HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: summer@mullian.ee.mu.OZ.AU (Mark Summerfield)
Subject: Robert Sheckley...
Organization: Computer Science, University of Melbourne, Australia
Distribution: aus
Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1992 22:27:34 GMT

s890412@minyos.xx.rmit.OZ.AU (Christopher John Diffey) writes:

>also Robert Sheckley novels, I find quite amusing, Freejack was loosely based 
>on a novel of his called immortality inc. and thus is a new print of this
>available

Douglas Adams is a big Sheckley fan.  He's an author very much in the same
vein as Phillip K. Dick, and did much of his writing over the same period
(plenty of food for the postmodernists :-).  I read a few of his novels and
short stories a few years back, borrowed from a friend.  Despite the very
high quality of his writing, the paucity of his books in the shops would
indicate a lack of interest, which is a shame -- I would love to get hold
of a few of them.

Does anybody know of a shop in Melbourne (or anywhere else, if they'll do
mail order) where I can find a reasonable selection of Sheckley's writing?

Mark.
          --------------------------------------------------------
              Mark Summerfield,  Photonics Research Laboratory
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Melbourne  
                ACSnet[AARN/Internet]: summer@ee.mu.oz[.au] 
          --------------------------------------------------------
   "This terminal is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone
    to meet its maker. This is a late terminal. It's a stiff. Bereft of
     life, it rests in peace. If you hadn't nailed it to the bench, it
      would be pushing up the daisies. It's run down the curtain and
            joined the choir invisible. This is an X-Terminal!"
From: eoin@xocolatl.com (John F. Snyder)
Newsgroups: aus.sf
Subject: Re: ST:TNG  Booby Trap (yeah, spoilers probably)
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 92 18:22:48 PST
Reply-To: eoin@xocolatl.com
Organization: Amethyst Systems, Fremont, CA

speednut@werple.apana.org.au (Mark Jose) writes:

-> >I still can't figure
-> >out why Picard destroyed the derelict ship; putting a warning beacon
-> >would have sufficed, long enough for the Feds to get a demolition team
-> >in to plant explosives on the generators, destroying them.
->  
-> How would the team have got in. They would be unable to use energy and
-> also they would have been exposed to radiation. Not worth the risk.
-> <<stuff deleted>>
-> Blowing it up was the safest and quickest
-> way of preventing another vessel falling into the same trap.

But they only blew up the ship, NOT the generators.  They are still
there, and still dangerous.  Do you believe they just shut down
completely when their prey was destroyed?




 eoin@xocolatl.com  |      Practice Random Kindness   /~~~~~~~~~~~~~\  /
 GEnie: J.Snyder18  |  *             and             <  D A R W I N  >< 
 CI$:   70313,3111  | \|/  Senseless Acts of Beauty   \_____________/  \
 Prodigy:  NOT!!!!  |           PGP 2.0 User            _l _l _l _l
Newsgroups: aus.sf
From: tsl@munta.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Tim Leask)
Subject: Re: TNG - "The Bonding"
Organization: Computer Science, University of Melbourne, Australia
Distribution: aus
Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1992 22:57:12 GMT

hoahosth@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (ANDREA HOSTH) writes:

>Not bad, not bad at all. Though why on Earth these alien intelligences never 
>think of _asking_ first, or not taking the entire episode to explain their 
>actions... Troi's acting was better, Data's "I don't understand these 
>strange emotions" was, for one, okay. Nice special effects
Oh Come on. This episode was the weakest of the third series so far.
It was another "Social Workers in Space" episode.
It contained three worst elements of ST:TNG Wesley Crusher, Deanna Troi
and the contrived and ill explained alien race.
The ceremony at the end was nauseating in the extreme.
A typically American heavy handed treatment of Death and Loss.
I for one was much more intresting in see the archaeological site than
an evil looking kid that escaped from Robocop 2.

Tim
From: kat@werple.apana.org.au (Kathryn Andersen)
Newsgroups: aus.sf
Subject: Re: ST:TNG Booby Trap (yeah, spoilers probably)
Date: 19 Dec 1992 09:08:35 +1100
Organization: werple public-access unix, Melbourne
NNTP-Posting-Host: werple.apana.org.au
Keywords: TNG

rez@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Anestis Kozakis <Rez>) writes:

>But I really did enjoy this episode overall, mainly because of the
>constant arguing between Lea and Geordi.
A refreshing change, what?

>Did anyone else think she looked good in Green? :-)
>Does anyone know whether we see her again in the series?
Yes.  The real one, this time.
I will restrain from making any comment that might spoil it!
It's in a later season, and I can't remember the episode title.

Kathryn Andersen
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"You're a very confusing person to be with, Doctor."
		-- Perpegilliam Brown	(Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani)
-- 
 _--_|\		Kathryn Andersen	<kat@werple.apana.org.au>
/      \	Hawthorn -> Melbourne -> Victoria -> Australia
\_.--.*/	-> Southern Hemisphere -> Earth -> Sol -> Milky Way Galaxy
      v			-- My other account is an Apollo --
Newsgroups: aus.sf
From: jgh@plasma.apana.org.au (John Gerald Howell)
Subject: Re: Unification
Organization: APANA site, Melbourne, Australia
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 11:30:55 GMT

Scott_Le_Brun@guru.apana.org.au (Scott Le Brun) writes:

>Ok. STTNG episode Unification. I've just recently seen this on video and it
>was eat! The only thing that I can't work out is this:

>Spock is a Vulcan, who as such outlives us humans.
>Sarek (?) his father is also a Vulcan. His wife, Spock's mother is human
>and she outlives the Vulcan! In one of the Star Trek movies, we see Spock's
>mother who seems old even then.

>Did anyone else notice this?


I assumed he had remarried or something, otherwise the whole thing would
be pretty stupid since Sarek looked twice as old as his human wife. Even
Spock looked older than she did! In fact, if I remember 'The Search for
Spock' I think we saw Spock's mother there too, (I could be wrong) and
she looked older than his mother from 'Unification.' So somethings going
on somewhere. Reasonable episode though, especially when Spock is
talking with Data. 'Fascinating.' 
    Some of the settings were strange though. What did people think of
Worf singing the Klingon opera? A very odd sequence.


-------------------------------
John Howell Melbourne Australia
(jgh@plasma.apana.org.au)
   'When the dawn comes,
    only I will remain'
 - the Bowman Chronicles
-------------------------------
From: kat@werple.apana.org.au (Kathryn Andersen)
Newsgroups: aus.sf
Subject: Re: Unification
Date: 13 Dec 1992 09:50:02 +1100
Organization: werple public-access unix, Melbourne
NNTP-Posting-Host: werple.apana.org.au

Scott_Le_Brun@guru.apana.org.au (Scott Le Brun) writes:

>Ok. STTNG episode Unification. I've just recently seen this on video and it
>was eat! The only thing that I can't work out is this:

>Spock is a Vulcan, who as such outlives us humans.
>Sarek (?) his father is also a Vulcan. His wife, Spock's mother is human
>and she outlives the Vulcan! In one of the Star Trek movies, we see Spock's
>mother who seems old even then.

It is mentioned in the episode "Sarek", even if not in the episode
"Unification", that Spock's mother died a while ago; Sarek's current wife
(who outlives him) is his *second* wife.

Kathryn Andersen
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Anna: Why do I never know what you're thinking?
Avon: I could never say it.	(Blake's 7: Rumours Of Death [C8]) /?/
-- 
 _--_|\		Kathryn Andersen	<kat@werple.apana.org.au>
/      \	Hawthorn -> Melbourne -> Victoria -> Australia
\_.--.*/	-> Southern Hemisphere -> Earth -> Sol -> Milky Way Galaxy
      v			-- My other account is an Apollo --
Newsgroups: aus.sf,aus.tv
From: rez@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Anestis Kozakis <Rez>)
Subject: Questions (one or two of 'em)
Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 04:50:39 GMT

OK, here's a few questions in regards to a couple of shows showing here
in aus lately.

1> "Something is out there". I've just started watching it. Can somebody
please tell me the basic plot to this series? (e-mail'll do nicely).
2> What is it about British actresses in american series that make the
shows much more enjoyable and watchable? What kind of an appeal do they
have? (ref. "Max Headroom" and "The Flash" -- Amanda Pays(sp?) and
"Something is Out There" - Whatever her name is!)
3> If the people who were clamouring for a 7:30 pm timeslot of Star
Trek:The Next Gen, it would have been cancelled due to the cricket. As
it is, The cricket breaks tonight for news and Star Trek:The Next Gen.
What have you got to say for yourselves now?
(BTW: There is no Startrek Next week. Carols By Candlelight is on
instead (due to next Thursday being Christmas Eve!!! :-)
All in moderation :-)
Rez.
-- 
Anestis Kozakis
rez@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au               ent670w@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au
"Off days" are a part of life, I guess, whether you're a cartoonist, a
neurosurgeon, or an air-traffic controller. -- Gary Larson.
From: s890412@minyos.xx.rmit.OZ.AU (Chris Diffey)
Newsgroups: aus.sf
Subject: ST:TNG videos
Date: 14 Dec 1992 03:15:20 GMT
Organization: RMIT Computer Centre
Distribution: aus
NNTP-Posting-Host: minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au
Summary: startrek videos wheere?
Keywords: videos

I'm looking for any video shop that has second series or later episodes of
TNG, my two local shops only have first series episodes. I'm trying to catch up
on episodes that I've missed

ta muchly



-- 
| |/ /		                Chris Diffey                                   |
|   < URGAN		s890412@minyos.xx.rmit.edu.au                          |
| |\ \  	_______________________________________________________________|
Newsgroups: aus.sf
From: steve@fulcrum.oz.au (Steve Taylor)
Subject: Re: Isn't anyone READING anymore?
Organization: The Fulcrum Consulting Group
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 23:07:01 GMT

ghm@sserve.cc.adfa.oz.au (Geoff Miller) writes:

>I'm sure the detailed discussion of the latest ST:TNG episode
>is interesting (although I usually skip it until I've had 
>time to watch the programme on tape), but is that really all
>there is to SF in Aus?  Come on, people  -  what happened to 
>all the discussion of favourite authors, pulling plots apart
>and so on?

Ok. It's a bit premature, as I'm only half way through the book, but
everybody rush out and buy Quarantine by Greg Egan. I'm quite tickled
to find an Australian SF author who I really like (Yeah! Green and Gold!
Boxing Kangaroo!). I've read his short stories before and found
them brilliant and unsettling. Quarantine, which is, I'm pretty sure,
his first novel, doesn't hit the level of his short stories, but it's
a good cyberpunk/private-eye novel, deftly told, with the SF extrapolations
introduced quickly and neatly.

>Geoff Miller  (g-miller@adfa.oz.au)


						Steve Taylor
						steve@fulcrum.oz.au
From: rhys@cs.uq.oz.au (Rhys Weatherley)
Newsgroups: aus.sf
Subject: Re: TNG - "The Bonding"
Date: 11 Dec 92 01:04:42 GMT
Reply-To: rhys@cs.uq.oz.au
Distribution: aus

In <9234609.16350@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU> tsl@munta.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Tim Leask) writes:

>Oh Come on. This episode was the weakest of the third series so far.

Definitely.

>It was another "Social Workers in Space" episode.

If Troi psychoanalysed me, I'd flush her out the nearest airlock.  I hope they
find something else for her to do.  Troi detecting other minds I can take,
but Troi playing the shrink I can't.  Maybe it's just her voice.  Every time
she opens her mouth to speak, I cringe.

>I for one was much more intresting in see the archaeological site than

Yeah.  The special effects budget must have been low for that episode.  No
interesting new terrain, etc.

>an evil looking kid that escaped from Robocop 2.

Ah!  That's where I've seen him before.  He definitely was better in Robocop 2.

Cheers,

Rhys.
--
Rhys Weatherley, University of Queensland, Australia.
rhys@cs.uq.oz.au  "I'm a FAQ nut - what's your problem?"
Newsgroups: aus.sf
From: 10726446@eng2.eng.monash.edu.au (LAU WAI KUEN)
Subject: ST:TNG  Booby Trap (yeah, spoilers probably)
Keywords: TNG
Organization: Faculty of Engineering, Monash University 
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 22:00:29 GMT


  Ha!  Well, I utterly freaked when Data played a 1000 year old tape,
and the alien on it promptly spoke in English (or whatever common
language the Feds use).  Sheesh!  How much trouble would it have
been to have some say that they'll have the computer translate it from
data tapes or something?  Yes, it would have slowed down the plot
_slightly_, but these aliens speaking English really is beginning
to get annoying.  It's easy to accept from supra-powerful beings,
colonies, and aliens with previous contact with Feds. 
  Aside from that, the episode wasn't too bad.  Geordie fooled around
with holographics constructions (which could be interpreted as
a form of self-abuse.  At least he wont go blind from it).
Curiously enough, the computer construct could be interpreted as
a form of life;  personally I like to simply think of it as a 
rom construct, and the entire holodeck scenes as simply a 
psuedo-cyberspace way of accessing computer knowledge in an easy
and simple to understand fashion.  (Which is why I still consider
Geordie kissing the construct as either a sign of how seriously
desperate he is, or a slight mental problem).  I still can't figure
out why Picard destroyed the derelict ship; putting a warning beacon
would have sufficed, long enough for the Feds to get a demolition team
in to plant explosives on the generators, destroying them.  
  Oh yeah; last annoying thing was Picard's slingshot around an asteroid.
Assuming the asteroid _did_ have sufficient mass to do this, then the
asteroids wouldn't have stayed spread-out;  they would have all
fallen into their gravitational center.  (Although the story would have
been slightly shorter in that case).
  Ok.  It wasn't a bad episode in all.  Personally I wish they had
spent more time on the alien ship (more sets!); with nice atmospheric
music (sorta like the scenes in Aliens, when the marines check out
the deserted colony).  One good thing about the episode is that
bimbo-moodring and the weasel got almost no lines at all.  Hear! hear!

halcyon
From: andy@csource.oz.au (andrew gulovsen)
Newsgroups: aus.sf
Subject: The Tomorrow people
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 21:23:36

 NA> Hello everyone
 NA> I've got a question for those people that used to watch
 NA> "The Tomorrow  people"
 NA> Can anyone tell me what ever happened to Stev.  I missed a
 NA> few  episodes and when I came back Stev was gone and they
 NA> never said  anything about him again.

 NA> Any Information would be grate.

both "stephen" and umm.. gee.. can't recall his name (the gypsy boy) both left
the series at the same time

there was no explaination as to "what happened".. one assumes they went the the
trig (like kenny and carol and the "miss conway")

i understand from the 2nd season (1st ep.) that carol wouldn't be returning but
kenny mught from time to time (but never did)

in the later shows.. the episodes were spread out over a greater time period
(as though the series was put on hold for quite some time)..

but some good news (yeah!!)

a brand news series of the TOMMOROW PEOPLE has recently finished production..
expected to go to air early next year in the UK

at least one australian actor is in the series (someone from "neighbours")

can't wait to see it meself 8-)

ag

 * Origin: Andy's BBS - Melb Aust - +61-3-357-3414 (3:635/503)
Newsgroups: aus.sf
From: hoahosth@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (ANDREA HOSTH)
Subject: Re: ST:TNG Booby Trap (yeah, spoilers probably)
Keywords: TNG
Organization: Halls of Residence, Monash University 
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 04:05:20 GMT

In article <1992Dec18.021714.6659@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au> rez@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Anestis Kozakis <Rez>) writes:
>From: rez@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Anestis Kozakis <Rez>)

>constant arguing between Lea and Geordi.
>Did anyone else think she looked good in Green? :-)
>Does anyone know whether we see her again in the series?
>Rez.

Leah Brahms turns up again _in person_ so I guess you will get to see her 
again. 

I actually found this episode rather dull - something of a Sargasso in Space 
story, but not particularly engrossing.

Well, I'm glad to see the TNG discussion got so healthy. This is my last 
posting since I'm leaving tomorrow. Hopefully, next time I get an account, 
there can be a discussion of "Babylon 5", but I think it will be quite a 
long while.

Ciao

Ankh
Newsgroups: aus.sf
From: pcm@scammell.ecos.tne.oz.au (Peter Murray)
Subject: Re: ST: TNG videos
Organization: Telecom
Distribution: aus
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 03:41:48 GMT

: I'm looking for any video shop that has second series or later episodes of
: TNG, my two local shops only have first series episodes. I'm trying to catch up

It may be only a rumour but apparantly you can get the fifth series from 
Minitour in Burke Street.    

Newsgroups: aus.sf
From: markc@hydra.maths.unsw.EDU.AU ()
Subject: Re: ST:TNG - Chariots of the Picard :)
Organization: school of Mathematics UNSW
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 06:14:53 GMT

I quite enjoyed this episode. Unlike some of the people out there in net land,
I had no problems with Picard's solution. This was for two reasons. 1) It is
only a TV programme and I don't care to analysise it too deeply.
2) They only contaminated  a small village/family grouping. There were only 
about ten on them. Over generations the protoVulcans would probably forget all
about Picard and the Enterprise. By making a dozen or so Mintakans aware
of the federation, the net effect on planetary wide development of Mintakan
society would be practically zero.

Mark C.
From: abcc@DIALix.oz.au (Adrian Booth Computing Consultants)
Newsgroups: aus.sf
Subject: Naive questions about ST:TNG series numbers
Date: 16 Dec 1992 08:52:34 +0800
Organization: DIALix Services, Perth, Western Australia
Distribution: aus
NNTP-Posting-Host: localhost.dialix.oz.au
Summary: What am I watching?
Keywords: Star Trek episodes
X-Newsreader: NN version 6.4.19 #1

OK, they're talking about the fifth series in rec.arts.startrek.*, but I
recently saw a message saying that "The Icarus Factor" (which was on two weeks
ago over here) is from the SECOND series.

Are we watching three-year old episodes? Can I get anything more recent on
video over here?

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | Adrian Booth					|	                  |
 | Adrian Booth Computing Consultants		|	Ph: (09) 354 4936 |
 | 7 Glenrowan Pl., Willetton WA 6155		|	abcc@DIALix.oz.au |
 | AUSTRALIA                                    |                         |
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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done;done
Newsgroups: aus.sf
From: rez@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Anestis Kozakis <Rez>)
Subject: Re: ST:TNG Booby Trap (yeah, spoilers probably)
Keywords: TNG
Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 02:17:14 GMT

In <10726446.223.724629628@eng2.eng.monash.edu.au> 10726446@eng2.eng.monash.edu.au (LAU WAI KUEN) writes:


>  Ha!  Well, I utterly freaked when Data played a 1000 year old tape,
>and the alien on it promptly spoke in English (or whatever common
>language the Feds use).  Sheesh!  How much trouble would it have
>been to have some say that they'll have the computer translate it from
>data tapes or something?  Yes, it would have slowed down the plot
>_slightly_, but these aliens speaking English really is beginning
>to get annoying.  It's easy to accept from supra-powerful beings,
>colonies, and aliens with previous contact with Feds. 

Well, you can't have your cake and eat it too!

>I still can't figure
>out why Picard destroyed the derelict ship; putting a warning beacon
>would have sufficed, long enough for the Feds to get a demolition team
>in to plant explosives on the generators, destroying them.  

Well, from what I could gather, blowing up the ship would release
massive energy surges, which would in turn overload the radiation
generators. But I agree, a warning beacon and a message to Starfleet
would have been better.
>  Oh yeah; last annoying thing was Picard's slingshot around an asteroid.
>Assuming the asteroid _did_ have sufficient mass to do this, then the
>asteroids wouldn't have stayed spread-out;  they would have all
>fallen into their gravitational center.  (Although the story would have
>been slightly shorter in that case).

Well, as far as I can remember, it was at least half the size of the
enterprise, and it would've been solid rock, but yes, they did ignore
the physics (unless you consider the fact that the other asteroids were
in orbital motion, but that's pretty far fetched (don't flame me, I'm an
ex-engineer who got wise, not a physicist! :-))

>  Ok.  It wasn't a bad episode in all.  Personally I wish they had
>spent more time on the alien ship (more sets!); with nice atmospheric
>music (sorta like the scenes in Aliens, when the marines check out
>the deserted colony).  One good thing about the episode is that
>bimbo-moodring and the weasel got almost no lines at all.  Hear! hear!
>halcyon

True. But I had hated the following scene after Picard had just got back
from the alien ship (very paraphrased):-

Picard: We met one of your ghosts. One of them even talked to us!
Riker: Friendly, I hope!

Now, is that tacky or what.
But I really did enjoy this episode overall, mainly because of the
constant arguing between Lea and Geordi.
Did anyone else think she looked good in Green? :-)
Does anyone know whether we see her again in the series?
Rez.
-- 
Anestis Kozakis
rez@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au               ent670w@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au
"Off days" are a part of life, I guess, whether you're a cartoonist, a
neurosurgeon, or an air-traffic controller. -- Gary Larson.
From: clive@asis.unimelb.edu.au (Clive Newall)
Newsgroups: aus.sf
Subject: Re: Isn't anyone READING anymore?
Date: 21 Dec 1992 03:13:02 GMT
Organization: University of Melbourne
NNTP-Posting-Host: mulgulgum.asis.unimelb.edu.au

steve@fulcrum.oz.au (Steve Taylor) writes:

+Ok. It's a bit premature, as I'm only half way through the book, but
+everybody rush out and buy Quarantine by Greg Egan. I'm quite tickled
+to find an Australian SF author who I really like (Yeah! Green and Gold!
+Boxing Kangaroo!). I've read his short stories before and found
+them brilliant and unsettling. Quarantine, which is, I'm pretty sure,
+his first novel, doesn't hit the level of his short stories, but it's

Second.
First was "An Unusual Angle", Norstrilla Press, 1981(?), but not SF.

Quarantine is available in hardcover or trade paper for the thrifty.

+a good cyberpunk/private-eye novel, deftly told, with the SF extrapolations
+introduced quickly and neatly.


+						Steve Taylor
+						steve@fulcrum.oz.au

--
Clive Newall			E-mail: clive@asis.unimelb.EDU.AU
Information Technology Services (ASIS), University of Melbourne.
Disclaimer: This is ME talking. Not ITS. Not the University.
Newsgroups: aus.sf,aus.tv