A short one for now. According to this site, the cult classic movie Highlander is not only going to be "rebooted" but completely re-imagined.
I can't say it enough: it really seems like there are few original ideas out there anymore. The number of "reboots" or "re-imaginings" that have been either announced or have been released is legion. Furthermore, the intent of this reboot seems to be for establishing a franchise.
I'll stick with books.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Salamander
One of the latest books in the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, I had been looking forward to this book from Nick Kyme (also see his blog) for some time. Ostensibly about the Salamanders chapter of Space Marines, I have always been a fan of the Salamanders since I read about them first in the late '90s. So much so that when I decided to start a Space Marine army under Warhammer 40K 3e, they were without a doubt Salamanders.
This is the first novel featuring this chapter exclusively. Nick does a good job of describing the customs and beliefs of this chapter, based on self-sacrifice and the belief that people need to be protected, not just the enemies of the Emperor prosecuted. This differentiates the the Salamanders from other chapters, in which other chapters often willingly sacrifice civilians in order to destroy the enemy.
While Nick tries to integrate the beliefs of the Salamanders, I think he could have gone further to develop the Promethean cult, and actually define the beliefs more clearly. A novel centered around this would have really brought to the forefront the character of this chapter.
The book starts out with a bit of politics within the chapter, and more specifically within the 3rd Company. The two main characters, Da'kir and Tsu'gan, are at loggerheads. Both revered their previous company captain Kadai, and both feel guilt about his death. More, Tsu'gan dislikes Da'kir because of his rustic origins. When the new captain N'keln is appointed by Chapter Master Tu'shan, Da'kir supports the new captain while Tsu'gan feels he is inadequate.
Events come to a head when the Salamanders 3rd Company, in search of their nemesis the Dragon Warriors Renegade Space marines. There they discover an abandoned Mechanicum ship filled with Space Marine armor and equipment. Also exploring the ship is a group of Marines Malevolent. There to plunder the ship of equipment, the Salamanders immediately oppose this action and prevent the Marines Malevolent from plundering.
Meanwhile a box is discovered that may hold clues to the Salamanders' primarch Vulkan's disappearance, and the 3rd Company (reinforced with elite elements from the Firedrakes 1st Company) is sent to the world Scoria to track it down.
They discover the world is in fact inhabited, by a lost ship of belonging to the Expeditionary Fleet supported by Salamanders from the pre-heresy era. In addition, there is an outpost of Iron Warriors, and soon an invasion of Orks.
At this point the book descends into typical 40K novel format: lots of blood, guts, fighting, and not much else.
One of the big problems with military oriented SF literature is that it can very easily descend into "war porn" with little purpose. Equally dangerous in an escapist fantasy novel series is a lack of action. I think the fact that the book is light in the combat until perhaps the last 3rd of the book is a testament to Kyme's attempts to avoid the dreaded "war porn" syndrome. Still, if you have read any number of Warhammer 40K books, the combat scenes tend to get old in my opinion: there are only so many ways you can describe the "whirring of chainblades" or the explosive force a bolter can do to various parts of the anatomy.
One thing missing from these books that would be welcome would be a more "tactical" description of the battles, rather than a personal one. With the current format (reminiscent of the "swordplay" action of fantasy novels) tend to make battles last too long; a more tactical description of battles, with short, sharp and extremely violent action I think would go a long way to making these sorts of novels more interesting.
The cover of this book threatens to be the first in a trilogy. While there is certainly room for improvement in Kyme's effort, he certainly gets the job done as well. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
You can read more about the novel and see an extract here.
This is the first novel featuring this chapter exclusively. Nick does a good job of describing the customs and beliefs of this chapter, based on self-sacrifice and the belief that people need to be protected, not just the enemies of the Emperor prosecuted. This differentiates the the Salamanders from other chapters, in which other chapters often willingly sacrifice civilians in order to destroy the enemy.
While Nick tries to integrate the beliefs of the Salamanders, I think he could have gone further to develop the Promethean cult, and actually define the beliefs more clearly. A novel centered around this would have really brought to the forefront the character of this chapter.
The book starts out with a bit of politics within the chapter, and more specifically within the 3rd Company. The two main characters, Da'kir and Tsu'gan, are at loggerheads. Both revered their previous company captain Kadai, and both feel guilt about his death. More, Tsu'gan dislikes Da'kir because of his rustic origins. When the new captain N'keln is appointed by Chapter Master Tu'shan, Da'kir supports the new captain while Tsu'gan feels he is inadequate.
Events come to a head when the Salamanders 3rd Company, in search of their nemesis the Dragon Warriors Renegade Space marines. There they discover an abandoned Mechanicum ship filled with Space Marine armor and equipment. Also exploring the ship is a group of Marines Malevolent. There to plunder the ship of equipment, the Salamanders immediately oppose this action and prevent the Marines Malevolent from plundering.
Meanwhile a box is discovered that may hold clues to the Salamanders' primarch Vulkan's disappearance, and the 3rd Company (reinforced with elite elements from the Firedrakes 1st Company) is sent to the world Scoria to track it down.
They discover the world is in fact inhabited, by a lost ship of belonging to the Expeditionary Fleet supported by Salamanders from the pre-heresy era. In addition, there is an outpost of Iron Warriors, and soon an invasion of Orks.
At this point the book descends into typical 40K novel format: lots of blood, guts, fighting, and not much else.
One of the big problems with military oriented SF literature is that it can very easily descend into "war porn" with little purpose. Equally dangerous in an escapist fantasy novel series is a lack of action. I think the fact that the book is light in the combat until perhaps the last 3rd of the book is a testament to Kyme's attempts to avoid the dreaded "war porn" syndrome. Still, if you have read any number of Warhammer 40K books, the combat scenes tend to get old in my opinion: there are only so many ways you can describe the "whirring of chainblades" or the explosive force a bolter can do to various parts of the anatomy.
One thing missing from these books that would be welcome would be a more "tactical" description of the battles, rather than a personal one. With the current format (reminiscent of the "swordplay" action of fantasy novels) tend to make battles last too long; a more tactical description of battles, with short, sharp and extremely violent action I think would go a long way to making these sorts of novels more interesting.
The cover of this book threatens to be the first in a trilogy. While there is certainly room for improvement in Kyme's effort, he certainly gets the job done as well. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
You can read more about the novel and see an extract here.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
I, Jedi
I never followed the Star Wars franchise very closely in terms of the novels. Like a lot, I read the Thrawn trilogy when the novel series was officially "launched" as a full-scale media tie-in (before this, although there were a few novels, as well as the movie novelizations, the franchise was far less organized, deliberate, or directed). Disappointed, I really didn't continue the series.
That is until Episode 3 came out. Disappointed in the "prequels," I went and picked up the Ep. 3 novelization, and liked that much more. This followed with some of the Old Republic/Clone Wars novels, and sort of spiraled from there.
Thus, I'll sometimes go back and "fill in" the collection. Just as I did with this book.
I, Jedi primarily focuses on the development of Corran Horn into a Jedi. Brought to us by Michael Stackpole (a writer I definitely enjoyed for his long years writing Battletech -- specifically the Warrior Trilogy, and the Return of Kerensky trilogy), the book sets off with the abduction of Corran's wife Mirax, and the Jedi training Corran receives in order to give him the tools to recover his wife.
I think the biggest problem with this book is one of pacing. Reading it, I also get the feeling the book was written from the periphery of larger events, and that I should have read those books instead first. Nonetheless, the first half of the book is about Corran and the new Jedi academy (established on Yavin 4, which we know as the Rebel base in "A New Hope") and their attempts to overcome the Force-ghost of Exar Kun.
This half of the book turned out to be a bit of a letdown. I'm not sure if it's because I didn't read the other books in this time period, but the defeat of Exar Kun seemed to be a bit anti-climatic. One would think more attention would be focused on Exar and his defeat, but as far as Darkside ghosts are concerned, Exar only really killed one person, seduced one other, and possessed one last. The Exar threat in other words seemed to be less prevalent than I think such a character should have.
The second half of the book deals then with Corran's attempt to recover his wife, primarily through infiltrating the pirate bands that have been threatening the New Republic's stability. Along the way, Corran discovers his Jedi heritage and of course rescues his wife.
Again, part 2 was a bit of a letdown, with lots of development of the infiltration, but with a little Deus Ex thrown in to get the plot to move, where it just so happens that Corran runs into the people he needs to reveal the location of Mirax, and just so happens that Luke shows up at the nick of time to save him, and assist on the rescue. Oh, and the random alien Corran runs into? Happens to be the nephew of the Jedi Knight that ran with Corran's actual grandfather. The actual rescue itself, as well as the confrontation with the Jenisaarai was anti-climatic as well.
It really feels like this book should have been 2 novels with two different focuses. Instead we get one novel that was a tad too long (only 450 or so pages, but too long in terms of pacing) and not as well developed as it should have been. Throw in a lot of Deus Ex Machina and I have to say this was not one of Stackpole's better efforts.
But I was entertained.
One comment sometimes see with regard to Stackpole and his character Corran Horn is that Corran is a bit of a Mary Sue. I think after reading this book, I can see the point of this. Throughout this book Corran doesn't really make any mistakes: he successfully determines the Force ghost plaguing the Academy is Exar Kun, successfully entraps him, and even after getting a bit of a throttling at the hands of Kun (and gets rescued at the last minute by a little Deus Ex), also infiltrates a pirate gang and successfully locates the Star Destroyer the pirates have been using, defeats the Jennisaaarai and rescues his wife. Along the way he learns the true meaning of being a Jedi.
Maybe I should go back and read Grave Covenant.
That is until Episode 3 came out. Disappointed in the "prequels," I went and picked up the Ep. 3 novelization, and liked that much more. This followed with some of the Old Republic/Clone Wars novels, and sort of spiraled from there.
Thus, I'll sometimes go back and "fill in" the collection. Just as I did with this book.
I, Jedi primarily focuses on the development of Corran Horn into a Jedi. Brought to us by Michael Stackpole (a writer I definitely enjoyed for his long years writing Battletech -- specifically the Warrior Trilogy, and the Return of Kerensky trilogy), the book sets off with the abduction of Corran's wife Mirax, and the Jedi training Corran receives in order to give him the tools to recover his wife.
I think the biggest problem with this book is one of pacing. Reading it, I also get the feeling the book was written from the periphery of larger events, and that I should have read those books instead first. Nonetheless, the first half of the book is about Corran and the new Jedi academy (established on Yavin 4, which we know as the Rebel base in "A New Hope") and their attempts to overcome the Force-ghost of Exar Kun.
This half of the book turned out to be a bit of a letdown. I'm not sure if it's because I didn't read the other books in this time period, but the defeat of Exar Kun seemed to be a bit anti-climatic. One would think more attention would be focused on Exar and his defeat, but as far as Darkside ghosts are concerned, Exar only really killed one person, seduced one other, and possessed one last. The Exar threat in other words seemed to be less prevalent than I think such a character should have.
The second half of the book deals then with Corran's attempt to recover his wife, primarily through infiltrating the pirate bands that have been threatening the New Republic's stability. Along the way, Corran discovers his Jedi heritage and of course rescues his wife.
Again, part 2 was a bit of a letdown, with lots of development of the infiltration, but with a little Deus Ex thrown in to get the plot to move, where it just so happens that Corran runs into the people he needs to reveal the location of Mirax, and just so happens that Luke shows up at the nick of time to save him, and assist on the rescue. Oh, and the random alien Corran runs into? Happens to be the nephew of the Jedi Knight that ran with Corran's actual grandfather. The actual rescue itself, as well as the confrontation with the Jenisaarai was anti-climatic as well.
It really feels like this book should have been 2 novels with two different focuses. Instead we get one novel that was a tad too long (only 450 or so pages, but too long in terms of pacing) and not as well developed as it should have been. Throw in a lot of Deus Ex Machina and I have to say this was not one of Stackpole's better efforts.
But I was entertained.
One comment sometimes see with regard to Stackpole and his character Corran Horn is that Corran is a bit of a Mary Sue. I think after reading this book, I can see the point of this. Throughout this book Corran doesn't really make any mistakes: he successfully determines the Force ghost plaguing the Academy is Exar Kun, successfully entraps him, and even after getting a bit of a throttling at the hands of Kun (and gets rescued at the last minute by a little Deus Ex), also infiltrates a pirate gang and successfully locates the Star Destroyer the pirates have been using, defeats the Jennisaaarai and rescues his wife. Along the way he learns the true meaning of being a Jedi.
Maybe I should go back and read Grave Covenant.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Tyrrany of a Construct, Pt. 4
So Hollywood moves ever on with movie ideas. The latest one I heard is a theatrical version of Battlestar Galactica. Cool, you say? I would too, until I heard it's going to be another re-imagining of the franchise.
Really.
Read it here.
As I had said in previous entries on this blog, the BSG series presents a conundrum, because it was good. OK, sure the payoff in the end was not the one I would have done, but it was a solid series anyway. Much, much better than the original.
But now we're getting another re-imagining of the franchise, with the corpse of the "old" re-imagining not even a year cold!
The re-imagining meme of Hollywood is a tyrranical construct that plays upon the nostalgic memories of loved shows (or at least remembered) and other franchises. I'm not sure what the point or purpose of this latest development. Hubris? More money? In the end I'm again left with a sour taste in my mouth and declare that Hollywood creativity is dead.
Really.
Read it here.
As I had said in previous entries on this blog, the BSG series presents a conundrum, because it was good. OK, sure the payoff in the end was not the one I would have done, but it was a solid series anyway. Much, much better than the original.
But now we're getting another re-imagining of the franchise, with the corpse of the "old" re-imagining not even a year cold!
The re-imagining meme of Hollywood is a tyrranical construct that plays upon the nostalgic memories of loved shows (or at least remembered) and other franchises. I'm not sure what the point or purpose of this latest development. Hubris? More money? In the end I'm again left with a sour taste in my mouth and declare that Hollywood creativity is dead.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Star Wars, Fate of the Jedi: Omen
Acting as a bridge, the new Fate of the Jedi series (along with its predecessor, Legacy of the Force) closes the gap between the epic Yuuzhan Vong War and the later Legacy graphic novels from Dark Horse.
The second volume in the series, and penned by the prolific (in the genre fiction range at least) Christie Golden, Luke who is banished from the Jedi order by the edict of Chief of State Daala, must search for clues behind Jacen Solo's descent to the Dark Side.
The first volume saw Luke and his (slightly older now, at 16) son Ben travel to remote Dorin to find out the techniques Jacen Solo learned from the Baran Do sages (made up exclusively of Kel Dor). They get their clues and manage to poke holes in the unusual practices of the sages,
Here, in the second book, Luke and Ben travel to the isolated and little understood Aing-tii, a race of mysterious Force users. Chief of the abilities they try to discern is the way of flow-walking. Conlict develops between Ben and Luke due to Ben's insistence to learn the technique. Meanwhile, we learn about an isolated tradition of the Sith, cut off from the galaxy for some 5000 years, and more Jedi succumb to madness.
Golden's narrative is readable enough, and there were no glaring issues I could find for the characters. That being said, I think Golden's dialogue for Amelia (Allana, daghter of Tenel Ka and Jacen Solo) succumbs to the downfall of many writers when handling children: the dialouge is unconvincing. I think the problem is one of word choice: children have specific ways and word choices when talking, and I don't think Golden nails it. In the book when Amelia has any meaningful dialogue, she sounds like a naive adult, rather than a child.
One really jarring element to the book is the character Bazel Warv. In the previous book's preview excerpt, Bazel was described as a Gammorean. At the time I felt this was a very unusual choice, but went with it with the assumption that there would be a lot of meat to character, such as would be expected when the character is so unconventional as being a Gammorean. When Omen finally hit the shelves, the race had been changed to a Ramoan. While the Wiki suggests that Ramoans are distantly related to Gammoreans, this change did not sit well with my expectations of Golden's handle on the universe. Luckily the character was mosty disposable, and quickly shuffled to the sidelines.
In the end, I didn't dislike the book, but in my opinion it was not quite as good as the previous installment. That might just be that I'm a Kel Dor fanboy (ever since playing a Kel Dor Jedi in our KotOR Star Wars RPG campaign), but nonetheless...
The second volume in the series, and penned by the prolific (in the genre fiction range at least) Christie Golden, Luke who is banished from the Jedi order by the edict of Chief of State Daala, must search for clues behind Jacen Solo's descent to the Dark Side.
The first volume saw Luke and his (slightly older now, at 16) son Ben travel to remote Dorin to find out the techniques Jacen Solo learned from the Baran Do sages (made up exclusively of Kel Dor). They get their clues and manage to poke holes in the unusual practices of the sages,
Here, in the second book, Luke and Ben travel to the isolated and little understood Aing-tii, a race of mysterious Force users. Chief of the abilities they try to discern is the way of flow-walking. Conlict develops between Ben and Luke due to Ben's insistence to learn the technique. Meanwhile, we learn about an isolated tradition of the Sith, cut off from the galaxy for some 5000 years, and more Jedi succumb to madness.
Golden's narrative is readable enough, and there were no glaring issues I could find for the characters. That being said, I think Golden's dialogue for Amelia (Allana, daghter of Tenel Ka and Jacen Solo) succumbs to the downfall of many writers when handling children: the dialouge is unconvincing. I think the problem is one of word choice: children have specific ways and word choices when talking, and I don't think Golden nails it. In the book when Amelia has any meaningful dialogue, she sounds like a naive adult, rather than a child.
One really jarring element to the book is the character Bazel Warv. In the previous book's preview excerpt, Bazel was described as a Gammorean. At the time I felt this was a very unusual choice, but went with it with the assumption that there would be a lot of meat to character, such as would be expected when the character is so unconventional as being a Gammorean. When Omen finally hit the shelves, the race had been changed to a Ramoan. While the Wiki suggests that Ramoans are distantly related to Gammoreans, this change did not sit well with my expectations of Golden's handle on the universe. Luckily the character was mosty disposable, and quickly shuffled to the sidelines.
In the end, I didn't dislike the book, but in my opinion it was not quite as good as the previous installment. That might just be that I'm a Kel Dor fanboy (ever since playing a Kel Dor Jedi in our KotOR Star Wars RPG campaign), but nonetheless...
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Tyrrany of a Construct, Pt. 3
So in my last posts I discussed the entire remake meme in Hollywood, and the creeping lack of originality in the industry. Add in another bit of speculative fiction that was in many ways an icon of my generation (that is, the X'ers): there will apparently be a remake of the old classic Red Dawn.
Really.
So my question here is why? Why does this movie need to be remade? What sort of relevance does it have today? When Red Dawn came out in the heady days of 1984, it was still the heady days of Reagan, Star Wars Defense, the "Evil Empire," and Yakov Smirnoff ("In communist Russia, movies remake you!"). In this zeitgeist Red Dawn was the perfect movie: freedom, resistance, and dogged courage against tyrrany. So what if they were Cubans? There were Russkis in it too! It was the sort of movie you watch as a young teen-ager to stoke the fires of anti-Communism.
So what are they going to do now? Communism is dead, chapter in history that has been closed and forgotten. Should it be about that, it would totally lack the relevance that the original movie marinated in. Perhaps the US will be invaded by Al Qaeda? Iran? North Korea? Maybe space aliens...
Really.
So my question here is why? Why does this movie need to be remade? What sort of relevance does it have today? When Red Dawn came out in the heady days of 1984, it was still the heady days of Reagan, Star Wars Defense, the "Evil Empire," and Yakov Smirnoff ("In communist Russia, movies remake you!"). In this zeitgeist Red Dawn was the perfect movie: freedom, resistance, and dogged courage against tyrrany. So what if they were Cubans? There were Russkis in it too! It was the sort of movie you watch as a young teen-ager to stoke the fires of anti-Communism.
So what are they going to do now? Communism is dead, chapter in history that has been closed and forgotten. Should it be about that, it would totally lack the relevance that the original movie marinated in. Perhaps the US will be invaded by Al Qaeda? Iran? North Korea? Maybe space aliens...
Monday, June 1, 2009
Tyrrany of a Construct: Hollywood Remakes Pt. 2
On a different discussion group I saw the following item posted. The key items I'd like to draw attention to are the "reboots/remakes" of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Alien." Yes, that's right: Alien.
The corpse is hardly cold on Buffy before this one came out. I admit I'm not a Buffy fan, but Buffy fandom is in many ways like Trek or Star Wars fandom: very dedicated to the franchise. I think the real kick in the pants with this is that Josh Whedon will apparently not be on board for this.
The apparent "Aliens" remake is more of a head scratcher. This one is going to be produced by Ridley Scott, who was of course involved with the original. So there is a link to the original, but is this to be some sort of Lucas-ian "director's cut?"
The real problem here is not that Hollywood can't make a good movie, but the meme that Hollywood is bereft of original ideas anymore. The success of franchises such as Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica merely has created an environment where Hollywood will capitalize on this success, and possibly churn out remake after remake.
Here's the thing: a remake is usually just not neccessary. Lots of people will argue that Star Trek needed a reboot. I totally disagree. All the reboot does is recycle old characters and concepts into a new digitally exciting movie. With a franchise as rich as Star Trek, there was plenty of room to do something different and yet original, but still maintaining the familiarity of the Trek Universe.
The corpse is hardly cold on Buffy before this one came out. I admit I'm not a Buffy fan, but Buffy fandom is in many ways like Trek or Star Wars fandom: very dedicated to the franchise. I think the real kick in the pants with this is that Josh Whedon will apparently not be on board for this.
The apparent "Aliens" remake is more of a head scratcher. This one is going to be produced by Ridley Scott, who was of course involved with the original. So there is a link to the original, but is this to be some sort of Lucas-ian "director's cut?"
The real problem here is not that Hollywood can't make a good movie, but the meme that Hollywood is bereft of original ideas anymore. The success of franchises such as Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica merely has created an environment where Hollywood will capitalize on this success, and possibly churn out remake after remake.
Here's the thing: a remake is usually just not neccessary. Lots of people will argue that Star Trek needed a reboot. I totally disagree. All the reboot does is recycle old characters and concepts into a new digitally exciting movie. With a franchise as rich as Star Trek, there was plenty of room to do something different and yet original, but still maintaining the familiarity of the Trek Universe.
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