FL Archives Volume 22b
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Movies, television shows referenced: CONTACT, LIAR LIAR, SPECIES 2, METROPOLIS 1927, MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000: THE MOVIE, EVENT HORIZON, CAPRICORN ONE, ROSSUM'S UNIVERSAL ROBOTS (PLAY), STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE (tv-series), SLIDERS (tv-series), LEXX (tv-series), 20000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (tv-series), WYRD SISTERS (tv-series), THE SHINING (tv-series), MILLENIUM (tv-series), DARK SKIES (tv-series), INVASION (tv-series), CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, CYBORG 2: GLASS SHADOW, JOHNNY MNEMONIC, HONEY I BLEW UP THE KID, XTRO 1, XTRO 2, TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE, SUPERMAN RETURNS, LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY, LOST IN SPACE 1998, MY FAVORITE MARTIAN, NEVERENDING STORY 3, THE FIFTH ELEMENT, STAR TREK: VOYAGER (tv-series), BABYLON 5 (tv-series), THE ODYSSEY (tv-series), BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (tv-series), TWISTOR, THE ARRIVAL, JURASSIC PARK 2, ALIEN NATION (tv-series), RED DWARF (tv-series), HBO'S PERVERSIONS OF SCIENCE (tv-series), STARGATE SG-1 (tv-series), THE COMPANION.
SF&F stories referenced: BEYOND THE BEYOND, TIME BREAKERS, SMALL GODS, JOHNNY AND THE DEAD, LIFEHOUSE, THE SPARROW, A HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN PRAYER, INFINITE JEST,STAR OF THE UNBORN, SOLDIER OF THE MIST, THE DARK SHORE, EXCESSION, AGAINST A DARK BACKGROUND, ROSSUM'S UNIVERSAL ROBOTS, WIZARDS FIRST RULE, DEMON RIDER, A CROWN OF SWORDS, WIZARD AND GLASS, STRATA, INTERESTING TIMES, SPARES, IN ENEMY HANDS, THE TIME SHIPS, FOUNDATIONS FEAR, IMMERSION, THE ROSE AND THE SCAPEL, MOVING MARS, 3001: THE FINAL ODYSSEY, CHILDREN OF AMARID, HELIX: GEMINI BLOOD, ASSASSINS QUEST, COUNT GEIGERS BLUES, THE SECRET ASCENSION, SHADOW RISING, REMNANT POPULATION, REDLINE THE STARS, THE GOLDEN COMPASS, PAVANE, SOFTWARE, WIZARD IN RHYME, BRITTLE INNINGS, TRADER, THE KILLING DANCE, KING DAVIDS SPACESHIP, DOGLAND, HOLY FIRE, DEATH GROUND, MENACE OF THE SAUCERS, MINING THE SKY: UNTOLD RICHES FROM THE ASTEROIDS COMETS AND PLANETS, ETERNITY ROAD, OTHERLAND, QUICKER THAN THE EYE, BROKEDOWN PALACE, FALCON, CYTEEN, FINAL ENCYCLOPEDIA, DORSAI!, DISTRESS, DHIAMMARA, PRINCE OF SUNSET, CAGEWORLD 1: SEARCH FOR THE SUN, WHEN THE GODS ARE SILENT, HUNTING THE CORRIGANS BLOOD, HELL ON HIGH, DESTINYS ROAD, WITNESS OF GOR, THE AFFIRMATION, THE MAGEBORN TRAITOR, THE SERPENT GARDEN, MAGE HEART, THE CHILD GARDEN, LADY OF AVALON, MEMORY, QUEEN CITY JAZZ, GALATEA 2.2, RED MARS, BLUE MARS, THE LOST WORLD, CARRION COMFORT, RISE OF ENDYMION, MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA, THE BLABBER, ACORNS, THE ALCHEMICAL MARRIAGE OF ALISTAIR CROMPTON, THE IRON DRAGONS DAUGHTER, A PURSUIT OF MIRACLES, WANDERING STAR, JIPI AND THE PARANOID CHIP, BOOK OF ENCHANTMENTS, ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE, GLOBALHEAD.
Pop culture references: the 1950's british radio comedy series the Goon Show, the Carry On movie franchise, whatever the hell "Mark Rothko Clothing Encounter" is, Dogbert, Scott Adams & Harlan Ellison making cameo appearances in Babylon 5.
Technology callbacks: telnet vs GUI internet browsing choices, bringing a notebook laptop to a convention to catch up on usenet in convention downtime.
Death notices: Alexander Salkind, Hollywood movie producer. Samuel Mosokowitz, SFF author & editor. Lou Stathis, High Times editor-in-chief, Vertigo Comics managing director.
SFL requests/discussion topics:
>Re: Tim Powers: is Ashbless real?
>Re: why I don't like Terry Pratchett
>Re: Different versions of Metropolis 1927
>Re: Iain Banks Culture series (SPOILERS)
>Re: Michael Bishop's newest: opinions?
>Re: Names in Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
>Re: David Eddings
>Re: Pavane
>Re: Sliders (why doesn't Quinn go on strike?)
>Re: New Thomas Covenant Trilogy
>Re: Zelazny's Amber
>Re: How is Diamond Age?
>Re: Odo committed Genocide -DS9
>Re: Bujold meets Sayers
>Re: Jack Chalker
>Re: Harlan Ellison: Where to start
>Re: Is Sterling Lanier still around?
>Re: Sequel to Martin's "A Game of Thrones"
>New Gor Novel and Gor Magazine
>Re: Tim Powers Questin
>Re: Dan Simmons
>Re: Vernor Vinge
>Re: Not crazy about Tau Zero
>Who was/is the Youngest Published SF Author?
>Re: Ringworld Engineers, a daft question
>Re: Neal Stephenson SF in Forbes
>Re: A Question about Jack Vance's Work
>Re: Gene Wolfe, certain books any good?
-1997 is when SFLers start feeling safe enough online to start saying that Orson Scott Card, Dan Simmons, and Arthur C Clarke work has all sucked for a while.
-Lee Goldberg, the author of BEYOND THE BEYOND/DEAD SPACE, responds to the huge angry negative review a SFLer posted of his book. Lee Goldberg explains that he is an actual tv screenwriter/tv producer, Star Trek wasn't being parodied, the book is a satire of events he's experienced and that everyone whose real names were used in the book were asked & clued in to the contents of the book before it got published.
(2021 note: The SFL person who posted the huge angry negative review posts almost exclusively about STAR TREK tv series/is a massive Star Trek fan, so that explains their intense anger The SFL reviewer took the corrections from Lee Goldberg in good faith and everyone moved on after a day.)
-More people respond to the "Why I don't like Terry Pratchett" discussion thread offering various Young Adult novels Pratchett wrote. A smaller amount of people respond back that Terry Pratchett fails to land for them too, despite liking classic British humor things like the Carry On movies.
-Another retroactively painful in 2020/2021 comment from way back in 1997 about "It's nice to now SOMEBODY can get away with publishing novels under 250 pages. Painful because TOR Books has been getting away with charging $10-$14 for 120 page or smaller novellas since at least 2016.
(2021 note: The first time book price complaints came up in the SFL Archives was circa 1980/1981 when it was people complain commenting on the price jump from $0.50 to $1.00 for paperback books.)
-One of the first mentions of the Annotated Pratchett File website, which lists and explains more than 1300 references and obscure jokes in Pratchett's book as of 1997.
-Films mentioned in SFL Vol 22a that have been in production hell for years as of 1997: JOHN CARTER, SUPERMAN RETURNS, ENDERS GAME, SPIDERMAN, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, LORD OF THE RINGS
-More SFLers chime in about really enjoying Terry Goodkind's WIZARDS FIRST RULE series, especially the torture-porn elements in it.
-11 weeks of downtime for the SFL Archives mailing list caused by multiple server hardware failure events and mailing list moderator vacations/moderator sickness leave. SFL Archives Volume 22a covers 26 weeks (Jan 1 - June 30th 1997).
(2021 note: SFL Archives Volume 22a covers 26 weeks (Jan 1 - June 30th 1997). So the SFL Archives was down and unavailable to users and subscribers for roughly 42% of SFL Archives Volume 22a. No idea if outages will happen in the back half of 1997/SFL Archives Volume 22b, but do expect at least one outage event due to the past 7 yrs of SFL Archives history.)
-SFLers start commenting on Gregory Benford's habit of repeatedly whole-sale recycling previously written set-pieces by himself into new stories, and selling everything as new content. SFLer's note that the Benford written FOUNDATIONS FEAR HAS two examples of Benford recycling content: The primitive portion of FF is Benford's IMMERSION with a few name changes, and Benfords THE ROSE AND THE SCAPEL is inserted into large portions of FF with minor name changes as well.
-Philip Pullman's THE GOLDEN COMPASS comes up for discussion again.
-LEXX the SFF tv-movie/tv-series is set to premiere sometime in the back half of 1997 on cable television.
-The 5TH ELEMENT comes out and seemingly everyone in the SFL Archives writes a glowingly positive review of it.
-BALTICON 1997 Balticon 1997 reviews mostly focus on the age of the hotel, the inconsistent no-smoking policy enforcement throughout the hotel and slightly improved handicapped access; along with convention staff willing to help out handicapped people unable to deal with the weird multi-floor art auction setup Balticon 1997 had.
-Minicon 32 convention report: Notable for a endless drum circle throughout Minicon 32, the 5-20 pounds of meat falling from the 7th floor that almost brained a hotel guest hanging out in the convention hotel's atrium incident, and gross hygiene at open-food-buffet convention parties.
-Intervention 1997 held in Liverpool England was notable for the "Make Your Own Badge" project that other future conventions hit up for hundreds of free badges, lots of theft running from stealing of money tins from convention stands to literal breaking into and robbery of multiple hotel rooms with fire extinguishers, along with tons of SFF fandom interactions and meetup that Dave Langford's Ansible issue about Intervention 1997 probably covered in detail, and finally for teaching me a new unit of liquid measurement.
(2021 note: That new measurement being "kils/kilderkin". 1 kilderkin equals 18 gallons of liquid, 2 kilderkin equals 36 gallons, etc.
-The 1997 Sci-Fi Collectibles Show Cherry Hill NJ convention report was notable for a in-depth transcript of Gil Gerald giving commentary on his experience on the BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY (tv-series). Gil Gerald preferred the 1st season vs the 2nd season of the show, mentioned his favorite episode of the show, liked Hawk the actor, related how hard it was acting vs colored lighting taking the place of to-be-created-special effects, and noted how production staff kept tweaking set design and ignoring his input on scripts.
-Jeff Vogel, the Spiderweb Software game developer returns to the SFL Archives to post on "Re: Harlan Ellison: Where to start" using his official Spiderweb Software email account.
-The person who made a career of posting about naked people on the Internet, Mr Skin, posts about the return of the GOR books and a new GOR magazine, and then later on posts a highly positive review of AMMONITE...but is disappointed that lesbianism wasn't explained or explored more in the book.
-The first casting details for STARGATE SG-1 drop, people have no comments so far.
-Jeri Ryan is announced as joining the next season of STAR TREK: VOYAGER.
-An SFLer brings up the question: "Who was/is the Youngest Published SF Author?" and name-drops Michael Moorcook as creating fanzines at age 11 and being a published professionally at age 18.
(2021 note: This is a discussion thread I hope gets picked up again on in SFL Archives Volume 22b.)
-Neal Stephenson writes a science-fiction story for Forbes Magazine called JIPI AND THE PARANOID CHIP, featuring yet another idea and concept that Neal Stephenson has stolen from the Cypherpunks CYPHERNOMICON.
(2021 note: No-one ever mentions this Neal Stephenson story when discussing Stephenson's work. For people who don't feel like looking it up, Jipi is about AI instances trained to be paranoid, then a Silicon Valley startup decides to use paranoid AI Instances as improved car alarms, then someone has the bright idea to wire explosives to the Paranoid AI car alarms, and everything gets stupider and stupider from that point.
As I have stated previously, all of Neal Stephenson's ideas and cutting edge scenarios in his stories ultimately come from the CYPHERNOMICON FAQ. The CYPHERNOMICON is a large FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) text file listing the most common topics of discussion and bleeding edge ideas that had come up in the Cypherpunks mailing list as of September 10 1994.)
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