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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 09/17/93 -- Vol. 12, No. 12
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Holmdel 4N-509
Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
10/06 SARAH CANARY by Karen Joy Fowler (Nebula Nominee)
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)
01/26 Bookswap
02/16 Demo of Electronic Hugo and Nebula Anthology (MT)
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. Well, it is film fest time again and we have had a request that
we show more science fiction at the get-togethers. It makes sense
since we are a science fiction club. It turns out I just recently
have gotten good copies of each of the films below. Each is based
on a gosh-dang for-real science fiction novel. On Thursday,
Spetember 23, at 7PM the Leeperhouse fest will show:
Enfants Terribles: Enhancing Intelligence
CHARLY (1968) dir. by Ralph Nelson
COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT (1970) dir. by Joseph Sargent
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_C_h_a_r_l_y is the film adaptation of the novel _F_l_o_w_e_r_s _f_o_r _A_l_g_e_r_n_o_n,
probably my favorite of all time. Cliff Robertson starred in the
television play "The Short Life of Charly Gordon" and for years
wanted to do the same story as a full-length film. He finally put
the project together and got a Best Actor Oscar for his efforts.
Charly Gordon is mentally retarded, but has a real thirst to be
intelligent like the people he sees around him. His condition even
prevents him from recognizing the cruel jokes played on him by so-
called friends. Then a medical experiment results in an ever-
increasing IQ for Charly and as his mind changes, so does every
perspective. The novel is a short and easy read and is strongly
recommended. The film is flawed but any earnest attempt to do this
story cannot be bad.
_C_o_l_o_s_s_u_s: _T_h_e _F_o_r_b_i_n _P_r_o_j_e_c_t, a.k.a. _C_o_l_o_s_s_u_s, a.k.a. _T_h_e _F_o_r_b_i_n
_P_r_o_j_e_c_t, is lousy computer science but still a very good, even
intelligent, science fiction film. Closely adapted from the
D. F. Jones novel, it tells what happens when the President of the
United States allows himself to be replaced by a giant super-
computer. COLOSSUS is a machine that knows the job of the
President better than any human ever could. But the story really
takes off when COLOSSUS discovers that the Soviets have their own
ruling super-computer. The film stars Eric Braeden, a.k.a. Hans
Gutegast as Forbin and Gordon Pinsett, a well-known Canadian actor,
as the President. They had to cast a Canadian, I think, because no
United States citizen could believe or convincingly act a President
willing to have less instead of more power.
2. ConFrancisco Media Report (comments by Mark R. Leeper):
Nearly each year Evelyn and I go to the World Science Fiction
convention. In 1976 at MidAmericon a then nearly unknown George
Lucas came presenting materials from his upcoming film _S_t_a_r _W_a_r_s.
While I would not rule out the possibility that it had been done
before, this was certainly the first example I saw of a filmmaker
using a science fiction convention like this. Starting that year
popular film seems to have changed a lot in its pacing and also how
it is merchandised. And one way is that more and more upcoming
films seem to have previewed at science fiction conventions.
Over the years I have seen two major changes in these
presentations. The first change is that rather than one filmmaker
at presenting his own film, there were package presentations at
which some "hired gun" who had sold his services to the studios
would be presenting a whole package of films--sometimes from
different studios. The other change was somewhat more subjective.
The films seem more derivative and--well, lets admit it--much less
exciting.
This year things are looking up ever-so-slightly. There is one
upcoming television show that looks decent--actually, better than
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decent. But there is a lot coming up that I for one am going to be
less than excited about. You can read that to mean that they look
cheap, derivative, and way too much like things that have been bad
in the past.
In the media presentation there were several teasers for the
television series _L_o_i_s _a_n_d _C_l_a_r_k. So far the cleverest thing I
have seen about the series is the title, though I suspect some of
the audience will not recognize the allusion to the famous
expedition. Of course when I say that is the cleverest thing I
have seen, it is about all I have seen. The whole presentation was
three teasers implying that Lois Lane and Clark Kent would end up
in bed with each other. Presumably it should be obvious that there
are logic problems inherent in this inter-species coupling. Also
poor Lois would probably be badly damaged by the man whose flesh is
harder than steel. The same idea was explored in detail in the
Larry Niven story "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex." My enthusiasm
for the concept of sexy Superman stories is highly bounded.
Similarly we saw little more than teasers about _s_e_a_Q_u_e_s_t _D_S_V, an
expensive new series set in the ocean starring Roy Scheider and
something that looks a lot like a rubber Flipper stand-in. There
is lots of nice looking hardware but no sign that anything of great
value will come from the program. Steven Spielberg is producing.
And speaking of famous people with initials S.S. (hey, I am admired
for my clever transitions) Sylvester Stallone looks like he is
aiming for _T_e_r_m_i_n_a_t_o_r with his _D_e_m_o_l_i_t_i_o_n _M_a_n, but it sounds like
he will end up closer to _F_r_e_e_j_a_c_k. The concept is that the worst
criminal in all the world (played by Wesley Snipes) is captured by
a reckless, but effective cop nicknamed the "Demolition Man"
(played by Sylvester Stallone). Unfortunately a bunch of innocent
people are killed in the process. So both criminal and cop are
sentenced to cryogenic suspension--freezing. (Moral: In a topsy-
turvy world, a good cop is treated like a criminal.) For Stallone
the sentence is just some fifteen years in the freezer which
implies the congealing of all that body oil into grease. For
Snipes the sentence is eternity. It is not entirely clear why
waste the freezer space on someone who is never going to thaw, but
I guess there are precedents. (Also I guess some of the stuff at
the back of our freezer at home is in pretty much the same state.)
Flash forward some long time to a pristine and crimeless future--
don't ask me how we got there from our present with ever-growing
numbers of criminals, bad inner cities, racism, and ever-increasing
library overdue incidents. Society is too effete to handle real
crime, but through a nasty freezer accident Snipes escapes and is
terrorizing utopia. Luckily were have a macho greaseball on ice in
the fridge. It's at times like this that society learns to value
it's macho greaseballs. (Incidentally, all of this was in a
trailer I had seen weeks earlier at my neighborhood theater, and
there was nothing in this tacky presentation I didn't already
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know.) This is not a film to look forward too.
We saw a trailer and little more for _R_o_b_o_c_o_p _3 and what we saw made
it look like little more than the mindless shoot-em-up that _R_o_b_o_c_o_p
_2 was. This time the evil system is against Robo and has made him
a criminal. (Moral: In a topsy-turvy world, the good robocop is
treated like a criminal.) I don't expect much here. Incidentally,
Peter Weller is replaced by someone I could not recognize under the
makeup, but he wasn't Weller or probably anyone else well-known.
One of the longest running of the great super-heroes is Lamont
Cranston, who learned in the orient the ability to cloud people's
minds so that he is essentially invisible. When he is invisible he
is his alter-ego, The Shadow. Now nobody ever really knows what
The Shadow really looks like since he was a hero of radio and pulp
magazines. All you ever see is an artist conception of a man with
a long crooked nose under a big concealing hat. It's enough to
give you the willies. It is tough to judge who would make a good
Shadow on the screen in the upcoming Shadow film. Basil Rathbone
is pretty close, he might give you the heebie-jeebies if he was
hiding somewhere in the shadows. Maybe they should get some
unknown for the part in the film. But an unknown would give you no
marquee value I guess. So instead got the modern equivalent of
Basil Rathbone, the man with the commanding presence, with the deep
voice, with the slightly scary looks. Yes, they cast as Lamont
Cranston... Alec Baldwin??? (Oh barf! Well I guess he would be
marginally better in the role than Julia Roberts.) We did see some
production sketches on this one and the production seems to be in
the hands of people who would rather emulate successful films about
Batman than to try to understand the persona of the Shadow. At
least one mistake: in the long-running radio show, which is where
the Shadow became best known, all of his powers and all of his
tools came from between his ears. He had no special cars or gas
pistols. Everything he did was by mental powers. Well we saw a
sketch of his office where an iris opens up and his chair sinks
down when he wants to make a getaway unseen. As if he couldn't
walk out right in front of his secretary and simply cloud her mind.
He is, after the Shadow. Or he was before they started the film.
Mechanical gimmicks are right for Batman but all wrong for the
Shadow.
Oh, and speaking of weird casting, Stan Winston, an Oscar winner
for special effects like those of _J_u_r_a_s_s_i_c _P_a_r_k was on hand to
defend the casting of Tom Cruise as the Vampire Lestat in _I_n_t_e_r_v_i_e_w
_w_i_t_h _t_h_e _V_a_m_p_i_r_e. He talked for a long time about the film but at
the same time said very little. He had brought a slide of what
Cruise will look like as Lestat, but could not show it since it
might be videotaped and of course it must be kept in extreme
secrecy for whatever reason filmmakers always like extreme secrecy.
I guess there is some danger that some other filmmaker will cast
Cruise as Lestat in some other film and use the same makeup. In
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any case we heard how _g_r_e_a_t Cruise was as Lestat, but learned
little else of value.
Lest it sound like there was nothing good to look forward to in
upcoming productions, J. Michael Straczynski was present to show
what was coming up for _B_a_b_y_l_o_n _5. I want everyone to remember that
after the pilot was broadcast, it was me who said that I was
willing to trade two episodes of any _S_t_a_r _T_r_e_k series for any one
episode _B_a_b_y_l_o_n _5. Reactions to the pilot were very mixed, but I
was really impressed by what I was seeing. I am already preparing
to say "I told ya' so." I would now say that the two for one trade
underrates "_B_a_b_y _5" (as I have nicknamed the series, without loss
of respect). We saw about twenty minutes from one of the episodes
and forget the series, I really want to know how the episode will
come out. It involves a conflict between two species, one good,
one evil. The problem is that you can only determine which is the
good species and which one is evil if you know if the spirit dies
with the body or if souls are somehow reincarnated to live again.
And _B_a_b_y _5 isn't going to tell you. It seems like a lot of the
episodes are going to hinge on philosophical principles that the
viewer is going to have to decide for him/ herself. Straczynski
says his goal is to start arguments and perhaps a few good bar
fights with his series. It has been a while since we have seen
science fiction sophisticated enough to do that. The British do
that at least on occasion, but American SF in film and television
seems to have the flash of effects but rarely the spark of any real
intelligence.
Of course _B_a_b_y _5 will have its "toaster graphics" which certainly
are impressive. They substitute a sort of artistic feeling for the
realism of effects that the current _S_t_a_r _T_r_e_k shows seem to use.
The effects in _B_a_b_y _5 look more like animations of the book covers
use, particularly British ones. They are imaginative and for the
time being it is very impressive to see sights like spaceships
unfolding solar sails like giant metallic insects. I would say,
however, that the novelty of that sort of effect is bound to wear
off over the projected five-year run of _B_a_b_y _5. This is
particularly true since "video toaster graphics," the kind used in
_B_a_b_y _5 are a lot cheaper than those created by Industrial Light and
Magic, and _B_a_b_y _5 has no exclusive on them. That means we are
probably going to see similar effects very commonly. The special
effects are not going to be that much of a draw after the first six
months, but I think that the story will be. I am just a little
concerned about a series that is going to be hard to join in the
middle because of what the viewer has already missed. For now I
intend to watch faithfully and I suspect that once the series gets
going, I will not be alone.
3. BOXING HELENA (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
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Capsule review: No, it's not a sports film. This
macabre and erotic story story of frustration,
obsession, and revenge could almost make an episode
of _T_a_l_e_s _f_r_o_m _t_h_e _C_r_y_p_t. It will probably turn off
many viewers, but for others there will be a certain
fascination. This is a moderately well-done film if
somewhat selective in its appeal. Rating: low +1
(-4 to +4)
Dr. Nicholas Cavanaugh (played by Julian Sand) has overcome his
unhappy childhood--mostly. The neglected son of a great surgeon is
himself a great surgeon. He has a beautiful house, an attractive
mistress, and a king-sized obsession. The object of his obsession
is Helena (Sherilyn Fenn), a stunningly beautiful woman with whom
he has had sex once (as apparently has just about every able-bodied
man available) and who now wants nothing to do with him. Forget
his status, his position as chief surgeon of his hospital, he
cannot stop himself from thinking about and even stalking Helena
... even to the point where he is climbing the tree outside her
bedroom window in order to watch her love-making. Nick tries to
invite Helena to his home only to be treated with contempt when she
comes to a party he is throwing. He lures her back to the house
the next day only to have her escape, running from the house and
into the path of a hit-and-run driver. Nick could take her to the
hospital, but decides to treat her in his home, amputating both her
legs and making her his prisoner. Eventually, when she tries to
strangle her captor, Nick will amputate her arms also.
What we have then is a rather ghoulish variation on John Fowles'
_T_h_e _C_o_l_l_e_c_t_o_r and at the same time an erotic fantasy. Nick lives
out his dream of having his beloved Helena dependent on him and at
the same time at his mercy. She obviously has objections to him
personally, but he hopes if he is sufficiently disarming she will
be left without a leg to stand on. The ending of the tale will be
disappointing to some, but one that has a time-honored tradition,
particularly in early film.
_B_o_x_i_n_g _H_e_l_e_n_a is directed by Jennifer Chambers Lynch, daughter to
David Lynch. Her father probably would have done the same story
every bit as weirdly but it also would have been full of images
that would be meaningful only to him. His daughter's style is at
least comprehensible. Perhaps as one allusion to her having a
famous father, incidentally, Lynch includes on the soundtrack the
aria "O mio babbino caro" ("Oh my dear little papa") from Puccini's
_G_i_a_n_n_i _S_c_h_i_c_c_h_i. Speaking of Puccini, to convey the upper-class
feel of Nick's house Lynch uses as background music to scenes in
the house no less than four arias from Puccini and also fills the
house with Greek statuary--indicating she does know high class when
she encounters it. Of course the primary piece of statuary, a
reproduction of the Venus di Milo, does fit thematically into the
film.
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There are some problems with this story, but it does show promise
for Lynch. My rating is a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
4. THE WEDDING BANQUET (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule review: Marriage-of-convenience comedy of a
gay, well-to-do, Chinese-American businessman
marrying a citizenship-seeking artist in order to
please his parents. The is an enjoyable Taiwanese
comedy (filmed and set in Manhattan) but what we see
of Chinese culture is more of interest than the
well-trodden material about gays and straights.
Rating +1 (-4 to +4)
Miss Wei-Wei and Mr. Wai-Tung Gao are in love and are getting
married. Wei-Wei (May Chin) is in love with Wai-Tung (Winston
Chao) and Wai-Tung is in love with Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein),
his long-time roommate and lover. So why is Wai-Tung marrying
Wei-Wei? His parents do not know that he is gay and would not be
able to handle knowing it. They have tried for years to get him
paired with a nice Chinese girl, and Wai-Tung has not had the heart
to tell them his sexual orientation. Wai-Tung is a well-off
landlord and his tenant Wei-Wei, an out-of-work artist and an
illegal alien, has been attracted to him and also would like
American citizenship. So Simon has suggested this charade of a
marriage and the two Chinese have reluctantly decided it was a good
idea.
The most disappointing aspect of this film, written and directed by
Ang Lee, is that while it is pleasant enough, the basic story is
overly familiar. It is very much a _L_a _C_a_g_e _a_u_x _F_o_l_l_e_s set in the
Chinese-American community. (And even _C_a_g_e itself was derivative
of Frank Capra films such as _L_a_d_y _f_o_r _a _D_a_y.) So _T_h_e _W_e_d_d_i_n_g
_B_a_n_q_u_e_t is an engaging view into a community too rarely depicted in
film, but the story itself could occur in just about any culture
and has little in the plot that is not telegraphed. I think I
learned more about Chinese-American marriage customs and life in
general in their community than I learned about gays from _T_h_e
_W_e_d_d_i_n_g _B_a_n_q_u_e_t. Where this film shows us what we have not seen,
it is in Gao's parents' cultural fascination with Chinese
calligraphy; it is in some odd wedding tradition about a piece of
what looks like fried chicken on a string. Then there is the wild
party after the banquet that seems so out of character with the
usually staid outward appearances of the Chinese. Take these out
of the film and it becomes a television-level situation comedy with
a few very pat lessons. In fact, it is even a bit uneven as a
comedy. The showpiece scene seems to be the marriage ceremony with
the two principles having almost no command of English. That seems
a bit contrived since at other times they seem to have considerably
more command of English.
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Generally, performances are very good. Sihung Lung as the father
has little to do but look stiff and dignified in the early parts of
film, yet still finds opportunity to make his the most memorable
character of the movie. Perhaps because he is enigmatic for so
much of the story. Lichtenstein is winning, if a little overly
bright-eyed. The score, by Mader, is a bit of a disappointment as
it is neither particularly melodic music, nor does it use Chinese
themes. But it is always interesting to see foreign films set and
filmed in the United States just to get some idea how other people
view the United States. This Taiwanese film really effectively
uses its Manhattan locations.
This is an enjoyable film, though perhaps not as good as word-of-
mouth would have it. I would say it is just average for theatrical
films I have seen this year, giving it a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com
I fear yet this iron yoke of outward conformity hath left a
slavish print upon our necks; the ghost of a linen decency yet
haunts us.
-- John Milton