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Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers
The wild, galaxy-hopping adventures of brash young scientists Jerry Courtenay and Chuck van Chider are at the core of this classic space opera. When the two college students develop a faster-than-light space drive in their homemade workshed, they decide to sneak it aboard their football team's airplane as a prank. The boyish plan backfires, however, and the boys find themselves, along with their crush Sally and the seemingly loveable school caretaker, Old John, hurtling through the solar system towards Titan—an icy moon of Saturn inhabited by hideous ice creatures. Titan and the 20th century are only square one as the foursome becomes embroiled in a vast, intergalactic, century-jumping battle.
212 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1973
12 people are currently reading
501 people want to read
About the author
Harry Harrison
1,261 books1,040 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
January 2, 2008
This is such a fun read. Harrison is one of those writers who can cover a lot of material in a handful of sentences. He's also got a sharp sense of wit: witness his satirical take on Cold War politics, gender relations, and sexuality in this slim adventure. Moreover, Harrison doesn't hesitate to mess with convention and take his story in directions that some would consider controversial. You will never guess where the characters take their lives by the story's end.
This is the kind of writing that keeps me interested in science fiction. The massive, multi-book stories that contemporary writers offer today may look epic, but their size is too daunting; a writer has to be incredible to hold my interest that long, and much of the prose that I encounter is passable at best. Harrison is someone who can fit a number of ideas in a fraction of the pages - and make you laugh. His is a talent that I recommend to any reader.
This is the kind of writing that keeps me interested in science fiction. The massive, multi-book stories that contemporary writers offer today may look epic, but their size is too daunting; a writer has to be incredible to hold my interest that long, and much of the prose that I encounter is passable at best. Harrison is someone who can fit a number of ideas in a fraction of the pages - and make you laugh. His is a talent that I recommend to any reader.
October 20, 2020
The thing about parody and satire is that you need to know the source material well for them to work: if you know nothing of the thing they're parodying or satirizing, they'll just end up played straight in your mind and, if they have nothing going on for them beyond that, they fall completely flat.
I remember watching Scream with a friend, back when I was a kid. I wasn't exactly a horror movie buff - neither of us were - and had no idea that the movie was meant to be a parody. This book isn't quite that bad because I know the author's work and knew, from the very first page, that he could never write anything this bad with a straight face. He was taking the piss.
But the point stands: just like way back when with Scream, I haven't read any of those really terrible sixties and seventies scifi novels, the ones this one's (presumably) a satire about. The ones with teen protagonists and useless female leads and tentacled aliens and such. I don't want to read them: if this book's anything to go by, they'd be a complete waste of time. And that means that this book really didn't grab me all too well. It has some story even beyond the satire, but it's just far too over-the-top to take seriously, the characters are shallow as a puddle, and the plot lacks surprise and tension.
Still, I got a couple laughs. So there's that.
I remember watching Scream with a friend, back when I was a kid. I wasn't exactly a horror movie buff - neither of us were - and had no idea that the movie was meant to be a parody. This book isn't quite that bad because I know the author's work and knew, from the very first page, that he could never write anything this bad with a straight face. He was taking the piss.
But the point stands: just like way back when with Scream, I haven't read any of those really terrible sixties and seventies scifi novels, the ones this one's (presumably) a satire about. The ones with teen protagonists and useless female leads and tentacled aliens and such. I don't want to read them: if this book's anything to go by, they'd be a complete waste of time. And that means that this book really didn't grab me all too well. It has some story even beyond the satire, but it's just far too over-the-top to take seriously, the characters are shallow as a puddle, and the plot lacks surprise and tension.
Still, I got a couple laughs. So there's that.
December 30, 2022
If you're looking for a wild ride through the cosmos, then look no further than Harry Harrison's Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers. This classic sci-fi novel takes readers on an adventure full of action and humour as they follow the intrepid crew of space rangers in their mission to save Earth from alien invaders.
The story is fast paced with plenty of twists and turns that will keep readers amused until the very end. The characters are unique; each one has their own distinct personality that adds some depth to a very shallow story. Plus, there’s plenty of laughs sprinkled throughout – especially when it comes to our heroes' attempts at outsmarting their enemies!
I first read this as a teenager, and it seemed more fun then. An easy, but somewhat juvenile, read.
The story is fast paced with plenty of twists and turns that will keep readers amused until the very end. The characters are unique; each one has their own distinct personality that adds some depth to a very shallow story. Plus, there’s plenty of laughs sprinkled throughout – especially when it comes to our heroes' attempts at outsmarting their enemies!
I first read this as a teenager, and it seemed more fun then. An easy, but somewhat juvenile, read.
July 26, 2008
As a longtime fan of the Lensman series by E. E. "Doc" Smith, how could I NOT love Star Smashers? It's as clever a spoof as anything by the Zucker brothers. Fun, goofy, and full of the best faux drama you'll ever find.
If you want a rollicking good space adventure with iron-jawed heroes, damsels in distress, evil aliens, and epic scope, all done with tongue firmly ensconced in cheek...this one's for you.
If you want a rollicking good space adventure with iron-jawed heroes, damsels in distress, evil aliens, and epic scope, all done with tongue firmly ensconced in cheek...this one's for you.
August 5, 2011
Does for classic space opera what Team America: World Police does for Thunderbirds. Though I'm sorry to say there's not quite as much gratuitous sex.
reading-interrupted-long-time-ago
August 1, 2022Not a review:
I began it to read the german translation long time ago. The Novel was published in sequels in the "Perry Rhodan Science Fiction Magazin". But the magazine was discontinued before the whole novel could be printed there. And the Roman never had an paperback edition in German.
Yes it was fun, a parody of all altfashioned space operas.
I began it to read the german translation long time ago. The Novel was published in sequels in the "Perry Rhodan Science Fiction Magazin". But the magazine was discontinued before the whole novel could be printed there. And the Roman never had an paperback edition in German.
Yes it was fun, a parody of all altfashioned space operas.
June 24, 2023
If an author deliberately sets out to write a bad book, and the book is bad, must we judge it by the author's skill in realizing that intention, or by the fact that it is, indeed, bad? Star Smashers is a parody of a now nearly extinct genre, the "space opera" of Jack Williamson, Doc Smith, and earlier pulp writers. Populated by caricatures of caricatures, experiencing absurd plot developments, exhibiting ludicrous jingoism, all slathered with a nice layer of consciously bad prose. Pointless fake-science exposition, characters repeat exact sentences from the narration, and more.
Of course, there are some actual jokes, but they're few and far between. I didn't laugh at every joke in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but Adams was trying to be consistently funny (ignoring the later books). With this, all I can do is nod wearily and say "yes, space opera* is indeed as stupid as this". The thing is, when a 26 year old Williamson writes The Legion of Space, I can at least accept it as a sincere effort, even if I didn't like it. When a 48 year old Harrison puts out this, I feel only that he has deliberately wasted my time.
The book does redeem itself very slightly right at the end, with a development that I really didn't expect and actually got me to chuckle a little bit:
*The term as it was used in the 1970s and as it's used today can barely be considered related.
At the very least this book contributed one of the better pictures in Barlowe's Guide. One of the weirdest designs in the book, and while it's a little hard to see shrunk down like this, there's an excellent bark/fingerprint-like texture across the body. Sadly the Garnishee in the book don't live up to the strangeness of their design, but I suppose that's part of the "joke".
Of course, there are some actual jokes, but they're few and far between. I didn't laugh at every joke in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but Adams was trying to be consistently funny (ignoring the later books). With this, all I can do is nod wearily and say "yes, space opera* is indeed as stupid as this". The thing is, when a 26 year old Williamson writes The Legion of Space, I can at least accept it as a sincere effort, even if I didn't like it. When a 48 year old Harrison puts out this, I feel only that he has deliberately wasted my time.
The book does redeem itself very slightly right at the end, with a development that I really didn't expect and actually got me to chuckle a little bit:
*The term as it was used in the 1970s and as it's used today can barely be considered related.
At the very least this book contributed one of the better pictures in Barlowe's Guide. One of the weirdest designs in the book, and while it's a little hard to see shrunk down like this, there's an excellent bark/fingerprint-like texture across the body. Sadly the Garnishee in the book don't live up to the strangeness of their design, but I suppose that's part of the "joke".
July 1, 2016
Now, before anyone accuses me of missing the point here, I get that this book is satire. You can, I guess, accuse me of not having a sense of humor, because I didn’t think it was terribly funny. Harrison seems to have decided to “parody” the style of macho sci fi he grew up with, and to deliberately write the worst book he could manage to write in the process. In fairness, the worst book he could write is still better than the best most authors ever manage.
The book is about a couple of college jocks who also happen to be scientific geniuses that stumble across the secret to faster-than-light travel and begin an adventure across the galaxy in a 747 their school uses to transport the football team. They fight various bug-eyed monsters and intergalactic threats, with the nature of the quest becoming increasingly improbable at each new development. Along with them comes the school’s black janitor (who is a Communist spy at the outset, but converts to Americanism along the way) and a shapely cheerleader who spends a lot of time in the galley fixing sandwiches. If that description strikes you as funny, have at it, but to me it’s sort of like expecting people to see the funny side of exactly what most sci fi really was like not terribly long ago (and what certain sad puppies would like to see it become again).
This book actually redeemed itself for me a little at the end, where Harrison sticks his finger in the eye of anyone who had missed the satire and actually enjoyed all the macho silliness beforehand. Would that Robert Heinlein had done the same with Starship Troopers.
The book is about a couple of college jocks who also happen to be scientific geniuses that stumble across the secret to faster-than-light travel and begin an adventure across the galaxy in a 747 their school uses to transport the football team. They fight various bug-eyed monsters and intergalactic threats, with the nature of the quest becoming increasingly improbable at each new development. Along with them comes the school’s black janitor (who is a Communist spy at the outset, but converts to Americanism along the way) and a shapely cheerleader who spends a lot of time in the galley fixing sandwiches. If that description strikes you as funny, have at it, but to me it’s sort of like expecting people to see the funny side of exactly what most sci fi really was like not terribly long ago (and what certain sad puppies would like to see it become again).
This book actually redeemed itself for me a little at the end, where Harrison sticks his finger in the eye of anyone who had missed the satire and actually enjoyed all the macho silliness beforehand. Would that Robert Heinlein had done the same with Starship Troopers.
October 16, 2016
It's rare that you read the first sentence and realize that this book is going to be trouble. And you finish the first page and realize that you are going to hate this book. And you thumb randomly through the contents, and whatever happens to catch your eye makes you even more annoyed.
And then you put it down.
And then you put it down.
February 21, 2019
“‘Come on Jerry, the accumulators are crackling with barely restrained power,” Chuck shouted’. Deliberately ridiculous dialogue sets the scene for ‘Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers’ - Harry Harrison’s classic spoof on ‘Pulp era’ science fiction. Two college students, Chuck and Jerry, accidentally discover a powerful new substance made out of cheddar cheese (‘cheddite’), and use it to build a space ship out of a 747 which just happens to be available. Along with their ‘black friend’ (and former Communist spy) John, and their love interest Sally (who mainly screams, faints, and cooks), the omni-competent heroes (both Chuck and Jerry are simultaneously brilliant engineers, scientists, and rugged outdoorsmen) meet up and fight with alien races (every one of which has fortunately ‘listened to your radio broadcasts’ and learned fluent English), and set up the ‘Galaxy Rangers’ (modelled on the Texas Rangers) which apparently no-one other than Earthmen could possibly have thought of before.
The Pulp era is a period roughly between the 1890s and 1950s in which inexpensive fiction magazines were mass printed on cheap wood pulp paper. They were not not exclusively science fiction (SF), but the genre definitely got its start in these publications with lurid, exploitative, and sensational subject matter. The quality was, to put it politely, highly variable. The top writers of SF (Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, etc) got their start in pulps, but most of it was being written to provide cheap, quick entertainment with literary quality on the bottom of the priority list.
‘Star Smashers’ most directly references the Lensman and Skylark series of E. E. ‘Doc’ Smith - who is arguably the ‘Father of Space Opera’. If you enjoyed the Star Wars series, you are enjoying the direct descendants of Smith’s writing, including the episodic nature of the stories. However, the scientific pretensions of the main characters are also Harrison’s satire on the positions of John W. Campbell - the hugely influential American science fiction writer and editor. As editor of ‘Astounding Science Fiction’ (later called ‘Analog Science Fiction and Fact’) from late 1937 until his death, his dictates on story content shaped the genre for generations. While his insistence on scientific understanding by writers improved the quality of the genre from the original pulps, he also insisted that heroes be predominantly ‘cigar chewing, competent guys’. He was a notorious racist, so the competent guys would be white as well. Harrison skewers the ‘Campbellian’ hero type by making Chuck and Jerry absurdly over the top geniuses, but with an underlying pettiness which becomes more apparent as John proves to be equally competent, if not more so. Sally also chafes against being constantly sidelined and ignored (except when being menaced by aliens, or when food needs to be prepared), but she gets to rebel at the very end. The relationship of Chuck and Jerry as ‘guys’ is also shown to be rather intense.
‘Star Smashers’ was first published in 1973, so the ‘Golden Age’ of Pulps and Campbell would have been in the recent memory of people reading it. It’s worth noting that the Galaxy Ranger’s spaceship, a converted Boeing 747, had its first commercial flight in 1970. So it was still groundbreaking aerial technology when this book was written, as opposed to being the old workhorse aircraft of today. This perhaps sums up the current problem of ‘Star Smashers’ as a satire - the works and era it is satirising have almost vanished. Virtually no-one reads ‘Doc’ Smith any more, and the Pulp era primarily lives on in film: Star Wars, but also the Super Hero genre. ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ would be the most obvious homage to the Pulp and Golden Age SF sensibilities out today.
The late Harry Harrison (died 2012) was a giant of the SF genre in his own right, and he stood out by using satire in his classic works such as the ‘Stainless Steel Rat’ series. He also wrote humorous one-offs such as ‘The Technicolor Time Machine’ - which is much better than ‘Star Smashers’. Harrison is deliberately writing badly in ’Star Smashers’ to satirise the Pulp style. While it is certainly entertaining for a while, it begins to drag on the reader despite the book being very short (less than 200 pages). ‘Star Smashers’ works best for contemporary readers if you have an awareness of the era it is satirising, or if your taste extends to extreme silliness.
The Pulp era is a period roughly between the 1890s and 1950s in which inexpensive fiction magazines were mass printed on cheap wood pulp paper. They were not not exclusively science fiction (SF), but the genre definitely got its start in these publications with lurid, exploitative, and sensational subject matter. The quality was, to put it politely, highly variable. The top writers of SF (Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, etc) got their start in pulps, but most of it was being written to provide cheap, quick entertainment with literary quality on the bottom of the priority list.
‘Star Smashers’ most directly references the Lensman and Skylark series of E. E. ‘Doc’ Smith - who is arguably the ‘Father of Space Opera’. If you enjoyed the Star Wars series, you are enjoying the direct descendants of Smith’s writing, including the episodic nature of the stories. However, the scientific pretensions of the main characters are also Harrison’s satire on the positions of John W. Campbell - the hugely influential American science fiction writer and editor. As editor of ‘Astounding Science Fiction’ (later called ‘Analog Science Fiction and Fact’) from late 1937 until his death, his dictates on story content shaped the genre for generations. While his insistence on scientific understanding by writers improved the quality of the genre from the original pulps, he also insisted that heroes be predominantly ‘cigar chewing, competent guys’. He was a notorious racist, so the competent guys would be white as well. Harrison skewers the ‘Campbellian’ hero type by making Chuck and Jerry absurdly over the top geniuses, but with an underlying pettiness which becomes more apparent as John proves to be equally competent, if not more so. Sally also chafes against being constantly sidelined and ignored (except when being menaced by aliens, or when food needs to be prepared), but she gets to rebel at the very end. The relationship of Chuck and Jerry as ‘guys’ is also shown to be rather intense.
‘Star Smashers’ was first published in 1973, so the ‘Golden Age’ of Pulps and Campbell would have been in the recent memory of people reading it. It’s worth noting that the Galaxy Ranger’s spaceship, a converted Boeing 747, had its first commercial flight in 1970. So it was still groundbreaking aerial technology when this book was written, as opposed to being the old workhorse aircraft of today. This perhaps sums up the current problem of ‘Star Smashers’ as a satire - the works and era it is satirising have almost vanished. Virtually no-one reads ‘Doc’ Smith any more, and the Pulp era primarily lives on in film: Star Wars, but also the Super Hero genre. ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ would be the most obvious homage to the Pulp and Golden Age SF sensibilities out today.
The late Harry Harrison (died 2012) was a giant of the SF genre in his own right, and he stood out by using satire in his classic works such as the ‘Stainless Steel Rat’ series. He also wrote humorous one-offs such as ‘The Technicolor Time Machine’ - which is much better than ‘Star Smashers’. Harrison is deliberately writing badly in ’Star Smashers’ to satirise the Pulp style. While it is certainly entertaining for a while, it begins to drag on the reader despite the book being very short (less than 200 pages). ‘Star Smashers’ works best for contemporary readers if you have an awareness of the era it is satirising, or if your taste extends to extreme silliness.
November 4, 2012
Originally published on my blog here in March 2001.
As spoofs go, this must rank as one of the most outrageous ever written. Like many science fiction fans, I have a considerable affection for the space operas of writers likeE.E."Doc" Smith, but I would have to admit that they are poorly written, sexist and sometimes - usually unconsciously - racist. (They succeed because of their imagination - things like galaxy destroying weapons - even though written at a time when Mars was as far as most science fiction was willing to travel.)
The parodistic relationship with Smith in particular is very clear at the start, which is based extremely closely on his first novel, Skylark. Two college boys are playing with a particle accelerator and some cheddar cheese when they discover a portable space warp. They set off with this in a Jumbo Jet, with their girlfriend (who can't decide which of them she prefers) and school janitor and Communist spy John, the token black character.
The story is funny in its own right, as well as being a merciless parody of the shortcomings of the genre. It also possesses a wonderful twist at the end which, like many of the jokes, would be spoilt by repetition.
As spoofs go, this must rank as one of the most outrageous ever written. Like many science fiction fans, I have a considerable affection for the space operas of writers likeE.E."Doc" Smith, but I would have to admit that they are poorly written, sexist and sometimes - usually unconsciously - racist. (They succeed because of their imagination - things like galaxy destroying weapons - even though written at a time when Mars was as far as most science fiction was willing to travel.)
The parodistic relationship with Smith in particular is very clear at the start, which is based extremely closely on his first novel, Skylark. Two college boys are playing with a particle accelerator and some cheddar cheese when they discover a portable space warp. They set off with this in a Jumbo Jet, with their girlfriend (who can't decide which of them she prefers) and school janitor and Communist spy John, the token black character.
The story is funny in its own right, as well as being a merciless parody of the shortcomings of the genre. It also possesses a wonderful twist at the end which, like many of the jokes, would be spoilt by repetition.
April 18, 2014
I got into Harry Harrison because of the "Deathword" and the "Slippery Jim diGriz" stories (the Stainless Steel Rat). This was the payoff! Gawd, he must have had fun writing this. The "Pleasantville Eagle!" "Cheddite!" The "Hardy Boys" on a more believeable level. I had seen so much of this novel in other works, but I madly giggled all the way through.
October 23, 2014
A spoof of Campbellian SF & it is funny - once. Google John W. Campbell, a very influential SF writer/editor in the 50's-60's. Earth men were smart, courageous WASPs, aliens were dumb, cowardly BEMs & wanted our women. Earthman ingenuity & courage beat the BEMs EVERY time!
June 8, 2024
It took me too long to realise this was satire. When I did I changed from hating it to four stars. Loved the ending.
May 4, 2023
With a title like Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers (SSGR), you might assume this book is space opera. It’s not. It’s a parody of space opera, which is horse of a different color. Specifically, it seemed to parody most the work of E.E. Doc Smith in his “Lensman” series, which, admittedly, is not the best space opera ever written.
To me, Space Opera and Sword & Planet fiction (like John Carter of Mars) are the purest forms of sheer entertainment out there. They do, however, contain certain tropes that invite some writers to lampoon them. That doesn’t mean the lampooning works.
Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey, 1925-2012), who wrote SSGR, was a talented writer. He’s best known for his “Stainless Steel Rat” stories but I’ve generally preferred other works of his, including “Make Room, Make Room,” which became the basis for the movie Soylent Green, and the Deathworld stories.
However, humor is difficult to write for even the most talented author. In my opinion it’s the most difficult emotion to create in writing. And I, personally, am pretty difficult to please on the humor front. I like humor in my fiction. Just not all humor all the time. I prefer dark humor, and humor when it comes out of the circumstances and the characters. I don’t generally like it when it’s layered on with a spatula and drowns every line.
While I chuckled here and there through SSGR, I didn’t get any belly laughs and I pretty quickly became bored. I mostly sped-read the last 100 pages. Too often, humor turns characters into caricatures. It defuses tension in order to get in a zinger. It becomes predictable because you know the writer is going to choose the most ridiculous option in any situation. It also makes it difficult to maintain any suspension of disbelief in the actual story. And primarily, it is the “story” that I want when I read. The story in SSGR was weighed down by so many stabs at humor that I just couldn’t get into it.
SSGR is a well written parody. If you like such pieces you’ll probably like this one. I didn’t care much for it and was rather happy when I was done so I could move on to a different book. Of course, please remember that these are my opinions and your own might differ.
To me, Space Opera and Sword & Planet fiction (like John Carter of Mars) are the purest forms of sheer entertainment out there. They do, however, contain certain tropes that invite some writers to lampoon them. That doesn’t mean the lampooning works.
Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey, 1925-2012), who wrote SSGR, was a talented writer. He’s best known for his “Stainless Steel Rat” stories but I’ve generally preferred other works of his, including “Make Room, Make Room,” which became the basis for the movie Soylent Green, and the Deathworld stories.
However, humor is difficult to write for even the most talented author. In my opinion it’s the most difficult emotion to create in writing. And I, personally, am pretty difficult to please on the humor front. I like humor in my fiction. Just not all humor all the time. I prefer dark humor, and humor when it comes out of the circumstances and the characters. I don’t generally like it when it’s layered on with a spatula and drowns every line.
While I chuckled here and there through SSGR, I didn’t get any belly laughs and I pretty quickly became bored. I mostly sped-read the last 100 pages. Too often, humor turns characters into caricatures. It defuses tension in order to get in a zinger. It becomes predictable because you know the writer is going to choose the most ridiculous option in any situation. It also makes it difficult to maintain any suspension of disbelief in the actual story. And primarily, it is the “story” that I want when I read. The story in SSGR was weighed down by so many stabs at humor that I just couldn’t get into it.
SSGR is a well written parody. If you like such pieces you’ll probably like this one. I didn’t care much for it and was rather happy when I was done so I could move on to a different book. Of course, please remember that these are my opinions and your own might differ.
November 2, 2022
It's an old favourite I'm re-reading, but TBH it's very dated. The comedy is a spoof on a certain type of SF novels in the Tom Swift style. Great if you know that style - and we don't get those novels these days - but otherwise a bit lost and a bit silly. Even so it still has its amusing moments.
Our hyper-capable, handsome and super intelligent high schoolers invent a space drive, meet exciting aliens (who all know English from listening to our radio transmissions), save the galaxy and loop back in time to arrive with no time lost and no evidence of their adventures. The alien names are generally puns or similarly silly corruptions of words describing their appearance. Alien encounters follow a pretty predictable routine of meeting, misunderstanding, destruction of 90% of the population, realisation and apology to which the aliens respond with "perfectly understandable, don't mention it.") And of course their craft is fueled with Combustite (1,000 times more powerful than gasoline), bombs are filled with Destructite (1,000 times more powerful than... oh, you get the idea). In short it plays on every bad cliche in the genre.
Overall mildly amusing rather than hilarious. Not the greatest of SF comedy but certainly one of the landmarks.
Our hyper-capable, handsome and super intelligent high schoolers invent a space drive, meet exciting aliens (who all know English from listening to our radio transmissions), save the galaxy and loop back in time to arrive with no time lost and no evidence of their adventures. The alien names are generally puns or similarly silly corruptions of words describing their appearance. Alien encounters follow a pretty predictable routine of meeting, misunderstanding, destruction of 90% of the population, realisation and apology to which the aliens respond with "perfectly understandable, don't mention it.") And of course their craft is fueled with Combustite (1,000 times more powerful than gasoline), bombs are filled with Destructite (1,000 times more powerful than... oh, you get the idea). In short it plays on every bad cliche in the genre.
Overall mildly amusing rather than hilarious. Not the greatest of SF comedy but certainly one of the landmarks.
July 6, 2017
Comic SF parody will appeal to fans of Douglas Adams and things like Kilgore Trout's Venus of the Half Shell. We have three university students - 2 genius guys and the girl they both fancy who has a BA in Home Economics - they invent a new substance called Cheddite when a student prank substitutes cheese for the element they were supposed to be bombarding - it gets weaponised and produces a device that can (basically) teleport things. During an experiment which gets ruined by the intervention of a Russian agent, the four get transported into outer space and set themselves up as Galaxy Rangers having intergalactic adventures with various alien races.
I'm not a huge fan of this sort of comedy, but it hums along merrily enough - It is lightening paced and very episodic. What I did like was the ending where Sally ends up with the (reformed) Russian agent and our two genius boys decide they love each other - so the happy couples live happily ever after - its just such a perfect parody of the Flash Gordon style SF.
This one didn't make me laugh out loud as much of Harry Harrison has in the past, but its a silly, fun pulpy SF adventure.
I'm not a huge fan of this sort of comedy, but it hums along merrily enough - It is lightening paced and very episodic. What I did like was the ending where Sally ends up with the (reformed) Russian agent and our two genius boys decide they love each other - so the happy couples live happily ever after - its just such a perfect parody of the Flash Gordon style SF.
This one didn't make me laugh out loud as much of Harry Harrison has in the past, but its a silly, fun pulpy SF adventure.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 25, 2022
Lu en anglais.
Deux amis Chuck et Jerry, génies et sportifs tous les deux, inventent par hasard un appareil, à base de fromage, permettant un transfert trans-dimensionnel, un genre de téléportation. Aussitôt, ils le testent, avec leur amie Sally, en utilisant un avion. Bang ! il se retrouvent sur Titan, la lune de Saturne, à combattre des monstres. Nouvel essai ! Et les voilà dans un autre système solaire au milieu de combats entre deux races extraterrestres. Et, ce n'est pas fini ! En peu de temps, voilà qu'ils se retrouvent dans une organisation, les Galaxy Rangers, pour essayer de mettre fin à la menace dont les Lortonoi, une espèce d'extraterrestres extrêmement puissante, posent à la galaxie toute entière.
Ce livre est une parodie des romans de space opera, surtout ceux d'Edward Elmer "Doc" Smith. Les bons sont incroyables, les méchants diaboliques, et les moyens mis en cause, pharamineux.
Comme je suis amateur de space opera, je me suis retrouvé à sourire dans ce récit avec ses exagérations et son humour.
J'ai aimé, même si j'ai trouvé l'exercice plus divertissant qu'intéressant.
Deux amis Chuck et Jerry, génies et sportifs tous les deux, inventent par hasard un appareil, à base de fromage, permettant un transfert trans-dimensionnel, un genre de téléportation. Aussitôt, ils le testent, avec leur amie Sally, en utilisant un avion. Bang ! il se retrouvent sur Titan, la lune de Saturne, à combattre des monstres. Nouvel essai ! Et les voilà dans un autre système solaire au milieu de combats entre deux races extraterrestres. Et, ce n'est pas fini ! En peu de temps, voilà qu'ils se retrouvent dans une organisation, les Galaxy Rangers, pour essayer de mettre fin à la menace dont les Lortonoi, une espèce d'extraterrestres extrêmement puissante, posent à la galaxie toute entière.
Ce livre est une parodie des romans de space opera, surtout ceux d'Edward Elmer "Doc" Smith. Les bons sont incroyables, les méchants diaboliques, et les moyens mis en cause, pharamineux.
Comme je suis amateur de space opera, je me suis retrouvé à sourire dans ce récit avec ses exagérations et son humour.
J'ai aimé, même si j'ai trouvé l'exercice plus divertissant qu'intéressant.
November 11, 2025
This was an interesting story about three young students from a mid-american college town who inadvertently discover their cheddite projector and take off into the galaxy. Along their way they discover a deep cover Soviet spy who rapidly sees the error of his ways and becomes the fourth Galaxy Ranger! They have many adventures all over space but always seem to emerge victorious while adding to their list of comrades. After the final battle to save the universe they head back to earth and home arriving only seconds before they left! This story is so irrelevantly tongue-in-cheek it is hard to put down as you just need to see what predicament they get themselves into and how they emerge out of it!
June 18, 2020
I first read this book several years ago and wished to read it again. However I could not remember the title. With the help of the internet I tracked it down and have now re-read it. It is Harry Harrison at his "tongue-in-cheek" very best. Romping through a science fiction story with lots of clichés and humour. With the story dated in the 1970s he even makes digs at sexism and racism and gets away with it by the use of his humour. I now have the book electronically so, hopefully, I will not lose it again.
December 1, 2021
I originally read the book in the seventies and quite liked it then but not now. You have to be careful when writing humour and this book went to ridiculous lengths and overdid it by a long way. It is vaguely based on Doc Smith and features two super geniuses who can make anything out of odds and ends lying about, as well as a girlfriend it turned out neither of them loved and a commie spy who suddenly became a good American. They meet all sorts of weird and strange aliens and fight the evil mind controlling Lortonoi, defeating them in a final battle for control of the galaxy.
March 17, 2018
It's an odd book, because it's a parody of classic pulp sci-fi like EE Doc Smith, and it's also a bit of a satire on current times (which is 1974, when this book was published). If you take it like this, it's very funny and worth your time (which isn't much, because it's short). If not, then better to skip.
September 26, 2019
Reading the book you can easily gues that it was written in 70's - you can find an influences of social structure, social relations or even influence of Cold War. Of course main characters are widthly gifted, have multiple talents and skills - typical good boys, a role models to follow aproved by adults.
Beside that the book is good with interesting universum.
Beside that the book is good with interesting universum.
December 23, 2020
A crazy, tongue-in-cheek, hilarious sci-fi space adventure filled with insane things you would never think of, laugh out loud moments and so much action. Apparently this was one of my husband's favourite books when he was a teenager, so that's why I picked it up. It did take me a while, but it did make me laugh a lot.
March 14, 2019
Yes, it's unbelievably wacky with plenty of opportunities for readers to groan, but Harrison makes some important points about gender politics, racism, and humanity's lust for warfare. It's too bad he had to ape the tedious Tom Swift story style to do so.
January 21, 2020
It's a wild parody of gee-whiz space opera. There are allusions to EE Doc Smith's Lensman series, but it reminds me more of his Skylark books.
It's got some seriously funny moments, but this kind of parody only works well at short length. I find it tiresome at novel length.
It's got some seriously funny moments, but this kind of parody only works well at short length. I find it tiresome at novel length.
June 14, 2020
A lovely pastiche of sci-fi cliches and '70s mores, fast-paced and consistently funny, more especially in its first half, and relevant for skewering social issues we're still struggling with today, almost fifty years on.
March 2, 2022
I’d you liked the Hitchikers guide to the galaxy, you may like this crazy caper of interstellar adventure with plenty of weird looking aliens (soft pink and bipedal…). A bit dated and sexist but so outrageously funny that it’s easy to overlook and enjoy the ride (literally).
April 11, 2019
Great book.
December 15, 2019
3.5
happy memories,
a very flawed time reflected in the story
happy memories,
a very flawed time reflected in the story
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