@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society Club Notice - 12/07/90 -- Vol. 9, No. 23 MEETINGS UPCOMING: Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon. LZ meetings are in LZ 2R-158. MT meetings are in the cafeteria. _D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C 01/09 LZ: BRAIN WAVE by Poul Anderson (Intelligence) 01/30 LZ: RITE OF PASSAGE by Alexei Panshin (Adolescence) 02/20 LZ: MARTIANS, GO HOME! by Frederic Brown (Social Satire) 03/13 LZ: TOM SWIFT by Victor Appleton II (Juvenile SF) _D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C. 12/08/90 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: TBA (phone 201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday) 12/15/90 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: Jim Frenkel (phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday) HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 834-1563 hocpa!jetzt LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 mtgzy!leeper HO Librarian: Tim Schroeder HO 3B-301 949-4488 hotsc!tps LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 576-3346 mtunq!lfl MT Librarian: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted. 1. You remember the scene in _D_r.~_N_o where James Bond finally confronts Dr.~No? Now I always know that Bond is the good guy and Dr.~No the villain, but I can't help noting that No is polite, friendly, and informative. Bond is rude and insulting. He makes fun of the fact No has no hands; he takes every opportunity to be insulting and for provoking bad feelings. It almost makes you wonder if you are backing the wrong side. That sort of feeling is what I get every time I hear more about the whole issue of colorizing films. Generally, I don't like colorization. I don't want to see movies altered. But all the invective is on the side of the anti-colorization people. The simple fact seems to be that right now all my best arguments are on the side of the colorizers. THE MT VOID Page 2 I guess the basic question is whether colorization is legal. Sure it is. If it were illegal it would not be such an issue. Colorized films would be black market items at best. At least if you have the rights to a film or if it is in public domain, colorization is a work of artistic expression. Look at how many people have done variations on the painting "American Gothic." It seems to me that there is a famous painting that is da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" but with a moustache on it. That is legal artistic expression that is a modification of a classic work of art. You don't have to put a disclaimer on it. It is in public domain and it is yours to alter as you wish. Now the National Film Preservation Act of 1988 started listing twenty-five films a year as being great classics. They cannot be colorized without a special warning that says: This is a colorized version of a film originally marketed and distributed to the public in black and white. It has been altered without the participation of the principal director, screenwriter, and other creators of the original film. The United States government made cartoons about a turtle who knew how to duck and cover when danger came. This was to teach school children how to survive nuclear attack. Now I am supposed to believe that this same government has any idea what the twenty-five best American black-and-white films are? So Ted Turner ahs said, "Fine; if it's true, it's true." He is going to put that label on _e_v_e_r_y films he colorizes, not just Uncle Sammy's fifty favorites. Now my question is, how many of those artists who made the classic films made them television-tube-shaped? How many intended they should be panned and scanned to get them to the right dimensions? Even letter-boxing (showing the film on video with almost the right dimensions by putting a black space at the top and the bottom) usually cuts what would be the corners of the screen. And I hear much more moaning that Ted Turner is colorizing films than that WABC in New York is mincing them, cutting away pieces, and mixing in ads for laxatives and feminine hygiene sprays. One of my favorite films is the 1933 _K_i_n_g _K_o_n_g. I saw Ted Turner's colorized version. There were some nice mood touches added. I still to prefer to see the film in black and white. But if I could resurrect the creators of _K_i_n_g _K_o_n_g and show them Turner's version, I suspect they would enjoy it. I do not think they would enjoy Dino Di Laurentiis's version. The real threat to American films is the MPAA, not Ted Turner. Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 ...mtgzy!leeper POINTS OF DEPARTURE by Pat Murphy Bantam Spectra, 1990, ISBN 0-553-28615-3, $3.95. A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1990 Evelyn C. Leeper Once again, I find myself recommending a Bantam Spectra Special Edition. (Maybe I should just save us all the time and recommend them en masse.) This collection is by Pat Murphy, author of _T_h_e _C_i_t_y, _N_o_t _L_o_n_g _A_f_t_e_r, and demonstrates more of her range (as I suppose one would except from a collection). This is not to say that she doesn't revisit themes. Domination and escape (usually women escaping from men's domination) is a theme she deals with in at least seven of the nineteen stories: "Dead Men on TV"; "Women in the Trees"; "Touch of the Bear"; "His Vegetable Wife"; "Good- Bye, Cynthia"; "Clay Devils"; and "Escape." With an untalented author, this could be repetitious; with Murphy, it is not. Each story looks at the topic from a different perspective and uses different tools (technology, nature, the supernatural) to examine it. The other stories run the gamut from time travel ("Orange Blossom Time" and in a philosophical sense, "Don't Look Back") to straight fantasy ("In the Islands"; "Sweetly the Waves Call to Me") to psi phenomena ("Prescience") to straight science fiction ("On a Hot Summer Night in a Place Far Away"; "A Falling Star Is a Rock from Outer Space"). "On the Dark Side of the Station Where the Train Never Stops" seemed almost mythic--Stapledonian is the word that comes to mind. Echoes of myth are also found in "Bones"--with this story I have the feeling that there is something I understand from it about "what it means" (a poor term), but I can't quite explain it in words. About "Rachel in Love" little need be said, as this is her best-known story. Not everything appealed to me. I found her attempt at high fantasy ("With Four Lean Hounds") uninvolving, though that may reflect my general disinterest in that sub-genre. "Recycling Strategies for the Inner City" also did nothing for me. "In the Abode of the Snows" I thought showed too much of Michael Moorcock's influence. I can't say more without giving it away--read the story and you'll get the reference. (If you don't, you need to read more Moorcock.) Out of nineteen stories, only three were disappointing. This is clearly a strong recommendation--and Kate Wilhelm's introduction and Murphy's own afterword add to the literary value. And unlike many collections, where all the stories are readily available elsewhere, this has one new story ("Women in the Trees") and several which appeared in sources you are unlikely to have ready access to, making it an excellent idea to get this volume. THE MADNESS SEASON by C. S. Friedman A book review by Frank R. Leisti Copyright 1990 Frank R. Leisti A lengthy book in paperback, 495 pages, this fascinating tale brings joy and curiousity to a veteran reader of science fiction. The blending of myths, legends, fantasies and science fiction is an amazing feat, made more so when it concerns a favorite idea of immortality. The story begins in the depths and darkness of a defeated race--the human one, where all of the correct means of dealing with non- subservient individuals is the elimination or culling of them from the rest of the group. Numerous studies have shown that only about 10% of the population are activators or leaders. Of the rest, mere sheep with which to use as the will of the leaders demands. From our experiences of the Civil War--the resentment of the losing South, from the experiences of POW's from Korea--where rank had no meaning, from the psychological horrors discovered about the human psyche, this story draws its meaning and basis. The story tells of the loner, the unlikely hero which when confronted with a choice of black and white, the grey becomes that fine line balanced between the choices. The book starts with a teacher who strives to impress upon his unlikely students of the time in Earth's history when it stood up to and lost against a warrior race called the Tyr. Now, centuries later, when the leaders have been culled out of the masses, his secret has been discovered by a slip of his abilities and he is to leave the Earth forever. For his ability of being human, yet not-human has kept him alive through the centuries. The striving from loneliness to acceptance is made easier when help is offered and accepted by another race, also subjugated, yet as of now unknown to the Tyr. The Marra race entities absorb the life force of embodied beings--usually the excessive force, yet sometimes all a person's life force. Through mutual goal sharing, an alliance is formed and learning about each other begins to have positive effects in the efforts against the Tyr. As from the Borg in "Star Trek, The Next Generation," the Tyr have a collective consciousness that transcends space and acts as a wonderful communication device as well as assisting the subjugation of many differing species of life forms. This warrior race is soon confronted with the Madness Season where the beginning of the race arises from and all the explanations and answers to questions unformed are found. To bring cohesion and a respite for humankind, Daetrin, that immortal teacher must face what is alien about himself to discover the human part within. Dealing with immortality, myths, legends and fiction, this blending of story lines brings to fruit a wonderful sense of a magnificent universe of unseen answers and hidden mysteries. Although lengthy, a marvelous book and story have been uncovered. I would rate it a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.