Daeglan New Member Posts:20  
| 5/31/2010 8:24 PM |
|
|
So I have started the series and I have some questions.
1. What is the groups goal? They seem to wander aimlessly with no real goal.
2. Why can they not figure out Mat Trans codes. It would seem to me that you could note the settings before leaving and upon arrival write down the destinations. rinse and repeat and you will eventually have codes. use just return after a half hour and you could step through the codes till you know most of them.
|
|
|
|
RYAN'S BASTARD SONNew Member Posts:71 
| 6/1/2010 5:36 AM |
|
Posted By Daeglan on 31 May 2010 08:24 PM
So I have started the series and I have some questions.
1. What is the groups goal? They seem to wander aimlessly with no real goal.
2. Why can they not figure out Mat Trans codes. It would seem to me that you could note the settings before leaving and upon arrival write down the destinations. rinse and repeat and you will eventually have codes. use just return after a half hour and you could step through the codes till you know most of them. Finally someone else say this out loud! My biggest problem is the "aimless wandering" A simple explanation is that if they did not wander aimlessly the books would not have a basis for new stories? (it does irritate me,but I understand why they do it) I have thought many times that they are stupid for not holding up in a good ville or a redoubt w/endless supplies like they have walked away from many times. But if they did that I assume the authors would have no new surprises for us? As far as the mat trans codes you should read all of the first 33 books and I am pretty sure it explains that the codes are lost and the only means they have of navigating at all is by hitting the LD "Last Destination" button? (although a few of their foes somehow did mange to find out how to navigate,like the Samurai) My explanation is again,it would have made the books less interesting if they were not being randomly popped around? Just my thoughts. "Looks Like We Time Trawled Us A Real Triple Dickhead"
|
|
|
|
Ghost WolfNew Member Posts:1
| 6/1/2010 9:20 AM |
|
Most of the time they are trying to get away from something or someone. But that's just what they do anyway. Ryan and JB are not the type to settle down. Anytime they stay in 1 place too long they get antsy and have to get on the move. 85% of the time it's because they are in danger though. They always talk about settling down but never do. They could have ended it at Homeward Bound because they had the perfect place to settle down but Ryan wanted to move on. An the author wanted to write more books.  For the Mat Trans codes. It would take forever and then some. No one unit uses the same code as another unit for the same destination. Gateway Y uses 1234 to show up at gateway X but gateway Z uses 4321 to show up at gateway X. Not to mention they can barely survive multiple jumps so close together. It would just take too long. |
|
|
|
DaeglanNew Member Posts:20
| 6/1/2010 2:23 PM |
|
|
So the Mat Trans works kinda like a Stargate in that the code is slightly different from every gate?
I think my biggest issue with the series is that there is no goal for the characters. Just wanting to move doesn't make sense.
|
|
|
|
The Phantom Basic Member Posts:219 
| 6/1/2010 7:05 PM |
|
|
I think most of the characters crave adventure more than they want a place to settle down.
Jak tried to settle down at one point, but that ended up not working out to well and I don't think he wants to do that again. Ryan and JB both I think need to continue adventuring, it's just in their blood.
|
|
|
|
)3az )3aziahBritish Bloke  Veteran Member Posts:1060 
| 6/1/2010 9:33 PM |
|
Posted By Daeglan on 31 May 2010 08:24 PM
1. What is the groups goal? They seem to wander aimlessly with no real goal.
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
Normal
0
unctuationKerning/>
false
false
false
oNotPromoteQF/>
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
ontGrowAutofit/>
ontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
ontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
ontVertAlignInTxbx/>
MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:1;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin-top:0cm;
margin-right:0cm;
margin-bottom:10.0pt;
margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoPapDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
margin-bottom:10.0pt;
line-height:115%;}
@page Section1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;
mso-header-margin:35.4pt;
mso-footer-margin:35.4pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
I think
they are looking for a new continent –or was that new continuity?
Ouch !
=============================== Billy Fish: He wants to know if we are gods.
Peachy Carnehan: Not gods - Englishmen. The next best thing.
Please check out my FLICKR photos
|
|
|
|
DaeglanNew Member Posts:20
| 6/1/2010 10:32 PM |
|
Posted By The Phantom on 01 Jun 2010 07:05 PM
I think most of the characters crave adventure more than they want a place to settle down.
Jak tried to settle down at one point, but that ended up not working out to well and I don't think he wants to do that again. Ryan and JB both I think need to continue adventuring, it's just in their blood.
And yet the characters don't seem to have any goals at all. I haven't read many of the books so I can't speak to character developement over time. Its like you just watch the characters flail around in the dark.
|
|
|
|
RYAN'S BASTARD SONNew Member Posts:71
| 6/2/2010 11:27 PM |
|
|
Simple explanation as I already said about the lack of a goal and the aimless wandering:
There is no real explanation.
It's only because the series needs to continue manufacturing books to make money for Gold Eagle and no single author is writing the books consistently.
Take away the aimless wandering and you take away the need to write any more stories.
It is not because JB and Ryan are not wanting to "settle down "because they have the "wanderlust" etc..
The entire premise for the series is their wandering around and getting into new adventures like David Carradine in "Kung Fu".
DeathLands might not sell as well if they settle down and have kids and live happily ever after?
I know the series is not logical.
You and I would settle down w/Krysty & Mildred,make babies and live as quiet al ife as possible.
That might not make for interesting reading though perhaps?
"Looks Like We Time Trawled Us A Real Triple Dickhead"
|
|
|
|
DaeglanNew Member Posts:20
| 6/2/2010 11:40 PM |
|
|
Or they could set up a redoubt as a base of operations and go out looking to improve things then return to restock and go out again. Mix repeat. the goal of improving things.
|
|
|
|
RYAN'S BASTARD SONNew Member Posts:71
| 6/3/2010 12:21 AM |
|
Sure.
Why not?
I have tried figuring out myself a way to take away the illogic that the books use as a basis to make new stories,but to no avail.
I think the series started off with them wandering from place to place and even though we think that is silly,just like the weapons being silly/clothes/characters never deffecate,etc..Gold Eagle has a policy that no matter what each new author writes about or has happen in the story,at the end the essential characters are not aloud to change clothing, weapons,die,age,or go through any other "change".
I do think that the original writer Laurence James was not restricted by these rules as he killed off major characters,changed the weapons at least once,and added new characters to the group like Mildred and Michael Brother.
I think if LJ would not have died we would not have this thread going and we would have no complaints? "Looks Like We Time Trawled Us A Real Triple Dickhead"
|
|
|
|
The PhantomBasic Member Posts:219
| 6/5/2010 2:24 PM |
|
Posted By Daeglan on 02 Jun 2010 11:40 PM
Or they could set up a redoubt as a base of operations and go out looking to improve things then return to restock and go out again. Mix repeat. the goal of improving things.
That would sound a little like... Outlanders! |
|
|
|
Jax2Published Author Veteran Member Posts:269 
| 6/6/2010 11:32 AM |
|
As has been pointed out here many times before...it's interesting how most of the suggestions to improve DL always involve imitating Outlanders.  |
|
|
|
)3az )3aziahBritish Bloke Veteran Member Posts:1060
| 6/6/2010 4:31 PM |
|
=============================== Billy Fish: He wants to know if we are gods.
Peachy Carnehan: Not gods - Englishmen. The next best thing.
Please check out my FLICKR photos
|
|
|
|
Jax2Published Author Veteran Member Posts:269
| 6/6/2010 7:12 PM |
|
|
And has also been pointed out many times, those who pointed that out were basing itheir points on complete assumptions not hard fact.
Do I have to say it again?
Oh, you insist, do ya?
All right .
>sigh<
Outlanders would have been published whether DL was around or not. The DL connection was stuck on at the last minute and has flapped from OL's ass-cheeks like a scrap of toilet paper for the last 13 years.
|
|
|
|
)3az )3aziahBritish Bloke Veteran Member Posts:1060
| 6/6/2010 7:28 PM |
|
Posted By Jax2 on 06 Jun 2010 07:12 PM
And has also been pointed out many times, those who pointed that out were basing itheir points on complete assumptions not hard fact.
Do I have to say it again?
Oh, you insist, do ya?
All right .
>sigh<
Outlanders would have been published whether DL was around or not. The DL connection was stuck on at the last minute and has flapped from OL's ass-cheeks like a scrap of toilet paper for the last 13 years.
Sorry, you appear to have missed my sarcasm... I had hoped the "Ducks for cover" and all the smilies would have given you a clue? =============================== Billy Fish: He wants to know if we are gods.
Peachy Carnehan: Not gods - Englishmen. The next best thing.
Please check out my FLICKR photos
|
|
|
|
APPublished Author Veteran Member Posts:346 
| 6/6/2010 7:56 PM |
|
Posted By Jax2 on 06 Jun 2010 07:12 PM
And has also been pointed out many times, Outlanders would have been published whether DL was around or not. The DL connection was stuck on at the last minute and has flapped from OL's ass-cheeks like a scrap of toilet paper for the last 13 years.
Ewwwww! For 13 years I wondered where that horrible smell was coming from. And here I blamed the poor dog. Seriously though, differences in the two series are considerable. Night and day, in fact. OL is science fiction with an overall series story arc; DL is men’s adventure with some science-fictiony elements and nowhere to go. Maybe LJ could have forced some big changes down GE’s throat, but I doubt it. Otherwise, he would’ve pulled it off well before Book 32. I tried to mess with the formula during my DL sojourn, even going so far as to trick GE into giving me two consecutive books (Plague Lords and Dark Resurrection) so I could actually tell a fully developed story for once. And as my last gasp I got to add a third installment to the Shadow World mini-series, Doom Helix, which comes out in September. The duology and the trilogy are deadends, albeit elaborate. Just flapping in the breeze.  |
|
|
|
Jax2Published Author Veteran Member Posts:269
| 6/6/2010 8:59 PM |
|
Posted By )3az )3aziah on 06 Jun 2010 07:28 PM
Sorry, you appear to have missed my sarcasm...
I had hoped the "Ducks for cover" and all the smilies would have given you a clue?
I didn't miss your sarcasm...but there may actually be one or two genuine newbies here who would have and not understand that you were slyly referencing a groundless defense put forth here by the DL-Only crowd for the last decade-plus. So I figured I'd just post the truth straight from the buttonhole without my usual half-assed attempt at diplomacy. More complete BS has been posted about Outlanders and its genesis than ever was posted about DL, despite its much more complicated origin and writing history. Here are a couple of the more common turds that are habitually posted about OL on the various forums here over the last few years. (You can tell by the smilies which ones are the most lacking in any sub-atomic particles of truth.) (1) DL was such a wild, runaway and popular success Harlequin decided to publish a spin-off...even though it took them nearly a decade to get around to it.  (2) Laurence James actually created Outlanders, but was unable to write it...even though he had quit GE six months before I started working on the proposal that eventually became OL.  (3) I created and wrote 95 percent of the Outlanders series under the instruction and constant supervison of the GE editorial staff--all two of 'em.  Alan--I agree. If LJ had any inclination to expand the canvas of DL, he certainly would have made the attempt to do so in the decade he worked on the series. As it is, he still managed something unique...writing an SF series that displayed not only a contempt for basic science and logic but an apparent loathing of it. |
|
|
|
APPublished Author Veteran Member Posts:346
| 6/7/2010 4:06 PM |
|
Posted By Jax2 on 06 Jun 2010 08:59 PM
As it is, he still managed something unique...writing an SF series that displayed not only a contempt for basic science and logic but an apparent loathing of it.
Hooray?  |
|
|
|
Cerberus ManBasic Member Posts:144
| 6/8/2010 9:37 AM |
|
|
"It's better to have a blaster and not need it than to need it and--"
"Oh, spare me," Brigid said irritably.
(Kane and Brigid Baptiste from Armageddon Axis)
|
|
|
|
NicodemusNew Member Posts:17 
| 6/9/2010 2:31 AM |
|
RE: AP
Holy ****
Never realized the actual authors posted here, thats superb!
I really enjoyed your two books which took the companions on a intrigueing journey to South America, it built on the regrowth of quality the series has established lately with the likes of Vengeance trail, Cannibal moon etc etc....I hope you stay on board.
I'm Looking forward to your next installment....speaking of which....Any small hints you can give us mere fans about the upcoming novel based off shadow world and breakthrough?
|
|
|
|