*****FLYING SAUCER-SIZED SPOILERS!!***** The Source Novella. The 1951 Robert Wise-directed sci-fi classic “The Day the Earth Stood Still” was based on a 1940 novella by Harry Bates. I first bought “Farewell to the Master” in a collection of other stories at a secondhand bookstore some 20-odd years ago. Already very familiar with the 1951 classic…