# TIMELINE sucks in two centuries (contains some coded spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 28, 2003, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/timeline-sucks-in-two-centuries-contains-some-coded-spoilers/215684 "2003-11-28T06:06:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lux\_Interior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@Lux\_Interior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Interior)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/timeline-sucks-in-two-centuries-contains-some-coded-spoilers/215684/21 "2003-11-30T17:29:27Z")
> [@](#): > > I like Michael Crichton, and I thought the book sucked. It was the last Chriton book I read. “Prey” got such bad reader & critical reviews that i gave up on him. When I read “Timeline” I felt that it was written to be a movie. It lacked the technical depth that I like from Chriton. “Congo” should never have seen life as a movie. “The Andromeda Strain” was the best as a movie. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/timeline-sucks-in-two-centuries-contains-some-coded-spoilers/215684/22 "2003-11-30T18:12:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > **You’ll notice he doesn’t have this kind of stuff going on in E.R.** That’s because Crichton doesn’t write ER, at least not since the first season. Executive producer, yes, hands-on, daily manipulator of story, plot and dialogue, no. I liked the book, not as a technical treatise but as a story. It had gaping holes of logic, absolutely, but it was an enjoyable summer vacation read. But as I read it, I thought “They’re going to make this into a movie, and they’re going to blow key parts of it because of the language issue, and it’s going to suck.” Fast forward three years. My prediction comes true. Whodathunkit? This will be a “after it’s not a new release” DVD rental, at best. Maybe a “catch it if it’s on one of our premium channels on cable” thing instead. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/timeline-sucks-in-two-centuries-contains-some-coded-spoilers/215684/23 "2003-11-30T18:26:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > \*\*But he always has his scientists and engineers – who are so sure that they have all the bases covered – being defeated by _something they forgot_. He thinks he’s writing about engineering hubris. Engineers and scientists who read his books, on the other hand, are annoyed by his arrogant and clearly short-sighted technologists. \*\* Heh. I remember a some reviewer or other commenting that Crichton doesn’t write science fiction, he writes _anti_-science fiction. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/db5fbb/32.png) [@Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fred)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/timeline-sucks-in-two-centuries-contains-some-coded-spoilers/215684/24 "2003-11-30T19:46:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Baldwin \* > \*\* Then later there’s a half-baked speech about how even if you _did_ really go back in time, you couldn’t change anything. \*\* Actually, I find this idea to be one of the more sensical ones. Basically, the idea is that what we are experiencing is the world in which the actions of time travelers have had an effect. Thus, when you go back in time you aren’t changing anything, because in the present you have already done so - things have already “changed” so there’s no difference. Hrm, I see I’m not making much sense. How about an example. If I go back in time to write my name on a wall, then in the present time my name was always on the wall - hence, my going back in time to write it changes nothing. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/timeline-sucks-in-two-centuries-contains-some-coded-spoilers/215684/25 "2003-11-30T19:52:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > \*\*I agree - Crichton doesn’t write great novels, and you can find other science fiction writers who cover the same ground. Generally better. But Crichton can get the publicity, somehow. God knows how or why. \*\* I think it just has something to do with the way he writes. I can pick up a Crichton book and point out all the plot holes and shallow characters that I want, but _I can’t put the book down!_ It’s like Crichton has stumbled on the formula for literary crack. In his slightly-more-realistic novels like “Airframe,” he has the ability to get me interested in subjects that I thought I didn’t care about. He seems to have a gift for providing the perfect amount of technical information for the casual reader. It’s always enough to whet the reader’s appetite, but never too much that it will bore him. When you compare him to other authors I enjoy, the flowery prose of Truman Capote makes Michael Crichton look like a hack. When it comes to character development and realism, everyone makes him look like a hack. Characters Tolstoy wrote about 150 years ago are more identifiable to me than MP3-player-toting characters that Crichton created last year. It seems like you can pick out pretty much any aspect of his writing and find a thousand authors that can do it better. Few, if any of them, however, have the ability to make me lay on the couch and keep reading for twelve hours or more, stopping only for bathroom breaks. I hear about cocaine users staying up for days on end and only going to sleep when the coke runs out, and suddenly I can relate. Good thing Crichton doesn’t write epics. Michael Crichton is not a great writer. His ideas are not profound and his books do not challenge the reader or break any literary ground. I would not be at all surprised if his name is little more than a footnote in a hundred years. Still, though, I always shell out money for hardback copies of his books as soon as they come out. They are great entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![blasphmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@blasphmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blasphmer)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/timeline-sucks-in-two-centuries-contains-some-coded-spoilers/215684/26 "2003-11-30T23:02:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RikWriter \* > \*\*Michael Crichton wrote it, didn’t he? That pretty much guaranteed it would suck. \*\* Exactly! When the book suxs, and the Computer Game was an abominatino to Nature why’d you watch the movie. PS Did you notice how once they started advertising the movie it wasn’t \*\*Michael Crichton \*\* Timeline, like the game & book were it was just Timeline. Even he knows how bad it is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/timeline-sucks-in-two-centuries-contains-some-coded-spoilers/215684.md?page=1)