Ephemera, and Serenity

It's been a while since last I showed up around here. What can I say? College is proving more hectic than I thought it could be. Though how I came to feel both miserably busy and as though I'm doing next to nothing at the same time, i don't know. [Lack of exercise, Ego, lack of exercise]

That said, I went to see Serenity two Sundays ago. Wednesday I bought the novelisation, having enter rather farther than is probably sane into Firefly geek-dom.

(I don't watch television, so I was surprised to find myself watching the Firefly series DVD... avidly.)

Serenity is the first novel by Keith R. A. DeCandido that I've ever read. It should be said that the standard to which I will always and ever hold novelisations is Karen Traviss's (karentraviss) excellent Star Wars: Republic Commando: Hard Contact (from the computer game) and Matthew Stover's Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith novelisations, so perhaps I was optimistic in my expectations of DeCandido.

In both spirit and letter, Serenity the novel is faithful to the film as well as the series which preceded it, and DeCandido manages to depict believeably a sense of River's essential non-contact with reality when writing from her perspective. He also writes a believeable Jayne, but I can't help feeling that his narrative, in its treatment of Mal Reynolds - Serenity's captain - lacks something of the darkness and complexity which Nathan Fillion brings to his performance in the film.

DeCandido's desire to be faithful to the original series as well as to the film - though I applaud him for it - leads to a somewhat disjointed beginning. The novelisation starts with two prologues: the first - which opens in Serenity Valley with some of Mal's history - attempts to summarise some of the events of Firefly in a manner which seemed to me quite awkward and contrived. Few of these events, if any, bear with much relevence on the plot of the film. Having them summarised at the beginning of the novel rather than hinted at in its body smacks to me slightly of an author who may have been pressed for time.

I would gripe as well that the writing itself, and the treatment of character, seems to be slanted in a YA direction: it's stylistically simple and comes across somewhat superficial. It jarred to me with the rather dark tone of the film, which had a 15A rating in the cinema in which I saw it. Not that YA is bad, but... It could have been so much better.

I confess, I'm probably somewhat prejudiced. I saw the film and liked it so well that it would take an extraordinary novelisation not to suffer by comparison. DeCandido's is faithful enough to satisfy a fan of the series, but it fails at extraordinary.

I feel as though I should apologise for saying that. But I'm not going to.

----------------------------------

In other stuff:

Fans of astronomical (or astrological) trivia should take a look at this post of truepenny's:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/truepenny/390956.html

For the socially conscious, http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2005/10/25/our-own-nuclear-salesman/
(via karentraviss) and John Scalzi at http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/003803.html(via matociquala) are saying interesting things.


----------------------------------

Don't expect to see me 'round here frequently in the weeks to come. I have Jean-Paul Sartre's Huis Clos to read in the original French, and a thousand word English commentary to write on it, by Tuesday week.

Gack. I'm going looking for a translation. Reading with dictionary in one hand and book in the other gives me headaches and cricks in the neck.

Oh, and in case French isn't enough? Ancient Greek history assignment for six weeks' time. Fascinating stuff, but only one of the books I need for the course has shipped from Amazon. Isn't available 'round here for love nor money, and the rest are nearly as hard to get.

( 'Why should not college students be mad?' )

Ephemera, and Serenity

It's been a while since last I showed up around here. What can I say? College is proving more hectic than I thought it could be. Though how I came to feel both miserably busy and as though I'm doing next to nothing at the same time, i don't know. [Lack of exercise, Ego, lack of exercise]

That said, I went to see Serenity two Sundays ago. Wednesday I bought the novelisation, having enter rather farther than is probably sane into Firefly geek-dom.

(I don't watch television, so I was surprised to find myself watching the Firefly series DVD... avidly.)

Serenity is the first novel by Keith R. A. DeCandido that I've ever read. It should be said that the standard to which I will always and ever hold novelisations is Karen Traviss's (karentraviss) excellent Star Wars: Republic Commando: Hard Contact (from the computer game) and Matthew Stover's Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith novelisations, so perhaps I was optimistic in my expectations of DeCandido.

In both spirit and letter, Serenity the novel is faithful to the film as well as the series which preceded it, and DeCandido manages to depict believeably a sense of River's essential non-contact with reality when writing from her perspective. He also writes a believeable Jayne, but I can't help feeling that his narrative, in its treatment of Mal Reynolds - Serenity's captain - lacks something of the darkness and complexity which Nathan Fillion brings to his performance in the film.

DeCandido's desire to be faithful to the original series as well as to the film - though I applaud him for it - leads to a somewhat disjointed beginning. The novelisation starts with two prologues: the first - which opens in Serenity Valley with some of Mal's history - attempts to summarise some of the events of Firefly in a manner which seemed to me quite awkward and contrived. Few of these events, if any, bear with much relevence on the plot of the film. Having them summarised at the beginning of the novel rather than hinted at in its body smacks to me slightly of an author who may have been pressed for time.

I would gripe as well that the writing itself, and the treatment of character, seems to be slanted in a YA direction: it's stylistically simple and comes across somewhat superficial. It jarred to me with the rather dark tone of the film, which had a 15A rating in the cinema in which I saw it. Not that YA is bad, but... It could have been so much better.

I confess, I'm probably somewhat prejudiced. I saw the film and liked it so well that it would take an extraordinary novelisation not to suffer by comparison. DeCandido's is faithful enough to satisfy a fan of the series, but it fails at extraordinary.

I feel as though I should apologise for saying that. But I'm not going to.

----------------------------------

In other stuff:

Fans of astronomical (or astrological) trivia should take a look at this post of truepenny's:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/truepenny/390956.html

For the socially conscious, http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2005/10/25/our-own-nuclear-salesman/
(via karentraviss) and John Scalzi at http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/003803.html(via matociquala) are saying interesting things.


----------------------------------

Don't expect to see me 'round here frequently in the weeks to come. I have Jean-Paul Sartre's Huis Clos to read in the original French, and a thousand word English commentary to write on it, by Tuesday week.

Gack. I'm going looking for a translation. Reading with dictionary in one hand and book in the other gives me headaches and cricks in the neck.

Oh, and in case French isn't enough? Ancient Greek history assignment for six weeks' time. Fascinating stuff, but only one of the books I need for the course has shipped from Amazon. Isn't available 'round here for love nor money, and the rest are nearly as hard to get.

( 'Why should not college students be mad?' )