Conference noted::sf

    The movie is "Things to Come," based on the HG Wells story of the
    same title.  Great movie, I agree.  And the Wells story is a great
    read
    

    	A piece of cake - THINGS TO COME, made in 1936, based on H.
    G. Wells' book and ideas of the future.  Though he did have a say
    in the making of this classic SF film, I have heard he was still
    not satisfied with the finished product.
    
    	I too like the film, and found it quite well done for its time
    (I bet you saw it on the Arts and Entertainment Network).  Wells
    was quite right in predicting another world war, though fortunately
    he was wrong in its lasting for decades.  One "disappointment" was
    the producers' use of an archaic "space cannon" to launch a manned
    vessel to the Moon.
    
    	TTC also has the classic line at the end in regards to what
    humanity's future will be (one I highly agree with):  "The Universe,
    or nothing!"
    
    	TTC needed its own SF Topic, anyway.
    
    	Larry
    

    I picked up a copy of this at the local (Pheasant Lane Mall, Nashua,
    NH) Sears store for...get this...$5.75.  
    
    Great movie!!
    
    Mike

Use of a cannon wasn't that "archaic."  Rocketry wasn't well known then.
There weren't any V1s or V2s, at least that people knew about.
Anyway, listen to the old man's description of the cannon.
It wasn't a Verne-like explosive shell, but an "electrically charged
gun, guns within guns, so that the last gun shoots the manned
compartment off into space."  (Sort of a literal quote.)

Forward thinking?  Amazingly!  Did you see the building-sized holographic
screen levitated into place in the city square when the Luddite demagogue
aroused the crowd?
And you can see too where so many things that have become cliches came from:
The broad shouldered toga-like outfits, the glass buildings, the monorails
and levitating elevators.
This was before the 1939 World's Fair, where such futurism first came
to such a grand scale.
Did you see the streamlined tanks in the superimposed battle scenes?

This was far enough before WW2 so that the reality of the combat
was far enough away from influencing the movie, but the political climate
was definitely an effect.

By the way, it wasn't on A&E.  It may have been on Boston channel 68,
or maybe the USA cable network.

I didn't catch the very beginning or the very end, and I missed the credits.
Can somebody summarize the creative team beyond Wells?  
Who wrote the screenplay, directed, produced, did special effects?

How come we don't see this one more often?  Hasn't it fallen 
into the public domain yet?

- tom powers]

    re: .4
    
    I agree also that the "space-gun" wasn't that archaic.  In fact, as
    soon as I heard the old guy describe it (the gun within a gun,
    electric, mumble, mumble...) I thought of the so-called "rail-gun"
    being developed for SDI.  (maybe the movie even fore-shadowed this..
    we should all rise up and march towards White Sands or wherever SDI
    is being developed and threaten to destroy it with our bare hands..)
    
    I was also struck by the very aerodynamic designs of the helicopters
    and flying wing type planes of the Aviators.  All very streamlined
    with no rivets, or guy-wires, etc...
    
    All together a great film.  Thanks to everybody who helped me out!
    
    Marc

    re:.4
    
    Yes, THINGS TO COME is in the Public Domain. Wells wrote the
    screenplay himself; the director was William Cameron Menzies
    (who later did, among other things, the original INVADERS FROM
    MARS); cast included Raymond Massey, (Sir) Cedric Hardwicke,
    and (Sir) Ralph Richardson.
    
    --- jerry

It's been years since I saw this film so my memory may be playing tricks on me 
but wasn't the full title "The Shape of Things to Come"?

Dave

    THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME was the title of the Wells novel upon
    which the film is based. It was also the shooting title of the
    film.
    
    --- jerry

    Not to be confused with Damon Knight's anthology, THE SHAPE OF THINGS.
    
    No wonder we get confused!
    
    							Don

    Nor to be confused with the old TR7 sports car ad-slogan!

    (montage of triangular cars, doghouses, blimps...)
    
    
    Tom Kelleher
    

    Nah!  _Shapes of Things_ is a song by the Jeff Beck Group,
    lead singer Rod Stewart...
    
    					andrew

    
    	Re -1
    
    >	    Nah!  _Shapes of Things_ is a song by the Jeff Beck Group,
    >lead singer Rod Stewart...
    
    	Originaly by The Yardbirds, lead guitarist Jeff Beck (also Eric
    Clapton and Jimmy Page)
    
    		Ian G.

From: JWenn.ESAE@XEROX.COM
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers
Subject: Author Lists: H. G. Wells
Date: 26 Aug 89 09:10:03 GMT
 
    What can you say about H. G. Wells. He has one of the most
legitimate claims to the often bestowed title "Father of Science
Fiction".  He originated several standard SF concepts (the time
machine and aliens invading Earth, among others) and help synthesize
many earlier elements into one genre.  His early work is still quite
readable and is recommended.  His later work (after about 1905)
suffers from the tendency to do more sermonising than story telling. 
He also wrote several popular mainstream novels (which have faded into
obscurity), a popular history of the world, and many non-fiction works
in his role as social critic. 
 
    I seem to remember (although I forget the source, so this may be
untrue) that he and Jules Verne vigourously denied that the other had
any influence on their work.  (The argument essentially being that
Wells accused Verne of being unable to write his way out of a wet paper
bag; while Verne accused Wells of scientifically implausable ideas.  It's 
interesting to see this conflict continue in SF up to the present day). 
 
    One can get a good core collection of Wells in just two thick
volumes: "Seven Science Fiction Novels" and "The Famous Short Stories
of H.G. Wells", nearly 1900 pages of good reading. 
 
    [C] == Short Story Collection.
    [O] == Omnibus.  Includes other books.
    abr == Abridgement of other listed title
    aka == Also known by this other title.
 
    /John
 
    arpa: JWenn.ESAE@Xerox.com
 
    ninetypercentofeverythingiscrap-ly
----------------------------------------------------------------
Wells, H[erbert] G[eorge] [U.K., 9/21/1866-8/13/1946]
    The Scientific Romances of H.G. Wells [1933] [O]
        Men Like Gods [1923]
        Seven Science Fiction Novels [1934] [O] [aka "Seven Famous Novels"]
               [aka "The Complete Science Fiction Treasury of H. G. Wells"]
            The Time Machine [1895]
            The Island of Dr. Moreau [1896]
            The Invisible Man [1897]
            The War of the Worlds [1898]
            The First Men in the Moon [1901]
            The Food of the Gods [1904]
            In the Days of the Comet [1906]
    The Famous Short Stories of H.G. Wells [1927] [O] [+ 5 stories]
                    [aka "The Short Stories of H.G. Wells"]
                    [aka "The Complete Short Stories of H.G. Wells"]
        The Time Machine, and Other Stories [1895, 1963] [C]
        The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents [1895, 1930] [C]
        The Plattner Story and Others [1897] [C]
        Tales of Space and Time [1899] [C]
        Twelve Stories and a Dream [1903] [C]
    The Wonderful Visit [1895]
    Thirty Strange Stories [1897] [C]
    When the Sleeper Wakes [1899] [aka "The Sleeper Wakes"]
    The Sea Lady [1902]
    A Modern Utopia [1905]
    The Country of the Blind and Other Stories [1911, 1947] [C]
    The Door in the Wall and Other Stories [1911] [C]
    The World Set Free [1914]
    The Undying Fire [1919]
    Tales of the Unexpected [1922] [C]
    Tales of Life and Adventure [1923] [C]
    Tales of Wonder [1923] [C]
    The Dream [1924]
    The Empire of the Ants and Other Stories [1925] [C]
    The War in the Air [1926] [C]
    Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island [1928]
    The Treasure in the Forest [1929] [C] [abr. from "The Stolen Bacillus"]
    The Autocracy of Mr. Parham [1930]
    The Stolen Body, and Other Tales of the Unexpected [1931] [C]
    The Man Who Could Work Miracles [1931] [C]
    Selections From the Early Prose Work of H.G. Wells [1931] [C]
    The Shape of Things To Come [1933]
    Things to Come [1935] [movie based on "The Shape of Things To Come"]
    The Croquet Player [1936]
    The Man Who Could Work Miracles [1936] [based on movie]
    The Camford Visitation [1937]
    The Favorite Short Stories of H. G. Wells [1937] [C] [abr. from "Famous..."]
    The Star-Begotten [1937]
    The Brothers [1938]
    The Holy Terror [1939]
    All Aboard For Arat [1940]
    Short Stories of H. G. Wells, first series [1940] [C]
    28 Science Fiction Stories [1952] [C]
    The Time Machine; and, The Man Who Could Work Miracles [1953] [O]
    The War of the Worlds; and, The Time Machine [1956] [O]
    Selected Short Stories of H.G. Wells [1958] [C] [abr. from "Famous"]
    Best Stories of H.G. Wells [1960] [C]
    Three Prophetic Novels [1960] [O] [contains "The Time Machine", "A
           Story of the Days to Come", "When the Sleeper Wakes"]
    The Invisible Man; and, The War of the Worlds [1962] [O]
    Three Novels [1963] [O] [contains "The Time Machine", "The War of the
            Worlds", "The Island of Doctor Moreau"]
    The War of the Worlds; In the Days of the Comet;
                             The Food of the Gods [1963] [O]
    The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine and Selected Short
                             Stories [1963] [C]
    The Valley of Spiders [1964] [C]
    The Cone [1965] [C]
    The Inexperienced Ghost and Nine Other Stories [1965] [C]
    Best Science Fiction Stories of H.G. Wells [1966] [C]
                              [contains "The Invisible Man"]
    The Collector's Books of Science Fiction by H. G. Wells [1978] [C]

    Wasn't H.G. Wells the one who wrote the worst book I have ever read,
    the ever forgettable "Tono Bungay"?
    
    It was so bad, that the title sticks in my mind like old peanut
    butter, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was about,
    of it it WAS H.G. Wells who wrote it!
    
    K.C.

    re:.15
    
    Yep, that was his. It's one of his more successful books though,
    both commercially and critically. I haven't read it though, so I
    can't comment.
    
    --- jerry

Article: 3813
Newsgroups: alt.sci.planetary
From: dpbsmith@world.std.com (Daniel P. B. Smith)
Subject: Time to re-read "The Star," by H. G. Wells
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 1994 03:35:55 GMT
 
What with the asteroid theory of dinosaur extinction, the studies of
the Tunguska explosion, the stuff about Nemesis and the Oort cloud,
and the collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy with Jupiter, something was
nagging at my mind.  I think it was all of the speculation about
whether _anything_ would be visible or whether Jupiter would just
swallow the comet tracelessly.  From the recent pictures, either there
is no intelligent life on Jupiter, or they don't know how to shoot
down comet fragments with missiles, or their astronomers realized it
would hit in the Jovian equivalent of Tunguska.  Anyway, I was
thinking about the possibility of a million square miles of Jovian
civilization being vaporized as we sit here and say, "gee, you can
hardly see any effect."  And I was also thinking about our bland
assumption that we're _perfectly_ safe because Jupiter is so _very_
far away.  And I remembered this story by H. G. Wells I read in high
school. 
 
In "The Star," an astronomer notices some perturbations in the orbit
of Neptune, and discovers a new planet-sized body has entered the
solar system.  At first it is of interest only to astronomers. Then
they realize it is actually going to collide with Neptune: (But no
problem, right, because Neptune is so _very_ far away.) 
 
"'A Planetary Collision,' one London paper headed the news... there
was an expectation, however vague, of some imminent phenomenon in the
sky ... thousands of men turned their eyes skyward to see--the old
familiar stars just as they had always been." 
 
They collide, turn into an incandescent mass, and most of Neptune's
orbital velocity is wiped out. 
 
"The schoolboy ... puzzled it out for himself.  'Centripetal,
centrifugal,' he said, with his chin on his fist. 'Stop a planet in
its flight, rob it of its centrifugal force, what when? Centripetal
has it, and down it falls into the sun!... Do _we_ come in the way?  
I wonder---" 
 
We don't, but it is a near miss.  The mass appears as a star, grows
brighter and brighter, becomes hot, causes storms and weather changes
and tidal waves and agricultural destruction.  Humankind is not totally 
destroyed, but civilization is and must be rebuilt.  The story closes: 
 
"The Martian astronomers--for there are astronomers on Mars, although
they are very different beings from men--were naturally profoundly
interested by these things.  'Considering the mass and temperature of
the missile that was flung through our solar system into the sun,' one
wrote, 'it is astonishing what a little damage the earth, which it
missed so narrowly, has sustained.  All the familiar continental
markings and the masses of the seas remain intact, and indeed the only
difference seems to be a shrinkage of the white discolration (supposed
to be frozen water) rough either pole.' Which only shows how small the
vastest of human catastrophes may seem, at a distance of a few million
miles." 
 
Daniel P. B. Smith
dpbsmith@world.std.com