Adagio 5 – Psion Society
Now, I told you before that I wasn’t a Psion myself. I, Professor Googol Marou, expert on practically everything, must rely on testimony and speculation to tell you about the Psions themselves. Strange people they are, with unnatural powers. Oooh! Spooky! It’s little wonder the Galtorr Imperium was so deathly afraid of them. Still, I suspect that Grand Admiral Brona Tang of the Imperium was himself a Psion, him and all of his clones. So, I believe that the Imperium only feared Psions they couldn’t control. It turns out that Ged and Ham were not the only ones to seek escape from persecution of Psions by leaping outside of known space. It seems it had been going on for so long that an entire Psion Empire had blossomed in the stars just beyond the Imperial Border.
Of the nine billion people living on the planet Don’t Go Here, only a handful were Psions. The few I came to know well seemed to originate from the cavern-world beneath the surface of the planet that bore more than two thirds of the dense population of the planet.
Most of the Psions in our galaxy lived on the worlds of Zanatas and Zarane in the Phoebus IV Star System. It was a good 40 light years beyond Don’t Go Here in the Unknown Regions. It took at least 10 Jumps in space to get there with a good starship, and the Don’t Go Hereians had no ships at all. The Psion Colony Worlds were Tfriash, Kvarii VI, and Rhaskoo. All three worlds were many light years further away. You may have noticed that they are also hard to say. They seemed to have a thing for names with too few vowels in them. Kinda like Poles and Czechs, I suppose.
So the fact that Don’t Go Here had a Psion Master living on it was nothing short of a miracle. The thing is, though, that Tkriashav was himself capable of telepathy, teleportation, and clairvoyance. He had been anticipating Ged Aero’s arrival on Don’t Go Here since well before he found himself marooned upon the planet.
I like Tkriashav. I count him as a friend of mine. But I find him creepy in many ways. It is very unsettling to be around someone who can, in a sudden flash of insight, at any moment reveal to you the manner and place of your death. Oooh! Spooky again! Some things I really wish I didn’t know.
Tkriashav had been the mentor and teacher of several Psions as he lived on the planet Don’t Go Here. He had brought his sister’s family along on the space voyage that had resulted in his being marooned on the planet. Young Friashquazatl, Freddie they called him, was a shape-changer like Ged. He was Tkriashav’s nephew and Tkriashav had raised him since he was an infant, teaching him to control his power.
Tara Salongi, the beautiful girl who saved Ged’s life the first time he completely transformed into another species, was a gifted telepath. Tkriashav had taught her how to use her mind power to heal and to help. She was probably the one student he was proudest of. Bam-Bam Salongi’s only daughter was destined to be one of the most important Psions in the history of known space. That should raise some tremendous expectations in your humble imaginations.
The Psions themselves were only about two percent of the population of their own empire, but their planets were fertile and heavily populated. A large number of people with mind powers were available there to accomplish things that ordinary people could only dream of doing. Therefore, one has to conclude that Ged Aero was not only the right man on the right planet at the right time, but gifted with the right powers and teaching skills as well. Teaching skills, you say? Yes, he was a scout, a hunter, a spacer, and a psion before he met Tkriashav. But after meeting him, he became the most important teacher in all of known space.
Catch a Falling Star 
Only One Star?
There are certain books that simply have to exist in order for me to be me. I couldn’t be the person I am without The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien, Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Der Zauberberg (The Magic Mountain) by Thomas Mann, and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. These are all books that have an allegorical element, a trans-formative effect, that shapes how you think and how you live after reading them. Some of these books have not been made into a movie. Some probably still can’t be. Others have not been made into an effective movie. But, then, Disney in 2018 makes a movie version of A Wrinkle in Time that makes me relive the primary experience of the book all over again.
I was disappointed to see the critics being harsh about the movie. I had high hopes before going to see it. Yet, you couldn’t miss the one star rating on the box office rating system of the ticket and show time site I was using. But my daughter and I went to see it yesterday anyway. It was far above my highest expectations.
You see, the novel itself is magical. The essential characters of Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which have to be witch-like, super-real incarnations of inter-dimensional beings. It is the view of them with open-minded childlike eyes that makes the complex relationships of this story to reality apparent to anyone who thinks clearly like a child. It is the reason why this book is a young adult novel, written primarily for children, even though the concept of a tesseract is wholly mind-bending in a Stephen Hawking sort of way. It is the wonder with which the director of this movie lensed the dimension-tessering time witches that makes this movie the best version. Not like that failed attempt in 2003. That was almost there, but not quite by half.
Critics don’t like some of the special effects and the color schemes of some scenes. Many things about the final battle with evil are seen by them as inexplicably bizarre. They don’t like the over-use of extreme close-ups on the faces of characters. And they think the performances of some of the child actors are too wooden and unreal to carry off the story.
I wholeheartedly disagree.
This is a story that takes place in the heads of the people involved, including the viewer of the movie. The extreme close-ups pull you into the personal feelings and struggles of the main characters. Particularly Storm Reid as Meg. The story is about her struggle as an adolescent to be at peace with her own flaws and self-image while at the same time being responsible for finding and saving her father, as he has completely lost his way on his quest to “shake hands with the universe”. Meg undergoes a challenge to her self image as she is cruelly bullied by another girl in school. She has to come to terms with loving her super-genius little brother Charles Wallace. And she has to weather the changes that occur when she encounters a potential first love in Calvin. It is a coming of age story that really smart kids can relate to directly from their own personal experience.
This one-star movie with only a 40% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes is a far better movie than the critics would have you believe. It is doing quite well at the box office. Kids seem to love it. And in my wacky opinion, it is the best movie version of the book to date. I love this movie.
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Filed under art criticism, commentary, magic, movie review, science fiction
Tagged as A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle, movie review