On Wed, 29 Nov 2023 23:11:46 -0000 (UTC), Christian Weisgerber <
[email protected]> wrote:
On 2023-11-29, Lynn McGuire <[email protected]> wrote:
https://www.tor.com/2023/11/29/five-books-featuring-sudden-unexpected-calamities-that-change-everything/
I saw The Andromeda Strain movie. Does that count ?
The book is good, too, if you forgive the deus ex machine ending
it shares with the movie. The book also provides an explanation
for the weird effects of the laser gauntlet at the end of the movie.
In the novel, the security system shoots curare flechettes, so the
target starts suffering paralysis. This must have been changed
very, very late to lasers during production of the movie.
I suppose it depends on what is seen as the ending.
I see the ending as "hero braves central core and turns key".
A true deus-ex-machina ending would have the "deus" appear
undexpectedly and solve everything instantly. The T-Rex-ex-machina
ending to /Jurassic Park/ had a T-Rex showing up unexpectedly and
eating the last of the velociraptors (or their larger cousins)
attacking our heroes, thus ending the /only/ part of the film that
could be called "original".
But there is nothing unexpected about finding a working sub-station
and turning the key; it was set up at the beginning of the story.
Indeed, having explained the system so carefully, it became
/unavoidable/ that this be needed at some point. Otherwise, it would
have been a "loose end that was mentioned once and went nowhere".
But perhaps you see it as "strain washes out" (film) or "strain
encircles Earth, ending the space age" (book, IIRC). I don't see a
"deus", but the first could be considered a fairy-tale ending ("a
handsome prince kissed Snow White and she woke up"), I suppose.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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