We’re back from the distant past! Our minds have escaped the sinister and rugose clutches of the Great Race, and we have returned to the present to wrap up our discussion of Lovecraft’s classic story, The Shadow Out of Time. In this episode we give our own personal impressions of the story, take a look at adaptations and have a chat about what elements we can steal for games.
Speaking of stealing stuff, here’s that picture of punk Lovecraft, originally posted by Alex Mayo, that we’re convinced is actually a photograph of Paul.
The only film adaptation we could find was an odd Swedish short (with English narration) that condenses the story into 15 minutes. The result is how we’d imagine a modern piece by Georges Méliès would look, if he weren’t too busy being dead. Happily the film is on YouTube, so you can enjoy its pleasingly idiosyncratic style by taking no more strenuous action than clicking below.
We also mention the HP Lovecraft Historical Society’s audio adaptation, which is part of their excellent Dark Adventure Radio Theatre line. A very different audio take on the story is The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets‘ concept album, The Shadow Out of Tim. We were supposed to be discussing this with singer (not to mention prolific RPG artist and writer) Toren Atkinson, but, appropriately enough, time worked against us. Here’s a little taste of the album by way of recompense.
And, as ever, you can find a comprehensive and eclectic analysis of the story over at the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast. Their discussion of The Shadow Out of Time begins here.
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Loved the Episode…and once again Scott…you brought up one of my fond memories of when we played way back when we played Masks….where Sol kept the Smythe family tree alive so to speak!
Hello! Just wanted to let you know that I got introduced to your podcast through Scott’s appearance on the Miskatonic University Podcast, and I’ve rapidly become a fan. Keep up the good work!
As for Yithians: I’ve used one in a scenario I’ve written, set during the American Civil War. I took the idea that the Great Race thinks of time on the massive, cosmic scale, and I introduced a little biology experiment of theirs that’s been running for 300 million years when the investigators stumble across it.
Excellent! Glad to have you aboard, Ethan!
That American Civil War scenario sounds like a great set-up.
Great episode & love the different ideas on the Yithians to get them in the game in different ways.
Also as someone that has all of the Dark Adventure Radio episodes from the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society up to Re-Animator, they’ve all been stellar to listen to & while condensed a bit in story, they all are really great adaptations & highly recommended.
Thanks, Darren!
I really must catch up with more of the HPLHS radio dramas.The ones I’ve heard have been excellent.