NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #1

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Path: sparky!uunet!stanford.edu!agate!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!cleveland.Freenet.Edu!cn577 From: cn577@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Cyberspace Vanguard Magazine) Newsgroups: rec.misc Subject: CYBERSPACE VANGUARD 1:1 (rev.1) Date: 10 Jan 1993 18:27:03 GMT Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA) Lines: 1363 Message-ID: <1ipppnINNsfd@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> Reply-To: cn577@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Cyberspace Vanguard Magazine) NNTP-Posting-Host: slc5.ins.cwru.edu Copyright 1992, Vanguard Productions WELCOME to the first issue of CYBERSPACE VANGUARD! Despite the name, CV is NOT a magazine about or in any way related to cyberpunk, except that cyberpunk falls under the heading of science fiction. We chose the name simply because "cyberspace" is quickly becoming the 90's word for the world of electronic communications. CV will cover pretty much anything that's of interest to the science fiction community, regardless of what it is. We're open to submissions from anyone, regardless of experience. The writing is judged SOLELY on its quality. For writers' guidelines, write to cn577@cleveland.freenet.edu or, for those of you who prefer to communicate on paper, you can write to us at: Cyberspace Vanguard PO Box 25704 Garfield Heights, OH 44125 USA But enough about that. This month we've brought you interviews with Jeff Kaake of SPACE RANGERS, Peter Donat of the upcoming show TIME TRAX, J. Michael Straczynski, creator of BABYLON 5, and Eric Radomski, producer of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES. (What can we say, it's a big month for TV!) We've also brought you, in the words of one of our readers, "more news than hours of net surfing." All this is just the beginning. We need YOUR input to help make Cyberspace Vanguard THE source of science fiction news. Tell us what you like about it, what you hate about it, but most of all, what you think would improve it. So that we don't wind up with scores of copies of the magazine inadvertently quoted back to our mailbox, we've posted an electronic reply card immediately after this post. Oh, and a note to other editors: CV is registered with the United States Copyright Office. We don't mind you quoting us, but we must insist on credit being given. All rights revert to the author upon publication. You may repost CV IN ITS ENTIRETY, but we'd like to know where so we know who's seeing it. (People keep asking us, and it's so hard to explain ...) So here goes ... ------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents --!1!-- Jeff Kaake on SPACE RANGERS --!2!-- Peter Donat on TIME TRAX --!3!-- Eric Radomski on BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES --!4!-- J. Michael Straczynski on BABYLON 5 --!5!-- Just what is MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 anyway? --!6!-- Globalhead, by Bruce Sterling -- review --!7!-- All the news that's fit to transmit --!8!-- Spoilers ahoy! --!9!-- Opportunity knocks --!10!-- Subscription information ------------------------------------------------------------- --!1!-- Jeff Kaake THE RANGERS RIDE AGAIN: JEFF KAAKE FINDS HIS NICHE ON SPACE RANGERS [NOTE: SPACE RANGERS premieres January 6 at 8pm on CBS] Either Jeff Kaake is a genuinely nice person, or SPACE RANGERS has gotten itself a better actor for the lead role than any show has a right to have. Personally, I'll lean towards the former. Speaking to CV by telephone on the eve of SPACE RANGERS' television debut, he had a vulnerability to him, one that bordered on naivete'. "I think the guy is very sincere, which is, well, I don't know if it's my stronger or weaker trait. He IS fairly naive, which I have been accused of being for a lot of years, though I don't think of myself as being that way." After all, how can a person possibly stay naive in Hollywood? "That's my answer. I hope it's a good quality to have a little naivete. It's very hard to stay naive in this industry because it's so brutal, but I've always managed to make a decent living at it and it's been pretty good to me. I hope it gets nothing but better." But, joking aside, that naivete' is just one of the things that Jeff Kaake has in common with the character he plays on the show, Captain John Boon. Boon and the rest of his crew are basically futuristic policeman who are, as is explained in the first episode, "misfits with an imagination." Many light years from Central, they must rely on their wits, orders or not. Linda Hunt plays Commander Chennalt, who sends Boon and his five member team out on missions from their home base, Fort Hope, on the planet Avalon. It calls for a leader who is not just resourceful, but "human," in the best sense of the word. "Outside of the obvious fact that he's a hero, he's a well rounded, whole person. He's not one-sided at all. He's VERY human, not the perfect stereotype of a hero. He has good days and bad days but at the same time he's a bit of a hotshot. He's even got a family. He's just a whole person. A lot of the other characters I've played have been semi-one dimensional, which I'm sure is partly my fault, and partly the writing, and everything else. But this guy just kind of clicked for me." And it would seem that he's got his work cut out for him. The Space Rangers are charged with keeping the peace on the frontier in the year 2105. "The Space Rangers are cops who are sort of a combination of Marines and peace keepers. I've said in past interviews that this is kind of reminiscent of the old Texas Rangers, but obviously we've got a new frontier. So we're out there exploring the furthest reaches of the galaxy and trying to tame all the species that we come across and get them to intermingle as a society out there in space. Our jobs vary from episode to episode depending on what the mission might be that week. A lot of rescue stuff. There's even drug smuggling in the year 2105. So there's a wide range of things to get into." So, are these the United States Space Rangers, or does this universe sport the traditional "world government"? "It's definitely Earth-born, I'm sure. We've now set up stations, what we call Central which is well established as to what part of the galaxy that controls. Those are the people we answer to and sometimes refuse to answer to, and that's so many light years away from our home planet. There's no technical reference as to how far away Avalon is, but it's the furthest reaches of the galaxy. It's a very military structure and the conflict with us as Space Rangers is that when you're out in space, so many light years away from what we know as civilization it's not black and white, you don't necessarily follow all orders 100%. That's one of the qualities of a Space Ranger. You've got to be flexible and make decisions based on spur of the moment things that come up. So it's not a typical military kind of thing. We're renegades of the military, I would say." And the crew? "There's five of us actually in the sling ship itself, which is my crew. They've chosen to serve under John Boon because he's got a reputation as a man of his own. He does things his way, but he always winds up getting the job done. John Boon's the guy that when nobody else will take the mission, he'll take it. These guys have all chosen to serve under me. It's not like they've been assigned to me. It's kind of like they've been hand picked. We haven't gotten into other Space Rangers but it's inferred that this is a large command center and the Space Rangers as a unit are to be dispatched from there." It's a look that has been described as "Aliens gone television." He says that the production values are quite impressive. "It's got a great look. These guys have obviously come from a very strong film background. It's real blue-collar, real gritty, dirty, lived in, if something breaks you fix it, you don't replace it. It's what you'd imagine being 10000 light years out and not being able to go to the hardware store." The attentive reader will notice his use of pronouns. In a field where many actors go out of their way to distance themselves from their roles, Mr. Kaake doesn't seem too concerned about it. "I don't know how other actors feel, but there's a lot of Jeff Kaake in John Boon, and I'm sure that there are traits of John Boon in Jeff Kaake. So it's just kind of an intermeshing of the two. It's really a jumbled up combination. You can't help but bring part of yourself into it. I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't worry [about typecasting if the show takes off.] It's just something that as an actor you really don't have any control over. It's like a big roller coaster ride. Once you're strapped in, you're in for the duration. So yeah, it's a concern. I certianly wouldn't want this to be it as far as roles are concerned, but you've just got to take these things as they come. I mean, gee, what at pity it would be if the show ran for five or seven years," he jokes. "That'll just be a challenge, and I'm sure I'll overcome it someday." And if it does run for five years, how does he think he'll live with the intense schedule of working on a series, where the days are seldom, if ever, less than 12 hours long? "I've asked myself that question. I can't imagine having a family and existing in this business, watching your children grow up. It's a grind. It's a minimum of 12 hours a day, five days a week, and if you figure 3 to 5 years, or even longer. There are people who go from series to series and they have kids, and wives. I just don't know how they keep it all together. It's not a healthy business in a lot of respects -- the hours, getting off on bad eating habits because there's always food around ... there's a lot of down time. There's a lot of standing around. Basically what you have to do is set up an office wherever your working no matter how difficult that may be and run your business and pay your bills, run your life when you're not actually on set shooting. "I look forward to [having a family], but I'm not in any hurry to do it. I get my dose when my five year old nephew comes up. My girlfriend and I spend a weekend a month with him. We love him dearly, but it's nice when the house is quiet again. We're part-time parents. I'm sure that in some way that I'm not aware of he's affected my life as greatly as I think I've affected his. I think that any time you're exposed to children they bring out some of the vulnerable things that are hidden, stowed away for years, and then you find yourself opening up to these young, innocent little creatures." Although it's being billed as a sort of "Top Gun in space," Mr. Kaake says that there's a heavy emphasis on plot and character development. "Honestly, in every show they've managed to squeeze in all of the above. There's no one that's like the others. They all seem to have a real driving force to them and it's really interesting. The writers are unique. They're all family man, family oriented, and there's a moral story behind every show. There's always got to be a reason to have an episode. They've managed to find it, and hopefully we're going to maintain that equation." Planned shows include the pilot, in which the Rangers are threatened with replacement by experimental 'droids, intermingling of species, drug smuggling, and of course, rescues. There is also an episode dealing with prejudices that have survived into the 22nd century. Plus, "there are definitely reccuring characters. They did just an excellent job of casting for our alien creatures and they recur. In just the 6 episodes I can think of 3 characters that recur because the actors behind this crazy makeup that they put on are just so stong. They've really searched high and low to find these cast members, both for the regular cast and the guest stars, and their quality is quite high." Produced by Trilogy Entertainment (the people who brought you BACKDRAFT and ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES), the show is pretty well unique in television in at least one respect. The trio of Pen Densham, Richard B. Lewis and John Watson have, over the years, found a way to work around the enormous costs of producing a 1 hour science fiction television show: overseas sales. While most programs are sold overseas years after they have aired here in the United States (the British apparently awaited episodes of DYNASTY as eagerly as we waited for DOCTOR WHO), SPACE RANGERS has already been sold to foreign markets. "There are six shows, all finished, all bought and paid for, which is kind of a new thing for 1 hr. television." Eight more scripts have been ordered by CBS. "What they've done is they've sold them overseas, so they're all bought and paid for prior to even making them. That's unusual, and possibily more attractive to networks. It's an expensive endeavor, which is why one hour television has gotten in trouble at times." And at $1,300,000 to $1,400,000 per episode, that kind of demand had better exist somewhere. No matter what happens, though, Mr. Kaake says he can't complain. What convinced him to give up a secure future with his father in the auto industry? "A year and a half in the auto industry. My father was a good provider, but I just didn't have it in me to be a factory rat. I had big dreams, and they were squelched for a long time. I realized that if I didn't make the move I was going to be doing that for the rest of my life. I think you've just got to be happy with what you do. Because you're reacting to something that doesn't exist [for the bluescreen shots] you never really walk away completely confident with your work, but I'm in this for a lifetime as far as I'm concerned. This is just one step for me, but I've never had so much fun as I've had filming this project." --!2!-- Peter Donat PETER DONAT GETS EVIL FOR THE FUN OF IT ON TIME TRAX [NOTE: TIME TRAX premieres January 20 at 8pm on the stations of the Prime Time Entertainment Network.] Perhaps the foundation of science fiction is the mad scientist -- the brilliant thinker who, for some reason, turns his talents towards evil. In a world where one is really never sure whether a scientific advance is good news or bad news, this isn't surprising. So it's not surprising that at the center of Lorimar's new television show TIME TRAX we find Dr. Mordecai Sahmbi, the evil genious who as created a porthole to the past. TRAX, Trans-Time Research the time machine Experimentation, was funded by the military in the 2180's as a means for transporting people and objects back into the past. After years of work, however, it became clear that the device had certain limitations. For one thing, it had a range of only 200 years. For another thing, the human body could only withstand one round trip. His funding drying up as the realizations dawn of the project's limited \military limited military and academic uses, Sahmbi turns to the underworld for financial support, sending criminals 200 years into the past, where the law won't be looking for them. "Just his name makes him exotic in some way," says Peter Donat, the veteran actor in the role of Mordecai Sahmbi. "That's totally intentional, I think. He's totally mysterious. Nobody knows his background, his parentage, where he was born, how he was educated, but he's an absolute genious in computerdom and high physics and chemistry and all of the sciences. I think what happens to him in the series is that in his absolute need to control people and things he becomes a very evil man. He needs to control people and things and he's brilliant enough to do it." But the character isn't one-dimensionally evil. "Aquisition of power led him into evil. There are some indications in the script that he's a good man. Mia Sarah has a line in the first episode that she was very attracted to him as a young student and it was only later when she could see what he was doing and where it was leading him that she had to split away. So I think that in the lust for power he became evil. It happens sometimes. You know the old saying, 'Power corrupts and absolute power totally corrupts.' "I think that's the case with Mordecai Sahmbi. So he becomes a very very monumentally evil man, and that's what makes him so interesting to play, of course. The size of his impudence attracted me to the role. It makes him much more interesting than just an ordinary criminal. He's an extraordinary criminal. Of course, if something he did happened to do some good by accident, I don't think he would mind. But his aim is personal power and control. He's attracted to women, but his only way to control them is to be more brilliant. He believes that otherwise he won't be attractive to them. In that way, he's vulnerable." But it's not all wine and roses for Sahmbi. Darien Lambert, Retrieval Expert, is assigned the task of finding out why criminal figures are suddenly disappearing off the face of the earth. When he gets close to the truth, Sahmbi is forced to take refuge in the past, to become "a king among primitives." Thus is the beginning of the saga. Lambert follows after Sahmbi, chasing the criminal of the week. Those who have resumed their criminal ways are sent back to the future for prosecution, those who have reformed themselves are left alone. In addition to an enormous amount of training and skill, he has one more advantage. While Sam Beckett has the holographic Al as his guide, Lambert has Selma, the holographic picture projected by his computer, keenly disguised as a credit card. Unlike Al, Selma has all the feelings of an IBM PC, but she has been known to get jealous when Lambert gets too close to another woman. Through it all there's Sahmbi. "I just hope that the producers and the writers can keep finding interesting ways for Sahmbi to operate so that it doesn't become repetitive. But that hasn't happened yet. It's just beginning. The variety of his approaches and his manner and his various means of escapting create problems for the young hero, who is highly skilled and educated himself. They become a good twosome, like Holmes and Moriarty." Of the 22 episodes filmed, Sahmbi is in perhaps 7 or 8 of them, but it is his influence that pervades the show. To cut costs, the show was filmed Surfer's Paradise in Australia, where favorable exchange rates made it possible to keep costs at just about $1,000,000 per episode. "I'd neverJbeen there before. They're marvelous upfront people. The crew is terrific. They bring in quite a number of actors from the United States, the rest of the parts are played by Australian actors and they're just fine, and they have a bigJstudio at their disposal in Queensland. It was nothing but pleasure, though they're concerned about the sun because of the ozone. They have signs there that say 'Slip, slap, slop.' I think it's slip on a shirt, slap on a hat and slop on some sunscreen. They warn people, but a lot of people don't way any attention to it. They have theseJbeautiful beaches. It really IS Surfer's Paradise. It's a huge, underpopulated country." Each episode, however, will take place in a different city. "It will be in various cities in the United States through computer matting and so on. It's incredible. The actors are in Australia, but there they are in Washington. That's what the series is about, in a way: advanced technology." All of this leaves Mr. Donat as just one of a slew of actors exposed to the nuances of filming science fiction for the first time. "The shooting techniques and the acting techniques are the same. The only differences are physical things. Like, in order to be transferred in time, it's a terrible agony. You go into an immediate terribly deep freeze. So in order to accomplish that, there's a makeup that takes three, three and a half hours. You look like you're encrusted in ice. The difference between a science fiction show and a show where you sit around in living rooms sipping martinis are the physical situations you get yourself into." But a little discomfort seems to be worth it for him. "There's quite a bit of comedy in the series. It doesn't take itself too seriously. I spent most of my life in the theater but I've done tv and film whenever whenever whenever possible because there's such a vast audience. And then there's more money involved, of course. Let's just say that a successful series would be new to me." Though he's never been exposed to organized fandom, he seems to be taking it all in stride. "I've never been exposed to that. Maybe it'll come up with this one. I suppose I would be [interested in conventions] because it's all part of the promotion of the show, I would think." The show itself seems to have a positive attitude to it, though it's not above commentary on today's problems. (In one episode, Sahmbi makes a fortune by sending nuclear waste back into the future, so that it literally disappears and no-one has to worry about it for a couple of centuries. "It's a good morality play because in a way, if we're not careful, that's what we're trying to do -- leave it for the future to deal with. But he REALLY does it.") But the future is one of optimism, of advances in science, computers and education. We will see it approximately 50% of the time, as the occasional sidekick comes back to the past, never to be seen again once he or she goes back to the future. So to what does Mr. Donat think we owe this resurgence of science fiction programming? "I think it's because that's where we're at. Most of the world, especially the United States, is very much into computerdom and scientific progress. And fortunately a lot of progress has been made in science for the good of people. So some good things are happening, especially in medicine. It's our present mythology. We've become involved in the supercomplication of computers. They've become more and more knowledgable in helping a human being cope. I think it expresses a reality of our life." Of course, this show is an example of how that sort of thing can go awry. "I know. Human beings are always going to have good and evil, construction and destruction." All of which leaves one question: What about the people who will inevitably say, "Isn't this an awful lot like Quantum Leap?" Mr. Donat is quick to answer. "Well, I'd say that's a good reason for watching them both." --!3!-- Eric Radomski DARK KNIGHTS IN THE BIG CITY: ERIC RADOMSKI ON BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES Back in the 1960's, everybody who was anybody wanted to get some sort of role on the campy television show BATMAN, from Vincent price to Talulah Bankhead. It wasn't that the show's dramatic quality was all that good, it was just ... well, the thing to do. Now, roughly 25 years later, history seems to be repeating itself with BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, running in the afternoons on the Fox network. Famous voices in major roles include Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Alfred, Melissa Gilbert-Brinkman as Batgirl and Barbara Gordon, Mark Hamill as the Joker, Roddy McDowell as the Mad Hatter, and David Warner as Ra's Al Ghoul. The list is a page long. "I really think they were drawn to the property. I don't know all the details, but I do know that they weren't paid any more because of their status. It was strictly union scale. It always shocked us to go to the recording sessions because even if you didn't know specifically their names, you definitely recognized them from television," says Eric Radomski, producer of B:TAS. "It was great working on a show where these people came in and just did their best. It's great when you work with incredibly talented people because they don't need a lot of direction. You kind of point them in one direction and they just go with it." Of course, some people were more eager than others. "Mark Hammill is a big comics fan, and he just wanted to work on it no matter what we gave him." Originally cast for an incidental part in the Mr. Freeze episode ("Heart of Ice"), he was given a chance to read for the Joker when the Powers That Be at Fox decided that Tim Curry, who was originally cast, was just TOO menacing. Mr. Radomski, formerly a background painter for Steven Speilberg's Tiny Toons, is in his element as Co-Producer of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES. It is he who gets the credit for the dark look of the afternoon show. "I was responsible for the styling of the backgrounds, which is different because we did the opposite of what you usually do. Normally you work on a white surface and you paint the background on. We started with black and just added color to it, because it's, well, the night. It's just a technique that took off. For whatever reason, it just worked. It made the show real dark and moody. A lot of people resisted it at first because it was different. They were saying, 'How are we going to do this?' The people overseas were saying 'Nobody knows how to do this.' Now it's the marquis of the show. If you watch it in sequence with the afternoon programming you have all of these bright colors and commercials and then you come back to the show and it's, like, 'Wow, what is this doing here?' It really seems out of place with the rest of the shows. It's pretty weird. The advertising escpecially ... here you have this really dark show and then an ad for Little Potty Magic or something like that. We get a good laugh out of that." All of this darkness coincides with the character, of course. "I really dug Batman in the movie because he was a hero, and yet he wasn't the hero that ran around carrying a flag. He was just a guy that was doing a job for the people who couldn't do it for themselves. He had all these gadgets, and he was really strong, and secluded." This is part of the reason that you won't be seeing any other Superheroes crossover into B:TAS. "I think it would defeat his strength as a character. I know it's taken place before, but it just doesn't work for our interpretation of Batman. The fact that we use Robin is enough of a distraction but we've managed to make it work. Batman is a vigilante. He's a solo act, and he's so strong walking along a rooftop stalking a criminal and then along comes Robin in this flash of color. "Before that I had taken it only as far as the 1960's camp TV show. My partner [producer] Bruce Timm is a long-time dedicated fan of Batman, and he followed the comics quite a bit. This is a big success as far as he's concerned because he always wanted to do the definitive Batman and feels we have, so it was nice to work with a few people that were gung-ho about doing it. From my point of view, this was the ONLY way to do this. So many kids' shows are done just for merchandising, but we've tried to do something better than that." All of this seems to carry a great deal of satisfaction for Mr. Radomski, who came to Hollywood from Cleveland, Ohio looking to work for Disney. "At the time I was growing up, Warner Brothers animation was no longer doing any orignal artwork. That had kind of died in the 1960's. Looney Tunes, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck were my favorites on television, but as far as I knew they were no longer going to be a studio, and Disney always interested me. I always hoped to work there." He got his wish, doing some freelance work with an educational branch. "It wasn't working actually AT the studio, but it was kind of neat. Over the course of working in the industry out here and learning a little bit more about the inside of the studios, it ain't what it used to be. You hear all these great stories of the '40's and the 50's in the heyday and it sounded great when Walt was there, but now it seems that although they still do the high quality work, I think high finainces come into play. Although they do put out a good product, I don't think it's got as much loving care as it used to. It's a financial business, very money oriented, marketing toys and things, and that kind of overrules alot. So it no longer has the big draw for me that it once did. I definitely am a bit disillusioned, unfortunately. It's the nature of the business, I guess. They've put themselves on a schedule of putting a feature out every year and a half, and doing all of these television shows, and I think you lose a lot of that special feel. They still put out a good product, I just think it can be better." Is he any closer to that ideal at Warner Brothers? "In a sense, in as far as our show went I think we achieved a lot more than we could have ever expected, and a lot more than a lot of people expected for daytime television, because of the amount of work we put out -- 65 half-hour episodes in two years. I'm thinking of some of the some of the great features of Disney, two hour films, and they've had sometimes four years to work on them. We've done close to 15 features in two years if you just look at the screen time. So it's come out really well, but it's two different monsters." It takes an enormous effort. Warner Brother employs 70 full time staff members for the show, including four directors, so that multiple shows can be worked on at the same time. And that doesn't include the animation. Everything from script to storyboards and (sometimes) layout is done in the states and then it's shipped to studios overseas for the actual drawing and ink-and-paint. The studios then send it back to Warner, which either sends it back for retakes or goes directly to post production. The studios, which include Spectrum Animation and TMS in Japan, which have worked with Disney and Hanna-Barbera. (TMS was trained by Disney for their work on the Wuzzles and the Gummi Bears.) All of this means that they have to worry about whether a show is going to come in one time or not. "Because of the amount of production that's done overseas, a lot of time you can't depend on shows coming in. It really is just a balance of production because once it comes down to crunch time the studios overseas get overbooked, a couple of the key people get sick, and they can't deliver on time ... It's a domino effect. They miss a couple of dates and then our music people get pushed back a couple of days and the effects people, all the way down the line." To ease that pressure, they began sprinkling reruns into the schedule as early as one month into the show's run. Mr. Radomski feels that it was worth it. The reruns ran in lieu of some particularly strong shows which were held out for sweeps weeks. These shows included "Dreams in Darkness," in which Batman, under the influence of fear gas, must stop the Scarecrow from poisoning Gotham's water supply while battling both the psychiatrists of Arkham Asylum and the hallucinations that put him there, and "Robin's Reckoning," Dick Grayson's backstory. "It's a two part show. It'll tear your heart out. His parents die on the trapeze, and he grows up with Bruce Wayne because he has no family. With the music and the effects and everything, it's really sad. You never see actual physical violence, but it's implied, and I think that's a lot more effective. It's an implied tragic death, and even though you don't see anything, it's really striking. It's like, 'Wow, we didn't see anything, but I know they're dead.'" When I spoke to Mr. Radomski back in October, the show had snatched the title of "Top Rated Afternoon Children's Show." The closest competition was Disney's GOOF TROOP. Ratings have not slipped, and it has been reported that 40% of the audience is over 19 years old. It's these statistics that convinced Fox to give B:TAS a a slot on Sundays at 7pm. "THE SIMPSONS is kind of the adult humor [animation]. We want to be the adult drama, and I think we can do that. It shouldn't just be for kids, but kids should be able to watch it too." "For me it's the best artistic expression you can get because it incorporates every different art forms. We do drawing and painting and photography and directing as filmmakers. There are musicians involved, sound effects people involved, a band of technicians. It's a nice collaboration to get a big group together and see everybody working toward the same goal and when it comes out as well as our show has, it just makes two years seem like no big deal. We could never have planned the show to do as well as it's doing, and that's a real plus." --!4!-- J. Michael Straczynski HOW TO INSPIRE CREATIVITY AND DEVOTION IN ONE EASY PILOT: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI ON BABYLON 5 Some people just have a knack for coming up with the quotes that people remember. I'm not sure, but I think that if we did a study we would find out that most of them are writers, or could be. That's certainly the case with J. Michael Straczynski, creator and co-producer of the upcoming series BABYLON 5. With writing credits that range from novels to the syndicated TWILIGHT ZONE, he told CV in a phone interview between production meetings, "Some people sell a show in order to become a producer. I became a producer in order to sell this show." It seems like a lot of trouble to go through, but he must believe in it. The series, which deals with the goings on of a space station named Babylon 5 (hence the title), has taken five years to go from idea to reality. They have been five eventful years. The station, which lies at the junction of five previously warring galactic empires, is the fifth of its kind. The first three were sabotaged, and the fourth simply vanished without a trace. But it has a strategic importance, in that it is the jumping off point to all five empires by way of string-like entities. Hm. For those of you who have been following the developments on STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, your reaction at this point is probably one of suspicion. The two shows have nearly identical premises -- on the surface, anyway. Mr. Straczynski has repeatedly refused to accuse Rick Berman and Michael Piller, Star Trek producers, of stealing his ideas. "All I can say is that we have the paper trail. It was brought to Paramount, and they did see the material. It has been in production for five years. We announced in the trades in November [of 1991] that BABYLON 5 was going ahead, and we know that the presentation for DS9 wasn't made to Brandon Tartikoff until January [of 1992]. On the flip side, though, it is my sincere conviction that neither [Rick] Berman or [Michael] Piller ever saw the material. They are two honorable men who would never borrow a comma from anybody." He does seem to think that perhaps the competition might be good for BOTH shows. _Cinefantastic_ magazine quoted him as saying the show would "kick DEEP SPACE NINE's [butt]," but he says it's out of context, and that he meant "that STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION has gotten complacent, and maybe if we can give them a short, sharp kick in the butt, they'll stop being complacent and be more willing to try innovative new things." But there's still a twinge of pride in his tone. "Best case scenario, in five years both shows have gone on to be eminently successful. Worst case scenario, we beat the pants off them." At any rate, once one looks past the surface, there is a galaxy of difference between the shows. While DS9 is set in what is pretty much a well established universe -- OK, so we don't really know much about the Cardassians, but we know pretty much everything else -- BAB5 is meant to be more of a "tapestry," an entirely new universe in which to be figuratively lost. "Nobody's really done that since Star Trek. Battlestar Galactica was just the planet of the week. It wasn't really a new universe. In this case, we have really done our homework." In terms of volume, they certainly have, creating new languages, complete environments for the station's non-human inhabitants. "Not everybody is human, and different parts of the station will be different environments, so there would be places that you can't go without the appropriate protection, that sort of thing." But that's not the only place where Mr. Straczynski has done his homework. The show is designed around a five year "arc," in which approximately half the shows have already been plotted out. "The place where most shows get into trouble is where they don't plan ahead, and then they need things in a hurry. We have things planned out, so we can say, 'OK, we're going to need this shot in the middle of the second season," so we can start working on it now. That also allows us to amortize costs on sets and that sort of thing." Perhaps it was also that careful planning that allowed the project to actually come in $1000 UNDER budget. That might be surprising, given the big names associated with the project. Stewart Copland is responsible for the music, John Iacovelli created the sets, John Criswell of Jim Henson's Creature Shop created the prosthetics, Richard Compton, whose experience includes MIAMI VICE and THE EQUALIZER, directed, along with many people who usually disdain television work, but were so impressed with the project that they had to be involved. The effects, which were ALL done with computer, were created by Ron Thornton. Even Harlan Ellison has a hand in it. "We wanted a manifesto on how to do this show right, so we went to a real science fiction writer. He came up with a list of what to do and what not to do in a science fiction television program." One thing he doesn't want to do is use the show as a soapbox. Though there are subtle messages within the show -- for instance, Laurel Takashima, the first officer, was originally named Laurel Chang, but he changed it in an attempt to fight Japan bashing -- those messages are mean to be subtle. "Some shows do get a little pedantic and you just want to say, 'Why don't you just use Western Union?'" Embedded within the show are certain myserties. Why did the Minbari, on the eve of victory over Earth, suddenly surrender? Where did the string-like entities come from? And what really happened to Commander Jeffery Sinclair during the last 24 hours of the war? All of these things will be resolved, of course, but not for a while. And what happens when the five year story is complete? "This show ends in five years. If somebody wants to do another project involving some of the same characters, that's another issue. But Babylon 5, as it exists, ends in five years." --!5!-- Misty "JOIN US:" INSIGHT INTO THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED _MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000_ by Lisa Jenkins Thanksgiving Day was a doldrum of football games and unending parades -- except for Comedy Central, an all-comedy network shown in 35 million homes across America. Comedy Central offered "Turkey Day," 30 straight hours of the worst movies ever made. But just because the movies are bad doesn't mean they're unwatchable, because the viewers aren't watching them alone. _Mystery Science Theater 3000_ is the newest, hippest, coolest comedy on television today. After all, what else can you get when you take two mad scientists who shoot a well-meaning innocent janitor out into space and force him to watch bad movies with his robot companions? Is this a complicated science fiction concept? Not really. If the viewers have any questions about the science facts, the theme song reminds them to repeat to themselves "it's just a show, I should really just relax." And quite a show it is, too. _Mystery Science Theater 3000_, or MST3K, has been acclaimed by many of America's top critics, including Tom Shales of _The Washington Post_, _People Weekly_'s "Picks and Pans," and _TV Guide_'s "Cheers 'N' Jeers." _OMNI_'s August issue featured a five-page spread on Joel and his robot sidekicks, Crow and Tom Servo who all must endure the painful cinematic features dished to them by their evil overlords, Dr. Clayton Forrester and TV's Frank. The show is not strictly science fiction, although its premise certainly appeals to science fiction fans. It's a comedy, a "monster movie" show, a forum for society's commentary, imaginative, and very funny. It's homespun look and cheap B-movies appeal to any television viewer's sense of humor, including the ever-watchful eye of TV critics. Critics and celebrities alike got a chance to brag on their favorite comedic television show for Comedy Central's special, "This is MST 3K." The half-hour special, repeated several times during the months of November and December, featured interviews with the likes of TV critics Tom Shales (_The Washington Post_) and Matt Roush (_USA Today_) along with other celebrities like Neil Patrick Harris (star, _Doogie Howser, MD_) and Bob O'Shea (producer, _Cheers_). Fans of the program were treated to a glimpse of MST3K's beginnings, including footage from KTMA TV23, an independent station in Minneapolis where _Mystery Science Theater_ first aired. Appropriately, MST3K's anniversary falls on Thanksgiving Day as its first locally-shown episode aired November 24, 1988. _Mystery Science Theater_ has come a long way since the days at KTMA. The program's very existence seemed in jeopardy when KTMA no longer could fund the show's minuscule budget of $50 a week. However, with the support of local viewers and the determination of show's creator, Joel Hodgson, MST3K was bought by HBO's Comedy Channel. When the merger between Comedy Channel and Showtime's HA! came to pass, MST3K survived and thrived with a growing number of viewers across the country, including the number of members in the show's fan club. Best Brains, the show's production company, receives hundreds of letters a week from fans of all ages, and the fan club has grown to nearly 20,000 members. MST3K may perhaps get the acclaim its critics and fans believe it deserves on January 17, night of the ACE Cable Awards. This is its second year for an ACE nomination. Last year, HBO's _Dream On_ walked off with "best comedy," but this year _Mystery Science Theater_ is up for "best writing in a comedy series." _Mystery Science Theater 3000_ airs on Comedy Central Friday nights late at 12:30 AM and Saturdays at 10:00 AM with a repeat at 7:00 PM (all times Eastern/Pacific). --!6!-- Globalhead Globalhead by Bruce Sterling Mark V. Ziesing Books ISBN 0-929480-69-4 293 pages; $29.95 Review by Rick Kleffel Just like the vampires of horror fiction, the genre of science fiction is constantly being resurrected; whenever you think it's finally dead, somebody comes along and jerks it back into life. It's been nearly ten years since William Gibson and Bruce Sterling electronically re-incarnated SF as cyberpunk. Now that cyberpunk has hit the grocery racks and the skids, who else but Bruce Sterling should come along and resurrect SF in yet another guise, this time as "World Fiction". In "Globalhead", a collection consisting mostly of pieces from the last two years, Sterling deconstructs the genre that gave him birth, and puts it back together again in a wild cut-and-paste frenzy of ethnic imagination. While all of the pieces were published in genre magazines, only a few of them appear to have anything to do with SF. Or rather, they return SF to what it's strongest proponents always hope it will be -- a vivid flight of the human imagination. The collection starts with "Our Neural Chernobyl", set in a future where scientists have undergone a basic moral conversion from "the white coated sociopath of the past" to "democratized, media conscious, fully integrated into the mainstream of modern culture", with a propensity to write articles such as "'The Locus Coerruleus Efferent Network: What in the Heck Is it There For?'". Despite the bleak events mapped out for us in the next fifty or so years, the overall tone is surprisingly playful. In "The Compassionate, the Digital", Sterling artfully laces together Islamic agit-prop and high- tech magic with results that are both frightening and funny. Sterling shows his best SF colors in "The Shores of Bohemia", a story in which nano-technology, here indistinguishable from magic, has subsumed all but a few small enclaves. An expatriate architect returns to explain that "'Once you learn to live life on the outside, you learn to see matters differently. To read patterns of immanance, to smell it almost...Perceptions become data, data becomes thought, thought becomes...I think you might say 'spirit', though that term doesn't really --'". Sterling allows the readers to fill in his mysterious blanks in much the same way that Lovecraft allowed his readers to see only enough of his demons so that their imaginations could complete the picture with terrifying accuracy. In his non-SF stories, Sterling susbstitutes an ethnic setting for the typical techonological premise. "Storming the Cosmos" follows two ne'er-do-wells on the fringes of the Soviet Space program in 1958 and sends them out to the site of the Tunguska meteorite strike. The world he depicts is packed with KGB informers, drunken scientists, savage Mongol men and women, frozen mud, monolithic tribal Red Army brigades, and hallucinogenic mushrooms, jostling one another to get in an edgewise word. It's so vivid, it takes the reader a while to return to reality. This is not to say the book is without flaw. In "The Sword of Damocles", Sterling attempts to lampoon the deconstructionists, but succeeds only in falling prey to the faults he parodies. And while "The Gulf Wars", first published in 1987, is reeking with an authentic atmosphere and unarguably prophetic, it does seem a bit heavy handed. The two best stories feature Leggy Starlitz, a small-time smuggler who, in "Hollywood Kremlin" takes the reader "under Iranian radar, all the way from Kabul to Soviet Azerbaijan." Scenes of opulent rotting splendor in the hotel strongholds of smuggling lords and ladies contrast with sharply-etched pictures of black-market bribery in the backs of rumbling army trucks. In "Are You For 86?", the collection's only original work, Leggy makes it Stateside, smuggling the controversial French "abortion pill" to high-tech Pro-Choice forces, while trying to evade equally high-tech Pro-Lifers. Sterling skillfully applies the same kaleidescopic vision to the US that he does to the more exotic locales. What he does is nothing short of amazing. He re-invents our world so imaginatively that his descriptions of reality take on the sheen of wildly inventive science fiction. And yes, perhaps it is true that in these stories, SF is dead; but no one can bring down Bruce Sterling's flights of fancy. --!7!-- And now, the news ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO TRANSMIT Amblin About Paramount has signed Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy to a production deal. They met during the production of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and founded Amblin Entertainment with Steven Speilberg in 1981, though Marshall left Amblin in 1991. The pair, who have been responsible for a slew of genre movies, such as ET, BACK TO THE FUTURE, HOOK, ARACHNOPHOBIA and of course the INDIANA JONES movies, agreed to a non-exclusive pact that states they give Paramount first dibs on their projects, and will be based on the Paramount lot. Kathleen Kennedy is currenly producing Steven Spielberg's JURASSIC PARK. --!-- And speaking of JURASSIC PARK ... When Michael Crichton wrote JURASSIC PARK, a book about dinosaurs genetically grown from ancient DNA in order to be the basis for a theme park, the made the velociraptors six feet tall, in accordance with the fossils that had been found. Since these are the most vicious of the reptilian beasts, however, Steven Speilberg defied his paleontologist advisors and made them much larger for dramatic effect. Well, according to the January, 1993 issue of DISCOVER magazine, he gets the last laugh with the discovery in Utah of a 20 foot long, 1500 pound velociraptor. Nicknamed "Speilberg's raptor," it will more likely go down in the books as Utahraptor. --!-- GODZILLA rises again -- at least temporarily This being the first issue of CV, maybe it's fitting that we start out the news with one of the granddaddies of sf films, Godzilla, or as he is known in Japan, Gojira. Toho produced the first of these monster movies in 1954, and while the dubbing might not have been the greatest (though it certainly has inspired lots of comedy) the original film was good enough to inspire sequels that are STILL being made in Japan. Ironically, while the next Japanese Gojira film will see the death of the King of the Monsters, TriStar has reportedly paid anywhere from $300,000 to $400,000 for the rights to use the characters from the first 15 installments of the series. Rumors are flying as to who will be involved, but Tim Burton, a huge Godzilla fan, has been mentioned as a possible director. The film would be for release in December 1993, and would have a budget of $40 million. The series WILL continue in Japan, even though Gojira will be killed in a battle with MekaGojira, created by the Japan Defense Force. The next films will involve Gojira's child, Minya (Godzooky in the US version), who will be all grown up by the end of the latest film. --!-- Bill Bixby, star of THE INCREDIBLE HULK, MY FAVORITE MARTIAN, and many other tv shows, is reportedly responding to experimental drug treatment for advanced prostate cancer. The drug, Suramin, is giving him no nasty side effects, and he told TV Guide that he's "going to beat this thing!" He was apparently well enough to joke with his doctors, pretending to be dead when they injected him with the drug. His doctors' response was "Very funny, Bill. Don't do that again." --!-- Golden Globes Genre and related nominations for the Golden Globe Awards, to be given January 23, 1993: Motion Picture, musical or comedy: ALADDIN, SISTER ACT Actress, motion picture musical or comedy: Meryl Streep, DEATH BECOMES HER, Whoopi Goldberg, SISTER ACT, Geena Davis (Earth Girls are Easy), A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN Motion Picture director: Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride), A FEW GOOD MEN Motion Picture Original Score: ALADDIN, by Alan Menken Motion Picture Original Song: "Friend Like Me," "Prince Ali," and "A Whole New World" (ALADDIN), Alan Menken and Howard Ashman TV Series Actor: Scott Bakula (QUANTUM LEAP) Best Actress in a TV mini-series or motion picture: Drew Barrymore (ET), Gun Crazy Best TV Supporting actor in a series, mini-series or motion picture: Dean Stockwell (QUANTUM LEAP) --!-- Anthony Hopkins, the cannabilstic killer in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, is now Sir Anthony. He was knighted New Years day into the Order of the British Empire. --!-- Meanwhile, over in the Magic Kingdom ... Disney CEO Michael Eisner reportedly grossed $200 million in 1992, as a combination of salary, perks, and selling off some of his studio stock. Walt Disney archivist David Smith and Disney employee Kevin Neary have written THE ULTIMATE DISNEY TRIVIA BOOK, with 999 ways to date yourself and prove that you really are a kid at heart. Disney has exhausted appeals of at $2.3 million award to singer Peggy Lee for using her voice in the video version of LADY AND THE TRAMP. Ms. Lee provided the voices of Peg, the siamese cats, and Darling, for which she received $4000, including that for her part in writing six of the songs. She had originally sued for $50 million. --!-- Planet Hollywood is doing well. Arnold Schwartznegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Bruce Willis, owners of the New York City restaurant, have been so pleased with its success that they have opened another in Southen California. --!-- BATMAN RETURNS took top box office honors for 1992, socking away gross earnings of $162 million and helping the industry top last 1991's gross of $4.8 billion, though it didn't come close to 1991's $204 million for TERMINATOR 2. It also held the top spot for 3 weeks and helped to give Warner a 20% share of the 1992 market, edging out Disney for the top spot, according to Daily Variety. --!-- The end of the Smurfs: Pierre (Peyo) Culliford, who created the blue creatures, died in late September at the age of 64. --!-- 51 Mulberry Street, adress of the house that may have inspired the first Dr.Suess book, AND TO THINK I SAW IT ON MULBERRY STREET, is now an empty hole. Apparently the current owner had it torn down without permission, despite the fact that it is on the national Register of Historic Places. Dr. Phillip Stone could be ordered to rebuild the house exactly as Theodor Geisel saw it in the early 1930's in addition to local and state fines. --!-- QUANTUM LEAP NOVEL #2: TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT is due out in January or February of 1993. It's written by Ashley McConnell. --!-- Steven King scares Whoopi Goldberg Steven King has a new book out. DOLORES CLAIBORNE, he told Whoopi Goldberg on her late night chat show, is along the lines of GERALD'S GAME. (As of this writing, BOTH were on the bestseller's list.) The pair discussed a wide range of topics, from their favorite vampire movies to what it is that scares the hell out of them. For those of you who are wondering, Mr. King DOES manage to scare himself, and quite often, from the sound of it. (While most people are afraid of someone joining them IN the shower, he is afraid of someone coming OUT of it.) He also discussed his stint as rhythm guitar for a group of writers who performed at the annual writers' convention in Annaheim. Sales of the video will benefit the Write to Rock Foundation, which "fights censorship in the music industry and also helps homeless writers in Los Angeles. I don't know how many homeless writers there are in Los Angeles, but we're giving 'em money." Mr. King, who says he still catches heat for referring to himself as "the McDonald's of literature," also said that he knew the movie of his first book CARRIE was going to be a success at the end, when Sissy Spacek's hand shoots out of the grave and grabs the antagonist around the neck. Apparently the man behind him, who had been talking throughout the picture, said, "That's it. She ain't never gonna be right." --!-- Upcoming films: Paramount will be hoping for another blockbuster with ADDAM'S FAMILY 2, and hitting the nostalgia trail with THE CONEHEADS. HBO will be re-making ATTACK OF THE FIFTY FOOT WOMAN, and has signed Daryl Hannah. Christopher Guest will direct. And for those of you who follow that sort of thing, Warner Brothers will star Whoppi Goldberg in a film called MADE IN AMERICA, and Harrison Ford in a remake of THE FUGITIVE. Also, Fox is reportedly edging towards the long-fabled "Aliens v. Predator" movie, but this is totally unconfirmed. --!-- The top 10 films of 1992: 1) BATMAN RETURNS $161 million 2) LETHAL WEAPON 3 $143 million 3) SISTER ACT $140 million 4) HOME ALONE 2 $135 million (est.) 5) WAYNE WORLD $121 million 6) BASIC INSTINCT $117 million 7) A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN $107 million 8) THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE $87 million 9) BRAM STOKER'S 'DRACULA $85 million 10) PATRIOT GAMES $82 million --!-- In case you think that college students don't have any power in the marketplace, have a look at these statistics: There are 12 million 18-24 year olds in the United States, and 42% of them are college students. On the average, they spend $224 in discretionary income, and see two to three movies a month off campus. This makes up a whopping 24% of studio income. --!-- European Box office: According to Daily Variety,, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST took in $11.2 million at 1241 European screens during the week of December 12 - 18, clinching the top spot. The closest competitor was HOME ALONE 2. DEATH BECOMES HER was fifth, with $1.83 million at 251 screens. --!-- TERMINATING DEALS AT CAROLCO Carolco, the studio that gave us TOTAL RECALL, TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY, and other films, has been having financial trouble for some time. (Although not as much as Orion.) Currently under a distribution deal with Sony's TriStar, they have made a deal with Metro Goldwyn Mayer and associated investors that will bring in $170 million in cash. The distribution deal, which takes effect in 1994, involves cash, preferred stock, subordinated debt, co-production financing, a $50 million bank credit line, and a chance for MGM to get back into the distribution business after the fiasco of Giancarlo Parretti's tenure at the helm. Parretti, who allegedly spent mucho MGM bucks on himself, was ousted last year. How does this affect investors? Well, Carolco has asked stockholders to cut their voting stake from 30.1 percent to 3 percent in a reverse stock split. The stock had risen 31.25 cents to $1.125 per share upon announcement of the cash deal with MGM, dropped down to 87.5 cents at the announcement of the reverse split. --!-- A ratings "point" means approximately 931,000 households. Just thought you'd like to know. --!-- Foreign television: The Swiss will be getting a commerically run TV station to compete with the 3 (soon to be 4) state-run channels in operation. "Tell-TV" (yes, named for William Tell) will run 15 hours of programming in German. And let's not forget about the Russians. Turner Broadcasting Systems, the people who brought you CNN, colorization and the Cartoon Network, have been broadcasting "TV6 Moscow" since May 18, 1992. --!-- The Star Trek exhibit at the Smithsonian will run through January 31. Passes are needed only on days when the exhibit is crowded. --!-- Remember that free month of Prodigy service you got with your modem but were "saving for a good reason"? Well, if you're a Star Trek fan, now might be the time to use it. Avery Brooks, Patrick Stewart, and Rick Berman (Executive Producer) will be choosing questions from a pool you can contribute to now. Mr. Brooks will be online on the seventh of January, as will Mr. Berman, we gather. Mr. Stewart will be on about 2 weeks later. Questions should be adressed to STAR99E in the topic TV (A-K). Use "Ask Avery Brooks" or "Ask Rick Berman" as your subject line. (The release didn't say so, but presumably you use the same adress and subject line format for Patrick Stewart.) [User note: Only a FEW questions will be chosen.] --!-- Patrick Stewart reportedly told the "Tonight Show" that "In 1993 I will transfer all my CD's to 8-track tape so that I can play them in my `68 Mustang." --!-- HIGHLANDER In the preview issue, we reported the unconfirmed rumor that production on HIGHLANDER III: THE MAGICIAN had begun. The plot reportedly involved a sword maker with the power of illusion who has been buried under a mountain for 300 years. Since it begins in ancient Japan, it would seem that the film would utterly ignore HIGHLANDER II. According to those who have seen the ill-fated sequel, this is probably for the best. No word on Sean Connery, but Christopher Lambert was reportedly signed on to play MacLeod once again. The only problem with this is that it seems to be completely wrong. According to Christopher Lambert's people, the movie is not in production, no director has been chosen, and it is unclear if that is even the plot. More info when we have it. Of course, if you can't wait that long for another dose of your favorite immortal, check out the syndicated television show HIGHLANDER. While Christopher Lambert did make an appearance in the pilot, the series deals with a clansman of Connor MacLeod, Duncan. Now about half-way into its first season, it seems to be holding up, quality-wise. --!-- STAR TREK: MISCELLANEOUS Well, well, well, right now we could do pages on this one. Let's start with the original series. Despite Gene Roddenberry's death, Paramount has no problem with continuing the series of movies. According to Bjo Trimble, Brandon Tartikoff, then-head of the studio, sat at a screening of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and asked "Why are we stopping making these films?" Someone pointed out that the cast was getting old, but he asked "Are the fans still buying?" Of course we all know they are, so his question became "Then what's the problem?" The word is that yes, William Shatner DID try to sell the movie studio, now headed by Sherry Lansing, a script he wrote involving a romance for Kirk, but word is that it was turned down and they are considering a script written by Leonard Nimoy. Apparently the only way we're going to see a film dealing with Captain Sulu is a major letter- writing campaign. The studio simply doesn't believe that enough people will go to see a film that doesn't star the Big Three, Kirk, Spock and McCoy. And there's yet one more Generation... STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE There probably isn't a soul hooked into cyberspace who doesn't know about STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE. The show, a strict spin-off from STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, will involve an antiquated space station above the Bajorran homeworld (Ro Larren's home) which is basically deserted by the Cardassian's when they have exhausted the planet's resources (and poisoned the wells, and ...). The Federation takes over the station, but when a stable wormhole is discovered nearby, the Cardassians want it back. The only crew members who will be moving over from TNG to DS9 will be Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) and his wife Keiko, who will not be awfully happy about bringing their daughter Molly up in such an environment. Cast members include Avery Brooks as Captain Sisko, Renee Abourjanous as Odo the shapeshifter, and Rosalind Chao reprising her role as Keiko O'Brien. The role of the Bajorran was originally planned to be Ensign Ro, but Michelle Forbes reportedly has no interest in continuing on with Star Trek after this season, no matter which show they offer her. [For great Star Trek and genre news, subscribe to Bjo Trimble's newsletter, Space Time Continuum. Postmarked before January 31, 1993, $5/6 issues USA Bulk Rate, $8 USA 1st Class, $9 Canada Air Printed Matter, $12 Overseas Air Printed Matter. Send to STC, 2059 Fir Springs Dr., Kingwood TX 77339-1701] --!8!-- Spoilers SPOILERS AHOY! QUANTUM LEAP -- from Terri Librande Filming on "Liberation" has been completed. The episode takes place in the seventies and features Sam as a bra burning woman's libber. "Blood Moon", the anticipated 'vampire' episode, has completed filming. No details as to plot, but Sam will leap directly into a coffin in this one, and spare me the cemetery jokes, please! Written by Tommy Thompson, it promises to be a leap right into the twilight zone. The long anticipated 'baby' episode is on the schedule as is the Dr. Ruth one. The animated episode will be on sometime in May, if all goes according to plan. The second half of the 'dark leaper' will be on during February sweeps. The first half garnered 10 extra points on the Neilsen scale, but on that front, we're still plenty shaky. In "Goodbye Norma Jean" Sam leaps into Marilyn Monroe's driver to prevent her from overdosing. Considering that she tried this several times before the 'big' one, I assume that Sam is there to prevent her from doing it before her time. To write to NBC in support of the show, send your letters to NBC C/O Warren Littlefield 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10019 Write, keep the Leap alive. A grassroots organization is getting together to send NBC calla lillies to draw attention to the shows plight. It's going to be nip and tuck until March or April. --!-- STAR TREK The next new ST:TNG will be the week of January 25. Called "Ship in a Bottle," it reportedly involves the luckless Barclay's accidentally allowing Moriarty ("Elementary, Dear Data") out of the holodeck. The following week's episode, "Aquiel," had Geordi falling in love with a member of another species. "Tapestry," running the week of February 15, is a Q episode involving a tour of Picard's life when he dies on the operating table. "Birthright" is the anticipated crossover story with ST:DSN, involving Worf's discovery that his disgraced father might actually be alive. As for STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, the week of January 18 will bring, "A Man Alone," which pits Odo, the shapeshifter, against a lynch mob after a murder on the station. --!9!-- Correspondents OPPORTUNITY KNOCKING You say you don't want to write but you still want to be a part of CYBERSPACE VANGUARD? You're in luck. We couldn't possibly watch every newsgroup and conference on every network out there -- believe me, we tried! So what we need is a group of dedicated people to watch the newsgroups for us and report on any news or spoilers that turn up. If you want to be a Cyberspace Correspondent, send a list of the newsgroups you read CONSISTENTLY to cn577@cleveland.freenet.edu (Internet) TJ Goldstein@1:157/564 (Fidonet) or TJ Goldstein@40:204/564 (AmigaNet) If you're reading this on a network that doesn't support these mail systems, you can send a letter with the list and your e-mail address to Correspondent Cyberspace Vanguard PO Box 25704 Garfield Heights, OH 44125 USA We are also looking for writers, of course. If you have an idea you think would be right for us, drop us a line! --!10!-- Subs SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION: CV is available on various newsgroups, or you can ask to be put on our mailing list. If you're really interested, though, you can subscribe to the PAPER version of the magazine. It includes all the first-rate photos and cartoons that we can't put into the electronic version. Rates in the United States are $2.00 per issue, or $10.50 for six. Write to us for overseas rates. -- CYBERSPACE VANGUARD MAGAZINE News and Views from the Science Fiction Universe TJ Goldstein, Editor | Send submissions, questions, comments to tlg4@po.cwru.edu | cn577@cleveland.freenet.edu