Torchwood Magazine # 14

This was another 100 page issue, and contained a wealth of new fiction:

* Who By Fire (by Andy Lane) is a short story about an evil advertising exec who somehow discovered how to control an orbiting alien death ray and uses it to kill rivals at other ad firms. The story is actually a little better than it sounds, but is too brief to give much in the way of explanation as to how this guy found, much less figured out how to use, the alien death ray. Still, I like Lane's ability to give personality even to victims and bystanders.

* The Selkie (by John Barrowman and his sister, Carole E. Barrowman, with art by Tommy Lee Edwards and Trevor Goring) wasn't half-bad, and definitely better than a lot of strips the magazine had been running. The artwork is very nice and moody, and fits the scene well. The story is set on a tiny island off the coast of Scotland. Jack's been called in by "Torchwood Glasgow" (there's a reference to it in the show--it's basically a strange old man) to investigate a series of murders where the victims have been skinned alive. Jack discovers that an alien he took mercy on during his adventures as a Time Agent and allowed to come to Earth is responsible for the deaths. If there's ever a regular Torchwood comic book, I would like to see these artists enlisted.

* Gordian (Part One) (by Steve Savile) definitely sets the stakes quickly: an alien planet-devouring device has somehow come to Earth and will, within hours, consume the entire planet. There's not a lot else happening, as the first part ends with Jack and Ianto confronting the device in a cliffhanger ending. It's definitely a very atmospheric story, full of rain and lightning storms. I'll withhold judgment until I've read the second part.

Apart from the fiction, there was some interesting features:

* The first installment of a new series called "Beyond the Hub", which "takes a look at real life parallels with the world of Torchwood." This issue draws from the season one episode Countrycide and examines real-world cannibalism. It's well-written and interesting, though of course rather disturbing given the subject matter.

* A rather boring explanation of what all the people listed in the credits of an average Torchwood episode actually do (trust me: the difference between the "Sound FX Editor", the "Supervising Sound Editor", and the "Sound Recordist" does not interesting reading make).

* "The Love Hub: Your At-A-Glance Guide to Who Liked Who and How" Sounds, and is, cheesy but also pretty fun.

* A good interview with Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto) about filming Children of Earth.

* And my personal favorite, a quiz that purports to determine which Torchwood member you are most like (Owen, Gwen, Jack, Tosh, or Ianto). I am, apparently and rather to my surprise, the closest in personality to Gwen. That's weird, because I don't particularly like her.

Slow Decay

Slow Decay by Andy Lane concerns a mysterious new weight loss clinic ran by a Doctor Scotus, whose methods work almost instantaneously but whose side-effects are quite (prepare to deploy pun: 3, 2, 1:) monstrous. This was one of the first Torchwood books released, so all the characters are present but Gwen and Rhys' relationship is central to the book's plot and Lane does a great job describing some of the challenges, difficulties, and anxieties couples in their early thirties can face. The novel is paced well, and the combat scenes are suitably gory. There's also an interesting explanation for why Owen became a doctor (in order to keep himself from dying from the same disease that killed his father), an intriguing description of the Torchwood archives, a mysterious reference to an Operation: Goldenrod, and some really nice, dark humor (usually involving Jack ribbing Owen) like the scene where the group has had to capture and bind a monster-possessed girl:

"I hope we're not stopped by the police on the way back to the Hub," Ianto said. "Explaining why we've got a young girl tied up in the back could be tricky."
Jack smiled. "We'll let Owen talk us out of it. I'm sure he's had lots of practice."

Another solid entry in the Torchwood novel line, which, now that I've read eight books, I continue to be impressed by--it's far above Buffy and what I remember of Star Trek novels, and right up there with Star Wars (though the lack of internal continuity is unfortunate).

The Willow Files (Volume 1)

FROM THE ARCHIVES (Buffy book reviews)

WILLOW FILES VOL. 1

By Yvonne Navarro (1999), based on teleplays “I, Robot . . . You, Jane” by Ashley Gable & Thomas A. Swyden, “Phases” by Rob DesHotel & Dean Batali, and “Dead Man’s Party” by Marti Noxon

RATING: 4/5 Stakes

SETTING: Seasons One through Three

CAST APPEARANCES: Willow, Oz, Xander, Buffy, Giles, Jenny Calendar, Moloch, Dave, Fritz, Larry, Cordelia, Gib Cain, Angel, Joyce, Principal Snyder, Devon, Pat, Jonathan

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: “When Buffy the Vampire Slayer arrived in Sunnydale, she befriended a bookish, insecure girl named Willow. As a Slayerette, Will uses her computer prowess for good, hacking into electronic government files and researching obscure rituals on the Web. But Willow’s love life is severely lacking, consisting of an unfulfilled crush on her friend Xander and a short-lived fling with a deadly demon she met over the Internet. Through her often life-threatening experiences with the Slayer, Willow gains the confidence to just be herself in the peer pressure-filled world of high school. And when her first real boyfriend, Oz, turns out to be a bit . . . unsual . . . in his own right, Willow is just the girl to prove that love really is blind . . . and a little scary.”

REVIEW

Volume One of the Willow Files is one of the best Buffy novelizations to date. The book adapts one episode from each of the first three seasons of the show, with the stories tied together with an original and very well done framing sequence that consists of Willow’s journal entries.

Season One episode “I, Robot . . . You, Jane” tells the story of Willow’s crush on a boy named Malcolm that she met over the Internet. As can only happen in Sunnydale, the boy turns out to be an ancient demon named Moloch the Corruptor. This was the first episode of the series to center a plot around Willow, and in it we see both her insecurity and her strength. Yvonne Navarro does a good job of adopting the humor of the original script, and she adds more background into how Moloch came into being.

Season Two episode “Phases” is the first revelation that Oz is actually a werewolf. It’s an average episode, with the high points being the agonizingly/delightfully slow development of Oz’s and Willow’s relationship, the jealousy we see Willow and Xander having for each other, and some good moments between Angelus and Buffy. It’s almost hard not to cheer out-loud when Willow steels her courage and kisses Oz for the first time.

The final episode adapted is the Season Three episode “Dead Man’s Party,” which has two main plots: Buffy’s return to Sunnydale after running away and a mask that raises zombies. The zombie plot is rather banal, but the tension and drama that arises from Buffy’s return is worth the price of reading the story--suffice it to say, Buffy isn’t welcomed with open arms.

All in all, Navarro had one strong story and two average episodes to adapt. She came through with flying colors, as the adaptations retain the humor and drama of the originals. The framing sequences are far more interesting than those in other Buffy novelizations, making this book one of the better ones to pick up.

Big Brother's Gaze Widens

FROM THE ARCHIVES (Daily Nebraskan columns)

Big Brother's Gaze Widens

Echoes of ‘1984’ Haunt the Net

Jeremy Patrick (jhaeman@hotmail.com)

August 28, 2000

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither."
--Benjamin Franklin

What's the scariest book you've ever read? When I think of a truly frightening tale, the one that instantly pops into my head is George Orwell's "1984."
It's often overused as an analogy these days, the idea of a "Big Brother" government controlling an individual's every step and thought. Indeed, controlling the very words a person is able to think strikes me as a fate worse than any other.
However, I've always prided myself on being able to separate fantasy from reality. Had anyone told me a year ago that a worldwide network of surveillance devices existed to sort through and read almost every single form of electronic communication, I would have told them to stop watching so much "X-Files" and get a life.
"That's impossible," I would have said. "Can you imagine the vast amounts of data that flows through these systems - literally billions of messages a day! No organization, even if they could collect these transmissions, could sort through them in any meaningful way." But my faith in the protection provided by the sheer inefficiency of government has been shaken. Big Brother, though not quite here, is well on his way under a different guise: Echelon and Carnivore.
You may have heard of the recently unveiled massive surveillance system called "Echelon." Created in the mid-1970s by the concerted effort of the United States, England, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, Echelon literally captures a vast majority of all satellite, microwave, cellular and fiber-optic transmissions worldwide, including telephone conversations, faxes and e-mails. It then uses a sophisticated filtering system to sort the messages by keyword and group them for human operatives to examine. The existence of Echelon, though officially denied by the United States, has been confirmed by Australia and New Zealand.
Ostensibly used for "national security" purposes only, the use of Echelon requires no court order or warrant. It selects messages indiscriminately, so long as the required keyword is contained within, and makes them available to government agents.
The only oversight of Echelon comes from national intelligence agencies, and they have resisted supervision. For example, the National Security Agency refused to share the standards used to monitor conversations with Congress until the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee launched hearings. France, Italy, and Denmark have also launched investigations.
Another e-surveillance system, Carnivore, was confirmed in the last few months. Operated by the FBI and Justice Department, Carnivore enables government computers to sort e-mail communications as they pass through Internet service providers and collect those that have a certain "To:" or "From:" address. Unlike conventional phone wiretaps, FBI agents have been using Carnivore without a court order to collect and read the contents of messages.
The use of Carnivore has also resulted in congressional hearings. Three weeks ago Attorney General Janet Reno announced that she would make the system available for an independent evaluation of its capabilities and legality.
The potential for misuse of these systems is endless. The government is telling us not to worry about our privacy being invaded because they promise not to violate it. "Trust us," they're saying. "Have we ever acted improperly before?" The FBI once kept extensive files on the likes of John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe and Martin Luther King, Jr. That should answer the question.
At least in those days the potential for abuse was somewhat limited by the legwork involved. Every phone wiretap required a human agent to listen to it, and every intercepted document had to be read by human eyes. Now, as our society increasingly communicates electronically, systems like Echelon and Carnivore offer the possibility of surveillance on a virtually unlimited number of people.
What can we do about it?
For now, not much.
A Web site operated jointly by three privacy-rights groups provides information about Echelon at www.echelongwatch.org. It may be eventually possible to weaken the effectiveness of systems like it if enough people place certain keywords (such as "bomb," "White House," "assassination" and "anthrax") randomly throughout their e-mails. The American Civil Liberties Union Web site, www.aclu.org, allows Internet surfers to send free faxes to Congress about Echelon and Carnivore.
It's clear that, one way or another, action needs to be taken. Big Brother is watching, and he won't leave until we make him.

(c) Daily Nebraskan Online (2000) (www.dailyneb.com)

Brotherhood

Brotherhood was the victim of bad luck. A book about a mutant terrorist organization trying to start a world-wide revolution, it came out just a few months before 9/11 and was cancelled just a few months after. I quite liked the first story-arc: a young mutant high-school student named Mike Asher is the target of a recruitment attempt by the Brotherhood, while unbeknownst to everyone, a pair of picked-on kids are planning a Columbine-style massacre. It's very tense, well-written stuff. The artwork takes a bit getting used to (very dark and sketchy) but fits the mood of violence and impending anarchy well. The second story arc is about a spoiled mutant girl whose industrialist father has done everything possible to hide the fact from the public eye. It has some nice twists and more revelations about the Brotherhood's leadership and organization. The last few issues seem rushed as cancellation loomed, but at least the writer managed to give the series a firm (and very bloody) ending. I think Brotherhood was a book with a lot of potential--we tend to only see underground revolutionary organizations as villians of gradual, reform-minded organizations like the X-Men, so this was a nice attempt to tell some stories about characters who are not heroes in the traditional sense. Had it come out a few years earlier or later, it might have had more success.

Angel Chronicles Volume Three

ANGEL CHRONICLES VOL. 3

By Nancy Holder (1999) based on teleplays “Surprise” by Marti Noxon, “Innocence” by Joss Whedon, and “Passion” by Ty King

RATING: 4/5 Stakes

SETTING: Season Two

CAST APPEARANCES: Angel, Angelus, Buffy, Willow, Oz, Cordelia, Xander, Giles, Jenny Calendar, Dalton, Spike, Drusilla, Joyce, Enyos, The Judge

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: “For Buffy the Vampire Slayer, birthdays aren’t all parties and cake--hers tend to involve a life-or-death battle with a big evil. Her seventeenth celebration isn’t an exception. While Buffy’s friends organize a festive gathering in honor of the special day, Spike and Drusilla are planning their own surprise party for the Slayer--with a devastating demon as the grand finale. But a passionate night with Angel changes everything. Suddenly, Buffy must deal with two forms of ultimate evil: the almost-indestructible Judge--and the legendary vampire Angelus, who is determined to exact his special brand of revenge on the young woman who showed him true love.”

REVIEW

Of the books in the Angel Chronicles series, Volume Three is by far the strongest. The episodes collected--“Surprise”, “Innocence”, and “Passion”--are each among the finest stories ever written for the show, and each is almost required viewing to understand Angel, Buffy, and their tumultuous relationship. Like Joss Whedon, Season Two is my favorite season of the show, and this novelization helps to show why.

In “Surprise”, the Scoobies prepare a surprise party for Buffy’s seventeen birthday--coincidentally, however, Drusilla is having a birthday party of her own, and the gift Spike gives her (The Judge) has the ability to literally burn the humanity out of people. This episode has all the good stuff: Spike & Dru at their finest, Angel & Buffy having sex for the first time, Willow and Oz going on their first date, and the dramatic truth about Jenny Calendar revealed. The adaptation by Holder of the episode is mediocre, with a rather slight framing sequence and occasional spelling mistakes, but the story itself is definitely strong enough to overcome these minor problems.

The sequel, “Innocence”, centers around Buffy’s emotional turmoil over Angel going bad. We feel for her in a way few shows would be able to achieve; and just as heartbreaking is Willow’s discovery that Xander and Cordelia are dating. When Willow tells Xander, tears in her eyes, that “It just means you’d rather be with someone you hate, than be with me,” we see these characters and this fictional world as more real than we ever realized before. Other moments that make the episode great include Oz turning down a kiss (in the sweetest way imaginable) from Willow and Giles demonstrating just how much he respects Buffy. For more action-oriented fans, the famous rocket launcher scene takes place in this episode, as does the first Buffy-Angelus battle. The adaptation is marred only by Drusilla’s interior voice coming off as far too pedestrian.

“Passion” shows us Angelus at his worst (or best, depending on your point of view), as he stalks Buffy and her friends. After Angelus murders an important character and plants the body in another character’s bed, Angelus watches through the window of Buffy’s house just to see her reaction when she gets the call. It’s clear--he doesn’t want to just kill Buffy, he wants to destroy her. With this episode, the series gets darker than it ever had before, and it works beautifully. Another highlight is Angelus’ needling of Spike over Drusilla--it is so damned funny but you can’t help but feel sorry for the poor wheelchair-bound bastard. In the episode, excellent voiceovers by Angelus frame the story, but the effect is unfortunately lost in the adaptation.

All in all, this is definitely the best of the Angel Chronicles and probably the best of the Buffy television novelizations as a whole. I give this 4 out of 5 Stakes only because the actual adaptation leaves something to be desired, but the stories themselves would get a 5. I’d write more, but I think I have to go pop these episodes into the DVD player . . .

Scouts Case Emphasizes Values Over Precedent

FROM THE ARCHIVES (Daily Nebraskan columns)

Scouts Case Emphasizes Values Over Precedent

By Jeremy Patrick (jhaeman@hotmail.com)

August 21, 2000

This summer, in a highly publicized case, the Supreme Court faced an issue of conflicting fundamental values: equality and freedom. By a 5-4 majority, the Court chose freedom, holding the Boy Scouts of America had a constitutional right to exclude James Dale, a gay Scout, even in the face of a New Jersey law that forbade discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
On occasion, in these so-called "right-to-exclude" cases, liberty has triumphed. The NAACP once brought suit to gain admission to a parade by the Ku Klux Klan. As racial separation is the Klan's primary purpose, allowing blacks severely compromises its message. Mostly, equality has won out. In the Court's first right-to-exclude case, it held that the Jaycees could be constitutionally forced to admit women members. Three years later, it held the same for Rotary International. In both, and another right-to-exclude case, there was not a single dissenting opinion. The law and precedents seemed clear.
How to explain, then, the 5-4 Dale decision? Perhaps it can only be explained by reference to the political orientation of the judges involved. Not surprisingly, the five judges voting for the Boy Scouts are traditionally seen as conservative, while the four voting for Dale are seen as moderate to liberal. The belief of some cynics that rules have no weight at all is clearly misguided, but so is the belief of idealists that laws act as clear guides for judicial decision-making.
In close cases, such as Dale, judges look to their own values first, and find the "law" to support their positions second. This approach is not unique to "activist" liberals or to "hard-line" conservatives - few of us can think of conservative judges that are otherwise flaming liberals, and vice versa. The Dale decision involved one of the country's most cherished private organizations (the Scouts) and one of the its most controversial subjects (homosexuality). It is not surprising that neither the majority nor the minority deviated from what appeared to have been clear legal precedent.
Which side erred, of course, will be up to legal scholars and future courts to determine. From an admittedly biased viewpoint, it seems clear that the majority stretched the bounds of reason and precedent to find for the Scouts. The public accommodations law at issue in the Dale decision is the exact same type of law that opened the doors of diners and buses for blacks in the 1960s. When these laws were challenged, courts did not strike them down simply because the establishment or organization preferred segregation or believed it would be better off if the protected class were excluded. Instead, courts required the discriminatory group to have an important value or message that would be compromised.
The Ku Klux Klan can exclude blacks, but the Jaycees cannot exclude women, as business and professional advancement has nothing to do with gender discrimination. The Boy Scouts are closer to the Jaycees than to the Klan. At Dale's dismissal the only Boy Scouts document denouncing homosexuality was a 1978 position paper, distributed only to the BSA's 80-member Executive Council, which stated: "We do not believe that homosexuality and leadership in Scouting are appropriate." But the document went on to state that the Scouts would follow all state public accommodations laws. More importantly, Scout youths are taught absolutely nothing about sexuality, much less homosexuality. Scoutmasters are instructed to refer all such questions to parents.
If the Boy Scouts had any view regarding homosexuality, its members didn't know about it.
Allowing the Scouts to claim freedom of association to exclude gays, based on a never-distributed policy statement, would be similar to allowing McDonald's to refuse service to racial minorities based on the individual prejudices of its Board of Directors. The Dale decision would have a much different outcome had he been excluded because he was black. "The law is whatever nine old men and women say it is," according to an old maxim. But the Scouts are coming under fire from major funding sources, such as city governments and the United Way.
Perhaps, someday, the Scouts will allow its gay members to practice the same values embodied in its 1915 Charter: honesty, courage and "kindred virtues."

(c) Daily Nebraskan Online 2000