The Kraken Wakes_episode 2 of 5
Nov. 6th, 2012 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicollThe Kraken Wakes_episode 2 of 5
You know, Phyllis gets to do a lot for a story from olden times. Unfortunately Wyndham cannot bring himself to handwave a way for lead and his wife to be on the scene of more thrilling events but this is probably good, as most of the interactions between the visitors and the humans involves attempts by the humans to kill the aliens; these generally go pretty poorly for the humans.
Although the story is not specific about when it is set, it seems to be before Britain has its own nuclear weapons, so early 1950s (as I recall, the book was published a year after Operation Hurricane so it could have been written prior).
The friendly professor who supplies the guess as to where the visitors are from (Jupiter) is pretty sure that two intelligent races cannot share the Earth and since is less than a decade after WWII and at the beginning of the Cold War, I can see why he would be inclined to pessimism. That said, the aliens didn't start attacking humans until the humans shot the alien ships down and given how different their preferred environments were, relations might have been kept more friendly.Oh, well, missed opportunities.
It's possible just the indirect effects of whatever is going on at the bottom of the oceans will be enough to warrant concern; it is clear the conditions down there don't suit the aliens and they are busying fixing the place up; the effects can be seen at the top of the ocean. Well, I am sure that is not a harbinger of grim doom.
The dinner party where the lady explains how all the science fuss is a Communist plot and that the scientists are only saying what they are because they are being paid seems oddly familiar sounding.
You know, Phyllis gets to do a lot for a story from olden times. Unfortunately Wyndham cannot bring himself to handwave a way for lead and his wife to be on the scene of more thrilling events but this is probably good, as most of the interactions between the visitors and the humans involves attempts by the humans to kill the aliens; these generally go pretty poorly for the humans.
Although the story is not specific about when it is set, it seems to be before Britain has its own nuclear weapons, so early 1950s (as I recall, the book was published a year after Operation Hurricane so it could have been written prior).
The friendly professor who supplies the guess as to where the visitors are from (Jupiter) is pretty sure that two intelligent races cannot share the Earth and since is less than a decade after WWII and at the beginning of the Cold War, I can see why he would be inclined to pessimism. That said, the aliens didn't start attacking humans until the humans shot the alien ships down and given how different their preferred environments were, relations might have been kept more friendly.Oh, well, missed opportunities.
It's possible just the indirect effects of whatever is going on at the bottom of the oceans will be enough to warrant concern; it is clear the conditions down there don't suit the aliens and they are busying fixing the place up; the effects can be seen at the top of the ocean. Well, I am sure that is not a harbinger of grim doom.
The dinner party where the lady explains how all the science fuss is a Communist plot and that the scientists are only saying what they are because they are being paid seems oddly familiar sounding.
