LINDSAY%TARTAN@CMU-CS-C.ARPA (06/19/84)
"The Day the Earth Stood Still" is based on "Farewell to the Master", by Harry Bates. My copy of "Adventures in Time and Space" (Bantam, 1946) lists it as Copyright 1939. Bates was the founding editor of "Astounding Stories of Super-Science" (1930..), quickly renamed "Astounding Stories". It is considered the first true pulp SF magazine, given the literary standards of the Gernsback magazines. The story stands up well, barring lines like "[the spaceship] had been destroyed when it was pulled into the sun." Of course, the visitor used "the universal gesture of peace", before saying his only line into the television (!) cameras: "I am Klaatu, and this is Gnut." **SPOILER** The visitor is then killed, and Gnut eventually recreates him: "As you must know, a given body makes a characteristic sound. He constructed an apparatus which reversed the recording process, and from the given sound made the characteristic body." Anyone out there with a collection of Queen albums might like to dig out the one showing a remorseful robot with blood on its hand. The art is adapted from an old Kelly Freas, and the robot is Gnut. Don Lindsay -------
judy@ut-ngp.UUCP (Judith O. Ashworth) (06/25/84)
GNUT??? Gee, I always thought his name was Gort! At least, that was his name in the movie. "Turned me into a gnut! ... I got better." Judy (By the way, Klaatu is also the name taken by a musical group who was at on point suspected of being the Beatles back together again. Remember? Well, it WAS a long time ago...)
kcarroll@utzoo.UUCP (Kieran A. Carroll) (06/25/84)
* Apologies if a munged-up version of this article was already posted; that's the way it goes. So, I'm not the only one to confuse the story "Farewell to the Master", by Harry Bates, and the Kelly Freas cover illustrating a Tom Godwin story about a military type who learned, to his dismay, that computers do >exactly< what you tell them to. Both appeared in Astounding SF; however, the Godwin story came out in 1953. Trivia question: who knows the title of Godwin's story? And another: what other story is Godwin justifiably well known for? True, the Freas cover was later adapted as a record jacket for a Queen album. It was also used as the cover illo. for an anthology edited by Harry Harrison, a "last issue of Astounding", which came out shortly after Campbell's death. As a result, three images are inextricably mixed up in my memory: my sorrow on learning of Campbell's death, the feeling of loss at the end of "Farewell to the Master", and the painting of a robot gently holding the dead body of a once- powerful man, as if asking, "Please fix it..." -Kieran A. Carroll ...decvax!utzoo!kcarroll
barry@ames-lm.UUCP (Kenn Barry) (06/29/84)
[<+>]
Lest there be any lingering confusion:
1) The ASF cover which inspired the album cover for Queen's
"News of the World" is from the 10/53 issue, was done by Frank
Kelly Freas, and illustrates a Tom Godwin story, "The Gulf Between".
2) The story "Farewell To The Master", by Harry Bates (on
which the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was loosely based)
appeared in the 10/40 issue of ASF, 13 years before the cover, and
is totally unrelated.
On to trivia; utzoo!kcaroll asked what story Tom Godwin was best
known for - it's "The Cold Equations" (ASF, 8/54). Now, a tougher
question. Now that we know that the Freas "robot" cover was not
from the same issue as "Farewell To The Master"... what story *was*
illustrated on the cover of the 10/40 ASF in which "Farewell To The
Master" appeared (hint: it was not FTTM)?
Queen seems fond of science fiction - I recommend watching for
their current music video, "Radio Ga-Ga", for another example of this.
It includes many clips from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis", and other parts
that imitate scenes from the film. Pretty good song, too.
Kenn Barry
NASA-Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, CA
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Electric Avenue: {dual,hao,menlo70,hplabs}!ames-lm!barryfish@ihu1g.UUCP (Bob Fishell) (06/29/84)
A vignette from "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was used on a Ringo
Starr album -- sorry I don't have the name -- in which Ringo dressed
up as Klaatu. I remember the spaceship being in the photo, but I
don't recall if Gort was there. Perhaps this is what people are thinking
of.
--
Bob Fishell
ihnp4!ihu1g!fish