When Worlds Collide

infobox Book |
name = When Worlds Collide
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition published by Frederick A. Stokes
author = Philip Wylie & Edwin Balmer
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = Frederick A. Stokes
release_date = 1933
media_type = Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
pages = 344 pp
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
followed_by = After Worlds Collide

"When Worlds Collide" is a 1933 science fiction novel co-written by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer, who also authored the sequel "After Worlds Collide" (1934). It was first published as a six-part monthly serial (September 1932-February 1933) in Blue Book magazine.

Plot summary

Sven Bronson, a South African astronomer, discovers that a pair of rogue planets, Bronson Alpha and Bronson Beta, will soon enter the solar system. The larger one, Alpha, will pass close enough to cause catastrophic damage. Eight months later, after swinging around the Sun, Alpha will return to pulverize the Earth and leave. It is believed that Bronson Beta will remain and assume a stable orbit.

Scientists led by Cole Hendron work desperately to build ships to transport enough people, animals and equipment to Bronson Beta in an attempt to save the human race. Governments are skeptical, but the scientists persist and develop the technology necessary for the spacecraft, which are built in various countries. Nations including the United States evacuate their coastal regions in preparation for the Bronson bodies' first pass. Tides reach heights of hundreds of feet, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes take their deadly toll, and the weather runs wild for more than two days.

The isolated Hendron camp manages to build two ships which take off together with all of the survivors of the camp (after beating off an attack from refugees desperate to escape). One ship makes a successful landing, but without radio contact with any other ships, the crew members assume that only they made it across. They find that Beta is habitable and that there are traces of a native civilization wiped out when, millions of years before, the planet was torn away from its sun.

The sequel, "After Worlds Collide", follows the fate of the survivors on Bronson Beta.

Adaptations and influences

"When Worlds Collide" had far-reaching influences on the science fiction genre. The themes of an approaching planet threatening the Earth, and an athletic hero and his girlfriend traveling to the new planet by rocket, were used by writer Alex Raymond in his 1934 comic strip "Flash Gordon". The 1938-1941 strip "Speed Spaulding" was more directly based on the novel. The themes of escape from a doomed planet to a habitable one also can be seen in Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's 1938 comic Superman.

The novel was also adapted as the 1951 film "When Worlds Collide", produced by George Pal and directed by Rudolph Mate. The film inspired "Deep Impact". [cite web |url=http://www.time.com/time/community/transcripts/chattr031998.html |title=Could Worlds Collide? |date=March 19 1998 |publisher=www.time.com] Another film adaptation is scheduled for release in 2010 by DreamWorks, directed by Stephen Sommers. [cite web |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455856 |title=When Worlds Collide (2008) |publisher=www.imdb.com]

In the movie "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" the very first song ("Science Fiction, Double Feature") refers to the film.

References

*cite book | last=Bleiler | first=Everett | authorlink=Everett F. Bleiler | title=The Checklist of Fantastic Literature | location=Chicago | publisher=Shasta Publishers | pages=39 | date=1948