Sphere (Sphere - Michael Crichton)

Member Name: ming_mercyless

Product:	Sphere - Michael Crichton
Date:	20/06/01 (305 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good cast

Disadvantages: The book is much better

This review is actually about the book, not the film. If you have the time read the book its much better than the film.

Sphere is about a futuristic sphere that gives a group of scientists a special and unusual power- the power of being able to turn fantasy into reality. The group of scientists are kept in total wonder as to why they were being sent to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The scientists consisted of Norman Johnson, a psychologist; Beth Halpern, a zoologist and biochemist; Harry Adams, a mathematician; and Ted Fielding, an astrophysicist. Each scientist played an important role- Norman was to watch the team because no one had ever seen an alien and they didn't know how people would react. Beth was to assess any life form that the team might come across. Harry was there because math is the universal language and Ted was there to determine where in the universe the aliens came from.
The story begins as Norman is being transported to the discovery site in the Pacific Ocean. When the team was assembled Captain Barnes debriefed them on their mission. He told them that there was a titanium fin found 1,000 feet under the ocean and that it is over half a mile long. He also informed them that the spacecraft had been in that location for almost 300 years. When they all arrived at the underwater habitat, they were sent to a compression chamber to bring them to the right pressure. After compression, the team was sent to their quarters for some rest before they set out to the spacecraft. When the crew was all rested and refreshed, they suited up into insulated suits and jumped into the water. They then proceeded to the airlock. After passing through the airlock and into the ship, they split up into two teams. While they were exploring, Beth and Norman were accidentally transported to the control room. There they found out- with the help of the ship's computers and a suit on a dead body- found a surprising discovery- the ship was A
merican. It had been transported back in time through a black hole from the year 2043 all the way back to 1743 and landed in the ocean.
While Beth and Norman were in the control room, the other group stumbled upon a massive golden sphere. They decided to set up a video camera to monitor it. As they were about to leave, they noticed that there was no entry into the sphere; they also noticed that the sphere reflected everything- except the image of the team. As the team was sleeping, Harry slipped on his suit and went to the sphere. The next day, Norman pulled him out of the now open sphere, unconscious. After Harry’s recuperation they were prepared to go back to the surface. However, a severe storm had developed on top, which knocked out communications, meaning they were unable to call up for a sub to collect them. They would have to wait until the storm was over and they could repair communications on top.
As the days went by they were forced to talk to each other and entertain one another. Harry was reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and was quite enjoying it. Every 12 hours Norman and Beth would place the videos in an automatic sub and reset the timer. If no one reset the timer in 12 hours, the sub would float to the surface with the videos inside. That way, if anything happened, there would be some idea of what went wrong.


As Norman and Beth were coming out of the sub, Barnes warned them of a giant object coming towards them. They reached the hatchway just in time before a giant squid started to attack the compound. After an hour of attacks, the only people left alive were Norman, Beth, and Harry, who somehow managed to sleep through the whole attack. They were all starting to get suspicious of Harry. How could he have slept through the whole attack and not even stir in his sleep?
As Norman and Harry were sitting around talking, they noticed that Beth had gone missing. They were unable to stop her as the
y watched her on the monitor entering the sphere. Earlier, before Beth had disappeared, Norman and Beth were talking about how Harry was reading about squids in his book and he was asleep at the time of the attack. Harry must have dreamt about squids and somehow made them come to life-the sphere somehow made thoughts become real. As they all soon realize that they all had entered the sphere at one time or another- Norman when he rescued Harry and Beth on her own will- they all knew of the great power that they each possessed. As they were all standing around discussing what to do, the intercom broke in saying "Ten minutes until explosive detonation". Norman and Harry both turn to Beth who is looking sheepishly guilty and she explains that she had rigged the craft with high-power explosives. There is a panic as the three struggle to get off the compound before it explodes.
They do eventually get off, but only in the nick of time. After they had been picked up and done with decompression (without it, the gases in their blood vessels would expand and literally pop them), they were talking when all of a sudden they realized what a tremendous gift they possessed. They had the power to think of something and it would come true, but they also realised that this power was too dangerous for one man to control. So they all vowed to forget the whole thing ever happened. And as they did this they realised why all the crew had died- they had all gone into the sphere and were so paranoid of each other that they killed off everyone until no one was left. And just like that they forgot that the sphere and the spaceship had ever existed.

I thought that this book was very entertaining; Michael Crichton uses all his literary skills to keep the tension and mystery up until the very last pages. Not only is Sphere a great thriller it is also a prudent warning about the advances in technology. This novel tells us that we may not be ready for some of
the technological advances that we have made. The fact that humans actually create the Sphere, and not aliens is quite important. It tells us that humans will develop that type of technology, but at least 50 years from now. At the moment we don’t have the discipline to use that technology responsibly. We were never meant to have this advanced technology now, and the violent outcome of using the Sphere points out this undeniable fact.
This theme of technology gone wrong can also be seen in many of Michael Crichton’s books, especially Jurassic Park. In Jurassic Park dinosaurs are resurrected and put into a park for our entertainment. However, the dinosaurs escape causing mayhem and destruction. The moral of this story is that we shouldn’t play god, the dinosaurs had become extinct for a reason, i.e. natural selection, and just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should.

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