From Bid Time Return to Somewhere in Time: Matheson as adapter, adaptation as transformation, and the perks of infidelity

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Ben Kooyman
University of South Australia

This essay closely examines the adaptation of Richard Matheson’s science-fiction romance novel Bid Time Return (1975) into the film Somewhere in Time (1980), scripted by Matheson, directed by Jeannot Szwarc, and starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour in the lead roles. Whilst Bid Time Return was awarded the World Fantasy Award, many of Matheson’s loyal readers, as the author has noted, found the novel «soft», and neither it nor its film adaptation were commercially successful. However, both novel and film have developed loyal followings, with Somewhere in Time even spawning its own fan club, the International Network of Somewhere in Time Enthusiasts. In addition, the film is noteworthy as a critical transformation of its own source text.

 

 

Keywords
Richard Matheson, Bid Time Return, Somewhere in Time, adaptación.

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How to Cite
Kooyman, Ben. “From Bid Time Return to Somewhere in Time: Matheson as adapter, adaptation as transformation, and the perks of infidelity”. Brumal. Revista de investigación sobre lo Fantástico, 2014, vol.VOL 2, no. 1, pp. 89-106, http://raco.cat/index.php/Brumal/article/view/289245.
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Author Biography

Ben Kooyman, University of South Australia

Ben Kooyman graduated from Flinders University, South Australia in 2010 with a PhD in English. His dissertation examined directorial self-fashioning in film adaptations of Shakespeare by Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, Franco Zeffirelli, Kenneth Branagh and Lloyd Kaufman. He currently works at the University of South Australia as a Language and Learning Adviser. Research interests include horror cinema, film and adaptation studies, and Shakespeare on film. Notable book chapter and journal article publications in these fields include essays on Stuart Gordon, John Landis, and Masters of Horror; Eli Roth’s Hostel Part II and Karyn Kusama’s Jennifer’s Body; and film adaptations of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. His first book,Directorial Self-Fashioning in American Horror Cinema: George A. Romero, Wes Craven, Rob Zombie, Eli Roth and the Masters of Horror, was published in early 2014. This book examines the ways in which horror filmmakers in the new millennium have utilised the various media outlets at their disposal to cultivate and disseminate their public personas.