There were only three Dune novels when I decided to read them. The fourth one came out just after that and I thought, nope, I'm done.
What tropes in fantasy and drama movies, or shows annoy you?
- Thread starter Gingerbread Demon
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The first five novels are worth reading, although the final two are not nearly as interesting and decline in quality IMO.
ASOIAF isn't complete -- there are still 2 books to go. So, we're looking at 5000 pages or so once it's complete -- assuming it's ever complete.
I gave up hope on that years ago. I am assuming the end is similar to the series but with many other conflicts and events happening before then.
Shoot, I think GRRM himself has given up on it and is not saying so / getting pi$$y every time people mention it to him. Dude’s attention span seems to be equal to Doug’s from Up. Especially with all the millions he’s made off of the books, series, etc.
Cheers,
-CM-
Martin's 76. I wonder if he has any contractual clauses with his publisher approving or forbidding any other writers from working in his fictional universe when he dies. He's bound to be aware of the continuations of Frank Herbert's and Robert Jordan's series.
We know he's drafted thousands of pages. He should just write yadda yadda yadda and go write to the climax and ending dammit.
Only in a LOGAN'S RUN misogynist sense.
I chose to critique the procedurals after noticing ''shows'' in your OP, which appeared isolated enough to bring in TV dramas.
I think The Magicians is an excellent example of doing "tropey" well, because despite having some serious themes, it didn't take itself too seriously.
Basically, to me, effective speculative fiction operates on a spectrum. If you play it straight, you need to have a setting which allows for suspension of disbelief. I'm not going to say you need to avoid tropes entirely, but the more immersive the worldbuilding, and the more fresh and unique the setting feels, the better. In contrast, if you're leaning into well-established tropes, it has to be lampshaded a little bit - has to be just a bit tongue in cheek.
Obviously, you can both eschew tropes and do something lighthearted. But if you try and write something self-serious and tropey, you end up with Bright. And we all know how that went.
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Yep. Willing suspension of disbelief can only carry so much weight.
I guess that's true, it just feels it just feels strange to me.
Plus in the later seasons The Magicians really leaned into musical numbers and I love that ...... Especially when they were on the sentient boat trying to avoid another boat raping their boat, that line isn't a joke it's in the show but they go over a waterfall and do a sing along
When timelines have been changed and someone from the original one is unaltered and wants to change things back and people are willing to help him.
Uh...do these people realize they're annihilating their own existence in doing so?
The only times I saw instances that subverted this were the Stargate Continuum movie and the 90s X-Men Cartoon "One Man's Worth" story. The alternate Wolverine didn't want to change the timeline back because he was married to Storm and didn't want that undone. He didn't care if the world was destroyed by war if he and Storm could stay together.
Uh...do these people realize they're annihilating their own existence in doing so?
The only times I saw instances that subverted this were the Stargate Continuum movie and the 90s X-Men Cartoon "One Man's Worth" story. The alternate Wolverine didn't want to change the timeline back because he was married to Storm and didn't want that undone. He didn't care if the world was destroyed by war if he and Storm could stay together.
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