ACC's Rendezvous with Rama and Rama II et al | Report this post to moderator
By: Steve Krutzler (Odo's file, contact) @ 20:54:18 on Sep 05, 2003

Read the first Rama book last weekend and was thoroughly entertained. The idea of being inside a cylindrical world, able to look up and see the ocean or continent on top of you was particularly compelling. I've found both Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise and Rama I to be far more stimulating in a science fiction sense than anything STAR TREK has done for years. Personally I wish the TREK franchise would delve more interestingly into the daily life of 24th century life... in many ways, Gene Roddenberry's future is pretty boring and sterile. I mean, he pretty much just said "all problems are solved, technology is miraculous" and that's it. Medical tech is just some sensors that they run over your body and everything's fixed. Oh boy, that's really realistic AND interesting. Anyway, I didn't mean to start lamenting the lack of imagination in TREK...

Rather I started Rama II and I know it's co-written by Gentry Lee but I wanted to share some thoughts (don't anyone DARE spoil this or any of the remaining Rama books for me!). I found particularly interesting the chapters on the world economic collapse following the first Rama encounter. This book was published in, what, 1989 I believe? Yet it pretty much parallels the American economic rise and fall of the 90s... 9 years of unprecedented prosperity ended with a year or two of "irrational exuberance" that leads to a major economic crisis--only I certainly hope nothing as horrid as happened in Clarke's 22nd century is yet to happen to us. But I found it particularly interesting, all the detail that is given of emigration back to Earth (after the Hermians and other colonies were such big players in the first Rama, circa 2130, Rama II circa 2200). Perhaps because I'm not accustomed to reading novels, but I just love all the rich description of events and the detail that creates this whole universe. Whenever I watch movies or television I always wish you'd get more of that sort of thing but I think I'd have to say I have a more concrete idea of Clarke's Rama-era human civilization than I do of any of the STAR TREK time periods, even after 4.25 television series and ten movies!

Something that always takes me out of the novel, however, is the constant references to the Soviet Union. I suppose the first Rama couldn't be blamed, although I don't recall any references in there, but for a guy who humorously says he "would've thought of any great ideas" in the new intro to Rama II when recounting how he came to partner with Lee on the novel, I am annoyed with the constant references to "cosmonauts" and "the Soviet Union." I mean, the SU was about to fall at the time this novel came out and yet ACC decided to let it live on into 2200? I suppose you can't blame him, after all, ST4 references Leningrad, and it's unfair for me to judge that aspect after the fact, but it's just one of those things that takes me out of any story because obviously we've been living in a post-SU world for nearly a decade and a half now so it's ubsurd when I think of it living into 2200.

Also, I noticed a reference to an Urgency Priority Network (or something), abbreviated as UPN... LOL. That's kind of funny. But it's interesting how the first 50 pages or so of Rama II really echo the 1990s as far as history and economics and so forth. It's also interesting to learn about the resurgence of nation-states and the dissolution of an international government etc. etc. all more in less than 10 pages than we've ever gotten in the barren world of STAR TREK.

Also, is General Borzov the son of that religious guy Boris in the first book? It dawned on me finally after a few pages...

Anyway, I'm eagerly tearing through the book with Garden and Revealed on the horizon so I'm all up for discussing Rama!

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It's a rip-off. / We're stepped on, and cheated! / We're flat, stone-cold lied to / But we're not defeated / No!

Halen. "The Dream is Over."

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RE: ACC's Rendezvous with Rama and Rama II et al by Bondo @ 00:39:11 on Sep 08
RE: ACC's Rendezvous with Rama and Rama II et al by WolfDaddy @ 12:13:54 on Sep 07
Gene Roddenberry was right not to delve into the details of 24th century by O. Deus @ 00:20:16 on Sep 07
    RE: Gene Roddenberry was right not to delve into the details of 24th century by TheAdmiral @ 16:26:17 on Sep 07
       RE: Gene Roddenberry was right not to delve into the details of 24th century by O. Deus @ 22:16:21 on Sep 07
I Hate To Be The Voice Of Dissension by Jean-Luc @ 09:35:29 on Sep 06
    Maybe you just haven't read the right books by O. Deus @ 00:31:22 on Sep 07
    RE: I Hate To Be The Voice Of Dissension by Steve Krutzler @ 10:37:06 on Sep 06
RE: ACC's Rendezvous with Rama and Rama II et al by Noraa @ 03:33:51 on Sep 06
    RE: ACC's Rendezvous with Rama and Rama II et al by Steve Krutzler @ 09:10:34 on Sep 06
RE: ACC's Rendezvous with Rama and Rama II et al by Cyrus @ 03:23:29 on Sep 06
    RE: ACC's Rendezvous with Rama and Rama II et al by Steve Krutzler @ 09:08:05 on Sep 06
RE: ACC's Rendezvous with Rama and Rama II et al by TheAdmiral @ 00:02:41 on Sep 06