Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site dataio.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!decvax!tektronix!uw-beaver!uw-june!entropy!dataio!bright
From: bright@dataio.UUCP (Walter Bright)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers,net.movies
Subject: Re: Explorers -- a pico review.
Message-ID: <710@dataio.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 13-Jul-85 14:37:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: dataio.710
Posted: Sat Jul 13 14:37:48 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 19-Jul-85 02:14:50 EDT
Reply-To: bright@dataio.UUCP (Walter Bright)
Organization: Data I/O Corp., Redmond WA
Lines: 23
Xref: watmath net.sf-lovers:8726 net.movies:7078

In article <494@oliveb.UUCP> gnome@oliveb.UUCP (Gary Traveis) writes:
>From Joe Dante (Gremlins) comes a cute, fun, science fantasy
>about a three kids who are given the key to interplanetary travel.
>After some local mischief, the three (a street-kid, a sf-type, and
>a student brainiac) head off to discover the answers to life, the universe,
>and everything from an unseen all-knowing alien race.

I thought the second half was totally stupid and dull.
By the way, where does a 9-volt battery get the energy required to dig
5' diameter holes in the ground? I wish some of these sci-fi movie
directors would take a basic course in physics, or hire a consultant
to help them avoid the more obvious screwups. And don't wave the
'but it's supposed to be fun' at me, I think these glaring problems
are due to laziness on the part of the director, and are not necessary
to the plot. A good sci-fi plot is one that takes ONE assumption (such
as aliens beaming technology into a kid's brain) and logically builds
on that assumption. Continually trotting out absurdities out of convenience
shows a lack of imagination on the part of the director, and is insulting
to watch.

Good sci-fi is not necessarilly preposterous, as an example take a look
at Arthur Clarke's novels (BTW, he holds a doctorate in physics), and
the novels that Niven and Pournelle collaborated on.