WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO BETELGEUSE? Astronomers have identified a new type of stellar explosion: An SME or “Surface Mass Ejection.” Think of it as a CME on steroids; SMEs outmass CMEs by 400 billion to one. An SME on Betelgeuse may be responsible for the red supergiant’s recent dimming. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.
Don’t miss the next CME: Subscribers to our Space Weather Alert Service receive instant text messages when CMEs are about to hit Earth. Above: An artist’s concept of a Surface Mass Ejection (SME) on Betelgeuse.
Before we reveal the answers to our Summer Mega-Quiz, allow us to thank in particular for their chief contributions to this afternoon’s e-meeting Keith Braithwaite, Danny Sichel, and Cathy Palmer-Lister. We offer a nod of appreciation, as well, to all of our supporting players.
MonSFFA hopes you have enjoyed your time with us this afternoon, we thank you for dropping in, and we ask all of you to check in regularly here at www.MonSFFA.ca for additional content during this continuing pandemic, and for updates as to when the club will be returning to regular, face-to-face meetings—soon, we hope!
Thank you for your interest and attention, and don’t forget to comment on today’s e-meeting!
11) DATE OF NEXT CLUB MEETING, AND SIGN-OFF
No booking of our intended downtown meeting room has yet been confirmed; function space rentals remain on pause and we continue to await word of facilities reopening.
And so, we offer to all a fond farewell until we meet again on Saturday, September 10, at 1:00PM, whether live in a physical meeting hall, or online again right here at www.MonSFFA.ca.
Stay safe, everyone, keep healthy, and continue to enjoy your summer!
And now, in closing, let’s get to those quiz answers!
12) ANSWERS TO SUMMER MEGA-QUIZ 2022
Following are the answers to the trivia quiz we posted at 1:30PM. How many questions did you correctly answer? Compare your answers to these:
1) Fill in the blank! These SF/F titles are missing a single word: Infinity ______; Dinosaur ______; Blood ______; and Steel ______. What is that missing word?
ANSWER: “Beach” is the missing word.
Infinity Beach (2000), novel by Jack McDevitt; Dinosaur Beach (1971), novel by Keith Laumer; Blood Beach (1981), horror film written and directed by Jeffrey Bloom, starring David Huffman, Marianna Hill, and John Saxon; and Steel Beach (1992), novel by John Varley.
2)Star Wars (1977) famously opens with this text: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
Identify the post-apocalyptic film that opens with these words appearing on screen:
What you are about to see may never happen…
But to this anxious age in which we live, it presents a fearsome warning…
Our story begins with… The End!
ANSWER: Day the World Ended (1955).
3) A landing party from the U.S.S. Enterprise is about to beam down to this very spot! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
ANSWER: Planet M-113, home for the past five years to archeological researcher Dr. Robert Crater and his wife, Nancy. The planet is otherwise thought to be uninhabited, but Nancy is not what she seems, as will soon be revealed in the episode “The Man Trap.”
Kudos to Star Trek’s craftspeople, who on tight schedules and budgets, turned soundstages into rather striking alien worlds!
4) In what city was the first Worldcon held?
ANSWER: New York!
Nycon I, with science fiction artist Frank R. Paul as Guest of Honour, took place in 1939, drawing some 200 attendees.
5) Who painted this iconic War of the Worlds scene for the cover of Amazing Stories’ August 1929 issue?
ANSWER: Frank R. Paul.
6)Rocketship X-M (1950), Zombies of Mora Tau (1957), Invaders from Mars (1953), and How to Make a Monster (1958)—with regards to casting, what do these SF/F films share in common?
ANSWER: The cast of each of these films benefitted from the talents of seasoned character actor Morris Ankrum, born Morris Nussbaum in 1896.
Over his career, Ankrum appeared in over 270 films and television productions, including numerous sci-fi productions in the 1950s. He often played stalwart authority figures like police officers, scientists, or military men. Ankrum died at age 68 in 1964.
7) In which U. S. state is set the giant-crocodile horror/comedy film Lake Placid?
ANSWER: Maine. Specifically, Black Lake, Maine, a fictional location. In one of the film’s early scenes, the local sheriff dryly quips, in reference to the lake’s still, dark waters, “They wanted to call it Lake Placid, but somebody said that name was taken.”
8) Cressie, Ponik, Old Ned, Ol’ Slavey, and Mussie are the names of what?
ANSWER: Canadian lake monsters.
Swimming the waters of Crescent Lake, Newfoundland, Cressie is said to be a sleek and shiny eel-like creature measuring some 15 feet in length.
Ponik apparently inhabits Quebec’s Lac Pohénégamook and is described as serpentine and sturgeon-like, having the head of a horse and sporting catfish whiskers.
According to local legend, Old Ned is a reddish-brown cetacean-like cryptid that has been spotted on numerous occasions in New Brunswick’s Lake Utopia. Also called the Lake Utopia Monster, it is perhaps 40 or 50 feet long with a large head.
Ol’ Slavey is an alligator-like monster with a head resembling that of a pike. It lives in Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories.
And Mussie, of Ontario’s Muskrat Lake, about a 90-minute drive west and a little north of Ottawa, is described as three-eyed and Loch Ness Monster-like, or alternately, walrus-like.
9) What was the first novel written by “King of Horror” Stephen King?
ANSWER: While Carrie (1974) was King’s first published novel, The Long Walk was the first he wrote. He began working on the dystopian horror story in 1966 while a freshman at the University of Maine.
In a totalitarian America, a popular form of “entertainment” is the so-called Marathon—The Long Walk. This is an annual competition for teenaged boys, who must walk, non-stop, along U.S. Route 1 until but a single victor remains on his feet, having endured the grueling ordeal and claimed a substantial prize. Participants who falter face execution at gunpoint by soldiers following in a half-track!
King’s deadly contest predates by decades similar scenarios in books like Battle Royale (1999) and The Hunger Games trilogy (2008-2010).
The Long Walk was finally published in 1979 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.
10) Kirk and Spock are about to materialize on this very spot! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
ANSWER: Ardana, a source of the rare mineral zenite, as detailed in the episode “The Cloud Minders.”
11) Pertaining to science fiction, what do rock stars Mick Fleetwood, Iggy Pop, and Tom Morello have in common?
Mick FleetwoodIggy PopTom Morello
ANSWER: They have all appeared on Star Trek.
Drummer Mick Fleetwood, co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, is unidentifiable under all the rubber and make-up that transformed him into an Antedian dignitary for the Next Generation episode “Manhunt.”
As Yelgrum the Vorta in the Deep Space Nine episode “The Magnificent Ferengi,” Iggy Pop, the Grandfather of Punk, is a little more recognizable.
And Crewman Mitchell, appearing in the Voyager episode “Good Shepherd,” is unmistakably Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitar virtuoso Tom Morello.
12) Appearing in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” and providing the voice of both the Gorn captain in “Arena,” and the puppet presented as the menacing face of cherubic commander Balok in “The Corbomite Maneuver,” name this original-series Star Trek guest star.
ANSWER: The six-foot-nine Ted Cassidy played towering android Ruk in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” Cassidy is best known, however, as the macabre butler Lurch on TV’s original Addams Family (1964-1966).
13) In Star Trek, what is the name of the planet Ardana’s city-in-the-clouds?
ANSWER: Stratos.
14) In The Andromeda Strain, both novel (1969) and film (1971), what is the code-name given to the special, secret underground laboratory set up to contain and study dangerous microorganisms?
ANSWER: Wildfire.
15) In season three of Netflix’s time-bending superhero series, The Umbrella Academy, principal protagonists Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Vanya (soon to become Viktor) find themselves in an altered timeline, one in which, rather than The Umbrella Academy, another superhero team came to be created by their adoptive father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves. What is the name of this team?
ANSWER: The Sparrow Academy.
16) Who were “Ace” Morgan, “Red” Ryan, “Rocky” Davis, and “Prof” Haley?
ANSWER: These four men were the original Challengers of the Unknown, a team of adventurers appearing in DC Comics publications beginning in 1957.
Kyle “Ace” Morgan, a war hero and fearless jet pilot, Matthew “Red” Ryan, a circus daredevil, Leslie “Rocky” Davis, an Olympic wrestling champion, and Walter “Prof” Haley, a master skin-diver and scientist, survive a plane crash during a fierce storm and miraculously emerge unscathed. Believing that they are all now living on borrowed time, the four are inspired to band together to confront all manner of mystical weirdness, monstrous entities, aliens, robots, and the like, as one does under such circumstances!
Screams the foreword of their first adventure in Showcase #6 (January-February, 1957): “What’s out there? Places we cannot see! Things we fear to touch! Sounds that do not belong to this world! Riddles of the ages lurking beyond the bridge without a name! Only men living on borrowed time would dare cross that bridge! Here are such men…”
Ace, Red, Rocky, and Prof secured their own title in 1958 with Challengers of the Unknown #1 (April-May, 1958).
The Challengers adopted as their logo a stylized hourglass, symbolic of their “borrowed time” conviction. As the team’s exploits made headlines and the Challengers became famous, they eventually established a base of operations inside a hollowed-out mountain in Colorado, dubbed “Challengers Mountain.”
Computer genius June Robbins (sometimes appearing as June Walker) soon joined this sausage festival on a recurring basis as an honorary Challenger, the token girl in the group. Corinna Stark, a woman with occult knowledge, also joined the team, temporarily, towards the end of the Challengers’ original run.
The impetus for Challengers of the Unknown came from comics legend Jack Kirby, who some credit as the sole creator of this quartet of non-super-powered heroes. Some comics historians speculate that the Challengers may have been born of an undeveloped idea of Joe Simon’s, Kirby’s former collaborator. Others cite writer Dave Wood as deserving of shared creator-credit with Kirby.
Meanwhile, it has been pointed out that there are marked similarities, here, with The Fantastic Four, Kirby’s co-creation with Stan Lee after Kirby left DC for Marvel. The conjecture is that Challengers of the Unknown was, essentially, Kirby’s practice-run for The Fantastic Four.
The Challengers have appeared in various permutations over some 60 years!
17) Who was the 1943 Worldcon’s Guest of Honour?
ANSWER: Trick question!
There was no Guest of Honour in 1943 because there was no Worldcon that year. With World War II raging, science fiction’s foremost annual convention was cancelled from 1942 through 1945.
18) Name the seasoned character actor who played Lieutenant-General Edward Considine in The Giant Claw (1957).
ANSWER: Morris Ankrum.
19) A Captain Kirk-led landing party from the Enterprise is about to beam down to this very spot! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
ANSWER: Gamma Trianguli VI, setting of “The Apple.” This world is an Eden-like planet on which live the peaceful, primitive People of Vaal, who serve a powerful machine they consider their god.
20) Identify the actress in the black dress, here playing a bit-part in a classic Star Trek episode.
ANSWER: Dyanne Thorne, better known for her titular role in the notorious “Nazisploitation” film Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1975), and its two sequels, Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (1976) and Ilsa, the Tigress of Siberia (1977).
Shot in Culver City, California, on the set of the recently cancelled Hogan’s Heroes television series, She Wolf was a Canadian-produced film about the sadistic and sexually ravenous kommandant of a Nazi prison camp.
Thorne passed away in 2020 at age 83.
21) Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, dressed in local attire so as not to attract undue attention, are about to beam down to this very spot! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
ANSWER: Ekos, a world modelled after Nazi Germany in the episode “Patterns of Force.”
22) Earth’s president, Kier Gray, seeks to exterminate a race of much-hated superbeings in which classic science fiction novel originally serialized in Astounding Science-Fiction, September through October, 1940?
ANSWER: Slan, Canadian writer A. E. van Vogt’s premiere novel, first published as a book in 1946.
23) Red or blue, which colour pill does Neo choose to take in The Matrix (1999)?
ANSWER: Neo chose the red pill. “You take the red pill,” explained Morpheus, “and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
Had he chosen the blue pill, Neo, or rather, Thomas Anderson, would have simply awoken from his slumber none the wiser as to the truth, and continued living the illusion that was his life.
24) Name the seasoned character actor who played Dr. Albert Stern in Kronos (1957).
ANSWER: Morris Ankrum.
25) In what town does Dr. Miles Bennell practice medicine?
ANSWER: Dr. Miles Bennell is the lead protagonist of the classic sci-fi film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). He practices family medicine in Santa Mira, California, setting of this paranoia-triggering tale of so-called “pod people” from outer space surreptitiously taking over the town, the country, and eventually, the world!
Kevin McCarthy played the role.
Canada’s own Donald Sutherland played Matthew Bennell, a San Francisco health inspector, in the 1978 remake, and Nicole Kidman starred as psychiatrist Dr. Carol Bennell in, essentially, a gender-swap of the character in 2007’s The Invasion.
26) The colonization vessel Leonora Christine, crewed by 25 men and 25 women, her destination the nearby star Beta Virginis, is featured in which hard science fiction novel?
ANSWER: Tau Zero (1970), by Poul Anderson.
27) First presented in 1973 to Jerry Pournelle, The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer is no longer called the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer! 2019 Campbell Award-winner Jeannette Ng described Campbell as “a fascist” during her acceptance speech at the 77th WorldCon, adding “pulling down memorials to dead racists is not the erasing of history, it is how we make history.” Her words prompted discussion and debate within the science fiction community, and in response, the award was shortly thereafter renamed. What is it now called?
ANSWER: The Astounding Award for Best New Writer.
John W. Campbell, Jr. was an influential editor of Astounding magazine—today, Analog—during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. During his tenure (1938-1971), he published stories today considered classics of the genre by authors such as L. Sprague de Camp, Jack Williamson, Clifford Simak, Henry Knutter, C. L. Moore, Lester del Rey, Theodore Sturgeon, A. E. von Vogt, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Hal Clement, Gordon R. Dickson, Harry Harrison, and Poul Anderson, to name but a few.
The John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, meanwhile, also established in 1973, continues to be conferred annually by the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas, and is considered one of the genre’s most prestigious honours.
28) In what city was the 6th Worldcon held?
ANSWER: Toronto, marking the first time the Worldcon was held outside of the U.S.
Torcon I took place in 1948 and welcomed headlining Guest of Honour Robert Block.
29) Name the co-creators of the popular role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.
ANSWER: Gary Gygax and David “Dave” Arneson came up with the seminal, modern tabletop fantasy RPG, which was launched in 1974.
30) An Enterprise landing party is about to materialize on this very spot, within an area having an Earth-like environment on an otherwise inhospitable world! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
ANSWER: Gothos, where the mischievous Trelane toys with Captain Kirk and his crew in the episode “The Squire of Gothos.”
31) Name the seasoned character actor who played Dr. Thurgood Elson in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953).
ANSWER: Cecil Kellaway.
32) In what city was the 31st Worldcon held?
ANSWER: Toronto.
Torcon II took place in 1973, with Robert Bloch back again as the convention’s headlining Guest of Honour! Bloch would return yet again to Torcon III in 2003, but this time as Ghost of Honour, the author having died in 1994.
33) Identify the fantasy/adventure film that opens with this epigram:
And the prophet said:
“And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And it stayed its hand from killing.
And from that day, it was as one dead.”—Old Arabian Proverb
ANSWER: King Kong (1933).
34) Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, on an emergency medical mission, are about to materialize on this very spot! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
ANSWER: Holberg 917G, home of the immortal Mr. Flint in the episode “Requiem for Methuselah.”
35) Charlie Jane Anders’ debut novel, All the Birds in the Sky (2016), is described as a love story and mélange of science fiction and fantasy. Who are the tale’s protagonists, one a witch, the other an engineering whiz and gadgeteer?
ANSWER: Patricia Delfine and Laurence Armstead.
Both misfits who befriended each other as children, she believes a world tipping towards disaster is nevertheless worth saving and, with her fellow witches, uses magic to that end. He believes humanity’s only hope for survival is to abandon Earth, and so has joined a clandestine project to open a wormhole to another planet.
36) Name the four Federation starships that engage the M-5 computer-equipped Enterprise in simulated war games that quickly become all too real in the classic Star Trek episode “The Ultimate Computer.”
ANSWER: U.S.S. Lexington, U.S.S. Excalibur, U.S.S. Hood, and U.S.S. Potemkin.
37) This Star Trek guest star is, perhaps, best known among cult-film aficionados, at least, for which genre role?
ANSWER: Blacula!
William Marshall, who played Dr. Richard Daystrom in the original Star Trek’s “The Ultimate Computer,” went on to star as the titular vampire in Blacula (1972) and its sequel, Scream Blacula Scream (1973).
The story follows an 18th-century African prince who travels to Transylvania to secure Count Dracula’s help in suppressing the slave trade, only to be turned by the count and sealed within a coffin for almost two centuries. Blacula, cinema’s first black vampire, is finally freed when the casket is shipped to L.A. and opened.
Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent is among the cast.
Blacula was a box-office hit, spawning other horror-themed Blaxploitation projects, and was the first movie to be honoured with the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film.
38) Identify the film that opens with the following axiom:
“Revenge is a dish best served cold.”—Old Klingon Proverb
ANSWER: Kill Bill, Volume 1 (2003).
39) In what city was the 67th Worldcon held?
ANSWER: Montreal!
Anticipation, with Guests of Honour Neil Gaiman and Elisabeth Vonarburg, took place in 2009.
40) When the lunar dust-cruiser Selene becomes trapped beneath the fine powder of the moon’s Sea of Thirst, a rescue mission is mounted to save her passengers and crew. This story is told in which Hugo-nominated hard science fiction novel?
ANSWER: A Fall of Moondust (1961), by Arthur C. Clarke.
41) Which was the first science fiction novel selected to become a Reader’s Digest Condensed Novel?
ANSWER: A Fall of Moondust (1961), by Arthur C. Clarke.
42) Human-angel hybrid Aaron Corbett, Starfleet’s Captain James T. Kirk, vampire Stephan Salvatore, and werewolf Lucas “Luke” Cates—what do these genre characters have in common?
ANSWER: They were all played by actor Paul Wesley.
Wesley is best known to genre fans as the kindly vampire Stephan Salvatore in the CW series The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017). He, along with Ian Somerhalder as Stephan’s older, malevolent brother, Damon, and Canadian actress Nina Dobrev as love-interest Elena Gilbert, headlined the series and formed the show’s love-triangle.
Wesley also played werewolf Lucas Cates in the short-lived series Wolf Lake (2001). The son of Alpha werewolves Willard and Vivian Cates, “Luke” was the high school bad boy and love-interest of half-human, half-werewolf teen Sophia Donner, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead. The series premiered on CBS, only to be cancelled after just five episodes due to poor ratings. Nine episodes had been shot and in 2002, UPN picked up the show and replayed the five CBS had aired, followed by the four as yet unaired.
Wesley, too, played human-angel hybrid Aaron Corbett in ABC Family’s miniseries Fallen (2006), and is currently cast as Captain Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
43) In which city is based author Laurel K. Hamilton’s vampire hunter, Anita Blake?
ANSWER: St. Louis, Missouri.
44) Name the seasoned character actor who played Brigadier General John Hanley in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956).
ANSWER: Morris Ankrum.
45)Tarnsman of Gor (1966), Avengers of Gor (2021), Quarry of Gor (2019), Marauders of Gor (1975)—as regards point of view, which of these titles does not belong?
ANSWER: Quarry of Gor, which is narrated by Margaret Henderson, formerly of Earth and now a slave girl on the savage planet known as Gor.
The other three titles, here, are all narrated by Englishman Tarl Cabot, once a professor of English history at a modest New Hampshire college and now a master swordsman of Gor. Cabot is the protagonist of author John Norman’s 36-book Gorean Saga and the principal narrator of the series.
46) What coastal town is haunted by the murderous ghosts of the clipper ship Elizabeth Dane’s crew 100 years after the vessel was deliberately and deviously lured onto the rocks by the town’s founders, and wrecked with all hands lost?
ANSWER: Antonio Bay, the fictional setting of John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980). The sorry tale of the Elizabeth Dane sets up the film’s spooky story of otherworldly vengeance.
47) Released as Monster in Europe and Japan, this 1980 American sci-fi/horror movie starring Doug McClure is about slimy sea-creatures that hunt the women of a seaside town for the purposes of mating! The film is better known domestically by its North American title. What is that title?
ANSWER: Humanoids from the Deep.
48) How many novels currently comprise author John Norman’s Chronicles of Counter-Earth?
ANSWER: 36.
Tarnsman of Gor (1966) was the first book in the series, also known as the Gorean Saga, with Avengers of Gor (2021) the most recent.
A so-called “Sword and Planet” series inspired by the science-fantasy pulp fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Gor stories remain controversial for many, who cite the misogynistic treatment of the series’ female characters.
49)She Who Became the Sun; Light From Uncommon Stars; The Galaxy, and the Ground Within; Project Hail Mary; A Master of Djinn; and A Desolation Called Peace—what do these novels have in common?
ANSWER: They are the 2022 Hugo nominees for Best Novel.
She Who Became the Sun, by Shelley Parker-Chan; Light From Uncommon Stars, by Ryka Aoki; The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers; Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir; A Master of Djinn, by P. Djèlí Clark; and A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkady Martine.
All were published, of course, in 2021.
The 2022 Hugos will be awarded at Chicon 8 in Chicago this coming September.
50) “Achronos,” Old, “Tideline,” and The Sand—what do these SF/F titles have in common?
ANSWER: They are all set principally on a beach.
“Achronos” (1980), short story by Lee Killough; Old (2021), film produced, written, and directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Alex Wolff, Thomasin McKenzie, Ken Leung, Embeth Davidtz, and Aaron Pierre; “Tideline” (2007), short story by Elizabeth Bear; and The Sand (2015), horror film directed by Isaac Gabaeff, starring Brooke Butler, Cleo Berry, Dean Geyer, Meagan Holder, Mitchell Musso, and Nikki Leigh.
On ZOOM at this moment, we’re asking “What are You Reading, or Watching?” Give us your quick book report, or your brief review of a film or TV show you’ve recently enjoyed!
For those not participating in our ZOOM chat, today, you may still contribute by submitting your concise book reports or movie and television-series reviews via this post’s “Leave a Comment” option. We welcome your input.
9) TV AND MOVIE REVIEWS
Or, read on for club vice-president Keith Braithwaite’s thoughts on movies and television series he has recently watched! Have you seen any of these, and do you share his opinions of them? Leave a comment!
Prey
This latest installment of the Predator franchise is distinguished by being the first film released both in English and the Comanche language. Prey could well be interpreted as a metaphor for the violent “settling” of North America by European explorers, but otherwise, it’s pretty much a standard Predator movie with nothing truly fresh to offer the franchise, science fictionally speaking. That said, it is a well-made sci-fi/actioner with a compelling cast of Native American actors led by Amber Midthunder.
Set in 1719 on Comanche territory, the story follows Naru, a young medicine woman who longs to prove herself as a great hunter, like her older brother, Taabe. While tracking a deer one day in the forest, she witnesses the arrival of a “Thunderbird”—in fact, a spaceship transporting a Predator to these hunting grounds—which she takes as a sign of her readiness to join the young men of her tribe on a hunt. Taabe agrees to take her along in pursuit of the mountain lion believed behind a tribe member having gone missing, setting the stage for the hunters’ eventual encounter with the lurking Predator.
Naru’s tracking skills have told her that there is something else out there in addition to the mountain lion, and the build-up to the revelation of the Predator’s presence in the forest is slow, tantalizing, and finally culminates in an explosive and deadly confrontation between the Natives and the lethal creature.
The arrival of a band of French trappers, chasing the Predator, complicates things for Naru and Taabe, who in the end, are the only ones left alive to face the alien threat. There’s a funny moment that sees the Frenchmen, after unloading a volley at the shielded Predator to no effect, pause, wasting valuable seconds in the middle of the fight, in an attempt to reload their flintlocks!
An entertaining couple of hours.
The Umbrella Academy (Season 3)
The diverse characters at the center of this one are the best thing about Netflix’s well-received, time-twisting, apocalyptic superhero series, which just completed its third season. The show is imbued with a wildly eccentric sensibility and sports a terrific ensemble cast. It can be a tad difficult to follow at times, in particular this most recent season, which is chock-full of a lot more than were the previous two. But time-and-space jumping Five, “the Boy”, a favourite character of mine, is usually there to explain it all.
A stand-out this year is hopelessly drug-addled, hedonistic Klaus, who both character and audience learn is immortal. He delivers some of the season’s best lines. Kudos to actor Robert Sheehan, who plays the role with wonderfully gonzo, comic panache.
Knife-wielding Diego and love interest Lila—David Castañeda and Ritu Arya—also have their moments, and favourite Hargreeves son Luther, played by Tom Hopper, gets to fall in love and marry, amid the Kugelblitz’s impending apocalypse. Sloane, his bride, is a member of the Sparrow Academy, a version of the Umbrellas existing in the alternate timeline to which our heroes have travelled.
Yep, there’s a lot to digest, but if you like your bickering, dysfunctional superhero families dark, cynical, and droll, this is the series for you!
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Now this is the kind of superior writing that could have greatly benefitted the final Star Wars trilogy of a few years ago!
While we are in familiar territory, here, we’ve only ever known the broad strokes of this chapter of the Skywalker saga. With Obi-Wan Kenobi, we are made privy to the details of Obi-Wan’s time on Tatooine (and elsewhere) between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.
There is very little that I did not enjoy about this Disney+ mini-series. The reunification of Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christiansen in their iconic roles takes us right back to the best elements of Star Wars, with top-flight performances by all cast members, and a special nod bestowed upon the marvellous Vivien Lyra Blair as young Leia. Though a nuanced character—which is a good thing, of course—Third Sister is the best new villain the franchise has introduced, probably, since Boba Fett. She and her fellow Inquisitors rock!
Star Wars had, frankly, become rather tired and lacklustre with the final trilogy films, but has since experienced renewed force as a result of recent streamed content like The Mandolarian, The Book of Boba Fett, and now, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Shark Bait
You can’t beat Jaws when it comes to shark movies, and what is beach season without a shark movie? My summer tradition is too watch at least one film involving sharks that I haven’t yet seen, augmented by the documentaries offered on TV during “Shark Week!” This year, my choice of film was the 2022 horror/thriller Shark Bait, starring Holly Earl, Catherine Hannay, Thomas Flynn, Jack Trueman, and Malachi Pullar-Latchman.
While it tries really hard, the quality just isn’t there and in the end, this film bites!
The morning after their last night of partying in Mexico on Spring Break, a group of young friends pilfer a couple of jet-skis and race them out to sea, where their reckless hot-dogging results in a collision that leaves both watercraft damaged, one sinking, and one of the friends injured and bleeding with a broken leg. They all gather together on and around the remaining, inoperative jet-ski, tending to their friend’s injured leg.
There’s blood in the water!
You can easily guess where this is going.
Slowly drifting further out to sea, they must find a way to signal for help, or somehow steer back towards shore. Toss in some relationship drama to help pass the time while bobbing about on the ocean until the requisite man-eating shark arrives to begin picking them off, one by one, and that’s the movie! Utterly, completely predictable. The script offers not a hint of originality—no surprise twist, no clever solution to their predicament, not even any smartly ironic dialogue, nothing that would distinguish this film from the countless others just like it.
The shark attacks are fairly well executed, but the acting, direction, and cinematography not particular noteworthy.
2016’s The Shallows is a better choice if you’re looking for this kind of stranded-offshore-facing-a-killer-shark scenario.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
(This review was first published in Warp, issue 112 (Summer 2022)
Doctor Strange was never a favourite comic book character of mine, but in the hands of Benedict Cumberbatch, the MCU’s Strange is certainly entertaining enough, though perhaps more as a supporting player, or part of an ensemble, as in Infinity War and Endgame.
Anyway, there are now two Doctor Strange films, and this second of the pair centers on a teenaged girl, America Chavez, who is able to travel from dimension to dimension while drawing upon storylines originating in the first Strange movie, and particularly in the WandaVision mini-series. Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch is as engaging, here, as ever.
The film packs in a lot of fan service, too, with the multiverse providing opportunity to cameo alternate-Earth versions of popular MCU characters Peggy Carter, Charles Xavier, Maria Rambeau, and even Black Bolt, he of the short-lived ABC/Marvel series Inhumans. Hayley Atwell, Patrick Stewart, Lashana Lynch, and Anson Mount all appear as these alternate versions of their MCU characters, along with John Krasinski as Reed Richards in a portent, perhaps, of what is to come. Often a collaborator with Multiverse of Madness director Sam Raimi, none other than genre favourite Bruce Campbell puts in an appearance, as well!
With all this stunt casting, then, the film is a bit gimmicky and probably not for any but die-hard Marvel fans.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
(This review was first published in Warp, issue 112 (Summer 2022)
Every Star Trek sequel (or prequel) series has promised to emulate the original 1966-1969 show, but few if any have successfully done so—some most definitely have not! But it’s fair to say that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is as close to the spirit, at least, of the original as is possible in our contemporary television environment. Among the snazzier sets and special effects of this modern take on the old, familiar concept, there are enough call-backs, and in general, welcome similarities to the original to elicit a smile from an old Trekker.
Strange New Worlds, first of all, is, essentially, episodic, eschewing the grand, season-long, often tedious story arcs of many of the other Trek shows. That, alone, hews closer to the original than we’ve seen in a long time.
Further, there are no puerile Neelix- or Quark-like plotlines, or any such silliness, and fans are able to enjoy the expanded stories of compelling characters like Number One and Nurse Chapel, who never really got the chance to step forward much in the original show. I like the interplay between Spock and Chapel, here, with a playful Chapel’s subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle, longing for something more with Spock, despite her understanding that such a relationship is, at best, unlikely. T’Pring, too, gets to shine a lot more than she did during her brief foray in the original’s “Amok Time.” And, there are interesting new characters aboard ship for us to get to know, and a couple of unexpected turns along the way.
I also like what the writers are doing with the Gorn, even though a little derivative of Alien, and, without giving anything away, this premiere season’s closing episode is among Trek’s best ever, revisiting and expanding upon an original-series classic!
Strange New Worlds isn’t perfect, but it’s the best Star Trek we’ve seen since Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon!
Working only from an actual SF/F story title, do you think yourself able to concoct a fake, two-sentence story synopsis convincing enough to fool your fellow competitors into believing it the genuine article? Further, can you pinpoint from among the fakes the one, true synopsis?
Those ZOOMing with us this afternoon are invited to step up and try their hand at this exuberant, entertaining, enjoyable, and challenging game we’ve taken to calling Sci-Fi “Balderdash!”
This is Post 4 of 7, and it’s time for a quick break!
Got your bheer and Chips? Excellent! Let’s tour the displays!
Wayne has been working on models, Dan is working on two headpieces. Josée has created a lovely display for a mermaid. Click thumbnails to view full size!
From Wayne’s Glover’s workbench:
1/4000 SDF1 Macross from movie Do You Remember Love (Building)
A Jump too far!
1/1400 Klingon Vor’cha class attack cruiser, NSEA Protector
From Josée Bellemare’s workbench:
From Dan Kenney’s workbench:
Raffle Prizes! All you need to do is participate in today’s meeting!
RAFFLE PRIZES
Click the thumbnail to view full size
Board game published by Metagaming Concepts in 1982 as MicroGame #21, donated by Brian
For those participating on ZOOM, today, we open the floor to any club members who have “fancraft” undertakings to showcase—sci-fi scale models, sculpture, SF/F woodworking or needlecraft, whatever genre-themed, hands-on project it may be that you are working on at present, or have recently completed. Tell us all about your endeavour, and share any photos you may have snapped of your work-in-progress, or of the finished piece.
Those not able to join our ZOOM chat for the show-and-tell may contribute nonetheless by using this post’s “Leave a Comment” feature to type in a quick description of any such project of theirs.
Also, we welcome your comments on, in particular, any really cool SF/F-related museums, special exhibits, events, or locales you may have visited of late while on summer vacation, along with, perhaps, a few accompanying images.
The summer sun is shining, the days stretch seemingly to infinity, and again do we enjoy backyard barbecues, farmer’s markets, an afternoon poolside, or boating on the lake. We relish the vibrant street festivals, outdoor concerts, a cold one quaffed with friends on a downtown terrace, or a weekend away in the country. We catch the summer’s blockbuster sci-fi movies, in some rural communities, perhaps at an old-fashioned drive-in theatre on a warm evening! We delight in a day at the beach, and dive eagerly into a good beach read! Yes, summertime…and the livin’ is easy…
With that vibe in mind, we offer on this fine afternoon a little light fun in the form of a trivia challenge, our Summer Mega-Quiz 2022! Can you answer all 50 of the following SF/F-related questions? Good luck, and, of course, play fair; no resorting to Google or another search engine for the answers! You can ask a friend for help, however, as long as your friend’s name isn’t Siri or Alexa!
1) Fill in the blank! These SF/F titles are missing a single word: Infinity ______; Dinosaur ______; Blood ______; and Steel ______. What is that missing word?
2)Star Wars (1977) famously opens with this text: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
Identify the post-apocalyptic film that opens with these words appearing on screen:
What you are about to see may never happen…
But to this anxious age in which we live, it presents a fearsome warning…
Our story begins with… The End!
3) A landing party from the U.S.S. Enterprise is about to beam down to this very spot! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
4) In what city was the first Worldcon held?
5) Who painted this iconic War of the Worlds scene for the cover of Amazing Stories’ August 1929 issue?
6)Rocketship X-M (1950), Zombies of Mora Tau (1957), Invaders from Mars (1953), and How to Make a Monster (1958)—with regards to casting, what do these SF/F films share in common?
7) In which U. S. state is set the giant-crocodile horror/comedy film Lake Placid?
8) Cressie, Ponik, Old Ned, Ol’ Slavey, and Mussie are the names of what?
9) What was the first novel written by “King of Horror” Stephen King?
10) Kirk and Spock are about to materialize on this very spot! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
11) Pertaining to science fiction, what do rock stars Mick Fleetwood, Iggy Pop, and Tom Morello have in common?
Mick FleetwoodIggy PopTom Morello
12) Appearing in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” and providing the voice of both the Gorn captain in “Arena,” and the puppet presented as the menacing face of cherubic commander Balok in “The Corbomite Maneuver,” name this original-series Star Trek guest star.
13) In Star Trek, what is the name of the planet Ardana’s city-in-the-clouds?
14) In The Andromeda Strain, both novel (1969) and film (1971), what is the code-name given to the special, secret underground laboratory set up to contain and study dangerous microorganisms?
15) In season three of Netflix’s time-bending superhero series, The Umbrella Academy, principal protagonists Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Vanya (soon to become Viktor) find themselves in an altered timeline, one in which, rather than The Umbrella Academy, another superhero team came to be created by their adoptive father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves. What is the name of this team?
16) Who were “Ace” Morgan, “Red” Ryan, “Rocky” Davis, and “Prof” Haley?
17) Who was the 1943 Worldcon’s Guest of Honour?
18) Name the seasoned character actor who played Lieutenant-General Edward Considine in The Giant Claw (1957).
19) A Captain Kirk-led landing party from the Enterprise is about to beam down to this very spot! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
20) Identify the actress in the black dress, here playing a bit-part in a classic Star Trek episode.
21) Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, dressed in local attire so as not to attract undue attention, are about to beam down to this very spot! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
22) Earth’s president, Kier Gray, seeks to exterminate a race of much-hated superbeings in which classic science fiction novel originally serialized in Astounding Science-Fiction, September through October, 1940?
23) Red or blue, which colour pill does Neo choose to take in The Matrix (1999)?
24) Name the seasoned character actor who played Dr. Albert Stern in Kronos (1957).
25) In what town does Dr. Miles Bennell practice medicine?
26) The colonization vessel Leonora Christine, crewed by 25 men and 25 women, her destination the nearby star Beta Virginis, is featured in which hard science fiction novel?
27) First presented in 1973 to Jerry Pournelle, The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer is no longer called the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer! 2019 Campbell Award-winner Jeannette Ng described Campbell as “a fascist” during her acceptance speech at the 77th WorldCon, adding “pulling down memorials to dead racists is not the erasing of history, it is how we make history.” Her words prompted discussion and debate within the science fiction community, and in response, the award was shortly thereafter renamed. What is it now called?
28) In what city was the 6th Worldcon held?
29) Name the co-creators of the popular role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.
30) An Enterprise landing party is about to materialize on this very spot, within an area having an Earth-like environment on an otherwise inhospitable world! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
31) Name the seasoned character actor who played Dr. Thurgood Elson in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953).
32) In what city was the 31st Worldcon held?
33) Identify the fantasy/adventure film that opens with this epigram:
And the prophet said:
“And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And it stayed its hand from killing.
And from that day, it was as one dead.”—Old Arabian Proverb
34) Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, on an emergency medical mission, are about to materialize on this very spot! Upon which planet will they be setting foot?
35) Charlie Jane Anders’ debut novel, All the Birds in the Sky (2016), is described as a love story and mélange of science fiction and fantasy. Who are the tale’s protagonists, one a witch, the other an engineering whiz and gadgeteer?
36) Name the four Federation starships that engage the M-5 computer-equipped Enterprise in simulated war games that quickly become all too real in the classic Star Trek episode “The Ultimate Computer.”
37) This Star Trek guest star is, perhaps, best known among cult-film aficionados, at least, for which genre role?
38) Identify the film that opens with the following axiom:
“Revenge is a dish best served cold.”—Old Klingon Proverb
39) In what city was the 67th Worldcon held?
40) When the lunar dust-cruiser Selene becomes trapped beneath the fine powder of the moon’s Sea of Thirst, a rescue mission is mounted to save her passengers and crew. This story is told in which Hugo-nominated hard science fiction novel?
41) Which was the first science fiction novel selected to become a Reader’s Digest Condensed Novel?
42) Human-angel hybrid Aaron Corbett, Starfleet’s Captain James T. Kirk, vampire Stephan Salvatore, and werewolf Lucas “Luke” Cates—what do these genre characters have in common?
43) In which city is based author Laurel K. Hamilton’s vampire hunter, Anita Blake?
44) Name the seasoned character actor who played Brigadier General John Hanley in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956).
45)Tarnsman of Gor (1966), Avengers of Gor (2021), Quarry of Gor (2019), Marauders of Gor (1975)—as regards point of view, which of these titles does not belong?
46) What coastal town is haunted by the murderous ghosts of the clipper ship Elizabeth Dane’s crew 100 years after the vessel was deliberately and deviously lured onto the rocks by the town’s founders, and wrecked with all hands lost?
47) Released as Monster in Europe and Japan, this 1980 American sci-fi/horror movie starring Doug McClure is about slimy sea-creatures that hunt the women of a seaside town for the purposes of mating! The film is better known domestically by its North American title. What is that title?
48) How many novels currently comprise author John Norman’s Chronicles of Counter-Earth?
49)She Who Became the Sun; Light From Uncommon Stars; The Galaxy, and the Ground Within; Project Hail Mary; A Master of Djinn; and A Desolation Called Peace—what do these novels have in common?
50) “Achronos,” Old, “Tideline,” and The Sand—what do these SF/F titles have in common?
This is the first of seven posts, collectively encompassing this afternoon’s club e-meeting.
1) INTRODUCTION
Welcome to MonSFFA’s August 2022 e-Meeting!
Sit down in your most comfortable chair, a bowl of your favourite tasty snacks at hand, pour yourself a cool, refreshing drink, and join us for an afternoon of sci-fi fun and conversation. Our theme today is “games,” and thus have we lined up two for you, the first a trivia challenge, the second our sci-fi version of the parlour game Balderdash!
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We would be remise, however, were we not to first note the recent passing of Star Trek actress Nichelle “Lieutenant Uhura” Nichols. A beloved member of the vast Star Trek family, she died at age 89 of natural causes on Saturday, July 30, in Silver City, New Mexico.
In her final years, Nichols suffered from advanced dementia and her son, with whom she had been living, wrote of his dear departed mother, “Her light…like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration. Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all.”
Nichols was eulogized, too, by former cast mates, Hollywood friends, and many others as an actress who, in playing the part of the Enterprise’s highly skilled communications officer, broke down stereotypes and opened doors for women of colour in the entertainment industry. No more would actresses of colour be relegated to marginal roles as maids and the like.
She counted among her many fans during the early days of Star Trek no less than American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. When she considered leaving the show after its first season, it was King who urged her to remain with the series, highlighting the importance of demonstrating to America that a black woman belonged on the bridge of the Enterprise as much as anyone else. Her presence there, one of and respected among a crew of accomplished officers offered a positive vision of our future, and served as inspiration for African-Americans throughout not just the television industry, but the nation.
She and co-star William Shatner helped further demolish racial barriers with their then-controversial interracial kiss on national television in the episode “Plato’s Stepchildren.”
Post-Star Trek, Nichols was tapped by NASA to help recruit some of the first women and members of minority communities to become astronauts, one of which was Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space. In 1992, as a crewmember on STS-47, Jemison initiated communications aboard the space shuttle Endeavour with “Hailing frequencies open,” quoting Uhura’s oft-spoken line from Star Trek.
We are saddened at the news of Nichelle Nichols’ passing, and we celebrate her legacy.
We also mourn one of our own, recently passed.
MonSFFA was informed of a planned online (ZOOM) memorial service for Marc, and club members will have received by e-mail details concerning this service, scheduled for next Sunday, August 21, at 11:00AM.
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Note that with the seventh wave now upon us and COVID numbers climbing locally and elsewhere, we opted, last month, to postpone our in-person club Barbecue-in-the-Park until Sunday, August 28. We are told by authorities that by then, the seventh wave should have dissipated. But if we’ve learned anything during this pandemic, it’s that the virus does not often behave as expected. Nevertheless, fingers crossed! The 28th is but two weeks off, and we’ll take a moment this afternoon to briefly square away any last-minute details with respect to this event.
And, we’ll touch base with all of you as regards your summer, so far—genre projects on which you may be working; cool, SF/F-related vacation destinations you may have visited; good books you’ve been reading; and screen entertainment you’ve been watching of late.
So, join us on ZOOM for all the fun, and let’s get started!
If you’re not fully equipped to ZOOM, you can also join in by phone (voice only); in the Montreal area, the toll-free number to call is: 1-438-809-7799. If you’re from out of town, find your ZOOM call-in number here: Call-In Numbers
Also, have this information on hand as you may be asked to enter it:
Meeting ID: 878 6326 8110
Passcode: 326574
3) MEETING AGENDA
Here is the agenda for this afternoon’s online get-together:
As always, all scheduled programming is subject to change.
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