SFL Archives Volume 22a
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59% completion, 238 bookmarks
Movies, television shows referenced: STARWOLF (tv-series), STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE (tv-series), STAR TREK: VOYAGER (tv-series), BABYLON 5 (tv-series), STAR TREK FIRST CONTACT, MACROSS PLUS (tv-series), THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, THE BURNING ZONE (tv-series), THE PRETENDER (tv-series), POLTERGEIST: THE LEGACY (tv-series), FRIDAY THE THIRTEEN THE TV SERIES (tv-series), SAPPHIRE AND STEEL (tv-series), STANLEY KUBRICKS A.I., STAR WARS SPECIAL EDITION, STRANGE DAYS, SPAWN 1997, SPAWN (tv-series), GATE TO THE MINDS EYE, RELIC, THE FIFTH ELEMENT, THE SATAN BUG, HACKERS 1995, BEYOND REALITY (tv-series), EERIE INDIANA (tv-series), THE CAPE (tv-series), NOWHERE MAN (tv-series), THE PROFILER (tv-series), SLIDERS (tv-series), RED DWARF (tv-series), BURNING ZONE (tv-series), X-FILES (tv-series), THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD 1996, LAND BEFORE TIME 4, STARSHIP TROOPERS 1, SEAQUEST DSV (tv-series), HERCULES THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS (tv-series), XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS (tv-series), HIGHLANDER THE TV SERIES (tv-series), PSI FACTOR (tv-series), MARS ATTACKS!, FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON (tv-series), SHE-WOLF OF LONDON (tv-series), POLTERGEIST THE LEGACY (tv-series), BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (tv-series), DEEP IMPACT, MEN IN BLACK 1, DARK SKIES (tv-series), MEN IN BLACK: THE SERIES (tv-series), 20000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA 1997.
SF&F stories referenced: NEMESIS, CRUX OF BATTLE, PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION, INFINITIES SHORE, THE DUBIOUS HILLS, THE SECRET COUNTRY, THE HIDDEN LAND, GAP INTO RUIN, TIME STATION LONDON, STARQUAKE, ONE KINGS WAY, MEMOIR FROM ANTPROOF CASE, THE ODYSSEUS SOLUTION,MAGNIFICAT, SPACE OPERA, THE HANGMANS BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER, REMNANT POPULATION, AUTOMATED ALICE, SPACE VIKING, ENCHANTMENTS, LOVE AND SLEEP, FARNHAMS FREEHOLD, HELLSPARK, FIONVAR TAPESTRY, WEYRS OF PERN, VENDETTA, THE EIGHT, A CALCULATED RISK, INITIATE BROTHER, TERMINAL EXPERIMENT, BEGGARS IN SPAIN, ARMOR, VAMPIRE$, ASCENDANCIES, HAL'S LEGACY: 2001'S COMPUTER AS DREAM AND REALITY, THE TWO GEORGES, PARIS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, A FIRE UPON THE DEEP, HONOR AMONG ENEMIES, THE OUTCASTS OF HEAVEN BELT, ROCK OF AGES, CHUNG KAO, EXCESSION, EON, MARTIAN CHRONICLES, ZIMIAVIAN, PERMUTATION CITY, KINGS DRAGON, WILDSIDE, MOTHER OF STORMS, THE FAIRY OF KU-SHE, THE PUPPET MASTERS, ETERNITY ROAD, ANCIENT SHORES, THE WORLD AT THE END OF TIME, THE PRESTIGE, DIAMOND AGE, THE COLOR OF DISTANCE, ECCE AND OLD EARTH, HOW TO PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD, SOLDIER OF ARETE, EXCESSION, BEARS DISCOVER FIRE, A FISH DINNER IN MEMISON, MEMORY, IDORU, MOTHER OF WINTER, A SONG FOR ARBONNE, SAILING BRIGHT ETERNITY, THE TRUTH MACHINE, BOOK OF EARTH, FEET OF CLAY, THE MAGEBORN TRAITOR, FLIGHT ENGINEER, LIQUID DIET, BOOK OF THE NEW SUN, POINT OF HOPES, AFTERMATH, INFECTRESS, THE SHADOW OF THE SHIP, GLIMMERING, LUCK IN THE SHADOWS, NATURE OF SMOKE, SONG IN THE SILENCE: THE TALE OF LANEN KAELAR, A GIFT FROM EARTH, THE SYNDIC, THE SPARROW, CONTACT, ENDYMION, THE DIG, FOUNDATIONS FEAR, TOO LONG A SACRIFICE, XENOCIDE, STARSHIP TROOPERS, THE DAY THE MARTIANS CAME, MAN OF STEEL WOMAN OF KLEENEX, THE SHIP AVENGED, BRAIN WAVE, BLEAK LANDS, HAIR OF THE DOG, ONCE A HERO, MAYBE I WILL CALL ANNA, OTHERLAND, FREEDOM AND NECESSITY, VURT, WORLDS APART: THE UNHOLY WAR BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE, SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS, ZOD WALLOP, THE COCKATRICE BOYS, THE CRYSTAL CROWN, HOW TO LIKE A GOD, GAWAIN AND LADY GREEN, CELESTIAL MATTERS, AGAINST NATURE, ENGINES OF THE NIGHT, LIFEHOUSE, TOMORROW AND TOMORROW, THE GUNS OF THE SOUTH, LES REVES DEL LA MER, DARWINIA, PROMISED LAND, WAKING BEAUTY, COSMIC CRITIQUES: HOW AND WHY 10 SCIENCE FICTION STORIES WORK, THE EYES OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS, CHOOSERS OF THE SLAIN, THE TOO READY WRITER, MIDSHIPMANS HOPE, BEYOND THE BEYOND/DEAD SPACE, THE REALITY DISFUNCTION, PATH TO OTHERWHERE, THE DOPPLEGANGER GAMBIT, FLAG IN EXILE, 20000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, THE SUN THE MOON AND THE STARS, TOP DOG.
Pop culture references: Duke Nukem, boardgame version of H Beam Piper's SPACE VIKING, www.altavista.com, Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian stories, SFF fans getting tattoos of their favorite SFF characters, a cartoon series of SPAWN being in pre-production, Thomas Dolby music videos, Rush Limbaugh attacking liberals on his radio show, casually bombing Baghdad, Jeff Conway in Taxi (tv-series), the Saturday Night Live verion of 20000 Leagues Under the Sea,
Technology callbacks: The Dig (videogame), a SFF convention gaming room having 3 Playstations and Sega Saturns strictly for competitive play,
Death notices: Terry Nation, UK television producer/showrunner. Martin Caidin, author and originator of the Six Million Dollar Man tv-series. Seth Goldberg, Hugo Awards administrator, SFF fandom bigwig.
SFL requests/discussion topics:
>Re: The Gap into Ruin -Donaldson
>Re: P.J. Farmer Riverworld series
>Re: Space Viking/H. Beam Piper
>Farnhams Freehold: Bizarro Heinlein?
>Re: L. Sprague deCamp influence on the SFF genres
>Re: Heinlein newbie - what next?
>Re: Julian May - IWADASN
>Re: Walter Jon Williams (was Re: REVIEW: "Rock of Ages")
>Re: Levar Burtons AFTERMATH
>Re: Is Poul Anderson still alive?
>Re: Known Space is out of control
>Re: Fire on the Deep, zones?
>Big Stupid Ring explosions in SF movies
>Re: Octavia Butler
>Re: Dune - how far do you go?
-More SFLers start chiming in on John Barnes increasingly overt tendency to write in extreme violence and violent sex in whatever story he writes
(2021 note: Seriously, it's became a fetish for John Barnes. The Bosnian-Serbian war of the 1990's really broke his brain.)
-First mention of the internet web search engine www.altavista.com
(2021 note: Altavista was one of the better internet/web crawling search engines on the Internet until Google stole their entire business model of selling ads in search/paid search rankings)
-SFL people start discussing why Ray Bradbury is so disliked by hardcore SFF fandom. Was it his popularity & success writing outside the SFF genres, anger that Bradbury rose up to become a professional writer while a SFF while other aspiring authors SFF failed to rise up as well, that Bradbury didn't write science-fiction as per hardcore SFF fandom definition of science-fiction, that Bradbury didn't include nods to SFF fandom or other SFF authors in work like virtually every other SFF fan turned professional SFF writer, or that at as a young SFF fan at local/regional SFF fandom meetings Bradbury easily got bored and would give hotfoots at LASFS meetings?
(2021 note: Hardcore SFF fans in the SFL really tried to enforce the "Bradbury is disliked because he was a punk at SFF meetings growing up" narrative but their sheer anger at Bradbury makes it clear that hardcore SFF fandoms hatred of Bradbury boils down to Bradbury's popularity as a professional author in multiple literary genres burns them up hard because they-the-hardcore-SFF-fandom should have had his success not him.)
-A letter to the editor of the newspaper Washington Post complaining about the Washington Post downplaying Paul Linebarger's aka Cordwainer Smith's role in teaching pysops torture techniques during his tenure at the US School of Americas
(2021 note: Paul Linebarger was definitely CIA adjacent throughout his civil servant career with the US Government. And the US School of Americas is now called the The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation)
-The BAEN BOOKS official website gets mentioned again.
(2021 note: This is 1997 so mention of Internet websites existing is still new and rare)
-A SFLer brings up a valid critique of Gene Wolfe's Soldier of the Mist series: why was Latin being spoken by the narrator at the time of Xerxe's invasion of Greece? Latin as a language was extremely regional at that period.
-The STAR WARS SPECIAL EDITION remasters of the original Star Wars movies start hitting their release dates to the public. Fans mostly like the new content but aren't sure of certain additions. The HAN SHOT FIRST meme continues to build up steam.
(2021 note: The really weird thing to me is the SFL Archives concensus that Empire Strikes Back is the worst and weakest of the original Star Wars movie trilogy. Something about George Lucas's vision being diluted and the heroes not winning are the vibes SFLers are telegraphing when disussing why they feel Empire Strikes Back is the inferior movie.)
-Both a SPAWN movie and a SPAWN cartoon series are in the works in 1997.
-Someone describes the 1995 movie HACKERS in comparison to IRL Hackers/Hacker Culture as: "On the Sid and Nancy scale, "Hackers" is the Village People - after they went New Romantic."
-A new bunch of SFF adajacent tv-shows hit American network television: THE PRETENDER, THE PROFILER, SPY GAME 1997, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER etc. Special mention is made of THE PROFILER doing a cross-over episode with THE PRETENDER. SFLers like the BUFFY tv-series pilot but miss Donald Sutherland and Paul Reubens from the original movie version.
-Much SLIDERS the tv-series discussion. John Rhys-Davies leaving the show and the addition of Kari Wuhrer to the cast. The dumbing down of the story plots. The bad science causes much discussion which shockingly hasn't aged too badly. For someone who hates SLIDERS for denying George RR Martin of his own SFF tv-series, Gharlane of Eddore sure does religously hate watch SLIDERS...and he absolutely hates Kari Wuhrer acting/looks/body fat percentage/etc.
(2021 note: People on Something Awful forums book-barn subforum who interacted with Gharlane of Eddore back in the 1990's on usenet have fond memories of him. Me just knowing Gharlane from what he posts in the SFL Archives is where I heavily disagree with those people. Gharlane isn't that great, and giving off big proto-incel vibes anytime he talks about female actors and their acting/looks/movement.)
-SFLers start tearing apart the extremely contrived setting/plot/technology/characters/motivations in James Halperin's THE TRUTH MACHINE.
-Terry Pratchett's FEET OF CLAY comes out, and a small portion if SFLers find it contrived and that it turns the Flanderization dial up on most of the established Watch characters.
(2021 note: I sort of agree with the SFLers seeing a decline in Pratchett's Discworld writing at this point in time. INTERESTING TIMES was the decline point for me.)
-Levar Burton's 1997 SFF novel AFTERMATH comes out and gets lots of closeted racists/C.H.U.D.'s/and "actually I have a black friend so I can't be racist" SFLer's to self-out themselves in seeing various things that exist/do not exist in Burton's 1997 book AFTERMATH.
-SFF authors start nakedly self promoting their work on SFL Archives again.
(2021 note: The SFL mailing list moderator has a inconsistent stance on these kinds of posts. Yes, I am still kind of pissed that the SFL mailing list moderator banned the Del-Rey Internet newsletter from being reposted to the SFL Archives. The Del-Rey Internet newsletter was full of factual details of how a mid-sized book publisher operated in reality and was the single best thing/most interesting and anticipated read for me in the SFL Archives before it got banned.)
-Foundation and Empire being the red-haired unacknowledged book when Isaac Asimov's Foundation series gets republished by a new book publisher.
-In 1997 a good resource for writers of all kinds was the WRITERS DIGEST series.
-Sam Raimi's 1997 tv-series SPY GAME comes out and everything about it sounds unreal and a shared collective joke that I broke my do-not-look-things-mentioned-up-on-the-internet readthrough rule for the 11th and confirmed that: Yes, SPY GAMES 1997 was real.
(2021 note: To be fair to Sam Raimi, he has been attached to many bizarre sounding tv shows. CLEOPATRA 2525 for example, somehow CLEOPATRA 2525 existed for 2 seasons.)
-Tom Hanks the actor enters the producer "I've got fuck you money" stage of his professional career when he becomes the producer of the upcoming 12 part miniseries FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON
-Warner Brothers announces they are working on a live-action JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA tv-series, which never gets past the pre-production stage.
-A extremely not-Mad SFLer posts a review of Lee Goldberg's satiric parody of the television industry and SFF fandom novel BEYOND THE BEYOND aka DEAD SPACE that is so long and meandering the SFL mailing list moderator has to break it up into 3 parts. SFL Posts having to be broken up into multiple parts has happened before, but those SFL posts usually involved talking about multiple subjects or things in the SFF genres.
(2021 note: The review of BEYOND THE BEYOND/DEAD SPACE gives off the same extremely hurt-feelings vibe/"how dare he have a career while I don't" vibes that Ray Bradbury invokes in hardcore SFF fandom. I solidly believe the author of the 3 part review spent 5 hours screaming this essay at top volume outside of whatever television production studio Lee Goldberg spends the most time at and also that the reviewer has at least 5 active "stay 100 feet away at all times" restraining orders versus various SFF authors and television production people. JMS for sure.)
-A SFLer relates a discussion they had with David Weber regarding the Honor Harrington series that includes lots of incoming spoilers and explanations for certain actions that I am not sure happened or not for real in the Honor Harrington series.
(2021 note: Stuff ranging from treecat intelligence, to various looming gambits, bonding and treecats, new spaceship technologies, and backstory Weber will be retconning into future HH stories.)
-Internet famous reviewer-savant Alan Sepinwall posts to the SFL Archives in 1997 strictly to negatively comment on Sam Raimi's SPY GAME tv-series premiere.
-The Kelsey Grammer/20,000 leagues under the sea bit from Saturday Night Live season 19 being a pedants delight in every shape and way.
-A SFLer reposts the highlights from a Armin Shimerman guest of honor appearance at SFF convention Vulkon 1997. Armin Shimerman talked about various things DS9 and Star Trek related, both in-front of camera and BTS stuff that would be of deep retrospective interest to any fan of DS9.
-The SFL mailing list moderator promotes The Alexandria Digital Literature website, which comes off in 2021 as a very early version of the Good Reads book review/book recommendation website before it's buyout by Amazon.com
-One of the first mentions of the Internet Movie Database in the SFL Archives.
(2021 note: As I said earlier, mentions of websites was still new and rare in 1997. A website mentioned in 1997 still being around in 2021 is exponently more rare.)
-The author of BEYOND THE BEYOND/DEAD SPACE responds back to the reviewer who posted that so-long-it-had-to-broken-up-into-3-segments-for-inclusion-in-the-SFL-Archives negative review of the n BEYOND THE BEYOND stating that everyone in entertainment industry whose IRL names that got used in the book were clued-in by the author before publishing and gave their assent.
