RIP John Christopher

[RobRoy]

The science-fiction author John Christopher, who has died aged 89, was perhaps best known for the Tripods trilogy for young adults. The books (published in 1967-68) depict a world suffering under the control of aliens from a far star, who can survive in the Earth's inimical atmosphere only by moving around in deadly tripodal machines inside which their own atmosphere can be replicated. As a result, our world has reverted to a low-technology state, almost medieval in nature. A group of adolescents, not yet fitted with a mentally controlling "cap", bravely confront the menace of the Tripods. In the end, the results they achieve are not entirely what they expected.

Read the rest here.

I followed the comic strip that was printed in my "Boy's Life" magazine almost religiously. Fascinating concept and very entertaining.

 

[alfaniner]

One of my all-time favorite stories (The Tripods Trilogy).

 

[angrysoba]

I think I remember the TV series of the Tripods.

I enjoyed it for a while when I was a child and had meant to read the books. Maybe I will do so now.

 

[alfaniner]

I think I remember the TV series of the Tripods.

I enjoyed it for a while when I was a child and had meant to read the books. Maybe I will do so now.

It's great because you actually get to find out how it ends! I think the series only ran through part of book 2 and had some minor changes.

 

[Number Six]

The name sounded familiar with respect to the old Star Trek TV series so I looked it up. Remember the one where the Enterprise somehow got sent back in time to late 1960s Earth and an Air Force jet spotted it and they beamed the guy up for whatever reason? And they weren't going to send him back because they figured out he didn't do anything newsworthy so keeping him wouldn't contaminate the timeline. But then they figured out that his as yet un-conceived son would be the leader of the first expedition to Saturn, so they had to send him back. Fortunately they figured out a way to do so while also erasing his memory of all these events.

Well anyway, that characters name was John Christopher. Since he was a science fiction writer of the same time the Star Treks were being made I wonder if the Star Trek writers made him reference on purpose or if it was a coincidence.

And it said his son Shaun Christopher would lead the first expedition to Saturn in...wait for it...the early 21st century. Damn, we're going to have to move things along pretty quickly to meet that schedule.

I wasn't familiar with the real John Christopher, the science fiction writer, but I'm sorry to hear of his demise.

 

[Tomtomkent]

To be fair the Tripod books (all four of them if you include the prequel) were great.

His serious sci-fi end of the world book, Death of Grass was far less entertaining.

 

[Brown]

I used to read "Boy's Life" cover to cover. Pee-Wee Harris, Think and Grin, ads for BB guns and blue jeans and jock straps, Chess columns by none other than Bobby Fischer (which I still have), some really awful fiction. I don't remember the Tripods, though. Might have been before my time.

 

[RobRoy]

I used to read "Boy's Life" cover to cover. Pee-Wee Harris, Think and Grin, ads for BB guns and blue jeans and jock straps, Chess columns by none other than Bobby Fischer (which I still have), some really awful fiction. I don't remember the Tripods, though. Might have been before my time.

I had to look it up to be certain, because I had two magazine subscriptions in my youth. It ran in Boy's Life between 1981 and 1986.

 

[Marduk]

Well anyway, that characters name was John Christopher. Since he was a science fiction writer of the same time the Star Treks were being made I wonder if the Star Trek writers made him reference on purpose or if it was a coincidence.
.

well, the fact that Spock mentions the sci fi author when researching Capt Christophers background on his library computer could be taken as a clue