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Copyright 1994, Cyberspace Vanguard Magazine
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| C Y B E R S P A C E |
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| V A N G U A R D |
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| E X T R A |
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| News and Views of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Universe |
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| cn577@cleveland.freenet.edu Cyberspace Vanguard@1:157/564 |
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| PO Box 25704, Garfield Hts., OH 44125 USA |
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| TJ Goldstein, Editor Sarah Alexander, Administrator |
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| tlg4@po.cwru.edu aa746@po.cwru.edu |
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April 23, 1994
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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--!1!-- (Short) Ravings of a Deranged Editor
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--!2!-- Surviving: Jerry Doyle on BABYLON 5
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--!3!-- The Monstrous World of Forrest J Ackerman
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--!4!-- Administrivia
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--!1!-- (Short) Ravings of a Deranged Editor
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No, we haven't gone monthly.
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So why are we here?
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It's simple. The timing of life doesn't always tick conveniently, so
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rather than publish this interview with Jerry Doyle a month after the
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episode he talks about airs, we decided to do this extra. We've also got a
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couple of other peices of "perishable" info. So please bear with us, and
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enjoy. We'll be back in full at the end of May.
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---- TJ Goldstein, Editor
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--!2!-- Surviving: Jerry Doyle on BABYLON 5
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by TJ Goldstein
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On the outside, it doesn't look like security chief Michael Garibaldi
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has too much in common with Jerry Doyle, the actor who plays him on BABYLON
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5. Mr. Doyle has had acting success in a relatively short period of time,
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is a hyper-busy person but thinks that "there's nothing better on a Sunday
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than blowing off a day of your life watching football," has graduated from
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flight school, has flown and sold business jets, and has spent nine years
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as "one of those illustrious investment bankers" on Wall Street. "It seems
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like we were acting then too. 'This is good for you, do it. Come on, it's
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the best thing.'" Mr. Garibaldi, on the other hand, has a different
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history.
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"They've flawed him about as much as you can," Mr. Doyle told CV by
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phone during a break in filming as the cast and crew finished up for the
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season. "They've fired him three or four times. There's so many you can't
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keep track. You'd think they'd *know.* He has relationship problems, he's
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an alcoholic, always getting in fights, getting beat up, beating people up,
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throwing stuff, he just tells everybody off, he's irreverent, cynical ...
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you know, he's a very cool character to play. ... I didn't get a lot of the
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backstory, like the relationships and the alcohol and all that. Just from
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the writing style and the situations and the way that he reacted to them I
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could see that he was kind of a twisted individual."
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Now, as the first season wraps up filming, he doesn't know much more.
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"I haven't read the bible, the 5 year plan, the arc for the show and the
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characters. I like getting a new script every couple of weeks and kind of
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seeing what's happening and going 'wow, that's cool, all right! That's
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exciting.' So I just told the head writers, Joe Straczynski and Larry
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Ditillio, that I love what they're doing with the character, no input from
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me is required, just keep doing what you're doing. It's great, so why
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change it?"
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For many people, it was Garibaldi's checkered background that drew
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them to the show in the very beginning, when series creator Straczynski
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(pronounced Stra-ZIN-ski) was trying to drum up support and teasing
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people with glimpses of things to come. Promises he made about
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Garibaldi's past are kept in the upcoming episode called "Survivors."
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"Well, pretty much by the title I think says a lot about the
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character," Mr. Doyle says. "He's a survivor. Past life situations come
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back to haunt him, and he's put in a situation of not only dealing with a
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relationship -- not a love relationship, it's a past relationship with a
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friend of mine's daughter whose father was killed in a tragic accident that
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they blamed on me. And whether she believed it or not ... we had to
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rectify that situation. Plus, you've got losing your job, getting
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suspended, dealing with her, trying to convince people that you're not who
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they say you are. It's basically about surviving this period when it all
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seems to go wrong at once. It's a fairly physical script, there's a lot of
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fights. I think I get the snot beat out of me ... one guy once, two guys
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the next time, three guys the next time ... I feel like it's the World
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Wrestling Federation. You're going in the ring and there's like 19 people
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there. It's like the survivor series or something like that. I thought the
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script was very good. I had a lot of fun shooting it with director Jim
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Johnston. Hopefully my performance is equal to the script because I think
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there was a lot of great stuff in there.
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"I'm not sure he ever really changes," he says, referring to JMS's talk
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of Garibaldi changing as a result of the experience, "but the character
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tends to become more and more enlightened. And in some scripts he'll put
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the wall up higher and higher and thicker and thicker and in others a brick
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or two will come down, but Garibaldi tends to keep things and people and
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situations at a distance and not let them get too close. It's a great way
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to avoid being hurt. It's the old saying: would you rather hurt or be
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hurt? Garibaldi tends to choose to hurt rather than be hurt. He's always
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dancing, chucking, jiving, hey-hey-hey-hey-hey, but pretty much keeping
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people and things at a distance." Of course, that's not to say that
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Garibaldi never gets the girl. Later this season he'll have to deal with
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past choices in the romance department when a past girlfriend is caught in
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the flare-up of war on the Mars colony, trying to decide if he made the
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right decision in leaving her to take his current position.
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It's not all serious, however.
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"Somebody asked me what acting was like compared to working on Wall
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Street and I said this was like a 3 year vacation with a couple of rainy
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days. This is just way more fun. You go in in the morning, somebody makes
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you up, and does your hair, and feeds you. And I'm not making these words
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up. Somebody tells me what to say, how to say it, where to stand, the
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editors make you look good -- or as good as you possibly can, they tell you
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what time to be back the next day, and they pay you. Not a bad gig. Plus
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in this business if you're at a movie and you don't like what I do, I can
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give you $7.50 and tell you to shut up. On Wall Street, I'm not givin' you
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back 50 million dollars. Sorry. You're out of luck. Next!"
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There is already a "gag reel" for the show, including an incident that
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occurred during the episode "Parliament of Dreams," where Garibaldi is
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supposed to search the quarters of Narn Ambassador G'Kar, played by Andreas
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Katsulas, for evidence in a murder. He finds a pair of pink panties, and
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when he asks G'Kar if they're his, the Ambassador tells him to get out. At
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least, that's what finally made it to the small screen. Originally it went
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a little differently. "I said 'Are these yours?' and he said 'No, your
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momma's.' So I stretched them as far as I could and said 'No, THIS is more
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like my momma's.' And then he said something back and then 'Oh, get out of
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here.' So I said 'I would, but I'm feeling strangely stimulated.' So he
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said 'Would you care to tango?' We have a lot of great moments that don't
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hit the air."
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So with situations that lend themselves to such silliness, how does he
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get serious when he needs to? "Mmm ... I just think about getting fired,
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and I'm right there. 'Time to do what we paid you to ...'"
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Long before the show even hit the air, Joe Straczynski teased
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net.users with the statement "Today was pajama day. Don't ask." It is
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apparently not unusual for things ... out of the ordinary to go on.
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"You have to have fun on the set. We're there 12, 14 hours a day,
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sometimes it's hot, ticky-tack camera setups that take a long time, but when
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you're spending that much time in one place with that many people, you have
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to have fun. There's only so much you can talk about as it relates to the
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show or acting, or whatever. So we try and make it as enjoyable an
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experience as possible on the set and I think that that transforms itself
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into what you see on screen. When everybody's loose and grooving and
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having a good time hopefully it shows up on screen. Every Friday we have a
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day where we do something silly, like 'Not matching shoe day' or 'Pajama
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day' or 'Trashy lingerie day.' I think last Friday was 'Wear as many
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pieces of clothing with shows that you've worked on before day.' So you
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have the QUANTUM LEAP pants, and the MURDER SHE WROTE t-shirt, and the
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crew jacket for MAGNUM on top of that, with the hat from SNEAKERS ...
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it's the ultimate in logo display."
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But "logo display" is not Jerry Doyle's thing. "What's the deal with
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wearing everybody's name on the outside? I don't get it. They want you to
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have a picture of the President for fifty bucks or a hundred bucks. And
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I'm saying to myself, does he have a picture of me on his desk? Until he
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does, I'm not interested in having him on MY desk." If you're beginning to
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get the idea that he might be a little bit cynical, you're wrong. He's a
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LOT cynical.
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"I've met a lot of different people in a lot of different positions in
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various companies, not only in this country, but around the world. And it's
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amazing. They have an ability to shake your hand while they're sticking the
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knife in your back at the same time. And they'll do it in such a nice way
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that you smile while you're bleeding to death."
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He coughs and lights up a cigarette. "You have to empower yourself.
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Everybody lives under this thinking that there's a certain formula, or a
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certain way of living that you have to live, a certain roadmap that you
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have to follow, and I just don't buy into it. My dad was a cop, and he
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died when he was forty-one and I was eleven. Now when you're eleven,
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forty-one is ancient. But when you're thirty-seven, forty-one is around
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the corner. And I decided when I go out, I'm going kicking and
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screaming, doing exactly what I want to do, and my last check's gonna
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bounce. That's the philosophy. That's what I've decided to do."
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But while he talks tough, he's not unapproachable. Asked the reader-
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submitted question "Is he aware that he will soon have droves of screaming
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sci-fi geek-chicks running after him," he said "Cool. I look at it this
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way. I came into this business because I wanted to. Nobody invited me.
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No-one said, 'hey, we really want you to quit what you're doing and come to
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LA and get on TV.' So what we do lends itself to introducing ourselves to
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the public. And the public, they are the ones who keep the show on the
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air."
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But in a genre that has become lulled by the pacifist philosophy of
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Gene Roddenberry's STAR TREK, B5 sometimes hits hard, causing some people
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to accuse the show of appealing the the "lowest common denominator" in
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television audiences.
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"I've gotten feedback from doctors, and heads of corporations, and
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brokers and traders, and truck drivers, engineers and computer guys that dig
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the show. I don't think there's one constant demographic that this show is
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in tune with... I think we've done a good job of addressing relationships,
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the power structure, we can take a look at modern-day events and really put
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things in a futurist tone. What do you do with career criminals? What do
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you do with murderers? What's the penal system like, what's the medical
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system like? Is there a welfare system? All these things come out in kind
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of weird ways because looking at it from my standpoint, the world is just
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as trashed in 2258 as it is today. You'd think we'd get something right.
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I mean, we still eat meatloaf, which isn't a bad thing, but ... We still
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have the same problems and situations, the same upheavals and backstabbing
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and conniving and wheeling and dealing that you have today. We deal with
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issues of prejudice. And now it's not necessarily Earther against Earther.
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It's pro-Earth versus anti-Mars or things like that. In the year 2258
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we're still pretty wacky."
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His philosophy on the crux of the matter can probably be summed up
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by an answer he once gave a convention-goer who asked him he if thought
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science fiction fans were geeks. He pointed out that the chairman of
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IBM can drive down the road at 2 a.m. on Halloween with an arrow through
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his head and it's considered normal.
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"Forget about it. Do what you want to do, and have fun with it.
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That's what it's all about. If we have fun making it, and you have fun
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watching it, then we all have fun, and what the hell else is there?"
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--!3!-- The Monstrous World of Forrest J Ackerman
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Some people are born to greatness, others thrust it upon the world.
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Forry Ackerman is one of the latter. He's probably best known for his
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creation of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND, the long-running magazine of
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fantasy/horror films, which ran for 190 issues before the publisher
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disappeared. He's also the proud owner of what is probably the world's
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largest movie memorabilia collection.
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He's also a marvelous storyteller with a diverse repertoire that runs
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from the very first World Science Fiction Convention -- "which is a pretty
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big name for a pretty small turnout. There were only 185 of us, nobody came
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from outside the Continental United States, and we had a banquet so
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expensive that out of the 185 only 29 could afford it" -- to classic films
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-- did you know that Fritz Lang shot 49 times as much footage for 1910's
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METROPOLIS as ever hit the screen, and that he cut different versions for
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each major city? -- to the fimmakers of today.
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"I've just done my 46th cameo in a movie," he said in a phone interview
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for Marcon, where he'll be a guest the weekend of May 13th through May 15th.
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(Call (614) 451-3154 or 70004.1457@compuserve.com for more info.) "I've
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been in seven of John Landis' films because when he was a 22 year old kid he
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was given $60,000 by an uncle who said 'OK boy, go make a movie.' Then I
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was invited to go see something called SCHLOCK, THE BANANA MONSTER and I had
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to be up at 4 o'clock the next morning to fly away to Europe and I thought
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'Gee, do I really need to roll in at 1 o'clock in the morning get 3 hours of
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sleep to see something called 'Schlock'? The name John Landis was utterly
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unknown back then and there was nobody in it of any consequence but I have
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this reputation ever since I was five and a half in 1922 that I have seen
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every fantastic movie possible and I thought gosh, I have to keep my
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reputation intact so I went.
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"Well I came out into the parking lot at around midnight and this lone
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lanky figure came loping along, tapped me on the shoulder and said 'Mr
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Ackerman?' and I said 'Well, it's too late to deny it now after about 60
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years,' and he said 'There's only three people whose opinions I would value
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about my movie: Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, and yourself.' And I
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thought, even if I'm low man on the totem pole, I'm pretty impressed. So I
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looked at John Landis pretty severely and said 'Are you the one responsible
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for that movie I just saw?' And he kind of backed away and said 'Yes, sir'
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and I said 'Well, you'll hear from my lawyer on Monday.' And he got all
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flustered and started stammering 'Why?' and I said 'Well, isn't it self
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evident? Look at this suit! Down on the floor laughing! It's ruined!
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You'll pay for this!' So he said 'Gee, you like my movie?' I thought it
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was sensational. Well, on the basis of the preview he was given an extra
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$10,000 to add some footage, so I did a little cameo for him, and about 13
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years later he got me out of bed at half past midnight and brought me
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downtown, introduced me to Michael Jackson, and stuck me directly behind him
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in Michael Jackson's THRILLER. There I am, same red shirt, same bottomless
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bag of popcorn, it was as if thirteen years later I'd never left the
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theater, so engrossed in that monster movie ... So altogether John has put
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me in seven of his films. The very latest is Beverly Hills Copy III. I'm a
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teetotaller, but I'm sitting at a bar for 11 hours drinking brandy together
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with Ray Harryhausen -- the brandy is apple juice -- and I got a great bride
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for 11 hours but I had to give her back to Central Casting. We didn't even
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have time to consummate our marriage. Didn't seem quite fair to me."
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So while most people associate Forry Ackerman with movies, they don't
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realize the part that he has played in the literature of the genre. They
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may know he published Ray Bradbury's first story, and that Steven King sent
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him his first story at the age of 14, but they don't know that after serving
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in World War II he became a literary agent, earning only $50 for his first
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year before signing the likes of A.E. Van Vogt and Charles Beaumont as
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clients. Today he represents somewhere around 200 science fiction and
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fantasy authors and marvels at the way the field has changed. ....
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[Continued in Volume 2, Issue 3]
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--!4!-- Administrivia
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If you act fast, you can help to show your favorite Hollywood stars the
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power of the net. The newly opened Los Angeles Free-Net will be presented
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at a gala to honor acting teacher Sanford Meisner. Hollywood stars are
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being given accounts so that they can send greetings to him, and will be
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able to read your greetings. As of right now the complete list is not
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available, but as it will be a large event, chances are that whoever you
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want to reach will be there. Greetings to the stars can be sent to
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xx998@lafn.org. All e-mail will be posted to a public newsgroup, and the
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best messages will be printed out and hung from strings on a map of the
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world to show where they came from. So please, especially if you're outside
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the United States, take a couple of minutes to show those off the net that
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we're out here. The demo will be held April 28th.
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And last but not least, CV is looking for an archivist. We get hundreds of
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kilobytes of information that we'd like to save each month, but lacking any
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spare time at all, we need someone to organize it for us. The position is
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an unpaid one (as are they all -- for the moment) but the person chosen will
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have probably more information than they ever wanted to know about the genre
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dumped into their lap without their having to look for it. If you're
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interested in the position, please contact cn577@cleveland.freenet.edu.
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--
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CYBERSPACE VANGUARD MAGAZINE
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News and Views from the Science Fiction Universe
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TJ Goldstein, Editor | Send submissions, questions, comments to
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tlg4@po.cwru.edu | cn577@cleveland.freenet.edu
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