Michael Crichton

[Werthead]

Also didn't mind the State of Fear, which is an interesting concept.

State of Fear is the one in which he slandered a real-world Washington journalist, who was being urged by everyone to sue Crichton's arse off but in the end decided he couldn't be bothered, and then Crichton died, so it stopped being an issue.

Crichton was a writer who wrote a couple of half-decent books back in the 1970s and developed some good ideas for film and television, and that was pretty much it. His later novels (1980s onwards) were awful and almost entirely devoid of merit.

Crichton also developed an irritating habit of taking the opposing view to mainstream science just to annoy people, such as his assertion in Jurassic Park that volcanoes killed off the dinosaurs, not an asteroid (which isn't too controversial, given our inability to precisely align the dates of the Mexico impact with the extinction event, but still odd), and his, how shall we say, highly questionable scientific claims in State of Fear that were roundly ridiculed by numerous scientists.

 

[thepaladin]

I'm not sure he does this simply to annoy. It's actually a possibility that he thinks he's correct. Radical idea I know, but I thought I throw it out there...open minded fool that I am.

 

[thepaladin]

The TV remake was a "mini series" staring Benjamin Bratt. It leaves the plot of the book behind completely. I would say I hated it, but that's not intense enough, having really enjoyed the '71 movie.