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From: leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers,net.movies
Subject: Re: Ellison and TERMINATOR
Message-ID: <849@mtgzz.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Jun-85 03:11:23 EDT
Article-I.D.: mtgzz.849
Posted: Mon Jun 24 03:11:23 1985
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> >After Fox made ALIEN, Van Vogt threatened to sue over similarities to
> >his "Discord in Scarlet."  Apparently egg-laying aliens is another
> >owned idea.
> >
> I object, Mark!  When I saw Alien I thought so much was taken
> that I expected to see Van Vogt in the credits.  It's not just an
> egg-laying alien ...  it's an alien picked up by an interstellar
> ship that lays eggs in people 

Sorry, the idea of a creature that lays its eggs in other creatures and
uses them distructively to incubate them was used long ago by a fellow
named E. Coli.  Mr. Coli has been using this idea for millions of years
now.  Admittedly he is not an alien, but you don't see him every day.

>and lurks almost indetectibly in
> the ship picking off a crewman at a time in horrible ways.  

The alien creature was an amalgam of the least esthetic traits of
several different Terrestrial creatures.  For example, left on the
the cutting room floor was the scene in which Capt. Dallas was found
alive, trussed up in silk the way a spider would, to be feasted on a
bit at a time.  (An early review, based on the prerelease version
especially mentioned this nightmarish scene--I bet it would have been a
good one, too.)  Apparently the scene was cut out just before release
and I am told it is still in the novel.  Other places it looks and
grabs like a crab, etc.  In any case, it is easy to see that they have
it reproduce by pumping genetic material into a victim like
a wasp or a virus, and letting it incubate, leaving the victim alive,
until they hatch and eat their way out.  I really think that the
similarities to "Discord" are coincidental.  And regrettable but
accidental.

>I
> don't disagree with your Ellison points -- he disowned his only
> work that I've ever liked, so he gets no sympathy from me -- but
> I think your sarcasm is uncalled for on this one.  Besides, Van
> Vogt didn't sue, did he?

He threatened to, I have heard, and got a payoff, much like the
happened in the recent Ellison incident.  Forry Ackerman talked at a
convention about how he convinced Van Vogt to sue.

				Mark Leeper
				...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper