Author Topic: EP146: Edward Bear and the Very Long Walk  (Read 57298 times)

gfplux

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Reply #75 on: March 01, 2008, 03:15:20 PM
It brought tears to my eyes. great science fiction



CGFxColONeill

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Reply #76 on: March 01, 2008, 04:11:40 PM
When they all died it had lost its entire reason for being, like a Talkie Toaster with no bread, and it went a bit mad

when I saw this I thought you were going to say a talking tooth brush lol

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Bikerjohn

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Reply #77 on: March 03, 2008, 03:24:01 PM
"Honey" question...

As a want-to-be writer, I try to be aware of the alien environments I drop my charactes into (dream worlds, other universes, or just a new planet).  That he found honey hit my warning button.  Was it just a honey-like substance?  Was it some nurishment that his programming make him think was honey?   Is it an alien world where bee-like bugs also came along?  Or have humans already dropped Earth plants/insects/animals ahead of their arrival?  (Or did I miss the honey explaination in an earlier sentence?)

This is a minor example of a certain TV based sci-fi show's insensitivity to this 'suspension of disblief' where, no matter what part of the galaxy they end up in (or parallel dimension) - everyone is speaking english in seconds of meeting one another.  (At least Farscape had 'translator microbes.')  [I could note that Edward didn't have fluid conversations with anything not man-made on the planet...that was nice.]

Great story on the best podcast around!



Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #78 on: March 04, 2008, 12:48:32 AM
"Honey" question...

As a want-to-be writer, I try to be aware of the alien environments I drop my charactes into (dream worlds, other universes, or just a new planet).  That he found honey hit my warning button.  Was it just a honey-like substance?  Was it some nurishment that his programming make him think was honey?   Is it an alien world where bee-like bugs also came along?  Or have humans already dropped Earth plants/insects/animals ahead of their arrival?  (Or did I miss the honey explaination in an earlier sentence?)

This is a minor example of a certain TV based sci-fi show's insensitivity to this 'suspension of disblief' where, no matter what part of the galaxy they end up in (or parallel dimension) - everyone is speaking english in seconds of meeting one another.  (At least Farscape had 'translator microbes.')  [I could note that Edward didn't have fluid conversations with anything not man-made on the planet...that was nice.]

Great story on the best podcast around!

I took it as a "honey-like substance"; it would fit that Edward would interpret the world around him to fit his Pooh-bear personality, and since he's a machine, eating something strange on a strange planet wouldn't necessarily be dangerous.  (Though if I were a marooned robot-on-a-mission, I wouldn't be so cavalier about what I put in MY body!)

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CGFxColONeill

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Reply #79 on: March 04, 2008, 01:50:30 AM
Just out of curiosity why would he need to eat ingest anything at all? not for nourishment certainly and I assume he had a solar cell array or something of the kind ( wonder what made me assume that? just kind popped to mind like it belonged as I was typing this... anyhow that is prolly another thread lol)

Overconfidence - Before you attempt to beat the odds, be sure you could survive the odds beating you.

I am not sure if Life is passing me by or running me over


ancawonka

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Reply #80 on: March 04, 2008, 08:26:17 AM
I was moved by this story.  I thought the concept was all right, made wonderful by Steve's emotional reading.  I think the reading was second only to Nightfall in its intensity and characterization.  I really felt something for the little bear, who was just self-aware enough to realize that he was going to be alone forever.

I wish the second half (the actual journey) had been a little shorter.  I found myself trying to figure out what the Parrotishes REALLY were and how they might have been the source of the virus and so forth.  Was the wagon and the honey just a metaphor?  I was a bit disappointed by the end, when they DID turn out to be Ewoks - or something equally cute and insipid.




Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #81 on: March 04, 2008, 11:45:52 AM
Just out of curiosity why would he need to eat ingest anything at all? not for nourishment certainly and I assume he had a solar cell array or something of the kind ( wonder what made me assume that? just kind popped to mind like it belonged as I was typing this... anyhow that is prolly another thread lol)


Actually, that was mentioned in the story, briefly.  The bear was programmed to manifest Pooh's personality, and that includes "craving a small smackerel of something" now and again.  I think he was even aware that he didn't need to eat, he just liked to.  (Kind of like a lot of people I know...)


And welcome to ancawonka; I had a similar thought about the Parrotishes. 

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Yossarian's grandson

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Reply #82 on: March 04, 2008, 09:38:19 PM
Wow. That was just about the most chilling opening line I ever heard. It sent a tingle down my back. And you gotta respect a writer who has the brass balls to actually kill off Wi...I mean Edward Bear! And
as a result of combat, too!

Anyway...

The story as a whole didn't do very much for me at first. It seemed like all the cuteness was put in just to accentuate the tragic denouement.

But now that I've given it time to sink in, it has gathered strength. Maybe because, as Steve says, the hero's quest answers a need in all of us. For me anyway, the death-scene (though admittedly played to the bone) has grown to mythic proportions. Dunno, but doesn't everyone in a way yearn for a poetic, meaningful demise like that? Not that I'm in any hurry to go, mind you, but get my drift?



CGFxColONeill

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Reply #83 on: March 04, 2008, 11:29:49 PM

Actually, that was mentioned in the story, briefly.  The bear was programmed to manifest Pooh's personality, and that includes "craving a small smackerel of something" now and again.  I think he was even aware that he didn't need to eat, he just liked to.  (Kind of like a lot of people I know...)


And welcome to ancawonka; I had a similar thought about the Parrotishes. 

ok I missed that part lol
how was he powered anyhow?
« Last Edit: April 03, 2008, 10:20:29 PM by CGFxColONeill »

Overconfidence - Before you attempt to beat the odds, be sure you could survive the odds beating you.

I am not sure if Life is passing me by or running me over


glucoseboy

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Reply #84 on: March 05, 2008, 04:49:57 AM
This story struck an especially emotional chord with me.   The statement "for the children" was corny but effective.

Great job Steve!



Planish

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Reply #85 on: March 07, 2008, 09:17:07 AM
I had a bit of trouble with Win... Edward's motivation, because I didn't catch the business of the other four ships en route the first time around. I also questioned the honey craving, but figured he was some sort of a cyborg toy with some technology that could recharge him by processing the carbohydrates in honey or honey-like substances, and that he was programmed to crave it.

At any rate, I just sprinkled on some of my private stash of powdered handwavium and suspended disbelief for the duration, because the story and the POV character were engaging enough.

I did enjoy the slow reveal of the nature of his surroundings - first the nursery, which turns out to be in a ship, which turns out to have crashlanded on some planet, and then outside on his "mission ... quest ... thing".

It's a good thing the protagonist wasn't the "Troy Trooper" toy from the EP Flash between EP21 and EP22. They woulda' been totally hosed.  ;)

Quote from: Sylvan
He is, in another Campbell sense, the "larger-than-life hero" despite being just a Silly Old Bear.
I think it's because he was just a Silly Old Bear, and not a Paladin archetype, that makes him a Campbellian "reluctant hero".

Finally - please bear with me (no pun intended)
The name of the ship immediately struck me as somewhat inauspicious from the get-go.

Quote from: W. S. Gilbert
The Yarn of the 'Nancy Bell'
A Bab Ballad

'TWAS on the shores that round our coast
From Deal to Ramsgate span,
That I found alone on a piece of stone
An elderly naval man.

His hair was weedy, his beard was long,
And weedy and long was he,
And I heard this wight on the shore recite,
In a singular minor key:

"Oh, I am a cook and a captain bold,
And the mate of the Nancy brig,
And a bo'sun tight, and a midshipmite,
And the crew of the captain's gig."

And he shook his fists and he tore his hair,
Till I really felt afraid,
For I couldn't help thinking the man had been drinking,
And so I simply said:

"O, elderly man, it's little I know
Of the duties of men of the sea,
But I'll eat my hand if I understand
How you can possibly be

"At once a cook, and a captain bold,
And the mate of the Nancy brig,
And a bo'sun tight, and a midshipmite,
And the crew of the captain's gig."

Then he gave a hitch to his trousers, which
Is a trick all seamen larn,
And having got rid of a thumping quid,
He spun this painful yarn:

"'Twas in the good ship Nancy Bell
That we sailed to the Indian sea,
And there on a reef we come to grief,
Which has often occurred to me.

"And pretty nigh all o' the crew was drowned
(There was seventy-seven o' soul),
And only ten of the Nancy's men
Said 'Here!' to the muster-roll.

"There was me and the cook and the captain bold,
And the mate of the Nancy brig
And the bo'sun tight, and a midshipmite,
And the crew of the captain's gig.

"For a month we'd neither wittles nor drink,
Till a-hungry we did feel,
So we drawed a lot, and accordin' shot
The captain for our meal.

"The next lot fell to the Nancy's mate,
And a delicate dish he made;
Then our appetite with the midshipmite
We seven survivors stayed.

"And then we murdered the bo'sun tight,
And he much resembled pig,
Then we wittled free, did the cook and me,
On the crew of the captain's gig.

"Then only the cook and me was left,
And the delicate question, 'Which
Of us two goes to the kettle?' arose
And we argued it out as sich.

"For I Ioved that cook as a brother, I did,
And the cook he worshipped me;
But we'd both be blowed if we'd either be stowed
In the other chap's hold, you see.

"'I'll be eat if you dines off me,' says Tom,
'Yes, that,' says I, 'you'll be,' --
'I'm boiled if I die, my friend,' quoth I,
And 'Exactly so,' quoth he.

"Says he, 'Dear James, to murder me
Were a foolish thing to do,
For don't you see that you can't cook me,
While I can -- and will -- cook you!'

"So he boils the water, and takes the salt
And the pepper in portions true
(Which he never forgot) and some chopped shalot,
And some sage and parsley too.

"'Come here,' says he, with a proper pride,
Which his smiling features tell,
' 'Twill soothing be if I let you see,
How extremely nice you'll smell.'

"And he stirred it round and round and round,
And he sniffed at the foaming froth;
When I ups with his heels, and smothers his squeals
In the scum of the boiling broth.

"And I eat that cook in a week or less,
And -- as I eating be
The last of his chops, why, I almost drops,
For a wessel in sight I see!

"And I never grin, and I never smile,
And I never larf nor play,
But I sit and croak, and a single joke
I have -- which is to say:

"Oh, I am a cook and a captain bold,
And the mate of the Nancy brig,
And a bo'sun tight, and a midshipmite,
And the crew of the captain's gig!"

I feed The Pod.
("planish" rhymes with "vanish")


Mr. Bunny

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Reply #86 on: March 08, 2008, 03:33:17 PM
Disclaimer: I've been a huge Milne fan since before I can remember, and have infected my children with that meme.

I really liked the story. I'm kinda late to the game here, so not much else to say along those lines that won't be heavy on "me-too-ism." I do wonder if you need to have read Milne to "get" the story. (That'd be a mark against it, in my book.) Do those who have seen/read Disney's versions get the same effect?

Someone noted this story didn't measure up to the ending of "The House At Pooh Corner." Wow, talk about setting a high bar! While I'd agree that it didn't, there's very damn little I've encountered that does meet that standard. If that's the requirement for using Milne's characters, then nobody ever would...and I'd consider that a loss.

I'm also surprised at what a positive response it got.  Bravery was mentioned several times, but Edward doesn't seem particularly brave or cowardly.  He is too ignorant of the danger to be truly brave.  He is also too ignorant to be making a real sacrifice.   Frodo and Sam at least had some inkling they wouldn't be coming home, and at one point they knew it without a doubt.  Edward doesn't seem to struggle with this.  He doesn't seem to struggle with anything.  He didn't even struggle with leaving the nursery even though he said he would.  Maybe that is Pooh, but it's not dramatic tension.

I think it is Pooh. And I also think a character can be brave without agonizing dramatically about how brave he's being. Going back into the cave seemed quite brave to me.



JoeFitz

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Reply #87 on: March 10, 2008, 03:06:16 AM
While my reaction wasn't as negative as Anarkey's, I have a serious problem with this story, and I've been struggling with myself for the past few days trying to understand it and express it. Here is an attempt to do so; you'll probably learn quite a lot more about me than you ever cared to if you read it.

Thank you! Your post expresses exactly very eloquently some of my reservations about the story.



Listener

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Reply #88 on: March 10, 2008, 04:20:06 PM
Disclaimer: I've been a huge Milne fan since before I can remember, and have infected my children with that meme.

I really liked the story. I'm kinda late to the game here, so not much else to say along those lines that won't be heavy on "me-too-ism." I do wonder if you need to have read Milne to "get" the story. (That'd be a mark against it, in my book.) Do those who have seen/read Disney's versions get the same effect?


Having never read Milne, only seen the Disney versions, I thought this was a pastiche (w/c?) of Pooh that detracted from the story.  Now I know better.

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Sanpaco

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Reply #89 on: March 20, 2008, 04:39:13 PM
Its been too long since I listened to this for me to give specific examples of why I liked the story but I do remember it seeming kind of like an epic adventure similar to say Alice in Wonderland.  I really enjoyed it and I thought that it was one of the better episodes that has been released.



birdless

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Reply #90 on: March 20, 2008, 06:21:32 PM
Pooh (both Milne and Disney versions) was such an indelible part of my childhood that the violence inflicted upon him in this story was so disturbing to me. ::)

From the realization of what he was going to have to do, I really didn't expect him to "live," but I was sure hoping I was going to be wrong.

I agree with Planish on the slow reveal: very nice touch.

Anyway, I like the concept okay, and i think the execution was very well done... it was just dark. I'm not a huge fan of "dark" story telling.

It seems like it's easier to be dark in a short story, though, because we don't normally have a lot of time to get so emotionally invested in the protagonist that we're depressed when they die, and happy short stories sometimes have a tendency to smack of cheesiness or "high-gloss." I dunno. My 2ยข, but not given a lot of thought to that previous statement. It's just that off the top of my head, most short stories I can think of are dark.



bad_andy

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Reply #91 on: March 21, 2008, 06:30:51 PM
Wow. I wasn't sure what to think at the first but I was in tears (manly, manly tears) by the end of the story. As someone who grew up on the Disney stuff and not the books, I thought the Pooh references worked. The hallucinations of the other characters really gave me a sense of Edward's interior life as he tried to map his personal mythology on the world outside the nursery. It was interesting to see the author confront mortality through the eyes of a toy that was thrown into a strange circumstance that was beyond his programming. That worked so well for me that some of the smaller details didn't end up bothering me that much. Thumbs up.



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Reply #92 on: March 23, 2008, 12:54:10 PM
I liked the story, but not the vocabulary, or the use of language, which was patchy.

For instance, "azure" is not a word that a Bear of Very Little Brain would know. There were several other words and phrases that knocked me out of the story. I kept mentally rephrasing bits into A A Milne language.

To me, this story goes down as a good try, could be better.

Disclosure: I learned to read at about three years old, by listening to my Dad reading the Pooh books to me, and following his finger along the text. Anything Pooh-derived had better be close to the original. I don't like Disney Pooh for that reason. He's an insipid imitation of the real Edward Bear.



manicoo

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Reply #93 on: March 23, 2008, 01:44:03 PM
I second the somewhat cynical view of eytanz. The moral of the story for me was - "no good deed goes unpunished". For saving the parrotchens Edward is mortally wounded; for helping Edward fulfil his task the parrotchents will be invaded. A tragedy in the full sense of the word. Not to imply that I didn't enjoy the story. It was well written and powerfully narrated. Just really really sad.

Not aiming for quote of the week, unless Steve will be in a really cynical mood at recording time, but didn't anyone else wonder whether the parrotchens (or however its spelt) realize that by aiding Edward Bear, they have basically enabled the invasion of their planet by an alien race which has stripped its own home planet dry of resources and is now coming to do the same to their planet?



wintermute

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Reply #94 on: March 25, 2008, 01:09:12 PM
I think this is my favourite EscapePod story yet.

I was waiting for the eagles to show, but they never came.

I like to think that when the other ships arrived, they rebuilt / rebooted Edward Bear to find out what happened.

Science means that not all dreams can come true


Subneutrino

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Reply #95 on: April 01, 2008, 05:16:08 AM
Great story.  Got my kids to listen to this one (daughters, 9 and 11).  They liked it, and we talked about it for over an hour.  Considering what their typical attention spans are, this is remarkable.  An amazing story that will stay with me for a long time.

Supreme Commander of Room 44


Ocicat

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Reply #96 on: April 02, 2008, 06:13:02 AM
Anything Pooh-derived had better be close to the original. I don't like Disney Pooh for that reason. He's an insipid imitation of the real Edward Bear.

I agree that the Disney version... well, just misses what made the Milne stories so great.  After last week's outro, I'll be very interested to see what Steve (and son) think of the original stories on first readings.  I hope he'll post here and tell us...



Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #97 on: April 02, 2008, 09:55:50 PM
Anything Pooh-derived had better be close to the original. I don't like Disney Pooh for that reason. He's an insipid imitation of the real Edward Bear.

I agree that the Disney version... well, just misses what made the Milne stories so great.  After last week's outro, I'll be very interested to see what Steve (and son) think of the original stories on first readings.  I hope he'll post here and tell us...

That reminds me; my aunt gave us a set of the Milne stories on cassette, read by Charles Kuralt.  (Moderators: can you work your magic so the EP-gets-a-cut bit is added to that link? [Magic worked -Heradel])

Kuralt reading Owl and Eeyore is simply awesome.
« Last Edit: April 03, 2008, 05:21:24 AM by Heradel »

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birdless

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Reply #98 on: April 03, 2008, 02:37:25 PM
(Moderators: can you work your magic so the EP-gets-a-cut bit is added to that link? [Magic worked -Heradel])
Whoa whoa, wait... so if you guys link to Amazon, you get some sort of kickback? Dude! I wished I had known. I've posted quite a few that you could have done that to. Feel free to edit any of my posts if it helps you guys out! What about that whole thread Nash posted to help him fill out his "NetFlix" queue?



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Reply #99 on: April 03, 2008, 04:56:09 PM
(Moderators: can you work your magic so the EP-gets-a-cut bit is added to that link? [Magic worked -Heradel])
Whoa whoa, wait... so if you guys link to Amazon, you get some sort of kickback? Dude! I wished I had known. I've posted quite a few that you could have done that to. Feel free to edit any of my posts if it helps you guys out! What about that whole thread Nash posted to help him fill out his "NetFlix" queue?

If you linked to Amazon, I probably did side in and alter the links. 

We had a full disclosure thread, but since it has fallen down the boards a bit, I'll restate it here.

EP has an Amazon account.  This means that if you click on any of the altered links and buy the item, EP gets a cut.  Almost every website that links to Amazon does this.  We're just trying to get Steve his cut. 

As far as my Netflix list goes, we don't add links to your post.  If you want it to become a paying link for EP, you need to put in the Amazon link.  Then one of us will slide in and alter it.  Most of the time we add a note that we did it.  I often forget to do that.  We aren't hiding anything.  I just have a shitty memory.