Conference noted::sf

    	I'm not an expert on MI, but was it really an SF series, or
    just action-adventure?  Did it have SF elements in it?
    
    	Larry
    

    re .1:
    
    well, Larry, does SF imply Fictional Science or just Fiction with
    an element of Science? MI did have quite a technological component,
    but I would say that it was as much SF as James Bond. Action/adventure
    is a much more appropriate label. 
                                                   
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    Mission Impossible is coming back?  Hard to believe considering
    Iranamok.  I think most of the gadgets in the show were actually a
    little beyond the technology of the time, but could probably be
    done today.  In one show, for instance, they had Landau
    impersonating a chess grandmaster and being fed moves from a
    computer. Only now have computers been able to play at that level.
    That was a pointless bit of high-tech; they could have just hired
    a real grandmaster to play behind the scenes.

    There was one thing that I doubt we could do today, and that was
    the latex face masks. They would knock some guy out, take an
    impression of his face, and then impersonate him in front of close
    associates and in good light.  Makeup has come pretty far, but
    that seems pretty difficult.
    
    /jlr

    There was a brief in the TV Guide for this week -- no longer on
    sale, but you could ask around.
    
    (It was the "here's the new season" issue.)
    
    I didn't read the whole article, but Phelps appears to be the only
    returning character -- the rest of the cast looks like LA Law or
    something!  I have no idea of what they'll be like on the show,
    I didn't recognize any of the faces.
    
    Showtime will be Sunday, 8:00, ABC.  (Not sure when it starts.)
    
    Also, I think the old show is borderline between Action/adventure
    and SF.  I agree that the effects created a technology that doesn't
    yet exist.  I, too, have wondered how well the latex mask trick
    could work in real life...think I'll ask my theatrical makeup expert!
    
    Your mission, should you decide to accept it...
    
    Sherry
    
    

    According to adds I've seen on TV here since around Christmas time,
    Mission Impossible was filmed in Queensland Australia. It indeed
    has Peter Graves in it and most of the supporting cast are (I think)
    Australian actors/actresses.
    
    The ads indicate that it's coming soon.
    
    regards
    	Mike

    
    One member of the supporting cast is Greg Morris's real life son; he plays
    Barney's son in the series.  There's one episode in which Greg guest-stars.
    
    I agree that these are somewhere around the line between action/adventure
    and SF; they've definitely updated the technology (the masks are now
    generated by feeding pictures of the subject into a computer), but the
    society very closely resembles today's.
    
    Beverly
    

    I just caught the last half of an episode of this the other night.  I
    was disappointed to say the least.  It seemed very improbable, and
    difficult to believe.  The plot seemed to be about this navy type
    (admiral, I think) who was doing nasty things with a computer virus. 
    In order for him to create the "antidote" they placed him in a mock up
    of a submarine in a warehouse.  What upset me was the obvious
    artificiality of the mock up.  If the baddie was supposed to be a navy
    man, and the "sub" was supposed to be at sea, and can't see how he
    would have released that it was a fake.  Particularly all the dummies
    used for crew at their stations in the control room.  There was a scene
    where they were all topsides, on the conning tower, and watched a
    nuclear "explosion" (rear projected).  It came across very fake.
    
    All in all, IMO, a low budget, low quality imitation of what it used to
    be (although I was a lot younger first time round, and possibly easier
    to impress 8^)
    
    ..klaas..

    The new Mission Impossible was filmed in Australia and uses mostly
    Aussie actors.  I looked forward to this series when it was announced
    but have been disappointed with it, especially on the FX side.
    Barney does make one appearance in the series as the father of Greg
    Morris(?), (funny about that), and seeing some of the old crew is
    interesting.  Don't judge Australian acting or productions on this
    series as we, i.e Aussies, can, and do, produce excellent productions.
    
    Jeff.
    {:^{0
    

    Oops.... Greg Morris IS Barney, sorry about that.
    
    Jeff.
    {:^{0

	Hmm, I've enjoyed this series quite a bit.  I misseed the episode 
	with the computer virus, but if you turned it on in the middle, 
	it's worth remembering that a lot of how they work is to play
	mind games on their target, playing on their known fears and 
	superstitions, so that they aren't really aware of their 
	surroundings.  Yes, some suspension of disbelief is needed, but
	I don't find it to be too much for me.

	Mission Impossible and Star Trek are the only TV shows I watch; 
	what decade is this anyway?

	Beverly

    Sixteen new episodes have started to be filmed in channel 9 Melbourne 
    studios in Australia.
    
    Jeff.
    {:^{0

    Anbody catch tonight episode?
    
    I do enjoy this show.  It is improving with each season (as is Star
    Trek).  While tonights show required a lot of suspension of belief,
    it also made brave use of the space program.
    
    By that I mean that, for once, I was truely supprised.  I was supprised
    at the lift off (happened so fast!) and the stranding in space.
     Not that it was *really* done in the most realistic manner, but
    it was unexpected, and that is rare.
   
    Anywho, for a TV-SF starved market, it's near the top of my list...
    
    jim
    

    	How about a plot synopsis?  Thanks.
    

    Ack, Pthtt!  The technical SF in the new MI is (IMHO), right in line
    with MacGyver.  A shuttle with a laser the size of a shoebox that can
    blow up military satellites?  Military sats with large solar cell
    arrays?  A shuttle in LEO blowing away commsats right next to them?
    [C'mon, comsats in LEO?].  I just caught the last half or so, but the
    bad guys took over the TV sats and broadcast their ultimatum to the
    world, but when the good guys took over they couln't contact anyone?
    clamping a box over a video feed, controlling a camera from it, and
    making a mask from the resulting picture in less time than you can say
    "advanced technology"?  Too much Deus Ex Machina.
    
    
    Ok, the space scenes were mostly pretty good, and I like rivets, but I
    want my rivets to be believable!
    
    Willie

    I have to correct .14 on just one point.
    
    The stuff in MacGuyver works.  Just this morning I heard a story
    about 2 boys who both lost fingers because they made a bomb, using
    what they saw on MacGuyver.
    
    Everything in that show is tested, and works!
    
    (I will admit, tho, that a lot of the stuff in MI is rather outrageous,
    but that's entertainment!)
    
    K.C.

    The stuff in Ackguyver works?  You have to be kidding me.  The only
    piece of Ackguyver I can remember (now my finger has a reflex that 
    just spasms on the remote control and I skip the channel) is someone
    reprogramming a missile by fiddling with a dip-switch.  "Just another
    second or so till I get this missile reprogrammed to blow up the bad
    guys instead of the good....".
    
    So what did Ackguyver do with the bomb that's powerful enough to remove
    fingers?  Blow up a building?  An entire industrial complex?  A small
    country?
    
    Willie

>    
>    The stuff in MacGuyver works.  Just this morning I heard a story

Of course it does - most of it's spliced in from other productions, which 
had proper FX budgets.

Anybody ever see an industrial laser ?  Not *much* bigger than the 
proverbial shoe-box, although they do tend to just make small holes, 
rather than big bangs.  Not good TV.

Ian

	In the early days of MacGuyver, and article concerning the show stated
that all of his `science' was valid, and based on the reality of our present
state of advancement. But, that potentially dangerous `recipes' were altered in
such a manner as to render them harmless if attempted by the home viewer.

Mike JN