When Worlds Collide Book Cover published by Lippincott

This article is about the 1932 novel. For the professional wrestling event, see When Worlds Collide (wrestling). Image File history File links When_Worlds_Collide_Book_Cover. ... Image File history File links When_Worlds_Collide_Book_Cover. ... When Worlds Collide was a legendary professional wrestling show held on November 6, 1994 in Los Angeles, California. ...

When Worlds Collide is a science fiction novel (1932) co-written by Philip Gordon Wylie and Edwin Balmer and also a motion picture (1951) directed by Rudolph Maté. The movie was filmed in Technicolor. It was winner of the 1951 Academy Award for Best Effects, Special Effects. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Philip Gordon Wylie (May 12, 1902 - October 25, 1971) was a U.S. author. ... American Science Fiction Writer of the 1930s who co-authored When Worlds Collide and After Worlds Collide with Philip Gordon Wylie. ... Rudolph Maté (January 21, 1898 - October 27, 1964) was an accomplished cinematographer and film director. ... Logo celebrating Technicolors 90th Anniversary. ... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent film awards in the United States and most watched awards ceremony in the world. ...

Novel plot

Sven Bronson, a South African astronomer, discovers that a pair of runaway planets, Bronson Alpha and Bronson Beta, will soon enter the solar system. The larger one, Alpha, will pass close enough to cause catastrophic damage. Eight months later, after swinging around the Sun, Alpha will return to pulverize the Earth and leave. It is believed that Bronson Beta will remain and assume a stable orbit.

Scientists led by Cole Hendron work desperately to build ships to transport enough people, animals and equipment to Bronson Beta in an attempt to save the human race. Governments are skeptical, but the scientists persist and develop the technology necessary for the spacecraft, which are built in various countries. Nations like the United States evacuate their coastal regions in preparation for the Bronson bodies' first pass. Tides of hundreds of feet, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes take their deadly toll, and the weather runs wild for more than two days.

The isolated Hendron camp manages to build two ships which take off together with all of the survivors of the camp (after beating off an attack from outsiders). One ship makes a successful landing, but without radio contact with any other ships, the crew members conclude that only they made it across. They find that Beta is inhabitable and that there are traces of a native civilization wiped out when, millions of years before, the planet was torn away from its sun.

A sequel, After Worlds Collide, reveals that at least three other ships made it, including their own companion ship, and there is an unknown group intent on eliminating Hendron's group... or enslaving it. Hendron's people explore the fantastic cities left behind by the previous occupants of the planet. After Worlds Collide was a sequel to the 1932 Science Fiction Novel, When Worlds Collide is a science fiction novel (1932) which, like the earlier book, was co-written by Philip Gordon Wylie and Edwin Balmer. ...

Movie plot

It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article entitled When Worlds Collide (film). (Discuss)

When Worlds Collide DVD Cover

Scientists, led by Dr Cole Hendron (Larry Keating), warn the United Nations about an impending collision between the Earth and a marauding star (Bellus) that is entering the solar system with a planet (Zyra) in tow, but are not believed. They set about building an "ark" privately, financed by wealthy, wheelchair-bound industrialist Sidney Stanton (John Hoyt) in exchange for taking him along. The ark, a rocket designed to land like a glider, is intended to allow a few selected individuals to escape to the approaching planet in hopes of starting a new civilization. The construction of the ark is a race against time as doomsday approaches. Groups in other nations are also building such ships. As the Hendron project progresses, more scientists admit that Hendron's group is right about doomsday, and governments eventually admit the inevitability. Image File history File links Splitsection. ... DVD cover scan from the movie When Worlds Collide, personal scan, claiming fair use (does not detract from original work, scanned from legal copy, image is of sufficiently low resolution). ... DVD cover scan from the movie When Worlds Collide, personal scan, claiming fair use (does not detract from original work, scanned from legal copy, image is of sufficiently low resolution). ... Earth (often referred to as The Earth) is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth in order of size. ... Promotional photo for John Hoyt John Hoyt (5 October 1905 – 15 September 1991) was an American film and televison actor. ...

Zyra passes by first, its gravity disrupting the Earth's surface. As the appointed day of destruction draws closer, the ship is loaded with all that is considered necessary for the construction of a new civilization: food and other supplies, microfiche copies of numerous books, equipment, animals and approximately fifty individuals selected by lottery (all, interestingly enough, youthful caucasians). The cynical Stanton, having bought weapons to defend the base, becomes more anxious as time passes.

In the final hour, many of those who are to be left behind riot, taking up arms to try and force their way aboard the ship. Hendron stays behind at the last moment, forcibly keeping the crippled Stanton from boarding as well in order to lighten the spaceship. His sacrifice proves to be crucial as the fuel runs out too soon and the ship glides to a rough landing on Zyra. The passengers debark and presumably go on to rebuild human civilization.

Tagline: Planets destroy earth!

New version planned for 2006

Steven Spielberg has recently announced that he will be the executive producer of a new version of When Worlds Collide to be released sometime in 2006. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Executive producer is a role in the entertainment industry that is sometimes difficult to define clearly. ...

Trivia

• The name When worlds collide was used in a Far Side cartoon, portraying aliens resembling giant buttocks with eye stalks on top landing on Earth, and seeing a goat.

• The Iron Maiden song When Two Worlds Collide is apparently based on the novel.

• The band Powerman 5000 has a song called When Worlds Collide

• When Worlds Collide is one of the many classic movies referenced in the opening theme ("Science Fiction Double Feature") of both the stage musical The Rocky Horror Show and its theatrical counterpart, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The film's producer, George Pál, is also mentioned.

• Pál considered making a sequel based on the novel After Worlds Collide, but the box office failure of Conquest of Space made it impossible.

Wiener Dog Art, one of many Far Side collections published in the United States. ... Iron Maiden is a New Wave of British Heavy Metal band from East London. ... Powerman 5000 is a Boston-based heavy metal/alt metal band formed in 1989. ... The Rocky Horror Show is a long running stage musical (in London initially, on June 16, 1973) which inspired the movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show. ... The Rocky Horror Picture Show (RHPS) (first released in the United Kingdom on 14 August 1975) is a comedy-horror musical film directed by Jim Sharman from a screenplay by Sharman and Richard OBrien, who also composed the songs. ... After Worlds Collide was a sequel to the 1932 Science Fiction Novel, When Worlds Collide is a science fiction novel (1932) which, like the earlier book, was co-written by Philip Gordon Wylie and Edwin Balmer. ... Conquest of Space is a 1955 science-fiction movie produced by George Pal which depicts a voyage to Mars. ...

External link

• When Worlds Collide at The Internet Movie Database