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Jonny

Important! Audible (UK) Daily Deal - Andy Weir’s - Project Hail Mary

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Blog Post: Read. Write. Repeat.

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Jonny

Jonny

Staff member
Guardian
Full Member
Mar 1, 2020
Two episodes in and I'm totally gripped. Amazing stuff.

Never seen anything quite like it before. Ambitious multilayered story - and as you might expect from the GoT folks - exceptional production values.

Only eight eps to watch in season one and I'm really fighting a strong urge to binge through.
 
Jonny said:
Two episodes in and I'm totally gripped. Amazing stuff.

Never seen anything quite like it before. Ambitious multilayered story - and as you might expect from the GoT folks - exceptional production values.

Only eight eps to watch in season one and I'm really fighting a strong urge to binge through.
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Not started it yet, but it's on my list. Question @Jonny : have you read the book? Is it the sort of thing to be read first? (husband has read it and is keen to crack on with the TV show, but I haven't read it yet.)
 
No, I haven't read the book @Sedayne but I have some Audible credits so I think it will be my next purchase.
 
Yes, @Rachael Burnett It's excellent on all creative levels. Nice to see a few comedians show up in the first two eps. Ade Edmondson and Kevin Eldon to name a couple. Also some old GoT's faces too.

Lovely bit of comedy in ep. 2 When John Bradley's character - Jack Rooney (aka Sam Tarly from GoT) bopped Kevin Eldon (as Sir Thomas Moore).

Finger hovering over the remote button (To ep 3 or not to ep 3? That is the question) :)
 
Jonny said:
Yes, @Rachael Burnett It's excellent on all creative levels. Nice to see a few comedians show up in the first two eps. Ade Edmondson and Kevin Eldon to name a couple. Also some old GoT's faces too.

Lovely bit of comedy in ep. 2 When John Bradley's character - Jack Rooney (aka Sam Tarly from GoT) bopped Kevin Eldon (as Sir Thomas Moore).

Finger hovering over the remote button (To ep 3 or not to ep 3? That is the question) :)
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Loved the Jack Rooney character and Sam Tarly. Also love Ade Edondson since the Young Ones, I remember my school banning wearing different coloured socks as per Vivian, just made kids do it more
 
Comedy? I read the book and I can't imagine where the comedy would fit?

We checked it out last night and watched the opening. Not really my hubbie's cuppa. I will watch it on my own. Can't wait to see what they do with it!! Such a complex book.
 
Yeah, not a lot of laughs, Lyse. But a lovely little bit of comedy biz in one scene Ep2. I think the producers couldn’t resist it given the actor involved.

Mind you, when the clown car showed up and the doors fell off… well… you know :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

The opening scene in Ep 1 was certainly a tough watch and I believe there’s something of a political controversy brewing there.
 
Nikky Lee said:
The book has been on my list for ages. I'm determined to read/listen to it before I watch the show. Must get to it. Read along anyone?
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I admire your resolve to read first.

I've caved in tonight and watched the first two episodes. Husband has been nagging to watch it. He's only a little bit irritated that I agreed only after a prompt from this thread.

Not disappointed. It's every bit as good as Jonny and Rachael said.

I'm curious about the book and how the various layers of narrative are assembled.
 
Sedayne said:
I admire your resolve to read first.

I've caved in tonight and watched the first two episodes. Husband has been nagging to watch it. He's only a little bit irritated that I agreed only after a prompt from this thread.

Not disappointed. It's every bit as good as Jonny and Rachael said.

I'm curious about the book and how the various layers of narrative are assembled.
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I finished watching tonight and have bought the first book in the trilogy. Might have to stop reading my current book and start reading this.
 
I read the first novel. It's a great idea serviced by an often muddy plot. For something often touted as hard sci-fi, I had to suspend my disbelief more than once. Andy Weir, this ain't.

Main and side characters do inexplicable things for inexplicable reasons. The dialogue is wooden and not at all convincing. People don't talk and act like that.

It says a lot that my favorite character was pretty much a cliché. It felt like he belonged in a different book under a different genre.

I hope the series is better.
 
I agree with a lot of that @Bloo . I found the book (I only read the first one) hard to get into and stay in it - muddy as you say. Not sure about hard sci-fi either, was almost more philosophical. I never connected to any of the characters, and the concept had a slippery quality, hard to hold onto. I’m very curious to see how they turn this complicated and messy story into a series! I certainly didn’t laugh or even smile once while reading, not that I can remember anyway.

All that said, I was glad I read it as it was so different, and I suspect if I read it again I might get more out of it, but I didn’t enjoy it enough for a second read.
 
Sedayne said:
Not started it yet, but it's on my list. Question @Jonny : have you read the book? Is it the sort of thing to be read first? (husband has read it and is keen to crack on with the TV show, but I haven't read it yet.)
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I have read the trilogy. I would say the first book is worth reading first. They have changed character gender and a lot of other things in the production so the Chinese are complaining this is too westernised. What was fascinating for me was the perspective of a completely different culture. It changed everything about the view of SF. If we have trouble grasping how differently another culture sees things-how are we going to comprehend an alien POV. Read the first book, "Dark Forest?" then decide if you want to finish. For me I ripped thru all 3. One of the most exciting books `I'd read in a long time.

Pictograph writing creates a different way of thinking/understanding. Reading is more akin to 3 level chess at the literary level..

The translation I had tried to keep the complexity of that with lots of footnotes. I'm hoping since there is a Chinese director he will be able to open up the multi-layers and give it the mystery and depth it would have if read in Chinese. It's not really fair to judge the English translation of the the book. It's like deciding the size of an iceberg because it's all you can see.
 
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Jonny said:
Yeah, not a lot of laughs, Lyse. But a lovely little bit of comedy biz in one scene Ep2. I think the producers couldn’t resist it given the actor involved.

Mind you, when the clown car showed up and the doors fell off… well… you know :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

The opening scene in Ep 1 was certainly a tough watch and I believe there’s something of a political controversy brewing there.
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It opens the same as in the book. It's not really a political controversy even in China now since that time is considered to be the wrong path. Mao is not what he used to be.

However- this happened early on..... Suspect in Murder of ‘Three-Body Problem’ Producer Rehearsed Killing, Say Chinese Media
 
Pamela Jo said:
I have read the trilogy. I would say the first book is worth reading first. They have changed character gender and a lot of other things in the production so the Chinese are complaining this is too westernised. What was fascinating for me was the perspective of a completely different culture. It changed everything about the view of SF. If we have trouble grasping how differently another culture sees things-how are we going to comprehend an alien POV. Read the first book, "Dark Forest?" then decide if you want to finish. For me I ripped thru all 3. One of the most exciting books `I'd read in a long time.

Pictograph writing creates a different way of thinking/understanding. Reading is more akin to 3 level chess at the literary level..

The translation I had tried to keep the complexity of that with lots of footnotes. I'm hoping since there is a Chinese director he will be able to open up the multi-layers and give it the mystery and depth it would have if read in Chinese. It's not really fair to judge the English translation of the the book. It's like deciding the size of an iceberg because it's all you can see.
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Wow that's really seriously messed up.

Seems there's quite a disparity between the books and the show in general though - but when isn't there in these matters.

But just in case I've misled. The Netflix show is definitely not playing for laughs - however, there are a lot of British (well known) actors (two notably comedians) I've spotted already in the supporting cast and in one scene the producers have set up a little in-joke and staged an almost (Vic) Reeves and (Bob) Mortimer slapstick 30 seconds simply because of the actors involved.

All that said - I'm loving the show but have not read the books (yet)
 
Yeah. I spotted it too PJ. Quite a coup for them I imagine.

I downloaded a sample of the book from 'Zon and it's so far so good (although I feel the translation is a little clunky) but will deffo be audiobooking the series.

Oddly enough more UK comedians (Mark Gattis & Reece Shearsmith) show up playing Newton and Turing in another scene with a very light comedic touch. Really quite at odds with the other 99.9% vibe of the Netflix show. But then again, we had these sorts of occasional vignettes in GoT.
 
Jonny said:
Yeah. I spotted it too PJ. Quite a coup for them I imagine.

I downloaded a sample of the book from 'Zon and it's so far so good (although I feel the translation is a little clunky) but will deffo be audiobooking the series.

Oddly enough more UK comedians (Mark Gattis & Reece Shearsmith) show up playing Newton and Turing in another scene with a very light comedic touch. Really quite at odds with the other 99.9% vibe of the Netflix show. But then again, we had these sorts of occasional vignettes in GoT.
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I've reserved the audio on Borrowbox to preserve my audible credits, but there's (unsurprisingly) a long wait. It will be a nice surprise when it drops into my listening list in mid-July.

I too am enjoying the comedy cameos, but I'm up to episode 6, and it's wishful thinking to hope that Alexei Sayle might crop up now...
 
Sedayne said:
I too am enjoying the comedy cameos, but I'm up to episode 6, and it's wishful thinking to hope that Alexei Sayle might crop up now...
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allo-john.gif

Now a version of "Hello, John gotta new Motor?" would be the epitome of incongruity. Hey, weren't The Epitome of Incongruity a prog / jazz fusion band back in the 70s?

Re The show. ;)

Halfway through - finished 4 yesterday.

Hoping for the quality to last to the end of this run. It's a real unexpected treat which is always a bonus.
 
Jonny said:
Hey, weren't The Epitome of Incongruity a prog / jazz fusion band back in the 70s?
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I think I saw an article by Sid Smith in Prog Magazine debating the definitive line-up of The Epitome of Incongruity which had no less than seven personnel changes between '71 and '75.

And yes, the show is brilliant.
 
Surely there's never going to be anything to come close to TEOI's masterwork - the quadruple disc concept album: The Sky's a Mirror to Infinity. Recorded, of course by what many say was the definitive lineup of Jones, Marshall, De Vere-Pocklington, Ramsden and Plink.

I wore out all 4 vinyls in one continuous 10-day back-to-back listen-a-thon. Heady days.
 
Jonny said:
Surely there's never going to be anything to come close to TEOI's masterwork - the quadruple disc concept album: The Sky's a Mirror to Infinity. Recorded, of course by what many say was the definitive lineup of Jones, Marshall, De Vere-Pocklington, Ramsden and Plink.

I wore out all 4 vinyls in one continuous 10-day back-to-back listen-a-thon. Heady days.
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I heard there's a 50th anniversary super deluxe expanded reissue coming soon...
 
There's quite a buzz of anticipation building on the fan site forum.

Rumour has it the package will be a 12-CD box set, complete with original artwork by (Jeremey) De Vere-Pocklington's onetime spiritual guide, Oznnah.

I have my pre-release order already placed on Amazon. Gonna be the best £1500 quid I'm likely to spend this year.
 
Jonny said:
I have my pre-release order already placed on Amazon. Gonna be the best £1500 quid I'm likely to spend this year.
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You should've gone with the indie exclusive from Piccadilly Records with the limited edition art cards and bonus 10" flexidisc. And it's a quid cheaper.

(I think we may have gone a bit off topic here...)
 
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Jonny

Important! Audible (UK) Daily Deal - Andy Weir’s - Project Hail Mary

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From Our Blog

Blog Post: Read. Write. Repeat.

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