Thursday, November 06, 2008

MICHAEL CRICHTON

News has filtered down the Battpipe that Michael Crichton died today aged 66. I wasn’t a fan of his work, although he produced some works that have become minor classics within the genre—most notably Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain, in terms of novels, and the movie Westworld as director.

As a writer he was very much the product of a mindset that wrote with one eye on the film adaptation, as a quick look at his bibliography will show: apart from Jurassic Park, at least seven more of his novels were filmed. I generally found his work to be mechanical and somewhat soulless, but there’s no doubting that he was a major figure in the SF/Hollywood amalgam, so his presence will undoubtedly be missed by the genre as a whole.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

a really sad news...rip mike

Anonymous said...

I think he had an interesting mind, an impressive work ethic, and a talent for pursuing different subject matter.

Unknown said...

I agree with you both: his work wasn't for me, but it's hard not to be impressed by the sheer amount of success the man had, and the way he kept producing highly successful works over a long period of time. There's no doubt he was an important figure in the crossover between the SF genre and Hollyweird, and his influence was felt by a lot of other creators.

Polilla said...

Another point of view: Michael Crichton dies