The Problem With Michael Crichton (spoiler alert)

[GasX]

I have really enjoyed most of his books - notable exception was Sphere the whole "wish it never happened" ending was pathetic. He writes the best first 100 pages of any popular writer. His premises are fantastic if only a little far fetched. However, the guy just can't seem to end his stories well. Sphere is a perfect example, but most of his books tail off at the end.

In Timeline, they all go to a tomb to see the resting place of their pal. Research showed that he lead a wonderfull happy prosperous life blah blah blah... I know that I am going to get flamed for this, but he just can't write a decent ending. The annoying thing about it is that after the first 100 pages I am totally swept up in the story that it is that much more of a let down when the ending sucks...

And when you combine Spielberg with Crichton, well, don't get me started here...

 

[Spoooon]

Yeah, Sphere's ending was pretty weak. And the book in movie form was weaker yet.

 

[EpsiIon]

Movie sucked...

Book was AWESOME.

 

[bigbootydaddy]

yeah, but most book to movies are always downgraded, look at stephen kings IT for example...read the book, its so f'ed up...and the movie...egh..another weak suspense.

 

[layne151]

i agree with the ending to Timeline, it was pretty weak!

 

[GasX]

Rarely does a movie improve on the book. Check that... NEVER!

And I disagree. Sphere sucked a lot (book and movie).

 

[XMan]

Rarely does a movie improve on the book. Check that... NEVER!

The ending to the movie Jaws was 10 times better than the ending of the book.

 

[GasX]

how did the book end? Did the shark win?

 

[BigSmooth]

You might want to put something about "spoilers" in your title just in case.
Anyhoo, I have only read a few of Crichton's books, but I have read both Sphere and Timeline. I enjoyed both to some extent, but I thought the endings to both were pretty weak.
All I know is Congo = Worst Movie Ever.

 

[loup garou]

<< All I know is Congo = Worst Movie Ever. >>



Not true! I think it's one of the funniest movies ever made!

What? It wasn't supposed to be a comedy? :Q

 

[GasX]

bigsmooth - good idea

 

[Doggiedog]

I 100% agree with you!

I've read most of his books and saw that he has some brilliant ideas but he seems to get bored of the story and likes to abruptly end them.

Congo and Jurassic Park Spoiler


















































In both those stories at the end the parties just seem to miraculously find a mode of aerial transportation and just fly away.

Pretty lame though I liked both books initially.

Edit: spelling

 

[ArkAoss]

speaking of comodies, when we first went to see JP, we brought a friend of our's, who some times suffer's from depression. she laughed like a hyena thru the whole thing.
Jurassic park..... it was funny.

 

[thebestMAX]

MWILDING-

I have posted this exact same thing in many past book threads. Excellent ideas, good first half of book or more but very poor endings. Sphere was the one I most complained about.

Not going to comment on Timeline as you havent finished it yet. I still read all of his books so I guess there is something of value there.

Also agree on Spielberg.

 

[Doggiedog]

Oh and I forgot. Rising Sun also is another prime example.

 

[GasX]

they all are...

except maybe The Great Train Robbery

 

[Azwethinkweiz]

I thought Sphere was an excellent book. However, I never really bought the whole &quot;wish it never happened&quot; ending. I mean, they all agreed to forget it all and lose their &quot;gifts&quot;, but you have to wonder if they really forgot. For someone to have that much power and to know that the only other people who have it and/or even know about it are about to forget about it completely, it would be quite a hard decision to decide to forget as well. Since you never really know if any or all of them really forgot, it leaves the ending pretty wide open, which I liked.

By the way, if I overlooked something that proves otherwise, it's been a couple years since I read the book, and my memory isn't that great.

 

[XMan]

how did the book end? Did the shark win?

Hooper goes down in the shark cage. Instead of using poison, he's using a bang stick, which is pretty effective. He gets munched. Brody and Quint continue hunting the shark when it sinks the boat. I can't remember if the movie version is the way it happened in the book or not. Anyway, Quint gets eaten, and Brody is about to get eaten, and the shark just . . . stops. And starts sinking. It just dies about a foot from chomping the Chief.

 

[Khameleon]

Great Train Robbery was an excellent book with a great ending!

 

[BuddyHolly]

I have often been disappointed in Crichton's writing. Wonderful ideas, but no ability to bring them to fruition.

 

[MrHelpful]

(The?) Terminal Man was pretty good...

 

[UNCjigga]

Ending to Andromeda Strain wasn't all that bad...

 

[dennilfloss]

The problem I have with Crichton is that all the books of his which I have read portray science as the enemy, the cause of the problem. :| I find this strange, considering that he is scientifically literate. He just seems to have something against science. I wish that I could find a book by him in which a big monster that was not the result of human intervention goes on a rampage and science actually solves the problem. Aw well, I suppose he figured out that there are more luddites than scientific positivists in the world of Best Seller book buyers.

Roundabout (Yes)

 

[GasX]

I agree. He takes his scientific literacy and uses it to create a story that seems plausible to the average Joe. Then brings in the theme that science is fine until Man f*cks with it and makes a story. Then he gets bored and writes a bad ending.

I think that since he has had success, he gets pressure from the publishers to continue to crank out books. This would explain the bad endings - publisher deadlines...

 

[Zucchini]

hmm, i thought timeline was pretty good