HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jefft@athena.mit.edu (Jeff Tang)
Subject: Re: Who is the Bad Guy in E.T.?
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
	<BD.92Jul27094814@fluent.UUCP> <1992Jul27.171218.7762@blaze.cs.jhu.edu>
	<DLB.92Jul29143321@fanny.wash.inmet.com>
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 00:45:18 GMT

In article <DLB.92Jul29143321@fanny.wash.inmet.com> dlb@fanny.wash.inmet.com (David Barton) writes:

   In article <1992Jul27.171218.7762@blaze.cs.jhu.edu>
   arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee) writes:

      As David Brin pointed out (whether or not he actually got his facts
      correct about Wizards, a can of worms I can't go into since I've
      never seen it), that's the whole nature of propaganda: of course
      the scientists and government didn't actually _do_ anything wrong,
      but the audience is manipulated so as to feel their perfectly
      innocent actions are evil nevertheless.

   Didn't do anything wrong?  Invade a person's home without a warrent,
   encase it in some sort of big plastic bag, separate mother from
   children, hold without charge or conviction, and in general take over
   their lives without a by your leave?  What country do you live in?

   Every time I see that scene, with strange suited beings at every
   window and door, herding a mother and her children into frightened,
   cowering heaps, I want to stop the film, run in and give her a
   shotgun, and start it going again.

   The "scientists" in this film portray the worst form of
   totalitarianism.  The family has no rights whatever (not even
   mentioning any rights on the part of an alien visitor, about which
   there can be some argument).  To state that they did nothing wrong
   betrays a basic misunderstanding concerning constitutional rights.

   "Nothing wrong", indeed!

					   Dave Barton
					   dlb@hudson.wash.inmet.com


The government acted perfectly reasonably considering the potential threat.
What if the family had been infected by a hypothetical dangerous disease:
highly communicable, incurable, deadly.  Would the there behavior have been
justified?  The threat to public health imposed by an alien visitor is
potentially that bad.  When the Europeans came to America, many Native
American were simply wiped out by disease to which they had no immunity to.
Consider the end of War of the Worlds.  Combine this threat with the
possible national security/military implications, and the governments
action was highly justifiable.

What would you have done if you were in charge?

--
Jeff Tang
jefft@athena.mit.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
From: UCPL040@UNLVM.UNL.EDU
Subject: sourcebook of SF movies/TV shows
Organization: University of Nebraska
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 92 16:47:42 CST

I have a 1977 edition of "The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction"
edited by Brian Ash, published by Harmony Books, Ney York.
The Book is an excelent resource for digging up facts on books,
rags, movies, TV shows, &c. -- it even makes reference to shows like
"Land of the Giants"!.  It doesn't cover everything, but comes very
close. It begins with a year-by-year journal of nearly everything
produced which was related to SciFi from 1805 through 1976. The only
drawback is that's fifteen years old and, obviously, doesn't
including anything from 1976 on.
    -Is there a second edition of this book?
    -Does a book exsist which lists SF movies and TV shows (no matter
     how short -- or bad!) ever produced by any studio (no matter how
     small or low budget?
                      ---- skott underwood UCPL040@UNLVM
From: warda@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Overdrawn at the memory bank (Was: Re: NEUROMANCER movie)
Date: 21 Jul 92 20:19:09 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAXcluster

> For a not-quite-cyberspacy movie, try "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank" starring
> Raul Julia.  Very strange.  It appeared to be made for TV from the film
> quality, I don't know the production company, but I have a hunch it may have
> been canadian.
> 

It was made for TV, by a Canadian company called "Persistence Of Vision", 
which, being the name of John Varley's (the author of the short story on which 
"Overdrawn..." was somewhat loosely based) Nebula-winning story, is most 
probably a nom-de-guerre.  An excellent and experimental film, I agree.

Cheers,

   Bill Bennett                           JANET: warda@uk.ac.oxford.vax    
   CRC Growth Factors Research Group   Internet: warda%vax.oxford.ac.uk
From: kachun@astro.as.arizona.edu (Ka Chun Yu)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: Premiere's Top Ten SF Movies
Date: 23 Jul 92 01:41:03 GMT
Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

In article <AeP6lvu00VpNI1YlBU@andrew.cmu.edu> lb2e+@andrew.cmu.edu (Louis Blair) writes:
>>Where are the "artsy" movies?
>>( Solaris, The man who fell to earth... )
>
>Every few months a thread starts as or evolves
>into name-your-favorite-sf-films.  Just to save
>some time, here is the list that was generated the
>last time that this happened:
>
[film list deleted]


I'd add:  Liquid Sky.
--
*Ka Chun Yu                 * "Deputy dog dog a ding dang depa depa deputy     *
*kachun@as.arizona.edu      *  dog dog a ding dang depa depa . . ."            *
*                           *                         --"Don't Let's Start"    *
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.movies
From: reiher@ficus.cs.ucla.edu (Peter Reiher)
Subject: Re: Neuromancer & Jim Cameron (Rumor, looking for confimation)
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 15:47:17 GMT

In article <62687@cup.portal.com> Shadowmar@cup.portal.com (Paul Joseph Furio) writes:
>As far as I know, all the plans to shoot Neuromancer are dead.  It was suppos
>to be shot by "Canaba Boys Productions"  but God only knows who they are or w
>happened.

"Cabana Boys Productions" was indeed associated with a film version of
"Neuromancer" for a while.  Timothy Leary was involved with them, in some
capacity.  As I remember it, this production company was an example of
something that occasionally turns up in Hollywood - some interested
outsiders with few or no credentials end up with rights to some plausible
film property and try to get the real money people interested.  As in this
case, the outsiders usually are a little odd, not just a bunch of dentists
with money or something.  Nearly always, this attempt comes to naught, 
foundering on the inexperience and lack of contacts of the outsiders.  I
don't know exactly what became of "Cabana Boys Productions", but I think
it likely that they're dead.  Most options on novels have a time period
associated with them - if the option owner doesn't start making the film
by a certain date, the rights revert to the author or whoever else holds
the copyright.  I suspect that the rights to "Neuromancer" reverted to
Gibson, who may or may not have optioned them again.  I doubt that the
"Cabana Boys" were able to raise enough money to renew the option.

At any rate, I know nothing of an imminent shooting of "Neuromancer".

--
		Peter Reiher
		reiher@wells.cs.ucla.edu
From: krisk@Apple.COM (Kris Kreutzman)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: Wizards and Star Wars
Date: 24 Jul 92 02:34:13 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA

BHUM%NLU@UICVM.UIC.EDU (BHUM000) writes:

>I have a memory which the current discussion of _Wizards_ jogged:
>I guess it was 1975 and I was at a summer screening of _Wizards_ when
>a trailer (preview) of an upcoming movie ran.  It was about 30 seconds
>long, with space ships roaring past, a roaring monkey-creature, and
>laser-blasts.  Looked really neat, but it said "coming soon" and
>provided no date, so I soon forgot about it.  Well, a couple of years
>later, having seen _Star Wars_ any number of times, the memory crawled
>up and smacked me in the head.  I haven't been able to find anyone
>who has remembered seeing anything about Star Wars that early, or had
>seen the trailer.  In some ways, I wonder whether I was the first
>Star Wars fan.  Anyone remember this preview?

I also remember that preview.  I even have an audio tape of it somewhere.
I remember thinking that it will be either a really great movie or a really
bad one.  I also saw the preview while waiting for Wizards.  It was the
second time I saw the movie and had sneaked a tape recorder in to capture
the audio.  I also have one of the souvenir booklets they sold in the first
month of the show (also laying in a box somewhere).  Ah memories...

Kris Kreutzman - krisk@apple.com - no sig. (no smoke)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: Star Trek VII??
From: Philip.Banks@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Philip Richard Banks)
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 20:18:47 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Comp. Sci., Victoria Uni. of Wellington, New Zealand.

In article <3088@ra.nrl.navy.mil> ghost@ra.nrl.navy.mil (G. Host) writes:
>
>Why didn't the 'expanded' version show Kirk dying
>so we would not have put up with his performance again!
>
>Are there any Jim Kirk fans out there amoung the Star Trek fans
>[ those who hate Star Trek don't count in my opinion ]

   Yes. I rather like Jim Kirk. And there are lots more like me.

>and why does Paramount think that people are returning to see
>Kirk again after Star Trek: TNG's success.

   Perhaps because there are *alot* of people who don't think TNG has quite
the same magic as TOS does.

>Heres hoping for a time-travel movie with both Kirk and Wesley
>ordered to go clean out the torpedo tubes just before a battle.

   Here is hoping that people who hate Jim Kirk would just shut up and accept
him being around for a bit longer so the rest of us can enjoy ourselves...
(Smilies here for the humour impaired.)

Philip
-- 
 Philip R. Banks  pbanks@comp.vuw.ac.nz (An Arc owner with a mission)  @@@@@/|
    (Quite what mission I am not too sure yet. But I do have one!)     @@@@/#|
 "There may be an om in moment,but there's very few folk in focus!"    @@@/--|
	--'Hallowed be thy Name' by Emerson,Lake & Palmer.             @@/###|
From: deb@loni.ucla.edu (Debjoti Sensharma)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: Kobyashi Maru
Date: 28 Jul 92 22:28:05 GMT
Organization: UCLA Laboratory of Neuroimaging


>While not gaming material, one of the few Star Trek books I've read is
>_Kobayashi Maru_, almost all flashbacks of the Enterprise senior
>crewmembers' Kobayashi Maru tests. It's an interesting story, as each of
>them had a different solution to the no-win scenario; Kirk reprogrammed the
>simulator; Checkov rammed a Klingon cruiser, destroying his ship and the
>Klingon fleet; Sulu refused to enter the Neutral Zone at all; and Scotty,
>well, the simulator's computer would figure (mathematically) that the
>Klingon shilelds would work one way even though they don't, he took
>advantage of that little flaw, having himself disproved that particular
>theory (he cheated! :-).


Although this should really belong on one of the Star Trek groups, I believe 
in ST2:TWOK, they mentioned that KIRK was the ONLY and SOLE person to defeat
the K. Maru simulator.




Debjoti Sensharma
UCLA Laboratory of Neuroimaging
[************YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED****************]
[*************RESISTANCE IS FUTILE******************]
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
From: lazlo@triton.unm.edu (Lazlo Nibble)
Subject: Re: Where's Star Wars 4
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 18:15:09 GMT
Organization: Sporadic and incomplete

kachun@astro.as.arizona.edu (Ka Chun Yu) writes:

>> the "Major Science Fiction Magazine" in question is the June 1992
>> Cinefantasique.  The article is "Where's Star Wars 4?" by Nolan Wright 
>
> The article was written as if the author had a real vendetta against
> Lucas. 

No kidding . . . it was easily one of the whiniest, most fanboylike
articles I've seen about Lucas and "Star Wars" in quite some time.  Some
people need to get it into their heads that George Lucas doesn't owe
anybody any more "Star Wars" movies . . . if he decides to make them,
he'll make them, and if he decides not to, he *won't*.  All the whining
and whinging in the world isn't going to change that.  In fact, if I were
in his shoes, I'd be a lot less inclined to make any more of the films
after all the harassment he's gotten over them. 

> I've noticed that the writing in _Cinefantastique_ has a tendency to
> jump in and rip on a movie before it's released. 

True, but the significant examples that come to mind (most notably "Alien 3")
were based on someone having seen prerelease cuts of the films in question.
I'm glad I read Cine's "Alien 3" coverage before seeing the movie -- it
saved me a hell of a lot of disappointment.

--
Lazlo (lazlo@triton.unm.edu)
From: joshuali@aludra.usc.edu (Joshua Ling)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: Jurassic Park and Star Wars
Date: 30 Jul 1992 15:47:49 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu

In article <1992Jul30.060818.3930@intacc.uucp> zerobeat@intacc.uucp (Ferenc Szabo) writes:
>
>JP will be directed by Stephen Spielberg. Sugar and spice and all things nice.

The creatures will be built be Stan Winston and friends. My friend got a 
chance to tour his studio awhile back and said the dinosaurs looked great,
a lot of research into their appearance was done.

-joshuali@usc.edu



Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
From: cuscd@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Charles Dey)
Subject: Re: Premiere's Top Ten SF Movies
Organization: Educational Computing Network
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 20:05:59 GMT

I agree with most of the list, though I think I'd put Terminator 1 in
there somewhere (maybe T2  -some might say it was too comercial). Also,
I didn't see anyone mention the Highlander, I consider this to be pretty
sci-fi comparatively.  Whoever mentioned The Thing (original) I agree
with you 100 %.      

Now for my reasons why I'd put the above in the lists...
Terminator, cause it had an original plot, and a definate impact for
everyone. You have your action lovers, your physists, your sci-fi loving
geeks ( not to be a flame ) , and your cyberpunk deciples.. what more
could you get out of a film.

Highlander, it was original. It had well developed characters and a good
plot. The suspence, the drama and the action.

The Thing (original, uncolorized) Shame on Turner for colorizing this
film. It was well made, and had a cool concept and brought out the idea
of if we captured an Alien who turns out to be violent, do we think more
of our own safety or of scince...  A good film.

...Crim'
From: M Maxwell
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: Neuromancer & Jim Cameron (Rumor, looking for confimation)
Date: 24 Jul 1992 16:21:01 GMT
Organization: UC San Diego
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: irpsws80.ucsd.edu
Keywords: Burning Chrome

In article <STEINARB.92Jul23234514@syrin.idt.unit.no> steinarb@idt.unit.no
(Steinar Bang) writes:
>Here's an unsubstanciated rumor I'd like to have confirmed/denied:
>(well,... preferably confirmed...;-)
>
>Someone told me that he had read on alt.cyberpunk, that Jim Cameron
>had done some early shooting for a filmatization of "Neuromancer" with
>Peter Gabriel as Case (isn't he a bit old for that part...?).
>
>I tried checking on alt.cyberpunk, but any articles concerning
>Neuromancer had expired.
>
>- Steinar
>
>BTW Notice that I managed to finish the article without expressing how
>much I would like to see Linda Hamilton as Molly... ;-)
>
>
Apologies if this has been posted to death.

Last i heard was that Cameron had talked with Gibson about doing an
adaptation of the story "Burning Chrome."*  I also heard that Gibson was
on the sfx set of T2 for awhile, looking over some of the footage and
chatting with Cameron.  However, Cameron won't be working on this for a little
while (if indeed he does it at all) since he is committed another film
right now, about a man suffering from multiple personality syndrome.  I have
seen screenplays for "Burning Chrome" floating around cons in the last year
or two, but i didn't see any familliar names on them.  (I'll check again
at the SD comic con in early August.)

Peter Gabriel as Case?  Linda Hamilton as Molly?  Not.

*taken from _Journal Wired_, Summer, 1990.
-------------------
Matt Maxwell
mmaxwell@ucsd.edu

Hey you kids!  Don't touch that, it's ART! 

Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
From: mat@cypress.com (Mat Clayson/VDSP)
Subject: Re: Jurassic Park and Star Wars
Reply-To: mat@cypress.com.UUCP (Mat Clayson/VDSP)
Organization: Cypress Semiconductor, San Jose, CA
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 20:43:46 GMT

In article <1992Jul22.145535.1155@guvax.georgetown.edu> cwilliams@guvax.georgetown.edu writes:
>Can anyone send me info they might have on both the making of
>Jurassic Park into a movie and the making of a possible
>Star Trek IV?
 
>Please send it to the address below.
 
>Thanks!
>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@        
>Carol Williams
>Bitnet/Profs address: BITNET%"CWILLIAMS@GUVAX"
>Internet:  EDU%"CWILLIAMS@GUVAX.GEORGETOWN.EDU"
>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

The outdoor sets for J Park are going to be built in Universal Florida,
and will be used for an attraction afterward to mitegate(SP) the cost.

I believe StarTrek IV(4) has been out for a while, as well as Star Trek V(5) and
Star Trek VI(6). I wonder if they well do a Star Trek VII(7)?

-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|           Mat Clayson            |       WARNING- Do Not Open          |
|   at home - at work - at play    |         Toxic fun inside.           |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
From: boyajian@ruby.enet.dec.com (The Man from Another Place)
Subject: Re: Close Encounters
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 06:11:59 GMT

In article <1992Jul21.152733.6796@trantor.harris-atd.com>, mmccolli@ess.harris.com (Mike McCollister) writes...

} I've only version that I can find of "Close Encounters of the Third
} Kind" on video is the "Special Edition" which shows the interior of
} the large space ship. Does anyone know if the non-special edition is
} available on video?

Only on the letterboxed Criterion Collection laserdisc from Voyager Press.
The CLV format laserdisc contains the original edition of the movie. The
CAV edition contains the same version, but also includes the material for
the Special Edition as separately-encoded chapters so that one can
recreate the Special Edition or even the combined edition, which was
aired in the early 80's on network television. At least, this is the
theory; in practice, it doesn't quite work as well as intended.

Keep in mind, too, that the Special Edition is the closest thing to
a "director's cut" that we're likely to ever get. Columbia Pictures
pushed the release date of the movie forward by about seven weeks,
which meant that Spielberg didn't have as much time to cut the film
the way he really wanted it. He managed to convince Columbia to let
him recut the film to match what he'd wanted to do in the first place.
And that was what was released as the Special Edition, with one caveat:
Spielberg never intended to show the interior of the mothership, but
he agreed to shoot that scene and add it in because it was the only
way he could get them to put up the money for a recut and release of
the film.

So the Special Edition is, as far as Spielberg is concerned, the
"correct" version. Me, I prefer the original.

-- 

	"She's my radiation baby.
	 She's my teenage fallout girl."

--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, "The Mill", Maynard, MA)

    boyajian@ruby.enet.dec.com
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
From: wildman@athena.mit.edu (Timothy Worsley)
Subject: Hong Kong SF
Reply-To: eprice@sql.sybase.com
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 04:15:52 GMT

Here are a few Hong Kong SF movies:

Final Test (1987) d. Xen Ling Chu
Flash Future Kung Fu (1984) d. Kirk Wong
Robotrix (1991) d. Simon Yun Ching

I Love Maria [aka Roboforce] has already been mentioned.

In case anyone is interested, I found out about these from Craig
Ledbetter's quarterly `Asian Trash Cinema'.  You can subscribe for $15
(for $25 you can get it plus `European Trash Cinema' as well) to
Craig Ledbetter, PO Box 5367, Kingwood TX 77325.

And to anyone who thinks these are not science fiction: then neither
are Terminator N, Robocop N, Alien[s] N, Predator N, Split Second
[hopefully no sequels to this one!], etc. etc. etc.  American movie
audiences are quite partial to "mindless action drivel" as well...
Tell me what Star Wars has to do with *science* please?  (NB: THAT IS
A RHETORICAL QUESTION!  Please do *not* "tell" me!)

Ed Price              (not Tim Worsely) `Suffering--after all, that is the
eprice@sql.sybase.com (not wildman@...)  sole cause of consciousness.'
From: BHUM%NLU@UICVM.UIC.EDU (BHUM000)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Wizards and Star Wars
Date: 23 Jul 92 13:40:31 GMT

I have a memory which the current discussion of _Wizards_ jogged:
I guess it was 1975 and I was at a summer screening of _Wizards_ when
a trailer (preview) of an upcoming movie ran.  It was about 30 seconds
long, with space ships roaring past, a roaring monkey-creature, and
laser-blasts.  Looked really neat, but it said "coming soon" and
provided no date, so I soon forgot about it.  Well, a couple of years
later, having seen _Star Wars_ any number of times, the memory crawled
up and smacked me in the head.  I haven't been able to find anyone
who has remembered seeing anything about Star Wars that early, or had
seen the trailer.  In some ways, I wonder whether I was the first
Star Wars fan.  Anyone remember this preview?
From: jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com (Jim Mann)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: Premiere's Top Ten SF Movies
Date: 24 Jul 92 14:41:15 GMT
Reply-To: jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com

In article <burt.711906939@aupair.cs.athabascau.ca>  
burt@aupair.cs.athabascau.ca (Burt Voorhees) writes:
> For my money I'd definitely add Labyrinth, and also The Circus of Dr  
Lao

They only seem to be listing SF movies, not fantasy movies, which
is why they didn't include things like Dr. Lao (the correct title
is The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao, by the way), Jason and the Argonauts,
King Kong, etc.


--
Jim Mann       jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com  Stratus Computer