John W. Campbell

The loss of trust is worse.

To get ready for today's episode, I read John W. Campbell's Who Goes There? I watched the 1951 Thing from Another World and, of course, studied the 1981 second draft of Lancaster's screenplay.

Now, our question today is a simple one.

What did Lancaster put on the page and what did Carpenter change or leave out to make the film work? Before we dive in, it's time to welcome back to a script by the creator and host of DocuBay 77 and my good friend Dayton Johnson.

Yeah.

Well, let's talk about our writer.

So the story begins in 1938 with Who Goes There, published by John W. Campbell Jr. under the name Don A. Stewart.

Its great idea is not simply an alien in Antarctica.

In 1974, they published Results in Nature, one of the most respected journals in science.

and Nature printed an editorial beside the paper, noting that the referee had reached agreement that the paper was weak in design and presentation.

But behind closed doors, at least part of the reason they kept going was fear.

A 1972 Defense Intelligence Agency report on Soviet research warned that Tsai efforts might one day allow the Soviets to, quote, mold the thoughts of key U.S. military and civilian leaders at a distance, or even to, quote, cause the instant death of any U.S. official.

You couldn't be wearing these different hats.

So Christian Nivey, being a longtime editor for Howard Hawks, was picked as the director so that the writer, because it was Charles Lederer, John W. Campbell Jr., and Howard Hawks, He couldn't be the writer and the director.

So Christian Nyby, this was his first directorial project, his big directorial debut.

And he went on to have a very long career in directing television, especially lots of television, everything you can imagine.

I don't know if I've mentioned this already, but I actually took the time to read the original novella, listened to it on audio.

It's called Who Goes There.

It was published in 1938 by John W. Campbell Jr. under the pseudonym of Don Stewart.

And it was actually quite good.

go.

Okay, so in 1938, John W. Campbell Jr. wrote Who Goes There?, about American researchers in Antarctica who discover a shape-shifting alien life form referred to as The Thing.

That's such an old, like, 30s title.

Who goes

In 1982, Carpenter would release one of his all-time greatest films, and possibly the greatest sci-fi horror film of all time, The Thing.

The film is a remake of the 1951 film The Thing from Another World, which is itself based on the 1938 novella Who Goes There by John W. Campbell Jr.

The story concerns a group of research scientists in Antarctica who come across a shape-shifting extraterrestrial life form.

The effects in this film are so incredibly unique and disturbing, they may never be beat.

Okay, well, we're talking about The Thing from Another World, so let's queue up the coming attractions trivia question for that.

There have been three movie adaptations that were based on material written by John W. Campbell Jr.

Obviously, this is one of them.

So what are the other two?

it was a gathering of the clans a conclave of the slans from thirty-seven of the forty-eight states they came and from canada cuba england germany india israel and the west indies The roll call of celebrities read like the who's who of sci-fi prodom.

Theodore Sturgeon, Isaac Asimov, Fritz Lieber, Willie Lay, Nelson Bond, John W. Campbell Jr., L. Sprague de Camp, James Blish, Judith Merrill, Ted Carnell, editor of New Worlds, Kelly Frias, Edmund Hamilton, Lay Brackett, Anthony Boucher, William Ten, James E. Gunn, Frank Belknap Long Jr., and numerous others, including guest of honor Arthur C. Clarke.

a standing ovation was given arthur clark before and after his speech at the banquet a serious address that lasted forty-five minutes and covered many philosophical facets of the sci-fi field especially rousing hands were given two of the real old-timers present artist frank r paul guest of honor of the first convention and, out of the arc, the man who once was an assistant to Thomas Alva Edison, the pioneer novelist of scientific romances and the man who discovered the golden atom, Ray Cummings.

World-famous cartoonist Al Capp gave a hilarious speech at the banquet Sunday night, other large laughs being garnered on the occasion by Isaac Asimov and Anthony Boucher, Robert Bloch again proving that he has no peer as a master of ceremonies.

So the coming attractions trivia question for The Thing from Another World.

There have been three movie adaptations that were based on material written by John W. Campbell Jr.

What are they? So how can you get in touch? Email's one way.

Haveyoueverseenpodcast at gmail.com. My Twitter is at moviefiend51.