Discussion Group Read for April 8, 2020-- Nightmare at 20,000 feet by Richard Matheson

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Kurben

Kurben

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hollis517 said:
I agree. The story is kind of meh. The TZ episode with Shatner, however, is iconic. The public, whether reading or viewing, doesn’t take well to open questions. So the TV version sits better, and with me, too.

I also usually prefer source material, and Matheson has written some great SF and Spec-Fic, but the same thing happened to me when I read The Incredible Shrinking Man — I much preferred the film. It was enthralling, mind-expanding, and had a cat and an itsy bitsy spider … In fact, it too ended with an open-ended question, but in the film it totally worked. The book put me to sleep.
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I don't know... What is wrong with stories that asks a question? It does have an ending. it is just the interpretation of the ending that is open. These kind of stories sometimes wants to make you think and that in turn makes them memorable. So i think at least some public takes to these kind of endings. Granted, this story is not the best in that cathegory but obviously it worked or we wouldn't be talking about it.
 
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Wayoftheredpanda

Wayoftheredpanda

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Kurben said:
I don't know... What is wrong with stories that asks a question? It does have an ending. it is just the interpretation of the ending that is open. These kind of stories sometimes wants to make you think and that in turn makes them memorable. So i think at least some public takes to these kind of endings. Granted, this story is not the best in that cathegory but obviously it worked or we wouldn't be talking about it.
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Nothing wrong with open ended stories, but I don’t think this does it quite right. The story feels like it’s just the main character’s imagination, so the ending ironically feels concrete. I didn’t like Wilson that much in the story, so I didn’t care much for what was happening to him. The Twilight Zone does open ended stories all the time, and it’s not like that specific episode can’t be open ended, it just sides with the main character more.
 
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Kurben

Kurben

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Wayoftheredpanda said:
Nothing wrong with open ended stories, but I don’t think this does it quite right. The story feels like it’s just the main character’s imagination, so the ending ironically feels concrete. I didn’t like Wilson that much in the story, so I didn’t care much for what was happening to him. The Twilight Zone does open ended stories all the time, and it’s not like that specific episode can’t be open ended, it just sides with the main character more.
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Never seen the Twilight Zone. Oh, i saw one episode and thought it was crap so i never tried again.
 
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Spideyman

Spideyman

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Kurben said:
I don't know... What is wrong with stories that asks a question? It does have an ending. it is just the interpretation of the ending that is open. These kind of stories sometimes wants to make you think and that in turn makes them memorable. So i think at least some public takes to these kind of endings. Granted, this story is not the best in that cathegory but obviously it worked or we wouldn't be talking about it.
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Agree, many of SK books are open ended in their endings.
 
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Wayoftheredpanda

Wayoftheredpanda

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Kurben said:
Never seen the Twilight Zone. Oh, i saw one episode and thought it was crap so i never tried again.
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Some episodes show their age yeah.

The Masks, Nightmare at 20,000 feet, The Monsters are Due On Maple Street (asides from the last scene that ruins an otherwise great ending by explaining the point to you eugh), 22, 5 characters in search of an exit, The After Hours, The Bunker, Walking Distance, A Stop at Willoughby, and When the Sky was Opened, are all good. It’s on Netflix asides from Season 4 (the worst one)
 
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Out of Order

Out of Order

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Wayoftheredpanda said:
Some episodes show their age yeah.

The Masks, Nightmare at 20,000 feet, The Monsters are Due On Maple Street (asides from the last scene that ruins an otherwise great ending by explaining the point to you eugh), 22, 5 characters in search of an exit, The After Hours, The Bunker, Walking Distance, A Stop at Willoughby, and When the Sky was Opened, are all good. It’s on Netflix asides from Season 4 (the worst one)
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One of my favorites is “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up” Season 2 Ep. 28.....
 
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hollis517

hollis517

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Kurben said:
I don't know... What is wrong with stories that asks a question? It does have an ending. it is just the interpretation of the ending that is open. These kind of stories sometimes wants to make you think and that in turn makes them memorable. So i think at least some public takes to these kind of endings. Granted, this story is not the best in that cathegory but obviously it worked or we wouldn't be talking about it.
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We’re only talking about it bc it’s the featured story. Frankly, if it weren’t an assigned reading, I’d’ve forgotten about it PDQ. But there is nothing wrong with stories that ask questions; in fact, there’s everything right about them!

Here are some stories that will ”make you think” but that — sorry, all you Stephen King fans — aren’t in the Horror genre:

The Big Front Yard, Desertion, Immigrant, New Folks’ Home, Drop Dead, and Skirmish (My oft-cited list of Clifford D. Simak shorts)

What Have I Done? (Mark Clifton) — I just sent a link to that story to Dr. Paul Ekman of the Paul Ekman Group (upon whom the series Lie to Me starring Tim Roth is based); it’s right up his alley.

In Hiding (Wilmar Shiras)

By His Bootstraps, The Roads Must Roll (Robert Heinlein)

Baby Is Three (Ted Sturgeon)

With Folded Hands (Jack Williamson)

History Lesson (Arthur C. Clarke)

A Martian Odyssey (Stanley G. Weinbaum)

Bloodchild (Octavia Butler)

Consider Her Ways (John Wyndham)

Arena (Fredric Brown)

Common Time, Surface Tension (James Blish)

The Marching Morons (Cyril Kornbluth) — there’s major horror in this one, but it’s almost all offscreen.

He Who Shrank (Henry Hasse)

Mimsy Were The Borogoves, Vintage Season (Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore)

The Bright Illusion (C. L. Moore)

Four In One (Damon Knight)

Sidewise in Time (Murray Leinster)

Fondly Fahrenheit, The Men Who Murdered Mohammed (Alfred Bester)

And a few novels:

Lest Darkness Fall (L. Sprague de Camp)

Midsummer Century (James Blish)

A Torrent of Faces (James Blish and Norman L. Knight)

The Demolished Man, The Stars My Destination (Alfred Bester)

The Space Merchants (C. M. Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl)

The Midwich Cuckoos, The Chrysalids (John Wyndham)

Greener Than You Think (Ward Moore)

That’s enough for now.
 
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