From: "dghprobe3" Date: Wed Jun 5, 2002 1:50 pm Subject: Trek guest star in 'Honeymoon' Has anyone else noticed that actress Meg Wyllie, the one who played "The Keeper" in the first Trek pilot "The Cage," appeared in "A Honeymoon to Kill"? She was the one who complained to the Tour Guide about his inaccurate head counting regarding Carla Lucchese. I suppose her presence on SEARCH was again due to the Justman connection? Meg Wyllie's IMDB page: http://us.imdb.com/Name?Wyllie,+Meg Sad to say that she died just recently on January 1, 2002. --Don From: Date: Wed Jun 5, 2002 2:45 pm Subject: Trek guest star in 'Honeymoon' Has anyone else noticed that actress Meg Wyllie, the one who played "The Keeper" in the first Trek pilot "The Cage," appeared in "A Honeymoon to Kill"? She was the one who complained to the Tour Guide about his inaccurate head counting regarding Carla Lucchese. ----------------------- I did, Don. As a matter of fact, I was talking about Meg the other day with someone, and I'd mentioned that I had just seen her in something, but couldn't remember what it was. Turned out that it was HONEYMOON. ---------------------- >... I suppose her presence on SEARCH was again due to the Justman connection? ---------------------- Probably. Though she'd appeared MANY years earlier--only in the TREK pilot. Justman WAS involved in the Pilot, didn't he? ---------------------- >... Sad to say that she died just recently on January 1, 2002. ---------------------- We were lucky to have ol' Meg around for quite a while, weren't we? Jim Alexander probecontrol@sigecom.net From: "Jim Alexander" Date: Wed Jun 5, 2002 11:40 pm Subject: Leslie Stevens VARIETY Obit I accidentally ran across something I'd saved from a while back. I have Leslie Stevens' WEEKLY VARIETY Obituary article. I could take a pic of it, transcribe it... or maybe get someone else to scan it. Do we have this archived? Is anyone interested? Thanks-- Jim Alexander probecontrol@sigecom.net From: "dghprobe3" Date: Thu Jun 6, 2002 1:29 am Subject: Re: Leslie Stevens VARIETY Obit --- In probe_control@y..., "Jim Alexander" wrote: > ...Leslie Stevens' WEEKLY VARIETY Obituary article. I could take a pic of it, transcribe it... or maybe get someone else to scan it. Hi Jim: A scan would be nice, if it lends itself to that. If it's too spread out with ads, a transcription might work better. Whatever makes sense to you and would come out to be the least trouble. :-) And--keep us posted as to any follow up interviews you are able to do with various SEARCH people. Also, let us know what we can do to help out. :-) --Don H. From: actingman@mindspring.com Date: Thu Jun 6, 2002 10:47 pm Subject: Hugh O'Brian Signed Pic Besides letting Mr. O'Brian know that we are out here, Jim got an autographed picture for the web site. Go to www.probecontrol.com and see it. From: "Marta Dawes" Date: Fri Jun 7, 2002 7:44 am Subject: RE: [probe_control] Hugh O'Brian Signed Pic That is a great picture, and a great autograph. ;-) Marta http://www.steveandmarta.com Home of "The Graveyards of Omaha" and "The New Twilight Zone" websites as well as "Memories of the Indian Hills Theatre in Omaha, Nebraska" The last round Super-Cinerama theatre in the world Demolished August 20, 2001 for absolutely no reason by Methodist Health Systems Sign the Petition to protest the demolition of the Indian Hills Online! http://www.PetitionOnline.com/steve/petition.html Call Stephen Long, CEO of Methodist, at 402-354-4000 and tell him the theatre should have been reopened as a working film venue. Email comments@bestcare.org, Methodist's website, and tell them the theatre should have been saved, and pass the email address and phone number on to everyone you know! And --- Join the Indian Hills and Cinerama and Widescreen Discussion Group http://www.egroups.com/group/cinerama_widescreen_movies Lord Byron, Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley Discussion Group http://www.egroups.com/group/mary_percy_shelley -----Original Message----- From: actingman@mindspring.com [mailto:actingman@mindspring.com] Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 9:47 PM To: probe_control@yahoogroups.com Subject: [probe_control] Hugh O'Brian Signed Pic Besides letting Mr. O'Brian know that we are out here, Jim got an autographed picture for the web site. Go to www.probecontrol.com and see it. From: "dghprobe3" Date: Tue Jun 11, 2002 3:32 am Subject: Moonrock, Honeymoon, Live Men Tell Tales Just wanted to comment on the three newly discovered episodes of SEARCH. They include "Moonrock," "A Honeymoon to Kill" and "Live Men Tell Tales." The picture and sound quality are quite good. These episodes compare favorably to the 16mm transfer we have of "Let Us Prey" with the original commercials. No scenes are missing and the teasers seem to be 3/4ths to 1/2 intact. As John mentioned earlier, these are from 16mm syndicated showings, so there are some splices and the editing between commercials can be a little rough here and there. But I'm happy to add these to my collection. Anyone else who wants dubs of these episodes, get in touch with John at: actingman@myrealbox.com From: dghprobe3@aol.com Date: Tue Jun 11, 2002 4:00 am Subject: Fame is the Name of the Game http://us.imdb.com/Title?0060393 Above links to the Internet Movie Database page for "Fame is the Name of the Game." Got a dub of a syndicated "Fame is TNOTG" in the mail today. In reading the credits, I find that it was not directed by Nicholas Colasanto, as one of my sources reported earlier. It was actually directed by Stuart Rosenberg. Nicholas Colasanto did guest star as a detective in the TV movie, however. Leslie Stevens had no connection to this movie which served as the pilot for the subsequent series, "The Name of the Game," of which Stevens produced, wrote and/or directed many of the Tony Franciosa episodes. From: dghprobe3@aol.com Date: Tue Jun 11, 2002 11:02 pm Subject: The Stefanie Powers Archives http://stefanie-powers-archives.com Above links to The Stefanie Powers Archives online. Stefanie played Jill Davenport in the SEARCH episode "One of Our Probes is Missing." When I first found this site, there was a very short listing for SEARCH on the Guest Shots page. I got in touch with Nancy, the gal who runs the website and sent an episode synopsis along with a video of the episode. Nancy said she would try to ask Stefanie about her appearance in the SEARCH the next chance she gets. I'll pass along to the group anything she sends. :-) --Don H. PS--John, were you able to get an improved upgrade of "One of Our Probes" from Trevor? From: dmanmetz@aol.com Date: Wed Jun 12, 2002 11:00 pm Subject: Search/6 million dollar man connection Hi gang, well it's been a while since I posted anything but I have enjoyed reading everyone's messages. Jim, I want to be the last to say congradulations on your meeting with Mr. O'brian. Not only did you meet Probe 1, you blew him away with all of your Search knowledge! You are the man! Here is a nice bit of Search trivia. I recently won the third pilot for the Six Million Dollar Man on ebay. This was 90 minute movie which aired on ABC in the fall of 1973. This movie has Search connections all over it. The title is "The Solid Gold Kidnapping" It is directed by Russ Mayberry (Probe pilot, The Murrow Dissappearance, The Gold Machine, Let us Prey, A Honeymoon to Kill, 24 Carat Hit) and it guest stars are: Terry Carter (The Clayton Lewis Document), Luciana Paluzzi (A Honeymoon to Kill), John Vernon (Goddess of Destruction), Maurice Evans, David White (Both in The Murrow Disappearance) and James Sikking (Moment of Madness). Was this an accident or were the "suits" at ABC watching NBC's Bionic sensation Search and decided to try their stab at computers, in which they were more successful. Just an intresting bit of trivia. Hey John (Actingman), I sent e-mail to your address. Did you get it? If not, please let me know. Chris From: "Ken Carroll" Date: Wed Jun 12, 2002 11:53 pm Subject: Re: [probe_control] Search/6 million dollar man connection By chance was that the ep where Steve was put inside a torpedo to sneak him to his destination? That was one of the very few Six Million Dollar Man eps I thought was pretty good. Ken From: dmanmetz@aol.com Date: Thu Jun 13, 2002 8:33 am Subject: Re: [probe_control] Search/6 million dollar man connection No, this episode involed Steve trying to rescue a kidnapped politician with the help of Elizabeth Ashley. It wasn't that good of an episode. Chris From: dghprobe3@aol.com Date: Thu Jun 13, 2002 5:22 pm Subject: Search & Bionic info If SEARCH had only lasted another season or two, it would have been the trendsetting sci-fi show of the 1970's. Instead, it fell mainly onto bionic animals, vegetables and minerals (not necessarily in that order). :-) http://www.pazsaz.com/million.html According to Pazsaz, "The Six Million Dollar Man" was originally three TV movies that rotated every fourth Sunday on a show called ABC's "Suspense Theater" in 1973. These TV movies were originally 90 minutes long, but when the series went into syndication, these three movies were padded with extra footage in order to make them into 2-hour, 2-part episodes. Pilots Cyborg: The Six Million Dollar Man (Originally Aired 3/7/1973) Wine, Women and War (Originally Aired 10/20/1973) The Solid Gold Kidnapping (Originally Aired 11/17/1973) The ratings were apparently good enough to justify a weekly hour-long series which began in Jan. 1974. The series ran for 103 episodes until 1978. Sci-Fi Channel's Bionic Man & Woman Page: http://www.scifi.com/bionics/sixmill.html From: "Thomas A. Spraggins" Date: Fri Jun 14, 2002 7:56 am Subject: Newbie Seeks "Search" Episodes Just stumbled across your website and newsgroup this morning. I regret that I don't have much to contribute at this point (except the observation that unlimitedmovies.com seems still be selling the pilot). A couple friends and I were shooting the breeze the other night and wondering what had ever happened to "Search". We kinda figured that since it was on before folks had VCR's, there might not be much out there. My quick look at the newsgroup this morning convinces me otherwise. What's the easiest way (for you all) for me to get my hands on some episodes? I work in a digital media lab, so I can probably handle most anything you can throw at me. I'd be happy to utilize any of the resources at my disposal to convert formats or whatever, for the "greater good". Regards, Tom Spraggins tas@virginia.edu From: "Geoff Willmetts" Date: Sat Jun 15, 2002 2:30 am Subject: Russ Mayberry Hello everyone Has anyone thought of tracking down Russ Mayberry for a chat yet?? Outside of Leslie Stevens, he has to have been one of the biggest influences on 'Search'. Gotta go Geoff ********* GF Willmetts **************************** Commissioning Editor: http://www.crowsnestbooks.com THE E-BOOK PUBLISHER THAT TRIES HARDER Editor: http://www.sfcrowsnest.com THE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY MAGAZINE Quicker website access?? Try: http://www.computercrowsnestbooks.com *************************************************** From: dghprobe3@aol.com Date: Mon Jun 17, 2002 3:33 pm Subject: more on Russ Mayberry http://us.imdb.com/Name?Mayberry,+Russ Thanks Geoff, for reminding us of Russ Mayberry. Way back in message #92, I posted an article on "The Directors of Search." Looking back, Mayberry directed six shows: the Probe pilot, Murrow, Gold, Suffer, Prey and Honeymoon. While he directed mainly Lockwood shows, he did direct at least one of Franciosa's and one of McClure's segments. Also, even though "Let Us Prey" was probably the most formula of the scripts, it could have turned out even worse with a lesser director at the helm. So we I guess we owe one to Mayberry for that. :-) I mentioned Mayberry to Mike Okuda several months ago. Mayberry directed one episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" ("Where No One Has Gone Before") and during that time, Mike managed to ask him briefly about "Search." One of the things Mayberry said told him was, "You never know where a SEARCH fan is going to turn up." We have found that to be very true. :-) However, Mike wasn't sure how to get in touch with him. I don't know if we could get Mayberry to do a chat because of time schedule problems. It might make better sense to try to contact him by letter with a set of questions and have him send a reply back. Or offer to do a brief interview by phone at a time convenient to him, the way Jim has been doing with Ginny and others. I'm sure that when Jim gets around to interviewing Hugh O'Brian, one of the questions would be whether he enjoyed working with Russ Mayberry, who directed four of the eight episodes he did (nine if you count the pilot). We'd also want to ask him about some of his other shows & movies he directed for Leslie Stevens, such as "Fer-de-Lance," "McCloud," and "Stonestreet." http://www.blackstar.co.uk/video/person/7100000001817 Mayberry also worked with other genre shows, such as "Six Million Dollar Man," "Manimal," "Unidentified Flying Oddball," "Then Came Bronson (Justman/Solow)," as well as "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Bewitched." So we would want a question or two about some of those as well. Any other ideas for questions for Russell Mayberry? --Don H. From: "Geoff Willmetts" Date: Tue Jun 18, 2002 6:20 pm Subject: Mayberry & the tooth fairy Hello everyone Hello Don Re: Russ Mayberry. He really was the 'pilot king' setting up the style of a lot of series. The Six Million Dollar Man was still in its formative stages when he did the third 90 minuter. I picked up 'Solid Gold Kidnapping' last year - a video release in the UK - largely cos of my memory of the wonderful set piece at the beginning when Austin rescues an ambassador played by 'Bewitched's David White. It's a pity watching now, there's an enormous plot hole at the beginning where Goldman figures that Austin can figure out where the ambassador had been taken when the full strength of the CIA couldn't. Mayberry does have a remarkable style for sets & locations as witnessed by that episode so it's no surprising that it shows up with 'Probe'. It would be interesting comparing his work & see if he ever re-used the same locations. Saying that, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if he didn't either. Considering Mayberry did more 'Search' episodes seems to suggest he had a very good working relationship with Leslie Stevens & enjoyed the format of dual recordings perspectives. When I said 'chat', I was speaking figuratively. An interview in any format would be welcome. Getting a list of questions sorted out while we look would be useful though. He's got to be at least as old as Hugh O'Brian now & that means he's probably retired. Would he stay in the LA area - anyone got access to a LA phonebook?? - or any of you with studio contact know who his agent was?? I would think the latter would be the best bet to start. Do agents have links on the Net?? About time we put on our scanners, link in to ComStat & er...do a search. Oh, hope I haven't over-loaded anyone's e-box with the enclosed attachment. It isn't so much that you can soon have a radio tooth but the same technology parallels the bleeper tooth although oddly enough neither gives an info where the battery is kept. End run Geoff Willmetts ********* GF Willmetts **************************** Commissioning Editor: http://www.crowsnestbooks.com THE E-BOOK PUBLISHER THAT TRIES HARDER Editor: http://www.sfcrowsnest.com THE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY MAGAZINE Quicker website access?? Try: http://www.computercrowsnestbooks.com *************************************************** From: "dghprobe3" Date: Tue Jun 18, 2002 7:43 pm Subject: Re: Mayberry & the tooth fairy Hi Geoff: Thanks very much for posting that article about the tooth device. Very interesting indeed. --Don H. From: dmanmetz@aol.com Date: Tue Jun 18, 2002 9:41 pm Subject: Re: [probe_control] Mayberry & the tooth fairy In referance locations and sets, in the second pilot of the six-million dollar man, Wine, Women, and War (1973), which also directed by Russ Mayberry, toward the end were Steve and Katrina are in the cave trying to escape, the main bad guy is in his control room armming all of the missles. In his control,one of the Probe Control computer desk makes a cameo appreance in the back ground. I guess Cameron auctioned them off after Probe Control closed down in fall of "73" (LOL). Chris From: "dghprobe3" Date: Wed Jun 19, 2002 12:26 am Subject: Probe Control set pieces Chris: Is that right? Hmm. I think I have a tape of that somewhere in my video files. If I find it, I'll be glad to make a video capture of the apparent Probe Control set piece and post it to our Photos section. With Russ Mayberry directing, he had to have noticed the same piece of equipment sitting there. Then again, a lot of those tall, narrow tape-reel computers were also seen in the background of "The Time Tunnel." The first season of "Mannix" had a computer center similar to Probe Control as well. Control Data Corp. seemed to have a lock on various shows of the late 60s and 70s, didn't they? :-) --Don H. ----------------------------------- --- In probe_control@y..., dmanmetz@a... wrote: > In referance locations and sets, in the second pilot of the six- million dollar man, Wine, Women, and War (1973), which also directed by Russ Mayberry, toward the end were Steve and Katrina are in the cave trying to escape, the main bad guy is in his control room armming all of the missles. In his control,one of the Probe Control computer desk makes a cameo appreance in the back ground. I guess Cameron auctioned them off after Probe Control closed down in fall of "73" (LOL). > > Chris From: dghprobe3@aol.com Date: Thu Jun 20, 2002 9:03 pm Subject: The old phone in the tooth trick http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2055000/2055654.stm Thursday, 20 June, 2002, 11:44 GMT 12:44 UK Put your mobile where your mouth is Soon you could be swapping your mobile phone for a molar phone. Royal College of Art students in London have developed a phone that fits inside a tooth. The concept device picks up signals with a radio receiver and uses a tiny vibrating plate to convey them as sound along the jawbone to a person's ear. The designers said the mini-molar phone could be implanted in a tooth during routine dental surgery. The prototype phone is the work of graduates James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau and forms part of the Royal College of Art's annual summer exhibition. Known as The Show, this exhibition shows off the best ideas of the current crop of RCA designers and students. Bits and bites Currently, the tooth phone is only a mock-up and lacks the communications chip to actually turn it into a functioning device. Mr Auger said the technology to turn it into a working device already existed and it would be a simple matter to build the relevant chips into the gadget. The designers speculate that, if the tooth phone becomes a working device, it could be used by stock traders to receive up-to-the-moment information about share prices or to help football managers communicate quickly with players during key matches. However, the existing design is only supposed to help stimulate debate about future wearable computing devices and to help explore the social and cultural ramifications of in-body technology. The tooth phone is on show at the Science Museum in London from the 21 June to November. Development of the device was funded by the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts as part of a collaboration between the Science Museum and the Royal College of Art. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2055000/2055654.stm From: "taspraggins" Date: Fri Jun 21, 2002 11:02 am Subject: Newbie still hoping... So, how do ya pledge this fraternity, anyway? :-) From: "actingman_jc" Date: Fri Jun 21, 2002 1:17 pm Subject: Re: Newbie still hoping... Tom: I responded to you privatly...telling you about our Australian connection...figuring you could handle PAL tapes (based on your previous message.) You didn't get the messsage? --- In probe_control@y..., "taspraggins" wrote: > So, how do ya pledge this fraternity, anyway? > > :-) From: "taspraggins" Date: Fri Jun 21, 2002 1:30 pm Subject: Re: Newbie still hoping... I didn't get anything from you. :-( My address is tas@virginia.edu. Cheers, Tom --- In probe_control@y..., "actingman_jc" wrote: > Tom: > > I responded to you privatly...telling you about our Australian > connection...figuring you could handle PAL tapes (based on your > previous message.) > > You didn't get the messsage? > > > > --- In probe_control@y..., "taspraggins" wrote: > > So, how do ya pledge this fraternity, anyway? > > > > :-) From: "Jim Alexander" Date: Fri Jun 21, 2002 9:55 pm Subject: Mike Walston's new Scanner Prop plaque on eBay Wow!!! I mean... WOW!!! Has anyone seen Mike Walston's new "Scanner Prop" plaque base??? It's simply WONDERFUL! There's one on eBay right now at: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2115110415 Get ready to see something REALLY SPECIAL! Jim Alexander probecontrol@sigecom.net From: Jack Bagley Date: Sat Jun 22, 2002 2:00 pm Subject: Re: [probe_control] Mike Walston's new Scanner Prop plaque on eBay Right you are, Jim! In fact, I'm bidding on it! ===== Jack Check out the finest in independent science fiction novels at Fine Line Publishing: http://www.Fine-Linepc.com/AC.html http://www.Fine-Linepc.com/TWLB.html From: "dghprobe3" Date: Sat Jun 22, 2002 6:53 pm Subject: Re: Mike Walston's new Scanner Prop plaque on eBay --- In probe_control@y..., "Jim Alexander" wrote: > Has anyone seen Mike Walston's new "Scanner Prop" plaque base??? It's simply WONDERFUL! There's one on eBay right now at: > > http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2115110415 Jim: I just took a look at the bidding and the price has shot up to $55 with 11 bids. I think Mike puts two or more of these scanner reproductions on eBay per year. I don't know if all the bidders are members of our SEARCH mailing list, but if they are, I suggest they get together and decide who gets this one, then who gets the next one, etc., on down the line. There's no need for each of us to pay $100+ apiece for these things just because someone gets "gambling fever" on eBay. On the brighter side, some of these bidders have somewhat LOW feedback numbers, so it wouldn't surprise me if this scanner isn't relisted in the near future. :-) --Don From: dmanmetz@aol.com Date: Sat Jun 22, 2002 10:50 pm Subject: Columbia House Video Survey Hi gang, I was on the Columbia hompage and there is a survey you can take. In the survey it asked what show you like to see brought by the Columbia House Video? Are the light bulbs coming on yet! Of couse I typed in Search. Since Search is such a genric name (thanks to the internet) I put Search (1972-1973) Starring Hugh O'Brian & Doug McClure just to make sure they didn't think I was talking about the Lenard Nimoy 70's series "In Search Of..." So if there are 94 of us in the group and whoever may be monitoring, lets go to the Columbia House (CH) homepage and start voting. I have order tapes from CH berfore and they give you the pilot for $4.95 and the following episodes consist of two one hour episodes which go for about $23.00 after tax and they usually stop after 10 tapes. So I figure, that's the Probe pilot and 18 episodes. Hey, if we all vote the "bean counters" at CH may say 94 X 10 = ALOT OF MONEY! So get online and vote. I found it at the following address: The first time it worked, the second time it didn't, but I'm sure there's another to get to the voting page. www.columbiahouse.com/repl/12/tmpls/master/body/customer-service/body_survey.htm\ l. So get online and vote for Search. Chris From: "Geoff Willmetts" Date: Sun Jun 23, 2002 2:41 am Subject: Re: [probe_control] computers r us Hello everyone Re: Computers in the shows. Footages of Colossus from 'The Forbin Project' appeared in one of the 90 minute 6 Million Dollar Man episodes. I suppose it was the equivalent of a Computers R Us going on back then. If you want a giggle, look at the pilot episode of 'The Time Tunnel' & pay particular attention to one of the computer consoles in front of the Tunnel. If I didn't know any better, the screen looks exactly like the time flux capacitor in the film 'Back To The Future'. These days, the computer technology used in early shows looks awfully wrong. From a TV or film maker's POV, a lot of flashing lights indicated something was going on. Even worse, getting answers from a computer as if it was a deux ex machina device. Mind you, considering the computer used in the Apollo Landing Module had about 16kB RAM, it just shows how far we've come. Oddly enough, 'Search' was one of the few programmes that didn't go that route. Yes, they had computer tapes machines running in the background but they dispensed with the accompanying lightshows. Re: The tooth phone. Hello Don. It's along the same lines as the tooth radio. We had a news item on TV relating to that news cutting I distributed. With either one, no one has said anything about a battery source. Granted it wouldn't take much power to run a silicon chip but it would need something more to amplify the signal. Considering that PROBE agents had their scanner & presumably earjack & tooth bleeper fed energy by radio-waves, one has to speculate on the possibilities of frying their brains. Even Gloria Harding threatened Lockwood with it, not to mention the two occasions that I can recall where they boosted the signal to wake them up. Gotta go Geoff ********* GF Willmetts **************************** Commissioning Editor: http://www.crowsnestbooks.com THE E-BOOK PUBLISHER THAT TRIES HARDER Editor: http://www.sfcrowsnest.com THE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY MAGAZINE Quicker website access?? Try: http://www.computercrowsnestbooks.com *************************************************** From: "Jim Alexander" Date: Mon Jun 24, 2002 11:47 pm Subject: Columbia House Video Survey I keep coming up with an "Error Encountered" screen. Any ideas, anyone? Jim probecontrol@sigecom.net --------------------------------- ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2002 9:50 PM Subject: [probe_control] Columbia House Video Survey > Hi gang, I was on the Columbia hompage and there is a survey you can take. In the survey it asked what show you like to see brought by the Columbia House Video? Are the light bulbs coming on yet! Of couse I typed in Search. Since Search is such a genric name (thanks to the internet) I put Search (1972-1973) Starring Hugh O'Brian & Doug McClure just to make sure they didn't think I was talking about the Lenard Nimoy 70's series "In Search Of..." So if there are 94 of us in the group and whoever may be monitoring, lets go to the Columbia House (CH) homepage and start voting. I have order tapes from CH berfore and they give you the pilot for $4.95 and the following episodes consist of two one hour episodes which go for about $23.00 after tax and they usually stop after 10 tapes. So I figure, that's the Probe pilot and 18 episodes. Hey, if we all vote the "bean counters" at CH may say 94 X 10 = ALOT OF MONEY! So get online and vote. I found it at the following address: The first time it worked, the second time it didn't, but I'm sure there's another to get to the voting page. > > www.columbiahouse.com/repl/12/tmpls/master/body/customer-service/body_survey .html. > > So get online and vote for Search. > > Chris From: "actingman_jc" Date: Wed Jun 26, 2002 11:36 pm Subject: OT: Yahoo wants to just drive us all away It has been going around for a few days now that Yahoo is thinking of charging for some of their services...including groups. Someone setup a petition on a petition site to ask Yahoo not to. I filled it out and for my mandatory email address I used my Yahoo address, since they are now charging for pop access and so my Yahoo email is good for nothing more then spam. I mention that just in case you want to use a throwaway email address on the petition site...or you can always make an address up. For a fake one, I always use "actingman@smegmail.com" ('smeg' is a made up profanity from the tv show Red Dwarf.) I doubt the petition will do any good...but feel free to fill it out. In the meantime I will begin looking for another free site that provides mailing list services in case we have to move our group. If anybody knows of a good one...please write to me off list. I will keep you informed. Now where is "Ends Of The Earth"? (Darn...I ended up going back on topic.) From: "dghprobe3" Date: Sun Jun 30, 2002 1:22 am Subject: DVD recorder questions Hi folks: For those who are on the cutting edge of DVD technology, I was wondering what is in store for DVD-Rs, DVD recorders and the like? I've noticed that prices have been dropping somewhat. What are among the better DVD-R products and manufacturers? What should we avoid completely? Will standalone DVD recorders be available one day, or will it be more economical to have one which can hook into your computer? If the price keeps going down, DVD writers should be fairly hot by Christmastime, shouldn't they? Or will it take another year? Does anybody know? --Don H. From: "Geoff Willmetts" Date: Sun Jun 30, 2002 5:27 am Subject: to DVD or not DVD - that is the question Hello Don Bear in mind this is only a UK based opinion with a little knowledge added. As you say, the price of DVD players is dropping. No doubt this is a ploy to remove stock & ensure that everyone is going for DVD as opposed to video. Shops like Virgin are practically giving away recorded videos at the moment. To maximise sales & get people to do the same thing over again, they have to move to DVD-recordables or have them combined with video players – they’d have to do that to satisfy the video recorder market anyway. I think it’s Panasonic who’ve just released a combined one at £300 in the UK (US price?? Maybe $240??). Still expensive. Anyway the problem will stem from each manufacturer wanting to corner their market. Looking at computer printers. Manufacturers make their money on the high price of the ink cartridges with few people buying other companies cartridges unless it invalidates their guarantee. I’ve heard people say in the UK that it’s cheaper to buy a new printer than buy their cartridges. I’ve got a cheap supplier but I can appreciate the problem. When it comes to recordable-DVD players, it stands to reason that if manufacturers are going to get everyone to switch when they’ve already got a DVD player, then they’ll have to make the price compatible with the non-recordables & means they want to make money from the DVD disks themselves. The best way to do that is ensure the disk can only be recorded on their machines. Panasonic & Sony will certainly be following such a practice. This doesn’t mean that once recorded they can’t be played on other machines although that’ll have to wait to be proven but it does present an air of caution with what to buy. This no doubt would also apply to computer DVD-copiers. I have a Ricoh combined DVD/CD-R copier (copies CD not DVD!!! in case you don’t read that right) & the only CDs it can record to are Intenso. Will be interested in any of the rest of you experience such problems?? Apply what I said in the previous paragraph to DVD-recordable players. For the present, it’s more a wait & see regime to see which machines are going to offer the most flexibility towards recording. Make the wrong choice & we’ll have the old Betamax problem – people buying the wrong machine when the cheaper VHS machine dominated. I’ve been commenting to Richard Rutherford about a DVD-copier/with video called the Terrapin. It’s used mostly in the Middle East at present, mainly for all those pirated copying you’ve no doubt been hearing about. I used the Net to check up on what I read about it one of our national papers & it appears to be able to handle any DVD disk chucked at it. If you search engine it, don’t forget to add a few other selected words like ‘DVD’, etc or risk coming across sites dealing with turtles!!! Undoubtedly, other manufacturers aren’t going to let this one be the only one. I have a suspicion that the only reason it hasn’t come west so far is someone or company is trying to put a blockade against it because they’re bound to lose money against such a generic machine. Me?? I’m going to wait until the smoke settles. I can run DVDs through my computer although I don’t like watching the screen up that close for long periods. Will be interested what any of you other people out there make of this assessment. Gotta go Geoff Willmetts ********* GF Willmetts **************************** Commissioning Editor: http://www.crowsnestbooks.com THE E-BOOK PUBLISHER THAT TRIES HARDER Editor: http://www.sfcrowsnest.com THE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY MAGAZINE Quicker website access?? Try: http://www.computercrowsnestbooks.com *************************************************** From: "Larry Clements" Date: Sun Jun 30, 2002 7:33 am Subject: Re: [probe_control] to DVD or not DVD - that is the question I own a VCD Terrapin and it is great. I am unaware of a DVD model. The cheapest Terapin VCD recorder is located at http://www.erwincomputers.com/terapin.html. I absolutely love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. First Consumer Digital Video Recorder The Terapin CD Video Recorder is as simple to use as a VCR - all you do is put in a blank CD-R or CD-RW Audio disc and you can record straight from your camcorder, from broadcast programs, or transfer old recordings from video tapes to CD. Play the CD on all multimedia computers, VCD and DVD players that can play CD-R's and CD-RW's, and of course on the Terapin CD Video Recorder. Allows you to record a full 74 minute motion video with audio onto a digital CD format i.e. CD-Recordable or CD-Rewritable. a.. Playback the recordings on compatible CD players, DVD players and multimedia computers. a.. Full OSD (On-Screen Display) on PCs and TVs a.. Disc View - splits the screen into nine video frames and action slides through these frames! This allows you to quickly choose your scene out of a track. a.. Time Search - plays back from a specific time on the disc. Slow Motion and Fast Forward/Rewind Playback at 3 different speeds each! a.. For audio applications, automatic record-synchronization (1 track or all tracks) from external digital audio source via its coaxial or optical inputs. a.. Multi-system - Compatible with both American NTSC and European PAL video formats. a.. Compatible Format: CD-DA, VideoCD a.. Audio / Video / S-Video inputs / outputs a.. Includes remote control a.. Dimensions: 15.7" x 13.7" x 4.5" a.. Manufacturer Warranty: 1 year Although I purchased mine 18 months ago for $500, I see them for $300 now. Larry ----- Original Message ----- From: "Geoff Willmetts" To: Sent: Sunday, June 30, 2002 4:27 AM Subject: [probe_control] to DVD or not DVD - that is the question > Hello Don > Bear in mind this is only a UK based opinion with a little knowledge added. > > As you say, the price of DVD players is dropping. No doubt this is a ploy > to remove stock & ensure that everyone is going for DVD as opposed to video. > Shops like Virgin are practically giving away recorded videos at the moment. > > To maximise sales & get people to do the same thing over again, they have > to move to DVD-recordables or have them combined with video players - they'd > have to do that to satisfy the video recorder market anyway. I think it's > Panasonic who've just released a combined one at £300 in the UK (US price?? > Maybe $240??). Still expensive. > > Anyway the problem will stem from each manufacturer wanting to corner their > market. Looking at computer printers. Manufacturers make their money on the > high price of the ink cartridges with few people buying other companies > cartridges unless it invalidates their guarantee. I've heard people say in > the UK that it's cheaper to buy a new printer than buy their cartridges. > I've got a cheap supplier but I can appreciate the problem. > > When it comes to recordable-DVD players, it stands to reason that if > manufacturers are going to get everyone to switch when they've already got a > DVD player, then they'll have to make the price compatible with the > non-recordables & means they want to make money from the DVD disks > themselves. The best way to do that is ensure the disk can only be recorded > on their machines. Panasonic & Sony will certainly be following such a > practice. This doesn't mean that once recorded they can't be played on other > machines although that'll have to wait to be proven but it does present an > air of caution with what to buy. > > This no doubt would also apply to computer DVD-copiers. I have a Ricoh > combined DVD/CD-R copier (copies CD not DVD!!! in case you don't read that > right) & the only CDs it can record to are Intenso. Will be interested in > any of the rest of you experience such problems?? Apply what I said in the > previous paragraph to DVD-recordable players. > > For the present, it's more a wait & see regime to see which machines are > going to offer the most flexibility towards recording. Make the wrong choice > & we'll have the old Betamax problem - people buying the wrong machine when > the cheaper VHS machine dominated. > > I've been commenting to Richard Rutherford about a DVD-copier/with video > called the Terrapin. It's used mostly in the Middle East at present, mainly > for all those pirated copying you've no doubt been hearing about. I used the > Net to check up on what I read about it one of our national papers & it > appears to be able to handle any DVD disk chucked at it. If you search > engine it, don't forget to add a few other selected words like 'DVD', etc or > risk coming across sites dealing with turtles!!! > Undoubtedly, other manufacturers aren't going to let this one be the only > one. I have a suspicion that the only reason it hasn't come west so far is > someone or company is trying to put a blockade against it because they're > bound to lose money against such a generic machine. > > Me?? I'm going to wait until the smoke settles. I can run DVDs through my > computer although I don't like watching the screen up that close for long > periods. > > Will be interested what any of you other people out there make of this > assessment. > > Gotta go > Geoff Willmetts > > > > > ********* GF Willmetts **************************** > > Commissioning Editor: http://www.crowsnestbooks.com > THE E-BOOK PUBLISHER THAT TRIES HARDER > > Editor: http://www.sfcrowsnest.com > THE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY MAGAZINE > Quicker website access?? Try: http://www.computercrowsnestbooks.com > *************************************************** From: "Jim Alexander" Date: Sun Jun 30, 2002 7:52 pm Subject: O'Brian convention pictures Gentlemen and ladies... I just had a friend scan and e-mail me these pictures. You've seen current pics of O'Brian, but I thought you might enjoy putting a 'face' to the name, 'Jim Alexander'. No... Nothing's happened with the O'Brian interview, yet... but we're working up things (a scanner prop, a pilot dub, embroidered clothing) to send O'Brian to make the proapect of an interview with 'probecontrol.com' more attractive. Jim probecontrol@sigecom.net From: probe_control@yahoogroups.com Date: Sun Jun 30, 2002 9:24 pm Subject: New file uploaded to probe_control Hello, This email message is a notification to let you know that a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the probe_control group. File : /SEARCH PILOT.doc Uploaded by : actingman_jc Description : Episode List, Credits. You can access this file at the URL http://groups.yahoo.com/group/probe_control/files/SEARCH%20PILOT.doc To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/files Regards, actingman_jc From: "actingman_jc" Date: Sun Jun 30, 2002 9:53 pm Subject: An Episode Guide Trevor and Richard created an episode guide with credits, and wanted to share it with the group. They intended it to be a database that we could all add to if we wanted with thoughts on the episodes, bloopers we spot, etc. I promised I would check to see if there were some way to post it on the groups site so that we could all add to it, but I cannot figure out how. There is a database function...but it is really set up to add single lines of information at a time...and not whole tomes. So for now I have added it to the files section here on the site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/probe_control/files/SEARCH%20PILOT.doc Download...enjoy...add to it in your emails...and if anybody has any idea how we can post it somewhere where everybody can add to it...let me know.