Redshirts
John Scalzi served as president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He wrote this novel while he was president. He also worked in some capacity on STARGATE UNIVERSE, a show I’ve never seen. He makes it clear in his acknowledgements that THE CHRONICLES OF THE INTREPID is not based on STARGATE UNIVERSE.
Although I liked Frank Herbert’s DUNE series, Isaac Asimov’s stories, and, of course, Ray Bradbury and J.R.R. Tolkein‘s HOBBIT, I’m not a big fan of science fiction or fantasy.
I almost quit reading this one. Apparently it’s supposed to be a satire of the space opera genre, but the only similarity I could find that was fair play was that the walk-ons on those shows are the first to die on away team or during an attack on the ship. You don’t kill off Spock, the captain, Bones or Scotty.
When Andrew Dahl and his fellow new crew members report to the Intrepid, they are perplexed by the tendency of their superiors to hide every time the captain or the science officer appears in their work area. They soon learn that they’re being tipped off by Jenkins, who’s hiding in the walls of the ships where supply carts deliver supplies to various departments. Jenkins has a theory that the new crew members die because this is really a TV show projected into space from another century. Scalzi doesn’t provide any science to justify such a scenario. The closest I could come (not in this book) was the strange theory that we’re holograms; our real selves live on the edge of a black hole. When the characters go back in time, Scalzi uses a previous episode of THE CHRONICLES OF THE INTREPID where the crew flew towards a black hole to time travel. If it works on the show, it should work for Dahl and his compatriots.
Andrew Dahl realizes eventually that he’s now the protagonist of the show. He should’ve been killed or maimed several times, but he always survives. One would think that the ending would feature Dahl. Think again, it’s about one of the other minor characters. Dahl is involved in virtually every plot point in the book. One would think . . . Scalzi also commits another one of my pet peeves as a reader. He adds a rather long acknowledgement where he thanks every one connected with the book except his mother. Apparently it takes a village to write bad science fiction, and he thinks he’s just written WAR AND PEACE.
Almost forgot the Joe Hill blurb. Hill is Stephen King’s son. He actually said, “REDSHIRTS is ruin-your-underwear funny.” The only funny scene I remember is when Maia Duvall, another new crew member, says she owes Dahl a blow job. Dahl thinks she’s serious, but she’s speaking metaphorically about owing him a favor. A really big favor would proceed up the metaphorical sexual ladder. I’m trying not to use the “f” word. I did chuckle at that, but it was one of the only times while reading this book that I was amused or entertained. Skip it.
Although I liked Frank Herbert’s DUNE series, Isaac Asimov’s stories, and, of course, Ray Bradbury and J.R.R. Tolkein‘s HOBBIT, I’m not a big fan of science fiction or fantasy.
I almost quit reading this one. Apparently it’s supposed to be a satire of the space opera genre, but the only similarity I could find that was fair play was that the walk-ons on those shows are the first to die on away team or during an attack on the ship. You don’t kill off Spock, the captain, Bones or Scotty.
When Andrew Dahl and his fellow new crew members report to the Intrepid, they are perplexed by the tendency of their superiors to hide every time the captain or the science officer appears in their work area. They soon learn that they’re being tipped off by Jenkins, who’s hiding in the walls of the ships where supply carts deliver supplies to various departments. Jenkins has a theory that the new crew members die because this is really a TV show projected into space from another century. Scalzi doesn’t provide any science to justify such a scenario. The closest I could come (not in this book) was the strange theory that we’re holograms; our real selves live on the edge of a black hole. When the characters go back in time, Scalzi uses a previous episode of THE CHRONICLES OF THE INTREPID where the crew flew towards a black hole to time travel. If it works on the show, it should work for Dahl and his compatriots.
Andrew Dahl realizes eventually that he’s now the protagonist of the show. He should’ve been killed or maimed several times, but he always survives. One would think that the ending would feature Dahl. Think again, it’s about one of the other minor characters. Dahl is involved in virtually every plot point in the book. One would think . . . Scalzi also commits another one of my pet peeves as a reader. He adds a rather long acknowledgement where he thanks every one connected with the book except his mother. Apparently it takes a village to write bad science fiction, and he thinks he’s just written WAR AND PEACE.
Almost forgot the Joe Hill blurb. Hill is Stephen King’s son. He actually said, “REDSHIRTS is ruin-your-underwear funny.” The only funny scene I remember is when Maia Duvall, another new crew member, says she owes Dahl a blow job. Dahl thinks she’s serious, but she’s speaking metaphorically about owing him a favor. A really big favor would proceed up the metaphorical sexual ladder. I’m trying not to use the “f” word. I did chuckle at that, but it was one of the only times while reading this book that I was amused or entertained. Skip it.
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