“You Know–For Kids!”
Name the Classic
A recent challenge in our Minute-Men: Execute and Run newsletter asked folks to identify the classic predecessors to the six books and films pictured above. Some of the contemporary spinoffs–like The Scarlet Letter Man and All for One–are fairly obvious. I figured the titles alone were enough to link them to the novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Alexandre Dumas.
By contrast, I was certain some of the others would be harder to identify. And yet, those were the ones most folks responded to.
Take, for example …
Scientist Morbius conjures the image of Altaira in Forbidden Planet.
The Tempest / Forbidden Planet
Right off the bat, editor and web designer W. H. Horner reached out to say that the film Forbidden Planet (1956) is “loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest.” He then went on to add that he even “wrote a paper about that in college!”
Also identifying the Forbidden Planet / Tempest connection were writers Ben Unsworth and Barton Paul Levinson, both of whom also identified what I thought would be the most challenging connection of all, namely …
The Barber / Rabbit of Seville
Actually, lots of folks recognized the Chuck Jones homage to Rossini’s Barber of Seville, with Jon Freeze writing that “Elmer and Bugs get married in this one. Oh, my childhood! lol”
Clearly, our newsletter subscribers know their classics.
Want more proof? Consider …
Hamlet / Tragic
I thought folks might need to look closely at the cover art of Dana Mele‘s graphic novel Tragic to see that it was a reworking of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. But, as the Prince of Denmark himself might say, it was not to be, as evidenced by this comment from Ben Unsworth:
[Tragic is] on my shelf. I bought it in the same trip that I bought Junji Ito’s take on Frankenstein and an anthology called Violent Delights and Midsummer Dreams, which are horror short story retellings of Shakespeare plays.
I must never again underestimate our newsletter subscribers.
But what of the last pairing? Let’s take a look at …
High Noon / Three O’clock High
Yes, this was a tough one. Partly because, as brother Mark Connolly says, “I thought [Three O’Clock High] was based on High Noon, as many people think. However, in reality, it was an original story.”
I’m not one to argue with Mark. He knows his stuff and has an Emmy Award to prove it. Nevertheless, since both High Noon and Three O’clock High feature a clock-watching protagonist facing an unavoidable confrontation, I felt the connection was valid. Beyond that, referencing Three O’clock gives me the chance to point out that the film’s screenwriter, Richard Christian Matheson, has just released a new edition of his story collection Zoopraxis.
If you’re looking for some good reading while waiting for the release of Minute-Men: Execute & Run, R.C.’s book might just fit the bill.
And the Winner Is …
As announced in the July 22 installment of our Minute-Men newsletter:
Chris and I will send a copy of Minute-Men: Execute & Run (due in October) to one respondent (chosen at random) who correctly identifies the classic works of fiction or cinema that inspired three or more of the above titles.
This one was easy, for although many respondents correctly paired one or two of the spinoffs with classic works, only Mark and Ben named three or more. And since brother Mark wrote, “Don’t include me in the drawing; I just had fun playing,” Ben is the winner. Congratulations!
What Else is New?
This week’s installment of the Minute-Men newsletter (releasing on August 5) features an all-new challenge (possibly our best yet) as well as coverage of a Minute-Men event at the Confluence Science Fiction Convention.
In addition, the newsletter reports on the Execute & Run podcast tour, which began last week with interviews on The Corcoran Entertainment Show and the Basters and Blades Podcast.
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