Stealth Journeys with the Steam Mapper

Chapter 24: Beware of the Blob

"Oh yeah, a great location for nuclear tests", thought MYKA as StLF shared the information about the family trip to Alaska.   Then, aloud, "I wonder how climate change and warmer temps in the arctic will play into this!   It reminds me of the old movie I saw awhile back.    The one with Steve McQueen, called The Blob.   In the end, the United States government takes the blob that's grown to an enormous size to the polar region.  They fly it in a huge net beneath a plane and drop it off there because the blob won't grow or move under extreme cold.    Maybe some producer should do a movie called The Return of the Blob, and use computer animation to make it seem more believable."

"Yeah, well, scientists did call a huge body of warmer than usual water, that formed in the North Pacific waters, 'The Blob', after the sci-fi story.    It disrupted the marine life populations for several years.   Glad it's in remission for now, but global warming is suspected to be the cause of it.  So sometimes truth is stranger than fiction."

Stef continued.  "Will global warming bring the blob back to a huge menacing life?  That movie was really campy.  Steve McQueen's character, a teenager of course, put out the fire in the diner using fire extinguishers, which were releasing very cold foam and that's what stopped its growth.  Good thing the teen could communicate with the outside and advise that CO2 was the solution or compound or whatever.  Seeing the teens raid the high school for fire extinguishers was I'm sure perfect for the teen audiences watching 'The Blob'.  That and Steve McQueen."

"The movie's theme song was a hit.   'Beware of the Blob' . . . very catchy and for many years you could watch on YouTube a video of slime mold growing and moving to The Blob music on a science short.   I watched it over and over.  Mindless amusement.  Can you imagine having some enormous invertebrate taking over and instilling fear into everyone?  Thank goodness humans have yet to encounter a creature capable of mass destruction.  Well other than vectors capable of spreading plagues, I guess that is mostly true."

Wanting the last word, MYKA interjected, "By the way, a trailer for The Blob was shown on the drive-in movie scene in the movie Grease.   So that was a movie within a movie that I watched using Netflix on my smart phone.   The Blob shows up in grease when you least expect it.   Sounds gross.  Oh, and there  are movies in The Blob, too.  The Vampire and the Robot  is on the marquee when the teens leave the theater to help Steve McQueen.  And then later, the teens are in another movie theater watching another scary movie, when the blob oozes through the vents of the projection room and causes loss of life.  Movie theaters were usually a cool retreat from summer's heat, so one wonders why the blob wanted to move into  a chilled room."

"I assume you've seen the 1951 film that is traditionally shown annually to all arctic explorers? The Thing From Another World, starring James Arness, as the thing.   It was based on a novella called 'Who Goes There?' and that story also inspired a 1982 film called The Thing  where an alien infiltrates an Antarctic research station.  That one starred Kurt Russell.   Didn't do so well at the box office because it came out at the same time as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial  from Spielberg. Moviegoers wanted a friendly alien."

"Of course, Dad and I watched the original movie with humanoid James Arness,  AKA Marshall Matt Dillon of 'Gunsmoke'.  The Thing from Another World was released in 1951, the same year as The Day the Earth Stood Still.  So that was another year of 'good alien' versus 'bad alien'.  Here is a little known trivia fact:  Snub Pollard was the taxi driver near the end of the movie.  Dad has a collection of Snub Pollard silent films.  But that's another story."

"I'm surprised that we didn't watch the second version as a group before coming to Antarctica.    I had been told that the original one is considered to be part of the annual preparation involving trips to the arctic.  Dad liked it but I fell asleep watching the beginning of it.  It was boring to me. Grainy black and white.  Lots of sideways snow as people entered the compound.   Mom pointed out that the card players were being terribly sexist.  Special effects sure have improved from 1951.   I wasn't aware of the second movie but it sounds scarier from what you suggest.  I'll have to ask Dad about that other movie.   Maybe he thought it would be a bad idea to see it before coming to Antarctica.  Jinx the trip.   Always exciting to fight a monster to save the world!"

"But, MYKA, I prefer true stories.   I was hoping you'd share one of your favorite travel experiences.  You said you took part in a Cousteau trip to Iceland a few years back.  How did that go?"