Category Archives: Short Story

Ray Bradbury Theater – And the Moon Be Still as Bright (S4E7)

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bradbury02In a story from The Martian Chronicles, the fourth expedition has landed on Mars to discover that all the Martians are dead. Their bodies have been desiccated and crumbled down to ash-like leaves.

This is due to chicken pox brought by the Earthmen.  Hey, just like the evil Europeans brought disease to the Indians — get it?  Actually, PC horseshit aside, it is a great basis for a story, even if it was used earlier in War of the Worlds.  In a nice callback, the disease was possibly brought by Captain Black’s crew from Mars is Heaven.

rbtandthemoon04Spender (David Carradine) is the only one of the crew that takes the time to reflect on the devastation they have caused, the destruction of an entire civilization.

The yahoos immediately begin giving the Martian landscape earth names.  Crewman Biggs proclaims this to be Biggstown and immediately throws a can on the ground as the first litter.  All that’s missing is an Italian Martian shedding a single tear.  Spender punches Biggs, devolving to the violence inevitable to progressive, utopian types; although it usually takes more than 3 seconds.  He really had it coming, though.

rbtandthemoon05They discover a structure with hieroglyphics, which turns out to be a library.  Captain Wilder points out the lack of books.  Spender holds up one glass volume and says they’re all in here — a Martian Kindle.  Naturally Biggs tosses it to the ground, smashing it.

Spender disappears for 3 days, and who wouldn’t want to get away from these idiots? Much like the crew of Prometheus, these guys seemed to have been loaded onto the back of a pick-up in front of Astronaut Depot rather than being recruited from the scientific community.

Our favorite imbecile Biggs is having a good ol’ time shooting cans.  Aside from littering the area, it seems irresponsible to start blowing holes in water bottles when you’re in a desert, and don’t know if or when another ship will ever come.  For God’s sake, will someone just shoot this guy?  Happily, Spender does just that.

rbtandthemoon06Back at the camp, he shoots 2 more members of the crew.  He spares the one man who has Cherokee ancestry — and Bradbury makes sure we get this by naming him Cheroke.

Because of his Indian heritage,    Spender expects him to understand his vengeance on the Earthmen for destroying the Martians.  Cheroke, not being the caricature he is set up to be, can’t go along with Spender; so he is also shot.  Luckily his family — Commanch, Apach and Pawn — were not there to see it.

The rest of the crew hunts down Spender.  He plans to meet every expedition that lands and kill them.  He figures he can keep Mars pristine for about 80 years.  That will require some vigilance, one dude protecting an entire planet.

Spender points a gun at the Captain forcing Wilder to shoot him — suicide-by-astronaut.  It then falls to the Captain, somewhat sympathetic to Spender’s theories, to protect the new world.

A pretty good story.  Carradine is good in his usual role of self-righteous outsider. Even the minimalist , budget-driven sets work.

The episode sticks pretty close to the short story.  However, the story is really in Bradbury’s wheelhouse and he knocks it out of the park (to mix metaphors).

Post-Post:

  • First published in Thrilling Wonders Stores, June 1948.
  •  It also includes elements from another story in The Martian Chronicles — The Settlers.
  • Title Analysis: I don’t get it at all, but then I’m not much into poetry — based on a poem by Lord Byron.

Night Gallery – Cool Air (S2E12)

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ngcoolair18The lesson here is that when an episode of Night Gallery is praised as one of the best of the series, it is going to be torturous to watch. Examples:  They’re Tearing Down Tim Riley’s Bar, Silent Snow Secret Snow, and both segments in this episode.

We start out with a handheld POV shot in a cemetery, accompanied appropriately by deadly dull narration.  This leads to a flashwayback of Agatha Howard visiting the home of Professor Munos.

The landlady leads her up to Munos’ suite which he keeps refrigerated to a nippy 55 degrees.  Agatha was settling her dead father’s affairs when she came across letters from Munos.  Both refused to accept the finality of death.

ngcoolair24Agatha finds herself moved by his loneliness and isolation.  They decide to meet again for dinner in Munos’ meat locker of an apartment.  Presumably, vichyssoise followed by steak tartare and unbaked Alaska.

A week later, in the midst of a heatwave, Agatha goes to visit Munos.  He refuses to let her in.  That night, she gets a call of the non-booty variety from Munos asking for her help.  He has called Agatha to enlist her help in repairing his refrigeration machine.  He does not allow her in, but does open the door to reveal that he is shrouded in a towel with only one eye showing.

She finds an all-night mechanic, but he is unable to repair the machine.  So he sends Agatha out for ice . . . 300 pounds worth.  But it is to no avail.

Munos drops dead, Agatha sees him for the corpse that he really is. The end.

ngcoolair21The Spanish guitar and dull narration doom this episode from the first scene.  I’m not sure what could have saved it.  The one positive point in the segment is Barbara Rush, who I feel like I should know, but can’t place.

Despite the presence of the lovely Ms. Rush, the segment is a huge bore.

Like Lovecraft’s previous segment, Pickman’s Model, a new female character and romance was added to the adaptation; in both cases, for the better.

Most everyone in the short story seems to be Spanish — Muñoz (an even more Spanisher spelling than in the episode), the other tenants, and the landlady whom Lovecraft describes as “a slatternly, Spanish, almost bearded woman named Herrero”.

Both versions have the same final twist that Munos died twice — in the story 18 years earlier, and in the episode 10 years earlier.

Post-Post:

  • Twilight Zone Legacy:  Larry Blake was in The Trouble with Templeton.
  • Lovecraft’s story was first published in Tales of Magic and Mystery, March 1928.
  • zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Tong Torture – Emile C. Tepperman

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pulptong01

First line:  “The body of the dead Chinaman was the first thing Nick Ronson saw”.  Not sure why that’s racist, but I’m sure it is.

The man from the Coroner’s office is just starting to work on the “little yellow man”.

Detective McGuire is questioning Gregory Deming, the homeowner.  He says he shot the Chinaman while he was trying to steal — what else, jade — from the wall-safe.  The story checks out because “the chink’s prints are on the safe”.

Deming is worried about reprisals for the death. Ronson agrees that Deming is in danger, but says it is too dangerous to take the gig as his body-guard.  He finally agrees, but wisely insists to be paid in advance.

Ronson goes to see Charley Mee, head of the Tong Local 102, who greets him as Mr. Lonson.  It would be interesting to hear how he pronounces his own name of Charley. Ronson had long ago “learned the futility of trying to read any sort of meaning into the expression of a Chinaman’s face”.  I guess they have a pokel face.

Ronson tries to broker a deal where Deming will pay an indemnity for the dead man, in exchange for having the bounty taken off his head.  Mee doesn’t like those terms, so a gunfight breaks out.  Fortunately, “the Chinese are notoriously poor shots” and Ronson is able to escape.

Ronson goes back to Deming’s home, but finds that Deming has been taken by “three wild chinks with a sawed off shotgun.”  Ronson is able to track them back to their hideout — where else — in a laundry.

Under torture, Deming spills the truth that he is actually the thief, stealing a piece of jade from the dead man who had come to discuss a sale.  With Ronson on the case, Deming never had a Chinaman’s Chance.

Pretty straightforward.

Post-Post:

  • First published in Secret Agent X, August 1934.
  • Also that month:  The 2nd: Hitler becomes Commander-in-Chief of German Armed Forces.  The 3rd: Hitler merges the offices of Chancellor and President, proclaiming himself Führer.
  • Sadly, could not work in “Ancient Chinese Secret” reference.
  • The Chinaman had a ring with the interesting inscription: Respect the gods, but have as little as possible to do with them.

The Brain of Many Bodies – E.A. Grosser

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pulpbrainof02

Wrane Randall is slumped in a chair at the manly-named saloon, Limpy’s.  The barkeep says, “Ill bet that’s why they call him Rainy — there’s always a storm when he’s around.”  Although being named Wrane might have had something to do with it also.

The Air Cops come in to haul Randall away.  It is stated that the Air Cops were the “private army of the Air Chief, outranking all local, state and national officers”.  So basically slightly less powerful than Barack Obama.

Randall is locked in a steel cage at the back of the prison-rocket.  Truly possessing the Right Stuff, Randall is more impressed with the power and technology of the craft than in his own predicament.  They land in the forbidden city of Yss.

Looking him over, doctors decide they can change his eyes from brown to blue, raise his hairline, reshape his face, and tweak his nose.  He learns that his body is being remade in the image of the Air Chief whose mind will be transferred into it.  Oh yeah, Randall’s brain and consciousness will be destroyed in the process.

He wakes up after the cosmetic surgery to find the strategy has changed slightly. Whereas Randall was going to be brain-murdered so the Air Chief’s brain could be inserted into his body . . . new plan: Air Chief will be killed and Rainy will become the most powerful man on earth.  Better.

After disarming Nurse Patty, Randell escapes.  When the first guard he encounters mistakes him for the Air Chief, he seems home free.  When the next person he meets recognizes him as the Air Chief, it is a problem as that person is the Air Chief.  Soon, Plan A is back in effect.

Luckily after a bit of commotion, the Air Chief drops dead with a heart attack.  Randall seizes control of the situation.  He makes it clear that he will assume the Air Chief’s position — there is a new sheriff in town; but with the same face as the old sheriff.

He’s a little bit Libertarian, a little bit Operation Wall Street.  It is encouraging, however, that he takes George Washington approach that he will someday hand over power to another. “Maybe we can make it elective,” he says.  Maybe.

Yeah, that’s why we put that stuff in writing, sport.

Not that it seems to matter any more.

Post-Post:

  • First published in Science Fiction Magazine, October 1940.
  • Also that month:  Abbott & Costello’s first movie released.

The Yellow Curse – Lars Anderson

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pulpyellowcurse01Given some of the recent stories, I really expected this title to be along the lines of the Yellow Peril.  It wasn’t nearly that politically incorrect, however. “Yellow” refers to many elements in the story, all of them about as Asian as Auric Goldfinger.  But less Asian than Odd Job.

First off, we have Arn Flannery driving through a “clammy fog [that] swirled and twisted like a monstrous yellow shroud” . . . . . . . I tried my best but could come up with nothing better than Yellow Fog by I.P. Gaseously (having to invent a new word to even get that).  Clearly, I failed.

Flannery hears a scream, stops the car and goes to investigate.  “The hellish saffron billows clung to him like a material pall”  Never heard of yellow fog, and never heard of fog that clings to you.  He finds a girl “scantily clad in filmy underthings” laying on the ground.  Her hair is “butter-hued” and her skin is the same color as her golden undergarments.  She manages to say cryptically, “The yellow curse — go for help — get key” before she croaks.

Seeing a house in the distance, Flannery comes up with the brilliant plan of running his car into a deep ditch where it rolls over on its side, so he has an excuse to go to the house to ask for help.  This illustrates the extent to which a man will go to avoid saying he is lost, even if it is a lie.

He steps onto the yellow — naturally — porch and bangs the big knockers (heh, heh).  A gaunt man, also yellow-hued, answers. He has no servants to help with the car and no telephone, but does offer Flannery a place to stay for the night.

Finally we learn that Flannery is a reporter investigating the disappearance of Elena Vaughn.  She had been working on the story of mysterious disappearances and became a statistic herself.  Flannery had the hots for her, so tracked to this house.

Hearing a scream, Flannery goes to the basement.  There is a lit room at the end of the hall, so he peeks through the keyhole.  There is yet another yellow room, and he sees yellow flowers in a bronze bowl — couldn’t afford gold, sport?  He also sees 2 nude  yellow babes strapped to tables.  There is a 3rd girl — Elena!  Good news: She has not undergone to procedure so is still her normal color.  Bad news:  Not naked.

It is not clear how he knew the room was lit if the door was closed . . . I guess there was a golden ray of light shooting through the keyhole.  While he is checking out the girls, Flannery is jumped from behind.  The fiend cruelly straps him to a table next to the clothed one who can talk.

He tells Flannery he will be able to witness Evelyn’s transformation from “the ugly whiteness she is now cursed with.”  In three days, she will be a “gleaming, glorious, golden-skinned queen.”  Unless she croaks like the other three.

They figure out “the key” that the first dead girl spoke of was actually Hugo Keithly, the archaeologist.  He was bitten by a Tsetse Fly in Egypt and contracted — wait for it — yellow fever.  Somehow this induced a mad lust for gold in him.  He brings out the pills — surprisingly not yellow — which will cure Evelyn of her “ghastly whiteness.”  Ironically, of the three warm bodies in the room, the fiend is more likely to someday be recruited by MSNBC than the two news-people.

Luckily, Flannery is able to break his leather restraints and subdue Keithly.  He tells Evelyn, “we must get into our clothes, and hunt up Keithly’s car — mine’s in the ditch.” Nice work, Ace — you’re leaving the best part out of that car story.

Post-Post:

  • First published in Thrilling Mystery, April 1936.
  • Also that month:  Meh.  Slow news month.