We approach the doggish days of summer, when the cerebral matter swells up in the heat and yelps for relief. I can only hope that the quizzes of the next few weeks will constitute a soothing mental compress, a mind-cooler for the overheated brainpan. This week's synapse-relaxant:
In the year 1897, Bram Stoker published Dracula, forever altering the course of history by making inevitable the film Love at First Bite. In that same year, another novel with a long-lasting cultural impact, also featuring blood-drinking monsters, was serialized (although neither George Hamilton nor Richard Benjamin, to my knowledge, directly benefited from it.)
What was the title of this second sanguine fiction?
First correct answer posted to comments wins a CD of REO Speedwagon's monumental record You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tune a Fish which was inexplicably lying around the office. No Googling or interviewing Susan St. James. One guess per comment, please, but you may comment as often as you like.
The Time Machine.
Posted by: Rory on July 23, 2004 10:06 AMWar of the Worlds.
Posted by: Rory on July 23, 2004 10:07 AMI don't think the Morlocks are blood-drinkers per se; more carnivores in general, aren't they? Anyway, The Time Machine actuall predates The Count-- it was published in 1985.
Posted by: BT on July 23, 2004 10:09 AMI don't know who drinks what, but I'll venture The Island of Dr. ALF
Posted by: Scott on July 23, 2004 10:12 AMThe Bostonians.
Posted by: Scraps on July 23, 2004 10:12 AMOh, crap. Moreau, it seems, is the good doctor's name. The Island of Dr. Moreau
Posted by: Scott on July 23, 2004 10:13 AM1985! I could have sworn it was older than that.
How about... uh... The Island of Dr Moreau? (I can't help thinking it's Wells.)
Posted by: Rory on July 23, 2004 10:13 AMOh no, I've lost my early-arriver's advantage!
Posted by: Rory on July 23, 2004 10:14 AMThe Picture of Dorian Grey.
Posted by: Rory on July 23, 2004 10:17 AMOh, blast, 1895 of course...but not to worry, Rory. You got it on the second try. Wells indeed. The Martians of TWOW had no stomachs, their metabolisms wasting no energy on all those "tubes and glands" which burden mankind. By directly injecting the blood of their prey (the remains of some human-like victims native to Mars are found in the wrecks of the Martian spaceships), they get all the nutrition they need. An early example of the popularity of a low-carb diet.
Since we've dispatched with that so easily...anyone care to the movie graced with Edward G. Robinson's final film role?
Posted by: BT on July 23, 2004 10:19 AMBah...I'm Count Typo today: that should have been, "Anyone care to NAME the movie graced with Edward G. Robinson's final film role?"
Norman, Is That You?
Posted by: Scraps on July 23, 2004 10:24 AMWoohoo!
Coincidentally enough, I was listening to Jeff Wayne's '70s rock opera version just last month, so my mind has been full of lipless mouths glistening like wet leather. Don't know why I didn't make that my first guess.
As for Edward G. Robinson... uh...
(da dum dum dum, da dum, da dum dum dum, da dum)
Posted by: Rory on July 23, 2004 10:24 AMWould that be "Ragtime"?
No, that's Cagney's final film role. Nevermind.
Ragtime? No, that'd be 'uuuulaaaaaaaaa!' (dum dum dum dum, da dum)
(Okay, so I'm the only one here who grew up on a diet of Jeff Wayne, I get the picture.)
Posted by: Rory on July 23, 2004 10:29 AMI had COMPLETELY forgotten about that version of TWOW until you mentioned it Rory, but it does ring a bell -- pretty sure the older brother of a grade school friend of mine had it.
Posted by: BT on July 23, 2004 10:31 AMAnd of course, there was this fabulous gallery of War of the Worlds book covers posted to Mefi a few weeks back.
Posted by: Rory on July 23, 2004 10:33 AMSmoky and the Bandit II
Wait, sorry; that was Jackie Gleason's second to last film role.
One hint - there's a genre connection with the answer to this week's quiz.
Posted by: BT on July 23, 2004 12:56 PMPlan 9 From Outer Space, er, that might have been Martin Landaugh's [sp?] last film.
Posted by: teenidol on July 23, 2004 01:34 PMOh good, 'cause I think everyone else had to go home for dinner and I'm pretty sure Edward G. Robinson worked in OMB during the Ford Administration.
Bram Stoker's Dracula?
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension?
Posted by: Jonathan on July 23, 2004 02:09 PM20k Leagues Under The Sea
Posted by: teenidol on July 23, 2004 02:12 PMColors where he played a wise elder Blood.
Posted by: Scott on July 23, 2004 02:17 PMSo you wanna show your gang sign, see?
Posted by: teenidol on July 23, 2004 02:23 PMThe Day The Earth Stood Still
Posted by: teenidol on July 23, 2004 02:28 PMAttack of the Killer Tomatoes
I must have been thinking Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Interview with the Vampire
Posted by: Jonathan on July 23, 2004 03:16 PMThe Day The Wombat Stood Still
Posted by: teenidol on July 23, 2004 05:31 PMGilligan's Wombat
Posted by: teenidol on July 23, 2004 05:41 PMFantasy Wombat
Posted by: teenidol on July 23, 2004 05:51 PMsoylent greeen is people
Posted by: art on July 23, 2004 11:32 PMOoh, I know this one! It's Soylen... oh, poop. I really need to start visiting this site more often.
Posted by: Paul on July 24, 2004 09:14 AMSorry Paul...as you know, Art got in there just ahead of you; Soylent Green it is!
Posted by: BT on July 26, 2004 09:33 AM