The Lensman series is about two absolute archetypes. The Arisians are portrayed as absolute good and the Boskonians as absolute evil.
BUT! If you read carefully, you start to pick out inconsistencies. The Arisians first of all, caused the Boskonian galaxy to slip out of whatever universe they occupied and into this one. The galaxy was then as a result of their actions on a collision course with the Milky Way. The Boskonians took exception to this.
Now, they were also portrayed as pure, unadulterated evil, so it isn't hard to hate them. But on a purely moralistic level, the Arisians are the *real* bad guys. Not only have they destroyed an alien galaxy, but when they realize the Boskonians are immune to their power, they begin a millenia-long process of selective breeding to genetically create super-races to fight their wars for them.
The first book in fact deals with several Earth histories, which keep being rolled back and rewritten as the Arisians take humanity's toys away from them. Finally, they decide the only way humanity can be useful is if they never develop anything more sophisticated than the vacuum tube, which is why their technology is so clunky. They weren't given a choice.
Whenever I read the Lensman books, I get a completely different slant from them. Here's a race of near-godlike intelligences that tried to swat an aggressive alien race, accidentally pulled their galaxy into the same universe as the Arisians, then when the Arisians couldn't *do* anything about it, set about to create themselves a subordinate army which would kill Boskonians without a second thought.
Frankly, if I met an Arisian on the street, I'd pull out a gun, say, "You hypocritical *bastard*!" and empty the clip into him. I don't think Doug would like that universe at *all*, and not for the conventional reasons...
BUT! If you read carefully, you start to pick out inconsistencies. The Arisians first of all, caused the Boskonian galaxy to slip out of whatever universe they occupied and into this one. The galaxy was then as a result of their actions on a collision course with the Milky Way. The Boskonians took exception to this.
Now, they were also portrayed as pure, unadulterated evil, so it isn't hard to hate them. But on a purely moralistic level, the Arisians are the *real* bad guys. Not only have they destroyed an alien galaxy, but when they realize the Boskonians are immune to their power, they begin a millenia-long process of selective breeding to genetically create super-races to fight their wars for them.
The first book in fact deals with several Earth histories, which keep being rolled back and rewritten as the Arisians take humanity's toys away from them. Finally, they decide the only way humanity can be useful is if they never develop anything more sophisticated than the vacuum tube, which is why their technology is so clunky. They weren't given a choice.
Whenever I read the Lensman books, I get a completely different slant from them. Here's a race of near-godlike intelligences that tried to swat an aggressive alien race, accidentally pulled their galaxy into the same universe as the Arisians, then when the Arisians couldn't *do* anything about it, set about to create themselves a subordinate army which would kill Boskonians without a second thought.
Frankly, if I met an Arisian on the street, I'd pull out a gun, say, "You hypocritical *bastard*!" and empty the clip into him. I don't think Doug would like that universe at *all*, and not for the conventional reasons...