The Road to Mars: A Post-Modem Novel, by Eric Idle
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The Road to Mars: A Post-Modem Novel, by Eric Idle
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What makes humans bark?Is the funny bone funny?What is the algebra of comedy?Did the sitcom originate with the ape?Carlton is an android (a 4.5 Bowie Artificial Intelligence Robot) who works for Alex and Lewis, two comedians from the twenty-second century who travel the outer vaudeville circuit of the solar system known ironically as the Road to Mars. His problem is that although as a computer he cannot understand irony, he is attempting to write a thesis about comedy, its place in evolution, and whether it can ever be cured. And he is also studying the comedians of the late twentieth century (including obscure and esoteric comedy acts such as Monty Python's Flying Circus) in his search for the comedy gene. In the meantime, while auditioning for a gig on the Princess Di (a solar cruise ship), his two employers inadvertently offend the fabulous diva Brenda Woolley and become involved in a terrorist plot against Mars, the home of Showbiz.Can Carlton prevent Alex and Lewis from losing their gigs, help them overcome the love thing, and finally understand the meaning of comedy in the universe? Will a robot ever really be able to do stand-up? As Einstein might have said, nothing in the universe can travel faster than the speed of laughter.The Road to Mars was named one of the best books of 1999 by the Los Angeles Times.From the Hardcover edition.
The Road to Mars: A Post-Modem Novel, by Eric Idle- Amazon Sales Rank: #787607 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-05-20
- Released on: 2015-05-20
- Format: Kindle eBook
Amazon.com Review The Road to Mars is the second novel by Eric Idle--yes, that Eric Idle, the guy from Monty Python's Flying Circus. No, the book isn't like a Monty Python skit (and a good thing too, since silly sketches are no basis for a successful novel). Yes, Monty Python is mentioned in the book, but the self-referentiality is blessedly confined to two paragraphs. Yes, The Road to Mars is funny. It's also genuine science fiction. And it's satirical, sharply characterized, well-written, thoughtful, fun, and more complex than you'd expect from its picaresque structure, in which a stand-up-comedian odd couple and their robot knock around the outer planets in search of decent gigs. Well, Alex and Lewis are looking for work (and sex); their android, Carlton, unfazed by his own irony impairment, is trying to write a thesis about comedy. The trio quickly find themselves mixed up with a mysterious beauty, a famous diva, the captain of the solar cruise ship Princess Di, and a band of terrorists determined to blow up Mars.
In addition to The Road to Mars and Monty Python scripts, Eric Idle is the author of the SF/fantasy novel Hello Sailor (1975), the play Pass the Butler (1982), and the children's book The Quite Remarkable Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat. --Cynthia Ward
From Publishers Weekly The latest romp from Monty Python alumnus Idle (Hello Sailor) almost has it all: torrid sex, huge disasters in outer space, outworld rebels plotting to save their people from annihilation, quirkily anthropomorphic robots, impossibly rich space moguls, enough one-liners to choke a brontosaurAand philosophy, too. The absence of an interior to any of the book's characters wouldn't be a fatal flaw if the jokes were funny enough or the plot sufficiently absorbing. However, the narrative meanders for long stretches with scene after scene whose only point is to set up a weak jokeAthe sort of thing that works so well as TV farce but, when passed off as a novel, is tedious. The book is ostensibly the work of one William J. Reynolds, chronicling the revolutionary theorizing of robot Carlton on the nature of comedy. (Oddly, Idle puts forward as Carlton's main theory a White Face/Red Nose classification that in fact has been a commonplace in clown theater for at least a century.) We follow the misadventures of two interplanetary stand-up comics, Muscroft and Ashby, quipping their way through exploding space colonies and sabotaged ships, looking for work. Churning around amid the levity are lumps of melodrama: narrator Reynold's recurring rage at being jilted; love-interest Katy's agonized childhood; beatings and deaths by the hundreds. There are some good laughs, but too many of the jokes are pointless and cheapAlike the book's subtitle, "A Post-Modem Novel"Aand the whole is strung together by oddments of erudition and sci-fi, with an ad hoc feel that begs for a blue pencil. Typically, Carlton's crowning insightAthe theory of levity as anti-gravityAis silly enough for a giggle, but insufficient as the high point of a novel. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal In the 24th century, life on the road for comedians Muscroft & Ashby and their robot, Carlton, is full of the same pitfalls that plague all performers: cancellations, rowdy audiences, and the humiliation of auditioning. The trio are trying to make their way to Mars, the entertainment center of the solar system, when they are caught in the machinations of a terrorist plot. Carlton must foil evil, keep his charges safe, and prevent his "recycling," all while completing his doctoral dissertation on the evolution of comedy. Determined to understand this most human characteristic, the robot closely observes his handy research subjects. Idle, of Monty Python fame, has written an engaging and amusing work of speculative fiction with fully developed characters, a taut plot, and a thoughtful and entertaining analysis of humor's part in human development. A joy to read; highly recommended for all collections.-ADevon Thomas, Highland Twp. Lib., MI Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful. Flawed, But Good By S. Gibson I must admit serious amusement and minor shock over the venom being unloaded on this little confection of Eric's. I mean hey, it's just a book. Chill out, kids.I own a copy of Hello Sailor and I can assure you all this is four million light-years better than that book. Eric has advanced mightily from that 1976 effort, moving on from the strange calculus of politics and sex (its main character's goal was to bed all the daughters of the British government's cabinet) to the richer, more rewarding issues posed by science, comedy, the future of humanity, and how the three relate to each other in turn.That having been said, I tried to give this book 2 1/2 stars but can't do so under this system. And in the interest of full disclosure, I am compelled to state I'm exactly the sort of person who would watch a test pattern with Eric on it (hey, I videotaped Nearly Departed, for cryin' out loud). I ran out to buy this in hardback. I am also a great flaming fan of Pratchett (sp?) and Adams as well as the Red Dwarf series and Blackadder.I feel the book is not as good as it should be, given Eric's prodigious talents, but not as bad as others would have you believe. In other words--wait for the paperback.The schooled Python fan should have fun with this one, as RM's flaws are flaws one finds in Python productions--the female characters are poorly drawn (especially the romantic lead). The only female characters that threaten to be interesting are Brenda Wooley and the Sammy character, but both are cliches and the latter is killed before she can be rescued from one-dimensionalism. In fact I find it a bit disturbing that the android has more depth and complexity to him than any of the women in the book.The Alex character is a blatant caricature of John Cleese, and this is a goldarn scream. (Come on--thinning hair, young daughter, distant ex-wife, hours on end with a shrinkbot, what am I supposed to think?) yet it fails to go far enough. This could have been a remarkable portrait of Cleese through the eyes of one who worked alongside him, and I feel Eric copped out--making obvious jokes, but retreating when it came time to draw blood or take it to the next level. A missed opportunity, but still better and more insightful than that odious Margolis bio of Cleese.The reference he makes to himself in the text is muffed, in my opinion, since he singles out a detail (the death of his father--Eric lost him at the age of two. He was an RAF solider who died not in WWII but a Christmas-season car accident) that only serious fans could be expected to know.Like Python, there are distracting subplots that go nowhere or fail to bear fruit, and it doesn't know how to properly end itself.You can also see Eric's special mark--here working against himself. He earned a reputation within the group for firing off wickedly funny one-liners. You'll find them in RM, too--my favorite comes on page 49 ("She was not available for other people's feelings"). Unfortunately, funny one-liners do not a plot make. (Exhibit A: Splitting Heirs). At worst, these sparkling one-liners feel forced into or pasted on the story, thus throwing a monkey wrench into the engine of the plot, bogging down the forward momentum of the story.The Road to Mars had been a filmscript for many, many years before it became a novel (I remember speaking to Idle about it in 1989--at that time, he said he was shopping it around Hollywood and envisioned Robin Williams, David Bowie, and Bobcat Goldthwaite in the film). Unfortunately it was the sort of script that made the execs fall about laughing and earned Eric reams of high compliments--but no green light. (For this sorry phenomena, see "The 50 Greatest Films Never Made", by Chris Gore. RM is not in the book).I suspect that out of sheer frustration, he adapted it as a novel. However, as a reader I felt he hadn't spent enough time and thought finesseing the filmscript into a proper reading experience. Filmscripts and novels are two different animals, after all.There are too many holes, things not explained enough or not explained at all, and things meant to work on screen that in text form just don't make it. Perhaps a graphic novel would have been a better option, I dunno.Even still, I did like the book. It was great fun watching Eric's wickedly clever, supple, nimble brain calculating the plot points into place. I read it in one sitting and had a good giggle. I have quoted and cited jokes in the book. I spent $ and I do not regret it. I had fun.If you can see it not as a sci-fi novel but a roller-coaster ride through Idle's magnificent mind, I think you'll all enjoy it much more.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful. Funny, clever and I can forgive him for the ending By Rob Banzai Good lord! Such venom over a pleasant little book. Come on people, it's not supposed to give you the meaning of life. If you hated the "theory of comedy" theme, hated the characters, hated the plot and hated the setting what the hell were you doing picking this up in the first place? My suggestion: read the liner notes next time so you can run away screaming when you disagree with the content. Idle has done a good job of writing a funny sc-fi book. Not a Python sci-fi book, but simply a funny one with all of his usual clever verbal humor. yes, he bungled the ending and didn't manage the competing plots very well, but my book reading satisfaction isn't derived wholly from the ending! It's an amusing read and I look forward to his next effort. But I'll read the liner notes first.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Complex and ambitious By Madeleine BAROUKHEL-MOUREAU (madeleine@baroukhel.claranet.fr) This book is not pythonesque, it is not this kind of book badly written by some star who can only get it published because he/she's a star. It's an elaborate, two-sided metaphysical thriller where lots of thought and personal experience can be found. One side is the story (the plot is quite prominent), which deals with very modern - sorry, modem - Gibson-like science-fiction, yet cleverly managing to keep the cartoon elements of your good old Star Wars space opera. The other side is the philosophy - a very acute backstage insight into the meaning of comedy as an explanation of the universe and a relief from humanity's burden. Like in the quantum theory, the narrator is part of the story and transforms it. There are also a satire of the charity business, rather pessimistic observations on the mechanics of political change, and a lot of strong and colourful (but not particularly likable) characters. I got quite hooked by the book and found it great in many ways. But I think it was wrongly advertised as a Douglas Adams-like piece of entertainment. It's complex and ambitious. Well done, Eric !
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