Re: He is Risen

On Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:26:24 GMT, Gene Ward Smith <gene@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:

>Lawrence Watt-Evans <lwe@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in 
>news:1bbmu3pl5qsdg0o65nbf61kjpfanerem28@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>>>A year younger than Spielberg.
>> 
>> Okay, then you should remember the '70s as well as I do.  You really
>> think it's fatuous?
>> 
>> If so, I can't really argue, but we remember 1977 differently.
>
>Differently how? How can your memories of 1977 possibly include the 
>counterfactual claim that CE3K would have flopped without Star Wars, if
that 
>is what you are suggesting?

I remember early word (before May 10th) on CE3K being along the lines
of "Spielberg's making a big-budget UFO movie, but sci-fi's always
flopped, ever since '2001,' so it'll probably be a diaster."

Once "Star Wars" opened, that became, "Spielberg's making a big-budget
UFO movie.  If it's anything like 'Star Wars' it'll be great!"  "Star
Wars" had changed the entire perception of SF movies.

I'm not saying CE3K would have flopped, but I don't think it's absurd
to suggest that "Star Wars" paved its way and whetted the public
appetite for splashy special-effects movies.  I remember a lot of
people so enthused over "Star Wars" that they were eager for
_anything_ sci-fi, which was certainly not the case before 5/10/77.

This may be largely a matter of who we hung out with at the time,
though.  I can't cite any published sources.




-- 
My webpage is at http://www.watt-evans.com
The seventh issue of Helix is now at  http://www.helixsf.com