The secret nobody wants to admit is that the Joneses are also trying to keep up with the Joneses. This is what makes it futile; it’s a Red Queen race where every time you get something exclusive because the Joneses have it, the Joneses have to get something even exclusiver. (See also: Star-Bellied Sneetches.)
Nitpicker here. Marcie is calling herself the “corporate overlord”; there is no indication the employees are allowed to call her that… although knowing Marcie she’d be okay with it. Which raises the question: would a job where the boss calls themselves your “corporate overlord” be a decent compromise or would it be worse?
Cloned bodies are a thing in this universe, as are mental up- and downloading. If A-Sig doesn’t have those technologies in-house, their boss knows a guy who knows a guy…
Good question, Robert! I’d expect Dr. Lee reverse engineered Dr. Jones’ Clone-O-Mat to allow reintegration, which would explain why Chris leads with a status update.
Wow, I haven’t seen that one! Sounds good based on the IMDB synopsis though, I’ll have to track it down and watch it. Assuming Robert is referring to the episode titled “Mr Garrity and the Graves”, anyway. If not then I’m even more curious…
Side question: as a fellow Heinlein appreciator, have you seen the Japanese adaptation of “The Door into Summer” movie that’s on Netflix? Might just be the best movie version of his work that I’ve seen yet, even though they had to simplify the plot and relationships a bit for brevity.
I just heard about that adaptation a few days ago. I’m leery of some adaptations—for instance, reports of changes made in a recent adaptation of Asimov’s “Foundation” were pretty offputting. I’ve been told that the adaptation of “Starship Troopers” involved them working on a similar story and then buying rights and incorporating names to avoid a lawsuit. That one was awful and none of the others were particularly good (though I haven’t sat through all of them).
But the proverbial good adaptation could be out there, and this could be it. Hollywood, or some independent production company, can make good movies of books in other fields, though science fiction has its own difficulties.
****
That episode of “The Twilight Zone” has been on my mind since I came here—it seems an obvious pun—but it took years to find a place to slip it in.
The recent “Foundation” TV series was actually a pretty good original science fiction series, just not a very good adaptation of Asimov’s “Foundation” series. If you can pretend you’re watching something new and original, instead of something supposedly based on Asimov, then it’s possible you might be able to enjoy the series for what it is. (If you’re not able to forget that it was supposed to be based on the “Foundation” series, of course, that’s totally understandable. Everyone’s brain works differently.)
I do wish when TV show runners want to put on an original show, they would just create an original show, and not try to shoehorn their ideas into a pre-existing work. They could even include some kind of attribution in the credits, saying “inspired by” or something to that effect, but just please don’t use the name if you’re not even going to try to do it reasonably faithfully. (I get that written works have to be adapted for visual media, but some don’t really seem to even try.)
Well, I don’t think Asimov is particularly “filmable”—a lot of his stories involve characters sitting around chewing the fat, which can be interesting but isn’t particularly visual.
True of a lot of literary works. What would the Council of Elrond have looked like if Peter Jackson had filmed it straight up? Flashbacks within flashbacks, and lengthy discussions of what to do about their problem.
I’ve been told—you might guess I tend to avoid these things—that the recent adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s “The Man in the High Castle” chucked Dick’s carefully worked out back story in favor of one of their own that was nastier.
Science fiction is a field of speculation, and that involves a lot of talking things out, with less action. So the classics might be better suited for a half hour of “The Twilight Zone” than a two-and-a-half hour movie or an open-ended streaming series.
I was pretty leery of watching “The Door Into Summer” as well. My first reaction was excitement, immediately followed by a sense of preemptive dread after seeing so many horrible adaptations of R.A.H. stories, but found myself quite enjoying this movie. So very few SF or Fantasy stories get treated well by the film industry so it was nice to see one that felt right and respectful.
They managed to keep in (almost) all of the primary story points and kept the character personalities pretty much intact. The biggest changes were bringing the two protagonists slightly closer in their birth ages and altering the specifics of their original relationship a bit; and improving our hero’s treatment of the scientist he works with in the second act.
I’ll be quite interested in your opinion of the movie if you do get around to giving it a try.
Chris and Marcie put in an appearance. At A-Sig they’ve run interference. They’re three now, no pair—and Chris cut his hair—a matter of hard perserverence.
Thinking they were the enforcement arm of Anasigma. But it might not account for everybody in the extirpation walnut farm—looked like some of them accepted it without putting up a fight.
I am so sad to be getting to the end, and yet also so happy that I only happened to start reading Skin Horse with perfect timing to finish my binge now of all times.
This and Narbonic are such beautiful comics, both art-wise and emotionally.
BRANDING!
…I’m going to miss the filks.
Wait, we never found out what the real Lovetron plan was.
That seems the natural conclusion to the big reveal fro when the mothership returns, methinks.
The real Lovetron was in our hearts all along!
And, you were there, and you, and you.
He sits there all day long, in his own world, staring at that toy. What’s he thinking about?
Anyone else gonna comment how cute they look with sunglasses?
The kid putting on Chris’s sunglasses was cute AF.
Agreed
any similarity to actual kids is purely coincidental
Never happens in real life.
Is this real life, or is this just fantasy?
It’s like the top is only made up of people who are determined to keep up with the Joneses, but never Mr. and Mrs. Jones themselves.
More like they had the Joneses shot, and are now determined to keep the top slot for themselves.
The secret nobody wants to admit is that the Joneses are also trying to keep up with the Joneses. This is what makes it futile; it’s a Red Queen race where every time you get something exclusive because the Joneses have it, the Joneses have to get something even exclusiver. (See also: Star-Bellied Sneetches.)
And at the very top, you’re left with claiming you’re going to create a colony on Mars in a decade or so.
Also: More Kids!
I’m waiting for Artie and Sergio’s kids to show up. How big is a gerbil litter?
Hey! It’s (not really) Robin!
That was my first reaction, too!
Man, *I* want a job where I can call my boss my ‘Corporate Overlord’ and get away with it…
Nitpicker here. Marcie is calling herself the “corporate overlord”; there is no indication the employees are allowed to call her that… although knowing Marcie she’d be okay with it. Which raises the question: would a job where the boss calls themselves your “corporate overlord” be a decent compromise or would it be worse?
I guess that argument hinges on whether Marcie is technically self-employed or not. If the former, she *is* talking about her boss, who is herself :p
So where did the formerly extirpated prisoners go? ‘Cause I had the impression extirpation involved brain extraction…
Cloned bodies are a thing in this universe, as are mental up- and downloading. If A-Sig doesn’t have those technologies in-house, their boss knows a guy who knows a guy…
Good question, Robert! I’d expect Dr. Lee reverse engineered Dr. Jones’ Clone-O-Mat to allow reintegration, which would explain why Chris leads with a status update.
Then there could be a bunch of former prisoners wandering around, all of whom look like Nick…
Nah. Insert brain, dispense copy cloned from brain tissue.
Although there are copies of Nick and Baron Mistycorn running around VR Whimsy World somewhere…
I can’t wait to see what Moustachio and Hitty’s kids look like.
You joke …
but we already know Hitty thinks in litters
they’ll be a chip off the old block.
So lead lined undies I’m guessing.
“Elite VR Retirement Shelving” sounds way better than the nursing homes we’re all likely to wind up in someday.
Just put me on an ice flow and wish me luck!
Sounds like a crypt in a mausoleum. But enough about “Ms. Garrity and the Graves.” (Been waiting years to slip that in.)
Wow, I haven’t seen that one! Sounds good based on the IMDB synopsis though, I’ll have to track it down and watch it. Assuming Robert is referring to the episode titled “Mr Garrity and the Graves”, anyway. If not then I’m even more curious…
Side question: as a fellow Heinlein appreciator, have you seen the Japanese adaptation of “The Door into Summer” movie that’s on Netflix? Might just be the best movie version of his work that I’ve seen yet, even though they had to simplify the plot and relationships a bit for brevity.
I just heard about that adaptation a few days ago. I’m leery of some adaptations—for instance, reports of changes made in a recent adaptation of Asimov’s “Foundation” were pretty offputting. I’ve been told that the adaptation of “Starship Troopers” involved them working on a similar story and then buying rights and incorporating names to avoid a lawsuit. That one was awful and none of the others were particularly good (though I haven’t sat through all of them).
But the proverbial good adaptation could be out there, and this could be it. Hollywood, or some independent production company, can make good movies of books in other fields, though science fiction has its own difficulties.
****
That episode of “The Twilight Zone” has been on my mind since I came here—it seems an obvious pun—but it took years to find a place to slip it in.
The recent “Foundation” TV series was actually a pretty good original science fiction series, just not a very good adaptation of Asimov’s “Foundation” series. If you can pretend you’re watching something new and original, instead of something supposedly based on Asimov, then it’s possible you might be able to enjoy the series for what it is. (If you’re not able to forget that it was supposed to be based on the “Foundation” series, of course, that’s totally understandable. Everyone’s brain works differently.)
I do wish when TV show runners want to put on an original show, they would just create an original show, and not try to shoehorn their ideas into a pre-existing work. They could even include some kind of attribution in the credits, saying “inspired by” or something to that effect, but just please don’t use the name if you’re not even going to try to do it reasonably faithfully. (I get that written works have to be adapted for visual media, but some don’t really seem to even try.)
Well, I don’t think Asimov is particularly “filmable”—a lot of his stories involve characters sitting around chewing the fat, which can be interesting but isn’t particularly visual.
True of a lot of literary works. What would the Council of Elrond have looked like if Peter Jackson had filmed it straight up? Flashbacks within flashbacks, and lengthy discussions of what to do about their problem.
I’ve been told—you might guess I tend to avoid these things—that the recent adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s “The Man in the High Castle” chucked Dick’s carefully worked out back story in favor of one of their own that was nastier.
Science fiction is a field of speculation, and that involves a lot of talking things out, with less action. So the classics might be better suited for a half hour of “The Twilight Zone” than a two-and-a-half hour movie or an open-ended streaming series.
I was pretty leery of watching “The Door Into Summer” as well. My first reaction was excitement, immediately followed by a sense of preemptive dread after seeing so many horrible adaptations of R.A.H. stories, but found myself quite enjoying this movie. So very few SF or Fantasy stories get treated well by the film industry so it was nice to see one that felt right and respectful.
They managed to keep in (almost) all of the primary story points and kept the character personalities pretty much intact. The biggest changes were bringing the two protagonists slightly closer in their birth ages and altering the specifics of their original relationship a bit; and improving our hero’s treatment of the scientist he works with in the second act.
I’ll be quite interested in your opinion of the movie if you do get around to giving it a try.
Got the last brain from AI
And begun repatriation.
We were working down and dirty,
‘Cause it ends all extirpation,
So we go,
Oh, no-no-no!
Oh, no-no-no!
‘Cause our project’s near the finish
But we broke off for our friends.
We’ll be moving in the old board
When we’ve picked up the last brain,
We’ve gotta go,
Oh, no-no-no!
Oh, no-no-no!
But we couldn’t miss the saucer comin’ home.
Got the last brain from AI
We’ve begun repatriation,
We’ve got time for cake with hummingbirds
And some parent consultation,
Oh, no-no-no!
Oh, no-no-no!
Got the last brain from AI
We must fire up the clones,
But with Skin-Horse staff disembarkation, we are home,
We’re in the know,
Oh, no-no-no!
Oh, no-no-no!
But we couldn’t miss the saucer comin’ home.
Oh!
Got the last brain from AI
And begun repatriation.
We were working down and dirty,
‘Cause it ends all extirpation,
So we go,
Oh, no-no-no!
Oh, no-no-no!
And we couldn’t miss the saucer comin’ home.
Got the last brain from AI…
Got the last brain from AI…
Got the last brain from AI…
Got the last brain from AI…
—from “Last Train to Clarksville,” written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, sung by The Monkees.
Excellent.
Well-done!
Eee! Marchris kid!
And I, for one, welcome…
Is the little copter Nick’s offspring as well?
I think it’s the one that just dropped Chris and Marcie and their unholy spawn off. No idea of it and Nick are related.
It looked like a Kill-bot to me
Chris and Marcie put in an appearance. At A-Sig they’ve run interference. They’re three now, no pair—and Chris cut his hair—a matter of hard perserverence.
Wait… “AG-I prisoners”? I thought they would be A-Sig prisoners.
OOhh… Good catch, awgiedawgie!
Thinking they were the enforcement arm of Anasigma. But it might not account for everybody in the extirpation walnut farm—looked like some of them accepted it without putting up a fight.
I am so sad to be getting to the end, and yet also so happy that I only happened to start reading Skin Horse with perfect timing to finish my binge now of all times.
This and Narbonic are such beautiful comics, both art-wise and emotionally.
I found Narbonic just before it ended and have followed Skin Horse since strip one. It’s been a delightful ride.
Which is why I hope they rug pull us and no resolutions happen. It would be the cruelest, longest planned troll ever.
Say it ain’t so!
Babies all around!