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SF-LOVERS Digest            Friday, 12 Feb 1993        Volume 18 : Issue 99

Today's Topics:

                    Television - Time Trax (11 msgs) &
                                 Space Rangers (2 msgs)

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Date: 26 Jan 93 23:07:09 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Christopher Dean)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Time Trax

> 14 What was that about Sepp getting three doses of that drug?  He had one
> when he popped into 1993, and one when he popped out.  Where did the
> third one come from?

My theory for the above questions. The drug was originally made for
teleportation. Sepp licked the envelope and teleported back to the doctor.
The doctor then gave him another dose and Sepp used the machine in
combination with the drug to go to 1993. They need the drug and machine to
travel in time and just the drug for teleportation. This also explains that
Sepp had already had two doses.

Kevin

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Date: 27 Jan 93 02:55:43 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Time Trax: Counterpoint

   I'm afraid I must concur with those that don't think that Time Trax was
the greatest pilot ever.  On the other hand, I wouldn't call it the
silliest of the new show pilots either - the first episode for Space
Rangers was intensely silly (it's gotten better, but that first episode -
whoa).
    There were some things in TT that were good.  Points that hit me over
the head, but seem to have glossed by others.  For example, Selma has the
appearance she does for a specific reason.  At the beginning, Darien holds
a picture of his mother, who actually abandoned him, in effect (admittedly,
it's a brief and not terribly clear shot, but it's there).  Selma (all
right, so the acronym's a bit corny) bares a striking resemblance to that
picture, part of the reason Darien's so taken aback.  But after all, she
_was_ programmed for him specifically.  This is one example that came up in
a discussion I had on another BB - since I haven't followed this group too
closely, so my apologies if I'm beating a dead horse.
   Anyway, the acting was often kind of wooden, but the recurring
characters had their moments of insight, and that will develop with time.
I'd place that on about par with the TNG pilot.
   The effects...  All right, so they were a bit sub-standard.  But this is
not going to be an effects driven show.  I imagine that they didn't want to
develop whole departments just for one episode, an episode that by rumor
didn't get a whole lot more budget than the cost of 2 episodes.  So I can
overlook it a bit, as long as what they do in the future is done well.
   Which brings up the main point - the pilot was, I think, _very_
different from all other episodes that will follow.  All of it takes place
in this time now, and it will be a matter of tracking down these criminals,
using some nice high-tech methods, in combination with what's available
today.  The SF element will probably be rather diminished, and the action
one emphasized a lot more.  Diminishing the SF element will not necessarily
be a bad thing - how prominent is it in Quantum Leap?  This show may be
similar in that respect, although in this case there's no changing of time,
and there will be a bit more action over thought as compared to QL, most
likely.
   Also, for a moment, think about who the show is targeted at?  IMHO, it
is _not_ targetted at the hard core SF fans, but at the general populace,
with a wider appeal.  It will most likely disappoint the hard core SF fan,
if they can't let go a bit.  But if it's well written, Time Trax could be a
very enjoyable hour of action programming.  All you need to do is a little
suspension of reality, and it looks like it'll be quite a ride.
   Summary (sorry so long!): the pilot could have been better, but don't
trash the series until you've seen a few regular episodes - the majority of
the pilot is most likely very different in attitude and tenor than the
series.

Matt Schmitt
Wesleyan University
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

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Date: 27 Jan 93 21:39:54 GMT
From: [e-mail] (mel rupinski)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Time Trax

[e-mail] (Taed Nelson) writes:
>[e-mail] (mel rupinski) writes:
>> 1 thing that really impressed me about their vision of the future was
>> the racial slur of "blanco".  Apparently the writers do have a brain and
>> realize that Hispanics will eventually become the ethnic majority in
>> this country, as is evidenced by current population trends, and acted
>> accordingly.  I don't think we would have seen such realism in other
>> sci-fi shows.
>
>While this was good, why was it that 70% of the people we saw in the
>police station, West Point, and just about everywhere, were white?  It may
>have been nice in the script, but the casting crew did not follow through.

I've been wanting to follow-up on the racial minority issue since my last
post, but my system's been down since Friday, and is now just back online.

Anyway, it seems like a lot of people didn't like the fact that while
Whites were supposed to be the minority, they still held most of the
positions of power.  I really don't think this is much of a blunder or
error or the result of a lack of continuity, etc.  IMHO, even though whites
have become the minority in terms of number doesn't necessarily mean that
they would relinquish all of their sources of social power.  I mean, even
in reality, it will probably take quite some time after the whites become a
numerical minority before their positions of power are reduced.  Perhaps
this is why blanco has become "the most hated racial slur".  Perhaps
Hispanics are upset because the majority of power is still held by a white
minority.  Further, this situation bears striking resemblance to South
Africa, where Whites are a significant minority, and not until very
recently began to accept their black brothers as political etc. leaders.

Basically, then, I see no problems with how the production crew has handled
the minority issue.  Perhaps this tension will be dealt with in future
episodes.  I think it would be interesting to see how Darien will handle
relationships with those of other ethnic backgrounds while in 1993.  If I
remember correctly, I think someone told him before he left that he was no
longer a "blanco", but a "honky" (or some such).  I just hope those in
charge do explore some of these issues in future episodes.

Mel Rupinski
Dept. of Psych.
Tulane U
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

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Date: 27 Jan 93 22:01:40 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Jorge DeLaCruz)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Time Trax

[e-mail] (Taed Nelson) writes:
>While this was good, why was it that 70% of the people we saw in the
>police station, West Point, and just about everywhere, were white?  It may
>have been nice in the script, but the casting crew did not follow through.

Maybe they were light skinned Hispanics, they do exist.  I have a couple of
blonde haired, blue-eyed cousins.

About West Point, maybe more "Whites" are entering the Military for
Financial reasons as do many "Blacks" today.

Or maybe they casting director couldn't find any Hispanics in California :)

Jorge

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Date: 4 Feb 93 16:27:01 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Charles E Gibbs)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Time Trax Second Episode (* minor spoilers *)

IF you ignore the stiff acting of Dale Midkiff and Mia Sara, and
IF you ignore how Selma only interrupts to move the plot along ( a
  direct contradiction of the pilot episode), and
IF you ignore a script that devolved dramatically in the last 15 minutes,
  and
IF you ignore any scientific errors regarding time travel...

Yes this was a great episode.

Charles Gibbs

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Date: 4 Feb 93 17:37:16 GMT
From: [e-mail] (David De Trolio)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Time Trax Second Episode (* minor spoilers *)

[e-mail] (Charles E Gibbs) writes:
>IF you ignore the stiff acting of Dale Midkiff and Mia Sara, and
>IF you ignore how Selma only interrupts to move the plot along ( a
>  direct contradiction of the pilot episode), and
>IF you ignore a script that devolved dramatically in the last 15 minutes,
>   and
>IF you ignore any scientific errors regarding time travel...
>yes this was a great episode.

I had great hopes for this series, but the reasons you cite above sum up a
great deal of what is wrong with the series.

This is not what I was hoping for 1990's SF program.  It is not as bad as
Space Rangers, but you have to sit back and wonder each time the lead
character gets a favor from the Federal Agent, played by Mia Sara, and
tells her nothing more than "trust me!"

This show needs some fast reworking.

David De Trolio
[e-mail]

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Date: 3 Feb 93 17:38:25 GMT
From: [e-mail] (James Fuerstenberg)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: time trax

Some comments re time trax.  I just watched last night's episode re sending
nuclear waste into the future.

Am I the only one who basically found the show sort of boring.  Some things
were done ok, some were not.

Selma is pretty well done, although too much like the fellow on quantam
leap.

The Captain's boss practically panicked re: the nuclear waste.  Not real
believable at his level.  I cannot believe that they have forgot/lost all
knowledge re: dealing with the stuff, since it could take almost 200 years
just to deal with what we have generated so far.

Wayyyy too convenient to have a judge on the three judge panel who is also
a time fugitive.

For a brilliant mad doctor he is not all that bright. Unless I missed
something regarding the max range of the time travel unit.  He could have
sent the waste to a much more inaccessible time.

But, as I said before, the biggest weakness seemed to me that it was not
very original and not very well paced, e.g. boring.

Jim
[e-mail]

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Date: 4 Feb 93 20:20:32 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Leslie Shkolnik)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Time Trax: 2nd Episode

The second episode of Time Trax was EXTREMELY disappointing.  The idea was
great, but the way they solved it was pretty tame.  It was a pretty slow
episode, and not much happened.

As soon as Sahmbi said he had a way to prevent Darien sending him back and
punching on his keypad, Darien should have shot, rather than wait!

Why does he have to keep disappearing so Annie can't find him?  She knows
where he lives now, and by the way, how did he get that apartment?  I don't
remember him bringing any money with him!

Leslie
[e-mail]

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Date: 7 Feb 93 10:05:33 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Michael I. Lichter)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Time Trax Second Episode (* minor spoilers *)

[e-mail] (David De Trolio) writes:
>This is not what I was hoping for 1990's SF program.  It is not as bad as
>Space Rangers, but you have to sit back and wonder each time the lead
>character gets a favor from the Federal Agent, played by Mia Sara, and
>tells her nothing more than "trust me!"

After this episode, I'd say that the show has nothing going for it other
than a beautiful woman who can't act and an actor who does a reasonable job
of projecting "good guy" and nothing much else.

This is probably a minority opinion, but I think that Space Rangers is
*much* better.  And it's SF, which Time Trax is going to be only barely.
There's something about Space Rangers I can't exactly define.  After you
get over the initial insult to your intelligence, you find that there's
more going on than you thought.  Suspend your coolness, and you'll find
yourself really enjoying it.  Well, you would if it was going to be on the
air any more :-(.

Michael

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Date: 8 Feb 93 00:49:25 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Christopher Neufeld)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: time trax

[e-mail] (James Fuerstenberg) writes:
>The Captain's boss practically panicked re: the nuclear waste.  Not real
>believable at his level.  I cannot believe that they have forgot/lost all
>knowledge re: dealing with the stuff, since it could take almost 200 years
>just to deal with what we have generated so far.

   They were also a bit behind the technology even for today. We've known
for decades how to "neutralize" high-level nuclear waste, in theory. The
theory is making it into designs or even small-scale research devices as we
speak. Basically it involves hitting the material with the right kind of
particle radiation, transmuting or fissioning it to short-lived or stable
isotopes. There's work being done now on particle-beam transmutation, and
some future reactor designs allow for the introduction of high-level waste
for disintegration in the neutron flux within (actinide burning). The
energy required to run the disintegrators is significantly smaller than
that generated by the power, and in fact for some (most?) materials the
disintegration is exothermal and could provide additional power.

>For a brilliant mad doctor he is not all that bright. Unless I missed
>something regarding the max range of the time travel unit.  He could have
>sent the waste to a much more inaccessible time.

   Or, how about just another place? We saw in the pilot that he could move
people and objects from one place to another on the planet without moving
them through time. So, why not drop the stuff onto the moon, or, if the
potential energy costs are too high for the machine to work, into Jupiter
or the sun? If the range is insufficient for that, materialize it about two
thousand kilometres straight down.

Christopher Neufeld
[e-mail]
utzoo.utoronto.ca!generic!cneufeld

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Date: 10 Feb 93 01:06:35 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Eric E. Katz)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: time trax

The flaws in the plot for Time Trax are pretty explainable.  The future
which the captain panics is a result of Szambi's latest change which is
sending nuclear waste into the future.  Since the waste would no longer be
there, then there would be no problems with getting rid of the waste.
Also, sending the waste 200 years into the future will go right with the
limit, so when the waste is discovered, it will be too late to warn Darien
or send him back to stop it before it happened.

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Date: 1 Feb 93 16:28:41 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Paul Dorweiler)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: CBS confirms: 'Space Rangers' on hiatus

Well, I got through to CBS New York this morning.  The person I talked to,
albeit not very forthcoming with info, did confirm that Space Rangers is on
indefinite hiatus.  I could not get the reasons for this, try though I
might.  All I got was "typically shows are put on hiatus for low ratings or
to be moved to a different time slot".

There are seven complete SR episodes (six plus the pilot, I'd guess) that
CBS has, but I also could not find out whether the other three would be
shown if CBS cans the show completely.

Also, unless something changes (like US!), don't expect the show to come
back soon - as in this season.

I have the address to write to, and a phone number if you don't like
stamps.

I'll post the information and strategy in a bit.

Paul Dorweiler
Hewlett-Packard Company
Fort Collins, CO
[e-mail]

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Date: 1 Feb 93 17:06:15 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Paul Dorweiler)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: ATTN: Everyone who watched Space Rangers

Yes, this includes everyone who watched one episode, hated it, and/or
argued about it here.

As most of you may be aware by now, CBS has put Space Rangers on indefinite
hiatus, with no apparent plans to bring it back anytime this season.  Now,
I'll be the last person so say it was a "perfect" show, but I (and a few
others that I've talked to) felt this show had potential.  I personally
think having a space adventure show on a major network is better than
_just_ having Trek bob around the syndicated channels.  If we can get Space
Rangers to continue, perhaps ABC or NBC will try some other scifi shows as
well, and more people can find a scifi show they like on TV.

So, I'm asking for a LOT of people to write CBS about bringing Space
Rangers back from hiatus.  The "preferred" address to write to is:

CBS Audience Services      Attn: Ray Faiola
524 West 57th Street
New York, NY  10019

Let's flood Ray's secretary with mail asking CBS to bring Space Rangers
back from hiatus this season, and to pick it up as a regular prime-time
show.

If you prefer to call, try CBS Program Information at: [phone] This
number will be answered as "Program Info".  State you want CBS to bring
Space Rangers back from hiatus, and make CERTAIN they log your call.

The general number for CBS is [phone], and you can ask for Audience
Services at this number if you wish.

Get everyone you can to do this.  The more letters, the better chance of
convincing them that Nielsen ratings aren't always a true measure of the
audience.

Paul Dorweiler
Hewlett-Packard Company
Fort Collins, CO
[e-mail]

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End of SF-LOVERS Digest
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