Lincroft-Holmdel Science Fiction Club Club Notice - 7/25/84 -- Vol. 3, No. 4 MEETINGS UPCOMING: Unless otherwise stated, all Lincroft meetings are on Wednesdays in LZ 3A-206 (HO meetings temporarily suspended) at noon. _D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C 07/31 Video meeting: AN ENGLISHMAN'S CASTLE, pt. 1 (Tue.) 08/01 Video meeting: AN ENGLISHMAN'S CASTLE, pt. 2 (Wed.) 08/02 Video meeting: AN ENGLISHMAN'S CASTLE, pt. 3 (Thur.) 08/22 TEA WITH THE BLACK DRAGON by R. A. MacAvoy 10/03 CIRCUS WORLD by Barry Longyear 11/14 THE TOMBS OF ATUAN by Ursula K. LeGuin 01/02 THE CIRCUS OF DR. LAO by Charles G. Finney 02/13 SLAN by A. E. Van Vogt LZ's library and librarian Lance Larsen (576-2668) are in LZ 3C-219. Mark Leeper (576-2571, LZ 3E-215) and Evelyn Leeper (576-2378, LZ 1D-216) are co-chairpeople. HO's library and librarian Tim Schroeder (949-5866) are in HO 2G-432. John Jetzt (577-5316) is HO-chairperson. 1. The next Leeperhouse film festival goes back a ways. It is two Walt Disney fantasy-tinged adventures. At 7:00 (note earlier time!) on Thursday, August 2 we will show: TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1954) dir by Richard Fleischer ISLAND AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD (1974) dir by Robert Stevenson The first film most of us probably saw as children and needs no introduction. The view of the _N_a_u_t_i_l_u_s lit up, speeding just under the surface of the water to ram a warship to matchwood is a memorable sight from most of our childhoods. Most science fiction fans would call this their favorite Disney film. The co-feature is a film I saw for the first time about a year ago, after I had been curious about it for a lot longer. It is an adaptation of the novel THE LOST ONES by a very good story-teller, Ian Cameron. (I can recommend his THE MOUNTAINS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD, about an expedition to find a living colony of prehistoric humans in Tierra Del Fuego, as good teenage fiction.) In spite of the fact the film has one poodle and one David Hartman too many, it's an enjoyable adventure film about an arctic exploration by airship and a lost civilization. 2. We are showing AN ENGLISHMAN'S CASTLE again because you people out there who have seen it have been talking it up to those of you who haven't. Now we have a bunch of people requesting a chance to see it. We have to show it over three lunch hours and will do it - 2 - from Tuesday to Thursday of next week (see the above schedule). So what the heck is AN ENGLISHMAN'S CASTLE? Why is it so unknown? And especially, why is it so popular among the people who have seen it? AEC is a three-part BBC play that the local PBS stations picked up and played with virtually no publicity. All I knew about it was the title when I turned on the first episode as a last resort on a dull Friday night. When I turned it on late, Kenneth More (an actor I like) was talking to another character about the dark days of WWII. The other character (Harmer, his name was) made some sort of comment about how he always thought of WWII as a sort of a victory for England and More registered surprise. Since I myself had also thought that Britain was on the winning side, I was a little perplexed. But when they started talking about how Churchill was assassinated it suddenly occurred to me that science fiction was rearing its ugly head. An alternate history story. How nice. I was wrong. It is not an alternate history story, it is an EXCELLENT alternate history story. The attention to detail is very impressive. The people who put on this story did some thinking about what Britain would be like under the heel of a Germanized Europe. The fashions, the cars, the reactions of the characters are all very well thought out in the light of an occupied Britain. AEC occasionally gets run on PBS but it hasn't been for a while, and this may well be your last chance to see it. If you can, do so. 3. If anyone out there collects Worldcon progress reports (or knows someone who does), please contact Evelyn C. Leeper (LZ 1D- 216, 576-2378) who is trying to get rid of some (free!). 4. If you would rather receive your SF Club Notice electronically, please send your UNIX mailing address to Evelyn C. Leeper ({hocse,hogpd,...}!lznv!ecl). If you decide to do this, be aware that the line length we use will cause wrap-around on 80-col screens--a filter removing the first seven characters (all spaces) of each line will solve this problem. 5. Now that it is too late to vote on the Hugos... if anyone wants to buy an LACon II membership "cheap" (he claims, I think he is a scalper, myself), contact Tim Schroeder, our HO librarian (HO 2G-432, 949-5866). Mark Leeper LZ 3E-215 x2571 ...{houxn,hogpd,hocse}!lznv!mrl Mercury Capsules - July 25, 1984 "Mercury Capsules": SF review column, edited by Paul S R Chisholm. Appears in the "Lincroft-Holmdel SF Club Notice". A medium for quick reviews of anything of interest in the world of science fiction. I'll pass along anything (not slanderous or scatological) without nasty comments. I prefer to get reviews by electronic mail: send to wi!psc from the AT&T-IS ENS systems in Lincroft; hocse!lznv!psc, houxn!lznv!psc, or hogpd!lznv!psc from everywhere else. If that's impossible, I'm at LZ 1D-212, 576-2374. o+ _T_h_e _M_u_p_p_e_t_s _T_a_k_e _M_a_n_h_a_t_t_a_n: film, 1984. This is the most minor of the three Muppet films and it has the most minimal plot. Kermit, Miss Piggy, and the gang decide to put on a Broadway play, and after some minor effort and some unoriginal plot complications the show does go on. Most of the laughs are built around Miss Piggy (and that's a big subject to build a laugh around), but unlike the subject, the material is becoming a bit thin. The problem is that Jim Henson and company seem to feel that plot is really unimportant in a Muppet film so they use plots that almost would have worked with human stars in early sound films. Instead of plot we get Muppet hi-jinks. I'm sure Henson thinks they are funny running gags, but instead they are mostly simply repetitive. He is even re-using material--a case in point is a rat greasing a hot grill by "ice skating" on pats of butter. It was okay in the last film, but it got all the laughs it was going to get then. The Muppet hi-jinks of the first film are now down to medium-jinks and with nothing to punch them up will soon be downright low-jinks. Mark R Leeper - 30 - THE NEVERENDING STORY A film review by Mark R. Leeper In spite of the title, _T_h_e _N_e_v_e_r_e_n_d_i_n_g _S_t_o_r_y is actually rather a short film that tries some unusual approaches to the fantasy film. Made in Germany, and based on a novel that was a best-seller in Germany, it is a sort of dark fantasy with an almost morbid view of the world. While _T_h_e _N_e_v_e_r_e_n_d_i_n_g _S_t_o_r_y at first appears to follow time-honored traditions of children's fantasies, one has the feeling throughout that there is something more that is going on. In fact, the film seems to be a sort of a Germanic fairy tale, full of young heroes and princesses and gnomes. But it seems to mix in some psychological symbolism at the same time. The fantasy world, called appropriately enough Fantasia, is full of weird symbolic settings like the Swamp of Sadness, that sucks up only the depressed. or the valley of the sphinxes that attack only those who do not have enough self-esteem (come on kiddees, be a little more conceited). The story is framed by a larger story in which the book is being read by a persecuted youngster for whom fantasy is an escape from the real world (a la _T_i_m_e _B_a_n_d_i_t_s or _G_o_d_z_i_l_l_a'_s _R_e_v_e_n_g_e). The child viewing the story is a time-honored device, but the story handles it in a new and fresh way. The visualization of the land of Fantasia is rather uneven. The producers of the film have created a broad assortment of characters with a combination of makeup and model work, but to uneven effect. A number of the creatures are given marvelously expressive faces, but that is often where the marvel ends. There is an endearing caninelike dragon, who nonetheless looks in flight like a shag carpet. There is also a petrophagous creature who looks a lot like one of the old Muppets from _S_a_t_u_r_d_a_y _N_i_g_h_t _L_i_v_e. The design of the creatures has a sort of European flair and while it invites comparison to the visualizations in _T_h_e _D_a_r_k _C_r_y_s_t_a_l, it comes in a poor second. In comparison of complexity, however, _T_h_e _N_e_v_e_r_e_n_d_i_n_g _S_t_o_r_y is the clear victor. The financial outlook for this film is probably weak in this country. On the face of it _T_h_e _N_e_v_e_r_e_n_d_i_n_g _S_t_o_r_y looks like a film designed for the under-12 set. Most of the theater audience seemed to be parents with very young children. This film, however, does not move fast enough to keep young children interested, and the psychological symbolism may be much better suited to the adults in the audience than to the children. If the spirit of the film seems a little dismal, it is an enjoyable counterpoint to the tediously bright films that Steven Spielberg and his ilk are producing. The Waldenbook List of 1983's Best Selling SF and Fantasy Books (based on Waldenbooks' sales figures) "Current books" were released in 1983, "Backlist books" were released earlier Science Fiction Paperback -- Current 1. RETURN OF THE JEDI - Kahn 2. FOUNDATION'S EDGE - Asimov 3. FRIDAY - Heinlein 4. GOD-EMPEROR OF DUNE - Herbert 5. LIFE, THE UNIVERSE, AND EVERYTHING - Adams 6. YESTERDAY'S SON - Crispin (Star Trek) 7. THE WOUNDED SKY - Duane (Star Trek) 8. WEB OF THE ROMULANS - Murdock (Star Trek) 9. THE WHITE PLAGUE - Herbert 10.TRIANGLE - Marshak & Culbreath (Star Trek) Science Fiction Paperback -- Backlist 1. HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY - Adams 2. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - Glut 3. FOUNDATION - Asimov 4. FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE - Asimov 5. STAR WARS - Lucas 6. DUNE - Herbert 7. THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE - Adams 8. SECOND FOUNDATION - Asimov 9. SPLINTER OF THE MIND'S EYE - Foster 10.THE WHITE DRAGON - McCaffrey Fantasy Paperback - Current 1. THE ONE TREE - Donaldson 2. DRAGON ON A PEDESTAL - Anthony 3. JUXTAPOSITION - Anthony 4. FOR LOVE OF MOTHER-NOT - Foster 5. NIGHTMARE - Anthony 6. THE ELF-STONES OF SHANNARA - Brooks 7. MAGICIAN'S GAMBIT - Eddings 8. SPELLSINGER - Foster 9. MEDUSA: A TIGER BY THE TAIL - Chalker 10.THE FACE OF CHAOS - Aspirin (ed) Fantasy Paperback - Backlist 1. THE HOBBIT - Tolkien 2. THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING - Tolkien 3. THE TWO TWOERS - Tolkien 4. RETURN OF THE KING - Tolkien 5. LORD FOUL'S BANE - Donaldson 6. THE SILMARILLION - Tolkien 7. OGRE, OGRE - Anthony 8. A SPELL FOR CHAMELEON - Anthony 9. THE WOUNDED LAND - Donaldson 10.SPLIT INFINITY - Anthony - 2 - Trade Paperback - SF/Fantasy 1. RETURN OF THE JEDI PORTFOLIO - McQuarrie 2. RETURN OF THE JEDI SKETCHBOOK - Johnson 3. RETURN OF THE JEDI (illustrated) - Kahn 4. ART OF THE RETURN OF THE JEDI - Lucasfilms 5. ORION SHALL RISE - Anderson 6. ELFQUEST 3 - Pini 7. THE FIRST BOOK OF SWORDS - Saberhagen 8. THE SECOND BOOK OF SWORDS - Saberhagen 9. HELLICONIA SPRING - Aldiss 10.ELFQUEST 2 - Pini Hardcover - SF/Fantasy 1. RETURN OF THE JEDI - Vinge 2. WHITE GOLD WIELDER - Donaldson 3. MORETA: DRAGONLADY OF PERN - McCaffrey 4. THE ROBOTS OF DAWN - Asimov 5. THE NEVER-ENDING STORY - Ende _N_O_T_E_S _F_R_O_M _T_H_E _N_E_T Contributed by Rob Mitchell & Dale Skran --------------------------------------- >From mhuxl!ulysses!unc!mcnc!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trwrb!trwspp!urban Mon Jul 16 13:15:00 1984 Subject: Egbert Incident book The Fantasy Association (a mostly-dormant fantasy fan organization) has received the following book announcement from the Houghton Mifflin Company. All grammatical errors are reproduced as they appear in the announcement (printed on red paper), so no flames to me. Re: DUNGEON MASTER: The Disappearance of James Dallas Egbert,III Publication Date: October 23, 1984. When James Dallas Egbert,III disappeared from Michigan State University in 1979, it was no ordinary college-boy drop out. Egbert was a computer genius at sixteen, a boy with an I.Q. of 180-plus, and an extravagant imagination. Dallas was a fanatic Dungeons and Dragons player -- before the game was widely known and he and his friends played a live version in a weird labyrinth of tunnels and rooms that ran beneath the university. These secret passages even ran within the walls. After Egbert disappeared there were rumors of suicide, witch cults, drug rings, and homosexuality to try and explain the mystery. When the police search came to a dead end, the Egbert family called in one of the most colorful and well-known private investigators of our era, William C. Dear, of Dallas. Dear's adventures and search for Dallas read like a sensational novel, but every fact and detail is true. Dear crawled into baking hot tunnels, flew over the university campus in a helicopter, and played D&D with a real Dungeon Master; he called into play every intuition he could muster to try to out-psych and out-play the brilliant game-plaing mind of Dallas Egbert. In the end, he did. The story of the torturous search, the discovery of the boy, his return to his parents -- and the final tragedy -- is told here for the first time. DUNGEON MASTER will be of particular interest to parents, educators, psychologoists, and other role-playing game players. Those involved in the high-tech field and have experimented with D&D on their own computers will be especially fascinated by this exciting story. --------------------------------------- >From ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sdcrdcf!trwrb!trwspp!urban Mon Jul 16 13:02:38 1984 Subject: DEL REY HARDCOVERS: Fall 1984 - 2 - Here are the DEL REY hardcover announcements for Aug-Nov 1984. My goodness, hardbacks are expensive. August: "Bearing An Hourglass -- Book Two of 'Incarnations of Immortality'" by Piers Anthony. "Norton had lost both the child and the woman he loved. So he didn't mind accepting when the position of Time was offered to him. But what started as an enjoyable experience--living backwards, from present to past--became a war with Satan himself" 288 pages $13.95 September: "JOB: A Comedy of Justice" by Robert A. Heinlein. "After a ritual fire walk in Polynesia, vacationer Alex Hergensheimer awakes to find the world changed: he is now Alec Graham, in love with the magnificent Margrethe. Before long, his world changes again--then again and again. Whatever the changes, Alec finds two constants--the Apocalypse is coming, and he must bring Margrethe to a state of grace before the end..." 384 pages $16.95. Special signed and numbered limited edition $75.00. October: "The Bishop's Heir. Volume I of `The Histories of King Kelson'" by Katherine Kurtz. "Kelson had been crowned king after a political and ecclesiastical upheaval. Now a new faction threatened the stability of the young king's realm. Led by ex-archbishop Loris, this force believed the Deryni a party of heresy and witchcraft--and pledged to bring its new leader low..." 352 pages. $14.95 November: "The Atlas of Pern" by Karen Wynn Fonstad, introduction by Anne McCaffrey. "The first-ever volume of `Pernography'! To the faithful followers of Anne McCaffrey and `The Dragonriders of Pern' series, the world of Pern is as real a place as earth. Now they can take an unprecendented tour of that world with a magnificent and completely detailed atlas." 176 pages. $19.95. November: "Lifeburst" by Jack Williamson. "When Halo Station was attacked by aliens, one inhabitant was eager to leave: young Quin Dain wished to find his father and receive the Sunmark, symbol of fitness for life in space. But once on Earth, Quin found himself framed for murder--and on the run from more than one evil adversary..." 288 pages. $12.95 --------------------------------------- >From ihnp4!sdcrdcf!jonab Mon Jul 16 12:56:06 1984 Subject: Re: constructed worlds I am suprised that no one has mentioned Larry Niven's latest "constructed world", from his book "Integral Trees". This world is very interesting, because it is not a world, per se, only a breathable gas torus around a neutron star. Jon Biggar --------------------------------------- - 3 - >From ihnp4!cbosgd!cbuxc!dim Tue Jul 17 09:42:17 1984 Subject: The Iron Tower Trilogy: A new Lord of the Rings type book. Hobbits are back, except they are called Warrows. Did you ever want to read another Hobbit book? Well I did. But Tolkien sailed over the Darkling Sea and no more will there be his special magic. Yet do not despair, for a new Tolkien-like author has come upon the scene: Dennis L. McKiernan has written a spellbinding adventure tale, a real pageturner: The Iron Tower Trilogy. The Iron Tower is a tale featuring the Wee Folk, the Warrows. It is the story of the quest of the Winter War, where once again an alliance of Men, Elves, Dwarves, and Warrows are called upon to face the Hordes of evil Modru, vile Wizard from the eld days. The Iron Tower Trilogy is published in hardback by Doubleday: The first book (publication date: July 1984) is called "The Dark Tide." The second book (publication date: August 1984) is called "Shadows of Doom." And the last book (publication date September 1984), "The Darkest Day." Ask for them at your local bookstore...they're a helluva buy. --------------------------------------- >From ihnp4!utcsrgv!lgondor Tue Jul 17 08:06:17 1984 Subject: Re: constructed worlds How about Niven's fact article "Bigger than Worlds"? This appeared in an anthology of his (A Hole in Space? my memory fails me) some time ago and described a variety of constructed worlds. The Ringworld, by the way, was only middle-sized by his reckoning (imagine a Dyson sphere around a galactic core!). On a smaller scale, there are A. Gilliland's Rosinante novels, where most of the action takes place on O'Neill-type space habitats (munditos, in his terminology). Les Gondor, U of Toronto CSRI --------------------------------------- >From ihnp4!utcsrgv!perelgut Tue Jul 17 09:29:33 1984 Subject: Re: Dune Sequels >-=> psuvax1!williams I'm getting weary of hearing people call the Dune sequels "garbage". I think that we may be in for a long fight about the value of Herbert's writing. I have TRIED to read anything Herbert wrote other than DUNE. My only recourse is to say that he is the worst writer that I have attempted to - 4 - read. And that includes a lot of garbage. His characters are fractal- dimensional, his plots are trivial and meaningless, and his stories are loaded with pseudo-meaningful concepts. Anyone can talk about the beginnings and ends of the world, or hunger, or the evils of neverending technocracy, or god, or other important issues. Few can truly deal with them. Herbert is not one of the few. .....Herbert creates a universe with fewer strokes than most authors use to create a world. ..... As far as I am concerned, the above is the most damning thing I could say about Herbert except I would phrase it: "Herbert spends only a few strokes creating a universe when most authors lavish great care to create a world or an even smaller locale." Stephen Perelgut --------------------------------------- >From ihnp4!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!sri-unix !Chronis.Henr@XEROX.ARPA Fri Jul 20 13:47:45 1984 Subject: Re: SF-LOVERS Digest V9 #143 A Cthulhu Mythos related novel is The Philosopher's Stone by Colin Wilson. The mood, imagery and plot are in the tradition of ol' H.P., and the author is a fine writter. The author has other fine works, one of which, The God of the Labyrinth can also be considered a fantasy. His only science fiction work, The Space Vampires is best left unread. ~ Todd --------------------------------------- >From ihnp4!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!sri-unix !Martin@YALE.ARPA Fri Jul 20 14:01:25 1984 Subject: Re: Man of Gold On the whole, I agree with the review of M.A.R. Barker's first novel of Tekumel. The Young Hero IS vapid, but that doesn't interfere with the story and setting. I find it difficult to be unbiased about a book like this since I'm already interested in the world of Tekumel-- I have the impression that almost any passable novel set in this mythos would find favor with me. To make a comparison to another recent work, I enjoyed "Man of Gold" much more than I have the first four books of "The Belgariad" (by David Eddings). This series sports an equally vapid Young Hero, and the series as a whole is slow to develop, with entirely telegraphed plot turns and a general feeling of straining for effect. I think Eddings is really trying to make his world as believable as Middle- Earth; sadly, only the effort shows. - 5 - There's a problem with writing a novel based on a fantasy role-playing game, of course, and this is that the novel may come to resemble a transcript of a particular game. (I know that Barker was developing Tekumel long before FRP emerged, but the problem still exists.) Plot devices and storylines may be lifted from gaming (e.g., dungeon crawling) rather than developed along the original and interesting paths allowed through the medium of a novel. It has also been pointed out to me that a novel presents the opportunity to show real character development (e.g., greater wisdom and maturity), rather than the acquisition of the trappings of power which takes the place of development in gaming. This problem is not limited to novels based on FRP, of course; most "Sword & Sorcery" fantasy falls down on this criterion. Barker's "Man of Gold" escaped this trap for the first two-thirds of the book. There are plenty of interesting supporting characters, each with drives and motivations of his/her own, and complex plots revolving around the strictures of the alien cultures of Tekumel. Unfortunately, the resolution of this web of intrigue relies upon more conventional "Sword & Sorcery" plot units. Even so, Barker handles these in a creditable fashion. There are some twists in the final accounting which may be interesting or confusing depending on the degree to which the reader is able to immerse himself in the world. Unfortunately, the book lacks a real sense of character development (beyond the "S&S" trappings) for the Young Hero. Still, this is at least par for the course for fantasy, and the book is a good read. --------------------------------------- >From ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!ea!jejones Sat Aug 4 00:22:00 1984 Subject: Re: Dune Sequels - (nf) /***** ea:net.sf-lovers / psuvax1!williams / 2:13 am Jul 17, 1984 */ All of us are comfortable with rebellion. We identify with Maud'dib. /* ---------- */ Right--we *do* identify with Paul Muad'Dib Atreides. BUT we (or at least I) don't identify with Leto II. (Well, maybe some people do--I would tend to think that they would be of the sort that thinks they are Napoleon, or maybe God.) Did anyone really think that Leto II couldn't pull off the Golden Path? Did anyone care (for precisely that reason)? James Jones --------------------------------------- >From hogpc!houxm!ihnp4!cbosgd!cbuxc!ehh Mon Jul 23 09:26:21 1984 Subject: The Iron Tower Trilogy I got my hands on a copy of The Dark Tide, the first book of Dennis L. McKiernan's trilogy: The Iron Tower... (hardback, Doubleday) It's fantastic! Again I repeat, It's fantastic! Warrows are like Hobbits, but different. McKiernan is like Tolkien, but different. McKiernan's action - 6 - scenes are better than Tolkien's (in my humble opinion). I read it all in one sitting. I can't wait till book two comes out...does anybody out there know how to get advanced copies of books? --------------------------------------- >From ihnp4!hplabs!sri-unix!reiher@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA Sun Jul 22 00:09:36 1984 Subject: Fantasy film: "Pessi and Illusia" Yet another report from Filmex. This one is on "Pessi and Illusia", a Finnish fantasy film. The story takes place during an unspecified, but, considering the weaponry, contemporary war, in Finland. A father writes home to his young daughter. In his letters, he tells her stories about a gnome named Pessi and a fairy named Illusia. Illusia has come from the kingdom of her father, the rainbow, to see what Earth is like. She meets Pessi, who immediately falls in love with her. A cruel spider cuts off Illusia's wings, leaving her unable to return to her home. When winter comes, Illusia is ill equipped to handle the cold and snow, but Pessi helps her, stealing a shovel from the humans to build a nest for her. The spider is still after Illusia, as is a ferret. Moreover, they have a rather different problem. The soldier father's story is not set in the distant past or the far away, but in the present and right where he is. In other words, the creatures have to deal with a modern war, complete with helicopters, amphibious tanks, and high explosives. The film has an unexpected message. Rather than dumping on war, it suggests that you cannot really appreciate life until things get rough. This film was obviously made for children, but not for very young children. It's particularly inappropriate for young American children, as their parents would have to read them the subtitles. Whether you, an adult, will like it depends on your tastes. Try this test: does the thought of a man, a woman, and half a dozen children dressed up as fieldmice, scampering about, make you want to retch? If so, "Pessi and Illusia" isn't for you. I have a reasonable tolerance for this sort of thing, so I enjoyed it. Actually, you probably won't have to worry about this, as I can't see anyone thinking that they're going to make much money distributing it, and it isn't good enough to attract the attention of those who care more about quality than money, and will take a chance on an interesting film. Unless someone runs a Finnish film festival near where you live, or the local revival house programmers are fond of novelties and don't mind working to get them, you probably won't get a chance to see it. --------------------------------------- >From ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sri-unix!reiher@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA Mon Jul 16 22:34:26 1984 Subject: a film version of "Out of the Silent Planet" Martin Rosen, director of "Watership Down", is working on a live action adaptation of C.S. Lewis' "Out of the Silent Planet". It is still in the scripting stages, but Rosen sounds confident that it will be made. He - 7 - mentioned that he intends to combine "Out of the Silent Planet" and "Perelandra" into a single film. The time frame on this is two to four years from now. Peter Reiher --------------------------------------- >From ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sri-unix!G.ZEEP%MIT-EECS@MIT-MC.ARPA Tue Jul 17 10:23:49 1984 Subject: Enemy Mine --------------------------------------- "Enemy Mine" is being made into a movie and will be directed by Wolfgang Peterson ("Die Unendliche Geschichte", "The Boat") and will star Lou Gossett, Jr. and Dennis Quaid. (Source: 7/15 Boston glob) Yoww! Finally, a film which isn't a re-make of a Heinlein juvenile. Despite comments that Barry Longyear "stole" the plot for "Enemy Mine" from a WWII film, it was a very good story and I believe it won a Hugo. wz --------------------------------------- >From ihnp4!hplabs!sri-unix!reiher@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA Wed Jul 18 05:26:47 1984 Subject: Movie Review: "Ring of Power" My penultimate report from Filmex: "Ring of Power" is an animated rock and roll fantasy which has already received limited distribution under the title "Rock and Rule". The film has been complete for at least 6 months, but they're having some trouble getting distribution. "Ring of Power" isn't really a very descriptive name, as the only ring in the movie is used just to identify someone early on, and then is seen no more. The story is set in a post-holocast world in which dogs, cats, and rats have mutated into more human-like creatures. Mok, a rock star with magical powers, wishes to call up a nasty critter from another dimension, apparently just to prove that he can do it and to raise a little hell. To do this, he must find someone with a special voice to sing a certain song at the right moment. This is where the ring comes in. It recognizes the right voice. The only female member of a second rate rock band turns out to be the lucky one. Mok kidnaps her and heads for Nuke York (sic), followed by the other members of the band, including Angel's (that's the girl) sweetheart. Mok intends to unleash his demon during a rock concert, but Angel is unenthusiastic. Mok captures the clowns and uses them to force Angel to - 8 - sing the song. Whoops, tough luck, Nuke York doesn't have enough electrical power, so the demon only trashs Carnagey (sic) Hall. Back home to Ohm City, where there's power aplenty. Here we have the rock concert to end them all, good faces evil, and so on. You get the picture. The animation is fairly good. The backgrounds are really great, the characters, which owe a lot to early Ralph Bakshi, less so. Mok is obviously physically modelled on Mick Jagger, almost to the point of it being actionable. The character concepts aren't much, neither is their execution. One exception is a Mister Rogers-like TV character called Uncle Mikey (or something like that), whose short bit is so good that it seems like it's out of another movie. The voices are nothing special. There are 9 or 10 rock songs in the film, contributed by Deborah Harry, Cheap Trick, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Earth, Wind, and Fire. This doesn't conform to my tastes in rock, but the songs are generally unobjectionable, if also unmemorable. Overall, I would recommend the film to students of animation, mostly for its backgrounds and animated special effects. Others who like the groups and individuals who contributed music might also be interested. As for the rest, well, if you don't have to go out of your way, and it's cheap, and you had nothing else to do anyway... Peter Reiher