We’re back and we’re riding the carousel. Holding onto the handlebars is a bit awkward, however, with all this pricking in our thumbs. Our digits may be warning us that something wicked this way comes, or they could just be telling us we need better gardening gloves. Either way, let’s just ignore that for now and enjoy the ride. It’s not like we’re getting any younger…
Main Topic: Something Wicked This Way Comes
We thought we’d follow last episode’s discussion of theme parks with a day out at the fair. Happily, the fair in Something Wicked This Way Comes is a travelling one, so we only had to wait for it to turn up at our doorsteps. The downside is that it’s evil. Still, nobody’s perfect.
As well as talking about the 1983 film version of Something Wicked This Way Comes, we also delve into the Ray Bradbury novel that birthed it. While we’ve discussed stories and their adaptations before, this is the first time we’ve blended our discussion so thoroughly. Part of this is simply because we watched and read them in the same week, and they sort of jumbled together in our heads. More usefully, perhaps, it gives us an opportunity to talk about how a novel is adapted to the screen and what some of the shortcomings can be.
Our Guest Host
We are delighted to welcome Cuppycup back to the Good Friends! Cup, of course, has been on the podcast before, discussing Louis Wain with us a few years ago, and theme parks more recently. He is best known as the mastermind behind the ENnie-award-winning actual play podcast Ain’t Slayed Nobody, where you will also find regular appearances by Scott alongside some of our other guest hosts, including Ross Bryant and Josephine McAdam.
As well as ASN, Cup is currently producing a new Call of Cthulhu podcast called Walking Shadows, with Ross Bryant as Keeper, and a cast that includes Becca Scott, Rashawn Scott, and Zach Reino. The first episodes should be out within the next couple of months.
And Cup’s first published scenario, “Deadwood on Lane 8”, will be out on the Miskatonic Repository later this year. This is a 1990s Pulp Cthulhu extravaganza that puts the cosmic firmly into cosmic bowling.
If you want to keep up with all these projects, you can follow Ain’t Slayed Nobody on Bluesky or join their Discord server.
Links
Things we mention in this episode include:
- Ray Bradbury
- Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
- Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
- Ray Bradbury mention on The Simpsons
- “Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury” by Rachel Bloom
- TV cart
- The Martian Chronicles
- The Silver Locusts/The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
- I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury
- Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
- Farewell Summer by Ray Bradbury
- Summer Morning, Summer Night by Ray Bradbury
- The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
- “The Book of Blood” by Clive Barker
- Goosebumps by RL Stine
- Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
- Macbeth by William Shakespeare
- Something Wicked This Way Comes (1972)
- Moby Dick (1956)
- The Black Hole (1979)
- The Watcher in the Woods (1980)
- Tron (1982)
- Dragonslayer (1981)
- The Black Cauldron (1985)
- John Mortimer
- Rumpole of the Bailey
- Hellraiser (1987)
- The Unreleased Themes for Hellraiser by Coil
- Song of the South (1946)
- Mr Toad’s Wild Ride
- Pirates of the Caribbean (2003)
- Game of Thrones
- Brazil (1985)
- Se7en (1995)
- Orne Library
- “The Dunwich Horror” by HP Lovecraft
- “UNLAND” on Ain’t Slayed Nobody
- James Stacy
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
- The Osterman Weekend (1983)
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- Aphantasia
- Pandemonium
- Paradise Lost by John Milton
- “UNLAND” from Fear’s Sharp Little Needles
- Chopin’s Funeral March
- The Twilight Zone
- It by Stephen King
- Deadlands
- Old (2021)
- Little Fears
- Dead of Night
- “The Dare”
- “The Dare” on Ain’t Slayed Nobody
- “UNLAND” on The Apocalypse Players
- Tales From the Loop
- RPG Nook
News
A Weekend With Good Friends
Summer 2025 will see the return of A Weekend With Good Friends! This, of course, is the online convention organised by our lovely listeners, taking place on the Good Friends Discord server.
Key dates are:
- GM signups: 23rd of April – 7th of May
- Player signups: 22nd of May – 5th of June
- A Weekend With Good Friends: 13th – 15th of June
Games and panels will run throughout the weekend.
We shall share more details are they become available.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | TuneIn | Deezer | RSS | More
Ray Bradbury has haunted the landscape of my heart since grade school when I read “Something Wicked this Way Comes”. I’ve read every one of his stories and novels, but this is my favorite. I love how each character gives voice to my own fears and desires.