13:26 about Nimdok. Fun fact, his name makes sense in Ukrainian if you translate his profession and origin, German doctor, into ukrainian, Німецький доктор. Shorten the words and we get Німдок - Nimdok, same pronunciation
Ellison was something of a pioneer in gaming storytelling in that he believed that games should be challenging on a narrative level. He was apparently very against video games as just being 'for fun'.
Modern AAA games certainly have taken into that part of the philosophy that games shouldn't be fun, unfortunately without the part of challenging or original narratives 😂
Of course he was.... He was against fun in anything lol..... Pretty sure when he started writing the character of AM in IHNMAIMS ..... He just wrote down traits of himself and boom we have the evil A.I. personality A.M.
One of my favorite theories is one I heard from Wendigoon on his video about the short story. Ellen is the only member of the group that is still sane. She has sex with the rest of the group so often, no because AM twisted her into being promiscuous, but because it’s all she can do to keep the rest of the group trucking on.
This theory is entirely plausible. Ted is something of an unreliable narrator. He believes he's unaffected but he's paranoid to the point of delusion, which is made even more explicit in the radio play. There's possibly some misogyny going on in Ted's mind, so it makes sense that he would see this as AM twisting her rather than the simple fact that she's the only woman left alive. It's also a lot more horrifying that way, which is something AM would've been going for.
I really loved the radio drama, it along with the overall story, the radio dramas version of the hate speech is one of my favorite versions, it feels like a genuine breaking point for AM, there's actually a video out there on RUclips of said audio drama. You can also find a really amazing animatic for the radio dramas version of the hate speech.
The reason why they would have removed Benny's being gay from the narrative of the game... 1995 was a very different time from 2024. It was rare to see queer representation in media, let alone representation that wasn't there to make fun of or punch down on queer people. While Ellison would have had better luck getting it through to publishers even in '67, because sci fi was a genre that often pushed at the limits and boundaries of society, especially at the time. But with a video game, publishers would have been hesitant to greenlight something featuring openly gay characters, especially gay relationships. At the end of the day, the publisher's goal is profit, not art.
@@GrosvnerMcaffreythose movies existed yes but not without controversy freddy mercury was around but not without controversy! you miss the point just because it wasnt unheard of doesnt mean it couldnt have still be controversial
Harlan Ellison was soooo ahead of his time. Everything he said about what might come to pass or things about every day life was right on point...i miss the guy... I think Ted is not entirely insane, i think he's too egocentric and he looks like he's insane at times, in short paranoid
It never occurred to me that the title might refer to AM...That analysis is brilliant. Kinda reminds me of Nier Automata in which the machines don't wipe out the androids just to keep a reason to fulfill their only purpose : wage war.
Side Note: IF Magazine had very few "name" stories apart from this very tale, but it featured not only such well-respected authors as Keith Laumer, Isaac Asimov, Ted Sturgeon, Poul Anderson and similar, it also had a policy of publishing one story by a debut author every issue, one of those being a tale by Jerry Juhl, later to write scripts for "The Muppet Show"
It's really interesting that you're almost locked out of the good ending in the French and German versions of the game. It goes to show that by erasing and censoring history, you're just dooming humanity.
I might be way off on this one, but I think Nimdok is a reference to the game “Dr. Nim,” which was a single player board game in the 60s that was impossible to win.
I love what they did with bennys story changing him from a scientist to a soldier in the game. To me it hits different, as it highlights his need to portray this almost "malicious" aspect of masculinity to the point where he (although not stated for obvious reasons) kills his gay partner, and others in his platoon. And in contrast to the end of his scenario, with how much empathy he gained from the boy and making amends with his past. The Lunar colony is another thing from the game thats cool to me. Something hopeful to look forward to despite being trapped in an everlasting hell. Sleeping humans unaware of the Armageddon that came before.
I saw your nuclear semiotics vid and this one and I must say - without knowing a lot about your channel other than that - that I adore your editing style. Truly compelling!
A little precision about the censorship in europe. A lot of games back in the day when they were localized for europe were set to have their "starting point" in Germany which had (and still partially does) an official process setting rules since the end of WW2 called denazification, implying censorship in various forms of media. So since distribution and localisation was spread throughout europe from Germany, the censorship was carried out. Explaining why it is still there in the French version. At some point in time, censorship rules were lightened cause hey, they're depicted as bad guys in games and other medias so why bother since they get mauled and also cause of what we call in France "duty of rememberance" (which has been corrupted by some political groups leading to the misuse of the term nowadays).
I love the fact that i have no mouth applies to Ted at the end AND AM, being how he is this machine created for war, with no more war to make, he's like a soldier during peace time, still wracked with bloodlust and nothing to stop it. i also love how AM has just the right amount of contradiction just like humans, his primary function is to kill, but he keeps these 5 humans alive, because he knows once they're gone he's got no purpose. AM and the humans he tortures aren't so different, which probably angers him more than humans in general
You didn't mention the hintbook nor all the side facts that come along with it like the fact that the russian part apparently was supposed to have barbarian clothes and that the devil we face off against in ted's scenario is also supposed to be him, or the existence of another computer program that isn't surgat nor the russian or chinese or the yankee am in benny's drama after you have the kid hide in the hole and check on the tv screen you used to communicate with them. Where would they be in the iceberg ? Edit: for the hintbook, search "Internet archive I have no mouth and and I must scream strategy guide" and click the 1st that pops up
@@saimaid_pilled no, it's the one Benny faces in his drama if he decides to see the monitor after the kid hides in the hole The demon is surgat and he's actually working under Am, it can be seen when you give up the totem of entropy to him he calls Am his master after accelerating the russian and chinese primary component to their demise Idk about the devil but he seems like just another robot under Am to play in Ted's scenario. The strategy book says it's the Russian
this sounds stupid but i RARELY get offended. like i dont care at all but when someone says “i love ihnmaims” or makes a shitpost of it (i love shitposts though” i get upset af. just like harlan ellison said, “its not there to comfort you.” ihnmaims is a literal work of art that should be there to scare, shock you and make you think. it has no fandom and i hate when people take the meaning, throw it away so they can just look at the characters and make memes
i like to think of AM as an AI that is very powerful but also limited... i mean he did not had the power to heal or keep the crew young, it was nimdok work, i guess it's hinted even on the original story since AM made him work secretly and nobody knew nothing about him, and later on in the game it is said that nimdok worked on the youth serum that also could shapeshift living creatures. so considering that, AM is very powerful but can't create any new tech for himself, he can't even create a creature, the one he did was a giant bird, but he can't think of new things(turning ted into the blob may represent AM breaking through) and that's why i believe that even if AM could manipulate to torture, he had limitations that he didn't knew that would make him lose, so that's why i don't believe it's VR or the lunar colony or deaths are fake and just torture subject, because in the game AM suffers from its prison, and realize the only way to end it, is shutting down.... we can poetically call this a suicide. also i like to think when AM turned ted into the blob, it represents AM breaking through his chains and becoming capable create, enhancing himself, and think out of the box.
Ellen is the strongest character, because she is the only character to maintain hope over all 100+ years of torture, giving up her body to try and give the other men some sense of joy or feeling outside of anguish.
AM isn't like the other villains💕 omg IHNMAIMS is so good. it's so underrated, and AM he's great. AM is so unique as a villain, but also, as an AI villain, he's not some cold, emotionless AI that's super rational. No, he's so close to human, but not quite there he's a distortion of a human psyche created by people who wanted intelligence, but they didn't know that everything in a mind NEEDS to be whole they can't just cut out the sloppy and emotional bits and keep the good there need to be balance in everything Yea, it's called. I have no mouth and must scream cause of Ted's last punishment, but really, I think it's for AM like he's saying in this clip "in the beautiful word I alone have no body no sense no feelings" he's the one who has no mouth he's the one who needs to scream but he can’t he'll never be able to AM aware of so much aware of all humanity's negative traits is immobile and is powerless despite his power to cause war and wipe out the whole planet he's left powerless it unravelled him in his own version of logic his chosen purpose is punishment Harlan Ellison is such an amazing author with so many good stories. If your first story by him is IHNMAIMS and you want other stories by him, here are some of my personal favourites by him -Shatterday Shatterday is a collection of short stories by Harlan Ellison. In the introduction, he states that the stories reflect an underlying theme of fear of human frailty and ugliness. His goal, he writes, is to shock his readers into seeing that this fear unifies people. Each story has an introduction, ranging from a single sentence to several pages long. - Repent Harlequin “Repent, Harlequin” Said the Ticktockman is a short story its won a whole bunch of awards summary the story is set in the future in a society where time is of the highest importance and not wasting time has become an obsession, being even a matter of life and death. -Jeffty is Five It won like 5 awards. It's good the summary: Jeffty is a boy who never grows past the age of five - physically or mentally. The narrator, Jeffty's friend(Donald) from the age of five well into adulthood, discovers that Jeffty has the ability to access current versions of popular culture from the narrator's youth. Basically, Jeffty lives in a world to which Donald wishes he could return to he's jealous of that child like whimsy -The Whimper of Whipped Dogs The themes with this one is existential and urban horror to explore the wider question of exactly how an individual even one filled with empathy and good intentions can find themselves caught up in the torture and death of their fellow human beings. This story deals with a lot of heavy topics, but if you can handle that , it's a great read -The Deathbird It won the 1974 Hugo Award for Best Novelette and Locus Award for Best Short Story Story summary Now, the world is coming to an end and Nathan Stack, the latest incarnation of a long line of humans going back to Lilith's husband, is revived by Snake after spending 250 thousand years in an underground crypt to make the journey to the mountain where God lives. -Paladin of the Lost Hour is a novelette by Ellison but was adapted into an episode of The Twilight Zone. The summary of the story is A mysterious old man becomes a father figure to a young man and shows him how to protect the world through time using a special clock. All of these are amazing stories, and i suggest that you read at least one check for content warnings before reading and have fun. This video is very good and well made!
If it were to be adapted, I think a miniseries would fit it best. However, it has to be directed by someone who loves the source material and respects Ellisons work. Honestly, id rather never have an adaptation if it cant be done right and by the right people.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
AM's scary and all until MA comes and tells him its time for dinner.
"But Mooooooom I'm Roleplaying on gmod with the bois
wait till MA takes off her slipper when he don't listen
@@morepoppunkthanpizza The Mimic: Origins
@@greybearworld9476 lmao
"But mom I'm torturing the last 5 humans!"
13:26 about Nimdok. Fun fact, his name makes sense in Ukrainian if you translate his profession and origin, German doctor, into ukrainian, Німецький доктор. Shorten the words and we get Німдок - Nimdok, same pronunciation
Ellison was something of a pioneer in gaming storytelling in that he believed that games should be challenging on a narrative level. He was apparently very against video games as just being 'for fun'.
Modern AAA games certainly have taken into that part of the philosophy that games shouldn't be fun, unfortunately without the part of challenging or original narratives 😂
i agree. 100%
Of course he was.... He was against fun in anything lol..... Pretty sure when he started writing the character of AM in IHNMAIMS ..... He just wrote down traits of himself and boom we have the evil A.I. personality A.M.
seed butters evil cousin : plant cheese
You mean sea man milk? 😂
@@redwiltshire1816what a weird game that was, and voiced by Spock too.
Naaaw is obviously weed toast
I have no mouth and i plant cheese
corn smutt
I got no butter
And I must seed
I got no feet but I must sniff
You must WHAT
no you must NOT fool
she butter on my scream until I seed
The audiobook was made by the author himself, and he is litterally AM, like, litterally he has the best voice for it
My favorite is his version of it: he basically said no one got the rage and anger and hatred correct so he basically said F IT WELL DO IT LIVE
yeah. he did so well because he knows how the character feels the best
One of my favorite theories is one I heard from Wendigoon on his video about the short story.
Ellen is the only member of the group that is still sane. She has sex with the rest of the group so often, no because AM twisted her into being promiscuous, but because it’s all she can do to keep the rest of the group trucking on.
This theory is entirely plausible. Ted is something of an unreliable narrator. He believes he's unaffected but he's paranoid to the point of delusion, which is made even more explicit in the radio play. There's possibly some misogyny going on in Ted's mind, so it makes sense that he would see this as AM twisting her rather than the simple fact that she's the only woman left alive. It's also a lot more horrifying that way, which is something AM would've been going for.
13:15
Probably because in the game, Brickman was confirmed to be 15 when Benny killed him, and Benny was *certainly* older than that.
I really loved the radio drama, it along with the overall story, the radio dramas version of the hate speech is one of my favorite versions, it feels like a genuine breaking point for AM, there's actually a video out there on RUclips of said audio drama. You can also find a really amazing animatic for the radio dramas version of the hate speech.
The reason why they would have removed Benny's being gay from the narrative of the game... 1995 was a very different time from 2024. It was rare to see queer representation in media, let alone representation that wasn't there to make fun of or punch down on queer people. While Ellison would have had better luck getting it through to publishers even in '67, because sci fi was a genre that often pushed at the limits and boundaries of society, especially at the time. But with a video game, publishers would have been hesitant to greenlight something featuring openly gay characters, especially gay relationships. At the end of the day, the publisher's goal is profit, not art.
I don't know? Stuff like Rocky Horror,Pink Flamingos and Freddy 2 were around. Everyone knew Freddie mercury was gay
@@wackantheduck6883womp womp
still kinda weird though, especially because of how it focuses on ellen's sexual assault. I feel like they'd be more weary of that than sexuality
@@GrosvnerMcaffreythose movies existed yes but not without controversy freddy mercury was around but not without controversy! you miss the point just because it wasnt unheard of doesnt mean it couldnt have still be controversial
@eokay7228 yeah but it wasn't "rare" like the first comment suggested
Watching this at 3 am, WORTH ITT
Harlan Ellison was soooo ahead of his time. Everything he said about what might come to pass or things about every day life was right on point...i miss the guy...
I think Ted is not entirely insane, i think he's too egocentric and he looks like he's insane at times, in short paranoid
after 109 years of torture?
"Genocide", "Nazism", and "Sexual" are not swear words.
I AM MAKING A WEBCOMIC FOR THIS STORY!!! its an amazing story im so happy to find this video. i can never get enough of this freaking horror story
It never occurred to me that the title might refer to AM...That analysis is brilliant. Kinda reminds me of Nier Automata in which the machines don't wipe out the androids just to keep a reason to fulfill their only purpose : wage war.
Side Note: IF Magazine had very few "name" stories apart from this very tale, but it featured not only such well-respected authors as Keith Laumer, Isaac Asimov, Ted Sturgeon, Poul Anderson and similar, it also had a policy of publishing one story by a debut author every issue, one of those being a tale by Jerry Juhl, later to write scripts for "The Muppet Show"
I'm gonna shit my pants
I have no ass and I must shit
I have no iceberg
But i must make a video
I got no moves
And i must break it down
I was curious about if this book had an iceberg and ohh boy, wasn't expecting such great video.
really enjoyed the content. Keep up the great work
My head canon : Ted is AM lead programmer. He's his/it's Father.
It's why the sweetest punishment is reserved for him.
It's really interesting that you're almost locked out of the good ending in the French and German versions of the game. It goes to show that by erasing and censoring history, you're just dooming humanity.
I might be way off on this one, but I think Nimdok is a reference to the game “Dr. Nim,” which was a single player board game in the 60s that was impossible to win.
Okay but can it run Doom?
I love what they did with bennys story changing him from a scientist to a soldier in the game.
To me it hits different, as it highlights his need to portray this almost "malicious" aspect of masculinity to the point where he (although not stated for obvious reasons) kills his gay partner, and others in his platoon. And in contrast to the end of his scenario, with how much empathy he gained from the boy and making amends with his past.
The Lunar colony is another thing from the game thats cool to me. Something hopeful to look forward to despite being trapped in an everlasting hell. Sleeping humans unaware of the Armageddon that came before.
My favorite Short Story
Well, this is my 4th Seedbutter video in a row... I guess I'll subscribe, now.
I have no chuck and I must sneed
I saw your nuclear semiotics vid and this one and I must say - without knowing a lot about your channel other than that - that I adore your editing style. Truly compelling!
Knowing what I've heard about the guy, it does not surprise me at all that he would do great voicing an unfeeling monster that hates.
I have no doubt that AM changed Ted, tweaking him to be way more paranoid and delusional.
A little precision about the censorship in europe. A lot of games back in the day when they were localized for europe were set to have their "starting point" in Germany which had (and still partially does) an official process setting rules since the end of WW2 called denazification, implying censorship in various forms of media.
So since distribution and localisation was spread throughout europe from Germany, the censorship was carried out. Explaining why it is still there in the French version.
At some point in time, censorship rules were lightened cause hey, they're depicted as bad guys in games and other medias so why bother since they get mauled and also cause of what we call in France "duty of rememberance" (which has been corrupted by some political groups leading to the misuse of the term nowadays).
I love the fact that i have no mouth applies to Ted at the end AND AM, being how he is this machine created for war, with no more war to make, he's like a soldier during peace time, still wracked with bloodlust and nothing to stop it. i also love how AM has just the right amount of contradiction just like humans, his primary function is to kill, but he keeps these 5 humans alive, because he knows once they're gone he's got no purpose. AM and the humans he tortures aren't so different, which probably angers him more than humans in general
I’m pretty sure the lunar colony is exclusive to the game
It is
39:22 This general segment threw me off so hard for a second because this man deadass sounds almost exactly like one of my uncles-
You didn't mention the hintbook nor all the side facts that come along with it like the fact that the russian part apparently was supposed to have barbarian clothes and that the devil we face off against in ted's scenario is also supposed to be him, or the existence of another computer program that isn't surgat nor the russian or chinese or the yankee am in benny's drama after you have the kid hide in the hole and check on the tv screen you used to communicate with them. Where would they be in the iceberg ?
Edit: for the hintbook, search "Internet archive I have no mouth and and I must scream strategy guide" and click the 1st that pops up
Another computer program? Probably controlled by AM
@@Levinewak it states to have been working under him then having changed to the russian's side
@Levinewak the devil was another program which AM is against
@@saimaid_pilled no, it's the one Benny faces in his drama if he decides to see the monitor after the kid hides in the hole
The demon is surgat and he's actually working under Am, it can be seen when you give up the totem of entropy to him he calls Am his master after accelerating the russian and chinese primary component to their demise
Idk about the devil but he seems like just another robot under Am to play in Ted's scenario. The strategy book says it's the Russian
@@The_Masquerade_of_Evilhos really? It would be really fun it its a russian spy.
What if AM's AI was constructed from the mind of a human and this is why he feels jealous of those who get to experience humanity?
good evening mx seedbutter my dearest friend
"I truely am the soulless one"
I always thought that the title was about AM. I’ve only just realised that it could apply to Ted at the end 😂of the
this sounds stupid but i RARELY get offended. like i dont care at all but when someone says “i love ihnmaims” or makes a shitpost of it (i love shitposts though”
i get upset af. just like harlan ellison said, “its not there to comfort you.”
ihnmaims is a literal work of art that should be there to scare, shock you and make you think. it has no fandom and i hate when people take the meaning, throw it away so they can just look at the characters and make memes
I have no nose and I must sneeze.
I saw this on Reddit, fantastic work!
5:54 is that you Travis Touchdown?
Anyone else notice how Ted sounds really similar to AM???
i like to think of AM as an AI that is very powerful but also limited... i mean he did not had the power to heal or keep the crew young, it was nimdok work, i guess it's hinted even on the original story since AM made him work secretly and nobody knew nothing about him, and later on in the game it is said that nimdok worked on the youth serum that also could shapeshift living creatures.
so considering that, AM is very powerful but can't create any new tech for himself, he can't even create a creature, the one he did was a giant bird, but he can't think of new things(turning ted into the blob may represent AM breaking through)
and that's why i believe that even if AM could manipulate to torture, he had limitations that he didn't knew that would make him lose, so that's why i don't believe it's VR or the lunar colony or deaths are fake and just torture subject, because in the game AM suffers from its prison, and realize the only way to end it, is shutting down.... we can poetically call this a suicide.
also i like to think
when AM turned ted into the blob, it represents AM breaking through his chains and becoming capable create, enhancing himself, and think out of the box.
i love you seedbutter
In all honesty, I would rather listen to Harlan Ellisons reading of the story, I love his expressiveness as he reads
I've already subscribed suckaaaa
Ellen is the strongest character, because she is the only character to maintain hope over all 100+ years of torture, giving up her body to try and give the other men some sense of joy or feeling outside of anguish.
😂 rethink that from a comedic perspective.
I have no ice and i must berg
28:39 Alexander?
Sneedbutter
Real
AM isn't like the other villains💕 omg IHNMAIMS is so good. it's so underrated, and AM he's great. AM is so unique as a villain, but also, as an AI villain, he's not some cold, emotionless AI that's super rational. No, he's so close to human, but not quite there he's a distortion of a human psyche created by people who wanted intelligence, but they didn't know that everything in a mind NEEDS to be whole they can't just cut out the sloppy and emotional bits and keep the good there need to be balance in everything
Yea, it's called. I have no mouth and must scream cause of Ted's last punishment, but really, I think it's for AM like he's saying in this clip "in the beautiful word I alone have no body no sense no feelings" he's the one who has no mouth he's the one who needs to scream but he can’t he'll never be able to AM aware of so much aware of all humanity's negative traits is immobile and is powerless despite his power to cause war and wipe out the whole planet he's left powerless it unravelled him in his own version of logic his chosen purpose is punishment
Harlan Ellison is such an amazing author with so many good stories. If your first story by him is IHNMAIMS and you want other stories by him, here are some of my personal favourites by him
-Shatterday
Shatterday is a collection of short stories by Harlan Ellison. In the introduction, he states that the stories reflect an underlying theme of fear of human frailty and ugliness. His goal, he writes, is to shock his readers into seeing that this fear unifies people. Each story has an introduction, ranging from a single sentence to several pages long.
- Repent Harlequin
“Repent, Harlequin” Said the Ticktockman is a short story its won a whole bunch of awards summary the story is set in the future in a society where time is of the highest importance and not wasting time has become an obsession, being even a matter of life and death.
-Jeffty is Five
It won like 5 awards. It's good the summary: Jeffty is a boy who never grows past the age of five - physically or mentally. The narrator, Jeffty's friend(Donald) from the age of five well into adulthood, discovers that Jeffty has the ability to access current versions of popular culture from the narrator's youth. Basically, Jeffty lives in a world to which Donald wishes he could return to he's jealous of that child like whimsy
-The Whimper of Whipped Dogs
The themes with this one is existential and urban horror to explore the wider question of exactly how an individual even one filled with empathy and good intentions can find themselves caught up in the torture and death of their fellow human beings.
This story deals with a lot of heavy topics, but if you can handle that , it's a great read
-The Deathbird
It won the 1974 Hugo Award for Best Novelette and Locus Award for Best Short Story
Story summary Now, the world is coming to an end and Nathan Stack, the latest incarnation of a long line of humans going back to Lilith's husband, is revived by Snake after spending 250 thousand years in an underground crypt to make the journey to the mountain where God lives.
-Paladin of the Lost Hour
is a novelette by Ellison but was adapted into an episode of The Twilight Zone. The summary of the story is
A mysterious old man becomes a father figure to a young man and shows him how to protect the world through time using a special clock.
All of these are amazing stories, and i suggest that you read at least one check for content warnings before reading and have fun. This video is very good and well made!
the heart of one of your mætes
OOH. didn’t know there was an iceberg. This has just come on my recommended even after I’ve been basically married to AM for a while now lmao
"difficult topics"
This is what I want this Halloween. A movie from this would be awesome
a movie would make it a generic horror action movie and throw away the themes entirely
If it were to be adapted, I think a miniseries would fit it best. However, it has to be directed by someone who loves the source material and respects Ellisons work. Honestly, id rather never have an adaptation if it cant be done right and by the right people.
How is there an iceberg for this … ?!? Goooo onnnn
No mouth is unworthy of an iceberg video given it’s not a franchise and only had a comic, radio, game, and inspired the amazing digital circus
The author is worthy
Don't forget terminator
Whar
Cough cough amazing digita circus cough