Date: Mon, 11 Mar 1996 16:25:40 -0800
From: PatriEmb@aol4tag.com
Subject: War Games

I watched War Games yesterday on the Sci-fi channel, and couldn't tell what
exactly killed Alan.  I know he died upon ejecting from the eagle, but I
couldn't tell from the close-up if his helmet had cracked, or what the black
spot was, due to the darkness of my tape.

  Also, was Koenig wrong to have kept going at full power, when Alan wanted
to reduce speed and fire the retros?  If so, how many others have died
because of the Commander's mistakes?



Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1996 14:32:39 -0800
From: Ronald Dudley (dudleyrd@expert.cc.purdue4tag.edu)

I could see that Alan's visor was cracked.  That was also the explanation in
the "Alien Attack" novelization by John Rankine(Douglas Rankine Mason).

Sci-fi channed did their usual hatchet job again.  They cut out the scenes of
people being sucked out into space!  Someone also noticed that the evacuation
scenes of the Medical center were shortened.  Originally, you could see
Dr. Mathias putting the first patch on the hole in the window.  As shown,
you didn't even know there was a hole in the window, and Mathias appeared
to be putting stuff on the window for no apparent reason!

Ronald Dudley



Date: Sat, 16 Mar 1996 19:22:20 -0800
From: Claudia Coles (ccoles@dcez.dcez4tag.com)
Subject: Re: Sucked Out Into Space!

Yeah I know just what you mean Ronald.  Now that you have brought it to my
attention, I do remember that there were more Alphans being "sucked out
into space" than the versions that they show on the SCI-FI channel.  There
were also more distressing scenes such as the Dr.-Mathias-patching-the-window
scenes when the series was first ran twenty years ago.  Those types of
dramatic scenes gave the series it's eerie, dark characteristics, you know,
that "man-vs.-the-spacial-elements - and-there-ain't-nothin'-no-one-can-do
-about-it" type of feeling.

Though, I'm glad that at least the SCI-FI channel is running S:1999, I
can't help but wish that they would show the series in its original un-cut
format.  My teenage godchildren like the show, but I can't share with them
the full impact and intensity of the show that I experienced when I was
their age.  It's as if they are getting a totally different experience of
the show than what I received when I was younger.  And it has nothing to
do with the fact that this is the nineties and that we are watching a
made-for-the-seventies tv program.  Something is just missing and I can't
tell them what it is because they wouldn't really understand - it's
something that can only be *shown* to them, in other words, *experienced*.

I was wondering if other parents or relatives have experienced the same
thing when they try to share the show with their children or younger
relatives?  What about you Jeanette?  I know you like to watch the show
with your daughter...do you find that she is watching and participating in
a "different" experience than when you were a kid?

Any one else?

curiously submitted,
your fellow Alphan,

Claudia
C.O. - Moonbase Alpha



Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 17:36:54 -0800
From: Claudia Coles (ccoles@dcez.dcez4tag.com)
Subject: Re: Ah, In Whose Time Reference?

On Wed, 13 Mar 1996 Sfcafeguy@aol.com wrote:

> Danny Lee (dbdlee@terraport.net) writes:
>
> >The first one is from War Games.  In the destruction of Moon Base Alpha, I
> >guess the FX crew ran out of Eagles to destroy because they blew up a
> >CARDBOARD Eagle instead.  If they had not placed the camera in an angle so
> >that one could see the eagle was flat then they might have gotten away with it.
> >For those who are curious it is the last Eagle to die on the pad.
>
> Dan's right again.  (To Dan:  How big is your TV screen.  I totally missed
> this until I was looking for it.)  To save you all some trouble this shot
> (unless there's more than one and Dan's talking about another) takes place
> about 5.5 minutes into "War Games."

Ah, Robert, is this "5.5 minutes" in SCI-FI Channel Slash and Burn
Standard Time or is the time for the originally cut version we all know
and love?  Please clarify :)

yfA,

Claudia



Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 19:06:30 -0800
From: Sfcafeguy@aol4tag.com
Subject: Time for (to) Bloopers

Aw, shucks, Maam, we don't rightly do Sci-Fi Channel 1999 in this house (it's
too painful).  These are times from uncut laserdisc to VHS copies.

Robert



Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 18:20:07 -0800
From: Claudia Coles (ccoles@dcez.dcez4tag.com)
Subject: Re: Film (and TV) Editor's Rights! :)

On Wed, 13 Mar 1996, ggreg perry wrote:

> if you look really closely during the THIS EPISODE clips at the beginning of
> the LAST ENEMY, there's an explosion shot that you can just see part of one
> of the tanks used (and never used again) in INFERNAL MACHINE.
>
> i always wondered why we never saw these again.  apparently we did, or at
> least the film editor did at one point!
>
> ggreg

Hey now wait a second there ggreg, I have to take a slight acception to
your comments towards the film editor [ seeing that I am an editor myself
:) ].  Sometimes, the editor is told the most outrageous things to cut or
leave in by the producer and/or director, that it can be down right
nauseating [pardon my Esperanto :)].  And if the director forgot to shoot
a cutaway or something during filming/taping, FOR-GET-IT.  Sometimes you
have to just throw up your hands and keep editing, in order for them not
to land around the producer or director's neck! (oops I forgot, no violence
here...kids and moms on board :) ].

Now the SCI-FI Channels is a different story all together!  They seem to
use coin-operated editing machines to re-edit their S:1999 episodes for
broadcast - and the repeated scenes are probably due to someone using a
dollar bill and not getting all their change back!

But for the most part, unless you have a really cool producer or director,
who just hands you a script and says "edit this", you wind up sometimes
being just a "machine-operating-another-machine".

Well, I just wanted to let you know the other side of an editor's
sometimes frustrating life (I said "sometimes"...didn't I?)

I just want to let you know though, my dear, fellow comrade ggreg, that no
offense was taken by your comments :).  See you around Moonbase Alpher or
maybe in some "repeated" post ala the SCI-FI Channel!  Get it? ;)

[Wow, I've used alot of "!" in this post...do I sound angry?...naw, I'm not
angry....do I really sound angry?...now tell me the truth, we're all
friends here....Do I really sound like a miffed editor letting off some
steam here?.......but you all are such a good audience...BIG ;) ]

See ya.

respectfully submitted,
your fellow Alphan,

Claudia
C.O. - Moonbase Alpha



Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 21:17:12 -0800
From: jflmgcnp@capital44net.com (John Fleming @ COLD NORTH Publishing)
Subject: Re: Re: Film (and TV) Editor's Rights! :)

Hey Claudia,

     I to am an editor too. I still get to do some at my office. We have a
small studio like set up. People come to us and say "We think we want to
make a video...". Well, the first thing we tell them is DON'T THINK!! We'll
do it for you wholesale. :-) They think they know what they are doing, not a
clue. Luckily I'm in a position to take complete control, Producer,
Director, Editor, Script Supervisor, etc., etc....... Now that kind of power
is what is needed to pull off an almost flawless production. It very rarely
happens. Thank god for independent productions!! (any god that you believe
in, and if that offends your god, its not that one then :-))

Later...



Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 14:55:08 -0800
From: atomicpossum@usa.pipe44line.com (Jon "Mr. Wonderful" Stadter)
Subject: re:voyager's return

On Mar 13, 1996 13:54:25, '"connole_rj_ray (184864)"
(connole@lvs-emh.lvs.loral.com)' wrote:
>
>>      In "Voyager's Return," the waterspray they used to simulate the
>> Quellar (sp?) drive's thrust can be seen, quite clearly, _dripping_ in a
>> very non-zero-gee manner.  Not Freddie's fault, as it's eason one, but
>> obviously someone else had the 'no one will notice' attitude on at least
>> one day.
>>
>> Jon "Mr. Wonderful" Stadter
>
>Dude be kind to the Voyager.  That wasn't water but freon and condensation
>dripping off from
>its cold nozzle.   1999 was way ahead of its time in TV effects but very
>unkind to the environment
>of space.  I love the Voyager model and that Queller Drive.

I'm not trashing Voyager--I like the episode, but they had a lot of footage
which _wasn't_ dripping... just a sloppy edit, if you ask me....



Date: Sat, 23 Mar 1996 19:31:00 -0800
From: ggreg@nwu4tag.edu (Ggreg)
Subject: WAR GAMES observations

for perhaps the first (and only?) time in the series, you can see paul
morrow actually using the buttons on the side of the commlock, probably for
calculation, right at the beginning of the scene where they're cleaning up
the command conference table in koenings office after the attack is over.

also, i noticed a moonbuggy outside on the surface near one of the
buildings during on of the attack scenes.  i've noticed moonbuggies sitting
on the eagle launch pads before, but this is the first time i noticed one
on the surface.

just some observations...

ggreg