What Book Are You Reading?

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

Was better than I expected, given how underwhelmed I was by the "Autobiography of James T. Kirk", but not good enough that I feel the need to add it to my collection. I was a bit bummed that it completely ignored any of the backstory or continuing adventures of Picard represented in other novels (even though it didn't remotely limit itself to things that were established in filmed adventures), but I suppose that was unavoidable given that it came from a different publisher.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

95 Theses by Martin Luther, Stephen Nichols ed.


Re-read this because I'm teaching it at my church.

Unless it was some short in an anthology years ago, no, I have never read Dick's works before, so far as I'm aware; I'm not especially knowledgeable of his writings.

I love PK Dick's work, but I need to read more. I felt Blade Runner was actually deeper than DADoES was, but it's still really good and very different.

Was better than I expected, given how underwhelmed I was by the "Autobiography of James T. Kirk", but not good enough that I feel the need to add it to my collection. I was a bit bummed that it completely ignored any of the backstory or continuing adventures of Picard represented in other novels (even though it didn't remotely limit itself to things that were established in filmed adventures), but I suppose that was unavoidable given that it came from a different publisher.

I didn't know that was a thing. Is there a good web site or resource to know which Trek books are coming out and when?

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

I didn't know that was a thing. Is there a good web site or resource to know which Trek books are coming out and when?

Yes there is.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Upcoming_productions

It isn't just books. It also mentions episodes and movies, comics, and some other merchandise.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

Pure Imagination: The Making of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

by Mel Stuart (the director) with Josh Young

Yes there is.

It isn't just books. It also mentions episodes and movies, comics, and some other merchandise.

You know, I've used Memory Alpha a lot as a wiki, but I never used it for news. Have to start checking that out. Thanks.

[Agent Purple The Illustrated Man Find all posts View Profile Close Agent Purple]

Just had some lightning in a bottle: my dad's birthday is coming up soon, and I always have trouble getting him something interesting that's relevant to his interests.

I just remembered that years and years ago, when the first Starship Troopers flick was coming out he wanted to give me his old copy of the novel, but didn't have it anymore then, and several years ago for his birthday (or maybe Father's Day, can't remember) I got him a new copy I'd found at a used book store. He was very pleased.

Knowing that Blade Runner and 2049 are very beloved to him, I think I'll get him a copy of Electric Sheep next time I'm at the market. Maybe also Ready Player One, I'm debating it.

Given that, I guess I'll save the Doctor Strange and Fallout gift ideas for Christmas.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

Predator Incursion
[The Rage War Book 1]

by Tim Lebbon

[Agent Purple The Illustrated Man Find all posts View Profile Close Agent Purple]

So my dad's birthday is Wednesday (Nov 22), and because I wanted him to have his present in time I decided to take it down. Told him he didn't have to open it, but he wanted to anyway. He was very pleased with his new copy of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and actually asked me to sign the front inside cover for him (guess the copy is worth a few thousand now instead of a measly $10).

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

I'm about halfway through The Return of Frankenstein. It's about the planned sequel to the movie Frankenstein (1931) that over a period of a few years morphed into Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

There are two rejected treatments in the book, one by Philip MacDonald and the other by L.G. Blochman. MacDonald's is very good and would have made a worthy sequel. The story's tone and content are quite similar to the first movie's. It could have been seamlessly appended to the first movie to create a longer film.

Blochman's treatment contains some elements that are visually striking, but I think his story was not nearly convincing enough to get audiences to suspend their disbelief.

A fellow named Philip J. Riley somehow collected these documents and got them published. He has been criticized online for sloppiness in what he writes. I support that judgement, given that he copied and pasted most of the book's introduction straight from Wikipedia without attribution!

The bulk of the book is taken up by a rejected script by John L. Balderston. Some of what he wrote made it into the movie, but mainly, his script lacks the character of Pretorius and his mini-human creations. They were added later by writers William J. Hurlbutt and Edmund Pearson.

I've always hated Pretorius and thought he ruined the movie, so I suspect that Balderston's script was much better than the one that got filmed. That's why I'm reading this book. So far, Balderston's script does seem better.

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

I've finished the book. Balderston's script has some faults, but yes, Bride of Frankenstein would have been a lot better if his version had been filmed. I can't abide the whimsical elements of the finished movie that so many people oddly praise, and their absence in this this script shows that their inclusion was a bad idea.

It's hard to say exactly what Balderston created. Tom Reed wrote the first script for the movie, which director James Whale rejected and claimed to have disliked very much. But later, after Philip MacDonald and L.G. Blochman's treatments were rejected, Whale seems to have told Balderston to go back and build on what Reed had originally written! The archaeology of the writing process is difficult because Reed's script apparently hasn't survived.

But it seems clear that the whimsy and the goofy prologue were Whale's bad ideas. If I had produced this movie, I'd have said to Whale, "And that's why you're not a writer."

At any rate, Balderston's script is very brutal in places, and heavy-handed in religious elements. (He later wrote Red Planet Mars, a religious sci-fi movie that critics trounced.) But with a good, competent rewrite, The Return of Frankenstein would have been Universal's best monster movie of the classic period. I'm in the minority of people who think that Bride of Frankenstein was far from being the best one.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

...(He later wrote Red Planet Mars, a religious sci-fi movie that critics trounced.) . .

Yeah, but I think Red Planet's detractors mainly focus on its cheapness.

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

Yeah, but I think Red Planet's detractors mainly focus on its cheapness.

These reviewers aren't complaining about the budget. A few people loved it, but the movie's overall rating at IMDB is just 4.9.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045073/reviews?ref_=tt_urv

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

We'll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Afterlife, of Hollywood's Most Beloved Movie

by Noah Isenberg

These reviewers aren't complaining about the budget. A few people loved it, but the movie's overall rating at IMDB is just 4.9.

Just checked on Netflix and I apparently gave it 3/5 stars.

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

I'm a big fan of Balderston's writing on Berkeley Square and The Mummy. That and my dissatisfaction with the movie Bride of Frankenstein prompted me to read this book.

[Agent Purple The Illustrated Man Find all posts View Profile Close Agent Purple]

Since he's apparently getting hit with a new plagiarism lawsuit, here are some hilarious (and true!) articles I've discovered about Dan Brown:

Don't make fun of renowned author Dan Brown

Look out, kids! It's the return of the renowned Dan Brown

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

by Philip K. Dick

Pretty good; very weird.

It's definitely looking like this will be my last complete book of the year, which is kind of pathetic since it's only the 20th I've read this year whereas I read 31 last year and 29 the year before (I started keeping track when I did the challenges and liked the idea). [I do a lot of other reading, but I'm talking cover-to-cover books.]