# Assassination of a literary character by means of movie or television **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 29, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677 "2020-05-29T15:37:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/61 "2020-06-02T15:38:19Z")
Not much of an “assassination”, but I’ve always felt that filmed adaptations of Agatha Christie “Miss Marple” stories have consistently failed to get the title character right. Miss Marple as written is supposed to be quite elderly, fluffy, dithery, nosy, shawl-draped, self-deprecating, white-haired, euphemistic, gossipy, a pure distillation of Victorian-era affectionate maiden aunt, with an unexpected substrate of shrewd inductive brilliance and hard-headed realism about the seamier side of human behavior. Invariably, at least in the adaptations I’ve seen, the shrewdness and realism are transferred to the persona of a forthright, grey-haired, dowdy and active middle-aged spinster, with all the Victorian-femininity affectation stripped away. In fact, filmed Miss Marples always seem to me to be a much better read for Miss Marple’s chief knitter-detective rival in Golden Age crime fiction, Patricia Wentworth’s Miss Silver. I’d love to see filmed adaptations of Miss Silver stories, but I don’t want to see Miss Silver playing Miss Marple. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/62 "2020-06-02T15:54:27Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Not much of an “assassination”, but I’ve always felt that filmed adaptations of Agatha Christie “Miss Marple” stories have consistently failed to get the title character right. > > Miss Marple as written is supposed to be quite elderly, fluffy, dithery, nosy, shawl-draped, self-deprecating, white-haired, euphemistic, gossipy, a pure distillation of Victorian-era affectionate maiden aunt, with an unexpected substrate of shrewd inductive brilliance and hard-headed realism about the seamier side of human behavior. Invariably, at least in the adaptations I’ve seen, the shrewdness and realism are transferred to the persona of a forthright, grey-haired, dowdy and active middle-aged spinster, with all the Victorian-femininity affectation stripped away. > > In fact, filmed Miss Marples always seem to me to be a much better read for Miss Marple’s chief knitter-detective rival in Golden Age crime fiction, Patricia Wentworth’s Miss Silver. I’d love to see filmed adaptations of Miss Silver stories, but I don’t want to see Miss Silver playing Miss Marple. I’ve heard similar complaints about other filmed or TV-ed versions of popular detectives. Nero Wolfe hasn’t been well-treated by TV or radio (although Thayer David’s performance was supposed to have been very good – only he died before a series could be made. And I liked Maury Chaykin in the Timothy Hutton- produced series). Similarly, Hercule Poirot had originally been badly done, with a miscast Tony Randall or Austin Trevor. But then we had Albert Finney and David Suchet (although Peter Ustinov seemed a throwback to the miscast days). There have been a lot of others (including Kenneth Branaugh with a ludicrously oversized moustach) ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/63 "2020-06-02T16:03:51Z")
Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias in HBO’s _Watchmen_. In the original comics, and the movie adaptation for that matter, Dr. Manhattan is technically the only super-human, but Veidt is basically superhumanly intelligent. He’s consistently several steps ahead of everyone else, outsmarts and outmaneuvers literally everyone on the planet, including Dr. Manhattan who has god-like powers and _who knows his own future with perfect accuracy_, and pulls off a monstrous scheme in such a way that all of the “heroes” are forced to acquiesce to it. In HBO’s _Watchmen_, he’s basically a washed-up has-been who had one big idea and then…just kinda stopped being relevant. He’s outmaneuvered and outsmarted by several characters, and then just gets chumped. Of course, Alan Moore has more or less made a career out of “de-constructing” other people’s creations, so I suppose turnabout is fair play. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/64 "2020-06-02T16:29:45Z")
> [@kewell\_duud](#): > > The real George Hearst was a respected businessmann and philanthropist who was generally liked by his workers, because he treated them well and was regarded as a good person. The heinous crimes he commits in the series are pure fiction. I’m a big fan of the show, and the villain character works really well, but given the discrepancy between the character and the real man I wonder why they didn’t just give him another name. This depiction really more than borders on slander. Maybe not pure fiction. From the Wiki on the Homestake Mine: > [@](#): > > Hearst consolidated and enlarged the Homestake property by fair and foul means. He bought out some adjacent claims, and secured others in the courts. A Hearst employee killed a man who refused to sell his claim, but was acquitted in court after all the witnesses disappeared. Hearst purchased newspapers in Deadwood to influence public opinion. An opposing newspaper editor was physically attacked on a Deadwood street. Hearst realized that he might be on the receiving end of violence, and wrote a letter to his partners asking them to provide for his family should he be murdered. But within three years, Hearst had established the mine and acquired significant claims; he walked out alive, and very rich.[4] My major objection to them using Hearst under that name is that we know that he was never arrested or punished for anything he did at the time, and he died as a respected Senator in Washington DC in 1891. So as far as the historical record was concerned, he couldn’t be killed or otherwise suffer consequences for his deeds no matter how big a villain he had been. Yet in the movie that concluded the _Deadwood_ saga, set in 1889: Hearst is beaten by a mob in the street and nearly killed, but rescued by Seth Bullock and arrested. This is really just a sop to the audience in wanting to see a villain punished. In contrast, Al Swearengen is virtually rehabilitated in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/65 "2020-06-02T17:39:55Z")
Mimsie Pott, wife of Cmmdr Caractacus Pott, mother of Jeremy & Jemima and occupant of the front passenger’s seat of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, got pretty thoroughly assassinated by Disney. She simply doesn’t exist (Disney movies often prefer their male parents to be widowers, their children to be motherless). The car also got pretty badly assassinated, if that counts. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/66 "2020-06-02T17:54:45Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Mimsie Pott, wife of Cmmdr Caractacus Pott, mother of Jeremy & Jemima and occupant of the front passenger’s seat of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, got pretty thoroughly assassinated by Disney. She simply doesn’t exist (Disney movies often prefer their male parents to be widowers, their children to be motherless). > > The car also got pretty badly assassinated, if that counts. Not Disney-United Artists. ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/67 "2020-06-02T19:43:49Z")
I could not agree with you more. The current series of movies seems tailored for millenials. I mean, everyone is about the same age from the same class at the academy. How assignment of rank was worked out is a mystery. How the Kirk of this series shot straight to the rank of captain is beyond belief. He seems to be more of a Capt. George W Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/68 "2020-06-02T21:05:50Z")
> [@TimfromNapa](#): > > I could not agree with you more. The current series of movies seems tailored for millenials. I mean, everyone is about the same age from the same class at the academy. How assignment of rank was worked out is a mystery. How the Kirk of this series shot straight to the rank of captain is beyond belief. He seems to be more of a Capt. George W Bush. Well, it doesn’t take a lot of fan-wanking to note that he was semi-legitimately the first officer who took over the captaincy when Spock cited regulations on himself. He of course saved the day, so proved he could handle the role and the rigidly egalitarian Star Fleet bureaucracy gave him a birth. OK, there is perhaps a lot of wanking there, but it kind of parses. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/69 "2020-06-02T22:26:17Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > I felt the same way about the Robert Downey 2009 _Sherlock Holmes_. I stopped watching it in the first few minutes, when Holmes was in some kind of MMA cage match. For all I know, it’s a good movie, but I was looking for something about Sherlock Holmes. > [@Colibri](#): > > While Downey was hardly Conan Doyle’s Sherlock, those elements come in part from the books. Holmes was described as being exceptionally strong (capable of bending an iron fire poker), an expert amateur bare-knuckle boxer,… More than that, the fight shown is a direct reference to _The Sign Of Four_. [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2097/2097-h/2097-h.htm#chap05](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2097/2097-h/2097-h.htm#chap05) \*“Oh, yes you do, McMurdo,” cried Sherlock Holmes, genially. “I don’t think you can have forgotten me. Don’t you remember the amateur who fought three rounds with you at Alison’s rooms on the night of your benefit four years back?” “Not Mr. Sherlock Holmes!” roared the prize-fighter. “God’s truth! how could I have mistook you? If instead o’ standin’ there so quiet you had just stepped up and given me that cross-hit of yours under the jaw, I’d ha’ known you without a question. Ah, you’re one that has wasted your gifts, you have! You might have aimed high, if you had joined the fancy.” \* Holmes’ opponent in the sequence was McMurdo. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/70 "2020-06-02T22:37:37Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > More than that, the fight shown is a direct reference to _The Sign Of Four_. > > [The Sign of the Four | Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2097/2097-h/2097-h.htm#chap05) > > \*“Oh, yes you do, McMurdo,” cried Sherlock Holmes, genially. “I don’t think you can have forgotten me. Don’t you remember the amateur who fought three rounds with you at Alison’s rooms on the night of your benefit four years back?” > > “Not Mr. Sherlock Holmes!” roared the prize-fighter. “God’s truth! how could I have mistook you? If instead o’ standin’ there so quiet you had just stepped up and given me that cross-hit of yours under the jaw, I’d ha’ known you without a question. Ah, you’re one that has wasted your gifts, you have! You might have aimed high, if you had joined the fancy.” \* > > Holmes’ opponent in the sequence was McMurdo. Ignorance fought, thank you both. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/71 "2020-06-03T02:43:14Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Mimsie Pott, wife of Cmmdr Caractacus Pott, mother of Jeremy & Jemima and occupant of the front passenger’s seat of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, got pretty thoroughly assassinated by Disney. She simply doesn’t exist (Disney movies often prefer their male parents to be widowers, their children to be motherless). > > The car also got pretty badly assassinated, if that counts. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is not a Disney film. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/72 "2020-06-03T04:05:23Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Tarzan, a very intelligent polyglot has been portrayed repeatedly in movies as barely being able to speak to humans. I really loved the version by Philip Jose Farmer in “Tarzan Alive.” > **[Tarzan Lives | Esquire | APRIL 1972](https://classic.esquire.com/article/1972/4/1/tarzan-lives)** > > An exclusive interview with the eighth Duke of Greystoke > **[Tarzan Alive: a Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke: Farmer, Philip Jose.:...](https://www.amazon.com/Tarzan-Alive-Definitive-Biography-Greystoke/dp/B000JK2IN8)** > > Tarzan Alive: a Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke \[Farmer, Philip Jose.\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Tarzan Alive: a Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke Farmer went on to become the ghostwriter for Kurt Vonnegut’s Kilgore Trout. See “Venus on the Half Shell.” 😃 > **[Venus on the Half-Shell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_on_the_Half-Shell)** > > Venus on the Half-Shell is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip José Farmer, writing pseudonymously as "Kilgore Trout", a fictional recurring character in many of the novels of Kurt Vonnegut. This book first appeared as a fictitious "excerpt"—attributed to Trout (though written by Vonnegut)—in the ninth chapter of Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965). With Vonnegut's permission, Farmer expanded the fragment into an entire standalone novel (including, as an in-joke, a scen... Jenny your humble TubaDiva ---
**Author:** ![kewell\_duud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@kewell\_duud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kewell_duud)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/73 "2020-06-03T05:13:23Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Maybe not pure fiction. From the Wiki on the Homestake Mine: > > Quote: > Hearst consolidated and enlarged the Homestake property by fair and foul means. He bought out some adjacent claims, and secured others in the courts. A Hearst employee killed a man who refused to sell his claim, but was acquitted in court after all the witnesses disappeared. Hearst purchased newspapers in Deadwood to influence public opinion. An opposing newspaper editor was physically attacked on a Deadwood street. Hearst realized that he might be on the receiving end of violence, and wrote a letter to his partners asking them to provide for his family should he be murdered. But within three years, Hearst had established the mine and acquired significant claims; he walked out alive, and very rich.[4] > > My major objection to them using Hearst under that name is that we know that he was never arrested or punished for anything he did at the time, and he died as a respected Senator in Washington DC in 1891. So as far as the historical record was concerned, he couldn’t be killed or otherwise suffer consequences for his deeds no matter how big a villain he had been. Yet in the movie that concluded the _Deadwood_ saga, set in 1889: Interesting, I didn’t know that. Thanks for hiding the spoiler btw., I haven’t watched the movie yet. But now I’ll catch up to that. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/74 "2020-06-03T10:32:50Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Not much of an “assassination”, but I’ve always felt that filmed adaptations of Agatha Christie “Miss Marple” stories have consistently failed to get the title character right. > > Miss Marple as written is supposed to be quite elderly, fluffy, dithery, nosy, shawl-draped, self-deprecating, white-haired, euphemistic, gossipy, a pure distillation of Victorian-era affectionate maiden aunt, with an unexpected substrate of shrewd inductive brilliance and hard-headed realism about the seamier side of human behavior. Invariably, at least in the adaptations I’ve seen, the shrewdness and realism are transferred to the persona of a forthright, grey-haired, dowdy and active middle-aged spinster, with all the Victorian-femininity affectation stripped away. > > In fact, filmed Miss Marples always seem to me to be a much better read for Miss Marple’s chief knitter-detective rival in Golden Age crime fiction, Patricia Wentworth’s Miss Silver. I’d love to see filmed adaptations of Miss Silver stories, but I don’t want to see Miss Silver playing Miss Marple. Have you seen the Joan Hickson BBC adaptations? They’re from the 80s and I would say she does an amazing job of capturing the “quite elderly, fluffy, dithery, nosy, shawl-draped, self-deprecating, white-haired, euphemistic, gossipy, a pure distillation of Victorian-era affectionate maiden aunt” character. I believe they’ve been remastered recently so well worth checking out. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/75 "2020-06-03T12:18:49Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > I really loved the version by Philip Jose Farmer in “Tarzan Alive.” > > [Tarzan Lives | Esquire | APRIL 1972](https://classic.esquire.com/article/1972/4/1/tarzan-lives) > > [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JK2IN8/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?\_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JK2IN8/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1) > > Farmer went on to become the ghostwriter for Kurt Vonnegut’s Kilgore Trout. See “Venus on the Half Shell.” 😃 > > [Venus on the Half-Shell - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_on_the_Half-Shell) > > Jenny > your humble TubaDiva Farmer had a real obsession with Tarzan. Not only did he write the biography of Tarzan in his _Tarzan Alive_, he wrote several other pieces (collected in the anthology [io]Mother was a Lovely Beast\*), a novel about someone trying to duplicate Tarzan by having a human raised by apes (_Lord Tyger_), and he wrote a Sherlok Holmes-Tarzan crossover pastiche 9_The Adventure of the Peerless Peer_, which is awful). Plus, of course, he wrote the X-rated Tarzan /Doc Savage crossover _A Feast Unknown_ and its G-rated sequels _Lord of the Trees/The Mad Goblin_. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/76 "2020-06-03T16:26:12Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Maybe not pure fiction. From the Wiki on the Homestake Mine: > > My major objection to them using Hearst under that name is that we know that he was never arrested or punished for anything he did at the time, and he died as a respected Senator in Washington DC in 1891. … > … He could have been “arrested” and marched off to jail, then released without charges. Records were poor back then. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/77 "2020-06-03T17:44:22Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > He could have been “arrested” and marched off to jail, then released without charges. Records were poor back then. No he couldn’t. The _Deadwood Pioneer_ would most certainly have published an account of the public beating and subsequent arrest of a US Senator, who was also incredibly rich and had been one of the most influential people in the town since just after its founding. [Issues of the paper dating back to its founding in 1877 are available on line.](https://www.newspapers.com/paper/deadwood-pioneer-times/3571/) But my point was that we know from the historical record that Hearst was not punished in any way for his alleged crimes. If he were released without charges that means he wasn’t punished in any serious way. And if a man with the wealth and power of Hearst had been beaten by a mob, you can be sure that wouldn’t have been an end of it. Both Seth Bullock and Calamity Jane had prominent careers after the supposed events of the movie. The real Hearst certainly would have taken action against them for false arrest and assault. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/78 "2020-06-05T06:12:09Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Farmer had a real obsession with Tarzan. Not only did he write the biography of Tarzan in his _Tarzan Alive_, he wrote several other pieces (collected in the anthology [io]Mother was a Lovely Beast\*), a novel about someone trying to duplicate Tarzan by having a human raised by apes (_Lord Tyger_), and he wrote a Sherlok Holmes-Tarzan crossover pastiche 9_The Adventure of the Peerless Peer_, which is awful). Plus, of course, he wrote the X-rated Tarzan /Doc Savage crossover _A Feast Unknown_ and its G-rated sequels _Lord of the Trees/The Mad Goblin_. I’ve seen the covers of some of Farmer’s pulp sci-fi, too; it’s kinda fetish-y, isn’t it? Creepy. Like that undercurrent that runs through Heinlein. I’m not sure why I found those covers so icky. I had no clue of any of that when I read “Tarzan Alive,” which I truly enjoyed. The best part was the family tree" in the appendix. It was worth it for that alone. Jenny your humble TubaDiva ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/79 "2020-06-05T07:32:49Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > I’ve seen the covers of some of Farmer’s pulp sci-fi, too; it’s kinda fetish-y, isn’t it? Creepy. Like that undercurrent that runs through Heinlein. > > I’m not sure why I found those covers so icky. I had no clue of any of that when I read “Tarzan Alive,” which I truly enjoyed. The best part was the family tree" in the appendix. It was worth it for that alone. > > Jenny > your humble TubaDiva Ah, yes-[The Wold Newton Family.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wold_Newton_family) ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677/80 "2020-06-05T13:07:21Z")
Thank you for reminding me, I thought that was great fun! Jenny your humble TubaDiva [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-of-a-literary-character-by-means-of-movie-or-television/854677.md?page=5)