Mars Attacks!: Tie In Edition

by Jonathan Gems

A huge invasion fleet from Mars is heading for Earth and the U.S. President, the military, and even the First Lady are helpless to stop this armada

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Novels

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Jonathan Gems was born in 1952, in London and went to a variety of schools because when the tension between his parents became too intense, they’d move house. Like most decent children, he despised school, and left at the age of fourteen to found a magazine called Student, to promote a re-think of the education system. This re-think never happened, and schools are now even worse than they were in the 1970’s.

Initially successful, Student magazine folded after nine issues, in part due to Jonathan’s parents realizing he was too young to be out of school and forcing him to go back. Student, which he produced with Richard Branson, was not a complete loss, however, because it was the birthplace of Virgin Records, which began as a mail-order company selling record albums through the magazine and grew into a chain of record stores, a recording studio, and a successful record label.

So, at the age of fifteen, Jonathan went to the local comprehensive school, from which he was expelled and, after two more schools, he left the school system to work for his father at Gems Wax Models, the family firm, which manufactured wax figures and shop window mannequins. After being trained in every aspect of the business, in order to eventually succeed his father as managing director, his father sold Gems Wax Models to live the life of Riley on the proceeds.

Out of work, Jonathan started a business publishing a comic called It’s All Lies, which ran for six issues, then worked in restaurants, cleaning companies, a travel agency, a hotel, and shops, and wrote and performed songs in several bands, before starting a firm named Capricorn Graphics that printed and sold silkscreened posters, and provided artwork to magazines.

This company was wound up shortly after he was accepted by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to do a stage management course. After this, he started a fashion company making clothes designed by Jean Colette Seel, and got a job as an assistant stage-manager at the Open Space Theatre in Tottenham Court Road. Soon after this theatre was closed down, he was hired as stage manager at the Half Moon Theatre in East London, where he wrote his first play – an adaptation of A Christmas Carol – by Charles Dickens, which sparked an interest in writing plays, which he had hitherto avoided because watching his mother’s suffering as a playwright had put him off.

For the next two years, he went on the dole to study playwrighting, and wrote several short plays, which were produced at fringe theatres in London, and a full-length play, The Tax Exile, which was presented successfully at the Bush Theatre. His next play was Naked Robots (Royal Shakespeare Company), followed by The Dentist, and Doom, Doom, Doom, Doom (Royal Court), The Paranormalist (Greenwich Theatre), and Susan’s Breasts (Royal Court.)

He was then hired to work on the movies Nineteen Eighty-Four and White Mischief, both directed by Michael Radford, followed by Batman, directed by Tim Burton, after which he spent nine years in Los Angeles working on a wide variety of projects including the movies Cry Baby, Mars Attacks! and The Treat, which he also directed.

On the verge of directing his second feature, he fell ill with Hepatitis C – was given three to five years to live ­by the doctors – and returned to London.

For the next twenty years, he was ill with Hep C – with symptoms similar to chronic fatigue syndrome – until, in 2018, he was cured thanks to a combination of natural and allopathic medicine.

In 2019, he published a book on the British film industry called Who Killed British Cinema? – co-written with Vinod Mahindru.

In 2021, he plans on releasing Mars Attacks Memoirs based on the 1996 cult classic movie Mars Attacks! Followed by further books called Hollyweird, Griselda, In The Mood, Where Monsters Dwell and many others which are yet to be announced.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novelization of a movie that was based on a series of 1950s science fiction bubble gum cards... so, if you're in the market for subtlety and nuance and other such high-brow intellectual qualities, this is not the droid for which you're looking. If, however, you're looking for a nicely written summary of the film with a little more back-story on some of the situations and characters, then here you go. The book was written by the same man who wrote the screenplay, and I thought both were a lot of nostalgic fun. (I remember going into a video rental store a year or so after the film was released and finding a copy of it in their clearance bin for next-to-nothing. When I took it to the check-out, the clerk tried to talk me out of buying it and kept warning me that if I did buy it that all sales were final no matter how bad the movie was. I assured him that I had seen the film and enjoyed it, after which he looked at me with loathing and distrust and kept me under close surveillance until I left.)

[Maarit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tästä teoksesta huomaa, että se perustuu elokuvaan. Tarina etenee nopeasti ja jokainen luku tuntuu kuin kohtaukselta elokuvassa, vaikka tietyt elokuvamaiset nyanssit siitä puuttuvatkin. Hahmoja on paljon ja on selkeää, kuka heistä on ns. tykin ruokaa ja kuka taas säästyy. Kukaan hahmoista ei myöskään ole erityisen persoonallinen tai mieleenpainuva, se tosin voi johtua kirjan lyhyydestä ja siitä, että tarinaan on yritetty ympätä mahdollisimman paljon tavaraa. Kirja oli kuitenkin ihan viihdyttävä luettava, sen vuoksi annan sille 3 tähteä.

Elokuvasta en muista kuin hämärästi pari kohtausta ja sen marsilaisten kummallisen räkänaurun, ehkä se pitäisi katsoa uudelleen, joskus.

[Ryan Duffy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty racist

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is literally as if your friend watched the movie and explained it to you. Still rather funny and easy to read nonetheless.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyable enough, but not a patch on the movie.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The dark humor doesn’t come off well here as it does in the film. On top of that, there’s some character backstory, most notably Byron’s (played by Jim Brown), that just doesn’t need to be in this.

[Peter Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cheesy and fun!

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a fun expansion upon a movie I already love with humorous details that expanded upon moments in the film. I could see it in my head.

[Conan The Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me gustó mucho la novela, y es la primera movilización que leo sin haber visto antes la película.

[Bo Malpas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ack ack, ack ack ack.

[Toronjastico · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitivamente no es ni será una obra cumbre de la literatura americana, y es lógico considerando que está basada en una película.

Tiene momentos muy graciosos, como cuando los ancianos de la casa de retiro ven la masacre del poder legislativo y creen que están viendo una película cómica, o cuando el padre de Richie dice que "!No se van a llevar nuestra tele!" respecto a la inminente invasión marciana. También es de destacar que el héroe no fue el típico héroe americano, si no un adolescente rechazado por su familia y su abuela medio loca.

Cosas que no me gustaron fue que hay un exceso de personajes que no aportan prácticamente nada (ni siquiera puedo entender cuál sería su rol en la película) y que la narrativa es bastante... Plana.

Es un buen libro para pasar el rato, y de muy fácil lectura. Aunque no sé si me dejó ganas de ver la película.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can honestly say that this is the only occasion that I have come across where the movie is vastly better than the book. I still enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone who likes the movie, but otherwise, don't waste your time.

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oli tämän ihan viihdyttävä, vaikkakin silloin tällöin tällöin tuntui, että kirjottaja olisi halunnut kirjoittaa Linnunradan Käsikirja liftareille kaltaista hassuutta. Huutomerkkejä oli liikaa ja loppu tuli tökäshtäen.
Toisaalta, en myöskään leffasta erityisemmin pitänyt.

[Cade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stupid funny. A really easy read and lots of laughs.