Monday Mecha Madness WORLDS UNKNOWN "Farewell to the Master" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Cover art by Rich Buckler & Wayne Howard (with additional art by John Romita Sr)

Reporter Cliff Sutherland and photographer Ann O'Hara may be on to the scoop of the century.

An alien robot, which went inert after Klaatu (the alien humanoid it accompanied) was shot and killed (without provocation) when he tried to initiate contact with people of Earth isn't as unmoving as the US government believes!
The duo conceal themselves nearby, hoping to catch the automaton in motion...which they do!
They witness the robot enter the alien vessel...which sealed up and apparently deactivated after Klaatu was killed.

And now things get really weird...

Cue the Twilight Zone theme...

The original story by Harry Bates appeared in Street and Smith's Astounding Science Fiction V26N2 (1940) with the following illustrations by Frank Kramer...all of which feature Gnut!

"Farewell to the Master" has been reprinted numerous times, usually in anthologies about Astounding Science-Fiction magazine, or compilations of stories which were adapted into films or TV shows.

But the graphic adaptation from Marvel's Worlds Unknown #3 (1973) has never been reprinted, and no other comic book/comic strip version has ever been done!
However, there was another prose adaptation of the short story...

This book, written by Arthur Tofte, published by Scholastic Books in 1976, combined "Farewell to the Master" with the screenplay for the 1951 movie into a new novel which presents Klaatu and a rather verbose Gnut (not "Gort") as a pair of equal partners, representing their respective civilizations within a galactic organization calling themselves "The Watchers"!
Finally, Lux Radio Theatre produced a one-hour radio adaptation in 1954, narrated by Paul Frees and starring Michael Rennie as Klaatu!
Regrettably, it doesn't use Bernard Herrmann's magnificent soundtrack but it's still worth listening to.
You can link to it HERE!

KLATTU BARADA NIKTO!

Which translates to:

Shogun Warriors Return Next Monday!

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Monday Mecha Madness WORLDS UNKNOWN "Farewell to the Master" Part 1

You know the story...sorta.

You've seen (and/or heard) the story adapted...sorta.

Now read the most faithful adaptation of the tale...short of the original novelette!

And before you go any further, "Gnut" is pronounced "Nut".

That's one of the reasons it was changed when the story by Harry Bates was adapted in 1951 into a movie...

Aw, you guessed!

As you've surmised, there were quite a few changes made when the silver screen version was created and produced!

And, when writer Roy Thomas, penciler Ross Andru and inker Wayne Howard went back to the source material for the never-reprinted Marvel's Worlds Unknown #3 (1973)...well, let's let Rascally Roy himself tell you about that...

Be here NEXT MONDAY for the ASTOUNDING conclusion...plus some kool extras (which will explain why I capitalized "astounding"!)

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Reading Room AMAZING ADVENTURES "Amazing Prophecies"

Let's peer into a crystal ball from the 1950s...

...and see they did predict 3-D TV and bigger women (as compared to the females of the 1950s).

But the other prophecies from this never-reprinted feature illustrated by Ross Andru in Ziff-Davis' Amazing Adventures #4 (1951) have yet to occur...

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder UNKNOWN WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION "Day of the Triffids" Part 3

We Have Already Seen...

(Yes, this pulp-style cover by legendary sci-fi artist Frank Kelly Freas is incredibly-inaccurate, but it is incredibly-kool!)
When a smuggler's plane is shot down after he stole bioengineered plant pods from a Soviet lab, the now-released spores were carried by wind to the four corners of the earth, where they propagated like crazy!

The invasive species, initially-thought to be harmless, possessed stingers, which would strike any animal (or human) who wander too close!
However, scientists discovered the triffids' sap was valuable as the basis for cures for several diseases.
Wherever they were found, the plants were transferred to farms for cultivation and harvesting!
Triffid researcher Bill Mason, temporarily-blinded by a sting to the face, doesn't get to see a once-in-a lifetime meteor shower.
But when he removes his bandages the next morning, after no one in the hospital comes to do so, he discovers that everyone who did see the meteors is now blind...and that triffids are now mobile...and attacking anything that moves!

To Be Continued...
Next Wednesday!

To correct my comment from last week, this story, meant for the color comic Worlds Unknown, was not an attempt to do a novel in one issue, but as a two-part tale, much as Marvel was doing with its' adaptations of Doc Savage novels...which were almost all penciled by this story's artist, Ross Andru!
Trivia: the cover art was altered by Marvel's Art Director, John Romita, Sr, when a deadline loomed and artist Kelly Freas was unavailable to do the changes himself.
The unaltered version of the cover was used for the cover of the British edition of Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction.

Note the different human figures on the left!

Interestingly, Romita's alteration were done to a photographic print of Freas' art, since the original, unaltered painting has since been sold to a collector by a noted auction house!

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Wednesday Worlds of Wonder UNKNOWN WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION "Day of the Triffids" Parts 1 & 2

Since we mentioned "The Day of the Triffids" was scheduled for the next issue after "Black Destroyer"...

.

...we thought it would be kool to run that adaptation where it was originally-intended...as Worlds Unknown #6, albeit in b/w instead of color!

To Be Concluded
Next Wednesday

Based on the John Wyndham novel, this cover-featured adaptation in Marvel's Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #1 (1975) was scripted by Gerry Conway, penciled by Ross Andru, and inked by Ernie Chua.
Trivia: This was the only time Worlds Unknown adapted an entire novel (instead of a short story/novelette/novella) into only 17 pages (the length of a book-length color comic story at that time)..though it ended up in the b/w magazine Unknown Worlds after the color comic was cancelled!
(WU's "brother"anthology comic, Supernatural Thrillers, also did only one full-length novel adaptation in 17 pages...H G Wells' The Invisible Man.)

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