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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.