Video Time!: Planet Stories, January, 1954, featuring “A Sound of Thunder”, by Ray Bradbury [Frank Kelly Freas]

The theme of time travel, and specifically its implications in terms of causality, free will, parallel universes, and paradoxes, has been the basis of innumerable stories in science fiction, and to a lesser extent, fantasy. A prominent example of the genre is Ray Bradbury’s 1954 tale “A Sound of Thunder”. This tale first appeared in the June 28, 1952 issue of Colliers, and was republished in the January, 1954 issue of Planet Stories. The story popularized the concept of the “butterfly effect“, though the general idea had been the subject of discussion among scientists and philosophers even in the 19th century.

While I don’t think that Frank Kelly Freas’ resounding cover illustration for Planet Stories has a direct relevance to any story within…

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… Edmund Emshwiller’s lead illustration (pages 4-5) for “A Sound of Thunder” certainly does! Note the notorious butterfly making a prominent appearance at lower right.

Audio!

“A Sound of Thunder – Ray Bradbury”, narrated by Zach Walz (September 30, 2018)

While Bradbury’s short story has been the basis of a 2005 movie by the same name, unfortunately, as indicated at Rotten Tomatoes, the picture has fallen flat (or should I say “fallen splat“?), with a Tomatometer rating of 6%, and an Audience Score of 18%. Here’s the trailer, at TheSciFiSpot (December 12, 2010) You can read more about the film at the IMDB.

Working Title: “A Sound of Blunder”?