Out of the Past?

Re the cover story on James Cameron and his new TV series “Dark Angel” (“Hey, It’s a Small World--and He’s Adjusting,” by Greg Braxton, Sept. 24):

In the mid-1980s, author Harlan Ellison made some legal rumblings in Cameron’s direction concerning the similarity between the story line of “The Terminator” and stories Ellison had written years earlier. As a result, video versions of the film contain an added line in the credits “acknowledging” the work of Ellison.

Now comes the news that “Dark Angel” will follow the adventures of a young, “genetically enhanced” superhuman female, working as a messenger in a future America that has undergone social breakdown.

Has anyone checked Cameron’s bookshelf for a copy of Robert A. Heinlein’s 1982 novel “Friday,” which has as its protagonist a young, genetically enhanced superhuman female, working as a top-secret courier, set in a future America that has undergone social breakdown?Attorneys for Heinlein’s estate may be paying close attention to the new show’s credits.

KEVIN WILDING

Thousand Oaks

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I would like to address author Tim Brooks’ comment about the public not wanting “Dirty Harry” in our living rooms every week. He was already there. There was the trend-setting “Miami Vice” and the short-lived “Dirty Harry” parody “Sledgehammer.”

WHITNEY SCOTT BAIN

Santa Monica