Gor, Lost in Adaptation or merely Lost?

[Kester Pelagius]

That's the question on Cosmic Cinema's mind as we go into this wonderful 4th of July weekend.  So if you love sci-fi and fantasy take a moment to unwind and share your thoughts on Gor, Lost in Adaptation or merely Lost? before gorging on all that wonderful BBQ goodness.

Don't know what Gor is?  No worries the article explains a bit about that.  Also there reviews currently up of the premo 80s sword-and-sandal B-movie weirdness that was OUTLAW OF GOR and GOR. That said. .

Who's see these movies?  Anyone here actually read the novels?   Are they as bad as the movies?

[meQal]

I have seen one of these, don't remember which one it was but was suppose to be the first in the series. It was a bad movie. I can't say that the books are the same or not because I never read them. I do know that they must be rather popular because it has a cult following. It even turns up in a subculture in the online game Second Life where some people have entire virtual land areas in the game devoted to the entire Gor mythos.

[Rev. Powell]

I read one of the novels but never saw the movies.  It was basically a softcore porn bondage novel disguised as a fantasy novel.  The sex elements were much more pronounced, thematically, than the fantastic elements or the adventure story.  There was a lot of emphasis on how the women learned to love sexually slavery against their will--pretty disturbing stuff, really. 

[Chang Saam]

I remember posting a small review of Gor in a recent viewings post way back in the day when I was Rumyungyungsonson. A bad movie for sure but still fun to watch. Never read the books, but I might look into them some day.

[Kester Pelagius]

The conclusion to the article is now live.  While comments are welcome and anonymous commenting should is on be advised some have reported problems, so if you can't leave a comment on the blog feel free to reply here.

Before I forget; the link: http://cosmic-cinema.blogspot.com/2009/07/gor-lost-in-adaptation-or-merely-lost_06.html

meQal,

I know the novels are supposed to be popular, yet I've never found any in a used book store, thrift shop, or flea market.  Thus I've had to rely on excerpts posted online.   Some of which are so painful to read I scarecely believe they're real quotes from a published novel.  Of course some of those excerpts are longer than others but. .   

Rev. Powell,

Were the novels really that poorly written?

[Rev. Powell]

Rev. Powell,

Were the novels really that poorly written?

It's hard to say.  I read one or two, probably when I was about 12 or 13, so that was over twenty years ago.  I don't remember much about the plot, except that the economy and social order of Gor was built around slavery.  I remember that whatever the adventure story was, it bored me.  So I skimmed ahead and read the sex scenes, and there were lots and lots of them.  I remember not really being aroused by them: the bondage/slavery stuff was just too weird for me.  Even at that age, I sensed the author had some kind of psychological issues, and was obsessed with bizarre sex stuff that didn't appeal to me.  It just seemed "wrong," and I mean both morally and psychologically. 

It's possible that for fantasy bondage novels, they were really well written, with lots of psychological depth, and I just didn't "get it" at the time.  I think the series stuck in my mind all this time because it was my first encounter with a sex fetish.