I watched the recent movie version of The Count of Monte Cristo a couple nights ago. Enjoyed it.

I hadn't read the book, didn't know the story, I'd managed to get well into life without knowing much about it all. Thus I was a good halfway into the movie before I had a big "a ha" moment, and realized, "Holy crap, this is The Stars My Destination!" (or more precisely, the other way around)

I _loved_ The Stars My Destination, and had no idea Bester was essentially ripping off Dumas. What finally tipped me off was the hero's reinvention of himself as this weirdly flamboyant showman to keep everyone so distracted by his flashy front that they never managed to dig deeper into his background. For some reason the most memorable part of The Stars My Destination for me was the way "Geoffrey Fourmyle of Ceres" so blatantly storms the Earth. None of this quiet sneaking about spying on people. Instead he prances around at the head of this 24x7 globetrotting circus, always making a bigger fool of himself, and pursuing his agenda behind the scenes.

In the film version, after Edmond finds the treasure, he buys this huge estate and throws a big party to which he invites all his enemies. At the party, instead of just coming out to introduce himself as the fake Count, he comes flying in on a hot air balloon in the midst of a fireworks display. Costumed acrobats slither down ropes from the gondola to land the balloon. There was my little epiphany.

Ah, well, good for Bester, and learning all the time.