Alpha Log Interview with Allan Asherman

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Alpha Log Interview with Allan Asherman
Interviewer:	Chris Landry
Interviewee:	Allan Asherman
Date(s):	1978
Medium:	print
Fandom(s):	Science Fiction, Star Trek:TOS, Space:1999, Superman, Battlestar Galactica
External Links:
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Alpha Log Interview with Allan Asherman is a six-page interview printed in Alpha Log.

The original interview was conducted by Chris Landry at Pioneer One, a convention that took place October 21–22, 1978 in Springfield, MA.

From the bio in Alpha Log: "Allan Asherman is a former editor of D.C. Comics. He has written for such magazines as "Space Warp," "Star Encounters," and "The STAR TREK Poster Magazine." He is also considered to be one of the leading authorities on STAR TREK and science fiction in the media."

A similar interview is Alpha Log Interview with Shirley Maiewski.

Excerpts

Visually, [Space:1999] a very beautiful series. 1 never really appreciated the first season until I saw the second season, and then I realized that you feel small and lost. That's exactly the feeling that they were trying to produce and Gerry Anderson succeeded very admirably with that. I love UFO. It's one of my favorite TV programs. I feel that it's very literate science fiction. But I still feel that Anderson, who is a genius in my opinion, worked so closely with puppets and his directors, including David Lane, worked so closely with puppets that they manipulated the live actors in the same way as puppets. And they photographed them from the same angles, so they looked very static. In 1999, with Barbara Bain and Martin Landau, this was a lethal fault. It prevented them from ejecting what they could have into the roles. They're very capable people if you've ever watched your MISSION IMPOSSIBLE with them in it. It's proof of that.

I really can't conceive of the time in my life that I wasn't into [writing about science fiction]. I started to write in college for my college paper, "The Oracle", at the State University in New Port. And they asked me to do a movie review. I handed in a review that was much too long to be printed, because I got carried away. They sent me out to do a review of an Andy Warhol movie and I referred to Andy Warhol films as a product of "The Emperor's New Suit of Clothes" syndrome, where people were looking at something that had virtually nothing in it, but were afraid to comment on the fact for fear that they would be called stupid and shallow. And they liked it and they asked me to do a series of reviews on movies and I did. And when I transferred to Long Island University, and majored in journalism, I kept writing for the paper. They had a science fiction club and their fanzine, called "The Seldon Scene", a pun on "seldom seen" I guess, was also the first fanzine in which Juan Bodea, to my knowledge, was published, his cartoons. I had a good friend in college. Bill Stillwell, who was an artist, is today an M.D. doing medical illustrations for text books, and we both had our first story and art in that same issue. There's a certain feeling that you get when you see your name in print, and it's a disease. You can't live without it once you've seen it. I caught it, so I know. And this is really how I got into it.

[My favorite science fiction televisions series?] Well, on the basis of the impact that it has had on my life, I would say STAR TREK because of the inherent constructiveness that it's brought out in me, and that in a lot of people that I've come in contact with. It's a marvelous thing. It's a work of optimism, plain and simple. I think that everybody else who has tried to duplicate the formula misses out on that point, so they fail to duplicate its popularity. I'm very partial to THE OUTER LIMITS. Every time I see the two part episode "The Inheritors" with Steve Inhat, that becomes my favorite. And every time I see "The Soldier" by Ellison, that becomes my favorite. "The Sixth Finger" with David McCallum and that beautiful makeup, credited to Fred Philins, was really ghosted by John Chambers, Of course, THE ADVENTURES OF SUPER.MAH I would have to consider a science fiction series, because it's about a man that comes from another planet. How about that ?

I'm in the process of doing an article now [about Battlestar Galactica. One of the first things that was brought out about GALACTICA was the fact that it's a WAGON TRAIN in outer space. Well this is a very original quote. It was original when Gene Roddenberry used it about STAR TREK back in 1966 at the Worldcon when he was talking about it. He described it as a WAGON TRAIN in space. GALACTICA claims to be a period piece done in the future, which is all that science fiction really is. I don't ever recall seeing an episode of WAGON TRAIN in which there was no plot, in which the entire story we saw nothing but wagons and heard Major Adams talking to his cohorts saying, "Gee, wagons are an amazing thing." And you saw the wagons doing full turns and going into circles and doing practice maneuvers and rolling over into ditches, and you saw the indians came and attack the wagons for no reason at all. And yet, if you transplant these elements to GALACTICA, this is what happens week after week. In GALACTICA, we see the obligatory scenes aboard the Galactic?, and they go into, "This ship is wonderful, it can so so many things .'" And you you get the one scene where they try to develop emotional tension. Usually somebody says, "Thank you Starbuck." or, "I'm going after Cassiopea [sic] this week." or, "Leave my man alone." One of those three lines usually. Or "Let's build a robot." Y'know. I thought Serena was going to come back as a robot the next week after she died, but I'm thankful she didn't. I think basically GALACTICA is a beautiful show, in terms of production values. But Glen Larson, the producer, in my opinion, was so concerned about not emphasizing the wrong things that he's emphasizing the wrong things. Sometimes if you're too afraid of doing something, you're conscious of that thing so much, that's all you can think about.

I think, deep down inside of everybody, they realize that history is, by definition, a thing of the past. it's irrevocable. It can not be changed. Science fiction is history that has not yet happened. You're dealing with possibilities. You're dealing with the ability for every person to be a genius, if he thinks of sitting down and writing a story, predicting something rational. It's a way of escaping and it's a way of coping with the future in such a way that you don't feel like you're a helpless part of it. You feel that there is a chance to, sort of, edit the future, to a better end. And I think that's really why [science fiction] is so popular.

I don't think that learning about special effects, for instance, reduces the appreciation you have for a movie like STAR WARS. Because then you realize all the incredible work that went into it. All the thousands of passes of film and all of the things that literally had to be hand painted on things, on animation stands. It only makes the thing seem more magical and you get an understanding of the real magic behind it. The incredible dedication and ingenuity and talent that so many people put into each one of these big movies and TV shows. So I'd like to write more things along this line. Making people aware of the fact that, "Hey guys, this is magic, but don't take it as mindless magic," There is a SUPERMAN episode that ended with a quote in which Clark Kent says to Lois Lane, "The only true magic is the magic of knowledge." And I'm all for that.

I think the future of science fiction, for a while, will become relatively mundane because there are so many things coming out for real now that are so incredible, You hold a calculator in the palm of your hand and you look at it and you try to visualize that ten years ago, if you materialized in the physics department of Colombia University and said, "Here's a calculator, look at it." they would go down on their knees and say, "Where did you get this ? This is a remarkable invention..." And today it's common place, kids play with them. Things like this are happening all the time. This, plus the fact that the public is now accepting science fiction will make science fiction's impact a little diluted for the coming future, but it won't really become boring. It'll never become boring because by it's very nature, by definition, it can't possibly become boring, unless people don't care about their futures. And this will never happen. That's inherent in their survival priorities.