SF-LOVERS Digest Friday, 5 Feb 1993 Volume 18 : Issue 76 Today's Topics: Television - Star Trek (2 msgs) & Deep Space 9 (6 msgs) & Space: 1999 & New Superman TV Show & Forever Knight --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 13 Jan 93 19:12:09 GMT From: goldberg@nymc.edu (RANDY_GOLDBERG) Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: SF Writers and ST GGPERRY@nuacvm.acns.nwu.edu writes: >I mean, why are there no real sf writers on these ST shows? Why don't >they spend some of those millions of dollars on some decent writers? I >hear that BABYLON 5 has Harlan Ellison as script editor, and William >Gibson among others as writers. Now, there's a concept - using SF writers >to write SF tv! Hello Star Trek, hello!?!? As someone else pointed out, Melinda Snodgrass is deeply involved in STTNG. Further, after the shoddy way Gene treated David Gerrold and Harlan Ellison all those years ago, no self-respecting "big-name" author will touch ST with a ten-foot pole. Granted, there have been people who started out in ST who have *become* big names, who still write ST (Peter David, A.C. Crispin, Vonda McIntyre). But they don't count. Randy ------------------------------ Date: 3 Feb 93 00:37:22 GMT From: mmp@farina.id.macsch.com (Marc M. Pack) Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: ST:TNG - Teeny tiny little plot hole? This is regarding the newest ST:TNG ("Aquiel"?), the one where Geordi and the rest of the crew get involved with the murder investigation on a relay outpost. SPOILER Warning: I'm trying to piece together the events leading up to the arrival of the Enterprise, in order to get a grasp of one (almost trivial) plot hole in the episode. Okay, here goes: 1. Rocha is stationed on a remote planet. 2. Rocha is destroyed/absorbed by a hitherto unknown kind of creature. 3. Rocha-Creature is then stationed on relay outpost with Aquiel. 4. After several days, Rocha-Creature gets hungry and tries to destroy/absorb Aquiel. 5. Aquiel fights, starts to succumb to absorption process. 6. Aquiel gets away, makes it to weapons locker. 7. Aquiel shoots Rocha-Creature with phaser, no apparent effect. 8. Aquiel increases phaser to setting ten, kills creature with sustained fire. 9. Injured and confused, Aquiel escapes in shuttle. 10. Rocha-Creature, still hungry, proceeds to destroy/absorb pet dog, becomes Dog-Creature. 11. Enterprise arrives, murder investigation ensues, autopsy reveals that vaporized remains belong to killed Rocha-Creature. 12. Dog-Creature, still hungry, attacks Geordi and is killed by sustained, level ten phaser fire. Okay! Now if someone could just explain to me where I've misunderstood, I would be most grateful. Otherwise, this episode must be from the "ST:TNG - Just when you thought our writing couldn't be worse" school of television. Marc Pack m_pack@macsch.com ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jan 93 22:29:28 GMT From: goldberg@nymc.edu (RANDY_GOLDBERG) Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: DS9 Responses to several posts in the last SF-LOVERS digest: tara@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Lady Johanna Constantine) writes: >Isn't DS9 a Bajoran station, not Cardassian? I haven't watched my tape >again, but I could have sworn that was it. DS9 was built by the Cardassians, but under the withdrawal agreement, it is now the property of Bajor, under Starfleet administration. eek2@po.cwru.edu (Eric E. Katz) writes: >About the Cardassians leaving their space station for the Federation to >claim, why didn't they have a self-destruct triggered from remote. >Knowing the way the Cardassians are, it could have been very beneficial >for them to blow up the space station from the inside at any time >especially when the Enterprise was docked there. Probably because it would have violated the terms of the armistice/ withdrawl agreement, and Starfleet would have smashed them into very small pieces. kc2w+@andrew.cmu.edu (Kevin J. Chen) writes: >rsrodger@wam.umd.edu (Yamanari) says: >>As for the doctor - I kind of like him. At least he isn't some >>RikerClone (tm) or WesleyPod (tm) like some others. > >Are you sure? The first thought that popped into my head when I was >watching the series was "Oh, my god - they've combined Wesley and his mom >into a single character..." It's also fairly telling that no one seems to >remember his name (I know I don't). I do. It's Julian Bashir. I like him, too, though he seems a bit scatterbrained. He may be Wesley-brilliant, but at least he's gone through his training, and he's only brilliant within his field (at least, so far). ckile@andy.bgsu.edu (Crystal Kile) writes: >In an earlier posting, someone referred to Dax as a "Trill." I ask you, >what the hell is a Trill???? The Trill are a new species, introduced in a 4th season STTNG episode. Trill are symbiotic. The main mind resides in a slug-like creature, which appears to have a lifespan several times that of a human. The hosts are humanoid, and appear to have similar lifespans to us. Th slug lives in the humanoid's abdomen. We still don't know a) what happens to the host's mind and b) why the hosts allow this in the first place. I think the answer to b) might be that the hosts cannot reproduce without the symbiont in place. ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jan 93 15:40:59 GMT From: kc2w+@andrew.cmu.edu (Kevin J. Chen) Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Re: DS9 HUNTLY@ZENO.MSCD.EDU writes: >One question, if this is such a bad show why are you still watching it? Call it naive faith. We're hoping it might get better. I'm still not horribly impressed after the second episode. It was fun to see the sisters of Duraas again (now that they've been partially funded by the Bajoran nationalists, is the Klingon Empire going to erupt in civil war again?), but the rest of the episode just didn't do much. Kira's loyalties were never really called into question (BTW, when did she go for the Demi Moore haircut?), and Tana's plan to eliminate the wormhole to make the Federation go away just didn't make a whole lot of sense. After all, the Federation had planned to occupy the Cardassian space station even *before* anyone knew about the wormhole. I'm also vaguely surprised that the omnipotent non-linear aliens-in-the-wormhole didn't try to stop him; after all, a bomb detonation would certainly disrupt their existence quite a bit. Oh, wait. Maybe they were just a plot device and will never appear again. Hurm. Other randomness: I'm really beginning to dislike the way everyone refers to the space station as "DS9". This just sounds goofy. It does make you wonder where DS1 through 8 are, though. It's too bad about the doctor's little spy mission; I was really hoping that he'd go in *wearing* Odo... What exactly was the Cardassian trying to achieve, anyway (did they mention or reveal this somewhere in the episode? I missed it) by revealing the meeting between the Klingons and the Bajoran nationals? Sigh. Maybe next week gets better. Kevin ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jan 93 19:56:26 GMT From: jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com (Jim Mann) Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: RE: DS9 >I'm still not horribly impressed after the second episode. It was fun to >see the sisters of Duraas again (now that they've been partially funded by >the Bajoran nationalists, is the Klingon Empire going to erupt in civil >war again?), but the rest of the episode just didn't do much. How are they partially funded by Bajoran nationilists? I got the feeling they were just selling weapons to terrorists, then making even more money by turning around and selling the terrorists to the Cardasians. >Kira's loyalties were never really called into question (BTW, when did she >go for the Demi Moore haircut?), and Tana's plan to eliminate the wormhole >to make the Federation go away just didn't make a whole lot of sense. >After all, the Federation had planned to occupy the Cardassian space >station even *before* anyone knew about the wormhole. No, the Federation had said they were going to be there for a while, during the transition. The existence of the worm hole makes it likely they'll be there for a long time. >It's too bad about the doctor's little spy mission; I was really hoping >that he'd go in *wearing* Odo... What exactly was the Cardassian trying >to achieve, anyway (did they mention or reveal this somewhere in the >episode? I missed it) by revealing the meeting between the Klingons and >the Bajoran nationals? Yes. He was trying to make the Federation aware of the problem without it coming through official channels (and thereby having to really admit that he was a spy). Jim Mann Stratus Computer jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com ------------------------------ Date: 20 Jan 93 19:09:05 GMT From: gwangung@byron.u.washington.edu (Roger Tang) Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Re: DS9 "Kevin J. Chen" writes: >I'm still not horribly impressed after the second episode. It was fun to >see the sisters of Duraas again (now that they've been partially funded by >the Bajoran nationalists, is the Klingon Empire going to erupt in civil >war again?), but the rest of the episode just didn't do much. Kira's >loyalties were never really called into question (BTW, when did she go for >the Demi Moore haircut?), and Tana's plan to eliminate the wormhole to >make the Federation go away just didn't make a whole lot of sense. Yet, they rang true. He acted EXACTLY like a political fanatic would do (and I'm speaking from experience here - many of the more extreme people I've worked with had exactly this type of myopic view). >It's too bad about the doctor's little spy mission; I was really hoping >that he'd go in *wearing* Odo... What exactly was the Cardassian trying >to achieve, anyway (did they mention or reveal this somewhere in the >episode? I missed it) by revealing the meeting between the Klingons and >the Bajoran nationals? Now I thought it was obvious - get the Federation to do the dirty work for them. Much nicer work to get a potential antagonist to work with you on an issue, and much more realistic... gwangung@u.washington.edu ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jan 93 02:08:33 GMT From: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu (Yamanari) Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Ds9: The Viral Generation Well, if you ignore the huge, disgusting hole brought about by the problems of cross-species viral infections (without a change in symptom, no less) and the "mutated to an airborn variety" bit, I'll have to admit that this was finally a good episode of DS9. (A step up. The first one was bad, the second was lame, and the third was OK. This one was fun.) Spoilers: Ok, bit problems are already listed above, but the following are some stylistic problems. 1. Are we going to have an Odo-morphs-with-furniture in every episode? 2. That camera shot with Kira (sp) telling, face to face, the doctor that he was infected was *extremely* poorly done. I don't think she's actually cross-eyed, but it sure looked like it. 3. The ENDING. While I really like Quark (sp) the Ferengi, and his interaction w/Odo in this episode (It was *fun* for once), I really thought that the ending - (ship ejects, blows up. Then, "...and here's how we solved the problem, THE END.). Boy, these guys *really* need to either get some editing lessons, or, preferably, accept the concept of more two-part episodes. ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jan 93 12:32:01 GMT From: yadallee@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Dave Shariff Yadallee) Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: ST:DS9 Question of the day: Doesn't DS9 kind of reminds you of the UN intervening and helping out some countries? Dave Shariff Yadallee yadallee@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca userLIBE@mts.ucs.ualberta.ca ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jan 93 06:02:38 GMT From: mrapple@quack.sac.ca.us (Nick Sayer) Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: MAILING LIST: Space: 1999 I am firing up a new mailing list for any and all fans of the 1974-1975 TV show 'Space:1999'. Subject matter of this list is anything at all to do with the show, the characters, the actors, fan groups, anything. Anyone who is interested in this show and wants to join the list can do so by sending mail to: space-1999-request@quack.sac.ca.us Nick Sayer mrapple@quack.sac.ca.us ------------------------------ Date: 31 Jan 93 03:32:04 GMT From: aa396@cleveland.freenet.edu (Bill Henley) Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: New Superman TV show? A short news item in the Jan. 28 USA TODAY newspaper rported that ABC and Lorimar Productions are working on a new Superman TV show for next season. The description sounded a bit bizarre, though; the show is supposedly to be titled "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman", and is to be a "hip, '90s," MOONLIGHTING-like look at the romance of the two characters. Anyone have any confirmation of this news other than the USA TODAY item, or any additional information? Bill Henley ------------------------------ Date: 1 Feb 93 07:11:58 GMT From: ST1450@siucvmb.siu.edu (Steve Fellows) Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Help us save Forever Knight For those of you unfamiliar with it, Forever Knight is one of the shows currently airing in CBS' latenight CrimeTime After PrimeTime lineup. With David Letterman's move from NBC to CBS, all of the shows in the current latenight lineup will be cancelled. However, CBS is considering moving the most popular shows into primetime. The show's premise is this: (thanks to Lisa McDavid for writing this) For those who haven't seen it, Forever Knight is the story of Toronto police detective Nick Knight (Geraint Wyn Davies), who has an unusual problem in his personal life. He's a vampire, and he wants to be mortal again. As a young Crusader in 1228, he unknowingly got involved with a vampire, and was made one himself. For hundreds of years, in many identities, Nick has tried to atone and to become human. Now, he may be about to succeed, with the help of Dr. Natalie Lambert, a young medical examiner who knows his secret. The show is a well-written police mystery, with a good deal of humor, and a lot of tantalizing frustration as Nick's vampirism limits the definition of his relationship with Natalie. If this sounds like a show show you'd like to try, the one this Tuesday is a good introduction, since the flashbacks (an important part of this show's technique) told us for the first time how Natalie found out about Nick. We need support to show CBS that this show has a following and we want to see it continue. Also, if CBS does decide to drop it, the production company (Columbia/Tri-Star) wants to offer the show to cable networks, and we want them to have some evidence to show those networks that the show will be watched. Try watching the show once or twice (it's on Tuesday nights) and if you like it, call and/or send a letter or postcard to the folks listed below as soon as possible. CBS will probably be making its decision the show by February 10. CBS: CBS Audience Services 51 West 52nd Street New York, NY 10019 212-975-4321 (ask for Audience Services) 10:00-11:30, 14:00-15:30 EST CBS general phone number: 213-852-2345 CBS President Jeff Sagansky, FAX: 213-651-5900 Rod Perth, CBS (Vice President of LateNight programming) 7800 Beverly Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90036 213-852-2144 Columbia/Tri-Star Pictures: James Parriott/Forever Knight (Co-Creator and Co-Executive Producer) Culver Studios 9336 West Washington Blvd Building C, Room 209 Culver City, CA 90232 John Feldheimer (the exec who'll present FK to the cable networks if CBS Tri-Star Television cancels it) 9336 West Washington Blvd Culver City, CA 90232 310-202-4900 Columbia Pictures Television 1438 North Gower Street Los Angeles, CA 90028-8394 213-460-7200 TV Guide (they called FK and the rest of the CrimeTime lineup "cheesy") Letters Department TV Guide Radnor, PA 19088 If you do write to TV Guide, please also send a copy to CBS at the Audience Services address above. Fan clubs: There are currently 2 Forever Knight fan clubs as well as a BITNET/Internet LISTSERV mailing list. Forever Knight P.O. Box 1108 Boston, MA 02102-1108 617-522-0387 The Raven c/o Amy Hull & Paula Sanders 603 West Walnut Street Carbondale, IL 62901 The e-mail list is FORKNI-L@PSUVM.PSU.EDU or FORKNI-L@PSUVM.BITNET Credits: Lisa McDavid (D020214@UNIVSCVM.CSD.SCAROLINA.EDU) Amy L. Hull (GR4932@SIUCVMB.SIU.EDU) Evelyn Duncan (R3EJD@AKRONVM.UAKRON.EDU) Joe Wells (jbw@cs.bu.edu) mrjones@eos.ncsu.edu and probably others I don't know about Steve Fellows ST1450@SIUCVMB.SIU.EDU MARVIN@DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU st1450@aix370.siu.edu an321@cleveland.Freenet.Edu ------------------------------ End of SF-LOVERS Digest ***********************