S6E31 – OSP – “Silent Planet Retrospective”

David quizzes Matt and Andrew on toasts, they argue about the state of Malacandra, and cast actors for their movie.

S6E31: “Silent Planet Retrospective” (Download)

Show Notes

Introduction

Drop-In

• Dr. Louis Markos

Quote-of-the-week

It had ceased to be Malacandra; it was only Mars.

C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet (Chapter 21)

Chit-Chat

• Matt
  • Watched the movie Nefarious. David previously interviewed the writers/directors.
• Andrew
  • Celebrating his parish anniversary.
  • Planning an advent series
• David
  • The day we recorded is the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Toast

• Drinks
  • Matt was drinking Macallen 18
  • Andrew was drinking First Edition Coal Illa
  • David was drinking Road Slush from New Glarus
• Foreign language “cheers”
  • “Je via sanon!” (Esperanto)
• Patreon toast
  • David J. Savage

Discussion

1. “Toast Quiz”

• “IwlIj jachjaj!” (Klingon)
• “Slánte!” (Irish)
• “Saúde!” (Portuguese)
• “Santé!” (French)
• “Noroc!” (Romanian)
• “Şerefe!” (Turkish)
• “Chon-Kâew!” (Thai)
• “Salud!”(Spanish)
• “Hajas!” (Dothraki)
• “Geonbae!” (Korean)
• “Saha!” (Arabic)
• “За здоровье!” (Russian)
• “Prost!” (German)
• “Skål!” (Swedish/Danish/Norwegian)

02. “Malacandra has fallen?”

Q. We’ve kept as an open question whether or not Malacandra is “fallen”. What are your final thoughts on this subject?

Malacandra, on the other hand, is not a fallen world like Earth. Its Oyarsa is in right relationship with Maleldil the Young (a representation of Jesus Christ). The Malacandrian society reflects a harmony and innocence, largely absent of evil, and its inhabitants—the hrossa, séroni, and pfifltriggi—are living in obedience to the Oyarsa of Malacandra. So, unlike Earth, Malacandra is not marked by the fallenness that characterizes human existence.

However, it is important to note that Malacandra has been affected by the fallenness of Earth in the sense that the actions of the human characters (especially Weston and Devine) introduce elements of violence and deception that seem foreign to the Malacandrians. This reflects Lewis’s broader theological view of how sin and brokenness can have a kind of “infection” quality, spreading and affecting even those who are themselves innocent.

Chat GPT answer to the question

03. “Reevaluating Ransom’s Dream”

Q. Now that we’ve completed the book, do you have any further thoughts on Ransom’s dream at the beginning of the book?

–

04. “Planetary Colonisation”

Q. Out of the Silent Planet is, among other things, an argument against planetary colonization. After reading it, do you think we should colonize other planets if we get the chance?

–

05. “Main Themes”

Q. So let’s move on to Matt’s favourite topic – main themes… What have been some of the main themes you’ve seen in this season’s reading of Out of the Silent Planet?

–

06. “Favourite Lines”

Q. What are some of your favourite lines from Out of the Silent Planet?

Because I have stood there alone, Maleldil and I, for even Oyarsa sent me no word, my heart has been higher, my song deeper, all my days. But do you think it would have been so unless I had known that in Balki hnéraki dwelled? There I drank life because death was in the pool. That was the best of drinks save one.’

‘What one?’ asked Ransom.

‘Death itself in the day I drink it and go to Maleldil.’

C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet (Chapter 12)

He would have made them as your people are now—wise enough to see the death of their kind approaching but not wise enough to endure it.

…

‘Yes,’ said Oyarsa, ‘but one thing we left behind us on the harandra: fear. And with fear, murder and rebellion. The weakest of my people does not fear death. It is the Bent One, the lord of your world, who wastes your lives and befouls them with flying from what you know will overtake you in the end. If you were subjects of Maleldil you would have peace.’

C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet (Chapter 20)

“A pint of bitter, please”

C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet (Chapter 21)

“It is because every one of them wants to be a little Oyarsa himself”

C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet (Chapter 16)

07. “Malacandra at the movies”

Murphy Thelen’s production of “Out of the Silent Planet”

• Matt
  • Weston
    • Christopher Loyd (Back to the Future)
    • Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)
  • Devine
    • James McAvoy (Split, Narnia)
    • John Hamm from (Mad Men)
  • Ransom
    • Eddie Redmayne (Les Miserables, Fantastic Beasts)
    • Robin Williams (Dead Poet Society, Good Will Hunting)
    • Tom Hiddleston
    • Jude Law
    • Hugh Grant
• Andrew
  • Ransom
    • Martin Freeman (The Hobbit)
    • Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Strange, Imitation Game)
  • Devine
    • Alan Rickman (Dogma, Sense and Sensibility, Harry Potter)
  • Weston
    • Adam Driver (Star Wars, Silence, )
• David
  • Weston
    • Kelsey Grammer (Frasier)
    • John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings, Sliders, Indiana Jones)
    • Colin Firth (Pride and Prejudice, Kingsmen)
    • Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Strange, Imitation Game)
  • Devine
    • Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Strange, Sherlock)
    • Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle)
  • Ransom
    • Colin Firth (Pride and Prejudice, Kingsmen)
    • Nicolas Ralph (Most Reluctant Convert, All Creatures)

08. “Concluding thoughts”

–

09. “The road ahead”

–

10. “Silent Planet poems”

Here I walk, 
A wanderer, alone
Sojourning in a country
That I cannot call home.

…

Strangers find me
Unprepared and unaware.
They introduce me to wonders
Odd creatures and light so fair.

…

These creatures that give summon?
Yes, now I clearly see. 
They are not the monsters
I led myself to believe.

…

Besting the beast,
We rejoice after the strife.
From afar we heard a crack
Leaden death stole Hoy’s life.

I run toward the hill,
To climb with all my power
The mountainous plateau
To arrive at Augrey’s Tower.

…

This ogre tells me stories,
Of worlds so far and near.
And that one, Thulcandra,
The Heavens can no longer hear.

…

But at the center of it all
Is just one blessed name
Maleldil the young
The son of God, slain.

Jesse E from on the internet

In celestial flight to the red night’s hearts,
a wanderer named ransom takes his part
on Melcandra where strange tales start.
In aliens tongues he learns his part.

Ambition fuels both, Western and Divine.
In silent planets their dark plans align.
Yet gentle beings in starlight shine,
questions these strangers from out of time.

Where soarns stand tall and hrossa play,
and pfifltriggies sculpt in the light of day.
Ransom learns a more harmonious way,
in Silent planets love holds sway.

Out of the Silent Planet planet rings a plea
for cosmic harmony, not dominance to be
a note of hope in the vast cosmic sea,
a song of life in a celestial key.

ChatGPT Poem

By and by Man will try
To get out into the sky,
Sailing far beyond the air
From Down and Here to Up and There.
Stars and sky, sky and stars
Make us feel the prison bars.

Suppose it done. Now we ride
Closed in steel, up there, outside
Through our port-holes see the vast
Heaven-scape go rushing past.
Shall we? All that meets the eye
Is sky and stars, stars and sky.

Points of light with black between
Hang like a painted scene
Motionless, no nearer there
Than on Earth, everywhere
Equidistant from our ship.
Heaven has given us the slip.

Hush, be still. Outer space
Is a concept, not a place.
Try no more. Where we are
Never can be sky or star.
From prison, in a prison, we fly;
There’s no way into the sky.

C.S. Lewis, Science-fiction Cradlesong

Wrap-Up

Question-of-the-week

What has been your main takeaway from “Out of the Silent Planet”?

If you had to cast the co-hosts as one of the three humans in a Silent Planet movie, who would you cast as Weston, Devine, and Ransom?

Question(s)-of-the-week

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