Wesley Britton's Blog - Posts Tagged "edwin-balmer"

For years, I’ve known of Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer’s When Worlds Collide (1933) and After When Worlds Collide (1934). But, somehow, these novels just didn’t get on my reading list. Until now.

It’s perhaps redundant to talk about the influence of these books, especially as so many important sci fi tropes were introduced in these novels. (note 1) I was astonished to see just how modern the stories remain with a vitality that hasn’t dimmed in over 80 years. I admit I had expected books that would remind me of pulp magazine stories with Flash Gordon trappings and outlandish gimmickry that might serve well in a B-movie. How wrong I was.

When Worlds Collide did have magazine origins. It was first published as a six-part monthly serial from September 1932-February 1933 in Blue Book magazine, illustrated by Joseph Franké.

The story opens when Sven Bronson, a South African astronomer, discovers that a pair of rogue planets from another galaxy, Bronson Alpha and Bronson Beta, are coming closer and closer to earth. In eight months, they would pass close enough to cause the end of our world. On a second pass, Bronson Alpha would crash into our planet—hopefully, Bronson Beta would be habitable if any humans can get there as the planet begins its new orbit around our sun.

In very short order, scientist Cole Hendron leads the effort to create first one, then two atomic powered spaceships, essentially new “arcs”, to carry survivors to Beta. As both planetary bodies will make one pass before coming around a second time, the moon is destroyed as tidal waves sweep inland at a height of 750 feet along with volcanic eruptions and earthquakes that reduce earth’s population in giant numbers. Angry mobs begin to ravage the United States, many refusing to accept what the scientific community is telling everyone.

Hedron sets up a large camp where the spaceships are being built, a prospect that only works when a team finds material tough enough to make rocket tubes capable of withstanding the heat of the atomic exhaust. The camp loses roughly half of its 1,000 inhabitants when a mob army attacks, killing many before being defeated by a blast from the rocket engines.

The American ships carrying around 600 people make a successful landing on Bronson Beta after a 90 day journey, although they lose contact with each other. Happily, Beta is indeed habitable by humans.

The sequel, After Worlds Collide, was published quickly on the heels of its predecessor. It too first appeared as a six-part monthly serial from November 1933–April 1934 in Blue Book magazine. In it, the Americans learn about fantastic if empty domed cities full of very advanced technology and livable structures left behind by the people who had once lived on Bronson Beta before they disappeared when the planet was sent on its space voyage far from their home star. In addition, the survivors learn other ships made successful landings, but several of them from Japan, Germany, and Russia attack first the British and then the Americans in order to impose their rule over all humans. Hedron dubs them the Midianites before he dies, like Moses, in view of the domed city his people will live in.

Because of the planet’s elliptical orbit, Beta gets colder and colder and one night, the Midianites disconnect the power supply to the city of Hendron's people. In a very rushed conclusion, four Americans and one British female who escaped from the slavery of the Midianites infiltrate the dome of the “Dominion” colony and take out its leadership. The book ends on a very positive note, clearly leaving open possibilities for a third volume, but no sequel was ever published or apparently written.

There is much to praise for both these novels. A decade before actual atomic power was created and Three decades before Mercury space capsules were launched, the authors present seemingly plausible scientific discussions, at least for the general reader, of how the rocket ships were engineered, constructed and powered. (note 2) From beginning to end, the Worlds Collide books had considerable believability and continue to be just as realistic now as much as back in the early 1930s, despite obvious issues like Bronson Alpha being so large it would have done much more than allowed in the book.

The fantastic adventures were grounded by the well-drawn characters. There’s Tony Drake, who accepts the leadership mantle from Hedron even as he competes with Dave Ransdell for that position as well as the affections of Eve Hedron, the alluring daughter of the scientist. There’s also writer Eliot James who becomes the survivors’ historian.

All these characters deal with moral and philosophical issues in the wake of earth’s destruction, such as how marriage between one man and one woman will no longer be workable as females now outnumber men and everyone has a responsibility to rebuild humanity from the comparatively few survivors.

In 1951, Paramount Pictures released a film adaptation of When Worlds Collide produced by George Pal with a script written by Sydney Boehm. Not surprisingly, the book’s plot is streamlined with character names changed and some story points emphasized but not others. (note 3) While there was talk of filming After When Worlds Collide, box office returns for WWC didn’t suggest much success would result. Reportedly, a remake is being discussed now with possible involvement of Steven Spielberg. Stay tuned.


Notes

1. A list of tropes is available at:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php...

2. According to Wikipedia, Philip Wylie was at one time an adviser to the chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee for Atomic Energy which led to the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission.
During World War II, writing The Paradise Crater (1945) resulted in Wylie’s house arrest by the federal government; in the novel, he described a post-WWII 1965 Nazi conspiracy to develop and use uranium-237 bombs, written months before the first successful atomic test at Alamagordo – the most highly classified secret of the war.
His 1954 novel Tomorrow! dealt graphically with the civilian impact of thermonuclear war to make a case for a strong Civil Defense network in the United States, as he told the story of two neighboring cities (one prepared, one unprepared) before and after an attack by missile-armed Soviet bombers. This was adapted in 1956 by ABC Radio, as a one-hour drama narrated by Orson Welles.

3. According to Wikipedia, Edwin Balmer helped create (with artist Marvin Bradley) the syndicated comic strip Speed Spaulding, partially based on the Worlds Collide series, which ran from 1938 through 1941.

For more on Speed Spaulding, check out:
http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/20...

and

http://strippersguide.blogspot.com.br...