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My apologies if this has already been discussed elsewhere!
I’m just wondering if the events in the original Pocket Books Space: 1999 novels — #’s 7 – #10 — are part of the new Powys canon?
Not at this time. I love those books! Android Planet is my favorite, followed closely by Rogue Planet! Love ’em. However, Phoenix of Megaron ends with a Megaronian woman, Rhoda, coming to live on Alpha. In the pre-Year Two press releases, there was mention of an alien woman coming to live on Alpha. I thought WOW–they are respecting the continuity of the books! Alas it was not to be.
We did get Maya, though. And that’s not bad! 🙂
Mateo
Cheers Mateo! I still remember when Phoenix of Megaron was first released . . . all of a sudden the book’s primary color was red rather than purple, and I vividly remember how it popped off the shelf at me. Sticks out like a sore thumb between the earlier Pocket novels and your black spines! 🙂
By the way, you may not remember me, but we met at the Gallifrey con a couple of years ago, and I picked up a set of all your books (though I stupidly passed on Resurrection, figuring that if it was included in Eternity Unbound, I didn’t need it). It was great fun talking about the series with you, and I’m very glad you and Powys are back.
Perhaps I’ll see you at Gallifrey this year. I plan to go, but will not have a table. I don’t think I’d recognize you though. Feel free to email at the powys email address which is the name of the company @ then prodigy then .net
Mateo
You could always disregard Phoenix Of Megaron as canon and consider the other books part of the Space:1999 continuity.
🙂
Can’t say I mind that the ’70s novels aren’t part of the Powys continuity. I liked some of them at the time, but when I reread them just before the Powys books started, I wasn’t impressed. I think Alien Seed was the one I liked best of the ones Pocket published, but Earthfall (which I didn’t even know existed until the 1990s) is the best, imho, and it’s very much in its own continuity.
Yes, I personally don’t see any specific need for the Pocket Books (Futura Books here in the UK) to be part of the Powys timeline either.
I really enjoyed the original novels published back in the 70’s – mainly the two John Rankine ones (although I thought PHOENIX OF MEGARON was a lot weaker than ANDROID PLANET, which was my favourite). I think Rankine did quite well at capturing the characters, although they were a bit ‘Year 2-ish’ in their portrayal (before Year 2 had even aired!) – as indeed were the stories themselves.
I remember seeing EARTHFALL on the shelves and being shell-shocked at the release of a big meaty Space:1999 book that had a completely different design to the previous Futura Space:1999 novels. I bought it immediately. These days I find the book hard to get through – Tubb really only had time for Koenig, Bergman and Russell (plus Carter on the edges), and I was never fully convinced that his characterisations were really that spot on. That said, I am very pleased that Fanderson re-issued the book a few years back in a version that was of far superior quality, with all the spelling mistakes of the original corrected. I also welcomed their release of EARTHBOUND, although again I do have some quibbles about Tubb’s characterisations.
Saying all that, I really enjoyed his story in SHEPHERD MOON, whereas Brian Ball’s was a bit ‘blah’. I’ve read that one twice and still don’t really understand what the point of it all was. Perhaps it’s just me.
– Simon
Speaking of alternate timelines, boy, do I wish someone would translate those Mondstation 1999 novels. Dunno about the legal aspects of it, but I’m almost surprised that it hasn’t been done as a fan project yet.
Somebody has! And I believe they are posting on this forum–hint hint. And I believe they mentioned them and put a link in their post! I was actually up on that site the other day looking at the covers. I’m sure he’ll post again with all the details.
Check the Born for Adversity threads, if I’m not mistaken.
That’s your cue, Patrick! 😛
Those are only partial translations, aren’t they? Maybe I should look at Patrick’s site more closely. (I bought a couple of the Mondstation books from him a few years ago.)
[b]Steve Roby wrote:[/b]
[quote]Those are only partial translations, aren’t they? Maybe I should look at Patrick’s site more closely. (I bought a couple of the Mondstation books from him a few years ago.)[/quote]That’s true, I’ve only posted translated pages for a couple of chapters from a few of the books. I never meant to post translations of the entire novels though, because as you say, there may be legal issues. I did intend to post the opening pages for all of the books though, and still need to get around to that for books #10-#12.
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