Isaac Asimov: Can Space Science Save the World 10 Astounding Scientific Predictions Film Preview: Flash Gordon's $40M Revival Trains of Tomorrow Visionary Art: Svd Mead, Don Dixon MAY 1980 Sea City Urbanizing the Oceans - ---**■ A- 4903 ■Hal LIMITED QUANTITY AVAILABLE! Robert McCall’s Classics Now Available Individuall y Apollo VIII Coming Home (NASA Collection) “First Men On The Moon” (Private Collection) In the future Man will use his down-to- earth technology to reach deep into the awesome infinity of outer space. Robert McCall has already been there. He has a mind that spans time and space, an eye for technical detail and the hand of a great painter. His spectacular Space Station One, created for the film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” has become a collector’s item and a contemporary classic. Frequently commissioned by NASA to do on-the-spot paintings of America’s ven¬ tures into space, McCall is always present for important launches and splashdowns. His oil paintings have gained international acclaim reproduced as U.S. Postage Stamps, one of which was the first stamp cancelled on the Moon, and another, his most recent, commemorated the historic Apollo-Soyuz space rendezvous. McCall’s work hangs in important museums, cor¬ porate offices and private collections around the world, and he has been hon¬ ored in a one-man space art show at the Smithsonian Institution. There is no question about it, Bob McCall is the premier space artist of this genera¬ tion. Now offered are three gallery-quality lithographs of McCall’s work. These are in¬ credibly detailed, beautifully colored pain¬ tings of Man’s greatest journeys. Each 24 x 28 inch lithograph is accompanied by a descriptive statement in the artist’s own words. Each lithograph can be acquired for $10. This limited collector’s edition has been authorized by the artist and FUTURE LIFE Magazine guarantees your complete satisfaction. "Space Station One' A 24 x 28 inch lithograph MailTo: FUTURE LIFE MAGAZINE Bob McCall Prints - Dept. FI8 475 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 Address_Apt.#_ City __ State _ Zip - NOTE: If you don’t want to cut this coupon, send order on separate paper. Please send me without delay the following Bob McCall lithographs: □ “Apollo VIII Coming Home” -$10.00 □ “First Men on the Moon” • $10.00 C “Space Station One” -$10.00 Enclosed $2.00 for postage & handling for each print ordered. Total Enclosed_(includes postage) LIFE #18 MAY 1980 FEATURES TRAINS OF TOMORROW Ecological issues may bring about a worldwide railroad revival 14 SEA CITY Will human-made islands of concrete and glass save the world from doomsday? 18 THE PAYOFF FROM SPACE Technology developed for the space program is improving life on Earth 26 FARSIDE The other side of the Moon offers a bird's eye view of the universe 30 FLASH GORDON RETURNS An old hero becomes a new star in a $40 million space opera 32 THE BRITISH CONNECTION Some of American TV's finest science shows are made-in-England 34 STEEL COUTURE Artist Syd Mead shapes the future 47 THE 1980's: A BACKWARD GLANCE A new book recalls the 1980s a decade screwier than the '70s so BERNIE KRAUSE: ELECTRONIC PIONEER A synthesizer pioneer evaluates his career 52 ASIMOV AT 60 SF's favorite birthday boy ponders his past and looks forward to his future 54 OUTPUT A message from the Publisher 5 INPUT Letters from our Readers 6 DATABANK Magazines that talk back, SF promoters who are hacks, SE films based on science fact 9 EARTH CONTROL Forests: Seeing them for the trees 23 GALLERY Barclay Shaw offers surrealist fantasy 37 VIDEO IMAGES Buck Rogers' 25th century style 40 ALTERNATE SPACE Here come the spaceburgers! 43 IN PRINT Book news and reviews 44 PORTFOLIO The inventor of the word "spacescape" shows how it's done 58 TOMORROW Charles Sheffield offers 10 surprising predictions for the future 70 MAGAZINES DESIGNED FOR EVERYONE WHO LOOKS FORWARD TO TOMORROW STARLOG Each issue includes: • Special Effects — Exclusive photos, interviews and diagrams of behind-the-scenes movie magic! • Movie Previews & Reviews — The earliest information on new SF & fantasy productions. • David Gerrold on controversial issues. • TV Episode Guides • Movie Classics — Definitive retrospectives on the most popular of SF films, with inter¬ views and full-color photos! • Star Trek & Space: 1999 — latest from the world of Star Trek (Gene Roddenberry) and Gerry Anderson’s up-to-the minute com¬ ments on Space: 1999 and his future projects. • Log Entries — Latest news from the exciting worlds of SF, fantasy and science fact! • Conventions, computers and comics — Any subject that even peripherally touches the SF world is covered in starlog. • One year subscription (12 issues) of starlog includes a special Anniversary edition ($2.95 value). FUTURE LIFE Each issue includes: • Interviews — Thought-pro¬ voking encounters with such future thinkers as Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Timothy Leary, Alvin Toffler and others. • Space Art — Full-color port¬ folios by such visionary artists as Chris Foss, Bob McCall, Chesley Bonestell! • SF TV and Cinema — The most comprehensive reporting in print of upcoming science-fiction and science-fact motion pictures and TV shows. Exclusive photos and interviews on such productions as Alien, Moonraker, Star Trek — The Motion Picture, Nova, The Martian Chronicles and Meteor. • Tomorrow — A continuing col¬ umn featuring visions of tomor¬ row by such authors as Isaac Asimov, Harry Harrison, Brian Aldiss, Larry Niven , Fred Pohl. • Future Features — A pan¬ oramic view of trends, tech¬ nologies and lifestyles to come. The world of genetic engineering. Arcosanti — the city of the fu¬ ture. Holography. Videodiscs. Jacques Cousteau on space and sea sciences. O’Neill’s space col¬ onies. Alternate energy. Future rock. Hardware. Book. reviews. Databank news. Both STARLOG and FUTURE LIFE feature! Full-Color Photos! / Original Art! / Rare Movie Stills! / Interviews! Science-Fiction News! / Behind-the-Scenes at Movies & Television / Special Effects Explained! / Space Science Experts! / Exciting SF Events! / New Products! / Visions of Tomorrow! I STARLOG/FUTURE LIFE Magazines 475 Park Avenue South, DEPT F18 ■ New York, NY 10016 Enclosed $ ______total (cash, check or money order) Please allow six weeks processing time before first issue ! will be mailed. Don’t want to cut out this coupon? Send your order on a separate piece of paper. I _STARLOG (U.S. & Canada 1 -year (12 issues) $21.49 _STARLOG (Foreign surface) 1-year (12 issues) $27.49 _FUTURE LIFE (U.S. & Canada) 1-year (8 issues) $13.98 _FUTURE LIFE (Foreign surface) 1-year (8 issues) $20.00 L NAME__ ADDRESS__ CITY __ STATE___ZIP. A UNIQUE GIFT FOR A FRIEND! YOURFRIEND'SNAME ___ ADDRESS___ CITY ___ STATE ___ZIP_ F18 MAY 1980 #18 Business and Editorial Offices: FUTURE LIFE Magazine 475 Park Avenue South New York, N.Y 10016 Publishers NORMAN JACOBS KERRY O'QUINN Editors ED NAHA ROBIN SNELSON Art Director CHEH NAM LOW Managing Editor BARBARA KRASNOFF Asst. Art Director BOB SEFCIK Art Assistants LAURA O'BRIEN NANCY OBAR Columnists CAROLYN HENSON BOB AAECOY BOB WOODS Contributing Editor DAVID HUTCHISON Space Art Advisor RON MILLER West Coast Editor DAVID HOUSTON Production Assistants BEVERLY GERDIN-CAMPBELL DAVID HIRSCH, PETER MOSEN SUSANNE OSTER, ANGELIQUE TROUVERE Special Projects KENNY WALKER Guest Columnist CHARLES SHEFFIELD Associate Publisher IRA FRIEDAAAN Assistant Publisher RITA EISENSTEIN Contributors This Issue: Sam Bisbee, Alan Brender. Louis M Brill, Daniel E. Button, Hank Caruso, Don Dixon, Al Flynn, Pat Glossop, James Holahan, Joseph Kay, David Mattingly, Allan Maurer, Syd Mead, Michael A.G. Michaud, William Pratt, Barclay Shaw, Adam Starchild, Lou Stathis, Michael Sullivan, W.A. Thomasson. For Advertising In f o rma tion: Ira Friedman, Rita Eisenstein: (212) 689-2830. ON THE COVER: Sea City, an industrial complex and functioning community, is envisioned by artist David Mattingly. In the future, such human-built habitats in the oceans may contribute to solving many of our energy and food supply problems. For the story of this ambitious proposal, see page 18. ON THE CONTENTS PAGE: The Milky Way as it might appear from an Earthlike planet some 200 thousand light years away, portrayed by acclaimed artist Don Dixon. For more of Dixon's spocescapes, turn to Port¬ folio on page 58. output _ Primitive Force B asically I’m an optimist. Not a blind, foolish, sugar-coated optimist but a mature, realistic optimist. I am certain that in the long run humanity will become more and more rational, improving the physical existence and happiness quotient of all individuals. At some indefinite point in the future of life on this planet, I forsee a human race that has left behind all gross irrationalities and is happily engaged in creative, productive enter¬ prises. There will still be problems—both personal and social—but the problems will be reasonable and legitimate, and the methods of settlement will be peaceful and intelligent. In that world of the future—cleaner and saner—I can envision a youngster, having just discovered some of the history of Earth, approaching his father with puzzlement on his bright young face: “Dad, is it true that in ancient times the rulers used to force women to have babies, even if they didn’t want to?” “I know it’s hard to believe, son, but there were actually laws that said if a woman got pregnant by accident and didn’t want to have a baby, the government could take her to court, fine her, and even throw her in prison in order to force her to give birth!” “Why? Did they need more people?” “No, son—quite the opposite.” “But didn’t some of the moral leaders—professors or philosophers—speak up and say that the laws were evil?” “In those days, they had religious leaders who guided most people on moral issues, and most of them agreed that women who became pregnant should pay for their sin by being forced to give birth.” “Do you mean they thought getting pregnant was a religious sin?” “Well, son, not as long as a woman was married and had sex strictly for the purpose of conceiving—but you see there were a lot of crazy notions about sex in primitive times. Most people felt guilty about sex unless it was in the approved manner and for the approved purpose. ’ ’ “But there is no approved manner for sex... ” “Not today. We have sex for pleasure and to toast a relationship between two people. But in ancient times, the moral leaders didn’t approve of sex outside of marriage or be¬ tween two people of the same sex or when the ages were quite different or when the motive was just plain fun. Son, I know these ideas sound silly to you, but I’m not making them up.” “I don’t understand why they were so concerned about other people’s sex activities.” “You know that sex is the most intense psycho-somatic pleasure a human can ex¬ perience. In fact, it is one of life’s greatest rewards for being alive and being human. For some reason, our ancestors thought that almost everything that made life difficult and painful was good— and everything that made life fun and enjoyable was bad. ” “Everything? Not just sex?” “There were times when people were told what foods to eat and when; they were told what magazines and movies they should not see; they were told that dancing and drinking were evil; at one time religious leaders prevented pain killers from being used in hospitals because they claimed science should not interfere with the suffering God sent to man.” “But why did the government rulers force people to abide by these insane ideas?” “Because throughout most of its pre-rational history, the human race accepted the idea that some people have the right to force ways of living on other people—just as long as they justified the force by saying it was for society’s good—and as long as they were in control of the guns that made force possible.” “Are there still people around today who want to control other people, Dad?” “Yes, son—there probably always will be. That’s one of the constant challenges of society—to allow those people to live their lives in peace and freedom while not allowing them the means to interfere with the way other people choose to live their lives. Accomplishing that is one of the most important ingredients of a rational world.” Kerry O’Quinn/ Publisher FUTURE LIFE is published eight times a year or every seven weeks by Future Magazine, Inc. 475 Park Avenue, South, New York, N.Y. 10016 (ISSN 0191 2909) This is issue Number 18, May 1980, Volume Three. Content is © copyright 1980 by Future Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprint or reproduction in part or whole without written permission from the publishers is strictly forbidden. FUTURE LIFE accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photos, art or other materials, but if freelance submittals are accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope they will be con¬ sidered, and if necessary, returned. Products advertised are not necessarily endorsed by FUTURE LIFE, and views ex¬ pressed are not necessarily those of FUTURE LIFE. Second class postage paid at New York, N.Y. and at additional mail¬ ing offices. Subscription rates: $13.98 for eight issues delivered in the U.S. and Canada. Foreign subscriptions $20 in U.S. funds New subscriptions, send directly to FUTURE LIFE, 475 Park Avenue South, New York N.Y. 10016. Notifica¬ tion of change of address or renewals, send to FUTURE LIFE, Subscription Department, P.O. Box 142, Mt. Morris, IL 61054. Printed in U.S.A. FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 5 Books by DAVID HOUSTON (West Coast Editor: STARLOG, FUTURE LIFE) Davil Housl yfi»TBS “Lindsay Wagner: The Bionic Woman” Her life story and the making of the TV series: photos: episode guide to first season. $2 “Shadows on the Moon” A mysterious, suspense¬ ful gothic mystery: young actress investigates death of Hollywood star. $2 (Cover shows author’s name: Nancy Fair- weather). "Science Fiction HEROES” “Science Fiction VILLAINS” Two companion Photo Guidebooks, each filled with color pictures; all text by David Houston. “Alien Perspective” Visitors from space con¬ front fearful reactions from Earth; unique, in¬ spiring SF drama $2. “Gods in a Vortex” Epic clash of ideas among alien cultures in a distant two-star, three- planet system. “Master¬ fully written.. .a work of beauty, power and depth.”—A.E. van Vogt $2 (illustated) Send to: Houston Books O’Quinn Studies Dept.F18 475 Park Avenue South New York, N.Y. 10016 Quantity: _ “Lindsay Wagner” $2 _ “Shadows on the Moon” $2 _ “Alien Perspective” $2 _ “Gods in a Vortex” $2 _ “Science Fiction Heroes” $3.95 _ “Science Fiction Villains” $3.95 NOTE: Payment must include 50c postage per book ordered. NAME ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP Send cash, check or money order drawn to O’Quinn Studios. Foreign orders—include $1 per book for postage; U.S. funds only. Allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery in U.S. P 18 input Because of the large volume of mail we receive, personal replies are impossible. Comments, questions and suggestions are appreciated, however, and those of general interest may be selected for publication in future issues. Write: FUTURE LIFE Input 475 Park Ave. South 8th Floor Suite New York, NY 10016 MOON TREATY DEBATE ... In Carolyn Henson’s column (FUTURE LIFE #16), she made an extremely important point and it cannot be taken lightly. If the UN votes that the entire world jointly owns each stellar body, this will stifle space exploration for the next hundred years! Much of the humanization of space will be accomplished with the commercializing of outer space. With big business building small and even¬ tually larger structures in space, the economic ac¬ cessibility of space for the general public will go down (look at microprocessors—when the de¬ mand and usefulness went up, the price went down drastically). Big business will take this step, if they have an incentive. Economic solar power to sell and mine the Moon for its valuable minerals and other elements are just two of the many incentives. If, however, the UN treaty is signed, so that the profits from space must be divied up to all the nations, no companies will be interested and therefore space will remain inac¬ cessible to those who wish to leave the nest of Earth. We cannot depend on the government to develop space colonization, even if they wanted to (and it’s quite obvious that they’re not very in¬ terested), for the price will be in the billions of dollars, and no one individual country could af¬ ford that. Ah, you say, what if the countries decide to go together to foot the bill? That would be great! There’s just one problem: It would take world peace (something that would be nice to have) and that will take a while. And I for one do not want to wait, not when the technology is right there being dangled in front of our noses like bait to tempt a starving animal. That’s what we are, though; starving ourselves of the greatest challenge man has ever sought, the stars. Alright, you say, you’ve run off at the mouth until becoming blue in the face, so what’s your solution? I’m glad you asked. I have no desire to shut off the world from the beauty of space, that’s the farthest thought from my mind. To encourage businesses to move into space we must give them a reason. If all the discoveries of minerals or other valuable materials are allowed to be exploited by the businesses, everyone gains. The businesses gain the good old$, the people of Earth gain the new resources, and we would-be space migrators get the advantages of a commercialized space that has an economical way of getting and living there. One of the main reasons the Soviet Union is in support of this bill is that because space coloniza¬ tion will cause their culture to fall apart. With people separated by such vast distances, and so many settlements on many of the asteroids, the Soviets cannot possibly have an ironclad rule over their people. In other words, the human race might truly be freed from the squabbles of coun¬ tries and thus establish peace. David Selwin London, Ont., Canada .. .Man-oh-man! Is Carolyn Henson off-base with her opinions on “Homesteading the Solar System’’ (FUTURE LIFE #16). It was common in colonial times for broadsides to be printed warning American colonists of the power and greed of the East India Company. Well, today there are at least 200 East India Com¬ panies referred to as American-based multina¬ tionals, all looking for their own island so that they can do business with whomsoever they please, avoid taxes, pay low wages and not be bothered with strikes. Imagine what happens when multinationals become interplanetaries! The purpose of the Moon Treaty is to franchise mining and industrial operations so that the Haves don’t hog all the more while the Have-nots receive even less. If such legislation is not passed, then the soon-to-be interplanetaries will sell to whomever gives them the best deal and L-5 will be a company town. Ever think of those lovely Space Cities as company towns? Well, that’s what they might well become unless there is UN control. Henson’s confiscation fairy tale is a powder puff scenario compared to the horrors of space con¬ trolled by the sovereign spatial states of ITT and others. And what’s this about flying off to Mars and the asteroids when the “space tug”—Orbital Transfer Vehicle—is still unfunded? It seems to me that we should worry about maintaining things in the cis-lunar backyard before shooting off in all directions. Readers with an inclination to write to congressmen, etc. should urge the funding of the “space tug.” The Russians are doing it the right way. They putter around in orbit and work on docking pro¬ cedures; next thing you know it’s a space station and a permanent manned facility on the Moon. That’s the ticket—a permanent manned presence to grow on. We have to establish ourselves in the area be¬ tween Earth orbit and Moon orbit and forget about shooting off in all directions or there will be little for the astronauts to come home to. Maybe it’s the Russians and maybe it’s interplanetary corporations, but not to take a good look close up for the good of the entire world is to throw the future away. John Robinson Schenectady, NY Carolyn Henson replies: I agree wholeheartedly with your concerns over multinational corpora¬ tions and the lack of funding for the space tug. However ,; funding the space tug or signing away the civil liberties of space settlers will not do a darn thing to protect them from oppression. Under the terms of the Moon treaty, instead of being abused by some 200 multinational corpora¬ tions, us settlers would be oppressed by one monolithic, authoritarian regime. The proposed Moon treaty contains some good ideas and enticing rhetoric. But we don *t have to buy its totalitarian provisions along with the good stuff. Those of us fighting the Moon treaty are demanding that the State Department send it back to the U.N. for renegotiation. Senator Frank Church (D-ID), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and fellow committee members Jacob Javits (R-NY), Dick Stone (D-FL), S.I. Hayakawa (R-CA) and Richard Lugar (D-IN) have all come out in writing back¬ ing our demands. State Department insiders who are also battling this ill-considered treaty tell us that thanks to these Senators' opposition, Presi¬ dent Carter has called an interagency review to advise him on whether or not he should sign it. We are told that Carter will make this decision May 1. 6 FUTURE LIFE #18 . May 1980 Those of you who wish to pass on your opinions to Carter can write him at 1600 Pennsylvania A ve., Washington, DC 20500 or call his office at (202) 456-1414. Reach for the stars! ... Regarding Carolyn Henson’s article “Home¬ steading the Solar System,’’ (FUTURE LIFE #16) Ms. Henson, I am afraid, presumes! She specu¬ lates on ways to prevent violent confrontation between Earthside and the homesteaders, but can that be prevented? And, more importantly, should it be prevented? I think not, on both counts. Governments being what they are, they could never stand for people having real freedom. They would always reach out to dominate. Hav¬ ing left Mary with the troop ship lined up in the sights of the collision defence beams, the next word should be “fire!’’ Now, I know the anti-violence wimps among us will wince at this, but the practical will realize that new frontiers are won, not with flower power, but with firepower! Anyone who won’t fight for their freedom doesn’t deserve any! And the only way space farmers and miners and factory workers can have freedom is to become independent of the Terran ground hogs. William R. Carter, Jr. Greeneville, TN ... I have just finished reading the article on homesteading by Carolyn Henson (FUTURE LIFE #16). Her scenario is interesting but the good commander has forgotten his Earth laws. First, by building and living in the farm unit the family becomes its inhabitants or “natives.” As such they have rights that the commander must respect. Second, if for some reason the above does not apply (ha!), the commander must take into con¬ sideration the fact that this family is a business and is protected by the appropriate laws. The “business” being the growing of food for export. Give the case to Perry Mason and let him worry about it. David J. Garman Trenton, Ont., Canada ... In the newest issue of FUTURE LIFE, I read an article about the United Nations drafting a new treaty on the peaceful uses of space for the future of mankind. This article, combined with the col¬ umn by Carolyn Henson in the same issue, I found to be very upsetting. After discussing this with a friend of mine, who is a field officer for the United Nations, he also found it very upsetting. I asked him if he could help in any way. He said he would try to obtain a copy of the final draft of the proposed treaty. We are going to read over it, and if all our suspi¬ cions are correct, then we are going to try to form a group to get our congressmen to vote against it. Would you keep us, the science fact and fiction followers, informed by trying to get and keep up- to-date articles on this particular subject in your magazine? Bob Davis Lake Charles, LA DIVERSITY FOREVER ... Timothy Leary quips that within 25 years we will have mini-worlds in space made up of just bisexual vegetarians, and other colonies made up of just Anita Bryant followers. His point is that space colonization makes the concept of species- and cultural-plurality not only more possible but also more necessary than ever before in human history. Which brings us to the subject of Carolyn Hen¬ son’s Alternate Space in FUTURE LIFE #15 (“Choosing the Right Partner for the Future”). From where we sit, your version of the future appears to be a midwestem farmgirl’s space-age version of ‘ ‘When I grow up I want to marry a rich and successful doctor.” Do you, in fact, envision future space colonies as an extension of the suburbs for the white/middle-class/American/ nuclear family/consumers? Sociologists tell us that current American sex¬ ual mores and living practices are more diverse than ever before. More people are living singly than ever before. The extended family, the group¬ living arrangement—whether communal or not —the extended network or support group, and the “roommate” arrangement are all on the rise. Among those that do still pair-bond in the tradi¬ tional manner, divorce and re-marriage are on the rise, which means that there is a pattern of serial monogamy in the culture. More gay men and les¬ bians are also pair-bonding openly. So, there are other alternatives to heterosexual nuclear family monogamy, and not all pair-bonding takes place between opposite-sexed couples. We will not address the point concerning the in¬ evitable arrival of children soon after heterosex¬ ual pair-bonding. However, the whole question of population/space/resources should be looked at in more detail, we think. Even if there is now unlimited room for the expansion of the species, it is unlikely that we will be able to do that with unlimited speed , so we will probably need to con¬ tinue to monitor our birth/death ratios well into the colonization age ahead, and many couples will likely still want to defer having children or not have them at all, as is the case today in advanced technological societies like our own. We would like to attend the Careers in Space conference in San Francisco in 1980, as you sug¬ gest. But we are not interested in being “caught ” by some sweet young space cadette, and we know a lot of women who are not interested in chasing. We’d like to help organize a section of the con¬ ference which would address some of the issues raised in your column and in this letter, with a view to facilitating the full participation of cultural/sexual/national representatives of human diversity. Let’s see if we can behave, in our planning, as if courage, honor, self-commitment, hard work, self-reliance, generosity and (s)hero- ism were attributes of our species, not just of the monogamist heterosexual whites among us. It is our hope that our journey into space will be also a quest for societies in which all peoples share in the wealth and resources; where diversity in opinion and lifestyle are not only accepted, but honored and encouraged. We tried it once, 200 years ago, in America. Let’s take what we’ve learned and do it better. Dean Gengle Steven S. Smith San Francisco, CA Carolyn Henson replies: I’m sorry you inter¬ preted my praise of marriage and family as an at¬ tack on gays, non-whites, etc. Believe it or not, it's possible for an individual—even me—to ap¬ preciate multiple lifestyles. Speaking of “ multiple ”... I just gave birth to another baby, Virginia Heinlein Henson. I won 7 tell you how many kids I have or my rate ofpro¬ duction of them because it might inflict a heart at¬ one million A COMPUTER-GENERATED PHOTO MAP “On a square yard of glossy black this poster image, profound, enigmatic, beautiful, presents in a clotted tangle of tiny gray squares one abstract but faithful view of the entire thing. ... The map is offered grandly, not for the scientific record alone but in visual celebration of the world. No Tantric demon or beni g n celestial choir provides a more vivid symbol of the vastness of the universe in which we live.” —Philip Morrison Scientific American $5 postpaid (sent in a tube via UPS) from: F Quarterly Box 428F, Sausalito, California 94965 tack on you, and I wouldn ’t want to carry that on my conscience. But can't we have a future in which some people have no kids and others many, without accusing either the no kids or many kids people of wickedness? (Kids are the future, and I'm darned glad our society lets me help create as much future as I wish.) ALTERNATE VIEWS ... FUTURE LIFE has distinguished its relatively short career with a very high standard of jour¬ nalism, notable for both its technical validity and depth of thought. It was therefore with extreme disappointment that I read “Lovers, Colonists and Explorers” by T.A. Heppenheimer and “New Sources of Energy” by Harry Harrison in FUTURE LIFE #15. The former is ponderously prosaic, the latter frighteningly simplistic. Mr. Heppenheimer’s scenarios rest on techni¬ cally precarious ground. For example, the single- stage-to-orbit spacecraft shown is nothing more than the space shuttle, not the air-breathing scramjet described. But where he really bogs down is in his tunnel-vision perception of the potential diversities of future life. All he has done is to superimpose minutia of the present on the fabric of the future. His incessant descriptions of golf courses and lovemaking are a weak smoke screen for his lack of conceptual substance. Incidentally, all of the advantages of zero-g sex would not be available to the average space col¬ onist in everyday life. We must assume that an “artificial” gravity is provided by centrifugal force or else Mr. Heppenheimer’s foursomes would be teeing off into a homogeneous smog of sand, sod and fescue. This means that zero-g would exist only at the colony’s center of rota¬ tion. Given the restricted availability of zero-g and the already demonstrated need for training FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 7 Available in sizes For The Entire Family To Enjoy! At last, you can dress in futuristic, military style with the high quality Warrior’s Battlejacket. Made of rug¬ ged 100% cotton denim, the Warrior’s Battlejacket is light olive brown in color and comes complete with all the trimmings: decorative emblem, realistic in¬ signia pins and locking metal clasps. It’s made to be machine washed and dryed._ THE WARRIOR'S BATTLEJACKET Whether wearing your Warrior’s Battlejacket to school or bringing it along rocketship rides to far away places, it’s fun to dress in space fashion. The whole family can dress in Warrior Battlejackets, choose from a variety of sizes on the order form below. Suitable for most every occasion: day-to-day recreational use, disco wear. Designates a registered trademark owned by Unlimited, I nc, o f Henderson, KY. Send cash, check or money order to: THE WARRIOR’S BATTLEJACKET c/o STARLOG TRADING POST 475 Park Avenue South Dept. F18 New York, NY 10016 Please rush the following products at the specified prices plus $2.25 (each item) for United Parcel Service postage and handling. Sizes (circle the sizes of Quantity Classification/Prices your choice) _ children's at $25.99 retail 4 5 6 6X _ children's at $31.99 retail 7 81012 14 _ big boy's at $37.99 retail 16 18 20 _ women’s at $37.99 retail SML _ men's at $41.99 retail S M L XL POSTER OFFER I've included $4 00 additional to my total order for the full-color Battlejacket Poster (pictured in this ad) to be sent along with my Battlejacket (no extra postage necessary) Send me the full-color Battlejacket poster only Enclosed is $4 00 plus $1 50 (each) for postage and handling Total Postage _ Total Enclosed. NAME. ADDRESS . CITY. .STATE. ZIP Canadian and Foreign Customers: Payment in U.S. Funds Only. Foreign customers add $ 4.25 extra per order for postage and handling. Canadian customers as well as those located in Alaska and Hawaii, add $3.00 extra per order for postage and handling. Note: If you don’t want to cut up this coupon, send order on a separate piece of paper. F18 —input _ and acclimation to its unique “properties,” weightless sex will most likely be available in a well-defined district of specialty shops, staffed by experienced practioners of the art. Mr. Hep- penheimer (and his readers) would have had a lot more fun considering possibilities such as these. Mr. Harrison, on the other hand, ignores and misapplies facts to present a very convoluted pic¬ ture of our energy options. He extols the conser¬ vationists as having had the answer to our energy problems all along. And while it is true that con¬ servation must be an integral part of our energy strategy, using energy at a reduced rate only pro¬ longs the inevitable since our terrestrial resources are finite. Our real .problem is not energy conser¬ vation, but rather energy production. Unfortun¬ ately, energy production of any form (including solar) perturbs ecosystems to degree proportional to the magnitude of the energy needed and the ac¬ curacy of our perception of the perturbation. Obviously there can be no valid simple descrip¬ tion of where our energy path should go. But no matter what the path, the keys to understanding our true options and translating them into reality acknowledge and perspective. We must, as a na¬ tion, understand both sides of the story. The “in¬ flated” military budget that Mr. Harrison deprecates has in fact made possible all of the technological resources and tools that he cites as our energy hopes for the future. “Peaceful” re¬ search and development just doesn’t draw the re¬ quired funding, as shown by the shameful neglect of NASA’s budgetary needs in the past decade. Henry Caruso Glen Burnie, MD POWER PLUG ... I can’t argue with Harry Harrison’s timely remarks on “New Sources of Energy” (FUTURE LIFE #15), since they mirror almost exactly my own conclusions in my new book Energy and the Future. But I can’t let him get away with his glib assertion “... the hydrogen can be liquified and put into the auto tanks.” Certainly hydrogen has attractions as an almost non-polluting fuel, but as I point out, it requires a temperature of - 253 degrees C to li¬ quefy it and producing this uses energy, while stor¬ ing it adds weight to a vehicle. Hydrogen also ex¬ plodes with an ignition energy 15 times less than natural gas (and stores about one-third as much energy), so is not likely to be stored on garage forecourts like gasoline! Methods of storing hydrogen in solids which “soak it up” are more promising. David A. Hardy Birmingham, England DAMNATION .. .1 read with interest FUTURE LIFE #16 con¬ cerning the technological advances in store for the 1980s. But I find I must question the tone in which your Tellico Dam project article was written (Earth Control). As I read through, I felt I wanted to agree, but I couldn’t make an honest decision due to the prejudiced view taken by the writer. Unless we are to believe that the U.S. government decided to stick a dam in the middle of nowhere just to irritate a few fish, one must assume there is a side of this question which has not been properly researched. Someone must have had a good reason for this dam, even if it was not as good as the strong reasons against it. I have always appreciated the editorial frank¬ ness taken by the staff of FUTURE LIFE, but in this case it seems the editorial page has reached out and touched what should have been an un¬ biased, two-sided account of a serious situation. I happen to agree with the views Mr. Woods puts forth, but I do not feel they were presented in a manner which enabled the readers to make an honest decision. Paul R. LeBlanc London, Ont., Canada THEREFORELY ... I am aware that everyone has a bad day now and then and that lapses of intellect will occur, thus I will assume that the grammatic faux pas , “.. .thusly,” in Ed Naha’s Star Trek piece on page 23 of FUTURE LIFE # 16 was a slip of the type¬ writer or the malevolence of printing gremlins. G. Davis Portland, OR ANIMATED TREK FAN ... Ed Naha’s excellent article on the evolution of the Star Trek phenomenon failed to mention one unique and critical step in the show’s develop¬ ment, that being the resurrection of the show by NBC as a Saturday morning animated series dur¬ ing 1973-74. Although economically produced with scripts lacking the originality and polish of the original series, the animated Star Trek still stands as one of the most intelligent and sophisticated kiddie- shows ever aired, and represents yet another of this seemingly invincible property’s many and varied permutations. Now that Star Trek—The Motion Picture is smashing box office records from coast to coast (despite mixed reviews), we who have been with the series since its premiere can rest assured that Captain Kirk and crew will continue to boldly go where no man has gone before. After 15 years, it seems the Star Trek adventure is just beginning. Allen B. Ury Wilmette, IL ANTI-GAY .. .1 could not let Andy Guthrie’s letter, “Gay Science Fiction” (FUTURE LIFE #17), go un¬ challenged. I submit that science fiction featuring (or promoting) homosexuality is not being written and accepted by SF mainstream fans and writers for the same reason that child molestation and rape isn’t being glorified by SF. Although there’s a noisy minority who are trying to push “pervert lib” down society’s throat, most people are too in¬ telligent to believe that we should accept every social disease that comes down the pike as an “ac¬ ceptable alternate lifestyle.” The analogy between the struggle for blacks’ civil rights and “gay” rights is absurd. Skin color is an evolutionary adaptation to different environ¬ ments; homosexuality is a perversion of the sex act. If I were black, I’d be sorely offended. As a matter of fact, I am white and sorely offended! David A. Krouse Wallingford, PA ATTENTION SUBSCRIBERS Effective with the mailing of this issue, FUTURE LIFE has a new mailing address for renewals, change of address notices and all subscription in¬ quiries. Address your subscription related in¬ quiries to: FUTURE LIFE, Subscriber Services, P.O. Box 142, Mt. Morris, IL 61054. We hope that this new central location will enable us to serve you more efficiently. n 8 FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 HIGH FRONTIER_ SPACE COLONY MOVIE IN PRE-PRODUCTION J ust when the likes of Star Trek and The Black Hole were begin¬ ning to make some of us wonder about the shape of science fiction films to come... word arrives about a major motion picture rumored to have such elements as an intelligent script, three-dimensional characters and a science fictional future that could come true in our lifetimes. The film centers around life in a space habitat, specifically the Island One concept pioneered by Gerard K. O’Neill. Super space artist Robert T. McCall has been enlisted to do pro¬ duction illustrations for the film pro¬ ject. Although the film’s producers have sworn McCall to an oath of secrecy concerning such details as the script, the target release date and even the working title, the artist is en¬ thusiastic about the scope of the mo¬ tion picture. “I’m delighted to be working with Gerry O’Neill on a movie that deals with space and the future as a real, liv¬ ing possibility,” McCall says. No newcomer to SF film endeav¬ ors, McCall did production illustra¬ tions for both The Black Hole and Star Trek—The Motion Picture , as well as spacecraft designs for Buck Rogers in the 25th Century ; his poster art for 2001 A Space Odyssey are classics. In addition to his SF creden¬ tials, McCall is one of the outstanding chroniclers of the real-life space pro¬ gram—past, present, and future. His sweeping murals at the National Air and Space Museum and at Johnson Space Center are monuments to the human exploration of space. So McCall is right at home envis¬ ioning a cinematic story set in the relatively near-term, realizable future ... a future he happens to support wholeheartedly. “It’s an opportunity to communicate to people in a way that will stimulate and inspire them,” he says. “The human settlement of space offers us a real chance to solve the energy crisis and many other problems. And it puts us on the threshold of the ultimate frontier. This movie project Js more than just another fantasy. ’ ’ —Robin Snelson Bob McCall shown with his 16-by-72 foot mural entitled “Opening the Space Frontier" in Houston. SPACE SAVIOURS _ VIKING RESCUE UNDERWAY I n the Databank section of FUTURE LIFE #16, author Leonard David told the sad tale of the Viking landers, whose voices, transmitting important data from Mars, are destined to be¬ come silent unless enough money- one million dollars, to be exact—is raised to keep them operating. An organization called the Viking Fund, operated by the San Francisco section of the American Astronautical Soci¬ ety, is collecting contributions towards that worthy goal. We recent¬ ly received the following letter con¬ cerning the wide response Fund organizers received from our readers: “On behalf of the Viking Fund I would like to thank you for publish¬ ing Leonard David’s short news item about the Fund. The response has been tremendous and you should be proud of your readers. Their letters indicate a tremendous amount of grassroots support for space activities such as Viking, and a general frustra¬ tion with the current dismal program. “We are very confident about reaching the one million dollar goal if the response we are seeing here is typical of the response we can expect on an overall basis.” The responses ranged from a Can¬ adian student to the commander of a submarine group based in Seattle. Along with all other contributors, they will receive an open invitation to the presentation of the Fund to NASA in Washington D.C. this com¬ ing July. According to a bulletin put out by the Viking Fund, this project “affords an opportunity for grass¬ roots support for the space program to be heard, and heard in an extremely vivid fashion.” In fact, at least one of the contributors, responding to the article, asked, “Would it be possible to have a major contribution cam¬ paign for the NASA space program?” Anyone wishing to help should mail donations (minimum amount $1.00) to The Viking Fund, PO Box 7205, Menlo Park, CA 94025. FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 9 databank SCI-FI SIMON SPOOFS ALIEN ARRIVAL Alan Arkin: Is he or isn’t he an alien from a far-off world? O rion Pictures is unveiling a close encounter of the absurd kind this month in the personage of Simon. Simon is an alien invasion film with a twist; there are no aliens in the movie and no invasion ever takes place. In¬ stead, the film recounts the misadven¬ tures of eccentric college professor Simon Mendelssohn (Alan Arkin), an unassuming type who locks horns and frontal lobes with the members of the Institute for Advanced Concepts; an American think-tank of the slightly drained variety. The Institute is populated by a bevy of screw-loose scientists who have, over the past ten years, caused most of the more idiotic historical events that have popped up around the world. Their newest project involves an alien invasion scam, a mock close encounter designed to stimulate soci¬ ety. In order to carry out their plans, however, they need a subject who is totally innocuous. A man with no family or social ties. A nebbish whom no one will miss should he disappear. In short, they need Simon Mendels¬ sohn. Mendelssohn, a fellow who dab¬ bles with sensory deprivation cham¬ bers, is enticed into the Institute and kept on the premises through the ef¬ forts of attractive albeit addle-brained Cynthia (Madeline Kahn). Showing up with a handful of clothes, a few wild ideas and a saxophone, Simon emerges from the think-tank as the most powerful man in the world. The scientists convince him that he is in¬ deed the first alien visitor to land on Earth; the possessor of unlimited power. Since Simon was always a bit off-the-wall anyhow, most of his old friends can readily accept the story of Simon’s “true” origins. Alien Mendelssohn first becomes a media personality, then a cult hero and, finally, an outlaw in what Orion Pic¬ tures is touting as one of the most hilarious comedies to come down to Earth in years. Simon was conceived and directed by Woody Allen alumnus Marshall Brickman and produced by Martin Bregman. Also featured in the film are Judy Grabart, Austin Pendleton, Carleton Carpenter, Fred Gwynne, Adolph Green and David Susskind. —Ed Naha Nutty professor Arkin takes think tank members into deep space. ROCK STARS TOMORROW'S BUMMERS ARE B1MMERS T he nightmarish world of 1984 is currently being upstaged at sev¬ eral West Berlin studios as the BIMunized year of 1994 takes shape for the forthcoming film The Apple. The $12 million science fiction rock opera is a dystopian glance at a future where the world’s youth population is ruled by exponents of BIM music: a techno-disco-rock sound that is also a look, a way of dressing, moving and living. Ruling the realm of BIM are evil Boogalow and Shake (Vladek Sheybal and Ray Shell), two music moguls who promote both Saturday Night Fever and Sunday Morning drug hangovers. Their main market¬ ing tools are BIM stars Pandi and Dandi (Grace Kennedy and Allan Love), sterile rock automatons that make Barry Manilow look like Mr. Personality. Their BIMunized empire is nearly wrecked when singing duo Bibi and Alphie (Catherine Mary Stewart and George Gilmour) attract the public’s ear by crooning sincere, old-fash¬ ioned love songs. Boogalow acts, at¬ tempting to lure the dynamic duo into the BIM fold by hook or crook or drug induced euphoria. Aiding the hapless kids is mysterious Mr. Topps (Joss Ackland), a fellow who some¬ times travels out of this world in his attempts to bring true feeling back to the Earth. If the plot of The Apple sounds a bit disjointed, rest assured it’s intend¬ ed to. Choreographing the frantic film-full of new faces is a group of seasoned pros. The Apple is being produced and directed by Menahem Golan, who garnered four Oscar no¬ minations for his work on Sallah, I Love You Rosa, The House On Shloush Street and Operation Thun¬ derbolt and whose last film, The Ma¬ gician, was based on the novel The Magician of Lublin by Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer. The film is being designed by Oscar win¬ ning art director Jurgen ( Cabaret )■ Kiebach with futuristic costumes pro¬ vided by one of Europe’s leading fashion designers, Ingrid Zore. Cannon Films plans to release the The Apple sometime later in the year—providing the cast and crew doesn’t get BIMmed out in the interim. — Ed Naha Mr. Topps (Joss Ackland) lives up to his name in film’s finale. FUTURE FLICK OLD FACES = NEW FILM S ean Connery, the star of John Boorman’s infamous SF adven¬ ture Zardoz , will once again journey into the future in the forthcoming thriller Outland ; a movie which Peter Hyams is writing and directing for the newly formed Ladd Com¬ pany. Hyams, whose last original SF effort was the scientific-Watergate exercise Capricorn One , will begin filming in June at London’s Pine- wood Studios with a stateside release date slated for the summer of 1981 via Warner Brothers Films. Outland is the first overseas project for the recently inaugurated Ladd Com¬ pany. The production outfit is helmed by Alan Ladd Jr. who, as president of 20th Century Fox, gave science fiction filmdom a much needed shot in the arm with such suc¬ cessful offerings as Star Wars and Alien. —Joseph Kay 10 FUTURE LIFE#18, May 1980 DISASTER FILM FALLEN FANTASY I n FUTURE LIFE #17 we reported on the projected filming of Barry Ira Geller’s $50 million fantasy epic Lord of Light (adapted from SF writer Roger Zelazny’s novel of the same name); and on the planned subse¬ quent transformation of the film’s set near Denver, Colorado into a 1,000 acre theme park. We also mentioned a certain amount of public skepticism concerning the success of Geller’s elaborate project. It seems that the skeptics were more than justified. A reporter for the Rocky Mountain News, Bob Weiss, has since un¬ covered several interesting facts which may serve to deter future in¬ vestors in the project: —Officials of the Royal Bank of Canada, from which Geller sup¬ posedly got an irrevocable letter of credit for $400 million, denied that such a letter was ever issued. —A PBS spokesperson denied that Geller’s partner, Gerry Schafer, ever produced a documentary for them. Schafer had used the documentary to establish his credentials as supervising producer. —The district DA reported that Schafer had never registered a $50,000 investment (considered a security under state law) with the state. This money, by the way, was ob¬ tained from an immigrant with only a slight command of the English language, who was assured a 50 per¬ cent return on his investment. These, along with various other factors, culminated on Thursday, December 27th, when Schafer, Geller and Larry Chance, vice president of Schafer’s company, were charged with a total of 11 felonies at the district court. These charges included theft, conspiracy, and three counts of security fraud. Therefore, at this point, Lord of Light seems to be a rather unlikely proposition. Better luck next time. —Barbara Krasnoff CINEMATIC STUFF SCIENCE FACT FILMS ON THE WAY U nited Artists has announced plans to release a motion picture adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s book The Right Stuff The recently released best-seller recounts the behind-the- scenes adventures of the seven Mer¬ cury astronauts during the early years of NASA’s manned space program. Also in the works, independently, is a film version of Kenneth Brower’s non-fiction work, The Starship and the Canoe. Producer Robert B. Rad- nitz wants filming to begin no later than the fourth quarter of 1980 and SPACE OPERA CORMAN SENDS JOHN-BOY INTO SPACE FOR SUMMER VACATION T his July, Roger Corman’s New World Pictures will launch actor Richard Thomas (aka “John-Boy” of TV’s The Waltons) into space in the film Battle Beyond The Stars. Thomas will star as rocket jockey Shad, a young, righteous rebel who must recruit six alien swashbucklers to help him defend his farm-world planet from the maurauding minions of the sinister spacefarer Sador. The film is loosely based on either The Magnificent Seven or The Seven Samurai , depending on one’s cine¬ matic point of view. The most expensive New World picture ever, with a budget of close to eight million dollars, Battle Beyond the Stars is being directed by Jimmy T. Muramaki, best known stateside as the director of aerial scenes in Corman’s The Red Baron. Chuck Comisky of TV’s Space Academy is supervisor in charge of special photo¬ graphic miniature effects and George Dodge, cinematographer for many of the National Geographic television specials, has been recruited as co¬ director of photography, miniatures and special effects. Sharing directing chores with Dodge is Dennis Skotak KID-ED _ PLAYWHILE LEARNING AT SESAME PLACE T hree-year-olds in pursuit of science and knowledge will be trotting through the gates of “Sesame Place” when it opens in Lower Bucks County, PA this June. Sesame Place is the $6-million pro¬ totype for a series of educational play parks developed by Busch Gardens, the family entertainment division of Anheuser-Busch, Inc., and the Child¬ ren’s Television Workshop, best known as the creator of the educa¬ tional TV programs Sesame Street and The Electric Company. Designed for families with children from age three to 12, the parks aim to stimulate the in¬ tellectual curiosity of children through play. Outdoor activities at the 15-acre Sesame Place, tailored to age, will in¬ clude a Foam Swamp, a 3-D Shadow plans to find a major father and son acting team for the starring roles. The Starship and the Canoe is the story of noted astrophysicist Freeman Dyson and his conservationist son, George. Dyson senior is a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in who handled effects for The Demon Lover. Ken Jones, who headed up the imaging team for the Mars lander at Jet Propulsion Laboratories, has been tapped fof the slot of technical direc¬ tor and special effects consultant. Jones and the SFX crew will be us¬ ing the latest in effects technology to carry out the film’s various spacey ef¬ fects. Among the principal systems being used are the Elicon System: a 40-foot precision machined track and computerized motion picture repeat- Dance, and simple machines such as gears, pulleys, windmills and water wheels. The indoor Science and Game Pavilion will include more than 60 elec¬ tronic games and hands-on science ex¬ hibits, ranging from talking typewrit¬ ers featuring Sesame Street characters to remote mechanical hands like those used in industrial plants. “We’ve selected material from Princeton and has helped devise a theoretical spaceship powered by a chain reaction of nuclear explosions. The younger Dyson has spent most of his adult life living in a tree house located in a Douglas fir forest in British Columbia. Radnitz is excited ing system; and the Electronic Com¬ posite Printer: a new electronic sys¬ tem capable of flawlessly compositing foreground and background plates for wild and woolly effects sequences. Battle Beyond the Stars , originally slated for production in 1979, was delayed a year in order to raise addi¬ tional money for the film’s effects budget and to give the screenplay a final polish. It is New World’s most ambitious SF venture to date. —A l Flynn museums and science and computer centers across the United States,” says CTW creative consultant Christopher Cerf, “and adapted the best of what’s available in current technology to the needs of young children. “Even three-year-olds,” he adds, “can have fun with computer games and begin to learn some basic scientific concepts. ’ ’ —Pat Glossop about the odd-couple project because, in his words, “It is the first story of father-son conflict to reflect the reversed realities of youth-middle age perceptions occasioned by the social revolutions of the ’60s and ’70s.” — William Pratt FUTURE LIFE#18. May 1980 11 ittabank. LASERS ON PARADE TRIPPING THE LIGHT FANTASTIC A multi-media laser light and special visual effects event Y et another use for the ever-pop- ular laser has been found by the Theatre of Performing Lights, a new theater/ dance company based in San Francisco. The innovative troupe uses light, holograms and laser images to replace more traditional stage scen¬ ery. Moods are established through the projection of slides and weird syn¬ thesizer effects, while the performers themselves wear costumes specially designed to catch and enhance the images. All this is being produced by the parent company, Wavefronts, a lighting design company established to explore new possibilities in visual special effects for theater and dance applications with set designs, back¬ ground lighting and costume en¬ hancement. In order to show these experimen¬ tal lighting effects to their best advan¬ tage, the Theatre is now collaborating on a range of stories for multimedia dance performances, from biblical mythologies to science Fiction fan¬ tasies. Using these formats will enable them to include a wide range of lighting effects, dance movements and special effects possibilities. Thus, the company’s repertoire will include such SF-type stories as “Planet of Voices,” about a telepathic society that is blinded and must resort to primitive vocal communications; “City,” about the evolution of the human condition towards astral pro¬ jection; and “Space Juggler,” about Earth’s first alien contact. For more information about the Theatre of Performing Lights, con¬ tact Louis M. Brill c/o Wavefronts, PO Box 31252, San Francisco, CA 94131. —Louis M. Brill TALKING TABLOIDS_ MAGAZINES THAT TALK BACK B ummer. Martians landed on the front lawn of the White House last week, and you missed hearing the Earth-shattering speech given by the alien ambassador. But fear not, poster¬ ity collectors. Here comes your week¬ ly issue of Time magazine, complete with a sound recording of the address, laminated right onto the page. The Martian part is fiction (of course), but the talking magazine is not too far down the line, according to Advertising Age magazine. It was at a recent Ad Age media workshop that Malcolm Ochs, research director for Time, disclosed the break¬ through. “There is technology avail¬ able right now that can imprint grooves right on the page of the magazine,” Ochs reports. Time, Inc. is reportedly close to finalizing a deal with Microsonics, Inc. of Torrance, Calif. Microsonics will supply the software for the in¬ novation. This consists of a two-inch, 90-second soundtrack pressed on ex¬ tremely thin sheets of transparent polyvinyl chloride (the stuff conven¬ tional LPs are made of). The “talk¬ ing” device is a small microphono¬ graph—approximately the size of an electric razor—to be supplied by Kyushu Matsushita Electric Co., the Japanese parent of Panasonic. Besides the novelty of having sounds accompanying the printed words, Time's Ochs feels that their talkie might also be a boon for adver¬ tisers. “You could do a lot more with your ad than just the regular color or black-and-white layout,” Ochs says. Problems? Of course.. .but they seem temporary, according to John Wickel, executive vice president of Microsonics. The first problem in¬ volves affixing the sound sheets on to¬ day’s high-speed presses. “We can’t do it right now,” admits Wickel, “but we’re working on a process.” Obstacle No. 2 is the cost of the microphonograph (a battery-pow¬ ered unit with a stylus that tracks in a circle from the center of the recording at speeds up to 133 rpm), which pres¬ ently would cost between $80 and $90. Wickel believes, though, that mass production would trim the price down to about $15. Reg Brack, associate publisher at Time, told FUTURE LIFE that the talking mag is a bit further away than Ad Age reports. According to Brack, Time is presently gearing up for some market testing and technological ex¬ perimentation, and that an actual talkie is a year or more away from reality. Furthermore, it will be at least five years before any mass production would be available. But then, it might be another five years before the Mar¬ tians land, too. —Bob Woods ALIENATION_ UFOS ARE FAKE? R ecently there was an unprecedent¬ ed chance for anyone who so desired to pick up an easy one million British pounds (roughly equivalent to two million American dollars). How? Very simple—provide Cutty Sark Ltd. with an authenticated piece of a UFO. Not much to anyone’s surprise, there were no legitimate claimants to the prize. However, science writer James Oberg won first prize of a thou¬ sand pounds in a separate category, for an essay entitled “The Failure of the ‘Science’ of Ufology.” Oberg, who is presently a McDon- nell-Douglas contractor to NASA specializing in computer control of or¬ bital maneuvering and attitude control rockets, has written extensively about UFOs in various publications. In his winning paper, he stresses the role that the researchers of possible UFOs, or HOME ON LAGRANGE L-5 LAYS PLANS FOR AMBITIOUS '80s arolyn Henson, FUTURE LIFE’S Alternate Space columnist, recently left her post as president of the L-5 Society, the organization de¬ dicated to the large-scale industriali¬ zation and settlement of space. For nearly five years, Carolyn and hus¬ band Keith, co-founders of the L-5 Society, have spearheaded a growing movement to accelerate the pace of off-planet endeavors. While it’s un¬ likely that the Hensons will abandon their activist roles in this movement, the reins of the Society have been passed over to another devoted space advocate, Gerry Driggers. In addition to his 14 years of ex¬ perience in the aerospace field, Drig¬ gers was closely involved with all the space settlement studies conducted in the 1970s. The new president has ambitious plans to expand the scope of the L-5 Society, beginning with a membership campaign intended to double the Society’s numbers every year. “I believe it is important to the “ufologists,” have played in the non- acceptance of ufology as a legitimate field by the scientific community. “Ufology,” he writes, “allegedly refuses to play by the rules of scientific thought, demanding instead special exemptions from the time-tested pro¬ cedures of data verification, theory testing, and the burden of proof.... “The pity is that if such eventualities should come to pass, and the ufologists are proved ‘right’, they will in all pro¬ bability have impeded rather than ac¬ celerated the acceptance of that phe¬ nomenon by traditional science. This is because the new theories will most like¬ ly be championed by those ufologists already badly discredited by too many cries of ‘wolf!’, by too many en¬ dorsements of what subsequently turn¬ ed out to have been hoaxes, and by too many anti-scientific assertions and claims. They would be ‘right’ only by accident, not by their own virtue.” —Barbara Krasnoff future of the United States and the world that we grow, in order that the message of a hopeful future can be spread and key influences can be ex¬ erted,” states Driggers. “A grass¬ roots organization such as ours can command considerable attention during the 1984 election year if we start work now.” (Prospective mem¬ bers may write to the L-5 Society at 1620 N. Park Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719 for membership information.) Driggers also plans to put L-5 Society members to work nation¬ wide on a broad spectrum of projects aimed at furthering the L-5 goals, and has announced plans to expand the coverage of the L-5 News, a monthly publication which reports on political and technological developments relating to the human settlement of space. “I consider this one of the greatest opportunities ever presented to anyone,” Driggers says of his new post, “to be asked to lead a truly dedicated organization into what will very possibly be the most challenging decade in the his¬ tory of the United States. If we pool our resources, we will not simply reach for the stars. We will touch them.” —Robin Snelson 12 FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 INTELLIVISION NOVA’S 79-80 SEASON ENDS Veteran Eskimo whaler Billie Webber with wife and prize catch. ON THE BEACH _ WHALE TALE S cientists had their first chance to study one of Earth’s most mys¬ terious creatures nose-to-blowhole when a newborn baby sperm whale stranded near Rockaway, Ore. last September. Nicknamed ‘Florence’ for the site where 41 of her kind beached in July, the infant whale was discovered by two honeymooners out for a stroll, and transported to the Seattle Aquarium by volunteers from Oregon State University and Green¬ peace. Even in the safety of a shallow pool, Florence required intensive care to help her breathe and swim. Teams of attendants continuously supported her head in a sling, while veterinarians took blood and stool samples in an ef¬ fort to diagnose the illness that beached her. Electrocardiograms were also obtained—the first from a sperm whale. Although she sometimes broke free of the sling and rammed the walls of her tank, Florence’s behavior towards her keepers was marked by unexpected gentleness. She seemed to enjoy the human touch, and liked having her gums stroked. When new attendants entered her pool, Florence showed awareness of their presence by altering her swimming pattern- even while asleep. Faced with the problem of finding a substitute for whale milk, Dr. Tag Gomall, of Seattle’s Marine Animal Resource Center, finally settled on a mixture of goat’s milk and creamed PUSHBUTTON PUBLISHING TOMORROW'S MAGAZINE: COMPUTED FOR YOU he publishing industry may soon have a new weapon to use in its fight against the rapidly rising elec¬ tronic media. According to Advertis¬ ing Age magazine, a Denver-based company called U/Statlnc. is plan¬ ning to provide magazine publishers with a new service: personalized magazines. What is a personalized magazine? Well, say you are a rabid anti-smoker with a consuming interest in soy¬ beans. Using this system, you would get your copy of Ceiling Painters Monthly with an extra page of soy¬ bean recipes inserted and all cigarette ads discreetly absent. According to Tom Pardis, presi¬ dent of U/Stat Inc., a new system of “computerized collation” would both provide readers with specialized editorial material and ensure a selec¬ tive grouping of advertising for a specific audience. Subscribers would be polled in advance as to their likes krill, administered by a pump—not haute cuisine, but hopefully nourishing. Of special scientific interest are hydrophone recordings of the sounds Florence made. During her captivity, the baby whale emitted sighs and groans of pain as well as clicks char¬ acteristic of whales’ echolocation. Their meaning is, at present, unknown, but cetologists hope to someday break the ‘code’ of cetacean communication. Despite intensive efforts by marine mammal experts and volunteers, Florence died on September 21, three days after her arrival. Though the odds in her favor were slim, the round-the-clock vigil to save her was hardly in vain. Minutes after her death, Gomali and other M.A.R.C. members began a necropsy, which revealed the cause of death as twisted bowels. Perhaps the most important sample taken was the brain, believed to be the first recovered intact. According to Gomall, Florence’s brain, already larger than a human’s could provide data for future research on sperm whale brains, the largest biocomputers on Earth. Before Florence beached, most human knowledge of sperm whales was gathered from studies made aboard whaling ships. The informa¬ tion gained from her could save the lives of other beached whales. Although her life was short, Florence’s contribution to our understanding and appreciation of whales will be long remembered. —Craig Thompson & Malcolm Brenner and dislikes, the resulting informa¬ tion would be fed into a computer, and that, together with a sophisticat¬ ed collation system, would allow the pages of each magazine to be tailored to the individual reader. One problem with this system is that many otherwise willing con¬ sumers might see such a poll as an in¬ vasion of privacy and refuse to fill it out. In order to test the probability of this, U/Stat queried 15,000 potential subscribers about a fictional person¬ alized magazine. They found that 76 percent of those who responded to the mailing were willing to fill out a detailed questionnaire concerning their interests. And one of the more sensitive issues—income—could eas¬ ily be avoided because, Pardis asserts, “Income becomes irrelevant when we already have learned what we really want to know-how much that reader invests in a certain activity.” Pardis says that four major maga¬ zine companies, two consumer and two business trade publications, are seriously thinking about incor¬ porating U/Stat’s method to produce the first personalized magazines. —Barbara Krasnoff N ova , PBS’s award-winning sci¬ ence series, will end this season’s first run presentations during the month of March before entering into several months of reruns. The final episodes of the 1979-1980 season in¬ clude “Umealit: The Whale Hunt¬ ers” (March 4), “The Safety Factor” (March 11), “A Mediterranean Pros¬ pect” (March 18) and “Mr. Ludwig’s Tropical Dreamland” (March 25). “Umealit” takes Nova viewers to Point Hope, Alaska, where Eskimo whalers hunt down the rapidly diminishing population of bowhead whales using snowmobiles and ex¬ plosive harpoons. With the ecolo¬ gists’ cry of “Save the whales! ” echo¬ ing round the world, the whalers pursue their prey as they have for gen¬ erations, using stealth and cold de¬ termination. “The Safety Factor” re¬ counts the flight of a Laker Airways DC-10 as it crosses the Atlantic from London to Los Angeles. For each of DNA&U GENETIC ENGINEERING ON MAMMALS NEAR? A ssessments of the near-term prospects for genetic engineer¬ ing—the creation of “new” organ¬ isms using recombinant DNA tech¬ niques—have generally focused on bacteria. Higher organisms, both plants and animals, have been con¬ sidered much more distant possibili¬ ties, largely because of difficulty in getting the new gene safely into the recipient. About the best way to date has been with viruses that have the undesirable property of either killing the recipient cell or rendering it cancerous. Suddenly all this has changed. Dr. W. French Anderson of the National Institutes of Health and his col¬ leagues at NIH and Rockefeller Uni¬ versity have found to their surprise that if they inject mouse cells with bacterial plasmids (small accessory chromosomes, often used as vectors the passengers aboard, the chances of not making it stateside are three in one million. Yet recent crashes involving DC-10s have made even the most stal¬ wart of travelers jittery. Nova ex¬ plores the safety standards currently enforced by the Federal Aviation Ad¬ ministration. “A Mediterranean Prospect” portrays the somewhat en¬ dangered future of one of the world’s most popular tourist spots... the Mediterranean coast. Pollution in all of its varied forms currently threatens this lush beach property. Dr. Stjepan Keckes, the head of a small United Nations team, is dedicated to eradi¬ cating that threat within his lifetime. “Mr. Ludwig’s Tropical Dreamland” introduces viewers to the boldest capital enterprise of the century. On three and a half million acres of Amazon rain forest, a reclusive bil¬ lionaire attempts to cultivate wild land into a commercially profitable city-state. — William Pratt in bacterial genetic engineering) these plasmids reproduce right along with the cells; thus the genetic infor¬ mation they introduced remains associated with the cell and its de¬ scendants indefinitely. Since the plasmids have no side effects, this lifts a major block to genetic engin¬ eering of higher organisms. Anderson and his colleagues have already used their technique to “cure” a line of mouse cells lacking the enzyme thymidine kinase. What are the prospects for similarly curing human diseases, such as Tay-Sachs and sickle cell anemia, due to iden¬ tified genetic deficiencies? Unfor¬ tunately the plasmid remains asso¬ ciated only with descendants of the cell into which it was originally in¬ jected. Unless we can inject the plasmid into the early embryo— which seems unlikely—this sharply limits the technique’s effectiveness. Yet the fact remains that both cures for human genetic diseases and im¬ proved strains of domestic animals are now one step closer. — W.A. Thomasson FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 13 F or over a hundred years, railroad net¬ works formed the arterial lifeline of most industrial nations. Then in the mid-1950s, complex freeways and super highways made auto and truck travel much easier and swifter. Jets began to con¬ nect far parts of the nation and the world in a matter of hours. And it looked as if tradi¬ tional rail traffic would eventually be eclipsed by these faster modes of transport—especial¬ ly for long distance travel. But then came a greater awareness of man¬ made ecological imbalances, and a growing shortage of fossil fuels. People once again started looking at mass transport alter¬ natives. Technological advances, especially in computers, allowed for a resurgence in fast, dependable rail transport. First in crowded Trains of Tomorrow By ALAN BRENDER Japan, then in densely populated France and Britain, new types of trains— faster, quieter, more fully automated—were developed and put into service. These trains of the ’70s and ’80s travel at speeds sometimes up to 260 kph (163 mph); and Japan, France, Britain and Germany are developing even faster trains that will no longer rely on the flanged wheel and the dou¬ ble metal rails. By the end of this century, trains will be floating above guideways at speeds exceeding 500 kph—virtually noiseless and vibrationless. Farther into the future, there is a serious proposal—currently techno¬ logically feasible—to develop an underground rail system that could whisk a passenger from New York to Los Angeles in 21 minutes at a fare of less than $50. Proponents of rail transport argue that this form of transportation disturbs the national environment less than highway construction. Far fewer pollutants, they say, are emitted from train engines per unit of transport com¬ pared to road transport or air carriers. And trains utilize fuel more efficiently than corre¬ sponding forms of transportation. Because of its extremely dense population and total reliance on outside sources for hydrocarbon energy, Japan early recognized the need to improve its rail transport to con¬ serve energy and reduce pollution. The Japanese National Railway launched the new era of the railroad in 1964 when its famed Bullet train (officially known as the New Tokaido) went into operation between Tokyo and Osaka. Express trains on this route are able to complete the 500-kilometer run be¬ tween the two cities in slightly over three hours, averaging 208 kph, and reaching peak speeds of 240 kph. The trains are now fully computerized; operators are needed only to start the trains, stop at stations and open and close doors. Even most of these functions could be automated as well, but haven’t been for psychological reasons. Because such high-speed trains accentuate track deficiencies and aggravate problems, such as rails that don’t fit snugly, the Japanese National Railway put down special track in which the rails are welded together and imbedded in concrete. Newer high-speed lines,using techniques developed in the construction of the New Tokaido line, are being built throughout Japan today. In the 1980s, most parts of Japan will be connected by high-speed trains —even the northern island of Hokaido. To hook Hokaido into the network, the world’s largest underground rail tunnel (50 km) has been constructed 100 meters below the sea bed and 210 meters below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. More than $200 million has been spent on this 14-year project. In Britain, British Rail has launched an in¬ novative program that is reducing travel time between cities without resorting to costly and time-consuming laying of new welded, concrete-imbedded track. The first stage of the program, in the early ’70s, involved the electrification of the main north-south line between London and Glasgow and putting into service diesel engines capable of speeds of 160 kph. An hour was shaved from the original six-hour travel time and ridership rose 50 percent. Once this was accomplished, British Rail introduced its High Speed Train (HST), which is capable of operating at 200 kph over existing track. And beginning in the 1980s, British Rail will introduce its Advanced Passenger Train (APT), which like the HST has a top speed of about 200 kph, but is capable of sustained speeds at 160 kph com¬ pared to the 144 kph of the HST. Moreover, the APT has a built-in hydraulic system which automatically tilts each car as it goes around a curve to provide equilibrium of force on the passengers. Hence, APT is able to negotiate curves 40 percent faster than con¬ ventional trains without significant modifica¬ tion of track. The APTs are aerodynamically 14 FUTURE LIFE #18, May 1980 ART: © I960 BARCLAY SHAW Artist’s concept of a High Speed Surface Transport (HSST) to link Tokyo with the new International Airport 65 km. away in Narita. shaped and have lightweight bodies of ex¬ truded aluminum. Toward the close of this century, wheel-less trains suspended by magnetic forces or air will begin to make their appearances and change rail transport drastically. Prototypes of these trains are already running in Japan, France and Germany. According to Kunio Miyazaki, deputy director of the develop¬ ment department of Japan National Railways, magnetically levitated transporta¬ tion opens various possibilities depending upon the kinds of linear motors utilized and the methods of levitation used. But basically, magnetic levitation (mag-lev) trains are floated several centimeters above a guideway through the use of magnetic force. As with other high-speed trains, Japan is leading the way in development of mag-lev trains. Japan National railways has a seven- kilometer test track at Miyazaki Prefecture, and tests are being conducted there to stabilize the average running speed of the pro¬ totype mag-lev train at 400 kph, with at¬ tempts being made to reach 500 kph. Japan Airlines (JAL) has constructed a test mag-lev line of 1600 meters on Higaski Ogijimi, an ar¬ tificial island in Tokyo Bay. JAL plans even¬ tually to construct a mag-lev train from the new Narito Airport to downtown Tokyo, a distance of 66 kilometers. The decision to use a mag-lev type vehicle was made in 1974. A grant from the Japanese government has allowed JAL to begin construction of a pro¬ totype train capable of carrying 80 passengers. The prototype has the shape of a wingless jet aircraft and is expected to be 23.2 meters long, 3.8 meters wide and will have a fuselage depth of 3.1 meters. It would be ready for testing in 1980. JAL projects that a fully operational com¬ mercial mag-lev system from Narita Airport to Tokyo could be a reality within three years of completion of tests, but it will probably take longer than that. One formidable obstacle is cost. JAL now estimates that a double overhead track, without land costs, would amount to about $10 million per kilometer. The proposed train would eventually carry 224 people at an average speed of 300 kph. Propulsion would be by linear induction motor, and levitation and guidance would be accomplished through attractive electro¬ magnets. Although the JAL is one of the mag-lev trains closest to actual passenger operation, other mag-lev prototypes are in existence. In addition to the seven-kilometer test track at Miyazaki, work is being done in Germany on the Transrapid 04, a linear induction drive that rides on an electric magnet cushion. In France, an air-cushioned train is being developed that runs on a monorail type ver¬ tical center guide beam. A seven-kilometer guideway has already been constructed near Orleans for the Aerotrain prototype. Fans are used to lift the train and give it lateral guidance. A propeller driven by two high- powered gas turbines provides the propul¬ sion. Speeds up to 290kph have been record¬ ed on the 80-passenger prototype. Eventually the test track is expected to be incorporated into a 110-kilometer route between Orleans and Paris. A similar tracked air-cushioned vehicle is also under consideration in Britain. This vehicle, however, is expected to be propelled by a linear induction motor. It is expected that in the next couple of decades Europe will be criss-crossed by 200-passenger wheel-less trains that can move at speeds of 400 kph or more. Even faster is a rail system being touted for this country by Robert Salter, head of the physical sciences department at the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, California. Salter has plans for a subterranean train that could conceivably travel from New York to Los Angeles in 21 minutes, reaching 22,400 kph (14,000 mph). Salter furthermore contends that the system, which he has dubbed Planetran, could eventually be hooked into similar systems in Europe, Asia and Africa through under-ocean tunnels. A science-fiction film made in 1935, The Tunnel , did explore the possibility of a sub-Atlantic tunnel and train. But so far, a tunnel has not even been dug under the English Channel—a project first proposed by Napoleon. Still, Salter contends, “No scientific breakthroughs are required for Planetran. Critical areas include tunnel alignment, vehi¬ cle lateral acceleration, vehicle control and 16 FUTURE LIFE #18, May 1980 damping, and the tunnel process itself. Technology for these and other development areas for Planetran already exists.” In the proposed Planetran system, cars travel in underground evacuated tubes and are electromagnetically supported and pro¬ pelled. They would be continuously ac¬ celerated to midpoint (now projected to be Dallas) and continuously decelerated from there. Salter contends that with properly posi¬ tioned seats, passengers would feel the pro¬ pulsive forces only as additional weight. At the start and finish, they would feel approx¬ imately 40 percent heavier, and at midpoint, only slightly heavier. The one-g force felt at maximum speed could be reduced by a third by slowing the movement of the trains and adding extra stops. Feeder lines would enter the main transcontinental line at two interchange points—Dallas and Chicago. Subsidiary lines from the four main terminals (including New York and Los Angeles) would join from such places as San Francisco, Boston and Detroit. Air travel would be reduced along the Planetran route, but would continue to serve vast areas of the country where lack of suffi¬ cient population density would preclude Planetran use. And Planetran could be hook¬ ed into the airports via local feeder subway trains. In addition to being incredibly swift, Planetran would also be a significant energy saver versus current forms of transcontinen¬ tal travel. Salter estimates that coast-to-coast energy costs would amount to less than one dollar per passenger. Cars would contain cryogenically cooled supermagnets for levitation. Traveling electro-magnetic waves in Planetran’s guideways would oppose the magnetic fields in the cars to provide both support and for¬ ward/reverse thrust. For every car that is be¬ ing accelerated in one direction, there would be another in an adjoining tube decelerating in the opposite direction. The decelerating cars return electrical energy to the system. Locating the trains underground would reduce negative impact on the environment not only for the trains themselves but also for other systems of material transport. Pipelines for oil, water, gas, waste disposal and even slurries of materials such as coal could be located in the same tunnels. Communications links, including fiber-optic channels for lasers and microwave guidelines, as well as more conventional power transmission links, could also share the tunnels. Multiple use of the tunnels could help reduce right-of-way costs, decrease surface congestion and eliminate noise pollution, Salter contends. Construction of the tunnels for the pro¬ posed Planetrans would be the most pro¬ blematic engineering feat and also the most costly factor in the system. Salter estimates that digging the necessary tunnels could cost over $100 billion at today’s prices. The tunnels must be placed at least a hun¬ dred meters underground in solid rock for¬ mation. In most cases, depths of more than a mile may be required. New tunneling tech¬ niques would be backed up by tunnel-boring machines, water-jet drillers, hypersonic pro¬ jectile spallation, and laser and particle beam devices. Of special interest is a drilling system that utilizes a heated tungsten probe to literally melt its way through igneous rock. The system, called Subterrene, has been developed by Los Alamos Laboratories in New Mexico. It has been proved a viable tun¬ neling technique, and though Los Alamos has discontinued research on the project because of lack of funding, Subterrene could be resurrected and utilized—possibly using a nuclear heat source. One particular advantage of the Subter¬ rene method of tunneling is that the rock mat¬ ter on the sides of the tunnel become fused from the intense heat to form a hard glossy shell that is practically self-shoring. The shelling of the vacuum tube, however, is still expected to be lined with pre-stressed, high-strength concrete and then coated with irradiated distributed polymers. The 10,000 psi concrete is considered dense enough for vacuum purposes, but the plastic glaze coating will be added for extra protection. A major problem (in addition to tunneling) involves lateral acceleration. According to Salter, cars at speeds of several thousand miles per hour must maintain a very precise course to avoid excessive sideways forces on passengers. At the maximum speeds being considered, bending radii must be greater than 800 kilometers. Since Planetran is using magnetic fields as its tracks, exacting control of the fields is crucial. Extremely accurate “shimming” of elec¬ tromagnetic power by minute computer- determined vernier currents is essential. The recent development of compact, reliable, low-cost micro-computers paves the way for such control systems, says Salter. Hundreds of these computers could be distributed along Planetran’s electrical guideway structure to signal any tiny changes detected by specially placed detectors. Even in the event of an earth tremor, this control system could keep the magnetic guidefield in a fixed position. The vacuum tube would also be supplied with a system of rollers, servos and compliant joints to “ride with the punch” should a major earthquake occur. Passenger safety has not been overlooked in the event of an emergency stoppage. Provi¬ sions have been made for this and other pro¬ blems, says Salter, in the overall design of operational and car life-support apparatus, quick-opening computer-controlled gates at tube ends, terminal handling networks, tube vacuum pumping and sealing and control system diagnostics. ’Airbag-like attachments at either end of the Planetran car partially inflate in the vacuum tube to reduce longitudinal air flow. These same bags, fully inflated, would serve to seal off a portion of the tube in the advent of an emergency stop for the vehicle. Periodically placed hatches in the tube wall would permit passenger emergency exit from vehicle and tube. Salter believes Planetran is not only technologically feasible but economically feasible as well. The projected cost of the high-speed portion is now pegged at $250 billion, including $185 billion for tunnels. But these costs can be quickly amortized, Salter contends, from revenues generated by the system. With 200-passenger cars going in both directions on one-minute headways and an assumed fare of only one dollar per minute, that’s a revenue of $182,400 per minute, or $96 billion per year. Though Planetran may be decades away, the advantages of the system—which pro¬ vides rapid transit coast to coast while eliminating or reducing both ecological prob¬ lems and fuel consumption—are too numerous to be dismissed out of hand. Vehicle travel along fixed guideways—al¬ though it may not be developed from current¬ ly proposed systems and surely will not be with the metal rails we know today—is definitely one of the most effective and effi¬ cient modes of travel for the 21st century an beyond. [] FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 17 Sea City An innovative proposal for a habitat of the future designed to solve some of the problems of today By ADAM STARCH ILD and JAMES HOLAHAN S ome of the world’s most articulate scientists, politicians, economists and sociologists appear to have joined to¬ gether in a school of thought, the pur¬ pose of which is to forecast doom in a world that they see as overpopulated, overpolluted and undersupplied with the natural resources needed to maintain the high level of energy re¬ quirements for a burgeoning world popula¬ tion. Not only are we critically short of the resources for a world energy supply (they say), but we are also facing an impending world food shortage, the likes of which bog¬ gle the imagination. One prominent science writer has projected a cut-off date of 50 years hence, at which time he envisions great hordes of people leaving the cities, swarming across the land like locusts in search of food. To the believers of this creed of doomsday, the entire concept seems endowed with an aura of inevitability; just as with the weather, it is coming, and there is little that anyone can do about it. Fortunately, however, in the case of doomsday, a few people around the world are doing something. Take the Pilkington Glass Company of England, for example. The Pilkington Glass Company’s dream for the not-too-distant future is an island of concrete and glass that could be constructed in the shoals (shallows) of the oceans around the world. This is envisioned as being not only largely self-supporting, but also capable of producing goods for export to the nearby mainlands. It is designed not merely as an in¬ dustrial project, but as a city that could house and provide food, utilities, education, medi¬ cal facilities and recreation for a population of some 30,000 persons. The name chosen for the model of this futuristic appearing island city is, aptly, Sea City. Since oceans cover three-fourths of the world’s surface, with approximately 10 per¬ cent of this area consisting of shoals, the ideal topography for Sea City is widely available. Some suggested areas that would be suitable are: Martha’s Vineyard (off the coast of southeast Massachussetts); extensive areas of both the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea; off the coast of Israel, as well in the oil- producing Persian Gulf; off the South American coast, extending from the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro southward to the River Plate; in the Gulf of Mexico; and large areas from the Java Sea northward to the Gulf of Siam. The Baltic Sea around Europe contains large shoal areas, as does the northern half of the Adriatic Sea, between the coasts of Italy and Yugoslavia. The North Sea, Black Sea and Irish Sea could all provide shoal areas for Sea City. At this writing, Sea City is somewhat more than just an idea. Design details have been developed by its designers, architect Hal Moggridge, climatic and ocean engineer Ken Anthony, and structural and civil engineer 18 FUTURE LIFE#18, May 1980 John Martin. An artist’s concept of the pro¬ ject has been developed and photographed. Not only do its enthusiastic supporters see this island city as a functional economic unit, they also see it as providing an aesthetically pleasing, warm and healthy environment for its inhabitants. According to the artist’s concept of Sea Ci¬ ty, if you were to view it from a helicopter you would get the impression of a huge amphi¬ theater with tiered “bleachers” extending from the base of the amphitheater rim to its top. This amphitheater design allows the structure to encircle a sheltered lagoon that contains clusters of artificial floating islands. The “bleachers” of the main structure are in fact storied apartments and industrial buildings, with the entire tiered section of the main structure comprising 16 stories. Access to the inside of the amphitheater is gained by an opening that faces toward the mainland shore; this opening is in effect a harbor en¬ trance to the inner lagoon. The actual, physical size of the amphitheater is projected as being 4,700 feet from north to south, and 3,300 feet across at its widest point. The city is afforded protection from sea breakers by an encircling breakwater on the seaward side. The construction techniques of Sea City will follow the traditional methods that have been developed in bridge building, etc. The initial step of the construction is the driving of piles (precast and barged from the mainland) into the seabed at 20- to 30-foot intervals. Next, deck sections of reinforced, precast concrete are towed to the site, where they are jacked up onto guide rails between the rows of piers. These deck sections are locked in place on the piles to form a continuous cellular slab. To complete this foundation, concrete is poured to fill the voids around the pile structure. The next construction phase of this main amphitheater structure is the placing of prefabricated concrete cells on the base. Those cells, prefabricated on the mainland, are transported to the site in bottomless barges, where they are to rest on the base, starting at a point 30 feet above the highest anticipated level of the sea. The cells are winched up temporary ramps onto the base, where they are mounted one above the other on spacer units. Each cell forms either a small flat or a portion of a large one. The spaces that surround the four sides of the cells are used as conduits for gas, water, electricity and sewage. To finish the main structure, each cell is stressed down to the one below to form a uniform, massive structure. To utilize the sheltered lagoon to its fullest, islands are constructed in it which provide a base for everything from housing to play¬ grounds for children and industrial facilities, with a network of connecting pathways be¬ tween the islands. The islands of the lagoon are triangular concrete pontoons, 60 feet wide, and held in position by anchor chains. The rigid sections, which are linked together by flexible couplings to allow for the move¬ ment of the water, form a modular type of construction, which allows the islands to be uncoupled and recoupled in various com¬ binations to form islands of various shapes and sizes, up to 10,000 square feet in area. The top platforms of the island, which overlap the pontoons, support lightweight, fiberglass reinforced plastic buildings of up to three stories in height. The pontoons, which contain buoyancy compartments and storage areas, are equipped with ballast tanks that can be flooded or pumped out to level the rigid sections with each other, regardless of the load bearing on them. If Sea City is to function as the designers envision it, it must do so in an artificially warmed, climatically controlled environ¬ ment, protected from any wind or rough seas that might occur. The protection from the sea is afforded by a breakwater which is con¬ structed seaward of, and around, the city. This breakwater effectively creates a trench or “moat” of calm water that surrounds the outer perimeter of the amphitheater. The breakwater is made up of 100-foot-long by six-foot-diameter bags, filled to 90 percent with fresh water, and anchored side by side with flexible cables. When an incoming breaker strikes the breakwater, a secondary wave is generated inside each bag, which re¬ bounds against the end of the bag and creates a damping action against the incoming sea breakers. As further insurance that the inner lagoon of Sea City remains calm, a curtain of com¬ pressed air bubbles up from an undersea pipeline, rising to the surface across the har¬ bor, or lagoon entrance. Protection from winds is created by the structure of the amphitheater itself. In tests conducted at Leicester University, it was found that the optimum shape of the 180-foot-high wall would be that of an out¬ ward leaning figure “S.” The wind tunnel ex¬ periments indicated that such a surface would deflect the wind upward to a height that would leave the area below relatively calm, resulting in a large, slow-moving vortex of air that moves back toward the direction of the wind, causing the air that passes over the ter¬ races on the inner surface of the wall to move Artist’s rendering of Sea City shows a full-size football field on top of power complex, with marine zoos in foreground. FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 for aesthetic appearance, as well as heat and light transmission and insulation properties to reduce glare and solar overheating. These factors should produce a comfortable, plea¬ sant environment for Sea City residents. To reduce noise, as well as pollution of the lagoon, all the internal transportation will be by electrically powered boats and water buses, with battery recharging units placed around the city to replace the familiar land- based “service stations.” As planned, a five- minute water bus service can complete a cir¬ cuit of the city in 25 minutes. There will be a one-way traffic system around the base of the terraced wall, where it is anticipated that traf¬ fic will be heaviest. Elsewhere in the lagoon, persons can travel at their own discretion. Landing islands will service those boats that are not moored beneath the terraced wall. Concrete landing pads are spaced around the lagoon, and boats can also be boarded by way of watertight doors in the sides of the pon¬ toons, or from outside stairways. To avoid traffic congestion in the inner lagoon, visitors will be required to moor their boats at the berths provided near the lagoon entrance. Supply barges and container ships will bring supplies to the city, where ample storage space will be available; however, even in the event of a natural disaster the city would not be cut off from supplies, because hovercraft have already been developed that can travel safely at 30 knots in strong winds, over 10-foot waves. Commuters will travel between Sea City and the mainland by hovercraft or helicopter- bus. Storage space for commuter autos will be provided in the form of a multi-deck park¬ ing garage on the mainland, and travel from there to Sea City’s heliport would take 15 to 30 minutes by helicopter-bus. Just as any land-based city, Sea City will be internally self-governing, with the local government center located at the social hub of the city. Many of the public buildings, such as the nursery, primary and secondary schools, etc., will be located on the floating islands. None of the shops, schools or other facilities will be more than a one-mile walk by way of a network of footpaths and bridges, 13 feet above sea level, connecting the floating islands to each other and to the ter¬ raced wall. Sea City will be serviced by a 200-bed hospital, clinics and dental services. Mor¬ tuary services will be in the form of a crematorium which is located just outside the city wall. The city’s internal comunications system will allow the residents to call for fire, police and government services exactly as we do now in any land-based city. To link the ci¬ ty’s communications system to that of the rest of the world, an underwater cable to the mainland will connect into the world telephone and telegraph system. To provide social and cultural facilities for the residents, there will be community centers, youth clubs, tea-gardens, two theaters, movie houses, libraries, an art gallery, a museum, and churches for all denominations. The City will maintain public gardens with flowers and shrubs chosen slowly upward. The tests further indicated that this slow-moving air mass will extend for some distance across the lagoon and will be maintained there by the thermal currents generated by the warm air mass that emanates from the mainland city. The original plans for Sea City call for it to be located near a natural gas field. The gas will be piped to a processing plant on one end of the city, from where it will be fed to high¬ speed turbines that are coupled to electricity producting generators, to supply the elec¬ trical needs of the island city. The essence of the success of Sea City is conservation , and to this end, the heat from the turbine exhaust gases will be used to pro¬ vide energy for a desalination plant, as well as for domestic and industrial heating and refrigeration. The coolant water of the generating plant, the temperature of which will be raised considerably in the process, will be dumped directly into the lagoon, thus rais¬ ing the temperature of the lagoon water an anticipated five to seven degrees above that of the surrounding ocean water. To keep the heated water within the lagoon, where it will help in the maintenance of the artificially warmed climate, sluice gates will be installed beneath the supporting base platform. In good weather, the sluice can be opened to allow the natural tidal currents to cleanse the lagoon. Sea City can be expanded in the future with no major technical problems to overcome, as new terraced walls can be built outside the main structure, and concentric with it. Such a design would create more lagoons of heated water. The terraced section of the amphitheater comprises 16 stories of apartments that are centrally heated and/ or air-conditioned, and will provide housing for 21,000 of the an¬ ticipated 30,000 residents of the city. Other residents will live in individually designed houses on the island of the lagoon. To avoid monotony in design, the format and size of the apartments are varied, with some apart¬ ments having up to seven rooms. Most of the apartments will be provided with terraced gardens. The apartment windows facing the lagoon are designed to give the residents at least two and a half hours of winter sunshine a day. The seaward side of the lower eight stories of the main structure will be used for offices and industrial facilities; the seaward side of the upper eight stories also have win¬ dows facing seaward. Access to the city’s gardens, shops, clubs, restaurants, etc., will be by escalators, travelators and covered walkways. The inter¬ nal distribution of goods will be done by a network of pneumatic tubes and conveyors. The glass of the various structures will have a variety of special qualities, including tinting Sea City’s population would require a 200-bed hospital. One of the large islands of Sea City, with cutaway showing flood tanks, bouyancy chambers and storage space in pontoons. 20 FUTURE LIFE#18, May 1980 especially for the warm climate. Sports-minded residents from children to adults are considered in Sea City’s plan, with the central part of the lagoon being the hub of water sports. Weekend sailors, water skiers, and swimming and diving enthusiasts will ac¬ tually be able to enjoy their sports year round because of the artificially warmed climate of Sea City. There will also be a tennis court, as well as a full-sized football field, on top of the power complex. As desirable as all of these amenities of liv¬ ing may seem, the reason for Sea City’s ex¬ istence is not relaxation and pleasure, but productivity. The sea has for eons been the catch-basin for minerals that leach out of the soil and are carried to the oceans in streams and rivers. We know that life proliferates in many forms in the oceans, and moreover, that more natural resources must lie beneath the sea bed than we have yet tapped under the land. The very water of the oceans is the essence of life on Earth. Oceanography and undersea study is coming of age, and should form a basis of marine industry of the future. The Sea City prototype should be extreme¬ ly important to the development of a host of marine industries. It could house a College of Marine Studies, complete with submarine laboratories and a marine zoo with observa¬ tion posts, as well as research vessels. Such a college is seen as a first step toward a Univer¬ sity of the Sea. The industrial and economic possibilities are far-reaching and dramatic: Boat building: In recent years the sales of boats, both commercial and pleasure, have risen steadily. Sea City’s lagoon facilities are easily adaptable to the industry of boat building, an industry which could contribute significantly to its economy. Sand and ballast dredging: Land-based construction has a voracious appetite for sand and ballast, creating the possibility of a dredging industry for Sea City. Minerals and metals: Sea water contains useful minerals and metals. Admittedly, the concentrations of these elements is low, but the recoverable amounts are quite large. For example, sea water with a salinity of 3.433 percent contains 1,272 p.p.m. (parts per million) of magnesium (used in the manufac¬ ture of optical mirrors, precision in¬ struments, etc.). Bromine (used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, dyes, etc.), which occurs in sea water at about 13 p.p.m., was commercially extracted as long ago as 1924. Further, such metals as strontium (used in fireworks, flares, etc.), rubidium (resembles potassium and is used in photo¬ electric cells, etc.), copper and other metals can be recovered from sea water, as well as nodules of manganese dioxide that are found on the sea bed. Precious metals, such as gold, could be extracted from the brine concentrate of the City’s desalination plant. The power complex could produce a by-product of nitrogen, resulting from free nitrogen ex¬ tracted from the air, which would lead to the development of new fertilizer and chemical plants. Organic fertilizers: Another source of in¬ come for Sea City would be from fertilizers manufactured from seaweed and sewage. Water: The large desalination plant that is planned for the City would enable it not only to provide its own fresh water needs, but also pipe water to the mainland, where formerly arid land could be turned into orchards and gardens. Undoubtedly, when enough island cities such as Sea City exist, viable methods of transporting water for long distances to in¬ terior regions will be developed. The produc¬ tion of water alone would justify the existence of Sea City. Food: Water is the natural environment for man’s most nutritious and plentiful—but perhaps least exploited—food: fish. Com¬ mercial fishing, as it is generally practiced, is a somewhat inefficient way of harvesting the bounty of the oceans. Fish farming , on the other hand, is becoming recognized as one of our most efficient methods of producing high-quality food, because fish have an ex¬ tremely high conversion ratio of feed con¬ sumed to meat produced. And the warm- water environment of Sea City would be ideally suited to the culture of almost all the fish that we traditionally buy in the markets, including most of the “flat fish’’ (ling-cod, sole, etc.) as well as trout, salmon, shrimp, etc. The culture of oysters, clams, and other shell fish would undoubtedly be successful. A major advantage of this kind of food production, which combines the best of both artificial and natural environments, is the speed with which fish feed can be converted to food for man. In temperature-controlled tanks, with intensive management, and with a fish feed that could be processed from such waste products as sewage, the yield from Sea City fish farms should equal, if not exceed, the productivity of any warm-water pond now in operation in America or Europe, where a pond-acre normally produces something on the order of five tons of fish per year. And such a farming enterprise would tie in with the industry of fish canning. The operation of Sea City’s many in¬ dustries and services will provide employ¬ ment not only for Sea City residents, but also for workers from the mainland. How long before the Sea Cities of the world become reality? The answer to that question cannot be easily arrived at. We know that the technology for such a project is available—the Pilkington model has proved that. Now it remains for some entity—gov¬ ernmental, corporate or a partnership thereof—to commit to an investment in Sea City; an investment in the future. Q FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 21 books from Dragons Dream CD ^ CD CD >■ co .Q A visual encyclopedia of tomorrow's world—transportation systems, future cities and space outposts contoured in steel, glass, chrome and plastic-by the highly regarded industrial designer. 160 pp. 140 color pages, $14.95 paper CO CO O u- CO Co 3LL -M CO CD ^ Uy CD cvi .Q Foss' most brilliant work is collected here—submarines, space arks, floating cities, alien terrains, monolithic architecture- works that have made him a premier science fiction artist. 144 pp. Full color throughout, $10.95 paper Drawn from the archives of the More than 400,000 copies sold! highly acclaimed British magazine The definitive collection of Dean's Eagle, the Dan Dare stories, the powerful, surrealistic visions of most successful science fiction past, possible and parallel worlds strip which was ever created, demonstrates his seminal influence are reproduced here for the first in poster, album sleeves, furniture, time since Eagle ceased publication stage and experimental urban design. 20 years ago. 112 pp. 166 pp. Full color throughout. Full color throughout, $9.95 paper $25.00 cloth, $10.95 paper Please send me:_copy(ies) VIEWS $25.00 cloth _ 10.95 paper _copy(ies) 2ist CENTURY FOSS 10.95 paper _copy(ies) SENTINEL 14.95 paper _copydes) DAN dare 9.95 paper Add $1.50 per book for postage and handling. Please allow 3-4 weeks for delivery. Enclosed is my check or money order for $- Please print: Name- Address_ -Zip- O Send to: Big O Publishing Box 6186 Charlottesville, Virginia 22906 earth controL By BOB WOODS Forests: Seeing Them for the Trees I f a tree fell in the middle of the forest and no one were around to hear it fall, would it make a sound? This is a stimulating philo¬ sophical discussion, but in ecological terms the answer is a resounding,loud-and-clear yes. According to some experts studying the status of forests, there are far too many trees being felled and the sound is one being heard —and felt—throughout the world. The last official inventory, completed in 1963, estimated that 29 percent of the Earth’s land surface is forest, in one form or another. More recent analyses put the mark at approx¬ imately 20 percent for closed (thick) forests and 12 percent for open (scattered) forests. Lately, timber has been in the news, as energy-conscious Americans stoke up wood- burning stoves in an effort to beat sky¬ rocketing heating oil prices. This back-to- basics movement seems somewhat... basic —considering that about half of all the wood cut in the world each year is burned as fuel, mainly by the one-third of humanity which still depends on firewood for cooking and heating. Forests also provide such human amenities as raw materials for houses, furniture, paper, medicines and even plastics. As an ecological agent, a forest helps the flow of water, oxy¬ gen, carbon and nitrogen. Trees hold soil on mountainsides and provide homes for virtu¬ ally millions of plant and animal species. And there will never be a substitute for a walk through the woods or the grandeur of a 1,000-year-old redwood tree. What it ultimately comes down to is that we are all directly in need of forests. As humans continue to populate the planet, more and more of these forests are disappear¬ ing, and unless deforestation is checked, some catastrophic situations will arise. Nowhere is this fragility more apparent than in the tropical rain forests, of which 27 million acres are annually cleared for com¬ mercial endeavors. Reports the National Science Foundation: “If something is not done to curtail the destruction of tropical rain forest ecosystems, the webs of life that define them and limit or prescribe what can be pro¬ duced. . .will never be known.” Considerable attention has recently been focused on the lush Amazon Basin of Brazil (though a total of seven nations border the basin)—the world’s largest rain forest and the world’s longest river. With all its largeness, it’s no wonder that the same adjective applies so aptly to its problems. This once-impene- trable jungle is now the apple in the eye of many a developer, farmer and logger. It is estimated that an area the size of Indiana was cleared in the Amazon last year. Aside from the loss of trees, consider that probably a million other species share the same forest. A worker carries seedlings to replant the cleared Braziliarvrain forest. Tropical rain forests—located primarily in Latin America, Africa and Indonesia/ Malaysia—constitute a unique ecosystem. Contrary to most concepts, the jungle is not an especially fertile environment. It is more the intensity of its recyclable life that keeps the rain forest thriving. A symbiotic associa¬ tion between the dense foliage and the variety of life on the floor of the jungle makes for a rich yet delicate balance. Most of the nutri¬ ents are stored in the shallow roots and a peculiar fungus called mycorrhiza that forms on the jungle floor. The soil never gets a chance to soak up enough of the nutrients that collect; thus there is not much more than an inch or so of fertile topsoil in a rain forest. Such facts become painfully evident when faced with the results of clear-cutting a forest for lumber or the common “slash and bum” method of farming (whereby the forest is burned and the ashes are left to enrich the soil; but the area is soon nutrient-starved and the farmer must move on and repeat the pro¬ cedure). After a year or so of unobstructed sun and rain, that once thriving jungle is reduced to useless, rock-hard, desert-like wasteland. The process has been fittingly dubbed “desertification.” The ’70s took their toll on the Amazon Basin. Faced with runaway demands of social and economic expansion, the Brazilian government invited scores of developers to share in the seemingly inexhaustible wealth of the jungle. PBS’s Nova recently traveled down the mighty Amazon to investigate the super¬ human enterprise of American billionaire Daniel Ludwig, who ten years ago set out to tame three and a half million acres of the rain forest. Today, Ludwig’s empire, Jari, is a tribute to 20th-century can-do-ism. Using so¬ phisticated methods, Ludwig cleared and replanted miles of native forests with more commercially valuable species; vast expanses of swampland have been transformed into thriving rice paddies. Jari boasts an im¬ pressive floating pulp mill the size of a 150,000 ton ship. Admittedly, Ludwig’s empire is an awesome accomplishment. Yet it is the wholesale transformation—total human manipulation of a virgin rain forest—that has some environmentalists fretting. After all, the Amazon generates one-fifth of Earth’s oxygen and plays a major role in global weather. Is all this mucking around going to catch up with Ludwig’s grand experiment? The challenge of wise utilization of forest lands is especially poignant in developing na¬ tions, where the immediate needs of struggl¬ ing populations often overshadow long-term ecological considerations. Eighty percent of the wood used in Third World countries is burned for fuel. These people know little about reforestation, nor do they realize that the denuding of forests leads to erosion, desertification, flooding and the extinction of species. It is ironic that nations so rich in timber are so lacking in economic and ecolo¬ gical capabilities to deal with it. Like it or not, the future of forestry depends on the “haves” providing for the “have-nots.” It is enough of a dilemma in America that as lumber prices rise, housing costs soar. But actual day-to-day existence is directly linked to forest for a majority of the world. There are some encouraging signs of change: During his first six months in office, Brazil’s President Joao Baptista Figueredo has created three national parks in the Ama¬ zon; the newly formed Amazon Forest Policy Committee has recommended the creation of 600,000 square miles of national parks and ecological preserves, and another 300,000 square miles as national forests. Further¬ more, the government in Brazil is curbing the corporate exploitation of the rain forest that they so strongly encouraged in the past decade. Similarly successful reforestation programs are underway in China, Pakistan and other developing nations. But someone is going to have to foot the bill. Many Third World countries feel that if the entire world is so dependent on their forests, the entire world should pay to pre¬ serve them. Considering the gravity of the consequences, now is the time for wealthy na¬ tions to start investing in the future greening of Earth. [] The UDmate Aien Encounter No. 1 —Premiere Issue Interview: Fred Pohl. The Man From Planet X. Tomorrow: Isaac Asimov. No. 2— The Truth Behind Cosmos 954. Interview: Arthur C. Clarke. Tomorrow: Norman Spinrad. No. 3- Quasars. Pulsars & Black Holes. The-SF Films of Jules Verne Tomorrow: Fred Pohl. No. 4— Interview: Alvin Toffler. History of the SF Pulps. Tomorrow: Ben Bova No. 5- Interview: Ray Bradbury. Earthport: Space Station. Collier's 1951 Space Program. vW No. 9- The Real Albert Einstein Planetariums. Space Art Tomorrow: Jacques Cousteau No. 6- No. 7- Architecture: Solar Houses. Future Planetary Probes. O'Neill's Mass-Driver. San Diego Space Theater. Tomorrow: Robert Anton Wilson.Careers in the Space Program No. 8- Arcosanti: Future City. Space Art: David Hardy. Earthsat: Comouter Photos. No. 11- ’Aliens: Hollywoods & NASA’s Holography & Videodiscs Tomorrow: Larry Niven No. 12— Apollo II Revisited Cryonics and Immortality Interview: Robert Silverberg No. 13— Genetic Engineering Future of Rock Music Interview: John Varley No. 14— Interview: Frank Herbert Russian Space Art Tomorrow: A.E. van Vogt FUTURE LIFE Back Issues 475 Park Avenue South, Dept. F18. New York, N.Y. 10016 JUST LOOK WHAT YOU'VE MISSED • ORDER TODAY! POSTAGE & HANDLING: Back issue prices include postage for regular 3rd Class delivery (4 to 6 weeks). For super-quick service, include your own SELF- ADDRESSED 9” x 12” envelope. 1st Class postage can either be* included with pay¬ ment or affixed to the envelope with the cor¬ rect number of American stamps. NO POSTAGE METER TAPES OR FOREIGN STAMPS. 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City- State. -Zip_ Enclosed $- Note: If you don’t want to cut up this magazine, please print your order on a separate piece of paper. Available at Waldenbooks, B. Dalton Booksellers and other fine bookstores. No. 10— Interview Timothy Leary O'Neill: Space Colony Plans Tomorrow Roger Zelazny No. 15— Frank Herbert on "Dune" Russian Space Art Van Vogt on Future War No. 16—Special Issue Forecasting the Next Decade Space-Age Games Interview: Sturgeon No. 17—2nd Anniversary Real-World Robots Looking for ESP Tomorrow: Silverberg No. 1 —Premiere Issue Star Trek—Rare pix, complete episode guide, interviews. Bionic Woman. Space: 1999. Close Encounters Preview. The Prisoner Episode Guide. The Incredible Shrinking Man. E No. 18— Galactica Interviews. Dracula Films, Jekyi; & Hyde. 2nd SF Merchandise Guide. 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Laserblast: Behind the Scenes. No. 13— Interview: David Prowse. 3001: A Space Comedy Pal Remembers The Time Mach.ne No. 14— Star Trek Spoof. The Art of Virgil Finlay. Protect UFO Interview: Jim Danforth. SUPERMAN ARRIVES No. 15— Twilight Zone Episode Guide Galactica: Sneak Preview The Sellina of Star Wars. No. 16— The Films of Bert Gordon Solar Power Satellites The Invaders Episode Guide No. 17— Interview: Steven Spielberg. McQuarrie Galactica Poster. Fall SF TV Previews. No. 19— Interview: Ralph Bakshi. Corman: Master of the "Bs". Body Snatchers Buck Rogers. No. 26- Free Blueprint SF Collectibles Moon Missions Revisited No. 30— Trek Interviews Part I: Chekov’s Enterprise SF Stuntwomen No. 20- No. 21 — No. 22- Interview: Pam Mindy Dawber. Buck Rogers’ 50th Birtnday. Flying Model Rockets. Interview: Mark Hamill Lost in Space Episode Guide History of SF Model Kits. Interview: Lome Greene. Preview: SF Films of 1979. 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SSoooooooooooo The Payoff from Space Technology developed to move people into space has improved the quality of life on Earth By ALLAN AAAURER D ressed in a miniature spacesuit, a Houston child named David stepped from a sterile plastic bubble into the outside world for the first time three years ago. Bom with severe im¬ mune deficiency, David does not have normal bodily defenses against disease; germs harmless to most people can kill him. Since receiving his NASA-developed spacesuit, David has been able to leave his sterile isolation chamber and live a more normal life. David’s story inspired the TV movie The Boy in the Plastic Bub¬ ble , starring John Travolta, and is one of the more dramatic examples of spinoff—side benefits from the American space program. “We’re bringing it all down to Earth,” says Lou Mogavero, NASA’s Chief of Terrestrial Applications. “Space Benefits, a recent NASA publication, details 500 applications of space science to government, industry, communications, education, transportation, manufacturing, health care, food production, energy and other fields.” In 1977, the Denver Research Institute reported that ten dollars are returned to the economy for every dollar NASA spends on spinoff. “That’s an evaluation of performance, not a guestimate,” says Richard McCormack, a NASA public affairs officer. But Floyd Roberson, director of NASA’s Technology Transfer Division, is quick to point out, “That figure does not include what it cost to put a man on the Moon. It’s an evaluation of how much it cost to get the in¬ formation to the public.” More than money is involved, however, says Mogavero. “It’s hard to put a dollar value on what we’ve done to help the handicapped live more normal lives, and in medical research, hospitals, and health care. These include such things as developing voice-operated wheelchairs, articulating robotics (jointed artificial limbs) and lightweight batteries.” NASA holds patents on 3,500 inventions available for commercial licensing, but Roberson agrees that space science applied to health care is impressive. “Shortly after I joined the agency,” he says, “we visited Stanford University’s Biomedical Applications Center. The doctor we were to meet was over an hour late for his appointment with us. Later we learned he had been in the operating room, remov¬ ing a tumor from the brain of a young black fighter. We saw the NASA-developed intercranial pressure monitor used in his post¬ operative care. This brought home to me just how concrete and real technology transfer can be.” NASA is also bringing medical care home to the natives of Ka Ka, Hickiwan, Vaya Chin, and Gu Vo. These may sound like places in Southeast Asia, but they are as American as Peoria—and almost as remote as astronauts in space. They are villages of the Papago Indian Reservation in Arizona, chosen to test a mobile health care and com¬ munications unit. The unit is modeled on NASA’s plans to provide astronauts with medical care on long-duration interplanetary mis¬ sions. Using special NASA communications equipment, a doctor can help patients without being physically present, whether the patients are in Papago villages or enroute to Mars. Still another medical innovation developed through NASA research is designed to bring your stomach down to Earth. Motion sickness has annoyed people since the invention of the wheel, and boats, trains, planes and spaceships have added to the misery some feel when they travel. Searching for better ways to relieve astronauts suffering from motion sickness, NASA scientists found that a com¬ bination of two drugs works better than either one by itself. Further experiments may provide a long-term treatment which involves wear¬ ing a foil patch containing a drug and a chemical that enables it to penetrate the skin. Spinoff applications of space technology are equally impressive outside the medical and health care field. The number of terrestrial uses found for spacesuit technology alone is startling. The material used to make the suits, Teflon-coated Beta fiber glass yam, has re¬ vived an ancient and honorable shelter: the tent. Light, durable and nonflammable, this space-age material does not stretch, shrink, mildew or rot. It is strong, never needs cleaning because dirt won’t stick to its slippery surface, and is 30 to 40 percent cheaper than con¬ ventional roofing materials. It is being used in a growing number of buildings, ranging from the Detroit Lions’ Silverdome at Pontiac, Michigan, to a vocational school in icebound Alaska, and a recrea¬ tional structure in the scorching Saudi Arabian desert. Heated clothing for construction workers, hunters and skiers is another example of spacesuit spinoff. “Lunar gloves” which sell for $30 a pair, boots, caps and goggles are commercially available. Ther- maflex, a woven mesh material designed to allow air to flow around an astronaut’s feet, is used for bicycle seats and athletic insoles. Mogavero noted that spinoff has been used in the public as well as the private sectors of the economy. One of the most unusual applica¬ tions of space science to a “public sector” problem is underway behind the crumbling walls of San Quentin prison in California. Violence reached unprecedented peaks in California prisons dur¬ ing the last decade, with over 500 stabbings and assaults that led to the deaths of 100 inmates and a dozen guards. At San Quentin, warden 26 FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 Technology developed for astronauts’ spacesuits has been applied to many other purposes on Earth. Top: Teflon-coated beta fiber glass yarn is used for an updated tent structure. Left and above: Houston youngster "David,” born with severe immuno¬ deficiency, can live only inside his plastic bubble environment—or in the spacesuit designed for him by NASA. FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 27 Computer design tech¬ niques developed for aerospace construction have been adapted to passenger cars such as General Motors’ Cadillac Seville, the first to benefit from the company’s Vehicle Structural Analysis Pro¬ gram, now used in the design of all GM cars. Right: Lightweight oxy¬ gen bottles developed for the space program are now used by scuba divers and firefighters. Wound with 1670 miles of filament, the bottles are lighter, stronger and hold more volume. The most pervasive spinoff of the space program can be seen in the advances in microelectronics made necessary by the need to keep all spacecraft components as small and light-weight as possible, yet sophisticated enough for spaceflight. 28 FUTURE LIFE#18, May 1980 George Summer blames most of the outbursts on the activities of three prison gangs: a Mexican Mafia, the Black Guerilla family, and the Aryan Brotherhood, a group of neo-Nazi bikers and thugs. Recently, however, NASA engineers installed specially designed sensors and other technological devices which have lessened tension. One sensor, placed in cell walls, detects certain sounds over great distances. “We can determine if anyone is cutting on a bar, sharpen¬ ing steel on concrete, or tunneling,” Summer says. Another sensor allows guards to eavesdrop on prison yard conversations, and a third sounds a warning if anyone approaches within 20 feet of the perimeter fence. NASA-designed glasses permit the guards to see the yard clearly at night. The prisoners, who might be expected to resent these Big Brother- like devices, apparently do not. They no longer have to worry about being stabbed because they are black or white or speak Spanish, Sum¬ mer explains. “It’s cooler, man,” one prisoner said, “cooler.” The prisoners at San Quentin would probably be overjoyed to get their hands on a device jointly developed by NASA and the U.S. Coast Guard. A lightweight firefighting unit that can be carried by helicopter, it uses rocket engine pumps to deliver 2,000 gallons of seawater a minute to wherever it is aimed. NASA’s Roberson describes it as one of the most impressive things he has seen. “When I first saw it demonstrated during the handover ceremony at Boston,” he says, “my first impression was of the high pitched whine of its engines and a long, lacy stream of water. Then I realized it Computer graphic enhancement, developed to improve resolution of space photography, is employed by artists such as Howard Sochurek to create extraordinary visuals for fun and profit. NASA technology applied to firefighters’ needs has significantly improved protective clothing and hand-held equipment. Weight reduction lessens fatigue and reduces injury and disability rates. was coming out with enough force to knock down the walls of a house!” Firefighters have also benefited from a lightweight air bottle NASA designed. A Boston deputy fire chief told NASA officials, “Many men preferred not to use the older equipment. Without it they risked being overcome by smoke, but with the old masks the weight could make them collapse from heat and'exhaustion.” Transportation is another area in which aerospace spinoff has had a major impact. The NASA /Army tilt rotor aircraft has wing- mounted helicopter rotors for vertical takeoffs and landing, but in flight, the rotors tilt forward to become propellers. The plane can cruise at 460 miles an hour. A specially designed NASA wing enabled construction of a smaller, lighter plane capable of greater lift than previous aircraft. NASA helped develop a jetfoil for boats that lifts the hull out of the water and gives a fast, jolt-free ride even in rough seas. Called Hydrofoils, the ships which use this device are in service throughout the world, and have set speed records. A NASA-developed radar unit provides more conventional ships with a means to measure ice thick¬ ness and cut their way through frozen waterways. Electric cars using nickel-zinc batteries developed by NASA are in use by the U.S. Post Office, and General Motors modeled its struc¬ tural analysis program on a technique created by NASA engineers. GM used the program to design a smaller, lighter Cadillac Seville with the smoothest ride possible for its weight, and is applying the pro¬ gram to its full line of automobiles. NASA’s own version of the same program, called NASTRAN (NASA Structural Analysis Program) played a role in giving Disney World visitors a cheap thrill: it was used to design the support structure for the Space Mountain roller coaster ride. Chances are good that your own home contains examples of spinoff from space technology, too. A metallized plastic material originally developed for use in the Echo I communications satellite im¬ proves the shelf life of some foods 300 percent when used in packag¬ ing. A lubricant that served in a group of satellites is now commercial¬ ly available as “Sound Off,” which deposits a microscopically thin coating on records to keep the diamond stylus from gradually eating away the vinyl grooves. Roberson believes that the most important benefit we have re¬ ceived from the space program is also the most pervasive and least noticed. “The greatest single thing to come out of space technology,” he says, “is the increased reliability of electrical components. Many of the dollars that went into the space program were used in testing com¬ ponents to make them reliable. Now it’s so pervasive that we don’t notice it, but I don’t think we’d have solid state TVs that operate for five years maintenance-free without it.” McCormack, on the other hand, thinks that a device called the power factor controller will become increasingly important to energy conscious Americans in coming years. ‘ ‘Two of the most crucial con¬ siderations on a spacecraft are space and energy,” he says. “If you can miniaturize things and cut down on the energy they use, those are two big pluses.” The power factor controller, he explains, attaches to the motor wires of industrial or household appliances. It allows only the energy the motor needs to get through, and in tests has cut power consump¬ tion by the appliances up to 70 percent. Although Roberson said requests for NASA technology briefs are increasing, he noted that America is falling behind other nations in research and development. “The contracts we’re giving out now simply are not as demanding,” another NASA official said. “They don’t require the innovation that was needed when the space pro¬ gram was in full swing.” “All of these real, solid, technological innovations are a good reason for getting back into space,” said an outside consultant who works with NASA on a contract basis. “But there is another reason, and perhaps a better one. Ray Bradbury said it when we first put a man on the Moon. ‘Space travel says you can live forever. Now we are able to transport our seed to other worlds. We can be sure that this miraculous gift of life goes on forever.’ “That,” said the consultant, “may eventually be the most impor¬ tant benefit of all.” FUTURE LIFE#18.Mav1980 29 Farside The other side of the Moon offers the perfect vantage point from which to observe the universe. By MICHAEL A.G. MICHAUD T he Moon, hung high above us, was the natural first target for our ex¬ traterrestrial aspirations. Promi¬ nent, brightly visible, obviously round, its face marked by intriguing patterns of light and dark—it is a little world. Except for the sun, it was the only body in the solar system whose disk we could see with the na¬ ked eye; it suggested to us the shape of the planet on which we live. With the invention of the telescope, we saw its craters, its seas of hardened lava, even the shadows of its peaks. Yet it remained tantalizingly out of reach, un¬ til 1969. Now we know the Moon first hand, having walked its ground in rib-soled boots, and crumbled its dust between our gloved fingers. It is a remote but familiar place, a barren ex¬ tension of the Earth, like an iceless Antarctica. But we have touched only one side of the Moon. The other is forever hidden from observers here, turned away from us by our own planet’s gravitational stranglehold, which keeps the same side facing us throughout the month-long lunar revolution around the Earth. That other side is a symbol of remoteness and inaccessibility: the far side of the Moon. The Apollo astronauts who looked down on it as they orbited the Moon were cut off from Earth, in a cone of radio silence, isolated from all other humans; they were, for those minutes, the loneliest men alive. Yet it is that very insulation from the Earth, by 2,160 miles of rock, which makes the far- side of a unique value to us. It is the one place in the inner solar system not barraged by the electric noise of humans—the cacaphony of AM, FM, short wave, radar and television that already crowds the radio astronomer’s sky. There we can locate the most powerful tools of our astronomy, undisturbed by the atmosphere, the hydrogen geocorona, the light, or the radio signals of Earth. In the Moon’s weaker gravity, mirrors can be made larger without distorting, and radio antennas can grow to giant size. The geometric form of some craters on the far side of the Moon is that of a natural bowl. These craters could serve as the sites for large radio antennas, similar in design to the Arecibo dish in Puerto Rico, but much larger in diameter than Arecibo’s 1,000 feet. Or many antennas could be laid out in rows, like the array of radio telescopes proposed by scientists in 1971 to search for civilizations among the stars, and called by the eerie name: Project Cyclops. A lunar colony, an in¬ evitable future step for a spacefaring humani¬ ty, could support the construction, opera¬ tion, and maintenance of such an obser¬ vatory. A study by the Stanford Research In¬ stitute suggests that the ideal location for these instruments would be near the center of the far side of the Moon. A few decades from now, we may be able to see through our Earth-based telescopes the first evidence of our humanizing of the Moon. On the near side, there may be flashes of light, or glints off metal structures on the lunar surface or in orbit around our natural satellite. Over the years, these signs of human presence may spread across Luna’s face, points of life scattered over that barren land. But farside, out of the sight of Earth, would be the land of quiet. There scientists would work in a carefully preserved stillness, facing outward into the celestial deep. There our telescopes could linger on an object for days at a time, instead of the few hours granted to astronomers on the rapidly spin¬ ning Earth. Enormous mirrors would silently collect the faintest traces of light, discerning objects farther and farther back in time, ever closer to the primordial explosion. Great radio ears would strain to hear the whispers of the stars, and perhaps the distinctive patterns of intelligent communication. Farside Obser¬ vatory would be our most open window on the universe, humanity’s unblinking eye on the cosmos, our most advanced listening post for energy and life. And building it would ex¬ tend human civilization around the Moon, enclosing a new world in our grasp. /? FIITMRF! IFF#1 ft MavlQflO 31 THE GREAT FLASH GORDON REVIVAL! An old fashioned, all- American science fiction hero is revived in a new-fangled, European- made, $40 million super space opera. By JOSEPH KAY n 1934, Alex Raymond unveiled a comic strip creation that was destined to become part of 20th century Americana: Flash Gordon, stalwart swashbuckler and space traveler. This December, producer Dino DeLaurentiis plans to repackage the original character in a $40 million Christmas present to the movie-going public. Flash Gordon is heading for the silver screen once more. In his first motion picture appearance since the classic Buster Crabbe serials of the ’30s and ’40s, Flash Gordon promises to live up to today’s sophisticated screen standards by mixing traditional action-adventure with futuristic film effects technology. The screenplay, by Lorenzo Semple Jr., is faithful to Raymond’s original pulp fiction format. In the not-too-distant future, the Amer¬ ican east coast wakes up one morning to find itself plunged into darkness. An unexpected solar eclipse has occurred! Scientists in¬ vestigate the strange phenomenon and dis¬ cover that energy beams of an unknown type have pulled the Moon 12 degrees out of orbit. Only discredited NASA nuclear scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov (Chaim Topol) realizes the true extent of the danger involved. His home¬ made computer system warns that, within ten days, the Moon will smash into the Earth.... completely destroying the planet! Zarkov traces the rays to their sourcepoint... the far- off planet Mongo. In a desperate attempt to save the world from calamity, Zarkov forces football hero Flash Gordon (Sam Jones) and friend Dale Arden (Melody Anderson) into his homemade rocket ship and off through hyperspace they go. Arriving on Mongo, they encounter a world filled with strange alien citizens and even stranger alien landscapes. On and around Mongo they explore the forest Kingdom of Arboria, The City in the Sky (home of the Hawkmen), the frozen land of Frigia and the watery world of Aquaria, the land of the Lizard people. Before they finish sightseeing, however, they collide with the forces of evil on Mongo, led by Emperor Ming the Merciless (Max Von Sydow). Cheerleading for menac¬ ing Ming are his equally evil daughter Princess Aurr(Omella Muti) and the very villainous Klytus (Peter Wyngarde) and Ornella Muti as evil Princess Aura Sam Jones is the new Flash Gordon. 32 FUTURELIFE#18, May 1980 Melody Anderson plays the comely Dale Arden, who to far- callous Kala (Mariangela Melato). Flash and company realize that they are no match for Ming and his minions and so, in order to raise the necessary forces of good, they desperately attempt to unite the two feuding princes of the Galaxy: Barin (Timothy Dalton), the leader of the tree-men, and Vultan the Hawk King (Brian Blessed), the high lord of the hawk people. Details of Flash’s out-of-this-world ex¬ ploits are still very much top secret at the behest of producer DeLaurentiis and director Michael Hodges. The duo has been supervis¬ ing the production since shooting began in England last August. For the past six months the ambitious space epic, designed by Danilo Donati, has been spread over six sound stages at Shepperton Studios, the entire Star Wars facility at EMI Studios Borehamwood, plus a titanic airplane hangar complex in Surrey which L alone yields a six million cubic * foot capacity under a single supported roof. With principal photography now drawing to a close. Flash's crew is working on finishing its special effects for a December deadline. And that, according to photo¬ graphic effects supervisor Frank Van Der Veer, is going to be one hell of a trick. “In my estimation,” he states, “Flash Gordon has more photographic effects work in it than any other movie ever made. Off¬ hand, I’d say that 75 percent of the movie features some sort of effect.” Van Der Veer, who won an Oscar in 1977 for DeLaurentiis’ King Kong , elaborates fur¬ ther: “You see, in Flash Gordon , nothing really exists. You’re filming on another planet in another universe. Your story takes place on .Mongo and its many moons. The skies, the architecture, the terrain... every¬ thing has to be created from scratch. Even when you’re shooting a scene in a normal building of one kind or another you’re using effects because what’s outside the windows of that building is completely unreal. “And believe me, that’s a monumental job to pull off. In effect, we’re creating an entire environment. Right now, there are over 400 people on our payroll. There are three crews involved in photographic effects, which is more than usual for a film. The principal photography unit is very much involved with effects because most of it takes place on Mongo. That requires a lot of blue screen work. [A process which, eventually, will unite the live action “real” characters with the “unreal” world of Ming the Merciless.] The miniature unit will, of course, use a lot of blue screen. Then we have a third unit that is concerned with blue screen work only.” The scope of Flash’s fantasy-filled spaceflight has presented Van Der Veer and his crew with a number of optical challenges. Clearly, the effects team must plot out every minute detail of the motion picture before the cameras film a scene, keeping their feet on the ground even when their characters do not. “We have a lot of flying in this movie,” sighs Van Der Veer, “a lot\ Now, in a movie like Superman it was very important to convince the audience that a man could fly. I think the people on that film did a marvelous job. What complicates our job a bit is the fact that we don’t just have one man flying in a scene.. .we have 1,000 hawkmen. They are also flying in a very unusual setting. “Whereas in Superman the Man of Steel was flying against a fairly realistic and familar backdrop like New York City, our Hawkmen are flying against a setting of Mongo... a set¬ ting that is sheer fantasy. Every environment these characters enter is drastically different from the one preceding it. Nothing can be at all conventional. The skies have to be dif¬ ferent, the land has to be different, the clothing has to be different, the architecture has to be different. Our job is to pull all this off realistically, so the whole film doesn’t look like one gigantic effect. The best effects are the ones you don’t really notice. They’re the ones you accept and believe in.” Van Der Veer concedes that, in this film, the impossible is often required at a (continued on page 69) The British Connection Some of the finest science shows seen on American television aren't American-made. By PAT GLOSSOP S cience has never been considered a commercial subject for American network television. Although all three networks have, of late, at¬ tempted to introduce the scientific realm to prime time viewers, the subject is still general¬ ly regarded as nearly taboo on the tube. On public television, however, science has flourished, with specials and series appearing regularly throughout the country. In recent months, such PBS presentations as Einstein y s Universe, The Body in Question, Microbes and Men, Connections, Marie Curie dead The Voyage of Charles Darwin have drawn con¬ siderable public and critical acclaim. One of the most interesting aspects of these American PBS “hits” is that none of them originated in America. They are all British productions. And the list of British imports does not end there. Going back a few years, one can add such shows as The Ascent of Man and The Restless Earth to the legion of British-made programs that have helped bring science to American television viewers in the last decade. Why does so much of America’s science journalism come from across the Atlantic? Has it drastically altered American program¬ ming? Does the import trend seem to be never-ending? These are just a few of the questions being asked in PBS viewing and programming circles at the moment. Some of the answers are, of course, quite obvious. Britain’s science programming has been dominant stateside because they do more of it than their U.S. counterparts. They’ve also been doing it longer. When public television saw the popularity of England’s science shows with the masses across the Atlantic, they thought it quite natural to bring some of the more outstand¬ ing efforts to America. It’s mainly on stations like WGBH in Boston and KCET in Los Angeles that science has found a video home. WGBH is responsible for the award-winning science series Nova and KCET is the head¬ quarters of Carl Sagan’s forthcoming Cosmos series. Nova actually started as the offshoot of a BBC-2 science series Horizon ; a long-running British documentary series which began in 1965. It is the longest running documentary Above: Arthur Lowe as Pasteur in Microbes and Men. Right: Masai citizens in Odyssey. television series anywhere in the world. Nova's original producer, Michael Am- brosino, a veteran of public broadcasting, took his 40th year off and spent 12 months with the BBC. While there, he decided that America should have its own science series along the same lines as Horizon. Returning to the U.S. in 1971, he set to work developing the project and obtaining the necessary fund¬ ing. In 1974, Nova was bom. “Nova was meant to be a model of many things,” says Ambrosino, who was executive producer for the program’s first three seasons. “It was meant to show American public broadcasting that we could do more than buy programs, that by creating a strand of our own in a complementary subject area we could choose the best of what the world had to offer and use it to begin a new series. “By choosing the best, you immediately had an international standard to shoot at and you then had to produce your own programs to meet that high standard. Plus, you could put a sum total of shows on for a much lower cost. Consequently, we began Nova with the idea of making 35 percent of our own pro¬ grams, and in three years we raised that to 50 percent.” When the series first began, about half its programs came from the BBC, the majority of them from Nova's mentor, Horizon , but the trend is now moving away from that somewhat. Of the first 20 programs this past season, for instance, 11 were made in-house at WGBH, six came from the BBC, and the other three came from Germany, Sweden, and a local Boston company called Peace River Films. To get the best of what’s available worldwide, Nova has assigned one producer to concentrate on any and all foreign science films which may be adaptable to the Nova format. Globe-trotting to such affairs as the Paris Festival of Science Films obviously pays off. One of the most popular programs this season was “Life On A Silken Thread,” an episode based on a German film which Sari Sapir re-constructed for Nova. The show concerned spiders, detailing every¬ thing you’ve always wanted to know but were too squeamish to ask. While foreign-made films are often edited for stateside showing, most of the imported science series are shown in their original form, with the presenters occasionally adding extra sequences to fill out the U.S. time slot. WQED/Pittsburg, for instance, produced discussion segments, hosted by E.G. Mar¬ shall, to be intercut with James Burke’s Con¬ nections. In the case of Nova, programs purchased from abroad are slightly altered for the American market. An American narration is added. And, occasionally, a program needs a healthy updating. Mick Rhodes, head of WGBH’s Science Unit adds, “This usually isn’t necessary, since we try to transmit the programs as soon as possible after their foreign air date.” The biggest problem facing Nova with import shows lies in the fact that a BBC hour runs about 50 minutes while a PBS hour is approximately 57 minutes. New mate¬ rial must be added. The associate producer for Nova either shoots new material or adds extra footage that is sent with the episode. One producer for Nova actually got the chance to adapt his own film. Robin Bates made “Living Machines,” a film about the mechanics of biological creatures, for 34 FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 PHOTO © 1980 PBS Left: The connection between a computer image of the Mona Lisa and the discovery of red blood cells is revealed by Jonathan Miller in the BBC series The Body In Question. Middle and right: Peter Ustinov journeys into the future and discovers his “twin’s” grave in Einstein’s Universe. Horizon. He then became a producer for Nova , so when his episode showed up stateside, it was Bates who filmed the necessary additional footage. Bates is just one of the Nova team who has worked for the BBC. Last fall, of the three male producers, all were English and two of them formerly worked for the BBC. The ex¬ ecutive producer was male, English, and a former employee of the BBC; and one of the women producers was English and an ex- BBC staffer. That left three women pro¬ ducers who were American, two of whom learned about science filmmaking at Nova , starting at the bottom. (The bloodline with Horizon , incidentally, runs both ways. Some of the Horizon producers have worked at WGBH, and the two series sometimes co¬ produce a film, as in the case of The Safety Factor , which is about safety in the air.) Until recently the BBC has been the main training ground for science documentary producers. Australia, Canada and Japan have produced some good films, but not in the quantity that the BBC can boast. The BBC trend, in fact, is industry-wide. The ex¬ ecutive producer on Carl Sagan’s Cosmos , Adrian Malone, who’s also English, was producer-director on Jacob Bronowski’s The Ascent of Man and the Galbraith series,. The Age of Uncertainty , both BBC/Time-Life co-productions, and he’d previously made in¬ numerable Horizons and other films for thfe BBC. Mick Jackson and David Kennard, who produced and directed James Burke’s Connections (again, BBC/Time-Life), are also both veterans of The Ascent of Man. “You don’t pick up an aptitude for pro¬ gramming in science or any complex subject in a matter of days,” explains Michael Am- brosino, who now heads an independent group called Public Broadcasting Associates. “Nor do you get shifted over from arts pro¬ grams. If you’re dealing with international politics, you must have several languages and know the political processes of foreign na¬ tions. It’s the same with science. You must know the foreign languages of several scien¬ tific subjects. You must be able to visualize the processes of science and know how to re¬ create them. Otherwise, science program¬ ming will be restricted to Moon shots, which are fascinating, and certain aspects of technology, but then you’re only scratching the surface.” In making successful science television, it’s not just the production team which counts— the choice of the right experts is always vital too. British viewers, lavishing praise on the 13-part BBC series, The Body in Question , agreed that it was writer/host Jonathan Miller who made it such a success. It was equally well thought of in the TV business: One BBC director says, “This is television at its best, how it should be, and it’s largely due to Jonathan Miller, who really is a modern- day Renaissance Man.” Miller, who appeared in Beyond the Fringe in the West End and on Broadway, has di¬ rected films for TV, plays and opera. He’s also qualified as a medical doctor, and has held a research fellowship in the history of medicine at London’s University College. His talents all come together in the Body in Question , where he explores our attitudes towards the body, our ignorance about it and our inability to read its signals. For the series, he used an endless stream of imaginative techniques to educate his audience. He filmed red cars racing down country lanes to demon¬ strate red blood cells coursing through the veins; he used an excerpt from Mozart’s opera Cosi fan tutte to prove a point; and he even breathed pure oxygen in one experiment so that worried viewers saw him black out on- camera. While newer stateside science buffs will acknowledge Miller as a very charismatic host, other long-time viewers will remember yet another single talent which made a science series: Jacob Bronowski in The Ascent of Man. “If you ask any taxi driver in London, ’ ’ said Adrian Malone after the professor’s death, “he’ll tell you who Bronowski is and that he’s the only guy who ever made science exciting and understandable.” You’d also get the same response from his American fans, who fondly remember that bespectacled fig¬ ure standing in front of every conceivable monument, natural or otherwise, unravelling the mysteries of the universe for them. American audiences are very aware of Masterpiece Theatre and the amount of British drama shown on PBS—though they often presume that British television auto¬ matically means BBC. The BBC’s New York office, incidentally, has received so many calls congratulating the BBC on Upstairs , Downstairs , that it’s stopped explaining that the series was made by Thames Television, one of Britain’s independent groups, and simply accepts the kudos on behalf of Britain. But American audiences are probably less aware of the amount of British science documentaries that they see, particularly when they are adapted to fit the Nova slot. Not that Nova tries to mislead its viewers. “We very clearly say if it’s a co-production and where it came from,” says Mick Rhodes, “and we run the original credits pretty much uninterrupted.” Nevertheless, Nova pro¬ ducers report that people often congratulate them on various programs, taking no notice of whether they were made in-house or im¬ ported. Even looking at the ratings, it’s difficult to tell how Americans like the BBC inserts. Ac¬ cording to PBS’s Washington-based Com¬ munications Resarch Department, Nova as a series always rates very well, but the PBS polls don’t differentiate between the BBC/WGBH co-productions and the in-house programs. However, PBS admits that science is pro¬ bably one of the most popular types of pro- (continued on page 66) 36 FUTURE LIFE#18, May 1980 GALLERY B arclay Shaw is no stranger to these pages, having been a regular contributor to FUTURE LIFE since issue #8, when he created a spacefaring cybernetic musician to illustrate Ted White’s Tomorrow column on Future Rock. Barclay’s paintings and sculptures have also illustrated Tomorrow columns by Alvin Toffler (#12), Brian Aldiss (#13), Harry Harrison (#15) and Robert Sheckley (#16), as well as feature articles on videodiscs (#11), undersea farming (# 14) and in this issue, “Trains of Tomorrow.’’ Although the 30-year-old art¬ ist’s career as a professional illus¬ trator was launched less than two years ago, his work has already made waves in science fiction waters. His first cover, for Cine fan tastique, was followed by assignments for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction , UnEarth, Galileo , Galaxy and Berkley Books, and he con¬ tributed paintings to a Bantam book of extraterrestrial outlaws. Wanted /, to be published next fall. Many of his current paint¬ ings and sculptures arc exhibited at Boston’s Earthlight Gallery. The artist displayed an appetite being the logical alternative, a record g-forces, an 8mm movie for exploration at an early age. rocket ship was fashioned from camera installed, and a three-inch From his official biography: cardboard, a garbage can and by six-inch pressurized cabin in “1955—After studying China in a CO., fire extinguisher. This the nose cone. A large orange school, Barclay decided to pay a proved even less successful than parachute was fabricated by his personal visit to the country by the tunnel. mother to insure a soft landing, taking the most direct route, and “1%3—With his initial prob- Being of appropriate size, departed by way of his backyard, lems in rocketry resolved, Barclay Barclay’s pet mouse Sidney was armed with a shovel. Two and a built his most successful vehicle, volunteered to make the flight, half feet later, he decided the The rocket was six feet tall in Under the supervision of a film voyage required more effort than three stages, with a gyroscopic crew, liftoff and recovery went he had anticipated. Space travel stabilizer, instrumentation to smoothly, the launch crew recording the rocket’s apogee at 1,200 feet.’’ He traces his lifelong interest in art back to a series of particularly vivid dreams he had at the age of 18. After studying sculpture and philosophy of religion in college, he sculpted full-time for eight months until he was forced to find employment as a wood¬ worker. He continued to develop his drawing and painting skills, and today he uses those skills to pay the bills — and enjoys it. “I think the field of science fic¬ tion and fantasy is an unbounded arena for imaginative and visual concepts,’’ Barclay says. The paintings shown here indicate his fondness for w hat he describes as “symbolic surrealism.’* On this page, “Regeneration of Maat*’ is an unsettling comment on human appetites for energy. The center- spread, “lotian Phantasy,’’ takes liberties with the latest scientific findings about Jupiter’s volcanic moon, lo. Barclay intends to continue his explorations of SF and fantasy themes. “The trouble with much of the contemporary art scene is that the symbolic or mythologic aspects of nature arc discounted as not ‘real’ and therefore not worthy of expression,’’ he com¬ ments. “In my opinion, tech¬ nology — which these are an out¬ growth of — is just as much myth for us as the pantheon was to the ancient Greeks. But each is just as ‘real’ in its effect on its society. Science fiction at its best reunites the human element with the myth of technology, filling that enor¬ mous gap.” /"/ Centerspread: “lotian Phantasy” ©1980 by Barclay Shaw FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 37 Gerard in Buck's “Vegas In Space” episode with an alien gambler. The white jumpsuit is described as “working for” the futuristic wearer. Jamie Lee Curtis displays the “synthetic” look in the “Unchained Women” episode. In the future, natural fibers are non-existent. 25th Century Style Spandex and satin may not be the rage in Paris this year, but in Buck Rogers' 25th century, they spell high fashion. By SAM BISBEE S cience fiction has never been an easy subject to present on television. Mainstream TV series have their share of produc¬ tion woes in attempting to gather solid scripts, imaginative sets and agreeable guest stars week after week. But a science fiction show has additional problems unique to the genre to take into account. There are special effects to be created. Elaborate makeups to be constructed. And, in the case of NBC’s Buck Rogers, 25th cen¬ tury fashions to be designed. When producer Glen Larson unveiled his two-hour theatrical ver¬ sion of Buck a year ago, costume designer Jean-Pierre Dorleac managed to conjure up a century’s worth of fashion in quick order: mixing contemporary styles with futuristic flair and a good deal of cleavage. Once NBC bought Buck , however, and it became clear that new fashions of the future would have to be designed for every single episode, week after week after week, Dorleac bowed out. The am¬ bitious Buck was passed to designer A1 Lehman. It promptly sent him into a state of future shock... and with good reason. “Essentially we’re doing a mini-movie a week, but I’ve been very lucky so far,” he laughs. “I haven’t experienced any major traumas as yet. The biggest drawback in doing a fanciful series like this is the constant pressure in regard to time. Before we can begin designing, we have to sit back while people worry about getting the sets ready and getting all the guest stars cast. Once that’s taken care of, then it’s up to us to worry about getting out-of-town actors in for costume fittings. “We always have to worry about last minute story reshuffling that could knock out a couple of costumes or down-to-the-wire re¬ casting. Somehow we still manage to get everything done for each episode. Sometimes we have to work on the weekends. Sometimes we work around the clock. There always seem to be new problems to FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 41 worry about in regard to our finished designs. One week, a character will change just before shooting is to begin. The next week, the plot. It’s just a constant battle with time.” Episode after episode, Lehman and his crew must create new and exciting garments for both the series’ regulars and the bevy of guest stars. It cannot be a hit or miss proposi¬ tion, either. All the costumes must somehow be different from each other yet unified in theme or spirit. In order to accomplish this task, designer Lehman has had to concoct a futuristic philosophy that enables him to keep the costumes coming. “I see the 25th century in an optimistic yet realistic way,” he explains. “What I’ve tried to do is introduce plastics and things that look like synthetic fabrics into the show. When we get that far into the future, I feel that our natural resources will be used up. Although I wind up just using satin at times, I always at¬ tempt to get the fabrics of the future to look different than just everyday yardage. I like the sleek, metallic look. “I also like to use a variety of colors in the costuming, both as a design element and as a reflection of the character’s personality. Many of the villains are garbed in darker col¬ ors while some of the livelier guest stars get more dazzling hues. There are some people who believe that, in the future, all color will be gone from society. Humanity will live in a regimented, dull society. One world. One rule. People without emotion. That kind of civilization would restrict us to natural colors. Since I don’t personally believe in that scenario, I have the liberty of using a lot of colors and having a lot of variety in our future wardrobe.” Barry Downing, star Gil Gerard’s dresser, sees Lehman and Dorleac’s designs as being spacey yet down-to-Earth. “The clothes of the future are sleek,” he states. “They work for you. We use a lot of reverse spandex which we dye different colors for use in Gil’s jumpsuits and for the clothes used in the dif¬ ferent martial arts sequences of the show. It changes shape with the body movement. The 25th century line of fashion is basic yet tasteful. They have to be part of the character. “For instance, with Gil we try to make the outfits secondary to him. During the course of the show, Buck changes outfits quite a bit. Yet the viewer really shouldn’t notice the out¬ fits as much as they notice Buck. That’s a challenge for a designer. “People will come to the costume depart¬ ment and say that they want something*new, they want something different, they want something that’s never been seen before. If a writer says that there are no zippers in the 25th century and that clothes have a better way of fastening, some of the guys really ex¬ pect you to invent something. On a show like this, we not only have to dress our actors and come up with costumes for the 25th century but convince everyone else concerned that our designs are right because everyone has their own ideas about what the future will look like. “Every week, we have to start from scratch using each individual script as a starting point. We have to see what the script’s needs are. For instance, if a script calls for a sleek outfit to tear during the course of the story, we know immediately that we can’t use span¬ dex because that won’t tear. So we then have to come up with a suitable replacement fabric. Once we find out what the clothes have to do, we then work under deadline to come up with costumes that look as new and original as possible. We often have to use previous styles that have worked in other episodes. “In a vampire story we shot recently, we had Buck dressed in light colors to offset the dark, brooding show. His suit was a com¬ bination of previous jumpsuit designs, yet was modified enough for it to look like an original for the episode. We added a wide belt that accomodates four-by-eight-inch batter¬ ies needed for his torch light, pockets that al¬ lowed him to carry large objects, etc. The out¬ fit had to be functional but yet look sleek enough to make it standard Buck Rogers .” Lehman is very much aware of the fan¬ tastic demands made on him and his staff by the ever changing science fiction scenery. Making matters more complicated for the wardrobe maven is the fact that he was not the show’s original guiding light. “Stepping into Buck Rogers wasn’t easy. We had the original film’s costuming by Jean-Pierre established. Things like the flight uniforms which have to be included in the show in almost every episode. I’m just now adapting them slightly to suite my tastes. Every design¬ er does that. You like to make the show your own look and then take total responsibility. “With Buck , you’re really designing for two separate sets of characters. Our leading characters are in their regular clothes almost every show unless the plot calls for something very special. They have a very succinct, straight look. Every episode introduces new characters, however: new girls, new villains, new guards. We can’t repeat ourselves, de¬ sign-wise, in that area. Every chapter of Buck is almost independent and we must design ac¬ cordingly. What I try to do is set up a look that will serve for a whole line of characters from the head villain to the lowly henchman. Once that’s done, it’s on to another line for the next week.” Despite the wide variety of costuming called for, Lehman does have certain foundations of future fashion sense from which to build. “I think that the form-fitted look will be popular in the future. We dress girls in boots, either high or low, with short skirts, short pants or tight fitted pants. There’s no excess fabric hanging around to catch on things like you have on so many of today’s fashions. The men also adhere to a sleek look. We eliminate anything that restricts the actions of the wearers. We’re working with villains and villainesses who are very active. There’s always a lot of zapping, running and falling going on. “So the storylines themselves dictate and often restrict what we do. Now, when I have someone like Princess Ardala on the show, I can relax a bit. She’s a villainess who is very exotic and just stands around and looks beautiful. I can put exotic fabrics and flowing capes on her and use delicate ornamentation. It will work for her as opposed to some of our more dastardly, active types. “I’ve also found myself using the quilted look which has become so popular this past year. I figure that, in space, people will use this heavy quilting for insulation and protec¬ tion. I use this for designing space outfits as opposed to the look that’s used for leisure and everyday wear. What I’m trying to do is make everything as different from the norm as possible.” * Lehman is admittedly often frustrated in his attempts. “I’d love for someone to invent a fabric that is clear as glass and soft as fabric,” he sighs. “But that hasn’t happened yet. Occasionally, I try to use clear vinyl for outfits but the material is stiff and doesn’t really ‘breathe.’ I haven’t been very suc¬ cessful so far. I’ve gotten to use it in a few designs: around the midriff or on sleeves. The actors don’t seem to mind our experimenting. In fact, they encourage it.” Downing readily agrees with designer Lehman, adding, ‘ ‘The cast loves wearing the futuristic costumes. In fact, most of them want to take the garments home with them when they’re finished shooting. We did a seg¬ ment with Gary Coleman and he was just so enthused with the outfit that Gil Gerard made sure that Gary got to keep his costume. He’s been wearing it throughout the rehearsals on his Diffrent Strokes show.” Despite the hectic time schedule, the bizarre plot requirements (“Ever try to design a costume for a futuristic vampire who isn’t even supposed to exist?” asks Lehman) and the general grind generated by weekly TV series work, it is clear that A1 Lehman and his spacey costume crew enjoy their task. “The best thing that any viewer could say about my work,” he says in summation, “is that in our future, there is a variety of styles and that our costumes fit the characters’ personalities.” The next best thing a viewer could note is that most of Buck’s female guest stars this season have been bursting at the seams with personality plus. Clearly, in the 25th century, a winning smile and a swath of spandex make for fitting futuristic fashions. /? 42 FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 i alternate spacE By CAROLYN HENSON Spaceburgers F rom time to time I receive letters from vegetarians who demand to know whether I condone eating, as one lady put it, “potential human be¬ ings” such as cows and bunny rabbits. So Pm going to make a public confession: Not only do I condone eating meat, I practice the deed myself. In fact, I run a small home- scale farm, and in addition to the standard organic vegetables and fruits I raise poultry, goats and rabbits, which I personally butcher and eat. But when we move to outer space, won’t we leave all that behind? Veg¬ gie literature would have us believe that every pound of meat on the table takes four or five pounds of beans out of the mouth of some starving Hindu. In space, veggies reason, folks have hardly any farmland, so be forced to eat the most efficient (translate: vegetarian) diet. In the early days of space sta¬ tions this will be true—the part about hardly any farmland, that is. (Later, as we tap the resources of the solar sys¬ tem, we’ll be able to build tens of thou¬ sands of times as much farmland as we have on Earth today.) But does a vegetarian diet make the most efficient use of farmland? Last summer a group of NASA-sponsored space farm experts held a seminar to compare notes on their research on how to maximize food production. Not surprisingly, nearly all of them had assumed the farm should grow a purely vegetarian fare. But not researcher John Phillips. His agricultural system would treat space dwellers to hamburgers and milk¬ shakes, in addition to providing as much grain, beans, vegetables and fruits as the other researchers’ systems, all on the same amount of land. Disbelieving, the other researchers ques¬ tioned him, “Where’s the animal feed com¬ ing from?” Replied John, “You’ve got all these cucumber vines, com stalks, broccoli leaves and so forth you’ve got to recycle. How about recycling them through a cow or rab¬ bit? Here’s a picture of a rabbit I raised on nothing but cucumber vines. And we have to clean off the dinner plates. Mind if I recycle the kitchen garbage through some chickens?” NASA research into feeding space settlers has come a long way. Back in the early days, just after Sputnik, even NASA thought space was awfully weird. So, obviously, space set¬ tlers would have to sustain their vital func¬ tions in a weird way. Some researchers pro¬ posed performing surgery on space cadets to replace their digestive tracts with little atomic power plants, eliminating both the need for food and toilets that work in zero-g in one stroke of the engineering imagination. But the side effects appeared formidable, and no one volunteered to be a guinea pig. More moderate researchers proposed that space dwellers should eat synthetic food pills. They spent millions inventing processes to brew up formaldehydes and ketones and similar goodies from pure hydrogen, oxygen and carbon, but no one could figure out how to eat that stuff without being simultaneously killed and embalmed. But NASA was learning. They discovered the importance of finding a means of nourishment that didn’t kill its consumers. At the same time they wanted to grow something that could recycle human wastes. So they tried sludge. The stuff that grows in sewage ponds. The researchers picked out two food candidates: chlorella algae and hydrogen fix¬ ing bacteria. Voila! The volunteers who ate the sludge Carolyn Henson’s byline was regrettably omitted from her column last issue. The writer is a co-founder andformer president of the L-5 Society, the grassroots organization dedicated to the large scale industrialization and human settlement of space in our lifetimes. didn’t die! They barfed and had the runs and wished they could die, but they didn’t. In May 1975 my husband Keith and I got a desperate call from space struc¬ tures researcher Jerry Driggers. He had heard we were independently studying the space farm problem. His problem: The researcher who had planned to give the talk on growing food in space at the Princeton Space Manufacturing Conference had cancelled. We agreed to fill in. “Promise me one thing,” asked Jerry. “Don’t propose that we eat algae. I’ve tried those NASA algae cakes. They’re awful.” We got a real kick out of showing the NASA folks at Princeton that a farm that makes real food—ham¬ burgers (actually, we proposed rab- bitburgers), french fries and milkshakes—would cost less and take less area than a sludge farm. That the food was fun to eat and didn’t make people barf was a fringe benefit. But we hadn’t yet nailed shut the sludge-eaters’s coffin. Two years later Keith and some agri¬ culturalist friends went to NASA/ Ames Research center for what turned out to be the final showdown. To their surprise, the sludge-eaters were out in force. Those folks had even found a kind of bluegreen algae that people could eat without vomiting—an algae that grows only in exotic carbonate lakes, and slowly at that. But as the province of space provender had moved from the domain of nuclear engineers to chemists to microbiologists, it seemed fated at last to finally move into the hands of farmers. Toward the end of that space food study NASA brass paid them a visit. They were there to make the Big Decision: Should the government’s space colonists eat sludge, or food? They had plenty of questions. Won’t all the farm plants and animals catch a weird space bug and die?... What happens if a weed gets in the lettuce patch—it’ll be all over!... What if the cows overpopulate and eat up all the com?... The list of NASA’s farm paranoias was endless. For a while it looked as if the sludge might win simply because the brass felt more com¬ fortable working with stuff that grows in wastewater reclamation ponds. But then a young agricultural researcher discovered the key to their minds. A few topless dancers, plenty of good food, booze and loud music, applied nightly, did the trick. He convinced them: NASA’s space settlers will be permitted to eat real food! Q FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 43 inprint Futant Reading: Other Planets and Realities Science Marches On O ne of the problems with writing science fiction is that sooner or later the future catches up with you. In The Science Fictional Solar System ($11.95 in hardcover from Harper & Row) Isaac Asimov, Martin Harry Green¬ berg and Charles Waugh have or¬ ganized a tour of the solar system that shows us how the future’s gained on some of SF’s best. The book’s 12 sections—one each for our so¬ lar system’s sun, nine planets, the asteroid belt and the wandering comets, all appearing in orbital order—are each introduced by an Asimov essay that explains what we understood about the body in question when the story that follows was written. The essay also explains how space probes, radio astronomy or science’s latest theories have kicked holes in the author’s ideas about said heavenly body. The collection’s stories appeared from the ’50s through the ’70s and all 13 of them (Pluto gets two for some reason) were ac¬ curate according to the data then available, but science has marched on. The slips range from small ones like Arthur C. Clarke’s in “Saturn Rising” where he posits a lovely hotel overlooking Saturn’s rings and has Janus (a recently discovered moon) missing from his scenery, to victims of more drastic changes like Robert Sheckley’s delicious ‘Prospector’s Special.” Sheckley’s prospec¬ tor wanders across a super-Sahara Venus— the 1959 model of the planet. Sadly, the Venus our probes have described (500° C. at the surface) would have toasted the young man long before the end of the story. Or take Poul Anderson’s “Barnacle Bull,” a Story written in the days when some astronomers thought the asteroids were the remains of a shattered planet, leading Anderson to devise some fantastic interplanetary fauna. Again, present-day guesses are much more mundane —the asteroids are believed to be a potential planet that just never got it together. These stories range from fun to fascinating and, as Asimov points out, there’s so much still to learn out there that some of these tales might turn out to be right in defiance of to¬ day’s Expert opinions. The collection includes James Blish, Terry Carr, Larry Niven and a half dozen of SF’s other literary lions, and their tour of the solar system is worth taking. Explosive Thriller Lovers of category call fiction that ex¬ trapolates a possible future and tries to stay scientifically accurate “hardcore” SF. Nicolas Freeling extrapolates a frighteningly possible very near future in his hardcore science thriller Gadget ($1.95 in paperback from Penguin). Gadget is physicists’ jargon for an atomic device. Jim Hawkins, a young American physicist working in Germany, knows what a gadget is even though he’s never worked on one. So do the terrorists who kidnap him and his family. The terrorists want Hawkins to build a gadget for them. This isn’t a story about gun- waving masked fanatics. Jim and his wife are fabu¬ lously fed, kept on a lovely coun¬ try estate and given everything they want—ex¬ cept their free¬ dom and their children. Fear starts Jim on the task, but he be¬ comes fascinated by the process and the pret¬ ty numbers keep him going. This is the story of a scientist seduced by the ultimate technological challenge and a woman tor¬ mented by the cost in human lives if her hus¬ band succeeds. Author Freeling skillfully assembles this blueprint for disaster before your disbelieving eyes. His science is right and his characters chillingly realistic. In the end, watching these two people change from ordinary to obsessed is fully as frightening as watching how simply the bomb comes together. Gadget is a stark, scary novel that ac¬ curately portrays the terrifying possibilities of nuclear terrorism. It simply will not let you go until the final explosive page. Unreal Spectacular Robert Anton Wilson wrote Schrodinger’s Cat ($2.50 in paperback from Pocket) which concerns a character named Joe Malik. Joe is writing a book about a character named Robert Anton Wilson. Robert is writing a book entitled Schrodinger’s Cat. And that’s only step one in the confusion of this comedy about quantum physics. Step two is the discovery that Schro¬ dinger’s Cat (the book Pocket published) is made up of three sections: “Schrodinger’s Cat,” “The Universe Next Door” and “The Trick Top Hat.” Each of the three sections have characters in common (except that they sometimes change their names or sexes or oc¬ cupations) and tell, sort of, the same story (but not in the same order). The only people here who seem as con¬ fused as you are the two editors who pass memos back and forth in front of you. These might be some sort of key except that they don’t even know when to laugh. Step three in the confusion is the realiza¬ tion that Wilson is a very dangerous charac¬ ter. He’s playing games that may alter your programming. Step four is when you discover that it’s fun to have your programming altered. Now Schrodinger’s Cat (which is, somehow, where all this started) is a paradox of quantum physics. It posits a cat in a box with something that will kill it (such as a gun or a bomb) and this lethal device is triggered by some quantum process at an indeter¬ minate time. Now, a physicist should be able to tell whether or not the cat is dead by sitting down and working out a series of quantum equations. The trouble comes when you realize that the equations yield a minimum of two values: one will say the cat is dead and the other will say it’s alive. Most physicists would naturally rather ignore the para¬ dox because quantum physics works—it makes events predict¬ able. In these pages Wilson is sneak¬ ily asserting, along with a few rogue physicists, that these events are predictable because the physicists want them to be—that conscious¬ ness is in control. He also agrees with the other rogue physicists who think that both sides of the paradox are true—the cat’s alive in one universe and dead in another. Some people say these guys read too much science fiction. Wilson might agree with them, too— in another universe. Schrodinger’s Cat offers impossible possibilities, with paradoxes rampant. It en¬ courages the worst sort of social levity and FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 By BOB MECOY should definitely be on every futant’s book¬ shelf just for fun. Star Phobia John Macvey has distilled the most pro¬ found pop paranoia of your favorite ufologists in Space Weapons, Space War ($9.95 in hardcover from Stein and Day), a book that purports to explain “how we and alien beings will fight the wars of the distant fu¬ ture.” Suddenly, all the hardware dreamed up by SF writers is sup¬ posed to be just over the horizon ... and we may have just enough time to circle the wagons. Macvey spells out his premise in simple how-to handbook style complete with his own amateur sketches. You see, they are going to find us because we were silly enough to use radio and television after we discovered them. They will get rid of us by flooding the planet (as per Genesis), using heat rays (a la War of the Worlds) or with a multitude of gaily colored’ rays (as in the rest of the pulpish invader-from-beyond epics). Sure, a lot of Mr. Macvey’s science seems accurate enough, but when he puts it in the middle of one of his cautionary lectures about UFOs over South Carolina it looks odd to say the least. Really, there’s nothing here that hasn’t already been covered in Asimov’s Choice of Catastrophes or the recent future war study, War in 2080. So I can only join the author in his exhortation: Readers, watch the sky! If you do, you might manage to miss this book. An Alien Space Science fiction is mostly an American enterprise. Its first boom was in the American pulps, its biggest market is still here, and most of its prime prac¬ titioners call the U.S. home. But there have been a number of not¬ able exceptions to this rule and Poland’s Stanis- law Lem must be numbered among them. Mr. Lem has written more than two dozen SF tides in his native tongue and translators have been dol¬ ing them out to us just about as quickly as they can decode his antic linguistic peram¬ bulations. The translators’ latest gift to American readers is Tales of Pirx the Pilot ($7.95 in hardcover from Harcourt Brace Jovanovich). The volume contains a series of stories Lem wrote in the late 1960s about Cadet Pirx, a rather simple young man who stumbles in and out of trouble faster than a speeding tachyon. In “The Test” we observe young Pirx on his first solo space flight—an episode that has his ship disabled by a pair of amorous flies, treating Pirx to an epic flight from Earth to Moon. It’s a funny bit of scientific slap¬ stick with a suitably twisted ending. “The Conditioned Reflex” and “On Patrol” are stories in the same vein—Cadet/ Pilot Pirx versus Murphy’s Law (the law which states that anything that can go wrong will), with Pirx prevailing in the face of bi- zarrely misbehaving machines. For a writer who longhair critics claim has “elevated science fiction to literature,” Mr. Lem seems a bit off the mark. The book’s final story, though, almost rescues the collection as it measures up to the standards set by Lem’s best novels ( Solaris and Memoirs Found in a Bathtub). “Ter¬ minus’ ’ is a simple scary story that shows how our machines sometimes bear the brunt of our disasters. Terminus, a tiny robot, is the only survivor of a shipwreck in space and Pirx discovers that the robot is constantly reliving the accident and the death of the crew. Pirx’s realization is beautifully handled and his deci¬ sion suitably tortured, but this isn’t enough to rescue this flawed collection. You might watch for “Terminus” in next year’s collec¬ tions, because Lem’s combination of a ram¬ shackle gothic future and a haunted robot deserves better neighbors. International Eclectic Rooms of Paradise ($8.95 in hardcover from St. Martin’s Press) is an international collection of the best that SF can offer, edited by Australian author Lee Harding. The list of con¬ tributors reads like the head ta¬ ble at an awards, banquet. It in¬ cludes such fa¬ miliar names as Brian Aldiss, Michael Bishop, R.A. Lafferty, Gene Wolfe and Ian Watson, but Harding has managed to come up with an international crew of newcomers who make this collection a book you shouldn’t miss. Harding commissioned the writers to imagine the future of the individual and they’ve given us an even dozen good stories about love, death, dreaming and magic. Each of the stories has something fresh and new about it—a refreshing sense of possibility. Aldiss offers “Indifference,” in which a priest meets his god on a new world and in a strangely shattering confrontation realizes that neither of them really cares. David Lake and Philippa C. Maddem offer two entirely new ideas about time travel in “Redeem the Time” and “Ignorant of Magic” respective¬ ly, while Sakyo Komatsu’s story “The Savage Mouth” gives you a twisted look at the ultimate in personal alienation and self- destructiveness. Plus, Michael Bishop ex¬ plains the problems of having someone move into your body with you in “Collaborating.” And there are seven more excellent stories set up by Roger Zelazny’s thoughtful foreword. Rooms of Paradise opens an international ar¬ ray of doors for the American audience, so watch for these aliens among us. It can only do you good. Prequels in Sequence Vonda McIntyre’s first story collection is something to cheer about too. Fireflood and Other Stories ($10.95 in hardcover from Houghton Mifflin) displays the hypnotic style, exotic settings and sheer craftsmanship that have made this young writer an award winner. McIntyre makes shrewd use of her back¬ ground in genet¬ ics and biology. Her stories ex¬ plore the possibi¬ lity that her char¬ acters’ bodies may change as much as the world around them and she has thoughtfully considered the human costs of these changes. The title story “Fireflood” finds tomor¬ row’s astronauts victims of a new budget cut and asks the question, what do you do when you’ve altered your people as much as you’ve trained them? Have they just lost a job, or given up any chance for an ordinary life now that they’re something other than human? One of the collection’s high points is the Nebula award-winning “Of Mist, Grass and Sand,” the story of Snake the Healer. This compelling short so fascinated the author that she found she really couldn’t work on anything else until she had resolved Snake’s story. The resolution was last year’s Nebula and Hugo award-winning novel, Dream- snake. If you haven’t read either effort, this alone is worth the price of the book. Future life#i 8. Mav 1980 45 in print But there is much more to this collection than one award winner. “Wings,” “The Mountains of Sunset, The Mountains of Dawn” and “The End’s Beginning” are three stories following a race of winged humanoids (who may once have been hu¬ man) as they start out toward the stars. ‘ ‘Only at Night” is a tale strange enough to make you sleep with the lights on, and “Recourse, Inc.” is a delightful little discourse on the proper revenge against one of those credit company computers. The remaining four stories are “Spectra,” “Screwtop,” “The Genius Freaks” and “Aztecs,” a story nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards. Like the rest of the collection, these tomes are meant to be savored. These are strong statements about the cost of change, the difficulties of being different—emotionally charged and beauti¬ fully executed. Books in Brief The Genocides by Thomas M. Disch (SI.75 in paperback from Pocket Books). Most science fiction stories dealing with the extinction of the human race accomplish this grisly task using either atomic holocaust, biological or chemical warfare, or annihila¬ tion by unfriendly aliens. The aliens in Thomas Disch’s 1965 novel are not only distinctly unfriendly, they are totally un¬ concerned with the existence or nonexistence of Earth’s native species; their only interest is in using the planet as a farm for huge, deeply rooted plants. However, the “farmers” have to protect their crop by ridding the Earth of any pests that may damage the crop; i.e. its human population. Specifically, the storyline centers on a small settlement of men and women who find it in¬ creasingly difficult to exist on any kind of organized and civilized level. Not only must they cope with the havoc the huge growths are causing Earth’s fragile ecology, but they must also deal with the mechanized sentries that methodically set fire to any human habita¬ tion. And as food gets scarce and the few sur¬ vivors are forced to hide within the roots of the plants themselves, the totality of their defeat begins to prey on their minds. The Genocides is by no means a cheerful book to read; but the skill with which it is written and the fascination of the story itself makes it well worth your while. (Barbara Krasnoff) Gods in A Vortex by David Houston (SI.75 in paperback by Leisure Books). This is a strange story, strangely and masterfully written. The opening scenes are episodic; but the story grows rapidly and im¬ pressively. The characters have names like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars (examples: Isle Firemaker and Sky Tinsmith) which, con¬ sidering who the author is, suggests that this novel may be headed for a movie sale. But the comparison, though there are other parallels, essentially ends there. In Vortex the characters become people in a very rich meaning. I was startled by the behavior of the female lead, but not alienated. Par¬ ticularly worthwhile is the skilful way that the background detail grows upon the reader. The author seems to have data in such limitless quantity, and quality, that, after a while he is sprinkling it into virtually every sentence. This is David Houston’s second science- fiction novel. It is a work of beauty, and power, and depth. And the question arises: what is he doing in a genre field when he should be out there striding the stellar reaches of mainstream literature? (A.E. Van Vogt) Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut ($9.95 in hard¬ cover from Delacorte Press). When Kurt Vonnegut was a very young man during World War II, he witnessed the bombing of Dresden by the Allies. As a prisoner of war held captive in that ornate city, he watched several days of explosive activity obliterate several centuries of art and history. Today, Vonnegut is a mastercraftsman of literature; a producer of novels wherein nothing is all that sacred and nothing lasts for a week, let alone forever. Vonnegut’s realm is con¬ structed like an intellectual Rube Goldberg cartoon. Even the most innocent act triggers an ironic ramification. Sometimes it might take a week. Sometimes a month. Sometimes a decade. Whatever. It all catches up. Jailbird is not so much an intricately struc¬ tured novel as a monologue by Vonnegut or, more specifically, main character Walter F. Starbuck. Starbuck is a nice man. A good man. But a boob. During the Watergate scan- dle it is Starbuck who winds up paying the highest price, totally disgraced although in¬ nocent through sheer ignorance. Thrown in jail alongside noted science fiction writer and philosopher Kilgore Trout, Starbuck works towards his release, achieves it and then at¬ tempts to rebuild his shattered life. Fate inter¬ venes in the form of a mysterious bag lady. Soon, Walter is controlling the world’s most powerful conglomerate, RAMJAC. His rise to power is swift. So is his fall. En route, however, Starbuck begins to take note of himself, his world and whatever may lie beyond. In Starbuck’s world, nothing is ever totally certain, good and evil are never clearly delineated. Even Walter is not sure about who he is or where he is going. As one character remarks. “You couldn’t help it that you were born without a heart. At least you tried to believe what the people with hearts believe—so you were a good man just the same.” Jailbird is expertly crafted in Vonnegut’s beguiling, simplistic prose. It’s a book that is alternately funny and frustrating. Yet, even at its most improbable points, it makes total sense. In terms of style and substance, the book always soars. (EdNaha) Q 46 FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 Steel Couture Syd Mead Shapes the Future S yd Mead is a visualizer of the Amer¬ ican Dream. He takes the year 2000 A.D. as his time and space reference, designing the cluster-pod housing, computer-guided automobiles, walking trucks, three-dimensional laseramas, space stations and outrageous space-colonial alien contact suits which will be ubiquitous in the ultra-modem world. His design strategy is the only one possible for a futurist; he shapes the future in order to predict it. Syd Mead’s work is in part synonymous with an energy-intensive mechanized society and in part a celebration of the skills and presentation techniques of the industrial de¬ signer. His polished machine-images are per¬ fectly styled and immediately gratifying. The force of his work lies mainly in the technical TEXT AND ART FROM SENTINEL BY SYD MEAD. PUBLISHED BY DRAGON'S DREAM feasibility and historical possibility of every object, vehicle and building he proposes. The powers of invention, which Syd Mead displayed right from his college days, have led to a highly successful and productive career. Over the past 20 years he has been a design consultant to the future. His services have been in demand by many industrial giants, in¬ cluding the Ford Motor Company, Philips, Chrysler, United States Steel, AJcoa and Celanese. He has styled space vehicles for NASA, and the ships, trains, trucks and cars of today were on his drawing board in 1965. Sentinel (his handsome oversized book containing more than 100 paintings and drawings, just published by Dragon’s Dream) is not a book of fantasy. It is a visual encyclopedia of the possible. As a highly trained industrial designer, Syd Mead makes sure that all his blueprints are working draw¬ ings. This technical conviction and brilliant Finish give steel, glass and chrome a sense of purpose and reality in all his images—from inner-city transportation systems to mega- structures in outer space. Above all, Syd Mead is not a designer who can be categorized. He is perfectly relaxed when working on a contemporary product or architectural illustration because he reserves the right to present any idea to its best advan¬ tage—as he sees it. On the other hand, when given the opportunity to develop new con¬ cepts in any product line, his imagination soars through current consumer usages and sociological analyses to such elegantly ar¬ ranged solutions that one wonders why his design for a product does not instantly become the new standard. Syd Mead’s design approaches to any sub¬ ject are always realistic, yet are amplified by a rich imagination which raises them to the level of fantasy. But his technological exper¬ tise and drafting skills make these fantasies not only realistic—but realizable. Arriving guests alight from an aircab overlooking the “Norcon Center” surface transport interchange. Private gondolas glide around two arrival decks on the translobby levels. Leased condominiums at upper left house both private and corporate groups, while the Mega-rise in the middle ground holds scores of national and international offices. FUTURE LIFE#18. May 1980 47 Here a gyroscopically balanced, single¬ wheeled racer has just entered a pit/service area. The bulge in the middle of the hull encloses one huge tire and a traction motor. The driver, wearing a Mylar reflective flame suit, is just getting out. He normally drives the machine from a prone position supported by a couch similar to that used in a space capsule. This design was intended primarily to emphasize the specialized role that steels play in high-intensity equipment. Showroom scene, anti-gravity coupes: This scene is from the U.S. Steel book, Concepts. The anti-gravity coupes are just floating and humming softly, while the salesman on the left interests an elegant woman in the qualities of 21st century transportation. The man with his son in the upper right is probably making a traditional deal. 48 FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 Unipod Gyroscopically Balanced Personal Vehicle was conceived for an article in Automobile Quarterly. Mead describes it as ‘‘a carapace with a pair of mercury gyros on the back that would serve as a personal mobility device in the future megastructure environments and multi-level commercial areas. In practice, the ‘wearer’ leans back into the shell, the strut extends and the wheel folds out while the small pancake motor in the hub provides propulsion.” Anti-gravity passenger vehicle, and tractor with ultra-sonic Earth aerator: Again from Concepts —a couple with a light, personal anti-gravity flyer have stopped to talk with their neighbor while he is taking a break from cultivating his field with an agricultural crawler tractor. The psychology of the scene: To bring a human touch to the massive steel machinery by including the gentle social qualities of rural life. Future tech¬ nology has, however, improved the functions of farming through the use of ultrasonic generators on the rear of the tractor (in place of a plow) that disturb and aerate the earth beneath the surface without breaking the soil. Visible in the back¬ ground is a farmhouse complex and a power antenna receiver with which energy is collected and then distributed throughout the system. FUTURE LIFE#18. May 1980 49 The 1980s! A Backward Glance A new book fondly recalls the 1980s — a decade even screwier than the 70s. By ED NAHA magine a decade wherein meat-legging becomes a major crime. The list of best-selling books includes Dead! by Piers Paul Read (the gripping story of a group of passengers who fail to sur¬ vive the crash of a DC-10 jetliner in the Cana¬ dian Rockies) and Hitler Said the Damdest Things by John Toland. Organized crime orders the mass execution of 13,000 fish in a sedan; thus wiping out an entire species of marine life. Nuclear power plants are refurbished and turned into apartment complexes. And 1984 becomes a hit musical comedy film starring Leif Garrett and Tracy Austin, with Marlon Brando as ‘‘Big Brother” (music and lyrics by The Bee Gees). Sound strange? Absurd? Incredibly realis¬ tic? The decade in question is all of that and more, the “star” of a recently published book entitled The ’80s: A Look Back at the Tumultuous Decade 1980-1989 ($14.95 in hardcover, $6.95 in paperback from Work¬ man Press). Edited by Tony Hendra, Christopher Cerf and Peter Elbling, the book is a futuristic overview of a decade that is, if possible, even more absurd than the recently deceased 1970s. As envisioned by Hendra, Cerf and Elbling, the ’80s is a ten-year stretch of time fraught with bizarre fads, even more bizarre political doings and outright lunacy. Why pick on the 1980s? “Well, they can’t fight back, can they,” smiles Tony Hendra. Hendra, one of the founding fathers of the original National Lampoon and the epic newsprint satire Not The New York Times , cheerfully explains the rather humble origins of the ambitiously off-the-wall book. “The main motivation was provided by a friend of mine, Peter Elbling. We were all sit¬ ting around trying to decide whether we should try to do something funny on the 1970s. When we really tried to think about it, we found that we couldn’t remember any¬ thing about the 1970s, funny or otherwise. There were just these big blank spots. We reasoned that, if we couldn’t remember any¬ thing about the 1970s, maybe we should just invent a decade of our own and look back on that one.” But structuring a suitable span of time proved not the batch of yocks the writers thought it would be. “You can’t just invent a decade like that, you know,” Hendra duti¬ fully points out. “Usually these things take ten years to come up with. Frankly, after this book, I must say that I never want to see another decade again. We persevered, however, and it took us about four and a half months from inception to the point of actual¬ ly piecing together the decade in all its glory. “The most peculiar thing that started to happen once we were working was that, rather than taking the most obvious ap¬ proach—the funny approach where you say this happens like this because I want it to—we began to actually construct a decade that real- 50 FUTURE UFE#18. May 1980 PHOTOS: (c) 1980 WORKMAN PRESS ly worked. If something happened in 1984 which had causes and results, everything had to be consistent. For instance, we had this one notion about California. Instead of the state being rocked by an earthquake, we had Los Angeles slide up the coast until it was opposite San Francisco. Subsequently, we received a piece about California becoming the first Hispanic state in 1984. Our slide occurred in 1986 so we had to go back and rewrite the 1986 piece, taking into account the Hispanic details. A reference to the Dodgers, for in¬ stance, would become Los Dodgers. That’s just a very small example of the complexities that we got ourselves into. ‘ ‘What we ended up finally doing was feed¬ ing all our major events and trends into a computer so we had a print-out in hand whenever we wanted to fact check or com¬ pare events.” Despite their orderly approach, the 1980s troupe did run into occasional snags concern¬ ing their subject matter, “We thought that the best way to do the book was to take trends and events that were of interest right now and extrapolate them to the point of absurdity. We wanted the book to have its feet planted in some sort of reality but, hopefully, with enough improbability to make people laugh. “We did wind up debating some points, though. There was a big discussion between the editors over whether or not we should kill off Ted Kennedy. This was very seriously discussed along with all the various means with which we could bump him off should we choose to do so. Finally, we concluded that this sort of stuff was the thing that the present day Lampoon would do and^we didn’t want to take that easy a shot... although we did come up with some pretty amusing ways to kill Ted off. “I wanted him to be elected president but to have him put into office on a very strong capital punishment platform. His new law would be Federally approved and retroactive to about 1968, especially applying to vehicular homicides. My idea was that the President of the United States himself would wind up going to the electric chair. Nobody really bought that. “We came up with an alternative plan. In order to gain blue collar votes, Kennedy ap¬ points Dr. Allan Bakke as his medical advisor. Confronted with the problem of his wife Joan’s drinking, Ted says that he’ll do any¬ thing for Joan.. .anything. When her liver gives out, Ted offers to give her his own. On the advice of Bakke, he goes ahead with the operation and expires on the operating table. Bakke goes before the nation and says ‘NOW I remember. It’s TWO kidneys and ONE liver!’ “It was pretty funny but a bit too much. In the end, we came up with a compromise. Kennedy gives his liver to Senator Russell Long of Louisiana, who loves his bourbon, in order to get the Southern vote. He doesn’t ex¬ pire on the operating table but has to be sus¬ tained with the aid of a 15-ton artificial liver provided by Bakke. After ten days in office, Kennedy resigns.” In the 1980s, the “Back to Technology” movement flourished. Here, The Towers are constructed near Concord, Massachusetts. Set in rolling countryside, this former “nuke” site will provide ample, spacious housing for disadvantaged members of society, offering built-in heating and lighting. Solitude is guaranteed. The ’80s is a book brimming with that sort of satirical punch. Science comes up with the solar electric chair. The Great Wall of China tours the U.S. The Kentucky Demolition Derby becomes the rage of the nation. Lloyd Bridges is worshipped as a major diety and the biggest fad in publishing is the magazine Fred : a publication designed for people named Fred. It is a tome chock-full of irreverant, thought-provoking, caustic humor. Yet, despite the book’s range, Hendra doesn’t feel that it’s aimed over the head of the average reader. “I don’t think you can worry about that sort of thing,” he says. “If, when you’re writing, you’re worrying about what pleases the teenagers, or the 18- to 30-year-olds or the one-legged, left-brained 33-year-olds, then chances are you will end up pleasing neither the people that you want to please or your¬ self. My attitude is that you should write what you think is funny. If you enjoy it, that feeling should convey itself to your audience. When we wrote Not The New York Times , we had businessmen laughing at it as well as 18-year- old gumpers on park benches. The ’80s should do that, too. It’s a book that should appeal to grownups of all ages.” With the ’80s now behind him, Hendra looks forward to reactions from fans and critics alike. His ultimate dream? “In the year 1990,” he says, a glazed, visionary look em¬ bossing his face, “I’d like somebody whom I respect in the literary genre to step forward and say that this book is clearly one of the ma¬ jor works of literature in the 20th century. I don’t know of anyone who would be crazy enough to say that, though. Well, my wife might say that. Norman Mailer might say that but no one would believe him. Hmmmm. Muhammad Ali, maybe.” Hendra furrows his brow and ponders the future of his book and literary criticism in general. “But Donny Osmond would be my personal choice... now there’s a real man of letters.” S A Brief Look Back at the 1980s 1980: May 2—The Italian Government an¬ nounced that it would start accepting kidnap- pees as legal tender. July 15—In their continu¬ ing push for equal rights, women insisted on a shorter average lifespan. 1981: Jan. 27—The First National Bank of Toledo was held up by a robber wielding a homemade atomic bomb. Oct. 10—The Checker Cab Corporation in conjunction with Runners World introduced a line of metered rickshaws to provide “healthy, economical, pollution-free” public transportation. 1982: Oct. 1—Worried by forecasts of a minute voter turnout in November, the ad¬ ministration announced that any citizen showing up at the polls would get a free toaster. 1983: Jan. 1—The United Nations Interna¬ tional Year of the Simultaneous Orgasm began at midnight. 1984: Oct. 1—The Blue Cross/Blue Shield Center for Disease Control announced that the main causes of Legionnaire’s disease were: wearing funny blue hats, drinking quarts of bourbon, and holding conservative personal opinions. 1985: Oct. 2—A cure for cancer was discovered. All known forms could be neutralized by a substance secreted in the cranium of the baby harp seal, when it was struck repeatedly. 1986: May 28—The new Columbia School of Gossip mailed acceptances to 247 of more than 3,000 applicants. 1987: Disney, Inc. premiered the popular In¬ ner Wilderness Family about a suburban family that flees civilization to homestead in the South Bronx. 1988: Feb. 29—Broccoli was declared an en¬ dangered vegetable. 1989: Jan. 17—Funds ran out in an ambitious project to develop the potatolo, a cross be¬ tween a buffalo and a potato. Excerpted with permission from The ’80s: A Look Back at the Tumultuous Decade 1980-1989, © 1979 Workman Press FUTURE LIFE #18. Mav 1980 51 Bernie Krause: Electronic Music Pioneer By LOU STATHIS T hroughout his 25-year musical career, Bernie Krause has been searching. He has searched for new sources of inspiration—to give his music cross-cultural relevance and meaning; for new instruments—to realize the fullest potential of his music; and for new sounds— to extend the very boundaries and definitions of music itself. His search took him from a small Detroit recording studio in 1964, where at 26 he was producer and guitarist for many early Motown soul hits, to San Francisco in 1966, where he and partner Paul Beaver pioneered the synthesizer’s integration into popular music. And most recently his search has taken him to Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, where he has recorded the sounds of whales and seals, both as source material for his music and as the required research for a PhD in Marine Bio-Acoustics (fish noises). Bernie’s most recent album, Citadels (on the Takoma/Chrysalis label), is a vibrantly eclec¬ tic blend of jazz textures with Latin and African rhythms, inspired by L. Sprague and Catherine de Camp’s study of lost cities, Citadels Of Mystery. The astounding achievement implied by Bernie Krause’s long list of credits becomes obvious when you greet this quietly articulate and keenly intelligent man. Can someone of only 41 have accomplished this much, and still be as vigorous as he? His credentials are astonishing. He has contributed to dozens of movies, either as composer, arranger, pro¬ ducer or session musician. The list includes Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (“I did the pod screams,” he says with a proud smile), The Final Programme (called The Last Days of Man on Earth for its U.S.A. release), Per¬ formance (“I sold Mick Jagger the Moog synthesizer pictured in the film and taught him how to use it”), The Illustrated Man, Rosemary’s Baby and, with Francis Ford Coppola, The Rain People , Finian’s Rain¬ bow and Apocalypse Now. In television, he has variously contributed to Batman , Mis¬ sion: Impossible , The Munsters, The Wild , Wild West and Night Gallery , while albums by the Beach Boys, the Doors, the Monkees, the Rolling Stones, the Tubes, Tiny Tim and others have featured him in one capacity or another (usually armed with synthi). The preponderance of science fiction in this vast resume is no accident. Bernie is an avid SF reader, and says, “Electronics lend themselves naturally to the effects of science fiction films.” Bernie played a pivotal role in electronic music as one-half of the ground-breaking synthesizer duo Beaver & Krause, who pro¬ duced five albums from 1968 to 1973. Notable for their introduction of synthesizer into the traditional settings of jazz, classical and gospel musics, the albums are unfor¬ tunately all out of print, save one. The excep¬ tion is the classic Nonesuch Guide To Elec¬ tronic Music , which remains an invaluable reference and introduction, fully a decade after its release. “Making an album was an educational process for me,” Bernie says today. “I started recording everything Paul Beaver was teach¬ ing me at the time. I’d go to him, shove things in his face and ask, ‘Is this what you mean? I’m putting it in a book.’ And he’d have to think and work on it until it was exactly right. It took more than six months of pinning Paul to the wall to produce that record.” Beaver, who died suddenly of a stroke in 1975 at age 49, is considered one of the earliest and most influential of synthesists, thought by some to be second only to Walter (now Wendy) Carlos. “Paul collected electric organs, old Novachords and Hammonds, which in 1938 were the first synthesizers. He was a consultant to Hammond, and with his strong background in electronics and sound he was able to interface easily with the new synthesizer technology.” Bernie recalls Beaver with admiration and affection. “Paul was a real space freak,” he says with a grin. “He used to climb naked up Mt. Shasta in Northern California, and wait for spaceships to land. He said the mountain was one of the Earth’s seven points of focus for the ‘interstellar machinery,’ and he had actually seen extraterrestrial craft landing there.” Bernie’s appearance is one of someone whose feet are firmly on the ground. He claims to be no technology buff (“I have dif¬ ficulty plugging a socket-cord into the wall’ ’), and indicates he came to the synthesizer via his restless, musician’s curiosity. “I read about a composer in New York, Eric Siday, who had been given $5,000 by American Ex¬ press for one second of a commercial’s recorded sound. I thought immediately, now there’s something I ought to look into. I enrolled in an electronic music course taught by Karlheinz Stockhausen at Mills College in Oakland—and a whole new world opened for me. The synthesizer stripped all cultural influences from music-making (12 tone scales, etc.), and redefined music as, simply, the control of sound. When you build music from the ground up, as you do with a syn¬ thesizer, you can’t avoid thinking of it that way. At least I couldn’t.” And Bernie hasn’t stopped thinking of it that way, as the syn¬ thesizer has become a major part of his musical life. Bernie regards his work on Apocalypse Now as another important moment in his growth as a synthesist. “Francis is a concep¬ tual genius. He wanted music derived from the sounds of war, and he got four of the best 52 FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 synthesists around to work hard at getting it for him. All of us—Don Preston [who has played with Zappa and the Residents, among others], Pat Gleeson [who has released two albums of his own on Mercury records, and owns Different Fur Recording Studios in San Francisco], Nyle Steiner [a newcomer from Salt Lake City] and myself—all had different comprehensions and approaches to the syn¬ thesizer. What resulted is something of a sum¬ mation of current synthesizer technique and technology. I’m going to use what I learned there on my next record.” Currently, Bemie is amassing a library of marine mammal recordings, using a micro¬ phone devised by himself and a co-worker. He envisions using these recordings in con¬ gress with synthesizers on his next album. “I don’t yet know what it’ll sound like,’ ’ he says, “but I guarantee it’ll be different from anything you’ve ever heard before.” Bemie is also at work on a new film score—one without synthesizers—for Tell Me A Riddle , directed by actress Lee Grant. When asked about the future of synthe¬ sizers and electronic music, Bemie pauses thoughtfully. “There aren’t many people do¬ ing new things with electronics,” he observes. “Most synthesists are content to stumble across a couple of interesting sounds, and utilize them. There aren’t enough real ex¬ plorers and innovators out there. Nyle Steiner is one of those rare people—he’s really a man to watch. He came into the Apocalypse Now gig with a thing the size of a flute case, and blew everybody’s mind. He calls it the EVI—it works with air pressure and is valved like a trumpet, with a five or six octave range. Nyle is a man of the future. “Malcolm Cecil is probably the genius of our time. He was responsible for Tonto’sEx¬ panding Headband with Robert Margouleff, as well as Stevie Wonder’s synthesizer pro¬ gramming. And we’re all looking forward to what Wendy Carlos does next; she’s been silent for quite a while.” Bemie’s thoughts turn to the future of our society, and his concern over the course it is taking. “I worry that we are an anti-intellec¬ tual country with no respect for its artists.” Bemie sees our creative impulses stifled, and our culture stagnating. “Unless record com¬ pany people are willing to take some risks and involve themselves in new concepts, new ideas, nothing’s going to change.” Bemie worries the most about the state of our en¬ vironment, and his unique perspective gives added weight to his words. “The next thing we have to address ourselves to is the oceans. It’s possible that vessel noises profoundly af¬ fect the feeding habits of the animals in Glacier Bay. Last year, there were at least 70 or 80 humpback whales there—this year I only saw one in a week. These animals are fast disappearing. I want to see them before they go, and I want to record them.” It’s clear from the evidence etched in vinyl, and in the thoughtful concern of his words, that Bemie Krause is someone who bears listening to. His voice, arising from a seem¬ ingly tireless, searching intellect, is fresh, forward-looking and undeniably musical. /J NEW SPECIAL COLLECTOR'S ITEMS The Official "1941" Movie Commemoratives Commissioned by Director Steven Spielberg Designed by Peter Green Name Address City_State_Zip_ Allow up to 6 weeks for delivery Canadian and Foreign Customers: Payment in U.S. Funds only. Add $2.00 extra per order for postage. 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Full-color iron-on "1941” emblem available separately for $5.50 + $1.25 postage and handling. I ASIMOV AT 60 To celebrate his birthday, America's master of science and science fiction ponders his illustrious past and looks forward to the future By DANIEL E. BUTTON F rom his top floor aerie 300 feet above New York City, author Isaac Asimov can stroll to windows and balconies fronting north, east and south, and absorb the contemplative possibilities in¬ herent in distant horizons. During his creative hours, however, Asimov closets himself in a room devoid of daylight and pounds away at one of his four electric typewriters. Perhaps it is this stark environment that instills in his literary output an insistent, restlessly urgent, quality rather than a serene one. Isaac Asimov has just turned 60 years old. He has been writing professionally for 40 of those years. Thus far, his life’s work adds up to over 20 million words between book covers and millions more in uncollected periodical form. His areas of expertise include hard science, science fiction, detective fiction, biblical interpretation, literary commentary, autobiography, history and limericks. At present, he is working on a question- and-answer book entitled Dialogue On Science; a 100,000 word opus which starts with the query: “What is science?” In addi¬ tion, two books on astronomy have also been contracted for. Clearly, Asimov is a man obsessed with work. As of this writing, he has penned some 215 volumes of Asimovia and shows no signs of slowing down—not even to celebrate a birthday. In an article intended to commemorate his 60th year, Asimov was asked by FUTURE LIFE to gaze introspectively forward from this round numbered vantage point; to predict the scientific trends of tomorrow based on his observations of yesterday and today. Seated in his Manhattan home, Asimov reflects on the nature of science and science fiction during his lifetime. Of the relationship between the two areas, he observes, “Science routinely prods science fiction. One has only to read the science fiction written in the late 1930s, when I began, to see how abysmally blind SF was to what was about to happen. Story after story talks about radium as the wonder metal of atomic energy. Not one talks about uranium. Story after story talks about robots. Not one talks about the computer. Science fiction is very occasionally prescient, but for the most part it is a humble follower of science.” While science fiction’s popularity has soared over the years, Asimov sadly acknowledges that hard science has taken a drubbing in the popularity polls. “I’m afraid that the changes in the public’s reaction to science has been an unhappy one,” he says. “More and more people today distrust science and scientists, and use it and them as whipping boys. The most vocal anti-science blatherers use their stand as an advertisement of their own high-minded idealism and nobility, but I notice they make every possible use of technology where their own comfort is concerned. They use only the best public ad¬ dress systems and guitars (electrified when possible).” During his 40 years of authoring both science fact and fiction, Asimov has watched the progress of science carefully but is admit¬ tedly hard-pressed to designate the “greatest” scientific advancement in his lifetime. “No one achievement is ‘the greatest’ beyond dispute,” he states. “In my professional career, I should say that the fol¬ lowing are in the first class: the electronic computer, the transistor, the laser, successful rocket probes. These are all technological discoveries rather than items of basic science —but the value of basic science is not easily estimated without the perspective of distance, while the value of technology makes itself felt at once.” As to the path science may or may not take in the future, Asimov is convinced that the answers to a great many of the Earth’s pro¬ blems lie in the promise of space. In Asimov’s opinion, even the energy crisis can be solved via space science. “To overcome certain of the difficulties in capitalizing on solar energy,” he explains, “why not have several solar power stations placed in synchronous orbit about the Earth, some 22,000 miles above the planet’s surface, each one moving so as to stay, more or less, over a single spot on Earth’s equator? “A solar power station can receive the full range of the sun’s energy, unblocked by at¬ mosphere and atmospheric phenomena. It will be in Earth’s shadow only two hours out of the 24, and when one is in shadow others will be in sunshine. It can convert solar energy to a beam of microwaves, which can be pick¬ ed up and used with much greater efficiency than sunlight itself can be, so that the collect¬ ing areas on Earth’s surface will be much smaller and more easily maintained than otherwise would be the case. “But we should realize that energy stations in space will give us something much more important than even energy. “All forms of energy obtained here on Earth are geography-bound. Just as there are oil-rich regions and oil-poor regions, so some regions are richer than others in tidal energy, in waterpower, in geothermal energy, in uranium supplies, in access to the ocean. And while that is so, the temptations to rivalry may be impossible to defeat. “Space, however, is equidistant from all surface-regions. Energy drawn from the sun in space would belong to all people in a fashion that no Earth-bound energy source possibly could. The power stations in space would, in a sense, breed cooperation. “The techniques developed for building such stations could be used to build other structures in space. There could be space observatories for the study of astronomy and other sciences; space laboratories where dangerous experiments in nuclear physics and •UTURELIFE#18. May 1980 54 PHOTO (O I960 DOUBLEDAY BOOKS/ LYA KORDA genetic engineering could be conducted with little risk to Earth itself; factories that would take advantage of peculiar properties in space to carry on industrial procedures difficult or impossible to accomplish in Earth’s surface environment. “Building materials for these observa¬ tories, laboratories, factories—and settle¬ ments, of course—could be obtained almost entirely from the Moon. For the forseeable future, at any rate, the Moon is an inexhausti¬ ble source of material of all kinds (except for hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen). What’s more, the Moon is without a native ecology we might otherwise hesitate to disturb. “Let me also mention three great ultimate consequences that may result from our space activities, aside from obtaining energy and gaining world cooperation: “First, we can expect that eventually there might be enough space settlements to permit a new growth of human numbers, after that growth has come to a halt—as it must in the near future—on Earth’s surface. “Second, more and more of Earth’s in¬ dustry eventually will be lifted into space, where the problems of resource depletion —thanks to the Moon—and of pollution- thanks to the great volume of space—will be far less important. With industry on Earth’s surface shrinking, that surface might return to a more desirable wildemess/park/farm condition. What’s more, we would restore the beauty of the Earth without losing the material advantages of industry and high technology. “And finally, the people of space settle¬ ments eventually would serve as the advance guard of humanity in the exploration and set¬ tlement of farther reaches of space.” Asimov believes that space colonization will improve the quality of the human species. “People, living enclosed in small worlds and accustomed to space travel, would have far fewer psychological problems in making long space flights than would people who have been brought up under the space-alien condi¬ tions of Earth’s surface. You will see the im¬ portance of this if you remember that the ad¬ vance of humanity up to now has come about, after all, through the steady increase of its range over the face of the Earth. With this has come a steady increase of sophistica¬ tion in methods for its transportation and communication and the steady increase of its ability to make use of the laws of nature for its own purpose. But the Earth is filled now; over-filled, indeed, and we can do nothing more if we must remain confined in the straight jacket of the planetary surface. So, as I see it, we must therefore expand again —toward the unbounded horizons of space.” Dr. Asimov pauses to note that the revolu¬ tionary increase over the past 30 years in the knowledge of our sister planets has not been cheap. The instruments that have made the revolution—the radio telescopes, the com¬ puters, the rockets—have cost enormous sums, he acknowledges, adding that virtual¬ ly all of it has come out of the public’s pocket. ‘‘So,” he observes, ‘ ‘it is only human for us to question the value of the results. To be sure, it is reasonable to speak of the itch to satisfy curiosity and of the value of know¬ ledge for its own sake. But it’s the. scientists whose curiosity is satisfied and who ap¬ preciate the knowledge—and it’s the non- scientific public that pays. Scientists, therefore, need to be patient when the public asks ‘But what’s in it for us?’ especially since good answers can be given to the question. “For example, we have spent billions in reaching the Moon. Just one result is the return of rock samples from the lunar sur¬ face. They are immensely valuable from the standpoint of an insight into the early days of the solar system. “The Moon offers us a tool that allows us to probe backward into the first half-billion years of existence of the solar system. It is this expertise that can—and I believe will—make it possible for us to return with the more down-to-Moon purpose: the mining station that I have spoken of. And a century from now no member of the ‘public’ will ask of what value it was to reach the Moon. The answer will be all around, with humanity’s range spread from here to the Moon, and human prosperity and further advance¬ ment entirely dependent—as I have been suggesting—on space technology. “And roughly similar advantages are possible, by the way, through our probes of Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. In the case of Venus, for example, remember that we are increasing the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere slowly by burning coal and oil, and this may be warming Earth slightly. Is there a point at which we will set off a runaway greenhouse effect and gradually, but inexorably, turn Earth into another Venus, where the surface temperature ap¬ proaches an unbelievable 500° (Q on all parts of the planet? It may have been a ‘runaway greenhouse effect’ in the long- distant past that converted a much milder Venus into the hell it is today. I believe that if our studies of Venus enlighten us on this mat¬ ter, we may learn enough to save humanity and keep Earth a life-bearing planet. “In fact, it may be that the answer to weather prediction and weather control here at home will depend on the data we get from worlds that are tens and even hundreds of millions of miles away. “Further, if we learn the intimate details of the chemical structure of Jupiter, we will perhaps know more of what it is that is going on in the center of our sun—and that, in turn, may help to save our civilization from disaster in times to come.” FUTURE LIFE #18. May 1980 55 M&N- Official BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Books ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA This book is an authentic volume from the library of the giant, galaxy-spanning starship itself, it presents the history, biography, technology, legends, myths and weapons of the Galactic Humans and their arch-enemies, the Cylons, in encyclopedic form. 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Name _ Address _ City ___ State_Zip_ l l l l l l l l l l l l I In the slightly more than a single decade since humankind reached the Moon, Asimov continues, we can be considered as being in a time of preparation for a new phase of space exploration. “In this new phase, with cheaper hardware and longer shifts for those reaching space, we can begin to build those new industries, new settlements—and new visions. “It is not just a matter of human beings traveling here and there. While the universe waits for the foot of humanity, it can be in¬ vaded by the human brain. “We’ll have to understand how long peo¬ ple can remain on the Moon at one-sixth nor¬ mal gravity. In fact, if we’re going to be deal¬ ing seriously with space, we’ll have to know how long people can endure living and work¬ ing at zero gravity. “If low gravity can be endured for only a short period this will put an enormous con¬ straint on the future of space exploration and exploitation. ‘‘So far, astronauts have remained in space for as long as three months. Human beings probably can stay in space at zero gravity for even longer stretches, but even if they couldn’t, three-month shifts would be ade¬ quate and would enable space construction to proceed smoothly. ’ ’ Looking deep into the future and into the farthest reaches of space, Dr. Asimov poses some far-out prospects: “Can we consider ourselves the only intelligent race in the universe capable of launching itself into in¬ terstellar space? What if our asteroid belt is already occupied by others? What if we find we are penned into our own inner solar system with everything beyond blocked off? ‘ ‘These appear to be very unlikely proposi¬ tions, of course, on the basis of chance alone. Space arks, moving randomly, are not very likely to stumble upon our star, and the likelihood is that we have escaped. “Even if some asteroid-ark of another system has encountered our planetary sys¬ tem, any race capable of interstellar travel may Jhave enough respect for intelligent life to avoid exploiting the asteroid belt of any star that possesses a planet with intelligent life. And presumably mankind’s own asteroid- arks will practice similar restraint. “But then what if a human asteriod-ark encounters another asteroid-ark and finds, on a close approach, that it is occupied by in¬ telligent beings of utterly different antece¬ dents? Non-human altogether—what then? ‘ ‘A genetic interchange would be out of the question, but might not the intellectual cross¬ fertilization be all the richer, if it could be managed at all? “When human beings venture into the wide universe they may find it already in¬ habited by a vast brotherhood that does not take into account the differences in the material body, but asks only that the organi¬ zation of that body be complex enough to support a high intelligence—as it must in that brotherhood, or the asteroid-ark would not have been possible in the first place.” Of the potential projects toward which the world will be heading in the next several years, Dr. Asimov believes the progress to be made will depend, in part, on the extent to which nations are willing to spend on space and survival rather than on “defense” and doom. “Assuming rationality and wisdom,” he explains, “we should expect that one of the earlier space projects will be the construction of a large telescope in space. It could be tend¬ ed, when necessary, by rotating teams of astronomers taken to the telescope and home again by the space shuttle. “If the space telescope is successfully de¬ ployed, it should be quite capable of answer¬ ing some of the questions about the overall fate of the universe. I have two guesses I would like to make in this connection about information to be gathered following the placing of the space telescope into operation: “First, I suspect that quasar studies will establish beyond doubt a cutoff somewhere this side of 15 billion light-years. Beyond the cutoff, we will be probing so far back in time that only the high-energy haze that existed immediately after the big bang would be visi¬ ble. This would be a final confirmation of the big bang theory of the beginnings of the universe. “Additionally, a detailed study of globular cluster and of clusters of galaxies will make it clear that the masses of major astronomical objects have been seriously underestimated and that, in general, interstellar gases and intergalactic stars represent a large fraction of the mass of the universe. In short, we will be on the way toward discovering the ‘missing mass’ and deciding that the universe is closed after all—that it will someday begin to con¬ tract again, and that the big bang that set us all going was only one of an endless series stretching back to the indefinite past and for¬ ward to the indefinite future.” As for his own future, as he turns 60, Dr. Asimov is far less “indefinite.” He regarded it as a “triumphant” occasion personally, having felt ‘‘upset” at 40 and ‘ ‘neutral’ ’ at 50. Having survived in good style a coronary three years ago, he first found it difficult “to regain the old feeling that I was immortal.” Completion, however, of In Joy Still Felt, the second of his autobiographical volumes, brought the feeling that ‘ ‘somehow nothing is ending—that I can go right on. It’s a pleasant plateau.” Adding to his sense of satisfaction was his promotion to the rank of full pro¬ fessor in biochemistry at the Boston Univer¬ sity School of Medicine. “The older I get, and the more books of mine that are finished and in print, and the more backlog of royalties accrues, the more impelled I feel to do books that I really feel like doing. This has led, for instance, to an Annotated Gulliver's Travels . More signifi¬ cantly—and bridging two of my interests—is an analysis of the first 11 chapters of Genesis , down to Abraham. I am comparing these, verse by verse, with modem thought in cosmology and archaeology.” Scheduled for publication later this year, this book will bear a tide quite typical of the fruit of all the Asimovian questing: In the Beginning .... Q FUTURE LIFE #18, May 1980 NEW, BESTSELLING ACTION ON GOR <1U 19S0 FIGHTING SLAVE OF GOR John Norman * 14 in the bestselling series with over 2.1 million DAW copies in print Amid the slave marts of a turbulent, alien world, Jason Marshall would be forced to seek his own liberty in order to complete the rescue of his lost love from the traders of flesh... Whether you’re new to John Norman’s Gorean epic series or already one of his many fans, you can order any single title or combination of titles now by using the simple coupon below. DAW BOOKS ORIGINALS BOOK 8ff At your bookstore, or mail this coupon to INJAL NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY P.D. Box 999, Bergenfield, Nj 07621 RUSH me these JOHN NORMAN titles today! I include my check or money order for the total price plus 50e/< mrAh ns m v - W/- A The official STAR TREK—The Motion Picture Deluxe LED Duty Jacket ($95 plus postage & pack- ing). An amazing space-age design using metallic, silver fleck polyurethane as the reflective outer shell and soft, luxurious 100% nylon lining in matching silver. The official STAR TREK United Federation emblem patch adorns the breast of the jacket; the right sleeve is embroidered with a sharp-looking rank band (from the new movie); and.the back is printed with the new STAR TREK logo and the U.S.S. Enterprise. A dazzling array of tiny LEDs (light emitting diodes) are secretly built into the Enterprise, and at your command they can be made to flash and sparkle. This stun¬ ning, practical windbreaker is a real conversation starter—no one can fail to be amazed and im¬ pressed with it. Shoulders are stylishly padded; waist and sleeves are elastic for a snug, wind- proof fit. The black nylon piping and heavy-duty zipper add the perfect accents to this shimmering silver jacket. D The Official STAR TREK—The Motion Picture Standard Duty Jacket ($40 plus postage & packing) Similar to the Deluxe LED model but designed for those who prefer a less costly item. Does not in¬ clude arm band, lining, metallic flecks in outer shell, nor the bacK emblem with LED system. It is a distinctive, goodlooking, lightweight windbreaker made of silver polyurethane and black nylon piping with Federation'breast patch. £ The Official STAR TREK—The Motion Picture LED Pullover Shirt ($35 plus postage & packing) ^ Made of heavy 100% cotton in dark navy blue the front is emblazoned with a full color reproduction of the new Enterprise and STAR TREK logo. Secretly mounteo across the full width of the saucer portion is a system of LED's which you can turn on and command to flash with dazzling ruby red glints that shine like stars. This is without a doubt the most unusual “T-Shirt” you will ever wear: it is certain to make" you the center of attention at any event. IMPORTANT: 9V battery required for each LED jacket or pullover; not included with clothing. Mail to: STAR TREK JACKETS c/oSTARLOG Dept. F18 475 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 Quantity: Circle Size. Deluxe LED Jacket $95 plus $5 postage _Standard Jacket $40 plus $5 postage __LED Pullover Shirt $35 plus $5 postage Enclosed: $ (cash, check, or money order drawn to O'Quinn Studios. Inc.) NOTE: Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for processing and delivery FOREIGN ORDERS: Canadian customers send $8 postage per item. Other countries send $9 postage per item. All payments in U S. funds only Child: S M L Woman: S M L Man: S M L XL Child: S M L Woman: S M L Man: S M L XL Child: S M L Woman: S M L Man: S M L XL NAME ADDRESS CITY STATE Note if you don't want to cut up this coupon. ZIP send order on a separate piece of paper These items are manufactured under exclusive licence from Paramount Pictures Corporation, the trademark owner for STAR TREK—The Motion Picture