Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Micro

 Micro
type
TVTItem
 Micro
label
Micro
 Micro
page
Micro
 Micro
comment
Micro is a 2011 Science Fiction, Adventure and Techno-thriller novel written by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston. It was the final novel Crichton started before his death in 2008. He hadn't finished it before that time, leaving it about one-third done. Preston, author of the non-fiction The Hot Zone (about the Ebola virus) and other science-oriented works, was chosen to finish the story and he made use of Crichton's remaining notes and research to do this.The protagonists: Peter Jansen, an expert on venomous reptiles. Karen King, a specialist in spiders and a martial arts expert. Rick Hutter, an expert in tribal herbal remedies. Amar Singh, an expert on plant hormones of Indian descent. Erika Moll, a beetle expert from Germany. Jenny Linn, a biochemist specialized in pheromones. Danny Minot, whose research is to prove there are no objective truths. No one else at the lab likes him, but he seems unaware of this.This group of grad students are working in a secluded college laboratory in Massachussets. Their research is interrupted by the arrival of Peter's brother Eric and a man and a woman, Vincent Drake and Alyson Bender, from Nanigen. They're here to offer the students jobs at the up and coming research center, which is located in Hawaii. Once the grad studens accept and they arrive in Hawaii, Drake reveals that Nanigen's secret is shrinking technology. By means of something called a tensor core, Nanigen can shrink objects and people down to tiny size and send them into the "micro-world" to explore nature.When his brother Eric disappears and Peter discovers that Drake is up to dirty dealings and messing around with deadly nanobots, Drake decides all of the newly hired students need to "disappear." He shrinks them all down, along with a hapless technician who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Drake initially intends to feed the tiny humans to a snake kept in one of the labs, but Alyson has an attack of conscience and sticks the shrunken humans in a paper bag in her purse, from which they escape into Hawaiian nature.Peter, Karen, Rick, Erika, Amar, Danny, Jenny and the technician, Jarel Kinsky then find themselves in the tiny jungle world, and have to find a way back to normal size. In the meantime, Drake has learned of Alyson's betrayal. Not content to trust in nature to kill off the shrunken humans, he shrinks two Nanigen goons, Johnstone and Telius, and sends them into the micro-world to hunt them down...
 Micro
fetched
2023-05-18T12:43:59Z
 Micro
parsed
2023-05-18T12:43:59Z
 Micro
processingComment
Dropped link to TooStupidToLive: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
 Micro
processingUnknown
TooStupidToLive
 Micro
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Micro / int_1237828f
type
Anyone Can Die
 Micro / int_1237828f
comment
Anyone Can Die: Peter Jansen starts as the book's main protagonist and the de facto leader of the team, and he's ruthlessly killed off anyway. Nearly all of the other shrunken students also meet horrible ends; Karen and Rick are the only survivors out of the whole group.
 Micro / int_1237828f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_1237828f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_1237828f
 Micro / int_137f2d7
type
Card-Carrying Villain
 Micro / int_137f2d7
comment
Card-Carrying Villain: Vincent Drake, full stop. He might just be the most cartoonishly evil villain Crichton ever wrote. He takes such joy in being evil for the sake of it, and his hyperactive insanity while committing his evil acts is pretty infectious; it's hard not to respect the guy for loving what he does, despite how boneheaded he is, as far as evil masterminds go.
 Micro / int_137f2d7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_137f2d7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_137f2d7
 Micro / int_1439161f
type
Heroic BSoD
 Micro / int_1439161f
comment
Heroic BSoD: Erika, after shrinking, is constantly in horrified shock after the first death occurs - it ramps up to obvious PTSD when Peter is slain. The survivors (minus Danny) have to keep encouraging her to move and to try to get her mind off her lover's death. She finally melts down when the mynahs attack, trying to escape in the insect truck in a fit of total panic. It doesn't work - the mynahs spot the shiny, pluck her neatly out of the driver's seat, and dismember her.
 Micro / int_1439161f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_1439161f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_1439161f
 Micro / int_18aff462
type
Artistic License – Biology
 Micro / int_18aff462
comment
Artistic License – Biology: Strong magnetic fields do not make matter shrink.
 Micro / int_18aff462
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_18aff462
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_18aff462
 Micro / int_1cc2ea8d
type
Villain Ball
 Micro / int_1cc2ea8d
comment
Villain Ball: Nothing Drake does makes even the barest minimum of logical sense, serving only to dig him deeper and deeper into the hole of his own creation, and he is at all times needlessly sadistic.
 Micro / int_1cc2ea8d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_1cc2ea8d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_1cc2ea8d
 Micro / int_1e584efa
type
Cruel and Unusual Death
 Micro / int_1e584efa
comment
Cruel and Unusual Death: This being a Michael Crichton book, there are several. One character gets literally butchered and dismembered by ants, who then carry him piece by piece back to the ant hill. Telius gets eaten by a spider. Since spiders digest their prey outside their bodies, he gets injected with venom and melts/dissolves/bursts from the inside out. The book describes the spider venom as "Ebola in 30 seconds". The murders executed by the micro-bots. They slash open their victims with an immense number of tiny cuts until the victim bleeds to death. The cruelness is not so much in painfulness (it is noted to be mostly painless) but more in the panic that overwhelms victims because they don't understand what's happening to them. Except in the case of Vincent Drake, who does know exactly what's happening to him when he's killed by his own invention. Averted in the case of Karen, when she's picked up by a Minah bird. Mynahs are insect-eaters, and their gizzards are like cement truck drums filled with gravel shards and strong acid, meant to break apart chitin armor. But the one that swallows Karen stores her in its crop instead of passing her straight down to its gizzard, and that saves her life.
 Micro / int_1e584efa
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Micro / int_1e584efa
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_1e584efa
 Micro / int_2a090d00
type
Lampshade Hanging
 Micro / int_2a090d00
comment
Lampshade Hanging: There is a sequence where Amar asks just how they're still functioning if their atoms have been completely shrunk down, along with all the microorganisms and cells inside them, such as intestinal bacteria. All the students can surmise is that Nanigen really doesn't understand their tech well.
 Micro / int_2a090d00
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_2a090d00
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_2a090d00
 Micro / int_2a8a7ea6
type
Bury Your Gays
 Micro / int_2a8a7ea6
comment
Bury Your Gays: Jenny Linn is stated to "play for the other team". She is the first one killed out of the entire student group by a flash flood, not including Kinsky, the technician from Nanigen, who is eaten by ants.
 Micro / int_2a8a7ea6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_2a8a7ea6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_2a8a7ea6
 Micro / int_2eb94abd
type
Deadly Euphemism
 Micro / int_2eb94abd
comment
Deadly Euphemism: When Vincent Drake assembles his security team to track down the students, he asks his Head of Security that security is forming a "rescue party" to "recover" the students. The only reason this succeeds is because security is under the impression they're corporate spies, not students in the wrong place in the wrong time trying to escape Vin.
 Micro / int_2eb94abd
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_2eb94abd
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_2eb94abd
 Micro / int_3287773c
type
Lovable Alpha Bitch
 Micro / int_3287773c
comment
Lovable Alpha Bitch: Jenny is known to be very attractive and fashionable but is also one of the sweetest.
 Micro / int_3287773c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_3287773c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_3287773c
 Micro / int_35022c20
type
No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup
 Micro / int_35022c20
comment
No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Almost. It seems that we're headed that way: Drake has intentionally killed The creator of the Tensor device (actually failed to, but then later has a goon finish the job) and Eric Jansen, the only other person who understands how it works. Then Drake, who only partially understands the technology, is killed by an enlarged security bot, which then goes on to destroy the Tensor generator and create an explosion which completely decimates the whole facility — the only Tensor Generator facility. Only when the Sequel Hook appears is this averted.
 Micro / int_35022c20
featureApplicability
-1.0
 Micro / int_35022c20
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_35022c20
 Micro / int_382a6399
type
The Hero Dies
 Micro / int_382a6399
comment
The Hero Dies: In a major subversion of most of Crichton's work, Peter, de-facto team leader and most level headed of the crew, is gibbed by a shot from the two Mooks assigned by Drake to track them down. Rick, portrayed as a grumbling, impotently rageful anti-corporate environmentalist who claims to have braved Costa Rica's wilderness when he actually stayed in a hotel after three days of mosquitoes, becomes the protagonist. Also, Peter's brother, supposedly killed in the beginning, shows up to help take down Drake.
 Micro / int_382a6399
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_382a6399
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_382a6399
 Micro / int_3f0b2f50
type
Make It Look Like an Accident
 Micro / int_3f0b2f50
comment
Make It Look Like an Accident: How Drake disposes of Alyson and covers up the missing people's disappearance: he puts a knocked-out Alyson in his Bentley and shoves it off of a cliff, the cover story being that he students, rejoiced at being hired, went and got drunk, and drove off a cliff into the ocean. No word on how he would've explained the absence of Kinsky, the Nanigen technician who got shrunk alongside the heroes, and who wouldn't have been partying with Alyson and the students.
 Micro / int_3f0b2f50
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_3f0b2f50
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_3f0b2f50
 Micro / int_442a6995
type
Stupid Sacrifice
 Micro / int_442a6995
comment
Stupid Sacrifice: It's a complete spur of the moment thing and Erika winds up getting bashed against rocks and torn in half, AND gets Karen eaten. If it weren't for the mynah who swallowed her up having just eaten, she'd be dead.
 Micro / int_442a6995
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_442a6995
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_442a6995
 Micro / int_443b78cd
type
Tranquil Fury
 Micro / int_443b78cd
comment
Tranquil Fury: After Eric Jansen learns how his little brother was killed, he calmly states his intent to find Vin Drake, the man responsible for his death.
 Micro / int_443b78cd
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_443b78cd
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_443b78cd
 Micro / int_49b1fe0
type
Beige Prose
 Micro / int_49b1fe0
comment
Beige Prose: Oddly, the book's descriptions are flat, even compared to Crichton's or Preston's other prose.
 Micro / int_49b1fe0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_49b1fe0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_49b1fe0
 Micro / int_4eaa9b84
type
Author Tract
 Micro / int_4eaa9b84
comment
Author Tract: A recurring Crichton moral is that nature is nasty. Danny Minot is one big Take That! at science studies, psychology, and philosophy. This may be from the influence of Richard Preston, who is harder on soft sciences than Crichton was.
 Micro / int_4eaa9b84
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_4eaa9b84
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_4eaa9b84
 Micro / int_504a1991
type
Body Horror
 Micro / int_504a1991
comment
Body Horror: Danny and the parasitic wasp larvae.
 Micro / int_504a1991
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_504a1991
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_504a1991
 Micro / int_6293c185
type
Sequel Hook
 Micro / int_6293c185
comment
Sequel Hook: Edward Catel with the disk containing info about Nanigen's shrinking technology. Also, Karen's insistence that she'll find a way back into the micro-world. "Once things get invented, they don't get un-invented. There's a way." and a microbot possibly escaping. However, Michael Crichton's death means such a sequel won't happen.
 Micro / int_6293c185
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_6293c185
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_6293c185
 Micro / int_6439de78
type
Heroic Sacrifice
 Micro / int_6439de78
comment
Heroic Sacrifice: Karen attempts this to try and save Erika's life when Erika completely shuts down and flees from the group in a truck during a Mynah attack... Stupid Sacrifice: It's a complete spur of the moment thing and Erika winds up getting bashed against rocks and torn in half, AND gets Karen eaten. If it weren't for the mynah who swallowed her up having just eaten, she'd be dead.
 Micro / int_6439de78
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_6439de78
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_6439de78
 Micro / int_6afefa62
type
My Girl Is a Slut
 Micro / int_6afefa62
comment
My Girl Is a Slut: Erika's noted to have slept with many men. Peter has zero problem with this.
 Micro / int_6afefa62
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_6afefa62
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_6afefa62
 Micro / int_6d0a1b85
type
The Shut-In
 Micro / int_6d0a1b85
comment
The Shut-In: Karen was this in Cambridge.
 Micro / int_6d0a1b85
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_6d0a1b85
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_6d0a1b85
 Micro / int_756dbd0b
type
Hard on Soft Science
 Micro / int_756dbd0b
comment
Hard on Soft Science: Danny Minot, a sniveling, pretentious "science studies" major who works in studying "paradigms" and scientific terminology, which, in practice, amounts to bothering the students with meaningless questions as they do real work, and is only in the lab because the head researcher's wife is his cousin. He is trying to suck up to Vincent Drake on the entire trip to Hawai'i, uselessly quotes philosophers, is responsible for Jenny's death by letting her drown after being too afraid he'll be pulled into a flash-flood of raindrops, refuses to help with the group fashioning weapons and poison as defense (and would have stayed in the bunker if it hadn't been destroyed by the Chief of Security chopping it in half), mocks Erica's faith and prayer when she's severely traumatized by several deaths and the whole gravity of the situation, and worst of all, tries to sell out the survivors to Nanigen. It's not known if this was Crichton's intention (as Crichton has had psychology portrayed positively before), or Preston's.
 Micro / int_756dbd0b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_756dbd0b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_756dbd0b
 Micro / int_779a531f
type
Improbably Cool Car
 Micro / int_779a531f
comment
Improbably Cool Car: Eric, Alyson and Drake arrive in a trio of Lamborghinis, apparently to show off just how incredibly successful Nanigen is.
 Micro / int_779a531f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_779a531f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_779a531f
 Micro / int_7e6c0522
type
Off with His Head!
 Micro / int_7e6c0522
comment
Off with His Head!: Kinsky gets his head ripped off by ants.
 Micro / int_7e6c0522
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_7e6c0522
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_7e6c0522
 Micro / int_8288929a
type
Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves
 Micro / int_8288929a
comment
Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: One of the students, Danny, tries to sell out the protagonists to Vincent Drake just to save his own hide. However, his stolen micro-plane is attacked by bats and he gets killed off before he can even meet up with Vincent Drake.
 Micro / int_8288929a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_8288929a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_8288929a
 Micro / int_8513bc0f
type
Accidental Public Confession
 Micro / int_8513bc0f
comment
Accidental Public Confession: As Vincent Drake tries to kill Peter, he happily confesses to murdering Peter's brother. Then he realizes that Peter was wearing a microphone connected to Nanigen's speaker system. This kicks off the entire plot.
 Micro / int_8513bc0f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_8513bc0f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_8513bc0f
 Micro / int_8560c16f
type
Fatal Family Photo
 Micro / int_8560c16f
comment
Fatal Family Photo: A "I want to go home and see my wife and kids" variant. An engineer tricked into starting the Tensor core to shrink the students talks about trying to get home before he catches the micro-bends and dies, because he's got a family. He is the first casualty in the entire group, disturbing soldier ants from a Bighead Ant colony, who surround him and promptly tear him to shreds.
 Micro / int_8560c16f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_8560c16f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_8560c16f
 Micro / int_863fa679
type
What Happened to the Mouse?
 Micro / int_863fa679
comment
What Happened to the Mouse?: When Drake burns down Tantalus base, Ben Rourke is still inside. Rick and Karen escape and Karen fears Rourke is dead, but Rick remarks that he doesn’t think someone who has survived the micro world for so long should be counted out. Despite this, Rourke is not seen or mentioned again.
 Micro / int_863fa679
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_863fa679
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_863fa679
 Micro / int_8a295a46
type
Cool Car
 Micro / int_8a295a46
comment
Cool Car: Drake's Bentley. Improbably Cool Car: Eric, Alyson and Drake arrive in a trio of Lamborghinis, apparently to show off just how incredibly successful Nanigen is.
 Micro / int_8a295a46
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_8a295a46
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_8a295a46
 Micro / int_8ed5c6e4
type
Asshole Victim
 Micro / int_8ed5c6e4
comment
Asshole Victim: Danny Minot. Once everybody gets into the micro world, he's the only one that doesn't care about the others and only wants to screw them over for his own survival. And it culminates in his betraying the remaining survivors, knowing they will be killed, to Vincent Drake, in order to save his own ass.
 Micro / int_8ed5c6e4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_8ed5c6e4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_8ed5c6e4
 Micro / int_8f1450ba
type
Pint-Sized Powerhouse
 Micro / int_8f1450ba
comment
Pintsized Powerhouse: Micro-humans are this compared to normal humans. Physical laws, such as gravity, having different mass/volume/surface ratios, and air resistance, affect them differently on their scale. Due to this, the micro-humans have comparatively more strength (e.g. characters easily carry each other for long distances without being much worn out by it, even women carrying men), can leap astounding heights, and easily jump down comparatively huge distances without getting hurt. When Karen is transformed back to her normal human size at the end, she is confused she can't simply pick up and carry Rick on her back anymore - it takes a moment to sink in for her that at normal size, it isn't so easy to carry another human.
 Micro / int_8f1450ba
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_8f1450ba
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_8f1450ba
 Micro / int_970c790a
type
Big Bad
 Micro / int_970c790a
comment
Big Bad: Vincent Drake. He is a ruthless business man who will kill anybody who is in his way cruelly - as is evident by the end of the novel, he has killed at least 13 people (that the police are aware of, anyway). And the terrifying thing is he only seems to do it for monetary gain superficially, but in the end really does seem to enjoy seeing people suffer.
 Micro / int_970c790a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_970c790a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_970c790a
 Micro / int_a861560f
type
The Friend Nobody Likes
 Micro / int_a861560f
comment
The Friend Nobody Likes: Danny. While the rest of the grad students get along to varying degrees, literally no one likes Danny and actively scorn him. Unlike the rest of the grad students, he's only a part of the lab because the head researcher's wife is his cousin.
 Micro / int_a861560f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_a861560f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_a861560f
 Micro / int_ae50d11c
type
Shrink Ray
 Micro / int_ae50d11c
comment
Shrink Ray: A rare modern example that isn't Played for Laughs.
 Micro / int_ae50d11c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_ae50d11c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_ae50d11c
 Micro / int_af3ea0e3
type
Face–Heel Turn
 Micro / int_af3ea0e3
comment
Face–Heel Turn: Alyson Bender has second thoughts about what's being done to the students, but she waffles on it. Drake kills her anyway after he realizes she's no longer reliable. Don Makele eventually decides enough is enough and goes to the police about Drake.
 Micro / int_af3ea0e3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_af3ea0e3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_af3ea0e3
 Micro / int_b53077b3
type
Take That!
 Micro / int_b53077b3
comment
Danny Minot is one big Take That! at science studies, psychology, and philosophy. This may be from the influence of Richard Preston, who is harder on soft sciences than Crichton was.
 Micro / int_b53077b3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_b53077b3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_b53077b3
 Micro / int_b593baf1
type
Author Filibuster
 Micro / int_b593baf1
comment
Author Filibuster: For some reason, Crichton occasionally feels the need to talk about how many beetles there are in the world, or what springtails are, for no particular reason.
 Micro / int_b593baf1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_b593baf1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_b593baf1
 Micro / int_bab7fceb
type
Incredible Shrinking Man
 Micro / int_bab7fceb
comment
Incredible Shrinking Man
 Micro / int_bab7fceb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_bab7fceb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_bab7fceb
 Micro / int_c1944f9
type
Getting Eaten Is Harmless
 Micro / int_c1944f9
comment
Getting Eaten Is Harmless: Karen, is eaten alive by a bird but manages to not be killed. Unlike most examples of this trope, it's justified by the fact that she was stuck in the bird's craw rather than its stomach, so she wasn't being digested yet.
 Micro / int_c1944f9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_c1944f9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_c1944f9
 Micro / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 Micro / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out The hexagonal motif in the Tensor Generator room, and the book's section title pages recall Fantastic Voyage.
 Micro / int_c75df49a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_c75df49a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_c75df49a
 Micro / int_c93a6560
type
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice
 Micro / int_c93a6560
comment
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Vincent Drake dies this way after getting impaled by an enlarged security nanobot.
 Micro / int_c93a6560
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_c93a6560
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_c93a6560
 Micro / int_cadf2d2a
type
Death of a Thousand Cuts
 Micro / int_cadf2d2a
comment
Death of a Thousand Cuts: How Nanigen's micro-bots kill their victims.
 Micro / int_cadf2d2a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_cadf2d2a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_cadf2d2a
 Micro / int_cbe687ab
type
Corrupt Corporate Executive
 Micro / int_cbe687ab
comment
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Vincent Drake: egotistical, extremely confident that he'll change the world (and he just might) to become fabulously wealthy, and views any threat at not getting all the profit with violent hatred and believes that Murder Is the Best Solution to said threats.
 Micro / int_cbe687ab
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_cbe687ab
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_cbe687ab
 Micro / int_d001c42c
type
Anti-Villain
 Micro / int_d001c42c
comment
Anti-Villain: Strangely enough, the two Mooks Johnstone and Telius. Drake lies to them, saying the disappeared eight students are saboteurs from a corporate rival. As far as they know, they are protecting their employer's interests from industrial espionage.
 Micro / int_d001c42c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_d001c42c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_d001c42c
 Micro / int_d148b019
type
Mundane Made Awesome
 Micro / int_d148b019
comment
Mundane Made Awesome: At the end of the book, Drake is dead and the survivors are being rescued by the police as tiny microbots attack them. Enter the pathologist wielding...a horseshoe magnet, which effortless captures the microbots attacking people for easy destruction.
 Micro / int_d148b019
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_d148b019
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_d148b019
 Micro / int_d1cedb73
type
Slap-Slap-Kiss
 Micro / int_d1cedb73
comment
Slap-Slap-Kiss: Rick and Karen absolutely despise each other - Karen thinks Rick is a try-hard know-it-all with a stick up his ass about environmental policy who chickened out in an expedition after all his ballyhooing of nature. Rick hates her for this. Naturally, after Peter and Erika's death, they get together.
 Micro / int_d1cedb73
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_d1cedb73
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_d1cedb73
 Micro / int_d397657d
type
Hoist by His Own Petard
 Micro / int_d397657d
comment
The murders executed by the micro-bots. They slash open their victims with an immense number of tiny cuts until the victim bleeds to death. The cruelness is not so much in painfulness (it is noted to be mostly painless) but more in the panic that overwhelms victims because they don't understand what's happening to them. Except in the case of Vincent Drake, who does know exactly what's happening to him when he's killed by his own invention.
 Micro / int_d397657d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_d397657d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_d397657d
 Micro / int_da46a2c0
type
Hollywood Atheist
 Micro / int_da46a2c0
comment
Hollywood Atheist: Danny mocks Erika whenever she prays.
 Micro / int_da46a2c0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_da46a2c0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_da46a2c0
 Micro / int_dae5c997
type
Action Girl
 Micro / int_dae5c997
comment
Action Girl: Karen. She's tall, muscular and trained in martial arts. She kicks ass when the students are shrunk.
 Micro / int_dae5c997
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_dae5c997
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_dae5c997
 Micro / int_dcbe8a6e
type
Chekhov's Gunman
 Micro / int_dcbe8a6e
comment
Chekhov's Gunman: Drake's business partner, Edward Catel. Catel disappears for half the novel only to reappear at the end, long after most people have forgotten about him. He swipes a disc containing info about the tensor, intending to sell it off.
 Micro / int_dcbe8a6e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_dcbe8a6e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_dcbe8a6e
 Micro / int_de357f50
type
Loners Will Stay Alone
 Micro / int_de357f50
comment
Loners Will Stay Alone: Karen initially decides to stay in the micro-world alone because of this, reasoning that she "can't love anybody." This doesn't wind up happening, and she and her love interest do wind up together, although she does vow to return to the micro-world eventually in the end.
 Micro / int_de357f50
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_de357f50
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_de357f50
 Micro / int_df410b77
type
Decoy Protagonist
 Micro / int_df410b77
comment
Decoy Protagonist: Peter. Hoo boy. After clearly being the protagonist for the first half of the book, he's suddenly killed off at the midway point. Rick Hutter ends up taking over the protagonist role among the micro group, while Peter's brother Eric, whom he believed dead and was the reason he went to Nanigen in the first place, is revealed to have faked his death and becomes a co-protagonist of the full-sized heroes.
 Micro / int_df410b77
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_df410b77
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_df410b77
 Micro / int_e68b72
type
The Load
 Micro / int_e68b72
comment
The Load: Happens to a few people as they get hurt, but Danny is this through the whole trip.
 Micro / int_e68b72
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_e68b72
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_e68b72
 Micro / int_eb8ec7c8
type
Jerkass
 Micro / int_eb8ec7c8
comment
Jerkass: Danny, post-shrinking. He complains every step of the way, forces the team to stop to deal with his petulant antics, lets Jenny drown to save his hide, mocks Erika - who is deep in shock and mourning after Peter's death, and eventually tries to sell out the team to Vincent Drake. Rick, before his promotion to protagonist. It's noted he's a confrontational eco-warrior about everything and brags about the field work he's done (when, in fact, he was driven off by mosquitos and spent the trip in an air-conditioned hotel).
 Micro / int_eb8ec7c8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_eb8ec7c8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_eb8ec7c8
 Micro / int_ece948d8
type
Tender Tears
 Micro / int_ece948d8
comment
Tender Tears: Many of the characters cry after Jenny's death. Erika Moll in particular is very emotionally distraught, and her mental state only gets worse as the plot goes on and more of the team dies, causing her to shed these often.
 Micro / int_ece948d8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_ece948d8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_ece948d8
 Micro / int_ed68bcc9
type
Dwindling Party
 Micro / int_ed68bcc9
comment
Dwindling Party: As is typical for a Michael Crichton book, our heroes are dropping like flies at every turn. The micro world is insanely dangerous.
 Micro / int_ed68bcc9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_ed68bcc9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_ed68bcc9
 Micro / int_eea96e78
type
Swallowed Whole
 Micro / int_eea96e78
comment
Swallowed Whole: Most of the predators of the micro world rend, tear, liquefy and destroy - but (usually) not birds and bats. Happens to Karen when a mynah bird swallows her, with her bottle of beetle toxin, into its non-digestive crop. She escapes when Rick hits it with a harpoon and she releases the toxin, causing the bird to vomit her back up. Implied that Danny suffers the same fate when a bat attacks and destroys his micro-plane.
 Micro / int_eea96e78
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_eea96e78
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_eea96e78
 Micro / int_ff17ccf1
type
Innocently Insensitive
 Micro / int_ff17ccf1
comment
Innocently Insensitive: Before the main plot kicks off, Peter lightly teases Karen for arming herself with pepper spray and a knife as they walk to class, since they're in a nice neighborhood in the daytime. Karen promptly informs him that her half-sister was brutally raped in broad daylight, so she has every reason to be cautious.
 Micro / int_ff17ccf1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_ff17ccf1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_ff17ccf1
 Micro / int_name
type
ItemName
 Micro / int_name
comment
 Micro / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 Micro / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 Micro
hasFeature
Micro / int_name
 Micro / int_name
itemName
Micro

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Micro
hasFeature
Author Filibuster / int_590228d7
 Micro
hasFeature
Getting Eaten Is Harmless / int_590228d7
 Micro
hasFeature
Hard on Soft Science / int_590228d7
 Micro
hasFeature
Nature Is Not Nice / int_590228d7
 Micro
hasFeature
Shrink Ray / int_590228d7