----- Original Message -----
From: "mfaries" <mfaries@...>
To: <OnlineAlpha@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2002 5:32 AM
Subject: [OnlineAlpha] New "Space: 1999" CG interior images @ Inside Alpha


> "Space: 1999", in terms of computer generated images (CGI), has grown
> yet again. Another talented artist/modeler has joined the fray:
>
> Inside Alpha
> http://www.dasteph.com/alpha


And excellent they are too. Very well done indeed.


Simon

----- Original Message -----
From: "Øgland - Petter" <petter.ogland@...>
To: "'Simon Morris'" <simon31@...>; "Online Alpha"
<onlinealpha@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2002 9:02 AM
Subject: SV: [OnlineAlpha] Re: Barry Gray's Music



> Vic Elms performance for the main theme is very good, but in the case of
scoring "Ring Around the Moon", we see a different side of him.  It is,
however, not Elms part of working out the score that is particulary
interesting per se, but, and this is the crucial point I feel, it is the
collaboration between Elms and Willis that made the fireworks, the
collaboration between two men of very different creative temperament and
background.

Hmmmm. Yes I suppose you're right Petter.

>
> Intended or not, I think this exaordinary successful collacoration went
far beyond anyones expectations, and, perhaps surprisingly, produced one of
the most interesing soundtracks of the area.  Unlike the scores by Gray and
Wadsworth, I don't think it makes much sense listening to without the
pictures, and in this way it could perhaps be described as one of the most
perfect examples of well-crafted music especially designed for the medium.
It borders between soundeffects and traditional music, and the border is
often a very thin line.  Personally, I think it perhaps compares with the
revolution in soundtrack scoring that is usually associated with "Forbidden
Planet" or "2001".

Well I don't see it as "extraordinarily successful" by any means (or indeed
especially "well crafted") but I tend to agree with most of the rest of what
you wrote above.....


Simon

Paulo,
I enjoyed the quote by Lovecraft and given the little
that I know about him and the movies I've seen based
on his books (I think it was Full Moon Entertainment
that produced a few) I believe he would have really,
really enjoyed the first season of 1999.

Fear was everpresent for our beloved Alphans in that
first season, yet despite the precarious nature of
their situation they were never without hope or
compassion. Seems to be a rather fitting outlook that
applies just as much in today's world.


--- Paulo Jorge Vaz Pereira <starblade@...>
wrote:
......

> All this character have one thing in common: They
> live in fear. And “the oldest and strongest emotion
of mankind is fear, and the oldest and  strongest kind
of fear is fear of the unknown...” HP Lovecraft 1927
>
> Paulo Pereira



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions!
http://auctions.yahoo.com

Fantastic work David!

All we need are sound effects, a big screen tv to put
the images on and the beloved Main Mission sets of
Year 1 Alpha are alive once again.
Richard


--- Christina Horvath <Luvtooread1999@...>
wrote:
> Wow! is right.  This is incredible.  My first
> thought was "I want to go there!"  I feel like I
> could walk from place to place, climb stairs etc.
>  InsideAlpha fills in the blanks -- connects all
> of the images, so to speak, so that I CAN imagine
> myself there.  How beautiful.  I love the
> lighting.  It shows Alpha to be a stark but
> beautiful place.  Functional but beautiful.  The
> chairs look a bit uncomfortable, though.  :)
>
> InsideAlpha is already marked as a Favorite Place
> of mine.  I intend to visit it often -- looking
> for updates or just to look at the beautiful work
> already completed.
>
> Well done!
>
> Christina

> --- blondgod1999 <blondgod1999@...> wrote:
> >  WOW! That was amazing! Very well done, and I
> > look forward to seeing more. It's great that there
are so many talented people in S:99 fandom who
continue to provide us with these treats!
>
>
> =====
> "Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
>  Work like you don't need money.
>  Love like you've never been hurt.
>  Dance like no one's watching."
>
> --Unknown



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions!
http://auctions.yahoo.com

Fantastic work David!

All we need are sound effects, a big screen tv to put
the images on and the beloved Main Mission sets of
Year 1 Alpha are alive once again.
Richard


--- Christina Horvath <Luvtooread1999@...>
wrote:
> Wow! is right.  This is incredible.  My first
> thought was "I want to go there!"  I feel like I
> could walk from place to place, climb stairs etc.
>  InsideAlpha fills in the blanks -- connects all
> of the images, so to speak, so that I CAN imagine
> myself there.  How beautiful.  I love the
> lighting.  It shows Alpha to be a stark but
> beautiful place.  Functional but beautiful.  The
> chairs look a bit uncomfortable, though.  :)
>
> InsideAlpha is already marked as a Favorite Place
> of mine.  I intend to visit it often -- looking
> for updates or just to look at the beautiful work
> already completed.
>
> Well done!
>
> Christina

> --- blondgod1999 <blondgod1999@...> wrote:
> >  WOW! That was amazing! Very well done, and I
> > look forward to seeing more. It's great that there
are so many talented people in S:99 fandom who
continue to provide us with these treats!
>
>
> =====
> "Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
>  Work like you don't need money.
>  Love like you've never been hurt.
>  Dance like no one's watching."
>
> --Unknown



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions!
http://auctions.yahoo.com

Fantastic work David!

All we need are sound effects, a big screen tv to put
the images on and the beloved Main Mission sets of
Year 1 Alpha are alive once again.
Richard


--- Christina Horvath <Luvtooread1999@...>
wrote:
> Wow! is right.  This is incredible.  My first
> thought was "I want to go there!"  I feel like I
> could walk from place to place, climb stairs etc.
>  InsideAlpha fills in the blanks -- connects all
> of the images, so to speak, so that I CAN imagine
> myself there.  How beautiful.  I love the
> lighting.  It shows Alpha to be a stark but
> beautiful place.  Functional but beautiful.  The
> chairs look a bit uncomfortable, though.  :)
>
> InsideAlpha is already marked as a Favorite Place
> of mine.  I intend to visit it often -- looking
> for updates or just to look at the beautiful work
> already completed.
>
> Well done!
>
> Christina

> --- blondgod1999 <blondgod1999@...> wrote:
> >  WOW! That was amazing! Very well done, and I
> > look forward to seeing more. It's great that there
are so many talented people in S:99 fandom who
continue to provide us with these treats!
>
>
> =====
> "Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
>  Work like you don't need money.
>  Love like you've never been hurt.
>  Dance like no one's watching."
>
> --Unknown



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions!
http://auctions.yahoo.com

Fantastic work David!

All we need are sound effects, a big screen tv to put
the images on and the beloved Main Mission sets of
Year 1 Alpha are alive once again.
Richard


--- Christina Horvath <Luvtooread1999@...>
wrote:
> Wow! is right.  This is incredible.  My first
> thought was "I want to go there!"  I feel like I
> could walk from place to place, climb stairs etc.
>  InsideAlpha fills in the blanks -- connects all
> of the images, so to speak, so that I CAN imagine
> myself there.  How beautiful.  I love the
> lighting.  It shows Alpha to be a stark but
> beautiful place.  Functional but beautiful.  The
> chairs look a bit uncomfortable, though.  :)
>
> InsideAlpha is already marked as a Favorite Place
> of mine.  I intend to visit it often -- looking
> for updates or just to look at the beautiful work
> already completed.
>
> Well done!
>
> Christina

> --- blondgod1999 <blondgod1999@...> wrote:
> >  WOW! That was amazing! Very well done, and I
> > look forward to seeing more. It's great that there
are so many talented people in S:99 fandom who
continue to provide us with these treats!
>
>
> =====
> "Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
>  Work like you don't need money.
>  Love like you've never been hurt.
>  Dance like no one's watching."
>
> --Unknown



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions!
http://auctions.yahoo.com

I am interested in any drawings of the 10 sided shipping containers
the Alphans always used.  In the very last of "The Testament of
Arkadia" you can see one with the topmost panel off.  In the "Black
Sun" you can also see the plywood bottom when the Eagle was being
loaded.

I have a friend of mine whom works with custom fiberglass.  If I can
get some drawings and look at todays military aircraft shipping
containers, I believe a mold could be made.  I would like to build a
fully functional unit.

I would love to have one or two of those in my house to store my crafts in!
(i do alot of crafts) What a conversation piece!! If they aren't too
expensive, I'll buy one!
Trish*


>From: "dex367" <ken.degrave@...>
>To: OnlineAlpha@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [OnlineAlpha] Alphan Shipping Containers
>Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 18:12:51 -0000
>
>I am interested in any drawings of the 10 sided shipping containers
>the Alphans always used.  In the very last of "The Testament of
>Arkadia" you can see one with the topmost panel off.  In the "Black
>Sun" you can also see the plywood bottom when the Eagle was being
>loaded.
>
>I have a friend of mine whom works with custom fiberglass.  If I can
>get some drawings and look at todays military aircraft shipping
>containers, I believe a mold could be made.  I would like to build a
>fully functional unit.
>
>
>
>




_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com

Can anyone help me out?  I don't have the Y2 DVD's yet and I need to know
which life signs are monitered on the bio-watches the Alphans where.  For
the life of me, I can't remember! I know that one is temperature; one is
heartrate.....what else?
Any help is appreciated.
Trish*


_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com

Simon:

>> The Elms/Willis collaboration seems to have been an extremely happy
>>combination in this respect, I would say, much better than some of the
>>contemporary attempts of rock groups merging with symphony orchestras.  In
>>fact, I think the RATM score is one of the best scored Space 1999 episodes
>>because of how it dares to use this prog-rock idiom in such a consistent and
>>rather efficient way, enhancing the mood of the episode, while at the same
>>time exploring a musical approach that, in its experimental and interesting
>>fashion, is really quite consistent with the experimental and avant-garde
>>theme of the series itself.
>>
>> If this is not the sound of genius, then what is?  If there is one
>>recording session that I would really like to have been able to follow at
>>close hand, then this would certainly have been it.  The dynamic exchange of
>>ideas between Elms and Willis, how they tried to explain the ideas to the
>>orchestra, the tension, the creativity.  This strikes me as how Beethoven
>>must have been working with his orchestras in the first part of the 17th
>>century.  Challenging the classical idiom of the day, inserting and
>>expressing new ideas.  Yes, remarkable.
>
>
>I really wouldn't call it the sound of genius Petter. In fact I think that -
>as usual - you 'over-egg the pudding' in the way you describe this artistic
>collaboration. I certainly don't think there was any intent to challenge the
>classical idiom or express new ideas. Elms and Willis were,quite simply,in
>deep shit and were struggling to make some sounds that they could overlay
>onto the episode.

Phil often refers to the collaboration as "art by accident", not too bad a term,
really, although I would rather refer to it as a remarkable product of a
creative environment.  The problematic situation and the "struggle", as you call
it, in order to colour the episode with the right palette of sounds,
illustrates, I think, that art is not created in vacuum, but rather as a
response and an interpretation of a challenging situation.

Vic Elms performance for the main theme is very good, but in the case of scoring
"Ring Around the Moon", we see a different side of him.  It is, however, not
Elms part of working out the score that is particulary interesting per se, but,
and this is the crucial point I feel, it is the collaboration between Elms and
Willis that made the fireworks, the collaboration between two men of very
different creative temperament and background.

Intended or not, I think this exaordinary successful collacoration went far
beyond anyones expectations, and, perhaps surprisingly, produced one of the most
interesing soundtracks of the area.  Unlike the scores by Gray and Wadsworth, I
don't think it makes much sense listening to without the pictures, and in this
way it could perhaps be described as one of the most perfect examples of
well-crafted music especially designed for the medium.  It borders between
soundeffects and traditional music, and the border is often a very thin line. 
Personally, I think it perhaps compares with the revolution in soundtrack
scoring that is usually associated with "Forbidden Planet" or "2001".


Petter

Simon:

>> The music for "Ring Around the Moon" reflects a genius at work, I agree
>>completely.  Especially the cello parts, prior to the scene >where John
>>looks out of the window, thinking of Helena, is tremendously powerful, and
>>like "Matter of Life and Death", the use of >electronic sounds enhances the
<>inherent feeling of mystery and the surreal throughout the episode.  A
>>masterwork, definitely.
>
>Oh dear....here we go again. Petter, I don't think Phil was saying anything
>about the RATM music reflecting a genius at work. He was only commenting -
>as did I - on the large contribution Alan Willis made to the series as music
>editor,both in editing existing pieces of Gray's score and in selecting
>library music that fitted the action like a glove. As it happens, I don't
>actually dislike the score (such as it is) that Elms and Willis did for the
>episode but it hardly compares with Gray's work does it. And as I pointed
>out a *long* time ago.....the score was borne out of necessity,not
>invention.

Isn't there a saying going something like necessity being the mother of
invention?  As pointed out by other contributors to this thread, the Elms/Willis
collaboration seem to reflect one of the more interesting aspects of popular
music of the area, how prog-rock was an arena for unscholared talents
investigating the world of institutionalised musical arts:  Deep Purple, Pink
Floyd, Yes, ELP etc.

The Elms/Willis collaboration seems to have been an extremely happy combination
in this respect, I would say, much better than some of the contemporary attempts
of rock groups merging with symphony orchestras.  In fact, I think the RATM
score is one of the best scored Space 1999 episodes because of how it dares to
use this prog-rock idiom in such a consistent and rather efficient way,
enhancing the mood of the episode, while at the same time exploring a musical
approach that, in its experimental and interesting fashion, is really quite
consistent with the experimental and avant-garde theme of the series itself.

If this is not the sound of genius, then what is?  If there is one recording
session that I would really like to have been able to follow at close hand, then
this would certainly have been it.  The dynamic exchange of ideas between Elms
and Willis, how they tried to explain the ideas to the orchestra, the tension,
the creativity.  This strikes me as how Beethoven must have been working with
his orchestras in the first part of the 17th century.  Challenging the classical
idiom of the day, inserting and expressing new ideas.  Yes, remarkable.

>> The choice of music in this case worked quite well as far as I'm
>>concerned.  The piece reminds me of Stravinsky.  Do you know >whether
>>Hankinson wrote it as a part of a greater symphonic structure, or was it
>>especially designed as mood music?
>
>Hankinson wrote it as a library piece,nothing more or less. Actually I'd
>love to hear more of Hankinson's work because he *does* display a fantastic
>symphonic sensibility. I could well have imagined THE ASTRONAUTS as part of
>a larger work. It sounds very 'large scale' for a library piece....and
>sounds as if there was a large orchestra playing.

It sounds large scale indeed, slightly reminicent of Stravinsky, I'd say, by why
the title THE ASTRONAUTS?  It sounds more like a ritual sacrifice or a drumming
of war than anyting directly related to astronauts.  Do you know anything more
about Hankinson?


Petter

I noticed on Amazon.com that the A&E DVD listing for Year 2 shows DVD sets
five and six only go through Catacombs of the Moon. Does anyone know if they
are going to release the rest of Year 2 and when that will be if they are?

Thanks!

Pierce


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sorry for the late reply to this Mark, your calendar is still off on your
PC and I have so much unread mail in my inbox it goes up the chain of mail
and I miss it on the first pass through!

At 01:13 AM 6/30/00 -0700, Mark wrote:
>Derek did the arrangements for most of the Cult Files: Re-Opened.  Its a
>fantastic set.

The track of the third season theme to Lost In Space seems a bit off to me,
but we may be talking about different CD's here.  I'm not sure Derek did
that track.  The French Horn solo seems totally off.  : - (

> > More experience and the time spent with GA really adds up.  A shame Gerry
> > Anderson didn't have another series of hit TV shows after Space 1999 and
> > kept Derek working for him as Barry did through the 1960's.  Be nice to
> > trace his musical evolution through the soundtracks of those unmade shows!
>
>The UFO  soundtrack is worthy of listen, if for no other reason than just to
>hear more Gray compositions.   Anyone heard anymore about the UFO dvds?
>Marc, you out there?

The UFO DVD's are coming and they look pretty good.  Here is a link for the
cover of the set (I think the UK edition.)
http://ufoseries.com/temp/dvdArt.jpg

a link to BlackStar and their pre order
page  http://www.blackstar.co.uk/video/item/7000000068271

The Fanderson news page link http://www.fanderson.org.uk/news.html#DVD

and here's a sneek peek at the extras for UFO

>Fanderson is currently assisting Carlton Video with the preparation of
>special features for the UFO discs which will include galleries of
>previously unseen publicity photos, over 100 previously unseen behind the
>scenes photos, deleted scenes galleries, merchandise galleries, cast and
>character biographies, and dossiers with details of the SHADO
>organisation, its vehicles and the Aliens. The first box set will also
>include a number of previously unseen extended scenes from Identified and
>Exposed. Gerry Anderson has recorded a director's commentary for
>Identified and Ed Bishop has recorded a commentary for Sub-Smash.

And a kind of hooky official UFO website.  I think they want to ride on the
X-FIles coat tails a bit with this one!

http://www.ufo-dvd.com/

All the UFO fans are Livin' La Vida Loca (SP?) with these new disks coming
out.  If your interested watch this page for late breaking news on the release.

http://ufoseries.com/new.html

PLUS Fanderson is releasing their UFO soundtrack which ought to be
awesome!  I love the music to UFO, there has been much discussion on the
music of UFO over on the SHADO list along with every song played in the series.

Marc Martin and the rest the great internet UFO fans have done a stellar
job with their websites and activities over the years.

The following OnlineAlpha poll is now closed.  Here are the
final results:


POLL QUESTION: OK, if you are GOING to Tampa:2002, let
us know...

CHOICES AND RESULTS
- Yes - see ya there!, 4 votes, 40.00%
- No - can't make it now., 6 votes, 60.00%

INDIVIDUAL VOTES
- Yes - see ya there!
      - starparty1@...
      - alegra@...
      - captphil@...
      - atd1999@...
- No - can't make it now.
      - blondgod1999@...
      - kfsnetwk@...
      - cosmos1999actu@...
      - mfaries@...
      - weyoun_dominion@...
      - andrep1@...


For more information about this group, please visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OnlineAlpha

For help with Yahoo! Groups, please visit
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/

--- In OnlineAlpha@y..., "Trish Keister" <moonturtle99@h...> wrote:
>
> Can anyone help me out?  I don't have the Y2 DVD's yet and I need to
know
> which life signs are monitered on the bio-watches the Alphans where.
  For
> the life of me, I can't remember! I know that one is temperature;
one is
> heartrate.....what else?
> Any help is appreciated.
> Trish*
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device:
http://mobile.msn.com

Hi Trish, the tree letters on the bio-watches are: H, T and R (from
"Journey To Where")... so I assume the third one should be
"respiration". (that's what they say in this episode but it's in
French, that's why I'm not entirely sure, episodes are sometimes
badly translated)

Anyone can confirm?

By the way, I'm new to the list... sort of.
I've joined around July, posted my first message 2 or 3 months ago,
but it was lost in limbo... so this is my second first message :-)

I enjoy the list very much and I thank you all for it.

Well, back to reading the list for now... I'll be around.

Cheers ;-)

Wow, I know I am going! It's 2.5 miles from my house in Tampa/Seffner! It
takes me 3 minutes to
get there in normal traffic! Sorry I missed this poll, but if all goes well,
you will see me there...
Carl

moonbubba1999@... schrieb:
> Is there somewhere I can still get the 1999 screen saver?

The SPACE:1999 screensaver in our files section does not work...
:-(

Ekmar

On the news page of Martin Willeys 'Catacombs' website it mentions that
Golden Apple of Wallasey (Merseyside,here in the UK) is republishing a lot
of John Rankine's books including FORGOTTEN ROCKET. Its a previously
unpublished novel but which Rankine (aka Douglas Rankine Mason) used as the
basis for his original Space 1999 novel PHOENIX OF MEGARON.

I have seen Golden Apple's site before and was quite excited but I should
point out that they produce books in e-format only (ie for downloading off
the Net).

Reading off a PC screen hurts my eyes. And printing out a book (even chapter
by chapter) is a pain in the bottom.

What a shame they can't reprint his books in BOOK format.....


Simon

----- Original Message -----
From: "Simon Morris" <simon31@...>
To: "Online Alpha" <onlinealpha@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2002 3:33 PM
Subject: [OnlineAlpha] John Rankine Books Republished


> On the news page of Martin Willeys 'Catacombs' website it mentions that
> Golden Apple of Wallasey (Merseyside,here in the UK) is republishing a lot
> of John Rankine's books including FORGOTTEN ROCKET. Its a previously
> unpublished novel but which Rankine (aka Douglas Rankine Mason) used as
the
> basis for his original Space 1999 novel PHOENIX OF MEGARON.
>
> I have seen Golden Apple's site before and was quite excited but I should
> point out that they produce books in e-format only (ie for downloading off
> the Net).
>
> Reading off a PC screen hurts my eyes. And printing out a book (even
chapter
> by chapter) is a pain in the bottom.
>
> What a shame they can't reprint his books in BOOK format.....


Sorry, I'm talking complete crap here. You CAN download samples from the Web
but the BOOKS *are* available to order and they are proper books too. Sorry
about that...I must need new glasses.

Worth a look I think, especially as the book focusses on a post apocalyptic
area of the Wirral/North Wales area that I know very well indeed (as it is
now, not as a post apocalyptic area,heh heh)

Simon

----- Original Message -----
From: "Simon Morris" <simon31@...>
To: "Online Alpha" <onlinealpha@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2002 3:40 PM
Subject: [OnlineAlpha] Re: John Rankine Books CORRECTION

> Sorry, I'm talking complete crap here. You CAN download samples from the
Web
> but the BOOKS *are* available to order and they are proper books too.
Sorry
> about that...I must need new glasses.



Well actually I wasn't mistaken after all. If you want to read John
Rankine's FORGOTTEN ROCKET it *is* only available as a download and NOT as a
bound book. I think this goes for his others too but I'm not 100% sure about
that....

Are "e-books" REALLY the way of the future I wonder? Might be cheap but not
very convenient!

Anyway sorry for the confusion.

Simon

Hy Trish.
After I read your message, I've watched the Episode over and it monitored:

Heart
Temperature and
Respiration

Hope that I've helped you with that :)

Carina



>Original Message:

>Can anyone help me out?  I don't have the Y2 DVD's yet and I need to know
>which life signs are monitered on the bio-watches the Alphans where.  For
>the life of me, I can't remember! I know that one is temperature; one is
>heartrate.....what else?
>Any help is appreciated.
>Trish*

--
GMX - Die Kommunikationsplattform im Internet.
http://www.gmx.net

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

It is exciting to hear about this Forgotten Rocket book.  (How many Alphans
make a weekly visit to Martin's Willeys What's New Page at the
Catacombs?  I go there every Saturday to see the new picture!  My all time
favorite is the one with the eagle cockpit on fire, Maya passing out and
Tony with a weird grin on his face!)

I had never heard of the Phoenix book being based on an unpublished
book.  Very cool.

>Well actually I wasn't mistaken after all. If you want to read John
>Rankine's FORGOTTEN ROCKET it *is* only available as a download and NOT as a
>bound book. I think this goes for his others too but I'm not 100% sure about
>that....
>
>Are "e-books" REALLY the way of the future I wonder? Might be cheap but not
>very convenient!

Well, E-books, with a proper reading device (Which haven't been perfected
yet) are great for THESE type of books that have a very small audience and
would probably just languish in some poor author's file cabinet instead
making them a little money.   Coupled with affordable print on demand
services you may be able to "hold" a real book eventually if you don't mind
paying twice (First for the file, then for the printing)

The bad thing is the actual E Books get traded around a lot and reposted,
even in the secure Microsoft Lit format.  This doesn't make a lot of money
for the author or the publisher!

The cool thing is if you are really into a book and want to make notes or
pull clips from it having it electronically is the way to go.  It would be
great to get all the old FAB issues in electronic format (Text is best) but
it would ruin Fanderson's prospects of republishing those OP issues and
selling them.

Also, after reading up on the Microsoft Lit program a little bit I think
you can embed images, movie clips and music into these LIT format books
which turn them into a new type of thing.  Imagine being an author who
wants a certain type of music play on a certain page of the book?  Pretty cool.

Then there's the flip side, there are a bunch of authors who are fighting
the piracy of their works either by suing RemarQ and AOL (Harlan Ellison is
doing this) or just asking people nicely on the E Book newsgroups not to
repost their books (Lawrence Watt Evans is doing this and it's working!).

Last year, maybe it was last year, SF great Robert Sheckley couldn't sell a
novel of his to the publishers even though he has a pretty impressive
career since the 1950's.  To remedy this he sold the book direct to the
fans for $35 as a limit edition printout, signed.  Pretty sad but once the
E Book is perfected and we have readers like we have MP3 players now author
like Sheckley will be able to get their work to the fans and get something
for it as well.

With the problems in getting the German books translated and published
E-Books may be the way to go for them but unfortunately it seems people
have had trouble getting in touch with the authors and the publishers.




>Anyway sorry for the confusion.
>
>Simon
>
>
>
>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>OnlineAlpha-unsubscribe@egroups.com
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Merkel" <captphil@...>
To: "Simon Morris" <simon31@...>; "Online Alpha"
<onlinealpha@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2002 4:12 PM
Subject: Re: [OnlineAlpha] Re: Rankine ANOTHER ORRECTION


> >Are "e-books" REALLY the way of the future I wonder? Might be cheap but
not
> >very convenient!
>
> Well, E-books, with a proper reading device (Which haven't been perfected
> yet) are great for THESE type of books that have a very small audience and
> would probably just languish in some poor author's file cabinet instead
> making them a little money.   Coupled with affordable print on demand
> services you may be able to "hold" a real book eventually if you don't
mind
> paying twice (First for the file, then for the printing)

Yes I'm sure that's true. I might get FORGOTTEN ROCKET just so I can compare
PHOENIX with the original. I have to say I far preferred ANDROID PLANET to
PHOENIX though now I know Mason/Rankine was using the Wirral/North
Wales/Anglesey area(an area I know very well) as a setting for his story it
would be nice to read/re-read these books with this in mind....

> The bad thing is the actual E Books get traded around a lot and reposted,
> even in the secure Microsoft Lit format.  This doesn't make a lot of money
> for the author or the publisher!

Maybe its not being doen for money so much as for posterity? The person
behind Golden Apple Books is John R. Mason, who is actually Douglas
Mason(aka John Rankine)'s son.

> The cool thing is if you are really into a book and want to make notes or
> pull clips from it having it electronically is the way to go.  It would be
> great to get all the old FAB issues in electronic format (Text is best)
but
> it would ruin Fanderson's prospects of republishing those OP issues and
> selling them.

Mmmm. Not a selling point. I've never been one for annotating books.

> Also, after reading up on the Microsoft Lit program a little bit I think
> you can embed images, movie clips and music into these LIT format books
> which turn them into a new type of thing.  Imagine being an author who
> wants a certain type of music play on a certain page of the book?  Pretty
cool.

Well again....I can't really see it. I just want to pick up a book,open the
cover and READ it....


Simon

In case no one knows yet.....I just talked to someone at Barnes and Noble
last night.....the first 2 box sets will be in East Coast stores on February
26th !!!!!!

Trish*

p.s. thanks for everyones help with the bio-watches! tk


_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Simon Morris" <simon31@...>
>To: "Online Alpha" <onlinealpha@yahoogroups.com>
>Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2002 3:40 PM
>Subject: [OnlineAlpha] Re: John Rankine Books CORRECTION
>
>Well actually I wasn't mistaken after all. If you want to read John
>Rankine's FORGOTTEN ROCKET it *is* only available as a download and NOT as a
>bound book. I think this goes for his others too but I'm not 100% sure about
>that....

Actually, I'd be GLAD for e-books, as long as they're open format...
Goddess knows I haven't a lot of shelf space these days.



>Are "e-books" REALLY the way of the future I wonder? Might be cheap but not
>very convenient!

Sure they are... get yourself a palm OS PDA (I recommend the Handera
330) - monochrome screen, but good resolution, and with any number of
readers you can adjust the font size to a comfortable level.  And
with it's compact flash slot and a now cheap 128 Mb card, you can
carry around almost 300 novels for reading any time you want.



>Anyway sorry for the confusion.

No worries... looking forward to checking it out meself...


>Simon
>
-jaime

>Well, E-books, with a proper reading device (Which haven't been perfected
>yet) are great for THESE type of books that have a very small audience and
>would probably just languish in some poor author's file cabinet instead
>making them a little money.   Coupled with affordable print on demand
>services you may be able to "hold" a real book eventually if you don't mind
>paying twice (First for the file, then for the printing)
>
>The bad thing is the actual E Books get traded around a lot and reposted,
>even in the secure Microsoft Lit format.  This doesn't make a lot of money
>for the author or the publisher!

Not so... yes, a lot of books get traded, but MOST of them are books
that are scanned by the people trading them - and not otherwise
available in e-form.

It's very much a labour of love.  But if an inexpensive OPEN FORMAT
e-text is available, most of these people will BUY it.  I know that
*I* do.

As for Microsoft's LIT format, that is one format that I will NEVER
buy a book in.  NEVER.

THere ARE no readers for it that do not work on Windoze machines, and
as I use Macs, Linux and Palm OS devices, they're useless to me.
Furthermore, they cannot be converted to something that I CAN use.

I support ONLY open format e-books because them, when I buy them, I
can read on any machine that I have, and will be ABLE to this year,
next year and the year after - regardless of what that machine might
be.

Lots of publishers sell e-books in open formats - most notably Baen
Books; check out their webscriptions at www.baen.com

There's also www.fictionwise.com.

And if you like FREE e-books, there's a project now scanning all the
old pulp novels about The Shadow, at
http://www.spaceports.com/deshadow



>The cool thing is if you are really into a book and want to make notes or
>pull clips from it having it electronically is the way to go.  It would be
>great to get all the old FAB issues in electronic format (Text is best) but
>it would ruin Fanderson's prospects of republishing those OP issues and
>selling them.

Again, not true.  HTML is ideal, given the probable inclusion of
graphics and the like... and then there's always a nice PDF.  PDF's
are self contained, can be open format, and are cross platform
compatible.

The REAL advantage to electronic publishing in this vein is that
there is virtually no difference in the costs to publish in black and
white, or to publish in colour.



>Also, after reading up on the Microsoft Lit program a little bit I think
>you can embed images, movie clips and music into these LIT format books
>which turn them into a new type of thing.  Imagine being an author who
>wants a certain type of music play on a certain page of the book?
>Pretty cool.

LIT formats does not support imbedded audio at present.  This can be
done with HTML fairly easily.  Again, though, the LIT format is not
one that *I* will ever support.

If you're interested in it, though, there are a number of programs
that will convert HTML files to LIT format (microsoft has their own
freeware utility for this) and yes, you can imbed graphics and the
like.  Personally, though, HTML or PDF are much more friendly
formats, and have the added advantages of not restricting you to
windoze only.



>Then there's the flip side, there are a bunch of authors who are fighting
>the piracy of their works either by suing RemarQ and AOL (Harlan Ellison is
>doing this) or just asking people nicely on the E Book newsgroups not to
>repost their books (Lawrence Watt Evans is doing this and it's working!).

Harlan is a tilter at windmills.  I *know* the man, and while he's
fighting a losing battle, really, he is a man of principle, and he
sticks to them.  I respect that a hell of a lot.

And you're right.  Lawrence asked very nicely that his books not be
traded in the e-book groups I know about - and they are not traded.
And as a result, he has now released the first three of a proposed
fourteen novels in e-book format (OPEN formats, I might add) that are
available from fictionwise.



>Last year, maybe it was last year, SF great Robert Sheckley couldn't sell a
>novel of his to the publishers even though he has a pretty impressive
>career since the 1950's.  To remedy this he sold the book direct to the
>fans for $35 as a limit edition printout, signed.  Pretty sad but once the
>E Book is perfected and we have readers like we have MP3 players now author
>like Sheckley will be able to get their work to the fans and get something
>for it as well.

Sheckley is good.  The paper publishing industry is a fickle beast,
and is seriously lagging in adapting to the new paradigms.
Ultimately, they will adapt, or they will die.  I suggest that you
give Fictionwise a look - a lot of authors are experimenting with
e-publishing there.  And while self publishing is a pain (there is a
LOT more to publishing than just making a book available as a PDF or
what have you - just ask Mateo, if you don't believe me) It is a lot
easier when you have a distribution service that will do a lot of the
scutwork FOR you.  This is where outfits like Fictionwise really
shine.



>With the problems in getting the German books translated and published
>E-Books may be the way to go for them but unfortunately it seems people
>have had trouble getting in touch with the authors and the publishers.

Yah, a lot of the Perry Rhodan novels are available in translation in
e-book form now... over 100 of the things have been translated and
can be found.  Mind you, that still leaves them something over 1700
to go... maybe more.  I lost count, and all I can say with authority
is that it is one HELL of a big series.

At any rate, we can hope, ne?


-jaime

On Sun, 3 Feb 2002, Simon Morris wrote:

> On the news page of Martin Willeys 'Catacombs' website it mentions that
> Golden Apple of Wallasey (Merseyside,here in the UK) is republishing a lot
> of John Rankine's books including FORGOTTEN ROCKET. Its a previously
> unpublished novel but which Rankine (aka Douglas Rankine Mason) used as the
> basis for his original Space 1999 novel PHOENIX OF MEGARON.
>
I would imagine the title would have been different if it had actually
been published, Forgotten Rocket to my ears at least being a rather
uncatchy title.

tim gueguen 101867

On Sun, 3 Feb 2002, Phil Merkel wrote:

> It is exciting to hear about this Forgotten Rocket book.  (How many Alphans
> make a weekly visit to Martin's Willeys What's New Page at the
> Catacombs?  I go there every Saturday to see the new picture!  My all time
> favorite is the one with the eagle cockpit on fire, Maya passing out and
> Tony with a weird grin on his face!)
>
I really appreciate that site.  I find myself consulting fairly
frequently, and have learned a lot about the creation and production of
the series.

tim gueguen 101867

Those containers remind me of the cargo containers used in the 1972 film
"Silent Running".  Check that movie out (available on DVD starring Bruce
Dern).  Several good scenes and close ups of the containers.  Look just like
the ones in Space 1999.

Mike
   -----Original Message-----
   From: dex367 [mailto:ken.degrave@...]
   Sent: Friday, February 01, 2002 12:13 PM
   To: OnlineAlpha@yahoogroups.com
   Subject: [OnlineAlpha] Alphan Shipping Containers


   I am interested in any drawings of the 10 sided shipping containers
   the Alphans always used.  In the very last of "The Testament of
   Arkadia" you can see one with the topmost panel off.  In the "Black
   Sun" you can also see the plywood bottom when the Eagle was being
   loaded.

   I have a friend of mine whom works with custom fiberglass.  If I can
   get some drawings and look at todays military aircraft shipping
   containers, I believe a mold could be made.  I would like to build a
   fully functional unit.





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