Talk:The Man Who Fell to Earth (novel)

Seperate into Book and Film
I have created a page for The Man Who Fell to Earth (film). This page shall now be solely about the book.

Mikeguy

Added a thing about the 2007 version- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486859/

aging of Betty Jo?
The current version of the article says that Betty Jo "ages from her twenties to her fifties during the narrative". That's a bit unclear as the novel takes place over a five-year period so how did she age three decades? Needs elaboration. --Mathew5000 22:49, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Different editions of the book / revisions made by Tevis
Although the book was written in 1963, there's a reference to the Watergate scandal near the end (on p. 180 in the Del Rey edition published 1999). Obviously this reference was inserted sometime between 1973 and 1999, but when exactly? And what other revisions were made from Tevis's 1963 edition? I found this quite jarring while reading the book. I tried to find information about this from Google but hit a couple of dead ends: a query on Amazon.de that was never answered and a televised panel discussion which mentions the issue and seems to refer to a comparison of a new edition with an original edition "on the web site" but I could not locate that. In particular I would like to know whether Tevis authorized the changes. --Mathew5000 22:55, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Manwhofelltoearth book.png
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BetacommandBot (talk) 15:56, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Watergate

 * The edition I have mentions Watergate. So I guess it was rewritten or updated at some point ? 86.208.18.123 (talk) 10:49, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes I've seen it as well. Watergate was 10 years after the publishing date. The only thing I can think of is something was added when the copyright was renewed in 1991. Planetary (talk) 18:09, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Why would you think the revision was done at the same time as copyright renewal? More likely it was in the 1980s or late ’70s. The original edition of the novel was set in the years 1972 to 1976. In the revised edition, the setting is 1985 to 1990. Considering that it’s supposed to be the future, it makes no sense to suppose that this revision was made in 1991. There are various other changes in addition to the years and the mention of Watergate. For example, the original edition contains this paragraph:
 * Suddenly Newton began to laugh. Bryce was astonished; he had never heard him laugh before. Then, still trembling with the fag end of laughter, Newton said, “It’s a good thing. She won’t be lonely now. Where is she?”

In the revised edition, the paragraph reads as follows:
 * Suddenly Newton began to laugh. Bryce was astonished; he had never heard him laugh before. Then, still trembling with the wave of laughter, Newton said, “It’s a good thing. She won’t be lonely now. Where is she?”

—Mathew5000 (talk) 04:42, 15 July 2009 (UTC)


 * So there were other changes. I thought so. Very subtle. Planetary (talk) 04:44, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

If I had to guess, I'd say that the revisions were done for the first British edition, which was published in 1976, which would explain the reference to Watergate. The following website echoes that. http://bookfails.livejournal.com/66008.html?thread=1461464 Agent Cooper (talk) 15:19, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

Another version
The 1997 Australian film 'Epsilon' (Alien Visitor in the U.S.) has many parallels with TMWFTE including a sole, naked traveler visiting earth to assist with its impending doom. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112974/?ref_=tt_urv https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_(film) Dan Bollinger (talk) 15:26, 4 July 2022 (UTC)