In the world of science fiction there have been many people hailed as the "first". Mary Shelley is with no argument the "Grandmother" of modern science fiction. With that H.G. Wells and Jules Verne both hold titles of being the "Fathers" of science fiction and Hugo Gernsback being the "Father" of the pulp science fiction that gave us such writers as Isaac Asimov, Frederik Pohl and A.E. VanVogt. So, what does this have to do with this re-review? Very simple. The book that we are going to take a look at is the first in a series that gave us the mighty "space opera", and its author is no other then a legend in SF, E.E. "Doc" Smith.
Triplanetary: A Tale of Cosmic Adventure was a book released by Fantasy Press in 1948 from a series of short stories published in Amazing Stories from January to April of 1934, with filler material to tie it together for the final book form. The story itself is the staging point for the Lensman series, a sort of a Hobbit to the Lord of the Rings where Smith introduces us to his world and the events that lead up to the next book, First Lensman, which is the true beginning of the Lensman saga.
Triplanetary is staged into three parts, the first taking us back millions of years to a time when two galaxies came together and formed what is now the Milky Way galaxy. At this time there are only two known races in the Universe: those of the planet Arisia and those of Eddore. The beings that live on Arisia are an advanced form of humanoid that had become almost a being of energy. They are peaceful, enjoy learning and are immortal. Those of Eddore are similar to insects, warlike and also immortal. The Arisian encounter the Eddorians by accident and realize that they are a true threat to the universe, so they make the Eddorians forget the encounter and start a plan to battle their new enemies. This leads to life forming and growing in the galaxy, including the planet we live on, Earth (called Tellus in the book). There we learn of the loss of Atlantis, a people more advanced then we are now, and an attempt to kill a Roman emperor. Both events are part of the hidden battle between those of Arisia and their unsuspecting foes from Eddore.
As the story continues, we enter the second section of the book, and some of the filler material that ties the short stories together. The part that I found most interesting is a semi-autobiographical time of Smiths life. It starts in 1918 with the US now part of the War effort in Europe and a young soldier named Captain Ralph Kinnison (Smiths alter ego) and his efforts to stay alive in battle. We flash forward to 1941 when Ralph Kinnison become involved with the war effort in the US with weapons manufacturing and the politics behind it all. Here we can see that Smith has an axe to grind over his entire experience and delivers his full frustration over the events in his life that gave us this chapter. We flash forward to the beginning of World War Three and another Kinnison, Theodore, who tries to protect the US from an incoming missile attack.
This leads into the third section that takes place into the far future where three planets have come together in the protection of the solar system, hence the title of the book: Triplanetary. We find that the big danger of the day are the pirates who prey on cargo ships and passenger liners, the worse being a man called Gray Roger. Roger is, in fact, a being from Eddore called Gharlane who launches his attacks of human and robot pirates from a mobile planetoid. Into the mix comes another alien race, the Nevian, who come from a world, poor in metals that is used as a fuel source for their starships. Out of this comes battles and alliances that conclude rather abruptly at the end of the book.
With Triplanetary we have a book that inspired others to follow with their own space sagas, but sadly the book tends to drag and in spots it is hard to follow. The Lensmen have yet to be formed, and some of the characters are written as if they are in a melodrama, which to give some defense was popular in that day. The writing is not in top form, and is hard to keep track of what is going on, and the ending comes to quick and clean. My personal recommendation for a reader is to start with the second book, First Lensman, saving Triplanatary for last. But as stated before, this is the start of a saga that had inspired many we have today.
The most famous of those inspired is J. Michael Staczynski, who gave us the five year television saga Babylon 5. One can point to the age old battle between the Arisians and the Eddorians similar to that of the Vorlons and Shadows. Similar, but different. Plus the very idea of the Lensmen can be said to have inspired the Rangers on Babylon 5. But you can also point out that the Jedi in the Star Wars series of films might have had some inspiration from this saga.
So powerful was this series that in 1966 it was a finalist for a Hugo award for All-Time Best Series (an award that I feel was handed out prematurely) losing out to Asimov's Foundation saga, then consisting of three books. For some time is was hard to get ones hands on a copy of this might legacy... until now.
For those who are members of the Science Fiction Book Club, you can pick up two 3-in-1 editions that reprint the entire series for about $15 each, a total of about $30. But the most spectacular reprint has to come from Old Earth Books out of Baltimore, Maryland that have made a facsimile of the original hard cover edition by Fantasy Press released in 1948. Inside you will be able to read the same text and enjoy the same artwork that people before us had enjoyed. The sad part is that it is getting harder and harder to find these copies that was released in 1997 and each book costs $15, totaling up to $90 for all six books, but well worth the price. The only disappointment out of the Old Earth Books editions is the forward by John Clute is hard to figure out what he is saying. Skip the forward and jump into the story.
So in closing I must recommend that you take time out to discover this saga, but save Triplanetary for last and start with the second book First Lensman.
Eirik Farwanderer
10 December, 2009 Anno Domini.
Triplanetary: A Tale of Cosmic Adventure was a book released by Fantasy Press in 1948 from a series of short stories published in Amazing Stories from January to April of 1934, with filler material to tie it together for the final book form. The story itself is the staging point for the Lensman series, a sort of a Hobbit to the Lord of the Rings where Smith introduces us to his world and the events that lead up to the next book, First Lensman, which is the true beginning of the Lensman saga.
Triplanetary is staged into three parts, the first taking us back millions of years to a time when two galaxies came together and formed what is now the Milky Way galaxy. At this time there are only two known races in the Universe: those of the planet Arisia and those of Eddore. The beings that live on Arisia are an advanced form of humanoid that had become almost a being of energy. They are peaceful, enjoy learning and are immortal. Those of Eddore are similar to insects, warlike and also immortal. The Arisian encounter the Eddorians by accident and realize that they are a true threat to the universe, so they make the Eddorians forget the encounter and start a plan to battle their new enemies. This leads to life forming and growing in the galaxy, including the planet we live on, Earth (called Tellus in the book). There we learn of the loss of Atlantis, a people more advanced then we are now, and an attempt to kill a Roman emperor. Both events are part of the hidden battle between those of Arisia and their unsuspecting foes from Eddore.
As the story continues, we enter the second section of the book, and some of the filler material that ties the short stories together. The part that I found most interesting is a semi-autobiographical time of Smiths life. It starts in 1918 with the US now part of the War effort in Europe and a young soldier named Captain Ralph Kinnison (Smiths alter ego) and his efforts to stay alive in battle. We flash forward to 1941 when Ralph Kinnison become involved with the war effort in the US with weapons manufacturing and the politics behind it all. Here we can see that Smith has an axe to grind over his entire experience and delivers his full frustration over the events in his life that gave us this chapter. We flash forward to the beginning of World War Three and another Kinnison, Theodore, who tries to protect the US from an incoming missile attack.
This leads into the third section that takes place into the far future where three planets have come together in the protection of the solar system, hence the title of the book: Triplanetary. We find that the big danger of the day are the pirates who prey on cargo ships and passenger liners, the worse being a man called Gray Roger. Roger is, in fact, a being from Eddore called Gharlane who launches his attacks of human and robot pirates from a mobile planetoid. Into the mix comes another alien race, the Nevian, who come from a world, poor in metals that is used as a fuel source for their starships. Out of this comes battles and alliances that conclude rather abruptly at the end of the book.
With Triplanetary we have a book that inspired others to follow with their own space sagas, but sadly the book tends to drag and in spots it is hard to follow. The Lensmen have yet to be formed, and some of the characters are written as if they are in a melodrama, which to give some defense was popular in that day. The writing is not in top form, and is hard to keep track of what is going on, and the ending comes to quick and clean. My personal recommendation for a reader is to start with the second book, First Lensman, saving Triplanatary for last. But as stated before, this is the start of a saga that had inspired many we have today.
The most famous of those inspired is J. Michael Staczynski, who gave us the five year television saga Babylon 5. One can point to the age old battle between the Arisians and the Eddorians similar to that of the Vorlons and Shadows. Similar, but different. Plus the very idea of the Lensmen can be said to have inspired the Rangers on Babylon 5. But you can also point out that the Jedi in the Star Wars series of films might have had some inspiration from this saga.
So powerful was this series that in 1966 it was a finalist for a Hugo award for All-Time Best Series (an award that I feel was handed out prematurely) losing out to Asimov's Foundation saga, then consisting of three books. For some time is was hard to get ones hands on a copy of this might legacy... until now.
For those who are members of the Science Fiction Book Club, you can pick up two 3-in-1 editions that reprint the entire series for about $15 each, a total of about $30. But the most spectacular reprint has to come from Old Earth Books out of Baltimore, Maryland that have made a facsimile of the original hard cover edition by Fantasy Press released in 1948. Inside you will be able to read the same text and enjoy the same artwork that people before us had enjoyed. The sad part is that it is getting harder and harder to find these copies that was released in 1997 and each book costs $15, totaling up to $90 for all six books, but well worth the price. The only disappointment out of the Old Earth Books editions is the forward by John Clute is hard to figure out what he is saying. Skip the forward and jump into the story.
So in closing I must recommend that you take time out to discover this saga, but save Triplanetary for last and start with the second book First Lensman.
Eirik Farwanderer
10 December, 2009 Anno Domini.
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