From: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!ARPAVAX:UNKNOWN:sf-lovers Newsgroups: fa.sf-lovers Title: test Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8760 Posted: Tue Oct 12 02:35:02 1982 Received: Sun Oct 17 03:19:35 1982 >From SFL@SRI-CSL Sun Oct 10 22:48:16 1982 SF-LOVERS Digest 10-Oct-82 Volume 6 : Issue 42 Today's Topics: SF-LOVERS is back after a *long* delay. Beastmaster, evaluating authors, Revenge of the Jedi, E.E. Smith works, Christine Chapel, Lem, HHGttG, superconductor, here's the plot ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Note from moderator: Due to some unforseen problems, there has been a reshuffling of moderators. The moderator of SF-LOVERS is Stuart Cracraft (mclure@sri-unix). Jim Mcgrath, the former moderator, has retired. Since I have never handled digests before, expect some oddities in the first few digests. Feel free to send suggestions about the digest format. As always, submissions should be sent to SF-LOVERS@SRI-CSL and requests should be sent to SF-LOVERS-REQUEST@SRI-CSL. Note that it will be faster sending to the latter of these for requests rather than sending to my personal mailbox. Stuart -------------------- Date: 29 Aug 1982 at 1628-CDT From: hjjh at UTEXAS-11 Subject: Beastmaster provenience To: sf-lovers at sri-csl ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ WHAT'S/WHOSE "BEASTMASTER"? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Somewhere, recently, I ran across a reference to a couple writers doing a screenplay of Andre Norton's BEASTMASTER. (I've checked here in SF-L, in LOCUS, and in STARLOG, but haven't been able to find it again.) I thought, "Hey, that's great!" BEASTMASTER is classic Norton, and as I thought about it, seemed to be likely to be readily adaptable to cinematic presentation. I expected that if ever such a project really got underway, there'd be mention of it by our knowledgeable SF-LOVERS cinemaddicts. Suddenly I see in the local paper an advertisement for a movie called BEASTMASTER. The picture in the ad looks Conanesque: a blond-ish, well-thewed hero brandishing a sword, accompanied by a near-nekkid, cringeing, barbarian-looking damsel. BEASTMASTER?!? Could \this/ be Norton's BEASTMASTER? There is no reference to Norton among the credits. Her hero, Hosteen Storm, is Amerindian, not a blond. The book is SF, not sword-and-sorcery, and the only female is an elderly Amerindian woman "walk-on" right at the end. In short, no mighty thews, no swords, no barbarians, no damsels. I called the theatre to get the name of the character, too small and blurred to read in the ad, played by John Amos. I was told it was "Seth" (couldn't find and "Seth" in flipping thru the book) and that his part was of the king's guardsman. The book has neither kings nor guardsmen. What the book does have are 4 animal companions of the hero-- a large feline, an eagle, and a pair of meerkats. The picture in the ad shows the hero accompanied by 4 animals in addition to the cringeing damsel-- a large feline, an eagle, and a pair of what I can only presume to be meerkats. Can anybody explicate the book-movie relationship? I've got a sick feeling that it IS "from Norton", very, very f-a-r from, and that it's definitely NOT "Ya-tah-hay"! -------------------- Date: 27 Aug 1982 1117-MDT From: Henderson at UTAH-20 ( Tom Henderson) Subject: Evaluating Authors To: SF-LOVERS at MIT-AI Some major authors missing from the evaluation lists include: ** Olaf Stapledon Last and First Men, Last Men in London ,etc. ** Rene Barjavel Ravage, Le Diable L'Emporte, Le Grand Secret, etc. (sorry, I have the French versions and don't know the English titles.) ** Herbert W. Franke Zarathustra kehrt zurueck, Ypsilon minus, etc. (ditto/German above) ** Zenna Henderson (no relation) The People, etc. ** Gore Vidal (I've always wondered whether or not a writer is disqualified from being labeled a "science fiction" writer once the quality of the writing exceeds a certain level!) Myra Breckinridge, Messiahs, etc. These are just some of the science fiction writers of major import missing from the reports. Also, I've seen it said in SFL that science fiction is in some sense an *American* genre; unfortunately, I believe that *pulp peurile SF* is the American contribution. Science fiction has been around quite a while in various forms: Americans have merely banalized it! Tom Henderson (HENDERSON@UTAH-20) -------------------- Date: 29 Aug 1982 1601-CDT From: Greg Elder Subject: Revenge of the Jedi To: sf-lovers at MIT-AI The October issue of Epic Illustrated shows a couple of production paintings from RotJ. The magazine also states that the movie is scheduled to be released on Friday, 27 May 83. -------------------- Date: 24 August 1982 21:48-EDT (Tuesday) From: David Dyer-Bennet Subject: SF Lovers submission To: young at market ( Subject: SF-LOVERS Digest V6 #40 ) (Tim Shimeall ) Spacehounds of IPC has no apparent connection to other works. The tone is closer to Skylark than to the Lensman universe, but there is no evidence of any connection. The Family D'Alembert series is published by Pyramid as by E.E. "Doc" Smith with Stephen Goldin. I have only 4 volumes of it; my last, Getaway World, carries a 1977 copyright date. I have seen them in stores much more recently than that, in fact within the last year. -------------------- Date: 24 Aug 1982 2356-EDT From: DD-B To: YOUNG at MARKET Reply-to: DYER-BENNET at KL2137 DTN: 231-4076 Mailstop: MRO1-2/L14 Subject: SF Lovers submission Message-ID: <"MS10(2066)+GLXLIB1(1056)" 11850524677.46.253.7808 at KL2137> More on Doc Smith's Family D'Alembert series: Having checked my book shelves in better light, I see that I have 6 in the series. The first 4 are from Pyramid, as I reported earlier. The fifth is from HBJ, and the sixth is from Berkeley. The copyright on the fifth is 1980. The Best of E. E. "Doc" Smith (HBJ paper, 1979, copyright 1975) contains a story called "The Imperial Stars", which is the first part of the book Imperial Stars. No publication history is given in either place (curse Pyramid and HBJ), but one of the forwards of Best Of dates the piece in 1964. ... Ah ha! The bibliography in The Universes of E. E. Smith (Ron Ellik and Bill Evans; Advent, 1968) credits that to Worlds of IF, May 1964. Then, of course, there is the Lord Tedric series, and Masters of Space.... -------------------- Date: 29 August 1982 22:10-EDT (Sunday) Sender: LECIN at RU-GREEN From: Mijjil (Matthew Jody Lecin) To: Sf-Lovers at MIT-AI cc: Lecin at RUTGERS Subject: Star Trek (random trivia point) But did anyone besides me ever wonder why they named her Christine Chapel? The pun on Sistine Chapel has always amused me. >Mijjil -------------------- Date: 30 Aug 1982 1139-PDT From: KRIEGER Subject: More Lem To: sf-lovers at SRI-CSL Well, some people must think I have a one-track mind, but since some others seem this way to me, I don't feel so bad. I have just finished a recent Lem acquisition which has been out since the early seventies. It is translated from German translated from Polish, but it seems to have survived pretty well. The book is THE INVINCIBLE; it could be classified in the genre of "realistic SF," which to some people is a contradiction in terms. Anyway, the story concerns the cruiser INVINCIBLE as it touches down on planet REGIS III to investigate the disappearance of the cruiser CONDOR several years earlier. The CONDOR is found is somewhat battered condition, and the crew members that are found are dead. The crew of the INVINCIBLE is at a loss to explain how this could have happened, and in the process of investigation, they uncover mysterious clues about insect-like "flies." Strong magnetic fields also seem to play an important part in the mystery, as does the inexplicable circumstance of several people having part or all of their memory erased. I won't give away further details of the story for those who might be interested in reading it; I thought it was very good, myself. Once again, Lem has involved his interest in artificial intelligence in his writing, which makes for a novel idea and interesting reading. Another theme which gets introduced later in the book is the purpose and morality (maybe there's a better word) of man's trying to colonize and conquer things which may be beyond both his mental and physical reach. This book is good reading for people who enjoy a mystery that is solved slowly. It deals quite a bit with the thoughts of a few of the characters, and it's quite possible some people might find it boring for lack of action, since it has few intense battles or whatever some people need to keep their interest. It is quite like SOLARIS in that it involves the psychology of men in space who almost seem to wage war with the planet they land on, somehow knowing deep down that they can't win. This is NOT a lighthearted book, and readers familiar with Lem's playfulness in works such as the CYBERIAD and MORTAL ENGINES will find none of that here. THE INVINCIBLE is similar in form to some of Lem's TALES OF PIRX THE PILOT; thus, people who have found those boring will probably find this equally entertaining. For people interested in seeing a different side of Lem, THE INVINCIBLE is a good place to look. -------------------- Date: 30 Aug 1982 1541-PDT From: Tom Wadlow Subject: Vol III of HHGttG To: sf-lovers at MIT-AI Copies of the British paperback edition of Douglas Adams' "Life, The Universe, and Everything" (the third volume of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), are available at the Green Apple bookstore on Clement St. in San Francisco. Be warned: the imported edition is $4.50!!! But if you're desperate (I certainly did not feel *that* desperate) -------------------- Date: 29 August 1982 18:17-PDT (Sunday) From: GANESHA at OFFICE-1 To: SF-LOVERS at MIT-MC Reply-to: GANESHA at OFFICE-1 Cc: GANESHA at OFFICE-1 Subject: References for superconducter What impressed me was the room-temperature superconducting "wire" they possessed. This material has since become reality: last year in ELECTRONICS magazine a researcher at Wright-Patterson AFB announced that an experiment to produce ductile crystals resulted in a material exhibiting ALL properties expected of a superconductor AT ROOM TEMPERATURE....Can anybody provide more information on this subject? K.Karl at SU-LOTS The articles were in Electronics of October 9, 1980, page 41 and September 22, 1981, page 12. Vahldick won't discuss the nitty-gritty details of the process until his patent is granted, which he expects sometime this year. He says the largest crystals he has made so far are 12 to 14 millimeters in the superconducting direction and 2 to 4 mm in the other axes (the stuff is a crystal), but that the limiting factor is his home [!] laboratory. The process starts with titanium bromide (TiB2). If anyone is interested, I would be happy to summarize further, but a different list would probably be more appropriate. (Any suggestions?) Ganesha -------------------- Date: 1 Sep 1982 1625-EDT From: LEWIN at CMU-20C Subject: Here's the plot...(t.v.) To: sfl at SRI-CSL I'm trying to remember the name of an old t.v. science fiction series from the '50s or possibly very early '60s. The hero was a Commander Buzz (?) Correy, who has a faster-than-light spaceship which doubled as a time machine. Among the adventures I remember were plots involving intelligent crystalline life-forms, visiting Salem (Mass.) during the witchcraft trials, and a visit to contemporary (ie-1950s) America to halt a bomb test. Correy's companions included the standard kid, girl, goofy sidekick and dithering scientist, but the plots and science fiction ideas were generally superior. -------------------- Date: 31 Aug 82 19:43-PDT From: mclure at SRI-UNIX To: sf-lovers at Sri-Csl Subject: Jedi update a280 1928 31 Aug 82 AM-ENT--Jedi, Adv 09,570 $Adv 09 For Release AMs Thurs Sept 9 ''Jedi'' A Box-Office Bonanza for 1983 By BOB THOMAS Associated Press Writer HOLLYWOOD (AP) - With ''Star Wars'' earning more millions five years after its original release, the nation's theater owners can look forward to another bonanza next summer: ''The Revenge of the Jedi.'' It's the third of George Lucas's space trilogy, part of a saga that may expand to a total of nine films. ''Jedi'' has completed principal photography: 12 weeks in huge stages at EMI Elstree studios near London, two months of locations in the desert of Yuma, Ariz., and the redwood forests near Crescent City, Calif. Now the film is in the hands of the wizards at the Lucas subsidiaries, Industrial Light and Magic and Sprocket Systems, at San Mateo in northern California. Howard Kasanjian gave a progress report by telephone from production headquarters. ''We're in the post-production stage now, and the special effects are a mammoth undertaking,'' reported the producer. ''Everything is on schedule, but we'll probably finish two hours before the final prints have to be shipped, as with 'Star Wars' and 'The Empire Strikes Back.''' Like Lucas, Kasanjian is a graduate of the University of Southern California film school. He joined the Directors Guild training program in l965 and worked as assistant director for Francis Coppola, Sam Peckinpah, Elia Kazan, Billy Wilder and Alfred Hitchcock. Kasanjian hooked up with Lucas to produce ''More American Grafitti,'' was executive co-producer on ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' and producer of ''The Revenge of the Jedi.'' ''The new film is as big if not bigger than the first two,'' said Kasanjian, 40. ''A lot of action, a lot of excitement. As the conclusion of the trilogy, it answers a lot of questions: Is Vader really Luke's father? Who gets the Princess? Does she live? Will the robots stay together? Will they be melted down? Audiences will learn more about the characters, where they came from, how they became what they are. ''It's a super film - though I never want to get hyped up about any picture. Even though I knew we had an excellent script with 'Raiders,' I didn't say anything about it. A week before it was released, nobody knew what it was about.'' ''The Revenge of the Jedi'' brings back the principals of the two earlier films: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, Billy Dee Williams, Frank Oz, etc. The director is Richard Marquand of Great Britain. Cost of the new film reflects its expanded scope, as well the the inroads of inflation. Kasanjian cited these figures: ''Star Wars'' - $10.5 million. ''The Empire Strikes Back'' - $25 million. ''The Revenge of the Jedi'' - $32.5 million. ''If we made 'Star Wars' today it would cost $22 million,'' Kasanjian remarked. Labor in Great Britain ''has risen 33 per cent since 'Empire' three years ago. The cost of living allowance for Americans has risen 49 per cent.'' The producer remarked that Lucas has a story outline for the next three films of the saga. The scripts may be written at the same time, with the first two being filmed simultaneously - ''so we can release one every two years instead of every three years,'' said Kasanjian, adding cautiously: ''Whether we go ahead depends on the reaction to 'Jedi'.'' Meanwhile the money machine grinds on. Lucas and Steven Spielberg have a finished script for the ''Raiders'' sequel, tentatively called ''Indy 2,'' and filming is scheduled to begin next spring. End Adv AMs Thurs Sept 9 ap-ny-08-31 2228EDT ********** End of SF-LOVERS Digest *********************** Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com