IMHO, Rankine far surpasses Tubb as a writer. Especially lame is Tubb's versions of Full Circle and Collision Course -- the collision between the moon and Astheria is described as (I'm paraphrasing) "a whir, a flashing light, a jerk." Whooo, some writing there, pal! That makes even less sense than the episode!
Some of the episodes in the novelizations come out more believable than in the series: in "Black Sun" the survival ship decides to turn around and enter the black sun...better than it just disappearing and re-appearing on the other side of the universe. In "Ring around the Moon" Triton was Neptune's moon which explained Victor's knowledge about it. "Matter of Life and Death" gave the impression that the destruction of the moon and the eagle were a hallucination caused by the consumption of the planet's fruit (!) E.C. Tubb also tied some of the episodes together: Terra Nova was Meta and the Triton probe warned the Alphans of the Black Sun (those two episodes were reversed in order).
On the other hand, Simmonds was killed in "Breakaway" (so no "Earthbound" in the books) and in "Space Brain" both the moon and the brain survived giving the story a happy ending.
Some of the episodes that wern't too enjoyable in the first season fared better as novelisations too. Ring around the Moon and Full Circle being prime examples.
You too can write like E.C. Tubb!
It's very simple: in every expository sentence, instead of writing in a regular straightforward linear grammatical mode, always put the direct object BEFORE the subject/verb. And always make sure that you echo the direct object with at least one identical synoymn or like phrase. For example "It was up to Koenig to make a decision" becomes "A decision, a plan. It was up to Koenig to make one." Likewise "The Alphans were all looking for a planet to live on" is re-parsed as "A planet to live on, a home. It was what the Alphans were all looking for." And remember whenever possible to use sentence fragments presented as complete sentences!
Sounds like E.C.Tubb's English teacher was a small, green man named Mr. Yoda
LOL Todd....Funny. Humorous. Your comment was.
But I kid E.C. Tubb. Actually his adaptations are very well written, if one can get past the odd grammar. Hid Dumarest and Cap Kennedy series have the same unique writing style.
Since there's no discussion board for the new novelization, I guess I'll just pop this comment in here. I just got the new book, Resurrection, by William Latham. I'm all for new Space material, but I was a little disappointed in this book. It's very talky, and I'm still not sure I understand what was happening or why. Latham's writing style reminds me of Tubb, only even more "unique." He doesn't seem to know how to use a comma, so there are LOTS of sentence fragments. I'm not discouraging anyone from buying the book, but it's not quite what I was expecting. I realize it was written with the Space fan in mind, but still, a little description would have been nice. Anybody else have an opinion on the new book?
I'm no critic and have problems with commas myself, but I liked it.
I am now reading Space Seed and enjoy that also. Then again, I'm easy to please. To me the novelty of reading the stories that give a little depth to the different characters is nice. Especially since we won't see another episode produced, this furthers the adventures just like the books from Star Trek.
As a kid I used to like the James Blish tie ins but don't know what I'd think today if I re read them.
I'm just now discovering the novels but won't buy them until they are re released as promised by Poweys
I did it again. Confusing Space Seed with Alien Seed. I meant the latter above
"Earthbound" is finally being adapted as a novel, along with two other stories that were drafted as a continuation of Year 1, but ultimately filmed in Year 2... "The Exiles" and "The Immunity Syndrome," the latter using it's draft title "The Face of Eden." Both stories in the new novel retain Year 1 characters and format! The novel is written by E.C. Tubb.
The (potentially) bad news is that it's a Fanderson exclusive & one must be a member to obtain a copy. So, if anyone wants this book, they have to join Fanderson, which may not be such a horrible thing, but it smacks of blackmail in my opinion. I hate when fan clubs do that sort of thing... I miss out on a lot of neat stuff, mainly because I can't afford to join--and maintain lengthy membership in--fan clubs.
I don't like that myself, I would love to have the Space:1999 soundtracks but am on a limited budget and grudge joining fan clubs just for the chance to buy some merchandise.
Maybe a couple of people could get together and pool their funds for the Fanderson stuff and pass it around or copy it (if that's not copyright infringement). I would also like to get a copy of the Earthbound book.
FYI--Season 1 soundtrack CD has been sold out for some time now, with no aparrent plans for a re-release. Season 2 is still available. (But I don't want that one!) Of course, both are Fanderson exclusives.
Sorry, I had to go away for a bit...
I like the pooling idea, especially if it would help get a big order at once. A problem may be the number of things we could get; I don't know if there's a limit of one item per Fanderson member. Also, currency conversion could become an issue.
Speaking for myself, I'm interested in "Earthbound," as well as the multi-region DVD Into Infinity/The Day After Tomorrow. I've also seen that the S99 documentary is still available, but only on tape, IIRC.
For those interested, Fanderson also has re-released "Earthfall," with a new foreword and all the spelling & grammar errors corrected.
Hey, if you really want that Year 1 original soundtrack it can be re-created by downloading free mp3s of the tracks from one of the fansites (search Space1999.net) and burning them to an audio CD. It worked for me!
(this really belongs in the sink)
E.C. Tubb passed away last September. In other posts I've poked fun at Tubb's writing style (a style so distinctive that once while reading a sci-fi novel I correctly guessed that the name of the author on the book's cover was actually a pseudonym of Tubb's), I later came to appreciate that unique style. Hopefully he'll be remembered as one of British Sci-Fi's greats.