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wraithfodder) wrote2009-01-14 05:46 pm
Stargate Universe: John Scalzi has been hired as creative consultant
Looks like they're actually getting a real, honest-to-gosh writer to work on Stargate Universe. They've hired a book author John Scalzi as a creative consultant. See below snippet from his blog.
January 14 2009
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/01/14/one-of-my-big-announcements-for-
january/
excerpt:
The reason I'm in Vancouver, aside from having dinner at Fuel last night with Joseph Mallozzi, can now be revealed: I have a new gig as Creative Consultant for the upcoming Stargate: Universe television series. I've been talking to the SGU folks about it informally for some time and flew out to meet the producers and writers, and talk about the ideas and directions of the new series. I also got the tour of the sets, which are still under construction, and which look pretty damn nifty so far. It all went very well, and I liked what they were doing with the show and the people involved, and equally importantly they seemed to like me too. So I was happy to say yes when they invited me onboard.
REST AT LINK ABOVE
His official site: http://scalzi.com/
His books: http://www.scalzi.com/books/
A YouTube interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZN6GA4JsOs
Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Scalzi
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I've never read this guy's work, let alone heard of him (I avoid any book reviews on Mallozzi's blog as he gives away too much). I read mostly non-fiction books as theyr'e fascinating, and probably far too much Stargate Atlantis fan fiction, but there is good stuff out there so I read it! :) Too bad they couldn't have gotten some consultants in on SGA; might have avoided "Identity" then ;)
I see Scalzi's books are in my local library, so I'll go down and grab one when there's less snow and ice out there.
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Mostly because he's so much better than the whole team of writers put together (between him and Carlyle, I'm now thinking the other actors are going to have to pay to play a role... what kind of budget are they on ? Ten times what they had for SGA ?)
I like SG1 and I loved SGA, but let's be honest the writers are really not terrific. They leave massive plot holes everywhere, continuity is so far above them they hardly know the definition of it, and some of their characters are better written by the fans.
I've read three of Scalzi's books last year (actually they were the only "real paper" books I've read in a long time) and they were fantastic. Not one minute of being bored, great characters, and ideas that begin at A to finish at Z.
On one hand I'm glad they are making an effort after 13 years (no I'm still not interested in watching SGU though), on the other hand I'm thinking that the mix of utterly good and utterly bad might not produce the expected result (for tptb that is).
I don't know how much leeway Scalzi may have, but I can't really see him agree with the usual female = love interest for the male cast (so they look better), nor with the colored people = aliens, or the few dozens of other bad taste habits that haunts the SG franchise. But then he might have nothing to say about it, so...
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So, which Scalzi book would you recommend for someone to read who's never read his stuff?
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As for Scalzi, I was given Old man's war by a friend, which I found original and entertaining.
The thing with books and I is that, as long as they are not badly written and keep me entertained enough not to want to put the book down, then they are winners.
After that I guess it's a matter of taste, for example I was too bored to read the wonderful but way too slow for me Lord of the Rings triology, The Da-Vinci code failed to hold my attention past ten pages, entirely due to the style of writing (I felt like I had ADD and epilepsy while reading, not due to me because I don't have ADD nor epilepsy).
I don't want to say that Scalzi is "the best writer ever", because that would be lying, but I do think he writes good and entertaining sci-fi.
After Old Man's War, instead of reading the next book in the series (Old man's war does have a an ending though), I decided to go for The Android's dream. I read it in a few hours and loved it. Unlike the commenter above me, it's a book that I will probably pick up again and re-read.
So either one of those two should be a nice introduction to Scalzi (or a terrible one if you end up not liking his style lol)
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I wouldn't pretend to be able to judge what is "too perfect" for others though. All I know is that what I've read was entertaining enough that I didn't really want to put the books down (as is often the case when I read and get bored).
So yes, Scalzi's heroes are not the much hyped about anti-hero that people seem to appreciate so much these days, yes they probably have more qualities than bad habits, but I didn't feel disturbed nor threatened by it, he doesn't make it the sole focus of the story.
And, in my eyes, when the universe a writer creates is good enough that I'm interested in both the characters and the action, then it's a great book.
Mind you, I don't pretend to be a great critique or anything, I just like to be entertained when I read a book, especially sci-fi :).
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