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VIDEO AND DISCUSSION PROGRAM
Discussion of Writer David Sherman
Discussion of Current Movies
Video: Star Trek, the Wrath of Farrakhan (from In Living Color)
MEETING SUMMARY:
Meeting Date: June 12, 2004.
Meeting Site: Borders Books & Music, Paramus, New Jersey.
Official Attendance: 22.
Meeting Program: Talks, Discussions, and Video Presentation.
Notes:
Meeting Memories:
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2004 Philip J De Parto:
The June 12, 2004 meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County was held in the lower level of Borders Books & Music, Garden State Plaza, Paramus, New Jersey.
The Final Frontier discussion of Comic Book Adaptations began at 6:30 PM. The many comic book characters cited as having been adapted to radio, TV or cinema included Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, The Justice League of America, Birds of Prey, The Fantastic Four, Spiderman, The Hulk, The X-Men, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Hellboy, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell, Archie, Sabrina, the Teen-Aged Witch, Mystery Men, The Tick and Barbarella. There was also talk of characters who originated as characters in comic strips like Flash Gordon and Li'l Abner, as well as TV shows inspired by comics like MR TERRIFIC and CAPTAIN NICE. It was a lively and wide-ranging discussion.
The meeting was then called to order -- or as orderly as the group ever gets. Chuck Garofalo repeated the announcement he had made during the Final Frontier, that the New Jersey Public Television Network was currently showing a Britcom titled MY HERO on Saturday nights. The premise of the comedy is to portray the domestic life of a superhero. Philip De Parto was incorrect as identifying Claudia Christian as being involved with this series. She is instead filming a new series which is a Brit science fiction comedy.
Writer David Sherman, the co author of the StarFist science fiction series and author of the DemonTech series was the scheduled speaker. Unfortunately, he was a no show. It turned out that he had boarded the wrong bus at the Port Authority and had wound up at the Borders Books in Wayne, New Jersey. They were unsuccessful at locating the correct Borders for his appearance, so Mr Sherman went home.
At about 8:10 PM, we concluded that the speaker would probably not be there and cobbled together a program.
Pamela Webber read the author's biography which appears on his website.
Barry Weinberger took over the next portion of the program with a discussion of current books and films people had read or seen. A number were mentioned by different members. Most of the movie discussion revolved around THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW and THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK.
Philip De Parto then gave a brief overview of Mr Sherman's literary career, including the war, science fiction, fantasy, and STAR WARS books that had been written or were works in progress.
Steve Gold was next up. Steve was the audience member best acquainted with the StarFist books, so he talked about the StarFist novels. He began with a print out of the author's background information about the Fist books and was then off and running with an appreciation of the series.
The StarFist books are written from the grunts point of view of the Space Marines. They are sometimes the initial troops sent into dangerous situations, other times they are assigned to clean up existing messes.
The format allows a wide variation of plots. One of the worlds was populated by dinosaurs whom the terrestrial settlers had rechristened with familiar Terran names. The Marines were quite taken aback when they realized that the cattle and the wolves the settlers discussed were actually akin to brontosaurs and raptors.
Another cool world Steve described had been settled by Scandinavians. The world was dim and gloomy and the people had little to do at night except drink and brawl, so the Marines felt right at home.
Steve Gold talked with an ease and enthusiasm about the books, including their continuity problems -- a character killed in one book is casually mentioned as being included in a landing party in a later book. We were very fortunate to have him in the audience. His presentation would have made the author proud.
The final segment of the program was the screening of "STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF FARRAKHAN" from the show IN LIVING COLOR, with Jim Carrey as James T Kirk and Keenan Ivory Wayams as the Reverend Farrakhan.