Return to Robinson Crusoe Island

On Friday we had a chance to witness the premiere of the Crusoe series on NBC, based on Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. (Please see my post here for a discussion of the original book). I did not manage to catch much of the two hour show, but I probably won't go out of my way to try to catch the parts I missed, or any of the future episodes.

As I suspected from the commercials, the story seems to be a politically-correct, mish-mash of elements of the original story with the Disney Swiss Family Robinson and Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Besides things like a sprawling tree house with anachoristic amenities, various Home Alone-styled booby traps, and sword fights with swaggering, wispy-bearded and bejangled privateers, I also don't remember Crusoe being married or the deserted island having so many visitors. This version also flashes back (ala J.J. Abrams' Lost on ABC) to Crusoe's pre-island childhood and adult life, introducing us to his father, his wife and children, and others.

On its face value, it could be an enjoyable ride. It is certainly a nice looking production.

According to Neilson's overnight ratings, it garnered 4.3% of the households watching television tuning in at some point during its first hour, and 4.7% in the second. During the second hour it had the highest ratings of all shows that hour, so it will be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks.

If it is successful, I wonder if he will ever get off the island as the members of Oceanic Flight 815 will (maybe it will have flash-forwards as well), or if he will be perpetually stuck there much as the castaways from the S.S. Minnow were.

Maximum Ride - Books 1 & 2

In March of this year I attended the Public Library Association (PLA) conference in Minneapolis, MN. One of the best parts of this was all of the free books. With our registration packet came two books by James Patterson - Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment (Book 1) (in paperback), and Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever (Book 2) (in hardback). I hadn't read anything by Patterson and I put them in my to-be-read pile.

Later, as I was packing for a family reunion in July, I picked up the paperback to possibly bring along. I noticed that the chapters were extremely short, usually 2 to 4 pages long. I thought it would be a perfect book that I could be interrupted on at any point and not have to worry too much about losing the flow of the story, so I took it.

As I started to read it, two of my younger cousins remarked on how much they liked the books. One is a teenager, the other is in her early twenties and I know they have liked some of the same books and authors I have so I thought things were boding well for this series. Then I started getting into the book ...

The best part of the book is that the chapters are short, so it moves along at a pretty good pace and it is easy to read in short, interruptable chunks. Unfortunately, characterization and descriptions are sacrificed.

Before I get too far into my review, here is the basic story. (I will keep spoilers to a minimum, but there are going to be some - so be warned.) Six children are living on their own, hiding from "the School," a laboratory where they were genetically enhanced with wings and other abilities. In the first book the School finds them takes the youngest one back. The other five head out to rescue her. They get her out and keep running, looking for their parents along the way. The second book continues with them on the run, finding a potential ally and leading a "normal" life for a little while before continuing on the run. Now back to my thoughts on the two books ...

It took me several chapters before I realized the main character, Maximum "Max" Ride, was female. After that, it took me most of the book to connect the names and abilities of the other members of the flock, except for the youngest, Angel. I never really grew to care for them. Max had her moments, but that was it. Questions were raised about why the School let them escape in the first place, why they leave them alone at some times and pursue them at others, who are their allies and who are their enemies, etc. The first book seemed to end so abruptly without any answers that I decided to read the second book to see if any of the ideas were explained. They weren't.

There is an Empire-Strikes-Back type revelation at the end that seems to be forgotten or ignored in the second book, so I am not sure if it was a revelation or a ruse. A "major" death at the end of the first book turns out to be somewhat irrelevant by the second book as that character's clone is created. The first book is told from Max's point of view, and in the second book, the point of view changes occasionally. Unfortunately, it was not always clear that it wasn't Max telling the story at points so that made some parts a little confusing for a few moments.

I discovered that the library has the third book on CD, so I might eventually listen to it to see if any questions are answered, or if this is a Young Adult book version of the Lost series on TV.

While the books have a few twists on ideas, the ideas are far from new. On TV, you could have watched Mutant X or James Cameron's Dark Angel with Jessica Alba, to see genetically enhanced children/teenagers coming to grips with their abilities, hiding from those who created them, tyring to find out answers as to who they are, etc. Jessica Alba's character's name was even Max! These ideas aren't new to speculative fiction in print, movies, TV or comic books. In the past ten years, the animated series Batman Beyond had geneticists "splicing" animal genes with humans as well.

The flock is constantly being chased by Erasures - other kids who can morph into wolf-like creatures. These reminded me of the Fetchers in Garth Nix's Keys of the Kingdom series. The Fetchers are part dog, but they almost became comic relief in their inability to achieve their missions also. The fact that nothing works in the flock's favor, and that several events seem pointless and that there are more than a few gaps in logic, I finished these two books with the same unfulfilled taste in my mouth as The Series of Unfortunate Events left me.

This series (the fifth book is due out next year) is a best seller and has won awards, so perhaps I have just read or seen too many stories that are similar that the ideas If you haven't seen or read many of the books and shows I mentioned, perhaps this series will be fresh enough to you keep you going - and bring you to the movie that is supposed to be released in 2010 (maybe the screen writers will be able to improve on the story - we can hope). In the meantime, I would recommend you find something else to pass your time and engage your thoughts and imagination.

Robinson Crusoe

While it has been a while since since I read Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, but it is directly connected to a book I am currently in the middle of so I thought I would start here.

After nearly 300 years (it was first published in 1719) it has worked its way into our collective, cultural conscience. Even people who haven't read the book know that it is about a person shipwrecked on an island. And that is not in just English, but throughout the world in most languages. That is incredible.

Some consider it one of the first, if not the first, "novels" written in English. Not everyone knows it was more than likely inspired by Alexander Selkirk, a real person who survived years on an island in the Pacific off the coast of Chile. In fact, in 1966 the island's name was changed to "Robinson Crusoe Island."

Robinson Crusoe was more accessible than I thought it would be. It has strong religious overtones that are common for the period. I was surprised at the amount of the story that deals with his re-assimilation to civilized society. I guess that never really comes up in spoofs and miscellaneous references - the focus is on the survival aspect.

I didn't realize that Defoe ended up writing two sequels, The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Serious Reflections of Robinson Crusoe (1720). I guess even in 1719 the public clamored for, and publishers encouraged sequels that may make money immediately, but they are eventually forgotten. And while I had heard of Moll Flanders and Rob Roy, I didn't realize that Defoe wrote them as well, among many other novels and other books.

I haven't been exposed to many illustrated versions, but you can't go wrong with N.C. Wyeth. I am not sure if this edition is still in print, but you might be able to get a used copy through Amazon. You can also see an entire book with Wyeth's illustrations online.

The story deals with many themes and elements, but the two that stand out in my memory are the survival issue and what is civilization.

A few random stories and characters come readily to mind in relation to Robinson Crusoe as a survival story. First is the book The Swiss Family Robinson, by Johann David Wyss, published in German in 1812. I also remember that the Green Arrow character in the DC Comics universe fine tuned his archery skills and developed his heroic life view (as opposed the millionaire-playboy lifestyle he previously had) while stranded on an island. He first appeared in print in 1941. The movie Castaway (2000) presented a modern version of this basic story idea. Tom Hanks was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role his character in this movie

The Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding, and subsequent movies, also comes to mind as a book that deals with individuals being lost on a deserted island and what it means to be civilized is. The first season of J.J. Abram's TV series Lost (2004 +) on ABC involved some of these same concepts, although not to the same extent and with other story elements and themes interwoven into the narrative. In Gulliver's Travels (1726), by Jonathan Swift, Lemuel Gulliver is shipwrecked or lost in different lands, giving him the opportunity to learn about different cultures and reflect on his own culture's state and definition of civilization.

Regardless of your thoughts on the origins or veracity of The Book of Mormon, it does present some interesting stories and ideas regarding what can happen to people that have left their own country and culture and they are left on their own. It is also available to read online.

Still following the themes of isolation and what it means to be civilized, you may also want to read at least the original Tarzan book, Tarzan of the Apes (1914) by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the Mowgli stories in the Jungle Book books, The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895) by Rudyard Kipling.

While I personally don't remember seeing any movies or television shows based on the novel, there have been several made which are listed on IMDB. It is interesting to note that Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Pierce Brosnan, Michael York and Aidan Quinn have all played Robinson Crusoe. The first movie listed on IMDB was made in 1913. There has been a science fiction version - Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964), as well a Disney spoof - Lt. Robinson Crusoe, U.S.N (1966) starring Dick Van Dyke.

One of the nice things with Robinson Crusoe is that it is public domain now. If you want a free eBook version, you can see a list of eBooks by Daniel Defoe available through Project Gutenburg.

I am sure you can find several versions at your local library. If you live in or near Davis County in Utah the Davis County Library collection not only includes abridged, unabridged, illustrated and audio versions, it also includes a children's video from the PBS Wishbone series and a book about Alexander Selkirk.

I look forward to learning what other books, characters and movies others would include in this list - and why.

ADDITIONAL LINKS:
Wikipedia - Robinson Crusoe , Daniel Defoe, Alexander Selkirk, Green Arrow, Lost TV Series, Tarzan, The Jungle Book, The Book of Mormon, The Lord of the Flies, Gulliver's Travels
Amazon - Lost episodes on DVD