Tom Godwin-The Cold Equations

[honorsbrat]

I have recently read the short story The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin. I have also read some other posts concerning this particular SFand have heard many other opinions about its meanings and flaws. Does anyone have any other ideas(opinions) about this classic SF?

 

[profeaston]

It's a perfect illustration of why many people think science and technology are cold and heartless--wishes can't change the cold equations of nature, and many folks think they should. In fact, isn't that what prayer is all about?

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

The Cold Equations certainly illustrates the harsh necessities imposed by a venture like spaceflight. You can read the story as a cautionary tale - the girl should have realised that the restrictions weren't just some authoritarian game but a real means to ensure safety. Asuming that sentiment can override harsh realities - cold equations - is hoping for too much , when you have no backup plan. It can also be seen as a harsh depiction of the inhuman extremities a cold by-the-book approach can lead to, but then again the pilot who evicts the girl is shown as sympathetic but tied down by the realities of spaceflight.

Either way, it was a story that was written to touch a nerve, incite emotion and thereby be sale-worthy, and it certainly achieved that. We tkae from it what our own opinions and beliefs predispose us towards.

Incidentally, there's a collection of Godwin's short fiction available from Baen, entitled The Cold Equations, and while his other work is competent, Godwin never seems to have written anything else quite as gripping.

 

[Carter]

The Cold Equations certainly illustrates the harsh necessities imposed by a venture like spaceflight

I recall that there was a TV/movie version of this story. I haven't read the original, but the TV version was very unatisfying as science fiction, since the premise was that her extra mass would endanger the flight (and therefore she would have to be thrown out an airlock), but it was pretty obvious from the set of the film that they could have easily compensated for her mass by throwing out a few chairs (and maybe their uniforms, part of the air, some drinking water, rations, console covers, etc.). It makes the point, perhaps, that if a plot is going to hinge upon physics then it's incumbant upon the author (or script writer) to think about the science in detail. Otherwise the premise looks foolishly contrived.

 

[The Time Traveller]

I recall that there was a TV/movie version of this story. I haven't read the original, but the TV version was very unsatisfying as science fiction, . . .

I believe I saw a Twilight Zone episode of this in the 90's (not the classic series) and thought it was really good. I believe the SciFi channel did a TV movie of it a few years ago, and I think this may be the one you're referring to. I enjoyed it for the most part, but they added some political sub-plot that seems akwardly grafted on to the main story.

 

[Ravensquawk]

Awful, horrifying, chilling, depressing, unhappy, and true, and great science fiction!

 

[j d worthington]

Never saw the adaptation(s), but Godwin made it very clear in the story that this was a very small, one-man scout ship with just enough fuel to make such emergency runs very closely calculated for pilot, medical supplies (which is what he's delivering), etc., and frankly no margin of error. There was nothing to be done, he was simply up against the inarguable laws of physics. I understand D. M. Thomas did a narrative poem based on this, from a different perspective, titled "X", with a set of complementary columns, one showing the time ticking off until her ejection, another setting out the oddly appropriate comments of a schizophrenic recorded by R. D. Laing; it was published in an issue of New Worlds, but I've never been able to get hold of a copy. Sounds like it could be interesting, though.

 

[BAYLOR]

Awful, horrifying, chilling, depressing, unhappy, and true, and great science fiction!

It was adapted for television on one occasion.

 

[Kris_01]

If you can look over some of the flaws in the narrative, it's not a bad story. For example, who would design a spaceship with no margin for error? How did the girl get aboard unseen? Etc...

 

[BigBadBob141]

I've written about this before!
Am afraid this story really annoys the hell out of me, especially it being called a classic, I wish it would just go away, the first time I read it years and years ago it upset me, it got under my skin and didn't leave for a long time!
Now I am much older, much more cynical, no wiser but a hell of a lot grumpier, this story just plain p****s me off, it is so badly flawed throughout!
The design of the living quarters/cockpit, the practice of putting just enough fuel for one approach and no more with everything weighed to the nearest pound, which is very, very bad engineering practice and just asking for trouble, plus the behavior of the pilot knowing there have been stowaways in the past, and why is there a heat sensor in the closet???
If on getting to the planet only to find the landing delayed because of bad weather, he would not have enough fuel to go into orbit and then land when things are clear, thus he would be up a well known creek without a paddle, which is why it is very bad practice never to have spare fuel!
If stowaways have been a problem in the past then why doesn't the pilot take all of five seconds to open the closet door to check if anyone is there before even sitting to do the pre-flight checks, this should be standard practice!
Basically it's a poorly thought out story, no classic, which relays way too, too much on its shock value/horrific ending, as it doesn't have much else going for it!!!!!

 

[Bick]

I'm thinking you don't like it Bob. I may be wrong but it's a sense I'm getting.

 

[BigBadBob141]

I wonder what gave you that idea?????????

 

[Kris_01]

I don't think the author much cared about anything other than the shock value. Call it "willing suspension of belief". It was just a means to an end.