i loved the whole dark is rising series. it was very clever if you ask me. i couldn't get into the film of it at all which sort of proves your point dark i think.
the best set of fantasy books of all time is the middle earth series though. lord of the rings, the hobbit etc. if you ask me those books are unbeatable. the depth of the world, the characters, so so cleverly and painstakingly well written. it's true to say i have to be in the mood for those books but equally there's no other set of books like it in my opinion. i've often wondered if hp was taking some ideas from lotr, mainly the horcrux idea and the ring. the main difference being that the horcrux doesn't give power to the one that holds it but it still has an affect over the person who is in contact with it for the longest and it also tries to stop you from destroying it. as much as i enjoyed hp, it will never match up to lotr for depth of creation. Sent from my iPad On 13 Aug 2012, at 08:43, "dark" <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Tom. > > To me, the simple idea of a ship flying through space on an exploration > mission is not directly startrek related, provided the ship, universe, > characters and aliens are different ones. > > For example, the series lost in space involved a family of humans on a > spaceship flying through unknown sectors of space trying to get home, > exploring as they went. Yet, this is an entirely different setting, universe, > set of characters and set of aliens to startrek, sinse the simple exploration > idea, like a ship with laser weapons and faster than light travel, is more a > general sf concept that could be taken in a different direction. > > Susan Cooper's dark is rising series (actually written before harry potter), > could be said to have some paralells, sinse it's about a young boy who meets > an eldily wizard, learns magic, and is involved in a prophecied battle > against evil magicians called the dark. > > Yet, the series has an entirely different tone and setting to harry potter. > There is for instance no school of magic, and though will can! use magic, > there is a strict code and set of lores under which he can use it, indeed > throughout the book will the old one, aka servent of the light and magician > is distinguished quite successively from will the boy. > > The prophecy is much more vague and never explored, jsut providing the > inevitability for the magic battle, and ultimately it's the characters that > matter most in the series, indeed most of the attacks by the dark revolve > around characters rather than overt magic, though ther is cetanly no shortage > of magic throughout the books. > > Even the real world setting differs hugely from harry potter, sinse the books > are entirely themed around wild places in Britain with keltic significance, > such as the mountain in wales, kade idris, or the seat of arthur, in fact > Will himself is the son of a large farming family, and not an only child or a > child living with a single parent in a modern city. > > > This is why so many fans of susan cooper's books were extremely angry when > hollywood turned it into a blatant harry potter knockoff film, and you had > will chucking fireballs and learning magic, not to mention changing will's > nationality to american for some reason even though the film was still set in > Britain. > > thus, I do think there is a difference betwene actual copying of ideas and > simply using general concepts. > > For instance, suppose you had a ship exploring new life etc, but the > "federation" they were from wasn't the goody goody one of startrek, but quite > a different body. perhaps unlike the ship's of startrek, the ship is much > smaller, perhaps with only a few crew members, none of whome are alien in > origin, and maybe the crew's technology is actually less! sophisticated than > aliens they meet. > > Then of course, there is no reason for the aliens to look human, or behave > like klingons, romulans, vulcans etc, they could be entirely and completely > different. > > Beware the Grue! > > Dark. > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [email protected]. --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
