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The Madonna and the Starship

de James Morrow

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889304,717 (3.87)13
"New York City, 1953. The golden age of television, when most programs were broadcast live. Young Kurt Jastrow, a full-time TV writer and occasional actor, is about to have a close encounter of the apocalyptic kind. Kurt's most beloved character (and alter ego) is Uncle Wonder, an eccentric tinkerer whose pyrotechnically spectacular science experiments delight children across the nation. Uncle Wonder also has a more distant following: the inhabitants of Planet Qualimosa. When a pair of his extraterrestrial fans arrives to present him with an award, Kurt is naturally pleased--until it develops that, come next Sunday morning, these same aliens intend to perpetrate a massacre. Will Kurt and his colleagues manage to convince the Qualimosans that Earth is essentially a secular and rationalist world? Or will the two million devotees of NBC's most popular religious program suffer unthinkable consequences for their TV-viewing tastes? Stay tuned for The Madonna and the Starship!" -- Back cover.… (més)
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James K. Morrow is a satirist with a keen eye for religious hypocrisy and a sharp wit to take the puff out of puffery. The Madonna and the Starship is set in the misnamed “Stone Age” of television when network children’s programming involved “cardboard sets, primitive special effects, and subsistence budgets.” Protagonist Kurt Jastrow writes the scripts for Brock Barton and His Rocket Rangers and performs in an educational sketch to end the show. His life takes a surreal turn when he is contacted by space “immense blue bipedal lobsters” who are committed logical positivists threatening to wipe out humanity unless he can convince them that the religious programming they have intercepted is satire, never meant to be taken seriously.
Kurt’s discussion with the lobsters takes a few sharp philosophical turns, as when one of them asks for a definition of ethics: “Nothing you need worry about,” I piped up … “almost everyone on our world thinks logical positivism is just as swell as secular humanism.” Uh-huh. As someone says near the end of the novel, “Positivism always goes better with popcorn.” Indeed, it does.
Morrow is often compared to Kurt Vonnegut, with whom he shares a sardonic sense of humor. That is a just comparison. ( )
  Tom-e | Mar 3, 2024 |
As I read further, I kept thinking of more people I should tell about it. First it was anyone who wanted a lightweight SF romp. Then it was anyone who enjoyed the pulp era in SF. Then it was anyone who'd done live radio or TV. Then it was anyone who'd taken philosophy and/or religion in college.

What the heck, read this book. ( )
  wunder | Feb 3, 2022 |
In "The Madonna and the Starship," by James Morrow, we meet Kurt Jastrow, a science fiction and television writer in 1950s New York City. He writes for a show called “Brock Barton and His Rocket Rangers,” and also embodies the character of Uncle Wonder for a segment called “Uncle Wonder’s Attic,” where he plays a 1950s’ type Bill Nye the Science Guy, showing kids scientific experiments and explaining the principles behind them. He is surprised one day when his television set comes to life on its own and two large, blue creatures that resemble lobsters with three eyes introduce themselves to him as being aliens from the planet Qualimosa, where logic and rationality are prized above all things. They have been monitoring the Earth’s television output (well, Kurt’s show, “Texaco Star Theater” and “Howdy Doody”) and have decided to award Kurt the Zorningorg Prize because of his ongoing championing of science. They obviously have not seen the religious program, “Not By Bread Alone,” written by the woman Kurt fancies, Connie Osborne, and when they find out about it, they determine that they should exterminate the 2 or 3 million Christians who tune in to that show every week. Only Kurt and Connie have a chance of stopping them, but can they come up with a workable plan in time?....If you’ve read any James Morrow, you’ll know that he is a very fine satirist and is particularly forthright about the problems with religious faith. This short novel is certainly a minor work in his oevre, but it is a lot of fun nonetheless, especially his rendition of what TV-land was like in the 1950s. You’ll either be offended or you’ll laugh a lot at this book; I did the latter, so recommended! ( )
  thefirstalicat | Jul 28, 2015 |
James Morrow writes very entertaining Kurt-Vonnegut-esque dark comedies employing a lot of satire, especially of the religious variety.

This latest book takes place in the 1950’s and centers on protagonist Kurt Jastrow, an aspiring dramatist who earns a living as a pulp-fiction science fiction writer. Currently he is head writer for a schlocky tri-weekly science fiction adventure series, “Brock Barton and His Rocket Rangers.” He also stars in a ten-minute epilogue at the end of each installment, “Uncle Wonder’s Attic,” in which he guides a young kid through a scientific experiment suggested by that week's Brock Barton episode.

Jastrow’s mediocre existence is jolted when he gets a message from two blue lobster-like creatures from the planet Qualimosa. They announce they are coming to see him because they love his program, and want to present him with the “Zorningorg Prize”. They also intend to exterminate the pockets of irrationality throughout the universe, which means destroying all viewers of another program on the same network, a weekly religious series “Not By Bread Alone.”

Jastrow, along with the religious program's writer/producer and babe Connie Osborne, conspire to come up with a satirical script that will convince the Qualimosans that “Not By Bread Alone” is actually exposing the illogic of religion rather than valorizing it. They write a script called “The Madonna and The Starship,” which is very amusing, and they succeed in saving the Earth.

The book has lots of funny bits, such as this one:

"Connie: “Let’s suppose, for the sake of argument, that these crustaceans are exactly what they say they are. Somewhere beyond our solar system lies a planet of logical positivists. … I hope your Qualimosans aren’t typical of alien races. What could be more boring than a galaxy run by Bertrand Russell?”

And then there is the need to placate the sponsors’ during the airing of "The Madonna and The Starship," resulting in this scene (that results in a sharp uptake in sales for these products):

"Jesus: “Eat these measures of Sugar Corn Pops … for they are my body.”

Brock: “You know, Jesus, the great thing about Sugar Corn Pops is that it’s got the sweenenin’ already on it….”

Jesus: ‘Most impressive,’ Jesus replied, methodically distributing eight mugs of warm, chocolate-flavored beverage. ‘Drink this Ovaltine, for it is my blood.’”

There is also a bit of a surprise twist to the ending, so that even non-atheists will be pleased.

Evaluation: If you love satire and aren’t offended by writing that makes gentle fun of religion, this short book has many laugh-out-loud moments. Morrow has won a number of awards for his work, and is worth getting to know. (My two personal favorites are This Is The Way the World Ends, 1985, and Towing Jehovah, 1994.) ( )
  nbmars | Oct 22, 2014 |
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"New York City, 1953. The golden age of television, when most programs were broadcast live. Young Kurt Jastrow, a full-time TV writer and occasional actor, is about to have a close encounter of the apocalyptic kind. Kurt's most beloved character (and alter ego) is Uncle Wonder, an eccentric tinkerer whose pyrotechnically spectacular science experiments delight children across the nation. Uncle Wonder also has a more distant following: the inhabitants of Planet Qualimosa. When a pair of his extraterrestrial fans arrives to present him with an award, Kurt is naturally pleased--until it develops that, come next Sunday morning, these same aliens intend to perpetrate a massacre. Will Kurt and his colleagues manage to convince the Qualimosans that Earth is essentially a secular and rationalist world? Or will the two million devotees of NBC's most popular religious program suffer unthinkable consequences for their TV-viewing tastes? Stay tuned for The Madonna and the Starship!" -- Back cover.

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