From the July 9, 1982 edition of The Miami News. I thought the review was interesting because it’s basically how I feel about every sci-fi movie from the last 20 years, except for Moon, Children of Men, and a handful of others. Is it possible that gratuitously vacuous blockbusters like Avatar and Prometheus will be considered classics in 30 years? I’ll admit that TRON is far from a perfect movie, but it does have a soul.
The ad below was on the same page of the paper. What makes a geek a geek is not keeping “that precocious little imagination occupied,” but keeping it challenged. At least that used to be what made a geek a geek. Now you can just dress up in elaborate costumes and prowl your Con of choice, and I guess that’s enough.
2 Warps to Neptune 
Man, $24 was a good chunk of change for a little science museum tournament back then. I mean, for comparison, a module was usually $6 or $8, most of the hardcover rulebooks were $12, and I remember the noticeably thicker DM’s Guide at $15.
Agreed—that was the first thing I thought of too, when I saw those prices. 1982? Geez. If it’s a tournament of sorts, what was a the prize, if there was any? How could a winner be determined?
Traditionally, different groups of players would play the same campaign during a tournament, and the group that survives (suffers the fewest deaths) and lands the most experience, treasure, etc., wins the tournament. It doesn’t say how long the tournament is here, but it was probably over a whole weekend.
$24 in 1982 is about $58 today. If it’s a two-day tournament, that’s not so bad.
I suspect Avatar will fail to age away from vacuity, but it certainly makes one question the integrity of the reviewing process. For a much more egregious example, just look at the reviews for Alien when it was in theatres. Ridiculous! But I definitely think you are on to something with that 30 years bit… there might be something beyond cliché to a work being “ahead of its time”.