Escape Artists
Escape Pod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: SFEley on May 10, 2007, 03:44:50 PM
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Escape Pod 651: Impossible Dreams (Flashback Friday) (http://escapepod.org/2018/10/25/escape-pod-651-impossible-dreams-flashback-friday/)
EP105: Impossible Dreams (http://escapepod.org/2007/05/10/ep105-impossible-dreams/)
2007 Hugo Nominee!
Author: Tim Pratt (http://escapepod.org/people/tim-pratt/)
Narrator: Matthew Wayne Selznick (of Brave Men Run (http://www.bravemenrun.com) and Writers Talking (http://www.writerstalking.com)).
Host: Alasdair Stuart (http://alasdairstuart.com/)
First appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction (http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0704/Impossibledreams.shtml), July 2006.
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He went to the Sci-Fi shelf—and had another shock. I, Robot was there, but not the forgettable action movie with Will Smith—this was older, and the credits said “written by Harlan Ellison.” But Ellison’s adaptation of the Isaac Asimov book had never been produced, though it had been published in book form. “Must be some bootleg student production,” he muttered, and he didn’t recognize the name of the production company. But—but—it said “winner of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.” That had to be a student director’s little joke, straight-facedly absurd box copy, as if this were a film from some alternate reality. Worth watching, certainly, though again, he couldn’t imagine how he’d never heard of this. Maybe it had been done by someone local. He took it to the counter and offered his credit card.
She looked at the card dubiously. “Visa? Sorry, we only take Weber and FosterCard.”
Rated G. Contains excessive movie trivia; some of it true.
(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif) Listen to this week’s Escape Pod! (http://traffic.libsyn.com/escapepod/Escape_Pod_651_Impossible_Dreams.mp3)
(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif) Listen to the original episode! (http://www.escapepod.org/media/EP105_ImpossibleDreams.mp3)
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Another fun story! There's not much to say about this one, it's a fairly typical boy-meets-girl from a parallel universe yarn :P I loved the reading as well, immersive without being obtrusive :)
A quick comment on the feedback segment, though as I feel a little misrepresented on it. I actually don't think that SF needs to be more fantastic to be valid, just that an SF element needs to be iportant to the plot. In actual fact I commented that it would actually strengthen the story to make it *more* realistic. My main critisism was that the story lacked a plot, as I stated several times on the thread.
Other than that, another fun episode. Thanks to all involved.
Simon Painter
Shropshire, UK
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A quick comment on the feedback segment, though as I feel a little misrepresented on it. I actually don't think that SF needs to be more fantastic to be valid, just that an SF element needs to be iportant to the plot. In actual fact I commented that it would actually strengthen the story to make it *more* realistic. My main critisism was that the story lacked a plot, as I stated several times on the thread.
I'm sorry about that, Simon. It was a tough thread to condense into two-and-a-half minutes, and I couldn't cover everything and attribute everyone I wanted to. But I do feel it's important to be accurate about other people's opinions, and you're right, I dropped the ball this time. If you wish I'll make a correction in the outro next week.
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I've only been listening to EP for a couple of months, so this is the first story that incited me to join the forums so I could post. I enjoyed it greatly. Parallel universe stories like this are always interesting (especially since I just recently read Job: A Comedy of Justice). It's always neat to see what other authors think certain changes would engender. I for one am particularly interested in why pennies are octagonal in Allie's world.
If anything, I think I got a little bogged down in some of the imagery, as tends to happen when listening to stories. I imagine things that I write would be even worse, since I write nested sentences using punctuation parenthetically. But the plot was good and the story was sweet and I could kind of identify with the characters on a wish-fulfillment level -- what geek wouldn't want to pour all their money into their entertainment of choice and cut back everywhere else to make it all work out?
I can see why this one was nominated for a Hugo.
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This is without a doubt the best story to date - I love it! Although if I had written it, it would have been a story about a music lover who found a record shop from another universe where The Beatles never broke up, where the 1980s lineup of King Crimson made more than three albums, and where no one had ever heard of Britney Spears.
--
Jeremy Jacobs
http://www.zagboodle.com
Podcasty blaggy flash-fictiony musical goodness
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A great story. Not much to say about it - it's just really, really enjoyable. I loved the way the character of Pete was treated - even though I'm not much of a movie fanatic, I really felt everything along with him.
The only part that fell a bit flat for me was Allie's soliloquy in the end where she explains why she loves movies - but I think that's a result of going from print to audio - I think it would have flowed very well on page but it felt somewhat unnatural as speech. But this was really a tiny issue in an otherwise wonderful reading.
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Mr Eley:
That's very kind of you to offer, and I'm tempted to take you up, but..I dunno, I'm not sure it's worth the effort. We've done the debate, and it was fun, but now it's over, so it seems best just to leave it over, if you see what I mean? I'm not sure everyone took on board what everyone else was saying, but at least it's all still there for anyone that wants to see what the fuss was about.
It also seems a shame to spend so long dwelling on one story (that'd make a total of 3 episodes referencing it, not including the episode it was actually featured on) when there are so many more stories out there, and so many other interesting issues to cover.
I'm not sure if I'm making sense here, it's getting rather late and I've got one of the new Robert E Howard collections waiting for my by my bed :)
Thanks,
Simon Painter
Shropshire, UK
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This story was great! It was inspiration enough for me to join the forums...
I've been listening to Escape Pod for about a month, but I listen to about 5 or 6 of the archived podcasts a day, (while at work.) One of the things that I've noticed about the podcast is that relatively little is done to mention the difference between Science Fiction and Science Fantasy.
Arthur C. Clarke often talks about the inherent differences in the way the two kinds of stories are told, and I think that the difference applies pretty strongly to this installment. Essentially what you have here is a really nice love story loosely wrapped in Science Fantasy, and while I don't subscribe to the podcast expressly for fantasy, this episode was really nicely done. I feel the same about the 43 Antarean Dynasties, which was more about emotional conditions than actual plot points and world building; and for that reason, stays with me much longer than just interesting, science-based, fiction.
Great Job Steve, you picked a winner, (figuratively and otherwise,) with this one man!
Keep up the good work bro,
~Con
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Oh, a fantastic story! What can I say more?
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I don't often comment but I feel I should on this story. A good story entertains you. A great story pulls on something inside you. I fell in to this story with abandon cause it opened me up with my own love of movies. I enjoyed it in the way that I enjoy my talks with that person in my life who shares my love of film. It is a story that reminded me why I love film and how I got to know someone I care for deeply. The fanciful stage dressing only caused it to be more effective. Kudos to the writer and if all the Hugo nominees are this good then I look forward to hearing them all.
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The left half of my brain thought it was ironic that Impossible Dreams made a large point of the butchering The Magnificent Ambersons to add a happy ending and that this wasn't a romantic film, while at the same time moving toward a stereotypical romantic-filmesque happy ending. The right half of my brain thought it was a very enjoyable feel-good story and that the left half can go hang.
Overall, I wish Mr Pratt luck for the Hugo on his piece that made me crave Chinese takeout. I wonder if the Chinese food craving is the medulla oblongata's point of view...
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Amazing story.. I really enjoyed it.
Made me wish I was in that alternate reality. I mean a good "I, Robot" movie? :) And a Star Wars movie done by David Lynch?
Although no Citizen Kane.... that would be kinda weird. :)
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This was a fun and touching story.
I would have been all over the Harlan Ellison version of I, Robot.
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I'm less than 10 minutes into this story and LOVING it. The line "He believed in movies the way some people believed in God" is priceless.
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I thought this one was fun but a bit inconsequential (though not for the girl, obviously -- she has a lot of consequences coming her way). The direction in my mental cinema has it as Sunday morning rom-com fluff, and I can't see anyone other than a young John Cusack in it.
I also find that there's a law of diminishing returns with alternative universe details. The Magnificent Ambersons: okay, that's a good way to lead us in, the footage is famously lost so finding it is a fun speculative twist. I, Robot: already I'm guessing that the names "Harlan" and "Ellison" are going to feature before the end of the sentence, but still it's a favourite "what if?". But unless each difference is more surprising or thought-provoking than the last, the pony's one trick starts to get repetitive. You can't really win whether you keep to the (boring) known possibilities or reach for more extravagant revisions of history. The difficulty is that without constant reference to these little quirks the parallel universe quickly loses its texture and merges back into our own.
This time the author has a handy get-out in that his main character is a film geek: he's interested in any differences, whether significant or otherwise, and it's enough just to list them all breathlessly and savour the possibilities, the fresh takes on old favourites or the rubbish turned into art. And the reversal of bringing Parallel Ally into Pete's world chasing Citizen Kane just about buys the earlier stuff.
Anyway, I didn't intend to moan for so long. I was actually posting to say that I thought the reading was excellent. It really helped to sell me a story that otherwise seemed rather slight.
And I did enjoy it, honest. ;)
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I don't know if I have the words to express my initial amusement of this story but it very quickly turned into whole-hearted joy. The store Impossible Dreams reminded me very much of Lucien's library of books that had never been written in Gaiman's Sandman.
I loved that the Tom Selleck Indiana Jones movie flopped. I would have loved to see Harlan Ellison's I, Robot. Ron Howard doing Ender's Game sounds like a match made in heaven. David Lynch directed Return of the Jedi (why Return and not Revenge -- I don't care -- it was David Lynch, man!)? I so want to see all these movies, too. Although I could probably do without the OJ Simpson Terminator ;)
The romance was also well done, too and I loved the way he tried to quote Casablanca but she had *no* idea what he was talking about.
My hat's off to Mr. Pratt for this one. I always love listening to Escape Pod but this was a real treat and if it's any inidcation of what's to come in the next month, then I'm thrilled.
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I've liked a lot of the stories in this podcast, but this is my favourite! :D
My eldest son, James (10) has become addicted too, although I have had to delete two of them for their rather explicit content. He's an avid comic book fan which is just as well since we have over 9,000 of them and almost as many books.
Keep up this great podcast! XD
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Already gushed to a faintly embarassing degree about this onee on the page but nonetheless...thiss and 'Robots and Falling Hearts' are, for me, the gold standard for EP to date. Flat out wonderful story, made me grin slightly wider than Sully over on my picture there:)
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I have enjoyed this story, but find the effusive praise a bit puzzling. I started listening to this late last night so I'm not all the way through yet, but unless there is something I don't see coming in the ending, I'd have to say this is a good story, well told, a little light on substance.
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nice
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Just a really good story and really well told. I think it would easily be among the top 3 escape pod stories of all time (I've been listening since a few months of it's start). I have to say I expected a darker ending when it was mentioned that the US had to have a land war with Japan, that no Atomic weapons were dropped then. That has so many implications both good and bad my mind boggles. Please keep up the tremendous work!
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I have enjoyed this story, but find the effusive praise a bit puzzling.
I agree. I thought the story was good, not great like many of the recent stories have been. Loved madjo's comment about a good "I, Robot". Why does Hollywood always have to take good sci-fi and ruin it by adding a buncy of "shoot-em-up" or chase scenes? Or worse yet, just making crap sci-fi based on cool concepts like "A Sound of Thunder". Ouch.
Can't wait to here the rest of the nominees!
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Ok. I haven't posted... well it too many weeks
MP3 player broke... and its only now my friends got me into WoW that I've started listening again.
I loved this story. Its great. As opposed to a lot of stories I hear and read, it ended in a natural place. The idea of him deciding whether to leave everything up for a fantastic journey,but them looking into the realistic implications of it, I liked.
I liked hte idea of the other universe... and I like the bitterness in the ending that you know he has in the back if his head. of while this girl is here now thanks to him... he will never get to see those damn movies...
Ok. I have nothing great to add. just A++. Will listen to again.
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I thought the story was very enjoyable and fun, which is something you can't say for a lot of sci-fi. It tends to be rather dark and scary and (as was noted in the intro to a previous episode) there is rarely any romance. This was a nice departure because only good things happened and because the guy and the girl both find a good friend, no baggage atached. I also really enjoyed the pedantic nature of the protagonists, problems. No money, then wrong money, then wrong disk: All petty little technical issues that ad up to unbearable anguish for the film buff. It was good, fun humor.
To me, the inclusion of all the film esoteria was a strength: It really built the character, who knows and cares about all this stuff that the average person would never think once about. I also thought it was quite insightful how it was possible to infer the altered history of the parallel world from the movies on its shelf.
I also liked that the story wasn't about sex. Even when there is romance (in any media) it usually consists of the characters hopping in and out of bed with some commentary about how great they look without any clothes on. In this, the romance is cerebral and emotional: The boy and girl empathize. They care about the same things. They have the same passions, and that is the basis of their attraction, not just petty lust. In that sense, the romance is gunuine and deep–and healthy.
With so much going for it, I hate to criticize, but here it is: The story had a very shallow concept. I really liked it, but I think great sci-fi needs to have more conceptual meat. More "sci-" you might say.
I hope the stories to come are as good as this one was. Looking forward...
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I dunno.. maybe I just love star-crossed lovers. This is my favorite story since Now+n, Now-n. This one didn't even have a huge plot hole that other people had to point out to me.
Oddly enough during the climax of both stories I was in the same physical place; the vegetable aisle of my local Tesco Metro. This story actually brought up deja vu!
-w4o
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I am an avid Escape Pod listener, and have rarely found a story I didn't really enjoy. But "Impossible Dreams" absolutely dropped my jaw. Beside the fact that the material was treated in a way I've always felt it should be - taking surreal activities and grounding them in reality - the movies on the shelves made my heart explode. When I heard "Magnificent Ambersons: The Director's Cut" I actually shouted aloud, "What?!"
Everything after that was like a tent revival...Orson Welles' Jason and the Argonauts, Stanley Kubrick's pure vision for A.I....by the time it got to Return of the Jedi by David Lynch, I was shouting "Preach it, brother!"
Beautiful, wonderful story. And, despite the fact that it WAS a Hollywood ending, I loved it, because along with the candid realism of the protagonist, I really wanted to be told that sometimes life works out better than life does.
Wonderful selection, Steve.
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Very nice. At the beginning, I was thinking to myself I hope it doesn't turn out to be a regular boring happy ending, but by the time the story was wrapping up, I found myself rooting for the happy ending :P, so I was very pleased when it did. I feel that a story's job is to pull its readers in and, regardless of their views going into it, make them believe in the story, even if that means manipulating the way they see the world. In this context, Impossible Dreams did its job very well!
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This is why I'm subscribed to this podcast. I have nothing else to add.
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I dunno.
Didn't seem very SF to me. I mean, really, if you take out the alternate dimension/history angle it's just another romance story set in a disappearing video store! ;)
Ok, I actually REALLY enjoyed this story.
And now I have a whole list of movies to watch (like this dimension's "Magnificent Ambersons") that I've never heard of.
A strong contestant for the Hugo for sure!
But, I wonder, do you think he feels cheated?
Sure, he gets the girl, he won't ever get to see all those movies! Instead, she does.
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Wow.. just wow.
This is easily the best Escape Pod story since Ray Bradbury's "Nightfall" or Larry Niven's "{ Now+N, Now-N }" from back in February.
;) ;D
Seriously - can't say enough good things about this story. Well done (again) Mr Pratt!
BTW Steve - My (future) wife and I saw "The Princess Bride" on our first date. In my top 10 all-time.
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IBut, I wonder, do you think he feels cheated?
Sure, he gets the girl, he won't ever get to see all those movies! Instead, she does.
I did wonder this, too. Part of me thought maybe she brought her laptop with her and they could watch those 5 movies he'd tried to check out the first night...
But I think it's about his character arc -- he doesn't really care for anyone but himself (generally) in the beginning of this story. And by the end, he finds himself more concerned about losing her than the movies, so I was good with it.
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I've never really been one for Science Fiction but I found Escape Pod by accident around November last year and honestly I can't get enough now. This podcast has really opened me up into a new realm of fiction. Thank you Steve.
As for Impossible Dreams; I loved it. I thought the story was fun and it made my drive to work this morning very enjoyable. It got me thinking of the ramifications of something like that actually happening and that has been the best part. I'm still riding on a high of imagination.
And since this is my first time poking my nose (and writing) into the forums, I will end here.
And of course, say thank you again to Steve for Escape Pod - the days I get to listen to the stories are the days I don't hate my commute to work.
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But, I wonder, do you think he feels cheated?
Sure, he gets the girl, he won't ever get to see all those movies! Instead, she does.
True, but she remembers them all.
For at least a couple of years, these two are going to have the best pillow talk in the history of Earth.
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I really enjoyed this one, partly because I worked in a video store for almost a year back when I was in college.
Best.
Part-time Job.
Evar.
I thought it was cool that he judged a video store by their classics section. We used to do the same thing. :)
Sadly, those movies almost never rented. Usually, once a movie left the "new release" wall, it became decoration. The only exception was "9 1/2 weeks." We had two copies and they both rented every weekend. I guess sex really does sell. :P
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But I think it's about his character arc -- he doesn't really care for anyone but himself (generally) in the beginning of this story. And by the end, he finds himself more concerned about losing her than the movies, so I was good with it.
That was my take. Through the course of the story he finds that the "sharing" part of a shared interest is more important than the "interest" part.
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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.
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BTW Steve - My (future) wife and I saw "The Princess Bride" on our first date. In my top 10 all-time.
Wow. You got off to a great start. >8->
My best wishes to both of you in your upcoming mawwiage. ("For wove... Twue wove...")
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BTW Steve - My (future) wife and I saw "The Princess Bride" on our first date. In my top 10 all-time.
Wow. You got off to a great start. >8->
My best wishes to both of you in your upcoming mawwiage. ("For wove... Twue wove...")
Oops - I see now that the word "(future)" is completely unnecessary and misleading in that sentence (where is a good editor when you need one?).
Yes we did get off to a great start and have been happily married for a while now (and we watch PB at least once a year).
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Yes we did get off to a great start and have been happily married for a while now (and we watch PB at least once a year).
Even better.
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.
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mawwiage. ("For wove... Twue wove...")
;D I had a friend read that scene at my wedding.
On the story:
Sweet and whimsical
A plethora of what-ifs
and may bes
Quiet smile
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OK I am finally posting on the ESPod boards
Steve! this was terrific - I am pleased so many people enjoyed it......
I really go for the Asimov, Arthur Clark... star trek Voyager type novels... but this had a wonderful story thread... well developed characters... it grabbed you into their needs and plight... you felt for them and wanted the store to reappear ...don't let it vanish for this poor guy who eats peanut butter in order to watch movies in surround sound.
Above that - more importantly- was the fantastic way the author so elegantly turned the tables on the time change... the incongruity of being in that singularity and stepping back and forth through it.....
It was done so elegantly and emphasized the content, that we could identify with him intellectually and emotionally because we know the movies he loves and seeks... and to experience, thru him, how lives were altered in this alternate future.... it really felt like I experienced the knowledge
Many of the same story lines from Asimov and some of Clark's great work and of course star trek's temporal prime directive needs... but nonetheless
the way this short story format worked so very well to flow rapidly and effectively in communicating the dilemma so that the readers feel the crisis and hunger to see the outcome to be the best possible (as if we could know what that would be.... because there seems to be unexpected twists everywhere in this altered past/future/past)
well done-- this has to be a winner if the judges can look beyond just traditional spaceship sci-fi modes.....
Thanks so much for bringing this one into ESPod, Steve
again the dam has been unleashed ---- 2 years of listening to escapepod and Impossible Dreams drove me to the forums-- that means something!! :o
Very best to all escapepod lovers.
Rock on Steve Ely! ;D
KPK
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I enjoyed the story and thought it was very well written.
But, am I the only one who gets totally disgusted at people who are as obsessed with something as this guy is with movies. Especially at his age. I see people like this (I even have relatives like this) and can't help to think "get a life" I feel bad for being so judgemental, but I still cannot shake that feeling. I laugh everytime I see the 30 somethings leaving the audio store they worked at since they were 16 in their Fast and Furriest ;D edition Civics going home to Mom's house. My life is far from perfect and further from exciting, but I would hate to be so 1-dimensional.
I also found myself wondering if this guys eating dog food to buy a better home theater lifestyle can continue now that he has a girl in his life. He was already splurging on Chinese food every night. That has to cut into the Bad Obsession budget. It would be interesting to see how this change cascades through his life.
Once again, I really enjoyed the story. One of many best on EP.
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But, am I the only one who gets totally disgusted at people who are as obsessed with something as this guy is with movies.
I've actually always thought this was just a part of human nature. Most people have obsessions to varying degrees, but some obsessions are considered more socially acceptable than others.
In the UK, for example, it is considered perfectly acceptable (and even encouraged) to be obsessed with football (known as Soccer in the US). There are people that wear football shirts all the time, have houses filled with football memorabilia, racks of football DVDs, decorate their work spaces and cars with football gear and both watch and talk about it at every available opportunity.
Whereas someone that displays the same level of obsession over Star Trek (or movies, in this case) is considered weird :P
Personally I'm not sure a strong interest is a bad thing, at least not until it starts causing you actual problems (stealing to buy DVDs, shouting at people that don't like the thing you do, etc).
In this case it's probably worth bearing in mind as well that this is a short story, detailed characterisation is very hard to do, and rarely accomplished with the amount of space available to the writer. I'm sure the main characters have a lot of other interests (perhaps he keeps fish and likes mountain walks, who knows?) but there aren't pertinent to the story, so they just go unmentioned, which can give the impression that they have no other interests at all.
Simon Painter
Shropshire, UK
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This is my first post, but I've been an on/off again listener since episode 13, and I've just started listening to Pseudopod (also great!)...
This story was fantastic! I was excited for poor Pete, and couldn't wait to hear what he would do next in order to satiate his taste for these impossible movies. I particularly enjoyed the difference in the various details like DVD/electrical standards, is Chinese food accepted, play money...this was great, and it didn't throw any glaring plot problems in the mix (since I like to over-analyze sometimes!), and merely added to Pete's quandary.
Regarding the obsessive nature of his personality regarding movies: People like this exist, but why should they be denied love and happiness because of their obsession? I think that it was interesting, rather almost heartbreaking, in that Pete was willing to accept that this obvious soul-mate may disappear forever.
Sure, he was obsessive about films, but I think that just showed us the isolation that Pete must experience through his day to day life. Now, finally, he had someone that he could obsess with! Not only that, be he could have easily just used Ally(sp?) & the situation (even though robbing the store did come to mind) to get to those movies. It only worked in his favor that he appeared to not know anything about them, making him even more endearing to Ally...
I thought at first that it was somewhat of a cheesy ending, but in retrospect, it fit into the context of the story, and (many movies do end like that) - I hope to hear more stories like this. Kudos!
Oh! Almost forgot to mention...What I thought was really cool is how the author turned the story around a little, making Ally the person who ventured over to the other realm to see her "Impossible movies"...cool implication, really.
Rob
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But, am I the only one who gets totally disgusted at people who are as obsessed with something as this guy is with movies. Especially at his age.
I'm pretty sure my mom feels that way when she comes over to my house and finds comic books on her 29 year-old son's coffee table ;)
Seriously, I think I felt more like that when I was younger. I was also a lot more self-conscious about how much of a geek I was. Now, I don't care so much when I geek-out about something, so I don't tend to be bothered as much by other people when they do.
Usually.
(edited for ugly grammar)
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Great story! Reminds me of an amazing story classed "The Twelfth Album", by Steven Baxter which is about two ordinary people find a Beatles album from an alternative reality where the Beatles recorded a 12th album.
Anyhow, any story that combines love, alternative reality and cinephilia is good in my book, but this one was exceptionally well written.
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I posted my reaction in-depth on my own Livejournal (http://blairhippo.livejournal.com/51364.html (http://blairhippo.livejournal.com/51364.html)).
Short version: wow. This story is made of pure awesome.
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Loved it. Loved it. Loved it. Freakin' obvious why it was Hugo nominated. Good God, you guys hit this one out of the park!
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I loved the story and I also wanted to add that the reader did an excellent job. He really brought out the character's obsessive thinking without making him sound annoying - or insane.
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Judging by the reactions above, I'm in the minority here. Beyond the meet-cute premise, I really didn't enjoy this story very much. But that's one great reason for Escape Pod or any anthology. Keep them coming. I'd prefer fewer like this, but I've heard too many great Escape Pods to let that get me down.
The reasons this story didn't quit gel are many. The in-joke movie stuff was fine. I understood each of the references but they left me flat because they were just a litany of many of film buff's "impossible dream." The Twilight Zone, magic shop stuff was fine, too. The running back and forth was a little funny.
I hate to mention plausibility, but I want to be clear I mean plausibility within the story. I had a very hard time with an alternate dimension story that had such convenient similarities and inconsistencies. Both had video shops with disks and tapes as battling formats. Both video stores had disk players for rent that needed external power. Both had Hollywood (English) as their dominant form of movie culture. Both had vegetarian egg rolls that were not poisonous (well, the other universe did). It seemed contrived so that the narrator could not watch the movies on his own, and yet conveniently similar enough that he could fall for Ally.
I get that he was obsessed with movies to the exclusion of all else at the beginning of the story, and now he's fixated on Ally. But unfortunately, this requires Ally to be a cliche. The girl with no attachment to anything, no place to live, no money, runaway, lived on the street working at a dead end job makes a "real connection" with a geek that stalks her at her job. He knows nothing about movies, he's weird but he gives her some food. She gushes her sob story without a hint of shame within moments of meeting him then apologizes meekly. She's hungry, so she accepts alien food from a stranger and then apologizes for eating it.
Yep, the mysterious stranger gets the girl again - she can't help herself, she's just so vulnerable that even a movie geek who learns to care about people will convince her to leave her _dimension_ and live on the streets in his world.
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That was story was the Feel-good Hit of the Summer! Thanks for sharing it, Escape Pod.
(I wonder if Impossible Dreams has a copy of William Gibson's sequel to Aliens (http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/film/alien3script.html)?)
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Wow.. just wow.
This is easily the best Escape Pod story since Ray Bradbury's "Nightfall" or Larry Niven's "{ Now+N, Now-N }" from back in February.
Man, you really had me going there. Too bad there isn't really a Niven story here.
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I hate to mention plausibility, but I want to be clear I mean plausibility within the story. I had a very hard time with an alternate dimension story that had such convenient similarities and inconsistencies. Both had video shops with disks and tapes as battling formats. Both video stores had disk players for rent that needed external power. Both had Hollywood (English) as their dominant form of movie culture. Both had vegetarian egg rolls that were not poisonous (well, the other universe did). It seemed contrived so that the narrator could not watch the movies on his own, and yet conveniently similar enough that he could fall for Ally.
Just because it's an alternate universe doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be vastly different.
Drive home a different way today -- take a different route -- and you'll affect hundreds (or even thousands) of lives in nearly-insignificant ways. In 1000 years, maybe that little change you made to your evening commute could lead to someone who might have been the next Stalin instead becoming the next Ronald Reagan.
Or on a more local level, what if you hadn't asked out the woman to whom you're married? Who would you be with now? What would your children look like? Where would you live?
Last Sunday's "Family Guy" did a similar premise -- what if Lois had married Quagmire? Very little had changed on the local level, but every liberal's dream came true.
I leave you with this:
Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing song.
William James Will Durant
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Count me in the "loved it" crowd too!
I've taken a break from listening to focus on my own podcasts (that has nothing to do with sci-fi OR writing) but this was my first show back in about 6-7 episodes. Now I'm back for good!
This story had me so enticed, I found myself talking back to Pete telling him to ask her out or warning him that the DVD would not be compatible. I even had to get up, go get in my car and listen to the rest away from coworkers so I could be verbal! It was THAT good!
I also loved the reader! He was able to deliver the emotion and mental image without any obvious effort. I just found him easy to listen to.
Well! Now I'm that I'm hooked back on EscapePod, I guess I need to go catch up on past eppys.
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Just because it's an alternate universe doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be vastly different.
William James Will Durant[/size]
I agree wholeheartedly. What I disliked here was that differences seemed driven by the plot. Each time an attempt is made to watch the movies from the store, it's not possible and yet the first time Ally eats food from another dimension, it's her favorite. He tries to talk to her, and he gets false starts, unusual reactions but the first time he feeds the starving girl, it's her favorite food. It's the first time he actually thinks it out, too. As it turns out, our narrator has no choice but to try to get create a bond with Ally, as nothing else he wants to do in the alternate universe works. Since nothing else gives him access to the movies he wants to see, he has no choice. To me, it undercuts his character development.
JoeFitz
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A real fun popcorn-type story. I don't have much to add since I think the author hit all the areas he intended and did it well. I liked the bit with the nickels, and the choice made by our heroine made good character sense - life sucks here, why not try somewhere else, I've done it before (something to which I can relate). Though, her first few attempts at getting a drivers license or other basic things based on ID would be amusing - take it from someone who has changed countries twice :P
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Just because it's an alternate universe doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be vastly different.
William James Will Durant[/size]
I agree wholeheartedly. What I disliked here was that differences seemed driven by the plot. Each time an attempt is made to watch the movies from the store, it's not possible and yet the first time Ally eats food from another dimension, it's her favorite. He tries to talk to her, and he gets false starts, unusual reactions but the first time he feeds the starving girl, it's her favorite food. It's the first time he actually thinks it out, too. As it turns out, our narrator has no choice but to try to get create a bond with Ally, as nothing else he wants to do in the alternate universe works. Since nothing else gives him access to the movies he wants to see, he has no choice. To me, it undercuts his character development.
JoeFitz
It doesn't seem so much that the differences were driven by the plot, just that the differences discovered were discovered during the execution of the plot so were fairly related to it. The points were fairly valid, there is nothing universal about 120 volt wiring. Had just one or two things gone differently in our world, we might be using 240 volt standard or 180 volt in the USA. One thing I wondered about was without the US dropping a nuke, would movie goers accept the Death Star's planet killer weapon at face value?
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One thing I wondered about was without the US dropping a nuke, would movie goers accept the Death Star's planet killer weapon at face value?
I think so. When I first saw Star Wars, I wasn't old enough to know what nuclear weapons are or what they could do, but I still "believed" that the Death Star could blow up a planet.
What I didn't believe was that a laser that powerful could go that close to the technicians and not roast them alive. Plus, what about the fact that the laser would have to pass through some sort of forcefield or glass/transparent aluminum to get out of the ship, or those technicians would have to be exposed to the vacuum of space?
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I was kind of surprised that there was no mention of a "Star Wars, only with Christopher Walken as Han Solo." I was really expecting to hear that as one of the examples and was surprised when I didn't - maybe because it was too well known.
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I was kind of surprised that there was no mention of a "Star Wars, only with Christopher Walken as Han Solo." I was really expecting to hear that as one of the examples and was surprised when I didn't - maybe because it was too well known.
I don't know, Walken strikes me as more of the Grand Moff Tarkin type, except that 30 years ago he was substantially younger than the actor who played Tarkin.
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I was kind of surprised that there was no mention of a "Star Wars, only with Christopher Walken as Han Solo." I was really expecting to hear that as one of the examples and was surprised when I didn't - maybe because it was too well known.
I don't know, Walken strikes me as more of the Grand Moff Tarkin type, except that 30 years ago he was substantially younger than the actor who played Tarkin.
Walken auditioned for the part of Han Solo originally (I'm pretty sure at least). There was a hilarious spoof on SNL of it once, with Kevin Spacey playing Walken auditioning for Han Solo.
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I really enjoyed this. I like SF stories that are placed to some degree in the real present world. It was pretty obvious early on waht the general storyline was, and I wondered what different slant the author would give it to make it interesting, and I thought he carried it off. I thought the reading was great too.
One quibble, without listening again, didn't the male character once wait outside the store, and watch the girl lock up and walk away? If so, she would have then noticed that something was wrong, as she did later. Or did I mis-hear?
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Still getting caught up from my vacation.
This was a great little bit of ear candy. Lots of fun tidbits. As soon as we knew what the store really was I expected him to stay in the store and go back with her, so the ending had a slight twist to it.
MWS did a wonderful reading. I really liked Brave Men Run and he brought the same understated depth to this reading.
I thought it was cool that he judged a video store by their classics section. We used to do the same thing. :)
Sadly, those movies almost never rented. Usually, once a movie left the "new release" wall, it became decoration. The only exception was "9 1/2 weeks." We had two copies and they both rented every weekend. I guess sex really does sell. :P
We were always amazed at this in my store. Sometimes I thought we should have had 10 copies of 9 1/2 weeks.
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!!"
In 1000 years, maybe that little change you made to your evening commute could lead to someone who might have been the next Stalin instead becoming the next Ronald Reagan.
Ronald Reagan comment removed in spirit of Eley's Second Law of Forums.
One quibble, without listening again, didn't the male character once wait outside the store, and watch the girl lock up and walk away? If so, she would have then noticed that something was wrong, as she did later. Or did I mis-hear?
He watched her lock the door. In retail depending on the type of store you have about an hour of work to do after you kick out the customers and lock the doors. She was about to go count the till and stuff like that.
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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!!"
My wife always says "no more rhymes now, I mean it!"
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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!!"
My wife always says "no more rhymes now, I mean it!"
Anyone want a peanut?
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This was a great story. Worthy of a Hugo.
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I thoroughly enjoyed this story, and came away from it feeling satisfied, as though everything in the story fit perfectly together, from beginning to end.
The Magnificent Ambersons. The main character is a movie buff. "He believed in movies the way some people believed in God" and this story portrayed his passion in such an earnest fashion. I did not know about Orson Welle's movie. When I finished listening to the story, I read about The Magnificent Ambersons (http://ambersons.com/FAQs.htm) just to see if it was real. The story behind The Magnificent Ambersons is tragic because it is infused with sense of so much potential lost. I cared so much about the protagonists in this story because I felt that their lives also seemed imbued with a sense of lost potential.
The protagonists are ordinary people in an urban 80's to 00's world. There is nothing special about them, they are lonely, they are struggling, they are trying to do the best they can. I empathised strongly with the characters because of this. The story wasn't sappy or romantic; it portrayed a burgeoning attraction that made my heart beat faster, hoping it would have the chance to grow into something more. The resolution of the story was satisfying: it painted the final details of the characters perfectly, their actions succinctly matching the images I had built up in my head for each of them.
It was simply beautiful: think of the most soulful love song you have ever heard, and you will be playing that song in your head as you think about this story later..
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I'm not sure what it is about this story, but so far it is my favorite. Maybe it was because the day I listened to it was not a good day, and this was a fun, light-hearted, feel good story with a happy ending. Sometimes those are just what is needed to have fun.
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I very much enjoyed this story. Light, geeky romance, and who doesn't love a good parallel universe story? A big *thumbs up* from me on this one.
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This is on my list of all time favorites stories from EP. The story started out with a simple premise and kept unwrapping new levels of complexity and depth with each return to the shop. I'm sure that some were put off by the happy ending, but I found it worked because they didn't get everything that they wanted.
My litmus tests for the Steve's picks is whether or not, by the time the story's over, I really want to hear it again and did it resonate with me on some level. There are plenty of EP episodes that I find myself going back and listening to in order to pick up on parts that I may have missed, but this one hit me on many levels. It tapped into my love of movies, my love of slightly off-kilter stories, and the relationship was compelling enough to make me want to know how it turned out.
Hat's off to Mr. Pratt and here's hoping that he continues to craft more good stories like this.
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As a Harry Turtledove fan, I must say I quite enjoyed this one too, but for different reasons than usual.
Our Hero was so focused on the alternate movies that he didn't bother to wonder about what else might be different. The video formats and the credit card stuff was merely a minor obstacle to be overcome in his quest. Usually, a "what if" story tries to take you down all the new roads that pop up as a consequence of some event that happened differently, the butterfly effect. None of that here. ;)
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I realize this is an old topic now, but I just saw that this did win the Hugo this year.
When I listened to this story, only recently because I still had some catching up to do, I was completely floored by it.
I feel the same way about movies that the characters in the story do...maybe not quite as extreme...but actually possibly more so... :D
So, it really spoke to me, and may be the best short story I've ever seen, definitely my favorite from Escape Pod.
I'm quite pleased that it won, and although I couldn't vote directly for it...I would have...and would have been quite adamant about it....I can count that, right?
::)
Also, if the author ever happens to see this, or if someone can pass on a message, I just want him to know that I'm quite upset with him for introducing the concept of these movies that I can never actually see......I mean that in the best possible way, of course.
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I really enjoyed this story, and what I found particularly fun was that rather than a Crichton/Brin-like in-depth exploration of a technology as the side-narrative, it was an exploration of classic movies.
I also liked the sci-fi elements of dealing with DVD formats, money, etc.
I think what made this story work was the excellent characters and relationship story that make the exploration of the cultural and sci-fi elements seem natural and fun, rather than pendantic...
Tim
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This story was great. I've been listening to escape pod, and several other podcasts, for a few months now. This was the first, and so far only, time I had to stop what I was doing and finish listening. Thanks for the lost productivity, it was worth every bit.
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Oh wow. I haven't been so captivated by a story since I heard "On The Shoulders of Giants". I'm a cinema freak myself, so I got most of the references (I remember hearing about David Lynch turning down Lucas' offer to direct Return of the Jedi to direct Dune, and still sometimes wonder what could have been). Although I'm sure this story will be stereotyped into the whole parallel universe/separated by time romance, I found it to be much more, and much more believable, in that it was easier to relate to. The characters felt real and organic, instead of simply floating along and oh here comes the twist!
Also, I felt the reading was equally as fluid as the story, and contributed greatly to the atmosphere. Although I like hardcore sci-fi, I always welcome stories like these.
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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.
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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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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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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 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orson_Welles_Batman_Hoax), 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...
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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.
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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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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
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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. :)
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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
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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
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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. :)
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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.
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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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I need the universe in this story to have Dune directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky instead of David Lynch.
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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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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 (http://hartter.blogspot.com/2009/11/misc.html), which I think people who enjoyed this story (and maybe even the guy who wrote it!) will also enjoy.
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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...
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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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I would be happiest if it was all three of them: Ford, Straume, and Reyes. And Sayid should definitely have a regular guest spot!
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"Batman IIX" ? If that's supposed to be a Roman number, it's a nonesuch.
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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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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.
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I don't think anyone puts a time limit on when you can post happy thoughts.
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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!
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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.
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Nice to see that this one won the Hugo that year. It's worthy of all the accolades.
I have to say I expected a darker ending when it was mentioned that the US had to have a land war with Japan, that no Atomic weapons were dropped then. That has so many implications both good and bad my mind boggles.
Not dropping the bomb would have had a HUGE impact on cinema, and my mind was spinning with the possibilities while listening to the story. What would this do to the whole atomic age of horror/Sci-fi? Godzilla, Gamera, Mothra and their giant-monster ilk were born from either the fallout of the bomb, or the representation of the impact of the nuke. Wasn't one of Harryhausen's first paid jobs a giant octopus tearing apart the golden gate bridge? Where would animation be, particularly Japanese, without AKIRA? And then consider how much of anime is influenced by the Godzilla themes.
I also found myself wondering if this guys eating dog food to buy a better home theater lifestyle can continue now that he has a girl in his life. He was already splurging on Chinese food every night. That has to cut into the Bad Obsession budget. It would be interesting to see how this change cascades through his life.
I think he would have to save some money on movies after she shows up, as he now has a major reason to rewatch his entire extensive library.
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.
I remember reading an Alien novel set right after the second movie. No idea who wrote it, as that was traded to the used book stores more than a decade ago. The space marines go to the alien homeworld and find that the aliens are not the dominant predator. They nuke it from orbit, as it's the only way to be sure. While destroying the alien homeworld, an alien is brought onto Earth by a slavage crew. The Company knows what it is and works on researching it. It gets loose and makes oodles more. So as the space marines are headed home, others are evacuating Earth.
I wish we got that movie. Too bad they never made anything after the second one.
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Somebody needs to reboot the Alien franchise so that Sigourney Weaver wakes us and realizes 3 was just a dream. Newt and Hicks are still fine in their sleeping pods. (I like parts of 3, but killing Hicks and Newt like that was brutal and stupid.)
Also, somehow Michael Wincott would be involved.
(Yes, I realize I'm kind of asking for a reboot. I don't care.)
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(Yes, I realize I'm kind of asking for a reboot. I don't care.)
Kind of? "Somebody needs to reboot the Alien franchise" is not a "kind of". You are all-out asking for it, no "kind of" about it. (Not that there's anything wrong with that) ;D
I have actually not seen any of the "Alien" movies. I mean to see the first one at least, the premise sounds especially cool with the enclosed space and the single alien.
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"Aliens" is also worthwhile, albeit as a good action movie rather than a good horror movie. It has more of the quotable lines.
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"Aliens" is also worthwhile, albeit as a good action movie rather than a good horror movie. It has more of the quotable lines.
It's more than just action. Tense action horror. Some drama with well developed characters.
Also infinitely quotable.
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quality story well written and narrated
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I first listened to this story around 2012, when I was binge listening to Escape Pod's back catalogue. It's one of my favourite stories, because I love weird parallel dimension, and I'm not even that much of a movie fan. The references are hilarious though. The idea of not being able to watch all those movies would be super frustrating and reminds me a bit of all those cool RPGs, books, and and movies I've tried to snatch in my dreams and couldn't take with me to the waking world.
Alasdair: Please get out of my head - it sounds like you are talking about me! Makes me want to hug you and all of Escape Artists' team.
That's metaphorical, I'm not that keen on hugging people I've never met. :)
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I didn't get to listen to this one when it first rolled around (not sure I'd heard of EP at the time), so I've only listened to this one as Flashback Friday EP651.
This story, well... There's a few different things I feel about this one, and I'm not sure how to coalesce them into a quick paragraph. (Thankfully, that's not necessary because forums and all. But I apologise in advance if I ramble.)
First up - I really enjoyed the story overall.
I'm a sucker for Alternate Universe fiction - Escape Pod 553 'Water Finds Its Level' was a joy to behold. I love seeing stories about what could have been, and what happens when things change - I suppose that's also why I love time travel stories too. I guess in many of us there's the desire to see what could have been.
- I wish I could see her version of Star Wars prequels, with the reveal of Darth JarJar, rather than the filmmakers succumbing to fan outrage and rewriting him as a minor character.
- I first heard 'Sgr Wr Gng Dwn' (a mashup with the music of 'Sugar We're Going Down' with the lyrics from 'Thnks Fr Th Mmrs' - there should be a copy of it on YouTube) before I ever heard Sugar We're Going Down itself - so hearing it felt, to me, like music from another world when I first listened to it as an audio file.
Unfortunately the effect is significantly diminished upon multiple listenings so maybe it was just a one-off experience, in part due to sleep deprivation. ^_^
- And alas, I live in a world where Asteroid Musical ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfTFKgXqqHY ) never ended up getting made.
So although I didn't really know the names in the story and I'd only seen a couple of the films mentioned, I really enjoyed hearing how her world differed from his. (Especially the absence of Dr Strangelove.) Not sure I'd want to live there, though. Sounds like things aren't going so great there, given her eating habits.
But at the same time, although it was fun to listen to, there's some aspects of the story I found really uncomfortable. Like, the way the main character decides it's totally okay to hit on someone while she's at work and cannot avoid him (Tip: Don't do that. It's written as sweet in movies but it's creepy in real life.) The kiss that he decides to take, rather than her making a move. The way she's a bit of a manic pixie dream girl, just showing up out of the blue all ready to make a boring guy's life interesting again.
All of it squicks me a little. Perhaps not as much as EP443 'This Is As I Wish To Be Restored', which is also a good story in it's own right, but this still made me feel kinda uncomfortable afterwards.
TL:DR - Good story, despite the off-putting main character.
PS: I may have spent at least half of it being like "TALK WITH HER ABOUT 'BRIGADOON' (1954 film starring Gene Kelly) ALREADY!" :P Though I suppose that's because I haven't watched Twilight Zone, so that reference eluded me.
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So, was the impossible dream the alternate-dimension-movies or a girl-who-wasn't-like-the-other-girls? Pete had a pretty one-dimensional view of women: they are nice but all the same and don't like how many movies he watches.
I did enjoy the story while listening and got sucked in pretty well. I thought the interactions between him and the girl were well written; he seemed weird but non-threatening, and she was bored and lonely in the store. The sob story that others mentioned in the thread was necessary to make it plausible she would leave her world because she had nothing to lose.
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I too enjoyed this one the second time around as much as I did the first time.
I didn't find the interaction between the MC and the shop girl as creepy. I really felt that he wanted to talk to her about movies more than hit on her. The interest for him seemed to come later, *because* of her knowledge of the other dimension's movies. It was she who interpreted his interest as hitting on her, and only because she thought he didn't seem to know much about movies (her dimension's movies, at least). So, that part didn't creep me out.
I also felt that the shop girl came off as being a fairly strong character. She took charge of her life and made the dimensional move that the MC couldn't bring himself to do. She also made it quite clear that she wasn't looking for a hand-out; she had moved out of her parents' home in her own dimension at a fairly young age and felt confident she could handle the challenge in this new dimension alone, too. I think the confusion about her character comes from the fact that this part wasn't written too well - all dumped on us in the last few minutes of the story, instead of evolving more organically.
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Well, I like science fiction like this one. However, I found some episodes that i couldn't understand, but it's probably because it's always been a little more difficult for me to perceive the information in a listening mode as opposed to reading.