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From: eric@aplvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers,net.comics
Subject: Re: MARS (spoiler, but don't worry, you aren't missing a thing)
Message-ID: <387@aplvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 25-Oct-83 20:51:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: aplvax.387
Posted: Tue Oct 25 20:51:41 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Oct-83 20:44:00 EDT
References: <6022@unc.UUCP>
Organization: JHU/Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, MD
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	Boy, so much material here to touch on! Since tim mentioned
Jon Sable only in a back handed way, I won't go on about that series,
although I do enjoy it (particularly the four origin issues).

	First I want to mention a few things about MARS. In general, I
agree that this is a silly series (particularly after reading the
second issue). The plot goes whipping by very quickly in the first
issue, and then drags - barely able to reach the finish (which it
really doesn'e) in the second issue. And much of the "science" is
on very weak grounds. But I don't find the art that offensive. In fact,
it seems to remind me quite a bit of the style of the Japanese animation
shows. Has anyone else noticed this? I read the bios on the artists,
but neither seems to have any background in the Japanese shows, and
no mention is made of it. Anyway, I'll hang on a little longer to
see how it goes.

	Perhaps more disturbing is the insistance that science fiction
has to be prepared to give PhD level explanations of any "new" science
to qualify as "science fiction" and not "science fantasy". I simply
do not agree. Certainly in the 40's, 50's and early 60's this was
the case, and it was the style that first captured me. But the field
has grown beyond the stage of writing stories around hardware or
theory. There are many good "science fiction" stories that do not
bother to explain as they go along, but deal with the characters or
ideas. Some examples are the stories of Spider Robinson, Gene Wolfe
(maybe, the jury is still out on just what the Torturer series is),
and some of Zelazny's short stories and novels (Eye of Cat, Rose for
Ecclesiastes, etc). It just isn't necessary anymore to explain how
FTL drives, stasis fields, or time travel work to be "science fiction".
Roddenberry once pointed out that Matt Dillon never once explained
how a Colt 45 worked, and so he felt no need to explain how a phaser
worked. The problem with MARS is the so-called "willing suspension
of dis-belief" and the sometimes glaring inconsistencies.

	It looks like I am going off the deep end here, but after
trying to catch up on a full weeks worth of news, that sometimes
happens. 'Til we meet at Callahan's.

-- 
					eric
					...!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!eric