HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: clive@x.co.uk (Clive Feather)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc,rec.railroad
Subject: Railways in SF
Date: 9 Oct 92 08:35:36 GMT
Followup-To: rec.railroad
Organization: IXI Limited, Cambridge, UK

In article <1992Oct7.020101.21144@cs.su.oz.au> matthew@cs.su.oz.au (Matthew Geier) writes:
> The reason im looking for this book is that it appears to be the only case
> where my interests in SF and railways meet in one book.

Two very good short stories about railways in SF occur in the
_Unorthodox_Engineers_ series, by Colin Kapp:

_The_Railways_up_on_Cannis_
    Imagine a planet where a volcano can appear *anywhere* on three
    minutes notice, and frequently does. Now fix the railways after
    they've been abandoned after 5 years and a war. Oh, by the way,
    every branch line has its own gauge, and they all share a terminus.

_The_Subways_of_Tazoo_
    Investigating a subway [metro for European readers] which has been
    abandoned for thousands of years seems simple, until you discover
    that a continent-wide desert is covered with loudspeakers to let
    people listen to the trains.

-- 
Clive D.W. Feather     | IXI Limited         | If you lie to the compiler,
clive@x.co.uk          | Vision Park         | it will get its revenge.
Phone: +44 223 236 555 | Cambridge   CB4 4RZ |   - Henry Spencer
Fax:   +44 223 236 550 | United Kingdom      |
From: voros@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au (Joe Voros)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: Re: Clarke's Forth law?
Date: 14 Oct 92 23:45:30 +1000
Organization: Physics Dept, Monash Uni, Melbourne, Australia.

ikos@netcom.com (Ikos) writes:

[Clarke's first three ``laws'' deleted]

Don't forget Clarke's Sixty-Ninth Law:

``Reading computer manuals without the Hardware is as frustrating as
reading Sex manuals without the Software.''

-- 
Joe Voros
Department of Physics, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3168, Australia.
voros@physics.monash.edu.au
Quantum Mechanics is God's way of telling you to mind your P_i's and Q_j's.
From: beh10@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Barry Holsinger)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.misc
Subject: wanted: song lyrics for ELO albums
Date: 8 Oct 92 18:26:19 GMT
Reply-To: beh10@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Barry Holsinger)
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA



The earlier "SF in Music" post mentions ELO, so I 
thought I'd try my request here, too....



I'm looking for _lyrics_ to songs/albums by
the rock group Electric Light Orchestra (ELO).
In particular, the following albums:
	o ELO (No Answer)
	o ELO II
	o A New World Record
	o Time

I've tried to order the sheet music, but they
are out of print.  If anybody knows where these
can be had, please respond to the email address
below.

     beh10@duts.ccc.amdahl.com


--
Barry Holsinger           | I ain't git'n et by no gators to make my wage!
Sunnyvale, CA             | There are better ways to make a buck in dis
beh10@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com | nutty town!!  -Ralph Snart
From: mjb@cs.nott.ac.uk (M J Brownlow)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: Tremors
Date: 10 Oct 92 23:31:10 GMT
Organization: Nottingham University

In article <j880861@pro-smof.cts.com> wixer!cactus.org!wixer!pro-smof.cts.com!rfletcher@cactus.org (Robert Fletcher) writes:
>
>  Will there ever be a Tremors II?
With any luck!
Tremors is absolutely brilliant, and anyone who doesn't like it had better
run like god damned bastards (pardon my French) if they come near me and try
to slag it off!
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: Dan Akroyd in Raiders???
From: ace@kryton.UUCP (Catherine Beckstead)
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 92 10:56:12 PDT
Organization: Paradox Alley F&SF BBS 805-492-8789

steelem@rintintin.Colorado.EDU (STEELE MARK A) writes:

> Near the beginning of _Temple of Doom_, when Indy, Willie and Short Round
> have arrived at the airport, they are met by someone stating that he had
> spoken to his (Indy's) assistant and managed to secure three seats on a
> cargo liner...
> I was viewing this on an old TV using VHS and this person looked alot like
> Dan Akroyd. I know that if an actor is under contract with one movie studio
> and they appear in another studios film then there name will not appear in
> the credits, sometimes actors will ask to have their names not placed in the
> credits because the part was so small/they did it for fun. Because of this
> I cannot check the credits to see if it is him, or who it really is.
> Could someone please confirm or deny that this character is Dan Akroyd.
> 
> -Mark
> steelem@rintintin.colorado.edu
> 

Yes, it is Dan Akroyd.  I just checked my copy and he is listed in the
credits as playing Weber.  That is the pilot you saw.  I don't believe
actors contract to studios anymore.  That hasn't been done since about
the 60's (I'm not sure of the exact time period), but actors contract
for individual movies or television series, and are not connected to 
any one studio.  The old studio system is gone.


-------------------------------------------------------------------
Catherine Beckstead                    ace@kryton.uucp
"Do you want to argue with a can of deodorant that registers
NINE on the Richter scale?"        --Ace, in "Dragonfire"
Xref: sparky rec.arts.sf.movies:7824 rec.arts.movies:29853 alt.cult-movies:8908
From: K.R.Catchpole3@lut.ac.uk
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.movies,alt.cult-movies
Subject: Re: Deckard as 6th Replicant doesn't hold water
Date: 9 Oct 92 16:14:06 GMT
Reply-To: K.R.Catchpole3@lut.ac.uk
Organization: Loughborough University, UK.


	What I meant when I mentioned 'one of the main themes' was that to
say that if Ridley Scott had proved that Deckard was a Rep. the human aspect
would have been lost. It would have been like watching R2D2 and C3P0 kill each
other. By making Deckard a human, he parodies the Rep. situation with that of
Mary Shelley's (note: book not film) 'Fankenstein', who is a very caring being
until HUMANS screw him up.

To say Deckard is a replicant immediatley invalidates everything but the 
action sequences in the movie.
From: donnell@manowar.micro.umn.edu (Your Heinous)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: Tremors
Date: 13 Oct 92 16:15:11 GMT
Article-I.D.: news2.1992Oct13.161511.16999
Organization: none

In article <1bbs5dINNocp@terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu> drue@citi.umich.edu writes:
>>mjb@cs.nott.ac.uk (M J Brownlow)
>
>>Tremors is absolutely brilliant, and anyone who doesn't like it had better
>>run like god damned bastards (pardon my French) if they come near me and try
>>to slag it off!
>
>I laughed from beginning to end of Tremors, and I still think you should 
>switch to decaf!  :)
>
>-- 
>Chris Tanis
>drue@ifs.umich.edu 
>Center for Information Technology Integration
>The University of Michigan      Ann Arbor, MI  48103

Tremors was a nice try, but I thought it came off like a remake of 
"The Boogens". Sorry.
I laughed a lot too, and not all of it was at there jokes. Some of that
dialogue was pretty damn funny.

					--Judex--
From: pjs@euclid.JPL.NASA.GOV (Peter J. Scott)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Star Wars music like what earlier composition?
Date: 14 Oct 92 21:01:05 GMT
Article-I.D.: elroy.1992Oct14.210105.2022
Reply-To: pjs@euclid.jpl.nasa.gov
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA/Caltech

I've read in the past postings to the effect of "The theme from
Star Wars is a rip-off of piece X, by composer Y."  I have no
idea whether this is true and personally don't care, I would just
like to know the claimed values of X and Y so I can go listen to
it myself...

-- 
This is news.  This is your       |    Peter Scott, NASA/JPL/Caltech
brain on news.  Any questions?    |    (pjs@euclid.jpl.nasa.gov)
From: ccoprdj@prism.gatech.EDU (Jorge Diaz)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: Return of the Jedi - what I didn't like (again)
Date: 12 Oct 92 00:16:20 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <BvzDru.753@news.cso.uiuc.edu> sjs28257@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Stelter) writes:

>True.  However, we have to keep in mind that the Rebellion has been going on
>for quite some time.  By now, Han and Lando have pretty much grown out of 
>their "seedy pirate" image--they're generals in the Rebel Alliance by now,
>for Yoda's sake.  This change in personality is bad news for fans (such as
>yourself, apparently) who prefer the hard-nosed, tough-guy Han and Lando,
>but good news for fans (such as myself) who thought it was pretty neat that
>these two characters have redeemed themselves for their mercenary past and
>developed into full-fledged Good Guys.

But why do they have to 'redeem' themselves?  Why do they have to be 'full-
fledged Good Guys'?  One of the things that I liked about Star Wars and
even The Empire Strikes Back was that the "good guys" weren't always good,
and the "bad guys", well, they were always bad. :-)

But everything wasn't so damn black-and-white like it was in Jedi.

>Cheesy dialogue is a staple of the Star Wars films.  Even so, I found the
>dialogue in ROTJ to be much, *much* less awful than in ANH.  "Governor
>Tarkin!  I recognized your foul stench the moment I set foot on this battle
>station."  Ugh.

C'mon, at least get the quote right if you're going to criticize it.

>>The scene where Luke tells Leia they are related has almost no emotion.

>Could be because Luke has apparently suspected it all along.

And Leia too, apparently.  "I know.  Somehow, I've always known."

No shit!  Did you get your hands on the script, Princess?

>You're not alone here--lots of fans find the Ewoks annoying.  But I don't
>think the Endor scenes were *that* bad, and certainly not nearly bad enough
>to justify chucking the entire film.

No, but between that, Vader's transformation into a complete ***** (yes,
My Master, no, My Master - puleez!), and his eventual "salvation", I
think that would justify chucking the entire film.

>>I was beginning to like Admiral Piett.

>*Never* get too attached to Imperial officers...they never last for more than
>one film.  :)

Why?  Piett was in both V and VI.

-- 
Jorge Diaz                       | "I want you to remember, Clark... in all
Georgia Institute of Technology  |  the years to come, in your most private
Office of Information Technology |  moments...my hand at your throat.  I want
ccoprdj@prism.gatech.edu         |  you to remember the one man who beat you."
From: dascoser@cybernet.cse.fau.edu (david serchay)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: ILM
Date: 9 Oct 92 18:06:56 GMT
Organization: Cybernet BBS, Boca Raton, Florida

Could someone mail me a list of films that ILM has worked on. This is for 
a report.

Dascoser
From: v075q5fr@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Scott J Gorcey)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: Star Wars music like what earlier composition?
Date: 16 Oct 92 18:53:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1992Oct15.234050.9398@ils.nwu.edu>, blum@news.ils.nwu.edu (Daniel Blum) writes...
>I've heard that it is similar to "Music for Prague, 1968," but
>unfortunately I can't remember the composer's name.  I've never heard
>it, either.

     It is similar, but I've only heard that composition once,
     so I can't comment specifically.

     A better comparison: Holst's THE PLANETS.  Nearly all
     Williams' music is directly descended from Holst.


>--
>_____________________________________________________________________
>Dan Blum           Institute for the Learning Sciences   Room 327
>blum@ils.nwu.edu   1890 Maple Ave., Evanston, IL 60201   708-467-2306
> 
>"By the power vested in me by my own over-inflated ego, I now 
> declare this bridge officially open."
>_____________________________________________________________________

                 Shortly  thereafter, the health of  Annie
                 Blackburn still in question, the behavior
                 of Special Agent  Dale Cooper was noticed
                 __________________________to have changed.
                                              Scott Gorcey.            
Xref: sparky rec.arts.sf.movies:7806 rec.arts.movies:29780 alt.cult-movies:8874
From: mst@vexpert.dbai.tuwien.ac.at (Markus Stumptner)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.movies,alt.cult-movies
Subject: Re: Deckard as 6th Replicant doesn't hold water
Date: 8 Oct 92 19:43:07 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies
Organization: DB and ES Subdivision, TU Vienna

From article <1992Oct8.170134.14338@cc.tut.fi>, by jk87377@cc.tut.fi (Juhana Kouhia):
> Do you watch end of the movies before you watch the movie?
> To the few last minutes of the film I did compare the Deckard (human)
								^^^^^^^
Do you understand the concept of persistence?  If you find out that he
is not human at the end of the film, then he clearly was not human
throughout all of the film.  Your ruminations about the meaning of the
film all have to be checked for their validity at this point.

> What do you mean? Are not my thoughts valid? As I have understood,
> you yourself follow the same idea (Deckard is human and you compare
> human and replicants).

No.  If Deckard is a replicant, you do not compare humans and
replicants.  You compare a replicant that you *think* is human with
replicants, and there is a huge difference between the two.  If you do
not think so, then we'd better let the discussion rest here.

> To me it looks like you don't realize that the movie
> has a time order: begin comes first and end comes last.

If Deckard is a replicant at the end, then he was a replicant at the
beginning, no matter what you thought he was.  As an analogy: If you
see a thriller where the villain (call him A) is revealed at the last
moment, do you think the crime has not been committed by him until
that moment?  No.  The revelation only shows what has been going on
all the time.  If, up to that last moment, some other person (B) was
the main suspect of murdering the victim (C), do you still leave the
cinema thinking "I wonder why B hated C enough to kill him"?  No,
because you know B did *not* kill C - the premise is invalid.  You
know that your thoughts about B's motives were wrong, because B's
motives were *not* strong enough to kill C.  Same in Blade Runner.

-- 
Markus Stumptner                                mst@vexpert.dbai.tuwien.ac.at
University of Technology Vienna                 vexpert!mst@relay.eu.net
Paniglg. 16, A-1040 Vienna, Austria             ...mcsun!vexpert!mst
From: sjs28257@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Stelter)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: Return of the Jedi - what I didn't li
Date: 15 Oct 92 18:32:48 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.Bw6E6r.9su
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana

gschlesi@scott.skidmore.edu (gabriel schlesinger) writes:

> What if Luke just calmly killed Vader?  Would he go over to
>the Dark Side then or was it just in anger?  And who really cares
>since the whole place is blown up anyway?  The Emperor's ego is
>infinitely large than Tarkin's, he wouldn't have left no matter what.

A good point.  In a strategic sense, the whole Vader-Luke-Emperor confrontation
is irrelevant, since the Death Star gets blown up anyway.  The scenes in the
Death Star are vital in a dramatic sense, however--more so than any other
scenes in the film, in fact. 

My feeling is that Luke wouldn't have gone over to the Dark Side if he had
been able to kill Vader while keeping a calm mental state.  Given his
various and conflicting feelings for his father, though, it seems unlikely
that Luke would have been able to do so.

>Most of all though was that there were unfulfilled prophecies from
>ESB. (paraphrasing) "If you go now you will only cause your friends
>more harm".  Where does that happen?  

Another, hopefully more accurate paraphrasing: "If you go, help them you
might...but you would destroy all for which they have fought and suffered."
Yoda's gist here is that if Luke abandons his training and goes to confront
Vader without having overcome his aggression and impatience, there's a very
real danger that Luke will be overcome by the Dark Side, thus causing a
serious setback to not only the Rebellion, but the whole Jedi cause in
general.  Fortunately, that didn't happen, showing that even Yoda couldn't
foresee everything.

>My other problem is that there's no transition in the character of
>Luke.  In ESB on Dagoba he is a fuck up.  He doesn't do anything
>right.  Then all of the sudden he kills three barges of experienced
>bounty hunters armed with a lightsaber.  I don't think so.  Hell,
>Vader probably couldn't do that with far superior powers, and armor
>protecting him.

I'd have to disagree, considering that Vader can bounce blaster bolts off
his palm and choke people to death with a thought.  A bunch of sleazy
mercenaries would be no trouble at all for Darth.  IMHO, of course.

Moreover, it's not as if ROTJ begins the day after ESB ends.  There's a 
space of at least several months between the two films, more than enough time
for someone with Luke's potential to dramatically improve his Jedi skills
as well as his attitude.



                       --Steve Stelter
                         sjs28257@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
From: blum@news.ils.nwu.edu (Daniel Blum)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Re: Star Wars music like what earlier composition?
Date: 15 Oct 92 23:40:50 GMT
Organization: The Institute for the Learning Sciences
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

I've heard that it is similar to "Music for Prague, 1968," but
unfortunately I can't remember the composer's name.  I've never heard
it, either.

--
_____________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum           Institute for the Learning Sciences   Room 327
blum@ils.nwu.edu   1890 Maple Ave., Evanston, IL 60201   708-467-2306

"By the power vested in me by my own over-inflated ego, I now 
 declare this bridge officially open."
_____________________________________________________________________
From: adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk (Adrian Hurt)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
Subject: Alien kits again
Date: 13 Oct 92 14:02:20 GMT
Organization: Dept of Computing & Electrical Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland


Here is the full list of "Alien" kits produced by Halcyon, according to the
little leaflet which they use as a catalogue.  Some kits have prices in
pounds next to them; partly for the benefit of U.K. readers, partly so that
everyone else can see how expensive (or cheap) the kits are here, and partly
to indicate that those kits were actually on the shelf, i.e. really are
available in the shops right now.

Name			Scale	Price (U.K. pounds)
---------------------------------------------------
Alien Creature		1/9	18.99
Alien			1/5	34.99
Face Hugger		1/1	49.99
Face Hugger with  )	1/1	59.99
Queen Alien Foetus)
Dog Burster		1/1	49.99
Alien Queen		1/12
Alien Warrior with )	1/9	(Has been in the shop, but not this time.)
Base and Egg       )
Space Jockey		1/60	34.99
Power Loader with  )	1/12	(Has been in the shop, but not this time.)
Ripley             )
Narcissus		1/144	19.99
Nostromo		1/960	99.99
Drop Ship		1/72	(Has been in the shop, but not this time.)
U.S.S. Sulaco		1/2400
A.P.C.			1/35	15.99

The "Nostromo" is apparently a limited release, with 5000 copies being
distributed world-wide.

In addition, they had a "Drop Ship Missile Pack" costing 5.30 pounds.  This
is a little white metal kit intended to add some detail to the "Drop Ship"
kit.  It comes in a small plastic bag with a card stapled over the top, and
the card indicates that it comes from:
S.H.E.D. Models, 118 Bourne Road, Swindon, Wiltshire SN2 2JW
No mention was made of mail orders; if you could read the card you could buy
the kit on the spot.  If your model shop doesn't have the kit, you could try
writing to the above address.

-- 
 "Keyboard?  How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs
 UUCP: ..!uknet!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian   |  ARPA:   adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
From: brad@cmptrc.lonestar.org (Brad Barton)
Subject: Re: plot question
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 20:46:11 GMT
Organization: CompuTrac Inc., Richardson TX

In article <Bw6xCz.67r@well.sf.ca.us> rchao@well.sf.ca.us (Robert Chao) writes:
>
>When our gang jumped down into the garbage room on the Death Star, why
>didn't the stormtroopers follow? Did they not see through the smoke?
>Afraid of being ambushed? Afraid of getting their armor wet?
>They could have shot into the garbage room, and the shots would have
>ricocheted all over the place, which would have been cool!

Obviously (from what happens next) they think a better idea is just to start
the compactor.


-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
|Brad Barton              | "Cuando amor no es locura, no es amor." |
|brad@cmptrc.lonestar.org |        -- Pedro Calderon de la Barca    |
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Xref: sparky rec.arts.sf.movies:7788 rec.arts.movies:29724 alt.cult-movies:8835
From: otto@jybox.jyu.fi (Otto J. Makela)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.movies,alt.cult-movies
Subject: Re: Computers or physical? (was Re: Is not! Is too! Is not! Is too!)
Date: 8 Oct 92 06:02:04 GMT
Organization: Jyvaskyla Electronic Mailbox

bx916@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Ross W. Starkey) writes:

> WHAT ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT????   Roy *IS* human!
> Do you think he's a robot or something?
> He is a genetically engineered HUMAN slave.

Um, remember the start texts ?  They talked about androids there.

Did you notice what Zhora looked like after Deckard shot her ?
Like a turned-off toy.  The "friends" in J.F. Sebastian's flat were
of the same stock.  Not "real" people but constructs.

That's the whole point of the movie !  If they are constructed,
not born are they still "human" ?

   /* * * Otto J. Makela <otto@jybox.jyu.fi> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */
  /* Phone: +358 41 613 847, BBS: +358 41 211 562 (V.32bis/USR-HST,24h/d) */
 /* Mail: Kauppakatu 1B18/SF-40100 Jyvaskyla/Finland, ICBM: 62.14N25.44E */
/* * * Computers Rule 01001111 01001011 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies
From: geirj@hsr.no (Geir Johannessen)
Subject: Re: Aliens v Predator Movie??? (+ Alien 3)
Organization: Rogaland University Centre
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 18:36:24 GMT

In article <23553@flab.flab.fujitsu.co.jp>, takehira@flab.fujitsu.co.jp (Takehira Masanori) writes:
> Hello,
> 
> My name is Takehira Masanori from Japan.And I saw "Alien^3" about a month 
> ago.
> 
> Is "Aliens vs Predeator" a comic or something? I would like to know about 
> it. Somebody , would you please tell me about the book ? ( If it is a 
> book.) And please tell me the author and the company which publishes it 
> also.
> 
> Thank you.
>                                   Takehira Masanori 
> 
"Aliens vs Predator" is comic series published by Dark Horse Comics and it's VERY
good (VERY as in EXTREMELY). The complete series has been released in a single
volume book, and I suggest you try to get hold of that.

Unfortunately, I don't have their address with me at the moment, but I'll try to
get it and post it later this week - possibly on Friday (9th October). Until then!


						Sayonara!
						   Geir Friestad (Anime Fan)

Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.movies,alt.cult-movies