Six Weeks Of Steampunk...

My annual Halloween festivities are traditionally spread out across the whole month of October, and they always include the Mexican celebration of Dia De Los Muertos (typically the day after Halloween) and a British holiday known as Guy Fawkes Night (always on November 5th). So, for me, the full Halloween season usually lasts about six weeks. And if you've been reading this blog in chronological order, i.e., from the first entry to the most recent, then you'll know from a previous entry that I celebrated the 2024 season by indulging in nothing but steampunk-related TV, movies, and other media, with a particular focus on the works of H. G. Wells. You might also know that just about all of my projects start off with a series of crazy-looking notes, so here's a picture of my six-week steampunk playlist, as it was first conceived of on a tiny scrap of paper that I later taped to the wall above my desk...

And since I know that my crazy-looking handwriting is just about impossible to read (and that my crazy-looking notes don't mean anything to anyone but me), then let me break the above image down in terms that non-crazy people can understand: Tuesdays and Wednesdays were dedicated to steampunk in general. I watched several hours of steampunk-related TV and one movie, for a rough total of six hours. Then I spent another few hours every Thursday watching H. G. Wells-related TV, short and feature-length films, and ended each of those days by listening to two readings of H. G. Wells short stories and/or radio dramas based on Wells' work. That's a lot of time spent watching and listening. So I only watched one horror or fantasy movie on Fridays, one female-focused movie on Saturdays (plus one episode of the 1986 TV series, A Little Princess), one male-focused movie on Sundays (plus one episode of the 1983 TV series, The Baker Street Boys), and one "anything" movie on Mondays.

There are a lot of steampunk movie lists online, but a lot of them just repeat the same few titles over and over again. I've also seen a lot of movies and TV period, so before making my steampunk-themed media list, I decided to expand the concept beyond gears and goggles, finally defining steampunk as anything appropriately period-themed that excites the imagination and/or celebrates the spirit of invention (i.e., Firefly, This Is Jinsy, Philip Marlowe, Blackadder, Quacks, and even Five Children And It are all steampunk if you wish hard enough), and the overall focus was on movies I'd either never seen or hadn't seen lately.

If you're a steampunk fan, you're probably curious, so here's the final list of movies I watched on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays...

• Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)

• The Great Race (1965)

• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)

• Enola Holmes (2012)

• The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes (1970)

• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

• Going Postal - episode one (2010)

• Mary Poppins (1964)

• The Assassination Bureau (1969)

• The Road To Wellville (1994)

• Going Postal - episode two (2010)

• Dreamchild (1985)

• P. T. Barnum - episode one (1999)

• Doctor Dolittle (1967)

• Jekyll And Hyde (1990)

• Jane (1982)

• P. T. Barnum - episode two (1999)

• Hysteria (2011)

• Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

• Heidi (1937)

• The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer (1938)

• Topsy-Turvy (1999)

• The Mansion Of Madness (1973)

• Hello, Dolly! (1969)

And, read from the top of the column to the bottom, this is what I watched on Tuesdays and Wednesdays...

And this is that same playlist, once again translated for sane people:

• Sherlock Hound (1984)

• The World Of Steampunk (2022)

• Carnival Row (2019)

• Ripping Yarns (1976)

• feature-length film (see list below)

• short film (see list below)

• The Wild Wild West (1965)

• The Secret Adventures Of Jules Verne (2000)

• Tales Of Mystery And Imagination (1995)

Again, there are a lot of lists of steampunk-related TV series online, and again, a lot of them just repeat the same few titles. So again, much of what I chose were things that I'd either never seen before or hadn't seen lately. For those of you who haven't seen any or all of the above titles, I've provided links that'll allow you to make your own decisions as to whether or not you're interested in them, but some of my personal favorites include Sherlock Hound, The Wild Wild West, and The World Of Steampunk.

Regarding The World Of Steampunk, I'd like to express a special thanks to the series' creator and host, Stephen Beale, who's also the editor and publisher of an online magazine called The Steampunk Explorer. It's easy to think of the genre as being purely within the realm of fiction, but Stephen celebrates the real-world creative minds behind the fiction by taking viewers on trips to steampunk events and, in some cases, interviewing people like Gail Carriger, Dude Vader, and even the Vallejo Steampunk Santa. My Tuesdays and Wednesdays wouldn't have been the same without Stephen's tireless efforts.

Regarding the feature-length movies I watched on those days, here's that list...

• Around The World In 80 Days (2004)

• The Adventures Of Mark Twain (1985)

• The Fabulous World Of Jules Verne (1958)

• The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adèle Blanc-Sec (2010)

• Master Of The World (1961)

• House Of Wax (1953)

• 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954)

• The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)

• Mysterious Island (1961)

• The Reptile (1966)

• Captain Nemo And The Underwater City (1969)

• The Wild Wild West (1999)

And regarding the short films, here's that list, with links to the actual films themselves online...

• Aurora (2011)

• Black Blood (2013)

• Corset (2015)

• Cowboys & Engines (2015)

• Mind Machine (2014)

• Nemo (2014)

• Steam Horse (2016) (not what I thought it would be)

• Steampunk Cranial Nerve Exam (2022)

• The Carriage Girl (2013)

• The Impossible Voyage (1904)

• The Morrow Lost (2014)

• The Mysterious Geographic Explorations Of Jasper Morello (2005)

The shorts were hit or miss in terms of films I liked, but Corset, Cowboys & Engines, and The Mysterious Geographic Explorations Of Jasper Morello were all very good.

Corset was meant to be the first installment in a series that was unfortunately never finished, and Cowboys & Engines isn't really a short film in as much as it is a collection of scenes filmed in preparation for a larger project (that was also unfinished). But there was one short on the list that stood out even among the best of the best: Steampunk Cranial Nerve Exam.

I only happened upon the video because it had the word steampunk in the description. And, whether or not its creator is a full-time steampunk fan, she definitely knows what steampunk is. I unfortunately only know her first name, Diane. But you can find more of her videos on her YouTube channel, Moonlight Cottage ASMR.

ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, and the video stars Diane as a doctor who's tasked with giving the viewer a checkup. She's very attentive (and very intriguing), but what I liked most about her video was the extraordinary attention she gave to the smallest detail in creating a scene, i.e., as a writer and illustrator, I'm always researching the objects that might fill a room, constantly thinking about how those objects look and feel, and am perpetually fascinated by the sheer volume of baubles and minutiae that can effectively make or break a fantasy environment.

For all those reasons and more, I've continued to explore the Moonlight Cottage ASMR channel now that the Halloween season is over. But, to be clear, I don't think Diane's videos are technically short films. And, to be unclear, I'm not really sure what they are. I'm only sure that I like them and am equally sure that although there are a number of other ASMR videos on YouTube, Diane's are thus far the most compelling.

That having been said, or, in this case, written, I'm now compelled to share my H. G. Wells playlists...

Researching media inspired by the works of H. G. Wells meant coping with a lot of information. And the only way I could handle organizing it all was to write things down on super-tiny scraps of paper, which I then (relentlessly) arranged and rearranged until I had the preferred six hours of media a day, one day a week, over the course of six weeks. The above image shows those slips organized into six vertical columns that are again meant to be read from top to bottom. And here again is all that information translated into non-crazy...

THURSDAY, WEEK ONE

• Biography - H. G. Wells: Time Traveller

• The Infinite Worlds Of H. G. Wells - s01e01 (2001) (combining The New Accelerator and The Queer Story Of Brownlow's Newspaper)

• Future Tense - The Story Of H. G. Wells

• The Invisible Man (1984), Episode 1

• The Time Machine (2002)

• Jabberwocky Audio Theater - The Flowering Of The Strange Orchid

• H. G. Wells: A BBC Radio Drama Collection - 02 The Wonderful Visit

THURSDAY, WEEK TWO

• Great Books - The War Of The Worlds

• The Infinite Worlds Of H. G. Wells - s01e02 (2001) (combining The Crystal Egg and The Remarkable Case Of Davidson's Eyes)

• The Nightmare Worlds Of H. G. Wells - The Moth

• The Invisible Man (1984), Episode 2

• Things To Come (1936)

• The Time Machine - (spoken arts, circa early 1970s audio drama)

• Escape - Pollock And The Porroh Man

THURSDAY, WEEK THREE

• James Burgess - H. G. Wells' The First Men In The Moon Episode 1 (2020)

• Abigail Salvesen - H. G. Wells' The Red Room (2019) (VIDEO DELETED?!?)

• The Infinite Worlds Of H. G. Wells - s01e03 (2001) (combining The Truth About Pyecraft and The Stolen Bacillus)

• The Nightmare Worlds Of H. G. Wells - The Purple Pileus

• The Invisible Man (1984), Episode 3

• The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1937)

• Toyman Studios - H. G. Wells' The War Of The Worlds

• H. G. Wells: A BBC Radio Drama Collection - 12 In The Abyss

THURSDAY, WEEK FOUR

• James Burgess - H. G. Wells' The First Men In The Moon Episode 2 (2020)

• Glenn H. Alvey - H. G. Wells' The Door In The Wall Part 1 (1956)

• Glenn H. Alvey - H. G. Wells' The Door In The Wall Part 2 (1956)

• The History Of Mr Polly (1948)

• The Nightmare Worlds Of H. G. Wells - The Late Mr. Elvesham

• The Invisible Man (1984), Episode 4

• The Passionate Friends (1949)

• CBS Radio Mystery Theater - Watcher Of The Living (based on The Plattner Story)

• Escape - Jimmy Goggles, The God

THURSDAY, WEEK FIVE

• James Burgess - H. G. Wells' The First Men In The Moon Episode 3 (2020)

• Tales Of Tomorrow - The Crystal Egg

• The War Of The Worlds (1953)

• The Nightmare Worlds Of H. G. Wells - The Devotee Of Art

• The Invisible Man (1984), Episode 5

• First Men In The Moon (1964)

• CBS Radio Mystery Theater - The Man Who Could Work Miracles

• H. G. Wells: A BBC Radio Drama Collection - 15 The New Accelerator

THURSDAY, WEEK SIX

• R. J. Maxey - H. G. Wells' The Door In The Wall

• G. W. Wilson - H. G. Wells' The First Men In The Moon (2016)

• La Merveilleuse Visite - AKA The Wonderful Visit (1974)

• G. W. Wilson - H. G. Wells' War Of The Worlds (2018)

• The Invisible Man (1984), Episode 6

• The Island Of Dr. Moreau (1977)

• CBS Radio Mystery Theater - The Search For Eden (based on The Country Of The Blind)

• Orson Welles And H. G. Wells Full Interview

A professional critic could write a full article about every title on the list, but I'm only going to devote a few lines to a few of my favorites, beginning with the 1984 TV series, The Invisible Man.

It's been years since I've read Wells' original story of the same name. And I've seen many adaptations and spoofs of the character and concept since. But the 1984 series is by far the most faithful to the novel, being set in England, in the 19th century, and full of faithful details like the main character's albinism, lust for power, and even his early experiments that resulted in the creation of an invisible cat.

I've never read The Shape Of Things To Come, but the 1936 film version is awesome, being ahead of its time in terms of scope, science fiction storytelling in film, and special effects. It also stars a few of the actors from the 1937 version of The Man Who Could Work Miracles, which is one of Wells' best fantasy stories.

And if you like Wells' fantasy, then you'll probably enjoy Glenn H. Alvey's version of The Door In The Wall, about a boy who walks through a magic door into a dreamlike paradise of youth and then spends the final days of his adult life trying to return to it. The experimental film was done as a single piece, but I found it in two parts on YouTube.

Of course, Wells didn't write science fiction and fantasy exclusively, and I was pleasantly surprised by my first-time viewings of The History Of Mr Polly (a comedy) and The Passionate Friends (a serious drama).

I am, however, a loyal fan of science fiction, and I particularly enjoyed the G. W. Wilson fan versions of The War Of The Worlds and The First Men In The Moon. Wilson takes extraordinary liberties with both stories, depicting Wells' Martian tripods with only two legs and his alien lunar-society members as goblins. But in the words of Neil Gaiman, we only parody the things we love, and it's obvious that Wilson loves Wells' work.

However, I think the first of Wells' works that I ever loved was the 1964 version of The First Men In The Moon. It's not a strictly accurate adaptation of the original story, but the stop-motion animation effects provided by Ray Harryhausen are hypnotic, and the steampunk depiction of Wells' Victorian-era anti-gravity sphere remains iconic to this day.

And having seen that classic film many times over the course of many years, I was especially glad to discover a more contemporary version of the story by James Burgess.

Burgess is a freelance sculptor and special-effects artist who's been working on a four-part marionette version of The First Men In The Moon since 2020. Like a lot of artists and filmmakers, his work was impacted by the COVID pandemic, but the last time I checked up on his progress (on Facebook), he was close to finishing the final episode and re-releasing all four parts as a single short film.

But whether I like the James Burgess version, or you prefer the 1964 version, or someone else prefers G. W. Wilson's radical reinterpretation (or the more faithful 2010 version), the point of my weeks-long steampunk-Halloween experiment was simply to experience a genre of fiction that I'd never focused on before and to experience H. G. Wells' writing as seen through the eyes of other people.

I know it may not seem like an appropriate Halloween theme in that there were more aliens and mad scientists than there were werewolves and witches, but in years past, I've done the classic monsters Halloween, and a Satanic Halloween, and killer plants, and killer insects, and even killer instincts. So I did something different this year, and trust me, as a natural-born introvert, I may be perfectly at home in my own head, but stepping out of it was really scary.

But the experience overall was mind-expanding. And I enjoyed exploring the genre so much that I've begun illustrating some of H. G. Wells' lesser-known creations, beginning with a few of my favorites from his collection, Thirty Strange Stories. You can follow this link to see my version of Wells' strange orchid on DeviantArt and this link to see and/or read about the process work that led to the illustration in my DeviantArt journal.