Re: "Hackers"-- brief review and anecdote...

["Peter Trei" <trei@process.com>]

> It's my impression that the play was staged a few years after my book 
> came out in 1984 (though I chose the title in 1982). I remember reading 
> the reviews then, and they didn't 
> seem to mention that it was a revivial of a years-old play whose name I had 
> unintentially used for my own book. (Unlike the case for the current 
> movie, whose screenwriter seemed to know of my own book.)  If 
> you have evidence that the play was indeed produced before 1984, please 
> let me know.  Otherwise, I'd be happy to accept your apology, Peter.
> 
> On Mon, 18 Sep 1995, Peter Trei wrote:
> > > >I saw "Hackers" yesterday. It's not bad and its political sensibility is
> > > >very cyberpunk. The ad campaign even uses the tag line, "Their only crime
> > > >is curiosity." 
> > > It may not be a crime, but it's not nice to steal a title.
> > You mean, like you stole it from Dale Luck's (duck@mit oz) stage play of the same name?
> > I saw this (in an Off-Off-Broadway production), years before your book came
> > out.

If I'm wrong (and I would not be suprised  - I'm relying on fuzzy
memories here), please consider my abject apology tendered.

Namespace collisions seem to happen quite frequently in titles. I can 
remember when TMC made a big deal out their intention to air
'Brainstorm", the 1983 film with Natalie Wood. I settled down to
watch, and up came a black and white movie with a totally different
plot - it turned out they had been sent the 1965 film of that name,
and no one had checked. Looking in the (ex)Cardiff film database, I
note that there is now a 3rd movie of the title (1994).

A couple weeks ago my daughter was making a big deal about 
wanting to watch 'The Red Shoes" on Disney. I was thinking of
the 1948 ballet movie, and told her I didn't think she'd like it. She
insisted, and it turned out to be a 30 minute (and charming in
cloying sort of way) cartoon.







Peter Trei
Senior Software Engineer
Purveyor Development Team                                
Process Software Corporation
http://www.process.com
trei@process.com