I admit to a real love of good sci-fi. Star Trek has some wonderful episodes--and I've taped many of 'em. Harlan Ellison penned the episode "THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER"---and that's an all-timw favorite from the original series. Also "Balance Of Terror"---sort of a space version of the film "RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP".

The Next Generation shows were often great. One like "The Inner Light" was real art. And the episode called "The Family" hit me and my brother right where we live.

And I used to read the __Lord Of The Rings__ once a year in the 70s; sure ought to get back to it. For those who never got into it, or just didn't like it, try to see it as being about a war that was worth fighting ---like World War 2 was worth fighting. I know that's hard to believe for many raised in the Viet Nam era or with the sensibilities of "peace & love" as absolutes to live your lives by. Sometimes things can be a bit more obviously "right vs. wrong" than at other historical moments on the time line when shades of gray are all over the landscape. I always felt gray was just fine and quite beautiful---especially for film noir. But I needed a fantasy like __Forest Gump__ to show me some real (and humorous) aspects of the 60s & 70s I'd not realized before.

Sci-fi, fantasy, surrealist, all of it. Unreality is a great way to shed light on today's problems without ruffling feathers with too real and overly graphic depictions that turn off an audience before one's points are made.

Art Thieme