Masters of Science Fiction
Posted by: wfaulk
Masters of Science Fiction - 03/08/2007 21:15
Masters of Science Fiction starts airing on ABC tomorrow, Saturday August 4. It's to feature filmed versions of stories by well-respected science fiction authors like Harlan Ellison, Robert Sheckley, and Robert Heinlein. The first episode is actually based on a short story by an old college professor of mine,
John Kessel.
The series promises to be reasonably intelligent. Which is why they've scheduled it for Saturdays during August.
Check it out.
Posted by: tfabris
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 03/08/2007 21:23
Quote:
The first episode is actually based on a short story by an old college professor of mine, John Kessel.
Can he make his run in less than 12 parsecs? 
Posted by: visuvius
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 03/08/2007 21:31
Maybe you were listening to the same review I was on NPR's Fresh Air. I'm going to totally DVR it as it sounded really interesting.
The last show I remember that ever had new episodes on Saturday night was Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman. The only good thing about that show was Horace the post office dude. Just lookin at him made me laugh.
lol!
Posted by: Dignan
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 06/08/2007 11:17
Sounds interesting. Is it related to the Masters of Horror series? If so, then I'm less optimistic. I saw two of those and they had to be the worst television I've ever seen in my life.
I don't know, maybe I was missing something. The internets seem to indicate that that episode was really good (and the whole series in general), but all I remember was how absolutely terrible it was.
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 06/08/2007 12:45
Same producers and vague general concept, but that's about it. Importantly, the "masters of horror" are directors, while the "masters of science fiction" are writers, and book writers, at that, not screenplay writers. Of course, that means that the stories are adapted by screenplay writers and not directly by the original authors (in most cases). And the directors that they have tend to be TV directors, not film directors, so there's probably going to be some smallness to the cinematography, which is too bad.
Still, the first episode was reasonably well produced. It would have been nice if they'd done something better with the credits titles.
Posted by: tfabris
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 06/08/2007 15:18
The first episode was kinda "meh". I'll still watch the others, though.
The local Seattle affiliate (KOMO 4) screwed up the high-def OTA version of the broadcast. They've done this mistake before: Messing up the audio of the broadcast so that the center channel (all the dialogue) is missing. Usually, when they do it on popular shows like "Lost", they fix it before the first commercial. It seems no one was paying attention on Saturday night, and it was that way through the whole show.
I'm wise to this, though, so I always Tivo both channels: The high def OTA feed, and the standard def version from the satellite. Thank God for dual-tuner Tivo.
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 06/08/2007 15:21
Yeah, honestly, it's not Kessel's best short story. He doesn't generally do that Philip K. Dick/Twilight Zone thing, and he doesn't really do it all that well.
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 12/08/2007 18:40
Quote:
Messing up the audio of the broadcast so that the center channel (all the dialogue) is missing.
Amazingly, I'd never encountered this problem before. Until last night's episode of MoSF. The entire damned program was dialogue-free.
Posted by: tfabris
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 13/08/2007 15:05
Interesting. What was the signal source? I'm trying to determine if it's ABC or the local afiliates or whatnot.
I haven't looked at my tivo'd episodes from last Saturday yet to see if I have the same issue.
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 13/08/2007 16:12
My local ABC affiliate, WTVD, which happens to be corporate-owned, over Time-Warner cable via my TiVo Series 3. The commercials were fine, although I doubt they're recorded in DD.
Posted by: tfabris
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 13/08/2007 17:01
Was it a high-def feed? Did you happen to also tape a standard-def feed as a backup, and if so did it have the same problem?
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 13/08/2007 17:12
Yes. No, I did not.
Posted by: gbeer
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 15/08/2007 01:21
Based on two episodes, I'm sort of thinking it's got to get better. So far it seems to be mostly fiction with out much in the way of science. The last was pretty lame.
Posted by: tfabris
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 15/08/2007 13:50
I checked last Saturday's episode, my high def feed was fine, no problems with the audio. Haven't watched the show yet, just checked the first few minutes.
Interesting how local stations seem to screw this kind of thing up a lot.
Posted by: gbeer
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 15/08/2007 23:43
Not enough subscribers that their cries of pain can be heard. Yet!
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 16/08/2007 02:00
Quote:
Based on two episodes, I'm sort of thinking it's got to get better. So far it seems to be mostly fiction with out much in the way of science. The last was pretty lame.
I was all ready to argue with you, assuming that you were complaining about lack of action or spaceships or lasers or something, but, yeah, that last one was pure fantasy.
Posted by: gbeer
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 16/08/2007 21:10
I don't know if they could make it work in a 1 hour episode but Stephen Baxter's "The Light of Other Days", is a novel that delved into how the ability to review past events, near or far, by any one, might change how society works.
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 19/08/2007 23:55
Well, this most recent one was definitely science-fiction. Too bad it was lousy. Sadly, I'm now thinking to myself, "at least there's only one more to sit through." It will be a Harlan Ellison story, though, so maybe it has some hope.
Posted by: gbeer
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 20/08/2007 02:56
You stole my post.
Posted by: tanstaafl.
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 21/08/2007 01:31
Quote:
Based on two episodes, I'm sort of thinking it's got to get better
I wouldn't know.
I have recorded (TiVo) all three episodes so far, and deleted them without watching them because my local TV station delay-broadcasts them (pretty much a necessity because Alaska is four hours earlier than East coast time where the feed originates) and in order to cram more commercials in, by the time 10 o'clock rolls around they are running about four or five minutes late.
This means that I have the last five minutes of the previous show, and only the first 55 minutes of the show I want.
I always check the end of any show my TiVo records before watching the show, and if they're not rolling screen credits or commercials, I delete it unwatched.
tanstaafl.
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 21/08/2007 02:13
In this case, you're not missing much. I'd say that the first episode was the best by far, and it was just okay.
I thought you could tell Tivo to start recording 5 minutes beforehand and to stop 5 minutes after the end time?
Posted by: mlord
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 21/08/2007 11:56
Quote:
I thought you could tell Tivo to start recording 5 minutes beforehand and to stop 5 minutes after the end time?
That's pretty much what my Myth box does for me. It does help to have more than one tuner though, in case of back-to-back recordings in the schedule.
Cheers
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 21/08/2007 12:53
Of course, even that scenario assumes that you don't have yet another show scheduled to be recorded at the same time. For example, if I have a two-tuner PVR and I have one show that I want to record that airs from 8 to 9, one that airs 9 to 10, and another that airs 9 to 10, I can record all of those shows, but if I want to extend the recording of the 8 to 9 show by five minutes, then I have three things that I want to record from 9:00 to 9:05. I think newer TiVos finally added the ability to just start recording one of the 9 to 10 shows five minutes late, but it used to be that one show took priority and the other got cancelled. I don't know what MythTV does, but, at best, you're still missing 5 minutes of your scheduled recordings.
And it's not like I watch all that much TV; it's just that network executives seem to want to beat their opponents by airing shows with similar audiences at the same time rather than maximizing their ratings.
Posted by: tanstaafl.
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 21/08/2007 23:03
Quote:
I thought you could tell Tivo to start recording 5 minutes beforehand and to stop 5 minutes after the end time?
Correct. But by doing so, TiVo will not be able to record any programs that might have run in the hour preceding, nor in the hour following, and I will not reserve a three hour long block for a single program!
If the local TV station can't do it right, then they don't get my business. Boy, I'll bet that has them quaking in their boots!
tanstaafl.
Posted by: gbeer
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 22/08/2007 02:44
If I'm not mistaken, the latest version of the software ignores any pre and postfix time extensions, when there are conflicts.
Posted by: Seth
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 23/08/2007 00:34
Back to the original topic, yeah, so far the show has been ok-dokey. Last episode was not just out there, I thought it was really dumb. Anyway, my Tivo cut off the end because it had to switch to another channel to record another program which must have listed in the guide as starting 5 minutes early, but in reality it didn't. So I lost the last 5 minutes and pretty much didn't care.....which says a lot.
But what really irritates me is the computerized narration which reminds me of the Speak and Spell I had as a child. Geez, you'd think they could come up with something better than that! It's certainly not really that "sci-fi" to put in a throw back to the late 70's early 80's........
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 23/08/2007 13:03
Quote:
But what really irritates me is the computerized narration which reminds me of the Speak and Spell I had as a child. Geez, you'd think they could come up with something better than that! It's certainly not really that "sci-fi" to put in a throw back to the late 70's early 80's........
I don't know if you're being facetious or not, but that's Stephen Hawking.
Posted by: tanstaafl.
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 23/08/2007 18:57
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If I'm not mistaken, the latest version of the software ignores any pre and postfix time extensions, when there are conflicts.
Hmmm... I don't think my software does that, but I have an old series 1 single-tuner TiVo, maybe it doesn't get updated?
In any case, that would hardly solve the problem. If it ignores the extensions, then I would be right where I am now, missing the last five minutes of the show.
tanstaafl.
Posted by: tfabris
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 23/08/2007 19:01
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Hmmm... I don't think my software does that, but I have an old series 1 single-tuner TiVo, maybe it doesn't get updated?
Correct. It's only the series-2 units that are getting the fancy new features. And that's a fairly recent feature.
Quote:
In any case, that would hardly solve the problem. If it ignores the extensions, then I would be right where I am now, missing the last five minutes of the show.
Actually, it would cut off the first five minutes of the conflicted show, if I understand the feature description.
Posted by: tfabris
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 23/08/2007 19:12
Hm.
This article says it'll give priority to the higher-on-the-seasonpass show.
Posted by: Seth
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 26/08/2007 02:54
Stephen Hawking is a computer?? Or are you saying his voice just has an incredible likeness to an 80's electronic toy? ;-)
Posted by: tfabris
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 26/08/2007 03:33
Quote:
Stephen Hawking is a computer?? Or are you saying his voice just has an incredible likeness to an 80's electronic toy? ;-)
In case you're actually serious, scroll up to the post you originally replied to, and click on the words "Stephen Hawking". He is in the advanced stages of Lou Gherig's disease and cannot speak except through a speech synthesizer.
Posted by: Seth
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 26/08/2007 06:50
Gee, sorry I haven't been in touch with my pal, ol' Steve, in a few years. Didn't know his condition. Thanks for clarifying the bit about the voice synthesizer since I really didn't want to read all the way through the Wiki entry to find the answer to a question I didn't ask.
I still find the intro narration to be irritating because of the 80's sound to the electronic voice, and gasp, sorry if that comes off as insensitive. I meant what I said the first time, and I don't really keep up with the lives and times of various modern day scholars, because I'm too busy reading up on the latest Brittany gossip.....not.
And if that is sarcastic (yes it is), it is because you guys are acting like "oh my God, how could you not know that......"
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 26/08/2007 15:58
Yes, I am acting like that because I thought that virtually everyone was familiar with Stephen Hawking. That synthesized voice has become synonymous with Stephen Hawking. He even appeared on The Simpsons.
So, yes, I am stupefied that you weren't familiar with it, at least given the fact that you were someone who wanted to watch Masters of Science Fiction in the first place. If it was Masters of Romantic Comedy, I could probably understand your confusion better.
Posted by: tfabris
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 26/08/2007 17:54
Quote:
you guys are acting like "oh my God, how could you not know that......"
Yup.
On the other hand, there are a lot of things in this world that are considered common knowledge that I don't know about. I've often been given the "oh my God, how could you not know that" treatment myself.
More on-topic:
I've always wondered why they haven't upgraded his speech synthesis device to one that sounds better. I'm sure technology in that area has improved by now, hasn't it?
Geez Tony, if you'd bother to read the Wikipedia article it would tell you.
Quote:
The voice synthesizer, which has an American accent, is of a model that is no longer produced. Asked why he has still kept it after so many years, Hawking mentioned that he has not heard a voice he likes better and because he identifies with it. Hawking is said to be looking for a replacement since, other than being obsolete, the synthesizer, a DECtalk DTC01 is now considered large and fragile but as of present, finding a software alternative has been difficult. During a lecture in Hong Kong in June 2006, he joked that if he got a new one with a French accent, his wife would divorce him.
Oh, and even my mum knows who he is and what he sounds like. That being the case, I can't imagine there's anyone who doesn't know who he is and so Seth is only joking with us.
Posted by: andy
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 26/08/2007 20:42
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I've always wondered why they haven't upgraded his speech synthesis device to one that sounds better. I'm sure technology in that area has improved by now, hasn't it?
I seem to remember him saying that everyone was so used to it being his voice now that he didn't want to change it.
Wikipedia says:
During a visit to the research centre CERN in Geneva in 1985, Hawking contracted pneumonia, which in his condition was life-threatening. It resulted in acute difficulty of breathing, which could only be overcome through a tracheotomy by which Stephen Hawking lost his natural speech ability.
He has since used an electronic voice synthesizer to communicate. The voice synthesizer, which has an American accent, is of a model that is no longer produced. Asked why he has still kept it after so many years, Hawking mentioned that he has not heard a voice he likes better and because he identifies with it.
Hawking is said to be looking for a replacement since, other than being obsolete, the synthesizer, a DECtalk DTC01 is now considered large and fragile but as of present, finding a software alternative has been difficult. During a lecture in Hong Kong in June 2006, he joked that if he got a new one with a French accent, his wife would divorce him.
Posted by: Seth
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 26/08/2007 21:17
Yes, I know "who" he is. Haven't heard his "voice" before, nor was I up to date on his condition. I'm not a huge TV guy so I haven't seen or heard an interview in which to hear his voice. Don't watch the Simpsons either.... If I watch TV it is usually a History Channel program. I don't think I have to apologize for that either. So what? I have heard other people with speach synthesizers (that sound a heck of a lot more modern) so I think anyone saying "speach synthesizers are synonymous with Stephen Hawking" is just waxing poetically.
I'm not much of a physics buff and Sci-Fi is such a large genre that I must frequent other corners. I'm more of a fan of Herbert and Asimov myself. But I don't use my personal tastes as a litmus for what other Sci-Fi fans must be familiar with..... I'm watching MoSF because it sounded like something I would enjoy. The last episode was a lot better than the first 3, BTW.
Posted by: tfabris
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 26/08/2007 21:51
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Geez Tony, if you'd bother to read the Wikipedia article it would tell you.
It's funny, I skimmed the article looking for that exact piece of information, and didn't see it. I admit I didn't look very closely for it, but I did fully read the section where they talked about his disability, and I didn't see those details about the type of voice synth he used.
I must be going blind or something.
Posted by: tanstaafl.
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 27/08/2007 05:32
Quote:
I always check the end of any show my TiVo records before watching the show, and if they're not rolling screen credits or commercials, I delete it unwatched.
Well, almost always. 
I checked the most recent episode (the one about the mutants marooned in space) and it looked like it was pretty well wrapped up, so I watched it.
Will someone please tell me what happened in the last 5 minutes of the program?
Thanks...
tanstaafl.
Posted by: frog51
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 27/08/2007 08:58
His daughter was at the Edinburgh Book Festival promoting their book, and during the session you could text Stephen questions and he would answer them live remotely.
The voice - still cool after all these years
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 27/08/2007 12:41
I don't know what the last thing you saw was, but:
Spoiler:
Rnegu fraqf zrqvpny grnzf gb qenj oybbq. Wbua Uheg unf gnxra bire nf pncgnva. Oelna Qraarul'f tveysevraq vf cvffrq ng uvz, ohg qbrf ure wbo nf gur arj cvybg. Svanyyl gur qnl pbzrf jurer gurl'er gb or erfphrq. Gur 3-jnl ybiref trg zneevrq va n prerzbal bssvpvngrq ol Wbua Uheg. Vg'f cbvagrq bhg gung vg'f gur svefg zneevntr gurl'ir rire unq. Gur erfphr fuvc neevirf naq gur Anil thl fubjf hc, fbba sbyybjrq ol n ybnq zber ershtrrf. Wbua Uheg unf n oernxqbja. Phg gb gur qrabhrzrag. Qraarul'f tveysevraq vf fvggvat va gur rnfl punve ba qrpx. Lbh urne n ybhq guhzc naq vg gura phgf gb Wbua Uheg ylvat qrnq ba gur sybbe jvgu n tnfu ba uvf urnq. Vg gnxrf uvf frpbaq urnq n yvggyr juvyr gb qvr naq vg fnlf fbzrguvat, znlor "V nz Wbua Uheg". Qraarul'f tveysevraq lryyf, "Fbzrbar gbff gung guvat vagb gur tneontr puhgr!" Sva.
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 27/08/2007 12:48
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The last episode was a lot better than the first 3, BTW.
Agreed, although it still wasn't great. Certainly not an exceptional Ellison story. (They should have filmed "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream".) I'd say that the first episode comes in second, and the middle two both tie for "shitty".
Posted by: gbeer
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 27/08/2007 19:36
Could that be because of the spaceships?
Me ducks and hides quickly...
Posted by: Seth
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 31/08/2007 04:31
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I'd say that the first episode comes in second, and the middle two both tie for "shitty".
That is how I rank 'em too!
I haven't read that other short story, and in fact I really don't read many Sci-Fi short stories because I tend to get sucked into the epic series types (yes, I even read the entire Mission Earth series!). My limited experience with Sci-Fi shorts is pretty much Asimov and his robot stories. Speaking of which, with a title of Masters of Sci-Fi, I was a little surprised they didn't pick one of his short stories. Certainly would have been better than some of the ones they did do.
Posted by: julf
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 31/08/2007 07:56
Even better, when we were getting married (at the Grand, a hotel that used to be the Amsterdam town hall, and where the Queen got married), Stephen Hawking was staying in the hotel for a conference in Amsterdam. He happened to be in the bar (in his electric wheelchair) as our guests were arriving - several of them commenting "I knew you had some interesting friends, but I didn't realize..."
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Masters of Science Fiction - 31/08/2007 12:10
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Speaking of which, with a title of Masters of Sci-Fi, I was a little surprised they didn't pick one of [Asimov's] short stories.
My guess would be that the entire Asimov oeuvre is already optioned.
However, most of the authors they picked seem reasonable: Ellison and Heinlein certainly make sense, even if Heinlein's sucked, Sheckley is held in nearly as much prominence inside the SF community as they are, even if less well-known amongst the public, and Kessel is reasonable -- he's won a Nebula and is reasonably well-known in the SF community.
But Walter Mosley and Howard Fast? They're known for their crime fiction and historical fiction, respectively, and have written very little scifi, and not much of it particularly well-known.
(Yes, that's six authors. For whatever reason, ABC showed only four of the six episodes filmed. They didn't air the Sheckley and Mosley stories.)