Between Time and Timbuktu

I am a huge fan of Kurt Vonnegut's novels. And, like Mr. Vonnegut, I am also a huge fan of Bob and Ray. This teleplay has been on my wish list for decades, but it is incredibly elusive. I finally found a copy of it on DVD online. It Does Exist!

In short, all of the elements of a great Vonnegut novel are there. It has some great ideas and incredible insights.

There are some elaborate visual effects which must have been state-of-the-art in 1972, but seem to be a bit dated. The effects seem to be a bit overdone by today's standards, but serve the important purpose of showing the viewer where Stony becomes "unstuck in time" to use a Slaughterhouse-5 expression.

Above all it was great to see Bob and Ray doing what they do best: Witty, yet understated humor.

My biggest fear was of being disappointed in the production. I was afraid that I had built my hopes up too much. But in the end, I must quote the film itself:

Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.

NASA decides to launch the first "ordinary" man into space, based on writing a winning jingle. Our astronaut gets more than he bargained for with a bizarre trip through space and time. For myself the most memorable parts include: 1) Bob and Ray's ongoing commentary and their attempts to remember Armstrong's "one great step..." line and 2) a future in which the government tries to make everybody equal by reducing them to the lowest common denominator of abilities. It's a real trip watching a ballet performed in which the dancers have to wear weights to make themselves clumsy.

I was mesmerized by this strange film back in 1972, and it lingered in my memories for years until I was finally able to view it a few months ago. The parts that I recall held up beautifully, especially Bob & Ray's work (which was largely ad-libbed). Some of the Vonnegut stories work, some don't: the "Handicapper General" piece is quite scary and all too real, as is the section about ethical suicide parlors. But in the end it's Elliot and Goulding (and Hickey) who save the day.

I still can't think about "ex-astronaut Bud Williams, Jr." telling his story about Tang without smiling. Wish they would release this on DVD (and another early NET special - America, Inc. with Jean Shepherd).

I saw this film one time and one time only, in a Sci-Fi Lit class in my senior year of high school in 1980. This made a big impression on me to this day. There were moments of joyful silliness (Walter Gesundheit is actually a double pun, if you are studying German, which I also was taking that year), and scenes of incredibly pure beauty. I found large parts of this movie promoted a philosophy of hope, which was very important to a (then) suicidal teenager. This film kept me out of the knife-room for MONTHS.

I don't know where the teacher obtained the print, and if I could get a copy these days, I would without hesitation, even if I had to pay a lot. Quick, someone tell Mr. Vonnegut so it will be released.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Fred Barzyk; Produced by David R. Loxton for WBGH for PBS broadcast. Screenplay by Barzyk, Loxton and David Odell, from the writings of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.; Photography by Boyd Estus; Edited by Dick Bartlett; Special Video Effects by David Atwood; Animation by Ron Finley and Gail Gutradt. Starring: William Hickey, Kevin McCarthy, Bob & Ray, Hurd Hatfield, Bruce Morrow, Dortha Duckworth, Charles White, John Peters, Jay Gainer, Jerry Gershman, John Devlin and Frank Comer.

Wackily inspired, blackly comic science fiction satire -not all the gags work but many are classic, for example, a poet/schlump astronaut winding up in Schenectady; a radical minister ticking off the ten commandments intercut with a space launch countdown; and a nifty suicide commercial.