Tara Lomax's guest appearances

Tara Lomax

The Vegan Option - Vegetarianism: The Story So Far

On the Turnbuckle

Michael Schiavello

Mike Quackenbush

Peter Singer

Andrew Knight

Benjamin Zephaniah

Christopher Daniels

John Arnold

Deepak Kumar

Tristram Stuart

Eric Bischoff

Bruce Prichard

Jason BeDuhn

Ramachandra Guha

Aysha Akhtar

Mark Henry

OwlTail

Mark Williamson

We talk all things Underworld with Mark Williamson and Tara Lomax

Jonathan Swift

Sherryl Vint

Robert McKay

Science Fiction and Animals From Jonathan Swift’s talking horses to Star Trek’s Vulcans, from HG Wells to the Wachowskis, science fiction tackles the big questions about our relationship with other animals. Join the experts who investigate where animal studies meets media theory. Discover the themes in famous books, film, and TV – as well as the cult sci-fi stories that examine food ethics, the boundaries of humanity, and alternative ways of living. Discover what the experts really think of Planet of the Apes; what Soylent Green used to made from before they started using people; and hear everyone’s favourite Time Lord try to talk a monster out of eating humanity in our Doctor Who sketch.  Play or download (18.5MB MP3) (via iTunes)  Guests Dr Sherryl Vint Sherryl Vint edited the Animal Studies Issue of the Journal of Science Fiction Studies and has written Animal Alterity: Science Fiction and the Question of the Animal. She is a professor of English at the University of California, Riverside, where she reads science fiction and popular culture. She previously lectured at Brock University in her native Canada, which is a centre of animal studies theory. She calls herself a “vegetarian with vegan tendencies”; those tendencies include eating vegan apart from honey, alcohol filtered in non-vegan ways, and similar exceptions. Dr Robert McKay Robert McKay lectures in English literature at the University of Sheffield, England, specialising in animal studies and literature after 1945. He is part of the UK’s Animal Studies group, and contributed an essay to the collection Killing Animals. The Introduction and Conclusion by Erica Fudge are available to download via Academia.edu. He is vegan. Tara Lomax Tara Lomax is a PhD candidate in screen studies at the University of Melbourne, and a vegan activist. She is currently working on a conference paper on animal issues in Twleve Monkeys.  Tara Lomax at academia.edu  Tara is vegan and a campaigner. Books, Films, and TV cited Gulliver’s Travels Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, by Jonathan Swift, 1726  Gulliver’s Travels at Project Gutenberg Gulliver’s Travels at Wikipedia  Frankenstein Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley, 1818  Frankenstein (1818 edition) at Project Gutenberg Frankenstein at Wikipedia  Sherryl Vint mentions that the creature was made of human and non-human animal parts. When petitioning Victor Frankenstein to create him a bride, the creature promised to take the vegan pledge:  If you consent, neither you nor any other human being shall ever see us again: I will go to the vast wilds of South America. My food is not that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid to glut my appetite; acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment. My companion will be of the same nature as myself, and will be content with the same fare. We shall make our bed of dried leaves; the sun will shine on us as on man, and will ripen our food. The picture I present to you is peaceful and human, and you must feel that you could deny it only in the wantonness of power and cruelty.  To be fair to to Victor Frankenstein (and to angry torch-wielding mobs everywhere) the creature had already killed at this point. Hat-tip to Philip Armstrong for the quotation. Mary Shelly was almost certainly vegetarian (although I haven’t tracked down a citation that would give me absolute confidence). Her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, was an advocate of Rousseauist “back-to-nature” vegetarianism under the mentorship of her father. After Percy’s early death, she was best known for publishing his works, including pro-vegetarian poetry. Island of Dr Moreau The Island of Dr Moreau, by HG Wells, 1896  The Island of Dr Moreau at Project Gutenberg The Island of Dr Moreau at Wikipedia  Our hero Prendick returns home distrustful of other humans:  Then I look about me at my fellow-men; and I go in fear. I see faces, keen and bright; others dull or dangerous; others, unsteady, insincere,—none that have the calm authority of a reasonable soul. I feel as though the animal was surging up through them; that presently the degradation of the Islanders will be played over again on a larger scale.  War of the Worlds The War of the Worlds, by HG Wells, 1898  The War of the Worlds text at Project Gutenberg The War of the Worlds at Wikipedia  I mentioned that – despite comparing the carnivorous Martians to humanity’s own habits – HG Wells mocked vegetarians. For example his 1908 novel Ann Veronica features parody vegetarians Mr &amp; Mrs Goopes. Sirius Sirius: a Fantasy of Love and Discord, by Olaf Stapledon, 1944  Sirius text at the University of Adelaide Sirius at Wikipedia  Beyond Lies The Wubb Beyond Lies The Wubb, short story by Philip K Dick, 1952  Beyond Lies the Wubb at Project Gutenberg Beyond Lies the Wubb at Wikipedia Reading of “Beyond Lies The Wubb” by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau as part of her podcast Vegetarian Food for Thought  I ended up leaving this out of the show, even though it includes a conversation about food ethics very similar to our Dr Who skit. To Serve Man To Serve Man, short story by Damon Knight, 1950  To Serve Man at Wikipedia  To Serve Man, Twilight Zone episode, screenplay by Rod Serling, 1962  To Serve Man at Wikipedia To Serve Man at IMDB  Doctor Who The clip is taken from: The Bells of Saint John, written by Steven Moffat, 2013  The Bells of Saint John at bbc.co.uk The Bells of Saint John at IMDB The Bells of Saint John at the Tardis Wiki  The Doctor himself turns vegetarian in 1985’s The Two Doctors. A 1986 comic has him lapse; but Paul Cornell’s 1995 novel Human Nature (adapted for TV in 2007) suggests that he’s still vegetarian in his subsequent, seventh, incarnation. Either way, he was not vegetarian on his return to TV in 2005. Planet of the Apes The franchise begins with Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel. Tara Lomax and Sherryl Vint specifically discussed … Planet of the Apes, screenplay by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling, 1968  Planet of the Apes shooting script Planet of the Apes at Wikipedia Planet of the Apes at IMDB  Escape from the Planet of the Apes, screenplay by Paul Dehn, 1971  Escape from the Planet of the Apes at Wikipedia Escape from the Planet of the Apes at IMDB  Rise of the Planet of the Apes, screenplay by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, 2011  Rise of the Planet of the Apes at Wikipedia Rise of the Planet of the Apes at IMDB  Rise of the Planet of the Apes has attracted praise and caution from animal activists. I mentioned:  Rise of the Planet of the Apes receives Peta’s seal of approval – Peta.org “Human, all too human” – Dr Nik Taylor of Flinders University disagrees in a column in The Guardian  Soylent Green Make Room! Make Room!, novel by Harry Harrison, 1966  Make Room! Make Room! at Wikipedia Review and commentary by Paul Tomlinson  Soylent Green, screenplay by Stanley R Greenberg,1973  Soylent Green at Wikipedia Soylent Green at IMDB Soylent Green review in an episode of Our Hen House podcast  Bladerunner Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K Dick, 1968  Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? at Wikipedia  Bladerunner, screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peeples, 1982  Bladerunner at Wikipedia Bladerunner at IMDB  Star Trek The clips are from: The Slaver Weapon, by Larry Niven, 1973  The Slaver Weapon at StarTrek.com The Slaver Weapon at Wikipedia The Slaver Weapon at Memory Alpha  Yes, I did begin this show with yet more carnivorous cats. Is that not a perfect segue from the last show? Lonely Among Us, by D.C. Fontana and Michael Halperin, 1987  Lonely Among Us at StarTrek.com Lonely Among Us at Memory Alpha Lonely Among Us at IMDB  There are a range of commentaries on the franchise’s treatment of animals:  “A vegan’s view of Star Trek”, blog post by “Busy Vegan” Veronique Nicole, 2012 Vegetarian at Memory Alpha Star Trek wiki “Where no vegan has gone before”, blog post by Daniel of Austin TX lifestyle blog Red Hot Vegans, 2012  Uplift Uplift, series of novels by David Brin, 1980-1998  Uplift Universe at Wikipedia  The Matrix The Matrix, screenplay by Lana and Andy Wachowski, 1999  The Matrix at Wikipedia The Matrix at IMDB  Tara Lomax mentioned that the themes of the Matrix have been adopted by The Grace Communications Foundation in their series of satires The Meatrix. GCF argues makes an environmental and welfare case for non-intensive animal farming. Animals Animals, by Don LePan, 2000  Animals at Don LePan.com Don LePan at Wikipedia  Transhuman Space Under Pressure, role-playing game sourcebook, written by David Morgan-Mar, Kenneth Peters, and Constantine Thomas, 2003  Transhuman Space at Steve Jackson Games Transhuman Space at Wikipedia  This near-future hard science fiction setting is notable for two reasons. Firstly, it posited a European Union that had banned land animal farming. And secondly, I contributed a few paragraphs – undersea “pan-sentient” activists who kidnapped fish-farm executives and forced them to relive the braintaped last moments of dying tuna. [Spoiler Alert: Title Redacted] Even naming this book in this context would spoil a major turn of the plot – a spoiler that was impossible to completely avoid in the show. The curious can follow this link, and find out about the film adaption via the studio and IMDB. Wess’har Wess’har, series of novels by Karen Traviss, 2004-8  Wess’har at Karen Traviss.com Wess’har at Wikipedia  The Doctor Who Skit The skit was written by myself with Sally Beaumont; and performed by Sally Beaumont. The skit references the Doctor’s acquaintanceship with Vegan miners working on Peladon, Leonardo Da Vinci (and his vegetarianism), and (in the extended version) convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation. Sally Beaumont is an actor, playwright, and voiceover artist. She has played Ada Lovelace in a BBC documentary and sold Chewbacca a hair dryer in a TV commercial.  Sally Beaumont at IMDB  I am obviously very very grateful to her. Thanks :). (No, Time Lords do not always retain the same gender across incarnations. Thank you for asking.) See Also Discussions of science fiction of interest at:  VeganSciFi.com – upbeat blog about animal questions and vegan personalities in science fiction Fiction with a vegan / animal rights sensibility at LibraryThing  Thanks … go to Robb Masters for the music and voiceover, Catherine Laurence for voiceover, the guests, and to Sally Beaumont. Many academics took the time to help me with my research, but for whatever reason did not end up interviewed on the show. These include Nik Taylor, John Miller, Claire Molloy, Susan McHugh, and Philip Armstrong. Copyright Doctor Who, Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, The Matrix, The Meatrix, and Bladerunner are copyright their respective owners. No challenge is made or implied. Short clips are used under fair dealing for the purposes of media criticism. The Dr Who skit used freeware sounds “Connecting to Earth” by Philip Bock,  “Giga Core” by Cosmic Dreamer, “Crowd Talking” by SoundJay. It also used Tardis, Sonic Screwdriver and Sting sound effects that are copyright BBC, and used without permission. I am grateful to the BBC’s tolerant attitude to unauthorised work, make no challenge to the BBC’s copyright, and will remove those sound effects if the BBC requests. As I recognise that some of these corporations could, in principle, get out their lawyers and contest my fair use, and because I am using BBC intellectual property without permission, I cannot make this show available under a Creative Commons licence.

Science Fiction and Animals: from Jonathan Swift and HG Wells to Star Trek and Doctor Who; with Sherryl Vint, Robert McKay, and Tara Lomax