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Contents 1 Wrong Picture 2 Requested move 3 "Mutagenic" 4 Unconvincing quote 5 Colour

[edit] Wrong Picture

I removed the image in this article because it depicts a creature from Lovecraft's "The Shadow Out of Time" and has nothing to do with "The Color Out of Space." —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vlad the Impaler (talk • contribs) 01:40, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

I have to agree with V-the-I; it's a swell illustration, but it does not illustrate the subject of this article. I don't recall "Color" even being adapted in that collection. Asat (talk) 22:40, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Mutagenic"

I removed the term "mutagenic" from the plot synopsis for a rather simple reason - DNA had not even been discovered during Lovecraft's lifetime, let alone when this story was written. Nice analysis from a 21st century viewpoint, but kind of ridiculus when taken in context. --71.201.77.111 01:23, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

What's the problem with using the word mutagenic? The glowing plants are mutants. The mutation is caused by the metorite. Thus, the meteorite/color from space would be mutagenic. Merely because Lovecraft himself didn't know about DNA, doesn't mean this article shouldn't use the word.

I think User:71.201.77.111 is confused about the etymology of the word mutagenic. Mutagenic shares the same Latin base as "mutate," derived from the Latin verb mutare . the -Genic part isn't from "gene" but a suffix meaning "to pruduce." Mutagen is "something that produces a change," and doesn't have anything to specifically do with DNA genes. Remember also that Darwin had been around long before DNA was discovered, and scientists were looking for the biological basis for "genes" long before DNA and its double helix structure were discovered. To this day, the word "gene" is for the Evolutionary Biologist an abstract construct, while for other scientists and biologists, gene is the physical DNA. Cuvtixo 18:23, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Unconvincing quote

"Robert M. Price has pointed to a passage in Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Gods of Mars describing the gems of Barsoom: "[W]here are the words to describe the glorious colours that are unknown to earthly eyes? where the mind or imagination that can grasp the gorgeous scintillations of unheard-of rays as they emanate from the thousand nameless jewels of Barsoom?"

The "scintillations of unheard of rays" could simply be hyberbole in describing the strength of light or perhaps the combinations of colors of light. A lot of multicolored jewels might create an interesting light show of various hues, but this doesn't strike me as describing "a colour out of space." There are already several quotes about ultraviolet light in the article, and, with apologies to Mr. Price, this particular citation sounds like padding or filling for an bad college essay. I don't see any reason to connect Burroughs with Lovecraft, and I don't see the reason for including this quote. Cuvtixo 20:29, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Colour

Out of curiosity - and I'm not suggesting that it's wrong - why did he use "colour" instead of "color"? Was it the done thing in his period, or was he very posh, or writing for a British audience? I worry that someone will proofread the article and, given that Lovecraft is an American author, they will retitle it. -Ashley Pomeroy 17:03, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

It probably has a lot to do with Lovecraft's anglophilia. I think he used British English spellings in some of his other stories too. --86.135.218.137 (talk) 18:47, 26 December 2007 (UTC)