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space1999-digest Friday, 28 February 1997 Volume 01 : Number 013
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From: David Welle <dwelle@online.dct.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 03:53:02
Subject: Space1999: Apples/Oranges? ST, S19, & Resident Aliens
Hello all.
Some more thoughts... (I'm on a roll :-)
I'm pretty sure that S19 was the *first* science fiction I ever watched,
even *before* I started watching Star Trek reruns. Though not unique by
any means, most people I talk to seem to have seen ST before S19.
Although I've seen it in action myself, I never could understand the
elitism that Robert and others (?) have mentioned in regard to many ST
fans. In their enthusiastic love of aspects of the series, they often
seemed to miss other aspects, most especially (and ironically) the spirit
of much of what Roddenberry was saying ("Infinite Diversity in Infinite
Combinations" or IDIC), in a sense reducing them to giving lip service to
their own favorite series. How ironic... and how sad for so much of what
has followed since ST (e.g. Why wasn't S19 considered in as part of the
"Infinite Diversity" part of IDIC?).
S19 was, in a sense, caught in another no-win situation. They couldn't win
with ITC's ratings expectations and meddling (initial pronouncements to
limit "forward momentum" and later demands for radical changes, etc.); and
it couldn't survive the high level of pre-conceptions and/or hostility many
Trek fans greeted the new series with--an science-fiction audience that S19
needed. It was no-win because many ST fans wanted a ST clone of some sort
(which S19 wasn't)--but at the same time, would have derided a clone as a
rude knock-off of their favorite series, as Robert described.
In a sense, when S19 got bashed by ST fans looking for another ST, S19
changed, only to find itself being criticised for seemingly trying to copy
elements of ST.
Oddly, though, even this could be contradicted in the most unexpected ways.
Maya, for example. Labeled a "resident alien," and often compared to Mr.
Spock of ST, she nonetheless had many differences in characterization.
Sure, they were both were highly intelligent, and each had an additional
interesting ability or two. Emotionally, they were worlds apart (pun
half-intended). Their respective roles, as well, varied in as many ways as
they were similar. Hardly the same, hardly exact opposites either. Even
if you consider her addition a bald attempt to add a "resident alien" to
Alpha as ST had on the Enterprise, then intentionally give her opposite
personality characteristics in some ways to make her seem different from
Spock... well, in a sense, it almost seems her character was caught in as
bad of a no-win situation as S19 itself. Too much like Spock, too much
single-alien-caught-in-human-crew angst, or act too logical and (mostly)
unemotional, and she'd have been pegged as a female Spock for sure. Be a
total opposite, and she'd seem too obviously intentionally opposite from
Spock. The comparisons were between the two series were inevitable, and
did indeed occur, so was there any way to escape them, no matter what would
be done?
I don't know; maybe I never saw the two series as being mutually exclusive.
(In fact, that reminds me of a very curious thought I had many years ago
was... Spock and Maya as a couple! Could you imagine that? Eh, maybe not.
Probably wouldn't have worked, but it was funny to think of the idea. The
"Infinite Combination" part of IDIC, perhaps? :-)
But even if the characterization of Maya was caught in a no-win situation,
does this mean they handled it the best way possible?
Well, no. In some ways, they did; in other ways, they did *not*.
Like Robert, Marcy, and others, I've always been disappointed at how
quickly Maya adjusted to Alpha. In fact, for years, before I saw the
series again, I thought there must have been an episode that demonstrated
Maya starting to adjust to the Alphans and /vice versa/, not to mention
what had just happened to her father and her planet. Such an episode
doesn't exist, and that was probably one of my largest disappointments when
seeing the series again.
But notice a few things. First, she was quite a lot more subdued in the
earlier episodes than the later episodes, and seemed to slowly open up as
time went on. Like many people, she seemed to erect a facade around her
pain, as a way to deal with it so that she would not burden the troubled
Alphans with her own troubles, especially given what her father had done
(and tried to do) to the Alphans. What right would she feel she had to
complain? What good would it do to do so? Maybe she felt that would only
draw more attention to herself. Hiding the pain and adjusting as quickly
as she could would be her way of attempting to make herself less noticed
(not that she could ever go *unnoticed*).
Furthermore, she obviously had a very happy, friendly, and energetic
personality to start with, and despite the multiple shocks, she may have
decided, consciously or unconsciously, to hold onto this, and continue
expressing it, as a way of coping with the devastation she must have felt.
Furthermore, as metamorphs, perhaps the ability to transform and adjust
would seem almost second nature, not just physically, but mentally. After
all, when she transforms her body, she has to be able to adjust the way she
acts, reacts, talks, etc. A metamorph *has* to be able to put on an
act--if not perfect then good enough to hold up to some partial degree of
scrutiny (being an act, it would break down with enough scrutiny, of
course). This sort of rapid adaptibility may have been ingrained right
into Psychon culture.
Of course, that doesn't wipe out anything at all. But putting on a facade....
Ever notice how hard it was for even Tony to get her to express many
things? She was reserved about many things, until it would break through
that here and there.
Think of "Dorzak." All of a sudden, circumstances brought a fellow Psychon
to Alpha. Suddenly, you could hear the absolute yearning in her voice, the
overwhelming desire to see him--and then the nearly absolute refusal to
believe the growing accusations against Dorzak, until she was finally
convinced, by the people she had come to trust for the last several years,
to test Dorzak.
And how many times did we see barely visible trepidation show up? The
slightest mention of returning to Earth, or even getting off her current
home (Alpha), set her on edge. She didn't even know how to react to the
other apparent Earth people in "Bringers of Wonder")--showing a confused
mixture of curiosity and shyness.
Undoubtedly missed things, but I'm getting tired.
Ironically, I always thought these subtle signs of displacement played out
in way not unlike the subtlety seen in Year One characterizations! This
was, in fact, rather frustrating! <G> In the end, I decided all of this,
the subtlety that suggests more going on under the surface of Maya's
facade, and I eventually decided this was an opportunity to write. Besides
working more of these aspects around my fiction, there *is* that whole
60-day gap between "The Metamorph" and "The Exiles"--Maya's first sixty
days on Alpha--which I have been writing about in another story.
At 08:17 PM 02/27/97 -0500, Lynn (DAllard422@aol.com) wrote:
>I always wished that they kept Victor to be sort of a father figure to Maya,
>helping her to adjust.
I would have absolutely *loved* to see Victor and Maya interact! The fact
is, Victor is my second favorite character, and I had always wished he
would have been around to meet Maya. He's definitely a character I missed
in Y2. In ITC's quest to make extensive changes, and Freiberger's
interpretation, we lost what I felt was the best character of Y1. Like
Robert said in another post, so much attention was lavished on guest
characters that the core characters weren't deepened anywhere near as far
as they could have been. Good guest characters are certainly needed to
interact with--and reveal aspects of--the main characters. But in S19,
this was carried too far: the main characters languished, and were later
seen as too easily replaceable, which is *exactly* what happened or almost
happened to all of them.
One other point about Maya--or more generally, an alien, that I've not seen
brought up as such: is it so surprising that Alpha eventually gained a
resident alien? A lot of people liked the character of Maya (and/or
Catherine's portrayal of her), or simply did *not* like Maya. But
regardless of her, consider that with all the alien life the Alphans
encountered, it was likely that sooner or later, by some set of
circumstances, one or more aliens would have joined Alpha. Is it not a
logical development in a general way, regardless of whether you agree with
the character that took up this role?
In a story I've nearly completed, for example, I briefly mentioned a
situation in which the dozen or so more "civilized" (using that word for
convenience's sake) Darians (from "Mission of the Darians") were forced to
flee with the Alphans when the more "barbaric" Darians refused to sway to
Koenig's peace-making efforts at the end of the episode, and made it clear
they would kill their "civilized" tormentors the first moment they could.
The Alphans, having been the ones how disrupted the relative stability
(however morally reprehensible), would have been essentially obligated to
take these very few survivors aboard.
It might be an interesting thread to consider: what would have happened if
things went just a little differently, and not resolved themselves quite
the same way. What other alien(s) could have ended up resident on Alpha?
Just some things to consider....
Comments?
- ----
David Welle
dwelle@online.dct.com
http://www.dct.com/~dwelle/s19.html
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From: "Robert Ashley Ruiz" <espresso@dnai.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 01:58:15 -0700
Subject: Space1999: Moon Buggy Exhibit 2.0
Well, I finally got a chance to take my new Snappy out of the box and
now you can check out the results in the Cybrary's revamped moon
buggy exhibit.
Look for the Moonbase Alpha tour, costume exhibits, cast lists with
S1 and S2 photos, stun gun exhibits, etc. in the coming weeks as I
get time to get to them. The first part of the base will be the
launch pads and hangars, and then I'll continue on from there.
I will also be adding screen shots of the furniture from the series
to the furnishings exhibit so you can see each item as it was used in
the show.
I got a great shot of the Boby from "The Taybor" tonight, and then,
two minutes later, I saw the Boby on the Enterprise on an episode of
ST:TNG (the one where Geordi has been carrying a parasite for five
years and transforms into another form of life). I was really
surprised to see a piece of Alpha on Star Trek, but then, hey, after
nearly 20 or so years they were bound to catch up. :)
Enjoy the moon buggy exhibit,
Robert
Robert Ruiz (espresso@dnai.com)
San Francisco, California USA
Cybrarian of the Space: 1999 Cybrary at:
http://204.188.13.27/welcome.htm
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From: David Welle <dwelle@online.dct.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 05:27:21
Subject: Re: Space1999: Ratings, ITC, Year 2 Changes, and Freiberger-Reply
At 11:05 AM 02/27/97 -0600, ggreg perry wrote:
>the ironic thing is, of course, if 1999 did attempt to emulate star trek,
>these very same people would have still condemned it, for being a ripoff, as
>opposed to not being star trek. go figure. these type of fans' minds were
>made up before they laid eye one on the series, and that was that.
I agree. It was terrible. I was too young to be aware of the "politics"
of the time, but this was, and in many ways still is, such a problem that I
picked up on later.
The amazing thing (well, "amazing" isn't the right word) is that it *still*
happens. Remember all of the Babylon 5 vs. ST: Deep Space Nine noise from
a couple years ago (and which still haunts discussion of either series to
this day)? It's a perfect modern day example of this closed-mindedness.
Two very different series, and they were compared on the hopelessly
superficial aspect of the fixed space stations they both had. Two series
are set around space stations, and suddenly B5 is accussed of being a
conceptual rip-off of DS9. Geez. It was so hopelessly silly that it was
disgusting. I ignored all the self-proclaimed pundits and simply watched
both, until I realized that while I liked DS9 (some of the time, anyway), I
*loved* B5. B5's now an absolute "must see" for me, while the other goes
more like this: 'well, I guess I'll check it out tonight.'
>i think it is acrime to lack talent or vision,
I have to disagree. I don't think it's a crime. A pity, for sure. But a
crime?
>especially when the lack
>thereof is applied so devastatingly to said concept,
That, on the other hand, *is* a problem. But they hired him--he didn't
hire himself. He really tried his best, I believe, to execute the demands
of the ITC, however misguided they might have been. He fleshed out those
demands, had reasonable ideas, but either didn't have the time, or the
talent, to ensure said changes were carried out consistently and
consistently well. So in the end, between ITC's demands and Freiberger's
handling, we ended up with two very different years.
>so that what you
>enjoy(ed) about the original work is now completely destroyed.
This, I can see, believe it or not. Y1, as it was, was basically no more.
Having come to greater appreciation of Y1 over time (and always having
liked the character of Victor), there are a lot of things I miss now about
Y1. The whole situation was/is simply a mess. It was actually Y2 that
grabbed my attention, and that I remembered just enough to make me want to
seek the series out later. I'm glad I did, not only for Y2, but for Y1 as
well. There is so much I have come to appreciate about Y1.
>there being so many other TALENTED and VISIONARY people out there who could
>have done the job better and with more integrity,
Yes, that's so. But I wonder how many were available when they suddenly
started looking, after having delayed for so long on a decision on whether
to go forward with a second year, and how/what to change? They already had
to double up many episodes just to make deadlines. Maybe they were so
under-the-gun they had to jump at essentially the first person available,
even one whose credentials weren't that far looked into. I don't know the
details of the search for a new producer.
>>To me, ITC and even (dare I say this) Gerry Anderson bear the brunt of
>>the blame. Gerry seems too soft spoken and seems to have let people
>>walk all over him.
>
>i don't know the whole story of course, but i think anderson really didn't
>have much of achoice, and really had no say in the creative end of things
>after season one. he was basically there in name only. besides, what would
>his voice have been to the combined hot air of ITC new york and their baby
>freddly?
I know even less of the story here. I've heard some of Freddie's side,
read about ITC's ratings obsessions, and little of Anderson's, so with only
one side's opinions, there's little I can say.
>can't agree with this. i liked the idea of the stories on the show being
>about something as opposed to SOMEONE, like those shitty next generation
>shows about data and his cat or whatever. to me, most of these so-called
>character driven stories or series are really excuses for lack of a good
>story in the first place. i'd much rather have an story focused on some
>mysterious spacial phenomena or unknown event they encounter. in this
>department, i feel the series was most consistent.
IMO, the best stories are those that have strong plot AND characterization.
To me, a plot is strengthened when interesting characters are responding
to it, and characters are strengthened when they respond to an interesting
situtaion.
"Interesting" can mean a lot of things; but when I see a believable
character responding in a believable way to some event, that event becomes
more interesting--and thus strengthened. If Alan Carter believes some a
certain response is needed to counter some threat, and John Koenig thinks
some other, very different response is needed, you not only have
interpersonal conflict (a character-driven element), but the plot becomes
more intense. Suddenly, with two characters approaching the situation in
two different ways (or more characters suggesting other possibilities) the
situation can and often does becomes all the *more* uncertain and
mysterious. You, as a viewer, may decide that John is right, only to
suddenly realize John is mistaken, and Alan is right but doesn't have the
authority to carry it out. The situation becomes more dangerous because of
it, and the story intensifies, for now you think Alpha is hurtling to its
doom by following John.
But if it were to be some almost faceless, throw-away character arguing one
thing while another equally throw-away character argues the other, do we
care as much? Do we believe their pronouncements as much? Is the
situation as frightening, or do we find ourselves not caring what happens
to these characters, and thus not caring as much about the whole situation.
The stronger, more believable the characters, the more we can believe the
situations they are reacting to.
It works the other way as well. If we got a group of characters, and they
are engaging in boring situations, do we really gain much more of an
insight into the characters. But if they are put through an absolute
wringer of a situation, where we see the characters put under stress and
see how they react to horrific situations, we learn a lot more about the
characters. This one is best at dealing with this, but is driven nuts by
that. This other character is pathetic in some situations but more than
makes up in another. This other one is generally clueless. Another can
handle just about anything, but has this nearly fatal Achilles heel
here.... It's all about testing the characters. If they're not tested by
strong, interesting situations, what do we learn about them? Little, if
anything.
Thus, IMO, these go hand-in-hand. If both are clicking, you have something
phenominal: strong characters strengthening plots which are leading to
even stronger stories (or strong plots strengthening characters--doesn't
matter where you start if you start with a strong causal circle, so to
speak). If one is clicking, but the other is flagging, it can be an uneasy
combination: without strong plots, we lose interest in the characters; or
alternately, without strong characters, the plots don't seem as gripping.
If both are weak--well, suffice it to say that's not good news.
>i perceive it much more like a gift to all those who enjoy
>intelligent, challenging, literary-style hard science-fiction. a very,
>very, very, very (one more) very rare commodity on tv, especially american
>television.
That is an absolutely excellent way of putting it, Ggreg, and I couldn't
agree any more. Very, very rare indeed. I've only seen a couple series
that qualify in whole or even in part, for that matter.
BTW, Gregg, would you consider Babylon 5 to be in this category? Or
perhaps I should just ask if any other series has reached this rarified
reach. (You can redirect response to this privately).
There certainly is a lot to S19, since it managed to not only capture my
attention in the first place, but hold it over many years of not seeing it
(and considering I was only 8 when I saw the last Y2 episode until 15 years
later), to make me seek it out later, prompt me to find out if there was a
fandom discussing the show, and drive me (in part) to start writing. A
little driven? Well, it had to be a pretty good reason... :-)
What time is it? Thank heavens for (partial) flex time. But all this
writing put me in a great mood, so I know from experience that I'll wake up
feeling fresh and ready to go (to work--oh well, it's a Friday). Sorry to
bend everyone's eyes so much tonight. I got on a roll, but I've just
rolled out (am I making any sense anymore? :-)
Later, all. Eagle Four Out....
- ----
David Welle
dwelle@online.dct.com
http://www.dct.com/~dwelle/s19.html
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From: djlerda@juno.com (David J Lerda)
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 07:38:36 EST
Subject: Re: Space1999: Year 2 -Reply
My top 5 for Year 2
1. The Metamorph - Lots of action, good story, good special effects.
Very promising beginning for Year 2.
2. The AB Chrysalis - Those bouncing balls - how did they do that?
3. Devil's Planet - Women in tights with whips. Need I say more?
4. One Moment of Humanity - Helena and Zarl's "erotic" dance is so campy
(right up there with the Batman TV series) that it pushed this one into
my top 5. I liked the premise too.
5. The Rules of Luton - Any show based on Fred Brown's "Arena" can't be
all bad. I also liked the scene with Koenig and Maya.
The Top 5 Stinkers:
1. All that Glisters - Ugh. That's all I can say.
2. The Beta Cloud / Space Warp - A stupid chase episode. Even though
they're two episodes, I consider them the same show filmed twice because
there's nothing different. Lots of rubber suits and running around.
3. The Taybor - The writer of this episode should be prosecuted for
crimes against humanity.
4. Catacombs of the Moon - This made no sense.
5. The Dorcons - The name just sounded like "dorks" to me.
6. A Matter of Balance - Vindrus's costume is laughable.
David
David Lerda
Salisbury, Maryland, USA
djlerda@juno.com
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From: djlerda@juno.com (David J Lerda)
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 07:38:36 EST
Subject: Re: Space1999: old thread
On Wed, 26 Feb 1997 12:26:03 +0000 Ina Litera <ilitera@idt.net> writes:
>Hi
>I know I'm many weeks behind, but a while ago there was talk of
>Sandra's undying loyalty to Paul. If memory serves correctly wasn't
>Sandra engaged to someone else (I think this came up in BOW, but I'm
>not sure) Anyway if she was such a loyal personality, one would think
>>her devotion would be to her almost spouse.
>Just a thought.
>Also add my thanks to all the new list runners for taking yp the job.
>Later
>Ina
>
Didn't Sandra also have a thing for Mike Ryan (the Eagle pilot sucked
into the black sun)? I seem to remember her keeling over in the teaser
when he got vacuumed up. I forgot about her fiance in BOW. Let's see,
Peter Rockwell, Mike Ryan, and Paul Morrow. Sandra gets around. That
could lead to some interesting speculations but I'll keep this list
G-rated...... :)
David
David Lerda
Salisbury, Maryland, USA
djlerda@juno.com
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From: Amardeep S Chana <achana@eng.mc.xerox.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 06:38:57 PST
Subject: Space1999: Comic Books
I have a recollection of browsing one of these things as a 9 year old.
The drawings were fairly well done (at least by the standards of a lad
that age). The only part I remember was a panel where Koenig had lost
his helmet while space walking. Then he groped around until he got it
back and put it back on. Can anyone place this in context?
Thanks,
Amardeep
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From: Charles McEvoy <mcevoyc@rcsn.nb.ca>
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 11:59:39 -0400
Subject: Re: Space1999: Comic Books
The comic that you mention was the last of the y1 editions before the sole
issue of y2. Koenig had lost his helmet due to a collision with an ancient
weapon. It was one of the better comics, despite the ridiculoous bit about
Koenig in space wihtout a helmet. I might have an extra copy.
t 06:38 AM 2/28/97 PST, you wrote:
>I have a recollection of browsing one of these things as a 9 year old.
>The drawings were fairly well done (at least by the standards of a lad
>that age). The only part I remember was a panel where Koenig had lost
>his helmet while space walking. Then he groped around until he got it
>back and put it back on. Can anyone place this in context?
>
>
>
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From: "Peters, Pete" <BPeters@gwinnett.tec.ga.us>
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 11:58:48 -0500
Subject: RE: Space1999: Ratings, ITC, Year 2 Changes, and Freiberger-Reply
>From: atomicpossum@juno.com[SMTP:atomicpossum@juno.com]
>Sent: Thursday, February 27, 1997 3:09 PM
(snip)
>>>i liked the idea of the stories on the show being about something as
>>>opposed to SOMEONE, like those shitty next generation shows about
>>>data and his cat or whatever.
>At last! Someone else who doesn't think Star Trek:TNG is the >greatest
>SF show to ever grace the tube! I think it's possible for shows to >be
>about something AND someone and still hold up. I think some of the
>best 1999 shows were in this tradition: ("Infernal Machine", "Dragon's
>Domain", "Breakaway", "The Last Sunset", "The Metamorph"). Please
>note there is only one Year 2 episode listed.
>
> Oh, hey, I rant about how bad ST:TNG is til I'm blue in the face
>and
>people tell me how much they LOVE the characters!
>---Jon "Mr. Wonderful" Stadter---<<
What situation would you care about most: A. Your best friend has cancer
or B. The Roto-Rooter man has cancer. A of course, now why is this?
could it be that you grew up with your best friend, went through grade
school, and high school together, go to movies together, help each other
out no matter what the other asks etc, etc, etc,...... WHY? Can you
finish a sentence your friend begins? Do you know them that well?
Here's why, you've grown up with this person, you know how they think,
you know what they like to eat, you know what kind of girl/guy they
like, you know what scares them, and sometimes you've even shared their
painful times with them. It's called development.
Without bringing the audience through character growth and development
on a show they will NEVER care about the characters. You can't have an
Enterprise without a Kirk or a Picard because they are the heart of the
ship
without them something is missing! Character development gives us the
ability to predict how someone may react in a given situation. I.E. an
unknown alien vessel is approaching the ship at warp 10. A. What does
Worf do? B. What does Picard do? A. "I suggest we raise shields!...arm
weapons!...and go to red alert, captain!..." B. "Passive scans Mr
Data,...Hail them, transmit friendship codes all languages. Let's see
what they do...Options number one?"
Would you care what happened to John, Helena, Alan, Tony, Victor, Paul,
Kano, Maya, or Sandra if you didn't know them? Of course not! Did we
care when any of the "extras" died? So you see "To know them is to love
them is to know them....."
The real question is did you watch all the TNG episodes to "know" the
characters before you judged them???
I for one LOVE techno-gagetry shows, special effects, hardware, space
ships, battles, fighting, shooting, war, weapons, etc, etc,
etc,.....But!, if this was all we had,...sure it would be exciting and
non-stop action, but it would be shallow and without substance to really
get us to think about what is really happening here?
Any and all comments welcome! Gotta go finish the Eagles secondary
booster enhancements presentation before the Commander gets here...
CADMiester Pete
Chief of VRMDD Dept. (Virtual Reality Mechanical Design and Development)
Alpha Moonbase
bpeters@gwinnett.tec.ga.us
>
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From: ARIMMR@aol.com
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 12:10:33 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Space1999: old thread
if you remember the exiles at the end when maya asks tony if he wants to kiss
her he asks sandra if it's ok.thats right in one of the bios of the
characters it says she and tony(after pauls death)had a fling.if i remember
right her fiances name was peter.well anyway it appears that sandra had no
problem in the guy department.
lynn
arimmr@aol.com
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From: ARIMMR@aol.com
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 12:29:12 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Year 2 -Reply
ok i'll start with my worst 5 from saesom 2
1 devils planet :remember women in leather with whips
2 space warp :just didn't like it
3 the catacombs of the moon:goofy story line
4 mark of archanon
5 a matter of balance:shermeen really got on my nerves
and my favorite 5 are
1 bow:i liked the eyeball creatures(and for any blakes 7 fans one of the
eyeball guys was gan)
2 seed of destruction:kind of cool to see an evil koening
3 the lambda factor:
4 the seance spectre:the mutiny idea was good(it would have been better if
there had been a major mutiny instead of a few guys wacking out)
5 immunity syndrome:
and for all you star wars fans the monster from the betea cloud was david
prouse(not sure of spelling)i.e. darth vader(not the voice of vader,the guy
in the outfit)just one more piece of stupid trivia.
lynn
arimmr@aol.com
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From: CHH1999@aol.com
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 13:12:06 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Anholt sings?
Wow, just read Ina's message (by the way, welcome to this wonderful and
crazy list)...Tony Anholt sings? He was my favorite actor of the
series...okay, I had a crush on him (I'll admit it). Ina, what was he like?
Hmmm....guess that crush isn't as far back in my memory as I thought!
Chris
CHH1999
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From: djlerda@juno.com (David J Lerda)
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 13:45:45 EST
Subject: Re: Space1999: Ratings, ITC, Year 2 Changes, and Freiberger-Reply
On Fri, 28 Feb 1997 11:58:48 -0500 "Peters, Pete"
<BPeters@gwinnett.tec.ga.us> writes:
>(edited message)<
>Without bringing the audience through character growth and development
>on a show they will NEVER care about the characters. You can't have an
>Enterprise without a Kirk or a Picard because they are the heart of the
>ship
>without them something is missing! Character development gives us the
>ability to predict how someone may react in a given situation.
Yes, but you have to be able to relate to the characters and identifiy
with them. The only characters I could relate to were Picard, Riker, and
Dr. Crusher. All the others were just gimmick characters (although Worf
was the best of the lot). Data and Troi were just Spock split up into
two characters. Worf was the tie to the old show (no Vulcans so let's
have a Klingon since we're calling it "Star Trek"). Don't ask me what
Tasha Yar and Wesley were doing there. At least Tasha bailed out before
the first season ended. Wesley should have been banished or shoved out
an air lock. I hated that kid. Oh yeah, I almost forgot Geordi. All he
ever did was wear those goofy glasses, spout techno-babble, and say "Warp
core breach!"
>The real question is did you watch all the TNG episodes to "know" the
>characters before you judged them???
>
Oh, I watched believe me. I gave that show a chance for three seasons.
The first season of TNG can be summed up as: 1) rip-off a show from the
original ST, or 2) get lost in the holodeck, or 3) Q drops by for tea and
crumpets (I can just see the production meeting now -- "Hey we need a
script by Friday. Just have Q stop by and say 'I must test you
PEE-Kard'").
The second season was just unbearable due to Dr. Pulaski. And that damn
holodeck again.
By the time the third season rolled around, the scripts were getting a
lot better ("Yesterday's Enterprise" was great) but there were still far
too many clunkers in there.
As the series went on I got an attitude of "Oh yeah, that's on tonight.
I guess I'll watch it." I didn't go out of my way to tune in. The
scripts had shown some real improvement but I just couldn't throw myself
into the show.
I didn't go into TNG expecting a rehash of ST because, let's face it, 20
years had passed and it would be unrealistic to expect a carbon copy of
the original. And that carbon copy probably would have flopped. In
short, I went into TNG with an open mind which was sorely lacking among a
lot of ST fans and the sf press (which was controlled by Trekkies at the
time) when S1999 came along. They blasted the show after two or three
episodes. I gave TNG three seasons. I think that's long enough for a
shake-down cruise to "get the bugs out." So no, I didn't watch all the
episodes they made. I figured 3 seasons was enough.
>I for one LOVE techno-gagetry shows, special effects, hardware, space
>ships, battles, fighting, shooting, war, weapons, etc, etc,
>etc,.....But!, if this was all we had,...sure it would be exciting and
>non-stop action, but it would be shallow and without substance to
>really
>get us to think about what is really happening here?
>
I agree. And I think if such a hatchet job hadn't been done on Space by
the ST fans who only wanted their show to make it, S1999 would have had
time to grow and the development you spoke of would have taken place
gradually. The major changes which jarred loyal viewers of the show
could have taken place over time. And as I said before the best Space
shows struck a balance between story and characters. You can have the
best developed characters in the world but without a good story or
concept to back them up, it's just vanilla pudding for the mind.
David
David Lerda
Salisbury, Maryland, USA
djlerda@juno.com
>Any and all comments welcome! Gotta go finish the Eagles secondary
>booster enhancements presentation before the Commander gets here...
>
>CADMiester Pete
>Chief of VRMDD Dept. (Virtual Reality Mechanical Design and
>Development)
>Alpha Moonbase
>bpeters@gwinnett.tec.ga.us
>>
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From: ggreg perry <ggreg@nwu.edu>
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 13:10:26 -0600
Subject: Space1999: Year 2 the next generation
>What situation would you care about most: A. Your best friend has cancer
>or B. The Roto-Rooter man has cancer.
my best friend is a roto-rooter man!
>The real question is did you watch all the TNG episodes to "know" the
>characters before you judged them???
what TNG characters? you mean those cardboard cutout stereotypes that
represent faith, hope and charity? oh, i forgot worf: shouting. "i not a
character, i'm a warrior!! GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!
please, watch ALL the TNG episodes? my stomach just couldn't take it.
suffice it to say, though, that i watched more than half of it's run on and
off, enough to fill at least 499 air-sickness bags.
ggreg
MISERY INDEX COMMAND CENTER
http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~ggperry/
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End of space1999-digest V1 #13
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