A moment of Bradbury

Of course I read Ray Bradbury.

I read some because I had to (they were assigned in school), but somehow that that didn’t reduce my enjoyment of them.

I distinctly remember a drawing I made in school of a long-necked plesiosaur in the ocean next to a lighthouse. I remember the plesiosaur on the left, and the lighthouse on the right, and I think the plesiosaur was grey. I pictured most ancient reptiles and dinosaurs as having leathery grey hides then. I liked plesiosaurs, because they were so often invoked as explanations for sea and lake monsters, like Nessie. It was the scene from Bradbury’s story “The Fog Horn”.  

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms depicted the same scene. Ray Harryhausen’s Rhedosaurus was rather different than my long-necked, flippered sea reptile, though. Being able to walk around on land certainly made for a much more entertaining movie.

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms was one of the direct inspirations for the first Godzilla movie. This makes Ray Bradbury Godzilla’s godfather. And those movies inspired the main video for my recent #SciFund, “Beach of the Goliath Crabs.”

Ray Bradbury, 1920-2012.