HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: brad@clarinet.com (Brad Templeton)
Subject: Re: Who killed SF???
Organization: ClariNet Communications Corp.
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 1993 07:05:18 GMT

In article <76225@apple.apple.COM> chuq@Apple.COM (Crow's Friend Timmy) writes:
>Publishers publish what readers buy. 

Of course, that's not entirely true.  Publishers publish what they hope
book chains will buy, and what they hope the book chains will be able to
promote sufficiently to get readers to buy so that not too many are
returned.

But yes, what readers buy is driving that to some fairly high degree.
-- 
Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Corp. -- Sunnyvale, CA 408/296-0366
From: hunt@oils.ozy.dec.com (Peter Hunt)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Covenant/LotR parallels? (Was Re: Amber: )
Date: 11 Jan 93 02:07:53 GMT
Reply-To: hunt@oils.ozy.dec.com (Peter Hunt)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation

In article <1inlrnINN5m6@menudo.uh.edu>, HADCRJAM@admin.uh.edu (MILLER, JIMMY A.) writes:

|> 
|> In <1603@blue.cis.pitt.edu> seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu writes:
|> 
|> > 
|> > 	Parallels? Like, what? 

	There are common elements, but I would agree that the differences are
more significant than the similarities. The common elements reminded me of
LotR, but the meat of the story and the nature of the characters 
were completely different.

	However, elements I thought were common were :

	- the ring, obviously

	- Bad guy living in a remote and difficult-to-access tower.

	- Orcs vs Ur-viles. Both are products of breeding programs by
	  Foul/Sauron.

	- Ramen vs Rohirrim. But, as has been mentioned, this is superficial;
	  the differences in culture and the nature of the Ranyhyn are more
	  significant.

	- Giants vs. Ents. While their backgrounds and physical appearances
	  are different, their personalities, and the roles they played, are
	  very similar, IMHO.


In article <1inlrnINN5m6@menudo.uh.edu>, HADCRJAM@admin.uh.edu (MILLER, JIMMY A.) writes:

|> 
|>   Well, to me it seemed obvious.  We had the ring, the good guys were in the 
|> West, the bad guys were in the East, the good guys had once been much stronger
|> than they were now, there was a group of horse-people (Ramen and Ranyhyn vs.
|> the Rohirrim --very different cultures though), we had a volcano play an import-
|> ant part in the story, plus the part you mentioned, etc.

WARNING : Needless pedantry follows ...

	A volcano? In Thomas Covenent? Mount Thunder wasn't a volcano, was
it? Okay, there was Hotash Slay, but that wasn't a volcano, exactly ...

--
+---------------------------+------------------------------------------------+
| Peter Hunt                | I'm digging in the dirt,                       |
| Networks and Comms (Aust) | to find the places I got hurt,                 |
| Digital Equipment Corp.   | to open up the places I got hurt.              |
+---------------------------+--------- Peter Gabriel, "Digging in the Dirt" -+
From: Alexandra_Haropulos.ADFMcLean_CSD@XEROX.COM
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: THE GRIPPING HAND by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Date: 7 Jan 93 19:54:54 GMT

Re: females in THE GRIPPING HAND by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

I'm afraid I don't understand the reference to "Heinleinesque speeches about
sex and morality" and "1950's sexual mores" in the same breath.

If group sex, homosexual sex, legalized prostitution, wife swapping, polygamy,
or sex with one's parents/children (all of which Heinlein speaks of FAVORABLY
at some point in his Lazarus Long books) constitutes 50's mores, then I must
have stepped off my timeline somewhere. As has been remarked before, I am sure,
everyone sees what they want to see in Heinlein.

My problem with Niven/Pournelle, as evidenced in LUCIFER'S HAMMER and MOTE IN
GOD'S EYE, is that they always manage to torture or torture/murder women in
these books with a little too much loving detail. I believe I will take a miss
on THE GRIPPING HAND.

Alexandra Haropulos
aharo@adfmclean csd.Xerox.com
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: knott@sfu.ca (Dave Knott)
Subject: Re: Ambiguous Covers
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 01:00:01 GMT

In article <C0nu9s.5H4@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca> gmills@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca  
(MILLS G - CHEMICAL ENG.) writes:
> >
> >|> Maybe we can start a new thread.  Can anyone think of a cover/blurb
> >|> combination that led you to think a book was SF (or fantasy) when it
> >|> was actually fantasy (or SF)?
> >
> 
> As for misleading covers, one of the early printings of "The Many  
Colored
> Land" struck me as pretty strong fantasy.  Don't remember the blurb tho. 
> I read it only after several, trustworthy reco's.
> 
> Greg Mills
> (still no sig)

As for misleading covers, am I the only person that found every cover in  
the Ender series to be completely misleading and irrelevant to the rest of  
the book? I mean, they look nice with the little space ship flying around  
a futuristic setting, but what does that have to do with life on Lusitania  
or even the Battle School for that matter. It really ticks me off when a  
publicist prints a cool cover just so that the book will sell (although at  
least in this case, there was a superb story contained within)

Inaccurate covers tend to bother me a lot as well. For example, the covers  
for the Wheel of Time series all look good (most covers by Darrell Sweet  
do) and they seem to try to depict a certain scene from the book. But the  
representation is always inaccurate, with characters showing up in that  
scene when they shouldn't and things like that.

These things don't affect the readability of a book but they can be  
misleading when I'm looking for something to read, and bother me once I've  
read the book and know better.

Dave Knott
KNOTT@SFU.CA
From: idg39@jester.usask.ca (Inez Gowsell)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv
Subject: Re: QL: Newbie Question: Why do they Leap when they Leap?
Date: 8 Jan 1993 19:43:28 GMT
Organization: University of Saskatchewan
NNTP-Posting-Host: jester.usask.ca
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL7]

Tak (tak@hitl.washington.edu) wrote:
: 
: summary: What's the origin of Quantum Leap & why do they leap after 
:          a "good deed"?
: 
: 
: Full-text: 
: 
: 	I've recently tuned into Quantum Leap and have a few questions
: that may be able to be cleared up by those of you who've seen the
: earlier seasons. 
: 	It seems that the <insert name of main guy here> was experimenting
: with time travel and got something wrong (probably a parity error *grin*)
: and jumps into different bodies each show. In each show he has to correct
: something before he can jump out again.  WHY?  Did he make some 
: time-paradox blunder on his first jump and now he has to repair all the
: misc time threads he screwed up from stepping on that one butterfly? 
: (special kudos to anyone who can identify that reference) Or is it

The only part of your question I can respond to!!!!! :-)  

Don't know enough about QL to answer the question, although I think it 
is supposed to be that time (or god?) was wrong when these people 
originally died and Sam is correcting the error.

Anyway, the butterfly came from a Ray Bradbury short story (whose name I 
don't remember :-( ) about tours back in time.  The tourists were warned
not to step off the path set out for them.  One did, killed a butterfly, 
and the tourists came back to an extremely bleak existence.  (rather 
limited description, sorry)

Just had to get my $0.02 in!!! :-)
 
************************************************************
| Inez Gowsell               | Gazing at people            |
| 129 Albert Ave             | Some hand in hand           | 
| Saskatoon, Saskatchewan    | Just what I'm going through |
| Canada   S7N 1E6           | They can't understand       |
| gowse340@skdad.usask.ca    |              - Moody Blues  |
************************************************************
From: rck1@ellis.uchicago.edu (roberta chi-woon kwong)
Subject: Re: QL: What happened to Ruthie?
Reply-To: rck1@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 05:56:13 GMT

In article <1993Jan6.150856.62500@cc.usu.edu> sll28@cc.usu.edu (Lorna Payne) writes:
>In article <1993Jan5.185345.26730@midway.uchicago.edu>, rck1@ellis.uchicago.edu (roberta chi-woon kwong) writes:
>> In article <1ic2hhINNsi9@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> eah4@po.CWRU.Edu (Elizabeth A. Hlabse) writes:
>>>
>>>In a previous article, finifter@gandalf.rutgers.edu (Tracy E. Finifter) says:
>>>
>>>>I don't know how much USA cut from "Thou Shalt Not...", so does anyone know
>>>>exactly what happened to Al's third wife Ruthie?  Al mentions that he "didn't
>>>>realize how important family was until Ruthie was gone." (note not divorced,
>>>>left, seperated, etc.).  Did they divorce or did something else happen?  I've
>>>>heard mention that she died, but I want to know if this is canon.
>>>>
>>>It's not cannon, but most fans tend to think that Ruthie died.
>> 
>> Can I ask where evidence of this comes from? Is it due to that one
>> line? Somehow when I hear Al talk about how none of his marriages
>> after Beth worked out, it doesn't seem likely that *death* would be
>> one of the causes. Rather an odd way to describe the failure of a
>> marriage, isn't it?
>
>Maybe she died some time after the divorce.  We (the viewers) don't have 
>much of a timeline for Al's marriages and "significant relationships."

Yeah, but custody battles between Al and Ruthie were mentioned in
"The Great Spontini"; and not pleasant ones at that, it seemed.
Somehow, from the way Al talks of her, it doesn't seem to be a case
of "I never realized how much I missed my ex-wife, whom I went
through all this trouble to divorce, until she passed away." IMHO.

I mean, it's not like Sam missing his father after he died; for
even though Sam wasn't there for his father, he was still family.
An ex-wife, however, is "no longer" family (I use the phrase
loosely)...if Al felt enough for her to still think of her as "family,"
he could have just re-married her. And if it was a one-sided case
of *her* not wanting to remarry him, then it shouldn't have taken
her death for Al to realize how much he missed her...

Then again, I'm no psychologist. But for now, I'm sticking with the
view that "gone" = "divorced me."

>Tina:  1995-1999.  Tina is mentioned early on in the show, which is set in
>1995.  She and Al are still together, and will be until he finds out about
>the affair. 

Ouch!

>What I really wish Don B. and Universal would allow out is an authoritative
>timeline . . . .

Leaves flexibility, I guess...


Robin C. Kwong ("er)
				Leapers do it with...mirrors.
From: jfarmer@cs.utk.edu (JOHN FARMER)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv
Subject: Quantum Leap questions
Date: 6 Jan 1993 18:11:32 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
NNTP-Posting-Host: duncan.cs.utk.edu

I know these questions aren't in the faql, so bear with me please.
Is there a listing of the episodes in syndication order? (or how can you
find out which episode's supposed to be on tonight?)

Sally has mentioned (a time or two) about reading QL scripts.  Are these
available for purchase anywhere (Like Lincoln enterprises does for Trek)?

Thanks bunches, 
Susan


-- 
Susan B. Farmer     farmer@cs.utk.edu     Lady Jerusha Kilgore     
I can't even find time to clean house and you want me to come up with a .sig?
     And now she wants to go back to grad school after 14 years .....  
     We'll let her out when the delusion passes.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv
From: brad@cmptrc.lonestar.org (Brad Barton)
Subject: Re: QL: Two-Faced Reviews: A Tale of Two Sweeties
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 14:59:49 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: CompuTrac Inc., Richardson TX

In article <1993Jan6.022522.10600@grebyn.com> billones@grebyn.com (Jeremy Billones) writes:
[spoilers removed]
>
>First, a disclaimer.  WRC in Washington, DC cut out for about 5 minutes.
>I missed everything from the sunrise (right after the 8:30 break) to the
>"get away from the window" quote.
>
Dallas/Fort Worth lost it, too.  Must've been the network.  Don't think
it would have saved the show...

Otherwise, 
I agree.. it was awful.

>"An F would be too generous.  A G might be misconstrued as good.  So I'm
>giving you an H.  If you chose between hideous, horrible, and horrendous,
>it would be the only multiple choice question you got right."
>Who said it, what story, complete the quote.

Love the .sig... I give it an "I" for Idiotic and Insulting.

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Brad Barton - brad@cmptrc.lonestar.org  |  "Light the lamp, not the rat!"  |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv
From: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu (Yamanari)
Subject: Re: DS9:I liked it, dammit.
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 21:40:24 GMT

In article <ternent.21@oima2.oim.uiuc.edu> ternent@oima2.oim.uiuc.edu (John Ternent) writes:
>In article <1ikp08$7ag@agate.berkeley.edu> carrie@plasma1.ssl.berkeley.edu (Carrie Roller) writes:
>
>>Yes, I enjoyed DS9.
>>I thought the show did an excellent job of developing
>>several very complex characters, though  many of you appear to feel
>>that they are all rip-offs of someone-or-another.
>
>>I noticed that most of the postings regarding
>>DS9 were fairly whiny and very often were written by people who are
>>STILL crying about how ST:TNG isn't as good as the original.  Get
>>a grip, guys.  No one is forcing you to watch.  


	ST:TNG is better than TOS in most ways, but at least TOS didn't
	have some geeky wanna-be chucking in all of the catch phrases and
	buzz words (cosmig string, dark matter, etc. etc. etc) that he could
	(without knowing what they mean).


>Me too! I guess since I am neither a physics student nor a chemist, any 
>inaccuracies don't really bother me!  


	Inaccuracies don't bother you, huh?  <sigh>  Well, just goes 
	to show..


>I think a lot of people have forgotten 
>the original premise of reading any kind of fiction... a "willing suspension 
>of disbelief."  


	I think you're confusing "willing suspension of disbelief" with
	"voluntary suspension of any modicum of intelligence".  Most works
	of science fiction ask for the first (faster than light drives,
	aliens, whatever).  Star Trek TNG/DS9 seem to be asking for the 
	second a lot more than the first.

	Say, anyone know if the guys who write for TNG/dS9 are the
	same talented wonders who came up with Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier?

	Sure seems like they might be.


>Accept what they say is "real" in their world as being real 
>and stop comparing it to what you think is "real" in this world, or you'll 
>never enjoy the show!


	They aren't even able to keep what is "real" from the beginning to the 
	end, let alone from one show to the next.  It sometimes reminds me of
	the old Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner cartoons.  W.E.C. has this great
	idea, and it messes up for some unrelated reason, so he never tries
	that idea again.  


>By the way, (since I haven't run across this question yet) is Lt. Dax the 
>same Crewman Dax from ST6?  The old Dax in the flashback looked a little 
>like the guy with the webbed feet that Chekov thinks owns the magnetic boots.


	He'd be pretty old, then, wouldn't he? 


-- 
      Blaming "society" for your problems is like blaming clouds for rain.
 ---  boycott == coercion == censorship == closed mindedness == cowardice  ---
	      "Psalms 23:1  The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want."  
		Shepherds are for sheep.   -----      Pain teaches.
From: MRM122@psuvm.psu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv
Subject: Re: DS9 was very BAD
Date: 10 Jan 93 16:52:06 GMT
Article-I.D.: psuvm.93010.115206MRM122
 <1993Jan8.053323.15118@wam.umd.edu> <17879@umd5.umd.edu>
 <1993Jan10.122547.12235@wam.umd.edu>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Penn State University

Many people are saying that the "non-linear time" thing was a foolish idea-
that it conflicted with physics as we know it.  They say things like "WHy don't
 the writers talk to some physics students!"  To that, I have this to say: We
as of this point in our history are FAR from understanding all that there is to
understand.  Saying such a thing is "impossible" is silly, since as far as we
know, breaking the light barrier is impossible, making all these shows
completely pointless, true?  And, may I point out that you all have as
difficult of a time understanding a non-linear perspective as the aliens did
in understanding a linear perspective.  Who are you to say how "time" must be
perceived by all creatures, even non-corporeal creatures living in the
completely alternate environment of a wormhole.  You can't comprehend it- thus
you declare it impossible.  Much like the people who wanted to burn Gallileo
for saying the earth goes around the sun, not the other way around.  Very
interesting...


                      Your Humble Observer,

                                     Marsh
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv
From: brad@cmptrc.lonestar.org (Brad Barton)
Subject: Re: QL: Don Bellisario lecture
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 17:08:51 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: CompuTrac Inc., Richardson TX

In article <larne.059a@canetoad.UUCP> larne@canetoad.UUCP (Larne Pekowsky) writes:
>Unfortunately I don't have details, but I've heard that Learning
>Tree University (which I gather is one of those adult evening courses
>kind of things) is hosting a lecture called "Inside Quantum" Leap,
>with Don Bellisario, to be given on January 20 (apparently in one of
>the dubbing/screening rooms at Universal, though it's not entirely 
>clear).  The cost is listed as $39.
>
>Just thought some of you west coasters might be interested...
>
As if we don't get enough of Don's lectures on a weekly basis...

Or should I say sermons?   :)   (Sarcasm, people, sarcasm).

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Brad Barton - brad@cmptrc.lonestar.org  |  "Light the lamp, not the rat!"  |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: tonyz@hpwrce.mayfield.hp.com (Tony Zugates)
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 00:43:19 GMT
Subject: Re: Sci Fi channel hacks movies!
Organization: the HP Mtn.View Resp. Cntr.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv

Judex, 

I got raked over the coals once for posting about the content and programming
on SF Channel... welcome to the club.

They even show those hour long juicer commercials at night.

SF Channel for the most part is BUNK.




Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv
From: rck1@ellis.uchicago.edu (roberta chi-woon kwong)
Subject: Re: QL: What happened to Ruthie?
Reply-To: rck1@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 18:53:45 GMT

In article <1ic2hhINNsi9@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> eah4@po.CWRU.Edu (Elizabeth A. Hlabse) writes:
>
>In a previous article, finifter@gandalf.rutgers.edu (Tracy E. Finifter) says:
>
>>I don't know how much USA cut from "Thou Shalt Not...", so does anyone know
>>exactly what happened to Al's third wife Ruthie?  Al mentions that he "didn't
>>realize how important family was until Ruthie was gone." (note not divorced,
>>left, seperated, etc.).  Did they divorce or did something else happen?  I've
>>heard mention that she died, but I want to know if this is canon.
>>
>It's not cannon, but most fans tend to think that Ruthie died.

Can I ask where evidence of this comes from? Is it due to that one
line? Somehow when I hear Al talk about how none of his marriages
after Beth worked out, it doesn't seem likely that *death* would be
one of the causes. Rather an odd way to describe the failure of a
marriage, isn't it?

Not trying to challenge your answer, Beth, but it just doesn't seem
to fit. 


Robin C. Kwong ("er)
				"Don't take this heaven from one,/
				If you must cling to someone,/Now
				and forever, let it be me..."
						--"Let It Be Me"
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv
From: knott@sfu.ca (Dave Knott)
Subject: What Ever Happened To Max? (Was "Re: SF on TV")
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 21:58:34 GMT

In article <1in185INN62o@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> eek2@po.CWRU.Edu (Eric E.  
Katz) writes:
> 
>    It seems like the new shows are pretty cheesy as compared to some
> short-lived shows that blew them away.>   I woudl say that Max Headroom  
> was some of the best SF on TV.  
>    The conflicts came from the greed of the people in this corrupt city.
> Max ended up being a gimmick in the whole thing, but the show was
> original.  It dealed with people who seemed real and hadd real 
> conflicts.  Everything was built in well rather than shoved in as 
> what happens with ST. 

	Speaking of Max Headroom, whatever happened to him after his show  
was (unfortunately) removed from the air? It's too bad that most people  
viewed the show as a commercialistic sell-out rather than as the fine  
science fiction that it actually was.
	And does anyone know if any of the episodes of that show  
(excluding the original movie pilot) are available on video?

Dave Knott
KNOTT@SFU.CA
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv
From: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu (Yamanari)
Subject: Re: Space Rangers
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Distribution: na
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 03:28:06 GMT

In article <1993Jan8.211948.28453@shearson.com> jpoutre@shearson.com writes:
>In article 24923@openage.openage.com, ghost@openage.openage.com (Glenn Host) writes:
>>jjfink@skcla.monsanto.com writes:
>>
>>>In article <yTiZwB3w166w@hogbbs.scol.pa.us>, crunch@hogbbs.scol.pa.us (Travis Prebble) writes:
>>>[spoilers toward the end]
>>>	The woman pilot is interesting, as she is competent, attractive,
>>>		and strong without being bitchy
>>Attractive?  My wife asked if it was a man or a woman. :)


	I agree with the first guy and the guy below--I thought
	she was OK looking.  Nice, narrow waist.  Her voice was so 
	deep when I first heard it, tho, that I thought maybe she
	was going to turn out to be some sort of transgendered character.


>_I_ thought she was attractive. I like tall women. :-) At least she didn't
>scream in terror every five seconds. I think her relationship with Doc could
>be worked into a "friendly" ongoing quarrel. Of course, that is also a
>cliche, but maybe she owes him her life, or something.
>
>Oog. Ack, ptooi! Maybe not.
>
>>>	The alien character has some potential.  I liked the interplay between
>>>		him and the android.
>>Personally I have been surprised that this has not been done before -
>>a Asian actor playing an alien.

>Actually, it has been done, at least on film. On MST3K I saw a movie with
>Asian actors, including the guy from Quincy, M.D., playing an alien species.


	It's been done DOZENS of times.  Hundreds.  I think that the 
	poster was being sarcastic.


>>>	Linda Hunt can still act circles around everybody, she needs a
>>>		bigger role
>Hopefully she'll also get better lines in future episodes. That would help
>her a lot.


	Agreed.  I don't like her bosses character, tho.  And that
	fight scene was awful.


-- 
      Blaming "society" for your problems is like blaming clouds for rain.
 ---  boycott == coercion == censorship == closed mindedness == cowardice  ---
	      "Psalms 23:1  The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want."  
		Shepherds are for sheep.   -----      Pain teaches.