On 5/11/23 11:50, Johnny1A wrote:
> On Wednesday, May 10, 2023 at 10:25:03 PM UTC-5, a425couple wrote:
>> On 5/10/23 07:15, James Nicoll wrote:
>>> Five Authors Who Wrote Sequels to Someone Else's Work
>>>
>>> While it's not common for authors to scribe follow-ups to another
>>> author's work, it is also not unheard of. Have some examples.
>>>
>>> https://www.tor.com/2023/05/10/five-authors-who-wrote-sequels-to-someone-elses-work/
>> A seriously big disappointment I had involved that after reading,
>> and greatly enjoying Arthur C. Clarks "Rendezvous with Rama",
>> I bought and tried reading "Rama II" supposedly authored by
>> Arthur C. Clark and Gentry Lee.
>>
>> What a piece of trash that probably after the word "Rama"
>> did not have another word written by Clarke.
>>
>> While Clarke normally has rather blandish lofty well trained
>> and motivated characters always trying to do the best they can,
>> Gentry Lee loaded up what all had to know was one of the most
>> important missions ever taken by mankind fully crewed by
>> self centered murderous jerks that
>> did not even have a known succession of command.
>>
>> Sadly, I pushed on until at page 177, I gave up on
>> this crew of losers.
>
>
> You beat me to it.
>
> One of the things I genuinely enjoyed about _Rendezvous With Rama_ was precisely the professionalism and competence the crew of the _Endeavor_ display through the story. They aren't trained for this mission, the reason they are aboard Rama is precisely that they were the only ship in the right place with sufficient delta-V to make the interception. They have only the equipment aboard their own ship, which isn't intended for this sort of mission. But it's them or no one, and Commander Norton and his crew proceeded to handle the exploration of Rama with entirely believable professionalism and seriousness. No silly side-stories, no mutiny in the crew, no screaming melodrama.
>
> I often mentally contrast it to _Ringworld_, which was actually written 3 years earlier. Both are so-called 'big dump object' stories, but Clarke does it far better, IMHO, because he's prepared to let the BDO and the mystery of it be the star of the story, with the protagonists are supporting characters. Also, most of what happens to Louis Wu and Co. on Ringworld could happen as well on a normal planet occupied by a backside technological civilization, the actual nature of the Ringworld only effects events at a couple of points (granted, important points, but still). Rama's physical nature constantly shapes every aspect of the story and events in RWR.
>
> Also, the crew of _Endeavor_, as I noted, is present and equipped as they are because of the necessities of orbital mechanics. They could have done a far better job if they had had different equipment and some formal training for this particular mission, but what was, was. For ex, if _Endeavor_ had carried a few quad-rotor camera drones, they could have done a far more thorough job of surveying the far end of the cylinder, on the other side of the Cylindrical Sea. As it happens, the story mentions that they _did_ send remote cameras ahead of them in the airlock access tunnel. Why didn't they use them inside?
>
> Well, the story never specifically says, but it's easy to guess: _Endeavor_ had been charting and surveying small planetoids. _Vacuum-adapted_ robot camera drones would be useful for that, so it's natural that _Endeavor_ would carry them. Such drones could be used in the airlock tunnels, too, because they too were in vacuum at that point in time, and in microgravity. But such space-adapted drones probably would be unusable down on the Central Plain, with half a gee of 'gravity' and thick breathable air.
>
> But in the normal course of their mission, they would have no use for atmospheric-flying drones, that would be dead mass, and so they carried none. Likewise, they'd have had no use for a boat, so they carried none (though the crew does manage to assemble a makeshift motorized raft for use on the inner sea).
>
> Contrast that to Ringworld. The Puppeteers have known about the RIngworld for a while. They have vast resources available. They could assemble a picked team of expert explorers, linguists, scientists, fighters, whatever the mission might require, and they had plenty of time to train them. They could have equipped them with multiple ships and plenty of resources.
>
> Instead they assemble a very improbable team of two Terrans, a Kzin, and send them off very lightly trained and equipped with Nessus. The scenario really doesn't make sense, compared to RWR.

Johnny1, I think you describe it very well. Thank you.
>