I just recently bought Earthfall for the princely sum of £5. I must say that I still don't know what to think of it. In it, the base has a population of over four hundred. A nice touch is a section covering certain base personnel who refuse to accept Koenig setting himself up as some kind of 'overlord' in their eyes.
Other times the timespan covers the next generation of Alphans. Not a bad book, but definetely very different from any of the others, including the original british printed stories. I can't comment on 'Phoenix of Megaron' as I can't find a copy. Maybe some day.
I read Earthfall quite some time ago and remember being confused by it. It seemed extremely irresponsible for the Alphans to suddenly start popping out babies left and right. Apparently their life support system wasn't nearly as precariously balanced as in the series or the rest of the novelizations. I did like the characterization of Koenig & Helena, and their relationship with each other (although it did seem sort of out of character for the good doctor to drug Koenig to get him into bed with her). And I didn't care for the way the 2nd generation Alphans were portrayed...sexual liberation is one thing, but these kids seemed like horny little goats. And all the uproar about privacy and no personal questions...all that seemed really odd to me. After 20+ years together, I would think everybody would pretty much know everyone else's business anyway. As for having the Earth just being in another dimension, never having left Earth...weeeeelllllll...it sort of struck me as implausible. But then, so is having a Moon rip out of orbit and go careeing through space. Has anybody else read this novel? Your opinions?
By the way, Doug - I noted on the NitCentral board the other day you mentioned you had never read Phoenix of Megaron. The online auction site Ebay has one listed for $3.00. Have you ever used Ebay? Go to www.ebay.com and search on Phoenix of Megaron (or you can look up any Space:1999 item by typing the word Space and the numbers 1999. They had over 150 items for sale today). You'll need to register to bid, but usually items go pretty cheap. Just thought you'd like to know...tried to e-mail you this info but my server didn't wanna send it! (miserable &($&#*&$)#&!!! thing)...
Barb
How much does it cost for overseas postage, and how reliable is it? I don't fancy giving my credit card number to all and sundry.
Thanks for the thought anyway Barb, I'll seriously consider getting it off of EBay.
Payment would be worked out between you and the seller. I've never given my cc out to anybody -- usually payment is check or money order. I'm not sure about overseas postage...sometimes there is a set postage amount, depends on the seller. There is also another auction on ebay for 9 or 10 of the first season novels (Phoenix is included).
I love Earthfall - I especially love the way John
& Helena finally get together on page 199...
coincidence? You tell me
I thought it was kind of funny myself. I mean, our cool, collected Doc drugging the commander to get him into bed with her? Interesting, but hardly in character.
I'm currently looking for this novel again. I realize this is sort of the holy grail of Space 1999 literature, but does anybody out there have a copy they'd be willing to part with? I'm offering seriously groveling and cold hard cash.
Any replies to b_ferrell@hotmail.com. Mucho thanks
A few years ago I ran "Operation Earthfall II" on the Space 1999 email list.
http://www.egroups.com/group/OnlineAlpha
I helped people get xerox copies of this rare OP book. I began reading it myself and either it was the style of EC Tubbs writing or the premise of the book itself but I just couldn't finish reading the thing.
I like the idea of Tubb trying to make sense of the 1999 universe, especially the wacky premise of the show and I also like the idea of questioning Koenig's command in the novel (Something that really didn't get brought up too much in the show except for Seance Spectre).
But Tubb's writing made the book close to unreadable for me. I really tried to enjoy reading Tubb, I bought the first few Dumerest novels and had the same problem. I also tried to plow through some of his other 1999 books with the same effect. While not an original story I found Phoenix of Megaron much easier to read but felt that one was a "run and jump" type story placing all the characters back in MBA at the end.
Someday, I hope we'll have some new 1999 novels in the spirit of Earthfall, that is taking the premise and characters in a new direction, without the rough spots that the Earthfall book was covered with.
Both Rankine and Tubb have(had in Tubb's case) very "mannered" writing styles. I haven't read any of Rankine's other writing but the couple of Tubb books I read were very familiar, even containing certain plot ideas Tubb used in his original story 1999 books.
wow, not only is Fanderson republishing Earthfall so that now everyone can get their hands on a copy, but Powys plans to begin publishing new Space 1999 novels this fall!
I'm extremely interested in what direction Powys plans on taking the stories. Year 1, Year 2, a mix? I personally prefer Year 1, with a strong sense of the Mysterious Unknown Force.
I'd prefer a "year 3" style...I like Maya, but I'd also like to see the return of Professor Bergman and the other missing cast members. And some serious hardcore science -- not the fluff n' stuff of the Year 2 novelizations.
I've read that the author of the first novel "Resurrection" is planning on making it a tie-in between years 1 and 2 - explain all the missing crew members, the Koenig-Helena relationship and the move from Main Mission. That will be welcome - maybe once and for all we can find out where Bergman went to. I personally like to think he's just been in his lab smoking a cigar.
Actually Butterworth explained all these elements in his season two novels.
Some of them, yes - at least what happened to Bergman. But the fate of Paul & Kano was simply ignored.
The Bergman reference came from one of the early shooting scripts for "The Metamorph," but was cut before it was actually filmed.