Talk:Otherland

Temp in-progess version

I'm working on a more thorough version of this article on my scratchpad, see User:Hooloovoo/Otherland for the work in progress. --Hooloovoo 23:45, 2 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Just me

Is it just me or does the plotline of the .Hack series of anime/games/manga sopund awfully similar to Otherland's plot? --Kross 07:40, Apr 22, 2005 (UTC)

The chronology is wrong; besides, the idea of being trapped in a virtual world is positively antique. --maru 21:10, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I saw the resemblance, too. And what do you mean by "the chronology is wrong", exactly? Just wondering. The idea of being trapped in a virtual world "positively antique", though? Excuse me? I seriously doubt there was much science fiction involving computers before the 20th century, let alone ones advanced enough to have internet (which probably wasn't concieved of before the 20th century and certainly had little chance of having reached the public imagination before computers did) please correct me if I'm wrong. Themes get repeated a lot, but this one is comparitively new due to the proposed technology (you do say "virtual world" which implies advanced virtual reality computers, presumably extrapolated from the still-advancing digital computers of today, as opposed to analog machines) required. I'll freely admit that the idea of being a "stranger in a strange land" trapped and unable to escape probably has considerable precedent for hundreds if not thousands of years (I wouldn't know, I've never tried to research the oldest story in that vein before), but the twist of it being a computerized world can't possbily be older than the earliest research into the creation of the computing machines that led to today's modern computers. So agian - what on Earth do you mean by "postively antique"? I'm trying to assume good faith here, but that verges on sounding insulting to the entire subgenre of SF stories that make use of this theme (after all, antique computers are practically worthless except as objects of interest). I just hope this connotation is completely unintentional, is all I'm saying.

In any case, I was really surprised to see there WASN'T a mention of .hack//SIGN (the version of .hack I know of that includes that specific subplot of being trapped in the World) here, considering that usually articles for such things do list notable instances where they share themes with other popular stories - this would seem to fit the bill, and despite your dismissive tone, Maru, the fact is it is a comparitively rare subgenre, as even series that include virtual reality (see for instance Reality Check (manga)), which are only nowadays really getting popular it seems, don't always include the part about being trapped in it. Your tone says "don't even bother to mention it", but my head says "there's no reason not to mention it". Do you just not like .hack//SIGN? Well, I don't care much for the series either (it's too long and drawn out and frankly, bores me to tears, I gave up after only a few episodes), but the fact is I would still think it could and perhaps should be included as a brief mention because of the similar theme. After all, we do it for fairy tales and just about anything else. Runa27 21:35, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

It has been a while since I've read Otherland

But isn't Sam Fredericks' first name Salome? Not Samantha? I don't have the books on me to check, so I won't edit the article until I'm certain. --Talyma 02:06, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

I thought it was Sam, for what it is worth. It's been a while for me, too. --Maru (talk) 17:57, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

You're right Maru, the name is Sam for what it is worth. I'm pretty sure her full first name is Salome, not Samantha. I'll find out soon (reading the novels again atm). Amperehelion 04:57, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

I just finished reading the novel and it is Salome. Orlando makes the mistake of calling her Samantha when he first descovers her true identity. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.9.98.190 (talk) 20:01, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Realistic?

Removed the section, "that paints a realistic picture of what our society may look like in the near future" as it is simply PoV. The books are fantasy hence being realistic is an oxymoron. Candy 04:03, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

The books aren't fantasy, they're science fiction. ;o)

But you're right, it certainly is POV. Changing to "a credible or believable picture" might be more acceptable - and accurate. --dllu 22:05, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

What is this?

At my local library, they seemingly have a series of 5 books, titled Otherland 1-5. "Universe on the Side", "The Other Land", "The City of Golden Shadows", "The River of Blue Fire" and "False Gods". All at around 200 pages. However, from what I read on other sites, the Otherland 1-4 detailed here are each 1000+ pages. It would seem these 5 books are just "The City of Golden Shadows", ie Otherland 1, split up into 5 volumes. So, am I correct in assuming that these 5 books are really just the first part of the Otherland quartology? And if so, how come book 4 in this quintology shares name with book 2 in the quartology? Confusing, no?

Source: https://www.genvej.gentofte.bibnet.dk/sites/XBS/pub/search.html# (Search for "Otherland") -85.24.87.178 (talk) 03:48, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, you must have found a very annoying hole in a system....The 3 otherland books I've so far read are around 500-700pages, and "Blue Fire" is one book.....and I've never heard of "False Gods"......who knows?.......(Beau) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arothus (talk • contribs) 22:02, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

Caliope

Is it correct to call her a lesbian? She may be bisexual. In any event it seems non-salient. Rich Farmbrough, 09:38, 3 September 2009 (UTC).

Audio play

Would it be notable that in 2005, Hessischer Rundfunk has turned all four Otherland books into a German audio play, utilizing the official German translation published by Klett-Cotta and Heyne-Verlag? It's also Guiness Book-worthy by being the longest audio play in radio history at a complete running time of 24 hours, involving 250 individual voice actors. German Wikipedia already has a separate article for the audio play, and here's a link to the 25 CD box set on Amazon.de: http://www.amazon.de/Otherland-Iiv-Various/dp/B000S5L7OU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1273867788&sr=1-2-spell --79.193.59.142 (talk) 20:13, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

Seems notable to me, for one. (fwiw) rags (talk) 07:38, 18 July 2017 (UTC)

Inspiration

just heard a fascinating interview with Williams in which he admits to Otherland having been inspired by, of all things, a childhood visit to Disneyland.

when i say 'i heard', i mean 'i was in the room when he was being interviewed at a convention'. it's gonna be online sometime soon. 66.131.30.42 (talk) 19:49, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

dicecast dot blogspot is where it'll be. Soonish. 66.131.30.42 (talk) 00:21, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Nemesis

I am not completely sure, but shouldn't the section about characters inside Otherland contain a reference to Nemesis as well? I would also suggest to include references to the Wicked Tribe, the Stone Girl and members of the Circle as the organization opposing the Grail brotherhood. EugealCrayfish (talk) 17:29, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes, the activities of Nemesis and the Circle seem to be some of the reasons for the chaos in Otherland. It's so poor that they aren't even mentioned in the whole article! --84.58.51.115 (talk) 02:52, 3 February 2013 (UTC)

Cease mentioning the Xhosa Language!

I'm from Germany, so please don't mind my bad English. The Xhosa Language is mentioned twice when talking about !Xabbu's name. "(note: the ! in !Xabbu is representative of one of the postalveolar clicks from the Xhosa language)" The first mention is acceptable, but the citation above is really humiliating! Xhosa is a Bantu Language, that means a language of black Africans, while !Xabbu is a San (usually called Bushmen), they are a different race than black Africans (having light skin) and the ancient conflict between Bushmen and black Africans is one of the main topics of the storyline Renie/!Xabbu. And it should be well-known, that the click sounds originally came from these San-languages, spreading later to some Bantu-languages like Xhosa. And these language families are not related. --84.58.51.115 (talk) 02:28, 3 February 2013 (UTC)

Book cover in article

The book cover shown is "Otherland" (the original Hardcover title for City of Golden Shadow) yet the mouse hover text) 18:00, 3 September 2013 (UTC) says it is the paperback cover of Sea of Silver Light.68.97.202.187 (talk

This is the worst book I've ever read

The plot is nonsensical, the characters are not just not doing anything, but even their every action is revealed to be doomed from the start.

The whole thing just constantly flushes down ideas, breakes it own rules, pulls things out of nothing, and generally relies on deus ex machinas.

Do not fall for the first book, this series is the worst thing in existence. 2A02:AB88:5181:5300:6191:A9D2:6C32:36CD (talk) 14:12, 23 July 2017 (UTC) →So what? Why would you post this here? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.38.75.60 (talk) 15:40, 9 October 2017 (UTC)

Not sure why this was added to the wikipedia page, as wikipedia should focus on facts, and not personal reviews Corhen (talk) 20:44, 27 April 2021 (UTC)

Cleaning up the introduction paragraphs

I'd like to remove the following part from the introduction

→"Orlando Gardiner, one of the main characters in the books, spent most of his teenage years in this world's equivalent to MMORPGs based upon J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction. The overall series's events also bear a strong resemblance to The Lord of the Rings."

This is describing a character, and is better left to the characters section of the article, rather than calling out one of the multiple main characters in the series. Corhen (talk) 20:44, 27 April 2021 (UTC)

Noteworthy?

Is Josh Strife Hayes' play through of the mmo (Otherland - The complete playthrough) noteworthy?--174.99.238.22 (talk) 02:27, 23 June 2021 (UTC)