History Literature / RendezvousWithRama

A movie version of the first novel has been languishing in DevelopmentHell for decades, with Creator/DenisVilleneuve being set to take a crack at it after filming [[Film/DunePartTwo the sequel]] to ''[[Film/Dune2021 Dune: Part One]]''. An [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama_(video_game) adventure game]] adaptation was released in 1984, and [[VideoGame/{{Rama}} another]] in 1996.

A movie version of the first novel has been languishing in DevelopmentHell for decades, with Creator/DenisVilleneuve being set to take a crack at it after filming the sequel to ''[[Film/Dune2021 Dune: Part One]]''. An [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama_(video_game) adventure game]] adaptation was released in 1984, and [[VideoGame/{{Rama}} another]] in 1996.

* DistractedByTheSexy: At one point Captain Norton mulls the effects of zero-gravity on female anatomy.

* MaleGaze: A POV character gets to exhibit this, thanks in part to humanity's failure to develop artificial gravity by the 22nd century:
-->''Some women, Commander Norton had decided long ago, should not be allowed aboard ship; weightlessness did things to their breasts that were too damn distracting. It was bad enough when they were motionless; but when they started to move, and sympathetic vibrations set in, it was more than any warm-blooded male should be asked to take.''

A movie version of the first novel has been languishing in DevelopmentHell for decades, with Creator/DenisVilleneuve being set to take a crack at it after filming the sequel to ''[[Film/{{Dune2021}} Dune: Part One]]''. An [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama_(video_game) adventure game]] adaptation was released in 1984, and [[VideoGame/{{Rama}} another]] in 1996.

* LostTechnology: InSPACE!
* MaleGaze: A POV character gets to exhibit this, thanks in part to the humanity's failure to develop artificial gravity by the 22nd century:

* TheOnlyOne: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as Rama is moving so quickly through the solar system that the ''Endeavour'' is the only ship in the right place, and with enough delta-V, to catch up with it and land. In the sequels, [[spoiler: humanity knows the second Rama is coming, and can send a specially-prepared expedition.]]

* FamousFamousFictional: "Rama needed the grandeur of Bach or Beethoven or Sibelius or Tuan Sun, not the trivia of popular entertainment."

* GenerationShips: It's speculated by the humans that Rama is a failed example of this. [[spoiler: By the end of the novel, it's pretty clear it isn't, and the [[Literature/RamaII sequels]] further prove the point.]]

* InertialDampening: The sequels deal with this, as [[spoiler: Rama II's human passengers travel between stars.]]

** The first novel, and the first sequel (''Rama II'') both assume that the Soviet Union would still be alive and kicking centuries into the future, even making the term "cosmonaut" the universal word for space travelers. [[spoiler: The following sequels, written after 1991, quickly remove the action from Earth and the politics aren't mentioned again.]]

* FailedFutureForecast: Chapter 38 begins with: "According to the history books - though no one could really believe it - there had been a time when the old United Nations had 172 members." At the end of 2010, The United Nations had 192 members.

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: The first novel, and the first sequel (''Rama II'') both assume that the Soviet Union would still be alive and kicking centuries into the future, even making the term "cosmonaut" the universal word for space travelers. [[spoiler: The following sequels, written after 1991, quickly remove the action from Earth and the politics aren't mentioned again.]]

** The first novel, and the first sequel (''Rama II'') both assume that the Soviet Union would still be alive and kicking centuries into the future, even making the term "cosmonaut" the universal word for space travelers. [[spoiler: The following sequels, written after 1991, quickly remove the action from Earth and the politics aren't mentioned again.]]

Although ''Rendezvous'' ends with a large SequelHook, Clarke never seriously intended to write a follow-up - in fact, the three belated sequels were not written by Clarke, but by a friend of his, Gentry Lee. While ''Rendezvous with Rama'' was pretty high on the MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness, the sequels fell squarely on the soft side, focusing mostly on societal conflicts amongst humans trapped aboard the vessel, which is a muti-species zoo. The second book is a turning point. Attention is still paid to the layout of the spaceship, and practical methods to traverse the miles long cylinder, which has artificial gravity unevenly distributed within it, to the timing and effects of the energy beams from the spires, and to the general exploration, including the capture of biots found aboard. Additionaly the humans themselves have some inventions in the form of robotic bio monitors and an autonomous robotic surgeon, [=RoSur=]. However, this is with a backdrop of a military-scientist conflict where a conspiracy to profiteer off the mission leads to an accidental death, and the social characters of the astronauts are frequently used to engineer and explain the successes and failures of the mission.

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: Chapter 38 begins with: "According to the history books - though no one could really believe it - there had been a time when the old United Nations had 172 members." At the end of 2010, The United Nations had 192 members.

A movie version of the first novel has been languishing in DevelopmentHell for decades. An [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama_(video_game) adventure game]] adaptation was released in 1984, and [[VideoGame/{{Rama}} another]] in 1996.

* MundaneDogmatic: The humans in the first novel work at this level; it's a major plot-point that physics and technology simply won't allow any ship but the ''Endeavour'' to reach Rama, and its safe time there is sharply limited. Though see below under SufficientlyAdvancedAliens.

Although ''Rendezvous'' ends with a large SequelHook, Clarke never seriously intended to write a follow-up - in fact, the three belated sequels were not written by Clarke, but by a friend of his, Gentry Lee. While ''Rendezvous with Rama'' was pretty high on the MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness, the sequels fell squarely on the soft side, focusing mostly on societal conflicts amongst humans trapped aboard the vessel, which is a muti-species zoo. The second book is a turning point. Attention is still paid to the layout of the spaceship, and practical methods to traverse the miles long cylinder, which has artificial gravity unevenly distributed within it, to the timing and effects of the energy beams from the spires, and to the general exploration, including the capture of biots found aboard. Additionaly the humans themselves have some inventions in the form of robotic bio monitors and an autonomous robotic surgeon, RoSur. However, this is with a backdrop of a military-scientist conflict where a conspiracy to profiteer off the mission leads to an accidental death, and the social characters of the astronauts are frequently used to engineer and explain the successes and failures of the mission.

* ScienceMarchesOn: As one might expect, a futuristic sci-fi that originated in the '70s has made some predictions that proved inaccurate.

** Unintentionally so, though, as stated by [[WordOfGod Clarke himself]]. The fact that the series ended up comprising ''four'' books seems to support that.

** The octospiders (in book 3) appear as completely terrifying and antagonistic. Later we learn that they can be friendly, and have a technologically advanced society, plus empathy. But before that they kidnap a human and as of book 3, he ahs not gotten over whatever experiments they performed on him while he was captive. The characters still ally with the octospiders at times.

* IndustrializedMercury: Mercury is inhabited by a community of temperamental miners that plot to destroy the titular alien spacecraft.

Although ''Rendezvous'' ends with a large SequelHook, Clarke never seriously intended to write a follow-up - in fact, the three belated sequels were not written by Clarke, but by a friend of his, Gentry Lee. While ''Rendezvous with Rama'' was pretty high on the MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness, the sequels fell squarely on the soft side, focusing mostly on societal conflicts amongst humans trapped aboard the vessel, which is a muti-species zoo. The second book is a turning point. Attention is still paid to the layout of the spaceship, and practical methods to traverse the miles long cylinder, which has artificial gravity unevenly distributed within it, to the timing and effects of the energy beams from the spires, and to the general exploration, including the capture of biots found aboard. Additionaly the humans themselves have some inventions in the form of robotic bio monitors and an autonomous robotic surgeon, RoSur. However, this is with a backdrop of a military-scientist conflict where a conspiracy to profiteer off the mission leads to an accidental death, and the social characters of the astronauts are frequently used to engineer and explain the successes and failures of the mission. Further, while the conflict in ''Literature/RamaII'' is driven both by the encounters of the humans and the spaceship (which function as encounters between the human ambitions and that of the aliens who designed it) and by the humans' motives and personality conflicts, the third book focuses mostly on the social aspects of the sci-fi future. E.g. of living with a small family on an alien vessel, and after the second book the science is largely overshadowed by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive commercial conspiracies]], [[HumansAreBastards government corruption]], and a general replay of the '70s-'80s eras in space, complete with space HIV, once convicts and everymen begin to board the vessel. The later two books provide plenty of EveryoneHasLotsOfSex, also of the squicky kind, as deliberate incest fuels the third and the fourth has a romantic subplot being a main driver of the characters' actions. This also changes the nature of the setting to some degree, ratcheting it [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism significantly farther to the cynical side]] and turning up the UsedFuture level. The bright side is that, as the books wear on, the biology of new alien creatures becomes more and more apparent. Book 3 details in its last arc Richard's journey amongst the Myrmicats and Avians, and Book 4 provides an in depth study of one alien race, the Octospiders (whose society values [[OrderVersusChaos order]] over free will, and are capable of genetic engineering), whose language becomes a main feature. This gives the society on Rama an exploratory, Xenofiction feel, of being lost in a new environment (even if the new species seem like communist Russia parallels). The Xenofiction gets a brief glimpse at the node, where we also see alien species colected elsewhere and not kept on the Rama vessels, with whom Nicole comunicates.

Although ''Rendezvous'' ends with a large SequelHook, Clarke never seriously intended to write a follow-up, and many people agree that he shouldn't have. In fact, the three belated sequels were not written by Clarke, but by a friend of his, Gentry Lee, with Clarke merely providing ideas and support. While ''Rendezvous with Rama'' was pretty high on the MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness, the sequels fell squarely on the soft side. The science is largely overshadowed by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive commercial conspiracies]], [[HumansAreBastards government corruption]], [[EveryoneHasLotsOfSex scientists having sex]], and Lee's [[AuthorTract views on religion]]. It also changes the nature of the setting to some degree, ratcheting it [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism significantly farther to the cynical side]] and turning up the UsedFuture level.

* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: The Avians are another alien species inhabiting the Rama spaceship. At first unhelpful and even hostile-seeming to the humans, Nicole and Richardget them to help carry them over the wide sea (in a net made of either sessile material or mana melons) after spending some time learning to communicate with them in a rudimentary way. As we learn more about Rama it becomes learn these are another sentient species like humans, kept as part of the Raman zoo.

* StarfishAliens: From the sequels, Octospiders, Avians, Myrmicats and the Sesil Net. The last three live in a symbiotic relationship.