tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post7615544054784371396..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: “It’s this accursed science,” I cried. - The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells - but he was not a reader of fictionAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-43486641545574140472014-02-16T21:53:03.756-06:002014-02-16T21:53:03.756-06:00Arthur C. Clarke, in the Everyman introduction, sa...Arthur C. Clarke, in the Everyman introduction, says that Verne's method is fine "as long as one neglected air resistance and the minor problem that the would-be astronauts would be converted into instant wall-to-wall carpet by the initial acceleration" (xxxii). So I guess there is <i>some</i> difference from a rocket. Clarke also says that Cavor should use his physics-defying metal to create a perpetual motion dynamo rather than fly to he moon. What a killjoy, that Arthur C. Clarke.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-74335948218540310952014-02-16T18:11:16.649-06:002014-02-16T18:11:16.649-06:00I guess you did avoid Ibsen for several days with ...I guess you did avoid Ibsen for several days with this "fluff." I've always considered the giant gun as something close to what really happens with rockets. Just invert the gun, replace the bullet with other fuel and you have a rocket more or less, no? <br /><br />But the means of travel is always the least interesting part of this kind of story. It's what you find on the moon that makes the story fun.James Chesterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15513098688123346055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-91402048517165862312014-02-14T00:04:18.795-06:002014-02-14T00:04:18.795-06:00Seems like an expensive way to make money, is all ...Seems like an expensive way to make money, is all I'm saying. I guess that could be the motto of a lot of filmmakers.<br /><br />I will look for more Chomón, thanks. Méliès is a great favorite of mine.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-31122942311803628702014-02-13T23:59:54.619-06:002014-02-13T23:59:54.619-06:00Money, I guess. Those hand-tinted films are delec...Money, I guess. Those hand-tinted films are delectable. Chomón's films are worth seeking out; he didn't always copy Méliès, though he worked in a similar vein. Doug Skinnerhttp://www.dougskinner.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-73496971786865864072014-02-13T22:11:36.182-06:002014-02-13T22:11:36.182-06:00Hey, it's in color, too. I wonder what the po...Hey, it's in color, too. I wonder what the point was of making such a close copy.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-3550732598423192102014-02-13T16:15:05.228-06:002014-02-13T16:15:05.228-06:00A charming footnote to the Méliès: the Spanish fil...A charming footnote to the Méliès: the Spanish filmmaker Segundo de Chomón made his own version of "A Trip to the Moon" in 1908. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwvVnXtobwU<br /><br />I think Wells got off the track with that tedious "Outline of History," and all the polemics that followed it. He could have been writing novels instead. Doug Skinnerhttp://www.dougskinner.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-82802501223524994562014-02-13T15:17:27.814-06:002014-02-13T15:17:27.814-06:00That's my point, that late Wells is the guy wh...That's my point, that late Wells is the guy who really believed his own hype. I thought early Wells, the storyteller, was infinitely better.LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-69112676659840580342014-02-12T23:57:44.467-06:002014-02-12T23:57:44.467-06:00Wells definitely shrivels at some point - quite a ...Wells definitely shrivels at some point - quite a ways after his best early novels, I think. Orwell is pounding on that later Wells, Wells the public institution.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-54305556144253402112014-02-12T17:02:58.466-06:002014-02-12T17:02:58.466-06:00The squabbling between Verne and Wells sounds pret...The squabbling between Verne and Wells sounds pretty funny to me. But even if Verne had too high an opinion of his own cooky science, I confess I prefer him greatly to Wells. At least he remained a consummate storyteller all his career; Wells had an epiphany of sorts and started taking seriously his role as Prophet of Scientific Utopia.<br /><br />I've always like this particular dusting down from George Orwell:<br /><br />http://orwell.ru/library/reviews/wells/english/e_whwsLMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-7814707938652229772014-02-12T14:54:49.530-06:002014-02-12T14:54:49.530-06:00Lighter-than-air gas vials? Ah ha ha, so Wells mak...Lighter-than-air gas vials? Ah ha ha, so Wells makes a reference to that. The anti-gravity metal is in part made of helium (which had been discovered only a few years ago - science!).<br /><br />I am pretty sure that mad scientists have been launched into space with a cannon, although in more of a bullet than a cannonball. They landed in the moon's eye. The scientists proceeded to hit moon-men with their umbrellas. I have seen this myself, so it must be true. Click on that Georges Méliès link for documentary visual proof.<br /><br />The Georges Méliès film (1902) turns out to be a blend of Verne and Wells and who knows what else.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-58836228021340046052014-02-12T12:43:41.818-06:002014-02-12T12:43:41.818-06:00In the Cyrano de Bergerac trip to the moon, a comi...In the Cyrano de Bergerac trip to the moon, a comical method, with no pretensions to serious science, is first used. Vials filled with lighter-than-air gas are attached to the traveler's belt. Determining the right number of vials proves to be the tricky part. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-35863878347274815252014-02-12T10:58:36.804-06:002014-02-12T10:58:36.804-06:00Sounds like there was quite a rivalry between Vern...Sounds like there was quite a rivalry between Verne and Wells. Maybe Verne resented Wells being called a prophet. But for all Verne's "I use science" Wells ends up being closer to the mark since as far as I know no one has been launched into space in a cannonball.Stefaniehttp://somanybooksblog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-87267551732522006352014-02-12T09:46:34.892-06:002014-02-12T09:46:34.892-06:00that sounded like good science - exactly, exactly....<i>that sounded like good science</i> - exactly, exactly.<br /><br />There is a point near the end of the Wells novel where it turns into a pamphlet of the Permanent International Peace Bureau, but Wells does at least pull that stuff back into the story, as Brian says. Although the aliens do not hate war. It is even more clever than that. Maybe I will write about that today.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-47761601931622745362014-02-12T08:58:46.234-06:002014-02-12T08:58:46.234-06:00This is one of my favorites from childhood. So man...This is one of my favorites from childhood. So many ideas presented by Wells here. The entire "aliens hate war" thing was clever yet funny. This and other ideas have reoccured over and over agin in both good and bad science fiction. <br /><br />Brian Josephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15139559400312336791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-45213583938329234322014-02-11T23:50:39.098-06:002014-02-11T23:50:39.098-06:00Having read Verne recently for the first time in a...Having read Verne recently for the first time in a few decades, I'm disinclined to trust his science, though he clearly made an effort to come up with explanations that sounded like good science. <br /><br />Another lunar journey example well worth reading: Cyrano de Bergerac's <i>Les Etats et Empires de la Lune</i>, which I recall reading with genuine joy. I may just have to re-read it.seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-43393268245976073492014-02-11T22:06:07.349-06:002014-02-11T22:06:07.349-06:00There are better things in the actual Wells novel ...There are better things in the actual Wells novel than that Verne quote. but not many.<br /><br />Ibsen was crushing me. Wells is much lighter.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-58961885582589909612014-02-11T18:07:55.556-06:002014-02-11T18:07:55.556-06:00Those Verne comments are amazing. "Otherwise...Those Verne comments are amazing. "Otherwise his challenge makes no sense" is also good. Quite a segue from Ibsen to Wells, eh?Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.com