorable villain to remember. (The Joker--brilliantly portrayed by
Jack Nicholson.)
And let's lose the campy humor of Adam West's time--not to mention
George
Clooney as Batman, who also doesn't fit into the role. Batman should be
Batman, not Batman the Geek.
My rating? It easily deserves an 'F'!
Carl Riley
spock@macomb.com
Starship Troopers will be a farce
ny film version [of Starship Troopers] that does not
contain the battle suits, which are a
fundamental part of this short novel, is a profit-minded farce. The
ironic thing will be that restructuring the story the way they have will
only
result in lack of profit. It is unfortunate that the recent boom in
science
fiction theatrical releases is apparently attributable to the fact that
this genre is an optimum vehicle for the wonderful and continually
expanding
range of computer-generated effects available. Someone looked at this
novel
and thought what a cool action movie it would make. Even if the philosophy
Heinlein presents in the novel (where it is not even expounded upon
adequately) is not a significant part of the film, how can they possibly
justify not using the suits? Or do they use them? In the previews they
are nowhere to be seen. Even when these people are just trying to make a
buck they don't do it right. Not to mention that the most recognizable
face
in a movie with a budget purportedly at $100 million is Michael
Ironsides.
DonLP23@aol.com
Stargate novel scoop
here are three Stargate books out. The second and third books are
called Rebellion and Retaliation. Ra was one of
the nicer Gods. When he wanted something taken care of he released a very nasty female referred to
as the Cat. She was the retaliation. Rebellion dealt with the
world after Earth people came back to get them to mine
the mineral used in the machines. The series didn't introduce the other
Gods.
Kent Stewart
kstewart@3-cities.com
Postman isn't Costner's invention
'm afraid you've lost the attribution for The Postman to
David Brin yet again. This is at least the second time I've had to make this comment,
but unless it's made clear to your claimed 22,000 readers that this is not
an invention of Costner's, but a serious SF novel by a noted writer, many
people will get completely the wrong impression.
I must say I'm not impressed!
Dave Clements
clements@ias.fr
John Shirley replies
ust saw for the first time Munro's review of City Come
A-Walkin' though
the review is probably oldish. Well what the hell, the book is oldish
too, even more so. Anyway the only part I'm going to respond to is where
she says the book is 'revised' so it's hard to tell if it's
prognostications are real -- in fact the book was barely revised. All I
did was fix a few of the more juvenile sentences. The book was
always first-draft -- I literally wrote The End, put the whole thing in
an envelope and immediately mailed it to the editor who bought it and I
did this without rereading it. It was a Punk thing, see, but this is of
course not the best way to produce a sound book. Still the book has
more good than bad about it, like the Sex Pistols LP. I changed none of
the story nor did I update anything except I think I took out a
reference to computer punch cards and I might have pushed a date or
two back. What appears to be prognosticated was prognosticated.
My Eclipse books (which Wired Magazine's Hardwired books is bringing
back into print in its cortext series starting with the book
Eclipse)
are a better example of my more mature cyberpunk writing; or certain
stories in The Exploded Heart. Hardwired will be bringing out
not only
Eclipse but Rudy Rucker's White Light, Bruce
Sterling's The Artificial Kid and other seminal books.
John Shirley
www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley.html
Silent Death is heavy on the "piffle"
can't think of another way of easily getting my comments back to ICE so here goes:
I've been playing Silent Death for five or six years and find the new
rules stimulating (especially the Escort Rules) but, in general, heavy
on "piffle" background, badly written and full of bugs and typos. I
would also say that, whilst the plastic ships are, in general, a neat
idea, the bigger metal ships (which could have been usefully
manufactured in plastic) are rather heavy and un-wieldy and all are less
pleasantly designed than their previous metal incarnations.
Other than all of that, the rules are terrific.
John Treadaway
dave@dids.idiscover.co.uk
DC's Helix is making waves
've written before about having comic books/graphic novels
reviewed in SF Weekly. Perhaps under the Other Cool SF Stuff category. There's a new series out from DC (Helix) called Transmetropolitan
that seems to be making waves. It's written by Warren Ellis, an excellent
writer who has more than a passing interest in SF and
new technology. You can check out his Web site (Smoke Damage) at
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/warrenellis/homepage.htm
to see what I mean. Perhaps once three or four issues of
Transmet are
out, (its first issue was just released), you could review it in SF Weekly.
Thanks.
Ketan Shah
info@mmstudio.com.sg
Vance is the man
hat can I say? Of all the science fiction that I have read and own, I
find myself returning time and time and yet time again to read Jack
Vance. Thanks for the bibliography, as I see that I have a few gaps in my
collection of his works.
Wish there were a collection of his short-stories as he is at his
wittiest there, especially in his sci-fi detective stories, e.g. the
Magnus Ridolf series.
Enjoyed the write-up and thank you for the information! One fine day I
hope to meet the Man himself.
Chuck Pommer
cpalmist@airmail.net
