Thanks for this explanation of the novella. My wife would agree with sentiment of your t-shirt. I like the 50s Hawks version and think James Arness was pretty scary in the make up. However Carpenter's masterful direction really depicted the paranoia of an isolated group under extraordinary stress. Rob Bottin's physical effects are stunning.
What about a novel that was serialized in Astounding in 1936, At the Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft? That had to have been an inspiration for Who Goes There.
I don't know if there's any direct evidence of that. However, the parallels between AtMoM & WGT are quite striking. Furthermore, Campbell became editor of Astounding shorty after Lovecraft submitted the draft, so he was definitely quite familiar with At the Mountains of Madness.
In the into to Frozen Hell Silverberg says that Campbell did publish a story in 36' "Brain-Stealers of Mars" that's shares the core idea of "Who Goes There" (even if it isn't very serious). And goes on to say that Byrd's recent Antarctic expedition, Lovecraft's story, and a weird childhood experience Campbell had were all likely influences. Campbell's mother was an identical twin, and the sisters weren't fond of each other, and the aunt didn't like young Campbell. Occasionally he would come home after a rough day at school and be very cooly received by his mother. Except it was actually his aunt. Campbell had a sort of firsthand experience with an imposter it seems.
Wonderful coverage. "Frozen Hell" fleshes out the early discovery part of the story. It justifies some of the conclusions the scientists make that I felt were a bit abrupt in "Who Goes There". Though WGT has an absolutely pitch perfect opening scene and is probably the superior work. I'm sad that you didn't find any other videos on "Who Goes There". I made a video a couple months ago covering both print versions, the two movies (but not the new Thing movie because I still haven't seen it), and the novelization of the '82 movie by Alan Dean Foster. Anyway, I've been loving your stuff and I'm absolutely going to pick up Deus Irae based on your video. I want that Richard Corbin cover!
Awesome review, thank you man. This is I think the second or third book/books review that you've made that I have watched. Annihilation and the Southern Reach trilogy basically saved my life and got me interested in reading again, especially sci-fi. I just started reading Neuromancer, and Klara and the Sun as e-books but I'm definitely gonna order these physical books. I'm planning on grabbing Roadside Picnic,The Snail on the Slope, and a few others that I think I learned of from your reviews/channel. Sorry for the long post, but thanks a lot, I really appreciate the in-depth reviews/content and the care that goes into these! Thanks
From my experience it's pretty hard getting an original copy of this book, at least one at a reasonable price. I actually had a reprint of it made for me about 25 years ago from a now defunct company called Buccaneer Books. At that time it was virtually impossible to find any form of reprint of the novella, even in paperback editions, so I had to resort to a custom reprint. Surprisingly, the book only cost about 35 dollars.
Many people will likely have seen that pre-quel/reboot movie that came out a few years ago. I was slightly surpirsed you didnt mention it... but its no great loss that you didnt. 😂
Knowing what we do know today about armospheric reentry... I do wonder if a space ship landing craft made of magnesium would be as believable as it was back then.
A stable magnesium alloy, perhaps coated as well, not volatile pure magnesium. This is one of several details in the story that are either not quite pinned down or not highlighted, leading to some confusion on the part of readers. I don't know how the temperature of burning thermite compares to re-entry temps, which are variable. Presumably with an antigravity ship, atmospheric temps wouldn't be an issue anyway.
