As mentioned in Sunday's Postings:
Overused Si-Fi characterizations/settings:
Points to consider?
THESE SOUND LIKE JUST ANOTHER DAY IN WEST LOS ANGELES!!!!!!
>4. Extra breasts on the alien women. (To quote Tom Lerher "to think of all
>the wonderous ways they're using plastics now a-days . . . . . ")
>10. Cities of future depicted as though sanitation workers have been on
>strike from now until then
>11. Entire story setting dominated by huge impersonal business
>conglomerates
>17. Every single character has a tainted history
>18. Society divided as follows:
>a) A handful of ultra-powerful ultra-rich
>b) Hordes of starving people living in the streets
>c) Criminal lords who control everything not controlled by the
>ultra-rich
>d) Police whose only principle of operation is maintenance of the status quo
>20. Heroes who are so emotionally stunted that they don't care about
>close friends/relatives that die as long as they complete some mission
>21. Any character with a perpetual two-day growth of beard, (they make
>special razors for this, it looks so much more manly than a full beard and
>shows a square jaw so well - in the old days, only a hobo wore stubble)
>24. A society in which everyone is required to die on his or her Nth
>birthday. (or cheat by getting surgically updated on a regular basis)
>29. Future societies that have relapsed into feudalism. (It never really
>left, though well disguised, it pops up every now and then).
>47. Characters who are always ready for intimate relations. (This was, of
>course, more popular a pastime prior to AIDS)
Since most screenwriters live here, no wonder they are projecting what they
see from day-to day into a futuristic setting!
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On the Avengers:
I am of an age that was completely confused by the fact that we saw Emma
Peel on the telly and thought "Wow, Now THAT's what a woman should look
like" and then were disapointed to find out that there were no real girls
out there who looked or dressed like her. The next logical deduction was,
"Maybe there are English girls look like that" but then the singer/actress
Lulu became popular and dashed that idea as well. Is Lulu the anti-Emma?
Say - did anyone out there ever see the "Bondage-esque" episode that was
deleted from American broadcast as too bold at the time? Ms. Peel spends
much of the time costumed in a brief black leather outfit that looked like
it was made by the Morgan bonnet strap factory. It was included and well
promoted by a local TV station that did a 24 hour Avengers marathon a few
years ago. WOW, If I had seen that while in my teens I'd have been warped
for years! The only antidote would have been to imagine Lulu in the same
outfit!
Emma Peel was quite a revelation to American men who had been raised on
Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Jane Russel. See you on the Funway!
Rick Feibusch - Venice, CA
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