Supertoys Last All Summer Long

by Brian W. Aldiss

Book Overview

"Supertoys Last All Summer Long," which inspired the Steven Spielberg film A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, headlines this collection of 18 short stories by Science Fiction Writers of America Grandmaster Brian Aldiss, including three others featuring "supertoys".

David is just a little boy, a little boy who loves his mother, and his teddy bear. David wants to make his mummy happy, and tell her he loves her, but can't quite...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312280610
• ISBN13: 9780312280611
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Mythmaking?

The first three stories have obvious parallels (which Aldiss apparently denied) with Pinnochio (and also the Tin Man in Wizard of Oz and Pygmalion and seal-wife and fairy-wife legends). Maybe I'm reading too much into this (making me guilty of deconstructionism) but I saw a pattern of recreation of old stories. "Nothing in Life is Ever Enough" tells the story of Shakespeares "Tempest" from Caliban's angle. "The Old Mythology" is what its title suggests; a visitor from a future age is present at events (told with a sharp sense of humor) that precapitulate (if that's a word) Greek and Hebrew creation myths. "Headless" is a version of the sacrificed hero described in Fraser's "Golden Bough." "A Matter of Mathematics" is about Plato's cave. In "Becoming the Full Butterfly" the breaking of a divine law results in the destruction of a world by flooding. "Talking Cubes"= "The Picture of Dorian Grey." "Steppenpferd"=the Temptation of St Anthony (I couldn't make a connection to Hesse's "Steppenwolf"). Most of the stories have down-beat endings. Whenever anybody has a good time they get their come-uppance, so it's a pessimistic view of the future. Even "The Marvels of Utopia" is dystopic - at least it's far from Thomas More. In spite of they're enjoyable because of Aldiss's sheer good writing,excellent jokes, wild imagination and page-turning action.I

There's more to this book than "Supertoys"

That said, the three Supertoy stories are here, and are quite nice. I think some of the imagery in the three are superior to that of the movie, the first in particular (Monica's response to being allowed to breed is incredible). However, there is much more to this book than just Supertoys.To start off Aldiss apparently hates humanity, or at the very least human vanity and self-centeredness. He also seems to think that humankind will not grow out of these flaws, instead humanity will become more and more self-centered as time goes on, so be prepared for a future that is at the same time utopia and distopia...Aldiss's writing style does seem to swing between brilliant and not so good, but there is enough brilliant to make up for the rest. III was particularly grim (the image of what humanity does to the inhabitants of Triton will stick with you), and "A Matter of Mathematics" could possibly be made into a decent screenplay. All told, "Supertoys..." is an incredible collection of eerily plausible sci-fi that just about everyone should read once, if not more. (if just to avoid turning the inhabitants of Jupiter's moon Europa into Campbell's Canned ET)

Don't Trash the Movie

The movie is "loosely" based on the book. It does not even share the title. the movie was great but should never be compared with the book. They are basically two different stories on two different types of media.

Extremely Clever and at the Same Time, Foreboding

Brian Aldiss knows how to envelop you in a story. He doesn't waste time on descriptions of people or places, but just gives you the characters and their situation and goes from there. Some of the stories are just descriptions of a future corporation's plans or a strange occurance. But most become epic in meaning by the time you hit the end of the story. One thing that might bother some readers is the way some of the stories seem to go on and on and on and nothing is really happening. Don't let it get to you because at the end of each story the REAL meaning is shown and it makes total sense. You'll be reading one of the stories thinking you know what's going to happen, but you never do with Aldiss. As far as the Supertoys/A.I. stories they are among the weakest of the collection and are almost totally different from the movie. No Gigolo Joe, No Rouge City, NO BLUE FAIRY. Just David, Monica, a completely different Henry, Professor Hobby, and of course, Teddy. Aldiss is truly a master of Sci/Fi and somehow his bleek view of the future seems eerily possible...