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Cineverse Cycle #3
Revenge of the Fluffy Bunnies
1st Headline 1990 edition paperback vg+ condition. In stock shipped from our UK warehouse
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
3 people are currently reading
142 people want to read
About the author
Craig Shaw Gardner
151 books137 followersCraig Shaw Gardner was born in Rochester, New York and lived there until 1967, when he moved to Boston, MA to attend Boston University. He graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Broadcasting and Film. He has continued to reside in Boston since that time.
He published his first story in 1977 while he held a number of jobs: shipper/receiver for a men's suit manufacturer, working in hospital public relations, running a stat camera, and also managed of a couple of bookstores: The Million Year Picnic and Science Fantasy Bookstore.
As of 1987 he became a full time writer, and since then he has published more than 30 novels and more than 50 short stories.
He also published under these pseudonyms:
Peter Garrison
He published his first story in 1977 while he held a number of jobs: shipper/receiver for a men's suit manufacturer, working in hospital public relations, running a stat camera, and also managed of a couple of bookstores: The Million Year Picnic and Science Fantasy Bookstore.
As of 1987 he became a full time writer, and since then he has published more than 30 novels and more than 50 short stories.
He also published under these pseudonyms:
Peter Garrison
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 20, 2023
You could probably write a lengthy review on the premise that this series is a critique of postmodernism in narrative art. The Cineverse is undergoing The Change where stories no longer follow their long-accepted tropes, heroes and villains don't exist, and magic is banished to memory. But of course, this series is itself kind of a postmodern deconstruction of 20th century filmmaking, so that would be a pretty fruitless endeavor. It's not meant to be taken so seriously.
Reflecting on the series as a whole, I think there were enough fun gags to justify the read. It might not be Hitchhiker's Guide, but what is?
Reflecting on the series as a whole, I think there were enough fun gags to justify the read. It might not be Hitchhiker's Guide, but what is?
September 23, 2025
Three books of wheel-spinning and endless, pointless, obnoxious prattle ends with a deus ex machina in the last few pages. One would think that all of the wasted text leading to that point gave Craig Shaw Gardner enough time to come up with an actual payoff, though that would've obviously been a unwarranted hope, given the quality of his writing. The six-hundred pages of Slaves of the Volcano God, Bride of the Slime Monster, and Revenge of the Fluffy Bunnies could've been cut down to a single lean one-hundred-and-eighty page book and nothing of value would've been lost, even if the last third was devoted to an entirely new ending.
The prior book had two separate paths. Following the Star Wars model of A New Hope having one final battle (Luke vs Death Star) and Empire Strikes Back having two (Luke vs Vader, Leia and crew escaping), you can forgive me for being concerned that this would have three like Return of the Jedi (Luke vs Emperor, Han and Leia on Endor, Lando vs Death Star). Turns out that I was too optimistic and this went straight to four different threads just like the horrendously overstuffed Phantom Menace. Each of those different story trails had their own set of characters with their own endless sets of catch phrases and stock actions, meaning that even less actually happened in this final book as everybody repeated their shticks over and over and over again across page after page after page.
The "hero" Roger, after very briefly deciding that problems in the cineverse could be solved by working within the rules of the movie worlds he visited in the prior book, has gained the power of Captain Crusader. That power is to spout largely irrelevant aphorisms to solve any problem, quite unlike any movie character that has ever existed. So he goes through the whole book spouting "An apple a day keeps the doctor away,"-level pat phrases and no longer uses any rules of the movie worlds. The one element that would've made the trilogy much more interesting if it had been the central focus and it's used once in the second book and forgotten about. If you'd read the two prior books, you might know that Captain Crusader is supposed to possess "Methods" that were actually made quite a big deal of. In movies, which I'm not sure Gardner has ever seen, a hero's methods of solving problems are generally unspecified when speaking to third parties, but the audience knows that they're a combination of cleverness, skill, preparation, and luck. In Revenge of the Fluffy Bunnies, "Methods" is referenced once when he's drowning and the Plotmaster teleports him away. That's it. That's all. If The Masked Marvel had escaped drowning in one of his serial chapters and explained it as "I have my methods," the audience would've seen what those methods were, though I guess doing the same with Roger would've gotten in the way of characters nattering and Gardner would've needed to be the slightest bit clever. This book also could've been the chance for Roger to actually do something other than being lead around by the nose, but he's still entirely too passive despite serving as Captain Crusader and he's even standing around like a lump for a full twelve pages of the the final battle, idly thinking about what's happening around him. Roger also had been repeatedly stated to be in Public Relations, without any sign of him having the creative or personal skills necessary, which also doesn't factor into anything. What an utterly worthless protagonist.
The Change - the big catastrophe looming over the entire series - is explicitly given as darker storytelling that arose in our world's cinema. Antiheroes appeared in the '60s and '70s, now it's 1990 and things are getting even worse in a way that might harm the Cineverse! Except The Change ends up being movie worlds mushed together, blending genres like pirates and beach party films, which has absolutely nothing to do with movies changing in the real world. The way this book went, it almost seemed to imply that the prior change happened in the Cineverse first and that made movies in the real world darker, which doesn't make a lick of sense. Clearly the mechanics weren't worked out in Gardner's head and it shows on the page.
What else can I complain about? Despite his protestations, The Plotmaster appears to be able to do literally anything, so there aren't actually any stakes. It's implied that The Plotmaster might have actually been the prior Captain Crusader, which doesn't track. Delores' entire storyline with the slime monster is stupid and pointless. As bad as the individual characters' shticks have been, Roger's mother has the worst and it eats up a huge chunk of the book. *CRACK*. So much waste, forget "show, don't tell," this book is essentially "tell, then show, then tell, then tell again, then tell yet again." None of the sidekicks do anything useful, they're just there to burn dialogue and could've been left behind on the worlds' where they appeared without impacting the plot at all. A dog sustaining brain damage is a major story beat. I think all the idiocy and repetition was supposed to be funny, which it wasn't in the slightest. The couple of new worlds visited were barely utilized and the idea of their having special laws or rules was abandoned, Gardner might've just forgotten that was even a thing. The concepts that Gardner seems to assume are movie tropes actually aren't.
Everything is wrong. Everything. How did Craig Shaw Gardner have a career as a writer? What a complete and utter waste of a fun premise.
The prior book had two separate paths. Following the Star Wars model of A New Hope having one final battle (Luke vs Death Star) and Empire Strikes Back having two (Luke vs Vader, Leia and crew escaping), you can forgive me for being concerned that this would have three like Return of the Jedi (Luke vs Emperor, Han and Leia on Endor, Lando vs Death Star). Turns out that I was too optimistic and this went straight to four different threads just like the horrendously overstuffed Phantom Menace. Each of those different story trails had their own set of characters with their own endless sets of catch phrases and stock actions, meaning that even less actually happened in this final book as everybody repeated their shticks over and over and over again across page after page after page.
The "hero" Roger, after very briefly deciding that problems in the cineverse could be solved by working within the rules of the movie worlds he visited in the prior book, has gained the power of Captain Crusader. That power is to spout largely irrelevant aphorisms to solve any problem, quite unlike any movie character that has ever existed. So he goes through the whole book spouting "An apple a day keeps the doctor away,"-level pat phrases and no longer uses any rules of the movie worlds. The one element that would've made the trilogy much more interesting if it had been the central focus and it's used once in the second book and forgotten about. If you'd read the two prior books, you might know that Captain Crusader is supposed to possess "Methods" that were actually made quite a big deal of. In movies, which I'm not sure Gardner has ever seen, a hero's methods of solving problems are generally unspecified when speaking to third parties, but the audience knows that they're a combination of cleverness, skill, preparation, and luck. In Revenge of the Fluffy Bunnies, "Methods" is referenced once when he's drowning and the Plotmaster teleports him away. That's it. That's all. If The Masked Marvel had escaped drowning in one of his serial chapters and explained it as "I have my methods," the audience would've seen what those methods were, though I guess doing the same with Roger would've gotten in the way of characters nattering and Gardner would've needed to be the slightest bit clever. This book also could've been the chance for Roger to actually do something other than being lead around by the nose, but he's still entirely too passive despite serving as Captain Crusader and he's even standing around like a lump for a full twelve pages of the the final battle, idly thinking about what's happening around him. Roger also had been repeatedly stated to be in Public Relations, without any sign of him having the creative or personal skills necessary, which also doesn't factor into anything. What an utterly worthless protagonist.
The Change - the big catastrophe looming over the entire series - is explicitly given as darker storytelling that arose in our world's cinema. Antiheroes appeared in the '60s and '70s, now it's 1990 and things are getting even worse in a way that might harm the Cineverse! Except The Change ends up being movie worlds mushed together, blending genres like pirates and beach party films, which has absolutely nothing to do with movies changing in the real world. The way this book went, it almost seemed to imply that the prior change happened in the Cineverse first and that made movies in the real world darker, which doesn't make a lick of sense. Clearly the mechanics weren't worked out in Gardner's head and it shows on the page.
What else can I complain about? Despite his protestations, The Plotmaster appears to be able to do literally anything, so there aren't actually any stakes. It's implied that The Plotmaster might have actually been the prior Captain Crusader, which doesn't track. Delores' entire storyline with the slime monster is stupid and pointless. As bad as the individual characters' shticks have been, Roger's mother has the worst and it eats up a huge chunk of the book. *CRACK*. So much waste, forget "show, don't tell," this book is essentially "tell, then show, then tell, then tell again, then tell yet again." None of the sidekicks do anything useful, they're just there to burn dialogue and could've been left behind on the worlds' where they appeared without impacting the plot at all. A dog sustaining brain damage is a major story beat. I think all the idiocy and repetition was supposed to be funny, which it wasn't in the slightest. The couple of new worlds visited were barely utilized and the idea of their having special laws or rules was abandoned, Gardner might've just forgotten that was even a thing. The concepts that Gardner seems to assume are movie tropes actually aren't.
Everything is wrong. Everything. How did Craig Shaw Gardner have a career as a writer? What a complete and utter waste of a fun premise.
October 13, 2023
I never could find a copy of book two in this series, so it felt funny reading this and not knowing what had gone between. It's quite funny, though in a desperately wanting to be Terry Pratchett sort of way, and will appeal to those who love his works. Strangely I preferred Craig Shaw Gardner's adaptations of the Back To The Future sequels. ;)
November 26, 2007
Nice pointless read with some random humor, amusing characters, odd plot twists, and a generally satisfying tale. I think of it as a nice lower-end film version of Thursday Next. Nice read to pick up from the bargain bid.
November 21, 2020
Love this. What's not to love, it's got fluffy bunnies in it. But not your cute, sweety bunnies. Oh no! The cover may just give a hint...
September 23, 2021
Best book I’ve purchased for a quarter. Perfect beach trilogy. I’d like to visit the cineverse if I get the chance. I think it would be fun.
February 24, 2023
Bit disappointed with the last in the series, some good laughs and funny scenes, but fully predictable and bit of a wet ending which was a let down
July 10, 2023
Silly fun!
November 30, 2010
In the last "reel" of the Cineverse Cycle, Roger has become Captain Crusader, but has other issues to conquer, like something going terrible wrong with the Cineverse and . . . his mother. Roger's mom, a sweet, motherly type, has stumbled into the Cineverse and been reborn as a dominatrix-style villainess from some terrible '60's exploitation movie. A hilarious conclusion to the trilogy!
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August 25, 20101ST UK PUBLICATION. COVER BY JOSH KIRBY.
March 14, 2011
Another silly, fun read in the series that takes a poke at all those old, '50's B-movies.
March 17, 2013
The silly conclusion.
January 25, 2016
Very funny SiFi book. Gardner make you laugh ever few pages. Recommended
June 7, 2021
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews