WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: The Creature From ‘The Viewing’

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of

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<v Speaker 1>My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and

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<v Speaker 1>this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures,

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<v Speaker 1>ideas and monsters in time. In this episode, I want

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<v Speaker 1>to discuss a creature from Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of

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<v Speaker 1>Curiosities of Fabulous Tales from the crypt Asque Horror anthology series.

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<v Speaker 1>In particular, I'll be discussing a creature from the viewing.

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<v Speaker 1>The episode directed by Panos Cosmatos, so fair warning spoilers follow.

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<v Speaker 1>In three two one. In the Viewing, an eccentric and

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<v Speaker 1>wealthy recluse played terrifically by veteran actor Peter Weller, invites

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<v Speaker 1>four strangers, each a stand out in their own field,

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<v Speaker 1>to his secluded home for a special viewing. As with

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<v Speaker 1>such Cosmatos films as Beyond the Black Rainbow and Mandy,

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<v Speaker 1>what follows is a beautifully rendered atmospheric slow burn, a

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<v Speaker 1>journey into the psychatronic. In short order, all of the

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<v Speaker 1>characters converge in a luxuriously trippy nine seventies din Weller's

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<v Speaker 1>Lionel Lasseter urges his guests to indulge in various brain

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<v Speaker 1>altering substances in order to prepare them for the viewing.

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<v Speaker 1>When the time finally arrives, Lasseter leads them into a

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<v Speaker 1>special chamber containing an alien monolith. In due course, the

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<v Speaker 1>monolith essentially hatches and an orange ooze emerges. It forms

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<v Speaker 1>a pair of feelers or antennae, which reached skyward. It

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<v Speaker 1>unleashes a terrifying psychic attack on those around it, and

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<v Speaker 1>then becomes fluid again, engulfing one of its victims and

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<v Speaker 1>rising back up as a lomeration of ooze covered humanoid

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<v Speaker 1>and twin tentacled slime creature. This monster then ventures out

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<v Speaker 1>into the world to better understand it, destroy it, or both.

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<v Speaker 1>Its motivations are suitably unknowable. Now, these are just the

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<v Speaker 1>major details regarding the episode. I can do nothing to

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<v Speaker 1>capture the visual and sonic weirdness of the piece. You're

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<v Speaker 1>gonna have to watch it for yourself. But of course,

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<v Speaker 1>the strange entity in this episode led me to wonder

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<v Speaker 1>how we might interpret it via natural world biology. Of course,

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<v Speaker 1>the fictitious creature in question is so utterly alien, so

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<v Speaker 1>amazingly fantastic, that we can't expect to find anything too

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<v Speaker 1>much like it, but at least a couple of ideas

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<v Speaker 1>emerge for starters. In terms of amorphous creatures developing feelers

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<v Speaker 1>or limbs when needed, we can look to the single

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<v Speaker 1>celled organisms make Leria glueberry. It makes its home and

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<v Speaker 1>wet soil and lives as slow moving life as an

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<v Speaker 1>amorphous amba, but when stressed, it grows a pair of flagella,

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<v Speaker 1>hair like arms or appendages that allow the creature to

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<v Speaker 1>swim around at greater speeds in something akin to a breaststroke.

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<v Speaker 1>According to biologist Lillian fritz Leyland, quoted in a two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand ten MPR article on the organism naturally in vague terms,

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<v Speaker 1>this reminds me of the environment induced changes in the

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<v Speaker 1>viewing slime creature, as well as the two feelers it manifests. Additionally,

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<v Speaker 1>the creatures change from hardened shell to liquid ooze to

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<v Speaker 1>shambling creature also reminds me of the amazing transformations that

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<v Speaker 1>occur inside it. Butterflies chrysalis, where the caterpillar essentially digests

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<v Speaker 1>itself with enzymes, where least digests everything except for the

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<v Speaker 1>imaginal discs dormant tissues essentially earmarked to develop into corresponding

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<v Speaker 1>parts of the adult organism, the imaginal disc or essentially

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<v Speaker 1>fed by the dissolved goop around them in the crystalis.

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<v Speaker 1>But most of the questions raised by the viewing have

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<v Speaker 1>nothing to do with real world biology. Instead, we're left

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<v Speaker 1>wondering why Lasseter insisted on augmented brain states and his

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<v Speaker 1>guests before viewing the monolith. Is this simply how he

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<v Speaker 1>entertains all his house guests, or did he have a

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<v Speaker 1>specific intention in mind here, something about presenting a psychic

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<v Speaker 1>alien entity with mental states that have been subjected to

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<v Speaker 1>the same specific changes. There's a lot to think about here.

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<v Speaker 1>We don't know for sure. The piece leaves us to

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<v Speaker 1>wonder and dream, which is one of the episodes. Many

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<v Speaker 1>rewards might of course be interested to hear your take

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<v Speaker 1>on the matter. Tune in for additional episodes of The

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<v Speaker 1>Monster Fact or The Artifact each week. As always, you

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<v Speaker 1>can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your

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<v Speaker 1>Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a

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<v Speaker 1>production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,

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