Seventy degrees in Denver in January and temperatures here in Merida, next-door to Central America, in the low teens lately, plus persistent rainy days in the off-season - do you suppose that climatically something truly is afoot?
Okay, on to part two of tripping through the pages of the past in Starlog. Some incidental observations off the top. Firstly, it's interesting how quickly |I noticed that there was nary a URL or Facebook, Twitter, Google, Reddit or other social media icon in sight on these pages. Further info etc. was invariably to be obtained by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope (SASE) to a given address in snail-mail land and allowing " six to eight weeks for delivery ". Occasionally there was a 1-800 number available. Hard to believe we did business that way, isn't it.
I thought of that earlier today as we were making our way across town in the old part of Merida and turned a corner to behold a scruffy shop displaying almost 20 used typewriters and offering repairs. I've seen more than one small hole-in-the-wall type business where an old Remington Rand or Olympia perched where one would expect to find a CPU, keyboard and monitor, and was obviously in daily use. A couple of shops further on sat one of the many, dingy "Internet cafes" that dot the retail landscape here in the old city. Like the song says : " Let's do the time-warp again!"
The cover stories for the Feb. 1985 issue dealt with Dune, the movie and V the TV series. At the time this issue went to print the movie was about to be released. Two "sneak previews" in Los Angeles had been less than encouraging. " Boring" and " confusing" had been the most frequent responses.
I count myself among the legions of devotees of the print series, who were underwhelmed by the movie adaptation. Perhaps, I figured, the novel was just so grand and all-encompassing in its sweep that it couldn't have been expected to make the jump to the screen without losing a great deal in translation. Only two of the many reviews I read were positive and both took a serendipity angle - i.e. the movie, which they saw first, led them back to the books, which they were enthralled by.
In his "Lastword" column, editor Howard Zimmerman related that he had suspected possible serious trouble as far back as the previous summer when the magazine had spoke with Frank Herbert about the just completed screenplay.
Herbert announced, as Zimmerman tells it, " that the script had his unqualified approval - and that audiences would be leaving theatres trying to figure out what parts of the novel had not been included. The author was positively ecstatic about this development. "
At that point Zimmerman admitted to having been " really worried" He felt " that the task of the screenwriter would be to streamline the story, to eliminate some of the plot threads which enrich the book, so that the film would be understandable - and accessible - to non-Dune freaks."
We know how things eventually played out, alas.
Finally, on the Dune front, we're in somewhat of a Dune-ish scenario as we blog. Bottled water is a way of life here and all our drinking, cooking and smaller hygiene related water needs are accomplished with water that is most conveniently utilized in 20 litre bottles. The neighborhood store or "bodega" we use is literally around the corner but is out of water until the end of the week. So we are conserving until then. It reminded me of just how valuable water was in the Dune world and how lives were lost and battles fought for control over it. And in just a small way it makes me realize how utterly spoiled I am, water-wise, having spent my life, thus far, in the bosom of The Great Lakes.
Alrighty then, back to Feb., 1985. The other cover story, from David Hutchinson, looks in depth at the SFX behind V in both its TV miniseries and weekly TV series incarnations. " Big SF/fantasy films, " Hutchinson points out up front, " require millions of dollars and years to produce; however, a TV movie and especially a series does not operate on anything resembling that scale. " The rest of the article looks, in some depth at "...how big-budget effects were being produced... without the big budget."
The key to getting champagne SFX on a gingerale budget is to use people who are the best at what they do. In this case that's Director of Photography David Stipes and Effects supervisor Richard Bennet. The article details a number of the processes used to create the effects including liberal use of stop-motion animation, matte photography, motion control and high speed cameras. Here in 2014 I'm thinking that most of these tactile and mechanical means have been superceded by CGI and accomplished by a phalanx of animators tied to their keyboards.
It's kinda cool to read about some of the hands-on processes including building miniature sets to be populated by a python with stage fright and, in one instance, an adventurous iguana known as " Fast Eddie ". Alas, Eddie's best scene ended up on the cutting room floor for the episode in question but he was a pro.
Who knows, any one of the iguanas I've seen slowly waddling along the roof of an old building hereabouts could be the grandson ( 80 times removed ) of Fast Eddie from Hollywood.
Sometimes the sheer simplicity involved in setting up some parts of a composite shot is surprising. The starfield that appears in the opening montage for each week of the series, wherein the pull back eventually reveals the saucer fleet of the "Visitors" hiding behind the moon (see article above ) was created as follows:
" An eight-foot-high by fifteen-foot-wide frame was covered with heavy duty aluminum foil and painted black. Tiny pinholes were punched through the foil, which was then backed with tracing paper and lit from behind with stage lights. "
Today, I'm thinking, a CG technician at the keyboard would just open a stock file for a starfield and then populate it with other images. It would look as effective but it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun to create.
I see that you took a wee trip to the Starlog trove at The Internet Archives as well, Carolyn. You may have noticed as you flipped through that your favorite Doctor was well represented on the pages. I saw a couple of full pages and some partial pages offering various item including a Leatherbound edition of "Dr. Who : A Celebration - Two Decades Through Time and Space", a twenty year commemorative gathering of all things related to the series. It was available for $75.00 ( that's 75 1985 dollars ! ) I'm thinking here in 2015 its appreciated in value significantly.
You may even have this book on your wall at home or at the college!
Okay, I believe it's time to take my leave of Starlog issue #91 But first one more item - I wonder if Tom Selleck includes this image ( from another fairly forgettable flick - Michael Crichton's " Runaway " ) in his C.V. ? Don't think it would go too well with a Hawaiian shirt and a Ferrari, though. Plus, I'm thinking Higgins would have certainly released Zeus and Apollo on him if he appeared at the estate in this quasi- S&M getup.
I did enjoy this wee adventure in 1985 but it's time to get back to the future here.
"Wormhole Digital Publishing" certainly has a presence as well, Carolyn. Oddly enough, when you mentioned a bit back that "Electric Wormhole" had already been taken I googled it and, son of a gun, it presented me with Wormhole Electric as one of my first choices.
I intend to try on a limerick or three in the next little bit. After all, I'm on " Mexican time" now.
Finally, eighteen words from Mr. Twain about, oddly enough, words and more specifically the lack thereof.
The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.
'Til next time.
Don
All images of Starlog magazine pages sourced at The Internet Archives.
All other images sourced from Google Images
Fig. 1 - www.beliefnet.com
Fig. 3 - www. refinedguy.com
Fig. 4 - www.moongadget.com
Fig. 6 - periodicoensuma.blogspot.com
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