“This place wants us dead.”
January 19, 2018 12:07 PM Subscribe
The Terror [YouTube] [Trailer] “Inspired by a true story, The Terror, from executive producers Ridley Scott, David Kajganich and Soo Hugh, takes viewers on a harrowing journey. The story centers on the Royal Navy’s perilous voyage into unchartered territory as the crew attempts to discover the Northwest Passage. Faced with treacherous conditions, limited resources, dwindling hope and fear of the unknown, the crew is pushed to the brink of extinction. Frozen, isolated and stuck at the end of the earth, The Terror highlights all that can go wrong when a group of men, desperate to survive, struggle not only with the elements, but with each other.”
[Alt link, working for the moment for (some?) region blocked locations]
[Alt link, working for the moment for (some?) region blocked locations]
I love tales of arctic exploration, and I loved the Dan Simmons novel this is based on. I'm really hoping the miniseries is good because ice--sailing ships--doomed aspirations--mistakes--poor judgment--more ice--hardship and suffering--sledging in the frigid zones--scurvy--hope--more suffering--death--(and/or survival)--and ice totally hits my sweet spot and is only enhanced by excellent visuals.
Happy with anticipation.
posted by Orlop at 12:16 PM on January 19, 2018 [4 favorites]
Happy with anticipation.
posted by Orlop at 12:16 PM on January 19, 2018 [4 favorites]
Looks like Captain Wentworth bit off more than he can chew this time.
posted by Iridic at 12:18 PM on January 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Iridic at 12:18 PM on January 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
I really liked this book, despite Dan Simmons being not a great human, and it felt very appropriate that the first and only time I read it was my first real Canadian winter in 2009.
I am looking forward to this, with hopefully some of the magical First Nations woman stuff ironed out.
posted by Kitteh at 12:23 PM on January 19, 2018 [9 favorites]
I am looking forward to this, with hopefully some of the magical First Nations woman stuff ironed out.
posted by Kitteh at 12:23 PM on January 19, 2018 [9 favorites]
I want to see how they do the carnivale part!
posted by fleacircus at 12:31 PM on January 19, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by fleacircus at 12:31 PM on January 19, 2018 [4 favorites]
This looks damn good. I had no foreknowledge of this. I appreciate the heads up. Wrong pole but I feel like they should get on their knees and pray for Shackleton.
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:38 PM on January 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:38 PM on January 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
Of a split mind on this. On the one hand, I'm interested to see this interpretation of one of Canada's foundational myths. On the other, I'm wary of others telling one of Canada's foundational myths.
posted by Capt. Renault at 12:41 PM on January 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Capt. Renault at 12:41 PM on January 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
I want to like this, but the whole white guys disturbing indigenous demons subplot really bugs me (especially given earlier treatments by the author.) Isn't being stuck on a frozen ocean and slowly being driven mad by your only reliable source of food terrifying enough?
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 12:52 PM on January 19, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 12:52 PM on January 19, 2018 [17 favorites]
Looks like they cast every character actor available, and as a recent viewer of the Aurora Borealis, I'm eager for further ice adventuring. Plus, I'm a sucker for any seafaring story, especially one into unmapped territory.
I'm in!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 12:59 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm in!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 12:59 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
Dan Simmons being not a great human
This assertion doesn’t surprise me particularly, but can anyone link to details? Dan Simmons wrote several of my favorite books, though I have not read he one in question since it’s subject didn’t really seem like my thing. I would have said I’d do a lot to see an adaptation of Hyperion, but I guess that depends on how bad a person such an adaptation would be rewarding.
posted by Caduceus at 1:02 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
This assertion doesn’t surprise me particularly, but can anyone link to details? Dan Simmons wrote several of my favorite books, though I have not read he one in question since it’s subject didn’t really seem like my thing. I would have said I’d do a lot to see an adaptation of Hyperion, but I guess that depends on how bad a person such an adaptation would be rewarding.
posted by Caduceus at 1:02 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
This assertion doesn’t surprise me particularly, but can anyone link to details?
We've actually discussed some of his personal politics on the blue previously.
posted by Fizz at 1:15 PM on January 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
We've actually discussed some of his personal politics on the blue previously.
posted by Fizz at 1:15 PM on January 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
yes Dan Simmons is problematic, and yes the story has issues but that doesn't mean that can't do a bang-up job of telling it (please!) its so fun:
historical drama
disaster story
horror story
its win win win all the way down!
(I am exite!)
posted by supermedusa at 1:17 PM on January 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
historical drama
disaster story
horror story
its win win win all the way down!
(I am exite!)
posted by supermedusa at 1:17 PM on January 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
> Fizz:
"This assertion doesn’t surprise me particularly, but can anyone link to details?
We've actually discussed some of his personal politics on the blue previously."
WHY DOES EVERYBODY HAVE TO MESS UP NEAT THINGS!
Really, I want nice things as much as the next chappie. I'd just like them to stay as nice things for a little longer...
posted by Samizdata at 1:17 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
"This assertion doesn’t surprise me particularly, but can anyone link to details?
We've actually discussed some of his personal politics on the blue previously."
WHY DOES EVERYBODY HAVE TO MESS UP NEAT THINGS!
Really, I want nice things as much as the next chappie. I'd just like them to stay as nice things for a little longer...
posted by Samizdata at 1:17 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
He's been taking in a bit too much 3rd-tier American talk radio in recent years.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 1:19 PM on January 19, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 1:19 PM on January 19, 2018 [5 favorites]
I wanted so much to love the book, but ended up unhappy with the Evil Gay. Sigh. I'm hoping the show might...not do that. Because oh man, Ciaran Hinds! Jared Harris!!
posted by theatro at 1:20 PM on January 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by theatro at 1:20 PM on January 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
I must admit I forgot about the Evil Gay subplot. Yeah, I'd like that to go too.
posted by Kitteh at 1:22 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Kitteh at 1:22 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
It's been very cold and snowy where I live for the past couple of weeks and watching that just made me want to lie down and die.
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:23 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:23 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
The uploader has not made the this video available in your country :(
Boo to that.
posted by arha at 1:30 PM on January 19, 2018
Boo to that.
posted by arha at 1:30 PM on January 19, 2018
Excited by Ice of Glory plus the Tuunbaq, despite the problematic bits.
posted by rewil at 1:34 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by rewil at 1:34 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
This sounds like it's one of those stories that's ripe to be improved by the adaptation correcting some of the original's more egregious errors. I hope that's the case with the finished product, because I too am a sucker for a good arctic survival/horror story.
posted by tobascodagama at 1:35 PM on January 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by tobascodagama at 1:35 PM on January 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
These poor blokes are in desperate need of a Canadian Ice Shack ™.
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:36 PM on January 19, 2018
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:36 PM on January 19, 2018
I want to like this, but the whole white guys disturbing indigenous demons subplot really bugs me (especially given earlier treatments by the author.) Isn't being stuck on a frozen ocean and slowly being driven mad by your only reliable source of food terrifying enough?
That was pretty much my reaction to the book at the time. Demon Ice Monster, whatever; but the legit most horrifying parts of the tale was simply unflinching accounts of what scurvy does to the human body.
posted by Drastic at 1:50 PM on January 19, 2018 [8 favorites]
That was pretty much my reaction to the book at the time. Demon Ice Monster, whatever; but the legit most horrifying parts of the tale was simply unflinching accounts of what scurvy does to the human body.
posted by Drastic at 1:50 PM on January 19, 2018 [8 favorites]
I'd watch Ciaran Hinds in just about anything. Pumped for this!
posted by orrnyereg at 1:53 PM on January 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by orrnyereg at 1:53 PM on January 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
The book started strong but I thought it turned into a rambling mess. I think it could have been edited into a great horror/thriller novel, but, it wasn't. Maybe adapting it to TV will kind of do that.
posted by thelonius at 1:58 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by thelonius at 1:58 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
The link's region blocked... don't know if this is the same one.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:01 PM on January 19, 2018
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:01 PM on January 19, 2018
Freezing, scurvy and lead poisoning, don't forget.
I heard Herzog passed on it because it was too jolly.
posted by scruss at 2:05 PM on January 19, 2018 [10 favorites]
I heard Herzog passed on it because it was too jolly.
posted by scruss at 2:05 PM on January 19, 2018 [10 favorites]
The book was so weird. I'm excited to watch this!
posted by slipthought at 2:12 PM on January 19, 2018
posted by slipthought at 2:12 PM on January 19, 2018
I can't wait for the Demenified version of this.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 2:44 PM on January 19, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by I-Write-Essays at 2:44 PM on January 19, 2018 [7 favorites]
STUPID POINTLESS GEOBLOCKING
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:50 PM on January 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:50 PM on January 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
For a take on the Franklin Expedition that doesn't rely on snow demons, as I take it this might, may I direct you to Vollmann's The Rifles?
I once nearly bought a postcard-sized watercolor of one of the ships in Lady Franklin's rescue missions which had a provenance indicating it was likely painted on-scene as the ship overwintered on the ice by the ship's master, if I recall correctly. I suppose it's possible the image was painted at home after the expeditions returned emptyhanded, and was of the Terror or the Erebus. Wish I could find the details, as the painter, provenance, and ship were clearly identified. I stumbled across it about ten years ago in an online estate-sale inventory while researching something else. It went for under $200; I still regret not having bestirred myself.
posted by mwhybark at 4:07 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
I once nearly bought a postcard-sized watercolor of one of the ships in Lady Franklin's rescue missions which had a provenance indicating it was likely painted on-scene as the ship overwintered on the ice by the ship's master, if I recall correctly. I suppose it's possible the image was painted at home after the expeditions returned emptyhanded, and was of the Terror or the Erebus. Wish I could find the details, as the painter, provenance, and ship were clearly identified. I stumbled across it about ten years ago in an online estate-sale inventory while researching something else. It went for under $200; I still regret not having bestirred myself.
posted by mwhybark at 4:07 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
Wasn’t one of heroes in the book gay too though?
posted by Jess the Mess at 4:20 PM on January 19, 2018
posted by Jess the Mess at 4:20 PM on January 19, 2018
egregious errors
no no they were the Erebus and the Terror
posted by mwhybark at 4:35 PM on January 19, 2018 [7 favorites]
no no they were the Erebus and the Terror
posted by mwhybark at 4:35 PM on January 19, 2018 [7 favorites]
Gallonofalan, try this Vimeo link. Not sure if they geo-restrict in the same way.
posted by Fizz at 4:35 PM on January 19, 2018
posted by Fizz at 4:35 PM on January 19, 2018
Wasn’t one of heroes in the book gay too though?
yes, the old guy (can't remember name) who has a lovely, platonic relationship with a young guy, helps him learn to read. his back story is filled with past affairs with men, but he never indulges on shipboard.
posted by supermedusa at 4:49 PM on January 19, 2018
yes, the old guy (can't remember name) who has a lovely, platonic relationship with a young guy, helps him learn to read. his back story is filled with past affairs with men, but he never indulges on shipboard.
posted by supermedusa at 4:49 PM on January 19, 2018
STUPID POINTLESS GEOBLOCKING
took me a while to get the joke, like just under 200 years seems like, but this has it cold
posted by mwhybark at 5:48 PM on January 19, 2018
took me a while to get the joke, like just under 200 years seems like, but this has it cold
posted by mwhybark at 5:48 PM on January 19, 2018
Oh, man. The novel has serious flaws, but reading it in my armchair on a series of cold nights, with good port at hand - that was a treat. I hope the series is good!
posted by Mr. Excellent at 6:19 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr. Excellent at 6:19 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
I liked The Terror and I hope for the best with this, but there's something overprocessed and very green-screen-y about this trailer. Everything looks very artificial, like a stage set or half-finished FX reel.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 7:00 PM on January 19, 2018
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 7:00 PM on January 19, 2018
After reading the racist right-wing paranoid screed that is Flashback, I'll never watch anything that Simmons has touched again. "Problematic" doesn't even come close.
posted by longdaysjourney at 7:58 PM on January 19, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by longdaysjourney at 7:58 PM on January 19, 2018 [7 favorites]
I am sorry to be reminded of the problematic aspects of the book, and Dan Simmons, by you people. I had sort of forgotten the parts of the book that bothered me when I read it, remembering only the parts I liked.
Still, I'll give the miniseries I try, I think. Because there's a ship in it and I love movies with ships.
Also, I recently watched my first Werner Herzog documentary, so I get scruss's joke, and also appreciated iridic's Captain Wentworth line.
posted by Orlop at 9:20 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
Still, I'll give the miniseries I try, I think. Because there's a ship in it and I love movies with ships.
Also, I recently watched my first Werner Herzog documentary, so I get scruss's joke, and also appreciated iridic's Captain Wentworth line.
posted by Orlop at 9:20 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
in a similar vein: "this 10-year venture, led by the legendary Danish captain Vitus Bering and including scientists, artists, mariners, soldiers, and laborers, discovered Alaska, opened the Pacific fur trade, and led to fame, shipwreck, and 'one of the most tragic and ghastly trials of suffering in the annals of maritime and arctic history.' "
posted by kliuless at 9:22 PM on January 19, 2018
posted by kliuless at 9:22 PM on January 19, 2018
> fearfulsymmetry:
"The link's region blocked... don't know if this is the same one."
Worked for me.
"Honor? Glory? I just want a bloody decent coat!" Lance Corporal Firstepisode Death
posted by Samizdata at 11:27 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
"The link's region blocked... don't know if this is the same one."
Worked for me.
"Honor? Glory? I just want a bloody decent coat!" Lance Corporal Firstepisode Death
posted by Samizdata at 11:27 PM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
Mod note: I've added fearfulsymmetry's alternative link for region-blocked readers to the post; hopefully it will hold up!
posted by taz (staff) at 12:09 AM on January 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by taz (staff) at 12:09 AM on January 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
"Man Proposes, God Disposes; or, Too Soon?" by Edwin Landseer
Despite it being really problematic re: Indigenous people, I'm inordinately fond of Mordecai Richler's depiction of the Franklin Expedition in Solomon Gursky Was Here.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:31 AM on January 20, 2018
Despite it being really problematic re: Indigenous people, I'm inordinately fond of Mordecai Richler's depiction of the Franklin Expedition in Solomon Gursky Was Here.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:31 AM on January 20, 2018
This will do until I win the lottery and have money to give Guillermo Del Toro full steam ahead to make his perfect version of Lovecraft's "Beyond the Mountains of Madness". It will be my gift to humanity.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 4:46 AM on January 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 4:46 AM on January 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
This looks good, but it would be even better if it spurs a sequel about Jane Franklin. Her life was pretty amazing for her time and background, and I'd fancy her chances against any supernatural elements if those get chucked in.
posted by YoungStencil at 9:04 AM on January 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by YoungStencil at 9:04 AM on January 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
After reading the racist right-wing paranoid screed that is Flashback, I'll never watch anything that Simmons has touched again. "Problematic" doesn't even come close.
I wholeheartedly agree, was just about to post this exact thing. Dan Simmons is not "problematic," he is a racist and an Islamophobe. No need to couch what he is, he is exactly that as witnessed by his writings.
I bought The Terror years ago when it was first released and it ended up in the recycling once I read what Simmons thought of people like me. I would have liked to have burned it but I cherish Mother Earth too much.
posted by nikitabot at 9:07 AM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
I wholeheartedly agree, was just about to post this exact thing. Dan Simmons is not "problematic," he is a racist and an Islamophobe. No need to couch what he is, he is exactly that as witnessed by his writings.
I bought The Terror years ago when it was first released and it ended up in the recycling once I read what Simmons thought of people like me. I would have liked to have burned it but I cherish Mother Earth too much.
posted by nikitabot at 9:07 AM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
I read and enjoyed The Terror. It hit a lot of my fiction buttons as well... ships, survival, scurvy, etc.
Then I tried to read Dan Simmons' Carrion Comfort. I stopped at the second rape scene, which was described in such cruel detail (for four or five pages, at least) that I started to get the feeling that I was reading the author's sexual fantasy. It felt really, really gross.
posted by Laura Palmer's Cold Dead Kiss at 10:39 AM on January 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
Then I tried to read Dan Simmons' Carrion Comfort. I stopped at the second rape scene, which was described in such cruel detail (for four or five pages, at least) that I started to get the feeling that I was reading the author's sexual fantasy. It felt really, really gross.
posted by Laura Palmer's Cold Dead Kiss at 10:39 AM on January 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
Happy with anticipation.
posted by Orlop at 12:16 PM on January 19
eponautical!
posted by Sauce Trough at 12:38 PM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Orlop at 12:16 PM on January 19
eponautical!
posted by Sauce Trough at 12:38 PM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
> Major Matt Mason Dixon:
"This will do until I win the lottery and have money to give Guillermo Del Toro full steam ahead to make his perfect version of Lovecraft's "Beyond the Mountains of Madness". It will be my gift to humanity."
Can't wait. Stop dragging your feet on Powerball already!
posted by Samizdata at 1:25 PM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
"This will do until I win the lottery and have money to give Guillermo Del Toro full steam ahead to make his perfect version of Lovecraft's "Beyond the Mountains of Madness". It will be my gift to humanity."
Can't wait. Stop dragging your feet on Powerball already!
posted by Samizdata at 1:25 PM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
kliuless, I've added that book directly to my reading list, thank you! May I return the favour: In the Kingdom of Ice is the best book I've ever read about disaster befalling an Arctic expedition. Wholeheartedly recommended.
(I loved [most of] The Terror and am excited for this adaptation; the trailer looks strong. I feel the same way about Dan Simmons as I do about Orson Scott Card: glad that I read the works of his I'd be most interested in, Hyperion and The Terror, before I found out what a terrible person he is, so now I can stop reading him with no regrets. There was a Twitter thread the other day, which I can't find again, about how terrible Abominable is. Yeucch, never reading that.)
posted by daisyk at 3:01 PM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
(I loved [most of] The Terror and am excited for this adaptation; the trailer looks strong. I feel the same way about Dan Simmons as I do about Orson Scott Card: glad that I read the works of his I'd be most interested in, Hyperion and The Terror, before I found out what a terrible person he is, so now I can stop reading him with no regrets. There was a Twitter thread the other day, which I can't find again, about how terrible Abominable is. Yeucch, never reading that.)
posted by daisyk at 3:01 PM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
I think The Terror might have been the last paper book I read before I got sucked into the e reader universe, never to return. I do remember reading it sitting on my deck in the August heat and actually feeling cold.
I will watch the hell out of this.
posted by biscotti at 4:05 PM on January 20, 2018
I will watch the hell out of this.
posted by biscotti at 4:05 PM on January 20, 2018
the best book I've ever read about disaster befalling an Arctic expedition
sidebar, or attenuated late-thread topic, or whatever.
I am bemused by the fact that this narrative subgenre is a recognizable one, and really, if you look at public response and publishing investment, has been from the earliest polar expeditions after the onset of an industrialized consumer base.
this specific subgenre is made of sacrifice and failure lionized as heroic endeavor. quite often and pretty obviously the sacrifice and the failure are the result of either or both command and supply-chain incompetence, not bad luck or snow demons or whatever. Most of the written material in the subgenre would appear to validate my observation here, at least that of it with which I have familiarity.
It's not my favorite subgenre, because I lack fundamental sympathy for the genre's protagonists, up to and including Jon Krakauer.
But here's the thing: where are the operatic weeper media about failures in space programs? It's literally the next step above an expedition on Everest, and in the unforgiving environments outside the Earth's biosphere, it's not like a fellow can just "be going outside" in the manner of Lawrence Oates (who, I just learned in pursuing quote accuracy, had a child unknown to him, the result of, uh, the rape of eleven-year-old. uh. Yeah, fuck that guy).
Anyway, where are these grand weepers set in orbit? I'm a lot more interested in them than men freezing to death in the polar regions.
posted by mwhybark at 4:49 PM on January 20, 2018
sidebar, or attenuated late-thread topic, or whatever.
I am bemused by the fact that this narrative subgenre is a recognizable one, and really, if you look at public response and publishing investment, has been from the earliest polar expeditions after the onset of an industrialized consumer base.
this specific subgenre is made of sacrifice and failure lionized as heroic endeavor. quite often and pretty obviously the sacrifice and the failure are the result of either or both command and supply-chain incompetence, not bad luck or snow demons or whatever. Most of the written material in the subgenre would appear to validate my observation here, at least that of it with which I have familiarity.
It's not my favorite subgenre, because I lack fundamental sympathy for the genre's protagonists, up to and including Jon Krakauer.
But here's the thing: where are the operatic weeper media about failures in space programs? It's literally the next step above an expedition on Everest, and in the unforgiving environments outside the Earth's biosphere, it's not like a fellow can just "be going outside" in the manner of Lawrence Oates (who, I just learned in pursuing quote accuracy, had a child unknown to him, the result of, uh, the rape of eleven-year-old. uh. Yeah, fuck that guy).
Anyway, where are these grand weepers set in orbit? I'm a lot more interested in them than men freezing to death in the polar regions.
posted by mwhybark at 4:49 PM on January 20, 2018
I always wondered what happened to Dan Simmons, because the Hyperion books were such a fun read. You can almost spot the exact moment in the writing of Ilium where something in his brain just snapped and he went full racist.
Did he have a stroke? Brain tumor pressing on his racist gland? A new metal filling somehow beaming Fox news directly into his brain? Who knows.
posted by kzin602 at 7:21 PM on January 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
Did he have a stroke? Brain tumor pressing on his racist gland? A new metal filling somehow beaming Fox news directly into his brain? Who knows.
posted by kzin602 at 7:21 PM on January 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
Man, that was a looooong book.
posted by gottabefunky at 11:12 PM on January 20, 2018
posted by gottabefunky at 11:12 PM on January 20, 2018
And I loves me some historic-ish terror adventure something fierce.
posted by gottabefunky at 11:13 PM on January 20, 2018
posted by gottabefunky at 11:13 PM on January 20, 2018
I remember HAVING URGENT QUESTIONS (whoa spoilers ahoy!) about the book. Unfortunately, I now do not remember enough of the specifics to compare to the film, and, well, as gottabefunky says, looooong book, so I probably won't re-read to get in shape.
> I think The Terror might have been the last paper book I read before I got sucked into the e reader universe, never to return. I do remember reading it sitting on my deck in the August heat and actually feeling cold.
That's why I read it!
posted by taz at 1:21 AM on January 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
> I think The Terror might have been the last paper book I read before I got sucked into the e reader universe, never to return. I do remember reading it sitting on my deck in the August heat and actually feeling cold.
That's why I read it!
posted by taz at 1:21 AM on January 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
The Terror! Jesus Christ, that book sucked. I have tried my best to forget reading it, but I dug through gchat to find what I told my friends at the time what I thought of the book (which was in June 2017, when I found out it was going to be adapted into a TV show).
I'm reading Dan Simmons' The Terror right now
it's a paranormal take on the Franklin expedition
he wrote it in 2007
so, post crazyfication
the dialogue is so modern and non British/Irish to me that it's jarring
especially when you get into the POV of the Irish guy, and his dialogue isn't even convincingly modern Irish. It's just "goddamn this fucking shit!" which sounds like my dad
'fucking' as an adjective didn't come around until WW1
it sounds very modern American
like if it was made to sound like modern British or Irish swearing, I might be more ok with it
but it just feels like the author can't write period dialogue
he kind of does a half assed attempt with the more upper class characters
but then you have Sir John Franklin reminiscing about an "oversexed" shipmate
and talking about crinolines in the 1820s
with "the skirts pushed up over the ass"
I'm reading it for the action and atmosphere
but he did a weird thing where an super important action scene happens off screen
and you just get a report of what happened after the fact
WTF?
that is Bad Writing 101
so I'm reading it because a TV show is going to be based off of it.
I think it would make a good basis for a series. Hopefully they'll improve on it
so the British actors will say "arse" instead of ass and the action will happen on screen
And then a couple of days later I quit reading. I explained to one of my friends-- someone who had given up reading Simmons altogether after reading The Terror-- exactly why:
ME:
OK, I am giving up reading The Terror
I quit when Crozier's girlfriend strips to go skinny dipping
she's wearing "gaucho pants and a blouse" and NO CORSET underneath, just "unnamed frilly things"
WHAT THE FUCK
dude, I just typed "gaucho pants" in Google Book search 1850-1950 and guess when the first cite was
1941
this stupid fucking book
also, pants. PANTS
that is so American
MY FRIEND:
Isn't it?
I'm picturing author guy at his laptop
"Wonder what those underthings are called?"
"Could Google it but enhhh"
ME:
he wrote this in 2007!!!!!
he could have wiki'ed this shit!
MY FRIEND:
"Only dudes read my books!"
"Dudes don't care what frilly underthings are called!"
ME:
yeah, I'd say the guy is pretty fucking sexist
MY FRIEND:
YES
ME:
I mean the way he was writing about native women was GROSS.
MY FRIEND:
YES
Very
Good on you for quitting
Anyway, yeah. That about sums it up. I could never bring myself to write a proper review because the book was such utter crap. Really disappointing.
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 10:32 PM on January 21, 2018
I'm reading Dan Simmons' The Terror right now
it's a paranormal take on the Franklin expedition
he wrote it in 2007
so, post crazyfication
the dialogue is so modern and non British/Irish to me that it's jarring
especially when you get into the POV of the Irish guy, and his dialogue isn't even convincingly modern Irish. It's just "goddamn this fucking shit!" which sounds like my dad
'fucking' as an adjective didn't come around until WW1
it sounds very modern American
like if it was made to sound like modern British or Irish swearing, I might be more ok with it
but it just feels like the author can't write period dialogue
he kind of does a half assed attempt with the more upper class characters
but then you have Sir John Franklin reminiscing about an "oversexed" shipmate
and talking about crinolines in the 1820s
with "the skirts pushed up over the ass"
I'm reading it for the action and atmosphere
but he did a weird thing where an super important action scene happens off screen
and you just get a report of what happened after the fact
WTF?
that is Bad Writing 101
so I'm reading it because a TV show is going to be based off of it.
I think it would make a good basis for a series. Hopefully they'll improve on it
so the British actors will say "arse" instead of ass and the action will happen on screen
And then a couple of days later I quit reading. I explained to one of my friends-- someone who had given up reading Simmons altogether after reading The Terror-- exactly why:
ME:
OK, I am giving up reading The Terror
I quit when Crozier's girlfriend strips to go skinny dipping
she's wearing "gaucho pants and a blouse" and NO CORSET underneath, just "unnamed frilly things"
WHAT THE FUCK
dude, I just typed "gaucho pants" in Google Book search 1850-1950 and guess when the first cite was
1941
this stupid fucking book
also, pants. PANTS
that is so American
MY FRIEND:
Isn't it?
I'm picturing author guy at his laptop
"Wonder what those underthings are called?"
"Could Google it but enhhh"
ME:
he wrote this in 2007!!!!!
he could have wiki'ed this shit!
MY FRIEND:
"Only dudes read my books!"
"Dudes don't care what frilly underthings are called!"
ME:
yeah, I'd say the guy is pretty fucking sexist
MY FRIEND:
YES
ME:
I mean the way he was writing about native women was GROSS.
MY FRIEND:
YES
Very
Good on you for quitting
Anyway, yeah. That about sums it up. I could never bring myself to write a proper review because the book was such utter crap. Really disappointing.
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 10:32 PM on January 21, 2018
I should have put this into my last comment-- but I should add that I used to be a huge fan of Dan Simmons after reading Hyperion, and discovering his "crazyfication" made me very sad. That said, man, historical fiction is DEFINITELY not his metier, and he absolutely cannot write women. Also, hoo boy, the way he handles race is WAY creepy.
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 10:41 PM on January 21, 2018
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 10:41 PM on January 21, 2018
this specific subgenre is made of sacrifice and failure lionized as heroic endeavor. quite often and pretty obviously the sacrifice and the failure are the result of either or both command and supply-chain incompetence, not bad luck or snow demons or whatever.
It's been years since I read the book and my brain is not great in the first place, but I don't think it was that kind of story. It doesn't feel like a noble sacrifice of good people, they all seem sort of ignoble and arrogant and incompetent and it feels like they should die. It's not even the kind of movie where some of them turn out to be good and worth rooting for.. It's like The Thing minus MacReady, or The Keep with only Nazis, idk.
I remember it was a grim drag of a book, with the carnivale as a bizarre manifestation of madness and doom... In my memory it wasn't like, "The crew is losing it bit," but like, "Jeez the crew is summoning Nyarlathotep."
posted by fleacircus at 3:44 AM on January 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
It's been years since I read the book and my brain is not great in the first place, but I don't think it was that kind of story. It doesn't feel like a noble sacrifice of good people, they all seem sort of ignoble and arrogant and incompetent and it feels like they should die. It's not even the kind of movie where some of them turn out to be good and worth rooting for.. It's like The Thing minus MacReady, or The Keep with only Nazis, idk.
I remember it was a grim drag of a book, with the carnivale as a bizarre manifestation of madness and doom... In my memory it wasn't like, "The crew is losing it bit," but like, "Jeez the crew is summoning Nyarlathotep."
posted by fleacircus at 3:44 AM on January 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
I should have put this into my last comment-- but I should add that I used to be a huge fan of Dan Simmons after reading Hyperion, and discovering his "crazyfication" made me very sad. That said, man, historical fiction is DEFINITELY not his metier, and he absolutely cannot write women. Also, hoo boy, the way he handles race is WAY creepy.
Don't forget about his handling of the gays either. Traitorous backstabbers that end up as cannibals.
posted by Iax at 2:03 PM on January 22, 2018
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