The Land of Painted Caves - Finally

Well it's finally coming out, nine years after the previous book, "The Shelters of Stone". I started reading the series back in the late 1980s, if I recall correctly, when my mother and I were staying with my grandparents after my grandfather had a heart attack. They lived in a small town and the biggest selection of science fiction available was in Wal Mart.

I've always been more into hard science fiction, but after reading the novelization of Back To The Future I was willing to branch out a little. I bought the first three books in a paperback boxed set.

It's not a bad series. The author, Jean Auel, has reportedly done lots of research into actual prehistoric sites and artifacts, working them into her stories. No doubt some of the ideas included in the earlier books in the series have been displaced by subsequent research over the past three decades, but that is understandable; Arthur C. Clarke had similar issues with his Space Odyssey books. What's harder to swallow is the concentration of human innovations within the lives of the two main characters: animal domestication, tool invention, etc. But for a (Pre-)historical fiction one can easily suspend disbelief in this convergence enough to enjoy it. What's more off-putting is the apparent psychic phenomena and the practically Lamarckian race memory portrayed in the Neanderthals. If one approaches it as just being the characters' interpretations of drug-induced halucinations, it becomes tolerable enough to not get in the way of an otherwise interesting story.

I subsequently bought & read the next two books in hardcover, the first while in college, and the second after getting married and moving over 1000 miles away.

I've read the first three chapters of the new book at the Random House web site, and it looks to be setting up a few external and internal conflicts, and possibly a love triangle but that may be a red herring. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of lengthy re-exposition, thankfully, so if you haven't read the previous books there's a lot that won't make sense to you.

I've added it to my wish list. See all Jean M Auel's books, including several translations.

Belated Thoughts on The Kyle XY Final Episode

Okay, it's been a while since the series ended so abruptly. I meant to post a review a while back, but just never got around to it; either I was too busy to do it or too bitter. Mostly the former. Mostly.

Anyway, it's been a while since I watched it and don't remember everything (I guess I could watch it again on Hulu, but frankly I'm more into reruns of Enterprise these days, sci-fi wise) but I do remember this thought: I'm not so sure Jessi's clone-mom is really dead. She had some of the same abilities as Jessi, and one thing Jessi did was fake her own death by slowing down her heart to an apparent stop - precisely what she heard her clone-mom's heart do. It wouldn't have surprised me at all to have seen her make a reappearance in the next or subsequent season, had the series not been canceled.

Yes, I know the final season DVD includes a special section on what would have happened. I don't have it; I'm holding out hope for someone to some day pick up the series. It was really out of place on that network.

For The Time Being

I get weird ideas sometimes. Like this one: The Time Being.

I guess the Time Being would be a sci-fi or comic book character. Maybe something quasi-evil, or just alien with its own agenda. It would have some sort of command of time, or maybe a mission to keep history on track or something, hence the name.

It would also be able to compel people to do things on its behalf. Keeping timelines maintained is a big job, after all! They wouldn't hide the fact that they were working for him/her/it. In fact, if someone asked them why they were doing something strange, they would answer: "Oh, I'm just doing this for the Time Being."

Ba-dum-bum!

Thoughts On Iron Man, Spiderman, And ILM

I saw the trailer for Iron Man recently, and I have to say it reminds me of the recent Spiderman movies. By that I mean I'm seeing the same stilted motions in the CGI characters. ILM did the work on all the films, from what I gather, but they also did the work in the Star Wars prequils. The stormtroopers were completely convincing, even with so many of them on screen at once. If I hadn't heard otherwise I would have thought at least some were live actors. But both Spiderman and now Iron Man look like they're computer generated. There is never a moment's doubt watching them. Why is this?

I can think of three possible explanations...

A: ILM is perfectly capable of producing convincing animation of human characters, but only does so for Lucas.

B: ILM is perfectly capable of producing convincing animation of human characters, but will only give their clients what they're willing to pay for, and Sony and Marvel were only willing to pay so much.

C: ILM is perfectly capable of producing convincing animation of human characters, but only if basing them on the movements of a living model. They had live actor stormtroopers from the original Star Wars trilogy to work from, but for the Marvel superheroes only had still images from comic books. And let's face it: those comic book drawings evoke some very dramatic motion, but they are not realistic poses by any stretch of the imagination.

So what do you think? Is it A, B, C, or something else?

Kyle XY Season 3 Finale (Spoilers)

I finally watched the season finale last night. It was a much more effective cliffhanger than last season's.

In the promos they said someone will end up missing. I figured it could possibly be fem-Kyle XX, slipping off to disappear with her clone mother, (or should that be clone sister, since she's really more of a late-born twin than a daughter,) without telling anyone. It's the sort of thing her mother/older twin sister might insist on if she were at all competent at evading people as seemingly resourceful as latknock (or however it's spelled.) But that's not what happened.

Instead, the disappearance didn't happen until the very end of the episode. Kyle's girlfriend (who is becoming ever so slightly inquisitive about the things he does and who apparently failed to notice they were levitating) is gone.

Who did it? The obvious answer is latknock, but that may be too obvious. I mean would a member of a super-genius society be so dumb as to leave their ring behind? Okay, there's the whole "absent-minded professor" stereotype, but these folks don't seem to be made in that mold. Could it be fem-Kyle's "father" trying to get some leverage to get Kyle to help find fem-Kyle? No, that would take too much planning to pull off so soon after fem-Kyle decided to run off with sister mama. Is it that big bad corporation again? Maybe, but I forget what even happened to end their involvement in the show and suspect the writers may have too at this point. I suspect the writers plan to introduce yet another organization that's after Kyle.

But leaving that for next season, let's take a look at what we know of the circumstances of the girlfriend's disappearance. There was a security guard hanging out in front of the gym, who seems like an obvious suspect. There was the very young to be a TA DJ who spoke to Kyle in the gym. And there was the ring. Like I said, I doubt the ring was there by accident. I think it was a plant intended to misdirect Kyle, and us. And I'm really suspicious of the DJ.

Here's why. First, he's a super genius for his age, and attends (if I have this straight) the same college that the Kyles' clone parents/siblings attended. He's Kyle's foster dad's TA, and there is a precedent for villains placing their operatives close to the dad. And just look at the tension with Declan and Lori. You just know she's going to get together with the soon-to-be-revealed evil boy genius DJ, (but won't put out, per her declaration to her dad,) then when his evil affiliation is revealed the conflict will be resolved and she'll go back to Declan who will somewhere along the way do something to establish himself as her hero and the guy who truly loves her and always will and who is a true friend to her and her family, especially Kyle.

It's just all so obvious. Maybe the writers are trying to make up for last season's cliffhanger, the resolution of which was so unpredictable it didn't even seem like a cliffhanger. I do want to see what happens, though, so I'm going to watch.

About The Kyle XY Season 2 Finale (HERE BE SPOILERS)

To put it simply, the climax this season, much like the first season, was a bit anticlimactic. I can totally understand why, though. In an episodic sci-fi that's as high-concept as Kyle it's hard to write scripts that both propel the mysterious storyline and endear the audience to the characters. You haven't watched it? Why did this make the season ender anticlimactic? I'll tell you.

The big climax came at the end after the female clone (yeah, Kyle's a clone) betrays Kyle against her own will due to the instructions downloaded into her head. The betrayal consisted of reading some piece or collection of information from Kyle's mind, which Kyle had apparently downloaded from the zzyzzx(sp?) computer system while he was still living in a tank of fluid. She's all upset about it and runs off. After a brief struggle showing off their enhanced physical abilities and Kyle's head start on training, she jumps off a cliff, killing herself.

I think at this point we are meant to be shocked at her suicide, feeling bad for the poor clone who never had the benefit of the sort of loving family that has taken in Kyle. But in a sci-fi there are just too many whiz-bang neato plot developments and emerging details of the whole mystery of Kyle's developing abilities and family relationships and what that evil corporation wants to get out of his head. The audience just can't get emotionally invested in a character that quickly, particularly one who was just introduced this season and who started out as such a dangerous and menacing individual. Sure, she grew into herself as the season progressed, but it still takes a while. When Spock was killed in that Star Trek movie everyone was shocked and dismayed. If he'd been killed off at the end of the first season of the show nobody would have batted an eye. (They might have raised an eyebrow, but not nearly as many people would recognize the gesture.)

I think Lost provides a counterexample. When Walt was taken by the Others it was a much bigger deal. First off, it was a cliffhanger instead of a cliff jump. But even if they had killed Walt, it would have been even bigger if anything. I think the difference is in the character development. In Kyle it's all about Kyle and his origins and destiny and the obstacles and villains in his way. Kyle was in a tank for most of his life, so if he's a bit stiff it's understandable and an interesting part of his character. But everyone has been a bit stiff. That's not unusual for a plot-driven mystery sci-fi show, though. I think Lost succeeds at better character development in large part because of the nature of the situation and the way it's presented: everyone is searching for answers, not just one or two characters, and their past is revealed in flashbacks which add depth to the characters. We understand them better.

Kyle XY did try to add some depth to the supporting characters. But they attempted it mainly through having the bad guys try to induce some conflict in the family to destabilize Kyle's support base. (I don't think they ever actually said it, but I think that was to get him to let his guard down around the female clone so she could get into his head.) The only one with any backstory was the dad, and that was only to serve as a plot device to introduce Kyle's mind-reading ability.

All in all, though, I do like the show and will continue to watch it for its strengths, while overlooking its forgivable weaknesses. Hopefully, though, there will be a bit more character development next season, along with all the inevitable plot twists.