R.I.P. Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton dies at 66.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aAPpt4NQ5gTk&refer=muse

Man, this sucks. I really loved this man. Big surprise to me, I didn't even know he was sick. He was one of the greatest and most thought provoking writters of our time.

What?!  I suddenly feel like I have seanwookiee syndrome.  Remember how he used to explore a body of work for the first time only to have someone closely connected to it almost immediately die?  Well, a few months ago, I decided to re-read the two Jurassic Park books for the first time in ten years.  And now...  geez.

EDIT:  Oh, and just a few weeks ago, I watched parts of Westworld for the first time.  This is all my fault, isn't it?

darnit,

he was my favorite author..

in fact, one of the only authors i still keep track of,
since i don't read much anymore..

he will be missed..

sorry to hear about it..

i thought there was a new book coming out next month?

and yes, i was getting back into crichton big time also,

just got westworld, and futureworld....

later
-1

Gaffer Tape said:

This is all my fault, isn't it?

Gaffer! You son of a ****!!! What have you done!

I may be joking around, but I am actually nearly in tears. I hadn't even heard he had cancer. I wouldn't have dreamed that this guys last speech had been given and last novel had been written. I haven't read any of his stuff for a long time, but I feel like dropping by the book store and picking up a copy of Next sometime today, still hadn't gotten around to reading that one yet. This guy is a writer who's books are worth reading again and again. Oh yeah, and Westworld is one of the coolest things ever put on film.

westworld was groundbreaking for being one of the first

films to ever use computer generated graphics..

also there was a tv series 'beyond westworld' that came out,

and i've never seen it..(would love to find a copy of it though)...

 from wikipedia:

=======================

Computer graphics

Westworld was the first major feature film to use 2D computer generated images (CGI) during scenes showing the point of view of the robotic gunslinger. The first use of 3D CGI in a feature film was Westworld's sequel, Futureworld, in 1976.

Information International, Inc., better known as Triple-I, created the digitized shots of The Gunslinger's point of view for the movie. According to Turner Classic Movies, some of the shots took eight hours to render completely, and many tests were made to get the right look.

crichton was way ahead of his time..

are there any authors out there that i should look into?

i don't want just techno-thrillers (clancy), or miliatary stuff,

i want someone that writes about cutting edge or current technology..

later

-1

negative1 said:

also there was a tv series 'beyond westworld' that came out,

and i've never seen it..(would love to find a copy of it though)...

Huh, I had no idea there was a TV show. That would be very interesting to see.

The first use of 3D CGI in a feature film was Westworld's sequel, Futureworld, in 1976.

I have actually never seen Futureworld, but I have heard about it, was Michael Crichton involved with that at all?

 

crichton was way ahead of his time..

 

are there any authors out there that i should look into?

i don't want just techno-thrillers (clancy), or miliatary stuff,

i want someone that writes about cutting edge or current technology..

Not that I know of. Michael Crichton was really one of a kind. The guy was amazing, very educated and incredibly intelligent to boot (no, education and intelligence don't always go hand in hand). He knew how to do research, and how to tell an engaging story, which always made his stories feel really authentic, even when you were dealing with scientific impossibilities, you could almost fool yourself into thinking it could really happen. Some people may consider Clancy to be something really special, but other than a few of his early works, I have never really gotten into his books. Crichton was, is, and I suspect always will be unmatched in the kinds of books he wrote.

Hmm, I am having a hard time finding any information on this, but it seems his next book was scheduled for release on December of 2008. I am glad there is another book of his on the way, though I'd much rather he still be with us. Since it was scheduled for release next month, I assume it is already finished and in the process of being printed. One last contribution to his fans.

I read "Jurassic Park" when I was in sixth grade, and it was the first "grown-up" book I ever read. I was addicted to his books for the next year, and they fed my interest in the sciences. This is definitely a heavy blow to me. He will be missed very much.

C3PX said:

 

I have actually never seen Futureworld, but I have heard about it, was Michael Crichton involved with that at all?

unfortunately, he was not... it's still an interesting movie to watch..

Hmm, I am having a hard time finding any information on this, but it seems his next book was scheduled for release on December of 2008. I am glad there is another book of his on the way, though I'd much rather he still be with us. Since it was scheduled for release next month, I assume it is already finished and in the process of being printed. One last contribution to his fans.

well, i'm going to have to find all the books that he wrote under

the name 'john lange'.. i've only read all the ones under his real

name..

so it looks like i have a few more to read now..

still, its very very sad to hear about his passing away..

later

-1

Hmm, he was a very smart guy and great author of sensational-style fiction. He could make technical topics very entertaining through his neat stories (though he did make them a little simplified sometimes). This is sad.

Man, that sucks. I didn't realize he was sixty-six, but that's still not that old.

Rest in Peace

Damnit....He was one of the first authors I ever really got into.  Like many people, Jurassic Park was my introduction to him.  I was maybe 8 when I first read it as I'd only then heard that my favorite movie of the time (6 years old when I saw JP in theaters...god I loved dinosaurs so much) was based on a book.  And not just any book then, a 300 pager about dinosaurs that somehow adults liked to read.  I couldn't fully grasp everything that went on in the book but still enjoyed it immensely and my reward was a newfound interest in literature outside of kid-oriented movie tie-ins and whatever was in those Scholastic book order things they handed out at school.

I was a few years older when I read Lost World and Congo and when I finally was able to conclude that most of the time the book was way better than the movie (tho I still enjoy both films).  Since then I've read Adromeda Strain, Timeline and Sphere but haven't picked a new one of his up since high school cuz I re-read most of those.  The man was truly an excellent author in our time.

As for Westworld, I've never seen it but I fully intend to give it a go soon.

RIP

C3PX said:

negative1 said:

also there was a tv series 'beyond westworld' that came out,

and i've never seen it..(would love to find a copy of it though)...

Huh, I had no idea there was a TV show. That would be very interesting to see.

if you're looking for the series, its on tv-vault (.org) ... a torrent site..

also, check out youtube, and do a search for clips to get an idea of what its like.

later

-1

He wrote a series of Medical Novels under a fake name that enventually got made into the show E.R.

He also wrote a book that was his vision of the Beowulf story called Eaters of the Dead, which Became the Film The Thirteenth Warrior.  The Rough Cut of the Film was also called eaters of the dead and followed the book closely, the final film is not as good supposedly as the authors cut.

The novel Jurassic Park was a spectacular work of real science fiction meaning there was actual science involved and Crichton delivered a thriller which was speculative fiction.  Better than the movie.  sequel book The Lost world was not as good and was a letdown when i read it.  Anyhow the sequel movie was worse because it did not even follow the book.  JP Lost World to me is equivalent to Jaws II.

The novel Spectre and Congo both good reads were horrible films.

By the time he got around to that time travel story that was made into a bomb of a movie he was washed up as a writer.

Even as a fan of Crichton's in the 90's now i realize just how overhyped his works are.  His body of work is slim compared to other writers.  If Spielberg did not make films of his books to make him an overnight celebrity would he have tried harder to write some more good books?

John Grisham wrote more novels than he did and had more bestsellers.  That lawyer writer guy and his law thrillers.  Still i Like Crichton Better. 

Who are the new Speculative Science based science fiction authors to follow Crichton?

I am sure the guy called he sequel to Jurassic Park the Lost World because he was aware of the novel By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of the Same name that starred professor challenger.

you know the famous quote from doyle's lost word preface.  "I've wrought my simple plan.  To give one hour of Joy.  To the boy who is half a man, or man who is half a boy"lol.

skyjedi2005 said:

Even as a fan of Crichton's in the 90's now i realize just how overhyped his works are.  His body of work is slim compared to other writers.  If Spielberg did not make films of his books to make him an overnight celebrity would he have tried harder to write some more good books?

John Grisham wrote more novels than he did and had more bestsellers.  That lawyer writer guy and his law thrillers.  Still i Like Crichton Better. 

I don't think a small body of work is a negative mark on a writer. Just look at the works of John Ronald Raul Tolkien that were published while he was still alive? The list is pretty shallow. He may have a large body of work on stores shelves now, but they are all collections of very rough drafts that he never intended to have published. Sure, John Grisham taks out another novel every six months, all of which are automatic NY Times #1s, but Grisham is basically the "fast food" of literature. He comes up with an interesting story idea slightly different than anything else he wrote before, then he types it out as fast as he can, and they rush it to the publishers, and a few months later it sells over a million copies. People buy it because Grishams name is on it, read it, and forget what they by the time the next one comes out. The best books in the world never wound up on bestseller lists, but many of the most pointless and meaningless ones have.

And I don't think it would have been a bad thing if his books had never been made into films, he was still a great writer, and had I been lucky enough to discover him without having Spielberg's Jurassic Park bring my attention to him, I would have still loved his stuff. I disagree that his later books were not very good. I was not the fondest of some of his earlier stuff , but I particularly like some of his newer stuff, like State of Fear. It is all a matter of preference.

negative1 said:

C3PX said:

negative1 said:

also there was a tv series 'beyond westworld' that came out,

and i've never seen it..(would love to find a copy of it though)...

Huh, I had no idea there was a TV show. That would be very interesting to see.

 

if you're looking for the series, its on tv-vault (.org) ... a torrent site..

also, check out youtube, and do a search for clips to get an idea of what its like.

 

later

-1

 

c3px,

i have the series now. (took awhile)

let me know if you want to download.

i'll pm you.

later

-1