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And from the Cold, White North... News of Ray Bradbury and Renny Harlin

Published at:  Dec 23, 2000 10:21:38 AM CST

WOW!!! Really cooooool news from the frozen plains of Finland. Ol' Father Geek here thinks this is one of Bradbury's stories that may have been adapted in the early 1950's EC comicbook WEIRD SCIENCE, or WEIRD SCIENCE-FANASY by either Frank Frazetta or Al Williamson. Hell, it might have been one they did as a team; probably the GREATEST illustrative team to ever work in the medium. I destinctly remember a great story drawn by one, or both of those guys that dealt with using time travel for big game hunting in the dinosaur era and I think it was one of 25 or so that Ray wrote for the comic company (The Best Ever) between 1950 and 54.

If I'm right, DON'T go read this story some where, DON'T!!! It has surprizes in it's plotline that are well worth the wait! DON'T GO READ THIS SHORT STORY!!! You'll be sorry. Don't go pay $500 bucks for the comic on E-bay. It's worth it, (Great cover art, too) but don't do it. Well, at least leave it sealed in it's protective bag till after you see the motion picture. Man, I'm excited about this one!


Renny Harlin came to Finland to spend Christmas with his family, and in a brief newspaper article mentioned his next project after Driven. The film is to be called "A Sound of Thunder", starring Pierce Brosnan who plays a hunter travelling back in time to hunt for dinosaurs. According to Harlin the film is in pre-production and shooting is to begin in March 2001, with a release date aimed towards the end of 2001.

The film is quite apparently based on a Ray Bradbury short story ("A Sound of Thunder," in R is for Rocket, (New York: Doubleday, 1952). You'll find it here (among several other places) if you want to read it: Just Click Here !

Regards,

- Mika

Remember, if you hate spoilers and love surprizes in your flicks... DO NOT follow the above link to Ray Bradbury's original story. Father Geek has spoken!



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    Readers Talkback

  • Dec 23, 2000 10:26:20 AM CST

    Jurassic Bond

    by trav

    James Bond vs. Dinosaurs. Should at least be mindless entertainment. I hope they don't rip off the look of JP like Godzilla did. A very cool Simpsons Halloween episode was based upon this same short story I think.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 23, 2000 10:36:38 AM CST

    tons of bradbury stories

    by lazarus long

    Hollywood could mine the gems from Ray's archive for years. Since they have zero ability to come up with their own intelligent sci-fi or fantasy, why not go back to the master? At least they can adapt his work without raping them of their ideas like the Philip K. Dick material they're so fond of. There still hasn't been a good version of the Martian Chronicles for the big screen. Of course, look what they did with another uncomplicated storyteller's work: we got the Bicentennial Man.

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  • Dec 23, 2000 10:53:57 AM CST

    Hmmm

    by craphole

    I'd watch this one as closely as I would Rob Schniders movie carear.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 23, 2000 10:54:57 AM CST

    Why bother?

    by uncapie

    I can't see it as a hour and a half movie, but maybe a story in an anthology as in the "Tales Of the Crypt" or "Dr. Terrors House Of Horrors(Now there's a classic!) films. There was an original attempt at Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles" that he wrote the script for in the late fifites for M-G-M, but they turned it down because it would have been too expensive. Needle-nosed rockets, guys with flight jackets and revolvers exploring space that could only come out of the minds of Wally Wood or Al Williamson would have been cool! they also did an pseudo-adaptation on the "Twilight Zone" of the first expedition to Mars. As for any sign of intelligence in the middle management that green lights todays movies, there isn't any.I shudder to think of all the great stories that will never be on the screen. A mental wasteland is what its boiled down to as this has been the worst year for movies since 1930.

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  • Dec 23, 2000 10:57:16 AM CST

    This was on that Ray Bradbury tv...

    by jesse custard

    several years ago. Low budget, but still pretty cool. Creepy ending. I'm psyched about this one.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 23, 2000 12:20:14 PM CST

    Spoiling the story?

    by usagibrian

    Has anyone NOT read this story? It's short. It's readily available. It's one of the defining genere stories of the 20th century (and has been ripped off by everyone accordingly). That said, yea, it's getting the big bucks treatment, but expanding it to feature length may very well kill it. It's strength in the drive of the throughline in such a short space.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 23, 2000 1:48:04 PM CST

    Be Vewy, Vewy Qwiet...

    by buzz maverik

    ...I'm hunting dinoswahs. Huhuhuhuhuh.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 23, 2000 2:03:36 PM CST

    Bradbury speaks

    by pulpculture

    Ray Bradbury actually mentioned that this story was being turned into a feature film some months ago when he was giving a speech at the University of North Alabama. (He even said, point blank, that it would star Brosnan. It seems it's just taken a bit longer than he expected for all the I's to get dotted and T's to get crossed.) He didn't say anthing else about it, but he seemed upbeat about the project, as opposed, say, to the TV miniseries of "The Martian Chronicles," which he aptly summed up as "Booooorrrrrriiiiing."

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 23, 2000 2:36:49 PM CST

    I like the Simpsons version better

    by airchinapilot

    Homer vs. Pierce (my face is a pose) Brosnan. Not a difficult decision. Homer is more three dimensional.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 23, 2000 2:39:13 PM CST

    Already read it way back in high school.

    by sith lord jesus

    A classic sci-fi tale o' time travel gone wrong. I won't spoil it here but if you are paying any attention at all while watching the movie you'll be able to guess the ending within the first ten minutes. It'll still be worth a looksee, however, if it's been done well.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 23, 2000 6:02:24 PM CST

    They Filmed this Story for "The Twilight Zone" tv series.

    by roger u. roundly

    "Don't step off the path!" Great story.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 23, 2000 8:06:53 PM CST

    THIS WAS A 30 MINUTE TV SHOW !!!!!

    by klink

    I remember seeing this when they did it as an anthology TV show episode. How the hell are they gonna stretch this out for 2 hours? EVERYONE has already done a time travel story about one "simple" change altering history. Does Hollywood LIKE throwing money away? No one will pay to see this movie!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 23, 2000 8:36:30 PM CST

    WHAT THE HELL IS ...

    by timmer33

    ... up with the ending??? SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! So the other guy is elected. So what? But everything being spelled different? Did I miss something here? It's possible I did .. can someone help me out here?

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 24, 2000 1:32:13 AM CST

    Repeat

    by loki965

    If I'm not mistaken there was an extremely crappy made for tv movie in the 70s or 80s called The Last Dinosaur that sounds an awful lot like that plot line. I hope it's an improvement.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 24, 2000 6:56:01 AM CST

    never top the simpsons

    by suicide king

    i know the story pretty cool.
    but not as cool as the simpsons
    halloween special were homer dose the exact same thing
    gose back in time sneezes on a dino, gives it a cold .that it then passes on to all the other dino's and wipes them out.
    and when the gets back to the future ned flanders runs the planet.very cool very funny
    i can't see any one toping that
    even some one as good as renny harlin.the real chalenge will be makin' a 1hour 30min film from a 10 page short story.
    imean thay go to the past shoot a dino and go back with a bit of talkin'.
    dose'nt sound like 2hours of entrtainment to me .

    any way
    bye guys
    have a good one

    SUICIDE KING

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 24, 2000 10:55:29 AM CST

    STOP, In the name of GOD please stop with the CG dinosaurs

    by ellroy

    The Halloween Tree is a great little book,why don't they do that? why? Two words- CG dinosaurs. I saw the TV episode years ago and it was fun, the Simpsons' take was hysterical. But because of Jurassic 1,2,3, Walking With Dinosaurs,Disney's Dinosaurs, Dinotopia, Dragonheart 1and 2, Dungeons and Dragons, the TV show The Lost World and a ton of other examples I am sick of CG dinosaurs. Maybe Harlin can do a sequel to Whoppi Goldberg's Theodore Rex and have a bunch of dinosaurs doing wire-fu

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  • Dec 24, 2000 8:14:35 PM CST

    SPOILER HERE! I don't agree with Bradbury's ending premise and h

    by bari umenema

    I don't believe that a single sample of one species can have such a drastic longterm affect on the overall planetary ecosystem, it's just not possible or even logical. But it might make a decent movie.

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  • Dec 24, 2000 8:28:56 PM CST

    chaos and the butterfly effect

    by finnfionn

    I have always thought it wonderful that Bradbury anticipated some 30 years ahead of time "the butterfly effect", part of the study of chaos. Theoretically, the fluttering of a butterfly in the Amazon triggers a cascade effect resulting in a typhoon in the Pacific. Or, small variations can produce wildly different effects. So yes, by chaos theory, the death of a butterfly could cause far-reaching planetary changes.
    (Say, Bari, Billy Rubin says "hi!")

    Reply to Talkback

  • "Don't you remember, Homer, Flanders is the Supreme Lord and Master of us all!" "D'oh!!"

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 25, 2000 12:00:08 AM CST

    "The Lst Dinosaur" a Rankin/Bass opus.

    by uncapie

    Richard Boone and Steven Keats were in it. Richard Boone died of natural causes. Steven Keats commited suicide a few years later. I'd do the same thing if I made this fucking abortion!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 25, 2000 8:35:24 AM CST

    Dont know...

    by andrew1381

    I'm unsure if this movie really gets made. Expect LORD OF THE RINGS to rule Box Office in the month of 2001 in the US and also in Europe. Is this really a movie to compete against LORD?! If it gets made then for 2002 and this year has a CROWDED release schedule with Bond 20, SW2, LOTR2, MATRIX2 (hey, sequel mania!).
    What does this sounds like? JP meets BACK TO THE FUTURE meets...thousands other more or less classic movies.
    Id recommand Harlin to do this the DAM (aka CLIFFHANGER 2).

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 26, 2000 9:34:45 AM CST

    Oh the humanity!! (some spoilers)

    by chris_fougere

    A Sound of Thunder is a great SHORT story, but there's no way to even stretch it to a feature. What'll happen? Bronson goes back to the past again to fix what he screwed up? Maybe next we'll get a 4 hour mini-series of The Veldt or The Little Assassin (may have the title wrong on that one).

    Why can't Hollywood at least adapt novels, not 10 page long stories that are classics because of they're length.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 27, 2000 1:14:06 PM CST

    You can't blame the best movies...

    by salem hanna

    ...for still being inferior to the books they're based on. Remember, an author has complete creative control over his words, and can describe scenes in great detail that a film would have to skip in minutes or even seconds. Movies are limited by a) differnces of opinion amongst the people involved b) budgetary constraints and c) reasonable running length. You right about Jaws though: ace movie and arguably an even better book.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dec 27, 2000 4:47:16 PM CST

    Reny wantsGeena Davis to play the dinosaur...

    by thanosx

    How the hell is reading a great short story by Ray Bradbury suppossed to "ruin" what's certain to be a grand schlock-fest by Reny Harlin?! Anyone remember Long Kiss Goodnight? Cutthroat Island? If you would really like to avoid spoiling anything, read the short story NOW, so horrific images of Reny's hack of a film won't invade you're mind when you're experiencing Bradbury's prose for the first time.

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