WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.759 Welcome to today's deep dive. We have a, well, 00:00:03.799 --> 00:00:06.200 a truly fantastic mission today. We really do. 00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:09.339 We are exploring a legendary, incredibly fascinating 00:00:09.339 --> 00:00:14.019 piece of 1965 science fiction that takes humanity's 00:00:14.019 --> 00:00:17.420 absolute obsession with punctuality and pushes 00:00:17.420 --> 00:00:20.719 it to its most terrifying extreme. Right. Today, 00:00:20.820 --> 00:00:22.899 we're diving deep into some fascinating literary 00:00:22.899 --> 00:00:25.920 history, pulling from a detailed Wikipedia article 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:28.920 on the iconic short story, Repent, Harlequin. 00:00:29.469 --> 00:00:32.070 said the TikTok man, by the brilliant American 00:00:32.070 --> 00:00:34.689 writer Harlan Ellison. It is an absolute classic. 00:00:34.829 --> 00:00:37.329 It is. And to get us started, I want you, the 00:00:37.329 --> 00:00:39.409 listener, to think about your own morning commute. 00:00:39.689 --> 00:00:42.210 You know that specific spike of anxiety, that 00:00:42.210 --> 00:00:45.710 stressful, sinking feeling in your stomach when 00:00:45.710 --> 00:00:47.570 you were running late for a meeting? Oh, absolutely. 00:00:47.850 --> 00:00:49.950 Or hitting a wall of traffic when you were already 00:00:49.950 --> 00:00:52.880 five minutes behind. It's the worst. Right. Now, 00:00:52.899 --> 00:00:54.600 I want you to imagine if the penalty for being 00:00:54.600 --> 00:00:57.060 late wasn't just an awkward apology to your boss 00:00:57.060 --> 00:00:59.679 or a ding on your performance review. Yeah. Imagine 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:01.619 that that exact amount of time you're late was 00:01:01.619 --> 00:01:03.740 literally subtracted from your actual lifespan. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:06.379 It is a chilling premise to put yourself into, 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:09.140 and it sets the stage perfectly for what this 00:01:09.140 --> 00:01:12.379 story is really fundamentally about. To understand 00:01:12.379 --> 00:01:14.959 Ellison's angle, we have to look at how he opens 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:17.530 the piece. The research notes that the story 00:01:17.530 --> 00:01:20.310 begins with an epigraph from Henry David Thoreau's 00:01:20.310 --> 00:01:24.510 famous essay Civil Disobedience. For anyone unfamiliar, 00:01:24.790 --> 00:01:26.689 an epigraph is essentially a short quotation 00:01:26.689 --> 00:01:28.730 placed at the beginning of a book or a chapter 00:01:28.730 --> 00:01:31.790 to telegraph its core theme. Exactly. And Thoreau's 00:01:31.790 --> 00:01:33.909 Civil Disobedience is basically the ultimate 00:01:33.909 --> 00:01:38.000 manual for resisting unjust authority. Thoreau's 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:40.680 whole philosophy in that essay is that when a 00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:42.719 government machine demands you commit an injustice, 00:01:43.140 --> 00:01:45.659 you have a moral obligation to be the friction 00:01:45.659 --> 00:01:48.079 that stops the machine. Right out of the gate, 00:01:48.140 --> 00:01:50.640 that sets a tone. It does. By placing that quote 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:52.500 right at the start, Ellison is signaling that 00:01:52.500 --> 00:01:54.659 this isn't just a futuristic thriller with flying 00:01:54.659 --> 00:01:57.099 cars. This is going to be a heavy philosophical 00:01:57.099 --> 00:02:00.680 tale about systemic rebellion against an unyielding, 00:02:00.680 --> 00:02:03.599 rigid authority. It tells you immediately that 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:05.579 you are stepping into a battle between the individual 00:02:05.579 --> 00:02:09.060 spirit and the mechanical grind of society. Oh 00:02:09.060 --> 00:02:11.900 wait, let's unpack this. The dystopian setup 00:02:11.900 --> 00:02:15.280 of Ellison's universe. Because it is unbelievably 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:18.550 grim. We are talking about a future where time 00:02:18.550 --> 00:02:21.849 is strictly regulated. I don't just mean a cultural 00:02:21.849 --> 00:02:23.810 preference for promptness, like being annoyed 00:02:23.810 --> 00:02:25.710 when someone is late for dinner. I mean every 00:02:25.710 --> 00:02:27.909 single citizen is forced by the government to 00:02:27.909 --> 00:02:30.449 do absolutely everything according to an extremely 00:02:30.449 --> 00:02:34.539 precise master schedule. The mechanics of justice 00:02:34.539 --> 00:02:37.439 in this world are terrifyingly pragmatic. The 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:39.780 authorities view time as the ultimate currency. 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:42.639 If you delay the schedule, say you are 10 minutes 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:45.199 late to your shift at the factory, you haven't 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:47.319 just inconvenienced your boss, you have stolen 00:02:47.319 --> 00:02:49.919 10 minutes from the state's efficiency. Therefore, 00:02:50.219 --> 00:02:52.479 the state steals 10 minutes back from your total 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:54.379 lifespan. Wait, so it's not a prison sentence? 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:56.419 They don't just fine you or lock you up? No, 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:58.909 it is literal time theft. The state maintains 00:02:58.909 --> 00:03:01.750 a ledger of everyone's time, and this requires 00:03:01.750 --> 00:03:04.030 a completely ruthless enforcement mechanism, 00:03:04.270 --> 00:03:06.569 which brings us to the primary antagonist of 00:03:06.569 --> 00:03:09.849 the story, the master timekeeper. He is ominously 00:03:09.849 --> 00:03:12.750 nicknamed the TikTok man, and he is the ultimate 00:03:12.750 --> 00:03:15.509 unquestioned authority in this hyper regimented 00:03:15.509 --> 00:03:18.349 society. And from the background material, the 00:03:18.349 --> 00:03:21.330 TikTok man's weapon of choice sounds like a total 00:03:21.330 --> 00:03:23.650 nightmare. It's advice called a cardio plate. 00:03:23.889 --> 00:03:26.729 But how exactly does a cardio plate enforce a 00:03:26.729 --> 00:03:29.659 schedule? This is where Ellison introduces a 00:03:29.659 --> 00:03:33.539 terrifying concept of biopolitics. Biopolitics 00:03:33.539 --> 00:03:35.479 is the idea that the state doesn't just govern 00:03:35.479 --> 00:03:38.780 your behavior. It literally regulates and controls 00:03:38.780 --> 00:03:42.000 your biological body. The TikTok man uses the 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:44.800 cardio plate to remotely monitor and when necessary, 00:03:45.099 --> 00:03:48.259 stop the heart of any violator. Wow. When you 00:03:48.259 --> 00:03:50.159 have lost all the remaining time in your life 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:52.219 through repeated offenses, when your ledger hits 00:03:52.219 --> 00:03:54.759 zero, he simply flips a switch on the cardio 00:03:54.759 --> 00:03:57.460 plate. Your heart just stops wherever. you are. 00:03:57.539 --> 00:03:59.659 It's beyond an accounting error, though. It's 00:03:59.659 --> 00:04:01.300 total ownership. The government has a remote 00:04:01.300 --> 00:04:03.139 control death penalty. You run out of time on 00:04:03.139 --> 00:04:05.199 your ledger and your account is closed permanently. 00:04:05.539 --> 00:04:08.500 It is such a visceral, mechanical way to enforce 00:04:08.500 --> 00:04:10.860 the law. And if we connect this to the bigger 00:04:10.860 --> 00:04:13.500 picture, think about what it says about morality 00:04:13.500 --> 00:04:16.620 in this universe. In a society where efficiency 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:18.939 and scheduling are treated as the highest possible 00:04:18.939 --> 00:04:22.120 virtues, the ultimate villain isn't a murderer 00:04:22.120 --> 00:04:24.860 or a violent criminal. The ultimate threat to 00:04:24.860 --> 00:04:27.939 society is someone who creates delays. So if 00:04:27.939 --> 00:04:30.100 the state literally holds the remote control 00:04:30.100 --> 00:04:32.899 to your heart, how do you even fight back against 00:04:32.899 --> 00:04:34.800 something like that? I mean, are we talking about 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:38.300 underground militias or people bombing the timekeeping 00:04:38.300 --> 00:04:40.939 facilities? That is the brilliant twist of the 00:04:40.939 --> 00:04:43.370 story. The protagonist isn't a hardened soldier 00:04:43.370 --> 00:04:46.110 or a traditional rebel. He is a perfectly ordinary 00:04:46.110 --> 00:04:49.629 man named Everett C. Marm. But Everett adopts 00:04:49.629 --> 00:04:52.389 an alter ego, disguising himself as an anarchical 00:04:52.389 --> 00:04:55.139 figure known as the Harlequin. And rather than 00:04:55.139 --> 00:04:57.740 using violence, the Harlequin engages in a wildly 00:04:57.740 --> 00:05:00.379 whimsical theatrical rebellion against the TikTok 00:05:00.379 --> 00:05:02.800 man. I read about his methods in the sources, 00:05:02.920 --> 00:05:05.620 and they are wonderfully absurd. He isn't blowing 00:05:05.620 --> 00:05:07.699 up buildings. He is acting like a literal clown 00:05:07.699 --> 00:05:09.660 throwing a wrench into the gears of the machine. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:12.160 One of those famous scenes involves him attacking 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:15.519 a drab, perfectly timed dystopian factory. Yes, 00:05:15.579 --> 00:05:18.259 the factory scene. But he doesn't use explosives. 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:21.279 He showers the factory workers with thousands 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:24.199 and thousands of multicolored jelly beans. Just 00:05:24.199 --> 00:05:26.819 picture the visual contrast of that. A gray, 00:05:27.079 --> 00:05:30.120 sterile environment entirely focused on the relentless 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:33.199 ticking of the clock, suddenly overwhelmed by 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:36.740 a chaotic downpour of bright, sticky, useless 00:05:36.740 --> 00:05:39.639 candy. And he doesn't stop with the candy. He 00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:41.779 flies around giving public speeches through a 00:05:41.779 --> 00:05:44.199 bullhorn, directly encouraging people to just 00:05:44.199 --> 00:05:46.319 ignore their schedules. He tells them to stop 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:48.420 rushing, to take their time. It sounds almost 00:05:48.420 --> 00:05:51.259 childish. What's fascinating here is how these 00:05:51.259 --> 00:05:54.519 seemingly childish acts cause massive, catastrophic 00:05:54.519 --> 00:05:57.959 systemic damage. In a society where every single 00:05:57.959 --> 00:06:00.500 second is mathematically accounted for, a minor 00:06:00.500 --> 00:06:02.939 distraction cascades into a complete operational 00:06:02.939 --> 00:06:05.620 failure. Because everyone stops to look. Exactly. 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:07.879 By dropping those jelly beans, the factory workers 00:06:07.879 --> 00:06:09.980 stop. The machines fall behind. The shipping 00:06:09.980 --> 00:06:12.540 gets delayed. Suddenly, the entire grid is off 00:06:12.540 --> 00:06:15.240 by seven minutes. By yelling through a bullhorn, 00:06:15.319 --> 00:06:17.720 the harlequin forces the TikTok man to pull enforcers 00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:20.079 off their normal job. just to hunt him down. 00:06:20.199 --> 00:06:22.579 The system defeats itself trying to maintain 00:06:22.579 --> 00:06:25.490 order. The rebellion isn't just the jelly beans. 00:06:25.649 --> 00:06:28.110 The rebellion is forcing the authorities to break 00:06:28.110 --> 00:06:30.750 their own precious schedule just to try and catch 00:06:30.750 --> 00:06:33.490 them. Precisely. And remember, this story was 00:06:33.490 --> 00:06:37.370 published in 1965, right as the 1960s counterculture 00:06:37.370 --> 00:06:39.529 movement was gaining massive momentum in the 00:06:39.529 --> 00:06:42.449 United States. The harlequin is very much a symbol 00:06:42.449 --> 00:06:44.829 of that era's pushback against the establishment 00:06:44.829 --> 00:06:47.829 and the rigid post -war corporate culture that 00:06:47.829 --> 00:06:50.689 demanded absolute conformity. But it's not all 00:06:50.689 --> 00:06:53.500 fun and jelly beans. The sources point out there 00:06:53.500 --> 00:06:56.379 are real, grounded personal stakes for Everett. 00:06:56.579 --> 00:06:59.180 He has a normal life outside the costume, including 00:06:59.180 --> 00:07:01.819 a girlfriend named Pretty Alice. And Alice is 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:04.500 not exactly a revolutionary, is she? Not at all. 00:07:04.540 --> 00:07:07.240 In fact, Alice is utterly exasperated by Everett. 00:07:07.300 --> 00:07:09.120 She is deeply annoyed by the fact that he is 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:11.220 never on time. She just wants a normal, predictable 00:07:11.220 --> 00:07:14.250 life. I can almost sympathize with her. You just 00:07:14.250 --> 00:07:15.949 want to go to work and come home and your boyfriend 00:07:15.949 --> 00:07:18.370 is out there dressing up like a clown, ruining 00:07:18.370 --> 00:07:20.670 everyone's commute and risking the remote control 00:07:20.670 --> 00:07:22.529 death penalty. It is entirely understandable 00:07:22.529 --> 00:07:25.110 from her perspective. But thematically, pretty 00:07:25.110 --> 00:07:27.550 Alice represents the everyday citizen who has 00:07:27.550 --> 00:07:29.769 fully internalized the oppression of the state. 00:07:30.189 --> 00:07:33.009 She doesn't want freedom if freedom means unpredictability 00:07:33.009 --> 00:07:36.009 and danger. She desires the safety of conformity. 00:07:36.029 --> 00:07:38.629 The schedule provides comfort. And Everett's 00:07:38.629 --> 00:07:41.149 constant tardiness is a literal threat to her 00:07:41.149 --> 00:07:43.399 safety. Which brings us to the tragic turning 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:46.259 point of the plot. The harlequin's luck finally 00:07:46.259 --> 00:07:48.779 runs out and he is captured by the authorities. 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:50.959 And when he is brought before the TikTok man, 00:07:51.139 --> 00:07:53.439 the most heartbreaking truth of the story is 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:56.339 revealed. How did they find him? It was pretty 00:07:56.339 --> 00:07:59.019 Alice. She betrayed him. She voluntarily turned 00:07:59.019 --> 00:08:01.500 him into the TikTok man. Wait, his own girlfriend 00:08:01.500 --> 00:08:03.680 turns him in? Just because he's late all the 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:06.040 time? Because she simply wanted to return to 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:08.540 the punctual, orderly society that everyone else 00:08:08.540 --> 00:08:11.420 lives in. It is a devastating moment that shows 00:08:11.420 --> 00:08:13.720 just how deeply the psychological conditioning 00:08:13.720 --> 00:08:16.959 of the society runs. The state didn't even have 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:19.160 to hunt the great rebel down with their advanced 00:08:19.160 --> 00:08:22.300 technology. His own loved one handed him over 00:08:22.300 --> 00:08:24.620 because the social programming of the clock was 00:08:24.620 --> 00:08:27.079 vastly stronger than her personal loyalty to 00:08:27.079 --> 00:08:30.420 him. That is incredibly bleak. And it sets up 00:08:30.420 --> 00:08:33.620 the dramatic climax perfectly. The TikTok man 00:08:33.620 --> 00:08:36.100 finally has the harlequin in his grasp. He has 00:08:36.100 --> 00:08:38.730 the cardio plate ready to go. And he commands 00:08:38.730 --> 00:08:41.250 the Harlequin to repent. He demands an apology 00:08:41.250 --> 00:08:43.470 for the rebellion, a public admission that the 00:08:43.470 --> 00:08:46.009 schedule is right. And the Harlequin, completely 00:08:46.009 --> 00:08:48.509 true to his nature, just sneers at him and refuses 00:08:48.509 --> 00:08:50.950 to break. But this raises an important question 00:08:50.950 --> 00:08:54.330 for the TikTok man. How does a totalitarian regime 00:08:54.330 --> 00:08:57.809 handle a martyr? If the TikTok man simply uses 00:08:57.809 --> 00:08:59.830 the cardio plate to stop the harlequin's heart 00:08:59.830 --> 00:09:02.029 right then and there, he effectively proves that 00:09:02.029 --> 00:09:03.909 the harlequin was right all along about the cruelty 00:09:03.909 --> 00:09:07.049 of the system. A dead harlequin becomes a powerful 00:09:07.049 --> 00:09:09.909 symbol of resistance. So the TikTok man chooses 00:09:09.909 --> 00:09:12.370 a different route. He decides not to kill him. 00:09:12.909 --> 00:09:15.149 Instead, the sources say he sends the harlequin 00:09:15.149 --> 00:09:18.149 to Coventry. Now, Coventry is a real city in 00:09:18.149 --> 00:09:20.370 England. What exactly does it mean in the context 00:09:20.370 --> 00:09:24.039 of this dystopian world? Ellison is using a very 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:26.879 clever play on words here. Being sent to Coventry 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:29.440 is an old British idiom that means to be deliberately 00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:32.279 ostracized or ignored by everyone around you. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:35.759 But in the world of the TikTok man, Coventry 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:39.399 isn't just social exile. It is a literal place 00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:42.820 of deep, agonizing psychological reconditioning. 00:09:42.820 --> 00:09:45.399 It's a brainwashing camp. A fate worse than death. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:49.100 Exactly. The system realizes that an alive, compliant 00:09:49.100 --> 00:09:51.820 Harlequin is infinitely more valuable to their 00:09:51.820 --> 00:09:54.460 cause than a dead rebel. They don't just need 00:09:54.460 --> 00:09:57.000 to destroy Everett C. Marm. They need to destroy 00:09:57.000 --> 00:09:59.440 the very idea of the Harlequin in the minds of 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:01.519 the public. And the aftermath of that decision 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:04.210 is just a gut punch. After his time in Coventry, 00:10:04.250 --> 00:10:06.450 the harlequin reappears in public. But he is 00:10:06.450 --> 00:10:09.070 completely broken. The whimsical rebel is gone, 00:10:09.190 --> 00:10:11.669 and this brainwashed shell of a man publicly 00:10:11.669 --> 00:10:13.690 announces on television that he was wrong before. 00:10:13.990 --> 00:10:15.870 He looks at the citizens and tells them that 00:10:15.870 --> 00:10:18.529 it is always good to be on time. It mirrors the 00:10:18.529 --> 00:10:20.990 darkest endings of classic dystopian literature. 00:10:21.590 --> 00:10:24.110 The ultimate defeat isn't the cessation of your 00:10:24.110 --> 00:10:26.750 heartbeat. It is the complete surrender of your 00:10:26.750 --> 00:10:29.909 own mind and will to the state. The clown has 00:10:29.909 --> 00:10:31.929 been turned into a spokesperson for the clock. 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:34.460 But Ellison doesn't just end it on that depressing 00:10:34.460 --> 00:10:37.759 note, does he? There is a masterful final twist 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:40.700 that undermines the entire victory of the TikTok 00:10:40.700 --> 00:10:43.500 man. There is, and it is a brilliant piece of 00:10:43.500 --> 00:10:46.419 irony. After defeating the Harlequin, breaking 00:10:46.419 --> 00:10:48.759 his mind, and seemingly winning the ideological 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:51.960 war, the TikTok man is sitting in his office. 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:55.120 He receives a report from one of his subordinates. 00:10:55.399 --> 00:10:57.919 The subordinate nervously informs him that the 00:10:57.919 --> 00:11:01.409 TikTok man himself the master of time the enforcer 00:11:01.409 --> 00:11:04.149 of the clock has somehow fallen three minutes 00:11:04.149 --> 00:11:06.870 behind schedule i love the visual of this the 00:11:06.870 --> 00:11:08.769 enforcer of the perfect schedule is suddenly 00:11:08.769 --> 00:11:12.179 late And his reaction is just pure denial. He 00:11:12.179 --> 00:11:14.980 scoffs in disbelief. He refuses to accept it, 00:11:15.019 --> 00:11:17.340 muttering that it's impossible. It perfectly 00:11:17.340 --> 00:11:19.759 illustrates the hypocrisy of absolute authority. 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:23.340 The system is so rigid, so unnaturally perfect, 00:11:23.480 --> 00:11:26.080 that not even its creator can abide by it. The 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:27.679 Harlequins' rebellion might have been crushed 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:29.860 on a personal level, but his whimsical chaos 00:11:29.860 --> 00:11:32.139 introduced a permanent glitch into the matrix 00:11:32.139 --> 00:11:34.879 of their society. The schedule is broken, starting 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:37.419 from the very top. Given how layered this world 00:11:37.419 --> 00:11:39.779 is and how perfectly orchestrated this nightmare 00:11:39.779 --> 00:11:42.580 society feels, you'd think Ellison spent months 00:11:42.580 --> 00:11:45.340 meticulously outlining the mechanics of this 00:11:45.340 --> 00:11:47.919 universe. You would certainly think so. But the 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:50.460 reality of its creation is almost as wild as 00:11:50.460 --> 00:11:52.580 the story itself. According to the background 00:11:52.580 --> 00:11:55.080 research, Harlan Ellison wrote this entire 11 00:11:55.080 --> 00:11:58.419 -page story in a single, frantic six -hour session. 00:11:58.700 --> 00:12:00.960 Six hours. I mean, most of us can barely draft 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:03.240 a cohesive email in a few hours. He banged it 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:05.580 out in six hours specifically because he needed 00:12:05.580 --> 00:12:08.159 to submit it to a Milford Writers Workshop the 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:11.120 very next day. It was then published in Galaxy 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:15.340 magazine in December of 1965. The speed of his 00:12:15.340 --> 00:12:17.899 creative output is truly remarkable, especially 00:12:17.899 --> 00:12:20.059 when you look at the immense critical success 00:12:20.059 --> 00:12:22.879 the story immediately achieved. It really swept 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:26.059 the industry. It won the 1965 Nebula Award for 00:12:26.059 --> 00:12:27.899 Best Short Story, which is one of the highest 00:12:27.899 --> 00:12:30.120 honors in science fiction. and then followed 00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:32.820 it up with the 1966 Hugo Award for Best Short 00:12:32.820 --> 00:12:35.679 Fiction. And it hasn't faded. Decades later, 00:12:35.720 --> 00:12:38.139 it won the 2015 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award 00:12:38.139 --> 00:12:40.659 and was even named the third best 20th century 00:12:40.659 --> 00:12:44.360 short story by Locus Online in 2012. The legacy 00:12:44.360 --> 00:12:47.480 is undeniable. Ellison, who was highly regarded 00:12:47.480 --> 00:12:49.759 for his intense theatrical voice and delivery, 00:12:50.019 --> 00:12:52.840 even recorded a vinyl reading of the story himself. 00:12:53.529 --> 00:12:55.789 While that original vinyl pressing is out of 00:12:55.789 --> 00:12:58.470 print today, listeners can still find it reissued 00:12:58.470 --> 00:13:01.009 by Blackstone Audio on a collection called The 00:13:01.009 --> 00:13:03.730 Voice from the Edge, Volume 1. And it's been 00:13:03.730 --> 00:13:06.129 widely anthologized, right? Yes, the text itself 00:13:06.129 --> 00:13:08.289 has been translated into dozens of languages 00:13:08.289 --> 00:13:10.669 and featured in major collections like Pain God 00:13:10.669 --> 00:13:13.870 and other delusions. However, to provide a fully 00:13:13.870 --> 00:13:16.070 balanced perspective of the sources, it is worth 00:13:16.070 --> 00:13:18.710 noting that not every single critic was swept 00:13:18.710 --> 00:13:21.190 away by the hype when it debuted. Really? Who 00:13:21.190 --> 00:13:23.529 was pushing back against it? There was a notable 00:13:23.529 --> 00:13:25.549 dissenting voice from the science fiction critic 00:13:25.549 --> 00:13:27.929 Algis Budrys when reviewing the world's best 00:13:27.929 --> 00:13:31.429 science fiction. 1966 anthology, Budrys actually 00:13:31.429 --> 00:13:34.090 faulted the story quite heavily. He called it 00:13:34.090 --> 00:13:36.389 a primitive statement about the solidly acceptable 00:13:36.389 --> 00:13:39.230 idea that regimentation is bad. I don't know 00:13:39.230 --> 00:13:41.309 if I buy that criticism. Calling it a primitive 00:13:41.309 --> 00:13:43.389 statement feels like it completely misses the 00:13:43.389 --> 00:13:46.129 point of fables and allegories. Aren't the best 00:13:46.129 --> 00:13:48.570 warnings usually the simplest? That is a very 00:13:48.570 --> 00:13:51.769 valid defense. Budgerys felt the thematic core 00:13:51.769 --> 00:13:54.710 that being forced to follow a schedule is dehumanizing 00:13:54.710 --> 00:13:56.990 was too simplistic, almost an obvious observation 00:13:56.990 --> 00:14:00.190 for the 1960s. But you could argue that its simplicity 00:14:00.190 --> 00:14:03.129 is exactly why it works. Sometimes a primitive, 00:14:03.309 --> 00:14:06.029 primal statement delivered with incredible stylistic 00:14:06.029 --> 00:14:08.669 flair, like raining brightly colored jelly beans 00:14:08.669 --> 00:14:11.809 on a gray factory floor, is exactly what is needed 00:14:11.809 --> 00:14:14.169 to make a universal truth resonate across multiple 00:14:14.169 --> 00:14:16.309 generations. Well, speaking of things that endure 00:14:16.309 --> 00:14:18.049 across generations, here's where it gets really 00:14:18.049 --> 00:14:20.850 interesting. Let's fast forward nearly 50 years 00:14:20.850 --> 00:14:24.029 from that 1965 publication to September 15, 2011. 00:14:24.590 --> 00:14:27.370 A massive Hollywood copyright battle erupts. 00:14:27.710 --> 00:14:30.230 Harlan Ellison filed a federal lawsuit in California 00:14:30.230 --> 00:14:32.789 against the production company New Regency and 00:14:32.789 --> 00:14:34.769 the director Andrew Nichol over a major studio 00:14:34.769 --> 00:14:37.929 film. The film was, in time, a high -budget sci 00:14:37.929 --> 00:14:40.090 -fi thriller. And the core of Ellison's legal 00:14:40.090 --> 00:14:42.269 claim was that the central plot of the film was 00:14:42.269 --> 00:14:45.649 heavily and illegally based on repent. Harlequin, 00:14:45.789 --> 00:14:48.049 said the TikTok man. When you look at the alleged 00:14:48.049 --> 00:14:50.870 similarities in the lawsuit, they are undeniably 00:14:50.870 --> 00:14:54.169 striking. Both the 2011 film and Ellison's 1965 00:14:54.169 --> 00:14:58.090 story feature a dystopian future where people 00:14:58.090 --> 00:15:00.649 have a literal, genetically or technologically 00:15:00.649 --> 00:15:04.000 set amount of time left to live. In both properties, 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:06.379 that remaining time can be revoked or altered 00:15:06.379 --> 00:15:09.600 by a recognized, highly official authority figure 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:12.379 who is literally known as a timekeeper. The parallels 00:15:12.379 --> 00:15:14.480 are absolutely there, which is why the progression 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:16.580 of this legal battle became such a roller coaster 00:15:16.580 --> 00:15:19.799 to watch. Ellison was fiercely protective of 00:15:19.799 --> 00:15:21.940 his intellectual property. He didn't just quietly 00:15:21.940 --> 00:15:24.139 file a grievance asking for a settlement check. 00:15:24.179 --> 00:15:26.419 He came out swinging. He initially demanded a 00:15:26.419 --> 00:15:28.799 legal injunction to stop the film's release entirely. 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:32.159 That is a massive flex to try and block a multi 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:34.139 -million dollar movie from ever hitting theaters. 00:15:34.299 --> 00:15:37.019 Exactly. But the legal process is notoriously 00:15:37.019 --> 00:15:39.960 slow and complicated. As it unfolded, Ellison 00:15:39.960 --> 00:15:42.139 offered the suit. He backed off the injunction 00:15:42.139 --> 00:15:44.179 and asked for screen credit instead, wanting 00:15:44.179 --> 00:15:46.299 his name on the film. And then surprisingly, 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:48.679 he ultimately dropped the lawsuit completely. 00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:51.899 Just walked away from it. Yes. The resolution 00:15:51.899 --> 00:15:54.600 to this incredibly aggressive legal challenge. 00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:58.220 was incredibly quiet after all the noise both 00:15:58.220 --> 00:16:00.820 sides ended up releasing a brief joint statement 00:16:00.820 --> 00:16:04.179 to definitively put the matter to rest the exact 00:16:04.179 --> 00:16:06.840 statement released to the press read after seeing 00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:10.019 the film in time harlan ellison decided to voluntarily 00:16:10.019 --> 00:16:13.320 dismiss the action no payment or screen credit 00:16:13.320 --> 00:16:16.120 was promised or given to harlan ellison the parties 00:16:16.120 --> 00:16:18.039 wish each other well and have no further comment 00:16:18.039 --> 00:16:20.759 on the matter So what does this all mean? He 00:16:20.759 --> 00:16:22.820 fights tooth and nail to stop the movie, actually 00:16:22.820 --> 00:16:25.120 sits down and watches the final cut, and then 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:26.759 just walks away wishing them well without taking 00:16:26.759 --> 00:16:29.419 a single dime or a writing credit. It is such 00:16:29.419 --> 00:16:31.559 a fascinating footnote to the legacy of the story. 00:16:31.950 --> 00:16:34.190 It is entirely possible he watched the film and 00:16:34.190 --> 00:16:36.269 recognized that while the overarching concept 00:16:36.269 --> 00:16:39.210 of time as a literal currency was similar, the 00:16:39.210 --> 00:16:41.730 execution had evolved far enough beyond his initial 00:16:41.730 --> 00:16:44.730 framework to be considered its own entity. Or, 00:16:44.850 --> 00:16:46.769 perhaps fittingly for the author of this particular 00:16:46.769 --> 00:16:49.230 story, he simply looked at the immense years 00:16:49.230 --> 00:16:51.450 of litigation ahead of him and decided to spend 00:16:51.450 --> 00:16:53.330 the remaining time on his own clock elsewhere. 00:16:53.549 --> 00:16:56.200 That is incredibly poetic. It really has been 00:16:56.200 --> 00:16:58.759 an amazing journey today. We've explored how 00:16:58.759 --> 00:17:01.919 a short story banged out in a frantic six -hour 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:03.679 writing session to meet a workshop deadline, 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:07.339 went on to completely define a unique niche of 00:17:07.339 --> 00:17:09.660 dystopian science fiction. We've seen it sweep 00:17:09.660 --> 00:17:12.259 the industry's major awards, survive decades 00:17:12.259 --> 00:17:15.420 of massive cultural shifts, and even cause a 00:17:15.420 --> 00:17:18.319 Hollywood legal panic nearly 50 years later. 00:17:18.519 --> 00:17:20.779 And it all stems from an 11 -page story about 00:17:20.779 --> 00:17:23.519 a guy in a clown suit dropping candy on a factory. 00:17:24.619 --> 00:17:26.660 As we bring this deep dive to a close, it is 00:17:26.660 --> 00:17:29.079 vital to connect these themes back to you, the 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:31.319 listener. Consider your own daily relationship 00:17:31.319 --> 00:17:34.019 with time and regimentation. Ellison's story 00:17:34.019 --> 00:17:36.700 presents a violently exaggerated dystopia, certainly, 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:39.000 but the underlying anxieties it plays on are 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:41.519 incredibly real and ever -present in our modern, 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:44.099 hyperscheduled world. That's so true. How easily 00:17:44.099 --> 00:17:46.019 do we fall into the trap of treating efficiency 00:17:46.019 --> 00:17:48.420 and productivity as a religion? We might not 00:17:48.420 --> 00:17:50.500 have a cardio plate strapped to our chests, but 00:17:50.500 --> 00:17:52.420 we all have our own subtle versions of the TikTok 00:17:52.420 --> 00:17:55.349 man governing our day. making us feel guilty 00:17:55.349 --> 00:17:57.930 for simply resting. Which leaves you with a final, 00:17:58.009 --> 00:18:00.769 lingering thought to ponder long after this deep 00:18:00.769 --> 00:18:05.150 dive ends. In Ellison's 1965 vision, the state 00:18:05.150 --> 00:18:07.430 uses violent force to steal your time and keep 00:18:07.430 --> 00:18:09.630 you on schedule. But look at our world today. 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:12.960 We don't need a TikTok man threatening us, because 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:15.299 we willingly give hours and hours of our lives 00:18:15.299 --> 00:18:18.400 away every single day to algorithms, infinite 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:20.960 scrolling, and digital notifications. We have 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:23.440 built our own unyielding timekeepers, and we 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:25.940 carry them around in our pockets, eagerly surrendering 00:18:25.940 --> 00:18:28.720 our lifespans to them one minute at a time. The 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:30.599 question isn't just who is enforcing your schedule. 00:18:30.700 --> 00:18:32.660 The question is, who is auditing your ledger 00:18:32.660 --> 00:18:34.779 today? Thank you for exploring the whimsical, 00:18:34.900 --> 00:18:37.000 tragic world of the Harlequin with us. Keep questioning 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:38.700 the clock, and we'll see you next time.