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The Science Fiction Fan, v. 4, issue 5, whole no. 41, December 1939
Page 15
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FAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 by Dorothy leading him (by violin) from the military marches which are the only things his singularly unaesthetic mind can appreciate to passages in which "she pours out her soul". Much to the annoyance of the maids who clean the room next morning, we suppose. Crane, while fundamentally a better and more credible type, is just as ridiculously the dilettante Boy Scout. He is clearly intended as a foil to Seaton, the super-hero, and thus is never allowed to develop his capabilities to anything like their full. One cannot help feeling that if he did he would, as Falstaff, overshadow the true hero, and that Dr. Smith knows this. Margaret is even more a shadow than Crane. There is only one character in the series who can gain the appreciation of a person with a mental age of more than 10. DuQuesne (how does one pronounce it?) is to Seaton as Mephistopheles is to Faust, and like Mephistopheles he steals the thunder. His Pragmatism is at least an understandable philosophy, in contrast with Seaton's venerations of sturdy American principles, but even here Smith must ruin his effect. After the adventure on the prehistoric planet, Seaton offers friendship to DuQuesne and the latter rebuffs him. This is entirely illogical, for it would have been useful to "Blackie" to have Seaton's confidence and his creed would permit him to break his word as soon as its period of usefulness had ended. Wholly apart from the characterization, the writing style is melodramatic and often laughable. In relating space battles, battles with monsters and the rest, this shortcoming is less evident beneath the bludgeoning of
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FAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 by Dorothy leading him (by violin) from the military marches which are the only things his singularly unaesthetic mind can appreciate to passages in which "she pours out her soul". Much to the annoyance of the maids who clean the room next morning, we suppose. Crane, while fundamentally a better and more credible type, is just as ridiculously the dilettante Boy Scout. He is clearly intended as a foil to Seaton, the super-hero, and thus is never allowed to develop his capabilities to anything like their full. One cannot help feeling that if he did he would, as Falstaff, overshadow the true hero, and that Dr. Smith knows this. Margaret is even more a shadow than Crane. There is only one character in the series who can gain the appreciation of a person with a mental age of more than 10. DuQuesne (how does one pronounce it?) is to Seaton as Mephistopheles is to Faust, and like Mephistopheles he steals the thunder. His Pragmatism is at least an understandable philosophy, in contrast with Seaton's venerations of sturdy American principles, but even here Smith must ruin his effect. After the adventure on the prehistoric planet, Seaton offers friendship to DuQuesne and the latter rebuffs him. This is entirely illogical, for it would have been useful to "Blackie" to have Seaton's confidence and his creed would permit him to break his word as soon as its period of usefulness had ended. Wholly apart from the characterization, the writing style is melodramatic and often laughable. In relating space battles, battles with monsters and the rest, this shortcoming is less evident beneath the bludgeoning of
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