From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!sri-unix!David-J-Aronson-H@CMU-EE-AMPERE@CMU-10A Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Title: title query, ET query, Dark Crystal, new game Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.498 Posted: Sun Jan 9 20:37:12 1983 Received: Sun Feb 27 03:20:05 1983 1) A friend of mine recalls a book that was made into a movie (starring Robert Culp, I believe) in which a robot is created shortly before the sun goes nova. The purpose of the robot is to store the personalities of all the people on Earth. He winds up looking for his left little finger, which is the crucial part. In his quest, he is chased through time by some apparently evil types. (Obviously through time; he couldn't very well roam Earth after Sol novas...) Anyhow, he wants to know the title, and I just plain forget. Any answers? 2) Believe it or not, I just saw ET for the first time. Now: Any guesses as to why he revives after his "death"? Answers given so far include the cold temperature they subjected the "corpse" to, whatever gas it was they used to lower the temperature (perhaps they used cold CO2 and he was lacking the breathing reflex due to lack of CO2), and (wierdest of all), the proximity of the "others" of his race (no SW-TESB reference intended). Support for latter is the funny red light in his chest which glows when 1) he is with the others in the beginning, and 2) he revives. (Proximity meaning they are on their way, possibly near Earth already.) 3) As for Dark Crystal: I thought it might be worth seeing, a serious Muppet movie. Alas, I was disappointed. True, it was a good children's story (and thus might qualify for the earlier discussion on kids' sf), but for anyone over 10 I would not recommend it. Someone earlier complained about Jen and Kira's almost total lack of facial expression. This was quite a letdown, when one expects the same genius from he who put such expression on Kermit's face. The least he could have done was give them an occasional twitch, as he did with the Skexies (sp?). 4) As for the critic who thought Ogra (sp?) was male: a) Huge sagging breasts, as pointed out before. Is he blind? b) The voice seemed female (though not necessarily feminine) to me. Maybe not to everybody, but... c) The name sounds female to me. Again, maybe not to everybody, but a critic who misses all three? d) I don't recall, but is she ever referred to as "she" or "her" at any point? Perhaps someone going to see it should listen for it. Perhaps I am picking nits with the critic, but he seems to have a wit-ful of them... 5) This is not really SF, but what the hell... I am attempting to create a new role-playing game, with systems stolen mostly from Runequest and In the Labyrinth. If you have any particularly good ideas that you'd like to see incorporated into a game, or any general flames about extant games (they help too...), please send me mail (preferably net-mail, not U.S. Snail). If I use anything you send me, it will be noted in the book (which I may eventually publish, in a few decades). Any help at all will earn a place in the "thanks" section. (This includes help on what I have to do to make it all legal, which it probably isn't right now.) Happy Randomizing, -Dave Aronson dja@ee-ampere@cmu-10a