Galactic Patrol (Lensman Series, No. 3 / Pyramid SF, No. N3084)

by E.E. "Doc" Smith and E E Doc Patrol

Book Overview

Kimball Kinnison is a Lensman and an officer of the Galactic Patrol, a kind of interstellar police force with almost unlimited powers. The Lens gives its wearer a variety of mental capabilities,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0515030848
• ISBN13: 9780515030846
• Release Date: January 1973
• Publisher: Pyramid Books
• Length: 237 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.

Customer Reviews

I have treasured my copies of the Lensman series.

This series must have been the inspiration for Star Wars and other sci-fi series in the 70's. It's almost prophetic in some of the storylines. I've rarely heard it mentioned but is well worth reading!

The Defining Masterpiece of Space Opera

Capsule Description: Old-fashioned space opera, filled with super-science, Good Guys and Bad Guys (as Bad as they get), far-flung settings, and battles on a scale unimaginable. Purple prose by today's standards, but written with energy and the true classic "Sense of Wonder". This series was and is one of the major foundations on which later SF was built. It inspired many later authors. I still find them great fun to read. Review: "Doc" Smith may not (quite) have INVENTED the "space opera" (although offhand I'd be hard put to find one written earlier than the original drafts of The Skylark of Space), but almost no one would be able to argue against the assertion that it was Doc who DEFINED it and perfected that subgenre. And the series in which he did that was the Lensman series. Originally published starting with Galactic Patrol (though now officially starting with "Triplanetary", to which the above links), the Lensman series deals with a slowly-escalating war in a far-distant future, a war that has many levels (levels we don't penetrate for several volumes). The "Lensmen" are those who have been given the mysterious device called the Lens by the inhabitants of the even more mysterious planet Arisia. How the Lens is created, no one in the Patrol understands; but what it does is give the wearer perfect telepathy -- the ability to communicate mind-to-mind -- so that no language, howsoever alien, is a barrier to communication. It cannot be worn by anyone except its owner -- to touch a Lens that is not being worn by its owner, for more than a fleeting instant, is agonizing death. It enhances all of the wearer's mental capacities, giving him access to other psychic talents, and protects him against attacks by other psychically powerful minds. The wearer of a Lens is incorruptible -- though they can feel the temptation of money, power, drugs, or other lures, they will in the end resist these lures; they have the inherent ability to do this (it's not forced on them by the Lens, but rather the Lenses are only given to those who have this characteristic). The combination makes the Lensmen the only reliable policemen for a galaxy of a million species, a million languages, a million laws. The Lens is perfect identification, a badge that cannot be faked and a translator which won't fail. And such a reliable, incorruptible force is needed, because the threat that is waiting for the Galaxy is enough to make even a stalwart Hero quake in his boots.The old-fashioned prose and simple characters often turn newcomers off from reading the series, but this is a wonderful set of stories. Doc Smith started the movement that led to everything from Star Wars to David Weber's Honor Harrington series. Give the old man a try, he's worth it, as long as you still like heroes who are Heroes and villains who give no quarter and no excuses for being as nasty as they come. Purists would insist that you start with Galactic Patrol and go on, since Triplanetary was originally not a

Smith does it again! ;-)

Volume three of the Lensmen books really takes-off. The two previous books seem to be mere back-story for this one book. I was caught up in the emotion and pace of the book. Every chapter is its own novelette. In fact, sometimes I believe that the story can be too quick and too terse at times.Smith has quite an active mind. It reminds me of Zeus giving birth to a full-grown Athena from his head. This series has an overwhelming ambient. Not only are the props and gizmos there, but also the social and political connections. There are layers and depths to the story he tell, it is as layered as Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and Herbert's "Dune" series. You feel that you are in a real world, and not just look at a painted background.I confess that these stories are dated in some ways. There is the quaint 1930's and 1940's slang that you see in old Bogart and Hope/Crosby movies. There is a bit of naiveté about human nature, even thought there are drug dealers and pirates. Some of the science is dated, such as ether theory and cultural progressions. Despite these things, the story holds its own, and compares to anything new in print.Many people complain that the characters are flat. I see their point. Kimball Kinnison's marriage isn't on the rocks, nor is he about to be kicked off the force, and he certainly is a loony-but-crafty vigilante like Batman. But he is an admirable character, and is someone I admire, despite being fictitious. Then again, Jean Valjean is also fictitious, but what a piece of fiction!Admittedly, the Lensmen seem to be flat because they are so morally virtuous. But you wouldn't describe their lives as boring. Kinnison can barely catch his breath as he zips across the galaxy catch the drug runners and the pirates. Kirk, Petard, and Skywalker eat his inertialess dust. Kinnison isn't flat, but he is ideal. These books are modern-day morality plays, and serve the same function as their medieval counterparts; they instruct and set a pattern for our behavior in the so-called "Real World."This Old School Sci-Fi is essential reading. I wish I had read it earlier. It is essential Sci-Fi reading, along with Wells, Verne, Asimov, Herbert, and Bradbury By the way, I have been keeping track of the names, and am surprised at how far Smith's intellectual seed has been sewn. Here is a list:Lensman LaForge = Geordi LaForge (Star Trek: The Next Generation)Mauler ships = Darth Maul from "Phantom Menace"Planet Bennett = Jack Bennett and Bennett Family from "The Bionic Six"

The best of the best!

Before Star Trek, before Star Wars, before all the other Space Opera's, there was E.E. "Doc" Smith's LENSMAN (or History of Civilization) series. Make no mistake about it: this is THE classic sci-fi work! Galactic Patrol is the first novel in the series which chronicles an epic struggle between Good and Evil -- and Mind and Matter, incidentally, if you want to look for a deeper meaning. OK, chronologically, its the third, but it was the first one written, suitably revised for inclusion in the series. If you want to get started in Sci-fi, this is the series for you. If you want to start the younger generation, it's even better! Written in the 1930's, it's long on action, but the love affairs and language are mild by today's standards, perfect for young readers. (although the vocabulary is pretty advanced). It's strong on family values and democratic ideals, but don't make the mistake of thinking it's preachy or sentimental. Just good, solid, Outer Space adventure throughout. I first read these novels in the eighth grade, and I've read them fifteen times since; my original copies have long since disintegrated. The Lensmen novels truly rank with Tolkien as one of the classics of Sci-fi/fantasy genre. Do yourself a favor and read this series.

Foundational Sci-fi on a par with Asimovs I-Robot

At last a re-print ! Hard to believe it ever went out of print, unless it could be that the Politically Correct Thought Police forced it out. Yes it is a little 50's, and yes, Men are men a la 'John Wayne's true grit' but maybe we need some real men for a change. I don't dig the femme-fatal or Bimbo images of women, but note that they are rarely defensless, or safe, and always teh men respect the women with awe ! The ideas and imagination are awesome and unbeatable. This is the series that inspired BABYLON 5 and the epic saga of the Shadows and Vorlons on ? Check out the Full lensman series :- 1. triplanetry, 2. First Lensman, 3. Galactic Patrol, 4. Grey Lensman, 5. Second Stage lensman, 6. Children of the lens and 7. Masters of the Vortex. Also check out 'Skylark' series by same author, and the potumously written 'lensmen' series written by David A Kyle under license from the Smith estate. (Book 1 The Dragon Lensman)