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Ransom Riggs
The trouble with Edward Gorey
by Ransom Riggs - September 7, 2007 - 8:51 AM

In the brief-but-grand mental_floss tradition of superimposing one great artist’s work on another’s (see our piece “If Prokofiev Wrote Death Metal“), we bring to your kind attention yet another unlikely stylistic mashup. The late Edward Gorey is every goth chick’s favorite illustrator, whose fascinating, queerly-drawn little scenes of ghastly Victorianesque morbidity has tickled imaginations (and given us nightmares) for half a century. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’ll surely remember the intro to PBS’ long-running series Mystery!, which Gorey drew (but didn’t animate):

Now that we’re all talking about the same fella, try to imagine, around about 1977, Edward Gorey for the first time in his adult life becoming an avid TV watcher, and one of his favorite shows being the original Star Trek. Despite being a fan, by the time he was asked about it in a 1978 interview with the Boston Globe, he reported never having seen, somewhat regretfully, the show’s most famous episode, “The Trouble with Tribbles.” For those of you unfamiliar with the Enterprise’s most famous encounter with asexually reproductive balls o’ fluff, here’s a 24-second refresher:

Feeling a twinge of regret at the great creative collaboration that might’ve been, blogger and artist Shaenon set pen to paper in order to imagine what Gorey’s version of “The Trouble with Tribbles” might’ve looked like. The results are fun and hilarious. Here’s a sneak preview:tribbles2.jpg

For the whole shebang, check out Shaenon’s blog.

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Comments (4)

  1. Worlds collide!! Love this!

    ejk

    posted by elizabutt on 9-7-2007 at 1:23 pm

  2. I’m really sorry if this gave you nightmares:( It brings back many memories:) I watched all the E. Gorey tape, except for the interviews, and am amazed a blog can be so mixed-media, so lively!
    To pair it with Tribbles is pure genius, and also a fond memory of HS drama club and Doc ?

    Love,
    4k

    posted by 4k on 9-7-2007 at 2:42 pm

  3. Eward Gorey wrote a great Alphabet book called the Gashlycrumb Tinies. Morbid as all get out, but great for kids who balk at twee sentimentality. I loved it. Its no wonder I grew up Goth.
    And when I say Goth, I do not mean black lipstick and Marilyn Manson records Goth. (after my time)
    I mean hardcore E.A. Poe, Bronte sisters, Mary Shelley.Emily Dickinson on a bad, bad day Goth.
    -Goth in the way that makes you wanna sack Rome.
    Yep, it had the be the drawings.

    posted by Allison on 9-8-2007 at 10:12 am

  4. In the mid-90s, I discovered that Gorey was regularly directing theatricals down on the Cape where he lived. I became a regular, and Gorey even contributed some artwork to the zine I published at the time (now reincarnated online). One afternoon a friend and I got in a minor fender-bender on our way to one of these and arrived just as the play was ending. Well, Gorey and the troupe put on the whole thing again, just for us. It was incredibly sweet. He struck me as a deeply generous and kind person, and very social in his own way. I always got a kick out of seeing his beat-up VW Bug (an old-school one, mind you) with the license plate “OGDRED.”

    posted by Andrea on 9-9-2007 at 12:23 pm

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