Episode 11 - Who Goes There?

TBD - To Be Determined

Theme: Who invited that thing? Oh yeah, we did.
Time: 44:53

Episode Connections
Authors, stories. Astounding Science Fiction. Kenneth Robeson, Doc Savage series. Clarke, “The Sentinel.” H.P. Lovecraft, “At the Mountains of Madness.” William Golding, Lord of the Flies.
Films. The Thing from Another World. The Thing (1982). The Thing (2011). MovieTone news reels. Alien series. Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Alien v. Predator. Rare Exports. Horror Express. It. Revenge of the Nerds. The World’s End. Signs.
TV episodes, series. Big Brother.
Ideas. Antarctic expeditions and aliens. An expedition of manly men. What dangers do alien lifeforms pose to humans? How do people contend with scientific conundrums when they are isolated from peers? “Nowhere in the known universe … .” To thaw or not to thaw? Thaw! What do you do when confronted with an alien doppelganger who can imitate any human or animal form? And it gets worse … parts can grow into new aliens! Fire. Electricity. These are the keys. Wait … now the alien is telepathic too? Who can we trust? There can be only one solution. All the humans must die to protect the planet from the alien. They devise a test for alienness. Save us giant bronze man! He’s an alien, and he’s an alien! The albatross. What if the alien could become an albatross and just fly away? What then? Wait, what is that funny blue light? The final battle. Disaster is narrowly averted. This story imagines things that had not been part of our story conventions prior to it, but that have become sci-fi staples. The South Pole is a somewhat known landscape at the time the story was written. Many cinematic and fiction connections. Um … where are the women? And why are all aliens evil? Pop culture teaches us how to deal with an alien invasion.
Whoa - Hmmm - WTF. Bill says WTF. Dan says yes! but adds in a little bit of whoa to go with it.

Previous episode: Philip K. Dick, “War Veteran”
Next episode: Murray Leinster, “First Contact”

Music Credit: "Ouroboros" Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Link: Creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/