From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man) Date: Fri, 6 Jan 89 17:27:27 pst Subject: Re: Flying machines
I just realized that the aliens are doing a poor job of trying to hunt down their flying machines. There must be hundreds of these machines stashed away in government hideouts all over the world.
Actually, I believe it has been mentioned that all the others were dismantled or destroyed. In "The Second Seal," there were pieces of ships in a couple of the rooms. The aliens could accumulate enough parts to rebuild a ship or two, though.
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (Smokey the Bear In Drag) Date: Sat, 7 Jan 89 00:14:15 pst Subject: I wonder... (SPOILERS)
Spoilers for the episode with the a-bomb (missed the title...)
I wonder if the Russian bombs are going to have different designs now? I was waiting for her to say something like, "Oh! That's a good idea!" while she was looking at the bomb...
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (Brain Death Incarnate) Date: Sat, 7 Jan 89 00:17:02 pst Subject: Ten-Four Productions address?
Does anyone out there have an address or phone number for Ten-Four Productions? If I can get in touch with someone on the production team of WOtW, I will summarize some messages from this list and forward them there... They might be interested in the novelty of a mailing list dedicated to their show. Maybe we could even give them UUCP software for one of their computers, and let them participate directly... (OK, that's wishful thinking. 'Twould be neat, tho.)
From: homxc!pjk@att.att.com Date: Wed, 11 Jan 09:35:42 1989 Subject: Alien Warship Models?
Has anyone know if models of the alien warship are available for purchase, either complete or model-builder type?
If so, who, where, and how much!
Paul Kemp
att!homxc!pjk
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (Games Manager and All-Around Great Guy) Date: Wed, 11 Jan 89 09:48:27 pst Subject: Re: Alien Warship Models?
For the benefit of those who've joined the list since this message last time (apologies if you've seen it already), here's the address for Lunar Models. They sell lots of science fiction models, including the Martian warship. I have sent away for their catalog; I will send a message to the list when it arrives.
-Steve
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From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (I'm not a TV, but I go to the doctor) Date: Wed, 11 Jan 89 16:17:00 pst Subject: Got my Lunar Models catalog...
It's a lot smaller than I had expected. They do have the Martian war machine ("Includes two Martians!") as well as a couple Star Trek movie models (Reliant and the Bird of Prey) and lots of "Lost In Space" models...
The war machine model costs $54.95 and is described as a "VF & Resin Model Kit."
From: homxc!pjk@att.att.com Date: Thu, 12 Jan 13:23:04 1989 Subject: Lunar Models Alien Warship Question
Do the two aliens that come with the model look like the 1953 movie alien or the 1988 series aliens?
Also, do any of the parts of the model glow? If not, is it translucent in the proper spots (front dome and wing tips, the "gooseneck" eye) so that lights could be installed inside?
Paul Kemp att!homxc!pjk
From: smq (Robert Chansky) Date: Fri, 13 Jan 89 20:12:01 PST Subject: well,
you heard it here first, folks... they're from Mortex.
From: thomas.wbst@xerox.com Date: 19 Jan 89 12:55 EST Subject: Original WotW
In case anybody is interested and doesn't know, the original War of the Worlds movie is (was?) being shown in Cinemax this month.
Good time to record it if you don't have it already, or have it taped from an aired broadcast (like I did, with commercials).
Tim
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (A Mad Hatchet Murderer) Date: Thu, 19 Jan 89 11:10:00 pst Subject: "Epiphany" writer
Did anyone else notice who had writing credit for "Epiphany"? It was none other than Sylvia Van Buren. She's Harrison's adopted mother in the show, and the female lead in the original movie. Do you suppose that this is the writer's real name, and it's just a coincidence? Or are they playing tricks on us? (Or, heh, is it all REAL, and is she writing this from her room in the mental hospital???)
-Steve
From: Jim "The Big Dweeb" Griffith <griffith%con.Berkeley.EDU@berkeley.edu> Date: Thu, 19 Jan 89 11:32:30 -0800 Subject: Re: "Epiphany" writer
Nah, the last episode of this show will reveal that this whole thing has just been a dream of hers...
Jim
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From: koreth@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (A Mad Hatchet Murderer) Subject: "Epiphany" writerDid anyone else notice who had writing credit for "Epiphany"? It was none other than Sylvia Van Buren. She's Harrison's adopted mother in the show, and the female lead in the original movie. Do you suppose that this is the writer's real name, and it's just a coincidence? Or are they playing tricks on us? (Or, heh, is it all REAL, and is she writing this from her room in the mental hospital???)
-Steve
From: thomas.wbst@xerox.com Date: 19 Jan 89 12:58 EST Subject: Aliens and bacteria
As we all know, the aliens were "killed" by bacteria during the first invasion (alright, put into hibernation).
Are they or aren't they affected by it now?
If they aren't, they how come the leaders are wearing those silly suits.
If they are, they how come the aliens out "in the real world" aren't getting killed off by the bacteria?
Tim
From: Jim "The Big Dweeb" Griffith <griffith%con.Berkeley.EDU@berkeley.edu> Date: Thu, 19 Jan 89 13:34:26 -0800 Subject: Re: Aliens and bacteria
Simple. The aliens found that treating themselves with radiation killed off the bacteria. This is why aliens in human bodies develop bad sores on their bodies after a while, eventually killing the alien/human. The alien leaders, in human bodies, are in those suits to prevent the radiation from killing the human body. The suit uses liquid nitrogen as a coolant for the body.
Jim
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From: thomas.wbst@xerox.com Subject: Aliens and bacteriaAs we all know, the aliens were "killed" by bacteria during the first invasion (alright, put into hibernation).
Are they or aren't they affected by it now?
If they aren't, they how come the leaders are wearing those silly suits.
If they are, they how come the aliens out "in the real world" aren't getting killed off by the bacteria?
Tim
From: don willits <willitd@jacobs.cs.orst.edu> Date: Thu, 19 Jan 89 13:58:13 PST Subject: Re: Aliens Bacteria & Stuff
Yes, the aliens are affected by bacteria. In the latest episode "Among the Phillistines" (sp?) the alian infiltrator (name?) was suffering from sores along his body. He also was radioactive that the radiation tags Norton was brandishing were saturated. Norton assumed they were defective until he realized there was an "alien among us..."
The radiation kills off the harmful bacteria, and the sores are presumably either a side effect of the radiation or the result of inefficient ability to "merge" with a human bacteria.
I really liked this last one, finally, a military operations that was actually well thought out and something I would consider very likely to occur in "real life" if we were fighting aliens in that kind of a war.
I also found a nice touch Norton's use of the staff. Ever since they re-wrote the Ham Tyler character in V so that he *WAS NOT* in a wheel chair I've been hoping television would show someone with a handicap able to effectively fight against a "non-handicapped" person...
(Ken Johnson, the creator of V, originally wrote Ham Tyler pretty much exactly the way he appeared on TV *EXCEPT* Tyler was paralyzed from the waist down. The network kicked Johnson off, preferring to sacrafice his quality writing in exchange for A-Team style plotting and felt that disabled people would take offense to a royal bastard in a wheelchair...)
But where the hell did this *Mortex* come from? And how do we know about when the actual invasion is due? And what happened to the ambush, as soon as Colonel Ironhorse & company headed home, we didn't hear about the impending ambush again...
Ah well, at least it was *big* step in the right direction! I just hope this weeks episode is better than the preview made it sound. A repitition of the thirty plus years old "Rock and Roll corrupts the soul..." theme isn't exactly very appealing...
Don Willits
willitd@cs.orst.edu
"Slow Painful Death to Network Executives Who Butcher/Cancel Sci Fi Shows...!"
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (God) Date: Thu, 19 Jan 89 14:34:11 pst Subject: Re: Aliens Bacteria & Stuff
I just hope this weeks episode is better than the preview made it sound. A repitition of the thirty plus years old "Rock and Roll corrupts the soul..." theme isn't exactly very appealing...
TV Guide lists the episode somewhat differently: "The aliens brainwash a microbiologist to help immunize them to Earth's bacteria." (That's from memory...) Of course, both stories could be taking place at the same time. But TV Guide is inaccurate rather frequently of late...
From: ucbvax.berkeley.edu!uwvax!harvard!stepstone.com!aad (Anthony A. Datri) Date: Fri, 20 Jan 89 15:14:16 EST Subject: bacteria
As I recall, "radiation" killed the bacteria, allowing them to wake up, but also making them radioactive (the good guys have to have a way to detect them (without micro-changes in air density, of course), and this same radioactivity makes them get hot and decay, and the suits are for cooling. I think the aliens "in the real world" decay rapidly, and as such don't stay there for long, or they switch bodies often.
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (Pi Enthusiast) Date: Sun, 22 Jan 89 14:20:39 pst Subject: Music in "Choirs Of Angels"
They used two pieces of music in this week's episode. One of them was the closing theme of the show; did anyone recognize the other?
(Also, did anyone else notice the body in the trunk of the aliens' limo? Was it the musician, or just some unlucky stiff who happened to be there?)
-Steve
From: don willits <willitd@jacobs.cs.orst.edu> Date: Sun, 22 Jan 89 15:03:14 PST Subject: "Choirs of Angels"
I liked it, on a scale of 1 to 10 about a 6.5 (With "Among the Phillistines" at a series high of 7.0)
Again, some loose ends hanging, like what did they do with the alien tissue samples, what finally happened to the old Doctor (is he ok?), and just the bloody "convienant timing" with which the heros stumbled onto the aliens.
But major blunder of the episode: Why the heck didn't Ironhorse send Suzzanne some reinforcements? This was the perfect opportunity to either capture the aliens or plant a transmitter on the "serum" (Ok, put it in something other than a clear bottle with which to conceal the homing beacon!).
Actually, they seem to be improving, hopefully they can shake off some of the bad plotting resulting from the Writers Strike... This show has so much potential (more than most of the other bad sf shows with the possible exception of V)...
Questions: Anybody out there know where to write too the producers directly?
Would anybody out there be interested in compiling a "Things we'd like to see list..." to submit to the Producers...
And how many people are on this list and where are they? (i.e. is anybody out there listening...?))
Don Willits
willitd@cs.orst.edu
(I started a rough draft of this letter which I tried to throw away, if you received two from me, I apologize, this is the one I wanted to send...)
From: nicmad!brown%astroatc.UUCP@cs.wisc.edu (Vidiot) Date: Mon, 23 Jan 89 9:28:47 CDT Subject: Re: "Choirs of Angels"
Questions: Anybody out there know where to write too the producers directly?
The only address I have would be the Paramount address. If you send it there, it should get to them.
And how many people are on this list and where are they? (i.e. is anybody out there listening...?))
Yes!
Mike Brown
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From: nicmad!brown%astroatc.UUCP@cs.wisc.edu (Vidiot) Date: Mon, 23 Jan 89 9:26:01 CDT Subject: Re: Music in "Choirs Of Angels"
They used two pieces of music in this week's episode. One of them was the closing theme of the show; did anyone recognize the other?
No. I know they spiced up the theme song, but is there more?
(Also, did anyone else notice the body in the trunk of the aliens' limo? Was it the musician, or just some unlucky stiff who happened to be there?)
It was the limo driver.
Mike Brown
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From: calufrax@blake.acs.washington.edu (Chad Fogg) Date: Fri, 27 Jan 89 20:41:43 -0800 Subject: Only since the last episode do aliens die of ammonia?
Last week's episode "Choirs of Angles" featured some new, thought provoking facts. But one in particular that comes to mind is the fact that our heroes didn't know all along that the aliens were sensitive to ammonia. Did I miss something?
Couldn't they have found this out via some slime-analysis in an earlier episode?
-CF
BTW, I'm getting attached to the series. How is it fairing in the ratings?
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (A Mad Plastic Spoon Murderer!!!!!!!) Date: Fri, 27 Jan 89 21:38:11 -0800 Subject: Re: Only since the last episode do aliens die of ammonia?
But one in particular that comes to mind is the fact that our heroes didn't know all along that the aliens were sensitive to ammonia. Did I miss something?
I got the impression that they (or at least Suzanne) knew this all along; she states it so casually that it seems like it had to be old information.
I want to see someone squirt an alien with Windex...
From: swusrgrp!debbie <hrc!@RELAY.CS.NET,@asuvax.asu.edu:swusrgrp!debbie> Date: Fri Jan 27 14:18:58 1989 Subject: RECEIVE MESSAGE
Steve,
Got your message that I was added to the mailing list. Looking forward to tonights episode for the Colonel's line of the week.
TO LIFE IMMORTAL!
Debbie Padgett
From: nicmad!brown%astroatc.UUCP@cs.wisc.edu (Vidiot) Date: Sun, 29 Jan 89 13:44:47 CDT Subject: Re: Only since the last episode do aliens die of ammonia?
Last week's episode "Choirs of Angles" featured some new, thought provoking facts. But one in particular that comes to mind is the fact that our heroes didn't know all along that the aliens were sensitive to ammonia. Did I miss something?
No, you didn't miss anything. It is a new fact. Will they ever use it again? Who knows.
Couldn't they have found this out via some slime-analysis in an earlier episode?
Remember, it was found by accident. There are alot of chemicals to go through to try and find something that will affect the aliens.
BTW, [...] How is it fairing in the ratings?
Good question, without a good answer. February sweeps are coming up.
Mike Brown
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From: salaris@iies.ecn.purdue.edu (Steven C Salaris) Date: Mon, 30 Jan 89 10:26:11 EST
Just testing!
From: salaris@iies.ecn.purdue.edu (Steven C Salaris) Date: Mon, 30 Jan 89 09:57:58 EST
I was wondering if anyone was as perplexed as I was over this week's episode of War of the Worlds. What in the heck went on in the final sequences with the war machine and the Indian? God, I just about threw a chair through the T.V. because I got so sick of listening to that screamin' Indian.
Anyways, I liked the concept of the buried ancient warship but why was there just one and what was its original purpose (scouting vessel maybe?)? It looked like the producers wanted to hint at the style of fighting machine from the original Wells novel. I liked the tripod leg structure. Too bad that the aliens did not start to take pot shots at our heroes to get them running, I wanted to see how an old heat ray looked.
I am also curious as to how the series is doing in the ratings. If anyone can find out, please post them.
See ya later!
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TO LIFE IMMORTAL
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (Your Long-Lost Cousin) Date: Mon, 30 Jan 89 10:29:21 -0800 Subject: old warships
the aliens were going to fry the Indian; that's what I would have done. It would have been neat to see the machine walk. I'd bet that we will see the design again; they DID go to all the trouble of making the model, after all.
-Steve
From: gabe@sun.com (Gabe Camarillo) Date: Mon, 30 Jan 89 10:39:27 PST Subject: This weeks episode
I see this week's episode of War of the Worlds....and I don't understand some things.....such as how did the ancient warship get there? It did not look like the origional war ships in the movie war of the worlds. I thought in 1952 the first attack on earth was launched by the martians. So if it was an earlier model than the martian must have visited earth before.....then why did they wait to attack in 52.....wouldn't it been much easier to conquer the earth in the earily days???
just wondering???
gabe
From: Analog Daemon <cs4521as@ariel.unm.edu> Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 21:42:31 MST Subject: All...
Got another victim hooked on the show this week. 'Dust to dust' had everything a good sci-fi show needs, including an extremely enigmatic ending. Did the alien crystal on the shaman's staff hold the power or was it the shaman? (or a combination of the two)...
Personally I think the old style ship was a reserve or detached unit during the invasion. It probably had a job like guarding a cylinder when the newer ships attacked.
whoever does such things, my new (and improved!@) address is cs4521as@ariel.unm.edu. Please place that onto the list and remove csabrkap@ariel.unm.edu from the list. That should avoid the evil bounce messages when that account vanishes.
___________________________________ _________________________ / I'm not the chief, I'm the shaman.\/ cs4521as@ariel.unm.edu \ | That means I can turn you into a /\_________________________/ | toadstool any time I want. \/ The Analog Daemon \ \___________________________________/\_________________________/
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (61106000) Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 21:20:23 -0800 Subject: Re: All...
(OK, your mailing address has been updated...)
I didn't care much for the ending of "Dust to Dust." I could see it coming almost from the beginning; while that by itself isn't necessarily bad, it is when I sit there hoping I'm wrong about it.
First of all, they've introduced mysticism into the show, where none was present before (unless you count Sylvia's "psychic" powers, which they at least tried to explain pseudo-scientifically). Now all they have to do is ship Mr. Shaman out to the aliens' base and get him to cause earthquakes and flooding; end of problem. This problem will go away, in my eyes, if the aliens figure out how to use similar powers. (Note that I have nothing against mysticism as such; "Friday the 13th" is one of my favorite shows. I object to it being inserted into a show that's made an attempt to explain all the other odd things going on in a scientific way.)
Second, the main characters stand idly by while the guest stars create the problem then solve it for themselves. This story would have been almost exactly the same had Harrison and company never seen the crystal on TV.
Now for a general comment: the aliens seem to have stopped winning battles. One of the things I really loved about the show at the beginning of the season ("A Multitude Of Idols" is probably the best example) was that you never knew for sure who would win in the end. I was hoping that the aliens would get their old ship in this episode, only to have it blasted apart by the Air Force or somesuch (it didn't look like it had a shield, like the flying warships do...)
-Steve
From: ucbvax!uwvax!harvard!stepstone.com!aad@ucscc.ucsc.edu (Anthony A. Datri) Date: Wed, 1 Feb 89 09:47:56 EST Subject: dust to dust
The power was likely the shaman's. Note that he was able to do things without it.
The ship was obviously older than the '53 invasion, since it was part of the tribe's folklore. The alien's comments also would indicate that it was older, and while it did have legs, it could fly, since the humans kept saying things like "We can't let them take off!"
A couple things I don't understand: Why did the aliens completely ignore the Earth after 1953? The council is obviously still interested -- why don't they send reinforcements?
('Cause they look just like humans
In Macys or Woolworths)
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (Big Brother) Date: Thu, 2 Feb 89 00:38:54 -0800 Subject: Re: dust to dust
A couple things I don't understand: Why did the aliens completely ignore the Earth after 1953? The council is obviously still interested -- why don't they send reinforcements?
Perhaps the aliens don't have faster-than-light travel, and the main batch of colonists is four years away at whatever speed they're using. They sent an invasion fleet sufficient to take over the planet, let them set things up properly (or perhaps took a while to prepare the colony ships) and took off for Earth. So the council couldn't send reinforcements, because there aren't any left. The advocates can talk to council with regular radio transmissions, since the colony ships might only be a few light-hours away.
Comments?
From: Analog Daemon <cs4521as@ariel.unm.edu> Date: Sat, 4 Feb 89 23:14:55 MST Subject: Tonight
Twas starting to worry about the aliens never winning any battles. But this is just great!@ Not only didn't they stop the aliens from carring on thier experiments on humans but Harrison lost someone whom it seems he had truely fallen in love with. Hooked two friends on the show tonight (it is shown here 30 mins after STTNG). Frankly War of the Worlds is developing into a better show then STTNG.
___________________________________ _________________________ / Remember when we were kissing \/ cs4521as@ariel.unm.edu \ | on the street and the aliens /\_________________________/ | drove by in thier ambulance... \/ The Analog Daemon \ \___________________________________/\_________________________/
From: Jim "The Big Dweeb" Griffith <griffith%con.Berkeley.EDU@berkeley.edu> Date: Sun, 5 Feb 89 21:50:41 PST Subject: "He Feedeth Among the Lillies"
Sigh. Just when the show seemed promising...
The show seemed pointless, as nothing was accomplished by either side. The aliens didn't seem to actually discover anything, and the good guys lost.
Other problems: how many times has Ironhorse said "This JUST isn't like Harrison"?
This lady has seen countless numbers of specialists to help her, and no one else hypnotized her? Give me a break...
The plot just seemed fairly flaky. Nothing was said, shown, or even hinted at, that is of importance to the overall picture. Sigh.
Jim
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (A Mad Soup Spoon Murderer) Date: Mon, 6 Feb 89 03:18:00 -0800 Subject: Re: "He Feedeth Among the Lillies"
Wonder if the aliens will ever use their little flashlight gizmos again. Anyone else seen "Looker"? That's what it reminded me of...
From: salaris@iies.ecn.purdue.edu (Steven C Salaris) Date: Thu, 16 Feb 89 10:35:29 EST
I thought I would just drop in a line to see what happened to everyone. Was last week's episode so bad that no one wants to talk about it? I must admit that it was a bit odd. Again, the great line of "that just isn't like Harrison" was repeated. I noticed that in one scene the actors all sort of smiled when that line was spoken - they probably think it is as big of a joke as we do. I think it is WotW's version of "he's dead, Jim."
Did anyone find out how the show is doing in ratings or should I not ask?
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TO LIFE IMMORTAL
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (A Lump of Protoplasm) Date: Thu, 16 Feb 89 11:32:15 -0800 Subject: "The Prodigal Son"
(oops, this only went out to salaris the first time...)
I thought it was interesting: an episode where NOBODY won. Aliens didn't get Quinn, Quinn didn't get the "throne", humans didn't get Quinn or do much to foil the aliens.
More and more bits of alien technology seem to be accumulating; I wonder if Harrison and company can figure out how the bracelet works.
On another note, I was thinking about how the series is going to end; even if it gets renewed for three more seasons, they've given themselves a definite time limit. I bet it will end like "V" did: the real leaders arrive along with colonists, apologize for their past errors, and offer to live in peace. The Advocates will probably be made to walk the plank.
I want to see more alien ships. The modelmakers did a good job of mimicing the spirit of the original war machines with the walker in "Dust To Dust." I think what makes the ships so neat is that they look completely alien. The ships in "Battlestar: Galactica," "Star Wars," and so forth look as if they were designed by humans, but not so with the WOtW warships.
From: nicmad!brown%astroatc.UUCP@cs.wisc.edu (Vidiot) Date: Thu, 16 Feb 89 14:10:31 CDT Subject: Re: your mail
I thought I would just drop in a line to see what happened to everyone. Was last week's episode so bad that no one wants to talk about it? I must admit that it was a bit odd. Again, the great line of "that just isn't like Harrison" was repeated. I noticed that in one scene the actors all sort of smiled when that line was spoken - they probably think it is as big of a joke as we do. I think it is WotW's version of "he's dead, Jim."
I didn't think it was a bad episode. But then again I never think any of the stories are bad. Just not coherient sometimes.
Did anyone find out how the show is doing in ratings or should I not ask?
We won't know this until the sweeps are over.
Mike Brown
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From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (My feet are BIODEGRADABLE) Date: Sun, 19 Feb 89 13:15:15 -0800 Subject: did anyone notice
the writing credit for "The Meek Shall Inherit"? It was written by D. C. Fontana. Is she part of the writing staff for the show now? That wasn't all that great an episode, but she can write pretty well, so we can probably expect good things soon.
From: c9a-am@dorothy.berkeley.edu (Sean Yoda Rouse) Date: Tue, 21 Feb 89 14:27:17 PST Subject: Re: did anyone notice
D.C. Fontana gave a talk at Timecon last Summer about the show, and even mentioned that she would be writing an episode. The way she summarized it though, was that the Aliens would use homeless people for finding out more about the humans (since most humans ignore the homeless). I guess that "they" decided to modify the story a bit.
At least Ironhorse has a new team...
-Sean c9a-am@dorothy.berkeley.edu
From: nicmad!brown%astroatc.UUCP@cs.wisc.edu (Vidiot) Date: Tue, 21 Feb 89 17:51:23 CDT Subject: Synopsis information
I should start receiving the WotW synopsis information again, including all of the back issues.
Stay tuned.
Mike Brown
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From: ucbvax.berkeley.edu!uwvax!harvard!stepstone.com!aad (Anthony A. Datri) Date: Fri, 3 Feb 89 19:19:02 EST Subject: rere: dust to dust
(Sounds like a Bowie song...)
Did they mention colony ships? I missed several episodes. Perhaps they're saving them for a future show. The warships I've seen look to be 3 man (well, 3-alien) ships, and there are supposed to be something like 10,000 aliens packed up in cans, so they had to come from *somewhere*. Maybe we'll find a huge transport in the ruins of Atlantis or hidden in Antarctica.
From: ucbvax.berkeley.edu!uwvax!harvard!stepstone.com!aad (Anthony A. Datri) Date: Mon, 6 Feb 89 10:30:48 EST Subject: lillies
It does seem fairly unbelievable that she hadn't been hypnotized before. Haven't these people ever seen made-for-tv movies?
I also find it difficult to believe that no one (especially her) noticed the would where they implanted the whatever. I don't know the state of modern x-rays, but with all the scanning they did on her, you think they'd have found the implant, even behind the rib. Also, how did the aliens know where she was? It looked like the implant was timed to cause pain, but it also looked like she didn't actually call anyone after Harrison.
From: salaris@iies.ecn.purdue.edu (Steven C Salaris) Date: Thu, 23 Feb 89 12:25:55 EST
Did they mention colony ships? I missed several episodes. Perhaps they're saving them for a future show. The warships I've seen look to be 3 man (well, 3-alien) ships, and there are supposed to be something like 10,000 aliens packed up in cans, so they had to come from *somewhere*. Maybe we'll find a huge transport in the ruins of Atlantis or hidden in Antarctica.
The original invasion in 1953 was the invasion force. They were to crush the humans and eliminate them. Then, the colonists would follow.
I always thought that there were only three aliens per ship but in the pilot to the series, they showed lots of aliens getting into the war machines. I think that it is three aliens to a ship and the others were just going as passengers.
As for the other aliens, besides pilots for the war machines, they needed scientists, engineers, technicians, and various other workers to keep the war machines flying, and to set up the initial base for when the true colonists do arrive.
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TO LIFE IMMORTAL
From: salaris@iies.ecn.purdue.edu (Steven C Salaris) Date: Mon, 27 Feb 89 09:00:49 EST
Greetings fellow Mortexians. I thought I would just drop a quick line to get everybody talking about this weeks episode of WotW. I thought that it was an interesting episode and it gave an interesting insight to the behavior of the aliens. First of all, when the alien took over the body of the human female, it became as a human female would be. I am assuming that the aliens have a sexual difference (i.e. males and females) and it may be that the original warrior was a female of their species.
The thing that interested me though is that the alien had so much compassion for its "baby". This is supposed to be a warrior race whose members would gladly give up their lives for the Advocacy - why not a child then? Why have such a fit over them wanting to take your baby for the pursuit of life immortal?
Of course, I am being sexist and I realize that maybe in this race, the males are the caring figures for the children. (There, I just covered my rear end) I was also wondering what the aliens then planned to do with the human infant that was "born" when the half-breed died. I would assume that they are going to look for genetic fusion and see if there is anything in the infant that can help to make them immune to Earth's bacteria.
Lastly, have you seen the Fly II? My didn't that last scene with the alien dissolving and the baby being born out of it look really similar to the birth of Martin Brundle? So much for originality.
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TU DOE LAKASCHAY
(To Life Immortal)
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (Wood Rot) Date: Mon, 27 Feb 89 13:33:30 -0800 Subject: "Unto Us a Child Is Born"
I assumed that the alien was split between the baby and mother (it just blended with all the cells it found in the target, without realizing that there were two separate people there). The reason the mother and baby were telepathic was because they were part of the same person. That also explains why the baby could speak the alien language.
Did anyone notice that they omitted a special effect from the preview of next week's rerun? The alien raygun didn't fire anything.
Also, on this week's Twilight Zone episode (which is very good) the employment officer is played by the actress who played the female Advocate earlier in the show. Her voice is very distinctive.
From: c9a-am@dorothy.berkeley.edu (Sean Yoda Rouse) Date: Mon, 27 Feb 89 16:59:09 PST Subject: Re: "Unto Us a Child is Born"
It wasn't a bad episode. Unfortunately there wasn't very much plot to it (and it showed). They dragged the ending out so long that we were saying to ourselves, "O.K. now that they've said how nice a life this baby is going to have, the new parents HAVE to be alien." At least if they didn't go with that long dialogue between Harrison and Suzanne hearing the new parents say "To Life Immortal" would have been predictable instead of hammered in. This also shows that they went to the main plot too soon. I wish they had shown the three aliens entering the mall and then hear the Advocacy telling us their plan ("This will kill xxxx people) and then cut to commercial.
This episode was also more suspenseful (at least they wnated it that way with the background music) and gory. I used to think seeing either body parts pulled off or the fingers going through the face on its own was enough, but this time we got both, and more.
With regards to the mother and child, I also thought that the alien was split between the "mother" and "baby". When the other two aliens wanted to take the baby to the Advocacy, the "mother" said something like "we will find a way to be reunited." The "mother" also seemed to be non-agressive, while the baby was quite agressive. (see note above) They even said that the baby went through super-aging because its mother died. (or something like that).
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Sean "Yoda" Rouse c9a-am@dorothy.berkeley.edu ucbvax!dorothy!c9a-am
"To Life Immortal, Sucker!"
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From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (The Supreme Follower) Date: Sat, 11 Mar 89 01:24:57 -0800 Subject: "The Last Supper"
Yuck! I didn't care much for this episode at all. I got the impression that they were running behind schedule so decided to save a couple days of shooting by using lots of clips. A friend who has started watching the show recently liked it, because he hasn't seen all the clipped episodes.
It seems like this is one of several transitional episodes, whose main purpose is to change the flavor of the series. Think about it: the UN meeting, Omega Squad, and now an international taskforce on aliens, to which the Soviet military is paying at least some attention?
Anyone know how the show did in the ratings sweeps?
From: Jim "The Big Dweeb" Griffith <griffith%con.Berkeley.EDU@berkeley.edu> Date: Mon, 13 Mar 89 11:41:42 -0800 Subject: Re: "The Last Supper"
Yeah, I didn't care for it myself.
My major gripe was the tone of the presentations done by the main characters - those reports were condescending. It was as if they were telling a story to a group of children, rather than making a scientific report to a group of professionals.
I also got the impression that this may have been done to explain the series to date to new viewers who are just beginning to watch the show, rather than broadcast the entire 2-hour pilot and all the old episodes in order. I do agree that they're gearing up to make the "Blackwood Project" an international deal rather than this dinky little covert thing.
Jim
From: Jim "The Big Dweeb" Griffith <griffith%con.Berkeley.EDU@berkeley.edu> Date: Mon, 13 Mar 89 11:52:43 PST Subject: The Last Supper
I also loved that line "Dr. Blackwood, your security's obviously been breached. What are you going to do now?". I was just waiting for him to reply with "I'M GOING TO DISNEYLAND!". Sigh.
Jim
From: ucbvax.berkeley.edu!uwvax!harvard!stepstone.com!aad (Anthony A. Datri) Date: Mon, 13 Mar 89 18:13:04 EST Subject: last supper
If there is alien activity in countries other than the US, you'd think that the aliens in the series would show evidence of it -- they never mention it, never speak in foreign languages. I'd like to know where they came up with the detail on the alien physiology -- the skeletal web and such. Was this discovered in one of the episodes I missed? And just what's the story with the ammonia bit? Wouldn't that have been a non-intrusive test?
From: salaris@iies.ecn.purdue.edu (Steven C Salaris) Date: Tue, 14 Mar 89 09:10:45 EST Subject: last supper
I think that it is odd that they never mention alien activity in other nations, too. In fact, there is probably a storehouse of alien info and war machines somewhere in Siberia or China.
Gee, maybe Quinn and Salman Rushdie could rent an apartment together. (How's that for a random thought?)
Oh yes, alien physiology. Well, in the book "The Resurrection" it appears that all of the aliens were 'disposed' of by the gov't except for one body that was kept in a freezer by guy who used it to amaze little kids. I guess that Dr. Forrester got a hold of it and was able to dissect it and pass the info on. As for the ammonia, I have no explanation other than the aliens must somehow metabolize amino acids with no ammonia production or use like us humans. In that aspect, it could cause systemic reactions in them much like anaphylactic shock if they are "allergic" to it.
From: (Don Willits) <willitd@urania.cs.orst.edu> Date: Tue, 14 Mar 89 14:52:19 PST Subject: Last Supper comments
As for activity in other countries, two thoughts:
They probably only recently thought of it (script wise) and so lets give them some time to see if it continues to show up, or if it's just another plot thread to be forgotten (like so many others in this show) at episodes end.
As for the "where's the foreign dialects"... This is TV, and we must remember that subtitles all the time would get tedious, hence that's why (I believe) we hear the aliens speak in English in their cave. It's probably a "silent translation" that is there for the convienence of television and not for technical accuracy. If I was stuck on an alien planet waging war on the natives, who I considered to be incredibly primitive, I would shun using their language except whenever possible.
I do hope that they continue to expand the "scope" of the show, and better yet, arrange for more continuity across episodes. Of course, I personally think this show would be much better if they made it more "Hill Street Blues-ish" some of these overly contrived, all too convienent plots would much more palatable if everything didn't fall into place at once.
And if the aliens would start using their collected store of weapons. We know they can melt telephones (Think would would happen if one of the phone companies got ahold of that! Think the phone-wars are obnoxious now...!), melt brians, developed effective biological and technical weapons, but are rarely used except in faulty half hearted efforts forgotten a week later.
LETS SEE AN ALL OUT ASSAULT! And then when things get really bad, bring on the war machines! Toast humanity!
Fry Harrison first!
Don Willits
willitd@urania.cs.orst.edu
From: ucbvax.berkeley.edu!uwvax!harvard!stepstone.com!aad (Anthony A. Datri) Date: Wed, 15 Mar 89 09:43:26 EST Subject: fry Harrison first!
Nononono -- Fry Weseley first:-) But don't fry Suzanne -- I've got a terrible crush on her...
From: (Don Willits) <willitd@urania.cs.orst.edu> Date: Wed, 15 Mar 89 12:11:27 PST Subject: Re: fry harrison first! (Save the Whales, Seals & Wesley)
Poor Wesley, or better yet, poor Wil Weaton (sp?) The biggest problem that Wesley had was a standard cliche of television writers when given a kid, especially a kid who's smart (or in this case a genius) is that they make them do things that nobody else can do, which is what genius' are supposed to be right?
WRONG! Otherwise Wesley wouldn't be top of everyone's hit list!
I have a fair amount of respect and sympathy for Wil Weaton. Allegedly he had it written into his contract that Wesley would *NEVER* save the ship again. Furthermore, after the first 10 episodes (plus Datalore) were filmed, he insisted that for the reminder of the first season, he would not save the ship. Then, to top it off, according to a recent rec.arts.startrek posting, William Shatner (allegedly a idol of Weatons) said something to the effect: "If I were captain of the new enterprise you wouldn't be on it."
So...
I still say, Fry Harrison First, and then fry the person whose dumb idea it was to take a genius character and misuse him grossly. And then give just a lite touch of napalm to William Shatner, preferably some place visible and unrepairable by plastic surgery, for being a rude s.o.b.
As a final comment about Wes, I hope they continue to develop his character, and I wouldn't mind seeing the "genius" side of his character once in a while, as long as it's written well.
Just my opinion, and now I'm not being this violent just because it's finals week, either (well... maybe a little bit)
Don Willits
willitd@urania.cs.orst.edu
From: Jim "The Big Dweeb" Griffith <griffith%con.Berkeley.EDU@berkeley.edu> Date: Sat, 8 Apr 89 22:56:57 PDT Subject: War of the Worlds jeered...
TV Guide gave a recent episode of "War of the Worlds" jeers. The episode in question ("Unto Us A Child Is Born", I believe) featured aliens running amok in a hospital because of a pregnant human who is taken over. TV Guide objected to WOTW's use of excessive violence instead of intelligent scripts...
Jim
From: smq (Robert Chansky) Date: Sun, 9 Apr 89 01:03:12 PDT Subject: uh, yeah
"excessive" was one word to describe that episode...
I wonder if they will hack the film up and maybe redistribute it as a "Freddy's Nightmares" episode..
From: (Don Willits) <willitd@uther.cs.orst.edu> Date: Sun, 09 Apr 89 12:16:46 PDT Subject: Re: uh, yeah
I wonder if they will hack the film up and maybe redistribute it as a "Freddy's Nightmares" episode..
Probably, considering from what I read in a magazine article, they share production offices and practically share sound stages.
Frankly, that episode deserved to be jeered.
Any word on if it's renewed for next season or how it's doing ratings wise?
Hey Vidiot (sp?) - any word on press releases, schedules or other "behind the scenes" stuff?
The actress who plays Suzanne said in a recent Starlog interview they might bring in her character's ex-husband over a couple of episodes - with hopefully some good drama regarding his feelings on her working on a top secret project, putting their daughter in danger of attack from the aliens, etc. (Loosely paraphrased and second hand - so don't flame me if I muddle up the content!)
Don Willits
willitd@urania.cs.orst.edu
"BRING ON THE WAR MACHINES, DAMN IT!"
From: cfogg@blake.acs.washington.edu (C. "Even Bigger Dweeb Than Jim Griffith" Fogg) Date: Mon, 10 Apr 89 02:16:16 -0700 Subject: Similar syndicate shows
Not only does Feddy's .. the series show an occasional resemblance to WotW, but so does the style and graphical content of "Friday The 13 --The Series"
Is that too produced in proximity?
--CF
From: ucbvax.berkeley.edu!mtxinu!stepstone.com!aad (Anthony A. Datri) Date: Mon, 10 Apr 89 09:59:39 EDT Subject: style
The first time I saw the alien-hand-over-the-earth sequence, I was immediately reminded of Tales from the Darkside, but now that you mention it, the Friday the 13th series has the same sort of feel that I can't quantify.
I picked up a CD of Billy Thorpe's "Children of the Sun" (sort of), and there's a picture of him on the back, and it does look like he was the musician "Billy" in the sublimnal episode.
From: smq@seal.ucsc.edu (Robert Chansky) Date: Mon, 10 Apr 89 13:49:28 PDT Subject: proximity
Yes, they seem like very similar shows to me; production values, grossness levels, a couple other things that I can't really put my finger on. Are there any names that appear on the credits of more than one of these shows?
From: c9a-am@dorothy.berkeley.edu (Sean Yoda Rouse) Date: Mon, 10 Apr 89 15:01:43 PDT Subject: When do we get a new episode...
What?!? "The Resurection" again? When are we going to see a new episode?
BTW, I thought "Unto Us A Child is Born" deserved the jeer TV Guide gave it.
Sean "Yoda" Rouse
c9a-am@dorothy.berkeley.edu
ucbvax!dorothy!c9a-am
From: Kibo%mts.rpi.edu@itsgw.rpi.edu Date: Tue, 11 Apr 89 10:18:36 EDT Subject: Just For Laughs
Am I alone here, or are there others like me who watch the series as an unintentionaly funny example of "bad TV"? [I doubt you want to hear me go into specifics about the acting, the dialogue, the plots, etc...] I figure there must be other people who are just watching this series for the humor content. In my view, this series is almost as funny as Plan 9 From Outer Space...
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (UNIX Acolyte) Date: Tue, 11 Apr 89 08:21:49 -0700 Subject: Re: Just For Laughs
Some of the episodes don't seem to have much other value, it's true. But occasionally we get an above-average piece of TV sci-fi. And the show is nearly unique in that the bad guys win a lot of the time.
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (Hi There!) Date: Tue, 2 May 89 11:10:27 -0700 Subject: "My Soul To Keep"
This had the makings of a really neat episode, but the ending just didn't do it for me. This is one battle that the aliens should have won, at least partially; they are getting killed off in large numbers every week, so they're going to need more troops soon anyway.
Is anyone else wondering why they did the episodes just before the most recent two? It seemed like they were building up to a big conflict, bigger than the Blackwood Project could handle by itself. I sort of expected an important alien victory (the lasers last week would have been good, or the babies this week) to make up for the humans' increasing organization and strength. Perhaps next week...
(It was nice to see Quinn again, even if he only played a minor role...)
From: CEF7893 <CFOGG%UWACDC.ACS.WASHINGTON.EDU@uwavm.acs.washington.edu> Date: Mon, 08 May 1989 11:05 PDT Subject: Renewal
From a local BBS here at the UW:
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Date: Sun, 07 May 1989 15:13 From: Rorschach <BC@UWACDC.ACS.WASHINGTON.EDU> Subject: War of the WorldsHas anyone heard whether the show will be renewed? STARLOG reports that if it is, there'll be changeovers in creative personnel who will give the series a new direction--and probably throw another race of aliens into the mix.
The last would probably be a pretty good idea. WotW has fallen into the trap of repitition that catches most attempts at invasion-oriented TV series: the would-be invaders lose week in and week out to spectacularly lucky human opponents and, after a while, nobody cares enough to tune in anymore. As I've said before, it strains credulity that the aliens aren't doing better than they are, considering all of the advantages they have. It's time to revise the premise and break out of the old formula.
Adding in more aliens would be an interesting way to do it. I don't believe I've ever come across a story where two opposing races of invaders were vying for control of Earth with humanity caught in the middle. A second group of invaders would open up new plot possibilities, as would a group of non-invader-type aliens.
From: brown%astroatc.UUCP@cs.wisc.edu (Vidiot) Date: Mon, 8 May 89 15:31:15 CDT Subject: Re: Renewal
Has anyone heard whether the show will be renewed? STARLOG reports that if it is, there'll be changeovers in creative personnel who will give the series a new direction--and probably throw another race of aliens into the mix.
Our local WotW station has renewed it for another year.
MB
--
harvard\ att!nicmad\
Vidiot ucbvax!uwvax..........!astroatc!brown
rutgers/ decvax!nicmad/
ARPA/INTERNET: brown%astroatc.UUCP@spool.cs.wisc.edu
From: cfogg@blake.acs.washington.edu (Chad Fogg) Date: Sat, 13 May 89 14:17:39 -0700 Subject: procedural note; progress in the war.
Reply-To: bc@uwacdc.acs.washington.edu Date: Sat, 13 May 1989 09:22 From: Rorschach <BC> Subject: procedural noteTV stations do not renew programs. Only networks and other entities involved in distributing the show (syndicators, cable channels, sometimes backers) can. All a station can do is sign up to carry the program again.
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Date: Sat, 13 May 1989 09:42 From: Rorschach <BC> Subject: progress in the warWotW stagnated because the production team made the horrendous mistake of allowing the aliens to become too firmly entrenched and to become too powerful. This is a frequent program with invasion series: the invaders' capabilities reach such a level that t consequences of a success in any of their campaigns would have far-reaching and probably catastrophic effects. The entire premise would have to be changed and the balance of power would be so disrupted that the people fighting them wouldn't stand a chance.
That happened here. The Mortex (is it my imagination or is Harrison the only one who pronounces it like that?) have become so powerful now that they can't be allowed to win anymore. Look at some of their recent schemes: what if they had obtained the power source to disrupt and destroy telecommunications devices across the continent? or succeeded in nuking an international summit? or mass-distributed a drug that turned humans into homicidal killers? or secured enough rubies to build thousands of laser weapons?
A success at any one of those would have been devastating to humanity. And it would completely change the direction of the series. That's why the humans always inexplicably overcome tremendous odds to overcome the invaders (though it usually seems plausible on this show). When you look back on it, you'll realize that the other successes the aliens ever had on the series were with projects that were essential to their continuing as viable villains: reviving extra troops, building life-support systems, curing a sick leader.
The only way you can have the enemy win occasional victories, a as in a real war, is if both sides are fairly evenly match, or at least have reasonable chances of overcoming each other. On "War of the Worlds", or "V" or "The Invaders" or "Captain Scarlet" for that matter, the aliens have the advantage in technology if not numbers. And since the Mortex simply want to completely exterminate humanity and could apparently survive in the aftermath of a global nuclear war, the situation is even more unbalanced. If the aliens had a few weeks of success, humanity would probably never be able to bounce back; even if humanity survived, it probably could never regain the upper hand. The enemy is too powerful to lose any advantage it gained. That's why the aliens fail week after week and why they inexplicably abandon each new plan after it fails.
From: Jim "The Big Dweeb" Griffith <griffith%con.Berkeley.EDU@berkeley.edu> Date: Sat, 13 May 89 22:41:35 PDT Subject: Latest episode (week of 5/7-5/13)
Geez, what is their fascination with needles?
Well, they showed us a lot more of the aliens than we'd seen before. We saw most of the alien, we saw an ability to directly interface with computers, etc. That's quite a lot to show us all at once.
I'm rapidly becoming turned-off by this show. They've really played up the blood 'n guts aspect of the series, which is not why I'd want to watch it. Sigh. I've always got STTNG.
Jim
From: koreth@ucscb.ucscb.ucsc.edu (A figment of your imagination) Date: Sat, 10 Jun 89 23:19:36 -0700 Subject: I was bored...
I noticed a C program scrolling by in one window of Norton's screen in tonight's preview of "Dust To Dust", so I freeze-framed the thing. It looks like part of the program that's drawing the rotating figure off to the right! It reads in vertices from an input file, tweaks them, then writes them out again. Interestingly, the close-up of the screen wasn't actually in the episode itself.
Vidiot, how about some info from those press releases? Just the TV-Guide entries would be fine...
From: koreth (Steven Grimm) Date: Fri, 6 Oct 89 14:20:15 PDT Subject: old list is now active
I finally got a copy of the old mailing list from ssyx.ucsc.edu, so all the people who were on the old war-worlds list are now on the new one. Send me mail if you no longer want to be on the list.
On a different note, has anyone seen any WOtW posters? I wouldn't mind having one in my office.
-Steve
From: koreth (Steven Grimm) Date: Fri, 6 Oct 89 23:44:02 PDT Subject: The new season begins (no real spoilers)
Well, the show certainly isn't the same any more. Apart from the fact that it has some characters in common with last season, it could almost be a completely separate series. We have a second wave of alien soldiers, along with some high-tech armaments and other toys (no war machines yet -- drat!) The Advocates and crew are gone, as are --- well, watch it and see.
I'm going to have to reserve judgement on the new season for a couple of weeks, because it's an entirely new show. I'm not sure whether I like the new atmosphere (it feels more like "Blade Runner" and less like a campy '50s sci-fi movie) or not. Only getting 4 hours of sleep the previous night didn't help; I'll say something more coherent tomorrow, after I've had a chance to watch it again with a clear head.
-Steve "The Eternal has spoken... we must cleanse this planet."
From: koreth (Steven Grimm) Date: Sat, 7 Oct 89 22:49:12 PDT Subject: music
Is it just me, or did they lift the new incidental music straight from "Friday the 13th"? For that matter, the show no longer has much in the way of a title theme...
From: salaris@iies.ecn.purdue.edu (Rrrrrrrrrrrrabbits) Date: Sun, 8 Oct 89 20:06:06 -0500 Subject: VERY DISAPPOINTED
What has happened to the series??? I watched that first show and I felt like I was dropped into the middle of the second hour of a three hour movie.
The new story line has nothing to do with the formula of the original movie or the last season. Why did I feel like I am going to have to deal with a season of Nazi-like aliens vs. the mercenaries.
Why no war-machines? Why no cylinders like they came in originally? In fact, how did they get to earth. Nice name change to; Mortex to Morthrai (sp?). I am sorry, but I think episode one is a flop. Oh yeah, how did the aliens evolve an immune system so fast?? I liked the importance of the number three in their culture now that seems to be gone also. I also like the aliens in their original slimy alien form. I hate the old "aliens in human form" trick to save copsts on sts on production of good, interesting costumes.
Enough complaining for now, I am interested to hear what everyone else talso.
Bye
Steven
From: dav@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (William David Haas) Date: Mon, 9 Oct 89 09:29:47 -0400 Subject: Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED
I, too, was disappointed. I haven't decided if I like the new turn or not but they should have signaled before making such a sharp turn! More explaination about the change would have been nice. The only thing that makes sense to me is that the being from last season were a grunt race of the aliens that serve as an army. They proved insufficient so the aliens have sent in the next level of baddies. Maybe they developed a mutated form of themselves (during the summer) and it is superior to thier old form.
Has the story come out in book form? has anyone read it?
On the plus side, I love the way they die now and they do seem to be more of a threat.
From: "Anthony A. Datri" <convex!datri@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu> Date: Mon, 9 Oct 89 09:22:00 -0500 (CDT) Subject: re: disappointed
If the home world decided that the soldiers were insufficient, why didn't they do so in 1953?
From: koreth (Steven Grimm) Date: Mon, 9 Oct 89 08:44:39 PDT Subject: re: disappointed
If the home world decided that the soldiers were insufficient, why didn't they do so in 1953?
In 1953, the aliens had invincible war machines to fly around in.
That's one of my biggest gripes with the new season, actually; the alien technology they're showing is moving further and further from that of the original movie. At least when they showed alien widgets last season (e.g. the raygun or the crystal from the Operation Deep Ice episode) they looked like they belonged to the people who were flying those ships. The new season's technology looks like something out of "Aliens," which isn't a bad thing by itself, but is inconsistent.
Now, as for my theory about what happened: We already knew that the main colony ships were due in four years from the first season. What's fairly obviously happened is that those ships have arrived. The aliens from '53 were more fighter-pilots than footsoldiers, so they didn't really know how to carry on the kind of war they were forced to fight. When the main colony ships arrived, they brought with them the alien Marines (and a shipload of scientists,) which are who we're seeing now. The colony ships, which were built with the expectation that Earth would be "purified" by the time they got there, are completely defenseless and could be blown out of the sky by Earth's weapons. Thus the alien leaders (the Eternal?) are keeping them back while the Marines do the job right. They're probably sitting behind the Moon, keeping the saucers from "V" company. :)
That doesn't explain the panic in the streets, but I imagine they'll get around to explaining that.
Comments?
-Steve
From: CHAPMAN@ducvax.auburn.edu Date: Mon, 9 Oct 89 12:44 CDT Subject: New episode (some spoilers - ok, a lot...)
Well, folks, I just watched the season premiere last night, and I for one like the new format. It's sad to see the old characters go but the reasons were justified. I read an article and the producer said Richard Chaves and Phillip Akin (Ironhorse and Norton) were dropped because of the new format. It requires the Blackwood Project to go completely underground since the connection with government has been broken (General Wilson is missing presumed dead) and the safe house destroyed, there were no longer any computers to help solve things, ergo who needs a computer whiz (especially when he is handicapped and can't exactly make it on the run). The reason given for Ironhorse's demise was that he had been painted into a corner - his role at times gave him a limited mentality of a man who knew only the business of war. For the format change, they needed someone who was more of a rogue to lead the battles, hence the appearance of Kincaid (sp?). I must admit thought, I would rather have seen Ironhorse be forced to adapt, but I am willing to give this new concept a shot. I appreciated the way they killed off the two characters though. Both died with a sense of one last victory over the aliens - as Norton sounded the alarm, he looked up and smiled in the face of death at the hands of Ironhorse's clone, and Ironhorse himself was true to his character until the very end - his last words to Debbie being "Close your eyes"...
To answer some of the complaints/questions let me put forth my own explanations to some of the topics raised thus far:
Mortex/Morthrai sent an invasion force to Earth in 1953. The force was completely imobilized and odds are they never knew why until their resurrection. Most likely, they contacted their homeworld during 1953 and informed them Earth was not conquerable due to unforseen problems and to abandon the attempt. However, if you will recall, when they were resurrected, they sent a message to Mortex/Morthrai and based on that, a second wave was sent.
About the new technology - I think it is quite consistent - look at us in 1953 and look at us now...Do you see some changes in weapons, etc? You bet!!!!!!
I'm not convinced that this was the invasion force sent by Morthrai/Mortex because of the message from Earth. I think somehow, the smaller group that fled the exploding Mortex/Morthrai was able to go directly to Earth through the power of the Eternal. Afterall, their certainly weren't enough of them their to classify as the colonization group. What do you think?
"Almost tomorrow" the opening said. My guess is that this is a prediction of the future so many movies have depicted (Running Man, Robocop, Blade Runner, etc) where crime has risen so high that America has become a police state. It had nothing to do with the aliens. In fact, the a police state. It had nothing to do with the aliens. In fact, the the thing that worried the team was they hadn't heard from the aliens in months.
Overall, I like the new format. Certainly I will be looking forward to the next few weeks of episodes to see what comes up. Optimists - keep watching the show - I know I will. Pessimists - give it a chance. SF shows take so long to get to the air, and only after they've been axed and syndicated do we ever realize, "that was a pretty nifty show"....
George E. Chapman II
Auburn University
From: Grenadier <DAS1417%RITVAX.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu> Date: Mon, 9 Oct 89 14:09 EDT Subject: WotW Premiere
Just a few quick points and questions on "The Second Wave" :
Was it me or were the effects really bad? The opening destruction of Mortax/Morthrai and the final explosion at the cottage looked really fake. The cottage explosion was so obviously a miniature I almost laughed out loud.
I like the running theme of "The Second Invasion" as a subtitle for the entire season. At least they have a long-term objective now, instead of wiping out a few aliens here and there.
I was also sorry to see Drake and Ironhorse go, but I really don't see why Ironhorse had to die. As a military man, it would have been more "his" style of war now. I don't understand when they say he was "painted into a corner."
The new aliens seem like tough little buggers. And finally, the bad guys have at least SOME superior weaponry. Was anyone else getting tired of them slinking around, pretending to be truck drivers and little old ladies? It was an original idea, but somewhat overused. Now the humans will have to STRUGGLE to find ways to overcome the superior technology, as oposed to simply fighting an enemy that was more or less at their own level.
I like the new "cyberpunk" look a lot, but they had BETTER explain what happened during the hiatus. Things didn't get that bad in the world overnight. And the lead characters had the look of people that had been fighting, non-stop for years! Was there a large time gap over the break? Explanations are definitely in order!
Anyway, I'm looking forward to this season, and hope that the show only improves!
-David Stumme
das1417@ritvax.bitnet
das1417@ultb.UUCP
Grenadier @ QuantumLink
From: (Don Willits) <willitd@uther.CS.ORST.EDU> Date: Mon, 09 Oct 89 11:19:30 PDT Subject: WOTW New Season: Not bad, but...
Stylistically it reminded me of Max Headroom's world only with a sadistic, brutal twist (the general human society, not just the aliens). I liked it, but the whole thing was so dark and moody I don't know if I'll stick with it... If they can keep it entertaining and dark and moody (i.e. good scripts) then maybe...
Next week's episode gave the impression they would be less episodic and more of a continuing story line (i.e. the cloning process, the fact the team seems to have made some progress in learning more about it). I hope they stick with that... Improved continuity from episode to episode might make this show actually take off.
-Don
________________________________________________________________________ Don Willits * Internet: willitd@mist.cs.orst.edu Head Consultant C.S. Lab * UUCP: tektronix!orstcs!willitd Oregon State University * hplabs!hp-pcd!orstcs!willitd Corvallis, OR 97331 * Voice: (503) 737 - 3273
From: acd4!dwj@uunet.UU.NET ( Dan Johnson ) Date: Mon, 9 Oct 89 17:40:38 EST Subject: Re: new season
Reply to "Anthony A. Datri" <uunet!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!convex!datri>
[Various questions deleted]
... If the death of the real Ironhorse killed the clone, why did the alien ask if the human shell should be disposed of right after they created the clone?
Well, consider the following two questions:
Would a less violent method of death (e.g., sedative overdose) have affected the clone like that?
Did it actually kill the clone, or would the clone have recovered if given a chance to do so?
After all, Ironhorse looked like he was about to drop dead where he was standing, and the clone was in great shape, so the link could not have been absolute.
Of course, another question which seems interesting is: How did Ironhorse know that what he did would work? (The obvious answer is that the link must have been two-way.)
--
Daniel W. Johnson Applied Computing Devices, Inc.
UUCP: ...!uunet!acd4!dwj Earth: 39 25 02 N / 87 19 55 W (approx.)
ARPA: acd4!dwj@uunet.uu.net Compu$erve: >INTERNET:dwj@acd4.UUCP :-|
- this space unintentionally left blank -
From: griffith@scam.Berkeley.EDU (Jim "The Big Dweeb" Griffith) Date: Mon, 09 Oct 89 14:59:55 -0700 Subject: Re: New episode (some spoilers - ok, a lot...)
-----------
From: CHAPMAN@ducvax.auburn.edu Subject: New episode (some spoilers - ok, a lot...)I appreciated the way they killed off the two characters though. Both died with a sense of one last victory over the aliens - as Norton sounded the alarm, he looked up and smiled in the face of death at the hands of Ironhorse's clone, and Ironhorse himself was true to his character until the very end - his last words to Debbie being "Close your eyes"...
In that five-minute shot, they gave Ironhorse more depth than he got all of the first season. This was the most dignified, classy way they could have written him out, and I was extremely impressed with it. Had that whole sequence not been a part of the episode, I would have never watched the series again.
In fact, that sequence shows that they could have given Ironhorse a *lot* more depth, thus preserving his character. I'm really upset that they killed him off (especially after meeting Chaves at Timecon).
Jim
From: dav@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (William David Haas) Date: Mon, 9 Oct 89 20:36:56 -0400 Subject: Re: new season
About the clone link and death.
This is only my speculation:
I don't think the aliens knew that killing the original would harm the copy. This was the first time it had been tried. The original could feel the link because has wasn't doing anything but be carried. In his weakened state he was more sensitive. The copy was busy setting explosives and shooting computer nerds. As he got closer, I am sure the original could feel the link and how strong it was.
On another note: on of the things I noticed that looks like an improvement is a movement away from the one shot shows and to a continuing story. It always bothered me when the bad guys would try something, it would almost work, and they would never try again. At least the new aliens seem intelligent. I also like the way the new aliens die. Its much nicer!
dav
From: salaris@iies.ecn.purdue.edu (Rrrrrrrrrrrrabbits) Date: Mon, 9 Oct 89 20:44:47 -0500
In 1953, the aliens had invincible war machines to fly around in.
No kidding, so in 1989 (or whatever year it is) they should have some real awesome war machines. Since when would a colonizing group or a "second invasion" arrive without anything more powerful that a handheld ray-gun?
That's one of my biggest gripes with the new season, actually; the alien technology they're showing is moving further and further from that of the original movie. At least when they showed alien widgets last season (e.g. the raygun or the crystal from the Operation Deep Ice episode) they looked like they belonged to the people who were flying those ships. The new season's technology looks like something out of "Aliens," which isn't a bad thing by itself, but is inconsistent.
Want a real War of the Worlds fan(atic's) opinion? I have argued for ages that the aliens in the original 1953 movie were using biomechanical technology. The "periscope" in the ruined house scenes bled when it was chopped off by the scientist (God, I can't think of his name for love or money) and Sylvia. It was not blood from the alien that he clubbed. Believe me, I have seen the scene a zillion times, the blood got on the scarf after the chopped up eye piece was wrapped up in it. I think it was a "grown" eye that thru biomechanics, served as a periscope of sorts. In the pilot movie of the new series, the inside of the war machines looked like something from Alien(s) with that grown and modeled look (just a little bit) and I believe Harrison said that they operated by some sort of mind control. So, the new technology of the new season may reflect new advances in biomechanics for the aliens. Of course, once again, that means that the war machines should be that much more awesome.
my theory about what happened: We already knew that the main colony ships were due in four years from the first season. What's fairly obviously happened is that those ships have arrived. The aliens from '53 were more fighter-pilots than footsoldiers, so they didn't really know how to carry on the kind of war they were forced to fight. When the main colony ships arrived, they brought with them the alien Marines (and a shipload of scientists,) which are who we're seeing now.
Even the marines have fighter pilots!
Summary: I WANT WAR MACHINES, NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Steven C. Salaris
From: gdelong@cvman.prime.com (Gary Delong) Date: Tue, 10 Oct 89 10:12:53 EDT Subject: Re: Premiere coming up...
In <8910061857.AA29484@panarthea> koreth@ebay.Sun.COM (Steven Grimm) writes:
The season premiere of WOtW plays tonight around these parts. Has anyone already seen it, or are we earlier than usual?
(It's on KCBA 35, for others in the SF Bay Area...)
-Steve
I don't know about anyone else, but I watched the season premire eposode on Sunday the 1st, and the second this Sunday (the 8th).
But I cheat, I watch the feed on Telstar 1, transponder 9 each Sunday at noon eastern time.
I have been thinking about posting reviews of the upcoming show to the list, but I'm hesitant to post spoilers.
Gary
---
_____ Gary A. Delong, N1BIP "I am the NRA."
/ \ / COMPUTERVISION Division gdelong@cvman.prime.com
| \ / Prime Computer, Inc. {sun|linus}!cvbnet!cvman!gdelong
\____\/ Manchester, New Hampshire (603) 622-1260 x 261
From: gdelong@cvman.prime.com (Gary Delong) Date: Tue, 10 Oct 89 12:28:53 EDT Subject: Previews/Reviews
In my previous note I indicated I thought I should pre-review upcoming episodes but was reluctant to do so because of spoilers.
A large response has requested I do so, so I will be posting my first review/preview.
Note: Each such posting will have as a subject line:
Subject: _Episode Title_ (spoiler)
The article will be broken down into three parts:
Part 1:
General review and comments, I'd consider this section only slightly spoiler in nature.
Part 2:
Information from the previews of the next (following) epsiode, title epsode number and announcer's teaser.
Part 3:
Hardcore spoilers with sure bar bet winners.
Let me know what "you" think.
---
_____
/ \ / Gary A. Delong, N1BIP "I am the NRA." gdelong@cvman.prime.com
| \ / COMPUTERVISION Division {sun|linus}!cvbnet!gdelong
\____\/ Prime Computer, Inc. (603) 622-1260 x 261
From: gdelong@cvman.prime.com (Gary Delong) Date: Tue, 10 Oct 89 12:30:19 EDT Subject: _No Direction Home_ (spoilers)
Episode: #026
Title: No Direction Home
The episode starts with a flashback to last episode's climax of the shot of our heros' old headquarters exploding (wow, great special effects 8-^ ).
Our heros now set up operation (two men, a women and a girl seem to be the extent of our forces now) in an abondonded 1950's military underground control center, while the bad guys relocate their cloning center (remenber last week, we found the old one).
Communications with the military athorities seem to indicate that we'll be on our own in the future (at least the near term future).
The real action (or lack thereof) starts as we return to the old cloning center and are interrupted by the return of some aliens looking for a forgotten piece of critial equipment.
Commentary: So far this season seems to be a loser in action and suspense, and this episode helps set the trend. Hopefully, once the new format gets established we can expect to see some semi-realistic action.
The next episode preview:
Next Week:
Episode: #029 Title: Doomsday
Teaser Announcement:
"Aliens have taken over the water supply. The world is dieing of thirst!"
HARD CORE SPOILERS FOLLOW:
This Weeks Guaranteed Bar Bet Winners:
At the first break:
Yes, the black sedan contains bad guys, but they lose an old fasioned
game of auto-chicken.
At the second break:
The glowing alien artifact is a memory storage device which stores
and retrives both human and alien memories.
At the third break:
The approching aliens are only projections of alien memories from
the memory storage device.
It seems some people can sense (esp maybe?) the aliens' clones.
---
_____
/ \ / Gary A. Delong, N1BIP "I am the NRA." gdelong@cvman.prime.com
| \ / COMPUTERVISION Division {sun|linus}!cvbnet!gdelong
\____\/ Prime Computer, Inc. (603) 622-1260 x 261
From: jcc@emx.utexas.edu (Chris Cooley) Date: Tue, 10 Oct 89 19:03:47 -0500 Subject: Re: old list is now active
Send me mail if you no longer want to be on the list.
Steve,
Please remove me from the list as I will no longer have this account due to change of employment.
<:-(
--chris
From: koreth (Steven Grimm) Date: Sat, 14 Oct 89 13:46:30 PDT Subject: "No Direction Home"
Since the basics of the plot have already been mentioned here, I won't go over it again, but will offer some comments.
First, it looks like they really worked out the cloning business beforehand, instead of making it up on the fly, which is what I was afraid they might do. The link between clone and original (and possibly other people, which creates some intriguing story possibilities) through the ingram is consistent with Ironhorse and his clone, and in fact in the preview for next week's episode, one of the aliens can be heard to say something along the lines of, "When we kill the original, the clone dies too." Also, it's now clear why an alien needs to be involved in the cloning process; someone needs to feed the new thoughts and beliefs into the clone, via the ingram.
Did anyone else notice the alien barrels sitting around in the wastelands? They had the same markings ("1953 Classified" or somesuch) as the ones in the first season, but were strewn about (unopened!). They were most noticeable in the scene where the homeless guy is sobbing in the corner.
It certainly seems that the writers have their acts together w.r.t. the second wave of aliens, and it looks like I was fairly correct about them in my message last week. They say something like, "We weren't prepared to do this. We didn't think we'd be needed here." And notice that they did go around in groups of three, as before.
There were a few things wrong with the episode, though. I didn't much care for some of the new alien gadgets (like the computer console). They harped on the fact that Norton and Paul were dead a little too often. And the team's new HQ looks like the set of a '50s "mad scientist" movie.
Next week's looks good -- they should go into the state of society a bit more, and maybe explain what threw everyone into such a tizzy.
Comments?
-Steve
From: c189-ah@cory.Berkeley.EDU (John Schubert) Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 00:26:49 PDT Subject: Test....
Well this is a test...and by the way is there anybody out there???? (Besides Mr. Grimm, I know he is there.) Oh, by the way Steve, there was n nothing wrong with my VCR tape......
Just mail me and say, "To Life Imortal" or something like that.....
Thanks,
John Schubert
From: wjones@andromeda.rutgers.edu (Wendell E Jones) Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 12:01:20 EDT Subject: Re: Test....
yes, we are out here and one day we will eradicate the human vermin on this planet and make it safe for us........ et tu dekeay or something like that.
wjones aka the ronin
From: c189-ah@cory.Berkeley.EDU (John Schubert) Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 18:46:04 PDT Subject: EARTHQUAKE...2
Well, first of all thanks for mailing me back regarding my "Test..."
Second, last night @6:30 pm I mailed out a message about the earthquake... I have no idea if:
I got the right mail address (war-worlds group), I think I did...
If it got caught somewhere, I think panarthea.ebay.sun.com is in the south bay (Milpitas) and it may have not been working due to damage or power outage...
or the phone lines...they were pretty well non-functional last night.
My reason for mailing was this:
I thought you would just like to know. I was in a library on campus (University of California, Berkeley) when this happened. I did not think that it was that serious at the time. Afterwards there was a large fire in Berkeley (Auto-Towing place called Hustead's, kind of ironic, as they are the ones that are so eager to tow cars away, eve even ones that are legal! And then be total jerks when you go and pick you car up; e.g., "Yeah, I remember towing your car last night, let's see that will be a $60 dollar charge to us, plus you have a $15 ticket from the city, looks like you had a bad day buddy! Come back real soon!!!!!")
Anyway at the time I had no idea about the extent of the damage here and in other parts of the Bay Area, that is until I stopped by work where some the the "guys" had set up a tv. The local news here was really on top of everything, even though some were running on limited backup generators (One of the most memorable scenes that I will never forget was later in the evening on Ch. 4 (KRON) two of the newscasters were discussing the quake and I noticed a clock in the background... it was stopped at 5:04pm...)
Ok, finally to the point about my message last night!!!!!
Around 6pm or so Dan Rather cut in and he gave the "national picture" of the disaster, I was quite surprised to hear him say that he was not sure that the Bay Bridge had been severely damaged. This must have been due to bad or no communications...That is why I wrote the message to try and inform a little bit better than Dan Rather (wow kind of presumptious, huh? Well maybe not...) as I felt that everything else that happenedaround here would not be reported accurately until much later.
Well I am sure by now that you have seen all of the scenes of the damage around here. I don't know how in depth they (National and your local news) have gone into the damage, but here is the main stuff:
The worst is probably a 1.5 mile stretch of Highway 880 in Oakland, it is a two level structure (One way on the upper level and one way on the lower level). Here is what it looked like before
SIDE VIEW
____________________________________________________________ top level
| | | | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------ lower level
HEAD ON VIEW
--==========-- Top level
big cement----------->| |
pillars (square) | |
|-==========-| Lower level
| |
| |
| |
-------------------------------------------------------------- ground
Most of this structure now looks like this (only one view is needed)
SIDE VIEW
========================================================= Top level on top of
| | | the lower level
| | |
--------------------------------------------------------- ground
I have heard estimates of 250 people dead here alone due to many cars being on the lower level when the earthquake happened. Repair time is estimated at 1.5 to 2 years. They are now just starting to try and retrieve the bodies of the dead. Their present method will be to cut a large hole in the top deck and then lift the cars out one by one with a large crane. There is also concern about the rest of the structure crashing to the ground due to any cranes or other vehicles moving on it.
I am pretty sure you have all seen pictures of the Bay Bridge, that most likely will have made the news...but for those who did not see this here again is another rendering....
The Bay Bride looks just like the "before" picture used above for the freeway except for numerous differences in the structure which would probably take me years to figure out how do draw on this terminal...
The after picture looks like this...
-->| 50ft |<--
---------------------------------------------- /*-------- upper level
fallen roadway slanting /
down--------> /
----------------------------------------------\/^------------ lower level
^^^^^^^^
damage to the lower deck
here too...
Repair time varies on this, someone said that the Army has a method to make a temporary roadway on one of the levels (top I think) within a few days. Full repair time is estimated at not less than 2 months.
I have heard that there was extensive damage in Santa Cruz and in Watsonville (most highways out of the region are out due to landslides, cutting the region off.) although I am sure that you are hearing mostly about San Francisco. Not to say that no damage occurred there (Several fallen buildings: 3 story buildings becoming 2 story buildings (bottom floor gone) with the top 2 stories kind of holding together), a large fire, City Hall is damaged, Candlestick Park is damaged (It was full when the quake hit!!), I am not sure about the status of the World Series, I have heard it will be played elsewhere, though I think it might lift peoples spirits if it could be played here.
Most schools around the bay are closed (UC Berkeley is not one of them, although most tests that were scheduled for today were postponed)
Right now SF is without gas and water and electricity (Most of it) due to ruptured mains etc...I am pretty sure that most of the deaths due to this disaster will have taken place because of the freeway collapse (again I am not sure about Santa Cruz, Watsonville, or any other areas). I am not sure about the San Jose area.
One last thing, relatives were calling a friend of mine last night (they live on the East Coast) worried about a library that was burning on campus here. Don't believe it!! Even though the New York Times ran the story, and the special editions of the SF Examiner, and SF Chronicle (which by the way were done on Macintoshes, typewriters, and all lighted by flashlights!), what was burning was that towing company I wrote about earlier...
I am sure more fatalities and damage will come to light as time goes on...
I am aware that this should probably go in ca.earthquake, and I hope I have not offended anyone by posting this to the WotW group, but I have to tell you that I was quite happy to see all of your responses to my "Test.." mail, and I thought I might presume some sort of "on hand pseudo-expert knowledge" due to just being here and try and share it with you.
Late news: Power will be off in the SF marina for 15 to 16 weeks!!
Thanks,
John Schubert c189-ah@cory.berkeley.edu
From: c189-ah@cory.Berkeley.EDU (John Schubert) Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 16:06:11 PDT Subject: I guess my messages did get through
only they were a little late...most will have probably seen all of this stuff before, if you have...sorry. The only thing that can happen now is my first message (6:30pm Tues. night) will come next tomorrow...
John Schubert
From: birdsall@janus.Berkeley.EDU (C.K. Birdsall) Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 18:42:20 PDT Subject: Well, its 6:30pm in Oakland, CA...
I know this isn't WotW stuff, but here in Berkeley there is a major fire a few blocks away, we have power at the University (UCB) and the computers are working, although our seismograph was out...for a while. Yes the Bay Bridge (Part of it), actually a 50' section of the top span has collapsed onto the lower span; all bridges in the bar area are closed for inspection. Several buildings have colapsed in SF. In Oakland a major part of a major freeway has colapsed...a friend of mine who is an Oakland Policeman has just been called in for emergency (indefinite) duty...this was his day off. World series cancelled (not very important, but I thought I would tell you n oops been hearing...hotel amfac in burlingame major damage...
Power is out in Oakland, apparently only incoming calls work there.... My friend (Police) said something about National Guard just as he had to get off of the phone...I have heard nothing about Santa Cruz...I think it might be bad there...I had better go home now...
One last thing, here on the campus (University of California, Berkeley) There is an erie calm here, just as if nothing happened...
Talk to you later,
John Schubert
mail to c189-ah@cory.berkeley.edu
And thanks to all who responded to my "Test..." post today...
From: koreth (Steven Grimm) Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 19:33:53 PDT Subject: Re: Test....
When you send a message to war-worlds, you don't get it back. Would anyone like me to change that? I think I can do it without too much trouble, but EVERYONE would get their messages bounced back. If someone has an objection to that, please let me know.
From: suzie@cubmol.bio.columbia.edu (Suzie Chen) Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 00:17:58 EDT Subject: Re:_Test....
You can open your eyes now...
The test messages have been received. So how about answering some simple questions I have about the Second Invasion and cast?
In the season-opener did I hear the 2nd wave aliens say they were from Morthrai (sp), yet I seem to recall that they were from Mortex (sp) last season.
The ability of the mentally-disturbed man to discriminate between clone and original, reminded me of Blackwood's foster mother's extra sense. What was her status before the second invasion? (I can't recall.)
Haven't I seen the 2 leaders of the second invasion as guest-stars/guest-slimeballs on "Friday the 13th: The Series?" I could swear the guy appeared more than once.
===Jeff
c/o
suzie@cubmol.bio.columbia.edu
I could have asked something like, why were Norton and Ironhorse axed? ;-)
From: c189-ah@cory.Berkeley.EDU (John Schubert) Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 22:43:46 PDT Subject: Re:_Test....
Here are some answers that I know of....
Yes these new aliens are from Morthrai (They call themselves the Morthren). I recall the name Mortex from last season. I can't be sure but I believe that reference came from Quinn (John Colicos) when he was talking to Blackwood in his (Quinn's) art studio. I don't have it on tape, but he either said that Mortex was their home planet or their home star....
She was in several of the episodes. The last one I saw her in was when she posed as a bum, (Was that the one when the aliens were going to try and melt the world phone system?) I don't know her ultimate condition...
Oh yes, I have definitely seen the guy before. His name is Dennis Forest, and he plays Malzor on WotW. I know for sure he was in a Friday 13th episode, in which he played a compulsive gambler, who somehow comes into possession of a cursed world series ring that is able to fortel the future, for a price of course...(He got it from his dad who used it the same way. Now I am not sure about this one, but I believe he was in another episode of Friday the 13th: The one about the Civil War memorabilia collector, who goes back in time with the aid of an old fashioned slide projector, again I am not 100% sure about this one, or if he has been in any others. As for the woman, Catherine Disher, who plays Mana on WotW, I don't recall ever seeing her before.
If you don't already know, the November issue of Starlog Magazine (#148) has one story on the new WotW, and one about Richard Chaves.
Anyone else know more about these questions, I would be particularly interested in the condition of Blackwood's stepmother (Ann Robinson)
From: koreth@panarthea (Steven Grimm) Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 23:36:49 PDT Subject: Re:_Test....
Yes these new aliens are from Morthrai (They call themselves the Morthren). I recall the name Mortex from last season.
Well, the simple contrived explanation is that the actual planet was Mortex and that wherever they are is Morthrai (it may mean "home" in their language).
From: ll-xn!polygen!joeg@buita.BU.EDU (Joe Gaudreau) Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 13:39:29 EDT Subject: Re: Test....
weellll, *we* are out here too. we have *plans* as well. those plans include making "the earth safe for us" but NOT at the expense of our 'nouveau cuisine'.
besides. haven't you ever wondered what the eternal would do if he realized that humans were, ummmm, superior to his current set of holy warriors? think about it.
va neesh, klaaa-vee toH, it's off to work we go...
---
"Was that 20 minutes at 350 or 35 at 200?"
From: suzie@cubmol.bio.columbia.edu (Suzie Chen) Date: Fri, 20 Oct 89 10:33:23 EDT Subject: Thanks
Thanks for the quick response to my questions (despite the shaky condition of some subscribers) and I'll check out that Starlog issue too.
===Jeff
c/o
suzie@cubmol.bio.columbia.edu
From: doug@letni.LawNet.Com (Doug Davis at letni.LawNet.Com) Subject: Re(2): Test.... Date: 20-Oct-89 09:25:50 CST (Fri)
- Yes these new aliens are from Morthrai (They call themselves the Morthren). I recall the name Mortex from last season.
Well, the simple contrived explanation is that the actual planet was Mortex and that wherever they are is Morthrai (it may mean "home" in their language).
According to a quick review of my tape, their home is Mortex, it wasn't specific if it was a planet, star, steller system, or hotel. The quote from Malizar "We are building the new Morthrai" Given in inside the "reproduction area" leads me to believe that *they* are the Morthrai.
As a side note, I hope that these names are not another "all aliens names begin with the same letter", like K for the Klingons in TOS.
doug
__
Doug Davis/1030 Pleasant Valley Lane/Arlington/Texas/76015/817-467-3740
{texsun, motown!sys1, uiucuxc!sys1 lawnet, attctc, texbell} letni!doug
To life immortal!
From: c189-ah@cory.Berkeley.EDU (John Schubert) Date: Fri, 20 Oct 89 11:08:11 PDT Subject: When do you watch WAR?
Here is a WotW programming question.
The local station on which I view WotW is KBHK-TV (San Francisco) Ch. 44 UHF (on the cable systems it has various channels...most use 12). I am wondering if the following situation is happening at your local WotW station?
Here is the scenario:
While I was looking through the tv-guide a few weeks ago for WotW showtimes (even before the premier), here is what I found regarding showtimes:
Saturday
==========================
8pm:.....Star Trek: TNG
9pm:.....Star Trek: TOS
10pm:....Friday 13th: TS
11pm:....Night Court
11:30pm:.War of the Worlds
Sunday (look closely!)
===========================
1pm(!) War of the Worlds >-----------LOOK HERE!!
8pm:.....Star Trek: TNG
9pm:.....Star Trek: TOS
10pm:....Friday 13th: TS
11pm:....Arsenio Hall
My first thoughts were:
Wow, this reminds me of the stories I heard about soon to be cancelled shows (e.g., Star Trek in '67 or '68) getting moved into "death slots".
Because last year the showtimes were:
Saturday
==========================
8pm:.....Star Trek: TNG
9pm:.....War of the Worlds
10pm:....Friday 13th: TS
11pm:....Twilight Zone
11:30pm:.Star Trek: TOS
Sunday
===========================
8pm:.....Star Trek: TNG
9pm:.....War of the Worlds
10pm:....Friday 13th: TS
11pm:....Twilight Zone (not sure about this)
11:30pm..Star Trek: TOS or Arsenio Hall (again not sure)
But I thought, "Well, since these are just reruns maybe the times will change...
Well they did not.
ST:TNG had its premier in the regular 8pm time slot, Friday 13th: TS had a 2 hour special on a Wednesday night, I naturally expected to see a special time for the WotW premier, because of Norton and Ironhorse.
On Saturday (9/30) the WotW showing was a rerun (about the new type of alien that kills the other aliens..., and wants fooood). It wasn't until the end of the WotW episode, during the "next week" part that they showed scenes from the premier.
For their respective previews ST:TNG, and Friday 13th ran several adverts at least a week ahead and during prime time! No warning for WotW, as exemplified by several people missing the premier altogether.
I called the station last Monday (10/16), and I was told that they liked to experiment with putting different shows at different times.
They did say that there was a possibility of changing the times for their winter schedule (starting January). I was going to write the program manager and express my disapproval, but I think I will wait as some program-complaint letter might too easily find its way into the garbage along with other parts of the station.
Questions:
What do you think about this situation?
Is this happening to you in your area, or does SanFran have all the bad luck (well not all, but some...)
Is this a sort of "Creature Features" type time slot that is perfect for WotW?
Is this an audience or show killing plan?
Here are some possible reasons for the present time slot:
Ratings. WotW is less popular than ST:TOS.
Money. Advertisers. (this could tie in with reason 1.)
Parents wrote in, and complained, saying that:
They can't sleep because they are now worried that their small child will start growing rapidly and come and pull their legs off.
Their children:
Poke other kids eyes out trying to find the whereabouts of the "team".
When scolded the Mason triplets stand back to back in a triangle saying, "Mumumumumumumumumu mommmmy isssss fuuuuullll offffff shhhiiii*!"
...
Seriously, there probably were complaints about the gore level. But I discount this as being a reason to change the showtimes because a 1pm Sunday showing isn't too child proof.
Well let me know what you think.
And:
Has anyone put together a list of WotW showtimes for different parts of the country??
If so send it to me, otherwise send me the times, area and station where you watch WotW, and I will make up a list.
It might also be helpful to include the showtimes of ST:TNG, ST:TOS,and and Friday the 13th, for purposes of comparison.
Thanks,
John Schubert
From: reviews@cvman.prime.com (Gary Delong, Network Administrator) Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 15:07:00 EDT Subject: review (spoilers)
Episode: #028 Title: Terminal Rock
Commentary:
Well, it looks like there will be many shows with the same
basic plot this year: The aliens identify something which
"bands the humans together and gives them their power", then
find an individual human who has some control over that something
that they can clone so they can subvert the human strengths
to their advantage.
Last week it was religion, this week it's rock music; and another of Kincaid's old girl friends gets our heros looking in the right direction.
I must say that our heros seem very lucky falling into all the alien plots by accident this year.
The next episode preview:
Next Week:
Episode: #027 Title: Breeding Ground
Teaser Announcement:
Human beings breed alien babys;
A devious plot to create an inhuman race;
The dawn of a new race.
Commentary:
I wonder how the aliens will figure out that sexual reproduction
"bands the humans together and gives them their power", and which
of Kincaid's old girl friends will make sure our heros fall into
the middle of this plot.
(I wonder if they'll clone Dr. Ruth?)
(I wonder if Dr. Ruth is an old girl friend of Kincaid?)
HARD CORE SPOILERS FOLLOW:
This Weeks Guaranteed Bar Bet Winners:
At the half-hour break:
Debbie finally does something, she saves her mother by yanking the
alien device out of the "scavenger's" ear.
Later in the same segment, Debbie will go back into character by placing the alien device in her own ear. (Is she bright or what?)
At the next break:
Debbie's attempt to kill her mother will end abruptly when Kincaid and Blackwood stop the music.
---
_____
/ \ / Gary A. Delong, N1BIP "I am the NRA." gdelong@cvman.prime.com
| \ / COMPUTERVISION Division {sun|linus}!cvbnet!gdelong
\____\/ Prime Computer, Inc. (603) 622-1260 x 261
From: koreth (Steven Grimm) Date: Tue, 24 Oct 89 09:23:38 PDT Subject: screwing with music, eh?
They should've kept the Advocates around. Those three could have told the newcomers that playing with the music wouldn't work...
From: doug@letni.LawNet.Com (Doug Davis at letni.LawNet.Com) Date: 24-Oct-89 22:11:46 CST (Tue) Subject: Re: screwing with music, eh?
They should've kept the Advocates around. Those three could have told the newcomers that playing with the music wouldn't work...
Newcomers? Newcomers? Theres no slags here, thats another series ;-)
Is it my imagination or are we getting into a rut? Aliens find something to use aginst the humans, humans bumble into it and stop it. Aliens go find something else and never try the first idea again. (groan) where have we seen that before?
I't may be me, but I think that a water pipe of that size couldn't possibly be the *only* pipe delivering weter to Ca(?) That just didn't make any sense to me maybe Gene Roddenberry is getting his hands on the WoTW scripts ;-)
doug
__
Doug Davis/1030 Pleasant Valley Lane/Arlington/Texas/76015/817-467-3740
{texsun, motown!sys1, uiucuxc!sys1 lawnet, attctc, texbell} letni!doug
From: texbell!wuarchive!ukma!corpane!sparks@Central Date: Mon, 23 Oct 89 9:01:02 EDT Subject: I need some info about the new season
I missed the season opener and have some questions:
Why is the economy of the earth now some sort of post-war-road-warrior type situation?
The people of earth all seem to be living in shelters, does anybody have a job? is the whole planet just one big road warrior situation?
The people don't seem to realize that there are aliens causing all these problems. So what do they think is causing it and what are they doing about it?
What happened to the government? has it collapsed? why doesn't Blackwood and co. go find the rest of the government that was sponsering them and get some support? (I saw the episode where Ironhorse died and they had to leave the compound, but why not go to washington and get more help?)
If the government has fallen and the economy has collapsed it seems the aliens are winning. So why doesn't Blackwood and Co. tell the people that there are aliens trying to attack earth so the people can band together and do some fighting? It seems like the new aliens are pretty weak if the only ones fighting them (and succesfully) are 3 earthlings, eh?
--
John Sparks | {rutgers|uunet}!ukma!corpane!sparks | D.I.S.K. 24hrs 1200bps
||||||||||||||| sparks@corpane.UUCP | 502/968-5401 thru -5406
To err is human. To forgive is unusual.
From: koreth (Steven Grimm) Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 10:15:25 PST Subject: Re: I need some info about the new season
What happened to the government? has it collapsed? why doesn't Blackwood and co. go find the rest of the government that was sponsering them and get some support? (I saw the episode where Ironhorse died and they had to leave the compound, but why not go to washington and get more help?)
They tried that, and were pretty much told that they were on their own. General Wilson is dead, and apparently the new people in charge have more important things on their minds than the extermination of the human race...
As for the other questions, I expect they'll go into recent history at some point during the new season.
-Steve
From: dav@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (William David Haas) Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 13:26:40 -0500 Subject: Re: I need some info about the new season
I thought when they called they got the impression that their contact was an alien.
dav
From: koreth (Steven Grimm) Date: Sun, 5 Nov 89 19:20:45 PST Subject: press release for "Night Moves" from rec.arts.tv (thanks Vidiot!)From: brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot) Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv Subject: WotW Paramount Press Release - #032: Night Moves (short version)
Night Moves
| Episode #032 | uplink dates: 11/18/89, 11/19/89 |
Needing some time off, Suzanne takes Debi to her mother's farm, not knowing that the aliens have taken control of it.
[complete synopsis will be available after 11/27/89]
CAST
| Harrison Blackwood | Jared Martin |
| Suzanne McCullough | Lynda Mason Green |
| John Mincaid | Adrian Paul |
| Debi McCullough | Rachel Blanchard |
| Malzor | Denis Forest |
| Mana | Catherine Disher |
| Rebecca | Sally Chamberlin |
| John | Ken Pogue |
| Paul | Wayne Best |
| Roy | Dale Wilson |
| Shirley | Meg Hogarth |
| Executive Producer: | Frank Mancuso, Jr. |
| Supervising Producer: | Jon Anderson |
| Written by: | Lorne Rossman |
| Directed by: | Mark Sobel |
HIGHLIGHT LISTING:
WAR OF THE WORLDS -- "Night Moves." A visit to the country turns into a fight for her life when Suzanne learns that her mother's farm has been taken over by the aliens.
ADVERTISING COPY:
THE TERROR GROWS!
The aliens take over a farm run by Suzanne's mother!
TV LOG LISTING:
Aliens take over Suzanne's family farm on WAR OF THE WORLDS.
--
harvard\ att!nicmad\
Vidiot ucbvax!uwvax..........!astroatc!vidiot!brown
rutgers/ decvax!nicmad/
ARPA/INTERNET: @spool.cs.wisc.edu,@astroatc:brown@vidiot
From: @cvbnet.prime.com:reviews@cvman.prime.com (Gary Delong, gdelong@cvman.prime.com) Date: Wed, 15 Nov 89 08:50:40 EST Subject: ttfn (ta ta for now)
Well, as if oft the case in this industry, I'm history from this site.
Hope you enjoyed my reviews. (the few I got to post)
With any luck I should have some connectivity re-established within a couple of weeks.
Live long and prosper.. (no that's not it)
May the Force ... (no that's not it)
To life immoral, I mean immortal!
Gary
---
_____ Gary A. Delong, N1BIP "I am the NRA."
/ \ / COMPUTERVISION Division gdelong@cvman.prime.com
| \ / Prime Computer, Inc. {sun|linus}!cvbnet!cvman!gdelong
\____\/ Manchester, New Hampshire (603) 622-1260 x 261
From: suzie@cubmol.bio.columbia.edu (Suzie Chen) Date: Thu, 16 Nov 89 00:09:36 EST Subject: a_couple_of_comments
It's been kind of quiet on the old war-worlds@panarthea.EBay.Sun.COM
So here it goes...Please comment.
Only now caught "Breeding Ground" (a tape delay):
Just when I was beginning to think the Eternal was only a
manifestation of the communal intelligence of the Morthren,
it goes and lays an egg.
Re. last week's episode:
No wonder Blackwood liked her, she was so "New Age," like,
crystal power, and telepathy, you know? Just his style.
It was nice to see (in flashback) the alien soldiers in action.
Although, it didn't seem they were having too tough a time
killing women and children. I wonder if they ever had to deal
with a technologically equal (or superior) foe?
Synths from Quarto (sp?) perhaps?
--JM
P.S.
Fox re-ran "Predator," earlier tonight. I didn't remember that
both Col. Ironhorse and (Uncle) Lewis Vendredi starred.
From: salaris@iies.ecn.purdue.edu (Rrrrrrrrrrrrabbits) Date: Thu, 16 Nov 89 09:56:02 -0500 Subject: New Season
I was reading the rec.sf-lovers postings and one person said that they saw Richard Chaves at a convention where he gave his theories on the changes in the new season. He stated that he thinks the "new" setting of the rather bleak earth is because mankind never really made a full recovery from the first invasion. In 1953, after the war, earth was sort of plummeted into a perpetual depression.
That is a rather interesting presentation of why earth is now so gloomy. I like it better than the "Oh, mankind somehow doesn't remember the last invasion" excuse of the first season. Of course, the Novemeber issue of Starlog says that the future earth is that way because of economic collapse and government decay in the near future. But, the changes we are seeing are to drastic to have happened over something like a 2 year period or so.
Starlog also described that the new aliens do not take over human bodies like before. They go into these incubation chambers and shapeshift into human form - they get a new body. Hence the aliens emerging from the pods in the first episode. They have somehow compensated for earths bacteria and so on and therefore do not decay and don't set off geiger counters.
Does anyone have any comments on this? I am trying to piece together the events that happened between season 1 and 2 and these are some bits of information that I have picked up. Let's try and keep this group active.
Wouldn't it be great if one of the toy companies would come out with a War of the Worlds line of toys? They could make alien figures and figures of Suzanne and Harrison and Kincaid. You could get your own alien ray gun with a green flashing light and green glow-in-the-dark ooze for pretend blood. Maybe they might even make toy war machines.
It's a nice idea, too bad no one is capitalizing on it.
Well, I better get back to research. Talk to you all soon
To Life Immortal
Steven
From: koreth@panarthea (Steven Grimm) Date: Thu, 16 Nov 89 07:25:57 PST Subject: Re: a_couple