Talk:Who Goes There?/Archive 1

Archive 1

There is no "Vane"

Closely read a hard-copy version of the story (SF Hall of Fame IIA, ed. Ben Bova) and there is no mention of a character named "Vane" anywhere in the story. This is borne out by checking online pages (archive.org, scaryforkids) also containing the story; consequently I've removed that name from the character list, and it should not be reverted unless someone can cite a passage containing "Vane".

The "Vane" name was probably a confusion, arising from one of two places. 1) the pilot Van Wall is frequently referred to as "Van", and 2) physicist Norris' first name is given as Vance. You can convince yourself of the accuracy of this edit by searching "van" and/or "vane" in online versions of the text.

While on the subject of names, four other names of persons not at the site are given in the last few paragraphs of Ch.7. Copper mentions one "Dr. Rhine of Duke University" who has established that telepathy exist. A few lines later, Garry worrys about superiors back in civilization, including "Byrd, Ellsworth... (and) Captain Forsythe". The only "vane" in the entire story is when McReady is describing the alien ship during Ch.1 as being like a submarine "without a conning tower or directive vanes." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:558:6014:3D:594:9E93:67E6:353F (talk) 19:29, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

In real life, J.B. Rhine of Duke U was an early researcher into ESP (telepathy etc) and was in the news from 1931- on; the general public (esp. fans of both science research and speculative fiction) would have recognized Campbell's Rhine ref as there to lend the S-F story a connection to science news. Writers who used telepathy and psychokinesis as plot points often used Rhine's theories to give an air of versimilitude and consistency to their stories. -- Naaman Brown (talk) 21:10, 7 August 2017 (UTC)

Scary for Kids External Link

Is the supplied link to the story reproduction on scaryforkids.com appropriate? As far as I know, copyright on the work was renewed in 1966 (possibly even after that) and there seems to be no appropriate permission, let alone citation, on the referenced site ... not to mention a pile of adverts. D.brodale 00:52, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

Replying to myself ... seems this was a drive-by linkspamming attempt. I've reverted to the prior link, but still wonder whether it's an appropriate resource, as I don't believe this work has fallen into the public domain. D.brodale 00:56, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

I've removed these links again, which suggests a rather persistent spammer. If it carries on it might be worth looking into whether this is the only article being hit and, if not, then we might want to get the site blacklisted.

I can find no evidence that this is public domain - if it is then people should provide links to sites like Project Gutenberg, which is very careful about checking the status of the works they upload. (Emperor (talk) 17:01, 29 August 2011 (UTC))

The story is not public domain in the United States. First published in August 1938, it received a 28-year initial copyright term, expiring in August 1966; at which time it would either go public domain or obtain a renewal term (of what is now 67 years) if timely renewed in the previous year. A search of the U.S. Copyright Office's Catalog of Copyright Entries shows that renewal was made in October 1965, renewal no. R370757:

CAMPBELL, JOHN W. JR.

Who Goes There? by Don A. Stuart,

pseud. (In Astounding science-

fiction magazine, Aug. 1938)

© 22Jul38 B383631. John W. Camp-

bell, Jr. (Don A. Stuart) (A);

10Oct65 R370757.

The copyright on this story therefore expires December 31, 2033. TJRC (talk) 17:56, 29 August 2011 (UTC)

Spam?

That link to the print and audio edition of the book is pure spam, isn't it? 121.79.33.195 (talk) 10:34, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

At the Mountains of Madness

I just recently read a comment by Derek C. F. Pegritz to a book review. Here is the comment:

"Who Goes There?" was broadly inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, though aside from the polar setting and the discovery of frozen aliens, the stories differ considerably in tone and execution. Nonetheless, the similarities are pretty obvious, most notable the appearance of the thing found in the ice, which is quite Lovecraftian in appearance.

You can read the review and comments here: http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/09/review-who-goes-there-by-john-w-campbell/. Lovecraft's novella is older than Campbell's so it is definitely possible that Campbell got some inspiration from Lovecraft's story. --Uikku (talk) 08:49, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

The setting of "At the Mountains of Madness" was inspired (according to Lovecraft himself) by Edgar Allan Poe's "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym". Poe's Pym inspired Jules Verne to write "An Antarctic Mystery" as a homage/sequel (by admission of Verne himself). Those points are valid for stories about Antarctica or based on Hollow Earth Theory.

• Astounding Stories (editor, F. Orlin Tremaine)
• At the Moumtains of Madness H.P. Lovecraft (Feb/Mar/Apr 1936)
• Astounding Science-Fiction (renamed by new editor, John W. Cambell, Jr.)
• Who Goes There? John W. Campbell, Jr. (Aug 1938)

Could be HPL inspired JWC. Before connecting dots on the page about Campbell's tale, I would like to find Campbell's account of the writing of his story and its inspiration. Speculative fiction tales about mysterious happenings are often set in remote places which helps the reader to suspend disbelief (Himalayas/Shangri-La, Antarctica, vast deserts, thick jungles, desert isles, Point Nemo/R'Lyeh). However, Antarctica was a hot topic in the 1930s. --Naaman Brown (talk) 13:05, 10 June 2018 (UTC)

FTR: Speculations on this subject added by BONKEROO 15 Oct 2011 and expanded by Naaman Brown 5 Jan 2012 were correctly removed from the article 29 Jan 2012 as speculation. Notable source attributing inspiration to Campbell himself is required. Speculation should remain in Talk until reliably sourced for the article. --Naaman Brown (talk) 13:26, 10 June 2018 (UTC)

Making Connections

It seems as if "Who Goes There?" needs more recognition for its contributions to the Science Fiction art. It was the inspiration to a film that is continuously being written. Through all the remakes the audiences have not been limited. A book written in 1938 is still alive through a film that's recent edition came out in 2011. There is room on the page to make the connections and show the differences. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kadrog (talk • contribs) 04:19, 3 November 2011 (UTC)

I made a small edit that will hopefully make this transition easy. I moved the "Adaptations" section to be displayed after the "Plot" section. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alexpavek (talk • contribs) 21:48, 8 November 2011 (UTC)

I like you changes. I actually like the format of the page, but I wish I could find the visuals. I actually like the format of the page it has its sections which are properly done. The only thing I wish we could add is media. I am having troubles finding sources so I don't feel like I can add those, because they are not from creditable sources. The structure I feel is good, but as we add information it will develop better. I wish I could find more sources other then just the bios of Campbell and Carpenter. The current structure does have the sub-headings and headings that are acceptable. The information is not run-on. There is a table breaking up information.

I know we wanted to explain the differences between the book and films, and also how the book inspired the films. Is is nessacary to add an additional section for this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alexpavek (talk • contribs) 18:29, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

Original Title?

In the collection _The Antarktos Cycle_ (Chaosium Inc., 1999; ISBN 978-1568821467), the story appears as "The Thing From Another World"; Robert M Price mentions in the introduction that that was Campbell's original title, and that for publication in Astounding, it was retitled as "Who Goes There?" It seems that the alternate title has stuck. Can this be verified, and if so should the original be given precedence? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.189.207.114 (talk) 17:01, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Horror Express

I removed the sections on Horror Express as it isn't credited as an adaptation of this book nor are any references given which make this claim. Apparently back in January 2015, 96.245.88.207 decided to add this information to this article, Template:The Thing, Horror Express, and this article without any references at all. I am assuming this is just original research on their part. Justeditingtoday (talk) 20:11, 28 December 2016 (UTC)