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CLONE: MOVIES, TV-MOVIES, FICTION ABOUT CLONING, GENETIC ENGINEERING, AND HUMAN DUPLICATION
Copyright 1996,1997,1998 by Magic Dragon Multimedia.
All rights reserved. May not be reproduced without permission.
May be posted electronically provided that it is transmitted unaltered, in its entirety, and without charge.
Updated 28 February 1998
Table of Contents: what's on this page 14 MOVIES ABOUT CLONING AND HUMAN DUPLICATION 24 BOOKS AND STORIES ABOUT CLONING HUMAN BEINGS 22 NOVELS AND STORIES ABOUT ENGINEERING SMART ANIMALS 25 NOVELS ABOUT GENETICALLY ENGINEERING or BODY-MODIFIED HUMANS 19 NOVELS ABOUT MUTATIONS AND MUTANTS URSULA K. LE GUIN ON CLONE FICTION U.S. SENATE TO LIMIT HUMAN CLONING 4 LINKS TO FACTUAL INFORMATION ABOUT CLONING
14 MOVIES ABOUT CLONING AND HUMAN DUPLICATION
Cast, plot summaries, and popularity ratings of the films below courtesy of The Internet Movie Database: Anna to the Infinite Power (1983) An under-rated film starring Martha Byrne as the troubled child prodigy Anna, whose quest for identity leads in an unexpected direction. There's a tie-in to the holocaust here, in a substantially different direction than "The Boys from Brazil." Blade Runner (1982) The modern classic based on Philip K. Dick's novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep." That title has an extra irony now, with the cloning of "Dollie" -- a sheep, as the first clone of an adult mammal. The film stars Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The Director's Cut is the recommended version. Boys from Brazil, The (1978) From the Ira Levin novel, this shows the darkest side of cloning humans: it might be evil and powerful men like Hitler that get genetically duplicated. Critters (1986) Extraterrestrials have the technology, and use it to overwhelm humanity with furry creatures somewhat less benign than "tribbles." Gatto a nove code, Il (1970) Cats are experimented upon in this film, and it leads to something stranger than merely "nine lives." Human Duplicators, The (1965) Extraterrestrials start copying and replacing people in this routine sci-fi thriller. Island of Dr.Moreau, The (1996) This is the remake of the H. G. Wells 1896 novel, starring Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer, and Ron Perlman. A big budget and great cast wasted. Island of Dr.Moreau, The (1977) This is the original film adaptation of the 1896 H. G. Wells novel, starring Burt Lancaster, Michael York, Richard Basehart, and Barbara Carrera. It Came from Outer Space II (1996) A weak sequel, with aliens duplicating humans for nefarious purposes. Man's Best Friend (1993) This film centers on genetic engineering of dogs. It is blatantly ripped off from the wonderful novel "Sirius" by Olaf Stapledon. Why not make a film of that novel, instead? Multiplicity (1996) The acting and special effects are good, which disguises a screenplay filled with holes, and an opportunity for deeper comedy and philosophy wasted. Night of the Lepus (1972) Killer rabbits. Need I say more? Primal Rage (1991) {to be done} Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler, The (1971) Not a bad film on this subject, basically ahead of its time. * And coming in a few years, one or more films in the "Star Wars" series about "the Clone Wars." Coming Soon: TV shows and TV movies on this subject Return to Clone Table of Contents
24 BOOKS AND STORIES ABOUT CLONING HUMAN BEINGS
The first major science fiction novel about clones and the cloning of human beings was A. E. Van Vogt's 1945 novel The World of Null-A. 16 other fictions on this theme are: * Ben Bova's 1976 novel The Multiple Man * Arthur C. Clarke's 1975 novel Imperial Earth * Richard Cowper's 1972 novel Clone * Nancy Freedman's 1973 novel Joshua, Son of None * Joe Haldeman's 1974 novel The Forever War * Ursula K. Le Guin's 1969 story "Nine Lives" * Ira Levin's 1976 novel The Boys from Brazil, film adaptation hotlinked above * Evelyn Lief's 1980 novel The Clone Rebellion * Naomi Mitchison's 1975 novel Solution Three * P. T. Olemy's novel The Clones [Flagship, 1968] * Pamela Sargent's 1976 novel Cloned Lives also, the short story "Clone Sister" by Pamela Sargent, in The anthology "Eros in Orbit", edited by Joseph Elder, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973; Trident, 1973; Pocket Books, No.77720, $0.95, May 1974, arguably the first collection devoted to Sex in Science Fiction. The story treats the emotional dynamics of a set of five female clones of the same star drive inventor, Paul Swenson, using the "Takamura" technique. This story correctly predicted the outlawing of human cloning by a horrified public and legislature. Cloning is also used to preserve African wildlife. Paul is jealous when one of his clones, Kira, has an affair with a colleague. Everyone searches for self-meaning and an understanding of their place in the world. * Thomas M. Scortia's "Flowering Narcissus" in The anthology Eros in Orbit, edited by Joseph Elder, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973: Protagonist is sent 115 years into the future, where he finds that he is the only human being left after viral warfare between China and Russia leaves only androids alive. He is a biker, and a severe homophobe. He has sex with a woman that the androids say was created for him, and discovers, to his revulsion, that she is a clone of himself, and that he is a clone of the original of himself who did not survive the time travel. * David Shear's Cloning [Walker, 1972; Pinnacle] * Theodore L. Thomas' "The Clone", in Fantastic, Dec 1959 * John Varley's 1977 novel The Ophiuchi Hotline, and various other works, including "The Barbie Murders" * Kate Wilhelm's 1976 novel Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang * Walter John Williams' Angel Station * Walter John Williams' Facets * Walter John Williams' Hardwired * Walter John Williams' Solip System * Walter John Williams' Voice of the Whirlwind * C. J. Cherryh's Cyteen [Popular Library, 1988] clones and space colonies * Gene Wolfe's 1972 novel The Fifth Head of Cerberus Return to Clone Table of Contents
22 NOVELS AND STORIES ABOUT ENGINEERING SMART ANIMALS
There are many novels and stories about intelligent animals, often resulting from genetic engineering: Apes * Pierre Boulle's novel Monkey Planet, later adapted into the "Planet of the Apes" films * Richard Cowper's novel Clone * Peter van Greenaway's novel Manrissa Man Bears * Richard Adams' novel "Shardik" (Macmillan, 1975; Avon) Cats * Fritz Leiber's story "Space-Time for Springers", and his novel The Wanderer * Cordwainer Smith's story "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell", part of his "Instrumentality of Man" series in which various animals have been raised to human intelligence, and fight for civil rights millennia from now. Dogs * Harlan Ellison's novel A Boy and His Dog, later adapted into a very fine and faithful film * Clifford Simak's novel City * Olaf Stapledon's novel Sirius, as mentioned in the thumbnail description of "Man's Best Friend") Dolphins or Whales * Arthur C. Clarke's novel Dolphin Island * Robert Merle's novel Day of the Dolphins * Roy Meyers' novel Dolphin Boy (and sequels) * Joe Poyer's novel Operation Malacca * Robert Silverberg's story "Ishmael in Love" * Leo Szilard's story "The Voice of the Dolphins", in his story collection of the same name (one of the few science fiction story collections by a Nobel laureate scientist) * AIan Watson's novel The Jonah Kit * Roger Zelazny's story "Kjwalll'kje'k'koothailll'kej'k" (no, that's not a typo) Mice * Douglas Adam's novel The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy reveals that Mice have been secretly running our planet for a long time... Newts * Karel Capek's novel War With the Newts, not in any way related to Newt Gingrich, has these amphibians used as slaves, until they overhtrow their masters and begin reshaping the planet to their desires. Capek introduced the word "robot" into literature in his play "R.U.R.", which is closer to cloning than to metal robots in subject matter. Rabbits * Richard Adams' novel "Watership Down" (Macmillan, 1974; Avon) Rats * A. Bertram Chandler's novel Giant Killer, about smart rats infesting a spaceship. The author told me that he wrote this abord a ship in Sydney Harbor, Australia, which was infested with ordinary rats. Skunks * Clifford Simak's story "Operation Stinky" Return to Clone Table of Contents
25 NOVELS ABOUT GENETICALLY ENGINEERING or BODY-MODIFIED HUMANS
* Kobo Abe's 1970 novel Inter Ice Age 4 (Knopf, 1970; Science Fiction Book Club; Berkely): the ocean level will rise to cover continents, so embryos are genetically engineereed to breathe underwater * Greg Bear's 1985 novel Blood Music, the first great Nanotechnology novel: human cells become individually intelligent * Octavia Butler's 1987 novel Dawn, and its two sequels: Adulthood Rites and Imago These deal with interstellar DNA traders and "Xenogenesis" * Pat Cadigan's 1987 novel Mindplayers and its two sequels: Synners (1991) and Fools (1992) * Storm Constantine's 1991 novel Hermetech * Samuel Delany's novel Nova * Neil Ferguson's 1984 novel Double Helix Fall * William Gibson's 1984 novel Neuromancer and two sequels * Elizabeth Hand's 1990 novel Winterlong * Elizabeth Hand's 1992 novel Aestival Tide * Elizabeth Hand's 1993 novel Icarus Descending * Anne Harris's first (1996) novel The Nature of Smoke * ALDOUS HUXLEY's 1931 novel BRAVE NEW WORLD * James Patrick Kelly's 1994 novel Wildlife * Nancy Kress' 1991 novel Beggars in Spain, and two sequels * Mark Laidlaw's 1984 novel Dad's Nuke * S. N. Lewit's 1993 novel Songs of Chaos * Tom Maddox's 1991 novel Halo * Ian McDonald's 1992 novel Hearts, Hands and Voices * Linda Nagata's 1995 novel The Bohr Makers * Richard Power's 1991 novel The Gold Bug Variations * Bruce Sterling's 1985 novel Schismatrix, in which future humans begin to split into different species * Elizabeth Vonarburg's 1981 novel The Silent City * H. G. WELLS' 1937 novel STAR-BEGOTTEN: A BIOLOGICAL FANTASIA * Walter John Williams' 1992 novel Aristoi Return to Clone Table of Contents
19 NOVELS ABOUT MUTATIONS AND MUTANTS
There is a tenuous relationship to fiction about mutations and mutants, beginning with H. G. Wells' 1896 "The Island of Dr. Moreau", such as: * Poul Anderson's novel Twilight World * Isaac Asimov's novel Foundation and Empire * Philip K. Dick's novel Dr. Bloodmoney * Daniel Galouye's novel Dark Universe * Edmond Hamilton's 1959 novel Slan * M. John Harrison's novel The Committed Men * Robert Heinlein's novel Orphans of the Sky * Russell Hoban's novel Riddley Walker * Henry Kuttner's novel Mutant * Walter Miller's novel A Canticle for Leibowitz * Edgar Pangborn's novel Davy * Robert Silverberg's novel Nightwings * Norman Spinrad's novel The Iron Dream (which shares with "The Boys from Brazil" a focus on Hitler) * Olaf Stapledon's novel Odd John (see the reference to Sirius in the thumbnail description of "Man's Best Friend") * Lester del Rey's novel The Eleventh Commandment * A. E. Van Vogt's 1941 novel Slan * S. Fowler Wright's 1928 novel The Island of Captain Sparrow * John Wyndham's 1955 novel The Chrysalids There is a psychological bond between science fiction fans and mutants. Claude Degler, Denver area 1940s fan and fan organizer, founded the "Cosmic Circle", an organization that became nation-wide in 1943. The initial manifesto of this group was: "Declaration of existence: of a new race or group of cosmic-thinking people, a new way of life, a cosmology of all things. Cosmen, the cosmic men, will appear. We believe that we are actual mutations of the species." This might have been a response to the instant classic "Slan" -- A. E. Van Vogt's 1941 novel, serialized in Astounding Science Fiction, about a superior mutant race living covertly among ordinary humans. The fans began to declare "Fans are Slans!" As David Hartwell puts it [Age of Wonders, New York: Walker, 1984, p.17]: "We can only imagine the impact of such a coherent articulation of alienation and superiority on a bunch of mostly late-adolescent men at the end of the Great Depression. Though the inferior mass of humanity laugh at us, we are the ones who know, we are the wave of the future, the next evolutionary step in the human race. If only our pimples would clear up, we could get on with changing the world." Return to Clone Table of Contents
7 NOVELS ABOUT STERILITY
The theme of reproduction, whether by cloning or the old-fashioned way, has its opposite theme: sterility, as in these novels: * Brian Aldiss' novel Greybeard * Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale * Richard Cowper's novel The Twilight of Briareus * M. John Harrison's novel The Committed Men * Michael Moorcock's novel An Alien Heat * Charles Platt's novel The City Dwellers * Bob Shaw's novel One Million Tomorrows Return to Clone Table of Contents
URSULA K. LE GUIN ON CLONE FICTION
Major author Ursula K. Le Guin said, in her essay "On Theme" [Those Who Can, ed. Robin Scott Wilson, New York: Signet, 1973, pp.204-205]: "Every now and then one can say of a specific short story that it did begin with a single, specific idea with a single, specific source. This is the case with 'Nine Lives'. I had been reading The Biological Time Bomb by Gordon Rattray Taylor, a splendid book for biological ignoramuses, and had been intrigued by his chapter on the cloning process. I knew a little about cloning... but so little that I had not got past carrots, where it all started, to speculate about the notion of duplicating entire higher organisms, such as frogs, donkeys, or people. I did not have to read between the lines: Rattray Taylor did it for me. He pointed out that some biologists have been contemplating these more ambitious possibilities quite seriously (why don't people ever ask biologists where they get their ideas from?). In thinking about this possibility, I found it alarming. I began to see that the duplication of anything complex enough to have personality would involve the whole issue of what personality is -- the question of individuality, of identity, of selfhood. Now that question is a hammer that rings the great bells of Love and Death...." Return to Clone Table of Contents
U.S. SENATE TO LIMIT HUMAN CLONING E D I T O R I A L Draw A Line At Human Cloning Date: 2/10/98 Cloning may be fine for sheep but not for people. The Senate seems to be clear on that moral distinction, but it now needs to write it into law to prevent a tragically wasteful misuse of human life. The Senate will vote Tuesday whether to proceed with a bill banning a particular method for inducing cloning - the process called somatic cell nuclear transfer. Sens. Kit Bond, R- Mo., and Bill Frist, R-Tenn., are the sponsors. Nuclear transfer technology is not yet widespread. In fact, its first big success came in the form of Dolly, the Scottish sheep cloned last year after scientists had failed in 276 attempts. In it, scientists remove the nucleus of an adult, or somatic, cell and transfer it to an egg that has had its nucleus removed. Then the new cell gets implanted for future development. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., sees the Bond-Frist bill as too restrictive on valuable medical research. So she has come up with her own bill (co-sponsored by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.), that would prohibit efforts ''to implant or attempt to implant the product of somatic cell nuclear transfer into a woman's uterus.'' But such language obscures a disturbing reality: The ''product'' of somatic cell transfer using a human egg is a human embryo - a human being. Whether it is inside or outside the womb is beside the point, especially as the technology to sustain it in an artificial setting improves. The challenge for the Senate will be to draw a clear line between the use of human and nonhuman organisms in the cloning process. The danger of too narrow a law is that people will be denied life-saving medical advances. But the danger of too loose a law - like the Feinstein- Kennedy bill - is that it would be carte blanche to grow human embryos for experiment and harvest. Cloaking such a practice in the sanitary rhetoric of research would not make it any less barbaric. As an aide to Frist put it, the senator is ''concerned with starting a printing press for human embryos.'' Various forms of cloning already are in wide use. It is an age-old practice in horticulture, where nurseries have long made genetically identical copies of plants through grafting and cuttings. In the modern biotech world, the term ''cloning'' refers to any process of making genetic copies of cells for a variety of biological applications. Its products are found in commonly used medicine - from recombinant DNA human insulin used by diabetics to specialty applications like skin grafts. Some in the biotech industry, but not all, want to push ahead with somatic cell nuclear transfers. One drug company official told a congressional briefing, ''Nuclear transfer technology is fraught with untold failures for each partial success. . . . Furthermore, it has no strong therapeutic or economic-based need driving it at this time.'' The new technology does whet the appetite of some scientists. The question is whether lawmakers can set down clear rules to prevent the wasteful duplication and destruction of human life. (And wasteful it would be: Consider those 276 embryos involved in the failed attempts to clone a viable, normal ewe). Both sides want to meet the needs of the scientific community. But supporters of Bond's bill need to be prepared to take the heat for saying ''no'' to the more aggressive researchers. And it isn't as if this is the only cloning technique available to science. There's DNA cloning, used for human insulin and the hepatitis B vaccine. There's tissue culture cloning, a process of reproducing cells in a lab dish. Certain drugs are mass-produced this way. There's gene therapy. Researchers are working to insert copies of normal genes into patients. Problems crop up in delivering the ''therapeutic'' genes. Reseachers now use altered viruses to make the delivery. They see somatic cell nuclear transfer as offering promise. At the same time, though, the viral route has not been closed off. And there's animal cloning, which holds great promise for the development of transgenic animals with beneficial traits. Calves recently have been cloned in such a way to allow them to produce in their milk human clotting factors for treating hemophilia. No lawmaker claims to want to see a cloned human, a la Dolly the sheep. We ask: Why take the chance? The law should give wide latitude to research into the mysteries of life, for that science is likely to produce new miracles of medicine. But a decent society must set limits to the use of human beings for research, no matter how noble the cause. (C) Copyright 1998 Investors Business Daily, Inc. Metadata: E/IBD E/SN1 E/EDIT ++++++++++++++++++++++++
4 LINKS TO FACTUAL INFORMATION ABOUT CLONING
Cloning: separating fact from fiction Gene Web: genetics information, news, ethics, and social policy MendelWeb: introduction to classical genetics "In Our Own Image" 3-part series of articles on cloning and biotechnology in the Los Angeles Times Genetic Engineering/Evolution: Non-fiction and science fiction book hotlinks compiled in "Mark/Space: Anachron City: Library: Keywords: Genetic Engineering" "Nanotechnology", "Body Modification", "Androids", "Sex with Aliens or Robots", "Immortality", and "Mad Scientists" are related themes,but not discussed here at this time. Return to Clone Table of Contents
MOVIES: list of lists, 21 links, last updated 8 February 1997
NEW: SNEAK PREVIEWS OF SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR FILMS OF 1997
SPACE: NEW: 123 annotated hotlinks to films about space travel
TELEVISION: list of 319 links, 278 shows, last updated 2 March 1997
TIME TRAVEL: List of 65 movies about time travel, last updated 6 March 1997
Return to Ultimate SF Table of Contents
Compiled by Magic Dragon Multimedia
Go to Ultimate Mystery/Detective Web Guide
Copyright 1996,1997 by Magic Dragon Multimedia.
All rights reserved. May not be reproduced without permission.
May be posted electronically provided that it is transmitted unaltered, in its entirety, and without charge.