Continuing their march through Reel Future, the Pavement Pounders discuss HG Wells’s “The Empire of the Ants,” and the very poor 1977 adaptation.
Pounder Rankings!:
James/Colin/Seth:
Notes:
Seth’s new podcast Brief & Not so Brief (RSS feed):
http://hugospodcast.com/feed/podcast/brief
Merry Christmas! This time, the guys talk about It’s a Wonderful Life, and the christmas card (yes, it’s true) it was based on, “The Greatest Gift,”
Rankings (omitting audiobook references)!
Colin:
James:
Seth:
Notes:
Mental Floss “25 Wonderful Things about It’s a Wonderful Life”:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/60792/25-wonderful-facts-about-its-wonderful-life
Continuing through Reel Future, the Pavement Pounders discuss the 1985 film Re-Animator, based on HP Lovecraft’s story “Herbert West-Reanimator.” It does not receive universal acclaim.
After the main episode, stay tuned for an interview with comics and graphic novel artist JL Giles. (Interview begins at 41:34 if you want to skip straight there.)
Rankings!:
Seth/James/Colin:
Notes:
Spectology link for Ballad of Black Tom:
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-g2xgm-9b51d4
Redletter Media Re:View:
http://redlettermedia.com/re-animator-and-from-beyond-review/
JLGiles’ links:
https://twitter.com/JLGiles
https://gumroad.com/l/iaUvN
https://www.patreon.com/JLGiles
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:
