The Secret Of The Cardboard Rocket (Hansen) 1988
The Secret Of The Cardboard Rocket (Hansen) 1988
62
views
Vortex 1957
Planetarium Light Show soundtrack (Morrison Planetarium)
Before Laserium, before lava lamps, before Pink Floyd…there was “Vortex” at Morrison Planetarium - the first abstract light show performed in a planetarium environment, using stars, special effects, film projection, and multidirectional sound that used the new medium of magnetic recording tape, piped through 38 speakers. Developed in 1957 by Henry Jacobs, Jordan Belson, and David Talcott, it was brought back five times through 1959 and was even performed at the World Fair in Brussels in 1958. The 1974 update (pictured here) was performed by former Planetarium artist David Porazzo and electronic musician Douglas McKechnie, with audio assistance provided by a young Stephen Hill, whose involvement in space and music would evolve into the long-running “Music from the Hearts of Space” program on public radio.
40
views
"No Morning After" Planetarium Show by Arthur C. Clarke
What if the end came and we were never given the warning or escape plan? The short story No Morning After by Arthur C. Clarke looks at just that scenario but with a twist only Clarke can get away with. What if the one guy who could save us simply didn’t care?
Once again digging into the 1978 anthology “The Worlds of Arthur C. Clarke – Of Time and Stars” from Puffin Publishing we’ve had the pleasure of referencing previously here at Amazing Stories, we find a fantastic short story.
First published in 1954 in a collection edited by August Derleth titled Time to Come: Science-Fiction Stories of Tomorrow, the story No Morning After has a lot of literary elements including humor, satire, irony, tragedy, and a little bit of prophetic charm.
William Cross is a disgruntled rocket scientist whose girlfriend just left him for another man. After years of designing missiles for the military and a sudden epiphany that his dreams of space travel may never come to fruition, he turns to the bottle to ease his sorrows.
Over five hundred light-years away, an alien race called Thaarns realize Earth’s sun is going to explode. In an attempt to warn the humans and help them escape, they use telepathy and bridge a worm hole with hopes of contacting them. Unfortunately, the only person they are able to make contact with is William Cross. Deep in a drunken stupor, the man believes he is hallucinating.
The future existence of mankind rests in the hands of a cynical man at perhaps the lowest moment in his life. Clarke gives his readers a lot to think about in this story. What if all hope is ignored because our hero simply doesn’t care anymore?
At one point, the character Cross explains his exasperation to the aliens.
“It would be the best thing that could possibly happen. Yes, it would save a whole lot of misery. No one would have to worry about the Russians and the atom bomb and the high cost of living. Oh, it would be wonderful! It’s just what everybody wants. Nice of you to come along and tell us, but just you go back home and pull your old bridge after you.”
The fear of Russians and the atom bomb is a clear indicator of the social climate of the mid 1950’s, but I found the reference to the high cost of living humorous because this complaint is global and timeless. Now I doubt the end of the world is “just what everybody wants,” but Clarke was a master at finding ways to draw on the reader’s emotions in one way or another, regardless of their background.
Sure there are a lot of unanswered questions in the end, but that is the point of the story. It creates thought and hopefully conversation. Is the character Cross the protagonist or antagonist? Is he a hero as the voice of mankind? Would anyone have listened to him if he tried to warn others? Did the aliens fail or does the fault lay with Cross?
No Morning After is one of those stories you can read over and over and find something new every time. Of all the stories by Arthur C. Clarke, this one stands out because of vast content packed into a mere 2234 words. You can find the text of this gem at various locations across the interweb, so check it out if you get a chance and let me know what you think.
53
views
"The Last Question" Planetarium Show by Isaac Asimov
Rumble — The story deals with the development of a series of computers, Multivac, and its relationships with humanity through the courses of seven historic settings, beginning on the day in 2061 that Earth becomes a planetary civilization. In each of the first six scenes, a different character presents the computer with the same question, how the threat to human existence posed by the heat death of the universe can be averted: "How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?" That is equivalent to asking, "Can the workings of the second law of thermodynamics (used in the story as the increase of the entropy of the universe) be reversed?" Multivac's only response after much "thinking" is "INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER."
The story jumps forward in time into later eras of human and scientific development. In each era, someone decides to ask the ultimate "last question" regarding the reversal and decrease of entropy. Each time that Multivac's descendant is asked the question, it finds itself unable to solve the problem, and all it can answer is (linguistically increasingly-sophisticated) "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER."
In the last scene, the god-like descendant of humanity, the unified mental process of over a trillion, trillion, trillion humans who have spread throughout the universe, watches the stars flicker out, one by one, as matter and energy end, and with them, space and time. Humanity asks AC, Multivac's ultimate descendant that exists in hyperspace beyond the bounds of gravity or time, the entropy question one last time, before the last of humanity merges with AC and disappears. AC is still unable to answer but continues to ponder the question even after space and time cease to exist. AC ultimately realizes that it has not yet combined all of its available data in every possible combination and so begins the arduous process of rearranging and combining every last bit of information that it has gained throughout the eons and through its fusion with humanity. Eventually AC discovers the answer - that the reversal of entropy is, in fact, possible - but has nobody to report it to, since the universe is already dead. It therefore decides to answer by demonstration, since that will also create someone to give the answer to. The story ends with AC's pronouncement:
And AC said: "LET THERE BE LIGHT!" And there was light
45
views
"Starbound" Planetarium Show Soundtrack by Jack Horkheimer
"Starbound" Planetarium Show Soundtrack by Jack Foley Horkheimer from 1980
16
views
