If generations are measured in 20 year spans, then science fiction is entering its third generation. It all started with Weird Tales, Amazing Stories, and the other more speculative pulps of the mid 1920s. By the 40s, we were in what folks are calling the "Golden Age", when Astounding ruled the roost. Since then, we've had what I'd call the "Silver Age" (or perhaps the "Digest Age" or the "Galactic Age") and are just starting one called the "New Wave".
The pulp age is now so long ago that we've already lost some of its more prominent writers: Doc Smith passed away last year, Ray Cummings was gone by 1957, Robert Howard and H.P. Lovecraft didn't make it out of the 1930s. Others are still alive and well…and still active: Murray Leinster, Jack Williamson, Edmond Hamilton, Clifford Simak, Frank Bellknap Long, Hugo Gernsback.
The Golden Age spawned a new crop of greats, from Leigh Brackett to John W. Campbell, jr. And there may be no author of that era of bigger stature, greater prolificity, not to mention bottom line, than Isaac Asimov.
One can say a lot about Isaac. Garrulous, idiosyncratic, a workaholic, too pushy with his "harmless" romantic advances. But also brilliant, thoughtful, charming (at least in print). Love him or hate him, there's no question that he's left his mark on the field — from Nightfall, to I, Robot, to Foundation. For twenty years, Asimov turned out SF stories with incredible reliability. Then, with the launch of Sputnik, he turned his pen mostly to science fact. He's found a permanent home at The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, to that publication's credit. Asimov also churns out a flood of science books for the mass market. There's really no category of the Dewey Decimal System this fellow hasn't touched upon. He's an inspiration (a cautionary tale?) to us all.
So it was perhaps inevitable that F&SF would devote an issue to this titan of the genre. If you can get past the over-the-top cover — but it's nice to see EMSH back — then a decent mag awaits. Especially at 50 cents, which is cheap these days for a digest.
The Man Behind the Curtain
by Ed Emshwiller
The Key, by Isaac Asimov
First up is Asimov's first new SF story of significant length in quite some time. Two geologists stumble upon an alien artifact during a selenological expedition. Its ramifications for humanity are profound, so much so that the two have a lethal brawl. One escapes to hide the artifact before dying.
He leaves this clue:
It's up to Wendell Urth, the agoraphobe protagonist of several F&SF stories from the mid 1950s, to crack the case.
The beginning is pretty gripping, and I'm happy to say I got some of the clues. But it boils down to a rather abstruse puzzle with a bit too much punning for my taste.
Three stars.
You Can't Beat Brains, by L. Sprague de Camp
Sprague's short bio of his friend, Isaac, is not entirely flattering, but it does spotlight Asimov's undoubtedly prodigious intellect.
Three stars.
Isaac Asimov: A Bibliography, by Isaac Asimov
If you ever wanted to know what Asimov has been up to (besides chasing skirts) for the last thirty years, this is a good ledger. 25 science fiction books (two of which the Journey has covered), three pages of short stories, three more pages of non-fiction articles (most of which the Journey has covered), and 30+ nonfiction books.
Whereas I've got just two books and four stories (and a thousand non-fiction articles) to my credit. Ah well. I'm still young.
Portrait of the Writer as a Boy, by Isaac Asimov
For this month's non-fiction article, Asimov takes on his favorite subject — himself! Actually, I appreciated this glimpse into the world of science fiction reading and writing in the late 30s. It's an era I missed, despite having been born just a few months before Asimov (not having gotten into STF in a big way until ~1950). Perhaps he'll some day use this article as a nucleus for an autobiography. He's written everything else.
You didn't think it was going to be all about Asimov, did you? Sure, he did, but you?
Mr. Porges offers up a paint-by-numbers piece of macabre about an old mansion with a spooky looking glass over the mantle. The setup and the telling were quite good, but the ending was second-tier early days FSF — or maybe even earlier pulp.
Three stars.
Come Back Elena, by Vic Chapman
The science fictional notion of storing memories in a computer and then inserting them into an android or biological blank slate has been around a while. This latest take from a new author starts quite promisingly. A grieving husband finds his wife's doppleganger a decade after the wife's death. She agrees to contribute sufficient biological material such that he can quick grow a new body as a vessel for her stored memories. But, of course, All Does Not Go Well.
There's a novel's worth of premise to explore here: is it murder to displace the personality of a human being, even one that has been alive for just a few days? Is the resulting person a new persona or a ressurrection of the old? What are the legal ramifications, for the subject and the experimenter?
Chapman avoids all of these, instead turning in a rather humdrum "shock" ending. It's a pity because the first half is quite strong.
Vignette on the immovable faith of a missionary encountering the irresistible force of an indigene's religion.
Blink and you'll miss it. Three stars.
The Picture Window, by Jon DeCles
"There's nothing new under the Sun." So complains an industrialist to his artist friend. Or should I say "former" friend as the dam the capitalist has erected is flooding out the beloved valley the painter has made his home. The artist bets his ex-buddy $50,000 that he can make a truly new piece of art.
What he creates is…well, you be the judge.
Jon (he's a friend, so I call him Jon, even though that's not his actual name) has created a story that is, in execution, something of the opposite to Chapman's and Porges'. It starts out a bit rocky, all shouty dialogue, but the latter half is memorable.
I'll take a good ending over a good beginning. Four stars.
Burning Question, by Brian W. Aldiss
Speaking of memorable, here's a story snatched right from the front page. An inhabited world far from Earth is soon to be a way station to the stars in a galactic continuation of the Cold War. The indigenes have decided they would rather immolate themselves in protest than tolerate our base. One sympathetic colonel's attempts to sway the American authorities to give in to native demands just this once fall on deaf ears.
There's some good philosophical stuff in here, and maybe some lessons for Lyndon. Four stars.
An Extraordinary Child, by Sally Daniell
Lastly, a piece by another newcomer. This one involves a child with a handicap of the mind. He is brilliant, but tuned to another wavelength — one that allows him to see the little people. Only these brownies/faeries/elves all speak like Beatniks, and they have murder on their mind.
Our Esteemed Editor has noted that woman authors are far more likely to have children featured in their stories. I had high hopes for this one, a well-written piece portraying a sympathetic child with a mental aberration. Unfortunately, it settles for cheap thrills rather than profound statements.
Three stars. Maybe next time.
What's Up, Doc?
All told, this Asimovian issue is not one for the ages. Part of the problem is the two newcomers are not stellar, and Asimov is a bit rusty. That leaves just a couple of veterans to contribute comparatively good stories, and an old grognard to turn in…a typically unimpressive piece.
Perhaps Isaac deserves better than this. Or perhaps, like a revue show featuring an over-the-hill performer, it's exactly what one would expect.
It’s official, we now have a “Star Trek” night at our house each week, when we gather our friends and watch the latest episode. Though we’ve only watched two episodes so far, the show is off to an interesting start! This week we saw “Charlie X”, which had thematic similarities to both of the pilots we saw at Tricon.
The Enterprise has picked up a refugee, seventeen-year-old Charlie, who is the only survivor of a colony that died years ago. He was found by another ship, Antares, whose crew is only too happy to be rid of him.
There’s immediately something fishy about the boy. This is emphasized by strong musical cues, which are nicely integrated into the score. Since I watched “The Cage” (the first pilot) only a couple of weeks ago, I wondered at first whether the Antares crew were actually aliens in disguise, or an illusion.
The boy is extremely awkward in his interactions. He’s fascinated by Yeoman Janice Rand, the first ‘girl’ he’s ever met, and follows Captain Kirk around like a lost puppy. No one seems to know quite what to do with him, and I felt bad for the kid at first.
However, strange things start happening aboard the ship, initially benign, or at least not damaging long-term. Charlie produces a ‘gift’ for Yeoman Rand and won’t say how he obtained it, even though she notes that there shouldn’t have been any in the ship’s stores. All of the synthetic meatloaf in the ship’s ovens are turned into cooked real turkey. Uhura temporarily loses her voice.
It’s clear to the viewer from the beginning that Charlie is making these strange things happen, but it’s not until he begins to take far more sinister actions that the crew become suspicious. The Antares attempts to contact the Enterprise at extreme range, saying that they need to warn them, but they’re cut off when their ship explodes without warning. Finally, Charlie makes a crewman disappear directly in front of Captain Kirk.
The entire story shifts at this point, and Charlie goes from being sympathetic to terrifying. He’s immature and impulsive, greedy and lonely. He’s got the power of a god and the conscience of a small child. He goes after Janice Rand, coming into her quarters and offering her a flower. She firmly and repeatedly tells him, “No,” but he continues to press his attentions on her until the Captain and Mr. Spock show up to help. When he casually tosses them aside, Yeoman Rand slaps him – so he makes her disappear, too.
There are echoes of “Where No Man” in this plot: a human obtains absolute power, which corrupts absolutely. It’s also reminiscent of the Twilight Zone episode, "It's a good life", which similarly features an omnipotent, frightening child. The ending to "Charlie", however, is unexpected. The aliens who gave Charlie the power in the first place, allowing him to survive in the lost colony, return to take him back. Charlie begs the humans to allow him to stay, saying he’ll be alone with aliens who cannot touch him and who cannot love.
This is an interesting turnabout; the audience is once again compelled to sympathize with Charlie. Despite all the terrible things he’s done, the viewer can’t help but feel sorry for the young man, trapped all alone with aliens. His situation is an interesting parallel to Vina’s in “The Cage”, but Vina stays behind by choice, and she is offered a rich fantasy life by the Talosians, whereas Charlie wants nothing more than to escape, and despite his powers, is apparently offered a sterile and empty life by his alien jailors. The nuanced story is far more sophisticated than typical television sci-fi fare.
However, there were a few elements that I felt rang false. Would Captain Kirk really be so awkward talking about ‘the birds and the bees’ with a teenager? Would Doctor McCoy really be so resistant to doing the same? This is the future, for heaven’s sake, and Doctor McCoy is a doctor. It felt like character and realism was sacrificed for cheap laughs.
On the other hand, I absolutely loved the way Charlie’s interactions with Yeoman Rand were handled. Charlie comes on strong and is increasingly pushy with Rand throughout the story. It’s a familiar kind of interaction in media. We often see a man persist in his attentions to a woman who resists at first but eventually gives in and falls in love with him. What made this story unusual was that his actions are never framed as being in any way romantic, or even acceptable. Rand is supported by the Captain himself, and never, ever told that she’s being hysterical or overreacting. When Charlie presses her, she stands firm, repeatedly telling him in no uncertain terms, “no!” and “get out of my room, I can’t make it any clearer than that!”
I appreciated how strong she was, and that Charlie’s actions were portrayed as creepy, unwanted, and wrong. It’s different from a lot of what I grew up with, and makes me wonder about the gender of the script writer, a mysterious “D.C. Fontana”.
Three stars.
A faltering step
by Gideon Marcus
Together with "The Man Trap", we are starting to get the first real understanding of the characters who inhabit the Enterprise. Dr. McCoy is back, marking the first time the ship's doctor role has been the same character. Moreover, he interacts substantially not only with Kirk, with whom he has a friendly, if perhaps arms length, relationship, but also Mr. Spock. Their bickering on the bridge presages what could be a fun running bit, where the science officer approaches things logically in contrast to the more emotional doctor.
On the other hand, Spock displays genuine emotion, both in his bashful smiles and irritation when performing with Lt. Uhura in the lounge (a nice scene — Nichelle Nichols has a lovely voice!), and also when playing chess with Captain Kirk and Charlie. This is the second episode that we have seen Spock and Kirk matching wits over the 3D version of the game of kings. I expect this is a motif we'll see more of.
While I enjoyed this outing, I found its execution more pedestrian than that of "The Man Trap". As fellow traveler Ginevra noted in our after-watch kibbitz, the use of camera pans, cuts, and focus are less adroit. The differently colored corridors we saw in "The Man Trap" have been replaced with ones of uniform reddish hue. It leaves the impression of a cheaper, less interesting show. Not to the degree of the second pilot (which will be aired next week), but it's definitely noticeable.
If I had to pick a stand-out scene, it is when Charlie zaps a crewman into oblivion, particularly Kirk's reaction thereto. You can see the character fitting all the pieces together about Charlie in stunning realization. I also appreciated Kirk's shyness in talking about women, and the relation of men thereto. He was established in the second pilot as "a stack of books with legs", and I appreciate a leading man who is not a ladies' man.
Perhaps that role will be taken up by Mr. Spock. Lord knows a certain communications officer seems to fancy him…
Three stars.
What makes Charlie X so frightening?
by Jessica Dickinson Goodman
With last year’s founding of The Autism Society, many people are reconsidering the roles that disabled people can access in our shared world. Science fiction is an excellent place to stretch our imaginations and explore new worlds and futures.
In this week’s Star Trek episode, "Charlie X" Robert Walker plays the titular 17-year-old, progressing from awkwardness to outright violence; viewers moved with him from discomfort to horror to pathos. What made us react so strongly to Charlie? Charlie speaks too quickly or too slowly; interrupts Captain Kirk; stands too close; touches people in unexpected ways; has exaggerated expressions or a flat affect; makes uneven eye-contact; has sudden and overwhelming emotions he struggles to express in ways the crew can grok.
In the show, this is attributed to Charlie’s lack of socialization and education. But Charlie isn’t an illiterate boy; he’s a fictional character on TV, a representation of the actor, writer, director, and viewers' ideas of a monster, drawn from the shared fears of our society. The trouble is, not all of us fear the same monsters. In the world I live in, Charlie’s mannerisms reminded me of my family members who are autistic, who face violence from people taught to be afraid of them. Until he started hurting people, Charlie’s behaviors didn’t disturb me, but I could tell the actor and writer wanted them to.
This disconnect is what made the end of the episode so satisfying to me. My heart began to race in the final scene when first Lieutenant Uhura, then Captain Kirk, then the re-materialized Yeoman Rand pushed back against the Thasian leader. Fought to protect Charlie. Captain Kirk’s line, “The boy belongs with his own kind,” felt profound.
As readers know, the 1964 Civil Rights Act did not include protections for disabled people. In the future, perhaps another law will. Watching shows like Star Trek requires us to flex the same science fictional muscles that activists use to imagine new ways for our real world to be. Perhaps, to viewers in the future, Charlie’s mannerisms won’t evoke horror, but will be just one more way of being one of our own kind.
Three stars.
Of Gods and Magic
by Robin Rose Graves
When it comes to Sci-Fi I am easy going on believability. Give me a simple (though sometimes far fetched) explanation for how or why something works and I’ll play along. But I am a stickler when it comes to “magic” (in Clarke's sense of the word). If I don't know how it works, I at least want to know its extent and cost.
My biggest problem with the episode is that Charlie’s powers are never defined in either category. Charlie is seen doing everything from procuring an object from thin air, to aging a character within seconds. Many of his abilities appear to be unrelated, yet exceptionally unlimited.
I almost wish Charlie’s powers had been to manipulate perception, like the alien in “The Cage.” This would have explained the variety of tricks Charlie executes during the episode: silencing Uhara, making crew members disappear – none of these things are really gone, just no longer perceivable under Charlie’s illusion. Even the change of beef to turkey could have been a simple trick of the senses.
Then again, there is a cost to Charlie's use of his "magic." It is, of course, that Charlie can never relate to other humans, and as a result, is exiled to emotional prison, living out his days with the Thasians. And while this isn't the kind of "cost" I was describing above, it does make for a compelling — and ultimately unsatisfying — episode.
Does he deserve to be condemned? I am hesitant to convict a character like Charlie of such a fate. After all, I believe his corruption was not from his powers alone. He endured some fifteen years of solitude. It is obvious Charlie lacks the socialization he needed during his formative years. I think in different circumstances, Charlie could have been more empathic, more willing to learn cooperation and patience in exchange for the social interaction and praise he so clearly desires. I think under proper care he could have been rehabilitated. Rather than thrown onto a large ship of strangers, better had he been given one on one time with a professional who could teach him what to expect once reintroduced to society. The Enterprise could really use a ship's psychologist. Failing that, Bones should have taken on the job.
While I’m happy the solution wasn’t to kill Charlie off, as the conclusion has been for menaces in episodes prior, I felt that Charlie was unjustifiably written off. It makes me wonder, what is the point of this episode? Charlie shows no character development or revelations. The Captain and crew feel badly for Charlie, but will they learn from their missteps that led to the crisis in the first place? I think this idea was ripe with potential left unexplored.
Three stars.
The Silent Treatment
by Tam Phan (Secret Asian Man)
Between the strange glares, close-ups, and whining monologues, we have the smatterings of a story about an awkward teenager playing grab-ass on the starship Enterprise. Much like “Where No Man” we’re often left staring at the characters staring at other characters waiting for someone to say something. Anything. Silence can be powerful, but sometimes silence is just silence. If I had wanted to watch a silent film, I would have chosen something a little more exciting.
Charlie really had his eyes set on Yeoman Rand, which is understandable. Any man with a good pair of eyes would, but she made it abundantly clear early on that she wasn’t as interested in Charlie as he was in her. The episode made sure to portray his advances as juvenile and unwelcome, which is a refreshing take on the overly aggressive pursuer getting the girl cliché. I appreciate seeing the consequences when “no” isn’t taken seriously. Charlie had powers that allowed him to do as he pleased, but it just goes to show that power isn’t everything.
I can appreciate that there was a deeper story here, but it wasn’t very well executed. I might have been sympathetic if Charlie was more likeable, but he just wasn’t. Nobody made an effort to improve Charlie’s experience in this episode. Not even the writers.
Two stars
From the Young Traveler
by Lorelei Marcus
"Charlie X" had an interesting premise that didn't quite match its execution. Charlie is meant to be a boy who has been raised in a completely alien context, his only reference to humanity being records and memory tapes. Yet aboard the Enterprise, his alienness is manifested in, at most, a lack of maturity and recognition of social cues. The difference should have been far more severe.
I believe the two main elements of "Charlie X" could have been better served as two different stories. One would be about an alien-raised human learning to assimilate with humanity. The other about an adolescent with ESP and the problems he causes.
We essentially got the second story, which after the mismatched premise, I have to admit was executed fairly well. Three stars.
Space Fashion
by Erica Frank
Obviously the most powerful organization in the future depicted in Star Trek is the fashion union. Changing starship uniforms every few weeks takes a lot of political swing!
Kirk appears in three different types of uniform in this episode: his command outfit, which he wears on the bridge, a gold shirt that looks more like what the other officers are wearing, and an exercise outfit that consists of tight red pants and little else.
Kirk's very fashionable command jacket, which looks easy to remove. This seems to be an important trait for the captain.
When he goes to teach Charlie the basics of combat, Charlie wears a red gi top (which must be standard sports outfit, since it's got the Federation patch near the shoulder), and Kirk wears… well…
Sulu(?) and another man are battling behind them with some kind of padded pole weapons.
That's certainly an interesting choice. It almost makes up for this being the fourth episode (out of four) with dangerous psychic powers.
Things I didn't like about this episode: Destructive mental powers (again). The crew leaving a rescued teenager to wander around the ship unescorted. Not assigning the teenager a guide, mentor, or other assistant to adapt to life in human society.
The ending felt a bit rushed; I'd like to see the Enterprise (or some other ship) visit the area again, and volunteer someone to live wherever Charlie's stuck with the aliens. Let them give another human — an adult — the same powers, and see if that person can teach Charlie how to live among humans without resorting to murder when his whims are thwarted.
Things I did like: The musical interlude was lovely; I enjoyed Mister Spock's Vulcan instrument and Uhura's spontaneous singing. Also, Charlie was sympathetic: we could feel his confusion and understand his petulance. The story made sense, even if I sometimes wanted to throttle the captain for not assigning someone to pay attention to Charlie sooner. Also, I will forgive quite a few plot sins if it means I get to see half-naked men tumbling around the screen on prime-time television. 4 stars.
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Back in July, Gemini 10 accomplished an incredibly ambitious mission, and I wondered then what the next Gemini flight could do to top it. Now we know. In its three-day mission, Gemini 11 carried out a packed program: it made a direct ascent to its Agena target vehicle, soared even higher than its predecessor, conducted two EVAs and 12 different experiments, created artificial gravity and even performed the first computer-controlled return to Earth. I’m exhausted just listing all these highlights!
Gemini-11 prime and backup crews (L to R): William A. Anders, backup crew pilot; Richard F. Gordon Jr., prime crew pilot; Charles Conrad Jr. (foot on desk), prime crew command pilot; and Neil A. Armstrong, backup crew command pilot
Anchors Aweigh!
You could almost say that Gemini 11 has been a US Navy mission, since both its crew are naval officers. The Command Pilot, Commander Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr., was selected in the second astronaut group in 1962. He was previously the Pilot for the then-record breaking Gemini 5 mission, spending almost 8 days in space. Making his first spaceflight, Gemini 11 Pilot L.t Commander Richard “Dick” Gordon Jr. was part of NASA’s third astronaut intake in October 1963. Both men were previously naval aviators and test pilots.
There’s also a nod to the crew’s US Navy background in their mission patch, which was designed in Navy colours of blue and gold. The major milestones of the mission are indicated by stars. The first orbit rendezvous with the Agena is indicated by the tiny star on the line representing the mission’s low Earth orbit, while the actual docking is marked by the large star on the left. The star at the top marks the plan to reach a record high apogee, and the star on the right signifies Astronaut Gordon's spacewalk. The three events symbolised by the three large stars are also depicted visually, with representations of the docked Gemini 11 and Agena, a gold line representing the high apogee orbit and a spacewalking astronaut. The Roman numeral XI soars above the Earth from the launch site in Florida.
Preparing for Apollo
An important goal of Gemini 11 was to prove the feasibility of the plan for direct ascent rendezvous on Apollo lunar missions, in which a returning Lunar Module will lift off from the Moon’s surface to rendezvous with the Command Module as it passes overhead. To practice this technique, Gemini 11 would attempt to rendezvous directly with its Agena target vehicle on its first orbit, rather than taking around four orbits, as has been the case on earlier Gemini flights. To achieve this manoeuvre, the Atlas-Agena target vehicle had to launch within the desired time, while the Gemini itself had only a two-second launch window!
Present and future in one picture. As Gemini 11 lifts off from the Cape Kennedy Air Force Station's Launch Complex 19, the first Apollo Saturn V rocket is on Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Centre. This Saturn V is a non-flight Facility Verification Vehicle that is being used for pad fit checks
Although technical issues twice delayed the launch, Gemini 11 finally lifted off exactly on time 12 September (US time): its target vehicle had been launched an hour and 37 minutes earlier. Manoeuvres for Gemini to catch up with the Agena began quickly, and before its first orbit had been completed, Gemini 11 was flying in formation with its target and ready to dock. The actual docking was achieved nine minutes after rendezvous, just one hour and 34 minutes after liftoff. With an achievement like this, it’s amazing to think that the first rendezvous between two orbiting spacecraft occurred only nine months ago! Unlike Gemini 10, the Gemini 11 docking consumed less fuel than expected and both Commander Conrad and Lt. Commander Gordon conducted two docking exercises with the Agena, before a final manoeuvre established the docked spacecraft in a 178 x 188 mile orbit.
After a first orbit rendezvous, Gemini 11 is docked with its Agena. The target vehicle's antenna is seen extending upwards
“Ride ‘em Cowboy”
The first Extra-Vehicular Activity of the mission occurred 24 hours after launch, when Astronaut Gordon left the spacecraft to begin a spacewalk that was scheduled to last about 105 minutes, while he remained tethered to Gemini 11 by a life support umbilical line. After setting up a movie camera and retrieving a micrometeorite experiment, the next task involved fastening a 100-foot tether, stored in the Agena's docking collar, to a docking bar on the Gemini's nose. These would be used for experiments in passive stabilisation and the first creation of artificial gravity in space (see below!)
"Ride 'em cowboy," said Gemini 11 Command Pilot Conrad as Astronaut Dick Gordon rested on the Agena target vehicle. This view was taken over the Atlantic Ocean at approximately 160 miles above Earth
Like previous Gemini EVAs, working in space for an extended period proved more tiring than in the simulations and Gordon became exhausted, overstressing his spacesuit’s life support system. After attaching the tether, he stopped to rest, sitting astride the Agena, like a cowboy riding a bucking bronco. Heavy perspiration inside the suit obscured the astronaut’s vision, virtually blinding his right eye and the faceplate of his helmet became fogged due to heavy breathing. As a result, the EVA was terminated, with Gordon spending just 21 minutes outside the spacecraft.
Reaching New Heights
On 14 September, more than 40 hours into the mission, the Agena target vehicle’s primary propulsion system was fired for 25 seconds to thrust the docked spacecraft to a maximum altitude of 853 miles, establishing a new manned spaceflight altitude record! The Gemini 11 crew were enthralled by the spectacular view from this unprecedented vantage point. They particularly commented on the blueness of the water and marked curvature of the Earth below them.
Conrad and Gordon reached the maximum altitude of their high orbit over the southern hemisphere. As they looked west over the western half of Australia, Conrad said "We're looking straight down over Australia now. We have the whole southern part of the world out one window. Utterly fantastic."
After two orbits at this record-breaking altitude, completed in 3 hours, 23 minutes, Conrad and Gordon once again used the Agena’s engines to drive the joined spacecraft back down to their original low Earth orbit.
Standing Up in Space
On flight day three, Astronaut Gordon performed the mission’s second EVA, a “stand-up" spacewalk like that conducted on Gemini 10. Positioned in the open hatch, standing on his seat, Gordon spent two hours and eight minutes photographing the Earth, clouds and stars, as part of the range of experiments to be performed during the flight. During this period, Conrad manoeuvred the spacecraft to point Gordon and his camera in whatever direction was required. Unlike his first EVA experience, Gordon found the “stand-up” spacewalk so peaceful that he actually fell asleep!
Astronaut Dick Gordon stands in the open spacecraft hatch during the Gemini 11 mission
Inflight Experiments
The photography that Gordon undertook during his “stand-up” EVA were part of a packed program of 12 scientific experiments planned for Gemini 11. These included photography of the Earth for research in geology, geophysics, geography, oceanography, and related fields, and photography of clouds to study the fine structure of the Earth's weather system. Other experiments focused on astronomy and upper-atmosphere studies, while three experiments had specific military applications. There was a biological experiment looking at whether weightlessness enhances the effects of radiation on human white blood cells and Neurospora crassa fungi. An interesting photographic experiment investigated the regions of the L4 and L5 libration points of the Earth–Moon system. These are zones trailing and ahead of the Moon's orbit that are gravitationally stable. It is theorized that there might be clouds of particulate matter, or even tiny mini-Moons, which it is theorised may be orbiting the Earth in these regions.
Making Artificial Gravity!
After the stand-up EVA, 50 hours into the mission, Gemini 11 commenced a fascinating experiment in creating artificial gravity. Undocking from the Agena target vehicle, the Gemini 11 spacecraft slowly manoeuvred to stretch out the tether that Gordon had connected between them during his first spacewalk, and then allow the two tethered spacecraft to slowly rotate around one another.
The movement of the tethered spacecraft was first erratic, but stabilised after about 20 minutes, so that the rotation rate could then be increased. The astronauts found it challenging to keep the rope tether between the spacecraft tight, but they were able to demonstrate the "passive attitude stabilisation" of two spacecraft connected by a tether.
While tethered to their Agena target vehicle, the Gemini 11 crew manoeuvred their craft to keep the tether taut between the two. By firing their side thrusters to slowly rotate the combined spacecraft, they were able to use centrifugal force to generate about 0.00015 g of artificial gravity
The circular motion at the end of the tether created a slight artificial “gravitational acceleration” within Gemini 11. This is the first time artificial gravity has been demonstrated in space, even though that gravitational force was only 1.5 one-thousandths that of Earth. After about three hours, the rope tether was released, and the spacecraft moved apart.
Final Rendezvous
Although a fuel cell failed after the artificial gravity experiment, the remaining fuel cells were able to satisfactorily cope, and just under five hours before planned re-entry, Gemini 11 made a final “flyby” rendezvous with the Agena. This last rendezvous had not been part of the original flight plan but was made possible because of the fuel efficiency of the earlier rendezvous and docking manoeuvres. The fact that this rendezvous was made without use of the rendezvous radar, which had malfunctioned, is a testament to the skill and training of the Gemini 11 crew.
Gemini 11's Agena target vehicle seen during the "flyby" rendezvous. The tether from the artificial gravity and passive stabilisation experiment can be seen still attached to the vehicle
Coming Home Under Computer Control
Gemini 11’s return to Earth was the first fully automatic splashdown in the history of the US space program. On 15 September, at the end of its 44th orbit, Gemini 11’s retro-rockets were fired and the automatic re-entry was accomplished by computer commands directly to the thrusters. On earlier Gemini missions, the Command Pilot took controls of the re-entry at about 75 miles up, using the spacecraft's offset centre of gravity to generate lift for changes in direction. For Gemini 11, these manoeuvres were accomplished by computer commands. This process proved successful, and the capsule splashed down only 1.5 miles from the planned position in the Atlantic Ocean. A helicopter from the USS Guam picked up Conrad and Dick Gordon, taking the astronauts to the recovery ship.
Command Pilot Conrad climbs from Gemini 11 minutes after its successful computer-controlled splashdown
Heading to a Grand Finale
With Gemini 11, NASA demonstrated that it has has well and truly mastered rendezvous and docking. But the difficulties encountered by Lt Commander Gordon on his first EVA, and the problems that occurred on the spacewalks in previous missions, show that Extra-Vehicular Activity remains a challenge to be conquered. EVA is vital to the success of the Apollo programme, so Gemini 12, the final mission in this programme, will have spacewalking as its primary objective: it will be a grand finale indeed if Gemini 12 can demonstrate that the problems of EVA, like those of rendezvous and docking, have been successfully solved.
Once thought to have died after the Chatterley trial, it looks like the Obscene Publications Act has risen from its grave and is out for fresh blood. Its latest target? Hubert Selby Jr.’s controversial Last Exit To Brooklyn, which has finally made its way over to Britain.
British Hardback edition from Calder and Boyars Ltd.
A favourite novel of beatniks like Ginsberg and Burroughs, it tells unvarnished tales of lives of the poorest in New York in rhythmic prose. I really liked it myself, but it was clearly going to provoke a response. Australia had already banned its import last year, and Anthony Burgess said “American books like Last Exit to Brooklyn…go about as far as fiction may be expected to go.”
Cyril Black, MP
What is perhaps surprising is it did not come through the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney general, but rather is a private prosecution by Cyril Black, MP for Wimbledon. A Conservative and strict Baptist, Black has recently spoken out against Premium Bonds, decriminalizing homosexual behaviour and changing Sunday trading laws.
The trial is set for next month but, whatever the result, the debate over what is allowed to be published continues. This makes a new film release well-timed, the adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451:
A Metropolitan Setup
Ray Bradbury is probably the most popular living science fiction writer, with his works being adapted for numerous television shows and even being able to demand higher rates for them than contemporaries such as Asimov, Pohl or Wyndham. There has even been an unofficial television adaptation Fahrenheit 451 which resulted in a lengthy lawsuit. However, his feature film works have been limited to the monster films of the 50s. As such there has been much excitement around putting his only adult (non-fixup) novel on to the big screen.
Director Francois Truffaut
This is not, though, an American production, rather the result of a hodge-podge group of Western Europeans. The film is directed by French New Wave figure Francois Truffaut (most famous for The 400 Blows) with a script by French Actor/Writer/Director Jean-Louis Richard (who previously worked with Truffaut on Soft Skin). Given that we have also recently seen Goddard’s Alphaville and Marker’s La Jetee, there appears to be something about Dystopic fiction that attracts the French New Wave (maybe we will see Claude Chabrol making a version of The Drowned World in a few years?).
Julie Christie in Dr. Zhivago
Unlike these productions, however, this is a British film production, made at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, with the hottest (pun-intended) British actress of the moment, Julie Christie, playing both the leading women. Already known to British SF fans for her wonderful performance in A For Andromeda, she led two of the most acclaimed films of last year, Darling and Dr. Zhivago.
Oskar Werner in Ship of Fools
Opposite her is the similarly acclaimed Austrian actor Oskar Werner. After appearing in Tuffaut’s previous beloved production, Jules & Jim, he last year appeared in both The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and Ship of Fools. Add to this an equally impressive supporting cast, we have a confluence of talent from disparate sources.
Into The Fire
The unusual opening credits
Rather than going for a point-by-point comparison of novel to film, I want to largely consider it as a work in its own right. I will touch on some changes where they deserve analysis but let us start with what actually happens in this movie.
After the credits being read aloud over a series of vibrantly lit TV aerials we see a group of firemen travel out to a flat in what appear to be very modern tower blocks. However, there is no fire, instead they are raiding the property for books to burn. We learn that in this world reading is banned and the role of firemen is now to raid properties (largely with the aid of informants) for this contraband and then burn it.
Werner plays Guy Montag, a fireman on his way to promotion. His wife Linda (played by Christie) seems to be mostly obsessed with the interactive soaps on the TV and is regularly taking high amounts of medication. On a train he meets Clarisse (also played by Christie) a teacher who questions the world around her.
Montag’s first taste of Dickens
One day, curiosity gets the better of him, and Montag takes a book and begins to read it. Fascinated, he starts stealing more and more. One day he has to go to raid Clarisse’s house and finds her family have a secret library. A woman, possibly related to Clarisse, chooses to burn with the books rather than leave.
Horrified, he meets with Clarisse, who tells him he can run to The Book People, but Montag says he wants to take down the system from within. Unbeknownst to him, Linda has informed on him, and the firemen go to burn down his house. They order him to burn all his books but he keeps one and burns the other firemen.
Clarisse and Montag become living books
Eventually fleeing to The Book People, he discovers each of them memorizes one book and become the living text of it so it cannot be destroyed. He does so with the book he stole and remains among The Book People with Clarisse.
Mixed Messages
Soviet Workers Poster
The first question that arises is what is Truffaut trying to satirize with this? When I first started watching I was instantly reminded of the posters of workers I have seen from the Soviet Union. And the end with The Book People brings to my mind Anna Akhmatova’s Requiem, which survived Stalin’s censorship by by her teaching it as a spoken poem to her friends.
Montag's secret collection of books is burnt
But then there are definite allusions to contemporary capitalist culture. The profusion of television aerials appearing on otherwise picturesque houses, for instance. Further to this point about the profusion of television is the character of Linda, the soap obsessed and heavily medicated housewife. This is a dig not only at the prevalence of television, but the current phenomenon of the isolated housewife. In addition, in the shots of books burned, a number of works are shown that have only recently come out of censorship in our world.
Additionally, the self immolation scene will surely remind most contemporary viewers of the death of Thich Quang Duc, who set himself on fire protesting the treatment of Buddhists in South Vietnam.
To add to the confusion, there is a reactionary point present here. When Montag and Beatty walk around the secret library, Beatty tells him that this all started because people were getting offended, citing complaints by minority groups about Nietzsche and Defoe (also including a copy of Mein Kampf in shot). This is further enforced by the TV screen, where the host is at one point emphasizing the importance of tolerating minorities and making sure they do not feel excluded. As a tool of the repressive state Montag and Clarisse are apparently fighting against, it seems logical that we are meant to take their pronouncement as wrong.
Sometimes this film is subtle. At other times… less so
I find this is a bit of an odd statement (and I found it so when I read it in Bradbury’s novel as well) as I have not come across the NAACP or the Anti-Defamation League leading the charge of banning books. Instead, it has seemed to be conservatives (like Cyril Black) who have been leading the charge out of prudishness or political beliefs.
Perhaps it is best to see it as a general libertarian argument about censorship coming from all sides and the need to be watchful for it. However, this does make the point more of a blunt one. And this bluntness extends to other areas of the production.
Translation Errors
Montag attending the unconscious Linda
I have heard much about Julie Christie’s performance in this film being poor, but I would push back on that somewhat. I think she is fine in the role of Clarisse, but for Linda she works hard to differentiate her characterization, playing it in a more heightened manner. This does make sense for Linda’s role in the story but it just seemed out of place as everyone else is so incredibly sedate.
One other complaint is that the picture is dull. I found it engaging enough, but I can see where this is coming from. Partially, I think this is the sedateness in performance I just mentioned along with Truffaut’s restrained film making. Against beautiful scenery, Fahrenheit 451 can feel more like looking at a painting than a motion picture. Partially it is trying to spend much of the time conveying the experience and the joy of reading, which can mean many scenes of people just reading books.
Then it is not aided by some of the dialogue, which can feel very unnatural at times. Apparently, this is the result of Truffaut not being strong in English and so some elements did not translate well.
A Case of Self-Censorship?
Like the informing neighbour, is this film helping to censor itself?
One change from the book that I feel needs to be called out is the book that Montag memorizes — literally becomes — at the end. In Bradbury’s novel it is the Book of Ecclesiastes, but in the film it is Edgar Allen Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination. The change to a horror collection likely makes it more acceptable to a speculative fiction audience, but it is also a less interesting choice. Ecclesiastes, as many critics have noted, highlights the parallels between Montag and Solomon. If there is similar significance to Poe’s tales I cannot appreciate it.
Removing the references to the Bible means the filmmakers did not have to entertain complaints that might have arisen from both sides of the religious debate. A holy book at risk of being burnt that may upset some religious people, whilst having the person in pursuit of knowledge come to it through a book of belief might upset atheists.
But in a story about censorship, making a decision that is less brave feels disappointing and weakens the message of the film.
Accentuate The Positive
I have been predominantly critical so far, but it should be said there are some great parts to it.
Whilst a little confusing at times, the world Truffaut depicts is vivid and extremely intriguing. There are many great moments of the uncanny that are able to unsettle us. For example, the women who believe only “other people’s husbands” die in wars, or the neighbour who notes that Clarisse’s family are not really like them.
A commuter, desperate for connection?
Many of the shots in it are also beautiful. One that stands out in my mind is when we see people on the monorail just silently running their hands over their bodies, as if they are looking for a connection they cannot find.
And the plot itself is engaging and pulls you through. So overall it is a good film. It is just it comes so close to being something great and reeks of a missed opportunity.
A high three stars
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Last week saw the debut of the exciting science fiction anthology show Star Trek. The opening narration describes a five-year mission, going "where no man has gone before." Indeed, the second pilot of the program bore that very title. Never mind that in two of the three episodes I've seen thus far (and in the sole episode yet officially aired), the featured space ship Enterprise went places men had gone before; the promise is still there.
This month's Galaxy, on the other hand, treads entirely familiar ground. Not necessarily in the subject matter or the plots — these are reasonably fresh. I mean that pretty much every story save the last constitutes the continuation of a prior story or setting.
Magazine editor Fred Pohl once explained that he has a reliable stable of authors for Galaxy. As Pohl travels the country on various speaking engagements, he hits his writer friends up for new material. Cordwainer Smith was on that list until his tragic passing last month. Frank Herbert is (sadly) also on that list. And so are most of the authors below. I imagine each conversation with his pet authors eventually wanders around to "when do you think I might see more of…"
This isn't a bad thing, especially if you like the universes that get expanded. On the other hand, it is the reason there about are twice as many Retief stories as there should be.
In Vance's novel The Star King, we were introduced to Kirth Gersen. Gersen is a vigilante, roaming the galactic space lanes to track down the elusive and nearly omnipotent "Demon Princes" of crime. His first target, a fellow named Grendel, is defeated in the wild Beyond, the belt of untamed systems that ring the placid inner worlds.
Now, in Palace, Gerson applies the vast wealth of Grendel toward the next Demon Prince on his list, the volatile slaver and crime boss, Viole Falushe. This time, the trail leads back to the original home of humanity, specifically, the portion of Europe known as Holland.
by Gray Morrow
I like Vance a lot, but this particular universe has never appealed to me. Indeed, Palace has the exact same issues that plagued Kings. At first, Vance's detailed setting descriptions and odd dialogue are compelling. Over time, they just get tiresome. Moreover, whereas in stories like The Dragon Masters or The Last Castle, Vance creates a rich world almost from nothing, filled with exciting new places and ideas, the far future in which Kirth Gersen resides feels almost unchanged from 20th Century Earth.
I have a suspicion that the remainder of this book is going to be a slog. Three stars so far.
Larry Niven returns us to the Mars he set up in this year's short story, Eye of the Octopus. The initial expedition that discovered evidence of indigenous Martians has been succeeded by a dozen humans in a bubble dome archaeological base. When the natives prove elusive, tedium and frustration sets in. One of the members of the all-male crew makes a pass at another. Enraged, the target of his advances kicks him in the throat and watches him die.
Knowing that the rest of the team won't stand for it, murderous John "Jack" Carter plunges his Mars buggy through the dome in an attempt to release the air and kill his compatriots. His plan fails, thanks to the fast reactions of the team. Alf Harness, the party's linguist, heads out in pursuit.
The cat and mouse chase, with each of the two trying to outsmart the other such that only one can come back alive, working within the constraints of their air supply and their equipment at hand, is a pretty tight bit of writing. I could have, however, done without the several paragraphs Niven devotes to the motivation of the crime: Lieutenant-Major Shute drafts a report to Earth explaining that a bunch of isolated men together always succumb to homosexuality. Just like in the Navy. Or boys-only schools. Or the Third Reich (I'm not making these examples up). The solution: Earth needs to send women with them, damn the Morality Leagues that frown on co-ed missions.
This reminds me of stories I read last decade where female crew members were carried along solely for their convenient orifices. I had hoped tales endorsing such notions were a thing of the past. As for modern-day temperance leagues, while I recognize that cultures can regress, it seems to me that women have been serving alongside men for decades now. Why, I recently saw an episode of Gomer Pyle featuring a woman Marine Captain. I can't imagine that the trend over the next century is toward a reversal of that practice.
At least the characters in Heroes don't endorse the victim's murder. The characters (and thus the author) seem to be saying that queers are people too, but that they are the sad creations of circumstance. (Mr. Niven is apparently unacquainted with Dr. Kinsey, or the excellent documentary on homosexuality, The Rejected).
Many years ago, in The Magazine of Science Fiction, Anne McCaffrey introduced us to KH-834, the cybernetic spaceship. The story was called The Ship Who Sang. It involved the close relationship between the vessel's female resident brain, Helva, and the ambulatory "brawn" component, a man named Jennan.
Jennan dies in that story, leaving Helva devastated but still spaceworthy. She is detached from scout duty, instead being used for a sequence of odd job missions. Her first, in which Helva's passenger is a doctor dispatched to a plague-ravaged world, was detailed in a recent Analog in a story titled The Ship Who Mourned.
And now Killed, appearing in yet another magazine. This time, Helva is to be a metallic womb, ferrying a hundred thousand frozen fetuses to a world that has suffered a sterilizing catastrophe. Her passenger is Kira, responsible for obtaining the unborn children from various worlds and taking care of them on their journey. She has suffered the recent loss of her partner, too, and is expressedly suicidal. Helva's orders are explicitly to avoid worlds on which suicide is legal. Unfortunately, not all such worlds are cataloged…
One interesting bit is that Kira is a "Dylanist", part of a sect of cynical singer-songwriters who have almost deified ol' Bob. She even plays "Blowin' in the Wind" at one point. It's rather bold to extrapolate such a huge impact from something so recent as a popular singer (is there a rival faction known as "The Beatlers"?) And while it is possible that the former Mr. Zimmerman may go on to be so influential as to spawn religious adherents, McCaffrey fails to account for musical evolution: Kira employs the acoustic guitar in Killed, an instrument Dylan has already abandoned.
Such is the danger of precise prediction!
Anyway, that's just a side note. The story itself has a reasonably good setup, but McCaffrey's writing style, filled to the brim with adverbs and acid repartee, just isn't doing it for me. Each story in this series has been less compelling than the last. This may explain why each one has been published in a new magazine; usually, editors hold onto writers as long as they can.
Two stars.
For Your Information: The Delayed Discovery, by Willy Ley
Willy Ley meanders through the history of atomic chemistry, covering a great many topics shallowly and without a lot of causality. Asimov usually needs to trim his articles; Ley needed more connective tissue to make this one work.
Two stars.
Too Many Esks, by Hayden Howard
by Jack Gaughan
We're now four stories into the saga of the Esks, inhuman hybrids of Eskimos and an alien invader, who live above the arctic circle in Canada. Esks grow to maturity in just five years. Female Esks gestate and bear a child every month. This new race has already outgrown its food supply, relying on government handouts to stay alive.
Dr. Joe West has been warning of a Malthusian nightmare for months now. At last, some folks are starting to listen to him. But the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly, and West is concerned that once the hybrid Esks interbreed with humans (as one did with West), homo sapiens will be displaced by the more fecund breed. Once this happens, there are signs that the original aliens will return to enslave the Earth.
And so, West hatches a plan to sterilize the Esks through biological warfare. Like all of West's other endeavors against the Esks, the mission is a dismal and emotionally fraught failure.
These Esk tales oscillate between tedious and mildly engaging, all requiring a healthy dollop of suspension of disbelief. I've been along for this ride long enough that I'm now kind of curious as to how it will end.
Three stars.
Planet of Fakers, by J. T. McIntosh
by McClane
McIntosh is an author with a long career. He's written five-star stories, a number of pedestrian pieces, and a few truly awful ones. Often, his works contain Sexist (or at least anti-feminine) portrayals of women.
So it was that I approached this last piece of the issue with some trepidation (especially given the weird art that suggested a sexual farce).
I am happy to report that I was pleasanty surprised.
Planet starts in medias res. A tense trio, one man and two women, are subjecting a queue of persons to a test. Their goal: to prove the humanity of each subject.
Through adroit exposition, McIntosh slowly clues us in to the situation. A colony of a few hundred has been besieged by an alien race of body possessors. The fake humans are in telepathic communion with one another, so while it was once a trivial task to tell humans from sham-people, tests can only be used effectively once. And the colonists are running out of tests.
While Planet does not take place in a preexisting universe, the bodysnatching genre has been around for decades, including such classics as Campbell's Who Goes There? and Heinlein's The Puppet Masters (and, of course, the 1956 movie which gave the genre its label). Nevertheless, what McIntosh does with it is so deftly executed, and so neatly contrived, that's it's clear the old subject still has life in it. At least in the hands of a master.
I'd originally planned to give it four stars, but it has stayed with me such that I think it earns a full five.
Dust Bowl's a comin'
With the exception of the standout final story, the October 1966 Galaxy is pretty mediocre stuff. I think the lesson I've gotten is that fields can grow fallow, especially ones that weren't very fertile to begin with.
I think Pohl's writers would do themselves well to find some new land to plow. And maybe Galaxy could use a more diverse set of farmers…
(If you're looking for something new, join us tomorrow at 8:30 PM (Pacific AND Eastern — two showings) for the next episode of Star Trek!)
[For this exciting occasion, we've put together the reactions of several of the Journey team as well as a new phace…er…face! Come join us as we recount our experiences with this exciting new science fiction epic called Star Trek…]
by Gideon Marcus
Where No Show Has Gone Before
Last night marked an exciting new day in science fiction: the debut of a new science fiction anthology.
Science fiction on television has always been kind of a backwards sibling to science fiction in print. While there have been entertaining and even thoughtful episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, for the most part TV SF has been some of the worst schlock. Stories that wouldn't have been accepted in third-rate mags in the 50s. Shows like Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and My Favorite Martian — kiddified frivolity with zap guns and giant monsters. Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon serials with inserts for soap commercials.
We fans had an inkling this new show would be something different pretty early on. Its producer, Gene Roddenberry, previously put out an interesting, mature show about a Marine Lieutenant called…The Lieutenant. At Westercon, one of the Star Trek pilots was previewed over the 4th of July weekend to much acclaim (we missed it as we had planned a birthday celebration at our house just 20 miles away from the convention!) There have been promo spots on NBC pitching the show, plus promotional pictures and coverage in both conventional newspapers and news 'zines. They were all quite compelling.
At Tricon, I got my first direct glimpse of the beast. The last two days of the convention, Roddenberry showed the two pilots to the show. I left the convention both hopeful and concerned.
You see, the first pilot, "The Cage", was a masterpiece. Without hyperbole, it was probably the best science fiction made for a screen (of any size) as of 1964. Brilliantly written, scored, special-effected, and directed (if just competently acted), it was also daringly progressive. Women were on equal footing with men, something I rarely see even in written science fiction these days. There were no villains, per se, merely beings resorting to desperate measures to save themselves. Call it Forbidden Planet but done right.
"The Cage" was rejected, I don't know why. Too expensive, perhaps, or maybe too cerebral. But it was liked enough that a second pilot was greenlit. "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was the result.
It was a disappointment.
The beautiful sets and cinematography were gone, the cheap result looking like an episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. We had a new actor in the role of captain, and while I didn't think Jeffrey Hunter stretched himself much in "The Cage", William Shatner, on the other hand, was a contortionist, playing every scene to the maximum. To be fair, he was new to the character, and the script did him few favors, shedding little insight into the character. John Hoyt, who did a lovely job as the ship's doctor in "The Cage", was replaced by a non-entity. Indeed, the only consistent cast member was Leonard Nimoy as the oddly strident "Mr. Spock", who in the second pilot, was reduced to something of a "wise Indian" role.
With pacing issues and a rather thin story, "Where No Man” augured poorly for the show, especially since it seemed more indicative of what we were going to get.
Still, a dozen or so of us gathered around our 25" color Admiral for the TV premiere of the show, set for 8:30 PM on September 8. We'd set up a signal with our friends on the East Coast, since they got to watch it three hours before us: If the show was a stinker, at 6:30 our time, they'd phone us, letting the line ring once. If the show was good, they'd ring twice. (We wouldn't actually pick up the phone — long distance calls, especially during prime time, are prohibitively expensive).
As we ate our dinner, the jangle of the telephone made us jump. What would be the verdict? The bells chimed once. We waited with bated breath. Then a second ring. Then silence. We grinned at each other.
And so, we sat through the latter half of Tarzan (also debuting on NBC that night). At 8:30 PM, the main event began.
In brief: the spaceship Enterprise is paying a visit to the planet M113 to conduct an annual medical check-up of scientific personnel based there. The only residents of the barren world are an archaeologist man-and-wife pair, the latter of whom was the old flame of the Enterprise's third medical officer in as many episodes. Said woman appears to each member of the ship's landing party in a different form, some kind of telepathic camouflage.
Said woman is also a killer, stalking humans individually and then draining them of their salt. She ends up aboard the Enterprise, changing forms and continuing her deadly hunt.
On the face of it, it's a stupid plot. The biology seems nonsensical, and Lord knows we've had enough monster plots on Voyage and The Outer Limits. And yet…
"The Man Trap" is beautifully put together. It's not quite "The Cage", but it's definitely not "Where No Man". The Enterprise is a somberly lit, "lived-in" vessel with hundreds of crew. For the first time, I had the impression of a real space-going vessel. I appreciated that the Enterprise appears to be the equivalent of a Hornblower-era frigate, a second-line vessel doing routine business around the galaxy. I quite like Forester's series, and given the youth of the ship's captain, the Hornblower analogy might be extended.
The three main actors, Shatner, Nimoy, and newcomer DeForest Kelley, were excellent, settled, and even understated in their roles. The supporting cast was quite good, too. George Takei, who I'd just seen in the Cary Grant flick, Walk, Don't Run, and in a couple of episodes of I, Spy, turns in a particularly pleasant, if brief, performance. Gone was the powerful woman first officer of "The Cage", but we did get a Black woman bridge officer named Lt. Uhura. So daring was this casting choice that there was some fear that she would be one of the victims of the episode's monster!
The special effects are quite masterful, from the superb optical effects of the ship orbiting the planet, to the shimmering fade out/in of the "transporter" (which beams people from the Enterprise to planetary destinations), to the blast of the phaser (no longer laser) guns.
Verdict: Star Trek is back on course. With two out of three episodes being excellent, I've got confidence that this is a show that will reward consistent viewing. You can bet we'll all gather together again next Thursday.
Rating for "The Cage": 5 stars.
Rating for "Where No Man has Gone Before": 2.5 stars.
Rating for "The Man Trap": 4 stars.
Thoughts from Galactic Journey’s editor:
by Janice L. Newman
The traveler has already said most of what I would have written about (I was the one saying, “I hope they don’t kill her off!” when Lt. Uhura was being menaced by the creature). A few additional thoughts about last night’s episode:
The cinematography was impressive. When the crew encounter the creature in the first act and each crewmember sees it as a different woman, this was done so smoothly and seamlessly that there was never any question which person’s POV we were following.
The story was nuanced. Though this was a ‘kill the monster’ story, the morality of killing a creature that is ‘the last of its kind’ is called into question, with comparisons being made to the American buffalo and the passenger pigeon. It adds to the story’s poignancy, and the viewer is left wondering whether it might have been possible to resolve the situation without deaths on either side.
Particularly exciting was seeing women in interesting roles, though their ‘uniforms’ were VERY short! I wonder why the men don’t wear short tunic and pantyhose combinations like that?
Rating for "The Cage": 4.5 stars.
Rating for "Where No Man has Gone Before": 2.5 stars.
Rating for "The Man Trap": 4 stars.
A Hippie's Opinion
by Erica Frank
Star Trek has certainly been interesting so far — even "fascinating," as Mr. Spock might say. The ship's controls seem complex but plausible: none of the "three dials and a lever" that plague cheap movie productions, and yet each console seems within the range of a trained technician's skills. Lt. Uhura even mentions being momentarily fed up with her desk work, a nice bit of "office life" banter as she tries — unsuccessfully — to flirt with Mr. Spock.
However, the Star Trek universe is showing signs of predictability. None of it is bad, so far, but if it's going to last, it'll need more variety in its settings and plots. It won't take long for these themes to become clichés.
Three rocky, dusty desert planets.
Three hostile encounters with beings with psychic powers.
Three doctors. The Enterprise seems to go through them like some rock bands go through drummers.
The psychic elements of the creature in "The Man Trap" were minimized; the focus was (understandably) on the creature's murderous habits. However, its "shape-shifting" was actually a kind of mental illusion, although more limited than we saw in "The Cage." And the fact that its victims could not rally themselves to escape, even when called, showed some kind of mind control ability that the Talosians and Mitchell both lacked.
My favorite scene in the episode: Professor Crater showed Kirk and McCoy his dwindling supply of salt, and said, "Nancy and I started with 25 pounds. This is what we have left." McCoy took a few tablets from the nearly-empty vase and tasted one. "Salt," he declared.
Dr. McCoy tastes the "salt"
This is exactly how hippies get cops to take LSD, although they normally put it on sugar cubes, not salt tablets. (LSD has no color or flavor; the active elements are too small for people to taste.) I spent the next several minutes waiting for the hallucinations to kick in.
The producers could've given us a wild psychedelic color extravaganza instead of four more murders. I think we've been cheated.
I don't mind "psychic powers can make people callous or predatory" stories; they're a science fiction staple. I'm hoping we also get some episodes where extra-sensory perceptions lead to more harmonious communities or solve problems instead of creating them.
I enjoyed the episode despite a bit of hand-waving past some plot details. (For example, tasting the salt instead of using a science lab to confirm its identity. The result would've been the same, and this saved time.) The acting was great; I believed these were starship personnel facing a citizen who'd allied himself with a hostile alien. I'm looking forward to more of the series.
4 stars.
Who the %&@$ is Captain Kirk?
by Robin Rose Graves
This first episode didn't give me a good idea of who Kirk is or what his past is, even though I'm pretty sure Kirk is supposed to be the main character of the show. (This is something I also felt was an issue with "Where No Man Has Gone Before".) "The Man Trap" centered more around McCoy, which is fine – I like the implication that with each new episode, a different member of the crew will be at the center of the plot – but for a first episode of a show, I wish they'd spent a little more time getting the audience acquainted with Kirk. When Kirk's life was threatened, I didn't feel any tension since I knew they weren't going to kill him off in the first episode, and his being captain isn't enough for me to root for him.
Pike, the captain in “The Cage”, was better established as a character in the first 20 minutes of his episode than Kirk was in both his pilot and the first episode combined. We know Pike is tired. We know he’s considering retiring. We know he’s from Earth. Kirk? I don’t know anything about him besides his pretty face.
I am left more frustrated than intrigued about his character. Why should I care about the success of this man if I don’t know who he is or what he’s about?
The good story alone in “The Man Trap” convinces me to give this new captain a chance, though I hope the lack of Kirk’s background is something that is remedied sooner rather than later.
This is a great episode, but not a good introduction. 5 stars, despite my complaints.
Home Town Hero
by Tam Phan (Secret Asian Man)
“The Man Trap” is a refreshing debut after the whiplash that resulted from starting with “The Cage” and going straight to “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. In the first few minutes of the episode, we’ve already seen clever camera work, stunning special effects, and a pleasantly paced plot.
It’s a bit concerning that we, yet again, have a new doctor, though I did like his friendship with Kirk, echoing the relationship of Pike and Boyce from "The Cage". The two recurring characters, Kirk and Spock, seem to be the only staple in the show thus far, but perhaps the continued diversity of the cast will prove to be an asset. This is an anthology show, after all.
Seeing Lieutenant Sulu, played by Asian actor George Takei, is nothing short of inspiring. He didn’t contribute much to the plot, but he was an officer with clear officer duties and that is not inconsequential. With at least as many scenes as any of the other supporting actors, I suspect that means the “green thumbed” lieutenant will be a highlight of the show in the upcoming episodes.
Hopefully this show continues to impress. It would be a shame to fall back down after such a great start, but we won’t know until next week.
Rating for “The Cage”: 5 stars
Rating for “Where No Man Has Gone Before”: 2 stars
Rating for “The Man Trap”: 4 stars
From the Young Traveler
by Lorelei Marcus
"Man Trap", though a moodier tale than what I usually prefer, executes every piece of the episode in a superb manner: the acting, direction, and production are all 5-star quality.
Rarely have I seen such a diverse, well-written, and interesting show on television — Star Trek is truly the I, Spy of the science fiction genre (is it any surprise both are Desilu productions?)
It's definitely getting HI-LITED in my TV Guide!
5 stars for this episodes, and high hopes for what's to come.
(And don't forget to tune in in three days at 8:30 PM (Pacific AND Eastern — two showings) for the next episode of Star Trek!)
There are many different kinds of science fiction stories. Time travel, future societies, parallel worlds, and so on. When most people think of science fiction, however, they probably imagine tales set in outer space.
I recently came across three new works of SF that might be called space opera. Although all of them feature adventures set, at least partly, on planets orbiting distant stars, they are quite different from one another. For one thing, they vary in length. Let's take a look at them, from shortest to longest.
A Three-Course Literary Meal
First up is a light appetizer from a prolific British author who has already won quite a bit of praise from Galactic Journeyers. His creations are almost always competent, at least, and sometimes outstanding.
As you can tell, this is one part of an Ace Double. I almost said half of an Ace Double, but it takes up much less than fifty percent of the book. Well under one hundred pages in length, with plenty of white space between chapters, it's really a novella rather than the Complete Novel bragged about on the cover.
Our protagonist is a woman named Kynance Foy.
Wait a minute. That sounds familiar. Let me dig through some old magazines and figure this out.
I knew it! A Planet of Your Own was previously published in Worlds of If just a few months ago under the title The Long Way to Earth, and reviewed by my esteemed colleague David Levinson. I've taken a look at both versions. If there's any difference at all, it must be very minor.
Cover art by Hector Castellon. It's still not a complete short novel.
Anyway, Kynance is stuck on a planet with no money and few prospects for getting back to Earth. The company that supplies so-called pelts from another world offers her a job that sounds too good to be true. (The extremely expensive pelts are actually vegetable matter that changes color and produces pleasant aromas.)
All she has to do is stay alone on the pelt planet for a year, so the company can maintain its claim. In exchange, she'll get a fortune in cash and a free ride to Earth.
Of course, there's a catch. Nobody has ever been able to avoid violating the company's rules, so they get tossed out without payment, and are expected to die on the uninviting world of pelts. However, a few previous employees have managed to survive, barely managing to feed themselves on the plant life that covers the entire watery planet.
These poor guys make their way to the company's station, where Kynance violates her contract by waving at them. (The evil corporation has very strict rules.) Is she doomed to the same ghastly fate as the other ex-employees?
This is an enjoyable story, maybe not groundbreaking but certainly engaging. The heroine is appealing, and the way she uses her knowledge of the law is clever.
Four stars.
After our palate has been sharpened by this hors d'oeuvre, even if we've tasted it before, let's flip over the book and savor something a little bit more substantial. (Soup or salad?)
Another British writer supplies the larger part of this Ace Double. John Rackham is the pen name of John T. Phillifent. He's mostly been published in British magazines, although he's also shared a couple of Ace Doubles prior to this one. The phrase First Book Publication makes me wonder if this novel appeared in some magazine somewhere, but I can find no evidence for that.
Our hero is a fellow called Rang. (I'll try to avoid You Rang? jokes.) We first meet him hunting a six-legged beast on an eternally stormy planet with three suns. Helping him are an enormous bird of prey and a gigantic canine. This unlikely trio are the title beasts.
Kohl is a huge, sea-dwelling, tentacled alien. He collects species from various planets, including Rang and his friends. Kohl comes to realize that Rang is more than just an animal, so he offers to send him back to Earth, from which he was taken when he was a small child. Rang is happy living with Kohl in an underwater shelter, but Kohl insists that he visit his home world first and then decide whether to stay there instead.
Accompanying Kohl, Rang, the bird, and the dog, is a woman called Rana. (First rule of science fiction nomenclature: Female names have to end with the letter a.) She's one of the beasts of another member of Kohl's species, and is a little wilder than Rang.
Once their spaceship lands in the ocean on Earth, Kohl casually mentions the fact that, due to time dilation at speeds near those of light, about one hundred thousand years have gone by since Rang and Rana were last on Earth. We find out that they're Cro-Magnons, and they're now in the modern world.
(There are a few hints that this is the future, but for the most part it might as well be 1966.)
The two fish-out-of-water and their giant pets get mixed up with a genius who earns large amounts of money for offering his opinions; his secretary, who carries a torch for him; a film maker working on a documentary about the genius; the greedy financial manager of the genius; and some other folks. This part of the novel offers a satiric look at today's society through the eyes of the visitors.
When the manager arranges to have the genius meet a couple of Soviet agents, the book turns into a spy thriller, with Rang in the role of a primitive James Bond. (Rana does her fair share of beating up the bad guys as well.) It all leads up to a car/helicopter/submarine chase, with some vital help from Kohl, who remains in the underwater spaceship.
It's not a bad yarn, if you're willing to put up with the changes in mood from drama to comedy to adventure. The romance between the genius and the secretary is a little corny, with each of them attracted to the other but not saying anything about it until the end. You might agree with Rang and Rana that modern people are badly mixed up in their minds about logic and emotion.
Three stars.
Grab your steak knife and get ready to dig into the main course.
Here's the first novel from a new author who has shown up in various magazines for a couple of years. It starts off in true space opera form, with a fleet of human spaceships engaging in battle with a relentless enemy intent on extermination. The humans are outnumbered by the ruthless Duglaari, so the commander of the fleet beats a hasty retreat, abandoning a human colony world to their foes.
The war has been going on for centuries, and the humans are slowly losing. Their only hope is the nearly legendary home world. The solar system has been cut off from the many other human planets for about three hundred years. The inhabitants of humanity's place of origin are supposed to show up and defeat the enemy with a secret weapon.
The commander of the defeated fleet happens to be reporting to his superior officer when these so-called Solarians arrive. Instead of a huge number of warships, only a small vessel appears. It carries three men and three women, which seems hardly enough to turn the tide of battle.
The six Solarians have various psychic powers, from telepathy to the ability to control another's body. This is obviously a great advantage, but it still seems impossible that they would be able to wrest victory from the jaws of defeat.
Their outrageous plan is to travel to the Duglaari home world, and offer terms of surrender. Through sheer force of personality, aided by demonstration of their powers, they manage to convince the officer in charge to send the commander with them as a supposed ambassador from the human worlds.
The commander is suspicious of their motives. He is also uncomfortable about their lifestyle. The half-dozen Solarians live in a group that isn't quite a family, but something like one. One of the women openly offers to have sex with him, although she's in love with one of the men, and the fellow she loves isn't jealous at all. The commander eventually learns to accept this new way of relating to other people during the long trip to the Duglaari planet.
That changes when he thinks the Solarians have double-crossed him, by offering the Duglaari the chance to destroy the rest of humanity if they'll leave the solar system alone. Although the Duglaari reject this offer, the commander imagines himself surrounded by traitors as their spaceship heads back to Earth. Of course, the reader is aware that the Solarians have something up their sleeve.
The combination of classic space opera with sociological science fiction, in the form of the Solarians' way of life, is intriguing. There's a climax that's spectacular in its scale, but you'll probably see it coming. The novel is quite talky, and all the human characters sound about the same. The aliens are interesting. Overall, it's a decent first novel, if not great.
Three stars.
What's For Dessert?
After that hefty triple offering, you're probably in the mood for something a little lighter to clear the palate, although still featuring heroic space adventures.
Thief of Llarn is the third or fourth book written by Gardner Fox that I’ve written about for this fanzine, and a pattern has definitely emerged in terms of the man’s work. The fabulous Mr. Fox is just fine at delivering solid, exciting, comic-booky sci-fi filled with traditional action and adventure. Every novel of his that I’ve read is a delightful but shallow page turner, with plenty of swashbuckling Flash Gordon action but little character depth or new wave insights. He’s more like early Heinlein than later Heinlein, so to speak.
Which isn’t a bad thing, and Fox’s latest short novel, Thief of Llarn, fits comfortably in his oeuvre. It stars a larger-than-life lead character who seems like a DC superhero, say someone like Adam Strange. Thief of Llarn features breathtaking escapes and horrific villains and a never-ending journey across a planet and beautiful princesses, yeah yeah yeah I see your head nodding and yep we’ve all seen this sort of thing before but that derivativeness is sort of the point of the work.
Thief of Llarn sat comfortably in my local Woolworth’s next to novels by Rice Burroughs and (ugh) Lin Carter, with Tarzan and Conan and Thongor all pleasant peers to Fox’s protagonist Alan Morgan in their delivery of high adventure and traditional heroism. All swashes are buckled, all heroes are wise, all thieves are rogues, and all planets are explored. This novel gives 40¢ worth of thrills and earned the author a few hundred dollars in payment from publisher Ace Novels, and that’s a transaction which benefited everybody. It's a workmanlike novel, but that's kind of the point.
I enjoyed this book precisely as much as I wanted to. There are exciting time travel elements, thrilling escapes from dark castles, journeys across arctic wastelands, a brilliant guild of thieves and some astonishing cars gliding across the skies. We get strange variations on polar bears, a doddering Cthulhu type creature, a murder fortress and a Disney style castle. We have a hero who doesn’t introspect too much, some fighting companions of his who are of mixed genders, and even an ending that allows our hero to love two women without two-timing either of them. It’s 146 thoroughly solid pages that acts as a delivery mechanism for a story which will delight any fan of traditional planets and sorcery sci-fi.
If Llarn doesn’t have the literary merits of the works of Zelazny or Moorcock or even Leiber, that’s just fine, and those limits should be part of our expectations. Mr. Fox has a side job writing for the rather staid National Comics on series like Adam Strange, Justice League of America, The Spectre, The Atom and Tomahawk. Alan Morgan could have come right out of any of those series. And on top of his comic book work, Fox also finds time to write four novels per year. Talk about a man chained to his typewriter! Gardner Fox is a working writer delivering excitement at 35¢ a pop – and I’m just fine with that.
3 stars
After Dinner Coffee
Wrapping things up, how about a nice warm cup of java to go with that dessert?
Lester Del Rey has been one of the most prolific writers of science fiction over the last thirty years. He started in the pulps, and he's never really stopped (though he had a slow patch a few years ago).
His latest novel is with a quite new publisher: Belmont. They've been prolific since their establishment ~1960, though their line is confined mostly to anthologies and a small stable of authors. I think this is Del Rey's first book with them.
It opens with a bang. Mike Strong is an Assistant Professor of Logic at "Kane University" somewhere in the Mid-Atlantic. At the tail end of a typical class, he is suddenly visited by a vision, transported to another world entirely, though just for a moment.
So begins an increasingly disjointed existence. By turns, he finds himself in the bodies of countless alternate Mikes: the husband of an adulterous actress, fixer for the Mob, leader of a ragtag group of refugees following a nuclear war, and on and on. The only common element is Mike, and the fact that he always returns to "the real world". And to the waiting, patient ear of Paul Bender, a former soldier-of-fortune and fellow faculty member, who serves as Mike's anchor and sounding board.
Is Mike actually plane-trotting? Are his lives connected? And what awaits him if any of his alter egos die?
Scheme is the sort of book that, in the hands of someone less skilled, could have been potboiling mediocrity. Instead, Del Rey makes each of the realities, each Mike, independently interesting. The book almost feels like the other, yet-unwritten, half of The Man in the High Castle. Its threads weave together into an interesting discourse on the difference between consciousness and awareness. Plus, it's a riveting, quick read.
I don't know if it'll be a candidate for next year's Hugo, but it certainly is a feather in the growing Belmont cap.
Last issue, the good news was that the customary editorial was dropped. In this October Amazing, there’s more good news—the self-serving letter column is gone too. Since there are only four items of fiction here, it makes for a scanty contents page. That is not necessarily bad.
by Frank R. Paul
The cover is by Frank R. Paul, captioned Martian Spaceships Invade New York, reprinted from the back cover of the May 1941 Amazing. Like last issue’s cover by James B. Settles, it is significantly cropped from the original. The image also bears a very superficial similarity to last issue’s cover. The difference between Paul and Settles, though, calls to mind Mark Twain’s remark about the difference between the lightning and the lightning-bug. Even in his waning days, Paul did archaic style with class.
Ensign Flandry, by Poul Anderson
The main reason for the sparse contents page is the very long (100 pages) feature item, Poul Anderson’s Ensign Flandry. Anderson began his series about Flandry, intelligence agent of the Terran Empire, desultorily, producing four shorter stories from 1951 to 1958. Then there was a spasm of three novellas for Fantastic and Amazing in 1959 and 1960, all of which were transformed almost instantly into Ace Doubles. Last year, however, most of the Flandry canon was compiled into hardcover collections from Chilton, Flandry of Terra and Agent of the Terran Empire.
Now Flandry is back with this novel, which suggests that Anderson intends to spin him into a character with the raffishness of James Bond and the career longevity of Horatio Hornblower, providing a framework and formula for potboilers as far as the eye can see. That’s a fine plan for the author but not so good for the reader looking for something more than product.
by Gray Morrow
So: Ensign Flandry, age 19, is dispatched to Starkad, a remote planet inhabited by a seafaring species, the Tigery, and a sea-dwelling species, the Seatrolls, who are fighting a sort of proxy war, backed by the Terran Empire and Merseia respectively, with overtones (emphasis on the “overt”) of the Cold War and Vietnam.
Flandry is there with his wise mentor, and they are trying to neutralize the soft-on-Merseia peacenik who is nominally on their side. There is a lot of intrigue and double-dealing and opportunity for Flandry to be in danger and distinguish himself and become the bigger shot we’ve seen in the earlier stories. Anderson being the professional he is, there’s a secret and a revelation at the end that trumps everything else that’s been going on, distinguishing the work from the wholly formulaic. But still—it’s mostly formulaic, maybe decent airport reading if your plane is delayed. Two stars.
The Space Witch, by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Space Witch, by Walter M. Miller, Jr., from the November 1951 Amazing, is a piece of work, in the more extreme sense of that phrase. Protagonist Kenneth Johnson has invited his ex-wife Marcia and her new milquetoast husband for a stay at his lake cottage. His feelings are still raw, and Marcia is a self-centered and manipulative sexpot. The overwrought psychodrama is interrupted by a mysterious dark cloud which generates an intense local storm, causing Ken and Marcia to take refuge in his boat as a gleaming metallic sphere appears and Marcia decompensates (“Own me like a piece of furniture, Kennie. That’s what I want to be.”).
by Edward Valigursky
The boat gets sucked out into the lake, Marcia drowns, Ken gets pulled into the sphere, and Marcia reappears, except it’s not really Marcia. “We found it necessary to adopt her image, because she was the only thinkhuman [sic] available for detailed biosimulation.” Non-Marcia explains that she is a fugitive from her race and has been hiding on the Moon for 30 years watching Earth, but now her kin-aliens have tracked her down and are about to destroy the area for 150 miles around. There ensues a discussion of options for preserving themselves and half of New England, which turns into more and higher-volume psychodrama and back-stabbing, and an ending that can only be described as twisted. Miller’s first story, Secret of the Death Dome, was a bit crazy. This one is a lot crazy, and Miller is getting better at crazy. Three stars.
Mr. Dimmitt Seeks Redress, by Miles J. Breuer
Miles J. Breuer’s Mr. Dimmitt Seeks Redress (from the August 1936 Amazing) is about as tiresome as its title. Mr. Dimmitt is a mild-mannered shrimp of a scientist. His wife and children have been killed in a car accident caused by the reckless driving of the rich bully Graw. Back in the lab, Dimmitt is accidentally exposed to an experimental substance that drastically slows time for him. Initially he is frightened. “He had read of persons who had tried a dose of cannabis indicia [sic] having terrifying experiences from the effects of the drug. Was the effect of this thing going to be permanent?” It isn’t, but he doses himself again, goes out for a walk, sees Graw speeding (crawling, to Dimmitt) towards his house, and grabs Graw’s young son who is playing in the yard and puts him in the path of the car, too close to stop. The gimmicky story has a gimmicky ending. Two stars.
Wallace West, he of the appalling The Last Man, seems to have learned some things in the course of two decades. In Eddie for Short (from the December 1953-January 1954 issue), World War III seems to have killed everybody except Lita, a lounge singer in Miami, whose husband has just died of radiation poisoning at his post in the radio station that is broadcasting her, leaving everything going. So, having not much else to do, she keeps on singing every night.
by Ernie Barth
Then, one night . . . someone is following her. It’s Verna, a Negro woman from Key West, who speaks in a thick stereotypical accent, and who has heard Lita on the radio and trekked to Miami in search of her. She’s going to take care of Lita, which is a good thing, since Lita turns out to be pregnant. So Verna takes care of the household chores while Lita “literally hurl[s] herself” at the City Library and then at the local university, educating herself, since now it seems the world is not going to end (she’s convinced herself she’s carrying twins of opposite sex).
It’s easy to make fun of this story’s racial stereotypes, but hey, it’s not bad for 1953, and West means well. Also he’s a lot better writer than he was in 1929, and he’s still at it (he hit Analog and Magazine of Horror last year). So, some positive reinforcement: three stars.
Summing Up
For a change, the reprinted material (some of it) has more going for it than the new material, and neither is too awful. It’s a relief.
(And don't forget to tune in tonight at 8:30 PM (Pacific AND Eastern — two showings) for the world television premier of Star Trek!)
There are many science fiction conventions in the United States, from New York's Lunacon to Westercon, held in San Diego this year! But the granddaddy of them all is the annual Worldcon, which travels from city to city as various fan groups are able to submit a winning bid to the con's members.
This year, Cleveland won the honor, and so the convention representing the three cities of Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Detroit was appropriately called "Tricon." More than 800 fen (plural of fan, natch) descended upon the Sheraton-Cleveland (the historic "Renaissance") hotel for a long weekend of fun and fannery. Even the best rooms at this ancient hotel were tiny, and several complained of dusty closets. Luckily, we spent little time in our rooms!
As with every Worlcon there were panels and speeches, including one by Harlan Ellison, entertaining as always.
I'm not surprised the Heinlein didn't win, despite being the best of these titles. A lot of fen refused to vote for it given that it didn't finish until this year. Of course, this means Heinlein's probably lost his chance for this one, which is a shame since it's his best work yet.
I'm happy to see the Zelazny prevented an unalloyed win for the not-really deserving Dune. The Brunner was largely panned by folks whose opinions I respect (e.g. Algis Budrys and Judith Merril). We never even reviewed it at the Journey as we weren't quite certain the subject matter was really SF.
As for the Smith, well, we think that was mostly an honor in memoriam since the Doc passed away last year. The Skylark stories are quite dated, and the newest one was pretty lousy.
I'm sure Ellison was pleased to take home the rocketship. There's not much to say here; all of these stories got or were nominated for Galactic Stars. Fafhrd and Gray Mouser fans are going to be disappointed Stardock didn't win, I suppose.
Best Dramatic Presentation
No Winner. There weren't even any candidates! Apparently Harlan didn't have the Tricon committee's phone numbers, so he couldn't rattle chains at 3am (to be fair, he has since apologized for his behaviour last year. Now he just needs to apologize for The Oscar…)
The winner this year comes as quite a surprise to me. Analog still has twice the readership of the next most-read mag. I suppose IF did start Heinlein's serial, so maybe this was a back door way of giving the Hugo to R.A.H. Still, IF finished at the bottom of our rankings last year.
1965 was weird for most mags, though. With Cele Goldsmith and Avram Davidson stepping down, and Pohl coming into his stride, I think everything was a bit in flux.
Another big surprise. I can see why Frazetta might be popular, what with his doing the covers for the Tarzan reprints in '64 and working on the Conan covers (the first due out in November of this year). But he hardly did anything last year.
As for Schoenherr finishing below Gaughan and Morrow? That's patently ridiculous. Maybe that's just alphabetical order. I don't have the vote tallies…
Best Fanzine
ERB-dom ed. by Camille Cazedessus, Jr.
Nominees
Yandro ed. by Robert Coulson and Juanita Coulson Double: Bill ed. by Bill Mallardi Niekas ed. by Edmund R. Meskys and Felice Rolfe Zenith Speculation ed. by Peter R. Weston
With the Tarzan and other Edgar Rice Burroughs coming back into print, it makes sense that a Burroughs-specific fanzine would get the nod. Of the other four, I know Yandro and Zenith Speculation, but not the other two. I spend most of my time reading the newszines.
For the fourth year running, our own endeavor did not make the ballot. I blame myself for the oversight. For those reading, Best Fanzine is spelled "G-A-L-A-C-T-I-C J-O-U-R-N-E-Y".
Now that that's settled, I'm sure we'll get more votes next year!
Best All-Time Series
Foundation series, by Isaac Asimov
Nominees
Barsoom series, by Edgar Rice Burroughs Future History series, by Robert A. Heinlein Lensmen series, by Edward E. Smith The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien
This is a new category. The nomination of Tolkien's series is significant — had not Donald Wollheim published the series in cheap paperback form, the adventures of Frodo and Samwise would be largely unknown. The other nominees are unsurprising, though I was sad that neither Cordwainer Smith's nor Zenna Henderson's series were on the list. If the "Best Series" Hugo continues, Smith could get the nod next year given his untimely death last month at the age of 53.
It is interesting that Asimov ultimately won as it seemed pretty clear the Tricon committee hoped Tolkien would get the nod (they proposed Lord of the Rings as an example from the first). Well, as Harlan knows, you don't always get what you plump for.
So that's that! It was an exhausting but thrilling time. We enjoyed the small part we played in the proceedings, all the wonderful people we met, and we look forward to next year's event in New York!
(And don't forget to tune in September 8 at 8:30 PM (Pacific AND Eastern — two showings) for the world television premier of Star Trek!)
Move over James Bond and John Steed, there is a new dashing science fictional spy on the scene. I am of course referring to the latest hit from the team behind Doctor Who: Adam Adamant Lives!
An old-fashioned Victorian swashbuckling hero, Adam Adamant is frozen by a masked supervillain and buried under London. After being found by a construction crew, he finds himself resurrected in the strange world of London in 1966. Teaming up with a young mod woman named Georgina Jones, they solve unusual crimes such as satanic aristocrats or a soap manufacturer drugging the nation with plastic flowers.
However, it is not just Adam Adamant who is returning from hibernation. An old science fiction magazine is returning to the print.
A Brief History of the British SF Magazine
Unlike in the US, the UK did not have many SF specific publications before the war, with Walter Gillings' Tales of Wonder being a notable exception. After the war, Carnell, along with a group of other SF professionals, formed Nova publications and turned the former fanzine New Worlds into a professional magazine, beginning the market as we know it today.
A few of the many former British SF Magazines
As in America, during the magazine boom of the 50s there were numerous UK science fiction magazines but like their American counterparts these too disappeared as the decade wore on. When Scotland’s premier SF magazine Nebula finally went under in 1959, the UK market was only left with Carnell’s trio of New Worlds, Science Fantasy and Science Fiction Adventures. And when he decided to step away from them it looked like the British market might disappear.
What remained of British SF Magazines by 1960
However, recently this decline has been reversed. Whilst the US SF short fiction markets published around 750 pages of original fiction in July, the British equivalents managed around 450, for a country with only about a quarter of the people. Partially this is due to the continued success of New Worlds and Impulse, which have been able to go monthly and increase their page count. It is also due to other publications from the end of July; the latest New Writings anthology (which I will address shortly) and a new magazine entering the market, Alien Worlds.
The Former Fanzine
Alien Worlds Fanzine issue 15
Much like the early New Worlds, Alien Worlds (previously titled Alien) was a British fanzine also featuring film details and some fiction. Last year at Eastercon, editors Harry Nadler and Charles Partington talked to various authors and artists about the possibility of a new professional fiction magazine with full colour illustrations. The result is the new Alien Worlds.
Alien Worlds: Semi Professional or Gifted Amateur?
I think we need to take a brief moment to talk about the design of this. It is not in the pocketbook style we see in the other British publications, rather a stapled higher end fanzine with colour offset litho printing. The text also looks like it is hand-typed with the occasional mistakes you would expect from an amateur publication. Perhaps a new term is warranted. “Semiprozine”? Doesn't quite roll off the tongue…
Looking inside:
Editorial
Here Partington and Nadler lay out their complaints of the SF magazine genre. Namely that whilst everything else “from women’s weeklies to ‘build up’ encyclopedias” use full colour illustrations, science fiction publications simply look dull. They hope that Alien Worlds will change that with exciting artwork throughout and therefore make the most use of science fiction’s potential. It is an interesting point, albeit the counter argument is that it costs a lot more to do full colour art and you have to sacrifice space that could be better spent on words. But, then again, if the saying is correct that a picture is worth a thousand words, is this not also economical? It is not an argument I have thought about in depth but is certainly an interesting gauntlet to lay down.
Contact Man by Harry Harrison
Harrison is probably the most well-known contributor to the magazine, recently for his satirical Bill the Galactic Hero. Here he gives us another take on the Starship Troopers style of militaristic SF.
Chesney was found guilty of rebelling against the Admiral-Emperor, the military dictator of Earth, and was given a choice, the death penalty or service in the military. Choosing to sign-up he is made a contact man, whose role is to find natives on new planets and exterminate their villages.
Compared to relative zaniness of Bill, Contact Man is truly brutal. It gives an Orwellian take on militarism, positing a future where the “kill or be killed” mentality is extended to where people’s choices are genocide or suicide.
Disturbing but very worthy. Four Stars
Ken Slater’s Book Column
Slater is a major British fan personality probably best known for being one of the co-founders of the BSFA and producing Vector’s regular column on bookselling, General Chuntering.
In this column, he spends some time stating that this is a “book review column” and laying out his disdain for the field of literary criticism. He holds that the reviewer should simply lay out the facts of the book, if they liked it and possibly why “without being deeply Freudian or whatever.” He then goes on to state that he enjoyed Dobson’s two recent publications, Interstellar 2.5 by John Rankine and New Writings in SF 9 (reviewed below), whilst giving reasonably detailed summaries of the books. Personally, I do not find his style of reviewing that useful as I would rather be surprised by the plot and instead know why the reviewer did or did not enjoy it in depth. But perhaps there are a lot of Ken Slaters out there?
Flash by Allan Asherman
A summary of the 1936 film serial Flash Gordon along with some set photos. I guess this might be useful for some as reference material if they have never seen the picture but, honestly, it feels superfluous.
Two Stars
Not Human by Ken Bulmer
There is currently a major war between the Terrans and Reldans. Johnny Dent is crushed under a spaceship on the battlefield and will come to understand how far humanity needs to go to defeat the Terrans.
It is very curious they chose to put two such similar stories in the same issue. Of the two, this suffers in comparison to the Harrison. Not Human is over described, feeling less intense and bordering on pulpy.
Two Stars
1 Million Years BC
A small description of the upcoming film, two photos from it and (what I assume are) two pieces of concept art. Less an article and more an advertisement.
J. Ramsey Campbell is a new name to me, but he has apparently had several pieces published by Derleth’s Arkham House imprint. This story convinces me he is one to watch.
In 1960 our narrator begins to become fascinated with horror films, particularly those from Hammer. They spend much of their time going to see them, but they begin to be frustrated with the disturbances from the rest of the audiences. Is it just teenagers or something more sinister?
The fantasy elements are almost tangential to this, it is one of those horror tales where it could be all in the lead’s mind. However, that does not make it any less atmospheric or interesting. As someone else who loves watching Hammer Horror films, it is great to see this creepy take on the cinematic experience.
Four Stars
Illustrating titular leads from, clockwise from top left: Brides of Dracula, Dracula (1958), Dracula (1931), House of Dracula, Nosferatu, Dracula in Istanbul, El Vampiro
2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey is probably the most anticipated science fiction film at the moment, scheduled for release in early 1967 (whilst the book is meant to be coming out from Gollancz imminently). This short piece gives some nice insights into the behind the scenes, although it is very short.
Three Stars
In Conclusion
Textless version of the front cover on the rear
Whilst not amazing, this is also not a terrible start for this short magazine. It contains an interesting mix of fact, fiction and illustrations, and certainly achieves its aim of never looking boring.
One of the biggest problems that needs to be mentioned is the cost. Not having the backing of any major publishers and relying on fan distribution networks, the cost is 2/6 for just 63 pages. By comparison New Worlds cost 3/6 for almost triple the length. If the publication is to continue, they are going to need to work out a way to achieve the economies of scale needed to get a price point that is efficient for the consumer without compromising the ideas behind the magazine.
In stark contrast to Alien Worlds, New Writings stubbornly sticks to its unappealing covers, with Carnell instead concentrating on the contents. This quarter’s edition is focused on the problem of overpopulation, which seems to have become the idea of the moment. But what do Carnell’s crew make of it?
Poseidon Project by John Rackham
In this story, the best option for an overpopulated humanity’s future is to be able to live on the seabed. Much like the SEALAB experiments, a group of scientists are selected to live in an isolated habitat underwater. However, in this case it is a large and varied community for an entire year, with each of them paired off into married couples to better simulate future conditions. We follow Peter Sentry six months into the experiment, where he begins to wonder if the isolated conditions are causing psychological issues for some of those in charge.
This is quite old fashioned in its style, acting as an optimistic problem story. Each event is treated as a problem that can be resolved scientifically and a rational outlook can overcome any problem caused by humans. It is an interesting contrast to all the technophobic computer tales and apocalyptic visions of our future we are reading today.
It has one major flaw, however. For a story centered around psychology, Rackham does not fully develop his characters. They all feel like stock cliches. In particular the women characters fall far short. As such it ends up being much more of a surface level tale than it would otherwise have been with a little more depth added (puns-intended).
This could have been an interesting take on this theme, instead I will settle on giving it two stars.
Two partnered cave people, Zara and Kaalba, discover a spherical craft in the water. Inside they find a highly powerful and knowledgeable android, who Zara names Tros. Tros shares stories of humans who were able to build vast cities and travel to the stars. Zara wants to take it back to the tribe and use its knowledge, Kaalba is more wary of the android.
I found the story badly written, a cliched topic, and anti-feminist. Save yourself time and avoid it!
One star
Gifts of the Gods by Arthur Sellings
Sellings has not appeared in the New Writings anthologies before but has been in New Worlds several times, as well as being a successful author of SF novels.
In this piece, Brian Dudley and his wife Gwen have moved to the new town of Framley. In their garden Gwen finds a series of strange metal objects, shaped like skittles. After failing to turn up anything interesting in analysis he sells them to a local art dealer. More and more strange objects start appearing in town in larger and larger quantities. What could be causing these mysterious appearances?
There seems to be an interesting little subgenre appearing in the New Writings pages of late, telling of unnerving goings-on in the new towns. A kind of “Exurban Uncanny”. This is an excellent example of it, the premise is unusual enough to keep you intrigued and the end twist was a great one that I did not expect.
Four Stars
The Long Memory by William Spencer
Based in a future metropolis of ten billion people known only as the City, crime has been eliminated through the use of constant surveillance. The cost, however, is that this level of surveillance required on every citizen means that size of the records keeps increasing, and housing size is thus continually reduced as more space is made to store the recording tape of every person’s actions. Harben monitors the storage and equipment but appears to come across an underground conspiracy to destroy all the records.
There are definitely good parts to this story and the world is original. However, it also never quite feels like it elevates itself above an absurdist satire within the short word count.
Three Stars
Guardian Angel by Gerald W. Page
Returning after his excellent creepy tale in the last edition, Page gives us a tale of art and humanity.
Douglas Copeland is a very successful painter, and, like most rich people, he shares his home with a Guardian Angel, an AI known as Peter. Following the advice of Peter, Douglas has made a very successful career out of painting cogs. However, he is getting bored of the same design over and over again. When he meets a young woman named Philomene she convinces him to paint her, allowing Douglas to find a new passion in the human form. Peter, however, is not happy with this change.
This starts off well as an interesting debate on art and rationality. However, as it goes on it just fizzles out. Still, it is well written and very vivid tale.
Three Stars
Second Genesis by Eric Frank Russell
The prior appearances of Second Genesis
Our first reprint tale in over a year. This one, from the famed author’s back catalogue, was first published in Blue Book in 1952 and then reprinted in his first collection, Deep Space. Neither has been available for some time so this will be many people’s first reading of it. Unfortunately, there may be good reason it has been largely forgotten.
Arthur Jerrold is to take part in a space voyage around the solar system that will take him mere moments, but two thousand years will pass outside. If he survives the journey, he is to return to wherever humans are in the solar system so they can collect the results of the experiment. However, that may be harder than he realized.
You can probably guess where this is going. It is such an old cliché some editors have included it on lists of stories they will not accept. It is fairly told but nothing special.
Two Stars
Defence Mechanism by Vincent King
Finally New Writings has brought in a new writer!
To the best of my knowledge this is Vincent King’s first published work and, based on this, I very much hope it is not his last.
In the City, society has broken down into a series of small family tribes. They fight each other through the Corridors (common nouns referring to places are sometimes capitalized and sometimes not, I cannot quite work out the pattern) for territory and resources. At the same time, they have to deal with threats from Aliens coming in from the lower Levels and the Green beyond the Edge.
Our unnamed narrator has heard Aliens are coming back so organizes a hunt to track them down. Enroute, he encounters a tribe of Dwarfs (they seem to be just shorter people but this is how our narrator refers to them). The two groups discover that they are both suffering from issues of inbreeding and agree to women mating between the tribes. As the hunt continues it goes to areas beyond the order of the standard Corridors and our narrator is the only one willing to travel onward. In doing so he will discover the truth behind the City and the Aliens.
This is a story that is in the telling. Many of the revelations I had expected but, by putting it through our narrator’s perspective, it allowed me to explore a fantastical world and come to interesting conclusions. It ends up falling halfway between a "Dying Earth" style adventure and Pohl-esque satire. My favorite story in the collection and one that will stick with me for a while.
Five Stars
Summing up
Overall, this is a pretty good edition of the anthology with both a four and a five-star story and only a couple of shorter pieces being poor. The biggest issue is a certain level of chauvinism in some of the writing, which is probably not aided by some of Carnell’s introduction and the lack of any women authors in the series so far.
Between these two publications they have more good than bad in them, continuing to show there is new life in British Science Fiction yet.
Tune in to KGJ, our radio station! Nothing but the newest and best hits!
![[September 22, 1966] True Idols (the Isaac Asimov issue of <i>Fantasy and Science Fiction</i>)](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/660920cover.jpg?resize=659%2C372&ssl=1)
![[September 20, 1966] In the hands of an adolescent (<i>Star Trek</i>'s "Charlie X")](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/660920a.jpg?resize=672%2C372&ssl=1)
![[September 18, 1966] Soaring Higher (Gemini 11)](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Gemini-11patch-2.jpg?resize=308%2C372&ssl=1)
![[September 16, 1966] Is Censorship Heating Up? (Fahrenheit 451)](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/F451-Poster.jpg?resize=281%2C212&ssl=1)
![[September 14, 1966] All the Old Familiar Places (October 1966 <i>Galaxy</i>)](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/660912cover.jpg?resize=672%2C372&ssl=1)
![[September 12, 1966] Boldly Going (<i>Star Trek</i>'s "The Man Trap")](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/660914title.jpg?resize=672%2C372&ssl=1)
![[September 10, 1966] Bon appetit! (this month's Galactoscope)](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/660910covers.jpg?resize=672%2C372&ssl=1)
![[September 8, 1966] The Bare Hardly-Essentials (October 1966 <i>Amazing</i>)</big></b>](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/amz-1066-cover.png?resize=491%2C372&ssl=1)
![[September 6, 1966] The Greatest (SF) show on Earth! (1966 Worldcon and Hugo Awards)](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/660906triconprogram.jpg?resize=316%2C372&ssl=1)
![[September 4, 1966] British Science Fiction Lives! (Alien Worlds #1 & New Writings in SF #9)](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Featured-Image.jpg?resize=332%2C240&ssl=1)
