I have mixed feelings about the RAH presentation. It was very well done and had excellent actors, visuals, graphics, references, commentary, etc. But, I came away from watching the program somewhat disappointed.
I’m glad they stayed away from critical views and focused mainly on his contributions and visions but they skipped most all of his early works. The mostly focused on Stranger, Starship Troopers and Friday and his belief in a strong military. What about the Juvenile series? In my mind’s eye I have a picture of RAH that I’ve built from reading all his stories, his biography, book reviews, the Heinlein Journals and the personal remembrances from others such as found in the Centennial Souvenir Book, etc. This program did not equal my picture of him.
Did they interview anyone who actually knew him really well? Is there anyone around anymore that knows him really well? I know Bill Patterson is very well informed about RAH’s history, but Bill says he never met him.
Enough of the pessimistic views. I loved all the pictures. Wow! Is there anywhere I can access these pictures? Who has them? Please tell me where I can go to get them. I saw him speaking in a film clip. OMG! I’ve never seen him speak before. I want a film clip. I want to buy a film clip. I saw a picture of Ginny in her later years. She is very attractive.
Can the Society build a pictorial page? Can I see Ginny speaking? Are there any taped interviews of Ginny and RAH? I want one.
All of the actors and commentators did an excellent job. Especially Bill Patterson and Robert James. I didn’t know he was a proponent of the Internet and Web. Really, is this so? The bit on a moon base was great. An hour wasn’t enough.
I bought the program for $2.99. What a bargain! I WANT MORE..
2 Responses
You can see Heinlein’s Annapolis Lucky Bag yearbook photos here on the Heinlein Society site here. Robert and Rex Ivar Heinlein at Annapolis
You can see a Photo Tour of Bonny Doon on the old Heinlein Society site–it’s part of some content we haven’t gotten converted over to this new site yet.
The main source for photos, though–and it’s open to the public!–is the online Heinlein Archives. This site lets you download any of 200,000 pages of the Heinleins’ documents, manuscripts, photos and collection for a nominal fee. The online Heinlein Archives was created by The Heinlein Prize Trust, Heinlein’s main literary estate, to give everyone full access to Heinlein.
Though some of us at the Heinlein Society–me (Deb Houdek Rule) and Geo Rule are closely connected with the online Heinlein Archives, it is not a project of the Heinlein Society and the Heinlein Society has no control over the Archives. There’s an article introducing the online Heinlein Archives in the Winter 2012 Heinlein Society Newsletter.
BTW, the photos you download from the online Heinlein Archives won’t be as pretty as those on the television program. They will be lower resolution and will have a visual watermark across them, but there is still a treasure awaiting you there. My personal favorite is First Album: Scrapbook and Early Photos.