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by Rick Norwood
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What to look for in November 1999 | |
The only first rate sf/fantasy tv in November would appear to be The X-Files. Every Sunday,
you can look forward to a new show by a first rate writer: Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz, or (best of all) Vince
Gilligan, author of many great X-Files, such as Unusual Suspects (****). The next best bet -- but
not a good one -- is Star Trek: Voyager, which has a new show every Wednesday in November. I
plan to watch them all, but only because I've watched every new Star Trek since 1966 (except
one or two missed due to circumstances beyond my control and still avidly sought after in reruns). I'll let
you know if Voyager takes a turn for the better. If I had to pick one to recommend, sight
unseen, I would pick The Voyager Conspiracy, which airs November 24. But I am deeply suspicious
that it will turn out to be a holodeck fantasy, an imaginary story, or a dream.
Here is a list of what is on.
The X-Files
Star Trek: Voyager
Harsh Realm has already been cancelled. Chris Carter is the highest paid
writer on television, but he has not had much luck creating new shows. No new Star Trek
series is in the cards until Fall 2000, and no new Star Trek movie until 2001. J. Michael
Straczynski has a new tv movie in the works, but it is not SF or fantasy. In the world of film, the next
thing I am looking forward to is Bicentennial Man this Christmas, but I am deeply doubtful about
Hollywood's ability to stay true to Asimov's Hugo winning story.
On the other hand, there are plenty of media other than film to enjoy. A new Tomb Raider game
is due out this month (too soon after the last one, which I haven't finished yet). And J. Michael
Straczynski is continuing the Babylon 5 story in the pages of Amazing Stories
magazine, as well as creating a new super-hero universe, Rising Stars, for Top Cow comics.
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Star Trek, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (****) by Samuel A. Peeples | |
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It is so nice to hear the title music without the usually distortion caused by tape. The great planet exterior
painted by Robert Jefferies never looked better. You can clearly see the tiny human figures moving in the
foreground. The image is so crisp that you can read the middle initial on Kirk's tombstone
(it isn't T). Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and Sulu are the only regulars. (Dr. McCoy, Uhura, and Yoeman Rand
first appear in "The Carbomite Maneuver".)
The show holds up remarkably well in all departments. There are a few special effects (such as the plants
created by Gary Mitchell) that suffer from the pitiless gaze of DVD. But considering that when this program
first aired there had not been even one SF movie that can be viewed today without apologies, this is
brilliant work: adult, intelligent, character driven, with an excellent script and first rate special
effects. Here we see for the first time on film a starship in orbit around a planet, "beaming down", force
field prisons, and an alien who is psychologically different from humans yet still a sympathetic
character. (At this stage, Spock would only admit "one of my ancestors was human.")
I have been assuming up to now that everyone knows the story of how the Enterprise encountered the force
barrier at the edge of the galaxy. How flying into the barrier enhanced the ESP abilities of two members
of the crew. And how Captian Kirk found it necessary to kill his friend Gary Mitchell when those powers
grew too great to control.
Star Trek: The Next Generation did a show in which Lt. Barclay gained powers similar to those
of Gary Mitchell. In this kinder, gentler, universe, Picard allowed Lt. Barclay to live. I'm not at all sure
that the Next Generation answer is right and the old Star Trek answer is wrong. Would
you like to live in a universe where Reg Barclay was God?
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Rick Norwood is a mathematician and writer whose small press publishing house, Manuscript Press, has published books by Hal Clement, R.A. Lafferty, and Hal Foster. He is also the editor of Comics Revue Monthly, which publishes such classic comic strips as Flash Gordon, Sky Masters, Modesty Blaise, Tarzan, Odd Bodkins, Casey Ruggles, The Phantom, Gasoline Alley, Krazy Kat, Alley Oop, Little Orphan Annie, Barnaby, Buz Sawyer, and Steve Canyon. |
November 7
This DVD of the second Star Trek pilot also includes "The Carbomite Maneuver" (***) by
Jerry Sohl. The spine has "Volume 1, episodes 2 & 3" on it. "The Cage", the original pilot, will be included,
in both its black and white version and in a newly edited color version, on the last volume.
 
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