where the presence of Scientific Information
Tolerance is TV Audience HIV poisoning in the eyes of the suits exempt from
network ritual career sacrifices.
These sacrificible suits find low ratings and low market share (from total junk
SF series) fatal to their careers holding
possibilities for greater SF television because the exposed suits are fired
(sacrificed).
Some get several hundred thousand dollars of severance. Most go start production
companies who shy away from SF TV because of their history.
Others get all the way out of video production to mourn the loss of their chief
love
Some problems *are* due to movie/TV film technology, costs and revenues
allocated to development and preproduction suites for future programs.
Most of the main development problems are ideological, not technical
Nevertheless, I submit the above is a explication of the toxicity that science
fantasy holds for television executives.
We haven't started talking about the unwillingness of authors to deed over total
rights for strangers to the style
and concepts of the authors with total power to the total strangers/writers to
completely and absolutely butcher their novels and stories
-- where the authors cannot sue for damages because of television production
guild rules that won't be revised for fear of antitrust inspection
Now the name of an embarrassed author is ever connected with the totally
unrecognizable story/show.
Most authors are paranoid of Hollywood/New York City network producers/writers,
enough to completely refuse to allow butchery power over their work.
Networks will not work with anyone who will not grant such rights bilnd and deaf
to the reality that writers often impose their whim
and values on characters who came with their innate values from that author. I
am being general not alluding to any particular incidents
Some of the details comes between the lines of writings of spurned and jilted SF
authors and script writers for both cinematic and television movies.
Some of this was Gene Roddenberry's reportage and some sprigs of thoughts comes
from _Grumbles From The Grave_ compiled by Virginia Heinlein from the
late Robert A. Heiniein's personal letters to his literary agent.
Do you even want much more or should I stop now?
I think SF television can work, but how authors and network producers and
executives begin to peacably and cooperatively share a joint venture
is unforseeable to me at this time. Better SF will not come from the Big Three
(or do we want to say Big FOUR?)
TTYL
Lawrence E Dunlap
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Msg : 125 of 322
From : Lawrence E Dunlap 1:106/2927 .ят 09 .юн 95 18:38
To : Derek Wakefield
Subj : Re: Star Blazers
ДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДД
-=> Quoting Derek Wakefield to Karmin St.jean <=-
DW> On Wed 24-May-1995 10:40 , Karmin St.jean said to Chris Baugh:
KS> The original name of the series was Space Cruiser Yamato, but the ship
DW> was
KS> renamed the Argo in Star Blazers. There were three series created, only
KS> two of which "Quest for Iscandar" and "Battle Against the Comet Empire"
KS> were ever shown on American TV. The third series, "The Bolar Wars" is
KS> available but was not aired (at least not in wide syndication like the
KS> other two.)
DW> Star Blazers 3 (The Bolar Wars) was aired on Ch-66 in Chicago back in
DW> the 84-85 timeframe. It was offered for syndication, but very few
DW> stations picked it up because of the original "barter" oriented
DW> licencing system used by Claster TV when the first two series were
DW> originally distributed in 79. It is also practically an uncut version
DW> of the original Yamato III series. Therefore, in light of the violent
DW> nature, and the "religious war" subplots involved, this probably caused
DW> a number of local stations to pass on it. There were also a lot of
DW> Japanime shows hitting the airwaves during this period of time; such as
DW> Voltron, Robotech, Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years,
DW> etc. This caused local stations to be a bit leary of picking up yet
DW> another one.
DW> Derek (/\) (1:393/7)
Lawrence E Dunlap (who liked _Star Blazers_) drops in the mess hall for a hot
synthetic coffee and real bran muffins to say:
_Star Blazers 1_ also was particularly adult for a children's audience in
Houston scheduled for 08:30 weekdays.
One episode involved IQ-9 developing a crush on Nova next to the interstellar
destination of the _Argo_. One scene showed the animated and emotionally upset
Nova out of uniform down to only her lingerie slip. and bare shoulders.
Do I need to say more?
_Star Blazers 2_ didn't have such a adult scene during its run that I detected
from daily viewings of every episode.
_Star Blazers 3_ might have had some adult situations that clashed with the
animated program standards.
Why buy PG-13 animated SF progams containing minimally dressed animated females
when you could just show a live action PG-13 science fantasy movie with the
female
lead's uniform at seninude half-mast during some romance? Kids living in
households
of conservative parents won't be allowed to see that and double-standard adults
will
drink it up.
While I could speculate about the duplicity of such people, it's definitely
off-topic.
I rest my case.
Lawrence E Dunlap
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Msg : 126 of 322
From : Jeff Schlenker 1:288/19 .ят 09 .юн 95 18:53
To : Patrick Long
Subj : Ferengis in ST:V (From Re: Star Trek)
ДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДД
-=> Patrick Long was overheard speaking to Jeff Schlenker <=-
JS>Hmmmm, now that I think of it, there COULD be two Ferengi "scientists"
JS>in a future episode of Voyager. They were stranded in the Delta
JS>Quadrant in a TNG episode from a few years back (3rd season episode,
JS>"The Price").
PL> Now that's an interesting thought...
PL> I wonder how much trouble those Ferengi have caused? 8)
IF they were smart enough to survive.
Jeffrey A. Schlenker jeff.schlenker@lake-city.com
... Die Hard: Without a Chance
___ TagDude 0.87 [Unregistered]
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Msg : 127 of 322
From : ROBERT LIDGREN 1:134/10 .ят 09 .юн 95 20:17
To : JEFF SCHLENKER
Subj : EARTH 2/SO LONG
ДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДД
-> -=> Rumble was overheard speaking to Ecarey <=-
->
-> Ru> Just letting every one know I am one of the ever growing 25 people Ru>
-> who watch Earth 2.
-> Hey me too! I'm number 26. But shouldn't it be "I *was* one who *watched*
-> Earth 2? :(
->
-> Jeffrey A. Schlenker jeff.schlenker@lake-city.com
-> ... You're a redneck if: You call your spouse "Cuz".
Since I was the one who started this thread and am the author of the "25
people" concept, I am delighted to see so many people did watch Earth 2 and of
those many enjoyed it. I figure I can update my estimate to 57 now!
I wonder why there were so few positive comments while the series was a
reality?
What the cancellation has done is cause many to re-evaluate just what makes a
series good, how soon you should unload your guns and savage a new series and
whether or not some leeway should be given so that improvement is possible and
likely.
Cheers,
Robert Lidgren
----------------------------------
robert.lidgren@bbs.logicnet.com
----------------------------------
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Msg : 128 of 322
From : ROBERT LIDGREN 1:134/10 .ят 09 .юн 95 20:43
To : ALL
Subj : BATMAN FOREVER LOCATION W
ДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДДД
Here's some info. on location work for the new movie Batman Forever.
I did not write this but am transferring it from the Batman Forever "Home Page"
on the WWW
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------
On Location
With the cast and crew in place, director Schumacher and producer
Peter Macgregor- Scott spearheaded the start of production in the
place which was the very foundation for Gotham ---New York City.
Neither of the two previous "Batman" films had filmed on actual city
streets, relying instead on studio exteriors and interiors. But
Schumacher, Macgregor-Scott, production designer Barbara Ling and
cinematographer Stephen Goldblatt knew that "Gothamizing" the narrow
corridors of Lower Manhattan, which are bordered by massive
skyscrapers, could give tremendous visual breadth to the film.
"I wish we could have done a month of work in New York," notes Ling,
"but in fact we only shot there for a week. I picked out a unique
street in Lower Manhattan, which gave us the kind of narrowness and
height quality of what Gotham is to me---towering corridors of
buildings looming over tightly packed avenues.
"Exchange Place---just one block from Wall Street itself---has that
amazing illusion. We added immense sculptures and overscaled signage
that helped take what is already the giant molding of New York and
make it look even bigger. We had colored steam and smoke pouring out
of the sidewalk grilles, which created another sense of scale so it
looks like the sidewalks are melting into the ground."
Shooting on Exchange Place presented a unique on-location challenge to
the company: How do you run the brand-new, top-secret,
never-before-seen Batmobile along the street without having the entire
city witness its maiden voyage? The problem was solved by giant,
moveable slats of flatwood that closed off Exchange Place from general
view. But later into the night, another shot was required for the
Batmobile on Gold Street, several blocks from Exchange Place. The
clock was racing, and rather than place the vehicle into its
custom-built truck, it was decided for the sake of time to just drive
it there, with full N.Y.P.D. escort!
Also in New York, the massive Surrogate's Court Building on Chambers
Street, a Beaux Arts behemoth built in 1907, served as the exterior
and interior location of the Gotham Municipal Police Complex. For the
exterior of the swank Ritz Gotham Hotel, the "Batman Forever" company
secured the old U.S. Customs Building just weeks before it re-opened
as the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. The crew then
traveled to Glen Cove, Long Island, where the Webb Institute of Naval
Architecture stood in for the faade of Wayne Manor.
But the monumental challenge of shooting began in earnest when the
production returned to Southern California. The huge physical backdrop
of "Batman Forever" required more than just a soundstage or two. In
fact, it required more than an entire studio. For the more than 60
sets designed by Barbara Ling, the production utilized several stages
