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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 07/24/92 -- Vol. 11, No. 4
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
08/05 HO: Hugo-Nominated Short Stories (HO 1N-410)
08/26 HO: BONE DANCE by Emma Bull (Hugo nominee) (HO 1N-410)
09/16 HO: THE SILMARILLION by J.R.R. Tolkien (Alternate Mythologies)
(HO 4N-509)
_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.
08/08 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Multi-media
astronomical presentation (phone 201-933-2724 for details)
(Saturday)
08/15 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)
HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 908-834-1563 hocpb!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell HO 1D-505A 908-834-1267 hocpb!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
HO Librarian: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 908-949-7076 homxc!11366ns
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 908-576-3346 mtfme!lfl
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. Well, there are two pieces of information about the TV series
SURVIVORS. At the end of April we showed episodes 1 to 3 of what I
have said for a long time was the best science fiction TV series I
had ever seen. Time to see what happens next. On Thursday, July
30, at 7 PM we will show: THE SURVIVORS (Episodes 4-6).
I will save myself a heck of a lot of writing by repeating my
description from last time. (How could I improve on my own
deathless prose???)
I recommend the series very strongly. In the mid-1970s I
worked in Detroit when the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation) broadcast the first season. What a reaction!
People who had never expressed any interest in science fiction
THE MT VOID Page 2
before then would have animated lunch discussions about the
previous night's episode of "The Survivors."
The plot of "The Survivors" is that almost all of the world
has been killed by a virus. There are perhaps 7000 people
left in Britain, in any case so few left that no two people
who knew each other prior to the virus are now both alive (or
at least can now find each other). Pockets of people are
trying to form again into small societies. Some work out,
some do not, and the question of what makes a society work is
central to the series. There are three or four groups of
people claiming to be the British army, none of which have any
real claim to the title. Some group try to grab up pre-
existing food and resources, others try to start farming anew.
The story is very intelligently executed. Don't expect a lot
of special effects, but do expect some very good writing and
some very compelling situations.
One of the reasons I am showing the series is that I would
like to see people writing their local PBS stations and
requesting that they get the series. A friend is making me
copies from a San Francisco area PBS station's broadcast, so
it is in syndication. I have a source, but it loses a lot of
the thrill if there aren't people to discuss the series with.
Uh, there is one difference. I wrote to WLIW, Channel 21 from Long
Island, and told them pretty much what I just told you. Apparently
they believed me. Last Saturday they ran episodes 1 and 2.
If you can't make it to the fest, or even if you can, I do
recommend the series. I would have told you sooner, but I only
found out Saturday morning. If you get Channel 21 the series runs
at 8 PM on Saturdays. Believe me, the series is worth getting.
2. The Holmdel Cinema Club is selling half-year memberships for
$12. People interested in joining should contact Tom Skrobala
(908) 957-5446. The films are shown at 8 PM on the wide screen in
the Holmdel auditorium.
THE MT VOID Page 3
Fri 7/31 Playtime
Wed 8/12 House of Games
Fri 8/28 Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll
Wed 9/02 Ay, Carmela
Fri 9/18 Children of Paradise
Fri 10/02 Saboteur
Wed 10/21 Pauline at the Beach
Fri 11/06 Return of the Secaucus Seven
Wed 11/18 Radio Days
Fri 12/04 Wages of Fear
Wed 12/16 The Last Holiday
Now what can I tell you about them?
HOUSE OF GAMES is a pretty good keep-em-guessing film. Not great
but very well-written by David Mamet (THINGS CHANGE, THE
UNTOUCHABLES). Joe Mantegna gives a really magnetic performance.
Don't read anything about the plot before seeing the film.
Anything you know will give away a twist.
SABOTEUR and RADIO DAYS are among the better films of,
respectively, Alfred Hitchcock and Woody Allen. SABOTEUR is pre-
Technicolor (at least for Hitchcock) but is a good adventure.
I am a little less keen on CHILDREN OF PARADISE, but I know of a
lot of people who think this is a really great film. It is about
life in a theater troupe. RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS 7 was imitated
later by THE BIG CHILL. It is mostly talk, but the point is the
conversation. Good, but not my taste. I like other John Sayles
films better, but it is worth seeing.
BUT...But... THE LAST HOLIDAY is what I consider to be Alec
Guinness' best performance. It is a great, bittersweet tale I must
have seen six or seven times and am in a hurry to see again. Do
see this film, if not here, whenever you can.
And to prove that classic foreign films need not be dull, we have
THE WAGES OF FEAR. I drove into New York just to see this film the
first time I saw it and was almost ready to drive in to see it
again. This is a simple story but my eyes were glued to the screen
through the whole last two-thirds of the film. It is a genuine
edge-of-the-seat film.
Sure, I would like to convince you that a half year membership is a
good deal. And the club could afford to sell some more memberships
since there are fewer and fewer young people joining the club,
since AT&T is not really hiring. But it should be obvious from the
above, that I am not going to tell you every film is great. I will
say that I think that the overall deal is really very good and very
worth the price of the ticket. The price is less than that of two
THE MT VOID Page 4
evening tickets at the local theaters and you will on the average
see much better films than you'd see at local first-run theaters.
The last two films are worth the price alone at the price charged
in New York revival houses.
3. Paul Chisholm makes the following suggestion for people who
receive the MT VOID electronically and read it on their screens
rather than printing it out: "If you don't want a lot lot of blank
lines at the beginning and end of each "page," and you use a Mail-
derived user agent (such as mailx or Post), trying piping your
message through uniq before your favorite pager. If you have a
PAGER environment variable in your .profile, you could try
something like:
> pi 'uniq | $PAGER'
If not, try a variation on one of the following:
> pi 'uniq | more'
> pi 'uniq | pg -n'
uniq will collapse two or more blank lines into one. (It will also
get rid of lines that are duplicated, one after another, for other
reasons. This rarely happens.)" [-psrc]
4. Reminder: instructions on how to get the Hugo-nominated short
stories were included in the previous two issues of the MT VOID.
[-ecl] Guinness SABOTOUR
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience.
-- Miguel de Cervantes
HONEY, I BLEW UP THE KID
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Silly but undeniably enjoyable
satire on 1950s science fiction films has the
Szalinski family accidentally enlarging their baby to
Brobdingnagian proportions. Somewhat better than it
really deserves to be. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4).
(Relevant diatribe follows the review!)
At the current rate I would expect by the turn of the century
the film industry will have churned out more take-offs, pastiches,
and satires of 1950s science fiction films than there were science
fiction films made in the 1950s. None have ever seemed very good to
me, but _H_o_n_e_y, _I _B_l_e_w _U_p _t_h_e _K_i_d is at least more light-hearted than
most. (Of course, the title may sound less good-natured than
intended, but all the ads make sure everybody knows in just what
sense "blew up" is intended.) This is, of course, the sequel to
_H_o_n_e_y, _I _S_h_r_u_n_k _t_h_e _K_i_d_s, and though _H_o_n_e_y, _I _B_l_e_w _U_p _t_h_e _K_i_d began
life as a script for an unrelated film _B_i_g _B_a_b_y, it was worked into
a sequel for the previous film. Actually, it was to have been much
the same plot as _T_h_e _A_m_a_z_i_n_g _C_o_l_o_s_s_a_l _M_a_n with a baby. Echoes of
that film still abound in the script.
In the years since the last film, a typical soulless
corporation has taken over Wayne Szalinski's scale-bending projects
and is trying to magnify and reduce objects without much luck. Rick
Moranis as Wayne continues not to get much respect in spite of being
the genius behind it all. Still, it is only Wayne that can make
things work and even he cannot do exactly what he wants. What he
accidentally creates is a two-and-a-half-year-old Adam Szalinski who
grows when he passes through electromagnetic flux. (Conservation of
matter? What's that all about?) We end up with a ten-story baby
clomping his way through Las Vegas--even the same streets that Glenn
Manning, the _C_o_l_o_s_s_a_l _M_a_n, walked. This giant, however, is not shot
off of Boulder/Hoover Dam. There is only a poster of the dam to
remind us of the original. Incidentally, as well all know, any
satire of 1950s science fiction has to have a small role for either
Kenneth Tobey or Dick Miller. This time it's Tobey's turn, with him
playing a security guard.
Standards for special effects have come a long way since _T_h_e
_A_m_a_z_i_n_g _C_o_l_o_s_s_a_l _M_a_n (special effects in Bert. I. Gordon films were
always particularly bad!). While in _H_o_n_e_y, _I _B_l_e_w _U_p _t_h_e _K_i_d it
rarely is difficult to tell how an effect was created, there are
only a few effects that genuinely look wrong. The only really bad
effect that I noted was a full-size model of a baby chest and arm in
the background. The arm just does not move as wildly as it does in
Honey, I Blew Up the Kid July 19, 1992 Page 2
the surrounding scenes. Kudos should go to the "Baby Wranglers"
listed in the credits, since Adam (played by Daniel and Joshua
Shalikas) seems always to do exactly the right thing at the right
time. And it is true that the fictional Adam and the real life
Shalikas all seem to be extraordinarily well-behaved.
My rating for this light-hearted piece of summer fluff is +1 on
the -4 to +4 scale.
... Diatribe follows.
I noted with some disappointment that the credits of _H_o_n_e_y, _I
_B_l_e_w _U_p _t_h_e _K_i_d acknowledge similarities to the story "The Attack of
the Giant Baby" by Kit Reed. _C_i_n_e_f_a_n_t_a_s_t_i_q_u_e reports that after
Reed saw a promo for the film she took the Disney organization to
court over similarities to her story. Actually the Reed story
concentrates on the nastier aspects of babies and shows them
magnified. If, indeed, Reed thinks she invented and owns the idea
of over-size babies getting loose and causing problems in her 1981
story, I might suggest that she read (or re-read) the 1904 novel _T_h_e
_F_o_o_d _o_f _t_h_e _G_o_d_s by H. G. Wells. The mechanism for creating the
giant baby is in the realm of physics in the new movie. Reed's
mechanism is nearly identical to Wells's. That is, she has the baby
eat a food with fantastic growth properties. I seriously doubt that
the Wells estate has taken Reed to court, and I can tell you for a
fact that her story bears no similar acknowledgement to Wells.
Science fiction has been in the past a field where people could feel
free to play with others' ideas and put new twists on them. But I
suppose as long as some people in the field have deep pockets and
other people have greed, that can no longer be the case. Be it here
noted that the concept of giant babies causing problems has somehow
been transferred from the Wells estate to Reed. Presumably the
concept of time travel is still the property of the Wells estate.
David Brin probably owes royalties on uplift to either Wells for _T_h_e
_I_s_l_a_n_d _o_f _D_r. _M_o_r_e_a_u or Nigel Kneale for _Q_u_a_t_e_r_m_a_s_s _a_n_d _t_h_e _P_i_t.
Invisibility and alien invasion again revert to the Wells estate who
effectively own a controlling interest in modern science fiction.
So it goes.
A STRANGER AMONG US
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Yes, it's pretty much what the
television ads make it look like. Melanie Griffith
stars in a plot not unlike that of _W_i_t_n_e_s_s, but with
Hasidic Jews. Of course, it is not often we see the
Hasidic community in film. And Sidney Lumet keeps
the film consistently intriguing and often on a
philosophical level. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4).
At first look _A _S_t_r_a_n_g_e_r _A_m_o_n_g _U_s looks a trifle too formulaic
to be a Sydney Lumet film. Lumet's films are usually hard-hitting
and very original. Just a few of his films are _T_w_e_l_v_e _A_n_g_r_y _M_e_n;
_F_a_i_l _S_a_f_e; the superb, intense film _T_h_e _P_a_w_n_b_r_o_k_e_r; _T_h_e _A_n_d_e_r_s_o_n
_T_a_p_e_s; _M_u_r_d_e_r _o_n _t_h_e _O_r_i_e_n_t _E_x_p_r_e_s_s; _D_o_g _D_a_y _A_f_t_e_r_n_o_o_n; and _N_e_t_w_o_r_k.
This does not sound like the kind of director who would make a
retread of _W_i_t_n_e_s_s. But that is certainly how the television ads
make this film look. It looks like _W_i_t_n_e_s_s retold, but set among
the Hasidic Jews of New York City. Is that what _A _S_t_r_a_n_g_e_r _A_m_o_n_g _U_s
is? Well, yes and no. Yes to the extent that it certainly is a
murder mystery that will take a police detective into a totally
alien culture from what she--in this case she--has known. And she
does learn to respect that culture. It even has many of the faults
of _W_i_t_n_e_s_s. It is about a lot of things, like violence and sex,
that members of the community would try to avoid. And at the same
time it idealizes that community (and doing both at the same time
_c_o_u_l_d be viewed as hypocrisy). On the other hand, Orthodox Jews are
a major and important of the culture of New York City, like Chinese
and Blacks and many others, but how often do they show up in major
films? How many films take the audience into this community? The
only other film that comes to mind is Jeremy Kagan's _T_h_e _C_h_o_s_e_n.
Police Detective Emily Eden (played by Melanie Griffith) is
having second thoughts about her life. By being too much of a
"cowboy" and not following proper procedures, she just got her
partner and current lover stabbed and nearly killed. She feels
guilt about that and at the same time she is dissatisfied with her
life in general. She is given a light assignment. She is to
investigate the disappearance of an Hasidic diamond cutter who may
have run off with some diamonds. Visiting the family of the missing
man at first gives her the discomfort of sticking out with her short
sleeves, her short skirt, and her profanity. However, the
investigation becomes a murder case that she must move into the
Hasidic community to investigate.
At this point in the plot it becomes clear that the real story
is about how Eden sees and interfaces with the community. The
Stranger Among Us July 18, 1992 Page 2
actual mystery plot may account for about half an hour and is not
the main thrust of the film. Instead we see conflicts of values and
Eden's growing understanding of and respect for the Hasidim. Her
lifestyle as seen by the Hasidim has been the victory of freedom
over values. She sees theirs as the victory of values over freedom.
She also will have a close relationship with Ariel (played by Eric
Thal), a young scholar destined to be the leader of the community.
In some ways this film could have been handled much better.
There is some spectacular photography of New York City. But once
inside the Jewish community every indoor scene is shot in annoying
sepia tones. At times the sepia filter frustratingly obscures
detail in the sets. It gives an artificial and uncomfortable feel
to the film. Perhaps the Hasidic life is over-idealized. Everyone
seems to be friendly and gets along with each other. It is possible
that in a lifestyle this rigid there is less possibility for
conflict, but whether that reflects reality or not I do not know.
The mystery aspect of the story is just not given much time in the
script. It is a little too simple and perhaps written a little
sloppily.
Still, _A _S_t_r_a_n_g_e_r _A_m_o_n_g _U_s offers a view into a culture rarely
shown in films. The background is the whole show. I give it a high
+1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
UNIVERSAL SOLDIER
Film comment by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
- Victor Halpern created the zombie film with the 1932 _W_h_i_t_e
_Z_o_m_b_i_e. He pretty much lucked out. The film is poverty-row
all the way. It has cheap sets, low production values, and bad
acting. But some of its images are undeniably very effective
and it manages the feel of a nightmare. Like _C_a_r_n_i_v_a_l _o_f
_S_o_u_l_s, the film just clicks somehow. But was it luck or skill?
Four years later he made his second zombie film and it sank
like a stone. The idea just did not have appeal. _R_e_v_o_l_t _o_f
_t_h_e _Z_o_m_b_i_e_s was about bringing dead soldiers back to life as
zombies so they could be the ultimate fighting soldiers. So
_U_n_i_v_e_r_s_a_l _S_o_l_d_i_e_r is the second film that idea has sunk. Well,
admittedly, it is other problems that sink _U_n_i_v_e_r_s_a_l _S_o_l_d_i_e_r,
but it is interesting that this idea was used before.
- Van Damme is Belgian. He has a Flemish accent, sort of
guttural and Germanic. Maybe I am not that good with accents.
But I can tell you his accent is neither Cajun nor Creole. His
parents in the film certainly don't have accents like his. So
what gives? How did he end up with this accent? Maybe we'll
be hearing that Arnold Schwarzenegger has been cast as Sergeant
Rock!
- I guess Van Damme is now officially Carolco Action Figure(tm).
Carolco seems to cut these guys out with cookie cutters. They
seem to be martial artists with foreign accents, and the way
some people habitually smoke after sex, they pun after killing
people. I think they got the idea from James Bond films.
- Nice photography of Hoover/Boulder Dam. Also it is impressive
to see someone running down the side. To me that is more
impressive than all the acrobatic kicking which mercifully is
saved until the final reel.
- Why does the opening sequence remind me of _P_l_a_t_o_o_n?
- It is always nice to see Jerry Orbach, even if this film
underuses his talents.
- I guess when you die you forget how to eat, you forget many of
your polysyllabic words, and you pick up a funny accent. You
learn not to worry about your friends getting shot as long as
they don't smoke and they remember to buckle up. The after-
life must be a lot weirder than anyone imagined.
- I give it a low 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
COOL WORLD
Film comment by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
- The title has _g_o_t to be a joke. This is the ugliest and most
uncool world I can imagine. Gabriel Byrne must be mis-cast
since he just does not seem freak-o enough to have imagined
this world. The parallel world would have anyone screaming to
get out after fifteen minutes.
- The idea that comic artists are really seeing a parallel
universe is an old one. I seem to remember in the 1960s they
claimed that the current Flash lived in the same universe as
the artists who drew the old Flash (the one with the Mercury
helmet). but the old Flash was really in a parallel universe.
And I'm pretty sure the idea goes at least as far back as 1930s
fantasy.
- Cardboard scenery seems out of place. Cool World should be
made of pure animation and live action. The cardboard scenery
makes no sense.
- They seem to have made up the rules of the two universes as
they went along and failed to explain some. Why does Holli
have clown flashes? What does the spike of power have to do
with any of this?
- There are a few clever little satires on other animated films
and perhaps a good line or two, but the incoherent story just
is not very interesting. It's a pity, since at least initially
the concept seemed more complex and interesting than that of
_W_h_o _F_r_a_m_e_d _R_o_g_e_r _R_a_b_b_i_t.
- The pun on Holli Would is pretty lame. Why repeat it in all
the ads?
- Harris in 1945 is seeing a world that is in a cartoon style
that would not be invented for another twenty years. He would
be used to animation of the Fleischer and Disney schools. That
should make the Cool World seem even more alien to him.
- I give it a -1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
CAPTAIN JACK ZODIAC by Michael Kandel
Bantam Spectra, ISBN 0-553-29367-2, 1992, $4.99.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper
Kandel began his career translating the works of Stanislaw Lem,
or at least that is how he became known. And that off-the-wall
style that Lem is known for has influenced Kandel and in this, his
third novel (his first two were _S_t_r_a_n_g_e _I_n_v_a_s_i_o_n and _I_n _B_e_t_w_e_e_n
_D_r_a_g_o_n_s), he gives us a world in which the Soviets are nuking
several of our major cities, but the real problems are the garbage
strike and the traffic jams (the latter not helped by the occasional
Soviet paratrooper squads landing on the highways). One character
is trying to maintain a perfect lawn, but the combination of the
greenhouse effect, radiation leaking through the failing ozone
layer, and all the chemicals he has been using start to have some
very undesirable effects. Meanwhile, out main character is trying
to find his children: his daughter has become a mall zombie (no, not
like in George Romero's _D_a_w_n _o_f _t_h_e _D_e_a_d) and his son has taken and
is traveling off in interstellar space. When you take one of
Captain Jack Zodiac's pills, you really trip!
I can't really describe this book. The preceding gives you
some idea of the flavor, but only some idea. Kandel flings his
characters from one improbable situation to the next, on this world,
on other worlds, and even in the next world. Oddly enough, the
Captain Jack Zodiac thread for which the book is named is one of the
less involving ones (at least for me), though its solipsistic
approach does reinforce the book's approach in general.
I definitely recommend this wild and wacky look at what just
might be just around the corner (well, okay, maybe not the Soviet
paratroopers, but I wouldn't dismiss the possessed chicken salad
just yet...).
BEAUTY by Sheri S. Tepper
Bantam Spectra, 1992 (1991c), ISBN 0-553-29527-6, $5.99.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper
In _B_e_a_u_t_y, Tepper takes all those happy fairy tales and shows
us the dark underside (or the dark truth, if you prefer). The title
character is not the Beauty of "Beauty and the Beast," but Sleeping
Beauty--or rather, would be except for an odd turn of fate in which
she escapes the enchatment (well, a novel in which the main
character sleeps the whole time wouldn't be very exciting--and yes,
I've read "Rip Van Winkle"). After she escapes, Beauty latches on
to some time travelers, goes to the future, has some unpleasant
adventures, travels back to our present, has even more unpleasant
adventures, travels to the Land of Faery, has ... well, you get the
idea.
Tepper has some good ideas but her execution of them frequently
leaves something to be desired. Everything will be flowing along
when suddenly she will break into a strident pro-choice speech (or
more accurately, an anti-anti-choice speech). She also appears to
be claiming that all the graphic violence we see and read about
deadens us to it. I don't deny that this view may have some merit,
but I think she shoots herself in the foot by using the Holocaust as
an example: according to Beauty, people are so determined to prevent
another Holocaust that they keep harping on the "first" one until no
one cares. But it wasn't the first, and ignoring previous ones
didn't do much to prevent or temper this one, so it's not clear that
the reminding will or even can make things worse.
_B_e_a_u_t_y is full of enough unlikely coincidences and dire
happenings, some of them telegraphed to the reader, to read like a
latter-day _M_o_l_l _F_l_a_n_d_e_r_s. But Tepper has not mastered a light touch
yet, and her messages get delivered with a resounding thud. For its
injection of realism into the realm of fairy tale, _B_e_a_u_t_y is
interesting, but it ultimately disappoints.