ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Phantom, that is a magnificent review, extremely well written. I can't tell you how happy I am that you've returned to All Sci-Fi.

As you know, you're a big part of why I created the first version of All Sci-Fi in 2006 after we shared those wonderful posts on the IMDB message boards.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Steve Joyce]

[Gord Green]

The Spencer Tracy movie role that I most loved was as the police chief in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World"!!!
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Pow]

Interestingly, Fredrik March & Spencer Tracy would face off against one another in the terrific movie Inherit the Wind in 1960. Wonder if they ever discussed their both playing Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.

I will say that the sets & fog shrouded, lamp-lit streets in Tracy's film are marvelously atmospheric.

[Bud Brewster]

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I've always had a problem with the concept of Mr. Hyde — both in the stories and the movie versions.

In the novel (which I have read) Dr. Jekyll states that he wants to separate the good aspects of his nature from the evil aspects.

Oddly enough, he wasn't trying to purge his evil side so he could become pure goodness. Instead. he wanted to create a version of himself that could revel in his evil desires without his good half feeling guilt about his actions.

What puzzles me is the fact that his evil desires seem to be nothing but acts of sadistic cruelty!

Heck, I would understand it if Jekyll was a frustrated man who lived in a sexually repressive Victorian society, and he desperately wanted to get laid twice a week without feeling guilty about it.

But no . . . he wanted to dash about London, gleefully causing pain and suffering!

I mean, in other words, I think Robert Louis Stevenson missed his chance to write a very interesting story about a straight-laced English doctor who could occasionally disguise his appearance and unleash his true horny nature to sneak out and party like it was 1999!

But hey, what do I know, right? I'm just published author with the most literate message board on the web!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

I have to say, for RLS to have written the kind of novel you describe, Bruce, would be lackluster. Seeing the good doctor change to naughty Hyde to make whoopee with the ladies sounds like a real snoozer to me.

[Bud Brewster]

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I respect your opinion, Mike, and I won't try to change it. For me, however, the problem with the existing story is that it makes no damn sense.

A good man wants to create a formula that allows him to turn into a sadistic bastard and avoid prosecution.

Geez, where's the fun in that?

However, I'd love a story about a brilliant doctor who creates a formula that changes his appearance to disguise himself, so that the people in his sexually repressive society won't recognize him.

The formula also inhibits his own feelings of guilt when he commits sexual act which he was raised to disapprove of!

In other words, he's normal — but his society is warped and repressive!

So, my version of the story is not about a respected-but-frustrated man who wants to turn himself into a twisted and illogical individual. It's about a normal man who wants to "cheat the system" and get away with doing things that are purely natural!

In my opinion, Robert Louis Stevenson's novel is a failed attempt to create a horror story. Dr. Jekyll is not a character I have the least bit of sympathy or respect for, the way we all feel about poor Lawrence Talbot when the werewolf bites him.

In this story, a clever a fellow simply uses science to alter both his appearance and his own repressive up-bringing so he can get away with "naughty behavior" in a Victorian society, without caring about the silly prudes of that era.

Mike, I know I'm changing this classic horror story into a sex comedy . . . but RLS's story really doesn't interest me. I'm just not a "horror guy".

But I am a "sexy comedy" guy. That's why I love Who Was That Lady.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]