Prophets of Science Fiction TV Series. . .

[GlenBarrington]

I just discovered it on the Science Channel. I got to see the episode on Robert A Heinlein. I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed his work and how they have affected me. More importantly, it enlightened my son about some of the earlier SF authors.

I was disappointed though that there was no mention of his juvenile fiction. Probably the best of which was "Podycane of Mars". Ironically his last, unless you count Starship Troopers as a Juvenile. (It isn't, IMO though I think you could argue it has some elements of the Juvenile works)

I can't tell you how those 'juveniles' shaped my taste in fiction. They are still worth the investment in time.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

I just discovered it on the Science Channel. I got to see the episode on Robert A Heinlein. I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed his work and how they have affected me. More importantly, it enlightened my son about some of the earlier SF authors.

I was disappointed though that there was no mention of his juvenile fiction. Probably the best of which was "Podycane of Mars". Ironically his last, unless you count Starship Troopers as a Juvenile. (It isn't, IMO though I think you could argue it has some elements of the Juvenile works)

I can't tell you how those 'juveniles' shaped my taste in fiction. They are still worth the investment in time.

+1
Apache

[plib]

I grok.

TANSTAAFL

[sabredog]

My favourite early work of Heinlein is Starman Jones. Even when I first read the book at 14, we still used log table books in maths, so the concept of starship navigators being mathematics geniuses rang sort of true. However it is a great story in its own right.

Most of the rest of his later books are simply weird.

[alansplace]

I put the following in a spoiler because it's kinda' long. It's mostly a list and concerns Robert A. Heinlein but is sorta' haphazard.

Spoiler:

Life-Line (1939 in the original published version, 1951 in book collections)
"Let There Be Light" (soon after Life-Line)
Word Edgewise (Never written)
The Roads Must Roll
Blowups Happen
The Man Who Sold the Moon
Delilah and the Space Rigger
Space Jockey
Requiem
The Long Watch (1999)
Gentlemen, Be Seated!
The Black Pits of Luna
"It's Great to Be Back!"
"—We Also Walk Dogs"
Searchlight
Ordeal in Space
The Green Hills of Earth
Fire Down Below (Never written)
Logic of Empire
The Menace from Earth
The Sound of His Wings (Never written)
Eclipse (Never written)
The Stone Pillow (Never written)
"If This Goes On—"
Coventry
Misfit
Universe (prologue only) (2119)
Methuselah's Children (2136-2210)
Universe (~3500)
Common Sense (~3500)
Time Enough for Love (4272- and earlier time periods)
To Sail Beyond the Sunset

Novels featuring Lazarus include:
Methuselah's Children (1941)
Time Enough for Love (1973)
The Number of the Beast (1980)
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985)
To Sail Beyond the Sunset (1987)
A book containing sayings of the character Lazarus Long (largely taken from Time Enough for Love) was separately published shortly after Time.
The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

Novels featuring Lazarus include:
Methuselah's Children (1941)
Time Enough for Love (1973)
The Number of the Beast (1980)
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985)
To Sail Beyond the Sunset (1987)
A book containing sayings of the character Lazarus Long (largely taken from Time Enough for Love) was separately published shortly after Time.
The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

Future History & World as Myth

The Man Who Sold the Moon (1950)
The Green Hills of Earth (1951)
Revolt in 2100 (1953)
Orphans of the Sky (1963)
Methuselah's Children (1958)
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966)
The Past Through Tomorrow (1967)
Time Enough for Love (1973)
The Number of the Beast (1980)
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985)
To Sail Beyond the Sunset (1987)

Other novels
For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs (1939/2003)
Beyond This Horizon (1948)
Sixth Column (1949)
The Puppet Masters (1951)
Double Star (1956)
The Door into Summer (1957)
Starship Troopers (1959)
Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
Podkayne of Mars (1963)
Glory Road (1963)
Farnham's Freehold (1964)
I Will Fear No Evil (1970)
Friday (1982)
Job: A Comedy of Justice (1984
Variable Star (1955/2006)

Non-fiction
Take Back Your Government (1946/1992)
Tramp Royale (1954/1992)
Expanded Universe (1980)
Grumbles from the Grave (1989)

Inventions presaged
In Heinlein's works, there are many concepts that have become actual products. What follows is a partial list.
Automatic light switches (from "The Man Who Sold The Moon")
Hand dryers (from "Coventry")
Drafting software (from "The Door Into Summer")
Mobile phones (from "Space Cadet", "Between Planets" and "Assignment in Eternity")
Moving walkways (called "slidewalks" in "Space Cadet" and "slideways" in "Beyond This Horizon")
Solar panels (from "The Roads Must Roll" and "Coventry")
Waldoes (remote manipulators) (from "Waldo")
Screensavers (from "Stranger In A Strange Land")
The San Francisco-Oakland BART Transbay Tube (from "Citizen of the Galaxy")
Waterbeds (from "Double Star", "Stranger In A Strange Land", "Beyond This Horizon", and "Waldo")
Vehicle remote keyless system (called a "magic wand" in "The Number of the Beast")
Online newspapers (from "Beyond This Horizon")
Radio clocks (from "Blowups Happen")

"Future History" short fiction
"Life-Line", 1939
"Let There Be Light", 1940
—And He Built a Crooked House, 1940
"Misfit", 1939
"The Roads Must Roll", 1940
"Requiem", 1940
"If This Goes On—", 1940
"Coventry", 1940
"Blowups Happen", 1940
"Universe", 1941
"—We Also Walk Dogs" 1941 (as Anson MacDonald)
"Common Sense", 1941
"Methuselah's Children", 1941 (lengthened and published as a novel, 1958)
"Logic of Empire", 1941
"Space Jockey", 1947
"It's Great to Be Back!", 1947
"The Green Hills of Earth", 1947
"Ordeal in Space", 1948
"The Long Watch", 1948
"Gentlemen, Be Seated!", 1948
"The Black Pits of Luna", 1948
"Delilah and the Space Rigger", 1949
"The Man Who Sold the Moon", 1951, (Retro Hugo Award)
"The Menace From Earth", 1957
"Searchlight", 1962

Collections
The Man Who Sold the Moon, 1950
Waldo & Magic, Inc., 1950
The Green Hills of Earth, 1951
Assignment in Eternity, 1953
Revolt in 2100, 1953
The Robert Heinlein Omnibus, 1958
The Menace From Earth, 1959
The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, 1959 (aka: 6 X H)
Three by Heinlein, 1965
A Robert Heinlein Omnibus, 1966
The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein, 1966
The Past Through Tomorrow, 1967 (almost-complete Future History collection, missing "Let There Be Light," "Universe," and "Common Sense")
The Best of Robert A. Heinlein, 1973
Expanded Universe, 1980
A Heinlein Trio, 1980 (omnibus of The Puppet Masters, Double Star, and The Door Into Summer)
The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein, 1999 (omnibus of Waldo & Magic, Inc. and The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag)
Infinite Possibilities, 2003 (omnibus of Tunnel in the Sky, Time for the Stars, and Citizen of the Galaxy)
To the Stars, 2004 (omnibus of Between Planets, The Rolling Stones, Starman Jones, and The Star Beast)
Off the Main Sequence, 2005 (short stories including three never before collected)
Four Frontiers, 2005 (omnibus of Rocket Ship Galileo, Space Cadet, Red Planet, and Farmer in the Sky)
Outward Bound, 2006 (omnibus of Have Space Suit—Will Travel, Starship Troopers, Podkayne of Mars)

The Scribner's juveniles
1. Rocket Ship Galileo, 1947
2. Space Cadet, 1948
3. Red Planet, 1949
4. Between Planets, 1951
5. The Rolling Stones aka Space Family Stone, 1952
6. Farmer in the Sky, 1953
7. Starman Jones, 1953
8. The Star Beast, 1954
9. Tunnel in the Sky, 1955
10. Time for the Stars, 1956
11. Citizen of the Galaxy, 1957
12. Have Space Suit—Will Travel, 1958

Scribner's rejected Starship Troopers in 1959,
Podkayne
Heinlein wrote "I grew so fond of Maureen [Puddin'] that I helped her to get rid of that excess weight, changed her name to "Podkayne," and moved her to Mars (along with her unbearable kid brother)."[7]
Heinlein felt that a particular ending was dramatically necessary to the story, but early readers hated it, and he reluctantly changed it. The book has since been released with both the original published ending and Heinlein's original ending.
Podkayne of Mars, 1963, re-released 1995 with both endings
The table below does not list most of the collections of short stories by Heinlein that have been published. Besides his many novels, Heinlein also wrote and published a huge number of short stories that were first published in the science fiction magazines and elewhere.

Scouting stories for boys
When he returned to writing after World War II, Heinlein sought to diversify beyond pulp science fiction. The "Boy Scout" stories, originally printed in the Boy Scouts of America magazine Boys' Life, were part of that effort.[4] Farmer in the Sky, which also had a strong connection to Scouting, was serialized in Boys' Life under the title "Satellite Scout". Heinlein considered writing another Boy Scout story called "Polar Scout" in conjunction with a planned trip to Antarctica in early 1964, with the goal of releasing a collection of Scouting-related stories as a juvenile book. The trip did not take place and the author never wrote "Polar Scout".[5]
"Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon", 1949
"Tenderfoot in Space", 1958
[edit] Puddin' stories for girls
Upon delivery of one of his early juveniles, his editor at Scribner's commented that she wished somebody would write some stories for girls.[6] Heinlein took this as a challenge and wrote a short story for girls. The story, a first-person tale featuring Maureen "Puddin'", appeared under the byline "R. A. Heinlein" in Calling All Girls magazine. He wrote two more, and planned four additional stories with the goal of publishing a collection titled Men Are Exasperating, but he never wrote any more and the Puddin' stories have never been collected in one volume.
"Poor Daddy", 1949
"Cliff and the Calories", 1950
"The Bulletin Board", 1951

[RDaneel54]

Alan, good stuff about RAH. Like a trip down memory lane. So many of his works have influenced me.

Thanks.

Dean

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by RDaneel54

Alan, good stuff about RAH. Like a trip down memory lane. So many of his works have influenced me.

Thanks.

Dean

You're welcome. And now that you mention it, every time I see your sign-on and your Avatar it always makes me think of Isaac Asimov and then that takes me on a trip down memory lane as well.

[Solitaire1]

I saw the episode about Isaac Asimov and found it very interesting. Although I was familiar with some of Asimov's work, mostly his robot stories, it was interesting to see how much of an influence he has had on the concept of robots.

[stonetools]

Can you get to watch this on the web, or do you need a subscription to cable? ( I don't have one and plan not to get one).
Who's next up?

Arthur C. Clarke?
Murray Leinster?

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by stonetools

Can you get to watch this on the web, or do you need a subscription to cable? ( I don't have one and plan not to get one).
Who's next up?

Arthur C. Clarke?
Murray Leinster?

Episodes

[stonetools]

Thanks.
Interesting see the pictures of the authors. Would have liked to have see more authors. Bookmarked.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by stonetools

Thanks.
Interesting see the pictures of the authors. Would have liked to have see more authors. Bookmarked.

Most of the pics on that page (the link provided by mbovenka) are not of the author, but of the actor portraying the author in that episode. Also the 'watch video' link on that page does not play the entire episode.

[cjr72]

Originally Posted by stonetools

Can you get to watch this on the web, or do you need a subscription to cable? ( I don't have one and plan not to get one).
Who's next up?

Arthur C. Clarke?
Murray Leinster?

Itunes has them for $2.99 an episode and Amazon Instant Video has them for $1.99 an episode.