Alex Tse is writing the screenplay. The Whispers television series The Whispers is an American television series based on the short story "Zero Hour". The Bradbury Tattoos (rock opera, 2018) A new rock opera titled The Bradbury Tattoos was scheduled to premiere in Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 13 and July 22, 2018, in collaboration with concert:nova, a contemporary classical ensemble composed of musicians from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Written by composer Zac Greenberg and librettist Michael Burnham, the opera is adapted from four stories in The Illustrated Man -- "Kaleidoscope," "Zero Hour," "The Highway" and "The Last Night of the World." The production is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. References in popular culture Elton John's hit song, "Rocket Man", was inspired by the Bradbury story. The band Pearls Before Swine released a song named after and inspired by "The Rocket Man". In the 2007 film Blades of Glory, Will Ferrell's character claims to be referred to as "The Illustrated Man". Numerous references to The Illustrated Man are made throughout an episode of Criminal Minds (episode 20, season 5, entitled "A Thousand Words") that deals with a serial killer whose body is covered in tattoos. In 2012, shortly before author Ray Bradbury's death, Canadian musician deadmau5 produced a song titled "The Veldt", including lyrics by Chris James based upon the short story. The music video, released after Bradbury's death, is dedicated to him. Post-rock band Deadhorse refer their 2010 album release We Can Create Our Own World to be directly influenced by the book and Ray Bradbury's vision in evoke imagination in his readers. Noah Taylor's character can be seen reading the book in Cameron Crowe's film Almost Famous while on a tour bus. The Illustrated Man himself appears in The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror XXIV" episode in the couch gag with his author, Ray Bradbury. In an episode of The Sopranos (Season 2, Episode 11), Dick Barone while discussing Richie Aprile selling drugs along garbage routes with Tony Soprano, refers to a man covered in tattoos, as "The Illustrated Man." "Kaleidoscope" seems to have inspired the ending of Dark Star with the ships crew drifting apart to their various fates including joining a meteor shower and hitting the planet they'd bombed. American melodic death metal band Light This City released two songs on their 2008 album Stormchaser inspired by Ray Bradbury stories. The song "Firehaven" was inspired