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dasNdanger
Posts:
46
Registered:
4/9/01
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(9 of 9)
Oct 12, 2002 8:03 AM
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are the easy way out. Often the ending of a book is not all roses and sunshine...often it is thought-provoking or even disturbing. I susppose in that way the book never really ends, especially if it leaves you with questions that can never really be answered.
As I recall (correct me if I'm wrong) - at the end of Lost World Roxton is planning another visit to the plateau, Malone asks to come along...Well, doesn't that leave us with thoughts about what they will experience on the return...and questions like will they survive, will they stay, will they end up exposing that world to the 'diseases' of modern life??? It leaves the reader to ponder so many possibilities.
The romantic happy ending thing often leaves nothing to the imagination, it is a finality that requires no further thought. That's why I tend to hate romantic stories...life just isn't like that. Sure, it leaves the viewer with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside...but it definitely isn't the most powerful way to end a tale...
das
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dasNdanger
Posts:
46
Registered:
4/9/01
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(8 of 9)
Oct 12, 2002 7:46 AM
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It was NOT a flashback....
Everyone assumes Roxton died, but in the end we see him living the life of adventure he was meant to. I don't think they would have killed him off, since that would be so contrary to the book. But (as I recall) at the end of the book, Roxton was planning another visit to the plateau...so by leaving him behind it sort of conveys that idea.
das
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hamish
Posts:
3,051
From:
Location, location - everything is location
Registered:
6/20/01
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(7 of 9)
Oct 9, 2002 4:22 PM
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with the Hero getting the Heroin. <g>
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LadyFlier
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(6 of 9)
The boy-gets-right-girl endings
Oct 9, 2002 3:05 PM
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of the two movies really don't stand up the Arthur Conan Doyle's true ending (in my personal view).
In THE LOST WORLD -- A&E, Malone gets Agnes. ok. They look cute together.
In THE LOST WORLD -- 1924, Malone gets Paula MapleWhite, and they are very coo coo cushy happy to be together. This deviant ending bespeaks some misbegotten 1920's overblown romantacism.
In THE LOST WORLD -- original text by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- not a word of romance is spoken. The only reference to romance at all is Malone's failed engagement to Gladys (Potts). He expresses a whirl of emotions: disappointment, some grief, then relief and excitement in view of his now wide-open future. Malone's story is not one of marriage and settling. His story is about awakening to a new life of shared adventures with a smart and experienced comrade.
The book, by far, is the best ending, minus the schlocky romantacism.
LadyFlier
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hamish
Posts:
3,051
From:
Location, location - everything is location
Registered:
6/20/01
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(5 of 9)
Was the end of this movie
Oct 9, 2002 10:43 AM
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a flashback, or did Roxton actually recover and live? I thought that was a bit confusing.
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dasNdanger
Posts:
46
Registered:
4/9/01
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(4 of 9)
Oct 9, 2002 2:27 AM
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3 or 4..maybe more...
Funny, I'm not a mushy ending type...but I like this latest ending better than the 1924 one...and it's about tied with the book. I did read the ending...and I liked it - I liked the idea of these two setting off on an adventure together - a budding friendship??? Was Edward (Ned) realizing that he had a taste for adventure??? Yeah, I did like the book ending. There is something so cliche about boy gets girl type endings... Like in the movie with Roxton and the Indian girl.
But the idea of a guy setting aside his hormones to go off on adventures is a bit more interesting...maybe less predictable (and actually more natural...guys usually will set aside a gal to go off and have a bit o' fun...).
Sometimes I get annoyed when movies don't stick to the book. Being a Hornblower fan, there have been one or two times I've been disappointed that the movies - although very good - have not stayed true to the books. but then I look at it this way: With the movie we get one version - like a fictional account of fiction - if that makes any sense. I like to see the movie first - then read the book. If I read the book first, the whole time I'm watching the movie I'm thinking, "That's not how the story went - that's not what the author 'said'"... But if I watch the movie and THEN read the book - it's a bonus - I finally get to see what the author intended and then I can compare it to how the movies interpretted it.
I don't mind if a story is changed a little - but not too much. Sometimes people think they 'know' better than the author - as if they can improve on his work... Ususally that doesn't work, because they are trying to get into the head of someone who really doesn't want them to. Like in this latest Lost World...I was really disappointed when I thought Roxton died - it was too far off from the book. But then we learn that Roxton is alive and well and living happily with the Indians...nice, but not necessary. It may have worked better if they ended like the book...then added a bit - Malone, Roxton & Co. returning to the Plateau, maybe the Indian girl coming to greet them (totally unnecessaty, but for those that like the mushy ending....)...the two men looking at each other with an adventurous twinkle in their eyes...yeah, that coulda worked just fine.
Sorry, rambling....
das
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cindykins
Posts:
3,556
Registered:
11/19/01
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(3 of 9)
Oct 8, 2002 6:19 PM
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First-the guano deal I could see being linked to how they used Urine(nitrogen from it) to make explosives in the Civil War. It is the nitrogen in the guano(was that what it was? bat poop? I kind of got lost at what he was getting due to lots of chaos around here))would be essentially nitrogenous waste so that makes sense to me. Add to it-gunpowder-Ka BOOM! (? huh? not likely to explode away all those rocks but-it was a good twist-LOL)
Secondly- I can see all three scenarios and I kind of like the present one myself. The pterodactyl did escape-(didn't he? I think he did) so that could still leave an opening. I liked the way they made it a real ethical question. I think they came to the right decision, personally. I also liked seeing the Hunter man(name?-the cute one who ends up with Mary) stay there in the Lost World, It reminded me of Lost Horizons(have you seen this one?) a film about a place of peace away from the materialistic world. It left me with several questions for myself with that twist.
Thanks so much for posting all the different endings. THAT was interesting!
Which ending do you like best?
BTW- Did you know that Doyle had a real affair with the idea of faeries and the supernatural world which were reflected in his writings as well? I don't know how these fit within the time frame of writing this novel. He had alot of criticism about these ideas he had about the existance of faeries and such. It seems he really believed in them wholeheartedly. He had a real imagination! I think it was a real divergence from his medical background too which, to me, makes him all the more of an interesting person. Of course, for myself, he'll always be reknown for his creation of-Sherlock Holmes!!
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LadyFlier
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(2 of 9)
Lord Roxton and Malone are the last speaking characters
Oct 8, 2002 3:04 PM
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in the text of the book.
1 -- The creature that Summerlee and Roxton caught and returned to London was a petradactyle and they didn't give it a pet name. The dactyle escaped and frightened two old ladies when it perched for a long time on the gables of their roof. It then flew away and perched on a Norwegian freighter leaving London for far-away lands.
2 -- Roxton returned with a leather bag full of raw diamonds he excavated from a lava deposit. He took one to a London jeweler for cutting and evaluation. The 1912 value placed on the whole sack was $200,000 pounds sterling. Roxton divided the value into fourths and asked in turn, Summerlee and Challenger what their intentions for the money would come to. Summerlee -- retirement. Challenger -- a museum of his own. Malone? "You will certainly want to settle down and be married. As for myself, I intend to fund a return expedition to that self same plateau and for further exploration." Malone denies any inkling of pending marriage. "If it's all the same to you, Lord Roxton, I shall join you in the return expedition."
That is the true ending of the book.
It sets up for three or four tidy sequels, don't you think?
LadyFlier
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LadyFlier
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(1 of 9)
Cinematic Endings -- vive la difference?
Oct 8, 2002 12:34 PM
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2002
The explorers (less Lord Roxton) escape the Plateau by way of a hole blasted open by Dr. Summerlee, who figured out if you mix carbon with guano and put a fuse to it, it explodes. Peter Falk reappears at the ravine at the bottom of the mountain briefly to make a raving speech about sealing off access to the site for all time. Enough of his character. In a struggle with a pistol, he is fatally shot. Agnes sobs. Natives in canoes pick up the team and glide them down the river to a port which will be the place of their debarcation for London.
Scene changes. London docks. Malone got the right girl -- Agnes -- and Gladys made her own bed of mediocrity forever with Mister Bland, an accountant who never risked a daring act in his life.
Challenger succeeded in bringing the egg away from the rain forest and before his presentation to the London scientific body, it hatched into a happy healthy teradactyl, which he crated securely and brought to the program. Through mishappenstance, the crate came undone and the thing flew up and all around the domed ceiling of the room, Lol. Everybody was screaming. Challenger nearly recaptured "the buzzard" with a wiggly morsel of fish guts, but Terry took off into the London night, probably happy to be free. The entire party comes to terms with the fact that -- in order to preserve the integrity of the Plateau, the creatures, the ape kingdom and the Indian culture, they must sacrifice their fame and lie to the press and the scientific community. "The whole trip was a hoax!" they lie. Malone kisses Agnes. The end.
1924
Last Day of THE LOST WORLD... Low and behold... the mountain is volcanic and it's waking up big time. The ground is unsteady. All the creatures are running around acting disconcerted. The volcano begins to heave and spew. Lava is running in pools everywhere. The only creatures safe on the Plateau are the ones who can fly. Challenger, Summerlee, Malone and "Paula" MapleWhite make a precarious descent by a rope system from a cave to the ravine at the bottom. No preacher awaits them. These explorers and their crate are rescued as well -- before the volcanic sea of lava destroys every life form (including the ape colony) up there on the top.
Scene changes. London docks. Challenger is warning longshoremen to be careful with his crate. Malone regards Paula with a sweet look, and treks off to see Gladys for a quick chat. They get into an extended chat, and she introduces Ned to her fiance, a bespectacled little nervous man, the accountant who had never thought an adventurous thought in his life. Ned is satisfied that Gladys is satisfactorily happy and he bids her farewell. Forever. And he returns to the museum for the science lecture where he sits next to Paula. Challenger takes the stage, and one of the dock workers runs in, shakes him by the arm, and tells him "The crate fell into the water and the creature is loose!" Pandemonium. Scene changes. London Bridge at night. The creature, now a full grown Brontosaurus, rises up out of the water and takes out a significant chunk of the bridge roadway. London taxis fall into water. Bronto takes to land, and inflicts major damages to stone buildings and apartment houses, before he is chased back into the sea. London is safe again. Ned and Paula sigh. Love is grand. There is no going back to THE LOST WORLD inasmuch as it is a lava field of solid rock. The end.
The book.
I don't know the book ending yet. I'll check it out today.
LadyFlier
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