Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
03/12/21 -- Vol. 39, No. 37, Whole Number 2162
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, *mleeper@optonline.net *
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, *eleeper@optonline.net *
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Topics:
Mini Reviews, Part 9 (APOCALYPSE '45, THIS IS NOT A MOVIE,
DESERT ONE) (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper)
Space News (comments by Gregory Frederick)
More Space News
This Week's Reading (ENEMY MINE) (book and film comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 9 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper)
Here is the ninth batch of mini-reviews, three documentaries about
war.
APOCALYPSE '45: This documentary looks like it uses colorized
newsreel footage, but it is actually restored color footage.
(There probably was some overlap between this film and the
television series "World War II in Color".) It is a look from the
beginning of the Pacific War to the end. Among other things, the
film examines the motives of the people dropping bombs on
civilians: are the victims evil because of what their government
was doing or had them do? The largest segment of the film is saved
for Okinawa, although Hiroshima was also covered at length.
Released 08/14/20; not yet available on streaming. Rating: high +2
(-4 to +4)
THIS IS NOT A MOVIE: In comparing reality to FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
(his inspiration to become a journalist), journalist Robert Fisk
says, "This is not a movie," meaning journalists don't always help
get the bad guys. Fisk believes that news must be seen before
being believed, and he does not believe it is required to give
equal time to each side. His expressed preference is to give time
to the victims (though perhaps the coverage of 9/11 shown does not
follow this policy. A large section of the film is spent on the
massacre at the infamous Sabra and Shatila Refugee Camp. Released
09/09/20; available on Amazon Prime streaming. Rating: high +2
(-4 to -4)
DESERT ONE: This tells of the major event of the Carter presidency,
the Iran hostage crisis. The film uses comic-book style
illustrations to recount the events. Elsewhere it has a fairly
standard documentary style, and at times the incidents are genuinely
moving. Released 08/21/20; available on Amazon Prime and on DVD
from Netflix. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4)
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Space News (comments by Gregory Frederick)
The latest SpaceX test (SN10) worked; except that the rocket
exploded a few minutes after it did land successfully. They have
more work ahead but they are making progress. The video linked
below shows that only three of the crush-able landing legs deployed
and the rocket was still coming down too fast. The large landing
impact force probably caused fuel lines and/or a fuel tank to break
causing the explosion and fire.
Video at *https://www.youtube.com/watch?vÏ9mdMI1qxM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?vÏ9mdMI1qxM*.
Also, I recently watched DESTINATION MOON (I have not seen it in
years) and as I watched it, I was reminded that their Luna rocket-
ship was using a similar propulsive landing method as Space X will
use on the Moon with their Lunar Starship. I realize that almost
all 1950's Sci-Fi film rockets landed this way (except for WHEN
WORLDS COLLIDE, CONQUEST OF SPACE and probably some others) but it
just is so interesting that 1950's Sci-Fi films seemed to have the
right idea about landing large rockets on the Moon. [-gf]
Mark replies:
I'm convinced. Here's my two bucks. [-mrl]
Greg responds:
I read where George Pal and Walter Lantz were friends and so Lantz
would then his character to Pal's film. [-gf]
Mark observes:
That seems to be just what happened.
And don't forget Pal worked Puppetoons into The TIME MACHINE. He
was loyal to his friends. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: More Space News
CNN reports, "For [Octavia Butler's] pioneering work in the world
of sci-fi, NASA named the site on Mars where the Perseverance rover
touched down "Octavia E. Butler Landing."
"Her guiding principle, 'When using science, do so accurately,' is
what the science team at NASA is all about. Her work continues to
inspire today's scientists and engineers across the globe--all in
the name of a bolder, more equitable future for all," said Thomas
Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate, in a statement. [-CNN/NASA]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book and film comments by Evelyn
C. Leeper)
Our discussion group for March did the novella "Enemy Mine" by
Barry B. Longyear and the film ENEMY MINE. (We did not cover the
novelization by David Gerrold and Longyear.) The novella was
written in 1979 and seems rather cliched now. The original
attitudes of Davidge and Jeriba seem to be patterned after
attitudes from the Vietnam War, and everything seems just too
convenient, plotwise. (For starters, they seem very similar
biologically, and learn each other's languages much more quickly
than two totally different species with two totally different
speech organs.)
I found it revealing that the Black actor plays the alien--it might
have been more interesting the other way around, but it *was* 1985.
The Earthman tries to kill the Drac, but later the Drac saves the
Earthman, so the Drac is in some sense the peacemaker.
The movie uses meteorites instead of waves, probably for budget
reasons as well as dramatic effect. The movie also has weird
creatures, but no snakes.
I found the Pepsi product placement a hundred years in the future
unconvincing. (In the novelization, it's Coca-Cola; in the novel
it doesn't exist.)
In addition to the echoes of the Vietnam War, there is a comment on
the repreoductive rights debate: "With you humans, birth is a
matter of choice, but with us Drax, birth just happens." [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
*mleeper@optonline.net *
I used to look at [my dog] Smokey and think,
'If you were a little smarter you could tell me
what you were thinking,' and he'd look at me like
he was saying, 'If you were a little smarter,
I wouldn't have to.'
--Fred Jungclaus