Comparing Ray Bradbury's Dark They Were, And Golden-Eyed

Two of the Same Martian Tales, but Not as Alike as One May Think

The short story “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” by Ray Bradbury, a science fiction tale of a family on Mars, was adapted into a radio play in 1984 by Michael McDonough. Both versions played out very well; however, there are some notable differences that the reader would notice between the two. Fair enough, they also both share many similarities. Though the differences are in general, they are certainly more noticeable in how the plot is laid out.

There are many differences between the radio and textual version of “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” in the plot that the reader can determine. First of all, there is an extremely small difference in the beginning of the text and the radio play, which is the expressing of the distance from Earth to

Again, it is a small difference, but it alters the setting slightly. Another difference is when the storyline describes that no more rockets will be entering Mars. In the text, Laura is the one who tells Mr. and Mrs. Bittering that there would be no rockets coming to Mars. In the radio play, however, Laura brings over a radio to Mr. and Mrs. Bittering to let them hear that there would be no rockets. The radio play gives more information in this scene, as it describes the exact location of the bombing. Also, another large difference is how the thoughts are expressed in the plot. In the short story, all of Harry Bittering’s thoughts are expressed through text and words, describing every single emotion that he is feeling and every thought he is experiencing. In the radio play, however, a large chunk of his thoughts was not acknowledged, and the thoughts that were had been expressed through speech and dialogue. An especially large difference between each version of “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” is how the setting of the entire story is described. The short story describes the settings with vivid imagery through text, whereas the