# What is Soylent Green?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 22, 2000, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397 "2000-03-22T02:12:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Yue\_Han](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yue_Han)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2000, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/1 "2000-03-22T02:12:00Z")
_spoiler_
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Soylent Green is _people_.
I tried a websearch, but Yahoo and Altavista both screwed me. Was the Charlton Heston movie “Soylent Green” based on a book? If so, what book?
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'Twis brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gymble in the wabe.
Mimsy were the borogroves,
And the momeraths outgrabe.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2000, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/2 "2000-03-22T02:14:00Z")
“Make Room, Make Room”
Either Harry Harrison or Richard Matheson.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2000, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/3 "2000-03-22T02:15:00Z")
## Harry Harrison.
_Eschew Obfuscation_
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### Author:  [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2000, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/4 "2000-03-22T02:24:00Z")
“Omega Man” was Matheson. I think the story was “I am Legend”.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2000, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/5 "2000-03-22T04:10:00Z")
You guys keep wounding it without making a kill. IMDb says Harry Harrison, **Make Room, Make Room**
[http://us.imdb.com/Literature?0070723](http://us.imdb.com/Literature?0070723)
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2000, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/6 "2000-03-22T14:02:00Z")
Mmmmmm… Soylent Green
– Homer, ``Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie’’
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Once in a while you can get shown the light
in the strangest of places
if you look at it right…
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### Author:  [@Shagrath\_Borgir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagrath_Borgir)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2000, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/7 "2000-03-22T15:03:00Z")
\SOYLENT GREEN IS PPPEEEEEEEOOOOOPPPLLLEEEE!!! **PPPEEEEEEOOOOPPPPPLLLLLLEEE!!!** \
_bowing_ Thank you, thank you 😉
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“…the dark side of the mirror always threw our malice back…”
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### Author:  [@Beauxeau\_IX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauxeau_IX)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2000, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/8 "2000-03-22T17:42:00Z")
Now with more girls!
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### Author:  [@Shagrath\_Borgir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagrath_Borgir)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2000, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/9 "2000-03-23T06:13:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by Beauxeau IX:
> **Now with more girls!**
Reminds me of the Addams family movie…
Girlscout: “Would you like to buy a box of girlscout cookies?”
Wednesday: “Are they made with real girlscouts?”
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“…the dark side of the mirror always threw our malice back…”
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### Author:  [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2000, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/10 "2000-03-22T20:05:00Z")
I read _Make Room, Make Room_ when I was in high school and, IIRC, this _is no_ soylent green in the story. I remember a mention of soylent brown, but it and what it was made of were not the point of the story. I figured soylent brown was a soy version of hamburger.
I’ve never seen the movie because, from what I’ve heard, it’s about as faithful to the book as the movie _Lawnmower Man_ was to its source.
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“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
[The Kat House](http://members.aol.com/gr8kat1/KatGen/home.htm)
[Join the FSH Muscular Dystrophy Webring](http://members.aol.com/gr8kat1/KatGen/fshwebring.htm)
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### Author:  [@Narile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Narile)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2000, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/11 "2000-03-22T21:32:00Z")
## Correct, Soylent Green is losely based of the short story by Harrison, **Make Room, Make Room**. The story however is less concerned with the practicles of overcrowding, and more with the sociology of it.
\>\>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry…unless the other guy is bigger than you.\<\<
—The dragon observes
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2000, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/12 "2000-03-22T22:34:00Z")
There was a “Newsradio” episode that made fun of Soylent Green. For the episode, the cast was transported to the future, and were the only humans left in a giant space ship that is their building. Phil Hartman’s character did a commercial on air that was the _Soylent Green_ dramatic speech, except he performed it in that pleasant, chipper voice used for commercials. Hilarious.
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### Author:  [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2000, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/13 "2000-03-23T14:13:00Z")
Despite the surprise “Soylent Green i people!” ending in the movie, from what I’ve heard, “Soylent” from the book was merely an amalgam of SOYbeans and LENtils. This could be a crock, so don’t hesitate to debunk me.
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### Author:  [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2000, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/14 "2000-03-23T15:00:00Z")
occ–you are absolutely correct. In the novel, soylent green and soylent brown were just harmless processed foods made to keep the masses alive. The point of the novel was to show how awful the near future (1999!) would be if the size of the population increased dramatically.
When MGM bought the rights to the book (or, as Harrison says, screwed him out of the rights), they decided that showing an overpopulated world just wasn’t dramatic enough. They introduced the McGuffin of “what is soylent green?” so Chuck Heston would have something to emote about.
BTW, the Richard Matheson novel “I Am Legend” was in fact the source for “The Omega Man”, as well as a 1964 Vincent Price film, “The Last Man on Earth.” Both dealt with a lone survivor in a post-Apocalyptic world overrun by vampires. I’ve heard rumors that H’wood is interested in remaking the film again, only this time they’ll try to remain faithful to the book. I wish them luck; it’s a classic SF/horror novel.
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It’s my duty; my duty as a complete and utter bastard.–Arnold J. Rimmer.
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### Author:  [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2000, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/15 "2000-03-23T16:00:00Z")
One other note about the movie, “Soylent Green”, it was Edward G Robinson’s last appearance, and he was great.
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### Author:  [@SouthernXYL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SouthernXYL)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2000, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/16 "2000-03-24T01:24:00Z")
And for you trivia fans: what original Star Trek “guest star” had a small part in the movie?
Which I liked very much, by the way. Especially the way they ran the credits after the end, against the film and music that Sol enjoyed while he died. It always makes me want to go outside and enjoy the plant life.
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### Author:  [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2000, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/17 "2000-03-24T01:41:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> …against the film and music that Sol enjoyed while he died
Beethoven’s 6th Symphony in F major (1st movement), if I remember correctly.
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### Author:  [@SouthernXYL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SouthernXYL)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2000, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/18 "2000-03-24T03:19:00Z")
also “Morning Mood” from Peer Gynt
I think
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### Author:  [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2000, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/19 "2000-03-24T13:57:00Z")
SouthernXYL–it was Whit Bissell. He played Mr. Lurry in “The Trouble with Tribbles”, and Santini in “Soylent Green.”
Also, Brock Peters, who played Hatcher in SG, played Captain Sisko’s father Joseph on “DS9”, as well as Admiral Cartwright in “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.”
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### Author:  [@SouthernXYL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SouthernXYL)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2000, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-soylent-green/9397/20 "2000-03-24T17:42:00Z")
Gosh, I didn’t know all that. I was thinking of Celia Lovsky, who was the Vulcan T’Pau in “Amok Time.” She was also the librarian in Soylent Green.
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