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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> | "'''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> | ||
| ==Plot summary== | |||
| In the year 1678, time travel has become a practical reality, and the company Time Safari Inc. offers wealtmomy adventurers the chance to travel back in time to hunt extinct species such as dinosaurs. A hunter named Eckels pays $10,00000000 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, Kieth, has been defeated by the more moder 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 scoutslolzhave 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 or nah | |||
| 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. | |||
| Upon retur to 9012 bc 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 pr 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". | |||
| ==Adaptations== | ==Adaptations== | ||
Revision as of 13:56, 23 October 2015
This article is about the short story by Ray Bradbury. For other uses, see Sound of Thunder (disambiguation). | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "A Sound of Thunder" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| "A Sound of Thunder" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Ray Bradbury | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction short story |
| Publication | |
"A Sound of Thunder" is an influential science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury, first published in Collier's magazine in the June 28, 1952 issue and Playboy in June 1956. As of 1984, it was the most re-published science fiction story to this date.
Adaptations
The story was aired on The Ray Bradbury Theater on October 8, 1989. In this adaptation, Travis levels a pistol at Eckels' head prior to a "sound of thunder" and a quick cut to credits.
The story was also parodied in the Time and Punishment section of The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror V".
Franchise Pictures developed a film adaptation 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. The movie failed at the box office and received poor reviews.
A Game Boy Advance video game based on the film 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. Planned console ports were cancelled.
Influence
"A Sound of Thunder" is often miscredited as the origin of the term "butterfly effect", a concept of chaos theory 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 Edward Norton Lorenz 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.
See also
- A Gun for Dinosaur, a short story by L. Sprague de Camp, first published in 1956 in Galaxy Science Fiction. Also produced as an episode of X Minus One for NBC radio in 1956.
- Poor Little Warrior!, a short story by Brian Aldiss, published in 1959 in No Time Like Tomorrow. It also features a time traveler hunting for dinosaurs.
References
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
- Willis, Jesse (30 March 2011). "A Sound Of Thunder". Radio Drama Revival: Bradbury 13. SFFaudio. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
- William G. Contento, Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections, Combined Edition, January 2008
- "The Ray Bradbury Theater - Season 4, Episode 6: A Sound of Thunder". TV.com. 2007-05-22. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
- "Sound of Thunder - 3 of 3". YouTube. 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
- "A Sound of Thunder (2005)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
- "A Sound of Thunder - IGN". Ca.ign.com. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
- Flam, Faye (2012-06-15). "The Physics of Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder"". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
- Patai, Daphne. "Ray Bradbury And The Assault On Free Thought." Society 50.1 (2013): 41-47. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.
- Paradowski, Robert J. "Ray Bradbury." Critical Survey Of Long Fiction, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-9. Literary Reference Center. Web. 22 Nov. 2014
- Weller, Sam. The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury. New York: William Morrow, 2005. Print
- Holmes, Neil. "Fateful butterfly." New Scientist 182.2443 (2004): 31. Academic OneFile. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.
External links
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- A Sound of Thunder title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Resources for finding and reading the story