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Arthur C Clarke Centenary


GordonD

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Site has apparently been down for most of the day, but better late than never:

 

Today is the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction writer and visionary. He came up with the idea that became the communications satellite, in 1945, and was the author of such SF classics as Childhood's End and of course 2001: A Space Odyssey.

arthur-c-clarke.jpg

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36 minutes ago, Anthony Kesterton said:

"Rendezvous with Rama" is one of my favorites - and particularly apt given this:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/oct/27/mysterious-object-detected-speeding-past-the-sun-could-be-from-another-solar-system-a2017-u1

:smile:

 

anthony

Exactly my thought when I saw the article! The astronomers missed a trick when they named it!

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Almost passed me by - Minehead's most famous son (unless somebody knows some other famous personage from Minehead).

 

I started reading Clarke when I was about ten and every so often I delve back into my Clarke book collection.

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Over the decades there have been many announcements that this or that Clarke novel was going to be made into a movie. With the exception of "2001" (which was an original screenplay rather than based on a pre-existing novel), none of these projects have ever hit the big (or small) screen.

 

In some ways, many of the concepts and ideas that Clarke originated in his books (fiction and non-fiction) have been seen in lots of Hollywood films that weren't specifically based on a Clarke novel. The 1980s TV series "V" had aspects of "Childhood's End" in it (although it was way too schlocky) and even "Interstellar" had a "Clarkian" feel to it.

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There has been a three-part TV mini-series of Childhood's End. Not too bad though there were some unnecessary changes.

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4146128/combined

 

Available on DVD

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Childhoods-End-DVD-Mike-Vogel/dp/B01CU6SZBC/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1513528991&sr=1-1&keywords=childhoods+end

 

 

 

 

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Another incentive to follow Doctor's orders and get my weight down. The Moebius 1/144 Discovery will be my reward!

 

Thanks for the notification. 2001 was based off The Sentinel short story IIRC so nearly a film. There was also 2010  which followed the book I think...

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One of the truly great Science Fiction authors - my personal favourite story is "I'm on Marsport without Hilda" (from The Menace From Earth short story collection). Funny, I was just thinking I needed to get that book into my collection again.

 

Liked Clarke almost as much as Asimov. But have to admit that I thought Kubrick's work on 2001 truly sucked (just my opinion, and I know it's out of step with lots of folk). Would recommend reading "The Lost Worlds of 2001" - an anthology that covers the stories and concepts behind 2001.

 

Kev

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3 hours ago, modelman182 said:

One of the truly great Science Fiction authors - my personal favourite story is "I'm on Marsport without Hilda" (from The Menace From Earth short story collection). Funny, I was just thinking I needed to get that book into my collection again.

 

Liked Clarke almost as much as Asimov. But have to admit that I thought Kubrick's work on 2001 truly sucked (just my opinion, and I know it's out of step with lots of folk). Would recommend reading "The Lost Worlds of 2001" - an anthology that covers the stories and concepts behind 2001.

 

Kev

I try to like 2001 (and will watch it on Blu-ray) but it is a stupendously boring and self-indulgent film.

 

Good hardware though.

 

Childhood’s End was shown on Sky 1.

 

Graham

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5 hours ago, modelman182 said:

One of the truly great Science Fiction authors - my personal favourite story is "I'm on Marsport without Hilda" (from The Menace From Earth short story collection).

Are you winding us up? "I'm in Marsport without Hilda" was Asimov, and "The Menace from Earth" was Heinlein!

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10 hours ago, SleeperService said:

Another incentive to follow Doctor's orders and get my weight down. The Moebius 1/144 Discovery will be my reward!

 

Thanks for the notification. 2001 was based off The Sentinel short story IIRC so nearly a film. There was also 2010  which followed the book I think...

2001 was based on Kubrick's reading of a  few Clarke short stories. "The Sentinel" was one as was "Encounter in the Dawn". The story of how the two collaborated during the making of the film is all in the book "The Lost Worlds of 2001". It's been long out of print but it's worth tracking down a copy if you are interested to the background of "2001".

 

The film "2010" is, of course, based closely on the novel "2010". However, the political tenseness between the Soviet and American parallel missions is absent in the book and the separate expedition by the Chinese which is in the book is absent in the film.

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On 12/17/2017 at 6:23 AM, Bejay53 said:

I re-read "Childhood's End" this past summer. Still a great read. Did I hear of a possible film adaptation of this awhile ago?

 

I also re-read it this past year. Loved it as a kid. My favorite by him. Still not bad all these years later but as an adult, I find he was lacking as a writer. He had vision and knew his science though. A lot of the hard SciFi strikes me that way now. Just as a side note, Ray Bradbury was my favorite and I read him often even now. For me, his writing has weathered well. 

 

I did watch the mini-series and enjoyed it.

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On 12/18/2017 at 7:45 PM, GordonD said:

Are you winding us up? "I'm in Marsport without Hilda" was Asimov, and "The Menace from Earth" was Heinlein!

Oh dear God - that's gotta be one of my worst memory lapses EVER! It would also explain why I haven't located The Menace from Earth. I knew there would be consequences from "stopping taking the pills" ;)

 

Sorry about that, Gordon. No insult or injury was intended.

 

Kev

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6 hours ago, modelman182 said:

Sorry about that, Gordon. No insult or injury was intended.

I can't take any offence from somebody who has Calvin and Hobbes as his avatar!

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2 hours ago, GordonD said:

I can't take any offence from somebody who has Calvin and Hobbes as his avatar!

C&H won out (barely) over Garfield and Dilbert - though I have to admit if Johnny Hart's BC had any model related humour THAT would have beaten all comers! :D

 

Kev

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1 hour ago, modelman182 said:

C&H won out (barely) over Garfield and Dilbert - though I have to admit if Johnny Hart's BC had any model related humour THAT would have beaten all comers! :D

 

Kev

Bloom County?  I remember Opus the penguin and his backstreet liposuction

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No Joseph, not Bloom County but B.C the caveman and his Friends - not sure how many books in the series but I know that I had around 30 of them in my last library collection (sadly all lost now).

 

You can see some of them here: https://johnhartstudios.com/bc/

 

Kev

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