@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 08/06/93 -- Vol. 12, No. 6
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Holmdel 4N-509
Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
08/25 CONSIDER PHLEBAS by Iain Banks
(Space Opera with a Knife Twist)
09/15 WORLD AT THE END OF TIME by Frederik Pohl
(Modern Stapledonian Fiction)
10/06 SARAH CANARY by Karen Joy Fowler (Nebula Winner)
10/27 THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert A. Heinlein (Classic SF)
11/17 BRIAR ROSE by Jane Yolen (Nebula Nominee)
12/08 STAND ON ZANZIBAR by John Brunner (Classic SF)
01/05 A MILLION OPEN DOORS by John Barnes (Nebula Nominee)
Outside events:
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County meets on the second
Saturday of every month in Upper Saddle River; call 201-933-2724 for
details. The New Jersey Science Fiction Society meets on the third
Saturday of every month in Belleville; call 201-432-5965 for details.
HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 908-834-1563 holly!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell HO 1C-523 908-834-1267 holly!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzfs3!leeper
HO Librarian: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 908-949-7076 homxc!11366ns
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 908-576-3346 quartet!lfl
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzfs3!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 mtgpfs1!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. I could find some deep metaphysical relationship between the two
films we will be showing on August 12, but it probably would not be
true--at least not the real reason we are showing this double
feature. The truth is that these are just two science fiction
films that have been requested. The Leeperhouse film fest has
always been amenable to requests. I can vouch that the first film
is rare and good. The second film is a new one on me. On August
12 at 7 PM, the Leeperhouse film fest will be showing:
THE MT VOID Page 2
Science Fiction Double Feature
WHO? (1974) dir. by Jack Gold
LIFEPOD (1993) dir. by Ron Silver
People are always asking why we don't see more films based on
novels by genuine science fiction writers. Well, somebody actually
based a film fairly accurately on one of the better novels of a
leading science fiction writer. The film is _W_h_o?, based on the
novel of the same name by Algis Budrys. Not a major special
effects film, of course--this would have been a minor though well-
respected science fiction, but .... But something went wrong in
the film processing. The colors were washed out. So the film
never got a major release. It went almost straight to late-night
television. That is a real pity because it is such a good puzzle
film.
During the height of the Cold War, physicist Lucas Martino (played
by Joe Bova) may have the key to a scientific discovery that could
have supreme defense implications. Then he is in a bad car crash
right near the Berlin Wall and is rescued by East German
authorities. He is in East Berlin for long months before he can be
returned. When he is returned he has so much prosthetic material
that he is more metal than human. Now FBI agent Sean Rogers
(played by Elliot Gould) has to decide if what has been returned
can be trusted. Is it Martino at all? Is it a machine with parts
of Martino's body? Is it an imposter? More important, where do
his loyalties now lie? If he is false, it might be possible to
prove it. But if he is authentic, how could it be proved? Trevor
Howard also stars as the head of East German intelligence.
I cannot say much about _L_i_f_e_p_o_d. I have never seen the film, but
it looks like a stylish science fiction remake of Alfred
Hitchcock's _L_i_f_e_b_o_a_t. The film stars Robert Loggia and Ron Silver
(of _E_n_e_m_i_e_s: _A _L_o_v_e _S_t_o_r_y). Silver also directs.
===================================================================
2. Alan and Joan Gopin are the proud parents of a new baby boy
Michael Ross, born August 3 at 8 pounds, 3 ounces, and 21 inches
long. (And Stephen Eric and Josephine Ellen are the proud
siblings, I suppose.) (Alan is one of the earliest members of the
SF Club.) [-ecl]
===================================================================
3. Note that we have modified the upcoming schedule to add some
older science fiction among the new. Also, _A _M_i_l_l_i_o_n _O_p_e_n _D_o_o_r_s by
John Barnes is scheduled to appear in paperback in November, so
scheduling it for January should give people time to find and read
it before the meeting. [-ecl]
THE MT VOID Page 3
===================================================================
4. The horror book being discussed at Border's in East Brunswick NJ
on August 23 is _S_t_r_a_n_g_e_r_s by Dean R. Koontz. [-ecl]
===================================================================
5. We are switching to a new format this week in an attempt to make
the notice more electronically friendly, while still maintaining a
paper-friendly format as well. Feedback would be appreciated. [-
ecl]
===================================================================
6. THE DESTINY MAKERS by George Turner (AvoNova, ISBN 0-688-12187-
X, 1993, $20) (a book review by Evelyn C. Leeper):
This story, like many other by Turner, is set in a future, pre-
holocaust Australia. There's been no bang, but the world seems to
be going through one long drawn-out whimper. Politicians spend
time trying to figure out how to stretch Earth's resources over an
ever-growing population. There are technical advances, but on the
whole Turner paints an Australia of not-quite-enough for everyone-
-except of course the upper class. Shortages and substitutes are
the order of the day. Only the veneer of equality, of "we're all
in this together" spirit keeps the lid on.
But in Australia the government has even more problems--or at least
the prime minister does. Having illegally rejuvenated his father
(in a world bursting at the seams, extending lifetimes is not
considered a good idea), he then discovers that his daughter is
illegally pregnant. (Everything, it seems, is controlled. But
everything has to be to keep the world together.) Harry Ostrow, a
policeman of the lower-middle class, finds himself called upon not
only to protect these high-level politicians, but to extricate
them--and perhaps the world-- from the mess they've gotten into.
The background of _T_h_e _D_e_s_t_i_n_y _M_a_k_e_r_s is well thought-out and
developed, but the story itself is somewhat weak, and the
resolution for some of the plot threads contrived and rushed. The
main idea of the end might have made a good novel in itself, but
here it's wasted as almost a throwaway. It could be that Turner
will take this idea and expand it in a future novel (as he expanded
"In the Nursery" to _B_r_a_i_n _C_h_i_l_d.) But as it is, I can recommend
_T_h_e _D_e_s_t_i_n_y _M_a_k_e_r_s only for its description of a seedy, run-down
future facing the abyss.
(It is unlikely that a sequel will appear soon, since it is
reported that George Turner has been hospitalized following a
stroke.)
THE MT VOID Page 4
===================================================================
7. ORLANDO (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule review: This is a critically acclaimed
adaptation of the novel by Virginia Woolf, but while
it is visually beautiful, the story is empty. This
is a story about someone who has lived for ten times
my age through fascinating periods of history--lived
for some period as a man and some as a woman--yet
who seems to have learned nothing beyond the
superficial and has none but the blandest insights
to share. Rating: 0 (-4 to +4).
It has been said that youth is wasted on the wrong people. In
_O_r_l_a_n_d_o we see eternal youth wasted on absolutely the wrong person.
We are led to believe that Orlando is immortal due to a promise he
made to Queen Elizabeth that he would remain forever young, and his
later conversion to a female is due to some unknown mystical
process (perhaps similar to the process Gregor Samsa encountered).
Actually, this film supports the interpretation that Orlando is so
slightly invested in living at all that s/he never uses up the life
he was born with. Orlando is barely alive at all, much less male
or female, so shifting from one to the other seems hardly
surprising. Tilda Swinton manages this feat of seeming barely
alive with a face that is drained of color and nearly impassive.
Her reactions are entirely performed by widening or narrowing her
eyes while leaving the rest of her face deadpan--the same acting
technique that Bud Cort used in much of _H_a_r_o_l_d _a_n_d _M_a_u_d_e. In face,
it can be an effective technique that leaves the audience to read
their own interpretation into the expression.
The story is, of course, that the handsome Orlando is a favorite of
a near-death Elizabeth I. The aging queen is played by Quentin
Crisp in what is apparently a casting pun. In short episodes
Orlando has an ill-fated love affair with a visiting Russian
noblewoman and an ambassadorship to someplace in Central Asia. He
then falls into a coma and wakes up a woman. "Same person; no
difference at all, just a different sex," she tells the audience
after having almost no reaction to her gender flip-flop. It does,
however, raise her consciousness on women's issues. I will not
ruin the story and tell how it ends except to say it is not really
a story, nor does it have an end. It does, however, take Orlando
to a time in the 1990s--or certainly in the last quarter of this
century--must require some license in adapting Virginia Woolf's
1928 novel.
_O_r_l_a_n_d_o is a novel adaptation for the 1990s. The visual imagery
far outstrips the plot. The film has superb camerawork and
terrific costume designs. Tilda Swinton is often upstaged by her
own clothing, which is as over-stated as her performance is under-
THE MT VOID Page 5
stated. The film is really not a lot more than a series of
historical tableaux. It is like walking through a museum of
British dress of the last four centuries.
This film has been very popular with critics, and perhaps I was
looking for another film, but the absurdity of the story bothered
me. Not the fantasy premise of the deathless person moving through
the ages or even the changing of sex, but for the idea that Orlando
could have lived so long and apparently remained so vapid and
lacking in insight. This is apparently a person who takes a long,
long, long time to learn anything. Twice she is in love
relationships. They are very parallel relationships, or even the
same relationship, that she goes through once as a man and once as
a woman. Yet there is no sign that she recognizes the situation
and she says nothing insightful about it at all.
_O_r_l_a_n_d_o is a short ninety-three minutes. Some scenes seem to go on
too long and when it is over one feels that not much has happened.
When it was over I had the distinct feeling that neither I nor
Orlando had learned much from the extraordinary experience. I rate
this one a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
===================================================================
8. RISING SUN (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule review: Culture clash and high-tech
manipulation of reality are the themes that combine
with a mediocre murder mystery in this adaptation of
Michael Crichton's novel _R_i_s_i_n_g _S_u_n. Much of the
anti-Japanese and anti-Western-decline diatribe from
the book are toned down for the film. Rating: high
0 (-4 to +4).
A party slogan from Orwell's _1_9_8_4 said "who controls the past
controls the future and who controls the present controls the
past." _R_i_s_i_n_g _S_u_n is a high-gloss technological murder mystery
that, as everybody already knows, is about xenophobia, xenophilia,
and Japanese-American relations, but what is getting less attention
is that it is also about how electronic and computing technology is
changing what we think of as reality. As portrayed in the film,
the Japanese are masters at the electronic manipulation of reality-
--an art that gives them an immoral advantage over their American
counterparts. This, by the way, is an interesting reversal of the
17th Century Japanese policy to suppress the Western technological
advance of the gun which gave its wielder what was considered by
the Japanese an immoral advantage over a swordsman. Times have
changed and tables have turned.
In Los Angeles Web Smith, a liaison officer with the police
department (played by Wesley Snipes), is investigating a murder in
THE MT VOID Page 6
a Japanese corporation's skyscraper. Assisting him as a guide is
John Connor (played by Sean Connery), a mysterious expert on
Japanese culture. An American woman who was deeply into drugs and
kinky sex is found dead, presumably murdered, on a conference room
table. The police should have a big jump on solving the case with
four observation cameras trained on the room, but that is
electronic data in the hands of people who are masters of the
manipulation of data. Also complicating the investigation is the
amoral, financially-motivated, chauvinistic presence of the
Japanese business executives. This aspect is toned down from the
novel, but it is still very present in the film. But also toned
down is the aspect of the novel being arguably as critical--or more
so--of the cultural decline of the West as it is of the Japanese.
Michael Crichton's book was intended as a wake-up call to the
American people. Not surprisingly, that message has been
completely obliterated in the transition to film, along with a
large proportion of what was negative about the Japanese.
What we have left here is an okay murder mystery revolving in large
part around technological elements. It is then given Hollywood
gloss with high production values and a notable cast. Sean Connery
is, of course, Sean Connery. His performance is exactly what you
would expect it to be. In this film he also has the title
"executive producer." Wesley Snipes is a good actor who balances
the cast racially but unless I am mistaken, it is very unlikely
that the LAPD would have a black in the diplomatic position of
liaison officer to the Japanese, who have a very low regard for
blacks. Also present is Harvey Keitel, certainly one of America's
most highly regarded character actors. Japanese playboy Eddie
Sakamura is played by Cary-Hiroyaki Tagawa, somewhat familiar for
having played an alien lifeform in the crew of the short-lived
television series _S_p_a_c_e _R_a_n_g_e_r_s. But for all the gloss and high-
tech hardware, the mystery just fails to be intriguing. This is
not a puzzle mystery where the clues are all in front of the
audience. It is more a "follow the police and all will be
revealed" sort of mystery. I would have to give it a high 0 on the
-4 to +4 scale.
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com
Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.
-- Oscar Wilde