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{{About|the short story by Ray Bradbury|other uses|Sound of Thunder (disambiguation)}} |
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{{Refimprove|date=October 2013}} |
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{{Infobox short story |
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{{Infobox short story |
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| name = A Sound of Thunder |
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| name = A Sound of Thunder |
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* The cat will die because it poisoned my mom. |
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* I lost my nose |
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"'''A Sound of Thunder'''" is an influential ] ] by ], first published in '']'' magazine in the June 28, ] issue and '']'' in June 1956.<ref name="SFF">{{cite web| last=Willis|first=Jesse| title=A Sound Of Thunder| url=http://www.sffaudio.com/?p=28318 |work=Radio Drama Revival: Bradbury 13 |publisher=SFFaudio |accessdate=30 November 2013| date=30 March 2011}}</ref> As of 1984, it was the most re-published ] story to this date.<ref>William G. Contento, , January 2008</ref> |
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* EMOJIIIII BLASSSTTTTT |
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* Go to the page "enlightened despotism" |
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==Plot summary== |
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In the year 2055, time travel has become a practical reality, and the company Time Safari Inc. offers wealthy adventurers the chance to travel back in time to hunt extinct species such as dinosaurs. A hunter named Eckels pays $10,000 to join a hunting party that will travel back to the late Cretaceous Era, on a guided safari to kill a ''].'' As the party waits to depart they discuss the recent ]s in which an apparently ] candidate, Deutscher, has been defeated by the more moderate Keith, to the relief of many concerned. When the party arrives in the past, Travis (the hunting guide) and Lesperance (Travis’s assistant) warn Eckels and the two other hunters, Billings and Kramer, about the necessity of minimizing the events they change before they go back, since tiny alterations to the distant past could ] into catastrophic changes in history. Travis explains that the hunters are obliged to stay on a levitating path to avoid disrupting the environment, that any deviation will be punished with hefty fines, and that prior to the hunt Time Safari scouts have been sent back to select and tag their prey, which would have died within minutes anyway, and whose deaths have been calculated to have minimal impact on the future. |
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Although Eckels is initially excited about the hunt, when the monstrous Tyrannosaur approaches, he loses his nerve. Travis tells him he cannot leave, but Eckels panics, steps off the path and runs into the forest. Eckels hears shots, and on his return he sees that the two guides have killed the dinosaur, and shortly afterward the falling tree that would have killed the T-Rex has landed on top of it. Realizing that Eckels has fallen off the path, Travis threatens to leave him in the past unless he removes the bullets from the dinosaur’s body, as they cannot be left behind. Eckels obeys, but Travis remains furious, threatening on the return trip to shoot him. |
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Upon returning to 2055, Eckels notices subtle changes - English words are now spelled and spoken strangely, people behave differently, and Eckels discovers that Deutscher has won the election instead of Keith. Looking at the mud on his boots, Eckels finds a ], whose death has apparently set in motion a series of subtle changes that have affected the nature of the alternative present to which the safari has returned. He frantically pleads with Travis to take him back into the past to undo the damage, but Travis explains that the time machine cannot return to any point in time that has already been visited (so as to prevent any paradoxes). Travis raises his gun, and there is "a sound of thunder". |
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==Adaptations== |
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The story was aired on ''The Ray Bradbury Theater'' on October 8, 1989.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.tv.com/shows/the-ray-bradbury-theater/a-sound-of-thunder-110331/ |title=The Ray Bradbury Theater - Season 4, Episode 6: A Sound of Thunder |publisher=TV.com |date=2007-05-22 |accessdate=2013-10-05}}</ref> In this adaptation, Travis levels a pistol at Eckels' head prior to a "sound of thunder" and a quick cut to credits.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-xuq3kOwGGw |title=Sound of Thunder - 3 of 3 |publisher=YouTube |date=2007-09-26 |accessdate=2013-10-05}}</ref> |
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The story was also parodied in the ''Time and Punishment'' section of '']'' episode "]". |
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] developed ] under the same title, which was targeted for a 2003 release but ultimately delayed until September 2005. The film continues the story beyond Bradbury's work, bringing to life how the death of a single butterfly would impact evolution and humanity's chance of survival.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318081/|title=A Sound of Thunder (2005)|publisher=IMDb.com|accessdate=2013-10-05}}</ref> The movie failed at the box office and received poor reviews. |
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A ] ] was also released. It was finished in time for the film's planned 2003 release, delayed along with it and ultimately released in February 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ca.ign.com/articles/2005/03/02/a-sound-of-thunder-2 |title=A Sound of Thunder - IGN |publisher=Ca.ign.com |date= |accessdate=2013-10-05}}</ref> Planned console ports were cancelled. |
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==Influence== |
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"A Sound of Thunder" is often miscredited as the origin of the term "]", a concept of ] in which the flapping of a butterfly in one part of the world could create a hurricane on the opposite side of the globe. The term was actually introduced by meteorologist ] in the 1960s. However, Bradbury's concept of how the death of a butterfly in the past could have drastic changes in the future is a representation of the butterfly effect, and used as an example of how to consider chaos theory and the physics of time travel.<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/evolution/Time-and-The-Physics-of-Ray-Bradbury--.html | title = The Physics of Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" |
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| work = ] | date = 2012-06-15 | accessdate = 2015-09-02 | first= Faye | last = Flam }}</ref> |
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==See also== |
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* '']'', a short story by ], first published in 1956 in ]. Also produced as an episode of ] for NBC radio in 1956. |
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* '']'', a short story by ], published in 1959 in '']''. It also features a time traveler hunting for dinosaurs. |
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==References== |
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{{more footnotes|date=December 2014}} |
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<ref>Patai, Daphne. "Ray Bradbury And The Assault On Free Thought." Society 50.1 (2013): 41-47. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.</ref> |
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<ref>Paradowski, Robert J. "Ray Bradbury." Critical Survey Of Long Fiction, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-9. Literary Reference Center. Web. 22 Nov. 2014</ref> |
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<ref>Weller, Sam. The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury. New York: William Morrow, 2005. Print</ref> |
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<ref>Holmes, Neil. "Fateful butterfly." New Scientist 182.2443 (2004): 31. Academic OneFile. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.</ref> |
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{{Reflist}} |
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==External links== |
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{{Spoken Misplaced Pages|20120607 wiki ASoundOfThunder.ogg|2012-06-07}} |
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* {{Isfdb title|id=61488}} |
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* |
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{{Ray Bradbury|state=collapsed}} |
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{{Authority control}} |
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{{Authority control}} |