Author Topic: EP651/EP105: Impossible Dreams (Flashback Friday)  (Read 60440 times)

DarkKnightJRK

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Reply #75 on: November 28, 2007, 03:31:35 AM
I LOVED this story--well-rounded, relatable characters in a light tale with a happy ending. It was borderlining on sappy near the end, but it was still awesome. Definately one of the best stories on Escape Pod.



Myrealana

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Reply #76 on: December 24, 2007, 07:24:28 PM
I thought this was an AMAZING story.

I've had to share it with just about everyone I know. I thought it his just the right mix of the fantastic and every-day.

My husband is a movie fanatic on par with the protaganist of this story. I could have seen him in the same position, with the same thought processes through the story - thinking about stealing the player, how to pick what food to bring and everything. I absolutely loved it.

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CGFxColONeill

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Reply #77 on: February 27, 2008, 10:09:28 PM
Quote from: SFEley
Looking at all filmmaking factors, I'm not totally sure I would put The Princess Bride in the top 2 or 3 best-made movies I've ever seen; but it's easily my favorite screenplay.  It's wonderfully written, and succeeds perfectly at what it intended.  It doesn't have to be "the best" for me to like it best.

PB looks like the whole thing was shot on a stage.  The visuals are just straight forward here it is.  The acting and story are what really does it. 

My wife and I love to watch it, but I'm under strict orders to not quote lines from the movie before or while the actors are saying them.  One time she let me quote everyone in the film to see how far into the movie I could go.  When we got to the cliffs of insanity, she said, "Shut up, just Shut UP!!"

That is awesome!!!!!!!!!!! I have not seen it in prolly about a year or so, so I may not be able to get that far but ya... def in the top 5 I have seen and very quotable ( that probably helps in the ranking lol)

anyway on to the story it was really good I was kinda surprised that I liked it
on the surface the plot seems to be something that I would not like as I am not into the whole sappy happy endings atm but ya I loved it
I did not get all the movie refs but maybe that is something I can work on in the future
good story and will stay on my Ipod along w/ nightfall and a few others for a long time
thanks Steve good choice

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wintermute

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Reply #78 on: March 27, 2008, 12:37:57 PM
Late to the party, but I wanted to chime in, anyway.

The one movie I'd be looking out for would be the original script of Aliens3, before they decided that having aliens invade Earth would be too expensive to film when there's a handy abandoned factory sitting over here...

Unless they have Orson Welles' Batman, but that would be too much to ask for.

I'm actually kind of surprised that Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark both got made in that world; had Lucas got the rights to Flash Gordon, or Spielberg been allowed to direct a Bond movie, they wouldn't have happened. And I have to say, (while I'd not want to lose what they actually did do) I'd love to see what they'd have done with those.

Great story!

Was anybody else reminded of the Library of Dreams from Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics? The Library of Dreams is a massive library made up of books that authors dreamed but never wrote. In the background of the comics you can see books like The Lost Road by JRR Tolkien, The Man Who Was October by GK Chesterton, The Conscience of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, and Psmith and Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse.  I've always loved this concept, and I wonder if it was a source of inspiration for Mr. Pratt's story.

Actually, the Library of Dreams houses every book that someone imagined writing, regardless of whether or not they got around to it. It's just that those that got written are so vastly outnumbered by those that didn't that they're barely worth mentioning.

BTW Steve - My (future) wife and I saw "The Princess Bride" on our first date.  In my top 10 all-time.

My wife walked down the aisle to Storybook Love...

Science means that not all dreams can come true


DKT

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Reply #79 on: March 27, 2008, 08:42:10 PM

The one movie I'd be looking out for would be the original script of Aliens3, before they decided that having aliens invade Earth would be too expensive to film when there's a handy abandoned factory sitting over here...


Was that the one that William Gibson wrote?  I would love to see the script for that one. 

Actually, back when I was in college my screenwriting professor told a story about how three screenwriters showed up to a party in Hollywood and got to talking about what they were working on next.  (This happened before the heyday of the internet, obviously).  They were all quite shocked to find out they were working on the same script.  "No, I'm working on Alien 3."  "What?  I'm doing Alien 3!"  "No, no.  Alien 3 is all mine!"

I don't know if it's true or not, but I always found it amusing.  And a reason to be thankful for the internet.


Boggled Coriander

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Reply #80 on: May 19, 2008, 03:07:55 PM
Like most other people, I really enjoyed this story.  Afterwards I had a thought that I haven't seen posted here.

This story reminded me of others I've seen, in print and on TV, where a protagonist who was dissatisfied with his life got a fleeting glimpse of something extraordinary.  And, either because of choices he made or because "it just wasn't meant to be", the story always ends with the protagonist feeling sadder but wiser, with (at best) some happy memories, some little token to remember the wondrous experience by, or maybe a fresh determination to make the most of his crummy situation in life.

That's what I was steeling myself for, listening to this story.  Instead, what I got was... an unambiguously happy ending.

Sure, there are all those parallel-universe movies the protagonist will never get to see.  Considering that he's gained happiness with his new fellow-movie-geek love interest, that seems unimportant.  And his new love can explore a whole new cinematic universe...

The ending had me flying high.

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El Barto

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Reply #81 on: September 09, 2009, 06:52:20 PM
I kind of like being the first person to comment here in over a year.   Hopefully we will see more comments "way after the fact" as other people stumble on Escape Pod and then listen to all 200+ episodes like I'm doing.

(Reading these discussions right after listening to the stories feels a little naughty -- as if I'm cheating by reading a month's worth of debate all at once when everyone else had to experience it in real-time.)

Anyway, I enjoyed this story.  I liked his unexpected frustrations, momentary thoughts of crime, and the way he handled the money.   I'm not sure why he waited so long to tell her what was happening, but liked that in the end it was her and not him who made the leap.

4 stars




Unblinking

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Reply #82 on: February 18, 2010, 06:06:23 PM
Loved it!  So far this is the only Hugo nominated that impressed me (and no surprise that it's a Pratt--his writing seems to be ideal for my tastes, the worst of his stories were still well above average and the best are just fantastic).

As a mediaphile I could totally relate to this guy.  My tastes tend to spread out more across different types of media, including books, movies, and video games, but I can totally see it.  Now the story's made me a little bit sad that I can't see all those movies!!!  Especially Selleck as Indy and the rendition of Ender's Game.

I like how the alternate universe had very little changes but all the money and technology were so divergent.  There is no "right" way to format a movie, there just has to be some standard, it doesn't matter that much what the standard is.  So tiny differences in history could really throw everything off.

I was rather angry when he just seemed to decide he wasn't going to see her again--I was silently shouting "what the hell are you doing?!  all you have to do is be in the story when the flip happens!"

And a quibble that didn't really diminish my enjoyment:  They're missing out on mucho opportunity by not taking any movies across from her world.  Sure, you can't play them NOW, but that doesn't mean that they'll be unusable FOREVER.  Take a DVD player, a sack of your favorite movies across and hire someone to reverse engineer the DVD player for you and then alter it to deal with current voltages and video formats.  Then rip to a standard DVD.  Sure, the reverse engineering would be expensive, but just think about what you could do with those DVDs once converted!  You could make millions and never have to live off peanut butter again!!  OK, so you probably couldn't sell them in any legitimate way--I'm not exactly sure what copyright law would do in this circumstance.  They wouldn't protect video which had never been recorded in this universe, but any movie that had too similar a script to a released movie would get in trouble.  But the later works of Orson Welles, for instance, you could probably get away with.  But...  It's probably just as well Pratt didn't go there.  It would've been a huge divergence.  But it's what I would've done.  :)



Schreiber

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Reply #83 on: March 18, 2010, 10:12:43 PM
I'm trying to find a text version of "Impossible Dreams" for my students this week, but Asimov no longer has it online. Can anybody help me out?

Thanks,
Sam



Heradel

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Reply #84 on: March 18, 2010, 11:32:11 PM
I'm trying to find a text version of "Impossible Dreams" for my students this week, but Asimov no longer has it online. Can anybody help me out?

Thanks,
Sam

Wayback machine to the rescue: http://web.archive.org/web/20070422075939/http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0704/Impossibledreams.shtml

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


Schreiber

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Reply #85 on: March 19, 2010, 07:50:11 PM
I'm trying to find a text version of "Impossible Dreams" for my students this week, but Asimov no longer has it online. Can anybody help me out?

Thanks,
Sam

Wayback machine to the rescue: http://web.archive.org/web/20070422075939/http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0704/Impossibledreams.shtml

Thanks Heradel. I owe you a drink of your choice at the next con we both happen to attend. :)



Heradel

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Reply #86 on: March 19, 2010, 11:42:11 PM
I'm trying to find a text version of "Impossible Dreams" for my students this week, but Asimov no longer has it online. Can anybody help me out?

Thanks,
Sam

Wayback machine to the rescue: http://web.archive.org/web/20070422075939/http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0704/Impossibledreams.shtml

Thanks Heradel. I owe you a drink of your choice at the next con we both happen to attend. :)

Given my slightly-godly status I usually go for the ambrosia, but it was a quick google search so I don't think anything's owed, though I do need to start going to conventions once I'm out of college and not broke.

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


stePH

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Reply #87 on: March 20, 2010, 04:48:38 AM
I wonder if in that parallel universe, Natalie Wood lived and Douglas Trumbull got to finish Brainstorm with the original ending.

(guess what film I just watched)

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Number_6

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Reply #88 on: June 01, 2010, 11:46:52 PM
I need the universe in this story to have Dune directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky instead of David Lynch.



stePH

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Reply #89 on: June 02, 2010, 04:55:31 AM
I need the universe in this story to have Dune directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky instead of David Lynch.

You and me both.  Did I already mention that upthread?  I think I did, but it's been so long I don't remember.

[edit]
Not in this thread; must have been another.

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Wilson Fowlie

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Reply #90 on: August 27, 2010, 09:29:58 PM
This is the first-ever story I listened to on Escape Pod, possibly even my first-ever podcast (yeah, I came kinda late to the podcast party).

Today, a friend pointed me to this page, which I think people who enjoyed this story (and maybe even the guy who wrote it!) will also enjoy.

"People commonly use the word 'procrastination' to describe what they do on the Internet. It seems to me too mild to describe what's happening as merely not-doing-work. We don't call it procrastination when someone gets drunk instead of working." - Paul Graham


DKT

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Reply #91 on: August 28, 2010, 04:01:51 PM
Those are great  ;D

I got a bit ridiculously excited when I saw Clint Eastwood in The Dark Tower. And Shat as DD would've been a great 70s film. 

Geez. I'm really, really wishing there was a Reyes and Straume TV show these days...


Swamp

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Reply #92 on: August 28, 2010, 04:15:34 PM
No, no, it's Ford and Straume.  I even put them in one of my stories.  But there could be a spin-off called "S.J. and the Bear" starring Sayid (Jarrah) and Hugo Reyes.

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DKT

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Reply #93 on: August 28, 2010, 05:09:24 PM
I would be happiest if it was all three of them: Ford, Straume, and Reyes. And Sayid should definitely have a regular guest spot!


stePH

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Reply #94 on: August 29, 2010, 05:58:48 AM
"Batman IIX" ? If that's supposed to be a Roman number, it's a nonesuch.

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Unblinking

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Reply #95 on: August 30, 2010, 02:01:16 PM
Nice link! 

Yeah, Eastwood in the Dark Tower is a good one, though I'm sure it wasn't hard to think of--that's how I pictured Roland throughout the whole series and I'm guessing King pictured that too.

Tim Curry as the Joker--ah, so THAT'S what happened to the sweet transvestite transsexual from Transylvania.

Bruce Lee as Neo--hell yeah!  Though I seem to be the only one who liked Keanu in the role.  I really had no complaints about the casting except for the Oracle's replacement in the 3rd movie.  The conversations with the original Oracle and the Architect are worth the trilogy in themselves.



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Reply #96 on: February 24, 2011, 03:56:10 AM
I know I am a few years late for this post, but I just had to put my two cents in. I loved this episode by far my fav something about the connections that the two main characters have over movies really hits close to home. I was afraid at first that this story was going to have a sad ending almost didn't want to hear it all the way though. I am glad that I did, as a person that decided to move half way around the globe to be with the person that I love, I can see the choice that was presented to both the characters and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that one did make the leave from one world to the next, even if it was not for love.

I really doubt that anyone will read this, but I felt compelled to write it none the less.



Scattercat

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Reply #97 on: February 24, 2011, 04:38:41 AM
I don't think anyone puts a time limit on when you can post happy thoughts.



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Reply #98 on: February 24, 2011, 02:23:58 PM
I know I am a few years late for this post, but I just had to put my two cents in. I loved this episode by far my fav something about the connections that the two main characters have over movies really hits close to home. I was afraid at first that this story was going to have a sad ending almost didn't want to hear it all the way though. I am glad that I did, as a person that decided to move half way around the globe to be with the person that I love, I can see the choice that was presented to both the characters and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that one did make the leave from one world to the next, even if it was not for love.

I really doubt that anyone will read this, but I felt compelled to write it none the less.


At least two people have read it.  The forum's nice enough to bring newly commented threads to the top, and I think there are plenty of folks like me who enjoy reading comments no matter how old the thread.

Cheers!



jwbjerk

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Reply #99 on: July 07, 2011, 03:34:40 PM
+
One of my favorites on Escape Pod.

The concept was not ground-breaking, but it was explored pretty well in ways that were relevant to the character: i.e. money, electricity, media formats.

What really worked for me was that things were fleshed out enough so that i felt like there really was another world behind that video store-- barely visible, intriguing, remote.  The sense of possibilities...

Maybe it's just the perspective of the down-and-out girl, but i got the idea that this alternate USA was a darker, grimmer place than we currently have.