@SI: I have to say I wonder if this one is entering a strange crossover zone between cringeworthy SF book covers and totally kick ass heavy metal album art.
@TN, A-S: I would take issue with calling it Tyrannosaurus rex. But when part of my argument incorporates the phrase, ‘Dinosaurs didn’t have bat wings at the nape of their necks,’ the whole thing becomes an exercise in futility.
I went to Amazon hoping to find out more about this book. Not with the intention of reading it, mind you. Rather just trying to figure out what the heck someone could be thinking (or smoking?) to generate a cover like this in the first place. Unfortunately, there are only two reviews, both shorter than this comment, and both from the late 1990s. Also, there is a totally different cover image showing on Amazon. The one here is much more entertaining. (Sales rank of 1,946,865, by the way…)
“This is your captain speaking. Unfortunately, it appears that we are going to be delayed for takeoff due to unforeseen cover-artist brain fart. Please remain in your seats.”
Goodness! This book is the antecedent to another good show featuring a ridiculously bewinged draconian. Here’s a review, and I hope that link works. Sadly, the former book seems to be MUCH less awesome than SI’s soundtrack.
@Sneaky Burrito. I managed to find a few more references. Apparently Space T-Rex is actually a space *dragon* descended from a race of evil “energy beings” from a higher plane, who are battling a “malevolent computer” for control of the galaxy.
@RachelJ: Wow. Could it therefore be that the artist had poor command of English, and when asked to paint a space dragon, asked what a “dragon” was, and was told “you know, like a dinosaur. With wings.”
@Rachel J: Your research was clearly much more thorough than mine. Though even with the apparent artist’s error in depicting a dragon, I am now forced to wonder what the AUTHOR was thinking.
I suspect that concepts like “energy beings” and “malevolent computers” are the reasons that I don’t often read science fiction. (I have several chemistry degrees and a scientific mind and it makes my brain hurt to think about such concepts as those in quotation marks.) At least with fantasy (which I consume voraciously), there’s magic to explain things away.
Wish I had more of a capacity to suspend disbelief. I think reading some of this stuff would be a hoot.
I’d really like to buy the rights to this art, and print it up on spine labels, which I would put on all the science fiction and fantasy in our grade school library. Then the local public library. Then all the libraries. Then your libraries at home. All the SFF books should have this art on their spines.
The outcome of the first experiment — the space t-rex fell off and impaled his belly on a rock. The outcome of the second experiment — space t-rex successfully space skied and couldn’t contain his giddy smile. Beware children, he’s coming!
JOAT/Jaouad: Yep. Janet Jeppson was already Dr. Mrs. Dr. Asimov by the time this was published; she used her maiden name (gender-neutral) on her SF work for about a decade after their marriage, even on their collaborative stories, just to avoid any suggestion that she was only getting work due to her husband’s name.
We need more covers like this nowadays. I can’t think when my SFF reading included a book with an evil space T Rex shipsurfing on it and I think I’m all the poorer for it.
like the semi useless little arms of the t rex, their little known wings were also such a dissapointment that the only way they could get play meteorite vollyball was by straddling the nearest transport shuttle
@Bibliomancer. Thanks for the embiggened version. It was not until I beheld it in all its glory that I realised Flying Space T-Rex is missing a lower fang.
Could it be that the First Experiment was “Find out what spaceships taste like�
I love Flashback Fridays because you see so much that you missed first time around, like the little French Tickler located so conveniently below the dragon’s naughty parts and which must, in retrospect, explain the otherwise inexplicable look of joy on his face.
@BC: not only right below his bits, but another farther back, and so the combo of outer space, dinosaur/dragon, and those devices makes me wonder if the content is anything like the oeuvre of Chuck Tingle.
Can someone point me to the original of “keggers, boilo, DC”?
Other possible New Yorker cartoon captions: “What a misunderstanding!” and (for a limited time only) “I’d like to add you to my LinkedIn”.
Only “WTF is that?” might work as a universal GSS caption, but, alas, some of them we know exactly WTF it is and wish we didn’t.
I bought “Stealing the Elf-King’s Roses” (as seen on GSS) for a buck, and the cover is truly that hideous. Pink and embossed! That’s not the Elf-King on it though, but our heroine. But the content’s good. The current cover is the title in CSI font, a rose, and a handgun, all on black, which fits the plot better.
@GS-ex-noob – “Well, you should get yer ass in gear and we’ll trow back some keggers and boilo at the ‘DC or hit the weed like a champ.” is from a link in a comment to “The Skook”:
@BC: Oh,boo to that! We need much less Donald Trump, we need much less Martin Shkreli, we need much less of many, many people! Don’t go into your week with such negativity. 🙂
“Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Dead Stuff With Big Teeth School of Self-Help. Let me tell you, just one session with Dr. Dead Stuff (Dr. Big Teeth?) has turned my life around. No longer will I apologize for existing, no longer will I give up my seat on the subway even though there are plenty of other seats, no more will I beat myself with a hammer just because it feels good to stop. Yes, Dr. Dead Teeth is the greatest elixir since the invention of that stuff that makes Trump look as though he had hair! Just sign here: you won’t be sorry.”
I have just finished reading this. The scene depicted on this cover actually takes place.
Uru is a purple, genetically modified, “fifty-foot Tyrannosaurus rex”. He was created by an immortal purple dragon, R’ya, (the last of her kind) to be her mate. His skull is enlarged to accommodate a larger brain. The wings are purely aesthetic (everyone, including the dragon R’ya, and the Uruun race she made, wear “antigrav” belts to get around). He also has “powerful forelimbs” with “five digits”, and somewhat weak telepathy.
The ship is the “Galactic Venturer”, taken by humans from Earth, through “hyperspace”, and eventually, to Roiissa (the planet where the race of Uruun had lived). However, millions of years have passed, and the Uruun have died off. Only Uru, who was imprisoned in stasis, survived. After inadvertently being released by the humans, Uru grabbed the captain, shoved him through the airlock, and straddled the Venturer. He took control of the captain’s mind, and off they went.
@GSS ex-noob: Sorry, my mistake. It was in fact the original T. rex, taken from Earth by R’ya, that was “fifty-[feet]”. She also named that one Uru, but it died from the stress of “hyperspace”. Uru (II), a mutated clone of the original, grew to be “…much, much bigger than the biggest Tyrannosaurus rex was ever supposed to be”.
The Roiiss (purple dragons) are indeed immortal. The Uruun are just genetically modified Tyrannosaurs that were long-lived but eventually died. Uru was different from the rest of the Uruun (“…the one Uruun in whom the R-inclusion took hold”).
R’ya is an actual Roiiss raised by Tec (a humanoid robot who serves the Roiiss) from the only surviving embryo brought with them from the dying universe from which the Roiiss originated. She does not die, but is at war in another galaxy during this part of the story.
The only other true Roiiss in the book are the five Elders who exist now as energy (having transformed themselves during the “First Experiment” of entering this universe “through black holes”). And they do not die.
July 26th, 2012 at 11:38 am
The Calgary Stampede ain’t got nuthin’ on us.
July 26th, 2012 at 12:18 pm
If that’s the second experiment, what in space was the first?
July 26th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
That’s no moon!
July 26th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
The mating rituals of the Tyrannosaurus Rex are now thought to be far more intricate than first believed.
July 26th, 2012 at 1:29 pm
Tired of your extreme sports videos, sir? Might I recommend something for the connoisseur?
July 26th, 2012 at 2:29 pm
The Imperial Space Armada’s hood ornaments were a little over the top.
July 26th, 2012 at 2:33 pm
With wings like that, I’m not surprised Space Lizard needed some additional thrust.
July 26th, 2012 at 2:39 pm
The First Experiment: A flying T-Rex in space
Due to a lack of wind in space the scientists were forced to make some alterations…
The Second Experiment: A flying T-Rex in space with a rocket attached!
July 26th, 2012 at 2:42 pm
Is it me, or does the T-Rex look like he’s enjoying himself?
July 26th, 2012 at 3:37 pm
For some reason I can’t get judas priest – breaking the law out of my head while looking at this!
July 26th, 2012 at 4:57 pm
@SI: I have to say I wonder if this one is entering a strange crossover zone between cringeworthy SF book covers and totally kick ass heavy metal album art.
Good Show, Dude?
July 26th, 2012 at 5:57 pm
For maximum enjoyment, I’m just going to assume that ship is full of cat people.
July 26th, 2012 at 6:06 pm
@TN, A-S: I would take issue with calling it Tyrannosaurus rex. But when part of my argument incorporates the phrase, ‘Dinosaurs didn’t have bat wings at the nape of their necks,’ the whole thing becomes an exercise in futility.
July 26th, 2012 at 6:24 pm
I went to Amazon hoping to find out more about this book. Not with the intention of reading it, mind you. Rather just trying to figure out what the heck someone could be thinking (or smoking?) to generate a cover like this in the first place. Unfortunately, there are only two reviews, both shorter than this comment, and both from the late 1990s. Also, there is a totally different cover image showing on Amazon. The one here is much more entertaining. (Sales rank of 1,946,865, by the way…)
July 26th, 2012 at 7:15 pm
“This is your captain speaking. Unfortunately, it appears that we are going to be delayed for takeoff due to unforeseen cover-artist brain fart. Please remain in your seats.”
July 26th, 2012 at 7:15 pm
Vampire Godzilla w/ Liam Neeson as Van Helsing. How could this not gross billions?
July 26th, 2012 at 7:18 pm
Also I just found out that J.O. Jeppson was the future Mrs. Asimov.
July 26th, 2012 at 10:12 pm
Goodness! This book is the antecedent to another good show featuring a ridiculously bewinged draconian. Here’s a review, and I hope that link works. Sadly, the former book seems to be MUCH less awesome than SI’s soundtrack.
July 26th, 2012 at 10:36 pm
Bat-winged T-Rex menacing a spaceship! I am overwhelmed by the sheer awesome.
July 27th, 2012 at 5:53 am
@Sneaky Burrito. I managed to find a few more references. Apparently Space T-Rex is actually a space *dragon* descended from a race of evil “energy beings” from a higher plane, who are battling a “malevolent computer” for control of the galaxy.
July 27th, 2012 at 9:10 am
@RachelJ: Wow. Could it therefore be that the artist had poor command of English, and when asked to paint a space dragon, asked what a “dragon” was, and was told “you know, like a dinosaur. With wings.”
July 27th, 2012 at 11:04 am
@Jerk of all Trades: whoa yes. J.O. Jeppson = Janet Asimov
July 27th, 2012 at 1:52 pm
@Rachel J: Your research was clearly much more thorough than mine. Though even with the apparent artist’s error in depicting a dragon, I am now forced to wonder what the AUTHOR was thinking.
I suspect that concepts like “energy beings” and “malevolent computers” are the reasons that I don’t often read science fiction. (I have several chemistry degrees and a scientific mind and it makes my brain hurt to think about such concepts as those in quotation marks.) At least with fantasy (which I consume voraciously), there’s magic to explain things away.
Wish I had more of a capacity to suspend disbelief. I think reading some of this stuff would be a hoot.
July 27th, 2012 at 7:30 pm
We’ve seen the sequel before on this very Web site. Along with a radically different interpretation of the dragon, you will note.
July 28th, 2012 at 9:21 pm
Ah, if I had time and money…
I’d really like to buy the rights to this art, and print it up on spine labels, which I would put on all the science fiction and fantasy in our grade school library. Then the local public library. Then all the libraries. Then your libraries at home. All the SFF books should have this art on their spines.
July 29th, 2012 at 7:15 pm
I vaguely rember reading this many years ago, and really enjoying it. Mind you I was going through a period of some excellent red wines at the time.
July 29th, 2012 at 7:50 pm
The outcome of the first experiment — the space t-rex fell off and impaled his belly on a rock. The outcome of the second experiment — space t-rex successfully space skied and couldn’t contain his giddy smile. Beware children, he’s coming!
August 1st, 2012 at 12:54 am
JOAT/Jaouad: Yep. Janet Jeppson was already Dr. Mrs. Dr. Asimov by the time this was published; she used her maiden name (gender-neutral) on her SF work for about a decade after their marriage, even on their collaborative stories, just to avoid any suggestion that she was only getting work due to her husband’s name.
August 1st, 2012 at 11:25 am
We need more covers like this nowadays. I can’t think when my SFF reading included a book with an evil space T Rex shipsurfing on it and I think I’m all the poorer for it.
August 1st, 2012 at 1:18 pm
DINOSAUR RIDING A ROCKET SHIP.
Your argument is invalid.
January 21st, 2013 at 12:30 am
this was the inspriation for that game in harry potter. pl
January 21st, 2013 at 12:33 am
like the semi useless little arms of the t rex, their little known wings were also such a dissapointment that the only way they could get play meteorite vollyball was by straddling the nearest transport shuttle
January 29th, 2013 at 5:32 am
It’s an alien dinosaur-dragon Dr, Strangelove. I must read it!
February 1st, 2013 at 7:23 pm
Newest add campaign for Viagara! ”
Take our pill limpy and turn into FLYING T-REX WITH A ROCKETSHIP IN HIS PANTS!”
March 20th, 2013 at 1:47 am
This cover is awesome. It is best enjoyed embiggened:
http://www.sfreviews.com/displays/J.%20O.%20Jeppson_1974_The%20Second%20Experiment.htm
March 20th, 2013 at 8:39 pm
Well found, sir!
June 28th, 2013 at 8:42 pm
“Darling, I’ve just had such a busy day I forgot to go to Wal-E-Mart for food. I hope you don’t mind if I just pop open a can for dinner…”
June 29th, 2013 at 8:39 am
@Bibliomancer. Thanks for the embiggened version. It was not until I beheld it in all its glory that I realised Flying Space T-Rex is missing a lower fang.
Could it be that the First Experiment was “Find out what spaceships taste like�
August 28th, 2013 at 9:02 pm
“Whaddya mean my thighs look fat?? I’ll stomp on you for that!!”
December 7th, 2013 at 5:44 am
Time to revive a beloved old meme for this space dragon… wait for it… you know what’s coming…
“WASSAAAAP??”
December 7th, 2013 at 2:20 pm
‘Nothin, gigantic albino dragon on the rocket ship. Watchin’ the worst sci-fi/fantasy covers, havin’ an aquavit. Wassaaap wichoo?’
June 29th, 2014 at 12:59 pm
It has been theorised that you could caption any New Yorker cartoon with the phrase, ‘Christ, what an asshole.’ and not destroy its comic value.
I submit that you cannot have one standard caption for all Good Show covers.
June 2nd, 2017 at 1:55 pm
I think this might be the greatest book cover ever. I don’t think I’d ever read it, because what’s inside could never match that cover.
June 2nd, 2017 at 2:07 pm
@DSWBT—you are probably right, but this comes close:
“Well, you should get yer ass in gear and we’ll trow back some keggers and boilo at the ‘DC or hit the weed like a champ.”
Works for most New Yorker cartoons also.
June 2nd, 2017 at 2:45 pm
It’s the 25-cent kiddie ride outside the alien supermarket.
June 2nd, 2017 at 3:22 pm
The sci-fi equivalent of driving off with a fly on the window of your car and getting distracted by the amount of time it takes to blow away.
June 2nd, 2017 at 6:27 pm
This cover. Right here. THIS is why we do what we do.
*salutes, a single tear running down his cheek*
June 2nd, 2017 at 7:14 pm
I love Flashback Fridays because you see so much that you missed first time around, like the little French Tickler located so conveniently below the dragon’s naughty parts and which must, in retrospect, explain the otherwise inexplicable look of joy on his face.
June 2nd, 2017 at 7:21 pm
@Tom Noir—that comment can only be completed by hearing La Marseilles in the background, and then being joined by a hooker with a heart of gold.
June 2nd, 2017 at 7:31 pm
Jodorowski’s ‘Dune’ would have been epic.
June 2nd, 2017 at 8:07 pm
I think I would trade in the wings for some thumbs.
June 3rd, 2017 at 7:45 am
@BC: not only right below his bits, but another farther back, and so the combo of outer space, dinosaur/dragon, and those devices makes me wonder if the content is anything like the oeuvre of Chuck Tingle.
Can someone point me to the original of “keggers, boilo, DC”?
Other possible New Yorker cartoon captions: “What a misunderstanding!” and (for a limited time only) “I’d like to add you to my LinkedIn”.
Only “WTF is that?” might work as a universal GSS caption, but, alas, some of them we know exactly WTF it is and wish we didn’t.
I bought “Stealing the Elf-King’s Roses” (as seen on GSS) for a buck, and the cover is truly that hideous. Pink and embossed! That’s not the Elf-King on it though, but our heroine. But the content’s good. The current cover is the title in CSI font, a rose, and a handgun, all on black, which fits the plot better.
June 3rd, 2017 at 11:26 am
@GS-ex-noob – “Well, you should get yer ass in gear and we’ll trow back some keggers and boilo at the ‘DC or hit the weed like a champ.” is from a link in a comment to “The Skook”:
http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/?p=10468#comment-737077
June 3rd, 2017 at 11:28 am
Five years and fifty comments and no mention of the missing tag for the cover artist of this GSS masterpiece?
isfdb.org has him listed as Peter Jones. Tag Wizard?
June 3rd, 2017 at 8:14 pm
@Raoul: thanks. Probably the only good thing to come from that horrific cover.
June 4th, 2017 at 8:44 pm
@BC: After careful consideration, the Skookism isn’t the universal caption so much as a meta-response to a submitted caption. Observe:
Alice: Great googly moogly! Someone rubbed Melanie Brown’s yeast infection on the canvas!
Bob: @Alice: how do you know what that looks like, eh?
Alice: @Bob: Let’s just say spice isn’t an effective moisture absorbent and leave it at that.
Skook: @Alice @Bob: Well you should…
June 5th, 2017 at 5:03 am
@Dead StuffWBT—yes, I’m sure the Skook never meta-response he didn’t like.
June 5th, 2017 at 1:53 pm
@DSWBTeeth—yes, the Skook never meta-response he didn’t like.
ouch
June 6th, 2017 at 1:47 am
I think another meta-response is the hard-rockin’ lynx-man of Rx For Chaos.
http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/?p=224
June 6th, 2017 at 3:40 am
Sorry for the tech glitch. Last thing anybody needs is more of me than necessary.
June 6th, 2017 at 12:03 pm
@BC: Oh,boo to that! We need much less Donald Trump, we need much less Martin Shkreli, we need much less of many, many people! Don’t go into your week with such negativity. 🙂
June 6th, 2017 at 1:40 pm
“Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Dead Stuff With Big Teeth School of Self-Help. Let me tell you, just one session with Dr. Dead Stuff (Dr. Big Teeth?) has turned my life around. No longer will I apologize for existing, no longer will I give up my seat on the subway even though there are plenty of other seats, no more will I beat myself with a hammer just because it feels good to stop. Yes, Dr. Dead Teeth is the greatest elixir since the invention of that stuff that makes Trump look as though he had hair! Just sign here: you won’t be sorry.”
Hey—thanks. Back atcha.
June 6th, 2017 at 10:31 pm
@BC: We definitely need you. Let’s trow back some keggers and boilo.
June 6th, 2017 at 11:37 pm
See what I mean??? 😀
June 7th, 2017 at 5:07 pm
I’m, like, totally there. See you at the ‘DC.
February 27th, 2022 at 9:40 pm
I have just finished reading this. The scene depicted on this cover actually takes place.
Uru is a purple, genetically modified, “fifty-foot Tyrannosaurus rex”. He was created by an immortal purple dragon, R’ya, (the last of her kind) to be her mate. His skull is enlarged to accommodate a larger brain. The wings are purely aesthetic (everyone, including the dragon R’ya, and the Uruun race she made, wear “antigrav” belts to get around). He also has “powerful forelimbs” with “five digits”, and somewhat weak telepathy.
The ship is the “Galactic Venturer”, taken by humans from Earth, through “hyperspace”, and eventually, to Roiissa (the planet where the race of Uruun had lived). However, millions of years have passed, and the Uruun have died off. Only Uru, who was imprisoned in stasis, survived. After inadvertently being released by the humans, Uru grabbed the captain, shoved him through the airlock, and straddled the Venturer. He took control of the captain’s mind, and off they went.
February 27th, 2022 at 11:41 pm
@gingaru: That… just makes it worse, somehow.
That’s a tiny spaceship if he’s 50 feet in any dimension. And his mate actually wasn’t immortal, then, if he’s the last.
I may need some boilo to recover.
February 28th, 2022 at 2:10 am
@GSSxn—Even though it’s been nigh on five years (five years!), I’ll still see you at the ‘DC!
February 28th, 2022 at 2:30 am
@GSS ex-noob: Sorry, my mistake. It was in fact the original T. rex, taken from Earth by R’ya, that was “fifty-[feet]”. She also named that one Uru, but it died from the stress of “hyperspace”. Uru (II), a mutated clone of the original, grew to be “…much, much bigger than the biggest Tyrannosaurus rex was ever supposed to be”.
The Roiiss (purple dragons) are indeed immortal. The Uruun are just genetically modified Tyrannosaurs that were long-lived but eventually died. Uru was different from the rest of the Uruun (“…the one Uruun in whom the R-inclusion took hold”).
R’ya is an actual Roiiss raised by Tec (a humanoid robot who serves the Roiiss) from the only surviving embryo brought with them from the dying universe from which the Roiiss originated. She does not die, but is at war in another galaxy during this part of the story.
The only other true Roiiss in the book are the five Elders who exist now as energy (having transformed themselves during the “First Experiment” of entering this universe “through black holes”). And they do not die.
February 28th, 2022 at 5:45 am
My sneaking suspicion is that the artist came up with the picture first and the author decided to write a story around it.
February 28th, 2022 at 8:11 am
Suddenly I see a brilliant solution to the old problem with the coconut and the swallows…!