Random Book Moment

[lady_t_220]

Finished reading Rob Grant's "Colony". I'm... highly uncertain what to make of it to be honest. It somehow managed to be too short, too long, to slow and too hasty all at once. Like it was stuck in the middle and didn't know which way to face.
For anyone who had the dubious experience of reading his other book "Backwards" (One of the two differing alternative endings to the first 2 Grant Naylor Red Dwarf novels) then you'll most likely be pleased to know that it's nowhere near as painfully depressing and disturbingly bleak as that. Cause for a novel that came out of a sitcom... hooo boy. proof positive of the general understanding that behind every comedian there's a depressive side to rival most anything else they can ever hope to produce.
But back to the point.
Colony, as a whole is a book I would classify as inconclusive. It seems to go everywhere without going anywhere at all. If a book can be ambivolent, this is it.
Read it... if you're a Dwarf fan. It'll be one of those nicely geeky moments for you. Read it.. if you're wondering if Rob can write something more promising than The Strangerers (Though I have to admit I did like parts of that show... it was better than Dark Ages anyway).
Read it... if you want the true proof that neither Rob Grant nor Doug Naylor are every truly complete without the other. It lacks, like post-Rob seasons of Dwarf lacked. Like both Backwards and Last Human lacked. Like any gesthalt entity lacks when the parts of it split.
Rob's work lacks in soul. Doug's lacks in humour. Neither is particulary funny without the other and, while they're both capable of producing work apart, it's just never quite as satisfying. It's like seperating the tuna and the mayo into two seperate sandwiches.

So yes, it's well written enough. Colony isn't a waste of your reading time if it's the genre of book that appeals to you and, maybe, if you're not aware of the Grant Naylor entity it would come across as a pretty good book... but I found myself constantly thinking about what it could have been.

And also wondering where the praise on the cover got the notion that it was so hilariously funny cause I'm not convinced I cracked a grin once.

But there you go. Nostalgia compels me to not give it as much credit as is maybe due, but the characters were pretty astoundingly unsympathetic and... well... I would have liked something more. Slow start, lightening quick end and a solution that, while hinted at broadly, seemed to come from nowhere in particular. It could have done with a little more foreshadowing honestly (and it's not often you'll hear me say that) because it lacked the certain dramatic punch that could have pulled it through to being a much, much better read.

Comments

[khakigrrl.livejournal.com]

For anyone who had the dubious experience of reading his other book "Backwards" (One of the two differing alternative endings to the first 2 Grant Naylor Red Dwarf novels) then you'll most likely be pleased to know that it's nowhere near as painfully depressing and disturbingly bleak as that.

It's been years and years since I read either book, but compared to The Last Human, I think I actually preferred Backwards. Of course, the whole thing about the Cat regaining his virginity was pretty gross, but at least it didn't have Lister drowing in a gravity-less pool as he tried to escape. Also, there wasn't much in the way of Kristine Kochanski in Backwards was there? I was bitter about them putting a woman on the show 'cause it screwed up the whole dynamic, and The Last Human really gave her a big part.

Oh, and which one of the books killed Rimmer, or did both of them kill him? I liked the whole SMAKIBBFB blinking on the light bee as he finally lived up to the Ace heritage, whichever book that was in. I think it was Backwards.

Read it... if you want the true proof that neither Rob Grant nor Doug Naylor are every truly complete without the other. It lacks, like post-Rob seasons of Dwarf lacked. Like both Backwards and Last Human lacked. Like any gesthalt entity lacks when the parts of it split.

I'm already convinced that they are, in fact, a gestalt entity: one brain, two bodies. If they don't write together, the work comes out sorely lacking.

[lady-t-220.livejournal.com]

It's been years and years since I read either book, but compared to The Last Human, I think I actually preferred Backwards

To be honest, I'm not convinced I liked either of them all that much. Though I have to say I thought the gravity-less pool drowing was one of the best parts of that book... guess my inner sadist is showing, huh? ;p
I thought it was an oringal thing to happen to someone, that's all. You don't often get to play around with zero-G water.

I was bitter about them putting a woman on the show 'cause it screwed up the whole dynamic

Without doubt, yup. You can't go a full decade and six classic seasons, then fling in a new version of an old character and expect the dynamic to stay the same. I don't think it was really helped any by the fact that she was so indistinguished as a character though. Was she meant to be the fluffy girl? (Cottage cheese taking, daddy was posh and I had a pony) The hard-as-nails-girl? (Grr, arrg, fear me) The insecure one? (which butts in somewhat to Rimmer's terratory there, which is another thing that futzed with the group)... she was always just a bit... blurred in my opinion.

Oh, and which one of the books killed Rimmer, or did both of them kill him?

Yikes, I have no clue. It's been way, way too long since I read either, and both were depressing to the point where I really don't feel like re-reading them any time soon. :D

one brain, two bodies. If they don't write together, the work comes out sorely lacking.

Oh for sure. Dwarf 1-6 and the 10%ers, versus Dark Ages and the Strangerers... there's really no contest.
I just wish Rob had never had his random crisis and decided to stop writing dwarf with Doug.
Realising that you were working on a show that is adored by people who weren't even BORN when you started it is no reason to have a crisis about stagnating yourself. It just tells you that you helped create something that had to be incredibly special if it's still as adored now by a whole different generation as it was when you started out.
*Whacks Rob with a big frozen tuna*

I blame Rob's paranoia and that super-fan 9 year old who freaked him out in the first place...

[khakigrrl.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I'm not convinced I liked either of them all that much. Though I have to say I thought the gravity-less pool drowing was one of the best parts of that book... guess my inner sadist is showing, huh? ;p

I agree that was the best part of the book. It's pretty much the only thing I remember from the book, though, and it took a lot of reading to get to that point. That's my complaint.

You can't go a full decade and six classic seasons, then fling in a new version of an old character and expect the dynamic to stay the same.

Especially when the show's about four males stuck alone in outer, outer, outer space without women at all. (Although Rimmer and Lister did seem to find a lot of ways to get female nookie.)

I don't think it was really helped any by the fact that she was so indistinguished as a character though. Was she meant to be the fluffy girl? (Cottage cheese taking, daddy was posh and I had a pony) The hard-as-nails-girl? (Grr, arrg, fear me) The insecure one? (which butts in somewhat to Rimmer's terratory there, which is another thing that futzed with the group)... she was always just a bit... blurred in my opinion.

Oh, too true! They didn't have a clue how to write for a woman in an on-going part like that.

Yikes, I have no clue. It's been way, way too long since I read either, and both were depressing to the point where I really don't feel like re-reading them any time soon. :D

It was both of them. I think I remember now. In Last Human, everyone but Cat and Lister died and they took Ace's ship to another dimension where they luckily happened upon a Rimmer, Kryten, and Kochanski who had just suffered the deaths of Lister and Cat. Dumb. In Backwards, Rimmer sacrifices himself for the rest of them (making his son proud--and dang if I didn't really like that son character), and at the end Cat and Kryten (or someone else) are seen scanning the wreckage for a light bee, giving the impression that it can be powered back up and Rimmer can be saved. A lot better ending, by my I-LOVE-RIMMER standards. ;-)

Oh for sure. Dwarf 1-6 and the 10%ers, versus Dark Ages and the Strangerers... there's really no contest.

I just wish Rob had never had his random crisis and decided to stop writing dwarf with Doug.

I remember when that happened. It was at the height of my fannishness, and it felt almost like a divorce. Like they'd split up and left all the kids to suffer the results. Doug had us day-to-day with Series 7-8, and Rob had us on weekends with The Strangerers and this Colony book. Nothing was as good as the original marriage.

[lady-t-220.livejournal.com]

I agree that was the best part of the book. It's pretty much the only thing I remember from the book, though, and it took a lot of reading to get to that point. That's my complaint.

Oh yeah, I'll agree with that. Middle third of the story somewhere if I remember rightly. Something to do with another Lister and, man, it really has been a long time since I read it...

Especially when the show's about four males stuck alone in outer, outer, outer space without women at all. (Although Rimmer and Lister did seem to find a lot of ways to get female nookie.)

I'm not totally sure GELFS and nutty Holograms should really count as nookie, nor should Psirens, even if they DO look like Pete Tranter's sister... XD

Now the proposed American re-make, THAT was supposed to have had new nookie every episode. Like Lister suddenly becomes Captain kirk or something...

...and they wonder why it didn't work right... oy.

A lot better ending, by my I-LOVE-RIMMER standards. ;-)

Too true, indeed. Though either way I found both books left the endings in a place I wasn't especially keen of. *bobs head* I still have trouble really associating such drama-based endings with what will always be connected in my mind with comedy. I thought it an uncomfortable match to be honest.

Though that was the other great failing of pretty much all the books, their tendency to re-hash TV episodes and lines of dialogue. I'm like... I've seen this on TV already, do we really need to have a written version too? Can we not have some new adventures?

I remember when that happened. It was at the height of my fannishness, and it felt almost like a divorce

It hit kind of at the end of mine, the wind-down where it was less of an issue than if it had happened, say... a year earlier. But it was still pretty much the nail in the coffin. I think a lot of people felt rather let down that they'd waited so many freaking years for a new series and it just... didn't work. Not like it should have anyway.

My biggest gripe though was the loss of the studio audience. It went from being fluffy, silly, mucking around on camera to being suddenly deadly serious about itself. It never sat well.
You can't be serious about filming a bunch of stand-up comedians playing hopeless loser space bums, it's just stupid.

[khakigrrl.livejournal.com]

It hit kind of at the end of mine, the wind-down where it was less of an issue than if it had happened, say... a year earlier. But it was still pretty much the nail in the coffin. I think a lot of people felt rather let down that they'd waited so many freaking years for a new series and it just... didn't work. Not like it should have anyway.

Ahhh, see I didn't even know Red Dwarf existed until about a year before Series 7 started production, so I didn't have to wait nearly as long. Still, I can understand why you had that reaction.

My biggest gripe though was the loss of the studio audience. It went from being fluffy, silly, mucking around on camera to being suddenly deadly serious about itself. It never sat well.
You can't be serious about filming a bunch of stand-up comedians playing hopeless loser space bums, it's just stupid.

Exactly. They took themselves way too seriously. The shows were much more sci-fi than comedy in series 7, and way too comedy and not enough story in series 8. Also, when a show is loved despite it's dodgy production value, giving it CGI isn't gonna make people like it any more. In fact, it'll make people wish for the good old days even more, when the emphasis was on a good, funny show and not the special effects.

[lady-t-220.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, see I didn't even know Red Dwarf existed until about a year before Series 7 started production, so I didn't have to wait nearly as long. Still, I can understand why you had that reaction.

I grew up with it, really so I always knew it was there... didn't become a fan till around the middle of the hiatus though, but some of the people that I met had been waiting, what? Six years for a new series? That's a long time to be hoping for something and a very long time to be building your expectations.

when a show is loved despite it's dodgy production value, giving it CGI isn't gonna make people like it any more

*cries* I missed the model shots...
There's something just oddly reassuring about using models in filming though. They have an actual 3D presence that even the best CG never quite matches. And the new CG was, sadly, never among the best.

I remember when Doug first unveiled the CG sequences on a sample reel at one of the conventions. You could tell he was just SO excited about it and he played it expecting all of us to be equally extatic and the audience, to a man, went "..."
"... Doug...? What, exactly, have you done...? We're going to clap now because this silence is getting a little uncomfortable, but we'll talk about this later, ok...?"

Oy...

One of these days I'm going to get a hold of the DVDs they've started bringing out. My curiosity wants to know if they're the original version or the depressingly re-mastered ones with the unneccesary scutters and CG replacement model shots.
I'm hoping they're the original versions cause my tapes won't last forever.

[khakigrrl.livejournal.com]

One of these days I'm going to get a hold of the DVDs they've started bringing out. My curiosity wants to know if they're the original version or the depressingly re-mastered ones with the unneccesary scutters and CG replacement model shots.

My little brother's still a fan and his tapes are dying, so I got him the first DVD for his birthday. I can't attest to the region 2 ones, but region 1 is the unremastered version. Hallelujah!

[lady-t-220.livejournal.com]

WooHoo!
I'm so painfully glad to hear that... cause even if the UK ones are the re-mastered version, through the magic of multi-region DVD players and NTSC compatable TVs I can still import. ;)