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From: @RUTGERS.ARPA:Caro.PA@Xerox.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: The Prisoner Returns
Message-ID: <584@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 11-Feb-85 13:38:16 EST
Article-I.D.: topaz.584
Posted: Mon Feb 11 13:38:16 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 12-Feb-85 06:31:51 EST
Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 38

From: Caro.PA@XEROX.ARPA


> The only thing that bugs me about the show is ROVER
>> About ROVER.  I find him silly.

Arrrrg!  I LOVES ROVER!  He's the best part of the whole series.  A
local PBS station did a Patrick McGoohan (sp?) interview.  Good ol' #6
explained the genesis of Rover.  It seems that the original Rover (Rover
Prime) was a robot, a mechanical dog-like creature on treads (shades of
K-9??).  But the first episode required Rover to "swim" in the sea.
Needless to say, Rover Prime shorted out and expired with a puff of
smoke.  So #6 and the producer were standing on the beach, trying to
decide what to do about Rover, when #6 notice a weather balloon floating
above a weather station that was close-by the shooting location.

I could just see the lightbulb light up over his head!

So ROVER SECUNDUS was born.  I think it was an excellent idea.  That
bouncing spheroid seemed so innocent, so cute looking ... but what a
deception!   ROVER, being so simple and featureless, allowed one's
imagination to expand at the horror and malevolence that lurked within
its gaseous core.  If I saw a two meter diameter blob bouncing down the
street ROARING towards me, I'd be scared pissless! 

Sigh ... this is the result of the Star Wars mentality ... everything's
gotta be gee-whiz-flash-bang-hi-rez-sim-com-3D or else it's "silly".  Is
there no room left for the imagination?  If you are unimpressed by Rover
Secundus, don't bother reading Lovecraft.  You'll be hopelessly bored.
[I think Rover would fit quite nicely into the Cthulhu Mythos, don't
you?]

Perry Abdul Alhazr'd

"Who is Number One?"
"You are  Number Six ..."

"ORANGE ALERT!  ORANGE ALERT!  ORANGE ALERT!"