Bradbury 13: Dark They Were and Golden Eyed

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. –Anatole France

Dark They Were and Golden Eyed is episode six in the Bradbury 13 series {the recent release of the series on Audio CD places it at number two, which isn't too far off the mark in my book, as far as favorites go .} The short story it is based on was first published in the science fiction magazine, Wonder Stories, in 1949. It was also included in A Medicine for Melancholy in 1959 and S is for Space in 1966.

Dark They Were and Golden Eyed
As long as the rockets had spun a silver web across space, Harry Bittering had been able to accept Mars. But now, the web gone, the rockets lying in jigsaw heaps of molten girder and unsnaked wire on Earth, people from Earth left to the strangeness of Mars, the cinnamon dusts and wine airs; this was the moment that Mars had waited for. Now, it would eat them.

My Rating:
Ray Bradbury certainly has a penchant for stranding people on Mars. I wonder what it is about that planet that is so fascinating to him? Whatever it is, this episode is among my favorites. The descriptions of the Martian landscape and habitats is very rich and descriptive. And this is another one of those tales that makes you think a little. The theme for this story is change. Change happens, whether we want it to or not. We can be swept along by it or we can embrace it, whether we are the instigators of the change that is going on around us or mere bystanders, caught in its path. Whatever the case may be, in all that I've observed, it seems like making the best of whatever situation you're found in seems to make the constant of change a little easier to handle.

Air Date:
May 7, 1984

{Coleman Creel, Bryce Chamberlain, Oscar Rowland
Photo Courtesy of Phil at Ray Bradbury & Media
©Mike McDonough}

Narrator:
Paul Frees

Cast:
Bryce Chamberlain
Beverly Rowland
Steve Densley
Jennifer Coleman
Coleman Creel
Max Robinson
Jay Bernard
Nathan Hale

Music:
Roger Hoffman
Greg Hansen

Production Assistant:
Patrick Mead

Associate Producer:
Jeff Raider

Created, Produced, Directed:
Mike McDonough

Executive Producer:
Dean Van Uitert

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