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bluegargantuaHi,
OK, let's talk about Tom Swift Jr. and His Jetmarine.
So, much like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
z_gryphon, my library had a bunch (but not complete run of) these books. As you might guess, the stories concerned Tom Swift Jr. -- the son of Tom Swift who had been the star of his own "Scientific Hero" adventure series a generation earlier. Like most YA series books at the time, the Tom Swift books had a series of authors all writing under the pseudonym "Victor Appleton II" (the originals having been "written" by Victor Appleton himself).
I loved these books. I read the heck out of these books. When we went to visit my grandparents in South Dakota, I was thrilled that the local library had a number of volumes that my local library didn't and I got my aunt to check some out for me. Because these books were all about SCIENCE!
No, not science. Not the daily struggle to further our understanding of the universe.
No. SCIENCE!
Robots and spaceships and ray guns and Scientist-Inventor heroes who understand a hundred fields of science and push the boundaries of human knowledge and technology every single day.
I mean, just look at the cover art for this book. It's the second book in the series and it's just finding its way, but check it out -- a submarine with a transparent observation nose on the front. Is it atomic powered? You bet it is! It's powered by Swiftonium, a radioactive element discovered and named by its discoverer Tom Swift Jr! To survive the crushing pressures and prevent detection by sonar, it's coated in Tomasite, a wonder plastic that also happens to be better than lead at absorbing dangerous radiation (such as that produced by the atomic engine)!
This, ladies and gentlemen is SCIENCE! The way it should be.
This is why I always get a little misty-eyed whenever I hear The Future Soon by Jonathan Coulton -- it's pretty much exactly how I thought as a kid thanks largely to the Tom Swift Jr. books.
So, yes, they ruined me for an actual career in science.
And a year or two ago, I picked up a large (though not nearly complete) set of the books and I finally decided to start reading them as my "back-up" book. Something to read before I went to bed. It's YA from the 50's, so the books aren't long and they've got large type so it's not going to interfere too much with my regular reading.
Yeah. Re-reading these things some 30-odd years later as an adult? Jetmarine isn't very good. I mean really, what did I expect from 1950's YA series fiction? But this book has some serious problems:
In one instance, Tom's sub is attacked by a giant squid. Now, the sub isn't armed. Tom clearly states that he won't build weapons, preferring to use cunning to defeat any enemies. However, the sub is equipped with a sonic disruption ray that will turn the squid into chunky salsa. True, it's harmless out of water, but I think Tom's definition of weapon is slightly askew.
Right, so the squid attacks and Tom employs the sonic disruptor. But it fails to work! It's a cliff-hanger ending to the chapter! The disruptor doesn't work! The squid is squeezing! Tom will have to use his cunning to defeat the squid and get away! How will he do it? He will press the button again! This time the gun works it was just stuck before. It doesn't take any time to figure this out either. The chapter ends with the gun not working and on the opposite page, he just pushes the button again and it un-sticks and works. Um....wow.
Tom's agency fluctuates wildly in the book. Tom chases down a guy in a plane who took spy photos of his plant. He captures the guy and the film, but then the guy gets away and also manages to swap the film with blank stock so Tom completely fails to accomplish anything (oh, he gets a dog-headed coin that he'd already known about anyway).
Tom figures out the guy is headed to New York and zips over there in his personal jet to try and intercept him. He fails, but the guy steals his wallet and using his ID cards (with no picture on them apparently) steals Tom's jet and uses it to help further the pirate gang's schemes.
At the end, Tom and his pal Bud are waiting for the pirate ringleader to land in Tom's stolen jet. They'll capture him and put and end to this. However, the pair of them are struck the by plane's blackout ray. When they come to, the adventure is over. The pirate ringleader? Crashed the jet on landing. So thanks to dumb luck the pirate leader is captured.
Oh. Spoiler alert up there.
On the other hand -- almost everyone Tom talks to is willing to bend over backwards to help him simply because he's Tom Swift Jr. Tom calls a local college and grills the Dean about one of the students there. When Tom captures one of the pirates, the police allow him to interrogate the suspect. He can make calls to the US Navy and expect to get right through to an admiral and co-ordinate (possibly even dictate) counter-pirate strategy. Local folks call him up with tips and information (probably because Tom's hometown economy is utterly dependent on his company). All of this in addition to having complete authority at Swift Enterprises (which apparently answers to no shareholders or board) and being a super-scientist capable of building advanced submarines and aircraft.
Yes, yes, it's YA from the 50's, but Tom is either utterly capable or completely helpless with no middle ground, it's very striking.
I do enjoy the fact that in the book criminals are just small-time thugs, but a scientist is someone to worry about and a gang lead by a scientist are a force to be reckoned with.
So, totally disillusioned? Well...I am reading Tom Swift and His Mechanical Robot so perhaps it's morphed into an obsessive quest to find the better stories I remember in my head. I dunno. Young-me still really loves these things and perhaps jaded old MST3K-me is too dummy-head to really get down and enjoy them in the proper spirit. I guess I'm still on-board for the time being because after all, who doesn't want to read about a kid with an Ultrasonic Cycloplane?
later
Tom
OK, let's talk about Tom Swift Jr. and His Jetmarine.
So, much like
z_gryphon, my library had a bunch (but not complete run of) these books. As you might guess, the stories concerned Tom Swift Jr. -- the son of Tom Swift who had been the star of his own "Scientific Hero" adventure series a generation earlier. Like most YA series books at the time, the Tom Swift books had a series of authors all writing under the pseudonym "Victor Appleton II" (the originals having been "written" by Victor Appleton himself).I loved these books. I read the heck out of these books. When we went to visit my grandparents in South Dakota, I was thrilled that the local library had a number of volumes that my local library didn't and I got my aunt to check some out for me. Because these books were all about SCIENCE!
No, not science. Not the daily struggle to further our understanding of the universe.
No. SCIENCE!
Robots and spaceships and ray guns and Scientist-Inventor heroes who understand a hundred fields of science and push the boundaries of human knowledge and technology every single day.
I mean, just look at the cover art for this book. It's the second book in the series and it's just finding its way, but check it out -- a submarine with a transparent observation nose on the front. Is it atomic powered? You bet it is! It's powered by Swiftonium, a radioactive element discovered and named by its discoverer Tom Swift Jr! To survive the crushing pressures and prevent detection by sonar, it's coated in Tomasite, a wonder plastic that also happens to be better than lead at absorbing dangerous radiation (such as that produced by the atomic engine)!
This, ladies and gentlemen is SCIENCE! The way it should be.
This is why I always get a little misty-eyed whenever I hear The Future Soon by Jonathan Coulton -- it's pretty much exactly how I thought as a kid thanks largely to the Tom Swift Jr. books.
So, yes, they ruined me for an actual career in science.
And a year or two ago, I picked up a large (though not nearly complete) set of the books and I finally decided to start reading them as my "back-up" book. Something to read before I went to bed. It's YA from the 50's, so the books aren't long and they've got large type so it's not going to interfere too much with my regular reading.
Yeah. Re-reading these things some 30-odd years later as an adult? Jetmarine isn't very good. I mean really, what did I expect from 1950's YA series fiction? But this book has some serious problems:
In one instance, Tom's sub is attacked by a giant squid. Now, the sub isn't armed. Tom clearly states that he won't build weapons, preferring to use cunning to defeat any enemies. However, the sub is equipped with a sonic disruption ray that will turn the squid into chunky salsa. True, it's harmless out of water, but I think Tom's definition of weapon is slightly askew.
Right, so the squid attacks and Tom employs the sonic disruptor. But it fails to work! It's a cliff-hanger ending to the chapter! The disruptor doesn't work! The squid is squeezing! Tom will have to use his cunning to defeat the squid and get away! How will he do it? He will press the button again! This time the gun works it was just stuck before. It doesn't take any time to figure this out either. The chapter ends with the gun not working and on the opposite page, he just pushes the button again and it un-sticks and works. Um....wow.
Tom's agency fluctuates wildly in the book. Tom chases down a guy in a plane who took spy photos of his plant. He captures the guy and the film, but then the guy gets away and also manages to swap the film with blank stock so Tom completely fails to accomplish anything (oh, he gets a dog-headed coin that he'd already known about anyway).
Tom figures out the guy is headed to New York and zips over there in his personal jet to try and intercept him. He fails, but the guy steals his wallet and using his ID cards (with no picture on them apparently) steals Tom's jet and uses it to help further the pirate gang's schemes.
At the end, Tom and his pal Bud are waiting for the pirate ringleader to land in Tom's stolen jet. They'll capture him and put and end to this. However, the pair of them are struck the by plane's blackout ray. When they come to, the adventure is over. The pirate ringleader? Crashed the jet on landing. So thanks to dumb luck the pirate leader is captured.
Oh. Spoiler alert up there.
On the other hand -- almost everyone Tom talks to is willing to bend over backwards to help him simply because he's Tom Swift Jr. Tom calls a local college and grills the Dean about one of the students there. When Tom captures one of the pirates, the police allow him to interrogate the suspect. He can make calls to the US Navy and expect to get right through to an admiral and co-ordinate (possibly even dictate) counter-pirate strategy. Local folks call him up with tips and information (probably because Tom's hometown economy is utterly dependent on his company). All of this in addition to having complete authority at Swift Enterprises (which apparently answers to no shareholders or board) and being a super-scientist capable of building advanced submarines and aircraft.
Yes, yes, it's YA from the 50's, but Tom is either utterly capable or completely helpless with no middle ground, it's very striking.
I do enjoy the fact that in the book criminals are just small-time thugs, but a scientist is someone to worry about and a gang lead by a scientist are a force to be reckoned with.
So, totally disillusioned? Well...I am reading Tom Swift and His Mechanical Robot so perhaps it's morphed into an obsessive quest to find the better stories I remember in my head. I dunno. Young-me still really loves these things and perhaps jaded old MST3K-me is too dummy-head to really get down and enjoy them in the proper spirit. I guess I'm still on-board for the time being because after all, who doesn't want to read about a kid with an Ultrasonic Cycloplane?
later
Tom
