Archive-name: sf-movies-faqππCopies of this article may be obtained by anonymous ftp to rtfm.mit.eduπ(18.172.1.27) under /pub/usenet/news.answers/sf-movies-faq.Z. Or, sendπemail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the subject line "sendπusenet/news.answers/sf-movies-faq", leaving the body of the messageπempty.ππLast change:πTue Jan 5 09:45:46 EST 1993ππContents:π 1. Star Trek.π 2. The animated LORD OF THE RINGS by Ralph Bakshi covers only theπ first half of the trilogy. Bakshi did not make the second half.π 3. Frequent subjects.π 4. Abbreviations commonly used in this group:π 5. BLADE RUNNER: the sixth replicant, why voice-overs, and Deckard aπ replicant?π 6. "Can the X beat the Y?" where X and Y are mighty ships or alienπ races from different space opera movies/series.π 7. Is the movie HEAVY METAL out on video?π 8. Why is there an acknowledgment to Harlan Ellison in the credits ofπ THE TERMINATOR? or Doesn't THE TERMINATOR have the same plot as aπ TWILIGHT ZONE episode?π 9. What about the relationship between HAL (the computer in 2001: Aπ Space Odyssey) and IBM? (If you add 1 to each letter in HAL you getπ IBM.)π 10. Who was the voice of the seductive Jessica Rabbit in the filmπ "WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT"?π 11. What are all of the "cute" gimmicks in the film BACK TO THEπ FUTURE?π 12. What role did Jamie Lee Curtis play in THE ADVENTURES OFπ BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION?π 13. When is George Lucas going to make more STAR WARS films? Whatπ will they be about??π 14. In OUTLAND and TOTAL RECALL, astronauts exposed to vacuumπ promptly explode. In 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, a few seconds'π exposure to vacuum doesn't bother one at all. Which is right?π 15. What does "FTL" mean?π 16. I was told that the director's cut of DUNE was seven hours long,π and did a much better job of portraying the novel. Where can Iπ find it?π 17. What are the two minutes of new footage on the STAR TREK VI: THEπ UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY videocassette?ππ---------------------------------------------------------------------πrec.arts.sf.movies is a newsgroup devoted to discussions of scienceπfiction, horror, and fantasy movies. It is a high-volume newsgroup andπthis article is intended to help reduce the number of unnecessaryπpostings, thereby making it more useful and enjoyable to everyone.ππIf you have not already done so, please read the articles inπnews.announce.newusers. They contain a great deal of useful informationπabout network etiquette and convention.ππBefore we begin, two pieces of net.etiquette. Both of these areπmentioned in news.announce.newusers, but since they are so frequentlyπviolated, and at least one of them is particularly relevant to thisπgroup, we mention them here:ππSPOILER WARNINGS: Many people feel that much of the enjoyment of a filmπis ruined if they know certain things about it, especially when thoseπthings are surprise endings or mysteries. On the other hand, they alsoπwant to know whether or not a film is worth seeing, or they may beπfollowing a particular thread of conversation where such information mayπbe revealed. The solution to this is to put the words SPOILER in yourπheader, or in the text of your posting. You can also put a ctl-Lπcharacter in the *first* column if you are using rn. Some people thinkπthat spoiler warnings are not necessary. We don't understand why, and doπnot want to discuss it. Use your best judgment.ππREPLIES TO REQUESTS AND QUESTIONS: When you think that many people willπknow an answer to a question, or will have an answer to a request,πRESPOND VIA E-MAIL!!! And if you don't know the answer, but want toπknow, DON'T POST TO THE NET asking for the answer, ask VIA E-MAIL! Ifπyou think a lot of people will want the same information, you mightπsuggest that the person summarize to the net.ππEven if you don't see an answer posted, and you have the answer, pleaseπsend it e-mail. The thirty other people who answered may have alreadyπsent it, and your site just hasn't gotten it yet. It clogs the net andπgets very tedious to see 30 people answer the same question, and anotherπ30 people asking for the answer to be posted. All of that should beπdone via mail. The net is a highly asynchronous medium. It can takeπseveral days for an article to make it to all sites. It is also quiteπcommon for followups to messages to reach a site before the original.ππThere is also a FAQ list posted to rec.arts.movies which covers moreπgeneral topics and includes the location of many useful databases. Andπfinally, there is a group, rec.arts.movies.reviews, that carries reviewsπof both SF and non-SF movies.ππPlease keep in mind two points:ππ 1. Always remember that there is a live human being at theπ other end of the wires. In other words, please write yourπ replies with the same courtesy you would use in talking toπ someone face-to-face.ππ 2. Try to recognize humor and irony in postings. Tone ofπ voice does not carry in ASCII print, and postings are oftenπ snapped off quickly, so that humorous intent may not beπ obvious. More destructive and vicious arguments have beenπ caused by this one fact of net existence than any other. Itπ will help if satiric/ironic/humorous comments are marked withπ the "smiley face," :-)πππBelow is a summary of questions and subjects which appear frequently inπthis group. Please read it before posting anything to rec.arts.sf.movies.πππ1. Star Trek.ππThere is a hierarchy for Star Trek, rec.arts.startrek. If you haveπaccess to netnews, use it for discussions about any Star Trek subjectπ(old series, new series, movies, novels, etc.). If you are absolutelyπsure you cannot access the startrek newsgroups, and you *must* post toπrec.arts.sf.movies, include the phrase "Star Trek" in the subject line.ππDo not post flames about people violating this guideline. Use e-mailπto request they follow it. It's likely that this person is readingπrec.arts.sf.movies via a gateway and has no access to netnews orπrec.arts.startrek.πππ2. The animated LORD OF THE RINGS by Ralph Bakshi covers only theπ first half of the trilogy. Bakshi did not make the second half.ππThere was a completely independently produced animation of THE RETURNπOF THE KING by Rankin/Bass who also did an animation of THE HOBBIT.ππ(Someone notes that Tolkien deplored the fact that the "Lord of theπRings" is considered a trilogy. That's as may be, but I'm afraidπwe're stuck with the terminology.)πππ3. Frequent subjects.ππSome subjects have been discussed numerous times in this group. Pleaseπconsider carefully before starting discussions on these topics.ππ 1. Casting your favorite book as a movie.π 2. The Ten Best SF Moviesπ 3. What SF books would make good movies and, conversely,π why sf movies from books are usually not very good.πππ4. Abbreviations commonly used in this group:π BTW -- "By the way"π FYI -- "For your information"π IMAO -- "In my arrogant opinion"π IMHO -- "In my humble (honest) opinion"π ROTF -- "Rolling on the floor"π ROFL -- "Rolling on the floor, laughing"π RPG -- "Role playing games", like D&D (Dungeons and Dragons)π wrt -- "with respect to"πππ5. BLADE RUNNER: the sixth replicant, why voice-overs, and Deckard aπ replicant?ππThis, and lots of other BLADE RUNNER questions, are hashed out in aπseparate BLADE RUNNER FAQ posted monthly to rec.arts.movies,πalt.cult-movies, alt.cyberpunk, and rec.arts.sf.movies byπmuzzle@cs.uq.oz.auπππ6. "Can the X beat the Y?" where X and Y are mighty ships or alienπ races from different space opera movies/series.ππThese kind of discussions are fairly pointless. Please keep them off theπnet.πππ7. Is the movie HEAVY METAL out on video?ππNo and yes. Due to legal problems, it has not been officially released.πThere are a number of bootleg copies in circulation, though.πππ8. Why is there an acknowledgment to Harlan Ellison in the credits ofπ THE TERMINATOR? or Doesn't THE TERMINATOR have the same plot as aπ TWILIGHT ZONE episode?ππ(The following answer is taken from a posting by Jerry Boyajian.)ππEllison filed suit against the studio claiming that THE TERMINATORπwas plagiarized from his two teleplays for THE OUTER LIMITS. One wasπ"Soldier" (based on a short story he written years before), in whichπa soldier is zapped from a future war zone into the present and causesπall sorts of problems. In addition to basic plot similarities, theπscenes of the future in THE TERMINATOR are very similar in look andπfeel to those in "Soldier".ππThe other teleplay was "Demon With a Glass Hand", in which a lone manπwith a glass-and-computer-chips hand and a woman he meets up with areπon the run from some unknown enemy. He has amnesia and doesn't know aπthing about who he is, or why he's in his current situation. Eventually,πhe finds out that he's from the future and was sent to the present onπa mission to save the human race.ππSeparately, I feel that THE TERMINATOR is a legitimate variation on theπideas presented in Ellison's stories. However, taken together, it wouldπseem as if James Cameron got the idea from Ellison's stories, in whichπcase, Ellison is owed something. At any rate, as the story goes, theπstudio was going to fight the suit, but in preparing their defense, theyπfound out from someone in the production crew that Cameron had quippedπon the set about how he'd "ripped off a couple of OUTER LIMITS episodes".πAt that point, they decided to settle out of court, giving Ellison someπundisclosed amount of money and inserting the credit.ππ(Thomas Pluck (pluck@andromeda.rutgers.edu) adds the following:)ππYou left out one important thing with the Ellison/Cameron suit; theπconcept of Skynet, the military supercomputer that sees all humanity asπthe enemy, was taken from Ellison's short story "I Have No Mouth and IπMust Scream," collected in the book of the same name and various otherπSF anthologies. Ellison's computer called itself AM, and it kept fiveπpeople alive to torture for all eternity because it hated its creatorsπso much. The two OUTER LIMITS scripts plus that short story are half orπmore of the TERMINATOR plot.πππ9. What about the relationship between HAL (the computer in 2001: Aπ Space Odyssey) and IBM? (If you add 1 to each letter in HAL you getπ IBM.)ππAccording to Clarke, this relationship is entirely accidental. Inπfact, he claims that if he had been aware of it, he would have chosen aπdifferent name for his computer. (HAL stands for Heuristic ALgorithmic.)ππ10. Who was the voice of the seductive Jessica Rabbit in the filmπ "WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT"?ππThis is sort of a trick question, because there are TWO voices.πKathleen Turner provided the speaking voice, and Amy Irving did theπsinging.πππ11. What are all of the "cute" gimmicks in the film BACK TO THEπ FUTURE?ππApparently, the makers of this film (Stephen Spielberg & RobertπZemeckis) did all kinds of cute things, playing with the names of someπof the characters and with issues of time travel. Some of these are:ππa) The mall where Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) meets Dr. Brownπ(Christopher Lloyd) for their time travel experiment is called theπTwin Pines Mall. Dr. Brown comments that ol' farmer Peabody usedπto own all of the land, and he grew pines there. When Marty goesπback in time, he runs over and knocks down a pine tree. When heπcomes back to the mall at the end of the film (BACK TO THE FUTURE)πthe sign at the mall now identifies the mall as the Lone Pine Mall,πreflecting the fact that Marty had changed the present (1985) byπhis trip to the past (1955).ππb) Farmer Peabody's son is named Sherman. Sherman was the name ofπthe little boy time traveler in one segment of Jay Ward's cartoonπshow, "The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show." The dog who owned his timeπmachine was named (surprise) Mr. Peabody.πππ12. What role did Jamie Lee Curtis play in THE ADVENTURES OFπ BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION?ππShe played Buckaroo's mother in a flashback sequence. The sequenceπwas cut, and so does not appear in the final, release version.ππ13. When is George Lucas going to make more STAR WARS films? What will theyπ be about??ππThere had been a rumor that another STAR WARS film would come out soon ...πmaybe in 1992 for the 15th anniversary of the first film. Presumably,πthis would have been the first of a trilogy which will depict the yearsπbefore the three films that have been made. (Therefore they have beenπknown as Chapters 1, 2, & 3. This is consistent with the labeling of theπfilms that have come out as 4, 5, & 6. Of course, at least some of theseπlabels were added post-release). Lucas has, in the past, claimed thatπthere will someday maybe be a series of three trilogies: The threeπalready made, the three preceding these events (see above) and threeπthat take place after the three films that are already made.ππHowever, all of the information about new films coming out does not goπmuch beyond the rumor stage--as the fact that 1992 is here and the nextπfilm is not. We'll believe it when we see it.ππ[The latest is that "Entertainment Tonight" and some Los Angeles localπnews stations announced Lucas will be releasing the next trilogy onceπa year starting in 1997. Again, we'll believe it when we see it.]ππLots of books, comics and other stories that have been released areπsupposedly *not* directly related to the planned films. These wereπadditional merchandising items.ππ(And by the way, the first STAR WARS film was originally released asπjust "STAR WARS"; it was only in re-release that it was entitled "STARπWARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE." The other two were always labeledπ"EPISODE V" and "EPISODE VI.")ππ14. In OUTLAND and TOTAL RECALL, astronauts exposed to vacuumπ promptly explode. In 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, a few seconds' exposureπ to vacuum doesn't bother one at all. Which is right?ππThis hasn't occurred in real life, but there have been experiments whereπanimals, or parts of a person's body, were exposed to vacuum; theseπexperiments happened before any of these films were made. 2001 was right;πOUTLAND and TOTAL RECALL ignored the known facts. A full discussion ofπthis can be found in the sci.space FAQL. (Discussions of whether TOTALπRECALL is a dream or not are not pertinent to the question of vacuum, butπsince the film is often mentioned in this context, it is included here.)ππ15. What does "FTL" mean?ππ"FTL" means "faster than light."ππ16. I was told that the director's cut of DUNE was seven hours long,π and did a much better job of portraying the novel. Where can Iπ find it?ππAs Jerry Boyajian explains (hopefully for the last time [but of courseπit wasn't]):ππThere is *no* "director's cut" of DUNE of *any* length. The existenceπof one is a complete myth. Perhaps when Lynch was cutting the filmπoriginally, there existed such a cut, but if it isn't long gone by now,πit's most likely an untimed work print and not in any sort of releasableπform.ππ*IF* David Lynch were inclined, and *IF* Dino DeLaurentiis were inclinedπ(and *IF* his organization wasn't bankrupt), and *IF* the scrap footageπis sitting in a vault somewhere, Lynch could probably reconstruct hisπoriginal cut, but all three (or four) of those are mighty big "ifs".ππNo such cut exists on video, no such cut exists in any final film print.π[There is also no truth to the rumor that there was a European versionπthat was 4 hours long.]ππThere exists only one version of the film that's longer than theπoriginal theatrical release, and that was the expanded version made forπtelevision syndication, and it's maybe 50 minutes longer than theπoriginal. But it certainly can't be claimed to be a "director's cut"πbecause not only did Lynch not get involved in cutting it, heπdisapproved of it so thoroughly that he had his name removed as bothπwriter and director.ππI have a large number of film reference books, both genre-specific andπgeneral. I follow a number of film and video magazines, and so forth.πI've heard and read detailed descriptions of different cuts of variousπfilms including BLADE RUNNER, BRAZIL, LEGEND, HIGHLANDER, et alia. I'veπread and heard first-hand descriptions by people I know of such longerπversions, or I've seen listings for them as import laserdiscs. But I'veπnever heard nor read of any definite, substantiated, unquestionableπexistence of a version of DUNE, either in commercial release or floatingπaround in collectors' hands, that is longer than the 190-minute TVπversion.ππAs a matter of fact, the *only* place I've even heard *rumors* of such aπcut of DUNE has been here on Usenet. [One says his rumor is of aπ4-hour cut.] I've heard other rumors (via people asking about it, asπdid the person who started this thread) of 5-hour versions, 7-hourπversions, 9-hour versions, and in one case, someone reported hearingπabout a 15-hour version!ππThey are mythical. And until their existence is documented, and not justπa rumor that's floating around the net, I will stand by that statement. [-jmb]πππ17. What are the two minutes of new footage on the STAR TREK VI: THEπUNDISCOVERED COUNTRY videocassette?ππAccording to Jerry Boyajian:ππThere are a couple of very minor bits, but the two significant (andπrelated) additions are:ππ --The details of the proposed operation to rescue Kirk and McCoy fromπ the Klingons, presented by Col. West (played by Rene Auberjenois) in theπ President's office. In the theatrical release, this is completely missing,π though the easel with the plan diagrams on it seems to mysteriously appearπ out of nowhere.ππThe second is a spoiler, so...π π --The revelation that the Klingon assassin at Khitomer was actuallyπ West in disguise.ππEvelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | ecl@mtgpfs1.att.com <========πNote new address: ecl@mtgzy.att.com will work only until April 30.ππ
