The Day the Earth Stood Still

by Arthur R. Tofte

A full-length version of the short story upon which the world-famous film was based. With photos from the movie.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Novels

156 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1976

About the author

Arthur Reginald Tofte was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA, in 1902.

He also used the pseudonym Arthur Tofter

Reviews

[Tyana M]

Picked this up at a used book sale thinking it was the original. Instead this is maybe a movie-tie-in, but it’s also not a true film adaptation.
As a result the storytelling is rather juvenile.

[Stephen Orr]

written in 1940 this is an incredible sci fi novella. loved it. only about two or three hours of reading. its message about our planet and our future was decades ahead of its time.
when I think about tim wintons “juice” and our newest booker prize winner “orbital” by samantha harvey their message is all about our most pressing global issue, the climate emergency.
“the day the world stood still” prophesied everything we are dealing with now nearly a century ago. incredible.
i think i need to find the movie on youtube.

[Myra Beatrice]

As other readers have expressed in their reviews, this book seems quite dated now; however, having read other books from this time period and earlier, I don't think that is the main problem. The writing style is extremely simple, which led me at times to feel that it was surely written with a rather young audience in mind, except that the themes or reasoning behind people's actions were often based on things (political disputes, wanting advance payment on a job, etc.) which a person that young might get confused by. I feel like this book would have been vastly improved by a solid editorial check... To be honest I wouldn't particularly recommend it. The ending is basically a 'humanity is bad at the moment, and to stop the galactic guardians (under the name of the "Watchers") from wiping you out Noah's flood-style for losing your morals, you need to shape up'.

[Daniel]

And so, this is not the original story, nor is it a novelization of the film, but something in between.

It is strange, is what it is.

It bears almost no resemblance to the film (though I can see where, if this were a short story, one might get the idea for the film) and so it seems like lying to have it bear the same title and include photos from the picture.

What it makes me think of the most, is someone (Elwood?) capitalizing on the renewed (in the mid-1970's) interest in the film.

Don't bother searching out this hackneyed tripe.

[for-much-deliberation ...]

Also with both 1951 and 2008 supporting movies, the original is ok, of course this follows this story, however Hollywood made a host of changes for the re-make, it still was quite ok though. Yes its a good story, but not one of my favourites.

[P.S. Winn]

Loved the movie even though campy and old school. I had to read he book, still intriguing

[Sean Randall]

Without having seen the film this is quite typical vintage pulp. Stirred nothing inside sadly.

[Bernie4444]

“Your hunting-killing instincts must be controlled. If not…”

As with any book, there is more time to dive into detail and possibly other subjects. I also wonder where it was written as Arthur Tofte used meters instead of feet for measurement.

It says “Tale retold” a full-length version of the short story “Farewell to the “master” by Harry Bates upon which the world-famous film was based. I only read this version so I do not know what has changed. It pretty much matches the movie.

In the center of the book is a portfolio of scenes from the 1951 movie.

It is always fun to read the book even or especially after the movie.

One day a flying saucer comes to earth it brings a mysterious being with a message.
Will we get the message?
Will we heed the message?

[Benn Allen]

This is something of an adaptation/expansion of the short story, "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates rather than the 1951 movie, "The Day the Earth Stood Still". Published in 1976 by Scholastic Books, TDtESS has simple, uncluttered style commonly used in Juvenile/Young Adult literature. As such, it's a smooth, easy read, but lacks depth. It also contains quite a few plot-holes (instead of wanting to gather all the world's leaders to deliver his message, why doesn't Klaatu hold a news conference? It's pretty much what he ends up doing at the end of the story.) Still, TDtESS is okay for what it is. Now, I think I'll have to try to dig up Bates' original story.

[Mike Lisanke]

This was a better story than a good movie But it has the same political motivation implying our misbehavior as a species needed Watching and Peace-keeping by Nut (AKA Gort). But what ever you believe about political connections in free-lance science fiction short stories... this one was fun and had a lot more intricacy than the movie...

I'll be reading the other book basis (and no, I'm unaware why there are two!).

[Leanne Ellis]

This sci fi short story may have inspired a classic movie, but the story is EXTREMELY dated.

[Justin Hall]

Boring, don't quite understand how this was popular.

[Dave The]

Basic, short and simple for this day and age.

[Adrian K.]

This book was hilarious, but I don't think it was supposed to be.

[Rebecca]

I read this book in college.