Saturday night I watched the third installment of the new network Sci-Fi Theater; again, with extreme disappointment. This week's episode is based on a Heinlein short story, and although I never read the original, I doubt if it bears much resemblance to the dramatization.

In spite of a decent cast, (I highly admire Malcom MacDowell and Ann Heche has always been one of my guilty pleasures, or at least, I wish she was); the satire was heavy-handed, not particularly effective or believable, and totally lacking in subtlety or wit. I suspect it's message was not exactly what RAH intended when he wrote it, either. Say what you will about Mr Heinlein, but no one can deny he delivered good prose, a clever central idea, and he was always entertaining. The TV version failed on all counts, in spite of the cast and production values.

We have one more episode in the series to look forward to, this one allegedly by Harlan Ellison (one of SF's most overrated writers, in my opinion), but if the last three screenings of this program are any guide, even he deserves better than this. If I knew nothing about science fiction and watched these shows to learn something about it, I fear I would walk away with the same dismal opinion of SF the literati and the chattering classes so love to bandy about: It's not REAL literature, blah blah blah. Ted Sturgeon must be spinning in his grave.