I'm not dismissing Ray Brandbury's creation of the ICFOS story, Sid, just putting it in perspective. If Alland's memory is to be trusted, he'd done a 2 or 3 page outline which was OK'd, then talked to Bradbury about it. Given the garrulousness and intelligence of both men, I cannot imagine the conversation was a terse, "OK, aliens crash here, but we're all savages, so they wanna get out. Now, how about dem Dodgers?" conversation.

So Bradbury took the assignment, expanded the 2-3 page outline into a lyrical 30-40 pages, and did two minor noodlings with it. This was later expanded into a 111 page detailed version of the same story... then trimmed back down into shootable form by a workman writer, Essex.

That's a LOT different from Alland giving Bradbury a one-line idea followed by 111 pages springing full-grown from Bradbury's forehead.