1 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:09,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the 3 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,520 Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow 4 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 2: Your Mind, focusing in no mythical creatures, ideas and monsters 5 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:26,240 Speaker 2: in time. I'd like to offer this episode as an 6 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 2: imaginative side show to our core episodes on the moons 7 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 2: of Uranus. As we discuss in those episodes, it's not 8 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:36,520 Speaker 2: beyond the realm of possibility that one of the icy 9 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:41,239 Speaker 2: Uranian moons contains or may have once contained life. But 10 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 2: the planet itself is a cold, dead world, and its temperatures, pressures, 11 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 2: and materials simply don't correspond to life as we know it. However, 12 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 2: if we venture back far enough in science fiction, we 13 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 2: can find some interesting dreams regarding what life on the 14 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 2: seventh planet might con sist of American author Stanley G. 15 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 2: Weinebombs nineteen thirty five story The Planet of Doubt is 16 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 2: just such a dream. The story, which you can find 17 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:15,080 Speaker 2: in various collections today, is very old fashion in many respects. 18 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:17,880 Speaker 2: It takes place in an action packed Solar system where 19 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 2: humans have encountered various alien life forms on the inner 20 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 2: planets and moons and continue to discover new wonders on 21 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:30,319 Speaker 2: the outer planets. Where the story excels, however, is in 22 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 2: its imaginative description of strange creatures lurking in the planetary fog. 23 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 2: Of this imagined take on Urinus, a planet the author 24 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 2: describes as quote a wild, alien, mystery choked planet with 25 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 2: only icy Neptune and Pluto between it and the interstellar void. 26 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 2: Our human adventurers encounter two dissimilar life forms on the planet. 27 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 2: The first encountered organism resembles some sort of vague dark 28 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:04,600 Speaker 2: gargoyle in the fog, but the second is a truly 29 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:09,640 Speaker 2: inspired creation quote. The thing was featureless, just a dull 30 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 2: black circle and a tubular body that stretched off into 31 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 2: the fog. Or not quite featureless. Now they could perceive 32 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 2: an organ that projected from the center of the circle, 33 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 2: a loose, quivering member like a large pancake on a 34 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 2: finger thick stem, whose edges quivered and cupped toward them 35 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:32,800 Speaker 2: as if to catch sounds or scent. The creature was blind. 36 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:35,880 Speaker 2: The adventures in the story are quick to fire their 37 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 2: automatics and their flame pistols, but quickly realize they're facing 38 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 2: not one creature composed of multiple segments, but multiple individuals 39 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:49,920 Speaker 2: joined together in a lengthy chain quote. Suddenly the thing 40 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 2: was roaring past them, black and huge as a railroad train. 41 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 2: It was a segmented being. It was composed of dozens 42 00:02:57,040 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 2: of eight foot links, like a train of miniature cars. 43 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,119 Speaker 2: Theres three pairs of legs to a section. The adventures 44 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 2: in the story quickly learn that if you blast the 45 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 2: front or leader segment, the next section behind takes over 46 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 2: as leader. Blast a middle segment, and now you have 47 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:16,640 Speaker 2: two alien trains to contend with. The biologist on the 48 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 2: team in the story, Patricia quickly draws parallels to a 49 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 2: real life terrestrial organism processionary caterpillars, the larval form of 50 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 2: some Domatopina moths that move in columns in search of food. 51 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 2: Only the segment aliens on this fictional uranus actually physically 52 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 2: connect their nervous systems in a way that allows them 53 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 2: to share sensations and, perhaps pat speculates, even memories. While 54 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,320 Speaker 2: not mentioned in the story, shrews are known to engage 55 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 2: in a similar procession, with a mother's young following behind her, 56 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 2: each holding onto the tail of the shrew in front 57 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 2: of it with its mouth on this fictional version of Urinus. However, 58 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 2: the semented aliens prove aggressive and Pat is separated from 59 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 2: the party in the fog. But she takes inspiration from 60 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:13,480 Speaker 2: actual experiments with processionary caterpillars by French naturalist Jean Henri Fabre, 61 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:16,840 Speaker 2: who lived eighteen twenty three through nineteen fifteen, who found 62 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 2: that you could manipulate these caterpillars into forming a loop, 63 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:25,720 Speaker 2: an unbroken circle that we continue around, say a potted plant, 64 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,279 Speaker 2: until one of the individuals in the circle in this 65 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 2: unbroken segment dies, forcing them to break off in a 66 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,719 Speaker 2: new leader to emerge, Pat dodges the front of the 67 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 2: alien procession as it's coming at her, then doubles back 68 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 2: toward the rear segments, tricking this alien train into forming 69 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:48,520 Speaker 2: an unbroken, roaring alien freight train circle in the fog. 70 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 2: Her crewmates rescue her from the center of the circle 71 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,039 Speaker 2: with ropes, and they leave the Planet of Doubt, but 72 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:56,599 Speaker 2: not before they saw the riddle of the gargoyle like 73 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 2: shadow creatures in the fog as well. These strange forms, 74 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 2: they realize, are the shadows cast in the fog by 75 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:07,760 Speaker 2: the flying adult forms of the lauval creatures. They've encountered 76 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 2: on the ground. It's a fun tale, and one that 77 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 2: nicely uses the weirdness of the natural world to populate 78 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 2: imagined worlds. Stanley G. Weinbaum only lived nineteen oh two 79 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:22,480 Speaker 2: through nineteen thirty five, but pen to number of sci 80 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 2: fi tales, including A Martian Odyssey, which has headlined a 81 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:29,080 Speaker 2: number of anthologies of his work over the years, including 82 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:32,479 Speaker 2: some that are commercially available today. A handful of his 83 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 2: stories were adapted for film or television in the nineteen fifties, 84 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:41,840 Speaker 2: including nineteen fifty seven's She Devil. Tune in for additional 85 00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 2: episodes of The Monster Fact each week. As always. You 86 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 2: can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your 87 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:57,120 Speaker 2: Mind dot com. 88 00:05:57,279 --> 00:06:00,280 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 89 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:04,160 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 90 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:06,040 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.