Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1996 10:12:27 -0800 From: Sfcafeguy@aol4tag.com Subject: More Starlog #2 and Screaming Women Hi All: While I was busy admiring the photo of Koenig crashing through the candy glass door to the Weapons Section in Starlog #2 (which the general concensus believes to be a publicity still), I totally missed -- and I can't even believe this since I'm such a Catherine fan -- the picture of Catherine Schell in (practically) a mini-skirt striking a very Avengers-like combative pose. This is hilarious! It's the Season 2 uniform, but the skirt is mid-thigh rather than around the knee. Thank God someone (apparently) took Freddie aside and told him he was pushing the envelope just a bit. And while on the subject, I was recently watching "Ring Around the Moon" and I found myself offended by Sandra and Tanya's cowering in Main Mission when Ted Clifford goes berserk. I know it always bothers me when supposedly highly trained professional women are portrayed in this way, but does it bother others of you as well? I mean, honestly, after 40 or so episodes you'd think Sandra would be relieved of duty for so much screaming and fainting, and that Helena would be prescribing valium left and right. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe this is why Tanya disappeared. :) Thoughts please, Robert
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1996 12:02:11 -0800 From: Ronald Dudley (dudleyrd@expert.cc.purdue4tag.edu) Robert wondered why the alphan women were so weak and hysteria-prone. THE WRITERS WERE MAKING THE MEN LOOK BRAVE. That's why Dione and the catwomen were dressed so nasty. Imagine how untheatening looking it would be if Koenig were imprisoned on a planet run by old women in skirts like Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, or Golda Meir? Strong leaders, yes. Would they make Koenig look brave? No. When the space monsters said "Boo", someone had to cower and scream, and Zienna Merton had a great scream. I would love to have seen the episode where, when faced with a threatening alien-possessed madman, tiny little Sandra jumps up, pushes Alan back, and shouts "I'll protect you!" as she wrestles David Prowse (in a guest role) down to the ground. Perhaps Prowse could be that robot again, and Sandra could rip his arm off, and then club him with it, knocking off his head in the process, like Yaphet Kotto did to the robot in "Alien". Cool, heh heh heh. Unfortunately, this was 1974. And Zienna Merton probably only weighed as much as Kate Moss. TV had to wait for Angie Dickinson in "Police Woman", and (mechanically assisted!) Lindsay Wagner as the "Bionic Woman" for strong female characters (albeit, strong because of their guns and mechanical limbs). It was a decade before Sigourney Weaver showed us how real spacewomen react when threatened. (They wipe out an entire species with guns and grenades!) If they ever remake 1999, I suggest that a brave, strong Sandra could be played convincingly by Tonya Harding. "Clifford! Stop, or else I'll break your legs!" Sigourney Weaver can be Dr. Russell.
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1996 14:11:11 -0800 From: Sfcafeguy@aol4tag.com Subject: Tough Broads/Strong Women - Zienia Need Not Apply In a message dated 96-03-19 15:05:20 EST, Ronald Dudley writes: >TV had to wait for Angie Dickinson in "Police Woman", and >(mechanically assisted!) Lindsay Wagner as the "Bionic Woman" for strong >female characters (albeit, strong because of their guns and mechanical >limbs). Uh, I don't know about the rest of you, but I would WAIT for Lindsay Wagner ANY time! She's the only star I saw while living in L.A. who stopped me in my tracks or even made me turn my head. Gorgeous in person! But then I always liked strong women, from Emma Peel in the Avengers to Lindsay Wagner, to Lynda Carter, to Joanna Lumly (Purdy in "The New Avengers" and recently Patsy on "Absolutely Fabulous"), et al. Oh, and if you're ever in Los Angeles and you actually want to see stars, check out the Sunday meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous at Cedars Sinai Medical Center -- more stars than in all the heavens! And no, I wasn't there for myself (hiccup). I was there to watch a friend receive a cake for being sober for two years (he says, tripping over the chair and falling onto the floor). :) Robert
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1996 19:15:35 -0800 From: Claudia Coles (ccoles@dcez.dcez4tag.com) Subject: A STRANGE THING IS HAPPENING TO THE LIST - *GUYS* BEWARE! [EDITOR'S NOTE: Probably doesn't belong, but the timing was ironic.] Hi *Guys*, Actually, this is a post of utter concern here. Where are all my fellow female comrades on the list?!!! Where is Cecilia, Jeanette, Philippa, Daphne, etc?!!! For the past few days I haven't heard from any of them. Were they all sucked out into space or is there some alien abduction going on :) [ Hmmmm...do I feel an S:1999 story coming on here? ]. We need to find out the cause of this dilemma, guys, or who knows...[sinister, *Outer Limits* voice ]...you all might be next :). cordially submitted, your fellow (and lone, holdin'-down-the-fort-for-the-sisters) Alphan, Claudia Communications Officer - MBS Alpha
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 1996 12:54:54 -0800 From: Ronald Dudley (dudleyrd@expert.cc.purdue4tag.edu) How about the opening scent from this sunday's Sci-fi chop-job "Black Sun": TANYA BRINGS EVERYBODY COFFEE! What a great job they gave poor old Tanya. Typical secretarial functions! In 1975, you would never have seen Alan bring everybody coffee, nor Tanya defending alpha in a laser equipped eagle. Now that its 20 years later, you can instead see on the TV Spawn of Star Trek how First Officer Kira and Captain Janeway defend themselves and their principles, and how nerdy little roaches like Quark and Neelix serve people coffee and other drinks. Tanya's Revenge, I guess. The aliens are now in the servant roles. Male chauvenism has been replaced by what might be called 'species-racism'. As for Barbara: A female character as co-equal to the male lead was a big advance over Star Trek. Female characters as a members of a "crew" was a vast improvement over 2001. (The usual two standards by which 1999 was judged in the 1970's). A female character OFTEN UNEMOTIONAL LIKE SPOCK was a tremendous step backwards. Some people complain that Maya was a ripoff of Spock. Actually Helena was! Helena's lack of cheeriness wasn't because their situation was bad. It was because someone must have thought that bizzarre sci-fi stories require bizzare acting. Helena might as well have said "Vulcans, uh, I mean myself, I show no emotion Captain, uh, I mean Commander." Barbara Bain did have great episodes. "The Full Circle" was her best, of both seasons. The writers gave Martin some lousy episodes too: 1. Beta Cloud "Martin, in this episode, you lay in bed because you're sick for the whole show. We couldn't think of a better way to let the other characters look good 2. Mark of Archanon "Martin, in this episode, you are off exploring, and you only interact via TV We couldn't think of , , , , " 3. Dorzak "Martin, in this episode, you are off exploring, , , ," 4. Bringers of Wonder "Martin, in this episode, you sing, then they tie you down, and then you scream alot." 5. Seed of Destruction "Martin, in this episode, everybody doubts you, and you shout at everyone." Ronald
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 1996 17:56:57 -0800 From: Sfcafeguy@aol4tag.com Subject: Sexism: 1999 Actually, Ronald, I wouldn't even expect to see a SECRETARY delivering coffee from the mid-1980s on. ("You want me to do what? Uh, I don't think so.") This coffee thing didn't bother me at all as I often do the same for coworkers. If this was ALL she did, or sat there and said "Hailing frequencies open, Captain," then I'd be bothered. But Tanya is also the same woman who single-handedly took on Koenig in "The Guardian of Piri" when he was trying to rip the guts out of the computer. It IS kind of glaring about the lack of female Eagle pilots, though. Even when women sit in the copilot seat they don't actually seem to be contributing to flying the craft. (Or do they in any episode?) More sexism: Kano, flying down to the planet, asks Victor to tell Sandra he's hungry and to make some lunch in "Full Circle." And getting back to that thread about Alphan hobbies, just noticed in "Alpha Child" that Victor has a bow and violin propped up in one of the chairs in his quarters, so I guess we can add Victor's violin playing to the list of Alphan hobbies even though we never saw him doing it. Robert
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 1996 18:22:56 -0800 From: mpoindexter@class44train.com (Marshall Poindexter) Subject: Re: Sexism: 1999 >It IS kind of glaring about the lack of female Eagle pilots, though. [....] The only ones I remember are "Devil's Planet," in which Alibe Parsons and Bill Fraser fly an Eagle to rescue the Commander and the nameless Alphan who got fried, and "Immunity Syndrome," in which Maya, Helena, and Bill Fraser pilot an Eagle and then the two women pilot a glider to the surface of the metal-disintegrating planet. Isn't it ironic that the ONLY true time that two women were piloting a 1999 craft was when it WASN'T powered? How's THAT for sexism? I guess Freddie didn't think the Alphan men could trust women with a POWERED craft. What's also ironic is that the above mentioned flight scenes all occurred near the end of the second season. Took 'em long enough, don'tcha think? I know if my wife and I had been stationed on Alpha, she would have been up there shooting with the best of them.
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 1996 19:04:33 -0800 From: Sfcafeguy@aol4tag.com Subject: Re: Sexism: 1999 Hi Marshall: Good memory about the glider. Now I'm wondering just where Helena and Maya got the opportunity to practice flying a glider on Alpha! As for Alibe Parsons, that was the actress who played Alibe, but we didn't ever get to hear her character's last name. Incidentally, did you know the reason we even saw characters like Alibe, Bill Fraser, and whoever that male doctor was in "The Immunity Syndrome," and also the reason there are so many episodes in Season 2 when Koenig is either ill or away on a mission, is that they were filming episodes concurrently or overlapping filming to meet American air dates? Robert
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 1996 19:26:28 -0800 From: mpoindexter@class44train.com (Marshall Poindexter) Subject: Re: "Immunity Syndrome" glider I think it was brought up on the list before, but come to think of it: why the heck would they have a glider on Alpha to begin with? It's not like they had need of gliding through the Moon's "atmosphere." Perhaps it was part of a research program with gliding to Earth being the objective before the Moon was blasted out of orbit. Either that or we are supposed to believe that Maya and the Alpha research scientists dreamed up the whole concept and had it built in a matter of hours in order to rescue the reconnaissance team on the metal-disintegrating planet. Which belief do you think Freddie wanted us to suspend?
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 1996 20:56:31 -0800 From: Sfcafeguy@aol4tag.com Subject: Re: "Immunity Syndrome" glider It is, of course, ridiculous that Alpha would have "reentry gliders" while still in Earth's orbit, so shall we say that they had a few gliders built after Breakaway in case needed in checking out the planets they came across for any reason (an emergency escape vehicle in the event of an impending Eagle crash to be taken along on trips to known hostile worlds perhaps). Okay, okay, I'm stretching, but does anybody have a better reason? Oh, and in the dialogue of the episode, Maya talks about the glider like it's something they already have, not something they have to build. Robert