Episode 4 - It’s Been a While!
Mark answers the call to save an alien species, but the mission has unexpected personal consequences.
Full cast, crew and characters
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I was wondering if some of Nolan’s Viltrumite beliefs might have subtly seeped into his writings and led to certain tropes that modern critics might find distasteful.
One of them was called “Savage Planet, Savage Beasts” and I wonder what critics had to say about that lol.
“Amazing worldbuilding from Nolan Grayson, as always. The alien worlds and species he comes up with are always so creative and immersive. Once again, however, he struggles with his protagonist, another physically perfect specimen with little to root for. Also, the reoccurring rhetoric of the alien people as ‘savages’ and ‘inferior’ is almost problematic in places. 3/5”
Imagine Nolan getting canceled or something lol
Having to sit at the convention signing table with Piers Anthony and Philip Jose Farmer.
“Obviously the book is really good but, this is the second book where a protagonist has forced their kids to fight wild creatures on the alien planet and has said ‘Should they not survive, I will shed no tears for they are weak!’ Again, the books are really good but does he realise Lord of the flies isn’t a parenting manual?!”
And then the protagonist fucked his pet which we felt was a bit problematic
All of Nolan’s books are things he actually did and experienced
I assume based off his emphasis on the books it’s gonna have some kind of clue on beating the viltrumites/how mark can get stronger or something along that vanes
I think that’s pretty clear with how asking Mark to read his books would probably be the last thing on his mind at that moment, unless they contained something very important.
And then it’s contrasted with Debbie throwing the whole set of books out at that very moment. I imagine Mark will have a hell of a time tracking those down to actually read them by the time he gets back to earth. Since it already took him 6 days to get there (with a working Thraxans ship that he might not have anymore), the books will be long gone.
I got the impression that Nolan actually published those books, and Cecil used that as a way to give them money, aka an under the table way to pay him for his hero work.
If that’s the case, then there should be no trouble finding these books to read. Unless whatever Mark needs to find out is in solely Nolans copies of the books.
I honestly always assumed that someone else was a ghost writer for those books as a cover for Nolan. After all, I assumed he didn’t care / have time to write when he was out being a superhero.
I guess it’s possible that he actually wrote them, but I assumed that “Read my books” was a way for Mark to go to those specific books and find whatever is inside, written in the margins, etc.
I say that because the show puts a lot of emphasis on Debbie putting the books away and deliberately shows them being placed on the sidewalk to be thrown away. I get the feeling those specific books will be important.
Hmm, could be. But if that were the case I don’t think they’d have made sure to show us they were retro sci fi books. That makes me think its gonna be something in the writing itself, whether training the main character goes through, or a race that’s clearly an expy for the Vitrumites, whatever.
I’m confused about the books, I could have sworn they said he wrote travel books in season 1
Cecil said his travel guides “always sold well” when he talked to Debbie about the book, so it could be Nolan’s pulp sci fi was just relatively unpopular compared to those.
I feel like it’s rather gonna give mark directions on where they are taking him. Maybe it has some specific description of where Viltrum is or something
Wait, I’m actually wondering this now
Was Nolan just some unhinged ass author??
Imagine Nolan wrote a lot of racist books, giving Lovecraft a run for his money.
Even if they weren’t racist, “The Man with the Invincible Gun” is just an absolutely terrible title for a book lol, so that probably din’t help.
I have to imagine his books were terrible if he only half-assed writing them between saving the world all the time (and maybe snuck in some secret clues for Mark along the way?)
It was more or less confirmed that Cecil was responsible for basically all the book sales in order to keep Nolan and his family financially situated, so it seems like they weren’t exactly flying off the shelves on their own.
You read it and think to yourself “sheesh, Nolan. Maybe just stick to killing people. You’re better at that.”
I couldn’t find the author on the promo photos but who was the author of those books, Nolan (supposedly writing fiction books) or Omni-Man (meaning, books were more auto-biographical)?
I thought Nolan was a travel author since he could review cities and learn about culture while scoping out their strengths and weaknesses for Viltrum.
Nolan IIRC.
Debby was making good money with the books, which she no longer wanted
“There are some troubling theories on genetics as well as what some might call fascist undertones that migh make one question what exactly the authors intent was, as well as the audience they were going for, bringing mind the trappings of stories written 60 years ago, rather than a book written in 2021.”
“Look, as someone who also grew up watching Dragon Ball Z I understand the appeal of homaging its work by replicating the father son dynamics in his works, but at some point Mr. Grayson has to realize that Goku was not a good father. Maybe for the next book he should try to replicate Vegeta instead?”
Five minutes later so is Earth.
Late to the party, but
Thats the true reason he turned, not the Vultrimite taking over the world reason but because he was on the verge of getting cancelled for his books.