"...because of its nearness to populous Gray, our choth receives more humans into membership than most." (p. 1)
Pictures of Gray, then of winged Ythrians and human beings with gravbelts flying together. The words and the pictures begin to explain "choth."
"Rennhi...is remembered for writing The Sky Book Of Stormgate."
The accompanying visuals should hint at the contents of the Sky Book, which is a volume that we never read or, in cinematic terms, a film that we never see.
"In this, as you well know, she traced and described the whole history of our choth. Of the ancestors upon Ythri; of the founders here upon Avalon; of the descendants and their doings unto her own years..." (pp. 1-2)
Scenes on two planets, showing the differences between their environments.
"God stooped upon her before she could begin the next chronicle." (p. 2)
"'In the end, God the Hunter strikes every being and everything which beings have made. Upon your way of life I see His shadow.'" (p. 407)
"...that race with which ours is to share this world until God the Hunter descends upon both." (p. 434)
God the Hunter should have a distinctive musical theme accompanied by a darkening of the scenery.
"Then came the Terran War..." (p. 2)
We should see scenes that we recognize from the dramatization of The People Of The Wind.
"...and, when it had passed by, ruined landscapes lay underneath skies gone strange."
This should be easy enough to visualize.
"Hloch, who had served in space, afterward found himself upon Imperial planets, member of a merchant crew..."
We should recognize planets from other parts of the Technic History.
"...Hloch had wearied of the void and returned to the winds."
A visual of the void, then of winds.
"This is the tale, told afresh, of how Avalon came to settlement and thus our choth to being. This is the tale as told, not by Rennhi and those on whom she drew for the Sky Book, but by Terrans, who walk the earth." -
intersecting streets;
many human beings walking purposefully;
birds' eye/Ythrians' eye view.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I am disturbed by the Ythrian New Faith's conception of God as the Hunter, that He pursues anyone as a hunter does his prey. And the New Faith's assertion that what pleases God is how strongly the "prey" resists Him is also repellent.
No, I have to reaffirm my conviction that God is far more truthfully portrayed as a King and Creator who takes a kindly concern in His creation. And of course Christians believe God's concern for His creation extended to Him even becoming Man, dying on the Cross, and rising from the dead for our salvation.
Sean
Sean,
It would also be possible to present Christianity sympathetically in Technic History films.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I hadn't thought of that, but I agree! Any GOOD films about Nicholas van Rijn would have to show that, besides being an exuberant wheeler and dealer who amply enjoyed the pleasures of this life, he was also a sincerely devout Catholic. Even if Old Nick's somewhat noisily expressed piety would grate on the sensibilities of some (such as him sometimes referring to God as "You up there"!).
"The Problem Of Pain" and "The Season Of Forgivenes" are other Technic stories where PA examined Christianity sympathetically. ENSIGN FLANDRY gives us Commander Max Abrams, a devout Jew from the Jewish settled planet Dayan. And both A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS and THE GAME OF EMPIRE shows us non human and human Christians (such as Fr. F.X. Axor).
Another character, Adzel, like Fr. Axor, is a draco/centauroid from Woden. Adzel became a Buddhist. And suggested in "The Troubletwisters" that many Ikranankans would find Buddhism more appealing than the fear of demons and magic prevalent among the more dominant societies.
I get the impression that Poul Anderson had the most respect for Christianity (such as the Catholic Church), Judaism, and Buddhism, of all human religions and philosophies. The few mentions of Islam we see in his works range from merely neutral to frank dislike (but PA carefully stressed many Muslims are decent PERSONS).
Sean
Post a Comment