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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1995)
Arts ©Entertainment Wednesday, October 11,1995 Page 9 the glassy eye Mark Baldridge ‘Space’ TV blasts into Trek turf “Space: Above and Beyond” goes above and beyond the call of duty — as in “no, really, you shouldn’t have.” I mean, who really expected this show to be anything more than a kind of queasy flashback: “Battlestar Galactica: 1995”? I sure didn’t. It looked like just one more at tempt to cash in on the gigantic (and somewhat undeserved) success of “Star Trek” and all its dreary spawn — “Deep Space 90210” and the weirdly Ethan Allenesque “Voyager” (Danger, Will Robinson!). But keeping context in mind (“Space” doesn’t exist in a vacuum) this show really has something kind of cool to offer. Set some 70 years from now (Does this make anyone but me just a little uneasy? The events of this show are happening a little while after you and I are dead.) “Space” tells a kind of “Starship Troopers” tale of menacing and mostly unseen aliens and the brave young United Space Marines, or what ever, that go blasting out in space to stop them. Maybe because the times these crazy kids live in are so like our own, the show represents a kind of “see? you can get there from here” fairy tale about our possible future in space. This in bold contrast to the “gee whiz-bang” feel of “Next Gen’s” technobabble (activate plot device!) and the kind of whimsical nonsense of the “just stepped out of a Virtual Re ality and, boy, are my arms tired” drivel that comes back every season in one form or another. The characters, after three episodes, already have achieved the sort of built in complexity that “Next Gen” arrived at after almost three seasons. And if it’s hard to tell the players apart with- - out a program, well, that’s just the price you pay for trying to do too much all at once. Part of that, anyway, is the fact that the characters are constantly jetting around in souped up fighter jets, in space — where it can get dark pretty quick — and helmets and uniforms and all that stuff. Does anyone really believe that space jet fighters will wear helmets? What on earth (or above it, or beyond it, whatever) for? Like you might have to eject or something? Yeah right. Which brings us back to “Battlegas Trifecta.” It seems like the people who write TV shows have no sense of science fiction, and the directions it’s taking, or capable of taking. I can pretty well bet you that, were al iens going to invade tomorrow, they would not do so with dog-fights in space and laser pistols. They would design a very sophisti cated virus, maybe a merely concep tual one, like capitalism or Social Darwinism (or “give the suckers what they want” or “Hail to the Chief’) and introduce it into our meme-pool and wait. 150 years later the planet is a sear ing wasteland of carbon monoxide and stagnant seas. “Just like home!” the bug-eyed monsters shout in unison, and slip beneath the surface of the black, tepid water* ———————»aa—■—— ^ ,...;.^,v.v,_ ■■——— Travis Heying/DN Wheeler Dixon, chairman of the Film Studies Program at UNL, has been active in the film industry since the early 1970s and recently became an editor for the State University of New York Press. Quality vision Dixon brings rich cinematic past to UNL By Gerry Beltz Senior Reporter Filmmaker. Author. Teacher. Editor. Wheeler Winston Dixon, chairman ofthe Film Studies Program at the University of Nebraska Lined n, is a man who wears many hats. And he wears them well. The most recent addition has been the cap of editor of The State University of New York Press Cultural Studies in Cinema/Video Series, some thing he says he holds in high distinction. “This is the most important work I’m doing in the late 1990s,” Dixon said. Dixon’s path to UNL has led him across the country, from being immersed in the experimen tal film community in New York to four years in Hollywood. From ’72 to ’76, he worked on and off with the TVTV company, which Dixon said consisted mainly ofhimself, Michael Shamberg,and future “Ghostbusters” stars Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd “/ cut the videotape for Billy’s ‘Saturday Night Live’ audition. He was on an overpass on the L A. expressivay, operating the world’s largest car wash. ” WHEELER DIXON Rim Studies Chairman and Bill Murray, who was Dixon’s roommate at the time. With Dixon’s help, he would soon join the cast of “Saturday Night Live.” “I cut the videotape for Billy’s ‘ Saturday Night Live’ audition,” he said. “He was on an overpass on the LA. expressway, operating the world’s largest car wash.” But, Dixon said, his relationship with the group didn’t last. * “They were only interested in film as a com mercial medium. They cared about what came out next week, who was starring in what, and how much money it would make.” Dixon eventually left Hollywood because of differences in philosophies about films and the film business, he said. “1 found it to be a very superficial society,” he said. “They were always focused on the bottom line. In Hollywood, it’s always cash. “They wouldn’t let me make the films I wanted to make. Back in New York, we made films for love, and everybody worked for nothing. The skyrocketing cost of producing a film didn’t help either, he said. “You used to be able to make a 20-minute color film with sound for about $300,” he said. “Now a really low-budget feature costs a mini mum of $22,000. See DIXON on 10 Back Doors a true Morrison reawakening Courtesy of the Back Doors Jim Hakim and the Back Doors take the stage at Omaha’s Ranch Bowl Thursday. By Jeff Randall Music Critic ~~ Jim Morrison may be two de cades gone from the face of the earth, but his popularity and pres ence have loomed over American pop culture like a moody ghost for more than 20 years. And Jim Hakim couldn’t be any happier. As the lead singer of the Back Doors, a cover 8oana witn tne style of the origi nal band as much I as the infatuation ■ of a tribute act, ■ Hakim is keeping the music and the image of the long departed Morrison alive and well. Hakim andhis backingmusicians have been touring in performances all over the world since 1980, when Hakim formed the band. The Back Doors’ show, Hakim said, was a straightforward presen tation of Morrison’s music in the most accurate and honest way he knew. Successful from the very begin ning, Hakim said the Back Doors filled a void that he recognized and wanted filled, so he decided to do it himself. “They’re obviously still popular now, they sell more records now than any other band from that era,” Hakim said. In preparing himself for his role as Morrison, Hakim watched hours of live-performance video, listened to the Doors’ albums, read a multi tude of books and articles, inter See DOORS on 10
