From Armada to Argon
Nov. 23rd, 2018 09:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerA few months after I'd listened to their podcast series taking a humourously skewed look at Ready Player One, Mike Nelson and Conor Lastowka started talking about Ernest Cline's second novel. I had kept looking back at their podcast's home page every so often, but didn't leap at the chance to listen to their take on Armada. Even if that novel seemed much less in constant deamnd at my local library and therefore easier to sign out to "see what they were talking about," my old uneasiness about what sort of putdowns the "Rifftrax" Conor might help write and Mike might help voice might have left me thinking I ought not to push my luck.
I still didn't leave the home page altogether alone, though, and one day I saw another post go up on it. This time, an electric shock of realisation flew through me. With the works of Ernest Cline used up for the moment, Mike and Conor were turning to an earlier work of "notable bad fiction." Not only was it one I already knew about, I just happened to have first learned about "The Eye of Argon" by Jim Theis via an altogether unofficial take on Mystery Science Theater 3000, Adam Cadre's MSTing.
Before I started listening to the "372 Pages We'll Never Get Back" episodes about "The Eye of Argon," however, I did get to wondering whether they might reference the Armada episodes. At last, I decided to take a chance on them as well, and signed out an electronic book from the same library-provided service I'd used to slug through Ready Player One at last. It seemed much more time-consuming for me to listen to the lengthy podcast episodes (and I couldn't "multitask" at too many other things while listening) than to read the chapters of the book they referred to. Still, they were generally entertaining. While Mike and Conor had started off wondering about Armada's reputation as "Cline's bad novel," and I did wonder about it at least trying to say something about "stories influencing how we look at the world" and "sons and fathers," it soon seemed clear enough that reach far exceeded its perhaps not completely intelligent, reference-dropping grasp (even with sort of a thing for Carl Sagan displayed). That in turn, though, might have kept the humour up in the podcast.
At last, I was through Armada, and wondering if the podcast would manage to acknowledge the existence of the MSTing, given that particular work was linked on a site it had referred to for the facsimile edition of Theis's original story. Conor did manage to bring it up, which I suppose has to be sufficient. I recall seeing a "MSTing FAQ" claiming (if without any memory of actual proof) that the "Best Brains" were aware of that sort of Mystery Science Theater fanwork, but couldn't read them given issues with "taking inspiration from awkward sources." Reprising something they'd done early on and "calibrating tastes" by asking opinions on bits of fantasy with a first resemblance to "The Eye of Argon," the podcast did suggest Mike and Conor didn't have much in the way of appreciation for 2001: A Space Odyssey, but perhaps it's best to have something like that to set against other differences of opinion.
Both the MSTing and the podcast in their lead-ins bring up a bit of "fanlore" about trying to read "The Eye of Argon" out loud without bursting into laughter. Mike and Conor didn't seem too overwhelmed by that, but they did seem to keep enjoying themselves. I did get to musing about how MSTings "had to say something every few lines" and therefore might have diluted the impact of their original material, where the podcast could let what material they did quote speak more for itself. However, where Adam Cadre had seemed to dwell on "staring blindly" (to the point where I came to realise he'd started bringing it up before that phrase had really appeared in the story), Conor and Mike seemed to dwell on "shamen." There was also the reminder that Cadre had worked from the old transcription that was missing the last page of the story (from the facsimile, it's clear enough how that could have come detached from the original fanzine somewhere along the way), which led to a darker conclusion than Mystery Science Theater tends towards.
"372 Pages We'll Never Get Back" wasted little time in moving on to William Shatner's novel (or at least it has his name on the cover) TekWar. I was inclined to think I could leave off there without searching out the novel, but then happened to notice it pointed out the book was available on the other e-book lending service my library provides. Right now I can at least wait until all the episodes are available and then consider signing out the book once.
I still didn't leave the home page altogether alone, though, and one day I saw another post go up on it. This time, an electric shock of realisation flew through me. With the works of Ernest Cline used up for the moment, Mike and Conor were turning to an earlier work of "notable bad fiction." Not only was it one I already knew about, I just happened to have first learned about "The Eye of Argon" by Jim Theis via an altogether unofficial take on Mystery Science Theater 3000, Adam Cadre's MSTing.
Before I started listening to the "372 Pages We'll Never Get Back" episodes about "The Eye of Argon," however, I did get to wondering whether they might reference the Armada episodes. At last, I decided to take a chance on them as well, and signed out an electronic book from the same library-provided service I'd used to slug through Ready Player One at last. It seemed much more time-consuming for me to listen to the lengthy podcast episodes (and I couldn't "multitask" at too many other things while listening) than to read the chapters of the book they referred to. Still, they were generally entertaining. While Mike and Conor had started off wondering about Armada's reputation as "Cline's bad novel," and I did wonder about it at least trying to say something about "stories influencing how we look at the world" and "sons and fathers," it soon seemed clear enough that reach far exceeded its perhaps not completely intelligent, reference-dropping grasp (even with sort of a thing for Carl Sagan displayed). That in turn, though, might have kept the humour up in the podcast.
At last, I was through Armada, and wondering if the podcast would manage to acknowledge the existence of the MSTing, given that particular work was linked on a site it had referred to for the facsimile edition of Theis's original story. Conor did manage to bring it up, which I suppose has to be sufficient. I recall seeing a "MSTing FAQ" claiming (if without any memory of actual proof) that the "Best Brains" were aware of that sort of Mystery Science Theater fanwork, but couldn't read them given issues with "taking inspiration from awkward sources." Reprising something they'd done early on and "calibrating tastes" by asking opinions on bits of fantasy with a first resemblance to "The Eye of Argon," the podcast did suggest Mike and Conor didn't have much in the way of appreciation for 2001: A Space Odyssey, but perhaps it's best to have something like that to set against other differences of opinion.
Both the MSTing and the podcast in their lead-ins bring up a bit of "fanlore" about trying to read "The Eye of Argon" out loud without bursting into laughter. Mike and Conor didn't seem too overwhelmed by that, but they did seem to keep enjoying themselves. I did get to musing about how MSTings "had to say something every few lines" and therefore might have diluted the impact of their original material, where the podcast could let what material they did quote speak more for itself. However, where Adam Cadre had seemed to dwell on "staring blindly" (to the point where I came to realise he'd started bringing it up before that phrase had really appeared in the story), Conor and Mike seemed to dwell on "shamen." There was also the reminder that Cadre had worked from the old transcription that was missing the last page of the story (from the facsimile, it's clear enough how that could have come detached from the original fanzine somewhere along the way), which led to a darker conclusion than Mystery Science Theater tends towards.
"372 Pages We'll Never Get Back" wasted little time in moving on to William Shatner's novel (or at least it has his name on the cover) TekWar. I was inclined to think I could leave off there without searching out the novel, but then happened to notice it pointed out the book was available on the other e-book lending service my library provides. Right now I can at least wait until all the episodes are available and then consider signing out the book once.