Short Story, “Microcosmic God”

This short story is about a scientist named James Kidder who goes by Mr. Kidder. Mr. Kidder lives on a small island off the New England coast by himself, and specializes in biochemistry. One thing about Mr. Kidder that I think is very interesting is that he never graduated from a college or university, yet he was one of the greatest scientists and was very powerful. He said that he “applied what he knew, what he saw, and what he was taught” when researching or working on an experiment. The two main ideas that he concentrated on were genetics and animal metabolism. A couple of Mr. Kidder’s characteristics and the types of things he did reminded me of what you would think of when you hear about mad scientists. Mr. Kidder made me think of a mad scientist because he did things like throwing seashells at seagulls, wandering around the island, swearing, drinking, and hallucinating. Most important of all, Mr. Kidder was a mad scientist because of the genetic research he did. When no one had heard from Mr. Kidder for a long time, a man was sent to the island to see if he was still alive. It was said that he was amazed at what he had seen there. What kinds of things did he see on the island? Things that he had created include a method of dirtless farming, structural metals, a light pump, and synthetic chlorophyll. The craziest thing that Mr. Kidder created was a new race that would develop and evolve very quickly, surpassing civilization of man. I think that this is very interesting but crazy!

Short Story, “The Yellow Pill”

The main character in this short story is a psychiatrist named Dr. Cedric Elton. Or is his name Gar Castle? The confusion begins when Gerald Bocek, a criminal who had shot and killed six people and wounded two at a supermarket was brought into Cedric’s office. Gerald claimed that he was only defending himself, saying "’I blasted five Venusian lizard pirates who boarded our ship, and melted the door off of one gear locker and seared the paint on two others.’” What does Jerry mean when he talks about them being in a spaceship? I think that this story consist of two different views/worlds. Gerald is in the world with Mars Port, where everyone in the office is in a spaceship with lizard pirates and gear lockers. Gerald says that Dr. Cedric has surrounded himself with different protective delusions in his world, imagining himself to be a famous psychiatrist named Dr. Cedric Elton when his name is Gar Castle in Gerald’s space madness world. He also claims that Dr. Cedric’s receptionist, Helena Fitzroy is the expediter at Mars Port. Throughout the story, Gerald tells Dr. Cedric/Gar to take a yellow pill. "’Take one of those yellow pills in the medicine locker, Gar,’ he pleaded. ’It can't hurt you.’" This made me wonder what these yellow pills are meant to do. Does the effect somehow associate with distinguishing between these two worlds? Cedric takes the yellow pill to confirm that Helena is real, if she is. Instead, when he takes the pill he sees four gear lockers and the bodies of five blue-scaled Venusian lizards. This helps me to understand that taking the yellow pill can somehow take you to a different world, or help you to view the world differently.

Twilight Zone Episode, “Number 12 Looks Just Like You”

This Episode of the Twilight Zone is about a future society in which everyone must undergo an operation to become beautiful. When changed at age 19, everyone looks the same because they are all genetically changed in the same operation. The main character in this episode is said to be “ugly” and she doesn’t want to undergo the operation because she wants to keep her own identity. Throughout the episode, I didn’t understand why older people call those who are not changed yet “ugly”. I think that this might have just been what they would say because they do not fit in or look the same as those who are “beautiful”/have undergone the operation.

This episode fits under the genre of mad scientists because it involves genetically changing people. I think that it is very interesting but also very weird in the way that everyone looks the same when they are changed. I don’t think that I would want to look the same as everyone else if our society was like this. I feel like I would be like the 19 year old women who did not want to undergo the operation. She wanted to keep her own identity even if she was considered “ugly”. I think that it would be crazy if our future society was like this! No one would be unique/their own individual and younger people would be judged negatively. I think that this episode of the Twilight Zone is very interesting but also has some crazy ideas about future societies.

The Outer Limits, “Blood Brothers”

This episode of the Outer Limits is about mad scientists and mutations of monkeys. The beginning scene takes place in a lab where a scientist is studying many monkeys in cages. The scientist, Spencer bumps a vile and the contents break on the floor. I wondered what type of substance was in the vile. Is it associated with the mutation of monkeys?  An alarm goes off in the lab saying, “Outbreak Alert”, and one of the monkeys bites his hand. Will this be important or cause something later in the story? I was thinking that there may have been something different about that monkey, and the idea that it bit Spencer would tie into the story later. After the lab incident, Spencer was talking to Trisha who is a reporter. They discussed a fatal disease in Spencer’s family history. Spencer said that his brother was tested and did not have it, but Spencer did not want to get tested himself. I wonder if this disease is connected in some way to the monkeys in the lab.

Later in the episode, Spencer goes to check on how the research is going in the lab. One of the scientists tells him about an experiment with one of the monkeys. A chemical was given that would normally cause a mammal to die, but the monkey had survived. In follow-up experiments, other fatal chemicals were tested and the monkey did not die. I wonder if this is the monkey that bit Spencer. What would this mean if it was the same monkey?

Movie, “Jurassic Park”

The movie, Jurassic Park is about mad scientists who create a dinosaur theme park. An eccentric old man, Hammond creates a preserve housing real dinosaurs including triceratops, velociraptors, and a tyrannosaur rex. The dinosaurs were created by cloning DNA harvested from pre-historic insects preserved in amber. I thought that this was interesting because I have learned about specimens and evidence preserved in amber in our Article of the Week. At the beginning of the movie, I wondered how these dinosaurs would fit in with what life is like now, because they’re natural time to be here was a very long time ago. I was thinking that the idea of cloning dinosaurs would backfire and the dinosaurs would somehow cause trouble in our society. I do think that this idea of creating dinosaurs after they went extinct so many years ago is interesting. Using DNA and genetics to create these creatures definitely is a great example of the possibilities that mad scientists can pursue.

The real excitement in the movie starts when the power supply to the park is cut off by a storm. This is the part of the movie when you can see the ways that dinosaurs/genetically created creatures can affect normal life. Because of the power shortage, the electric gates surrounding all parts of the park are not working. The chaos begins when the dinosaurs rage out of control and Hammond’s grandchildren need to be brought back to safety form one of the controlled tour cars of the park. The kids are chased by man-eating dinosaurs.

Outer Limits Episode, “The Sixth Finger”

This episode of the Outer Limits is about a scientist and a machine that was created to show what man will look like in the future. The beginning shows that the scientist who invented this machine is a professor of genetics. I wondered, what kinds of things/experiments does the man do? In the lab, the scientist shows a man a monkey that is very smart and can do many things that a normal monkey cannot do. The monkey was “made that way” by the scientist. This tells me that the monkey was genetically altered in some way. This is a great example of mad scientists.

Later in the episode, the scientist asks the man if he will help test an experiment. He shows the man the machine and explains that it will evolve man to what man will look like in the future. A few questions that I had were, what will the results of the test look like, and will it be possible to reverse the effects, or will the man stay as man’s evolved form? After the test, the man did not look completely different, but many characteristics were changed. His head was larger, he was taller, had a different voice, a wider field of vision, the ability to read people’s minds, and a sixth finger on one hand. I think that this additional dexterity is the strangest and most mysterious effect of the machine. Will man really have a sixth finger in the future? What is the reason for this additional dexterity, and how may it affect life of future humans?

The Twilight Zone Episode, “Nightmare as a Child”

I would describe the little girl in this episode of the Twilight Zone as solemn, wise, and mysterious. When the little girl comes to Helen’s apartment, she asks her if she had seen anyone who looked familiar today. Helen thought and realized that she had seen a man in a car stopped at a stop sign in front of the school. I asked the question, who is the man that she saw in front of the school, and why is the little girl asking about him? A few minutes later, the little girl hears someone coming and leaves Helen’s apartment saying that the man is scary and that he something to be afraid of. This made me wonder, what will happen next? I thought it was a little creepy and mysterious when the man knocked on the door and I wondered why the little girl was so scared of the man. The man tells Helen that he worked for her mother when Helen was a child. He talks to her about her mother’s death and says that he was the first to find her dead body. This causes Helen to remember the details of what happened on that day that she had blocked out of her memory for so long. When the man showed Helen a picture that he said was Helen when she was younger, I thought that Helen would recognize the picture and it would spark a memory or thought. The girl in the picture looked just like the little girl, Markie who had come to her apartment earlier. The man reminded Helen that her nickname as a child was Markie and showed her that Markie and Helen were one and the same. This still makes me wonder, why did Markie come to Helen’s apartment? I think it may have because it was the best way for Helen to remember her past.