A Serious Question, honestly...

[ffutures]

The Martians in Weinbaum's stories look somewhat like cartoon birds. Assuming continued human contact with them, sooner or later they will probably be shown such cartoons. Weinbaum died in 1936,so assuming that the film industry didn't change enormously from our time line it seems plausible that four iconic birdlike cartoon characters will exist. Donald Duck (1934) and Daffy Duck (1937) are almost certainly around, but they're the least like the Martians. Woody Woodpecker (1940) has the right general shape and sharp beak, but he spends most of his time in trees, which are uncommon on Mars. Finally, the Road Runner (1948) is the most like the Martians in many respects (except that he doesn't make many 100-foot leaps), and lives in a desert - Weinbaum's Mars doesn't have many mountains or cliffs, but the sand is a good start.

[Poll #1331244]

Comments

[were-gopher.livejournal.com]

The Do-Do Bird

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porky_in_Wackyland

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Hmm - yes, see what you mean.

[johnreiher.livejournal.com]

That was to be my answer as well. The Do-Do Bird is a near perfect match for a Weinbaum Martian.

[grimmbear.livejournal.com]

I would think they would experiment and try to recreate the creature they so admire, thinking that the humans were keeping the true weaponized bird a secret.

[aadler]

I wouldn’t be able to make a guess as to which cartoon bird Weinbaum’s Martians might prefer; the whole impression I got from his narrative was that, however likable they might be, there was a fundamental alienness to their thought processes that made them ultimately unpredictable.

Interesting thought, though.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Definitely - I'm saying that 100 years after first contact humans and Martians still have very limited communication.