1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:09,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:11,720 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the 3 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow 4 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:19,120 Speaker 2: Your Mind, focusing in no mythical creatures, ideas and monsters 5 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:26,200 Speaker 2: in time. I'd like to offer this episode as an 6 00:00:26,239 --> 00:00:30,200 Speaker 2: imaginative side show to our core episodes on the moons 7 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:33,600 Speaker 2: of Uranus. As we discuss in those episodes, it's not 8 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,480 Speaker 2: beyond the realm of possibility that one of the icy 9 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:41,199 Speaker 2: Uranian moons contains or may have once contained life. But 10 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 2: the planet itself is a cold, dead world, and its temperatures, pressures, 11 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:50,960 Speaker 2: and materials simply don't correspond to life as we know it. However, 12 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 2: if we venture back far enough in science fiction, we 13 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 2: can find some interesting dreams regarding what life on the 14 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:04,080 Speaker 2: seventh planet might consist of. American author Stanley G. Weinebombs 15 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:07,840 Speaker 2: nineteen thirty five story The Planet of Doubt is just 16 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 2: such a dream. The story, which you can find in 17 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:15,039 Speaker 2: various collections today, is very old fashion in many respects. 18 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:17,880 Speaker 2: It takes place in an action packed Solar system where 19 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:21,200 Speaker 2: humans have encountered various alien life forms on the inner 20 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:25,679 Speaker 2: planets and moons and continue to discover new wonders on 21 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 2: the outer planets. Where the story excels, however, is in 22 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 2: its imaginative description of strange creatures lurking in the planetary fog. 23 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:40,120 Speaker 2: Of this imagined take on Urinus, a planet the author 24 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 2: describes as quote a wild, alien, mystery choked planet with 25 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 2: only icy Neptune and Pluto between it and the interstellar void. 26 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 2: Our human adventurers encounter two dissimilar life forms on the planet. 27 00:01:55,960 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 2: The first encountered organism resembles some sort of vague dark 28 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 2: gargoyle in the fog, but the second is a truly 29 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:09,600 Speaker 2: inspired creation quote. The thing was featureless, just a dull 30 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,280 Speaker 2: black circle and a tubular body that stretched off into 31 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:17,640 Speaker 2: the fog. Or not quite featureless. Now they could perceive 32 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,360 Speaker 2: an organ that projected from the center of the circle, 33 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 2: a loose, quivering member like a large pancake on a 34 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:28,679 Speaker 2: finger thick stem, whose edges quivered and cupped toward them 35 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 2: as if to catch sounds or scent. The creature was blind. 36 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 2: The adventures in the story are quick to fire their 37 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 2: automatics and their flame pistols, but quickly realize they're facing 38 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 2: not one creature composed of multiple segments, but multiple individuals 39 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 2: joined together in a lengthy chain quote. Suddenly the thing 40 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 2: was roaring past them, black and huge as a railroad train. 41 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:56,960 Speaker 2: It was a segmented being. It was composed of dozens 42 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 2: of eight foot links, like a train of miniature cars. 43 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,079 Speaker 2: There's three pairs of legs to a section. The adventures 44 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 2: in the story quickly learn that if you blast the 45 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 2: front or leader segment, the next section behind takes over 46 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:12,520 Speaker 2: as leader. Blast a middle segment, and now you have 47 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 2: two alien trains to contend with. The biologist on the 48 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 2: team and the story, Patricia quickly draws parallels to a 49 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:26,280 Speaker 2: real life terrestrial organism processionary caterpillars, the larval form of 50 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:30,919 Speaker 2: some Domatopina moths that move in columns in search of food. 51 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 2: Only the segment aliens on this fictional uranus actually physically 52 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 2: connect their nervous systems in a way that allows them 53 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 2: to share sensations and, perhaps pat speculates, even memories. While 54 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 2: not mentioned in the story, shrews are known to engage 55 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:51,840 Speaker 2: in a similar procession, with a mother's young following behind her, 56 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 2: each holding onto the tail of the shrew in front 57 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 2: of it with its mouth on this fictional version of Urinus. However, 58 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 2: the segm minted aliens prove aggressive and Pat is separated 59 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 2: from the party in the fog. But she takes inspiration 60 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 2: from actual experiments with processionary caterpillars by French naturalist Jean 61 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:16,160 Speaker 2: Henri Fabre, who lived eighteen twenty three through nineteen fifteen, 62 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 2: who found that you could manipulate these caterpillars into forming 63 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 2: a loop, an unbroken circle that would continue around, say 64 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 2: a potted plant, until one of the individuals in the 65 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:32,520 Speaker 2: circle in this unbroken segment dies, forcing them to break 66 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:36,200 Speaker 2: off in a new leader to emerge, Pat dodges the 67 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 2: front of the alien procession as it's coming at her, 68 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 2: then doubles back toward the rear segments, tricking this alien 69 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:47,840 Speaker 2: train into forming an unbroken, roaring alien freight train circle 70 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:50,720 Speaker 2: in the fog. Her crewmates rescue her from the center 71 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:53,160 Speaker 2: of the circle with ropes, and they leave the Planet 72 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:55,520 Speaker 2: of Doubt, but not before they saw the riddle of 73 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 2: the gargoyle like shadow creatures in the fog as well. 74 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 2: These strange forms, they realize are the shadows cast in 75 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,920 Speaker 2: the fog by the flying adult forms of the lauval 76 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:10,839 Speaker 2: creatures they've encountered on the ground. It's a fun tale, 77 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:13,719 Speaker 2: and one that nicely uses the weirdness of the natural 78 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 2: world to populate imagined worlds. Stanley G. Weinbaum only lived 79 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:21,720 Speaker 2: nineteen oh two through nineteen thirty five, but pen to 80 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 2: number of sci fi tales, including A Martian Odyssey, which 81 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,160 Speaker 2: has headlined a number of anthologies of his work over 82 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,800 Speaker 2: the years, including some that are commercially available today. A 83 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:34,800 Speaker 2: handful of his stories were adapted for film or television 84 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:38,839 Speaker 2: in the nineteen fifties, including nineteen fifty seven's She Devil. 85 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:43,799 Speaker 2: Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. 86 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 2: As always. You can email us at contact at stuff 87 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 2: to Blow your Mind dot com. 88 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 89 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 90 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:06,000 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.