Comparing Lovecraft's 'The Call Of Cthulhu'

In his first inaugural address, Franklin Roosevelt stated, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Inspiring words, though they give little comfort when the monster you face is the embodiment of fear. This is the case in Lovecraft’s mythos of the Old Ones, which he kicked off in the story of “The Call of Cthulhu.” The story, told from the perspective of notes written an all too curious narrator, details the accounts of terror, and insanity that surround a godlike being, that is the essence of horror, named Cthulhu. From the mysterious language, the deranged cultists, and the mountain sized monster himself, “The Call of Cthulhu” defined a genre, made a monster out of fear, and most importantly, inspired countless writers and artists,

This makes the adaptation invoke the feeling of the original (Leitch, pgs. 113-114). The main theme of “The Satan Pit” is that an embodiment of evil and fear, has been imprisoned at the core of a planet, for longer than time has existed. This being has lived before the universe, and is bent of killing and domination of those who live in it. He wants to be free, and requires someone to speak an undecipherable language. He can control the minds of the guy who frees him, as well as the slaves on board the ship. The slaves themselves, do not even count as being notable enough to track on board the ship, and are treated as lessor beings. All of these themes, invoke a Lovecraftian horror, and the world they belong to. Though the slaves that this being takes control of are not cultist, the fact that they are treated so poorly, and the fact that they are slaves, is reminiscent of the racist undertones of Lovecraft’s stories. Alluding to this connection even more, they look like octopus people, though before they are mind controlled they are peaceful. Even thinking about how the jailers of this mountain sized beast, left a way to free him, even though they clearly did not want him out, strikes a chord with how many of those who found out about Cthulhu, wanted the trace to be remained hidden, yet

Who episode be, without the spice of the occult. With an already occult filled source of inspiration, it would take something special to transform the concepts that Lovecraft created. With that in mind, “The Satan Pit” went to the depths of religious fears, to find a darker demon to fill the Old One’s role, Satan. Normally when one transforms a piece of a story, they seek to depart from the sauce. In this instance, however, the use of a religious monster, especially one that is feared to this day, only deepens the connection between it and the cult worshipped Old Ones, and their great priest Cthulhu. This is made clearer, when one finds no “it’s an alien” explanation, that Dr. Who is famous for. In fact, there is no explanation for what it is exactly, at all (although it does look like a classical Satan). This is a far cry from the formula of the show, and ties it in with the lack of explanation of what the Old Ones are, or where they came from. The question is, what does using the Devil, do for this story, and why the connection make references to Lovecraft? Satan, is a far wider spread idea than Cthulhu, so one look at him, and one knows that he is a bad guy. He is simply more synonymous with fear than any Old One. But, because the concepts of a devil, and the Old Ones are so similar, why wouldn’t you draw those parallels. The concept Lovecraft based his story around, was powerlessness in the face of adversity, and yet, someone overcomes that fear,