book by JohnTheydon....gak

[Sasha Metcalfe]

ok, i am reading Captain Scarlett by John Theydon
if it was't a Captain Scarlet book i don't think i woudl finish it

i don't like the way he portrays any of the characters except Cptn Black, but then Captian Black really isn't all that hard to portray.

the colonel seems to have all these wonderful fatherly feelings for everyone ????????

i find his idea of the mysteron attack to be way off base - they never did anything so broad reaching as taking over control of the world's weather in OCS

and the writing style, well, ok it is for younger readers but i don't think i would have found this engaging even when i was 10.
lots of overblown adjectives, sort of like a Harelquin romance but not.


i hope i havne't terribly offended anyone by blasting this book, but i had to say something.

I will not track down the other books.

well, at least it has some nice stills from the series in the middle of the book.

Sasha, back to the dvds....

[chrisbishop]

I will not track down the other books.

It will be a shame, because the second book, "Captain Scarlet and the Silent Saboteur", is, in my opinion and I believe of others' opinion as well, far better than the first one. You might actually enjoy it.

"The Angels and the Creeping Enemy" is interesting, in the fact that you got to see all five of the Angels in one big adventure, with little appearance from the other characters (Oh, they're there, but not that much. It's really an Angels book). If you like the Angels you might like that one.

[Sasha Metcalfe]

hmmm
well, with a reccomendation from the webmaster, it must have some merit.

i'll reconsider.that one.

I'm not big on the Angels, tho.


WHERE does he get the idea of the 'sleep chamber' from? i find hard to believe that the members of spectrum don't have their own quarters, they are still people after all.

Sasha

[Marion]

The 'sleep chamber' would be The Room of Sleep - which is canon and mentioned by Destiny (at least) in 'Spectrum Strikes Back' - I think.
I loved the Theydon books as a kid - especially the Angels one. It was a nom de plume for Century21 writers and 'he' did books on Thunderbirds too. They were much in the vein of the TV21 comic adventures (where the Mysterons did issue much more 'broad' threats) than the TV shows.
Great literature, they ain't - fun, they certainly are, IMHO, and they allowed the characters to do and say much more than the TV show.
They kick started me into writing my own 'adventure' stories.
So you can blame John Theydon for that too!

[MMK]

i find hard to believe that the members of spectrum don't have their own quarters, they are still people after all.

I'm sure some of the Captains wouldn't mind sharing rooms with the Angels


But I'm sure they do have their own quarters though...

[Sage]

I always thought that too. It would drive most people crazy not to have any privacy. That and most of them have hobbies which require a fair bit of kit [computer parts, model planes, diving gear, etc], so they'd need room to store it.

Anyway I haven't read the novels yet, need to keep looking for them on ebay.

[Sasha Metcalfe]

The 'sleep chamber' would be The Room of Sleep - which is canon and mentioned by Destiny (at least) in 'Spectrum Strikes Back' - I think.

They kick started me into writing my own 'adventure' stories.
So you can blame John Theydon for that too!

having a way to catch up on sleep would be a great thing. i can't remember which episode it is in, but i do remember one of the angels saying something about workign 4 hours on and 4 hours off durin gan lert situation. that would play havoc with anyone's sleep. and military folk are known for being on alert for long hours wihtout much sleep. so some kind of sleep thingee where you crash for an hour and wake up good as new makes a lot of sense to have.

Glad the books inspired you to write, Marion!

Sasha

[Marion]

There is a detailed discussion about just what facilities we think they have access to on Cloudbase in this thread:

http://spectrum-headquarters.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=92

[Sasha Metcalfe]

thanks for the link, i will check it out!

Sasha

[Elentari]

I like John Theydon's (real name John William Jennison) books very much. True, I doubt Colonel White would call Destiny 'honey' , but overall I liked his version of Scarlet - and Black of course. I didn't find the adjectives overblown (especially when you compare the book to some fanfic) and I don't think White was too 'fatherly'.

There were some bits of conversation that didn't ring true though - no doubt about that. I found them rather funny. I also suspect his references to cap mic 'channels' owes something to the line 'Open channel D' from The Man from UNCLE which was very popular at the time.

Sorry you didn't like it SBFurr. Speaking as a (very) long time fan, I personally think we own John Theydon a great deal. I found reading his books a springboard to thinking up stories of my own. And I suspect I wasn't the only one to do so.

[Skybase Girl]

I agree with Elentari. I can't remember how old I was when I first read John Theydon's books - I think the first ones I read were probably the "Stingray" ones. I thought he bridged the gap between childhood and adulthood very successfully at the time. I remamber thinking that they wouldn't have interested nine year olds !

This was the late sixties and my copies of those books have been long gone. However, while visiting friends earlier this year, I was lucky enough to be able to re-read some of the Scarlet books, in particular "Silent Saboteur" and "Creeping Enemy". What surprised me ( apart from every piece of dialogue flooding back !), was how well they actually stand up to today's critical scrutiny. Well, I thought so, anyway, and to be honest, I wasn't expecting that.

What we need is someone to write new ones ! NCS, she hints, shamelessly....

No, I know it will never happen !

[Intensity Angel]

What do the books look like? And what are the adventures in them?

[Marion]

You'll find all the information you need on the main website -
http://www.spectrum-headquarters.com/books.html
There is a great deal more information there about the craft, characters and all things Scarlet.
Take a look!

[Intensity Angel]

Thanks for that, It's a great help.