SECOND STAGE LENSMEN
More on the series here:
http://dr-hermes.livejournal.com/tag/lensmen
More SPOILERS Than Usual ahead.
But if you're a diehard fan of pulp science-fiction, odds are you already know the basics of this series anyway. It's like giving away that the giant ape dies at the end of KING KONG.
From ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, where it was run serially from November 1941 to February 1942, it's the third entry in the original sequence of the Lensmen books by E.E. "Doc" Smith. This one seems almost like a remake of GRAY LENSMAN, with smoother writing. There are a couple of apocalyptic space battles, but most of the story details the suspenseful clandestine missions Kimball Kinnison undertakes in disguise to get information on the enemy. (In fact, these undercover operations are what sold me on the Lensman books; I had thought the series would be nothing but spaceships blowing up planets and was happily surprised at the lengthy espionage aspects.)
Unfortunately for me, I had read articles and comments over the years about the Lensmen books which gave away the escalating nature of its plots. It's hard now to imagine how excited and surprised readers must have been back when the stories first appeared in ASTOUNDING. Each book ended with what seemed like final triumph of the good guys over the black hats and (with the beginning of the next story), we find out that not only is the struggle not over at all, it has been cranked up a few notches to even higher stakes. ("At first we thought they were merely organized outlaws and pirates... We know now that theywere wider-spread than we are. Inter-galactic")
So, where the Lensmen and the Galactic Patrol had earlier thought the Boskonian threat was smashed, they find out something even bigger and more ominous was behind it all along and (even worse), it's on its way. Again, every superlative in the English language is dusted off and put to use as Smith describes the defense of Earth and the launching of a space fleet and a battle that all the dogfights from REVENGE OF THE SITH would be lost within. (The Grand Fleet is so huge it shows up as a celestial object.)
Smith's style has become increasingly polished and toned down in each book. The overheated phrasing ("It was - it MUST be - nothing less than the utter destruction of all matter for miles around," that sort of thing) is more effective when it's not used in every paragraph, and he has discovered the power of understatement. Still, this is classic Space Opera and purple prose is entirely appropriate for the subject. Personally, I like it and feel a dry, matter-of-fact style would fall flat for this kind of story.
The warfare in this series is so over the top in scale that it's almost hypnotic. Battles are fought by hurling planets as missiles, by using negaspheres (not quite anti-matter and not quite black holes), and by something called the sunbeam. As I understand it, the Galactic Patrol taps the energy output of a star and focuses it like a laser beam with expected results. Frankly, this tampering with a star's processes seems like asking for big trouble to me, although I am assured the scientistis involved know what they are doing and the sun so used promptly flares back up to its normal state. ("The sun, shining so brightly, darkened almost to the point of invisibility. War-vessels of the enemy disappeared, each puffing out into a tiny but brilliant sparkle of light.")
Clarissa McDougall comes into her own in this story. She is a tall gorgeous woman with "red-bronze-auburn-hair and equally striking gold-flecked, tawny eyes"*, with a strength of will and character that makes her fit to be a Lensman. In fact, Cris becomes the first female Lensman (not "Lensperson", thank you) at least among the humanoid races we see. She herself is dubious about her status at first, calling herself a sort of "Red" Lensman, but she rapidly rises to be a genuine Unattached (or Gray) Lensman. By the way, I love Kimball's response when Cris says she's not worthy to wear a Lens ("None of us are, Cris - we can't be, but we've got to do it, just the same.")
Aside from her heroic skills, her romance with Kimball is completely convincing. Okay, it's not presented in the subtlety and slow development you'd find in a mainstream novel, but these are larger-than-life characters from the start. ("We've got a right to some happiness, you and I. They can't keep us apart forever sweetheart - we're going straight through with it this time.") The huge wedding scene with all its excess reads like a science-fiction version of Charles and Diana's gala and it's a mushy as any Harlequin reader would ask.
Although Kinnison has steadily been increasing his powers (he went back to Mentor for further training and earned enough merit badges on his sash to be a Second Stage Lensman, one of only four known), he never becomes so godlike that you feel he's invincible. For one thing, he's up against aliens and technology that are in the same class. Also, so much of his success depends on his spy work, which means a lot of tense role-acting and quick thinking. I also like the way that sometimes he just hits limits; in a formal saber duel, Kim wants to win without using his telepathic blasts. He has his hands full and takes some damage ("He sensed it coming but could not parry or avoid it entirely... Again, in spite of all he could do, Kinnison was pinked; this time by a straight thrust aimed at his heart.")
There is one scene that confused me slightly when I first read it, and it still seems a bit dodgy. Kinnison finally confronts the head of the entire Boskonian empire, a being which has been concealing its physical appearance behind an hypnotic illusion. As they go into their death duel with Kim's Lens flaring up like a searchlight, blasting each other with sheer mental force, the fiend is revealed as a giant brain (oh no! It's Gor from Arous again!). There is one reference that this is actually Gharlane of Eddore (neither term familiar to our hero at this point).
Yet, when Kinnison reports his hard-earned victory to Mentor of Arisia, he doesn't get a honest answer as to what this critter is. Mentor instead mutters something about having known a rogue Arisian long ago who was exiled -- he never says that this monster is that Arisian, he just lets Kim reach that conclusion. Jeez, if you can't trust Mentor to give you the straight dope, you might as well believe what Ben Kenobi tells you.)
At one point, Kinnison has to deal with an extreme planet-wide matriarchy on Lyrane, and I thought Smith handled the premise with surprising open-mindedness (although Kim seems to be tossing out a lot more insults than usual while there). Kinnison defends his own society ("I am a person of a race having two EQUAL sexes. Equal in every way.") and he doesn't expect to turn their society around overnight. (The narrative itself says that "...it has been argued that sexual equality is the most important criterion of that which we know as Civilization"... this in a 1942 pulp story. remember.)
You might be surprised to learn that in the far-distant future of the Lensmen universe, tobacco is still around and more popular than ever. Asked if there are any cigarettes on his ship DAUNTLESS, Kinnison blithely replies, "Sure. Alsakanite, Venerian, Tellurian, most anything - we carry a couple of hundred different brands." Somehow I hadn't expected that. It's just a small reminder that these books were after all written in a different era, like when a galaxy-spanning spacecraft has an instrument where "one of the recording pens swung wildly across the ruled paper." These little discrepancies of prophecy give Golden Age science fiction much of its charm for me.
________
*I dunno, do you wonder if Doc Savage and his cousin Pat could possibly be from a branch of this Arisian-controlled thoroughbred line?
http://dr-hermes.livejournal.com/tag/lensmen
More SPOILERS Than Usual ahead.
But if you're a diehard fan of pulp science-fiction, odds are you already know the basics of this series anyway. It's like giving away that the giant ape dies at the end of KING KONG.
From ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, where it was run serially from November 1941 to February 1942, it's the third entry in the original sequence of the Lensmen books by E.E. "Doc" Smith. This one seems almost like a remake of GRAY LENSMAN, with smoother writing. There are a couple of apocalyptic space battles, but most of the story details the suspenseful clandestine missions Kimball Kinnison undertakes in disguise to get information on the enemy. (In fact, these undercover operations are what sold me on the Lensman books; I had thought the series would be nothing but spaceships blowing up planets and was happily surprised at the lengthy espionage aspects.)
Unfortunately for me, I had read articles and comments over the years about the Lensmen books which gave away the escalating nature of its plots. It's hard now to imagine how excited and surprised readers must have been back when the stories first appeared in ASTOUNDING. Each book ended with what seemed like final triumph of the good guys over the black hats and (with the beginning of the next story), we find out that not only is the struggle not over at all, it has been cranked up a few notches to even higher stakes. ("At first we thought they were merely organized outlaws and pirates... We know now that theywere wider-spread than we are. Inter-galactic")
So, where the Lensmen and the Galactic Patrol had earlier thought the Boskonian threat was smashed, they find out something even bigger and more ominous was behind it all along and (even worse), it's on its way. Again, every superlative in the English language is dusted off and put to use as Smith describes the defense of Earth and the launching of a space fleet and a battle that all the dogfights from REVENGE OF THE SITH would be lost within. (The Grand Fleet is so huge it shows up as a celestial object.)
Smith's style has become increasingly polished and toned down in each book. The overheated phrasing ("It was - it MUST be - nothing less than the utter destruction of all matter for miles around," that sort of thing) is more effective when it's not used in every paragraph, and he has discovered the power of understatement. Still, this is classic Space Opera and purple prose is entirely appropriate for the subject. Personally, I like it and feel a dry, matter-of-fact style would fall flat for this kind of story.
The warfare in this series is so over the top in scale that it's almost hypnotic. Battles are fought by hurling planets as missiles, by using negaspheres (not quite anti-matter and not quite black holes), and by something called the sunbeam. As I understand it, the Galactic Patrol taps the energy output of a star and focuses it like a laser beam with expected results. Frankly, this tampering with a star's processes seems like asking for big trouble to me, although I am assured the scientistis involved know what they are doing and the sun so used promptly flares back up to its normal state. ("The sun, shining so brightly, darkened almost to the point of invisibility. War-vessels of the enemy disappeared, each puffing out into a tiny but brilliant sparkle of light.")
Clarissa McDougall comes into her own in this story. She is a tall gorgeous woman with "red-bronze-auburn-hair and equally striking gold-flecked, tawny eyes"*, with a strength of will and character that makes her fit to be a Lensman. In fact, Cris becomes the first female Lensman (not "Lensperson", thank you) at least among the humanoid races we see. She herself is dubious about her status at first, calling herself a sort of "Red" Lensman, but she rapidly rises to be a genuine Unattached (or Gray) Lensman. By the way, I love Kimball's response when Cris says she's not worthy to wear a Lens ("None of us are, Cris - we can't be, but we've got to do it, just the same.")
Aside from her heroic skills, her romance with Kimball is completely convincing. Okay, it's not presented in the subtlety and slow development you'd find in a mainstream novel, but these are larger-than-life characters from the start. ("We've got a right to some happiness, you and I. They can't keep us apart forever sweetheart - we're going straight through with it this time.") The huge wedding scene with all its excess reads like a science-fiction version of Charles and Diana's gala and it's a mushy as any Harlequin reader would ask.
Although Kinnison has steadily been increasing his powers (he went back to Mentor for further training and earned enough merit badges on his sash to be a Second Stage Lensman, one of only four known), he never becomes so godlike that you feel he's invincible. For one thing, he's up against aliens and technology that are in the same class. Also, so much of his success depends on his spy work, which means a lot of tense role-acting and quick thinking. I also like the way that sometimes he just hits limits; in a formal saber duel, Kim wants to win without using his telepathic blasts. He has his hands full and takes some damage ("He sensed it coming but could not parry or avoid it entirely... Again, in spite of all he could do, Kinnison was pinked; this time by a straight thrust aimed at his heart.")
There is one scene that confused me slightly when I first read it, and it still seems a bit dodgy. Kinnison finally confronts the head of the entire Boskonian empire, a being which has been concealing its physical appearance behind an hypnotic illusion. As they go into their death duel with Kim's Lens flaring up like a searchlight, blasting each other with sheer mental force, the fiend is revealed as a giant brain (oh no! It's Gor from Arous again!). There is one reference that this is actually Gharlane of Eddore (neither term familiar to our hero at this point).
Yet, when Kinnison reports his hard-earned victory to Mentor of Arisia, he doesn't get a honest answer as to what this critter is. Mentor instead mutters something about having known a rogue Arisian long ago who was exiled -- he never says that this monster is that Arisian, he just lets Kim reach that conclusion. Jeez, if you can't trust Mentor to give you the straight dope, you might as well believe what Ben Kenobi tells you.)
At one point, Kinnison has to deal with an extreme planet-wide matriarchy on Lyrane, and I thought Smith handled the premise with surprising open-mindedness (although Kim seems to be tossing out a lot more insults than usual while there). Kinnison defends his own society ("I am a person of a race having two EQUAL sexes. Equal in every way.") and he doesn't expect to turn their society around overnight. (The narrative itself says that "...it has been argued that sexual equality is the most important criterion of that which we know as Civilization"... this in a 1942 pulp story. remember.)
You might be surprised to learn that in the far-distant future of the Lensmen universe, tobacco is still around and more popular than ever. Asked if there are any cigarettes on his ship DAUNTLESS, Kinnison blithely replies, "Sure. Alsakanite, Venerian, Tellurian, most anything - we carry a couple of hundred different brands." Somehow I hadn't expected that. It's just a small reminder that these books were after all written in a different era, like when a galaxy-spanning spacecraft has an instrument where "one of the recording pens swung wildly across the ruled paper." These little discrepancies of prophecy give Golden Age science fiction much of its charm for me.
________
*I dunno, do you wonder if Doc Savage and his cousin Pat could possibly be from a branch of this Arisian-controlled thoroughbred line?