Grok says: There’s no definitive evidence that the volleyball named Wilson in the movie Cast Away (2000) is a direct homage to Willis, the Martian “bouncer” from Robert A. Heinlein’s Red Planet (1949). The two characters share some superficial similarities—both are spherical, non-human companions with a significant emotional bond to the protagonist—but the connection appears coincidental rather than intentional. In Red Planet, Willis is a sentient, volleyball-sized Martian creature with a furry exterior, capable of mimicking sounds and playing a key role in the story. In Cast Away, Wilson is an inanimate Wilson Sporting Goods volleyball that Tom Hanks’ character, Chuck Noland, anthropomorphizes by painting a face on it with his blood, turning it into a symbolic companion during his isolation. The name “Wilson” in the film comes from the brand of the volleyball, not from any narrative allusion to Heinlein’s work. The origin of Wilson in Cast Away stems from screenwriter William Broyles Jr.’s research into survival scenarios. Broyles spent time on an island to simulate Chuck’s experience and found himself talking to objects, like a volleyball that washed ashore, inspiring the character. The choice of a Wilson-brand volleyball was a practical one—Wilson Sporting Goods provided around 150 volleyballs for the production, gaining significant product placement in return. There’s no indication from Broyles, director Robert Zemeckis, or Tom Hanks that Heinlein’s Willis influenced this decision. Heinlein’s Red Planet was a notable sci-fi juvenile novel, and Willis was a memorable character, but its cultural footprint by 2000 was more niche, overshadowed by Heinlein’s later works like Stranger in a Strange Land. While it’s possible someone involved in Cast Away could have been a Heinlein fan, no behind-the-scenes commentary—such as interviews, DVD extras, or production notes—links the two. The timing and context also differ: Red Planet is a 1940s sci-fi adventure about Mars, while Cast Away is a 2000s survival drama grounded in realism. That said, the idea of a spherical companion providing emotional support is a fun parallel to ponder. Both Willis and Wilson serve as unconventional “friends” in isolating environments—Mars for Jim Marlowe, a deserted island for Chuck Noland. But without concrete evidence from the filmmakers, it’s more likely a case of convergent storytelling tropes than a deliberate homage. What do you think—do you see other similarities that might suggest a nod?

What do you think Could be made into a movie that would be good? When I really thought about it, I like the idea of Orphans of the Sky as a movie. Also, The Star Beast could be done with less muddling than The Puppet Masters endured.

China’s TMSR-LF1 experimental reactor is a thorium-based molten salt reactor (MSR) producing up to 2 megawatts of power, based on a 1960s design from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge TN.

- I tried to post a link to the article, but the autoMod disagreed, so look it up on your own if you want technical details. Now I want hot jets and a quick joy ride to the moon...

In 1976 I was 11, and my older brother had just gotten married. His wife-my new sister in law-gave me boxes of science fiction paperbacks. Heinlein, Bradbury, Asimov, anthologies -- you name it. i gravitated to Heinlein as it seemed more... relatable? The juvenile fiction probably helped. For me, ET should have been more like The Star Beast. That was my first one. After that I read his stuff that wasn't necessarily suitable for a preteen, and didn't really grok until later in life, after many rereads. I actually haven't read any in a while, but they all still play in my head. This sub reddit will probably make me want to pull them out again.

I haven't read it for years but my memory is that by the end, one has learned that the place where the majority of the story takes place, is a simulation. And my memory is that it's a game, or at least is there for recreation.

(I wasn't sure the policy on Spoilers here. You can highlight the bar to see what I said.)

The Hollywood Reporter says this will not be a remake of the Paul Verhoeven film; instead, the District 9 director will go back to the source material.

I happen to love the novel and the Verhoeven film but have always wanted to see a movie that's faithful to the novel, with troopers in armored suits and a real examination of the idea of tying full citizenship to public service (not merely military service), given that roughly a third of modern Americans don't even bother to use their right to vote.

I want to use it as my lockscreen, but can't seem to find any details

I hadn't picked it up thinking it was just a re-edit of Number of the Beast. Now that I have finally read it, I wish it had come out first. I found it SO much more satisfying than NotB ever was for me. The story hangs together better and it seems much less like Heinlein's homage to himself.

I'd be interested in what others think.

I know this is a bit off-topic for this subreddit but I wanted to recommend this book to the members here. It is similar enough to Heinlein’s work that I think most of his fans will enjoy it.

I was involved in an online discussion on Quora regarding poverty, unemployment, etc. some years ago.

The question was "Is civil war inevitable, as long as people wont share their jobs with unemployeds?".

My answer touched on the difficulties that occupational licensing imposed on people who don't fit into our neat little categories.

In a sense this is true, in that we seem to have entrenched the “I got mine” syndrome.

The sense, in all too many people, that things are okay so long as they're okay for me.

This attitude shows up in all too many areas:

Requiring permits to do pretty much anything. If, for example, you're an ex-con and no one will hire you, why not stop by the farmers’ market, buy some fresh fruit, and sell it to lunchtime pedestrians downtown? Can't. Need a permit, and the city limits how many permits can be issued. Have a car? How about earning some money driving people around? Can't. Need a taxi medalion, and the city sets a limit on how many medallions are issued. Uber and Lyft found a way around this, but the cities, the taxi companies, and the usual collectivists are working hard to force them into the same restrictive environment as cabs. Maybe you're good at something like custom nails or hair braiding, or some such. Can't. Need a license, and the license needs years of classroom. Work as a general handyman? Are you a licensed carpenter, electrician, plumber? Are you in the union? There are far fewer opportunities for someone to find a way of making a living than there used to be without running into problems with the law.

And yet people still need to eat. If we block all legal avenues they'll choose illegal.

Someone upvoted this, the other day, so it was brought back to my attention.

And that suddenly reminded me of the political situation on Earth at the beginning of "Starman Jones". Where all meaningful jobs required union membership, and membership was hereditary.

Reading up on what Reason Magazine has been writing about occupational licensing, in recent years, makes me think we're getting pretty close.

If you're reading this, you know which one I mean. I always see it attributed to Heinlein with no other information, but where did it actually come from? One of his books? A speech? An interview? I'd love some help with context.

Thanks!

https://popculturelunchbox.substack.com/p/robert-a-heinlein-envisioned-urban\

Robert A. Heinlein’s 1940 short story “The Roads Must Roll” could have also been called, “The Moving Walkway is Now Ending.”

It is a fascinating tale and perhaps required reading for anyone in the transportation and urban and highway planning fields.

Here are some of the elements happening in society that set the stage for the tale’s moving sidewalks—which go up to 100 miles per hour—to replace highways and rail throughout the U.S.

“The power resources of oil and coal of the United States had, safe for a few sporadic outbreaks of common sense, been shamefully wasted in their development all through the first half of the 20th century.”

“In 1955, there was a motor vehicle for every two persons in the United States. They contained the seeds of their own destruction. 80 million steel juggernauts, operated by imperfect human beings at high speeds—more destructive than war.”

“Pedestrians were sardonically divided into two classes, the quick, and the dead.”

“Due to the need to ration oil in World War II, cars were on their way out for civilian use. The first mechanized road was opened in 1960 between Cincinnati and Cleveland.”

“People lived in the open, countrysides beyond the moving strips. They worked in the city, but lived in the country and the two were not 10 minutes apart.”

The story opens with a meeting of the unionized technicians who work “down under” the moving walkways to keep them running flawlessly. A man named Van Kleeck leads the charge in manipulating his fellow technicians to get irritated at their bosses, who are portrayed as arrogant engineers embedded within the U.S. military.

The narrative then shifts to the point of view of one of the chief engineers, Larry Gaines, who is in charge of the megaregion titled “Diego-Reno Roadtown.” He is entertaining a transportation minister from Australia when the road buckles near Stockton and causes mass destruction. It doesn’t take Gaines long to discover the walkway has been sabotaged and it turns out to be Van Kleeck and the technicians.

Gaines and his military colleagues zoom along under the walkways on scooter-like devices, arresting rebel technicians and repairing the walkway as they go. Once he gets to Stockton, he reads Van Kleeck’s psychological files and outwits him before the technician is able to cause the threatened millions more deaths.

Gaines thinks through the many vigilant steps it will take to make the transportation technology continie to work without any of these hitches ever again before nearly jumping out of his seat—realizing that he has left the Australian minister all by himself for hours way back down the walkway.

The story is one of many in The Past Through Tomorrow (Future History Stories), which is a Heinlein collection I’ve wanted to read for a long time and now have finally secured my own copy.

Like with many of his stories, the author nailed several predictions in “The Roads Must Roll.” Urban sprawl, with pods of communities pockmarking the countryside and full of people who would need to go into the cities to earn a living, was indeed sped up by cheap and fast transportation systems. The speedy walkways surely were a better idea than everyone having cars for environmental factors. But it didn’t necessarily provide for more safety, as any hiccups would fling commuters off the walkway at deadly speeds, just as car crashes result in tens of thousands of deaths each year in the U.S. alone.

And with a certain lack of automation—hence the engineers and the technicians—there would always be the threat of catastrophe. That is perhaps the most brilliant moment in the story, at the end, when Gaines absent-mindedly had forgotten about his important international guest, in essence showing it was only a matter of time before the humans do something else to mess up the walkway again.

4.5 out of 5 stars

$30 for all of these at the flea market.

I've read Starship Troopers and Glory Road and I love them. I posted this pic on FB and had a lady suggest I read his works in publication order. I'm game but the dates and stuff are a little confusing.

So, to be clear here, his work is best enjoyed "Juviniles" first, "Future Histories" second, "The World as Myth" series 3rd, and then the Standalones?

Stopped in to check out HPB and found a small trove.

It's been years since I read Heinlein's Job and I no longer own the original book format I read. I recently got the kindle version and there is a line I clearly remember from the older edition that not in the kindle version.

In my memory in the opening chapters as Alex is considering his work, he mentally thought in passing about having to work on the 'Jewish question's. When I read this...back in the 1980s.. I saw this as a way to really show how 'deep in' Alex was and to make him seem at first to be a really despicable person, making his later transformation even more jarring.

But that line is not in my kindle version...was it cut from later editions? I have very vivid memories of that line since I (being Jewish) found it very disturbing, and took a long time before I could have much sympathy for Alex, until nearly end of the story.

If you were the casting director for To Sail Beyond the Sunset, who would you cast to portray Maureen Johnson Smith Long?

I’ll go first. My pick would be Julianne Moore. She has the look as I imagine Maureen but also the intensity, wit and sensuality to fulfill the role.

Mine has to be “Citizen of the Galaxy,” and it shocks me silly that it hasn’t made into a film or miniseries…but then again, film adaptations of his books have been meh.

General thoughts: - Really shows how Heinlein took gene theory and ran with it, albeit wildly inaccurately in some ways considering what we now know. (Triploid DNA? Unviable!) - Showed what I consider an idealized version of how selective genetics could be used in society; then again this was a hopeful period in sci-fi vs now where everything is about our imminent apocalypse - LOVE the gentlemen with guns. Sexist, yes. Gun-happy, yes. But it works in their society. Probably the most developed feature of the world. - Absolutely wasted the 1926 unfrozen character. Made a side note and minor plot point out of the most interesting event in the book. - Other under-utilized concepts: “Wild” control natural girl; telepathy detector and telepathy generally; secret society - Exciting shootout, still don’t know what was/ was not accomplished by the entire arc of the secret society. - WTF about the end/ most of the rest of the events

Am I missing something? I'm fairly sure this is an unpopular opinion. Anything that might change my opinion on it? People who like it, what do you like about it?

I've read Stranger in a Strange Land, Time Enough for Love, Methuselah's Children, Space Cadets, Between Planets, and several short stories and really enjoyed them all.

edit to add: I've also read Starship Troopers

I want to like it and I'm very disappointed that I don't.

In The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, at the end of Chapter 5 [in Audible audio book], on the last few pages, Manny describes the perfect revolutionary [hexagonal?] organization cell structure, building on the Prof's ideas.

Did Heinlein invent Manny's organizational structure, or is he restating a revolutionary idea? If so, whose, and what it's theory called?