The Body Snatchers: Difference between revisions
removed lots of plot description because it was confusing, referring to characters without explaining who they are, and comparing different versions of the story without establishing basics |
film adaptations added |
||
| Line 3: | Line 3: | ||
The duplicates live only five years, and they cannot sexually reproduce; consequently, if unstopped, they will quickly turn Earth into a dead planet and move on to the next world. |
The duplicates live only five years, and they cannot sexually reproduce; consequently, if unstopped, they will quickly turn Earth into a dead planet and move on to the next world. |
||
Unlike the first three film adaptations, the novel contains an optimistic ending, with the aliens voluntarily vacating after deciding that they cannot tolerate the type of resistance they see in the main characters. |
The novel has been adapted for the screen four times; the first film in [[Invasion of the Body Snatchers|1956]], the second in [[Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)|1978]], the third in [[Body Snatchers|1993]], and the most recent in [[The Invasion (film)|2007]]. Unlike the first three film adaptations, the novel contains an optimistic ending, with the aliens voluntarily vacating after deciding that they cannot tolerate the type of resistance they see in the main characters. |
||
A short story by Philip K. Dick, "The Father-Thing," which appeared in the ''Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'', December 1954, also used the idea of pods duplicating humans, and fire being the means of destroying the pods. |
A short story by Philip K. Dick, "The Father-Thing," which appeared in the ''Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'', December 1954, also used the idea of pods duplicating humans, and fire being the means of destroying the pods. |
||
Revision as of 03:20, 27 October 2008
The Body Snatchers is a 1955 science fiction novel by Jack Finney, originally serialized in Colliers Magazine in 1954, which describes a town in Marin County, California, being invaded by seeds that have drifted to Earth from space. The seeds replace sleeping people with perfect physical duplicates grown from plantlike pods, while their human victims turn to dust.
The duplicates live only five years, and they cannot sexually reproduce; consequently, if unstopped, they will quickly turn Earth into a dead planet and move on to the next world.
The novel has been adapted for the screen four times; the first film in 1956, the second in 1978, the third in 1993, and the most recent in 2007. Unlike the first three film adaptations, the novel contains an optimistic ending, with the aliens voluntarily vacating after deciding that they cannot tolerate the type of resistance they see in the main characters.
A short story by Philip K. Dick, "The Father-Thing," which appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1954, also used the idea of pods duplicating humans, and fire being the means of destroying the pods.
First edition
- Finney, Jack. The Body Snatchers. New York : Dell, c1955
See also
- Pod People
- The Puppet Masters (1951), a novel by Robert A. Heinlein with a very similar concept.
- It Came From Outer Space (1953), based on a Ray Bradbury story, which had an alien invasion where humans are duplicated by the aliens.
- The Faculty (1998), a film that mentions the connection between The Body Snatchers and The Puppet Masters.
- The Host (2008), a novel by Stephanie Meyer, depicts a world where the human population has already been taken over by parasitic aliens.
Adaptations
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
- Body Snatchers (1993)
- The Invasion (2007)
External links
 | This article about a 1950s science fiction novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. |