Once, again, the Pavement Pounders are joined by Dr. Phil Nichols to discuss some Ray Bradbury. This time, it’s The Halloween Tree, the book, the television film, and the Colonial Radio Theater production.
Rankings!:
Phil:
Colin:
James:
Seth:
For a very groovy episode 69 (not deliberate, but appropriate), the Pavement Pounders discuss Armageddon 2419 AD by Philip Francis Nowlan, basis for several adaptations, including Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979 movie/series) and Planet Outlaws (1953 edit of the original 30s movie serial).
Rankings!:
Colin/James/Seth:
Over the next year, we’re going to try to hit the following titles from the anthology Reel Future. Let us know which you’d like to see first:
Empire of the Ants (1977), based on The Empire of the Ants, by HG Wells
Re-Animator (1986), based on Herbert West–Re-Animator, by HP Lovecraft
This Island Earth (1955), based on This Island Earth, by Raymond F. Jones
The Illustrated Man (1969), based on The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
The Tenth Victim (1965), based on The Seventh Victim, by Robert Sheckley
Damnation Alley (1977), based on Damnation Alley, by Roger Zelazny
Millennium (1990), based on Air Raid, by John Varley
Notes:
Rifftrax episode on Planet Outlaws:
https://www.rifftrax.com/planet-outlaws
UK Show Talking about the 1979 movie/series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeRpwJSMRlc
Radio Serial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K02T2eEaggg
Seth’s son, Ethan, swimming the 400m Freestyle almost a minute faster than Buster Crabbe’s Gold Medal time from the 1932 Olympics (Ethan took the bronze at the Junior Pan Pacifics in Fiji):
https://youtu.be/4RQuh5gmayc?t=44s
The Summer of the Twilight Zone continues with the classic episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” written by Richard Matheson and based on his story of the same name. And he wasn’t done there! He also penned the screenplay for the Twilight Zone: The Movie segments adapting the same story.
Colin came up with a new ranking system, which thoroughly confused Seth. (Here’s a clip from our Stepford Wives episode showing Colin has a history of confusing his co-hosts.)
Rankings!
(“Billy” = 60’s TZ episode, “Ricky” = Matheson story, “Johnny” = TZ the Movie segment)
Colin:
James:
Seth:
Notes:
Jim Carrey impersonates The Shat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFq7TLrByO0
The Summer of the Twilight Zone has begun, with the Pavement Pounders picking another Harlan Ellison story to discuss. This time it’s “Paladin” or “Paladin of the Lost Hour,” adapted into Season 1, Episode 7b of the revived Twilight Zone from the 80s, an episode starring Seth’s favorite entertainer, Danny Kaye.
Rankings!:
Colin:
James
Seth
Notes:
The story:
http://harlanellison.com/iwrite/paladin.htm
Ellison on writing “Paladin”:
http://harlanellison.com/iwrite/aboutpal.htm
This time, the Pavement Pounders dig into the Outer Limits episode “Soldier,” adapted by Harlan Ellison from his story “Soldier from Tomorrow.” Why? Well, because of that little legal case that resulted in “Acknowledgement to the works of Harlan Ellison” in the end credits of The Terminator. We rule definitively on whether there was a case.
After recording this episode, we were saddened to hear of Ellison’s passing. We’ll try to hit a bit more Ellison in his honor in our next episode.
And for no reason, we still rank things!
Rankings!:
Colin/James:
Seth:
Show Notes:
Just how similar are Soldier and Terminator? James submits this into evidence (Seth quoted right along with the entire Terminator scene, word for word):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQqGAaMw7-o&app=desktop
Another analysis of the case:
https://electricliterature.com/was-1984s-the-terminator-a-harlan-ellison-rip-off-27f52272af11
Incomparable episode about Harlan Ellison’s work:
https://www.theincomparable.com/theincomparable/401/
This time, the Pavement Pounders are once again joined by Phil Nichols (*Dr.* Phil Nichols, if you please!) to discuss the new HBO Films adaptation of Fahrenheit 451.
No one will be seated for Seth’s explanation (definitely canon) of what “The Nine” is. Hold onto your butts!
Rankings!:
Phil:
Seth:
James:
Colin:
Notes:
Phil’s site:
http://bradburymedia.co.uk/
TMTYR episode on the book and the Truffaut film:
http://pavementpodcast.com/podcast/episode-43-montag-shot-first-fahrenheit-451-feat-phil-nichols/
Hugos There episode on the book:
https://hugospodcast.com/podcast/hugos-there-podcast-12-fahrenheit-451-feat-roger-anderson/
Interview with Michael Shannon:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/michael-shannon-on-the-cautionary-tale-of-fahrenheit-451-we-gotta-stop-paying-attention-to-trump
io9 Article on the film:
https://io9.gizmodo.com/hbos-fahrenheit-451-translates-a-scifi-classic-for-the-1826201734
Tor.com review:
https://www.tor.com/2018/05/21/fahrenheit-451-movie-review-hbo-adaptation-ray-bradbury/
History of Bradbury and Fahrenheit 451:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEei_JGzRMQ
The Pavement Pounders return to cover something currently playing in theaters, Ready Player One, based on the 2011 Ernest Cline novel.
(None of us hated the book. Or the movie. Feel free to listen to the podcast linked below if you did. Or you could listen to us not go overboard either praising or denouncing the book.)
We had a bit of trouble getting this podcast set up, and so Colin’s audio is less than ideal. But sometimes you just don’t have the connection to the OASIS server that you hope you’d have.
Tune in to the blooper reel if you want a taste of what it’s like to edit James and try and keep our podcast clean.
Rankings!:
Colin:
Seth:
James:
Article referenced on the pod:
https://io9.gizmodo.com/why-it-took-ready-player-one-eight-years-to-become-a-mo-1824033088
372 Pages We’ll Never Get Back: (only listen if you truly hated the book)
http://372pages.com/
All the people decrying 80s nostalgia as the new worst thing ever:
April Fools! Once again we’re back with a reverse adaptation. This time as a tie-in with our previous Trek-centric episode, we discuss James Blish’s novelization of the TOS episode “Arena.”
Enjoy!
This time, the Pavement Pounders discuss the 1944 Fredric Brown short story “Arena”, which was adapted into a Star Trek TOS episode (S1E18), may have inspired the TNG episode “The Last Outpost” (S1E5), and there’s also an Outer Limits episode, “Fun and Games (S1E27).”
Big thanks to Rich O’Donnell for sending us the suggestion!
For the purposes of Rankings, here are the abbreviations:
“Arena” story: TS
TOS episode: TOS
TNG episode: TNG
Outer Limits episode: TOL
Our totally scientific ranking of how close the episodes were to the story:
And now our normal Rankings:
James:
Colin:
Seth:
Rich
And finally, Em Ratings for each:
Notes:
These Are The Voyages books:
http://www.thesearethevoyagesbooks.com/
Following up on a suggestion from John Hagmann, the Pavement Pounders discuss Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novel Never Let Me Go and its 2008 film adaptation, as well as Michael Bay’s The Island, which plays in a similar sandbox, only with more explosions and massive vehicular destruction.
Thanks to John for reaching out and suggesting a topic, even if Colin didn’t enjoy it.
Rankings!:
Colin:
James:
Seth:
Show Notes:
Editorial about the book and the whole subject of cloning:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/magazine/what-would-a-clone-say.html
Jo Walton on NLMG:
https://www.tor.com/2009/05/05/the-upspoken-and-the-unspeakable-kazuo-ishiguros-never-let-me-go/
Scientific Plausibility of NLMG:
http://scienceblogs.com/ethicsandscience/2007/06/24/scientific-plausibility-of-nev/
NLMG and The Island compared:
http://blogs.nature.com/spoonful/2010/09/never_let_me_go_and_the_island.html
Roger Ebert’s review:
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/never-let-me-go-2010
