- For the film adaptation, see A Sound of Thunder (film), and for the
video game adaptation of the film, see A
Sound of Thunder (video game).
“A Sound of Thunder” is a science fiction short
story by Ray Bradbury, first published in Collier’s magazine in 1952. It was reprinted in his collections The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953), R is for
Rocket (1962), The Stories of Ray Bradbury (1980), and
A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories (2005). It was later
reprinted in The Young Oxford Book of Timewarp Stories. The Locus Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections lists it as the first of the top ten most
republished science fiction stories [1]
Plot introduction
This well-known story about time travel turned around a business called Time Safari, Inc.
Time Safari promises to take people back in time so they can hunt prehistoric animals, such
as a Tyrannosaurus rex.
In order to avoid a time paradox, they are very careful to leave history
undisturbed on the principle that even the slightest change can cause major changes in the future. Travellers are only allowed to
shoot animals that are already about to die, and they are required to stay on a path which hovers slightly above the ground.
Hunting trophies are not taken; no souvenir is allowed
except a photograph of the hunter standing next to the dead monster.
Plot summary
In the story, a hunter simply known as “Eckels” is about to embark on his adventure. A
democratic man named Keith has just won the presidential election the day before, defeating a
potential totalitarian dictator named Deutscher.
Eckels seems jittery in the time machine, and when he sees the Tyrannosaurus, he becomes afraid and declares killing the dinosaur
impossible. His guide, Travis, who is trying to kill the dinosaur himself, tells Eckels he can
leave, but Eckels panics and veers off the path. The two guides kill the dinosaur, but Travis is furious when he sees Eckels’
muddy boots, which prove he went off the path. Travis threatens to leave Eckels in the past unless Eckels removes the
bullets from the dinosaur’s body, as they can’t be left in the past.
Upon returning to the present, Eckels notices subtle changes. English is now spelled
phonetically, people and buildings are different, and, worst
of all, Deutscher has won the election. Looking at his boots, Eckels finds a crushed butterfly, whose death was apparently the cause of the changes. He pleads to Travis to take him back into the
past, but Travis refuses and fires his rifle. It is left untold what
he shoots, although it is presumed that he kills Eckels. The dark ending is the meaning of the title: the story’s final words are
“There was a sound of thunder.”
Meaning
The story is a fictional exploration of what later came to be called the Butterfly
Effect (or “sensitive dependence upon initial conditions,” in the words of Edward
Lorenz) through the literary device of time travel. Interestingly, the story
pre-dates the work of Edward Lorenz by nearly 10 years, long before the term was coined and the principles understood by the
scientific community. It is not clear that the origin of the term is in any way
related to Bradbury’s story, since the scientific term refers to the notion of changes in global weather patterns caused by tiny
disturbances introduced by a butterfly flapping its wings, rather than to the effects of killing a butterfly as in Bradbury’s
story. (Also, Lorenz originally referred to the flapping of a seagull’s wings, and only later changed it to a butterfly.)
The same effect occurs in planetary dynamics and was studied by Henri Poincaré in the
1900s, but not under its modern name. These subjects are grouped into the mathematical field of chaos theory. There is a third variation where a non-linear connection of three variables in the work of
Lorentz graphically takes the form of a butterfly shape.
Novelized Sequels "Dinosaur World"
A series of six novels were written in the mid-90's based on the short story. The author of the series is Stephen Leigh. First publications by Avon Books: May 1992 (Dinosaur
World), February 1993 (Dinosaur Planet), November 1993 (Dinosaur Samurai, w/ John J. Miller), June 1994 (Dinosaur Warriors), March
1995 (Dinosaur Empire, w/ John J. Miller), and October 1995 (Dinosaur
Conquest). The books are sold as "Ray Bradbury Presents ..." "A Sound of Thunder" is reproduced in "Dinosaur Planet."
In popular media
Television
- In the Stargate SG-1 episode “Moebius,” Carter mentions that she does not want to
step on a bug and change the future.
- In the Heroes episode “Fallout,”
Hiro says “Oh no! What if I step on a bug? I could change history...” when he discovers he
may have to fight a dinosaur.
- In the new series of Doctor Who, the Doctor’s companion states: “It’s like in the
films! You step on a butterfly, you change the future of the human race!” The Doctor replies, “Well, don't step on any
butterflies, then. What did butterflies ever do to you?”
- An episode of The Ray Bradbury Theater featured this story.
- It was parodied in the Simpsons episode 109, “Treehouse of Horror V.”
Homer's time travelling exploits result in him altering history by accidentally killing a great number of creatures, once by
sneezing, and by the end he becomes enraged and deliberately kills every creature he comes across.
- It was also parodied in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
episode “Beyond the Valley of the Dinosaurs,” when Harvey Birdman, Peter Potamus, Avenger, Peanut, and Phil go to the time of the dinosaurs by accident. Phil gets Peanut to
round up some hunters and they kill off many wild dinosaurs.
- In the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode “Prince of Space,” Professor Bobo falls through a wormhole and Pearl decides to rescue him. When
Brain Guy asks her why, she replies “What if Bobo causes one of them weird numbers
where he goes back in time and steps on a butterfly or something, and then ’cause of that, mammals as we know them never evolve,
and then ’cause of that, mankind never invents slot machines, and my favorite hobby goes straight down the toitey, huh?”
- An episode of Family Guy is based on the story, where Peter Griffin goes back in time and dates Molly Ringwald and when
he returns to the future everything is changed and Brian Griffin says this is because of
the "Kill a butterfly" theory.
Literature
- The story was again adapted in comic form by Richard Corben with The Best of Ray
Bradbury: The Graphic Novel. ISBN 1-59687-816-9.
- The EC comic book Weird
Science-Fantasy published an adaptation in 1954, illustrated by Al
Williamson.
- Author David Drake used a similar setting in his story collection Time
Safari.
Movies
- The 2005 film A Sound of Thunder is loosely based on this story,
continuing where Bradbury ended. This movie was originally slated to appear in 2002, but flooding on location postponed the
production.
- This story may have partly inspired the 2004 movie The Butterfly Effect.
The film, however, is more likely loosely based on the short story, "The Butterfly Effect" by Kathleen Ann Goonan, copyright
1994. In that story, a young assistant professor lives in alternate realities due to neural "transmits" between himself and a
computer program that replicates and engenders alternate states of reality.
Music and radio
Game
References
Story
Other media
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