Site of the Week -- March 8, 1999
t may have started by going where no "man" had gone before, but women have always played an important role in Star Trek too. The Trek Women Web site documents that role, from the mysterious Number One in "The Cage" to Voyager's de-Borged Seven of Nine.
Trek Women treats its subjects like queens, with biographies, Star Fleet career overviews, memorable quotes, images and sound files. It lists most of the female characters that appeared in the four Trek TV series as well as the various motion pictures.
Trek Women's strongest coverage is of the original series, where almost every female character has a detailed entry. The number of entries declines with the newer shows, but most of the principal characters are covered. And rather than just serving up sterile character descriptions, the site's creator writes the reviews from the point-of-view of supervisors and friends. It's a nice touch that makes the site more than just a dry collection of lists and pictures.
-- Kenneth Newquist
Site of the Week -- March. 1, 1999
ooking for a good book? The Reader's Robot can help. The robot--a database-driven Web site--presents visitors with several lists of books and movies. The choices span the speculative fiction spectrum from Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land to Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia.
After visitors choose the titles they like (or recognize), the robot consults its database of more than 400 science fiction novels and comes back with reading recommendations. Visitors who select books they know will get back a list of related novels by that author as well as a few titles they may not have heard of before.
Visitors can also search through the robot's database or browse its lists of books by genre. The larger Reader's Robot site includes similar sections for fantasy, horror, mystery and other genres. All of the robot's reviews are written by visitors, so the success of the site ultimately rests on the willingness of users to keep contributing.
-- Kenneth Newquist
Site of the Week -- Feb. 22, 1999
he Unofficial Forbidden Planet Movie Home Page shows just why the looks, sounds and feel of the film Forbidden Planet were just as integral to the picture as the story, action and dialog. This site has the expected pages for posters, stills, credits and even an essay on Forbidden Planet's place in film history. But alongside these are sections devoted to the weapons used in the film, sound captures (in .au files), original art based on the picture, and even the alien lettering filmmakers used--including a downloadable TrueType version.
There is a page that links to sites offering Forbidden Planet merchandise, and a surprisingly extensive listing of science fiction links--not at all limited to Forbidden Planet. Of special interest is the Filmbook, a storyboard that steps readers through the movie using dramatic stills and brief captions from key scenes (including scenes cut from the film), which is much preferable to the usual synopsis on this type of site. Overall this Web page is a both a good resource for, and a respectful paean to, a distinctive motion picture.
-- Mark Wilson
