Interstellar 7

Illustrations

Today we took a look at several pictures we'll use for the tests.

H.R. Giger, Atomic Children, 1968 :

In this black & white sketch, science-fiction is merged with horror and eroticism in what Giger called a "biomechanical" fantasy. It looks like a nightmarish vision from a feverish dream. Giger was the designer of the Alien creature from the movies. An ombilical cord links the bottom of a hypersexualised alien to a strange looking moon. 

John Harris, Building the Ark, 2017 :

In the background, open skies and fluffy clouds characterize this painting. Gliders and spaceships circle around a tower and a space station. The title hints at (evokes) a biblical connection : the Ark links men and God.

Chelsey Bonestell, Saturn from Titan, 1944 :

Bonestell strived for realism (he wanted realism) in his work. We feel we're on another planet here, it has an alien, strange perspective, and it looks like a photograph. Author and scientist Carl Sagan said that Bonestell inspired him to pursue his career. Right now, rovers and robots take pictures of distant planets and send them to us.

Karen Thole, The Wound, 1969 :

It was made to illustrate a science-fiction novel. It describes a group of explorers in the foreground. They are looking at a cyclopean statue of a woman's head. It feels alien in its origin. Science-Fiction can also be about the hope of discovering a distant other, about the hope of not being completely alone in a huge universe.

Wojciech Siudmak, Le Poids de l'Ame, 1970 :

Siudmak uses the surrealist imagery that Salvador Dali created in the 1930s. It's full of symbolism and mythology.

M.C. Escher, Belvedere, 1958 :

Belvedere tricks the viewer's sense of perspective. This tower is impossible in real life, and no character in the etching (gravure) seems to realize it or to care about it, but for the man in the prison cell, who might have gone mad because of it. The wild, alien looking background reinforces the imaginary power of that vision.

Moebius, Still from Timemasters, 1982 :

Humanoid winged faceless people carry a prisoner in the bottom of a cave. This encounter ended badly for the explorer. The vivid colours and the vast expanses of open landscapes evoke a foreign, unknown place.

Frank Frazetta, Encounter, 1985 :

Frazetta created hundreds of very famous illustrations for pulp novels and magazines (among which Conan, Krull and many others in the Sword and Sorcery genre), inspiring many readers along the way. In this painting, a pilot stranded on an alien planet encounters a new lifeform (a fairy-looking extra-terrestrial).

ufo

skeletons

humanoid

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ray Bradbury, The Illustrated Man

l.6 midnight hush (groupe nominal) : silence de minuit
l.12 fiery letters (groupe nominal) : des lettres enflammées
l.21 bitterness (nom): amertume
l.21 to gnaw (verbe) : ronger
l.25 a junkyard (nom): une décharge
l.34 mountainous (adj.) : colossal (énorme)

Arthur Clarke, Childhood's End

l.0 silly (adj.) : bête (c'est juste un rêve tout bête)
l.3 surrounding (adj.) : qui entoure (to surround : entourer)
l.13 uproar (nom) : bruit assourdissant, scandale.
l.23 indignant (adj.) : indigné (vexé)
l.25 dreamily (adverbe) : rêveusement / de manière rêveuse-onirique

Douglas Adams, The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

l.1 uncharted (adj.) : inexploré (sans carte)
l.1 backwaters (nom) : un trou paumé
l.3 utterly (adv.) : totalement
l.30 apocryphal (adj.) : apocryphe (en parlant d'un livre, douteux)
l.31 pedestrian (adj.) : pompier (vulgaire / vulgus=du peuple)

Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot
l.0 dot (nom) : point (tâche, .com, virgule dans une donnée chiffrée)
l.1 wanderers (nom) : des vagabonds, des gens qui errent, romantique
l.10 a whim (nom) ; caprice (whimsical, capricieux / on a whim, sur un coup de tête)
l.13 a consortium (nom): un consortium, groupe d'entreprises

Frank Herbert, Dune
l.1 all the final scurrying about (groupe nominal) (to scurry, se précipiter, détaler), ici, "les tout derniers préparatifs" 
l.7 a half-light [...] dimmed and hanging near the floor (adj) : ici, tamisé, doux, faible
l.2 frenzy (nom) : frénésie
l.5 vaulted (adj) : voûté (architectural)
l.10 wheezed (verbe) : siffler, respirer bruyamment
l.10 twanged (verbe) : qui fait un bruit aigu et perçant
l.11 contralto (adj) : une voix de contralto, de femme grave
l.29 to whirl (verbe): tournoyer

(future homework : poem, dualities to explore, etc.)