I mentioned in the comments below that the phrase "that big thing back there" has been a go-to for Jordan and me for years, and this painting by Angus McKie is usually what pops into my head.If you think about it, TBTBT is a useful device, especially when you consider that most of these paintings are generated to be covers for sci-fi novels. You've got one picture with which to depict an entire novel, so it helps if you can inject more than one narrative element into the mix (foreground and background). Also, TBTBT is often partially obscured by mist or distance, making it a good backdrop for the book's title. A lot of the art we're talking about is composed a little bottom-heavy for the same reason; look to the upper half of the painting for a starfield, a roiling sky over an otherworldly landscape, or, of course, a big thing back there.
This was not, to my knowledge, created as the cover of a novel, but it's another favorite of mine by Angus McKie, and another great TBTBT.[Edit: Actually, maybe it was the cover for something. There's an awful lot of empty sky at the top.]
5 comments:
Wow, I remember that first image. There's a sci-fimovie that totally ripped it off in the movie poster but I can't for the life of me recall the name of it!
Those are great. I dithered over calling Dean Ellis "undisputed master" of TBTBT, but I wasn't thinking of Angus McKee; I was thinking of Michael Whelan.
What I love about TBTBT paintings is that they highlight one of my favorite things about sci-fi. Remember all that Quarantine-era Horrorthon stuff about how horror might be the "purest" form of cinema, as revealed by the film grammar and techniques of "found footage" movies? I think the relationship between these paintings and the stuff they illustrate reveal another primal storytelling imperative (although I'm not sure how to describe it or what to call it). Let me try to say it:
A guy in 1959 is writing a sci-fi story. Picture him: late thirties/early forties; slight build; thinning hair; short-sleeved shirt; wool pants. He's in a very small room with a bare overhead ceiling bulb, and the room is too hot or too cold, and he's got coffee and bad food next to his battered manual typewriter, into which he feeds endless sheets of cheap "corrasable" paper. Maybe later he'll order a beer downstairs with the guys at the place on the corner.
But now look inside the typewriter. Universes in collision! Light-years to travel across! Extra-dimensional realms beyond description! An entire world of diamond trees and cadmium mines! Thousands of starships attacking at once! Every planet we reach is dead!
And the physical books exhibit the same contrasts. You've got all these incredible paintings...and then you snap back to reality, where it's just a dollar-fifty book that wasn't even published in hardcover, and you can tear out a coupon in the back and send it in for more sci-fi paperbacks, identified by title. Like Pete Townshend sang, "This is my cell/But it's connected to starlight."
Well, THAT was certainly poetic. Well-put, sir!
I just wanted to say that I'm a huge fan of both of these TBTBT posts. As a sci-fi nerd, and owner of quite a few examples of TBTBT, I'm relishing every word about it.
I also wanted to note that the phrase itself implies a great conversation.
SCI-FI GUY#1: Watch out if you're heading over in that direction.
SCI-FI GUY #2: Why?
SCI-FI GUY #1: Well, there's That Big Thing Back There.
SCI-FI GUY #2: Where? I don't see any - oh THAT Big Thing Back There.
Stan, yeah, exactly! You got it!
Part of the whole thing is getting a kick out of the artist's obvious excitement about creating something that's both "REALLY big" and "REALLY way back there" (clouds, trees, mountains, small moons in front of it etc.) The whole thing is so wonderfully insane.
And there's definitely a magical quality to most of these paintings. I get the same feeling looking at Ralph McQuarrie's concept paintings for SW, that feeling of being instantly transported to a future parallel universe realm. Those Star Trek covers did the same thing for me.
"TBTBT" would be a great license plate.
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