Re: I Can't Believe It's Not Heinlein

In article <2006020609225427544-kurtbusiek@aolcom>,
Kurt Busiek <kurtbusiek@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On 2006-02-06 09:13:37 -0800, jdnicoll@xxxxxxxxx (James Nicoll) said:

In article <200602060908398930-kurtbusiek@aolcom>,
Kurt Busiek <kurtbusiek@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On 2006-02-06 07:41:18 -0800, jdnicoll@xxxxxxxxx (James Nicoll) said:

It seems to me that one could design a "generic" Heinlein
YA.

And the most nakedly imitative examples at hand (the Jupiter novels)
seem to have worked to just such a design.

There is darkness to some of the universes in them -- corrupt
businesses, governments that deliberately maintain a hopeless
underclass -- but the power structures with which the hero allies
himself are good, and are either fighting against or working to
supplant these things.

One big difference that I saw from my model and the one
the Jupiter series used is that in the ones I saw, the kid was
generally faced with two crises, one big and one small. The kid
would deal with the little one on his own but some external
force would deal with the big one.

I'm not remembering all the details, but is that truly alien to
Heinlein? Don't books like SPACE CADET, STARMAN JONES and RED PLANET
have crises that the lead affects and then authority takes over and
based on what the kid did, is able to solve the big crisis? [In the
case of JONES, actually, it's the other way around -- he solves the big
crisis, authority solves what has become by then the secondary crisis
that he joined the crew under false papers.]

RED PLANET, maybe, but not the other two. In SPACE CADET,
the kids get themselves off the planet on their own and in JONES,
he gets the ship back to civilization.

Let's look at them all:

Rocket Ship Galileo (1947)

The uncle is certainly a core part of the de-Nazification of the
Moon but the boys are right there with him.


Space Cadet (1948)

The cadets manage to deal with the problem of having pranged their
ride and curtail a problem with the natives all on their own.


Red Planet (1949)

The kids' adventures eventually end in a revolution and a crisis
with the natives. Arguably, the subplot with the bouncer allows the second
to resolved amicably (Unless McRae is Michael Smith).


Farmer In the Sky (1950)

The big crisis is too large for any one person to fix but the
kid does his part.


Between Planets (1951)

This is like RED PLANET, where the kid is a small but necessary
part of a much greater whole.


The Rolling Stones (1952)

This is the weird one: the parents never go away and one could
argue the whole family is the protagonist.


Starman Jones (1953)

Jones saves the day.


The Star Beast (1954)

Another odd one. There's not a lot of evidence for free will
in this universe and if there is, it's more a Girl in Charge thing.


Tunnel In the Sky (1955)

The kids build a young civilization before getting rescued. In
fact, the rescue is in its way almost as much of a crisis as getting
marooned.

Time for the Stars (1956)

This is another one where you may be right: the kid is mostly
along for the ride.


Citizen of the Galaxy (1957)

Thorby always _tries_ to deal with the problems life hands him
but they keep changing the rules on him every 1/4 of the book or so.


Have Space Suit Will Travel (1958)

Kip saves the whole damn Earth with a ripping speech and
the fact that the Galactics aren't entirely monstrous.
--
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/james_nicoll
.

Relevant Pages

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    ... the Jupiter series used is that in the ones I saw, the kid was generally faced with two crises, one big and one small. ... Don't books like SPACE CADET, STARMAN JONES and RED PLANET have crises that the lead affects and then authority takes over and based on what the kid did, is able to solve the big crisis? ...
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  • Re: I Cant Believe Its Not Heinlein
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