SF-LOVERS Digest
SF-LOVERS Digest Monday, 11 Jan 1993 Volume 18 : Issue 23
Today's Topics:
Television - Space Rangers (11 msgs)
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Date: 7 Jan 93 20:32:18 GMT
From: rck1@ellis.uchicago.edu (roberta chi-woon kwong)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: "Space Rangers" minor comments
Possible minor SPOILERS
Well, I tuned into this last night merely out of mild curiosity, and I
actually found myself enjoying it. "Deep and meaningful" it isn't, but for
a little action and escapism, it suits me just fine.
The sets and ambiance were quite nice, especially in the scenes taking
place at headquarters (then again, I watched this on a b&w set). I liked
Linda Hunt's character right away, and no one else's character turned me
off. In a multi-main-character series, character development is difficult
to introduce fully in just the first episode; merely general impressions of
their characters, so I'm content to wait a bit for that. (Too bad they
offed the android so early, though :-)
If I miss an episode, I won't die, but it's a fun way to liven up a
Wednesday eveing.
Robin C. Kwong
------------------------------
Date: 7 Jan 93 21:30:10 GMT
From: sdr57@cas.org
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Re: _Space Rangers_
jlpicard@austin.ibm.com writes:
>Ouch! Piloting that ship looks _damned_ uncomfortable, lying on your
>stomach with your arms outstretched and your head raised.
For what it's worth...
A number of designs for high speed aircraft included prone pilot positions.
It can improve acceleration tolerance.
Stanley Roberts
------------------------------
Date: 7 Jan 93 22:20:15 GMT
From: rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu (Michael Rawdon)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Grade Report: Space Rangers
SPOILERS for the premiere of Space Rangers
"Cops in space", take fifty-three.
Much like "Mann And Machine", this series begins with the premise that what
American TV really needs is more cop shows, and proceeds to demonstrate
that it doesn't really have much of an idea of how to do a good science
fiction show. (Lord knows that V and Space: 1999 weren't the greatest
entries in science fiction television, but Space Rangers isn't even in
their class.)
Not only do we NOT need more cop shows, but we certainly don't need one
about a bunch of "misfits" whose equipment doesn't work half the time.
This concept was tired from the word "go".
The storyline in the premiere was very patchy, ranging from competent to
garbage. It's hard to envision a much sillier subplot than the one
involving Ringer. He looked silly, he acted silly, and the resolution was
hysterical. Who writes this stuff, anyway?
As for Our Heroes, well, they're a mixed bag. Doc, the pilot and the
general's son are all throw-away characters, I think. (The woman looks
suspiciously Vulcan, though she certainly doesn't act that way.) Boon is a
stereotype: Nothing terribly offensive, but nothing very exciting either.
(He even comes with the obligatory ex-wife.) The one bright spot is the
empathic alien, who seemed well-written, well-acted, and he and Boon make a
pretty good tag-team (or at least look like they *could*). I might stick
around for a few episodes just to see if they do anything with him.
There were a couple of other bright spots, too. One was the special
effects. While they suffered greatly from overuse of stock footage, what
footage there was was quite impressive. One might argue that the
spaceships behaved too much like planes in an atmosphere, but I think
that's a necessary evil in order to make the space shots interesting. And
I think they were MUCH better than the stiff collection of
half-computerized hunks of metal we're stuck with on Star Trek: The Next
Generation. The miscellaneous effects were well-done, too. This show does
seem to know how to USE its SFX (unlike ST:TNG, where they're just window
dressing so we can all gosh-wow at how big their budget is). In a similar
vein, I liked the sets.
The direction was a notch up from TNG, too, though only a notch. The music
was rather bland. I had trouble picking out the melodies in the opening
credits, of all things!
Obviously, this episode set up some elements to be dealt with in the
future, none of which I liked. The Friendly Neighborhood Crimelord seemed
completely worthless (and the scenes involving him entirely gratuitous,
serving no real purpose in the plot). And the Liason From Central Making A
Mess Of Things is also decidedly uninteresting.
I think that the way to go here is to stop with the faulty equipment stuff,
jettison the crimelord and the Liason From Central, and focus more on our
heroes and their missions. More importantly, to try to build some sort of
coherent backdrop in their sector: Visit a few planets, build a small
recurring group of aliens (and humans) who live there, introduce us to the
political arena perhaps, and investiage our characters' backgrounds. Make
it more than just cops-n-robbers in space. Otherwise it risks becoming a
hodge-podge with a muddy backdrop a la V and ST:TNG.
This premiere was largely a disaster, though, an indication that they're on
the wrong track - when they're on any track at all. I give it a few points
for its handfuls of promising bits, but that's about all I can muster. If
there isn't substantial improvement across-the-board in a few episodes, I'm
out of here.
Grade: D
P.S.: Did anyone catch if this episode had a title, a la TNG, or was it
untitled?
Michael Rawdon
University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Department
Madison, WI
rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 93 06:18:38 GMT
From: spice@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Re: Space Rangers
I can't believe that ANYBODY liked this show. The story stunk, the acting
stunk, the characters stunk, the special effects stunk and on and on and
on. Shame on CBS for trying to foist this utter piece of drek on the SF
audience. Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, Space 1999 , at their worst
weren't as bad as this trash. Hell, even the A-Team was better than Space
Rangers. Space Rangers sucks a billion dead bunnies through a straw.
Scott Corley
spice@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 93 05:40:09 GMT
From: caliban@cybernet.cse.fau.edu (James)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Space Rangers
It's been over 24 hours since I had the misfortune to watch the premiere
of "Space Rangers." What can I say? I had to flush the cassette down the
toilet and wash my hands twice...
I'm afraid I found the show essentially without redeeming features. The
first thing which struck me was the fact that everyone in the episode was
white, including the robot and the aliens. (Does anyone remember the
scene, in Ben Bova's novel _Kinsman_, in which the first Black astronaut
grumbles about flesh tone Band-Aids [TM]?) (And, yes, I know there was a
token non-white character; he was a cliche-style martial artist with mystic
powers. Big deal - I couldn't even tell if he was supposed to be an alien
or an oriental human.)
I was also struck by the lack of originality in the plot. Smuggling a
drug? Smuggling a drug _which is a white powder_! For the love of Ghu,
why couldn't they invent an original vice, or at least use, say,
wireheading or dreamgames or holosex?
I was also disappointed that the "heroes" of this farce turned out to be
Luddite technophobes, preaching against the evils of artificial
intelligence, as well as losing their tempers like a bunch of insecure
twits at every opportunity - it seemed like half the dialogue consisted of
bickering and sneering and ranting, none of it very interesting or
appealing.
I won't even mention the lack of characterization, background, or
scientific accuracy in the episode. (Bonus question for those scoring at
home: which galaxy was the villain from, and why did he bother to come all
the way here, and who cares?) Nor the lack of intelligence on the part of
the Rangers who discussed confidential information in the elevator of the
villain's headquarters - I guess the only appropriate adversary for lawmen
this dumb is a criminal too stupid to monitor the conversation of intruders
_whom he knows are in his hideout_.
All together an all-too-stupid show, to which I have devoted far too much
time.
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 93 10:57:29 GMT
From: mmcalees@cs16.uvic.ca (Michael McAleese)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Re: Space Rangers !!Spoilers (I guess)!!
pjm6z@kelvin.seas.Virginia.EDU (Dave Lister) writes:
>Plot points of the pilot of Space Rangers discussed below:
>
>1) They used computers to draw the ship of the Space Rangers. Thus we
> never got to see the kind of shot a model can give (my guess is that
> the ship design isn't quite completely drawn or finished). They did
> the Hope Fort (or whatever) in computer animation as well making it
> almost too cartoony.
Minor quibble. Most (all?) of Doctor Who had execrable special effects,
but you overlooked it for the story. This is the sort of thing that builds
up annoyance over time with me, we'll have to see how it goes.
> 2) They had to put in a plot point of humans better than machines.
> However, when the time came for the android to fail it was so
> ridiculous that my father and I were left laughing. Seriously, my 486
> could analyze all the parts that the bad guy divided into. This is
> supposed to be taking place in the 22nd century, we have mutli-process
> computers now. You mean to tell me the android couldn't process more
> than one input or task at once?
A hokey premise, right from the old Star Trek bin. Still, I could
swallow it without too much grimacing. I've been around computers that
crash creatively when given unanticipated input to rule it out. I did like
the alien using his mutating powers as a defense, and he did seem somewhat
surprised that his desperate defense had discombobulated the droid.
> 3) This goes along with the second point. If this is so many years in
> the future that we have outposts on distant planets and have
> contacted and befriended different aliens, our "police" would not
> have the same semi-automatic or automatic guns we do now. Strapping
> a flashlight onto the gun doesn't make it a futuristic weapon. I was
> willing to overlook this until the guy was boxing up the droid with a
> hammer and nails.
For the guns actually, no. Projectile weapons are a very efficient
method to impart kinetic energy to a foe, and chemical storage for the
propellant is also very efficient. Energy weapons have all sorts of
problems inherent in the nature of beaming energy at a target. I don't
think projectile weapons will *ever* die out, any more than the hammer has.
I'll go with you on the pathetic crating of the android though. Couldn't
"FOAM-TEC" come up with a better crate?
> 4) The acting. This was absolutely horrible. Everyone seems to comment
> that the main characters need to have conflict amongst themselves to
> make their situation more exciting. Maybe, but their conflicts and
> arguments came off as over played whining.
Standard network quality, I thought. This was a show that was patched
up, when someone high up said "Give me a science fiction show by spring!"
Unlike Babylon-5 which has been a five year labour of love, or even DS9
which has been done by people who know how to produce a quality sf show.
Michael McAleese
mmcalees@csr.uvic.ca
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 93 13:29:17 GMT
From: rrheaume@emr1.emr.ca (Roberta Rheaume (CPB))
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Re: Budget cuts..
I know there are budget cuts, I work for the government and that is all I
hear all day. I really resent having to listen to it on a SF TV show,
(Space Rangers) where I go to escape. At least if things will get worse or
stay the same in the future, a show should have a decent story line, such
as Brave New World or 1984. This show was not showing anyone's idea of the
future, just regurgitating the news, which is always full of budget cuts
and drug smuggling. Perhaps they should have hired Peter Jensen to be the
hero and Geraldo to be the droid. Sally Jessy Raphael could take Linda
Hunt's place.
Roberta
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 93 13:04:44 GMT
From: ghost@openage.openage.com (Glenn Host)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Re: Space Rangers
jjfink@skcla.monsanto.com writes:
>crunch@hogbbs.scol.pa.us (Travis Prebble) writes:
>[SPOILERS toward the end]
>From a character standpoint:
> Boon is pretty much generic HERO
Even though I am a Star Trek fan I prefere a 'Han Solo' style leader
compared to a 'Kirk/Picard' style leader so I was pleased but my
development is needed.
> The woman pilot is interesting, as she is competent, attractive,
> and strong without being bitchy
Attractive? My wife asked if it was a man or a woman. :)
> The alien character has some potential. I liked the interplay between
> him and the android.
Personally I have been surprised that this has not been done before - an
Asian actor playing an alien.
> The guy with the metal arm is pretty dull. Once the android is gone,
> there may be a better place for him.
I question that headquarters did not know how many spare parts the guy was
loaded with but maybe he has a friend in Headquarters who cleaned up his
records.
Glenn E. Host
Reston, VA
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 93 21:10:27 GMT
From: bole@hmivax.humgen.upenn.edu (Greg Bole)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Re: Grade Report: Space Rangers
rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu (Michael Rawdon) writes:
> The one bright spot is the empathic alien, who seemed well-written,
> well-acted, and he and Boon make a pretty good tag-team (or at least look
> like they *could*). I might stick around for a few episodes just to see
> if they do anything with him.
Wow, everyone seems to like this alien guy...I thought he was the most
offensive of the whole bunch. Just from looking at him, and then as soon
as he opened his mouth it seemed like the powers that be reached back into
an early Western and grabbed themselves a "Heap big Injun Warrior".
And for all you people whining about how much you hate ST:TNG, he was a
direct meld of Deanna Troi, Worf, and Geordi LaForge.
Lines like "Captain! I feel hostility!" or "It was a pleasure to speak in
my own language. I would love to exchange poetry with you." seemed to
come directly from a "Worst Of Star Trek Dialogue" manual.
Greg Bole
bole@hmivax.humgen.upenn.edu
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 93 21:19:48 GMT
From: jpoutre@shearson.com (Joe Poutre)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Re: Space Rangers
ghost@openage.openage.com (Glenn Host) writes:
>jjfink@skcla.monsanto.com writes:
>>crunch@hogbbs.scol.pa.us (Travis Prebble) writes:
>>[SPOILERS toward the end]
>> The woman pilot is interesting, as she is competent, attractive,
>> and strong without being bitchy
>Attractive? My wife asked if it was a man or a woman. :)
_I_ thought she was attractive. I like tall women. :-) At least she didn't
scream in terror every five seconds. I think her relationship with Doc
could be worked into a "friendly" ongoing quarrel. Of course, that is also
a cliche, but maybe she owes him her life, or something.
Oog. Ack, ptooi! Maybe not.
>> The alien character has some potential. I liked the interplay between
>> him and the android.
>Personally I have been surprised that this has not been done before - an
>Asian actor playing an alien.
Actually, it has been done, at least on film. On MST3K I saw a movie with
Asian actors, including the guy from Quincy, M.D., playing an alien
species.
>> Linda Hunt can still act circles around everybody, she needs a
>> bigger role
Hopefully she'll also get better lines in future episodes. That would help
her a lot.
I think the best thing to do would be to write CBS with our grievances,
suggestions, and thanking them for putting "real" sf on a network. I know
this was probably hacked out in time to beat DS9 and B5, but maybe with fan
support something can be made from it.
Joseph Poutre
jpoutre@shearson.com
------------------------------
Date: 10 Jan 93 02:22:42 GMT
From: microm!kevin@gedlab.allied.com (Kevin Price)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Space Rangers
Psuedo-science-fiction possible? The writers of this show obviously
believe that Battlestar Galactica was the definitive sci-fi experience,
because we get all of those old worn out launch sequences and cliched
ripped-directly-out-of-a-western dialogue. I couldn't believe how bad this
series pilot was!
Now that we have seen a couple different versions of possible future
societies, let's compare: Star Trek: Next Generation is too clean and
orderly. Nobody wants for anything. Every need is met. This is the high
road.
In Space Rangers we get the opposite end of the future-society spectrum.
Kind of a Mad Max gets a Spaceship scenario. This seems a little
depressing to me. If that collection of freaks is the best of the best,
why bother trying to defend the others? Isn't it obvious that they have
lost the war on drugs already?
How about that boring docking sequence? They were so proud of that they
had to show it to us twice!
And the babe pilot: Knowing her crew as well as she must, would she be
comfortable flying the ship in such a vulnerable position? I think not!
What's the deal with residual UV radiation? What kind of science is that?
Kevin Price
Micro Maintenance
2465 West 12th Street #6
Tempe, Arizona 85281
kevin@microm.tnet.com
!asuvax!ennews!telesys!microm!kevin
------------------------------
End of SF-LOVERS Digest
***********************
Today's Topics:
Television - Space Rangers (11 msgs)
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Date: 7 Jan 93 20:32:18 GMT
From: rck1@ellis.uchicago.edu (roberta chi-woon kwong)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: "Space Rangers" minor comments
Possible minor SPOILERS
Well, I tuned into this last night merely out of mild curiosity, and I
actually found myself enjoying it. "Deep and meaningful" it isn't, but for
a little action and escapism, it suits me just fine.
The sets and ambiance were quite nice, especially in the scenes taking
place at headquarters (then again, I watched this on a b&w set). I liked
Linda Hunt's character right away, and no one else's character turned me
off. In a multi-main-character series, character development is difficult
to introduce fully in just the first episode; merely general impressions of
their characters, so I'm content to wait a bit for that. (Too bad they
offed the android so early, though :-)
If I miss an episode, I won't die, but it's a fun way to liven up a
Wednesday eveing.
Robin C. Kwong
------------------------------
Date: 7 Jan 93 21:30:10 GMT
From: sdr57@cas.org
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Re: _Space Rangers_
jlpicard@austin.ibm.com writes:
>Ouch! Piloting that ship looks _damned_ uncomfortable, lying on your
>stomach with your arms outstretched and your head raised.
For what it's worth...
A number of designs for high speed aircraft included prone pilot positions.
It can improve acceleration tolerance.
Stanley Roberts
------------------------------
Date: 7 Jan 93 22:20:15 GMT
From: rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu (Michael Rawdon)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Grade Report: Space Rangers
SPOILERS for the premiere of Space Rangers
"Cops in space", take fifty-three.
Much like "Mann And Machine", this series begins with the premise that what
American TV really needs is more cop shows, and proceeds to demonstrate
that it doesn't really have much of an idea of how to do a good science
fiction show. (Lord knows that V and Space: 1999 weren't the greatest
entries in science fiction television, but Space Rangers isn't even in
their class.)
Not only do we NOT need more cop shows, but we certainly don't need one
about a bunch of "misfits" whose equipment doesn't work half the time.
This concept was tired from the word "go".
The storyline in the premiere was very patchy, ranging from competent to
garbage. It's hard to envision a much sillier subplot than the one
involving Ringer. He looked silly, he acted silly, and the resolution was
hysterical. Who writes this stuff, anyway?
As for Our Heroes, well, they're a mixed bag. Doc, the pilot and the
general's son are all throw-away characters, I think. (The woman looks
suspiciously Vulcan, though she certainly doesn't act that way.) Boon is a
stereotype: Nothing terribly offensive, but nothing very exciting either.
(He even comes with the obligatory ex-wife.) The one bright spot is the
empathic alien, who seemed well-written, well-acted, and he and Boon make a
pretty good tag-team (or at least look like they *could*). I might stick
around for a few episodes just to see if they do anything with him.
There were a couple of other bright spots, too. One was the special
effects. While they suffered greatly from overuse of stock footage, what
footage there was was quite impressive. One might argue that the
spaceships behaved too much like planes in an atmosphere, but I think
that's a necessary evil in order to make the space shots interesting. And
I think they were MUCH better than the stiff collection of
half-computerized hunks of metal we're stuck with on Star Trek: The Next
Generation. The miscellaneous effects were well-done, too. This show does
seem to know how to USE its SFX (unlike ST:TNG, where they're just window
dressing so we can all gosh-wow at how big their budget is). In a similar
vein, I liked the sets.
The direction was a notch up from TNG, too, though only a notch. The music
was rather bland. I had trouble picking out the melodies in the opening
credits, of all things!
Obviously, this episode set up some elements to be dealt with in the
future, none of which I liked. The Friendly Neighborhood Crimelord seemed
completely worthless (and the scenes involving him entirely gratuitous,
serving no real purpose in the plot). And the Liason From Central Making A
Mess Of Things is also decidedly uninteresting.
I think that the way to go here is to stop with the faulty equipment stuff,
jettison the crimelord and the Liason From Central, and focus more on our
heroes and their missions. More importantly, to try to build some sort of
coherent backdrop in their sector: Visit a few planets, build a small
recurring group of aliens (and humans) who live there, introduce us to the
political arena perhaps, and investiage our characters' backgrounds. Make
it more than just cops-n-robbers in space. Otherwise it risks becoming a
hodge-podge with a muddy backdrop a la V and ST:TNG.
This premiere was largely a disaster, though, an indication that they're on
the wrong track - when they're on any track at all. I give it a few points
for its handfuls of promising bits, but that's about all I can muster. If
there isn't substantial improvement across-the-board in a few episodes, I'm
out of here.
Grade: D
P.S.: Did anyone catch if this episode had a title, a la TNG, or was it
untitled?
Michael Rawdon
University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Department
Madison, WI
rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 93 06:18:38 GMT
From: spice@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Re: Space Rangers
I can't believe that ANYBODY liked this show. The story stunk, the acting
stunk, the characters stunk, the special effects stunk and on and on and
on. Shame on CBS for trying to foist this utter piece of drek on the SF
audience. Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, Space 1999 , at their worst
weren't as bad as this trash. Hell, even the A-Team was better than Space
Rangers. Space Rangers sucks a billion dead bunnies through a straw.
Scott Corley
spice@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 93 05:40:09 GMT
From: caliban@cybernet.cse.fau.edu (James)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Space Rangers
It's been over 24 hours since I had the misfortune to watch the premiere
of "Space Rangers." What can I say? I had to flush the cassette down the
toilet and wash my hands twice...
I'm afraid I found the show essentially without redeeming features. The
first thing which struck me was the fact that everyone in the episode was
white, including the robot and the aliens. (Does anyone remember the
scene, in Ben Bova's novel _Kinsman_, in which the first Black astronaut
grumbles about flesh tone Band-Aids [TM]?) (And, yes, I know there was a
token non-white character; he was a cliche-style martial artist with mystic
powers. Big deal - I couldn't even tell if he was supposed to be an alien
or an oriental human.)
I was also struck by the lack of originality in the plot. Smuggling a
drug? Smuggling a drug _which is a white powder_! For the love of Ghu,
why couldn't they invent an original vice, or at least use, say,
wireheading or dreamgames or holosex?
I was also disappointed that the "heroes" of this farce turned out to be
Luddite technophobes, preaching against the evils of artificial
intelligence, as well as losing their tempers like a bunch of insecure
twits at every opportunity - it seemed like half the dialogue consisted of
bickering and sneering and ranting, none of it very interesting or
appealing.
I won't even mention the lack of characterization, background, or
scientific accuracy in the episode. (Bonus question for those scoring at
home: which galaxy was the villain from, and why did he bother to come all
the way here, and who cares?) Nor the lack of intelligence on the part of
the Rangers who discussed confidential information in the elevator of the
villain's headquarters - I guess the only appropriate adversary for lawmen
this dumb is a criminal too stupid to monitor the conversation of intruders
_whom he knows are in his hideout_.
All together an all-too-stupid show, to which I have devoted far too much
time.
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 93 10:57:29 GMT
From: mmcalees@cs16.uvic.ca (Michael McAleese)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Re: Space Rangers !!Spoilers (I guess)!!
pjm6z@kelvin.seas.Virginia.EDU (Dave Lister) writes:
>Plot points of the pilot of Space Rangers discussed below:
>
>1) They used computers to draw the ship of the Space Rangers. Thus we
> never got to see the kind of shot a model can give (my guess is that
> the ship design isn't quite completely drawn or finished). They did
> the Hope Fort (or whatever) in computer animation as well making it
> almost too cartoony.
Minor quibble. Most (all?) of Doctor Who had execrable special effects,
but you overlooked it for the story. This is the sort of thing that builds
up annoyance over time with me, we'll have to see how it goes.
> 2) They had to put in a plot point of humans better than machines.
> However, when the time came for the android to fail it was so
> ridiculous that my father and I were left laughing. Seriously, my 486
> could analyze all the parts that the bad guy divided into. This is
> supposed to be taking place in the 22nd century, we have mutli-process
> computers now. You mean to tell me the android couldn't process more
> than one input or task at once?
A hokey premise, right from the old Star Trek bin. Still, I could
swallow it without too much grimacing. I've been around computers that
crash creatively when given unanticipated input to rule it out. I did like
the alien using his mutating powers as a defense, and he did seem somewhat
surprised that his desperate defense had discombobulated the droid.
> 3) This goes along with the second point. If this is so many years in
> the future that we have outposts on distant planets and have
> contacted and befriended different aliens, our "police" would not
> have the same semi-automatic or automatic guns we do now. Strapping
> a flashlight onto the gun doesn't make it a futuristic weapon. I was
> willing to overlook this until the guy was boxing up the droid with a
> hammer and nails.
For the guns actually, no. Projectile weapons are a very efficient
method to impart kinetic energy to a foe, and chemical storage for the
propellant is also very efficient. Energy weapons have all sorts of
problems inherent in the nature of beaming energy at a target. I don't
think projectile weapons will *ever* die out, any more than the hammer has.
I'll go with you on the pathetic crating of the android though. Couldn't
"FOAM-TEC" come up with a better crate?
> 4) The acting. This was absolutely horrible. Everyone seems to comment
> that the main characters need to have conflict amongst themselves to
> make their situation more exciting. Maybe, but their conflicts and
> arguments came off as over played whining.
Standard network quality, I thought. This was a show that was patched
up, when someone high up said "Give me a science fiction show by spring!"
Unlike Babylon-5 which has been a five year labour of love, or even DS9
which has been done by people who know how to produce a quality sf show.
Michael McAleese
mmcalees@csr.uvic.ca
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 93 13:29:17 GMT
From: rrheaume@emr1.emr.ca (Roberta Rheaume (CPB))
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Re: Budget cuts..
I know there are budget cuts, I work for the government and that is all I
hear all day. I really resent having to listen to it on a SF TV show,
(Space Rangers) where I go to escape. At least if things will get worse or
stay the same in the future, a show should have a decent story line, such
as Brave New World or 1984. This show was not showing anyone's idea of the
future, just regurgitating the news, which is always full of budget cuts
and drug smuggling. Perhaps they should have hired Peter Jensen to be the
hero and Geraldo to be the droid. Sally Jessy Raphael could take Linda
Hunt's place.
Roberta
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 93 13:04:44 GMT
From: ghost@openage.openage.com (Glenn Host)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Re: Space Rangers
jjfink@skcla.monsanto.com writes:
>crunch@hogbbs.scol.pa.us (Travis Prebble) writes:
>[SPOILERS toward the end]
>From a character standpoint:
> Boon is pretty much generic HERO
Even though I am a Star Trek fan I prefere a 'Han Solo' style leader
compared to a 'Kirk/Picard' style leader so I was pleased but my
development is needed.
> The woman pilot is interesting, as she is competent, attractive,
> and strong without being bitchy
Attractive? My wife asked if it was a man or a woman. :)
> The alien character has some potential. I liked the interplay between
> him and the android.
Personally I have been surprised that this has not been done before - an
Asian actor playing an alien.
> The guy with the metal arm is pretty dull. Once the android is gone,
> there may be a better place for him.
I question that headquarters did not know how many spare parts the guy was
loaded with but maybe he has a friend in Headquarters who cleaned up his
records.
Glenn E. Host
Reston, VA
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 93 21:10:27 GMT
From: bole@hmivax.humgen.upenn.edu (Greg Bole)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Re: Grade Report: Space Rangers
rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu (Michael Rawdon) writes:
> The one bright spot is the empathic alien, who seemed well-written,
> well-acted, and he and Boon make a pretty good tag-team (or at least look
> like they *could*). I might stick around for a few episodes just to see
> if they do anything with him.
Wow, everyone seems to like this alien guy...I thought he was the most
offensive of the whole bunch. Just from looking at him, and then as soon
as he opened his mouth it seemed like the powers that be reached back into
an early Western and grabbed themselves a "Heap big Injun Warrior".
And for all you people whining about how much you hate ST:TNG, he was a
direct meld of Deanna Troi, Worf, and Geordi LaForge.
Lines like "Captain! I feel hostility!" or "It was a pleasure to speak in
my own language. I would love to exchange poetry with you." seemed to
come directly from a "Worst Of Star Trek Dialogue" manual.
Greg Bole
bole@hmivax.humgen.upenn.edu
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 93 21:19:48 GMT
From: jpoutre@shearson.com (Joe Poutre)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Re: Space Rangers
ghost@openage.openage.com (Glenn Host) writes:
>jjfink@skcla.monsanto.com writes:
>>crunch@hogbbs.scol.pa.us (Travis Prebble) writes:
>>[SPOILERS toward the end]
>> The woman pilot is interesting, as she is competent, attractive,
>> and strong without being bitchy
>Attractive? My wife asked if it was a man or a woman. :)
_I_ thought she was attractive. I like tall women. :-) At least she didn't
scream in terror every five seconds. I think her relationship with Doc
could be worked into a "friendly" ongoing quarrel. Of course, that is also
a cliche, but maybe she owes him her life, or something.
Oog. Ack, ptooi! Maybe not.
>> The alien character has some potential. I liked the interplay between
>> him and the android.
>Personally I have been surprised that this has not been done before - an
>Asian actor playing an alien.
Actually, it has been done, at least on film. On MST3K I saw a movie with
Asian actors, including the guy from Quincy, M.D., playing an alien
species.
>> Linda Hunt can still act circles around everybody, she needs a
>> bigger role
Hopefully she'll also get better lines in future episodes. That would help
her a lot.
I think the best thing to do would be to write CBS with our grievances,
suggestions, and thanking them for putting "real" sf on a network. I know
this was probably hacked out in time to beat DS9 and B5, but maybe with fan
support something can be made from it.
Joseph Poutre
jpoutre@shearson.com
------------------------------
Date: 10 Jan 93 02:22:42 GMT
From: microm!kevin@gedlab.allied.com (Kevin Price)
Reply-to: sf-lovers-tv@Rutgers.Edu
Subject: Space Rangers
Psuedo-science-fiction possible? The writers of this show obviously
believe that Battlestar Galactica was the definitive sci-fi experience,
because we get all of those old worn out launch sequences and cliched
ripped-directly-out-of-a-western dialogue. I couldn't believe how bad this
series pilot was!
Now that we have seen a couple different versions of possible future
societies, let's compare: Star Trek: Next Generation is too clean and
orderly. Nobody wants for anything. Every need is met. This is the high
road.
In Space Rangers we get the opposite end of the future-society spectrum.
Kind of a Mad Max gets a Spaceship scenario. This seems a little
depressing to me. If that collection of freaks is the best of the best,
why bother trying to defend the others? Isn't it obvious that they have
lost the war on drugs already?
How about that boring docking sequence? They were so proud of that they
had to show it to us twice!
And the babe pilot: Knowing her crew as well as she must, would she be
comfortable flying the ship in such a vulnerable position? I think not!
What's the deal with residual UV radiation? What kind of science is that?
Kevin Price
Micro Maintenance
2465 West 12th Street #6
Tempe, Arizona 85281
kevin@microm.tnet.com
!asuvax!ennews!telesys!microm!kevin
------------------------------
End of SF-LOVERS Digest
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