Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

This is our discussion of the short story....

" Kaleidoscope " by Ray Bradbury

From the anthology The Illustrated Man collection by Ray Bradbury. See The Illustrated Man anthology discussion hub for more info on the anthology and pointers to discussion of its other stories.

I didn't care for this angsty rumination of death. (I also don't accept that's how people react when they're about to die. Whatever happened to Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.)

One thing that did strike me, though, was how much this influenced the ending of the Carpenter/O'Bannon movie Dark Star (1974), in which, after the ship explodes, the "Phoenix Asteroids" take Talby away with them, like Bradbury's Stone, and Doolittle falls into a planet, "what a beautiful way to die, a shooting star," like Bradbury's Hollis. So, at least I've enhanced my appreciation of classic cinema. :)

I actually liked this one. Plus, it's a conceptual predecessor of one of the greatest songs of all time, Space Oddity and also this comic http://pbfcomics.com/comics/astronaut...

I liked it. The ending was the best part - it was almost funny depending on how dark your sense of humor is. The story certainly didn't give the rosiest view of humanity but I don't think people would be at their finest when they're facing certain death.

Hollis did seem to go through Anger (when he vented his frustration on someone else), then Depression (what a wasted life he lived, though that's more regret) and finally Acceptance. Guess there was bargaining too, "if I could just do one more good thing". Denial was more one of the other guys that kept saying no, he didn't want to die. Hollis was a bit more practical, I mean if you go into space it's not like facing death wasn't something that you didn't have to consider before you left.

Not sure I saw the point of him losing limbs but overall I kind of liked it.