Discussion:
THE GOLD OGRE
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Dave
2009-09-13 11:38:12 UTC
Permalink
Not quite as bad as I remembered it, but still pretty grating.

This is the one where four teenaged boys team up with DOC. Obviously
the concept was a big loser, since even with a hook at the end,they
never turn up again -- in fact, I've never even heard of a fragment or
outline containing them.

And good riddance. There's the DOC-clone, with all the personality of
a hall monitor. The guy with the bizarre schemes to make money, who
you keep thinking will say, "Gee your dad' been kidnapped. Maybe we
can sell your story to th emovies for big bucks!" The brainy guy, who
speaks in fortune cookie riddles. and the guy who is gat/funny, but is
just fat.

SPOILER ALERT


The gold ogres turn out to be evil circus midgets, of course. This is
one of the warning signs of a lame pulp plot, of course -- any use of
midgets (this one also has caves, too).

The plot is "So fantastic, no one will believe it," because of course
it is so fantastic no one would believe it. Another example of the
criminal mastermind not doing cost-benefit analysis. When your front
end includes a gang armed with rifles, machineguns, and grenades, the
aforementioned midgets, a seaplane, and an secret underground
limestone lair on an isolated island, you've put all of your eggs in
one all-or-nothing basket, just to gain control over some factories in
Nowhereville, Wisconsin.

Dave
Victor De Long
2009-10-05 21:57:43 UTC
Permalink
I loved this one when I first read it as a kid, and always hoped that the
group of kids would come back. It's been a few years since I read it so I
can't speak to how well it holds up, but as a collector of adolescent
mystery series books, I suspect I'd still enjoy it. It always felt like
they were aiming at setting up a separate series of stories, but that it
died aborning like the Gary 7 episode of Star Trek, which was intended to be
the precursor/pilot of a new series, but went nowhere.
Post by Dave
Not quite as bad as I remembered it, but still pretty grating.
This is the one where four teenaged boys team up with DOC. Obviously
the concept was a big loser, since even with a hook at the end,they
never turn up again -- in fact, I've never even heard of a fragment or
outline containing them.
And good riddance. There's the DOC-clone, with all the personality of
a hall monitor. The guy with the bizarre schemes to make money, who
you keep thinking will say, "Gee your dad' been kidnapped. Maybe we
can sell your story to th emovies for big bucks!" The brainy guy, who
speaks in fortune cookie riddles. and the guy who is gat/funny, but is
just fat.
SPOILER ALERT
The gold ogres turn out to be evil circus midgets, of course. This is
one of the warning signs of a lame pulp plot, of course -- any use of
midgets (this one also has caves, too).
The plot is "So fantastic, no one will believe it," because of course
it is so fantastic no one would believe it. Another example of the
criminal mastermind not doing cost-benefit analysis. When your front
end includes a gang armed with rifles, machineguns, and grenades, the
aforementioned midgets, a seaplane, and an secret underground
limestone lair on an isolated island, you've put all of your eggs in
one all-or-nothing basket, just to gain control over some factories in
Nowhereville, Wisconsin.
Dave
Anim8rFSK
2009-10-07 03:14:26 UTC
Permalink
Post by Victor De Long
I loved this one when I first read it as a kid, and always hoped that the
group of kids would come back. It's been a few years since I read it so I
can't speak to how well it holds up, but as a collector of adolescent
mystery series books, I suspect I'd still enjoy it. It always felt like
they were aiming at setting up a separate series of stories, but that it
died aborning like the Gary 7 episode of Star Trek, which was intended to be
the precursor/pilot of a new series, but went nowhere.
You might look in other media. There was a recent "Assignment Earth"
comic book mini series that was pretty good, and Gary, Roberta, and Isis
feature prominently in the first 2 volumes of Greg Cox's KHAN trilogy.
--
"He'll succumb to all who find
DOC SAVAGE! DOC SAVAGE!"

Hey, that's what we THOUGHT the words were,
first time we saw the movie in the theater . . .
Victor De Long
2009-10-07 15:52:58 UTC
Permalink
Oh, man, I didn't mean to reveal other aspects of my nerdiness by
mentioning Star Trek! I will slightly red-facedly admit to having the Khan
trilogy, along with . . . I don't know . . . three or four hundred other
Star Trek books, as in everything ever published except for a few of the DS9
and Voyager books. I sort of backed off of them a few years ago when every
single book that came out was a cross-over with the other three series.

I guess actually this might make an interesting thread, to see what other
areas of collecting are shared by Doc fans. I'll go first:

Pulp anthologies and noir detectives (Chandler, Hammett, etc.) which is a
pretty natural fit with Doc

The afore-mentioned Star Trek books

Comics for a while, but now primarily graphic novels and the DC Showcase and
Marvel Essentials

Comic strip reprints (ties in with the love of panelology)

Adolescent adventure and mystery series books from the 20s up to the 50s
with a few from the 60s and 70s.. Rick Brant. Ken Holt. Brains Benton.
Hardy Boys. Bill Bolton. Tahara. Sorak. That kind of stuff (hence my
liking Gold Ogre)

Dictionaries and books about words (which just drives the ladies wild!)

Art and photography

I'm sure there are a dozen others that don't come to mind, but that's most
of my library right now.
Post by Anim8rFSK
Post by Victor De Long
I loved this one when I first read it as a kid, and always hoped that the
group of kids would come back. It's been a few years since I read it so I
can't speak to how well it holds up, but as a collector of adolescent
mystery series books, I suspect I'd still enjoy it. It always felt like
they were aiming at setting up a separate series of stories, but that it
died aborning like the Gary 7 episode of Star Trek, which was intended to be
the precursor/pilot of a new series, but went nowhere.
You might look in other media. There was a recent "Assignment Earth"
comic book mini series that was pretty good, and Gary, Roberta, and Isis
feature prominently in the first 2 volumes of Greg Cox's KHAN trilogy.
--
"He'll succumb to all who find
DOC SAVAGE! DOC SAVAGE!"
Hey, that's what we THOUGHT the words were,
first time we saw the movie in the theater . . .
Anim8rFSK
2009-10-14 20:21:42 UTC
Permalink
Post by Victor De Long
Adolescent adventure and mystery series books from the 20s up to the 50s
with a few from the 60s and 70s.. Rick Brant. Ken Holt. Brains Benton.
Hardy Boys. Bill Bolton. Tahara. Sorak. That kind of stuff (hence my
liking Gold Ogre)
No Tom Swift, he asked quickly?
--
"He'll succumb to all who find
DOC SAVAGE! DOC SAVAGE!"

Hey, that's what we THOUGHT the words were,
first time we saw the movie in the theater . . .
Victor De Long
2009-10-15 18:53:17 UTC
Permalink
Actually , yeah, I was including them mentally with the adolescent adventure
and mystery series books. I don't have anything near a complete set,
because like the Hardy Boys, I want to read them in their original
un-edited, un-politically corrected state, but I'm way too cheap to pay more
than a few bucks apiece for them. But I'm slowly putting together a set,
along with several dozen other series.
Post by Anim8rFSK
Post by Victor De Long
Adolescent adventure and mystery series books from the 20s up to the 50s
with a few from the 60s and 70s.. Rick Brant. Ken Holt. Brains Benton.
Hardy Boys. Bill Bolton. Tahara. Sorak. That kind of stuff (hence my
liking Gold Ogre)
No Tom Swift, he asked quickly?
--
"He'll succumb to all who find
DOC SAVAGE! DOC SAVAGE!"
Hey, that's what we THOUGHT the words were,
first time we saw the movie in the theater . . .
Anim8rFSK
2009-10-19 04:02:31 UTC
Permalink
Post by Victor De Long
Actually , yeah, I was including them mentally with the adolescent adventure
and mystery series books. I don't have anything near a complete set,
because like the Hardy Boys, I want to read them in their original
un-edited, un-politically corrected state, but I'm way too cheap to pay more
than a few bucks apiece for them. But I'm slowly putting together a set,
along with several dozen other series.
The first 25 (IIRC) of the Tom Swift Senior books are in public domain
and can be gotten places like Gutenberg, or in treasury collections on
Amazon. They weren't ever rewritten for content, so you don't have to
worry about that; if you get a Tom Swift book, you've got the original
text.

You might want to check out the TS site I host at
www.tomswift.info
where you can also link to the yahoo group I co-moderate.
shameless plug
:)
Post by Victor De Long
Post by Anim8rFSK
Post by Victor De Long
Adolescent adventure and mystery series books from the 20s up to the 50s
with a few from the 60s and 70s.. Rick Brant. Ken Holt. Brains Benton.
Hardy Boys. Bill Bolton. Tahara. Sorak. That kind of stuff (hence my
liking Gold Ogre)
No Tom Swift, he asked quickly?
--
"He'll succumb to all who find
DOC SAVAGE! DOC SAVAGE!"
Hey, that's what we THOUGHT the words were,
first time we saw the movie in the theater . . .
--
"He'll succumb to all who find
DOC SAVAGE! DOC SAVAGE!"

Hey, that's what we THOUGHT the words were,
first time we saw the movie in the theater . . .
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