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SF-LOVERS Digest V6 #35 [message #7005] Tue, 31 July 2012 00:03
Anonymous
Karma:
Originally posted by: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!sf-lovers
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8242
Posted: Tue Aug 10 05:47:37 1982
Received: Thu Aug 12 05:20:13 1982

>From JPM@MIT-AI Tue Aug 10 05:39:31 1982

SF-LOVERS Digest         Saturday, 7 Aug 1982      Volume 6 : Issue 35

Today's Topics:
                      SF Topics - Movie Reviews,
        SF Movies - The Secret of NIMH & TRON & Blade Runner &
                   Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,
                 Random Topics - Violence in Movies,
              Spoiler - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 2 Aug 82 15:47:57-EDT (Mon)
From: Dsn.umcp-cs at UDel-Relay
Subject: movie reviews from the press

I strongly disagree with mwm@ucb's tirade against reviews from the
press.  I would like to see such reviews continue to appear.  In my
opinion, they are often the most worthwhile contributions to SFL.

------------------------------

Date: 5 Aug 1982 02:26:33-PDT
From: decvax!duke!uok!uokvax!jejones at Berkeley
Subject: The Secret of NIMH

The animation was excellent, without a doubt. However, I found the 
movie ethically offensive for the same reason I found Richard Adams's 
*The Plague Dogs* offensive. While I am perhaps hypocritical to the 
extent that I would find it hard to pith a frog (being brought up with
the "Bambi syndrome"), I wonder how many of the people who hold the 
position seemingly espoused in the movie would be able to say
explicitly to a human suffering from some disease "I think it better
that you suffer and die than that a rat or mouse suffer and die"?

Ben Bova's comments on *Star Wars* (made way back when in *Analog*)
apply also to *The Secret of NIMH*; there is enough irrationality in
the world without propagandizing it to children.

                                             James Jones
                                             (duke!uok!uokvax!jejones)

------------------------------

Date: 2 Aug 1982 (Monday) 1735-EDT
From: OSTER at Wharton-10 (David Oster)
Subject: Sequel to TRON

In-reply-to: James Jones  of 17 Jul 1982
Subject: Sequel to TRON
Re:     Anyone who has used Microsoft Basic can tell you that TRON is
        the command that turns on statement execution tracing, listing
        the line numbers of statements as they are executed. (I hope
        no one makes a movie called TROFF...)

Ah yes..., troff - the sinister program that tries to prevent users
from communicating with each other by restricting them to a line
length of 7.54" and a maximum of 4 fonts.

------------------------------

Date: 29 July 1982 00:37-EDT
From: Charles F. Von Rospach 
Subject: TRON as Disney allegory

As a person who did work within the Disney organization for four
years, if there is an allegory to the actual 'takeover', it is
unconscious and/or a great secret from the Disney management. They
would NEVER allow a movie out that might imply they weren't doing
things in the way the great God Walter intended (which I think says it
all about the 'takeover' itself. Walt was NEVER afraid of critisicm.
He just never paid any attention). The Biggest problem with Disney
studios today is not that they are not doing things Walts way, they
are still trying to do it his way. They have not changed as the times
changed (which Walt was very good at), and they are mostly MBA types
that simply don't have the vision that Walt did.

Chuck

------------------------------

Date: Wednesday,  4 Aug 1982 10:28-PDT
From: jim at RAND-UNIX
Subject: Smallpox in Bladerunner

Apparently I need to support my assertion that a smallpox vaccination
scar in 2019 is an anachronism.  Let me point out that my kids and
their classes have not been vaccinated.  My older boy is 14, which
will make him (don't tell me ...) 51 in 2019, clearly older than
Deckard.  The World Health Organization has declared smallpox
eliminated; Smithsonian had a picture of the last man to have smallpox
(a Somalian, I think) a few months ago. I'll grant that there may be a
few more cases of smallpox that they don't know about, probably all in
the Ethiopia/Somalia area, but will assert that even if they exist
they're extremely unlikely to get out of hand.  Correct me if I'm
wrong, but I believe that for many years the only people to get
smallpox vaccinations have been scientists working in labs that keep
live smallpox cultures in order to keep vaccines available...

Now don't get me wrong.  I think Bladerunner was a really excellent
movie that addressed an interesting moral issue with which humanity
has not yet been faced.  I'm sure few more trivial points than this
have been raised on the List (excluding ST2:TWoK, of course); I just
want to keep the facts clear...

        Jim Gillogly

------------------------------

Date: 4 Aug 82 9:52:56-EDT (Wed)
From: Earl Weaver (VLD/VMB) 
Subject: Violence

People don't seem to mind the violence on the Roadrunner cartoons, or 
even in Bugs Bunny's life.  But when they perceive violence in 
Bladerunner for instance, they get all bent out of shape.  (not all 
people of course...)

------------------------------

Date: Monday, August 9, 1982 3:57AM
From: Jim McGrath (The Moderator) 
Subject: SPOILER WARNING!  SPOILER WARNING!

The last message in this digest discuss some plot details in the movie
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  Some readers may not wish to read
on.

------------------------------

Date: 29-JUL-1982 13:21
From: TSC::COORS::VICKREY
Reply-to: "TSC::COORS::VICKREY c/o" 
Subject: Star Trek N

Now that we've flamed on Star Trek I (The Motion Picture), raved over
Star Trek II (The Wrath of Khan), and deduced the plot of Star Trek
III (In Search of Spock), surely we can extrapolate the story of Star
Trek IV (???).  Any mathematicians out there care to put together the
equation?

susan

------------------------------

Date: Thursday, 29 Jul 1982 09:37-PDT
From: jim at RAND-UNIX
Subject: ST:TWoK - Who was that masked target? (spoiler?)

In answer to the perennial question of who the guy was that Tyrell
shot before shooting himself while in the middle of the Genesis phase
II planet:

It was Dr. Hagrot, one of the few (i.e. 3) people to escape from the
station via transporter while Khan was torturing the others.  The
other 2 were, of course, Bibi Besch and her idiot boy.

The name may not really be Hagrot, of course... it comes from an old
cartoon (which I unfortunately haven't seen, but which we have all
seen innumerable times in the episodes):  the landing party beams down
to a planet, and consists of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Scotty, and
some ensign that we've never seen before.  They materialize at the top
of a cliff, with all except the unknown ensign on solid ground and the
ensign in thin air above the N-meter drop (for large N).  Kirk looks
over and says, "Tough luck, Hagrot."

So now when I and my friends are watching an episode (or ST:TWoK) and 
somebody unknown gets it, we look at each other, say "Tough luck,
Hagrot" in unison, and snigger.

                Jim Gillogly

------------------------------

Date: 2 August 1982  09:22-EDT (Monday)
From: David H. Kaufman 
Subject: Chekov and the creepy crawly

Jsol, I have one question.  How was it that McCoy managed to know,
without examining the patient or any such (outdated?) medical
procedure, exactly the right tool to force out of Chekov's head a
creature from a planet that McCoy hadn't been on for at least 20
years, if ever?  I guess that's why he's a doctor and I'm not.

Dave Kaufman

P.S. For those of you who don't know, that tool was a Sub-Etha
     Electro-Magnetic Cattleprod, produced by Megadodo Publications
     for removing Babel fish from Hitch-hikers' ears.  McCoy had it
     because he's a closet HHG fan . . .

------------------------------

Date: 29 July 1982  10:46-EDT (Thursday)
From: David H. Kaufman 
Subject: Spock Must Die


        Some friends and I have been speculating on the Genesis 
Effect, and the form in which Spock will return.  Can't you just see a
giant rootabaga (sp?) sitting on the bridge of the Enterprise, saying
'Logic suggests ....'?

        Dave Kaufman

------------------------------

Date: 29 Jul 1982 at 0952-PDT
From: chesley.tsca at SRI-Unix
Subject: STII: Starship superuser passwords (spoiler)

        I assumed that the reason starships have remote control
capabilities is so that several ships can be slaved to one another
during battles, etc.  This facility is naturally turned off when one
suspects one's own ships of being under the control of the bad guys;
the M5 knew enough to turn it off.
        Under normal, non-battle circumstances, the facility is left
enabled just in case something bad happens (the entire crew getting
food poisoning, for instance), so a friendly ship can take over and
guide you out of danger, or at least open the air-locks for rescue.
This is why the ship Khan stole was enabled for remote control; he
didn't have time to figure out all the obscure corners of the ship,
and this part is no doubt a closely guarded Starfleet secret, heavily
encrypted somewhere deep inside the ship's computer.
        --Harry...

------------------------------

Date: Thursday, 29 July 1982  14:49-EDT
From: Vince Fuller 
Subject: Why M5 did not know the prefix codes to disable ships.

Oh really? I am a little confused. As I recall, in the movie, Spock
queried the computer for the prefix code for the Reliant. Is my memory
mistaken?

--vaf

------------------------------

Date: 6 Aug 1982 12:11:22-PDT
From: ihuxl!rjnoe at Berkeley

     I was very disturbed by some of the comments made in SFL Digest
V6 #27 regarding Star Trek II.  Some of this same irresponsible (and
incorrect) guesswork went on USENET as well and I make an attempt to
curtail it,  as such ridiculous  speculations only serve to  confuse
others.  It is my intention to *answer* questions rather than create
new ones.
     No ship in Starfleet has an M-5 computer.  Further, the control
console prefix codes ARE stored within the ships' computers.  But to
obtain the code itself from the computer,  one needs proper authori-
zation, something the computer does not have by itself.
                        Roger Noe
ARPA:      ...!ucbvax!ihuxl!rjnoe at berkeley [I think that's right]

------------------------------

End of SF-LOVERS Digest
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