Triplanetary was first serialized in Amazing Stories in 1934 and it later on formed the first of the Lensman series, where it set the stage for what is one of the greatest space-opera sagas ever written. This original publication brings us to a distant planet inhabited by a highly developed aquatic race called the Nevians. They have managed to harness the atomic power of iron and have an enormous … enormous need for the metal to generate energy, but their planet has virtually no iron reserves. They build a spaceship to venture into the universe and find iron. Eventually they discover that Earth has huge amounts of iron and the Nevians start to extract all the iron out of Pittsburgh with a special ray. This ray shoots into the city and immediately vaporizes and removes any iron from the buildings, machines, earth, and even from human blood. It is up to Conway Costigan, a mercilessly competent, two-fisted whiz agent of the military Triplanetary Service, and his colleagues to save the planet.
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Super Spy Scandal! 19 yo Socialite Sparks Interstellar War! “Miss Marsden will have a lot of explaining to do when she gets back home.” – Triplanetary Tattler.
Supreme Council Shocker! We Are Not Alone! “These so-called ‘Arisians,’ fancy themselves our equals. Of course, we will soon demonstrate our superiority.” – Eddorian Bugle.
Watchman Howler! N-Dimensional Chess Game Abandoned! “Well, we were kinda left considering an infinite number of moves…” – Arisian Post
Re-reading this classic from my youth. It’s been a real trip down memory lane.
Smith is great with his hooks. The first third of this book is more or less a series of snapshots to provide backstory and world building. But each chapter is its own story and often begins with an analogue of ‘The siren wailed!’ and then the action starts.
The danger with such a strategy is, of course, the risk of shallow characterization and I’ve seen some other writers draw very 2-dimensional characters surrounded by explosions and cannon fire. Fortunately Smith has an antidote to poorly drawn characters, and that is commitment unto death, and high purpose, every one of his Main Characters (on the Good side) have these traits.
The heroes are uniformly very brave, and driven by high ideals. For my somewhat cynical/stoic disposition this could easily be seen as naïve, however there are people in our real world that match the characterizations (e.g. Exemplars) provided by Smith. He draws these traits well enough and against such villainy that they come across as authentic and hence draw you in.
I’d forgotten just how visceral Smith’s writing is. He doesn’t shy away from robust descriptions of violence and horrific scenes. There are Christians burning on crosses as torture candles. There are naked dismembered human torsos hanging from trees, and battlefields composed of churned up mud and shredded human flesh and bone.
Authenticity is a key word for Smith’s story telling, and for me he hits the mark with his villains. The Eddorians are the ultimate high-functioning psychopaths. Utterly selfish, ruthless, intelligent, determined, callous, and efficient. They are not evil because they are mad, sick, or have suffered a past trauma that was never resolved. They are simply the epitomy of evil.
I’m so pleased to see a story where the villains have not had their villainy excused with a white wash of authorial cowardice. If we are as a culture ever going to come to grips with the nature of evil we have to draw evil as it is – not as we would like it to be.
Speaking of evil, eugenics and transhumans are a key feature of the series, as humanity is being deliberately cultivated in a war against an explicitly evil foe. This is quite a deep topic that I will revisit over the course of the series.
On a pop-culture note. The Galactic Patrol and the Lens are precursors to the whole Green Lantern concept.
The only quibble I have is the way that new generations of science and technology are mastered in hours or days struck as a tad ‘inconceivable,’ but the enthusiastic joy of the writing is undeniable, and does sweep you along.
Recommended. 4, ‘Gosh, Go Get ‘Em,’ stars.
space opera, and a good one…the series continues in Galactic Patrol, which is slightly better and the whole series is a fun read.
The first mobilization of a series originally published in pulp fiction novililzatoin. These are great old rationed space opera. The heroes do everything or the heroes family’s do. Love them all even the vortex blaster.