Re: Sci Fic addition on Logh

David Chee Kay Leung (ckleung@mortimer.com)
Sat, 12 Jul 1997 01:58:55 -0700 

At 23:00 11/07/97 -0700, you wrote:
>I wrote one in Chinese when I finished the Novel.  It should take place
>after Bucock died.  If it should have a name, it would be "the Shadow
>Fleet of Alliance"  It is about an Alliance fleet whose mission is to
>search another way other than Phezzan and Iserlohn to the Empire. 
>Because its existence must be kept secret from the Empire and Phezzan,
>it was never shown in the record.  Only the Joint Chiefs of the staff
>knew about its existence and kept track of it.  It participated in
>battles assuming other fleets' identity.  
>The story was really stupid.  I even made Iserlohn Fortress a moving
>one.  In the battle, its supprising appearence would cost the Empire
>dearly.  Just think, the main gun against concentrated Empire fleet. 
>That would be a thrill.
>If you guys want it, I would like to translate it to English so
>everybody can read about it.  
>Just send in a yes.  If I got more than five, I will do it.  If you are
>already feeling sick, send in a no.  A no cancel a yes.
>

Hi,

        YES YES YES, silly though they are, it is nice to see some creativity.

        Oh, I just borrowed the Dune movie from the video store and finished
watching it (2 hr version). My feelings are mixed. The visual effects are Ok
by today's standards, but if I watched this 12 years ago I would be amazed.

        However, I think this can be done in a much better way. There are a
lot of things not explained in the movie, as if the director asumed that
everyone has read the novels. Well I haven't, but at least I have played
Dune 2. Imagine someone who knows absolutely nothing about the Dune
universe. That individual won't have a clue what is going on (e.g. my
family). In addition, there seems to be no real surprises. You know who are
traitor is, you know he is going to drink the water of life sooner or later
and he won't die, you know that he will meet the girl, you know the Duke
will die...... They are also trying to squeeze a lot of things in the novels
into the movies and ended up having lots of unnecessary scenes/characters.
Like the lover of Paul. All I know about her is her name. I don't see any
personalities in her. All she does is to say "I'll love you forever" when he
drinks the water of life. Sting is another failure. He was introduced early
on, but he did nothing until the last scene, and that fight is totally
unnecessary. 

        I think they lost a lot of money and wasted a great topic. Maybe I
should read the novels instead. Can anyone tell me if the novels are worth
the time and money?

                                David Leung