Compare and Contrast: Stephen King and Arthur C. Clarke

by Brandon Engel

Meet Arthur Charles Clarke and Stephen Edwin King, Jupiter and Venus of the science fiction solar system. In 2005, the government of Sri Lanka designated Clarke Sri Lanka Abhimanyu, meaning “The Pride of Sri Lanka,” the highest civil honor in the country. The year before, the World Fantasy Convention bestowed upon King the Award for Life Achievement. No satellite explored further than the reaches of blackness that Clarke and King dived into with science fiction and fantasy literature.

But, the two had different notions of where the future of humankind led.

Stephen King: Scribe of Horror

In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes famously claimed that the state of nature of man was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Stephen King took Hobbes at his word. In King’s 2009 book, Under the Dome, an invisible dome barrier envelopes the small Maine town of Chester’s Mill. Thus isolated, the townsfolk pull a page from Lord of the Flies, with the climax of the story ending in asphyxiation and incineration. “I saw it as a chance to write about the serious ecological problems that we face in the world today,” said King. “The fact is we all live under the dome.”

Like many contemporary authors, King worried that short-term politics would upset the teeter-totter of technological equality. He extrapolated that concept in his 1982 work, The Running Man, the story of a desperate man, living in a state-sanctioned media-saturated dystopia, who wages his life in hopes of a $1 billion grand prize. Yet just as in Orwell’s 1984, the omniscience of technology thwarts Richards’ plans. What can Richards do against the Hunters, who draw from endless resources?

Or what if, suggested King in his 1986 horror film, Maximum Overdrive, machines were themselves malicious? In the movie, King’s only directorial effort and winner of a 1987 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director, machines come to life and launch a lethal vendetta against homo sapiens. King described his film as a “moron movie,” but nowhere else does he so blatantly suggest that one day, for reasons inexplicable, mankind may regret its first electrical transistor.

Arthur Clarke: Science Fiction Storyteller

Statistically speaking, King is in the minority. According to a Pew and Smithsonian research poll, some 59 percent of Americans believe coming technological changes will improve the future, while 30 percent hold the glass half empty. Those within the 59 percent are in good company with Arthur Clarke. A lifelong proponent and enthusiast of space travel, terraforming and computer networking, Clarke believed in a fundamental goodness of technology that would improve the human condition. “It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive,” he believed, “when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars.”

Clarke was a pop prophet extraordinaire. He predicted satellite internet coverage that could be accessed from virtually anywhere, cloud computing, and in his seminal film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, he even predicted the iPad – or “newspad.” Most famously, Clarke popularized the concept of geostationary satellites for telecommunication purposes. Some of his more fantastic notions have yet to manifest, though, such as slave chimpanzees, bioengineered whales, suspended animation, and an earth-to-moon space elevator.

But some of Clarke’s most important words, which hint at the same fears King discussed, are rarely quoted. “As our own species is in the process of proving, one cannot have superior science and inferior morals.” In his 1972 essay, for example, “Profiles of the Future,” he was quick to give wasteful transportation a thorough tongue-lashing. “In one lifetime they [automobiles] have consumed more irreplaceable fuel than has been used in the whole previous history of mankind. The roads to support them … cost as much as a small war; the analogy is a good one, for the casualties are on the same scale.”

Perhaps the truth lies between the two authors. The future is without form and void, and it is humans who will author its genesis, for where humans lead, technology follows.

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"Brandon Engel is a Chicago-based blogger whose favorite Stephen King book is either Hearts in Atlantis or The Shining. Follow him on Twitter: @BrandonEngel2"

Will There Really Be A Running Man 2?

cinemablend.com and digitalspy.com are citing Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent comments that he might be returning to the role of Ben Richards in a new Running Man movie.

Cinemablend writes:

The Austrian-born actor is currently in London, and it was while speaking during a Q&A that he revealed talks of a possible Running Man 2 in the works. According to Digital Spy, Schwarzenegger didn't exactly elaborate on what might be happening with the property or if he is actually attached to a project, but he did say that there have been rumblings about a return to the 1987 sci-fi film. This comment was looped in with a lot of other talk about in-development sequels, including The Legend of Conan (the actor saying. "It's an honor to be asked back after all these years, back to the franchise. This is really wild") and the Twins sequel, Triplets (the script for which Schwarzenegger says he's read the first draft). 

Wait. . . Twins 2?  Or, to put it another way -- Hollywood is now officially out of ideas.  Between sequels and remakes, there aren't a lot of original stories.

Of course, we are also enduring talk of a single movie version of The Stand.  King suggested maybe this would not just be one movie.  And there's the IT remake.

If they're looking for something great to film, here's some ideas:
1. THE DARK TOWER
2. The Talisman
3. Duma Key
4. Rose Madder
5. From a Buick 8

Really need to remake something?  How about getting on that IT project?  I watched the miniseries recently and thought, "This could be a lot better than it is."

Of course, no one is really looking to remake or do anything with the Stephen King property, The Running Man.  The movie had very little to do with the novella.  I loved the novel -- and the movie, not so much. The book had an almost 9/11 type ending.  The movie was actually less suspenseful.

Horror and The Scarcity of Resources

by Brandon Engel

One of the great things about speculative fiction is that it reflects something pertinent about present day paranoias. It opens up room for a lot of “what if’s.” What if, in 20 years, abject poverty has demoralized the general public to such an extent that we watch televised game shows where people fight to the death? Under his pseudonym “Richard Bachman,” Stephen King toyed with this in The Running Man (which could maybe even be thought of as the precursor to the Suzanne Collins Hunger Games books). Or what if there were a strain of weaponized virus so powerful, amplified beyond the scope of what immunizations can fortify the human body against that, if released either by accident or through biowarfare, could take out most of the human race? This was, of course, the basis for King’s The Stand.

There will always be evangelicals and paranoiacs (if there’s a distinction to be made) who will take to the streets to decry that the “End is Nigh.” What’s really screwed up, though, is that they could be right. What if the misapplication of technology, or the squandering of natural resources, does effectively bring about “the end of the world.” That’s the sort of cynical musing which precipitates dystopian function.

But what’s even more distressing than the notion of the world ending, is the notion of the world, in the shittiest imaginable state, going on for too long. What bothers you more? The idea of a plague wiping humanity of existence, or the thought that you, and all of your children, and all of their children, would be forced to live under complete totalitarian control, in a world with sparse resources, forced to eat some mysterious green compound that’s handed out in rations?

It all calls to mind any vintage science fiction film where Charlton Heston flips out. Like when he finds out that the Planet of the Apes had actually been Earth the entire time. Or when he finds out the truth about Soylent Green. Thankfully for us, it will probably be a while before humanity is (literally) enslaved by blood-thirsty primates — unless of course Ann Coulter makes it into the GOP primaries, then all bets are off. But if we’re talking about the degree to which “real world” political crises echo our favorite genre pulp tropes, and you take a minute to think about Soylent Green, and all of the “bad press” that Monsanto has been getting in recent years...it sort of makes you wonder.

Soylent Green was a film adaptation of the novel Make Room! Make Room!, written by one of King’s predecessors, pulp novelist and former EC comics illustrator Harry Harrison. The book, penned in 1966, offers a glimpse of a bleak future (“the year 1999”) and the world is (surprise!) fraught with problems. Pollution has destroyed commercial agriculture, and over-population has become a major issue in the major cities (especially in New York City, which is home to 35 million).

In the film, the story takes place in the year 2022, but it’s still the same basic setup. The only available food comes from the rations dispersed by the government subsidized Soylent corporation. Soylent Green is their latest product, and is said to consist mainly of plankton. Heston stars as NYPD detective Frank Thorn, who is put on the case of investigating the death of a local business magnate, who evidently, knew too much. Spoiler alert: Soylent Green is people.

But clearly, it’s not all doom and gloom in the world at large today. Even though there are many issues surrounding agribusiness and the government’s toothlessness when it comes to regulating agriculture, collective apathy is not quite the issue it once was, as more and more major companies strive to reduce their carbon footprint and global consumers become increasingly conscientious about the environment. In North America, Canadians can find superb alternative energy through the Alberta Energy website, while companies like Sharp Solar gain traction in the Japanese markets (impressive, as Japan is one of the biggest polluters in the world) and solar and wind-turbine power generators are becoming fashionable in cities with climates that allow for such things.

But, just as these books and films always reflect something about the mania of their own time, you can’t help but wonder to what degree dystopian future forecasts might prevent certain issues from happening. If droves of filmgoers hadn’t seen Heston bellowing at the end of Soylent Green in 1973, what sort of mysterious compound food ration might we be eagerly standing in line for right now? Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad though. I mean, you put enough ketchup on anything…

Brandon Engel is a blogger with who writes about a variety of topics - everything from vintage exploitation films to energy legislation. Brandon has a penchant for horror literature, and his favorite authors within the genre include: H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Clive Barker, and, of course, Stephen King. Follow him on Twitter: @BrandonEngel2

WHAT IF ARNIE AND KING TEAMED UP?

Talking about Ghost Brothers, Stephen King recently said:

"I've taken calls from Arnold Schwarzenegger, who wanted me to write 'the scariest devil-worship movie ever made,'" Stephen King says with a chuckle. "And there was a call from David Bowie, who wanted about the same thing. What I'm trying to say is, a lot of times, very talented artists have very bad ideas."

www.npr.org

So, if Arnold had it his way, Stephen King and he would team on a scary devil worship movie.  See, the problem here is where the ideas are coming from.  By the way, as a Californian where Arnie was our Governator, I can say that particular very talented artist had more than one very bad idea!  What works best is when King is given  the freedom to develop good ideas and actors who fit the role dive into the part.

I think some of the King movies that have failed did  so because of either poor choices in casting or too many changes to the King storyline.  Of course, Arnold starred in The Running Man.  Was it good?  No.  But then, it didn't stay within a hundred  miles of the original story.

Makes me wonder what King work Arnold would fit well in.  What wouldn't work is for directors to try and convince us that Arnold is an author.  Perhaps that was the problem with Bag of Bones, it was hard to see Pierce Borsnan as an author -- he's better as, well -- James Bond!  Richard Thomas was convincing as an author in the mini-series IT.

So  what role would Arnold be convincing in?  Here's my pick, but tell me yours. . .
Wilfred James, 1922

Smythe: Rereading The RUNNING MAN

James Smythe at The Guardian has posted the latest leg of his journey through the Stephen King universe -- The  Running Man.  A highly reflective piece, Smythe found a deeper appreciation for this novel as he reread it.  Like most everyone on planet earth, he was not moved by the film adaptation.  "It's awful!" Smythe laments.

Smythe writes,

This time, I read the book and much preferred it. Maybe I'm more attuned to the sadness now; maybe I'm better with the weaker Ben Richards, the desperation that makes him enter the competition. It's decently written: not King's best, but not his worst. The structure is interesting too, echoing his other dystopian game show novel of the period, The Long Walk. Where that novel counted down the boys left alive as part of the text, here the short chapters are on constant countdown, starting at 101. You know when the book is going to end: the timer tells you. It's a pacey device, and one that serves the game-show content of the novel, and this is a good book; mid-tier King.

read the full article at /www.guardian.co.uk

The Running Man's Richard Dawson dies

Richard Dawson, known to Stephen King fans as the game show host Damon Killian in the horrific "Running man" movie died Saturday, June 3, 2012.

The choice of Dawson as a game show host was perfect, since he gave a decade of his life to Family Feud.  He also played Corporal Peter Newkirk in the World War II comedy series Hogan's Heros for six years.  According to ABC, He also appeared as a celebrity panellist on a number of TV game shows, including the popular Match Game, and those appearances eventually led to his hosting duties on Family Feud. The ABC article is HERE.

HERE is his IMDb profile.

The Hunger Games

My daughter is reading The Hunger Games.  I've only read the first few pages -- on a treadmill!  She pointed out to me today that Stephen King he a quip on the back.  


King wrote that it is "A violent, jarring, speed-rap novel that generates nearly constant suspense. . . I couldn't stop reading." -- Stephen King.  


King's full review is HERE.  He gives the novel a B, noting that it is a trilogy, and he plans to return.


The fact that Hunger Games will remind many of us of certain other novels -- by Mr. Bachman -- isn't lost on King.  King writes,  "Also, readers of Battle Royale (by Koushun Takami), The Running Man, or The Long Walk (those latter two by some guy named Bachman) will quickly realize they have visited these TV badlands before."


I liked Kings short discussion of "Young Adult Novel" as a category.  It does seem to downplay (or downgrade) the book as something other than a real novel.  


Interestingly -- Stephenie Meyer also liked the book and has a quote on the back of the Scholastic paperback edition.  Strange to see the two on the same page with no darts being exchanged!

10 Favorite

Here are my current 10 favorite King novels, though my list is ever changing.

1. The Stand
2. The Shining
3. Dolores Claiborne
4. Needful Things
5. IT
6. The Green Mile
7. The Runningman
8. Christine
9. The Mist
10. The Drawing Of The Three

Did I surprise you any?  Didn't surprise myself a bit!

Here's what I notice looking at my own list: First, I am not a Dark Tower nut.  I'll roll with it, but I don't think I like the fantasy genre as much as many King fans do.  I also struggle with LOTR.  I also notice that I enjoy works from different King eras.  Remember the three woman novels, Claiborne, Gerald's Game and Rose Madder ?  I thought Claiborne was off the charts good. 

The Stand and IT seem to rank highest for most fans.  In fact, it's almost boring to admit they're fave's, because everyone rattles those two off. 

A note on Needful Things and Christine.  Two novels I think are excellent, and don't get the praise they deserve.  I found Christine to be a horror delight.  It doesn't attempt to be deep or even dramatic!  It's just fun.  Needful Things on the other hand is serous business.  Characters and plot unfold in a careful web -- the horror master at work here.  King finished Castle Rock off with a bang, and I enjoyed all the sparks and fireworks as the devil himself came to town.

So, you're turn.  10 favorite.  If you haven't read 10, then stop reading the blog and go read 10.  (Read your Bible first, said the preacher.  You're welcome.)

Arnold considers Running Man remake

Now that Jerry Brown has reclaimed his position as Governor of California, what is our friend Arnold up to? Well, he made a recent appearance at "The Arnold Seminar." I kid you not. thearnoldfans.com explains that each year Arnie comes out to take questions and inspire the crowd.

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Asked what movie he might choose as his "comback film." Schwarzenegger said that studios are "desperate" to get him back on screen. He says he has at least 15 scripts awaiting him. So which one will he choose? (Please, please. . . don't be The Stand!) Arnie listed Terminator remake, Predator and The Running Man. He also said he is "packaging a Comic Book character." Arnold also announced he is at work on his autobiography.

http://www.thearnoldfans.com/news/1767.html

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I think most King fans would agree with me when I say The Running Man deserves a remake. In fact, if we can -- we demand one! But not because Schwarzenegger needs more screen time. This film needs a remake because the movie never told the story Stephen King gave us. King had us on the edge of our seats! It was awesome. The movie. . . was. . . well, we'll just say it was not King's book.

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In an article titled, "Ten Movies Actually Worth Remaking", the filmcritic staff explain why Running Man is worthy of a remake: "A remake, with more respect for the source material and an eye on plausible conjecture rather than cartoonish posturing, could make a masterful addition to the sci-fi canon." http://www.filmcritic.com/features/2009/06/ten-movies-actually-worth-remaking/

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So, in short:

Remake: YES!
Arnie: Unnecessary.

Wishing For A Runningman Remake

Zach Oat (The Moviefile) has a fun blog entry titled, "Schwarzenegger Remakes We'd Rather See Than Total Recall." And yes, there are plans in the works for a Total Recall Remake. So, in essence, they are Recalling Recall to make a new Recall. I agree wholeheartedly with Oats on this one, "Blasphemy!"
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Oats choices for Schwarzenegger remakes we'd rather see include:

• Twins
• Commando
• Red Heat
• Hercules in New York
• The Running Man

About The Running Man, Oats writes, "The Running ManWe've suggested a Running Man remake before, but only to more accurately reflect the great Stephen King novella it's based on. In this case, we would stick to the ridiculous American Gladiators-esque storyline, cast Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in the lead role, and increase the special effects budget to show a future where the gladiators are turned into actual superheroes, and not just guys wearing hockey gear and Christmas lights."
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Haha, "christmas lights" that's funny!
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I don't think budget was the problem. For what it was, I liked the movie. However, I do pine for a Stephen King / Richard Bachman version. See, it's just not the same story! The movie is good, but it's not one bit the one Bachman gave us. I remember being honestly on the edge of my seat as I read that little gem.
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My review of Running man: http://talkstephenking.blogspot.com/search/label/Running%20Man
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Oats blog entry: http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/mwop/moviefile/2011/01/schwarzenegger-remakes-wed-rat.php

The Runningman -- Movie

Yep -- back at Hollywood Video buying up their old DVD's for chump change. What do you know, no one bought The Running Man. Film4.com calls it "an arcade-game romp done with flair." I must agree! There is a certain delight to this film.
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A funny scene appears when Richard Dawson tells someone on the phone that they're not doing Gilligan's Island. Obviously the person on the other end doesn't know what Gilligan's Island was -- so he gives us a quick humm of the familiar tune. Now, how likely is it that people might someday forget what Gilligan's Island was?!
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From the headlines

It's like the opening lines, though not presented with that awesome scroll Star Wars had, came straight from our news cycle.

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* "By 2019 the world economy has collapsed." Wow, we're seven years early on that one.

* "Food, natural resources and oil are in short supply" I won't comment on that, since right now we're trying to cut the supply of oil from a certain well!

* "Television is controlled by the state." I just read a story headlined "Journalism 'Reinvention' Smacks of Government Control, Critics Say." http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/02/journalism-reinvention-smacks-government-control-critics-say/

The Bachman Goldmine
Stephen Jones gives an interesting account in his book Creepshows. George Linder, her writes, was excited when he found a book -- the Running Man -- by little known author Richard Bachman. "I contacted the authors agent and was a bit taken back to learn that he was asking a comparatively great deal of money for the option on the book which had less than 100,000 copies in print. I mean, who had ever heard of Riahcard Bachman?" Linder secured the option for $20,000 and Jones notes the irony that just a couple of years later Linder found out that Bachman was actually Stephen King. "I felt like I'd found a Rembrant in K-mart!"
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Governors Convention:
Both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura appear in this. Arnie is Governor of the great state where I live, the very broke California.
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And Jesse was governor of Minnesota. Minnesota, by the way, is the land of another famous writer, Garrison Keillor. Jesse plays Captain Freedom, a workout television show host. The spandex costumes and Jesse's unitard were hysterically 80's.
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Of course, the movie features Arnie, with no mention of Stephen King. Schwarzenegger looks right at the game show host Damon Killian and says, "Damon, I'll be back." He also used the I'll Be Back line in Commando, Raw Deal, Twins, Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop, Last Action Hero, Jingle All the Way, The 6th Day
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Costumes:
Something has to be said here for the mix of 80's daily wear mixed with 80's sci-fi uniforms. Here's a vision of the future: Only the police get the new clothes! In particular, Arnie looks just great trying to get on a plane in his Hawaiian shirt and white top hat. Ambers costume looks like left overs from Disney's Tron.
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The Always Unfair Comparison To The Book

IMBD notes that King wrote the novel The Running Man in 72 hours. Now here's the funny, or not so funny, thing. The book was really good. King did in 72 hours with a typewriter what Hollywood couldn't do for millions. Go figure.

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King's novel, written under the Bachman name, has an intense urgency to it with each chapter giving a countdown number.

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King told Cinefantastique, "It was totally out of my hands. I didn't have anything to do with making it... It doesn't have much in common with the novel at all, except the title."

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However, the Apollo Guide has this thoughtful paragraph in their review. They actually think that King's novel was made stronger by the movie! Anyway, this is a good note to end on: "Of all the King adaptations that deviate considerably from their respective source material, Paul Michael Glaser’s film stands head and shoulders above the rest. Whereas most changes made to King’s tales seem borne from low budgets and lazy screenwriters, this adaptation (courtesy of Die Hard scribe Stephen De Souza) uses the novel as both inspiration and jumping-off-point, confidently respecting the source material while forging ahead to become a very different (and more than a little successful) piece of work."

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Links:

http://www.film4.com/reviews/1987/the-running-man

http://www.apolloguide.com/mov_fullrev.asp?CID=5216

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/running_man/