Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Better developed characters in the books compared to the TV series does reveal sides to individual personalities which we haven’t seen before. This is part of what makes the novels so much fun to read.
But maybe the paraphrased quote I mentioned wasn’t so surprising. Koenig was probably at his angriest in “All That Glisters” and I can see him wishing he could ‘break’ Dave Reily in that one.
Just think, if a character like Yasko were allowed to develop more in a future novel fans might finally come to appreciate her more. Well, its a thought anyway.
I agree that BFA is very professionally written and has set the bar high for Year 3 books.
As for characterizations [spoiler]I thought they were well done and Maya’s didn’t strike me as ‘off’. I attributed her tone to her current life circumstances.
There was one moment where I felt Koenig was described as more overtly macho than I would believe him to be. It went something like, “Koenig clenched his fists in frustration as if he wanted to break a face.” I just don’t see Koenig as a “break your face” kind of guy. That would be Tony. [/spoiler]
I was at the convention but somehow missed this panel. You brought up one of my questions for Powys: how and when did this whole venture get started? For example, how did you get the license to make it official? How did you meet Bill Latham and enlist his writing talent? Was MM2000 the first time you had met?
I had discovered John Muir’s insightful and scholarly book, “Exploring Space:1999”, which analyzes the show from the point of view of camerawork, lighting, and artful directing. I then met him at Breakaway and MM2000 where he gave several lectures using clips from the show to illustrate.
It was there that I learned Muir is a life long fan of the show, and that some of his insight comes from having attended film school. At that point I had no idea he also wrote fiction, so I was very pleasantly surprised to see that he was the author of THE FORSAKEN.
There may be mild SPOILERS here:
[spoiler]I’m enjoying the sheer scale of the OMEGA adventure, and how well it integrates concepts and events from the episodes. If this could only have happened on screen!
The book makes me a very active participant; I’m constantly trying to predict what will happen next.
The episode “War Games” was about Alphans and aliens in conflict; and also about the real 20th century threat of nuclear war and holocaust. (Recall the purposeful use of stock footage of a nuclear explosion rather than an explosive special effect that could have been created by Brian Johnson.)
On some level OMEGA also seems to comment about real world social complexities, conflicts and survival.
It’s a great story but also, in a number of ways, it is also good literature.
[/spoiler]
This question about the origin of character names might be considered a SPOILER due to some of its content:
[spoiler]Okay Powys, here’s another question.
I’m interested in some of the character names as I continue (slowly due to my schedule) reading OMEGA with it’s intriguing depth.
Do all or most of the character and alien species names have a meaning?
For example, Eroca is like “erotica” and seems to symbolize an aspect of the character first introduced in SURVIVAL. Susurra is “whisper” in Spanish. The name may reflect the quiet intelligence of this being.
Here’s my biggest discovery but I’m sure you can’t say anything about this one:
The Leiran people are represented by a name which is “Ariel” spelled backwards (!) Was this intended as indicative of the origin of these people? Only the Powys authors know. Or maybe it’s just coincidence.
And it just occurs to me that someone identified Ariel as the planet on the cover of the Forsaken. Hummm. Maybe I’m the last person to notice all this. It makes me more curious how everything will come together …
[/spoiler]The books do build on one another, so in addition to the above mentioned episodes there are some alien species, characters and events from SURVIVAL referenced or further developed in OMEGA.
It’s been six or seven years since I read SURVIVAL, but I’m finding that my lack of recall on specifics isn’t affecting my enjoyment of OMEGA.
http://www.captphilonline.com/powys//omega.html
This is the link for ALPHA. Then click on the hand picture.
For me it’s hard to identify favorite and least favorite characters because of the amount of screen time they got. It’s easier to identify with characters you learn a lot about, like the leads.
In the series we learned less about Mathias, Sandra and Fraser, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be great to showcase and define better in a novel.
When I vote in this poll I will feel like the Angel of Death, condeming a character to obscurity in a future novel.
I’m probably making a bigger deal out of this than it is, and of course I really don’t know how the results of the poll will be used.
:cheer: What an amazing surprise!!! I’m not even a quarter through OMEGA and was savoring it, not in a hurry to finish because I thought it would be a while before any more novels were out. This is soooooo cool!!!!
Don’t laugh at me, but I have to ask Mateo if that hand is embedded in a lunar sand dune on the cover of the FORSAKEN. I think I see it. Now don’t tell me you had this surprise planned out all those years ago!
I would enjoy hearing how Powys was able to get original authors like Michael Butterworth to improve his prior novelizations for the YEAR 2 OMNIBUS and how Brian Ball came to write the novel SURVIVAL, and his story in SHEPHERD MOON.
I have to say that it is somewhat comforting to be entertained with new material written by the same writers who had me glued to the page back when I was just a “tween”.
I’m curious if the inserted clue in the launch pad cover for FORSAKEN is related to a just-published novel or one to come.
I was wondering why there were two covers for THE FORSAKEN and what the meaning of the Moon against the leaves and flower petals was.
I liked the more artistic cover the most, even though I didn’t necessarily know it’s deeper significance. For me it just gave the novel a more meaningful, deeper or thoughtful look than a picture that speaks for itself.
Symbolically it must have had to do with Alpha in peril or change coming to alpha.
I noticed this, although the presence of children wasn’t mentioned further in the story. Either Alpha has increased it’s ability to support new individuals or, as brought out in Born For Adversity, there had been 30 or so Alphans who had died since Breakaway, which allowed for new arrivals. This was given as a reason Koenig could consider taking on the Psychon survivors should they choose to live on the moonbase.
Children on Alpha would be fine, but I think the timeline for their presence was a little off. I believe in Born For Adversity Maya recalls a conversation she had with Dorzak (taken from the episode ‘Dorzak’) as having been “several months ago”. But these children are older than a few months and ‘Dorzak’ probably took place several months before the end of Year 2 when there were still no children. If I’m correct about this, it would have been better to have Maya recall her conversation with Dorzak as “several years ago”.
SPOILERS!!!
What I liked most about Born For Adversity was the depth of storytelling and familiarity with Y1 and Y2 precedent. The book doesn’t have a dull moment, takes characters through an action-packed progression of post Year 2 development, and contains mind-bending ideas about what happened to David Kano– which really blew me away. The author’s apparent familiarity with the latest computer science helped make it all so believable.
I also liked the continued existence of Psyche, the relationship of Psychon evolution to Psyche and the mystery of Psyche’s existence. Surrounding this Maya confronts what are some of the most profound and meaningful events in her life, and the changes which have taken place within her will be interesting to explore in future novels. In the TV series there was not enough development of Maya, Psychons or their culture/spirituality, and the author has taken steps to finally rectify this.
I enjoyed seeing familiar Y2 characters interwoven throughout, and liked the large role for security guard Quinton who was in both seasons of Space:1999, but never named on screen, just in credits. I also liked the consideration of previous alien encounters from the series, and the pivotal role Dorzak played in this novel. Besides Kano, other important Year 1 characters like Victor Bergman haven’t been forgotten, and Victor’s relationship to John and Helena continues to support them at critical junctures, if only in their memory.
This epic is an important part of Space:1999 development and is written in such a cinematic style that it should have been a movie. If the intent was to portray the action of Y2 with the depth of Y1 then this book is a huge success!!!!
