BK>> very soon become invincible to anyone with any significant number
BK>> fewer victories. Newbies like Richie would be nothing but lunchmeat.
TR> There have been incidents on the television series which show that
TR> this is precisely what is happening. MacLeod blocked a tranq dart
TR> with a book *after* it was fired in "The Watchers" and performed a
There are people who catch arrows in flight. There are people who catch
flies in mid air. This only requires fast reflexes, not magic.
TR> 20' leap (with accompanying somersault) in "Unholy Alliance".
No one can do that. It reminds me of a very bad Kung Fu movie. If it sinks
to that level it's in trouble. Bad Kung Fu movies only make money because
they are made cheaply.
TR> He's not invincible, but he's damn hard to beat. And as far as
TR> "newbies" like Richie being nothing but lunchmeat, I take it you
TR> haven't seen "Something Wicked...", in which MacLeod *plays* with
TR> Richie before very casually disarming him.
MacLeod has 400 years experience, Ritchie is younger than I am. That
alone is all that is necessary to explain your example.
BK>> There is also no indication how the immortals 'power' would enable
BK>> them to rule anything.
TR> According to the first film, the last Immortal gains the power to
TR> influence the actions of people across the planet. This may not be as
TR> dramatic as becoming king of the world, but it is still controlling the
TR> world.
Yes, I saw the first movie. There is no explanation at all why the last
immortal should gain this power yet immortals as a group do not have this
power.
BK>> If there are immortals being born all the time then the only way
BK>> there could be only one would be for something to change in human
BK>> genetics to stop making immortals, or to destroy the human race.
TR> Who said anything about "Immortals being born all the time"? The
TR> cutoff year is 1980 (no further Immortals will be born past 1980).
TR> Also, the Immortal/mortal ratio is 1:1,000,000, with a grand total of
TR> 6,000 Immortals throughout history. Out of these, less than 1,500 are
TR> currently still alive.
TR> You have got to sit in on a couple of Online Interviews. You
TR> learn all kinds of interesting things.
Take all that and it adds up to magic. Perhaps it's a good thing I don't
sit in on online interviews, I'd probably provoke someone to never come
online again. Sorry, unless they want to call this a show about magic, I
reject magic as an explanation for anything. If there is no explanation
it's magic.
BK>> If there is no logic, no sense, to the show it's just more escapist
BK>> fantasy.
TR> The rules you so brazenly dismissed as "not making sense" *are* the
TR> logic and the sense behind the show. Its only when people dismiss this
TR> logic that the show stops making sense.
The show makes a lot more sense if you get rid of the magic and move it
toward a more rational basis.
TR> As far as being "just more escapist fantasy", when was it ever
TR> anything more than escapist fantasy? Its a fripping television
TR> show, for Christ's sake. And besides, what the hell is wrong with
TR> a little escapist fantasy?
Nothing wrong with escapist fantasy. I, however, distinguish between
fantasy and SF. I prefer my SF straight.
BK>> The producers may set the rules as far as their intentions go, but I
BK>> am being nice enough to consider the show in terms other than the
BK>> rather foolish rules they came up with.
TR> Foolish? Oh, the arrogance.
Sorry if thinking for yourself is a sign of arrogance.
TR> Your mistake here is assuming that there has to be "terms other
TR> than the foolish rules they came up with". This is the way it
Correction: Not there has to be, but there can be.
TR> works. Accept it, or don't watch the show. Its that simple.
If enough of us don't watch the show there is no show.
BK>> The way you are looking at it it's much like knowing the end of a book
BK>> before you read it. Now, I know there are some people who read the end
BK>> first, I am not among them.
TR> There is a difference between knowing what will happen ("In the
TR> end, only one Immortal will remain, and he will have the power to
TR> rule the world.") and *how* it is going to happen (namely, the
TR> details of who that last Immortal is going to be, how they became
TR> the last Immortal, and what they are doing with all of their
The details are trivial at best. Any dictator sooner or later turns
tyrant. There are no exceptions other than those who'se dictatorships
don't last very long.
TR> power.) Do you see the difference? I always thought this was
TR> obvious to all thinking humans...
I always thought the desireablity of courteous replies was obvious to all
civilized humans.
BK>> Think of it like this, I am trying to formulate a theory that allows
BK>> some kind of sense to the whole series. Their 'rules' are really
BK>> incredibly dumb.
TR> Tell me, Oh Sage of the Ages, why are the rules "dumb"? You made
TR> the statement, now support it. Why do you feel the series needs
TR> anything other than the rules as presented? Why do you feel that
TR> new rules are needed?
The rules are dumb because:
There is no rational explanation why there can't be 10,000.
There is no explanation how anyone can outfight an immortal who has even
one kill.
There is no explanation how the final victor will aquire powers no
immortal currently displays. Where would this new power come from simply
because there are no other immortals?
Some immortals will die anyway at the hands of the normal humans.
Beheading has long been a method of execution. If you cut someone's head
off it doesn't matter who did it, he's dead. If that were not true then
the episode where the mentally retarded immortal commits suicide by
putting his head on the train track would not work.
How will these normal induced deaths affect the final outcome.
Why would immortals stop being born in 1980?
Withoug rational explanations all this becomes simply magic. If you're
going to allow magic, why not magicians, wizards and warlocks and
witches? Why not dragons and goblins, and just turn the whole series into
something completely different?
BK>> As a viewer, I am claiming the right of the audience to bend the
BK>> premise to our ends. If the producers don't like it they can always
BK>> end the program.
TR> Fans do this all the time, but it never works. And you know why
TR> your petty effort to bend the premise to your own end won't catch
TR> on? Because too many people like the show the way it is, thank
TR> you.
Do you know why your petty criticism won't hold water? Because more people
watch the worst episode of Star Trek than the best episode of Highlander.
BK>> ... If you don't respect what you are doing, don't expect anyone else
BK>> to.
TR> I've got a better one:
TR> ... "One angry voice is not a revolution; its only an angry voice."
... One man in the right constitutes a majority.
TR> or this one:
TR> ... "Never argue imagination with a person who doesn't have one."
You're right, perhaps I shouldn't.
Gettin awful defensive aren't you? Do you have stock in the company?
BOB KLAHN
... Fatal Error: You're dead.
* Silver Xpress V4.3P RB10275
--- FLAME v1.1
* Origin: Telnet toltbbs.com or call 313-854-6001, Boardwatch #55 (1:234/2)
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Msg : 37 of 233
From : Michael Harper 1:123/10 .ят 26 .пp 96 22:16
To : Frank Glover
Subj : Sound In Space
ДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДД
Tossing back another tequila, Frank Glover told Richard Anderson about
Sound In Space...
FG> I disagree with that assessment of Star Trek, but to merely pass it
FG> off as "It's science fiction" only degrades the genre. SF, even more
FG> than other forms of fiction depend on that `willing suspension of
FG> disbelief.' But one cannot push it too far with stories whose plots
FG> defy common sense (within the internal consistency of that universe),
FG> or have no meaningful drama, or with characters one cannot identify
FG> with and care about...or are just plain boring. Those are matters that
FG> *all* fiction must deal with. SF all the more, as it deals with what
FG> *could* or *might* one day be, rather than exist in contemporary,
FG> non-speculative settings.
EXACTLY! That's been my main gripe with damn near every sf series ever
done; little or no internal consistency. After the first season of
SeaQuest, I knew they were gonna go down the drain, because they
brought in a producer, Patrick Hasburgh, whose attitude was "It's
sci-fi, we can do any damn thing we want." That attitude will get you
killed in seconds these days. Good writing maintains an internal
consistency, and when you chuck that out, it's sayonara time.
FG> Mundanes think you can do `anything' in `sci-fi.' Fans know good
FG> writing is essential to *any* fictional entertainment, and that means
FG> limits on what's possible, even if those limits are beyond what we
FG> know today. When you can do anything, you have no problem, and all
FG> fiction involves someone with some sort of problem.
FG> When there's no problem, *then* there's no believability.
If the people in Hollywood had half a clue about the way that real sf
works, we might get something better than the crap they try to foist
off on us. I don't know about you, but I've gotten tired of remakes of
old classics like _Island Of Dr. Moreau_ and _Body Snatchers_. They've
been working for the last two years on a remake of _Forbidden Planet_,
for Christ's sake! Why? If it ain't broke, why're they trying to fix
it?
Terminating rant mode...
... "This is flight surgeon horseshit, Deke!" --Jim Lovell
--- RA/FD/FMail
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Msg : 38 of 233
From : Tam Phan 1:143/362 .уб 27 .пp 96 11:26
To : Bianca Wesslak
Subj : Highlander News!
ДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДД
On 04-18-96 Bianca Wesslak wrote to Tam Phan...
BW> I was wondering what this means. if you canna see it then it looks
BW> like
BW> this TP> -!-
Oh.. my offline mail reader automatically quotes messages
by using the first two initials of the person's first and last name.
I don't know where the exclamation point came from :)
---
* OFFLINE 1.58 * Join the army, meet interesting people, kill them.
* Origin: (1:143/362)
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Msg : 39 of 233
From : Todd Sullivan 1:202/720.3 .ет 25 .пp 96 18:58
To : Peter Tam
Subj : sci-fi cartoons
ДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДД
Reports from the Interior indicate that Peter Tam leaked the following to Frank
Glover, re: sci-fi cartoons
FG>>
FG>> I particularly enjoyed `The Herculoids' (like Space
FG>> Ghost, a Hanna-Barbera product) at the time. Always
FG>> thought it had potential, if handled a little better.
PT> How 'bout 'The Galaxy Trio'?
Sounds like the original (Japanese) title of "The Amazing Three".
Todd Sullivan
... Only one thing can top good sex: Chocolate sauce.
