Customer Reviews

Ole Doc Methuselah

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is one of my all time favorite stories and one of the earliest Science-Fiction/Fastasy tales I ever read. The style is classic early Sci-fi and the humor is rollicking and delightful. The material is a bit dated but it is still a great fun read!

Lance Whalin

It's interesting to see either complete hatred or unreserved praise for this, or all of Hubbard's book for that matter. In my opinion, neither are quite deserved. Quick disclaimer: unlike one of the reviewers below, all I know about Hubbard was that he founded Scientology which is really quite silly. I am really just reviewing the book.

Ole Doc Methuselah is a space-western. It is not sophiscated 'hard science fiction' and if read as such will generate a lot of frustration. For the most part, the author has his tongue firmly in the cheek and this shows. I mean - how can you take a hero (or the universe he inhabits) that fixes a planetary system's entire socio-political problems by 3 hours of plastic surgery seriously?!?!? There is some science though - for example Hubbard's description of TB sounds very much first hand; the use of omnipotent germ-cells to help regenerate tissue is a serious research discipline today; and the use of 'rays' much unheard of in the 30s & 40s for medical care is now reflected in the well-developed specialty of radiation oncology. What people need to remember is that this book, like many of the 'golden age' stories was written in the 40s and some parts are unavoidably dated.

But the series of short stories do manage to entertain very well. The style is unsophisticated but clear, with the occasional laugh-out-loud passages. The plots are fun and with some completely unlooked for and often improbable twists. The main characters - that is Ole Doc and Hippocrates, are vividly drawn and their conversation really flows. In my opinion, a book that entertained me and made me laugh is worth at least 3 stars - even if it is by a controversial author and will never win the Nobel Prize for literature.

The Ole Doc Methuselah stories are a series of seven novelettes that L. Ron Hubbard wrote for _Astounding_ between 1947 and 1950 under the pseudonym of Rene Lafayette. They remained uncollected for twenty years, but they were finally assembled as _Ole Doc Methuselah_ (1970), complete with a page explaining why L. Ron Hubbard was a Benifactor to Humanity. I do not have all of the stories in their original magazine form, but I do have a few of them. It looks as if few changes were made from magazine to book form.

The stories are about a human medical man with an alien sidekick who flies about the galaxy solving medical problems that are usually linked with skulduggery and planetary social troubles. Science fiction readers may notice a faint similarity with Murray Leinster's later Med Service stories, about a human medical man with an alien sidekick who flies about the galaxy solving medical problems that are usually linked with skulduggery and planetary social troubles.

There are some differences between the series. Leinster's stories are better crafted, more logical, and more scientifically savvy. But Hubbard's tales have a splash, color, and flamboyance that is lacking in the Med Service series. All of the stories are passably entertaining. My favorite yarns in this collection are the title story, in which Doc goes on a fishing trip that leads him into a ruthless planetary real estate scam; "Her Majesty's Aberration," in which Doc's absent-mindedness takes him to a planet that most of us would be happy to avoid; and "Plague," in which an old-fashioned solution is found to a new-fangled problem.

One story, "The Great Air Monopoly," makes use of a longish footnote about the United Medical Society (U.M.S.) from a fictitious future history by Hubbard. This was a practice that was common in pulp science fiction stories in the thirties and forties. They were frequently loaded with footnotes to give them a kind of authenticity. Sometimes the notes were basic science notations. But on other occasions, they could be rather free-wheeling and imaginative. After the forties, this practice was pretty much discontinued, though I believe that Jack Vance used it with some of his stories.

But it is impossible for certain passages not to hit me with their unintended irony:

"My man," said Ole Doc, "your precious bombs were one of the oldest known buncombes in medical history a propellant and ephedrine, that's all. Ephedrine barely permits the allergy patient to breathe. It wasn't 'air' you were selling but a phony, second-rate drug that costs about a dollar a barrel. They'd take a little and needed more. You were clear back in the dark ages of medical history-- about a century after they stopped using witches for doctors. Ragweed, ephedrine-- but they were enough to wreck the lives of almost everyone on this planet." (108)

A few months after the publication of the last Doc Methuselah story, the first of L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics articles was published in _Astounding_. What do you suppose Doc Methuselah would say about that?

Several stories thrown together allow one to travel with the good doctor, a "Soldier of Light". A most enjoyable read as you travel with Doc and his trusty sidekick and they travel the galaxy getting into and out of trouble

The Ole Doc Methuselah stories are a series of seven novelettes that L. Ron Hubbard wrote for _Astounding_ between 1947 and 1950 under the pseudonym of Rene Lafayette. They remained uncollected for twenty years but were finally assembled as _Ole Doc Methuselah_ (1970), complete with a page explaining why L. Ron Hubbard was a Benifactor to Humanity. I do not have all of the stories in their original magazine form, but I have a few of them. It looks as if few changes were made from magazine to book form.

The stories are about a human medical man with an alien sidekick who flies about space solving medical problems that are usually linked with skulduggery and social troubles. Science fiction readers may notice a faint resemblance to Murray Leinster's later Med Service stories about a human medical man with an alien sidekick who flies about space solving medical problems that are usually linked with skulduggery and social troubles.

There are some differences between the series. Leinster's stories are better crafted, more logical, and more scientifically savvy. But Hubbard's tales have a splash, color, and flamboyance that is lacking in the Med Service stories. My favorite stories are the title story, in which a fishing trip on an alien planet lands Doc in the middle of a real estate [...]; "Her Majesty's Aberration," in which a moment of absent-mindedness leads Doc off-course to a planet most of us would rather avoid; and "Plague," about an old-fashioned solution to a new-fangled problem.

But there are moments of unintended irony for me:

"My man," said Ole Doc, "your precious bombs were one of the oldest known buncombes in medical history. A Propellant and ephidrine, that's all. Ephidrine barely permits the allergy patient to breathe. It wasn't 'air' you were selling but a phony second rate drug that costs about a dollar a barrel. They'd take a little and needed more. You were clear back in the dark ages of medical history-- about a century after they'd stopped using witches for doctors. Ragweed, ephidrine-- but they were enough to wreck the lives of nearly everyone on this planet." (108)

Several months after he published the last of the Doc Methuselah stories, Hubbard published the first of his Dianetics articles in the pages of _Astounding_. Now I wonder... What would Ole Doc Methuselah say about that?

If you enjoy 1940's style fiction you'll enjoy this series of short stories based on the fictional character 'Ole Doc Methuselah. The writing style is not sophisticated, but it is entertaining.

Another L. Ron Hubbard CLASSIC !! Fantastic Forward Visions of Improvements in Medicine & "doctoring", some of which have already become reality now in the early 21st Century ! Book Reader Roddy McDowell is Outstanding in his verbal character portrayals. Treat yourself to the fun & pleasure of these unique Future Tales from the Golden Age of Sci-Fi !!

This old mini-series of stories is wonderful and should be rewritten into a mini-series of either made for TV or Movies. Full of original ideas and characters. I wish Cutting Audio got the rights and did a graphic audio novel(s) of this excellent story.

Not only was L. Ron Hubbard a hack but he was a lousy hack. The character of Ole Doc is a medical Lone Ranger of outer space, and the stories are Westerns of the type one heard on afternoon radio in the 1930s and 40s. Without actors to vivify the situations, they and the characters fall flat. However, the recent audio adaptation by 2000x (available from Audible.com) has a great deal of OTR charm. It is far better than the original.

This book appears to have been written by a ten-year-old. I feel cheated and insulted by the author and the publisher. The book was clearly published by a VANITY PRESS: a company that is paid by book writters to print and bind the author's book because no actual book publisher would by the text. (The book was printed by "Bridge Publications," which is a vanity press.) This shows you just how badly written the book is: the author himself had to pay to have it made into a book!

Don't waste your money on this garbage.