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VIDEO PROGRAM
Black Adder: Back and Forth
Farscape: I Need a Hero Video
Nearly Departed: Series Debut
Star Wreck Zone
Wallace & Grommit: The Wrong Pants
MEETING SUMMARY:
Meeting Date: January 13, 2001
Meeting Site: Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Official Attendance: 21.
Meeting Program: Screening of Short Science Fiction Videos.
Notes:
Meeting Memories:
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2001 Philip J De Parto:
The January 13, 2001 meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County was held at the Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church in Upper Saddle River. It was a small meeting and reviews of the video program were mixed.
It was again time for the club's thrice a year book sale. The sale was more successful than would have been estimated given the number of people there. Daniel Adler added a box of books to the existing inventory.
Charles Garofalo showed episodes of CAPTAIN HARLOCK SPACE PIRATE and REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTINA at our Anime Associates pre meeting gathering. The group had a rather decent turnout considering the low meeting attendance. Our Armchair Odyssey audience for EARTH: FINAL CONFLICT and ANDROMEDA was to all intents and purposes non existent. A few peole stopped by to catch a few minutes of one show or the other, but we did not feel it would be accurate to log them as having attended.
When it was time to begin the meeting, the membership voted to watch a number of shorter videos instead of one feature length flick.
First up was BLACK ADDER BACK AND FORTH. This episode featured the Black Adder travelling throught time in a device built by Balderik from blueprints designed by Leonardo Da Vinci. The short was done for Comic Relief and has not officially been released in the States and was enthusiastically applauded by those in the audience, even those who were not familiar with the BLACK ADDER series. In fact, there is a waiting list of people who want to borrow the tape.
Next up was a very short video made by Sharon Roberg. She edited a trailer of FARSCAPE to the Bonnie Tyler song, "I Need a Hero."
Barry Weinberger had brought a selection of videos with him. He decided to show The Wrong Pants, a claymation video starring WALLACE AND GROMMIT, which lasted for about a half hour.
We took a break at that point and the people who left early missed a real treat, STAR WRECK ZONE, brought in by a late arriving Robert Yeager. This is a 17 minute claymation short featuring a crossover between the original and next generation STAR TREK casts.
The evening concluded with the debut episode of the short-lived series, NEARLY DEPARTED. The show is a TOPPER take off, with Eric Idle as a ghost who resents the new people who have moved into his former house. Anyone who has not seen the scene in which Idle contorts his body to form letters to help an old man pass an eye exam has missed a fine piece of physical comedy.
As I said earlier, reactions were mixed. The initial feedback was positive enough to warrant consideration of a program of this sort a scheduled annual event. But at least one person felt that it was the worst meeting he had ever attended. Your opinion would be welcome.
Thanks go to Taras Wolansky who brought multiple goodies, including a small box of chocolate for everyone, as well as Charles Garofalo and Carol Smith who also brought food. Thanks to Theresa Mark, William Molendyk, Greg Roman, Don Smith, Pamela Webber, Barry Weinberger and anyone else who helped in the set up and clean up.