Editor's Note: The first note of this thread was rearranged and otherwise slightly reworked into a webpage, as a review page and part of the Commentary section of Metaforms.
From: David Welle Date: 04/14/08 8:27 AM To..: Online Alpha Subj: Review of Powys Book: /Resurrection/
Alphans,
Well, it's been a *long* time since I've done a review of an officially-licensed /Space: 1999/ novel. I ordered the previously published Powys S19 books some months ago, got them soon after; but had a few delays and priorities of my own in getting to reading any. I finally sat down to read my first Powys Media book a couple weekends ago, namely /Resurrection/ by William Latham.
I'll start with some general comments which will not spoil the story itself, then progress to the more detailed, spoiler-filled portion.
First off is the Foreward, by the recently late Johnny Byrne, one of the major episode writers (and the most prolific one) on the series. For those tempted, out of habit, to just launch into the main part of the novel, one word of advice here: don't! The foreward is a brief (two-page) but wonderful piece, filled with memory and musing on themes of the series, including one of my favorites, the series as an origin story of a people.
On to the novel itself, by Wiliam Latham....
Character-wise, he focussed very heavily on four characters in this story, but did present a few more familiar or semi-familiar characters as well, mostly very briefly, however, albeit with a little bit of background sketched in. I thought he did well writing three of those four main story characters to good depth for this story, the fourth, okay. Two characters are the majority of the focus, and in some ways, this story is a character study of the two, and their contrasts.
Plot-wise, the story is not necessarily complex, as this is more of a character study in some ways, and even more a thematic story; but nonetheless, the plot does move well, has a good number of mysteries, surprises, and twists, and the story moved along fairly swiftly in many ways.
Theme-wise, well... this was probably the dominant factor in this story, in my opinion anyway, which could be a strength or a problem, depending on how well you care to dive into the themes presented in this story, which are of a very dark nature, as the back of the book describes: "A force of pure evil. A perversion of nature...." That said, I thought the thematic aspects were clearly well thought out and well-written, and that is where the "strength" aspect comes in.
Generally-speaking, despite the subject matter of the story being a very dark type I usually do not care much to read, the story did draw me along nonetheless, more than I expected, and it was well-written for the most part, and most impressive with the amount of thought put towards the thematic material, dark and difficult as it is.
SPOILER WARNING
If you don't want the story spoiled, stop here.
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I get *very* DETAILED in my reviews.... So plenty of....
MASSIVE...
SPOILERS...
FOLLOW....
On Alpha, an artist with no technical background, and losing hope in an essentially hopeless battle against the final ravages of cancer, is starting to make what seem like some of his final requests.
Elsewhere, a strange air loss is occurring in a lesser-used corridor of the Catacombs, and everyone is puzzled at the evidence at the scene, but other than it being a nagging mystery as to why this even happened (and with a nice piece about vacuum as the enemy seeking to creep "in" where it is unwanted), seems relatively minor, so they seal the section and re-oxygenate it -- and that's when the problem starts taking shape, literally. A life form begins assembling itself, in a very creepy fashion. The story takes awhile to reveal what -- who -- it is, but the hints are there in the narration, revealed a little at a time, and despite my previously knowing the premise (but nothing beyond that), it was interesting to "watch" unfold anyway.
Later, all of the Alphans drop unconscious, and wake up about two days later. The written narration, from Koenig's point of view, was very fluid, making two disappear like an instant but disconcerting change. Meanwhile, the artist passed away during the period of unconsciousness too, apparently peacefully.
Mysteries crop up about: a security alert that was started moments before everyone went unconscious, but no one can trace now; why two people from the area the alert originated from were not found there, at their duty posts, but in Medical. The Alphans take some time trying to figure this out; but as the mysteries remain unsolved and Commander John Koenig has them searching for something unidentified, the Alphans' tension becomes palpable, then irrational. The latter transition was nicely done in the story, first from the point of view of a frequently-seen guard who is usually in the "background" of the series, but is briefly but effectively brought to the foreground for a scene here. His calm turns into fear which grows quickly within the space of a single scene, and then gets echoed in various ways by others, different for each person, yet similar in nature.
David Kano obsessing about computer as something others see as almost godlike (good or bad), but that he knows is actually not very smart (nice direct references to "2001: A Space Odyssey" too), and that he starts fearing someone shouting his name and requesting an answer that neither he nor computer have. Alan Carter getting paranoid about the most innocuous words of another pilot, makes a nervous but vague report. Paul Morrow pictures his grandfather haranguing him about failing in his duty to open the family store promptly at 6AM and perhaps losing a customer -- and implications Paul might fail his duty in Main Mission. Sandra fears the true problem is not being uncovered because Koenig's orders do not make sense to her. It all starts adding up to one of John Koenig's apparent greatest fears: losing the tenuous order that Alpha has, that he has to oversee, and that everything could be lost as a result. The POV goes through several characters, touching on what their greatest fears might be, below the layers of habit, professionalism, and intelligence.
Victor Bergman sees the pattern, seemingly unaffected by it himself, and tries to talk sense to Koenig; but John is beyond reasoning, and the commander's fear comes to pass in this form: Main Mission is empty. Everyone has left their posts. I kept expecting Victor to be able to argue sense into John at some point. That is what often happened, since despite Koenig's bouts of high/extreme tension, at various points in the series, he has often does see his way to sense through some forms of troubling influence. That this time, he did not snap out, proved interesting, and that Victor finally has to give up and hope that guiding John to his quarters to get some sleep may prove more helpful than words.
John gets to his quarters, and some part of his mind is still a bit rational, seeing unusual signs in his quarters -- and then a dead, rotting Alphan, Mike Baxter, whom Balor previously drove to insanity and death, now resurrected. Then Balor himself, behind all of it. John loses it at this point, and is soon being tossed out of an airlock by Balor. Seeming revenge on Balor's part. It is a strange scene of Koenig dying in the vacuum, only to settle into the dust and stare into space, surprised at the clarity of what he is seeing and feeling, vacuum on him (his feelings now surprisingly peaceful and accepting of the vacuum he feared before) and utterly unfiltered starlight, with no atmosphere, no glass, no helmet plastic in between -- and wondering when his last moment is and deciding it has passed, especially when he starts "hearing" a voice.
Balor brings Koenig back inside, yet denies being the "voice" that Koenig sensed, and denies healing Koenig, instead talking about Progron, immortality, the nature of leadership, and the yearnings of people underneath for order directed by such leaders, seeming parallels to religion, the bane of immortality, Balor believing, to even greater depths -- in several senses of the word -- of how his way of restoring a people's drive was right, and how foolish the Progrons were for banishing him.
These scenes are thematic, almost uninterrupted, very densely-packed philosophical passages, of the restored Koenig speaking for most people in seeing how Balor has some interesting points about the various topics but has taken a most psychotic, demented, empty take on them, not to mention taking some terrifying solutions. Koenig and Balor keep missing each others' points completely, in a way that was written effectively.
Interspersed are other scenes, including that the artist character has resurrected into some gross parody of himself, finding some bizarre and disturbing new forms of art, largely at the cost of Dr. Helena Russell, re-emphasizing Balor's insane variation on "high" philosophy, showing how perverted it is, that in all of Balor's hundreds of thousands of days thinking in his living prison, he did not see his mistake; but how his own mind's thoughts and emotions merged, as written, into something philosophical yet totally primal at the same time, and coming to see the universe around him through that dark filter.
This is a trip even further into the mind of perhaps the most insane alien the series presented, not of some half-mindless eating machine like the Dragon (scary as it is too), but someone with philosophical tendencies that turned dark a very long time ago. Very troubling. Balor tries to convince John of how right he is, but only when Balor starts destroying the half-resurrected Mike Baxter, and Koenig reacts, that the impasse is broken, seemingly for the better at first, but really for the worst. Koenig, already made immortal by Balor, fought Balor, and despite overcoming Balor and weaking him in the process, has resulted in a Koenig who suddenly seems to feel far too god-like too, taking on arrogant and Balor-like tones that if anything seem even worse than Balor's.
This was a tricky thing for the author to pull off, but he had set up, via Victor and later Helena (more on them later) starting to find some explanations of the nature of Progron immortality, which I found rather nicely-done and interestingly-presented, giving detail while avoiding devolving into the imfamous "technobabble" problem. It's a fine line between science fiction "explanation" and technobabble (and in the eye of the beholder too), but I think the author nicely stayed on the right side of this.
However, when it came to Koenig's turning, some part of me was not entirely convinced, and some part of me was convinced enough. This was a curious point that worked both ways for me, having me doubt his turning yet that also adding more tension in my mind, for a little while at least, about whether Koenig was really turned or it was an act on his part. I don't know if the author intended this, or I missed a point somewhere, or what.
Though this is largely a story about John and about Balor, Victor has a good showing in this one. He has a sort of immunity, well-reasoned by the author, to Balor's fear- generating ability, and the character makes several smart moves at a number of points. Except Balor may be more onto Victor than the latter realizes. One of the good moves Victor makes is to find a way to bring Helena out of her near catatonic state, after he realizes part of the mechanism of the fear.
Helena plays a role in trying to find a solution to the Balor problem (which the author makes look even more difficult this time around, in some convincing ways). However, with her character, I had trouble formalating an opinion on how well she was written in this story. I'd say only "okay" -- but am not sure why, probably because I sometimes have trouble with the Y1 presentation of Helena at times, and thus have a weak basis of comparing her character here, especially since she is not really herself here.
Other characters, after some brief views of their point of view earlier in the story, essentially disappear from the plot for most of the rest of the story. There's a plot point to it that is convincing, yet it does narrow the focus, in a way that sometimes seemed like a good approach, and sometimes seemed like a slight weakness. I could not make up my mind on this for this review, though I did decide that a major part of the story is a character study of Balor and of Koenig, and comparing them, especially over leadership, so my partial qualms are minor.
Working towards the end goes through several more effective plot twists, some surprises, and quite an interesting resolution, I thought.
CONCLUSIONS
This book contains a lot of dark passages, "mind of the killer" sort of thing, descriptions of demented "artwork," walking corpses, etc. As with "End of Eternity," the episode on which this story is based, I would say /Resurrection/ is well-written, but very dark, the only light aspects being that humanity actually comes out pretty well in contrast with a force of pure evil. I am personally not keen on very dark / horror style stories; but both Johnny Byrne and William Latham, in their respective stories, knew how to write Balor well and make the Alphan characters and audience look at some meaningful points about civilization, leadership, and immortality, and not the writer focusing on any gross/silly "how high and how messy can I make the body count."
So this was a tricky book for me to review because it is a mix of nasty images, ugly events, an almost-lone hero, and thematic depth/length. The plot, as I indicated, did have a fair number of twists and surprises, and stayed fairly consistently interesting. Character focus stuck to four (three most effectively, IMO, and two of them most of all) and virtually no one else, to benefits and perhaps drawbacks as well. Thematically, this was deep, dark, and very much focussed on a variety of related philosophical points that were obviously, IMO, thought out for awhile, and well-presented. It also touched very briefly on one of the central ideas hinted at subtly or slightly more strongly throughout the series: the MUF (at least I think it did :-)
Distilling all this to a simple ranking of my overall *opinion* was difficult in this case, but *overall* I would say 2.7 out of 4.0, or a B-. Again, not my favorite sort of subject matter, but well-written for the most part, and most impressive with the amount of thought put towards the thematic material. It is also seems a very fitting extension of Johnny Byrne's EOE episode (and it is thus fitting that Johnny wrote the forward to this book). I suspect anyone who includes EOE among their favorite episodes of S19 will find this book a fitting extension.
AFTERTHOUGHTS
A few other random bits that didn't fit in the flow of the above, that I still wanted to mention:
Well, on to the next Powys book sometime soon, probably /The Forsaken/ next, then likely /Eternity Unbound/ after that.
Anyone else have comments on /Resurrection/?
----David
[bgn08329rvu]
From: Vicente Gallegos (powysmedia@prodigy.net) Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:48:03 -0700 (PDT) To..: OnlineAlpha@yahoogroups.com Subj: Re: [OnlineAlpha] Review of Powys Book: /Resurrection/
Dear David,
There might be one spoiler to this bried post.
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Loved reading your review of Resurrection.
Interesting that you felt that Helena's depiction was "okay". Other reviewers have remarked that Koenig depiction is out of character--which is interesting, because it is clearly the transformation from mortal to immortal that his driving him mad.
Resurrection clearly shows that the effect on humans of the "immortality" treatment is megalomania, so when Koenig begans to act like a mad-dictator...he is not--of course--acting like himself.
To judge William Latham's portrayal of Koenig, one can really only look at the first chapter or two, before Balor's "fear agent" is introduced and the final chapter, when Koenig is mortal again. Even Koenig can't believe the way he behaved!
It is very gratifying to see that you picked up on all these ideas!
Overall, Resurrection is a dark, horror-tinged thriller. Glad you had a good time reading it!
Mateo
From: David Welle Date: 04/15/08 8:00 PM To..: Online Alpha Subj: Re: [OnlineAlpha] Review of Powys Book: /Resurrection/
On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:48:03 -0700 (PDT), you wrote:
Dear David,
There might be one spoiler to this bried post.
PRESERVED
SPOILER
SPACE
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1Loved reading your review of Resurrection.
Hello, Mateo!
Glad you enjoyed reading it!
Interesting that you felt that Helena's depiction was "okay".
Yeah, I still don't know what to say on why I responded that way, which was admittedly not really an opinion as much as a lack of opinion. Rather than repeating what little I already wrote previously, I am curious to know what other readers thought of the portrayal of Helena in that story -- and the other characters too.... Anyone?
Other reviewers have remarked that Koenig depiction is out of character--which is interesting, because it is clearly the transformation from mortal to immortal that his driving him mad.
For me, it didn't seem out of character given the circumstances (more in a moment), since the circumstances clearly overwhelmed him. It was more that I was half- expecting, for a little while anyway, for some part of him to still be fighting it, somewhere. What made that more interesting in the end was that he *was* really that far gone.
Resurrection clearly shows that the effect on humans of the "immortality" treatment is megalomania, so when Koenig begans to act like a mad-dictator...he is not--of course--acting like himself.
Yes, the explanation was thorough and I had no problem believing that immortality, especially the form described and its particular effect on humans, could lead to madness and megalomania. The comments in my prior note about it being a tricky thing is simply because I kept, for a little while at least, expecting Koenig to start snapping out of it, or that some part of him was resisting what the rest of him had become. Curiously, this little doubt of mine, though perhaps not intended, increased the tension (thriller aspect) a little. Then as I continued reading, I came to realize (perhaps also recalling what happened to Koenig regarding the fear in the earliest chapters, as you also pointed out), yep, Koenig was quite thoroughly turned.
That the fear agent was working so heavily on him early on, but then he was cogent for awhile discussing conflicting takes on philosophy, but then was exposed even more directly to disturbing agents, was an interesting sequence that had to mess with him too.
To judge William Latham's portrayal of Koenig, one can really only look at the first chapter or two, before Balor's "fear agent" is introduced and the final chapter, when Koenig is mortal again. Even Koenig can't believe the way he behaved!
That makes sense. Clearly, at that early point, Koenig was beyond even Bergman's reason. As I wrote earlier, I was half-expecting Victor would eventually get through to John, until even Victor had to give up and hope some sleep would snap him out of it.
This was probably slipping my mind a little later on, after the "immortal" but still sane Koenig was arguing intelligently against Balor's viewpoints.
It was a nice touch on what the "fear agent" actually was, by the way.
It is very gratifying to see that you picked up on all these ideas!
It was enjoyable, and I enjoyed writing the review too.
Overall, Resurrection is a dark, horror-tinged thriller.
That is true.
Glad you had a good time reading it!
It was something of a quick read, much to my surprise; but the fact that it kept to more SF-oriented themes as well instead of pure horror, etc., was probably one reason I enjoyed it more than any horror story, just as I did EOE. I thought /Resurrection/ was a very well thought-out continuation of the Balor storyline.
The following is probably an oversimplied comparison, and I'm also ignoring "Baxter" and "Lucas" for the moment in making it, but....
In some ways /Resurrection/ reminded me of a Frankenstein story, but that instead of a *being* created which should not have been created, it was more like a *state* of being created which should not have been created -- certainly not for Balor or Koenig, and arguably not for/by the Progrons as a whole either.
----David
P.S. I also enjoyed the "scene setting" at the very beginning, about the Moon and Alpha.
From: "carsonmill" (carsonmill@yahoo.com) Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:06:03 -0000 To..: OnlineAlpha@yahoogroups.com Subj: [OnlineAlpha] Re: Review of Powys Book: /Resurrection/
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Hi, David -- interesting discussion you've started.
You've hit on a lot of stuff other folks haven't (which is very cool). One thing I'll just insert into the dialogue here which I don't know if anybody's noticed before...
The "fear agent" slowly creeps up on the Alphans -- it was meant to be portrayed as having a cumulative effect (and fear affects people in different ways -- it was very gratifying to read that somebody finally captured what my intent had been in showing those scenes of the different characters experiencing their fears). When Koenig's thrown out on the Moon's surface, the fear agent is still working inside of Alpha, but not outside. Koenig's time out on the surface lets him recover, so he's more rational when Balor has Baxter bring him back inside the base.
However, once he's back inside Alpha, the fear agent starts working on him again (although his fear is ultimately what Balor manipulates so well -- instead of fearing that he's losing control of the base, Balor gets him fearing he's losing control of the people -- two very different things).
The fear agent continues to work on Koenig for the rest of the book (he's never sedated, like Mathias and Russell), but something else starts to influence him -- his own physical health is deteriorating. For anybody who's ever had a bad cold, being sick puts you into a state of almost pseudo-depression -- you're slow, you're not feeling your full range of emotions, etc. I think that pseudo-depression makes something new happen to Koenig -- he starts to feel guilt and shame (yes, they're different things), which is the ultimate source of real depression in many people. But he's still in denial -- his dream/conversation with his late wife is really the truth trying to sink in, and Koenig's resisting it, even in the dream. If there's a heroic moment for Koenig in Resurrection, it's that through his depression (which is suppressing much of what the fear agent does in much the same way a sedative does), he can have his moment in Medical with Ken Lucas, Victor Bergman, and Bob Mathias. At the end of the book, Koenig's shame is not that he couldn't control the base or the people, but himself.
It's easy (too easy) for an author to come back years after a book was published and offer rationalizations that help explain things -- so if you want to take all of this with a grain of salt, please do -- that's the reader's job. But the sequence of events described above was my intent. I don't believe all of this offers all that much insight into John Koenig's character, however.
For that, you'll have to read Omega later this year.
Thanks again for your interesting observations, David. Please keep 'em coming.
Regards,
Bill Latham
From: David Welle Date: 04/27/08 8:15 PM To..: Online Alpha Subj: Re: [OnlineAlpha] Review of Powys Book: /Resurrection/
SPOILERS
CONTINUE
On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:06:03 -0000, Bill Latham wrote:
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*Hi, David -- interesting discussion you've started.
Bill,
Hello.
You've hit on a lot of stuff other folks haven't (which is very cool). One thing I'll just insert into the dialogue here which I don't know if anybody's noticed before...
Thanks, and please do.
The "fear agent" slowly creeps up on the Alphans -- it was meant to be portrayed as having a cumulative effect
The slow but steady growth of fears from subtle to irrational was strongly visible. Whether I consciously thought "cumulative" when the agent itself was later discovered, I don't recall.
(and fear affects people in different ways -- it was very gratifying to read that somebody finally captured what my intent had been in showing those scenes of the different characters experiencing their fears).
I could see it very clearly latching onto whatever the person's greatest fear overall at the moment (e.g. Pierce Quinton as he hunts for an unknown problem), of the day (e.g. Sandra over how sensible the current search pattern orders from Koenig), from childhood crossing over to adulthood (Paul's responsibilities), or overall (John regarding the base) was an interesting collection of varying effects where it was clear the only underlying commonality was intensifying fear. Yes, I thought this was clearly done, yet in a way where it still took some reading to realize what was happening -- that it wasn't just one person over searching a room, but everyone.
When Koenig's thrown out on the Moon's surface, the fear agent is still working inside of Alpha, but not outside. Koenig's time out on the surface lets him recover, so he's more rational when Balor has Baxter bring him back inside the base.
However, once he's back inside Alpha, the fear agent starts working on him again
Ah, I think I missed that, at least on a conscious level. That makes sense. Koenig wouldn't be exposed to the agent on the outside, but he would be again on the inside. Of course. I thought (assumed) that it had something to do with him being suddenly in the vacuum (which it did in a way, but not the same way I was thinking), and then I thought due to the "immortality" he'd been conferred -- and that the latter was entirely responsible for the further shift in his attitudes towards Balor-like mindset.
These are perhaps the sort of things that a re-read would perhaps have me catching new details or considering a new interpretation of details I read before, or seeing the clues better for knowing what follows. Hard to say about these specific points, but it always happens in general.
(although his fear is ultimately what Balor manipulates so well -- instead of fearing that he's losing control of the base, Balor gets him fearing he's losing control of the people -- two very different things).
I think I caught this semi-consciously, because I know what you mean in the context of the story, but had not thought of it in quite those terms. I see what you mean about it being a difference. Maybe not the best example, but when Main Mission is abandoned, it seems more about losing the base, even though it's the people who have left. Later on, I can see it is all about having the absolute obedience of the people, even though he thinks he'd lose the base if he doesn't.
Regardless, Balor as being an even subtler manipulator, as someone who learned from his initial mistakes, did more research this time around, and had so much thought through, came across quite well too -- yet not without there being surprises or twists, or what seemed like them.
The fear agent continues to work on Koenig for the rest of the book (he's never sedated, like Mathias and Russell), but something else starts to influence him -- his own physical health is deteriorating.
That was very clear, when it emerged of course. What worked on Progrons was not a perfect fit for Terrans, and I found it an interesting twist that this is a key point all along.
For anybody who's ever had a bad cold, being sick puts you into a state of almost pseudo-depression -- you're slow, you're not feeling your full range of emotions, etc. I think that pseudo-depression makes something new happen to Koenig -- he starts to feel guilt and shame (yes, they're different things),
I agree (that guilt and shame are different things).
I had the strong impression that Koenig's failing health was starting to break down the psychological effects, but I think I was thinking more directly, on breaking down the dictatorial absolutism and arrogance that he had fallen into. Whether it semi- consciously occurred to me that it was acting sort of like the sedatives were on Russell and Mathias, I'm not sure.
which is the ultimate source of real depression in many people. But he's still in denial -- his dream/conversation with his late wife is really the truth trying to sink in, and Koenig's resisting it, even in the dream.
I found that very interesting as I read it -- that he was resisting the truth in the dream too.
If there's a heroic moment for Koenig in Resurrection, it's that through his depression (which is suppressing much of what the fear agent does in much the same way a sedative does), he can have his moment in Medical with Ken Lucas, Victor Bergman, and Bob Mathias.
Yes, I thought that there. He also played a positive role in the scene that immediately followed in Main Mission, as part of a team there.
At the end of the book, Koenig's shame is not that he couldn't control the base or the people, but himself.
Interestingly-done progression. It of course is one of the major aspects of the plot that added heavily to the theme about leadership. It wasn't just Balor and Koenig comparing and arguing over Progron and Terran history, but that another set of examples were being studied over the course of the book (e.g.): what sort of "leadership" Balor would bring, what Koenig's leadership had been before, what it was becoming under the influence (so to speak), etc.
It's easy (too easy) for an author to come back years after a book was published and offer rationalizations that help explain things -- so if you want to take all of this with a grain of salt, please do -- that's the reader's job.
Well, that's the other side. It isn't just over the author's intent; but the varying ways the readers can take certain things. The assumptions and perceptions they bring in, expectations, style or thematic preferences, reading more into one aspect of a scene or fragment, or less than intended in another -- or spot on in many other places. Only so much that an author can "explain" without it robbing the readers of the chance to gain some understanding, or further understanding, on their own. A difficult balance.
Plus, a reader's first go-through will only capture so much detail and so much of the essence of the character, plot, and thematic intent anyway. I find that re-reads sometimes or often reveal "more" detail and *more* understanding.
But the sequence of events described above was my intent.
Thanks for sharing that information. It was very interesting and did draw my attention to some points I missed and others I had not fully considered.
I don't believe all of this offers all that much insight into John Koenig's character, however.
It did reveal some. Some of what he fears, some of his feelings on leadership and history, some of his own history (e.g. some bits of his pre-Alpha past, inc. with Jean).
Since his normal personality was overwhelmed, for much of the story, though, I do think I catch your point, however.
For that, you'll have to read Omega later this year.
Sounds interesting. I look forward to that.
Thanks again for your interesting observations, David. Please keep 'em coming.
Thanks for replying! It is interesting to be having a discussion with you regarding the story you wrote.
Regards,
----David