Another bump against the apple cart
November 24, 2007 3:35 PM 
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Dear torrent seeder: I am the producer of a motion picture. This is not a case-and-desist order. I am writing to thank you. Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth succeeds through sharing.
Jerome Bixby never quite achieved the recognition he deserved, despite writing a
deeply chilling short story (lauded by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the 20 best SF stories ever written) that was turned into an
episode of The Twilight Zone and, decades later, became a segment in the Twilight Zone movie itself, generating a
sequel ... and spoofed in The Simpson's "Treehouse of Horror II" special. Bixby also created the
Mirror Universe concept in Star Trek, co-wrote the screenplay for "
Fantastic Voyage" (now itself being remade), and wrote "
It! The Terror From Beyond Space", which became the inspiration for "Alien".
On his deathbed in April of 1998 Bixby completed the screenplay for "The Man From Earth". Almost 20 years later, his son produced a small independent film of the work. Like most such films, distribution was small, and marketing low-key. The movie had a short run, and was quickly pulled from theaters. Inevitably, a torrent of an awards screener DVD of the film was released, spawning an
interest in the movie that eluded it commercially.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul (31 comments total)
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posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:42 PM on November 24, 2007