Copyright 1993, Cyberspace Vanguard Magazine ================================================================ | PO Box 25704, Garfield Hts., OH 44125 USA | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | TJ Goldstein, Editor Sarah Alexander, Administrator | | tlg4@po.cwru.edu aa746@po.cwru.edu | ---------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 1 October 26, 1993 Issue 6 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS --!1!-- Ramblings of a Deranged Editor (& a few deranged readers ...) --!2!-- Within the Realm of Extreme Possibility: Creator CHRIS CARTER on the X-FILES --!3!-- The Highlander's Heart: An Interview with ADRIAN PAUL --!4!-- The Art and Science of Leaping Tall Buildings --!5!-- A Writer's Guide to STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION --!6!-- Reviews by EVELYN C. LEEPER --!7!-- THE OLD COMIC CURMUDGEON: R-E-S-P-E-C-T ... --!8!-- The Infamous Reply Cards and What You Said --!9!-- SF Calendar: What's Coming Up in the Near Future --!10!-- All The News That's Fit To Transmit --!11!-- Spoilers Ahoy! Including TWILIGHT ZONE Episode Guide --!12!-- Contests and Awards --!13!-- Conventions and Readings --!14!-- Publications, Lists and the like --!15!-- Administrivia --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --!1!-- Ramblings of a Deranged Editor (& a few deranged readers ...) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, we're certainly growing! This issue we welcome not one, but four new regular writers, taking on French-language news, Japanese news, HIGHLANDER news, and those ever accumulating reply cards. Also, with all of this renewed interest in Superman generated by successful debut of LOIS AND CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, we bring you John McGervey's "The Art and Science of Leaping Tall Buidlings," a fun piece guaranteed to answer all those "hey, if Superman did that, wouldn't ..." questions that will inevitably come up. (Dr. McGervey is also the author of PROBABILITIES IN EVERYDAY LIFE, the source of one of my personal favorite quotes: "If you had purchased one square acre of Manhattan in 1850, you would now be ... dead.") Also on tap is an interview with Chris Carter, creator and producer of what seems to be turning out as this season's sleeper hit, X-FILES, and another with screen "immortal" Adrian Paul, star of HIGHLANDER. We're also continuing the episode guide thing by bringing you season one of the classic Twilight Zone. (We'll run season two next issue.) Finally, for those of you with big dreams and itchy word processors, we send Kris Voelker to one of the workshops given by the people at STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION to give the rest of us a report on everything you need to know about writing for STAR TREK. One brief comment more and I'll get on with it. If you've been reading the magazine for a while you may notice that the relative amounts of different things seems to change. If you would like to see more or less of something, please let us know. This is YOUR magazine, but we can't read all of your minds. And on a related topic, we are trying to expand the base of our foreign coverage. If you are outside the United States and would like to help us out by covering the scene in your part of the world, please drop us a note. CV is read in more than 30 countries on 6 continents. (And if you're reading this in Antarctica, please let me know!) That's it. That's all I'm going to say. I'm going to let our readers take it from here. (Yes, we listened to all those people who asked for a "letters to the editor" column, and here it is!) THE READERS SPEAK UP (catchy names for the letters column eagerly welcomed!) [Letters to the editor may be sent to cn577@cleveland.freenet.edu. Please start your subject line with LTE - whatever it is you want to say. We will keep your name and e-dress confidential if you ask. Letters may be edited for space.] Thanks for your moving account of John Williams's final performance as conductor of the Boston Pops. [News, Issue 5] Your statement "this man wrote the soundtrack to my adolescence" eloquently expresses my own feelings about Williams. In fact, his music has a special resonance in my life right now, because my children are listening to it. I decided a few months ago that it was time they were exposed to Star Wars, so I bought videotapes of all three films. (E.T., too.) Both kids (Ruth, 7, and Ben, 4) are now enthusiastic Star Wars fans. They don't know or care that these movies are old -- to them, it's all fresh and wonderful. They've now watched the films several times through, and they know the music well enough that when I play my soundtrack albums, the kids tell me what scenes go with which tracks. This week, I explained to Ruth that there are special musical themes for most of the characters, and now she's listening even more intently, determined to figure out which theme is whose. Even as he retires, Williams is casting his spell over a new generation . . . -- pat@berry.Cary.NC.US (Pat Berry) I'd like to say that I've enjoyed reading CV whenever it comes out and I'd love to see you keep on producing it! But, I have a small gripe/question about the movie section and movies in general. According to your chart [Movie news, Issue 5] E.T. was the top grossing film of all time which is probably true, but it doesn't tell me anything about which movie was the most popular of all time. When Star Wars came out, it cost about $1.50 - $2.00 to get a ticket. Nowadays you can't find first run movie for under $6.50 - $7.50, depending on where you are. So obviously movies that come out now are going to automatically equal the gross take of Star Wars with 3.5 to 4 times LESS people, and this disparity will only grow with time. And this disparity is even bigger as you go back farther in time to the 50s, 40s and 30s. Just spouting out the gross take numbers is a cheap way of trumpeting your movie(s), without saying anything meaningful. I'd much rather see which films have had the greatest ATTENDANCE so we would have better idea of which films are the most popular. Or if they would keep track of the box office gross in constant dollars it would be a much more useful metric for comparing movies. How many people have seen GONE WITH THE WIND or PINOCCHIO or other classics from tha era? Now THAT's a number I would like to see. ---- John Stoffel [Editor's Note: John is certainly correct. Since that report, JURASSIC PARK has broken the record for world-wide grosses and has taken the #2 spot on the US list, but adjusted for inflation, the highest grossing film of all time is GONE WITH THE WIND.] In the recent issue of Cyberspace Vanguard, it was mentioned that possibly [a prominent actress] is pregnant. Though it was marked UNCONFIRMED, I believe it is really in poor taste to speculate on the fecundity of any woman actor, unless you are willing to pass speculation on the father of the unborn child. The rumor has it he is a certain actor on [another show] (I will not name him), yet I see no mention of his name either here or in the posting on the INFORMATION board on the USENET area devoted to [the show.] I firmly believe that if it is okay to bring up the speculation she is pregnant (which is slanderous) then the prospective father is not exempt from the potential heat just because he is famous. ---- Teresa Joan Waterkuetter, dj984@Cleveland.freenet.edu [Editor's Note: Good point, Teresa. The name of the father was not included for a couple of reasons. 1) We didn't know, and 2) the news was included not because we wanted to speculate as to the actress's social life, but because it had a possible impact on a popular television show. We have a lot of respect for this actress, and did not mean to offend her. In the future, however, you won't find that kind of speculation here.] One more thing: we'd like to publicly congratulate Evelyn C. Leeper on her win as "Best Fan Writer" in the Electronic Science Fiction Awards, and Carol Wang, our esteemed correspondent, who has successfully defended and is now Master Wang. Congratulations, ladies! ------------------------------------------ DISCLAIMER: At the moment most of the issue is written personally by the editor, but the other writers take sole responsibility for their writing -- in other words, we take no responsibility for copyright infringement by other writers. (My own stuff I know isn't stolen.) REPOSTING: CYBERSPACE VANGUARD may be reposted in its entirety without requesting additional permission as long as all notices are retained. News items, EXCLUDING the french-language, Japanese, and Highlander columns, may be reposted as long as credit is given. For all other items, you MUST contact us prior to reposting so we can get the permission of the authors. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --!2!-- Within the Realm of Extreme Possibility: Creator CHRIS CARTER on the X-FILES --------------------------------------------------------------------------- by TJ Goldstein For a show that snuck up on everybody, X-FILES seems to be the sleeper hit of the year. Quietly, and with little promotion, it has staked out its territory on Friday night and seems to be holding on, at least well enough to convince Fox to pick the show up for a full season.. We spoke to the creator and producer of the show by phone from Los Angeles shortly before X-FILES debuted. Chris Carter isn't a stranger to producing. He's done some shows for Disney, including THE NANNY, a 1/2 hour show he created for the Disney Channel. Despite all that, the nervous excitement came through in his voice. He sounds almost like a kid who has managed to pull the wool over the exectives' eyes, sneak into the studio, and produce what HE thinks television should be. It's easy to pin him down on what the show IS, but not what it's LIKE. What it IS is an hour-long series that focuses on two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents who investigate, as the name suggests, the "X-Files." These are the files that the FBI has put aside because there simply is no rational explanation, such as UFO abductions or other "unexplainable phenomena." Fox "Spooky" Mulder is a Believer. His sister was (he believes) the victim of a UFO abduction when he was 12, and he has dedicated himself to studying and hopefully solving the mysterious cases the Bureau doesn't want to touch. More than just a crank obsessed with UFO's, Mulder is trained in psychology and science and merely insists on not discounting possibilities simply because they don't fit in with preconceived notions of what is possible and what is not. The Bureau, in order to keep an eye on him, sends in Agent Dana Scully, a physician and devout skeptic. She is more rational, but though she rarely believes Mulder on the first try, she does at least have an open mind -- most of the time. She's more trusting of due process than Mulder, and that can get them -- and the people they're trying to help -- into trouble. It's not to say that she's bumbling; not at all. She is intelligent and extremely competent. She just doesn't always have as much skepticism about the known reality as she does about the unknown. Naturally, since they are a man and a woman paired together, the first thing people think is: romance. Will they end up together on their own time? "No, it's a relationship that is much stronger and more passionate. First of all I would call it a cerebral romance in that these characters sort of delight in each other's approaches and it isn't the pat or standard or expected television romance between them. There is no physicality between them. I don't see it in the near future here. They don't end up in the sack together. At least I don't see it happening yet. I think it's refreshing. I mean I was raised on shows like THE AVENGERS which are smart and the characters were very attractive for those aspects. They didn't have to end up in bed together." The very creation of the show, in fact, was heavily influenced by Mr. Carter's childhood television habits. "I felt there wasn't anything scary on television. I loved the show NIGHT STALKER as a kid so when I was signed to an exclusive contract by 20th Century Fox TV they asked me what I would like to do -- which is a nice position to be in -- I told them I'd like to do something like NIGHT STALKER but I didn't want to do something that was limited to vampires. So how did he decide on aliens as a substitute? "I had the coincidental experience of spending time with a friend who works as an Ivy league researcher, and he had shown me the Dr. Mack -- the Harvard psychology professor -- survey on what he called the alien abduction syndrome. It showed that 3% of the American public actually believes they have been abducted by UFO's. I thought that was fascinating. A larger percentage actually had experienced contact with extraterrestrials or something otherworldly. "I found that amazing and I thought, well, aliens have become the new vampires of sorts. I thought there was a lot to explore. I didn't want to limit myself to just the bad world. I wanted to explore all paranormal phenomena and unsolved crimes that involved these or any phenomena." So how does the show treat these "phenomena," as the hallucinations of unstable people, or as something much deeper? "It makes a strong case for the alien abduction syndrome. Someone is suffering from something for reasons that are logical and believable. I'm a natural-born skeptic, but the more research I've done and the more people I've come into contact with by doing the show, the more they've chipped away at my skepticism. I'm much more open-minded and there are certain things I take for granted, if not as my truth, then as their truth. "I should also say that if you throw a rock, you hit 3 people who actually know more about this stuff than I do. I'm a relative babe in the woods compared to a lot of people who have quite an extensive knowledge about these and other phenomena, but actually I think that serves me. I come at it with a very fresh perspective ... do you try and access these people to try and get more information, or are you going at it from a partly imaginative point of view? Sometimes we use an amalgam of information to create an idea but ... we are doing all this from imagination, so it's fiction but it's fiction that takes place within the realm of extreme possibility." When he got his first producing credit six and a half years ago on THE NANNY, he "didn't know what producing entailed." Certainly, that had changed by the time X-FILES came along. What DOES a producer do? "Everything. Producers function as quality control people. You hire people to do certain jobs, then you oversee those jobs. You make creative decisions, you make decisions of taste, tone and style. You shape a movie or TV show by the people you hire both as talent and as technical staff. "A person has to earn my trust, generally. When you hire qualified people, that is something that happens very soon, but I tend to have very strong ideas about what it is I want and I try to keep an eye on all areas, from an actress's makeup to the way a cameraman shoots a certain scene." First and foremost, however, Mr. Carter is a writer. "Yes, I wrote the pilot episode and now I've written 2 episodes past that, so a writer is what I am first and foremost. That's who I am. I've become a producer by circumstance but I love it. Producing is very social, writing is very lonely." And if he had to pick one? "I'd have to say in TV I can't pick one because to be a writer in television the only way to do it is also be a producer. It's a producer-driven medium. It's a writer-driven medium also, but you have to want to have your stuff done well. You have to carry it through to physical production. Writing screenplays is not like writing prose. You're creating a blueprint with dialogue for a visual thing. So if you're in TV it serves you best to work in both writing and producing mediums. "Being a producer in TV makes you a better writer in TV in that you understand what can and can't be done. Sometimes I'll read a writer's spec script and I can tell when he has not produced TV because he will assume that certan things can be done which can't be done. That's one of the things that helps you as a writer by being a producer." Being a producer can help the writing as well as the writer. "As a writer you've imagined something that's perfect in your mind, and so when you see it actually take physical shape or electronic shape it can be very depressing. It looks to you like a series of compromises ... Your original concept is degraded from the moment it goes into somebody else's hand. There is this whole process. It's like a bucket brigade; it is handed to a series of people who do their job. If they do it well, they can make your script better, and if they don't do it well it makes it worse. It's amazing to me when the process actually creates a magical moment." His descriptions evidence the ongoing nature of production, but "each episode will function as a complete story. We put information out there and they learn things that are going to shape our characters. They're not going to go backwards once they see something. They're not going to then not believe in it later on, so there will be an accumulation of knowledge and experience but each episode will function as its own open-and-shut case." This is unlike mainstream television where, at the end of an episode, the world essentially returns to precisely the state it was in before the opening credits rolled. I asked him if he's afraid of not being able to top himself. "That's a nice thing to do, I'm not afraid of that. This is such a wide open field that the fear of having to top yourself is self- limiting. If you fear that then you're not going to attempt to do so. I have to go sorta boldly into the future here and hope that I can top myself each week that I can." Like Donald Bellisario, the creator of QUANTUM LEAP, Mr. Carter doesn't feel that his show is "science fiction" per se. "My buzz phrase is that the show takes place within the realm of extreme possibility. I think it's the same area that Michael Crichton might work in. The ANDROMEDA STRAIN, THE TERMINAL MAN, or JURASSIC PARK were all taking those possibilites into account. We explore them as if our stories could actually be happening." For those of you who look for scientific accuracy, while there is no science advisor credited, "it's really easy to pick up the phone and call your brother and get him to give you very technical advice." His brother is a physicist. So, when you come right down to it, what exactly IS it? It deals with alien abduction, but it's not science fiction. It's scary, but it's not gory. It's been compared to everything from NIGHT STALKER to early TWIN PEAKS. So how does Chris Carter describe it? "You know, there's nothing on TV like it. I've been asked this question and I'm always at a loss to compare it to anything because when you start to compare it to anything you start to do yourself a disservice. People say it's like that or oh it's like that. I just don't think there's anything like it on TV. I call it a cross between SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and UNSOLVED MYSTERIES." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --!3!-- The Highlander's Heart: An Interview with ADRIAN PAUL --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (c) Linda Knights - KnightWriter Press It didn't take long to arrive at a first impression of Adrian Paul, one that would last through the length of the afternoon. Ask him about himself -- the man, not the character -- and he pleasantly, dutifully, answers your queries. Yet, despite his answers, this is clearly a very reserved man, one who values his personal privacy as the one thing he has chosen not to freely share with his fans. And yet, he took time out for this interview while working through rehearsal after rehearsal of a scene for the upcoming HIGHLANDER episode "The Zone." They were filming a flashback sequence to a time when Duncan MacLeod, an immortal, was aiding a handful of miners who were struggling for better working conditions. They were working on the site of a historically reconstructed mining camp, and Mr. Paul seemed very at home in his "vintage-era" clothing, amidst antique cars and old, weather-worn buildings. His English heritage is obvious to the observer in more than the delightful traces of British accent which linger in his speech, but he is married to an American. She is Meilani, one of the Pepsi commercial Uh-Huh girls, and he speaks with obvious fondness for her. Meilani is currently, along with the group she is in, in the process of launching a new musical career. Between her busy work schedule and his (which takes him to two continents) they rarely get to see each other for more than a few days at a time. Yet they've managed to buy and remodel a home in Los Angeles -- the place they still theoretically still call home. (Mr. Paul confided that his "hobby" before coming to HIGHLANDER was doing all the remodeling himself, from rerouting the wiring to building arches and doing the drywalling.) His immediate family, he said, remains in England. His more extended family of uncles, aunts and cousins spreads out more broadly into Italy and the U.S. One of the major advantages for him in shooting half a season in France is that London is thus commuter-close for him, so he has frequent chances to fly home and spend time with his family. This year he'll get to spend some time with relatives in Italy as well. Yes, these were all very polite answers, and there was even a slight glimmer of animation as the subject switched from him personally to his family. But ask this man about HIGHLANDER or Duncan MacLeod and his eyes light up, his expression becomes more intense, alternatingly either more thoughtful or with a sly smile and a laugh so obviously heartfelt that it was impossible not to join with him in the laughter. From the very first question about the series it was clear that this was an actor who loved his role, not just someone who comes to work in the morning and forgets it at night. He's also an actor involved in many aspects of the series. Duncan MacLeod, a 400-year-old immortal alive during the time of the Gathering, is a very active character, a man who is likely, at any moment, to need to go from the midst of a loving, tender moment into the heart of a battle to the death with another immortal. He is a man who must learn to balance the pluses and minuses of his own immortality against the short lifespans of those he has chosen to call friend ... or lover. MacLeod's had, of course, four hundred years to learn to find those delicate balances. Mr. Paul hasn't had ... quite that long. Yet, surprisingly, when he spoke of the life and lifestyle that led him to this point in his acting career you almost got a feeling that he might have had a couple hundred years to "get it right". Originally a dancer working with small groups across the face of Europe, he learned to do what he called "... street stuff, jazz ballet, funk. I took ballet and jazz when I was younger, but then I trained. A lot of the stuff that I did in Paris and with people I knew from London was sort of on-the-job training." He brought his skills as a dancer to the U.S. where he landed a brief role in the network production of THE COLBYS -- working as a Russian ballet dancer. "I did more ballet there ... although there was no way I could become a fabulous ballet dancer in six months." So how did a man go from that background to the sword-wielding warrior strength of a Duncan MacLeod? Well, six years of martial arts experience (Taekwondo, Aikido and other forms) and personal trainers helped pave the way, as did a couple of years of previous training with the Japanese sword (katana) that Duncan uses on the series. "... I knew what I was doing a little bit (with the sword) but then Bob Anderson, who is the fencing coordinator, helped me out. I worked with him on it and now I understand a lot more about different styles." There will actually be a new style -- a Chinese style -- incorporated into his work this upcoming season. "I feel that he (Duncan) is one of these people who has picked up a little bit, pieces, from everything he's seen. He does the best he can. Whatever works for him." And what do you get from the mixture of all of this training in dance and martial arts, sword skills with a perfection of movement that is a pleasure to watch? You get a man who often finds himself all but in charge of choreographing the majority of the fight scenes, and whose input is frequently sought out by those who are charged with the duty of choreography. "I help choreograph most of the fight scenes, because we shoot so fast that I come up with a lot of ideas that work for me and incorporate them into the fights. John Woodlands, fight director, says that I'm the assistant fight coordinator." Assistant fight coordinator, star of the series, his own stunt man ... what other hats could he wear? Well, in this case he is also a type of walking bible for the series. "I'm basically the person who knows Duncan and this show better than most anyone else around here, because I've done it so long. Not that I'm right all the time." Mr. Paul clearly enjoyed talking about MacLeod, about what has brought the character to this point in his life and about what is waiting for him in the upcoming season. What does he, personally, want to see happen with the series and the character? The question actually arose while talking about a previous role he had done, as John Kincaid, during the second season of WAR OF THE WORLDS. The discussion had turned to how dark (and depressing) that series had become by its second year. "I don't think that people want to sit down, whatever night of the week it is and watch this deathly destruction happening all around them. They want to be entertained. "That is the same with Duncan, in a way. Duncan was relatively dark in the first season. He lightened up a lot more toward the Paris episodes but he was coming out of an era where he had a lot of problems. He was constantly getting involved in a battle. He had to force himself into becoming an immortal again, whereas he had wanted to be out of the game, but now he's forced back in because it is the time of the Gathering. So it is a different Duncan you are going to see this year. "Now I (as Duncan) accept what I am ... what has been given to me. So, I'm going to go ahead and try to do my best to actually do something right for people, for the world around us. He is a good immortal, but he's also a person. He's not perfect. "He's human like everyone else, the only difference is he can't die except by having his head severed from his body. But he has all the human frailities and strengths. He has anger. He has patience. He has love. Hate. Pain." There are a number of major changes coming up in the next season, some of which we've been told, some of which haven't, according to Mr. Paul, even been fully delineated yet -- changes which will occur as the series, once again, returns to France to film the end of the second season. Were there differences in filming in Canada as versus filming in France? "In America (Canada) you have a ... it's faster, they're quicker, they do things on the line. Whereas in Europe there is a more creative process, it can take longer to do things, which can be annoying at times. But they have a longer process and they are more artistic in some areas. This year we are amalgamating what we found worked in Europe with what worked here." They'll be amalgamating some other things they learned in France as well -- including the importance of characterizations, of relationships, to the series. "What the thing is about is relationships ... the idea this year is to work on the relationships between Duncan and other immortals. The story lines have been opened up a lot more." Relationships? In a series that was once characterized by TV Guide Magazine as a "male-oriented action/adventure?" His answer was relatively clear on the subject. "I think it is much more important to watch the characters involved and have something that they're going after, rather than watch people running around in a story, because therefore you don't care about them." And this is a man who has had a surprisingly varied amount of acting experience for his years in the business. He lays his acting experience mostly at the feet of his last acting coach (a man who has also worked with Sharon Stone, John Belushi and Robert Downey, Jr) with whom he worked in Los Angeles, although he admits that he learned a little in England, a little in New York and is "still learning today. Nothing is static." Yet how would he explain his own style? "I think my way of working is all making things very real to me, to me personally. We all do that, we mask things very easily in our lives but we still have the emotions that are underneath and that's mostly where I pull my work from." So does the actor who plays a role he so clearly loves have favorite episodes? Yes, he does, and he was quick to produce the names (something that's impressive in light of how few actors ever seem to know the name of the individual episodes). He especially enjoyed "Eye of the Beholder" and "Lady and the Tiger". One episode that brought a particularly vivid story to mind was "Band of Brothers", where Duncan must face off against an extremely ancient immortal, one whose two thousand years of accumulated evil he might well inherit, along with his Quickening, if the inevitable duel ends with the ancient's death. He was, Mr. Paul said, struggling to keep the fear of absorbing the evil foremost in his character's mind, but it wasn't necessarily an easily accomplished job: "It was probably the hardest show we shot here because we were shooting very heavy duty hours. The fight scenes we shot twelve hours in the rain. The following day we shot twelve hours in the snow. Physically it was exhausting because there is so much physical activity in that one and the weather really drains it from you. You're cold, you're miserable, you're trying to work, and you have an assortment of emotions going through you." And then there was "The Hunters", last season's finale where viewers were first are made aware of the "Watchers" (or in this case the Hunters -- a renegade branch of the Watchers). "That was a very difficult show because we found out two days before we were about to shoot the episode that Werner Stockard, who played Darius, couldn't be there do the shoot. "I saw a flashback they did there when he dies. They did a flashback of a certain moment when I say 'Is there anything I can do for you? Is there anything you want to talk about?' "And he says 'I wish I could, I wish that I could.' "And to me that moment is probably one of the most touching moments in the show because the actor died a month and a half later. I believe he knew there was something wrong with him, at that stage. For me it was heartrending because I liked Darius very much -- Werner Stockard." The interview wound down with a discussion of hobbies and interests -- jazz music and volleyball games. The day was coming to an end, the early sunset of late summer bringing lighting changes and a breath of cool air to the location. Some actors want to speak only about themselves. Some will speak with intelligence, but little emotion, about their show and their characters. A few, very few, speak with animation and love about a character they are helping to personally fashion. Adrian Paul is one of those few. ******************************************* This article has been edited and reprinted with the permission of the author. For information on Knightwriter Press publications -- including the complete 15 page transcript of this interview -- contact Linda Knights at LEEKNIGHTS@delphi.com or fax at 206-738-8197. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --!4!-- The Art and Science of Leaping Tall Buildings --------------------------------------------------------------------------- by John McGervey Mary Poppins can fly. So can Superman. The difference between the two is the difference between fantasy and science fiction. Fantasy does not attempt to explain why the known laws of nature are being violated, but science fiction often includes some scientific rationale for the action, which may add to the appeal of the yarn. A popular explanation of superstrength, for example, is that the hero (or villain) has somehow acquired the "proportionate strength" of an insect or a spider. Horror movies get great effects by showing giant-sized bugs, which somehow are more terrifying than, say, giant pandas. But many giant creatures have walked the Earth, and none of them resembled bugs. Why not? Suppose you take a bug and multiply each of its dimensions by 100. Its weight would go up in proportion to its volume, so the weight would be multiplied by a factor of 100 by each dimension. The cube of 100 is one million; a one-gram bug would become a one-ton monster. But your superbug wouldn't be able to stand up! The strength of its spindly legs is not proportional to their VOLUME, but to their cross-sectional AREA, which would be multiplied by the square of 100, or a mere 10,000. If it's original legs could support five times its weight -- say five grams -- its new legs could only support 50 kilograms, or 1/20th of its new weight. An elephant doesn't have those heavy legs for nothing. In the early Superman comics, on the other hand, the writers seemed to sense a danger in making their hero a purely magical or fantasy figure; they invented many explanations, some of them plausible, for his feats. Let us examine some of his superpowers (and his one weakness) to see how we can "dream things that never were and ask 'Why not?'" Superman's superstrength was explained by his origin on the planet Krypton, where gravity was so strong that the inhabitants needed superstrength just to stand up. Thus it seems reasonable that someone who could jump to ordinary heights on Krypton (say about one meter) could "leap tall buildings in a single bound" on Earth. There is a germ of real physics in that concept; you need only accept the premise that human-like creatures could develop on a planet whose gravity is several hundred times the gravity of Earth. One early leap by Superman was described as covering an eighth of a mile. If this was a single leap (following a ballistic trajectory, like a cannonball), a simple physics calculation shows that Superman had to leave the ground with a speed of more than 100 miles per hour. That is indeed "faster than a streamline train," to quote an early Superman description. But as Superman matured, the descriptions blossomed. Soon he became "faster than a speeding bullet" (about 1,000 miles per hour). The speed corresponds to an energy of about ten million joules for a man of normal weight. Superstrength doesn't exempt you from the law of conservation of energy, and to gain that energy from food requires more than 2,000 food calories -- just to reach that speed once. The conclusion: Clark Kent must eat like a pig. Besides the energy requirement, there are also force and acceleration to consider. How much force must Superman's legs exert to reach 1,000 miles per hour -- and thus leap a tall building in "a single bound?" If he is pushing off against the ground, as people do when they leap, he has to get up to this speed before his feet leave the ground. A high-school physics student can compute the acceleration that takes you from zero to 1,000 miles per hour in a distance of, say, two feet; it is 20,000 times the acceleration of gravity. This means that Superman's legs have to exert a force that is 20,000 times Superman's weight, or about 2,000 tons (coincidentally, just about enough to stop a speeding locomotive in a fraction of a second). But as his greater speed was introduced and Superman's leaps became higher and higher, it became clear that they were not "leaps" at all. We could see Superman changing direction in mid-air or even circling the Earth like a satellite. At this point all traces of science had disappeared; the feat had entered the realm of pure magic or fantasy. Nevertheless, it's fun to try to apply the basic laws of physics to these flights. With a speed of 1,000 m.p.h. at "liftoff," and no air resistance, Superman could reach an altitude of three miles and cover 12 miles in one leap. But even Superman can't turn off air resistance. Any object thrown through the air at great speed will be slowed down by air resistance and eventally fall earthward at a constant speed, called the terminal speed. For a body of human size, shape, and weight, the terminal speed is about 120 miles per hour. So even if you could survive a blast that started you off at 1,000 miles per hour, you would quickly slow down, and you would complete your flight by falling toward Earth at a mere 120 miles per hour. Some skiers do a little better than that; they achieve a speed of 150 miles per hour by streamlining themselves with skintight suits and special headgear. Superman needs none of that. Defying the laws of physics, he even trails a cape behind him on his supersonic flights! To reconcile Superman's flights with the laws of physics, several possibilities come to mind. For example: 1. His superstrength might permit him to propel himself as he flies, as an airplane does. Superman's early flights sometimes displayed a vigorous thrashing of his legs, as if he were swimming through the air. This calls to mind the problem of pushing on the end of a rope. No matter how strong you are, you cannot push off something unless that thing pushes back. Action must equal reaction, and your souped-up car goes nowhere if its wheels have no traction. Pushing hard enough on thin air to sustain these flights would create super-hurricane winds. People near Superman's launch point would be knocked flat, or worse. 2. Perhaps Superman has some means of jet or rocket propulsion. If that is the case, no evidence of it ever appears. In the comics he often moves as if he were simply running on the air; the running motion would be superfluous if he were rocket propelled. 3. He might weigh a lot more than the ordinary mortal. Then his initial speed would not be reduced so quickly by air resistance for the same reason that you can throw a golf ball farther than you can throw a ping-pong ball. This view is consistent with an early episode in which an enemy found Superman impossible to lift, and another one in which Superman cracked the sidewalk when he landed. (Notice that Superman is a bit of a showoff -- he lands on one foot, not even bending a knee to minimize the shock! In later sorties, Superman apparently has the magical ability to slow down and make a soft landing -- no more cracked sidewalks.) What about flying through outer space, as Superman has done almost from the beginning? One of Superman's more mindboggling feats of flying occurred when he was a boy; he carried his earthling father to the moon. He took care to outfit the father with a space helmet, but not a spacesuit. You can imagine what problems that would pose for an ordinary mortal. Even if the father's clothing didn't burn up from air friction during the liftoff, it would not provide any pressurization to keep poor dad's blood from boiling in the vacuum of outer space. (Superman often carries people through the air or catches them as they are falling. In real life, poor Lois Lane would go "splat" all over the Man of Steel after a typical catch; the impact on his "steely" body would be just like an impact on the concrete below.) Although Superman himself has no worries about air pressure (or breathing, in space or underwater), flying in outer space has to create problems for him. In space there is nothing, not even air, to push against. No matter how strong he is, Superman cannot violate the law of convervation of momentum in one direction unless he gives an opposite momentum to something else. In empty space, this means he must use rocket propulsion any time he wants to speed up, slow down or change direction. Thus, when Superman is circling the globe like a satellite, he will be there for a very long time unless he can eject something in the forward direction to slow himself down. One possible source for his rocket braking would be his superbreath. He might blow his superbreath out in front of him and thereby be pushed backward, just as a rifle recoils when it ejects a bullet. If he is already moving forward, this recoil would slow him down and let him come down from orbit. Another way for Superman to slow down would be by using his X-ray vision. It is well known that X-rays, like all forms of radiation, carry momentum; thus Superman would recoil backward as the rays went forward, and you can imagine his slowing down sufficiently to descend into the atmosphere, where atmospheric drag could bring him down. (Of course, those X-rays would have to be superstrong.) Superman's orbital flights pose yet another physics problem when superspeed is involved. When Superman is circling the globe seven times per second, his speed approaches the speed of light. Even if he had such prodigious energy, how could he avoid flying off into interstellar space? There has to be a force keeping him in orbit. Gravitational force keeps a body in a low earth orbit only if the orbital period is about 90 minutes. Could Superman send out Superbreath or X-rays to keep himself in orbit? If he did, how much force would these rays have to exert? And how does that force compare with the force needed to stop a locomotive in, say, one tenth of a second, from a speed of 60 miles per hour? The force needed to keep Superman in this superspeed orbit is close to a billion tons, even if Superman's body only has the mass of a human. This clearly means that Superman is far "more powerful than a locomotive"; the force needed to stop the locomotive is a few thousand tons -- about 30 times the locomotive's weight, according to a high-school physics calculation. (If his breath is that powerful, Superman could stop the locomotive just by blowing on it -- carefully, of course, so he doesn't launch it into outer space.) The whole concept of motion in outer space is an interesting one. Superboy was once shown disposing of a dangerous object by throwing it directly toward the sun, saying "There it goes, right into the sun." But because of the Earth's motion around the sun, the object still has the angular momentum that it had before he threw it, and it will be in an orbit that whips around the sun like a comet. To hit the sun in an orbit like that, he would have to throw the object at a speed of about ten million miles per hour. This object appeared to have a mass of at least 100 tons. That would make the required energy more than three quintillion joules -- ten times the energy of the largest H-bomb ever made. A much easier way to hit the sun would have been to throw the object in a way that just cancels out his motion with the Earth around the sun. That is, throw it toward the east at midday (in the direction that the sun appears to move past the distant stars). Then if its speed leaving Earth is equal to the speed of the Earth's orbital motion (a mere 60,000 miles per hour), the object will be momentarily at rest relative to the sun, and it will then fall straight into the sun. If Superboy had thrown the object that way, only 100 trillion joules (equal to a 25-kiloton bomb) would have been required. Actions involving the Earth's curvature as well as its motion are sometimes presented in Superman's adventures without regard to the physics involved. A good illustration appears in a episode in which Superman became a substitute teacher. To show how exciting a classroom could be, Superman ground a plate-glass window (with his hands) to make it into a "super- telescopic lens." Through this lens students could see a tropical jungle! But a lens can only help you to see the light that strikes the lens. The light rays from that jungle would have to pass through many miles of earth to reach the lens. If teachers other than Superman wanted to show their classes a tropical jungle, they'd have to fly them there. Superman often displays an astounding ability to manipulate materials. A favorite trick is to make huge diamonds from coal. This feat depends on the fact that diamonds are a form of carbon that is produced when sufficiently high pressure is applied. Superman is shown pressing on the coal with one flat palm on each side. A human doing that to a real lump of coal with a strong vise would have to watch out for flying fragments when the coal shattered, long before it could be turned into a diamond. The numbers quoted here make it obvious that Superman can't get his prodigious energy from food. His ability to generate X-rays suggests that he might use nuclear energy -- he might be a walking nuclear power plant! But that seems unlikely; if he were, the people of Metropolis would have been fried long ago. This, and the fact that his head has a fairly normal shape, makes us wonder how he produces those X-rays. Or are they really X- rays? Superman's X-rays have only one characteristic in common with the real rays; they are stopped by lead. Real X-rays are stopped, with varying degrees of effectiveness, by many different materials; that is the only reason why you can use them to see anything. If the rays went through everything, then they would be useless for vision; they have to be reflected or absorbed to show us anything. Real X-rays are even stopped by air; at sea level they can't penetrate from one end of a football field to the other. We now know that some X-rays come from outer space, but to detect them we have to fly a detector above 99 percent of the atmosphere (on a satellite or a balloon.) Superman's X-rays, on the other hand, are magical. They are reflected in a convenient fashion; they will go through the wall of a building, then bounce off a newspaper so Superman can read it! They are also absorbed, but only when Superman wants to use their energy for some special purpose, such as starting a fire or melting something. At other times Superman can see for an enormous distance with the rays. When he wishes to do so, he can even send the rays through miles of earth, as when he said, "I'll send an X-ray beam to my Fortress of Solitude hidden in the Arctic." Giving Superman powers that are more than superhuman -- that are not even limited by the laws of nature -- created the potential for something really dull. Where is the suspense in the adventures of a creature who has no limitations? As a student once wrote, "Achilles was dipped in the River Stynx [sic] and he became intolerable." To make Superman tolerable, the authors had to give him a weakness, so they invented kryptonite, the celestial debris left over from the explosion of his natal planet, Krypton, which occasionally falls to Earth in meteorites -- and invariably, into the hands of evil persons. The original kryptonite simply made Superman weak, without affecting anybody else in the slightest. There is a vaguely "scientific" basis for this effect. Just as a tuning fork resonates at one frequency and no other, the alien molecules in Superman's body could resonate to (and be damaged by) the radiation from kryptonite, while our molecules are unaffected. But the weakness theme could only be worked so many times before it became tiresome, so other forms of kryptonite were conjured up. The spookiest of these is "red kruptonite," whose effects add spice to the proceedings by being "unpredictable." One consequence of this is to threaten the exposure of Superman's secret identity, by producing physical changes that show up in Superman and Clark Kent at the same time. For example, Superman suddenly grew a beard and ridiculously long fingernails after one encounter with this material. How, you ask, could that be a problem? Answer: He couldn't cut them; they were superstrong. The nails were even too strong to cut with his X-ray vision. How did the writers get Superman out of this jam? When all else fails, try luck. By an amazing stroke of it, the nails yielded to the combined X-ray vision of Superman, Superdog, and Supergirl! So we see that a little imagination lets us relate some of Superman's feats to the laws of nature. Many of them, though, remain in the realm of magic or fantasy. [Permission to reprint "The Art and Science if Leaping Tall Buildings" granted to Cyberspace Vanguard by Octavia Press, Copyright 1987. Hardcover copies of SUPERMAN AT FIFTY, in which this article first appeared, can be purchased at half price from Octavia Press, 12127 Sperry Road, Chesterland, OH, 44026, USA. A check for $10.50 (US) (includes shipping and sales tax) must be enclosed with each order.] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --!5!-- A Writer's Guide to STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION --------------------------------------------------------------------------- by Kris Voelker "To boldly go where no one has gone before." What should I write? These words invade my consciousness as I sit and write my spec script. Where am I going with my characters? What conflicts should I introduce? What story lines will keep my audience's attention? What are the producers of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION looking for? My endless frustration with these questions led me to Dearborn, Michigan. Each year, several writers' workshops are held to help aspiring writers learn the craft of writing and submitting a spec script for ST:TNG. I wasn't waiting any longer. I was willing to drive 162 miles to spend a day with the "pros". This was my chance to ask the writers, in person, how to write for STTNG. I was bound and determined to get some answers and this is what I got. The three main speakers were: Ronald D. Moore, Co-Producer; Brannon Braga, Script Editor; and Lolita Fatjo, Script Coordinator. As I entered the workshop room, Ms Fatjo was standing at the doorway. She was tearing off ticket stubs and spitting out directions. I followed the line, picked up the workshop folder, and ran to my seat. I was ready. She began the workshop with an introduction and a brief synopsis of the guidelines for use when submitting a script. [You do not need to attend a workshop to receive these. Anyone who is interested can obtain them by calling (213) 956-8301.] When your script is completed, send it to Ms Fatjo along with a Paramount release form. Upon submission a member of the story analyst union will read and summarize your story. The following is a list of qualities that the readers are looking for: Do you know the characters? What is the cost to produce the script? How many characters are involved? Is it a bottle show? (see explanation below) Is it a simple idea? Does it have a sci-fi angle that tells a universal theme? Does it tell a story that can only be told on Star Trek? Commit these ideas to memory and keep them in mind when creating your story. This is your first step in the door. If you're fortunate, it will be passed on to the show's Executive Producer, Michael Piller. THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN GET INVITED TO PITCH IS IF THEY LIKE YOUR SPEC SCRIPT AND HAVE SOME INDICATION THAT YOU KNOW THE CHARACTERS AND THE SHOW. This whole process can take anywhere from 6-9 months to complete. You may then get a call inviting you to pitch your story; or the dreaded rejection letter. During the workshop, Mr. Moore and Mr. Braga simulated a pitch session. A volunteer from the audience came up and pitched a story that had already been seen on STTNG. Mr. Moore and Mr. Braga extended their hello's and cracked a few jokes. They seemed to be aware that most people are filled with apprehension when they come, so you can expect them to try their best to help you "feel at home." After the volunteer finished, they passed on the following tidbits. Come prepared to pitch three to five brand new ideas. If you need to, type out your oral presentations and read them. The length of each pitch should be 1 1/2 pages typed (double spaced). Your pitch should include a beginning, middle, and end. Avoid going into excessive detail; sometimes that makes a story difficult to follow. Mr. Moore referred to the term "broad strokes" when describing the format and contents of a pitch session. In addition, Mr. Braga suggested starting your pitch with a line similar to a television listing. Take the time to follow these guidelines. It can only increase your chances of being successful. The most valuable handout they gave out was probably the following list of DOS and DONT'S for a pitch session. DON'T DO Stories with lots of planet based scenes Stories with lots of exterior scenes Stories that rely heavily on action and/or special effects Cannibalistic stories Stories that depend on a prior relationship (ie, A former professor of Dr. Crusher's...) Stories about guest stars Stories which could be seen on any other television series set in contemporary times Stories which lack an intimate, personal aspect Stories about supernatural, fantasies, swords, and sorcery Stories which echo the original series Stories which are high on the hoke scale DO Stories that are character driven, personal stories about one or more of the regular characters Stories centered around a nifty sci-fi element Stories that combine an emotional story with an action/jeopardy substructure Bottle shows (shows that take place exclusively on the Enterprise) Shows about Q and Mrs. Troi (but be careful not to focus exclusively on them) One in 25 stories that are pitched get picked up and possibly produced. After discussing the pitch process, Mr. Braga and Mr. Moore talked about writing the teleplay. This is where the most creative process of writing begins. First create a "beat sheet" to work off of and construct your teleplay. A beat sheet is a story outline that depicts the sets, characters, and action of each act. If you've constructed your story line carefully, you will see a visual representation of how each scene leads to the next. It's much easier to make revisions off this sheet than, say, page 36 of your spec script. After revising and rewriting your beat sheet, its time to put your ideas into script format. The importance of standard script format cannot be overemphasized. If it's not typed in the right format, it will be rejected immediately. (Consider purchasing a computer script program. I have used SuperScript Pro for Wordperfect 5.1. This program allows me to concentrate on writing rather than formatting. You'll save a enormous amount of time. You can get these from the Writers Computer Store in West Los Angeles. To order a catalog call 1-800-277TWCS. -- Editor's Note: Neither the writer nor the magazine are involved with the program or the store.) Finally they advised you to WRITE, REWRITE and REWRITE some more. Once a script is written it goes through the process of revision. Don't be afraid to let other people read and critique your work. It can only make your script better. At the end there was a little bit of time left for questions and answers. Most participants were eager to pick the brains of these three professionals, and the questions varied. One of the participants had submitted his script and had received a rejection letter. He expressed his frustration in not knowing which component led to the ultimate rejection of his script. Ms Fatjo was quick to point out that it's impossible to comment individually on every spec script submitted. The best advice she could offer was to pay careful attention to what was being said at today's workshop. Another member of the audience expressed his satisfaction with the open submission policy. He received a call from a member of the writing staff and was invited to pitch over the phone. I came away convinced that if you followed these guidelines and wrote a decent script, you'd get a shot. I highly recommend this workshop. If you are interested in writing for ST:TNG or ST:DSN, there is a wealth of information to be found at these workshops. I also want to emphasize that the producers of ST:TNG and ST:DSN are really interested in finding good stories. Mr. Braga said that freelance writers have a captive audience and that now would be an opportune time to write and submit a script. STAR TREK is the only place in Hollywood where an "outsider" can gain some experience. Take advantage of the open submission policy. It may be a once in a lifetime opportunity. [Upcoming workshops are in Valley Forge, PA on Oct 23-24 and in Manhattan, NY on Nov. 26-28.] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --!6!-- Reviews by EVELYN C. LEEPER --------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BROKEN LAND by Ian McDonald A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1993 Evelyn C. Leeper THE BROKEN LAND is a well-written book, but the parallels between the land of the book and modern Ireland are SO obvious that I found myself groaning more often than being enlightened. The Confessors/Proclaimers parallel to the Catholics/Protestants was bad enough, but when the Confessors gain independence for the land except for the "nine northern prefectures," I came very close to hurling the book at the wall. Frequently I felt that the parallels were closer to puns in some literary sense than to a way to look at an old situation from fresh eyes. This might work in a humorous novel, but THE BROKEN LAND is not humorous. It is an accurate story of what happens in a land torn apart by religious (or racial, or ethnic) strife. This subject is certainly topical (alas), but the precise parallels of the problem to Ireland make the book lose the universal quality that it could have had. It is not surprising that McDonald writes about Ireland, and writes well, as his earlier KING OF MORNING, QUEEN OF DAY proves, but he can also write very well in a multi- ethnic, non-specific milieu (see his SPEAKING IN TONGUES collection and his DESOLATION ROAD), and this makes this book particularly disappointing. For someone who knew nothing of Ireland, this would be an excellent book, but as it stands, its total obviousness and specificity makes this the first Ian McDonald book of the four I've read that I can't recommend. %T The Broken Land %I Bantam Spectra %A Ian McDonald %O trade paperback, US$10 %C New York %G ISBN 0-553-37054-5 %D October 1992 %P 322pp HARM'S WAY by Colin Greenland A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1993 Evelyn C. Leeper As WINTER'S DAUGHTER by Charles Whitmore was science fiction written in the style of a Norse saga, so is HARM'S WAY written in the style of a Victorian novel (though I would call it science fantasy rather than science fiction). We have the poor, semi-orphaned girl who leaves home, has adventures, meets all sorts of people, and eventually discovers her true identity. HARM'S WAY is set on what is apparently an alternate Victorian- era Earth, an alternate in which at some point between Defoe and Victoria, space flight was developed (using what appear to be typical large sailing ships of that era in our time in their appointments), and all sorts of alien races inhabiting the solar system were discovered. (I place the "change-point" after Defoe, because in a world of space flight, the sense of isolated parts of the earth that Defoe depended on in ROBINSON CRUSOE would no longer have been there.) How any of this happened is never discussed, and with the exception of space flight and weaponry the society is technologically at the Victorian level. The result is extremely disorienting -- we never know what to expect from the society because it is SO inconsistent. HARM'S WAY is an interesting stylistic experiment, but not one I can actually recommend. %T Harm's Way %I AvoNova %A Colin Greenland %O paperback, US$4.99 %C New York %G ISBN 0-380-76883-6 %D August 1993 %P 310pp --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --!7!-- THE OLD COMIC CURMUDGEON: R-E-S-P-E-C-T ... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Column by Bill Henley In the short history of this column, I've hardly had anything good to say about anything. And even I get tired of complaining sometimes. So, at the risk of losing my curmudgeon certificate, let me now offer praise for the way certain classic comic-book characters are being handled lately. BATMAN has been really brilliant for the past year, combining the best elements of the "Golden Age" Caped Crusader and the '70s "creature of the night." SUPERMAN has suddenly become a real delight, with some of the best characterization I've ever seen on the Man of Steel and his Daily Planet cohorts. Even the X-MEN, who I once loved but gave up on years ago, have come out with some decent stories lately. And a while back there were some very entertaining tales of the FLASH and SUPERBOY. There's just one slight hitch to all this, from the viewpoint of the comic-book fan. None of this good stuff I'm referring to was in comic books. All of it appeared on the TV screen. It's BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES on Fox TV that has captured the essence of Batman, while the comics seem determined to lose it, with a crippled Bruce Wayne and a psychotic pseudo-Batman. I'm having fun with ABC-TV's new LOIS AND CLARK, not with the overhyped comics featuring Supes' death, resurrection and neverending bad hair day. The X-MEN cartoon show, though not outstanding like BATMAN, is watchable, whereas the X-comics I've seen lately have been unreadable. And CBS-TV's late lamented FLASH show, and the underrated SUPERBOY syndicated series, outpaced any recent comics featuring those characters. This is not the way it used to be. In years past, TV versions of comic book superheroes were usually rather disappointing. The original TV SUPERMAN with George Reeves had its charm, but even as a kid I noticed the cheap production and wondered about the absence of neat concepts like Kandor or the Phantom Zone. The BATMAN show was a camp disaster for anyone inclined to take the character at all seriously. And shows like WONDER WOMAN, INCREDIBLE HULK and the short-lived SPIDER-MAN show were pretty flat and dull compared to the best of the comics. Why have Hollywood TV producers and writers found the knack of handling the great comic heroes, while most of the comic-book producers themselves seem to have lost it? Is it that the TV folks are better paid and more talented than those who work for comics? Probably not, since TV writers have always made more money, but until recently comics writers handled comics characters better. Perhaps it's that the TV people working on shows like BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES and LOIS & CLARK grew up knowing and loving these characters, but, unlike the comics writers, haven't been associated with them so long as to be jaded and bored. The TV people seem content to stay within and explore the basic, established "legend" of each character. On the other hand, the comics writers and editors working on the same characters are either too bored or too untalented to find new things to say about the old characters. The only thing they can think of to do is to twist the characters brutally out of shape for shock value. Also, the producers of TV shows are forced to seek a wide audience, including adults, teenagers and younger kids. The comic books years ago gave up any attempt to attract a "mass audience"; they seem content to subsist on a relatively small readership of teenage hobbyists, some of whom are more impressed by fancy foil covers than good stories and art, while others are even more jaded and obsessed by violence, brutality and psychosis than the people producing the comics. I wish that the producers of the comics would try to imitate the virtues of these TV shows. That doesn't mean producing "kiddie versions" of their comics which slavishly imitate the TV shows. It means respecting the characters and their histories; trying to create an atmosphere of fun and excitement rather than despair and nihilism; and trying to appeal to a broader audience than the very narrow group on which comics depend for their survival today. A NOTE OF PANIC: Those who are enjoying the new LOIS & CLARK show should note that its ratings in the first three episodes have been disappointing. Though no word of cancellation has been heard yet, it may not be too soon to write letters to ABC-TV in support of the show. The address I have for ABC is: ABC Audience Information 77 West 66th St. 9th Floor New York NY 10023-6298 COMICS TRIVIA NOTE: "Jurassic Park" fans may be interested to note that the premise of the biggest movie of the year was anticipated, though briefly, by a comic book over 25 years ago. In a story in THUNDER AGENTS #4, April 1966, by Wally Wood, the superhero Dynamo battles a horde of dinosaurs brought to life by the villain Dr. Sparta. In the last panel, after the dinos have been subdued, is this dialogue: Alice (Dynamo's girlfriend): "Guess what? They're turning Dr. Sparta's tropic island into a sort of park... a wildlife preserve..." Dynamo: "Oh no! A dinosaur zoo!" (As far as I know, though, there was never a sequel story where the dinosaurs get loose and start eating tourists.) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --!8!-- The Infamous Reply Cards and What You Said --------------------------------------------------------------------------- compiled by Linda E. Smit Utopia and dystopia are two sides of the same coin. But, according to most of our readers, they aren't really a possibility. Even the majority of the ones who felt we are moving toward a dystopia don't feel that we will ever make it there. The major reason given for moving to dystopia is that the world is overpopulated and we don't know how to deal with the crowding. "There is no way that I see humans will be able to fix this horrible problem in the immediate future. The global doubling rate is at something like sixty years. We are running out of many of the Earth's natural resources, and continue to deplete them at an amazing rate." Extra-terrestrial colonization was suggested as a way to combat overcrowding. And, although no one offered a Swiftian Modest Proposal, I must admit that it crossed my mind as I read reply after reply choosing dystopia because of overcrowding. Although the majority of answers included an often grudging choice of dystopia, almost as many replies were of the neither category. "Neither. I don't think there is such a thing as a perfect society and yet I don't think we are going to fall into oblivion any time soon . . . There will be worse things, more crime, more violence and better things, longer life expectancy, better healthcare. It evens itself out." A few brave souls said that both were possible, depending on how we act right now. "I think that at the moment the trend is dystopia, but I also think we are in the midst of the point where that trend can be reversed. The potential is certainly here for a utopia." And several others agreed. Only a handful of responses supported the idea of utopia. Most of the responses stressed that utopia is only a concept or ideal that is unrealizable in the real world. And one response stressed, "Utopia. I hate this question. We can influence reality with our thoughts . . . the more people who say we're heading toward dystopia, the more likely it is that we will end up with one! I believe we will eventually overcome this, but it is going to take a long time. A VERY long time." Finally, my favorite response is one with a definite tongue-in-cheek attitude. "Either of the two options is preferable to the present situation. We are neither heading towards Utopia or Dystopia . . . we're heading towards Myopia." All together, you readers of Cyberspace Vanguard sound as though you wish for something better than we have, but are guarded in your hopes that we will find whatever answers may be available. Oh, and the numbers ran something like this : Utopia : 7 Dystopia : 31 Both : 5 Neither : 28 and one very honest "I don't know." Tune in next time, when we will look at the question of paranormal realities. Do ghosts exist? Is there such a thing as psychic energy? Do extraterrestrials walk the Earth? Can we read each others minds? Think about it. Until next time, this is Linda E. Smit, signing off. Note : For the sake of anonimity, I have not listed names to accompany the quotations. If this concerns you, please pester me, and not the editor. He has enough to deal with. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --!9!-- SF Calendar: What's Coming Up in the Near Future --------------------------------------------------------------------------- .................... BOOKISH .................... If you have a favorite small press that you'd like us to keep track of, drop us a note with the company's name and address and we'll see what we can do. OCTOBER: DAW: WHEN TRUE NIGHT FALLS - CS Friedman DEL REY: UPLAND OUTLAWS (Book 2 of A HANDFUL OF MEN) - Dave Duncan; THE STRICKEN FIELD (Book 3 of A HANDFUL OF MEN) - Dave Duncan; THE GUNS OF THE SOUTH - Harry Turtledove; THE EARTH SAVER (Sequel to CHILDREN OF THE EARTH) - Catherine Wells; MORNINGSTAR - David Gemmell ROC: WILD BLOOD - Nancy Collins (England -- US markets June 1994) TOR: THE SHADOW RISING - Robert Jordan, THE FIRES OF HEAVEN - Robert Jordan ------------ NOVEMBER: PEGUNIN/ROC: SHROUD OF SHADOW - Baudino Gael BANTAM: STAR WARS: THE TRUCE AT BAKURA - Kathy Tyers BANTAM/SPECTRA: GROWING UP WEIGHTLESS - John Ford DEL REY: THE CHRONICLES OF PERN: FIRST FALL - Anne McCaffrey; WANDERER (Sequel to WARRIOR) - Donald E. McQuinn; JACK THE BODILESS (First book in THE GALACTIC MILIEU trilogy) - Julian May; SORCEROUS SEA (Third book in the ISLAND WARRIOR series) - Carol Severance; THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY (First book in the SLOW WORLD trilogy) - Karen Ripley; CHIMERA - Mary Rosenblum; THE CHANGING LAND - Roger Zelazny; DILVISH THE DAMNED by Roger Zelazny ------------ DECEMBER: POCKET: STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION: DARK MIRROR - Diane Duane DEL REY: KING JAVAN'S YEAR - Katherine Kurtz; THE BLACK LYNX - Elizabeth Boyer; PENNTERRA - Judith Moffett; THE BIG EMPTY - James Luceno ------------ January 1994: BANTAM: STAR WARS: TRUCE AT BAKURA - Kathy Tyers ------------ February 1994: BANTAM: STAR WARS: THE LAST COMMAND (P) - Timothy Zahn ------------ March 1994: KNOPF: DIAMOND MASK (Second book in THE GALACTIC MILIEU trilogy) - Julian May ------------ April 1994: BANTAM: STAR WARS: JEDI SEARCH (First book in the JEDI ACADEMY trilogy) (P) - Kevin Anderson ------------ May 1994: BANTAM: STAR WARS: THE COURTSHIP OF PRINCESS LEIA - Dave Wolverton ------------ June 1994: BANTAM: STAR WARS: DARK APPRENTICE (Second book in the JEDI ACADEMY trilogy) (P) - Kevin Anderson ------------ August 1994: ?: THE DISCWORLD COMPANION - Stephen Briggs and Terry Pratchett ------------ Summer 1994: GOLLANCZ: SOUL MUSIC - Terry Pratchett DEL REY: THE WARDEN OF HORSES (Second book in the SLOW WORLD trilogy) - Karen Ripley ------------ October 1994: BANTAM: STAR WARS : (title to be announced) (Third book in the JEDI ACADEMY trilogy) (P) - Kevin Anderson ------------ Fall 1994: DEL REY: THE ALCHEMIST OF TIME (Third book in the SLOW WORLD trilogy) - Karen Ripley ------------ December 1994: BANTAM: STAR WARS: CANTINA STORIES - edited by Kevin Anderson .................... Upcoming MOVIES .................... This is not really the "Upcoming Movies" list that Bryan D. Jones (bdj@engr.uark.edu) puts out over Usenet every week or so. It's actually a pared down version that he was kind enough to let us print. We thank him and remind you that if you have any updates or corrections, please send them on to him. (Especially if you have access to the National Association of Theater Owners listings ...) All dates are US wide release dates. -Bryan D. Jones (bdj@engr.uark.edu) Oct 29: Ghost in the Machine, Philadelphia Experiment 2, Return of the Living Dead III Nov 5: Robocop 3 Nov 12: A Dinosaur's Story, The Three Musketeers, We're Back Nov 19: Addams Family Values Nov 24: Annie and the Castle of Terror, Die Hard 3 Fall : The Fantastic Four Dec 10: Shockwaves, Sister Act II Dec 15: Schindler's List Decemb: Godzilla (American) 1994 Spring: Blankman, Cartooned, The Lion King(animated, was King of the Jungle), The Muppet Treasure Island, Thumbelina Summer: Aliens vs. Predator: The Hunt, Clear and Present Danger, The Flintstones, Getting Even With Dad, Decemb: Godzilla (American), Spiderman, Batman III, Star Trek VII Winter: With Honors 1994 : Ed Wood, Interview with The Vampire, The Lawnmowerman 2, The Mask, Tremors II -1995- Dec : Catwoman Full Moon Entertainment will be releasing the following films directly to video. The numbers in parentheses refer to the day of the month they expect to release the film. Remember, these dates are EXTREMELY tentative: December: Puppet Master 4 (8), Beach Babes from Beyond (16) January: Trancers 4 (26) February: Arcade (23) March: Subscpecies III (16), Dragonworld April: Invisible May: Puppetmaster 5, Pet Shop June: Lurking Fear July: Trancers 5, Prehysteria II August: Dark Angel September: Shrunken Heads, Beanstalk October: Doctor Mordrid II November: Shadow Over Innsmouth, Genie December: Quadrant They will also be doing two THEATRICAL releases next year: Shrunken Heads in February 1994, and Oblivion in December 1994. These dates are, like the others, extremely tentative. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --!10!-- All The News That's Fit To Transmit --------------------------------------------------------------------------- .................... NEWS OF SF IN FRENCH AND FRANCOPHONE SF .................... by Jean-Louis Trudel The twentieth French National Convention was held in Orleans/la Source, on August 27-29. Its theme was "Woman in SF" and its guests included France's Joelle Wintrebert and Canada's Elisabeth Vonarburg. The finalists in the novel category for the 1993 Prix Rosny Aine, which are the closest francophone equivalent to the Hugos, were Ayerdhal for LE CHANT DU DRILLE (THE DRILLE'S SONG), Jacques Barberi for LA MEMOIRE DU CRIME (RECALLING THE CRIME), Serge Brussolo for LE SUNDROME DU SCAPHANDRIER (THE DREAMDIVER SUNDROME), Alain le Bussy for DELTAS, Daniel Sernine for CHRONOREG, and Elisabeth Vonarburg for CHRONIQUES DU PAYS DES MERES. Ayerdhal, Barberi, and Brussolo are French, le Bussy is Belgian, and Sernine and Vonarburg are from Canada, thus making for one of the most diverse group of finalists in recent years. Vonarburg's novel has been translated and published in English---as THE MAERLANDE CHRONICLES in Canada and as IN THE MOTHERS' LAND in the United States. The final vote was held on-site at the French National convention. In the novel category, the winner was Alain le Bussy, for DELTAS, an efficiently written adventure on an oceanic planet. In the short story category, the winner was Switzerland's Wildy Petoud, for her short story "Accident d'amour" (Accident of Love) in the 1992 anthology TERRITOIRES DE L'INQUIETUDE. The next French National convention will take place in 1994 in the "science city" of Sophia-Antipolis, just off the French Riviera. If all goes well, it should see the launch of a new professional SF magazine in France, filling a vacuum that has lasted for at least four years. Current information suggests that it would not be affiliated with any pre-existing publisher, that it would be run by a collective with each member having a well-defined task, and that it would print both translated and French original fiction. On the other hand, over in Canada, Quebec's two SF magazines, IMAGINE... and SOLARIS, are alive and kicking. After a transition year during which several issues were delayed, SOLARIS has managed to catch up thanks to an accelerated publication schedule. Covers have been generally gorgeous. SOLARIS 105, the late spring and early summer issue, featured stories by Yves Meynard, "Le sang et l'oiseau" (Blood and Bird), and Jean- Louis Trudel, "Un papillon a Mashak" (A Butterfly in Mashak), and an interview of Daniel Sernine, as well as non-fiction and the usual assortment of book and zine reviews ranging over two continents, four countries and two languages. Meynard's story combined three densely poetic reveries on the twin themes of the title, with only some subtle echoes to link the intertwined plots, which moved in that borderland between science fiction and fantasy. Trudel's text was a science fiction tale mixing chaos theory, history, and the fraternization attempts of a soldier on a world of conquered aliens. SOLARIS 106 just came out; it is a special theme issue on utopias and counter-utopias, featuring scholarly articles and an interview of Elisabeth Vonarburg. It featured two stories. One, by Stephane Langlois, was a competent space adventure tale, called "Ceux qui viennent d'en bas" (Those Who Come From Beneath). The other, by newcomer Guillaume Demers, was called "Le monde est un parc ou la folie est le dernier plaisir" (The World is a Park where Madness is the Last Pleasure). It offered the story of a man's madness, as told to him, and inspired by another man's. But was it really madness? SOLARIS 107 is announced as a special theme issue on time, with stories by Alain Bergeron, Yves Meynard, and Jean-Louis Trudel, and interviews of the illustrious French author Michel Jeury and of Canadian author Jean Dion. Over at IMAGINE..., covers have been no less handsome. IMAGINE... 63, the spring issue, was a special issue entirely devoted to SF in Switzerland, with stories by Chantal Delessert, Nicolas G. Doegun, Georges Panchard, Wildy Petoud, and Francois Rouiller. The stories by Panchard and Petoud were the more memorable ones of the lot. H. R. Giger and John Howe contributed short art portfolios. Jean-Francois Thomas sketched a historical survey of SF in Switzerland, while Roger Gaillard presented the MAISON D'AILLEURS, or House of Elsewhere, Europe's first SF museum, of which he is director. IMAGINE... 64 was a regular issue. Guy Bouchard's story, "Si la vie vous interesse" (A Life in the Forces), won the Septieme Continent award and headlined the issue. It was published simultaneously in the Belgian periodical MAGIE ROUGE 38-39, in spite of the reservations of that magazine's editor. Bouchard's story tells of a future Quebec where women join the army to contribute to a new revenge of the cradle... French writer Micky Papoz and Canadian writer Sylvie Berard contributed two other short stories, while another Canadian, Danielle Tremblay, signed the first episode of a four-part serial, involving a non-violent, non-military space academy, which reads like the result of miscegenation between Heinlein and STAR TREK. In other Quebec publishing news, Daniel Sernine's fiction collection LES PORTES MYSTERIEUSES (The Mysterious Doors) was released by Heritage as a young adult book. Charles Montpetit's young adult novel COPIE CARBONE (Carbon Copy), based on an earlier short story which appeared in SOLARIS, was put out by Quebec/Amerique. The Editions Quebec/Amerique also announced the upcoming release of CONTES DE TYRANAEL (Tyranael Tales) by Elisabeth Vonarburg in their juvenile fiction line. Another young adult novel, TU PEUX COMPTER SUR MOI (You Can Count on Me), by Jean-Francois Somain, originally published in 1990, will appear this fall in Japanese translation. Major novels await the opening of the fall season, and especially the November Salon du Livre in Montreal. Earlier, Jean-Pierre April's novel BERLIN-BANGKOK, which actually came close to predicting the fall of the Berlin Wall, was reissued by J'ai Lu in France in a somewhat revised edition, four years after its original publication in Canada. The fanzine scene remains fairly sedate in Quebec. Old-timer SAMIZDAT continues to appear sporadically, emphasizing well thought-out reviews over fiction. Issue 24 had a story by newcomer Julie Martel as well as a long- delayed one by Jean-Louis Trudel. The young and energetic Christian Martin continues to pump out TEMPS TOT on a bi-monthly basis, favouring fiction over reviews. So far, issues 22 to 26 have come out this year, with the end of Jean-Louis Trudel's SF serial, a cadavre exquis by Laurent McAllister, and stories by a medley of mostly new writers, including Claude Bolduc and Francois Escalmel. Issue 25 was a special issue devoted to newcomer Hugues Morin. Issue 26 offered an international medley of stories, with Belgian author Alain le Bussy headlining the issue, while the three other stories came from France, Rumania, and Canada. In other news, Benoit Girard, who, after attending Chicon, launched an English-language fanzine called THE FROZEN FROG, has spearheaded the birth of a Quebec APA, called APAQ and including several SF writers. There have also been rumblings of new magazines coming onto the scene, such as CITE CALONNE. The first two issues of a cinema and horror magazine called LE REVEUR FANTASTIQUE have actually appeared, with a heavy dose of reviews and a cluttered layout. Whether it will last is still unclear, but it bears witness to the continued vitality of the scene in that Canadian province. Jean-Louis Trudel .................... Japan Report .................... by David Milner GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (GOJIRA VS MEKAGOJIRA), the twentieth Godzilla film, opens in Japan on December 11th. The film features not only Godzilla and an entirely redesigned MechaGodzilla, but Rodan and a new baby Godzilla as well. A special preview screening of the film was held at the Tokyo International Film Festival on Sunday, Sept. 26th, where it received mixed reviews. The Godzilla film TriStar Pictures is getting ready to produce will be set in either New York or San Francisco, and feature a woman whose father was killed by Godzilla. The special effects will be done almost exclusively with computers. Although TriStar has yet to choose a director, it will not be either Tim Burton or Terry Gilliam. A December 1994 release date had been announced for the film, but sources inside TriStar now say that a summer 1995 release date is much more likely. The Daiei Motion Picture Company Ltd. has announced that it intends to release a new Gamera film in Japan sometime in 1994. Daiei, which produced all eight of the previous Gamera films, was recently purchased by the Toho Company Ltd., the studio which produces the Godzilla films, and so Daiei will produce the film, but Toho will distribute it. A remake of the 1959 film JAPAN BIRTH (NIPON TANJO), which tells the mythological story of the creation of Japan, is going to be released by Toho in 1994. The title of the remake will be YAMATA BECOMES FURIOUS (YAMATA TAKERU). A new Ultraman television series called ULTRAMAN: THE ULTIMATE HERO just finished shooting in Los Angeles. The series, a Tsuburaya Productions Co., Ltd. and Major Havoc Entertainment, Inc. co-production, stars Kane Kosugi, the son of Japanese martial arts star Sho Kosugi. Kosugi plays Kenichi Kai, an armory specialist with the Worldwide Investigative Network Response Team (WINR) who becomes Ultraman. Updated versions of the monsters created for the first Ultraman series, ULTRA Q, are being used in the series. ULTRAMAN: THE ULTIMATE HERO will be released on home video in Japan in November and be available for broadcast in the United States in March 1994. GRIDMAN, a television series similar to ULTRAMAN featuring a superhero created on a computer, is now airing in Japan. It has received mostly unfavorable reviews. .................... Books, Stories, and SF Literature in General ..... .................... CHAD OLIVER, author of MISTS OF DAWN, SHADOWS IN THE SUN, and other novels, died of cancer on August 9, 1993. He was a friend and inspiration to such other Texas writers as Howard Waldrop and Bruce Sterling. Dr. Symmes C. Oliver taught Antropology at the University of Texas for 38 years. The Library of Tomorrow has been "at least put in indefinite hold" due to low interest following limited announcements. The project was to be an "electronic SF library" available for a flat fee. Presupporting members have not been charged. Writers should contact Brad Templeton (brad@clarinet.com) "for contract arrangements and more info." TERRY PRATCHETT has said on the net that the major part of the Discworld companion out next year will be a sort of "Discworld Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable." It's written by STEPHEN BRIGGS "with some assistance by" Mr. Pratchett. He also said he liked the drawings he's seen from MORT: The Big Comic by GRAHAM HIGGINS. It'll be out mid-to-late 1994. TERRY PRATCHETT, responding to a neo's request on alt.fan.pratchett for a biography: "Born 1948. Still not dead." According to KEVIN ANDERSON, STAR WARS: TALES FROM THE CANTINA is due out for Christmas of 1994, though Bantam is still listing it as a "work in progress." Anderson is editing the collection of short stories, where various writers were assigned a creature from the original cantina scene in SW: A NEW HOPE and told to write a story about how they came to be there. The stories will be interlaced. The same basic idea is in place for TALES FROM JABBA'S PALACE. Several other anthology titles, such as TALES FROM THE ROUND TABLE and BESPIN ANECDOTES, have been thrown around on the net, but we have confirmed that they were in fact a prank, and DO NOT EXIST. According to the Del Rey Internet Newsletter, DAVID EDDINGS' next books will be BELGARATH and POLGARA, stand alones set before the saga of Garion the King. NANCY COLLINS' upcoming DC comic, WICK, will reportedly be set in the same world as her SUNGLASSES novels. Word is also that Dark Horse may adapt the SUNGLASSES books and IN THE BLOOD. ROBERT ANTON WILSON (THE ILLUMINATUS!, SCHRODINGER'CAT) is available for lectures. Contact moksha@cats.ucsc.edu for information and booking. Word is that Larry Niven will be writing a RINGWORLD vampire story, and that he came up with the idea a week before mentioning it at the New Zealand natcon. Part of this third Ringworld book is already written. According to the Del Rey Internet Newsletter, Del Rey is planning to publish two more books set in ALAN DEAN FOSTER's Humanx Commonwealth universe, a Pip & Flink book in 1995, and a Commonwalth Universe book in 1996. ............... Movies ............... VINCENT PRICE has passed away at the age of 82. The star of more than 100 films, he has said that he didn't mind being remember for his role as a master of horror, but he was also a well known artist and gourmet cook. He died of lung cancer in his home the night of October 25, 1993. Some movies we haven't seen on the net yet ... In November, look for THE THREE MUSKETEERS, starring KIEFER SUTHERLAND (THE LOST BOYS), CHARLIE SHEEN, CHRIS O'DONNELL, OLIVER PLATT, REBECCA DEMORNAY, and, as our favorite notion of Cardinal Richelieu, TIM CURRY. It's directed by STEPHEN HEREK. (This Disney version beat TriStar to the starting line, so that one's been scrapped.) And STEVEN SPIELBERG will roll out the animated WE'RE BACK: A DINOSAUR'S TALE, a kid flick about dinosaurs in New York on November 12. Cast includes JAY LENO, WALTER CRONKITE, and JOHN GOODMAN. Upcoming from Troma: TOXIC CRUSADERS, A NYMPHOID BARBARIAN IN DINOSAUR HELL, SGT. KABUKIMAN N.Y.P.D., and MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO. Anime fans may want to look for GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES, a Japanese animated film based on AKIYUKI NOSAKA's story. It's subtitled in english, and is supposed to be a "testimony of the human spirit." The live action X-MEN film is scheduled for summer 1995 release from 20th Century Fox. ANNE RICE has told the press that she is unhappy with the choice of TOM CRUISE as Lestat in the upcoming film version of her book INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE, saying that he's too "mom and apple pie." Her choice? Well, she had apparently envisioned the role more like RUTGER HAUER. Also, there are rumors that much of the homoeroticism present in the book will not appear in the script, but it is unclear if this is at Cruise's request or if it's just the realities of big- budget filmmaking. According to director STUART GORDON (RE-ANIMATOR) his latest film, FORTRESS, was originally planned for ARNOLD SCHWARZNEGGER, not current star CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT. He told UPI that it was changed partly because "You never worry Arnold is the hero becase you know he can and will escape in one piece." He also said that part of the research for the film included a trip to Pelican Bay Prison, where they were given stab-proof vests and "had to sign releases that said if we were taken hostage they would not try to save us." While parts of Europe will be seeing the $300 million grossing JURASSIC PARK only this month, a pirated version has ALREADY been shown on Russian television. While illegal copies of US films dominate the Russian video market -- to the point where the Motion Picture Association of America boycotted the Moscow film festival in protest, and new foreign releases almost NEVER go to Russian theaters -- the August television showing was unexpected because the film hasn't been shown on television or released on video anywhere. It was apparently shot with a video camera in a US, Asian, or European theater (at one point you can see a member of the audience leave his seat) and shown in the town of Yekaterinburg, Russia. Yekaterinburg, coincidentally, happens to be Boris Yeltsin's home town. (Incidentally, the Russian film scene may change. The Samuel Goldwyn Company agreed to allow a showing of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at a Western hotel in Moscow -- on the condition that the print have it's own 24-hour guard. The price was $10(US), about a week's wages for the average Russian worker. (Russian friends here say that's a VERY generous Russian wage.)) Terminator comes to New York: The New York City Transit Police Department has been testing a laser sighting system for use in the dark subterranean world of the New York City Subway System. They think that it will be both a deterrent and a help, causing criminals to think twice and helping police officers to hit their targets even in a darkened environment or a situation where the gun can't be raised to eye level. The sights are made by LaserMax Inc., of Rochester, N.Y. and can be inserted right into the Glock 9mm handguns the department already uses. GALE ANN HURD (ALIENS, THE ABYSS, TERMINATOR (1 and 2)) has signed a 3 year first-look contract with Paramount. Hurd owns her own production company, Pacific Western Productions, formed in 1982 to make THE TERMINATOR. Following complaints from independent theaters in England that major film distributors were holding back hot films, the Monopolies and Mergers Commission has been asked to investigate. JURASSIC PARK has surpassed the worldwide box office record previously held by ET: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL, earning over $704 million. ET still holds the domestic record by around $75 million. Imagine, for a moment, owning stock in the film JURASSIC PARK. OK, now stop salivating over your bank account. Obviously it's too late for that, but according to Clarinet and UPI, the next PAUL HOGAN film, LIGHTNING JACK, is being financed by a public stock offering on the Australian Stock Exchange. American investors should check with the Bank of New York about availability. Hogan's CROCKADILE DUNDEE films brought in over $800 million worldwide, so this is likely to be a successful test, and nothing breeds success like success, so we may see other films financed in a similar manner. STEVEN SPIELBERG'S World War II drama SCHINDLER'S LIST will open December 15 in order to qualify for this year's Academy Awards. MORTAL KOMBAT will follow SUPER MARIO BROS. and DOUBLE DRAGON in the arcade- game-turned-movie field. LARRY KASANOFF will produce the film for Lightstorm Entertainment. He will also set up a deal for a television series. RIDLEY SCOTT (ALIEN, BLADE RUNNER) and his brother TONY (BEVERLY HILLS COP II) are negotiating a deal with 20th Century Fox, Italy's RCS Video, and England's Majectic Films International to produce up to 8 films. The brothers would direct a minimum of four. When THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW first sneak-previewed, all but 13 people had walked out before the third reel. It wasn't until a few theaters decided to take a chance showing the "bomb" at midnight on the weekends and a theater owner noticed that it was the same 50-60 people who showed up every weekend that producer LOU ADLER decided to push it as a cult film. The rest, as they say, is history. Since then the film has taken in about $175 million on a $900,000 investment. The then unknown stars, such as TIM CURRY, BARRY BOSTWICK, SUSAN SURANDON, and MEATLOAF, have since gone on to fame. The film will finally be shown on television October 25 on Fox. But what about it's future in the theaters? Three years ago it finally broke into Brazil, Mexico, and Spain, and next the producers are shooting for Russia and China. The prospects for a wide release? Adler told UPI that "Eight years ago Fox tried to distribute it widely and it bombed again. You can't surprise people with this film. It frightens them. They don't know what to think." JUDGE DREDD is turning out to be one of those movies where you just can't pin down the star. Rumors had named CLINT EASTWOOD and ARNOLD SCHWARZNEGGER, but apparently 2000AD has confirmeded that it will be SYLVESTER STALLONE. We'll see. It will be directed by DANNY CANNON. The nostalgic might want to swallow their pride and see a matinee of ERNEST RIDES AGAIN -- for the short that comes with it, MR. BILL GOES TO WASHINGTON. The clay Mr. Bill hasn't been seen much since his misadventures on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. STAR WARS: (With the next movie approaching it's beginning to look like we're going to need a separate section for SW news. (And it's still a few years off yet!) Part of the resurgence in SW merchandising is the STAR WARS ADVENTURE JOURNAL from West End Games. Beginning in February 1994, it will be published quarterly -- 288 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches, perfect bound with a color cover -- and will go for $12.00 in hobby and book stores, with $35.00/year subscriptions available from WEG. Now. Having said that, there is opportunity here. Many of today's writers honed their teeth on other people's characters and universes, writing "fan fiction" often without even knowing it, and certainly without getting paid. Now's your chance to use that talent to your advantage. WEG is looking for writers for the JOURNAL. While it is oriented towards the SW role-playing game, there are different sections, from short (1000-1500 words) columns such as "Rebel's Field Guide" to longer articles on rules, new characters, or one-act adventures. They can run from 3000 to 10000 words, but anything over 5000 words should be preceeded by a proposal. There will also be interviews -- the first issue features TIMOTHY ZAHN, who also provides the story "First Contact," about the first meeting of two characters from his novels. (Interviews for following issues are already set.) The details: First of all, while they welcome new writers, you MUST be professional about it if you expect them to work with you. It's still a business. Second, the pay is 3.5 to 4 cents per word, but there are three catches: 1) They pay on publication, at least when they first work with you. 2) That's a flat rate -- don't expect royalties. And worst of all: 3) You sell ALL rights. Anything written for the SW universe must be approved by Lucasfilm (WEG takes care of that) and they then own all rights to the piece, the characters, the places, etc. This isn't just WEG, it's anything that uses the SW universe. For more information on the JOURNAL and/or writer's guidelines, write to West End Game Ltd., RR 3 Box 2345, Honesdale, PA 18431-9560. Be sure to get the guidelines first, because they include the release form that must accompany your manscript or proposal if they are going to look at it. In other news, as we reported in an earlier issue, Lucasfilm is planning to follow the ZAHN books with a series of novels set in the New Republic era. The first of these is STAR WARS: THE TRUCE AT BAKURA, by KATHY TYERS, which deals with the Empire and the Rebellion uniting to fight an alien threat. It's due in November. Also, KEVIN ANDERSON will be writing a trilogy centered on Luke reestablishing the Jedi Knights set 7 years after RETURN OF THE JEDI. (For more, check out the Book section.) Also due in November is NEW VISIONS: THE ART OF THE STAR WARS GALAXY, which features more than 70 full page illustrations, a George Lucas intro, and writings from the artists involved with the trading card projects. On the musical front, Fox Records will be releasing a four CD set of music from the movies, ALMOST completing all of the scores. The first three will be most of the music from each film, IN ORDER, unlike the records Polygram put out, and the fourth will include MOST of what's left. The rest may be released on a fifth disc, but that isn't definite. The music has been remastered and supposedly sounds incredible. The set, called "The Star Wars Trilogy: The Original Soundtrack Anthology," will include a 50-75 booklet featuring an essay by director NICHOLAS MEYER and previously unreleased color plates from Lucasfilm. It also includes track-by-track liner notes from fellow net surfer Lukas Kendall, and will cost between $60 and $70. Lukas calls it "money well spent." And finally, TALES OF THE JEDI #2 is due in comics stores by November 19th. As for the release date of the next STAR WARS film, here's what we have: An Entertainment Weekly sidebar listing the release of the first film as May 25, 1995 with the rest of the films in the following 5 years, and a USA Today report that Lucas "hoped to begin production in the next four years," and that he was working to get the costs down because "the development of the technology was just as important" as the films. We've been saying (privately) for a while that we believe we will see the films May 25, 1995. The evidence bears us out. The rumors that he's been working on it for a while seem to be true, for one thing. For another, the new slew of books that are hitting the stands are slated to stop in 1995, which makes sense if new movies -- and hence characters and situations -- are going to be on screen. And, for those of you who say, "But wait, 1997 makes more sense because that's the 20th anniversary," you're half right. It is the 20th anniversary, but it doesn't necessarily make more sense. The films will be made together (ala BACK TO THE FUTURE) and released in successive years. That puts the last film right smack on the 20th anniversary. Of course, we could be wrong. As always, we encourage you to examine the evidence yourself. Meanwhile, after saying for years that he felt the character was played out, HARRISON FORD will be back in his role as INDIANA JONES. The film will be written by JEB STUART, who wrote the script for Ford's enormously successful THE FUGITIVE, and (of course) directed by STEVEN SPEILBERG. Hints have been floating around since the release of THE FUGITIVE when Ford told interviewers that he and his wife, MELISSA MATHESON, had been toying with a couple of ideas for another Indy film. There is no word as to whether any of those ideas will be the basis for Stuart's script, or if SEAN CONNERY will be reprising his role as Dr. Henry Jones Sr.. .................... Television .................... .................... HIGHLANDER .................... by Debbie Douglass The clash of swords locked in Immortal combat returned to the small screen when the second season premiere of the syndicated TV series HIGHLANDER aired this month. This series and the HIGHLANDER movies on which it's based have sparked a fast growing fandom which has already generated a fanclub, several electronic discussion groups, one letterzine and three upcoming fanzines. Loyal longtime movie fans have finally found a place to share their opinions. Meanwhile groups of loyal fans scour dealer tables at science fiction conventions searching for anything remotely related to the show and the movies. This HIGHLANDER fan movement continues to astound me even as I view it from the inside. You see I'm caught up in the middle of it. I am a HIGHLANDER fan. I'm fascinated by the idea of Immortals living among us, yet apart, involved in their own individual dramas. People who have experienced centuries of history firsthand, but still remain human. They aren't superheroes. They're not supernatural beings. They are just like you and me except they can't really die. That is unless a 7 foot tall lunatic takes their head off with a broadsword. And yet imagine the tragedy of their lives as they watch their friends and loved ones die of old age, a process forever denied them. My fascination led me to the USENET newsgroups where I discovered other HIGHLANDER fans. We started talking as a small email group in February which grew into the BITNET mailing list that I manage. We have fun trading tapes of episodes we missed and discussing topics ranging next week's episode to the history of the real Clan MacLeod. Endless discussions arise about the differences between the American and European versions of the original movie. Intriguing still is the directions that the producers have taken the series so far. We've seen morality plays covering topics ranging from drugs and medical experimentation to the angst of adoption. And they promise more surprises yet to come. The series will be welcoming two new characters this season. Introduced in the season premiere, Joe Dawson, played by JIM BYRNES, is a bookstore owner who is really a high-ranking member of The Watchers, a secret society dedicated to observing Immortals. Charlie DeSalvo, played by PHILLIP AKIN, is a ex-Navy SEAL and martial arts expert who will be introduced in a later episode. The producers are continuing to follow their successful practice of offering guest star roles to rock singers. Last season, we saw JOAN JETT, ROLAND GIFT of The Fine Young Cannibals, and The Who's ROGER DALTREY briefly transformed into Immortals for our enjoyment. Already this season, famed rock star SHEENA EASTON has finished filming her shot at Immortality for an early episode. She and ADRIAN PAUL worked together previously in her music video 'Strut' during Mr. PAUL'S days as a dancer. Also joining the lists of noteworthy guest stars we have ROWDY RODDY PIPER, the wrestler, and GERAINT WYN DAVIES. Wyn Davies is no stranger to immortality. He portrays a modern day vampire on FOREVER KNIGHT, a late night CBS series. {Note - FOREVER KNIGHT is currently on hiatus but will be returning next spring.} Twenty-two episodes are planned for the second season, which is ranked No. 10 among weekly syndicated series and is shown in 137 US markets. Fourteen of the new episodes will be shot in Vancouver and eight in Paris. ----------------------------- NEWS: HIGHLANDER fans were saddened to learn of the passing of actor WERNER STOCKER, who portrayed the Immortal priest Darius last season. Mr. Stocker suffered from a cerebral tumor and passed away in late May, several weeks after shooting was completed on the first season. He will be missed, and we will not forget his final role as the peaceful Darius. CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT and his wife, actress DIANE LANE, celebrated the birth of their daughter, Eleanor Jasmine on Sept. 8, 1993. THE GUNMEN, described as a modern western starring CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT, MARIO VAN PEEBLES, and PATRICK STEWART is scheduled to open in theatres in the US on November 24. Filming for the lastest HIGHLANDER movie will start in the middle of November in Canada. Scenes will also be filmed at locations in Scotland and New York. HIGHLANDER III: THE MAGICIAN will be closer in tone to the first movie according CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT in a recent interview on NBC's TODAY show." HIGHLANDER, the first movie, will be re-released on home video by Republic Pictures in the USA on November 3rd. "HIGHLANDER - THE GATHERING" will be released on home video by Hemdale films in the USA on Oct 27. This video includes the episodes "The Gathering" and "Revenge is Sweet" edited together as a feature length movie. Features: Christopher Lambert, Adrian Paul, Richard Moll and Vanity. --------------------------------- Although the net reaction to LOIS AND CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN seems to be mostly favorable, the show has been running third behind MURDER, SHE WROTE and the less-well-received-from-what-we've-seen SEAQUEST DSV. The group Viewers for Quality Television has asked ABC President TED HARBERT to be patient and not start moving the show around, but his response was that a network can't always afford t be patient. (Editor's note: A little move might be in order, in this editor's opinion, if only to correct the ridiculous mistake of pitting it against its major network competition in terms of audience. Let's hope, however, that they don't pull a YOUNG INDY and make viewers guess when it will be on next.) Ratings have been holding steady, however, while those for SEAQUEST DSV have been dropping like a ... well, fill in the blank. Every week it loses a large part of its audience, and at this rate it will be below L&C before long. What's more, while L&C's ratings are certainly not spectacular, ABC reportedly likes the demographics of the audience. Don't look for quick cancellation of SQ, though, as NBC had purchased the full 22 episodes before the season even started. Other talk from the producers has established that although S.T.A.R. Labs has been mentioned in the show, viewers should not hold their breath waiting for characters from THE FLASH to appear. It is simply a matter of economics, as it would mean mucho bucks for DC Comics. Also, it has been said that if the producers "smell" cancellation, they will proceed with the engagement of Clark and Lois. And lastly, a bit of Superman trivia: Bessolo was both the name of the street where Superman's rocket was being stored in a recent episode of LOIS AND CLARK and the real name of GEORGE REEVES, the 1950's SUPERMAN. SEAQUEST DSV will be adapted for comics by Nemesis Comics, starting in November with a story detailing the origin of the Seaquest written by DAN CHICHESTER with ERNIE COLON doing the artwork. HOWARD CHAYKIN will do the cover art. RUSSELL JOHNSON, who appeared in such films as THIS ISLAND EARTH and IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize at M.I.T. on October 7. Johnson is most famous for his role as the Professor on GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, for which he received the spoof prize. While promoting his autobiography, HERE ON GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, (NOT a steamy tell-all, by the way) he told a Toronto writer that his standard answer for why, when he made such fantastic inventions, the professor didn't just fix the castaway's boat, is "Fix the boat? Wow! That never occurred to me!" (John Mack, whose research helped to inspire CHRIS CARTER to create X-FILES, was also awarded the Ig Nobel prize for his research into UFO abductions. The prizes are sponsored by M.I.T.'s JOURNAL OF IRREPRODUCIBLE RESULTS.) Never underestimate the power of the press. Earlier this month, a fatal fire was blamed on the animated BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD, which was shown on MTV in the early evening, when younger children can watch it. A five year old was reportedly inspired by the pair, for whom "Fire is cool" (huh-huh-huh-huh) is a bit of a catch phrase. He set fire to his family's trailer, killing his two year old sister. The day the story hit the airwaves, early evening news said that MTV was denying any responsibility, and that they had no intention of changing the program or it's time slot. MIKE JUDGE, who created the pair, said that what was good about them was how stupid they made the dumb things they do look. An hour later, national news reported that MTV was re-evaluating the pair's place in the schedule. By 11pm, MTV had decided to eliminate all references to "fire" from the show. Before a week was out, the 7pm showing had been moved to 10:30pm (to be replaced with "Videos That Don't Suck"). Before the controversy, SIMPSONS creator MATT GROENING said that he was thrilled with the explosion in animation. He told the Los Angeles Times that "After BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD, I think everything is permitted. I love Beavis, but I just want to kill that darned Butthead." OK, here we go with more news on the DR. WHO front. According to sources in the UK, the BBC will produce at least one special next year. They are reportedly considering doing a series of specials as a means of "testing the waters," so to speak. Also, there's been some talk of "lost episodes" recovered in foreign film cans shipped back to the BBC after years in storage, and these seem to have been confirmed. There is no word on whether there are any complete stories, but apparently there is the additional complication that the copies that were returned were not in English. The BBC does have the audio msters, however, and is reportedly looking into remastering the films from them. As for what happened to the original plans for a fall special, the truth is probably somewhere between the official line that the BBC had never planned to make the special in the first place and the talk that it was cancelled behind the back of high muckety-mucks amid political and commericial maneuvering. Here's a scary thought for you: RON PERELMAN, who owns Marvel Entertainment Group, told NEW YORK MAGAZINE that he is willing to spend up to $1 billion "putting together a real entertainment company." What that says about Marvel, we don't know. Perelman paid $100 million for SCI Television, a group of television stations, as the base for a national network he would like to start. He also said that he wanted to produce his own shows. MATT FREWER (MAX HEADROOM) will be doing the voice for possibly one of the most famous mutes in film history, the PINK PANTHER. The panther, who did actually do a little bit of dialogue in one of the live action films where he first appeared with the credits (sounding very distinguished), will sound like "a hyped-up version of my own voice," Frewer told UPI. "What I did was sautee a large Spanish onion over low heat, chuck in a little oregano and let it happen." He also said that he had a tendency to act out the panther's movements in the recording booth. "To the producers and animators watching from outside I must look pretty much like a guy having an epileptic fit." MGM's newly revived animation department will make produce 40 new episodes with Mirisch-Geoffrey-DePatie-Freleng, who created the original. Other voices will include DAN CASTELLANETA (HOMER SIMPSON), JO ANNE WORLEY, RUTH BUZZI, JOHN BYNER, JOE PISCOPO, and CHARLES NELSON REILLY. First there was SESAME STREET, and later the gang moved on to THE MUPPET SHOW. Then there was FRAGGLE ROCK. Now Jim Henson Productions is introducing a new generation of Muppets for THE SECRET LIFE OF TOYS, a new television series that has already been bought by both the BBC and Germany's WDR. There is no word on whether, when, or where the 26 13-minute fantasies will turn up in the United States, but international video distribution will be handled by Buena Vista Home Video, part of Disney. Disney also has a liscensing deal with Jim Henson Productions. If you're decrying the state of children's programming, check out CRO, a Saturday morning cartoon that attempts to teach kids a bit of science and technology through storytelling. (ABC, 8 am) COLIN BAKER has returned to DR. WHO -- sort of. He has written DOCTOR WHO: AGE OF CHAOS, a four issue limited series comic book where the 6th Doctor goes on a quest to find one of his old companions (no word on which one.) The artwork is by JOHN M. BURNS, and the first issue (which will sport a metallic ink cover) will be available from Marvel after November 25th. The third QUANTUM LEAP novel will be QUANTUM LEAP: THE WALL, by ASHLEY MCCONELL, about the Berlin Wall. The fourth book will reportedly be written by MELISSA CRANDALL. According to DR. WHO BULLETIN, film cans have been returned from Scandinavia. For those new to the phenomenon, when foreign countries return film cans to the BBC they occasionally contain episodes of DR. WHO that are currently "lost". They are the episodes that were originally shipped out to be shown on foreign television. This time the rumor is that a full copy of THE POWER OF THE DALEKS was included, but the BBC are refusing to say what was in the cans, fueling specuation that the story WAS there, and that they are withholding an announcement until the upcoming annivesary. FOREVER KNIGHT is reportedly on the way back, taking advantage of the new trend of "direct to syndication" marketing. The show is being distributed by TriStar to CBS affiliates for the 11:30 Saturday night slot. When encouraging your local affiliate to pick it up, be sure to let them know you are referring to the second, syndicated season, available in May, 1994. The address for TriStar television is 9336 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90232, if you want to encourage them to make the show available to other stations of your CBS affiliate isn't interested. .................... Star Trek .................... On the movie front, ST VII will, as we have said, star the cast of TNG, with possible appearances by members of the TOS crew. There's been some question as to how extensive those roles will be, along with talk that only cast members who have appeared in TNG being included. That, of course, narrows it down to DEFORREST KELLEY, LEONARD NIMOY, and JAMES DOOHAN. Nimoy, however, has made it clear that he has certain requirements for his appearance. "I'm not going to walk through and wave," he told the San Jose Mercury News. "If they have something interesting for Spock to do, they can let me know and I'll be there." He also said that he had not been approached about directing STVII. GATES MCFADDEN may direct an episode of ST:DSN this season. Also, convention reports cite her as mentioning that WIL WHEATON is currently doing "computer work" in Silicon Valley. WALTER KOENIG is back at work after the heart attack that laid him out for heart surgery this summer. In addition to his Malibu Comics series RAVER (which may be adapted as a video game) he is back to square one in finding funding for a television pilot. According to an article from Gannet News Service, at the time of his heart attack he was set to start producing the show, which they described as "sort of a zany STAR TREK ala MONTY PYTHON." Also in on the deal were GEORGE TAKEI and NICHELLE NICHOLS. He was to appear in an early episode of BABYLON V, but was unable to due to his heart attack. However, according to J. MICHEAL STRACZYNSKI, there will be another role created for him. The season's last TNG will be a two hour episde, but it is not clear whether it will be a cliffhanger to be resolved in the feature film, due out for Christmas of 1994. RUMORS ... RUMORS ... Here's what we've got on the next ST show, to be titled (supposedly) STAR TREK: THE NEXT FRONTIER. First off, it will NOT follow Wesley Crusher and his cohorts at Starfleet academy. It also will NOT be set on a USS Enterprise. It will NOT have any of the regular TNG cast in it, although nothing is certain, and both JONATHAN FRAKES and MARINA SIRTIS have said that they would be interested in continuing on to the new show, so a spinoff where Riker finally accepts a captaincy is not completely out of the question, but it is VERY unlikely. Plotlines that have been mentioned vary widely, from "prolonged exploration" of the Gamma Quadrant to a group of independant traders (jokingly referred to as the USS Free Enterprise) to a show set on a Klingon ship. The staff writers have reportedly been asked to submit ideas and there's still plenty of time, so anything is possible. Whatever they decide upon, it will be set in the same time period as TNG and DSN to allow for crossovers, and rumors are that the producers are looking for a Englishwoman to head the cast. LEVAR BURTON will be appearing in PARALLEL LIVES, a movie for Showtime. The interesting thing about it is that there will be no script. The actors, who include JOBETH WILLIAMS (POLTERGEIST), and JIM BELUSHI (WILD PALMS), will each make up a character and then bring it to director LINDA YELLEN, who will weave them together into a story. The final filming will consist of the actors ad-libbing according to the script outline. The cast of ST:DSN have signed 7 year contacts, where the original TNG contracts were only 6 years. People have been saying that they are moving on the TNG movies because the cast wants too much money to continue in the show now that their contracts are up, but that's NOT the case. The plan has ALWAYS been to move on to movies after the run of the show. In fact, originally, they only expected TNG to run for five years, where upon it was said that they would move on to STAR TREK: THE NEXT NEXT GENERATION -- well, OK, that wasn't the actual title, but it was the general idea -- while the TNG people did movies. WILLIAM SHATNER will be the grand marshal of the 1994 Rose Bowl parade. The theme is "A Fantasic Adventure." Shatner, who raises horses and plays polo, will ride his own chestnut gelding "I Prefer Roses." Well, somebody's listening ... An article in Entertainment Weekly reportedly cited comments from fans on bulletin boards and at conventions as part of the reason for a shift in emphasis of DSN. There will be more guest stars, mostly as Bajorrans, (FRANK LANGELLA and LOUISE FLETCHER we've already seen, as well as JOHN GLOVER as a Trill and RICHARD BEYMER.) There will also be a new set of villians, tentatively called The Dominion, from the other side of the wormole. There probably aren't too many STAR TREK fans who are computer illiterates (and even fewer reading this magazine!) but that hasn't stopped JENNIFER FLYNN from writing STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION: TWENTIETH CENTURY COMPUTERS AND HOW THEY WORKED: THE OFFICIAL STARFLEET HISTORY OF COMPUTERS. Put out by Alpha Books, it reportedly carries a lot of actual information below the covering of futurist technology. PATRICK STEWART will be performing his one man A CHRISTMAS CAROL in the San Francisco Bay Area to benefit Shakespeare/Santa Cruz on November 13. When COLM MEANEY signed for DSN, it was with the stipulation that he could disappear for a couple of weeks to make a movie occasionally. If Cannes is correct, he made good use of the opportunity with THE SNAPPER, based on the second book in Roddy Doyle's Barrytown series, which started with THE COMMITTMENTS. The film deals with one Irishman's attempt to deal with his daughter's independence when she becomes pregnant and refuses to name the father. He can also be seen in INTO THE WEST. It is the ultimate ambition of probably most of the people reading this: to go to the stars. Though there is not yet a contest that will allow you to do that, The Planetary Society, Time Warner Interactive Group, and NPTN's Academy One are sponsoring a contest to allow one talented child's art to go to Mars. The art contest carries a deadline of November 8 for paper entries and November 15 for electronic entries, so time is running short. Judges include MIKE OKUDA and RICK STERNBACH of ST:TNG. For more information contact TJ Goldstein (tlg4@po.CWRU.edu) or Jim Baumgartner (jbum@netcom.com). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --!11!-- Spoilers Ahoy! Including TWILIGHT ZONE Episode Guide --------------------------------------------------------------------------- STAR TREK: The Next Generation STAR TREK: Deep Space Nine Week of 10/09/93 Gambit, Part I The Siege 10/16/93 Gambit, Part II Invasive Procedures 10/23/93 Phantasms Cardassians 10/30/93 Dark Page Melora 11/06/93 Attached Rules of Acquisition 11/13/93 Force of Nature Necessary Evil 11/20/93 Inheritance Second Sight 11/27/93 Parallels Sanctuary In "Dark Page," Lwaxana Troi is back, but not her usual bubbly self. A traumatic secret has caused her to have a mental collapse that threatens her life if Deanna can't help her. In "Phantasms," Data experiences his first nightmare, with disastrous results for the rest of the crew. In "Parallels," Worf bounces between alternate realities, one of which includes Wesely Crusher. Look for alterations in costume and sets, ala' "Yesterday's Enterprise." The "Cardassians" attempt to reclaim young Cardassians orphaned in the war and raised on Bejor. Movies that will supposedly appear on season five of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000: Warrior of the Lost World, Hercules, Swamp Diamonds, Secret Agent Super Dragon, The Magic Voyage of Sinbad, Eegah!, I Accuse My Parents, Operation 007, Girl in Lover's Lane, The Painted Hills, MitchelL, The Brain That Wouldn't Die, Teenage Strangler, Wild World of Batwoman, Atomic Brain, Beginning of the End, Radar Secret Service HIGHLANDER Second season episode list 01 The Watchers 02 Studies In Light 03 Turnabout 04 The Darkness 05 An Eye For An Eye 06 The Zone 07 Revenge of the Sword 08 Amanda Returns ALEXANDRA VANDERNOOT will be leaving HIGHLANDER to continue her career in feature films. She had expressed a desire during the second season contract negotiations to stay in France to be closer to her family but agreed to stay with the show long enough for the writers to write her character out of the story lines. Her character, Tessa Noel, will die in an episode early in the season. As a result, STAN KIRSCH's character will be expanded. The first episode, "The Watchers" opens in Paris with Duncan MacLeod (played by ADRIAN PAUL), devastated by the senseless murder of his long-time friend, the Immortal priest Darius (portrayed last season by the late WERNER STOCKER). His hunt for the killers takes him back to North America to his old city. "Studies in Light" Duncan discovers an Immortal friend undergoing violent psychological changes during a photo art show and is reunited with an old lover who is now 73 years old. "Turnabout" Evil Immortal Quenten Barnes escapes from the tomb he was sealed in after being convicted and executed for murder 30 years ago. Now, he is after those involved in his execution among which is an old friend of Duncan's. "The Darkness" A pivotal episode. Renegade Watcher Pallin Wolf is after the death of *all* Immortals, including Duncan. "An Eye for An Eye" Richie decides to be a hero during a terrorist attack on an ambassador. "The Zone" A neighborhood so bad that even the police won't go in alone. Joe Dawson suspects that the new leader of the ruling gang is an Immortal. He asks Duncan to investigate. "Revenge of the Sword" A former student of Charlie Desalvo's has made it big as a martial arts movie star. Trouble erupts on the scene of his latest movie about street gangs. "Amanda Returns" Our ever-popular sneak thief is back and she claims she's changed her ways. Who can blame Duncan for not believing her? Especially since Federal agents are hot on her trail. [Editor's note: The TWILIGHT ZONE EPISODE GUIDE is reprinted with permission from the author. It has not been edited except to condense it space-wise. All text is intact. The original is available by FTP from gandalf.rutgers.edu.] [This file is from the Sf-Lovers Archives at Rutgers University. It is provided as part of a free service in connection with distribution of Sf-Lovers Digest. This file is currently maintained by the moderator of the Digest. It may be freely copied or redistributed in whole or in part as long as this notice remains intact. If you would like to know more about Sf-Lovers Digest, send mail to SF-LOVERS-REQUEST@RUTGERS.EDU.] =========================== TWILIGHT ZONE EPISODE GUIDE =========================== Revision of 9/82 =========================== Saul Jaffe Lauren Weinstein (vortex!lauren@LBL-UNIX) Lauren's rating system * ugh. pretty bad. ** has merit. *** good, solid show. **** particularly good. ***** superlative. _________________________________ In this document, comments by Saul Jaffe are preceded by SJ: and comments by Lauren Weinstein are preceded by LW:. "There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears, and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call... THE TWILIGHT ZONE." Rod Serling LW: Background The Twilight Zone originally aired on the CBS Television Network. It was heavily sponsored by the large tobacco companies. In fact Serling did a few of the commercials himself! Serling just was not complete without the dangling cigarette, a fact which was later to contribute to his untimely demise... It should be noted that there have been rumors that some of the shows credited to Serling were actually "ghostwritten" by someone else. There is, however, no proof of this. Chalk another one up with Francis Bacon and Willy Shakespeare.... To an even greater extent than with "The Outer Limits", many actors appear in these episodes who later became very big stars. Many familiar (but younger!) faces peer out at us from this program... FIRST SEASON 1959-1960 WHERE IS EVERYBODY? *** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Robert Stevens Cast: Earl Holliman, James Gregory The pilot show for the series concerns a man who finds himself in a completely deserted city. In the end, we learn that it was all a test to observe how human beings will respond to extreme loneliness during space flights. This was the only episode shot at Universal Studios, all others were filmed at MGM. LW: Earl Holliman later became known as Angie Dickenson's sidekick in "Policewoman". Earl is the sole actor in this piece right up to the last five minutes or so of the script. ONE FOR THE ANGELS **** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Robert Parish Cast: Ed Wynn, Murray Hamilton, Dana Dillaway, Merritt Bohn Wynn delivers a bravura performance as a sidewalk salesman who makes the greatest pitch of his life to save a little girl from "Mr. Death". MR. DENTON ON DOOMSDAY ** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Allen Reisner Cast: Dan Duryea, Malcolm Atterbury, Martin Landau, Jeanne Cooper, Ken Lynch, Doug McClure A has-been gunslinger finds his fast draw abilities have been restored after he drinks a magic potion. LW: Neither Martin Landau nor Doug McClure had their careers exactly ended by this episode, even though it was a poor one. Martin continued on to roles in "The Outer Limits", and of course, starred in "Mission Impossible". Doug shows up in a variety of places. THE SIXTEEN-MILLIMETER SHRINE ** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Mitch Leisen Cast: Ida Lupino, Martin Balsam, Alice Frost, Jerome Cowan A former movie queen tries to recreate the spirit of her heyday by screening her old movies...and living them. WALKING DISTANCE **** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Robert Stevens Cast: Gig Young, Frank Overton, Michael Montgomery, Irene Tedrow Young's acting and a magnificent score by Bernard Hermann highlight this episode. Harried advertising agent Martin Sloane visits his home town and slips thirty years into his childhood. LW: Rather sentimental, but I'm a sucker for stuff like that. Our hero actually meets himself as a child, and turns out to be the cause of an old leg injury that bothered him the rest of his life... ESCAPE CLAUSE *** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Mitch Leisen Cast: David Wayne, Virginia Christine, Wendell Holmes, Thomas Gomez A hypochondriac makes a pact with the Devil for immortality. He then kills someone for kicks, but instead of getting the electric chair, he is sentenced to life imprisonment! LW: Rather amusing, actually! THE LONELY ***** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Jack Smight Cast: Jack Warden, Jean Marsh, John Dehner, Ted Knight, Jim Turley This classic episode concerns one James Corry (Warden), a man convicted of murder and sentenced to spend forty years on a distant asteroid. He has only one companion - a robot made in the form of a woman. Ted Knight, later Ted Baxter on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, has a minor role as a nasty space crewman. LW: I gotta tell ya' ... the closing scene of this episode gave me nightmares for many nights as a child when I first saw it. An excellent episode. TIME ENOUGH AT LAST **** Writer: Rod Serling Director: John Brahm Cast: Burgess Meredith, Jacqueline DeWit, Vaughn Taylor, Lela Bliss In his first of several TWILIGHT ZONE episodes, Burgess Meredith plays a nearsighted bank teller who becomes the only survivor of an H-bomb attack. He is now able to pursue his only real interest in life: reading. LW: At least, he THINKS he will be able to pursue it... PERCHANCE TO DREAM *** Writer: Charles Beaumont Director: Robert Florey Cast: Richard Conte, John Larch, Suzanne Lloyd, Ted Stanhope, Eddie Marr The first non-Serling script of the series concerns a man (Conte) who is terrified of falling asleep. He fears that the mysterious woman he meets in his dreams will soon murder him. LW: To elaborate a bit: Conte has a heart condition, and fears that the excitement (so to speak) of dying in the dream will kill him. The last time he went to sleep, he ended up in a rollercoaster with this mystery woman. He knows that if he goes back to sleep, the dream will continue, she will push him out, and that will finish him, both in the dream and in reality. This episode involves several "layers" of reality and is a nice one. JUDGEMENT NIGHT * Writer: Rod Serling Director: John Brahm Cast: Nehemiah Persoff, Ben Wright, Patrick McNee, Hugh Sanders, Leslie Bradley, Deirdre Owen, James Franciscus Murky tale about a passenger aboard a wartime freighter who is certain the ship will be sunk at 1:15 AM. LW: Serling had a thing about ship stories, and they were almost always rather poor. Oh well. AND WHEN THE SKY WAS OPENED *** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Douglas Heyes Cast: Rod Taylor, Charles Aidman, James Hutton, Maxine Cooper After three astronauts return from man's first space flight, each of them mysteriously disappears. Based on a short story by Richard Matheson. SJ: Serling was so impressed by Matheson's work that he was later asked to write more episodes himself. LW: A good episode concerning the subject of "what IS reality?" WHAT YOU NEED **** Writer: Rod Serling Director: John Brahm Cast: Steve Cochran, Ernest Treux, Reed Morgan, William Edmonson, Arline Sax Swindler Fred Renard (Cochran) tries to profit from an amiable fellow's talent for seeing into the future. Based on a short story by Lewis Padgett. THE FOUR OF US ARE DYING ** Writer: Rod Serling Director: John Brahm Cast: Harry Townes, Beverly Garland, Philip Pine, Ross Martin, Don Gordon Arch Hammer (Townes) can alter his face to make it look like anyone else's. Based on a short story by George Johnson. LW: Not one of the best efforts. THIRD FROM THE SUN *** Writer: Richard Matheson Director: Richard Bare Cast: Fritz Weaver, Joe Maros, Edward Andrews, Denise Alexander, Lori March Weird camera angles and special props left over from MGM'S FORBIDDEN PLANET bolster this story about two families planning to leave a war- threatened world via spaceship. LW: Edward Andrews did at least one other "Twilight Zone", and countless other television shows and movies over the years. A great character actor, he usually is cast into roles involving rather evil, devious, or just plain unlikable men. I SHOT AN ARROW INTO THE AIR *** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Stuart Rosenberg Cast: Edward Binns, Dewey Martin After supposedly landing on another planet, an astronaut kills his comrades to prolong his own life. Based on a short story by Madeline Champion. THE HITCH-HIKER **** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Alvin Ganzer Cast: Inger Stevens, Leonard Strong, Adam Williams, Lew Gallo, Dwight Townsend Driving cross-country, a woman becomes panicky when she continually sees the same ominous hitch-hiker on the road ahead. Based on a story by Lucille Fletcher. SJ: a personal favorite. LW: "Going MY way?" ... THE FEVER **** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Alvin Ganzer Cast: Everett Sloane, Bibi Janiss, William Kendis, Lee Miller A gambling-hating man named Franklin Gibbs (Sloane) battles a Las Vegas slot machine with a malevolent mind of its own. SJ: Another favorite of mine. LW: Well, let's be careful now, he THINKS it has a mind of its own, but we don't REALLY know that. Still, it might have at that... THE LAST FLIGHT *** Writer: Richard Matheson Director: William Claxton Cast: Kenneth Haigh, Alexander Scourby, Simon Scott, Robert Warwick A British World War I flyer lands at a modern air base in 1959. LW: A minor time paradox is involved in this plot. THE PURPLE TESTAMENT *** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Richard Bare Cast: William Reynolds, Dick York, Barney Phillips, William Phipps, Warren Oates, Marc Cavell, Ron Masak, Paul Mazursky Powerful tale about a lieutenant with the ability to predict which men in his outfit will be killed in battle. LW: Powerful, yes. But I never cared much for it. Dick York, by the way, played Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) Stevens' first husband in "Bewitched". ELEGY *** Writer: Charles Beaumont Director: Douglas Heyes Cast: Cecil Kellaway, Jeff Morrow, Kevin Hagen, Don Dubbins Three astronauts land on a world where everyone is in a trance-like state. They then encounter an eccentric old gent named Mr. Wickwire (Kellaway), who apparently runs the planet. MIRROR IMAGE **** Writer: Rod Serling Director: John Brahm Cast: Vera Miles, Martin Milner, Joe Hamilton In a nearly deserted bus depot, a woman finds herself haunted by her double. LW: One of my personal favorites. This episode has a great "creepy" atmosphere. Martin Milner later starred in "Adam 12". THE MONSTERS ARE DUE ON MAPLE STREET *** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Ron Winston Cast: Claude Akins, Jack Wagner, Ben Erway, Lyn Guild Hysteria grips a small community as residents suspect a power failure has been caused by invaders from outer space disguised as Earthmen. A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE **** Writer: Richard Matheson Director: Ted Post Cast: Howard Duff, Eileen Ryan, Gail Kobe, Frank Maxwell, Peter Walker A business man's working world inexplicably becomes the set for a film in which he has become a character. LW: Another of my favorites. The poor guy suddenly discovers that he is talking into a prop telephone! LONG LIVE WALTER JAMESON ** Writer: Charles Beaumont Director: Tony Leader Cast: Kevin McCarthy, Edgar Stehli, Estelle Winwood, Dody Heath An effective horror story in the tradition of "The Man in Half Moon Street." History professor Walter Jameson (McCarthy), an expert on the Civil War, is actually immortal and well over 200 years old. LW: The first of a couple of episodes on this basic theme. PEOPLE ARE ALIKE ALL OVER **** Writer: Rod Serling Director: David Orrick Cast: Roddy McDowell, Susan Oliver, Paul Comi, Byron Morrow, Vic Perrin An astronaut (McDowell) is pleased to find that people on Mars act just like people at home. Based on a short story by Paul W. Fairman. LW: A TZ classic. EXECUTION *** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Ron Winston Cast: Albert Salmi, Russel Johnson, Than Wyenn, George Mitchell, Jon Lormer A western outlaw (Salmi) is snatched from the hangman's noose by a modern day scientist (Johnson) and his time machine. LW: Russel Johnson, by the way, also had the distinction of playing "The Professor" on "Gilligan's Island", some years later! From the Twilight Zone to Gilligan's Island. Sigh... THE BIG TALL WISH * Writer: Rod Serling Director: Ron Winston Cast: Ivan Dixon, Steve Perry, Kim Hamilton A child's faith in miracles helps a down-and-out boxer win an important match. LW: Ever since "Requiem for a Heavyweight", Rod also had a thing about boxing plots. The Twilight Zone versions of these tended to be comparatively poor. A NICE PLACE TO VISIT **** Writer: Charles Beaumont Director: John Brahm Cast: Larry Blyden, Sebastion Cabot, Sandra Warner While committing a crime, a cheap hood (Blyden) gets killed and finds an afterlife in which all wishes are granted. LW: Sebastion is great as the, well, "helper" in the afterlife (he's called "Pip".) Sebastion starred in many other roles both before and after this of course. NIGHTMARE AS A CHILD ** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Alvin Ganzer Cast: Janice Rule, Terry Burnham, Shepperd Strudwick Schoolteacher Helen Foley (Rule) is haunted by the recurring image of herself as a child. LW: Time paradoxes play a minor role in this episode. A STOP AT WILLOUGHBY *** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Robert Parrish Cast: James Daly, Howard Smith, Patricia Donahue, James Maloney Harried by his high-pressure job, an executive falls asleep on a train and wakes at a mysterious stop called Willoughby. LW: Another "classic", though objectively speaking, not a truly great episode. THE CHASER *** Writer: Robert Presnell, Jr. Director: Douglas Heyes Cast: George Grizzard, John McIntyre, Patricia Barry A loser in the game of love purchases a special potion from a weird "doctor". Based on a short story by John Collier. LW: The doctor's name was somthing like "A. Demon" by the way, to give you some idea of what his practice was like... PASSAGE FOR TRUMPET **** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Don Medford Cast: Jack Klugman, Mary Webster, John Anderson, Frank Wolff An unsuccessful trumpet player is given a second crack at life - after he is struck and killed by a truck, but first he has to learn what it's like to be "dead" in a world full of life... LW: The first of several dramatic appearances on TZ by Klugman, later to become familiar to us all as the sloppy Oscar Madison on "The Odd Couple". MR. BEVIS ** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Robert Parrish Cast: Orson Bean, Henry Jones, Charles Lane, William Schallert A kindly fellow's life is turned topsy-turvy when he receives "help" from his guardian angel (Jones). LW: Sigh. Poor Orson Bean (familiar to all) starred in this the first of two almost identical (except for details) TZ episodes on the subject of guardian angels. Neither was particularly good. THE AFTER HOURS **** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Douglas Heyes Cast: Anne Francis, Elizabeth Allen, James Millholin, John Conwell A woman (Francis) discovers that the floor of a department store on which she bought an item doesn't exist, and that the salesgirl was, in reality, a mannequin. LW: Anne Francis we all know. This episode is one of the most memorable in the TZ series. THE MIGHTY CASEY *** Writer: Rod Serling Director: Douglas Heyes Cast: Jack Warden, Robert Sorrells, Don O'Kelly, Abraham Sofaer The manager of a baseball team adds a new man to the fold - a robot named Casey. LW: This episode is told as a fable, and is presented in a rather "tongue-in- cheek" manner. Fun if not taken too seriously. A WORLD OF HIS OWN ***** Writer: Richard Matheson Director: Ralph Nelson Cast: Keenan Wynn, Phyliss Kirk, Mary LaRoche Serio-comedy, as a playwright creates true-to-life characters on his tape machine. They are so true that he can make tham appear in the room with him! SJ: This episode has the strangest and funniest ending of the series. LW: An EXCELLENT episode, which indeed has the most bizarre ending of any show in the entire TZ run. Highly recommended. Keenan Wynn plays a truly delightful character in this comedy/drama. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --!12!-- Contests and Awards --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The results of the 1993 Electric Science Fiction Award. The nominees were all of the Hugo and Nebula nominees, and the voters were users on USENET, Internet, GEnie, other networks, and readers of the 1993 Hugo and Nebula Anthology from Clarinet. The voting was Hugo-stle. Short Story: "The Mountain to Mohammed" by Nancy Kress Novelette: "Danny Goes to Mars" by Pamela Sargent Novella: Stopping at Slowyear by Frederik Pohl Novel: A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge Professional Artist: Bob Eggleton Fan Artist: Stu Shiffman Fan Writer Evelyn C. Leeper Professional Artwork: Dinotopia by James Gurney New Writer: Nicholas A. DiChario The 1993 Hugo and Campbell Awards Best Novel (tie): A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (Tor) and Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (Bantam) Best Novella: "Barnacle Bill the Spacer" by Lucius Shepard (Asimov's, July 1992) Best Novelette: "The Nutcracker Coup" by Janet Kagan (Asimov's, December 1992) Best Short Story: "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis (Asimov's, April 1992) Best Non-Fiction Book: A Wealth of Fable: An informal history of science fiction fandom in the 1950s by Harry Warner, Jr. (SCIFI Press) Best Dramatic Presentation: "The Inner Light" (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (Paramount Television) Best Professional Editor: Gardner Dozois Best Professional Artist: Don Maitz Best Original Artwork: Dinotopia by James Gurney (Turner) Best Semi-Prozine: Science Fiction Chronicle, edited by Andrew Porter Best Fanzine: Mimosa, edited by Dick and Nicki Lynch Best Fan Writer: Dave Langford Best Fan Artist: Peggy Ranson John W. Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Writer of 1991-1992: Laura Resnick Special Committee Award for building bridges between cultures and nations to advance science fiction and fantasy: Takumi Shibano --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --!13!-- Conventions and Readings --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Submit convention listings to xx133@cleveland.freenet.edu in the format: CON NAME: Month, day, year; Hotel or Convention Center; City, State, Country; GUESTS; Cost until deadline, Cost after deadline (please specify currency); Full address for information; Telephone (if applicable); e-mail address (if any) Convention listings are provided as a public service. Cyberspace Vanguard is not affiliated with any of these conventions and takes no responsibility for anything to do with it. ................ SCI-CON 15: November 12-14 1993; Holiday Inn Executive Center; Virginia Beach, VA, USA; TIMOTHY ZAHN, DARRELL K. SWEET, BILL SMITH, ALEXIS GILLILAND, PATRICK and TERESA NIELSEN-HAYDEN, Greg Barr, William Barton, Michael Capobianco, Cathy DeMott, Colleen Doran, Ray Goodman, Steve Hauk, Donna Higgins, Aleta Jackson, Zachary Kane, Andrew Greenberg, Anne Parker Marsh, Elizabeth Massie, Greg Porter, Mark Rainey, Richard Rowand, Peter Schweighofer, Dr. Sheridan Simon, Ellie Sterheim, Stanislaus Tal, Jason Waltrip, John Waltrip, Grahm Watkins, Bud Webster, Allen Wold, and Beverly Yeskolski. More are expected to come; $25 (US); Sci-Con, c/o HaRoSFA, P.O.Box 9434, Hampton VA 23670; p.e.morris@larc.nasa.gov QUANTUM CON '94; February 19-20, 1984; Pasadena Civic Auditorium and Conference Center; Pasadena, CA, USA; Chris Ruppenthal, Charles Floyd Johnson, Deborah Pratt; $25(US) until 11/1/93, $30(US) until 1/1/94, $35(US) until the con, $40(US) at the door, $15(US) non-attending; Quantum Con '94, P.O. Box 93819, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA; eah4@po.cwru.edu. [Please note that this con is NOT put on by Creation, but by the fans. It's for charity - the beneficiaries being The American Diabetes Association, Broadway Cares (Equity Fights AIDS), ECO (Earth Communications Office), The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, and The Los Angeles Mission.] TECHNICON 11: April 15-17, 1994; Blacksburg, VA, USA; ELLEN GUON, TOM MONAGHAN; Technicon 11, c/o VTSFFC, P.O. Box 256, Blacksburg, VA 24063-0256 USA; (703) 951-3282; Technicon@VTCC1.cc.vt.edu MEXICON 6: June 1994; "most probably a 'one-day programme, between two hotel nights ... in Newcastle'"; #9.50 (pounds sterling); 121 Cape Hill, Smethwick, Warley, West Midlands, B66 4SH EUROCON: May 26-29, 1994; Timisoara, Romania; Iain Banks, John Brunner, Herbert Francke, Joe Haldeman, Stanislaw Lem, Fredrick Pohl, Franz Rottensteiner, Norman Spinrad; $20(US) until 12/31/93, $35(US) until 2/15/93, $45 until 3/31/83, supporting/attending for East Europeans $5(US); Sigma Club, Post Office 3, Box 49, 5600 Piatra Neamt, Romania; 40-96-136 731, 40- 96-144 416, fax: 40-96-119 434 Science Fiction Research Association Annual Meeting; July 7-10, 1994; Woodfield Hilton and Towers; Arlington Heights, IL; SHERRI S. TEPPER; OCTAVIA BUTLER, Alex & Phyllis Eisenstein, Philip Jose Farmer, Jim Gunn, Fred Pohl, Joan Slonczewski, Joan Vinge, Jack Williamson, Gene Wolfe; $115(US); Elizabeth Anne Hull, William Rainey Harper College, Palatine, IL 60067 or Beverly Friend, Oakton Community College Des Plaines, IL 60016; 708-635-1987; friend@oakton.edu; [CALL FOR PROPSAL OF PAPERS AND SESSIONS (Deadline March 1) to Hull - send 2 copies. Conference Wn paper proposal possibilities: with special emphasis on papers dealing with the attending authors] WISHCON III: July 29-31, 94; King Alfred's Coll, Winchester; #20 until mid- November 93, #23 afterwards; 12 Crowsbury Close, Emsworth, Hants, PO10 7TS, 0243 376596. WHO'S 7 (DR/BLAKE EVENT): October 29-10, 1994; Wueens Hotel; Crystal Palace, London, UK; VARIOUS GUESTS; #30 (pounds sterling) until the end of '93; 131 Norman Rd, Leytonstone, London, E11 4RJ KATSUCON ICHI: February 17 - 19, 1995; Holiday Inn Executive Center; Virginia Beach, VA, USA; SCOTT FRAZIER, DANNY FAHS, C. SUE SHAMBAUGH, JOHN WALTRIP, JASON WALTRIP; $22 until June 30, 1994; Katsu Production, PO Box 1158, Blacksburg, Virginia 24062-1582, USA; katsucon@vtserf.cc.vt.edu, listproc@solaris.cc.vt.edu (mailing list) TIMEWARP (TREK): March 4-5, 1995; Grand Hotel; Malahide, Dublin, Ireland; 30 Beverley Downs, Knocklyon, Dublin 16, Ireland. ............. Signings and Readings ............. [Elizabeth Willey's Calander of Fantasy, SF, and Horror readings and signings is reprinted with permission. Thanks, Elizabeth!] Please send listing information to, the compiler: eliz@ai.mit.edu; on GEnie, e.willey. Thanks to all who have contributed!--Elizabeth Willey ======================================================================== 27 October 1993 Dan Simmons will read at Little Bookshop of Horrors in Arvada, CO. 19:30. 303-425-1975. 27 October 1993 Poppy Z. Brite and Melanie Tem will sign at Dark Carnival in Berkeley, CA. No times. 510-845-7757. 12 November 1993 Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald will read at Barnes and Noble, 818 South Road, Poughkeepsie, NY. 19:30. No phone. 17 November 1993 David Dvorkin will read at Little Bookshop of Horrors in Arvada, CO. 19:30. 303-425-1975. 18 November 1993 Alexander Jablokov and Ian Watson read at Dixon Place, 258 Bowery, New York City, NY; part of the New York Review of Science Fiction readings series. Admission $5.00; doors open 19:30. 212-219-3088. 15 December 1993 Connie Willis will read at Little Bookshop of Horrors in Arvada, CO. 19:30. 303-425-1975. 16 December 1993 Michael Swanwick and Jack Dann read at Dixon Place, 258 Bowery, New York City, NY; part of the New York Review of Science Fiction readings series. Admission $5.00; doors open 19:30. 212-219-3088. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --!14!-- Publications, Lists and the like --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This issue we've got a bit of a diverse view of the offerings floating around in cyberspace. Most of it is only available through Internet, but that will change next issue. If you have a favorite SF-oriented magazine, fanzine, mailing list, BBS, fringe newsgroup, or the like, let us know. Send information to xx133@cleveland.freenet.edu. If you are the owner of said resource, we would appreciate an informative listing at 10 lines or less. If not, we'd appreciate a means of getting hold of the owner -- or better yet, tell them to get hold of us! THE BLIND SPOT is Duke's fantasy/science-fiction/horror magazine, and we'll be in our third year. We take anything that fits into the above three categories as long as it is well written. Anything we get will get a full edit during the school year, whether it is accepted or not. We prefer stories of less than 10,000 words, but we are flexible. We pay a flat rate of $10 if the story is accepted. We are an annual magazine for now, and our next issue will be published in the beginning of next year. Sample copies are available for $2 + shipping and handling. ---- Andy Whitfield (Ye Olde Editor of the Blind Spot) awhit@acpub.duke.edu (Andy Whitfield) TWILIGHT ZONE is a bi-monthly fiction-only on-line magazine that conentrates slightly on the genres of fantasy and science fiction, possible with some added humour. A subscription may be acquired by sending a message to r.c.karsmakers@stud.let.ruu.nl. Submissions and general inquiries may also be aimed at that address. MAILING LISTS: Please MAKE SURE to send subscription request to the proper address and to find out what the lists ground rules are BEFORE posting to it. Most lists have rules against flaming, off-topic conversations, and spoilers posted without warning. HIGHLANDER: Send e-mail to LISTSERV@PSUVM.PSU.EDU with SUBSCRIBE HIGHLA-L in the body of the message. Questions, comments, etc. should be direct at Debbie Douglass, ddoug@dl5000.bc.edu. FOREVER KNIGHT: Send mail to listserv@psuvm.psu.edu with SUB FORKNI-L in the body of the message. Questions or problems, contact JAP8@psuvm.psu.edu. There is also a sister group, FKFIC-L, for FK related fiction. (Use the same address to subscribe.) This one isn't really a magazine, but Paul's been nice enough to give us archive space on the FTP server, so we thought we'd help him out and let you all know that he's looking for submissions. "I am attempting to expand the offerings of electronic fiction and poetry files on the anonymous ftp/gopher archive server, etext.archive.umich.edu. If you have any materials you'd like to share with the universe, in ASCII text, PostScript, or TeX format, I would be delighted to have them, regardless of size. The server pays nothing, costs nothing, and you are welcome to copyright and retain all privileges so long as unmodified distribution is permitted in some fashion (otherwise I can't do anything with it)." There's also a huge collection of 'zines there, for those who are interested. For more info, contact Paul Southworth, pauls@umich.edu. Also, for those of you who hang out in the IRC (Internet Relay Chat), Rick Russell has started to maintain channel #scifi Monday through Thursday 6 - 8 pm Eastern Time. (Greenwich time - 5 hrs.) Contact him at rick-russell@tamu.edu. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --!15!-- Administrivia --------------------------------------------------------------------------- First off, an apology. Part of the reason for this issue's lateness is a catastrophic disk crash on the old editor's antiquated machine. (When was the last time you saw the letters IBM without other letters after it?) Some data, including the "About the Author"'s and a few newsbits and listings were lost. If your listing is one of those that did not appear, please re-send it and we will make sure it gets into the next issue. How to get hold of us: By e-mail, the preferred way to get hold of us is at cn577@cleveland.freenet.edu, but we are also available by Fido at Cyberspace Vanguard@1:157/564. Then, of course, you can always get hold of us by Snail Mail at PO Box 25704, Garfield Hts., OH 44125 USA. Writers should contact us at xx133@cleveland.freenet.edu. FTP access: Cyberspace Vanguard is archived at etext.archive.umich.edu. So that's it. Thanks for sticking with us through another issue, and we hope that all of you typo pickers will be disappointed this time! (Thanks, Pat, for going over things.) ---- TJ Goldstein, Editor Cyberspace Vanguard Magazine -- CYBERSPACE VANGUARD MAGAZINE News and Views from the Science Fiction Universe TJ Goldstein, Editor | Send submissions, questions, comments to tlg4@po.cwru.edu | cn577@cleveland.freenet.edu