THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
05/27/22 -- Vol. 40, No. 48, Whole Number 2225

Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups, Films,
Lectures, etc. (NJ)
My Picks for Turner Classic Movies in June (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
Nebula Award Winners
Reforming the Short Form Hugo: A Guest Post by Dale Skran
(reprinted in FILE 770)
Mini Reviews by Evelyn, Part 4 (HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR
HAPPINESS, APOLLO 10-1/2, THE BUBBLE, CAPTAIN NOVA)
(film reviews by Evelyn C. Leeper)
A Television in Your Head (request by Tom Russell)
MOTHERLAND: FORT SALEM, THE KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY,
TCM Movies, THE EXTRACTIONIST, Reforming the Short
Form Hugo, and COMFORT ME WITH APPLES
(letter of comment by Heath Row)
Implausibilities in THE MARTIAN (letter of comment
by Jim Susky)
Reviewing (letter of comment by Joe Karpierz)
This Week's Reading (BEOWULF [book], BEOWULF [film],
BEOWULF & GRENDEL, THE 13TH WARRIOR)
(book and film comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

==================================================================
TOPIC: Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups, Films,
Lectures, etc. (NJ)

Meetings are still fluctuating between in-person and Zoom. The
best way to get the latest information is to be on the mailing
lists for them.

June 2, 2022 (MTPL), 5:30PM, in-person: A.I. ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE (2001) & short story
"Supertoys Last All Summer Long" (1969) by Brian Aldiss
<https://archive.org/details/supertoyslastall0000aldi/>
July 7, 2022 (MTPL), 5:30PM, in-person: THE LOST WORLD (1925)
and novel THE LOST WORLD by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
(<https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/139> has various
formats available)
July 28, 2022 (OBPL), 7:00PM, Zoom: A PSALM FOR THE WILD-BUILT by
Becky Chambers

==================================================================
TOPIC: My Picks for Turner Classic Movies in June (comments by
Mark R. Leeper)

In truth there are not a lot of werewolf films. In many the plot
could have been taken from a film about an escaped psychopath.
These films are too often not all that creative.

In 1973 Amicus Films (or horror writer James Blish) took the plot
of Agatha Christie's TEN LITTLE INDIANS and substituted the
trappings of a werewolf film. At an isolated English mansion and
grounds, the Christie plot is working itself out. There are
several dramatic touches gimmicks such as a five-minute break for
the audience to try to register their guesses as to who they think
the werewolf/killer is. It is not a great idea, but it is in one
stroke one of the more interesting attempts at cinema lycanthropy.
The film features British horror film regulars Peter Cushing and
Charles Gray.

[THE BEAST MUST DIE, June 18, 2:00AM]

Evelyn adds:

June also features Robby the Robot's two best-known films:

06/13/2022 11:00 AM Forbidden Planet (1956)
06/13/2022 01:00 PM Invisible Boy, The (1957)

Robby is one of the few non-living actors to have an IMDB entry:
<https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1119475/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1>

Other films of interest include:

06/06/2022 12:00 AM Wizard of Oz, The (1925) (95 minutes)
06/13/2022 12:45 PM Voyage to the Sky (1937) (11 minutes)

and the usual assortment of films they have run a zillion times
already.

[-mrl]

==================================================================
TOPIC: Nebula Award Winners

Novel: A MASTER OF DJINN, P. Djeli Clark (Tordotcom; Orbit UK)
Novella: "And What Can We Offer You Tonight", Premee Mohamed
(Neon Hemlock)
Novelette: "O2 Arena", Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
(Galaxy's Edge 11/21)
Short Story: "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather", Sarah Pinsker
(Uncanny 3-4/21)
The Andre Norton Nebula Award For Middle Grade And Young Adult
Fiction: A SNAKE FALLS TO EARTH, Darcie Little Badger
(Levine Querido)
The Ray Bradbury Nebula Award For Outstanding Dramatic
Presentation: WANDAVISION: Season 1
Game Writing: THIRSTY SWORD LESBIANS (Evil Hat Games)

==================================================================
TOPIC: Reforming the Short Form Hugo: A Guest Post by Dale Skran
(reprinted in FILE 770)

Dale Skran's column on Reforming the Short Form Hugo, which
appeared in the 05/13/22 issue of the MT VOID, has been reprinted
in Mike Glyer's FILE 770 at

<https://file770.com/reforming-the-short-form-hugo-a-guest-post-
by-dale-skran/>

And boy, are there comments...

[-ecl]

==================================================================
TOPIC: Mini Reviews by Evelyn, Part 5 (film reviews by Evelyn
C. Leeper)

HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS: HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR
HAPPINESS is a very hard-to-categorize film. Director Peter
Chelsom calls it a fable, which may be as good as anything, and I
like movies that are fables: JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO, INTERSTATE 60,
THE INVENTION OF LYING. In this film, Hector (played by Simon
Pegg) is a psychiatrist who seems to be content, but is really just
stagnant, and is not "happy". So he decides to travel the world to
lear what happiness is and how to achieve it. Pegg strikes just
the right balance of humor, confusion, fear, and, yes, happiness.

Released 2014. Rating: +3 (-4 to +4) or 9/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1626146/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/
hector_and_the_search_for_happiness>

APOLLO 10-1/2: A SPACE AGE CHILDHOOD: It starts out as the story of
a young boy chosen for an Apollo mission because the lunar lander
was accidentally built too small for an adult astronaut. In
actuality, it is a reminiscence of growing up in the 1960s,
specifically in Houston, but almost everything would strike a chord
with anyone of that age, which includes Mark and me. It is
animated in the same style as writer/director Richard Linklater's
earlier films WAKING LIFE and A SCANNER DARKLY, and the script,
consisting mostly of narration by the first-person character, has
the same philosophical and psychological elements as those. A
wonderfully nostalgic film, and recommended.

Released on Netflix streaming 04/01/22. Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4)
or 8/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7978758/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/
apollo_10_1_2_a_space_age_childhood>

THE BUBBLE: This is "filming in the time of COVID." The "bubble"
of the title is an English country manor in which the entire cast
and crew of a "Jurassic Park" rip-off are living and working. The
fact that many of them are not the brightest bulbs in the Klieg
lights merely adds to the confusion and humor, although even with
that element it is fairly lame. This may be because, according to
Hollywood insiders, there is more truth to the film than one might
think. Look for some unexpected cameos.

Released on Netflix streaming 04/01/22. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4)
or 6/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13610562/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_bubble_2022>

CAPTAIN NOVA: This is a Dutch film release on Netflix streaming
with English-language audio and/or subtitles. The premise is that
someone from a eco-disaster future travels back to 2025 to try to
prevent the disaster, but somehow gets regressed to being twelve
years old, and looks remarkably like real-life climate activist
Greta Thunberg. The story is fairly predictable, probably
comparable to an after-school special. (For what it's worth, if
this were a book, it would be labeled "Young Adult", the TV-14
rating notwithstanding.)

Released on Netflix streaming 12/01/21. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4)
or 6/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14915608/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/captain_nova>

[-ecl]

==================================================================
TOPIC: A Television in Your Head (request by Tom Russell)

Tom Russell asks:

Many years ago l read about lecture in which the speaker asked,
"Does anyone have an idea how human vision works?" Someone from
audience offered, "It's like we have a little TV in our heads."
The lecturer replied, "Good ... but who is watching the
television?"

On Sunday, May 29, 2022 at 10:35:11 AM UTC-4, eleeper@optonline.net wrote:
>
>
> In 1968, Kubrick, Clarke, his NASA guru, his thousands of hours of
> reading, and others conspired to make his art film/sci-fi-epic
> technically unimpeachable.

Not quite.

It always bugged me that they didn't attempt to simulate lunar gravity.
This is most obvious in the motions of the photographer moving
around the conference room, and somewhat less so in the movements
of the astronauts at the dig site. They missed a great chance too; when
they pour coffee in the shuttle to the dig, the shot cuts just before the
liquid appears. A slow motion shot of it pouring would have been great.

Finally, that shuttle is shown flying over the lunar landscape about 100
meters up. While low orbits are possible, that's ridiculously low, given
mountains, etc.

Pt