Ready Player One (2011)
Members of the Oculus Quest team were all given copies of Ready Player One and they lifted many concepts from the book in their hardware and software design for the Oculus VR.
As I mentioned in a movie review post a couple years ago, Ready Player One is the sort of book that seemed to be genetically engineered to induce a nostalgia brain-boner for the inner kid in someone like me.
Ready Player One starts in an exposition-filled introduction where the main character, Wayde Watts, introduces the reader to a dystopian vision for the near future in 2045. Wayde is a resourceful kid without much opportunity, relegated to trailer park life in the outskirts of Oklahoma City. Work is scarce, food isn’t plentiful and the times are dangerous. An energy crisis, wars, famine & economic turmoil have ravaged the comparably comfortable society that we currently inhabit. Things are hard, especially for the least fortunate among us and the rich and poor alike seek distraction from the harshness of reality in a Virtual Reality MMO called The OASIS.
One of the OASIS’s cofounders, an eccentric high-functioning autistic genius billionaire named James Halliday, has died. His death triggers a multi-year virtual scavenger hunt to collect keys & solve challenges in search of an Easter Egg hidden somewhere inside the OASIS. These objectives are tied to the co-creator’s passions and interests, which are mostly anchored in 80’s nerd culture. This necessitates a planet-hopping, multi-year adventure that is densely packed with pop-culture references, fueled by 80’s nostalgia and performed by a cast of sympathetic characters. The winner will inherit Halliday’s fortune and control of the company that runs the OASIS, GSS.
Some combination of narrative connective tissue with the protagonist and Halliday and myself has led me to read the book numerous times on paperback or e-Book. Some of the specific references in the book (Joust, Wargames, Pac-man, Zork, Monty Python’s Holy Grail) ring the bell to bring out my inner 10 year old. That BBS-hopping, BASIC text-adventure-game-making nerd kid was me. When I wasn’t playing in the woods or in the tire-fields around our trailer, I was on the C64 spending hours on Aztec Challenge, Lode Runner, Donkey Kong, Law of the West & Snokie
When I first heard that Spielberg was going to be helming the film project, I was really hopeful that the movie would be a hit. It was commonly accepted that a direct translation of book to movie wouldn’t be feasible on terms of product licensing, alone.
The hook for me in the original story was the kid-adventure aspect of discovery of the Tomb of Horrors. It had the “treasure in your backyard” Goonies vibe as Parzival came to the realization the first key was hidden on planet Ludis, accessible to him despite his low-character strength and lack of wealth.
I never would have guessed that the writer of Goonies would opt instead to eliminate the entire “kid adventure in your backyard” vibe in favor of a CG-Fueled Death Race clone with no real soul or story. I would liked to have been a fly on the wall for how that came to pass.
Any chances of seeing Parzival traverse the Tomb of Horrors to ultimately confront Acererak in a Joust match are now relegated to fan-creations.
Epic fan art concept by Cole Marchetti
In preparation for the release of Ready Player Two, I watched the film again and listened to the audiobook.
This time, watching the film, I was able to appreciate it a little more as a standalone creation though I still miss the arcade video game references that were cut in favor of more recognizable pop culture fair. Decision by committee, I get it.
I really would have liked to see more classic arcades in the film, I really would have liked to see Parzival’s asteroid stronghold and a final battle closer to that of the original story. I’m mostly okay with the idea of remixing Wayde’s time as a shaved-like-a-naked-mole-rat IRL reclusion and infiltration into IOI with Art3mis’s movie plot. It makes Art3mis a stronger character, a fierce and independent young woman that will be far more interesting in the next movie, if they make one.
The audio book form of the original book is a treat. It is narrated by Wil Wheaton; the perfect choice for this material. It clips along at a good pace and is perfectly suited for the audiobook platform. Mr. Wheaton also narrated Armada, Ernest Cline’s love letter to The Last Starfighter.
Ready Player Two (2020)
Ready Player Two kicks off a few days after the close of Ready Player One’s storyline. Even though it continues from the book narrative it felt more like a screenplay for a second movie than a standalone sequel novel. Like the first novel, Ready Player Two’s primary narrative resolves around a scavenger hunt based on the original GSS founders’ obsessions. They do this while adjusting to their new positions of authority within GSS and over the OASIS and through the backdrop of their evolving relationships.
Wil Wheaton performs the audiobook narration and does an excellent job. He really has grown in skill as a narrator since the first book. This time around, when he inhabits the character of Wayde Watts, he does so in the beginning with a junky-like espresso-fueled excited rambling energy that really comes through in the performance. I found myself more than once checking the playback speed to see if it was still on 1x. That choice.. was a masterful one considering the storyline.
Without specifics and spoilers.. The stakes are huge and the storyline dips into numerous compelling contemporary concepts. Certain Characters are given a chance to grow and shine and some of those aspects will be fascinating to see on screen if this story is ever translated to film. Other characters’ idiosyncrasies get brought into daylight, sometimes to an uncomfortable degree but ultimately in service of the larger plot. That too, will be interesting to see in the market-tested, rounded and safe version that one days makes it screen. Spielberg has stayed in touch w/ Cline over the creation of the second book and even made a request of him concerning one of his favorite characters.
Ultimately, I liked Ready Player Two but I didn’t love it. The number of pop culture references per minute are cut considerably down and many of those chosen for this book didn’t resonate with me as much as the first. This book is a little more sci-fi concept with some D&D references, light on video games and heavier on 80’s pop music and film.
Just like the Ready Player One movie, this vision for Ready Player One Two may resonate with a broader audience by moves similar to swapping Zork for The Shining. Ultimately, it bums me out b/c the obscure, specific video game references from my childhood made Cline’s 1st book seem like it was written for me.
This? Not as much. Don’t get me wrong, I’m down for Cline’s world view and the central premise on this story and I think he’s a great storyteller and world builder. I just wanted more sprites and quarters in this escapism and less reminder of things like pandemics, broken governments and Purple Rain. YMMV. :)
Ready Player… Crossword
Using the AmuseLabs PuzzleMe Builder, I created a Crossword based on Ready Player One. Want to try it?