Talk:Sphere (novel)/Archive 1

Grammar

Has anyone besides me noticed that the word "literally" seems to appear every couple of sentences in the plot section? --Mr. Neo Anderson (talk) 17:54, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

-Straightened out a few grammar errors. I think that's the worst of it. And who ever heard of squids? that's like mooses!Revpfil 15:51, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

name?

Beth is called "Halpern" on top of the article and "Halperin" at the end - I don't remember which one is correct though (clem 23:18, 25 August 2005 (UTC))

"Halperin" is given at the film page and on IMDb, so I've changed the first occurrence. --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 16:32, 26 August 2005 (UTC)

That may be, but I have a copy of the book in front of me, (page 22 in my copy) and it's "Halpern". Thus I've changed it to reflect this inconsistency (similar to Johnson vs. Goodman). To the end of Norman's last name, the article on the movie says: "starring Dustin Hoffman as Dr. Norman Johnson". Interesting, but I haven' seen the movie. If you want to dispute either case, there's plenty of talk page. HereToHelp 22:21, 29 September 2005 (UTC)

Interpretation section

Whilst I enjoyed reading it, the Interpretation section appears to be solely original research. It cites no sources and was added in it's entirety by an anonymous editor on September 8th 2006. I believe it should be removed. --- Trench 02:06, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Interesting, sure, but doesn't belong in Wikipedia, and is unsalvageable in this respect. All gone, and OR tag removed. EldKatt (Talk) 21:58, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

I entirely agree, but if you don't mind, I'll link the diff so it's easily accessible to those who wish to view it after reading this discussion. MeekSaffron 18:35, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

moved to here

The plot seems quite similar to The Lathe of Heaven. Also Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. I have tried to add it in the article, but some guy keeps deleting it.

I'm not sure who you both are (sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~); that automatically gives your User name or IP address, and adds the date and time), but while it's OK to speculate about sources and likenesses here, to do so in the article offends against Wikipedia policy. That's why I deleted the sentence in question. Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 18:08, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

But if you can find existing criticism of the book that says it owes something to Solaris you could place this view in the article; though you should probably cite your sources.--Mongreilf 08:31, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

No I have to agree with the original posters, this plot is almost a direct copy of Solaris's, almost shameless in fact. I'd put it back in if I were you. 220.245.239.93 (talk) 04:15, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Has anyone besides me noticed that the word "literally" appears excessively in the plot description? --Mr. Neo Anderson (talk) 17:55, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

too many publishers

Is the ISBN in this article's infobox correct? A quick search gives me a different ISBN -- but I am surprised that it also gives a different publisher from the one mentioned on the official Michael Crichton web site.

• Sphere hardcover published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.[1].
• Sphere paperback published by Ballantine Books[2].
• Sphere by Crichton, Michael: Publisher: Macmillan; ISSN/ISBN 9780333452981 [3]

--68.0.124.33 (talk) 13:17, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

yes, it's correct. later versions were printed by BAllantine Books (i own this book) Kevin chen2003 (talk) 05:14, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

Artifact

Let me know when artefact is the de facto spelling in a country with the highest GDP, love Scapermoya 07:13, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

Mel Etitis is insisting on being contentious about the spelling of artifact. The simple fact that wikipedia's own article on the word "artefact" redirects to artifact, not the other way around, is precedent enough to make my edit valid. He wants to play editing tennis without discussing it. I am going to go with the OED and Wiki on this, not to mention the fact that artifact is the accepted spelling in America. Call it typical American arrogance, but I am willing to discuss this. Scapermoya 23:46, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#National_varieties_of_English suggests, by way of example, that articles about British books should be written in British English, so perhaps we should use American English for Sphere--Mongreilf 12:57, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

similarity

When I finished reading the book, in 2002, I thought that it shared a LOAD of similarity with "Stargate" the movie and "The Abyss". Especially the "rag tag" group of volunteers who explore new alien things. I think they're rip-offs. However, I did find the topics of psychology and human emotions interesting, but what really, really made the whole thing suck was the whole time-travelling humans bit. Aliens I could imagine could pull this kind stuff off at least. Although, the usage of the sphere as a self-retrospective plot driver was good.

In mentioning "Solaris" in the similarities section, one might also mention the novel "Roadside Picnic" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, in which there is an alien artifact, a "golden sphere", which is supposed to have the power to manifest a person's deepest desires. Both novels were adapted to film by Andrei Tarkovsky, I might add. BlackGoat138 18:52, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

The book pre-dates 'Stargate' and 'Abyss.'

I don't know, "rip off" is sort of a strong term in a world with comprised of endless re-combinations of the same thing. It seems to me that Crichton based it heavily on "Forbidden Planet". And it also shares similarities with the Lovecraft-based "Tommyknockers", however of the same year.

I say this article needs to be compared with other articles. It's okay, but there are probably matters that could be fleshed out more in a way that matches the rest of the encyclopedia.

165.83.132.248 (talk) 07:32, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

This movie is undoubtoudly very closed (sic) to Forbidden Planet : the scene where Harry dreams is 100% similar with Pr. Morbius's dream, etc., and consequently, from The Tempest... --90.46.241.179 (talk) 09:34, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

There is also similarity to the novel Solaris, in particular, the idea of an alien life-form manifesting the darker desires and thoughts of humans trying to examine it. This should be expanded in the article. Fig (talk) 10:10, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

THE ENTIRETY of this discussion is WP:SYNTH and Original Research, and completely useless on Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 104.169.21.238 (talk) 05:16, 20 February 2021 (UTC)