Tyrannosaurus Rex

by Ray Bradbury

Release: 23 June 1962
Format: Short Story
Genre: Mainstream
Audience: Adults
Content: No Time Phenomena
Original Language: English

We could have told special effects meister John Terwilliger that the only way to get a truly monstrous T. rex on film is to build a time machine, but alas, he relied solely on stop-motion animation with no time travel, and look at the abuse he gets for his efforts from the renowned producer Joe Clarence.

— Michael Main

Step by step, frame by frame of film, stop motion by stop motion, he, Terwilliger, had run his beasts through their postures, moved each a fraction of an inch, photographed them, moved them another hair, photographed them, for hours and days and months.

DEBUT

“The Prehistoric Producer,” in The Saturday Evening Post, 23 June 1962.

VARIANTS

2 English variants

TRANSLATIONS

Finnish translation:
[ex=bare]“Tyrannosaurus Rex” | Tyrannosaurus Rex[/ex], in Huhtikuun noita by Ray Bradbury ( Tampereen Science Fiction Seura, 1998).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Ray Bradbury
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Anita Puumalainen
French translation:
[ex=bare]“Tyrannosaurus Rex” | Tyrannosaurus Rex[/ex], in Les machines à bonheur by Ray Bradbury ( Denoël, 1965).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Ray Bradbury
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Jean-Pierre Harrison
German translation: One of two 1985 German translations.
[ex=bare]“Tyrannosaurus Rex” | Tyrannosaurus Rex[/ex], in Saurier-Geschichten by Ray Bradbury (Bastei Lübbe, 1985).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Ray Bradbury
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Andrea Kamphuis
Fredy Köpsell
German translation: One of two 1985 German translations.
[ex=bare]“Tyrannosaurus Rex” | Tyrannosaurus Rex[/ex], in Die Mechanismen der Freude by Ray Bradbury (Diogenes, 1985).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Ray Bradbury
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Peter Naujack
Italian translation:
[ex=bare]“Tyrannosaurus Rex” | Tyrannosaurus Rex[/ex], in Le macchine della felicità by Ray Bradbury (Casa Editrice La Tribuna, April 1970).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Ray Bradbury
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Sandro Sandrelli
Portuguese translation:
[ex=bare]“Tyrannosaurus Rex” | Tyrannosaurus Rex[/ex], in As Máquinas da Alegria by Ray Bradbury (Livros do Brasil, 1965).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Ray Bradbury
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Mário Braga
Maria Isabel Morna Braga

6 translations

DERIVATIVE WORKS

“Tyrannosaurus Rex” by Ray Bradbury, directed by Gilles Béhat, (HBO, USA, 14 May 1988).

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

Circa AD 1960 to 1969: presumed time period, circa 1962.

Real-World Tags

Dinosaurs

INDEXER NOTES (SPOILERS!)

Title—The original title in <em>The Saturday Evening Post</em> was “The Prehistoric Producer,” but “Tyrannosaurus Rex” has significantly wider use and recognition.