The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion

Jim D wrote: "...Cordwainer Smith is one of my favorite authors..."

I only discovered him last year. I've read 1/2 of all his stories, and am eager to read the other 1/2, but sad that there are no more. :(

Forthencho Pacino wrote: "I'm stuck reading semiconductors and magnetism. I have exams starting in 3 days...
I'm planning to finish the Dune saga afterwards, like in the first few weeks after my exams end."

What degree are you going for?

I just read The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television. Very much recommended if you have any interest in the Twilight Zone and don't have an irrational fear of reading a "comic book".

Ed wrote: "I just read The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television. Very much recommended if you have any interest in the Twilight Zone and don't have an irrational fear of readi..."

I was a big fan of Rod Serling and the original Twilight Zone. He had a very interesting life. Here is an great story I found on Wikipedia.

"For extra money in his college years, Serling worked part-time testing parachutes for the United States Army Air Forces. According to his radio station coworkers, he received $50 for each successful jump and had once been paid $500 (half before and half if he survived) for a hazardous test. His last test jump was a few weeks before his wedding. In one instance, he earned $1,000 for testing a jet ejection seat that had killed the previous three testers."

Yeah, that story is in the book. It is more engaging to read it in the book rather than the wiki page, IMO.

He was a paratrooper in WWII. They didn't want to let him in (too short) but he kept on insisting. It didn't turn out as fun as he'd hoped.

The TZ story about the man who gets addicted to a slot machine is based on his real experience, though he was only addicted for one night and learned his lesson.

I'm also a Serling fan. Hadn't realized he was a jumper. I didn't do it in war time & found it more fun than I thought. Well, the jumping part, especially when we got to jump from high up. Humping the chute & all the equipment out was a drag, especially when it was wet.

I've read some things about him over the years & was always impressed by his writing. He knocked out a big percentage of the original scripts, sometimes in very short order. I was more impressed by the shows themselves, especially on the small budget he had. He got the best out of actors. He not only worked with some of the best, but 'discovered' them, I believe.

Jim wrote: "I'm also a Serling fan. Hadn't realized he was a jumper. I didn't do it in war time & found it more fun than I thought. Well, the jumping part, especially when we got to jump from high up. Humping ..."

William Shatner was new to Hollywood at the time when he did two episodes, having done the feature film version of The Brothers Karamazov in 1958 as one of his first acting projects.

Ann Jillian was only 12 years old when she starred in the episode “Mute” in 1963.

Robert Duvall was still relatively unknown other than his great supporting role as Boo Radley in "To Kill a Mockingbird" when he starred in the 1963 episode “Miniature”.

Here's an interesting site about it - https://rodserling.com/they-started-o...

That was a really good article. Thanks! It brought back a lot of memories. I remember "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" as the first time I saw Shatner, but I was watching reruns. I'm a little young to have seen them air for the first time, although I do recall seeing some of the last seasons. (Mom wasn't happy.)

For some reason "Nick of Time" never stuck with me. It's odd how some really stuck. I notice he only mentions Jack Klugman "In Praise of Pip" (5th season) & misses "A Passage for Trumpet" (1st season) which I found far more memorable. I think I've seen 'Pip' mentioned a lot more, though. Might have won an award or been high on some list.

Jim wrote: "That was a really good article. Thanks! It brought back a lot of memories. I remember "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" as the first time I saw Shatner, but I was watching reruns. I'm a little young to ha..."

I also liked "A Passage for Trumpet" more. It was one of my favorite episodes with it's film-noirish atmosphere. I also liked Klugman in the episode "A Game of Pool".

I'm 72 so I did catch of the most of the later years when they were originally televised and then all of them numerous times in reruns.

Forthencho Pacino wrote: "Holy heck I just realised that even after my exams get over, I still have two months of studies to prep for entrance tests..."

Schooling varies a lot & has confusingly similar names with entirely different meanings between countries. I see you're in India. It would probably be better to continue this in the Daily Chat
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I'd be interested if wouldn't mind telling me what the 'Defense Academy' is & what sort of levels, etc.

Jim wrote: "JI also liked "A Passage for Trumpet" more. It was one of my favorite episodes with it's film-noirish atmosphere. I also liked Klugman in the episode "A Game of Pool".
..."

I agree & Jonathan Winters was fantastic, too. It came out almost the same time as "The Hustler" with Paul Newman & Jackie Gleason. Kind of a rip-off, but both were so well done. I'm about a decade younger than you. The only reason I got to see any new Twilight Zones was because my father was watching me. He'd let me watch anything. I looked at every rock suspiciously for weeks after seeing "Corpus Earthling" the Outer Limits episode with Robert Culp who could hear the rocks planning to take over the world. I wasn't 5 years old yet, so it was spooky as hell.

Funny, I hadn't thought about that in years. It's probably why one of my daughter's earliest memories is sitting on my lap watching "Aliens". I had the paper open & picked it up in front of her when my wife came downstairs, but my daughter pulled it down, so we got busted.
:)

Ed wrote: "Yeah, that story is in the book. It is more engaging to read it in the book rather than the wiki page, IMO.

He was a paratrooper in WWII. They didn't want to let him in (too short) but he kept on ..."

Airborne!

Jim wrote: "I'm also a Serling fan. Hadn't realized he was a jumper. I didn't do it in war time & found it more fun than I thought. ..."

Yeah. I think he found the jumping fun, but not the war. I've jumped once and it was OK. I don't plan to do it again. The high diving board is exciting enough for me.

Another interesting thing from that Serling biography was learning about Charles Beaumont. He wrote some of the TZ stories. Sadly he died young with something similar to Alzheimer's or Pick's disease. They say when he died at age 38 he looked like he was over 90. Sounds almost like an SF plot.

I recently finished Childhood’s End and my mind is blown. Review here.