Weighing Harlan Ellison-themed episode options

As discussed in the latest episode, we’re considering what kind of Harlan Ellison-themed episode we should do.  The two options are:

  1. A Boy and His Dog.  It’s a novella and a film, so it totally fits with our model.  It’s just that it’s a bit, well, rapey.  Seriously, there’s a bunch of rape in it, and while it’s still probably worth discussing (disgusting?), we’re not sure we want to do it.  Then again, it’s a cult classic, so if our idea was to cover classic sci-fi, this should be on the list.  Ugh.
  2. The Terminator.  Stay with me a second.  Ellison got a post-credits acknowledgement after raising a stink about the movie being based on an episode of The Outer Limits he wrote.  So we could read I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, which is also sort of related in theme, then watch the episodes “Soldier” and “Demon With a Glass Hand”, then watch The Terminator and give our opinions about what kind of case Ellison had.  Could be fun!

Ultimately, we’ll be able to decide on our own, but it’d sure make it easier if we got some listener responses.  So lob us a comment her or use our poll thingy:

TMTYR Episode #12: Speak Softly and Carry an Electrified Pitchfork (The Thing)

Take Me To Your Reader
TMTYR Episode #12: Speak Softly and Carry an Electrified Pitchfork (The Thing)
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ThingPosterIn Episode #12, the Pavement Pounders discuss John W. Campbell’s 1939 novella “Who Goes There?” and the three films (at least loosely) based on it, including 1951’s The Thing (From Another World) and the 1982 and 2011 films titled The Thing.

Colin is right about something!  Seth accidentally defends the Star Wars prequels!  James forgets to plug in the mixer!

(We ended up only getting the recording on the laptop mic.  It’s never happened before, at least since Jurassic Park…)

Pounder Rankings!:

James:

  1. “Who Goes There?”
  2. The Thing (1982) and The Thing (2011), combined into one film
  3. The Thing (From Another World)

Colin:

  1. “Who Goes There?”
  2. The Thing (1982)
  3. The Thing (2011)
  4. The Thing (From Another World)

Seth:

  1. The Thing (1982)
  2. The Thing (2011)
  3. The Thing (From Another World)
  4. “Who Goes There?”

Notes:

TMTYR Episode #11: Some Of My Best Friends Are Drac (Enemy Mine)

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TMTYR Episode #11: Some Of My Best Friends Are Drac (Enemy Mine)
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In the first episode of Take Me To Your Reader, Season Two, the Pavement Pounders examine the 1985 film Enemy Mine and the Hugo and Nebula Award Winning novella on which it was based.  The movie didn’t win nothin’.

Enemy mine.jpg
“Enemy mine”. Via Wikipedia.

Pounder Rankings!:

Seth/Colin/James:

  • novella
  • movie

Notes:

Season Two Plans!

For those of you who lacked the patience to wade through two hours of Triffid-cast, you missed a couple of things:

  1. Arguments.  Entertaining ones.  Seriously, it’s good stuff.
  2. Our plans for Season Two!

We’re going to dial back our cadence from every two weeks to about once a month.  If this is unacceptable, lob us a comment.  Otherwise we’re doing what we want!  The long cadence is just to make the whole thing a bit more relaxed and to give James a fair chance to get all the reading done.

Of course, even if you listened in, we had a rather chaotic discussion of what topics we’d be hitting, but a few emails and pavement poundings later, we’ve got our (still tentative) list.  We’re just going to rotate selecting the next item, starting with Colin.  So our first two rounds of selections are these:

  • Colin: Enemy Mine, by Barry Longyear – Enemy Mine (1985 film)
  • James: Who Goes There?, by John W. Campbell – The Thing from Another World (1951 film), The Thing (1985 and 2011  films)
  • Seth: The Body Snatchers, by Jack Finney – Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 and 1978 films), Body Snatchers (1993 film), The Invasion (2007 film)
  • Colin: The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells – The War of the Worlds (1938 Radio Drama, 1953 film), War of the Worlds (2005 film)
  • James: We Can Remember it For You Wholesale, by Philip K. Dick – Total Recall (1990 and 2012 films)
  • Seth: The Manchurian Candidate, by Richard Condon – The Manchurian Candidate (1962 and 2004 films)

We’re planning about ten episodes for Season Two, so even if we hit everything on this list, there’s still four open slots for suggestions from the unwashed masses (that’s you).  Hop over to the Podcast Queue page and look at the other titles we’ve compiled (by no means a complete list) and leave a comment here or there with anything else you’d like to see us cover next season.  We’ve already started on our reading for the first three, so we could even slot in a suggestion at the fourth spot.

We’ll probably be recording our Enemy Mine podcast in the next week or so, which means you’ve got a few days to send us some feedback.  The Contact Us page has all the details on how to do that.  So do it!

 

TMTYR Episode #10: Day of the Torrence (Day of the Triffids)

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TMTYR Episode #10: Day of the Torrence (Day of the Triffids)
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Dayofthetriffids.jpg
“Dayofthetriffids” by Reynold Brown. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

In Episode #10, the Pavement Pounders discuss the influential and criminally under-read (at least in the U.S.) The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham. The 1962 British film adaptation as well as the 1981 and 2009 BBC mini-series adaptations are also discussed. We’re considering this the end of Season One of Take Me To Your Reader, so we went out with a bang here, discussing the book and three adaptations, as well as having a rather extended discussion of just what makes a good adaptation.  Sparks fly, and there may be a bit of hair-pulling and an insult here or there.  Honestly, though, we actually like each other. (We’ll be back in September, probably, with new episodes.)

Pounder Rankings!:

Colin:

  • book
  • 1981 miniseries
  • 2009 miniseries
  • 1962 film

James:

  • book
  • 1981 miniseries
  • 2009 miniseries
  • 1962 film

Seth:

  • book
  • 2009 miniseries
  • 1981 miniseries
  • 1962 film

Notes:

 

Bit of a delay, so read about some Triffids!

"Dayofthetriffids" by Reynold Brown.  Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
“Dayofthetriffids” by Reynold Brown. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Through a combination of over-achievement by the offspring of two of the Pavement Pounders (Colin’s son going to the National Spanish Spelling Bee, Seth’s son to the State Swimming Championships, on consecutive weekends), and James having one of those inconvenient wedding anniversaries, we’re letting the schedule slide a bit.  Like you noticed.

This is actually a good thing, since the next book on our list is The Day of the Triffids, which isn’t a terribly quick read but is awesome.  Plus, there’s a feature film and two BBC miniseries to watch.  So really we’re just letting you play along at home.

If you’ve read the book or seen any of the films, drop us a line letting us know what you think of them.

Plus, tell me that movie poster isn’t just all kinds of awesome!

TMTYR Episode #9: Groundhog D-Day (Edge of Tomorrow)

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TMTYR Episode #9: Groundhog D-Day (Edge of Tomorrow)
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In Episode #9, the Pounders discuss Edge of Tomorrow, adapted from Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s much more interestingly-titled light novel All You Need is Kill.

In a twist that’s perhaps ironic and perhaps moronic, Seth didn’t notice his mic was unplugged until the discussion was well underway.  Fortunately, he’d been splattered with Alpha blood and was able to time loop back and replace the missing content.  And Alpha blood is really good for the skin, as we understand.

It makes a good redemption story, and Colin Loves a Good Redemption Story (TM).

BTW, I’m not sure we gave full spoiler warnings.  So here it is: Spoilers!! Big Time!

Pounder Rankings!

Colin:

  • All You Need is Kill (novel)
  • All You Need is Kill (graphic novel)
  • Edge of Tomorrow

James:

  • All You Need is Kill (novel)
  • Edge of Tomorrow
  • All You Need is Kill (graphic novel)

Seth:

  • All You Need is Kill (novel)
  • Edge of Tomorrow
  • All You Need is Kill (graphic novel)

Notes:

TMTYR Episode #8: The Tranny-saurus and the Philosoraptor (Jurassic Park)

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TMTYR Episode #8: The Tranny-saurus and the Philosoraptor (Jurassic Park)
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In Episode #8, the Pavement Pounders discuss Jurassic Park, both the 1993 film and 1990 book, and as might be expected, The Malcolm Effect rears its ugly head.  We’re blaming Dennis Nedry for our recording setup failing us.  So, we ended up with a great discussion being captured by the built-in laptop microphone.  We’ll understand if you want to give it a miss, but if you can look past it, give it a listen.Jurassic_Park_poster

Pounder Rankings!:

Colin:

  • book
  • film

James:

  • film
  • book

Seth:

  • film
  • book

I think we can all agree Colin is just dead wrong as usual.  Though Colin might disagree.  And be wrong again.

Notes:

20 things you may not know about Jurassic Park: http://mentalfloss.com/article/49904/20-things-you-might-not-have-known-about-jurassic-park

Making of Jurassic Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9bKxRQfvs8

Raptors replaced with Kittens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlPoPMbiffU

Steven Spielberg with “dead” Triceratops: http://imgur.com/gallery/yznKsSt

How Jurassic Park Should Have Ended: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkRaKBZB9S8

Cinema Sins for Jurassic Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KjB-_bjOJs

The Far Side “Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear”: https://www.flickr.com/photos/retiredusnchief/7043874665/

TV Tropes “Objects in mirror” entry, featuring T-Rex: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CloserThanTheyAppear

Philosoraptor: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/philosoraptor

Professor Gregory  Retallack (University of Oregon): http://geology.uoregon.edu/profile/gregr/

Seth’s Review of Jurassic Park (book): http://seth.heasley.net/blog/2014/06/book-review-jurassic-park-by-michael-crichton/

Send us your Dino-droppings!

Hey there everybody!  And I’m talking about the teeming mass of several people out there who actually read this.  

For our next episode, we’ll be discussing Jurassic Park, both the book and movie.  If you’d like to weigh in, leave a comment here or shoot us a message using the Contact Us page.  (Or just comment on the Facebook post.)

Have you read the book?  Seen the film?  Both?  Which do you prefer?  Could Dennis Nedry have been played by anyone but Newman?

Discussing adapted Sci-Fi at its best—and worst

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