OK, George, I give up!

September 12th is fast upon us. Yes, my nephew will be SIX! (Actually I have nephews and neices in their 20s now - I'm a Great Uncle!)

Anyway, George "If ain't fixed, break it some more" Lucas will be getting more of my money. Fair enough I suppose. Other than soundtracks he hasn't had any of it for a while. As posted previously, the Original Trilogy will be coming to DVD in a transfer that would have made us scratch our heads in 1998 at how substandard it is. But it's better than the VHS copies we have now, right? And my laser disc player is unwell.

But wait! There's MORE:

Star Wars is about to turn THIRTY. (Yes, it's been TEN YEARS since Lucas officially lost his mind. We just didn't know how bad it would be back then.) What does this mean?

From the Digital Bits:

Also today... a follow-up on something we've been telling you to expect for quite while now. 2007, as you may well be aware, is the 30th anniversary of the original Star Wars' debut in theaters. You'd have to be stupid not to know that Lucasfilm is going to have big DVD release plans with which to celebrate the anniversary, and we've been telling you that was the case for many months now. Indeed, during our last visit to the Ranch for the DVD release of Episode III, producer Rick McCallum confirmed that a box set of all six films was going to happen eventually, and animation director Rob Coleman even let it slip that the puppet Yoda from Episode I had already been replaced with a new CG Yoda to match Episodes II & III for the "future" release. T-Bone over at Star Wars Universe recently speculated about this box set, and we've been quietly checking in with our industry sources on it as well. Well, we've confirmed it: There IS a big, ultimate, 6-film Star Wars anniversary DVD box set planned for 2007. There will be more changes to the films, and there will be LOTS of new, never-before-seen special features - all the good stuff that was held back by Lucasfilm from the original Trilogy DVD release a few years ago. Think deleted scenes and more. We don't know if good, genuinely-REMASTERED versions of the original theatrical editions of the films will be included or not (though how you could call the set "ultimate" without them, we don't know). We don't expect high-definition versions yet, as those formats are just too new. We don't have ANY other details for you yet, so please don't ask. But as you consider whether or not to purchase the "limited edition" DVDs due on 9/12... we thought you should know that more IS absolutely on the way next year. 'Nuff said for now.

First off, does anyone not think that Lucas is more than capable of NOT including the original films at all on this set? I sure do. But yes, if he actually includes GREAT, TERRIFIC, STATE OF THE ART transfers of the real movies, I will but this. Even though it means owning Attack of the Clones. Ewwwwwww.

Second: He's messing with the movies MORE. The Original Vision goes on. Even though he JUST MADE some of these movies, with all the time and money in the world. And he STILL didn't get it right? Poor George. So which one is the REAL movie, George? Heck, a few of the things that you changed in the SEs in 1997 you changed BACK in 2004! (Maybe Luke's scream in Cloud City brought back painful memories of Howard Dean's shining hour?)

I also understand that they will be releasing a BIG HUGE ALL OF THE MUSIC soundtrack collection of all six movies. This of course piques my interest. I'd have to see what's on it. It'd have to be pretty special. The 1997 release was pretty darn complete and I have as much of the prequel music as I need. Maybe there's more in the way of alternate tracks. Am I really going to buy this whole set just to get the music from Jabba's sail barge or the original cuts of Lap Ti Nek? (Don't answer that question. I try not to.) An intersting part of the rumor is that they will have "fuzzed up" the sound as compared to the recent releases, more in keeping with Williams' original mixes. The current ones are so clear you can hear musicians turning their sheet music.

OTOH, where is my Complete Indiana Jones? THAT I will pay money for.

In closing: Wow. Check out this young looking fella.

I bet he doens't even OWN a black turtle-neck at this point.

Firefly at NRO

Well, I guess that you CAN take the sky from me. Twice as it turns out.

But here's the Serenity thread that's been going on over at National Review, where it's been determined that Firefly is "more obscure than BSG, and quite nerdier than Star Trek."

A reader emailed in:

Jonah,

One of the problems when determining “author intent” in fandom is the exclusion of other authors. While Whedon is the writer/director of the film Serenity he is only the co-creator of the show. He worked with his friend/colleague Tim Minear, who wants to make a film version of “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.” Minear’s politics are far more Libertarian than Whedon, who was after all a Westly Clark supporter (and Kerry as well). In fact, most of the Libertarian/Conservatism of the Buffyverse/Fireflyverse is Minear’s influence and not Whedon’s.

But was countered with the reply from Mr. Minear himself!

Tim Minear is My Master Now

Tim Minear, High Lord of the Whedonverse, writes:
While I'm certainly flattered that your friend credits me with any libertarian/conservative influence on "Firefly", or even the larger Whedonverse, I didn't create "Firefly." Joss did. Mal was always a libertarian leaning character and he was born utterly from Joss's giant brain. It's not like it was Collectivists In Space! before I came along. Mal was not my creation, I just got to wear him for a while— and turned out he fit. If Joss could only write from the point of view of characters with which he agreed, he wouldn't be Joss.

Though I did come up with the whole "vampire slayer" thing. Not that Kerry-boy would ever admit it.

Update: Glenn Reynolds has a podcast where they talk with Minear re politics etc.

Guess I'm going to have to go listen to the podcast.

BTW, I'd say the odds of Serenity II: The Leaf Strikes Back are looking a little shady at the moment. *sigh*

This is Halloween! This is Halloween!

Scored a new poster from Ain't it Cool this morning. This could be interesting. I'm not a big fan of 3D movies as they currently stand, although I'm told they're getting better. And it's a chance to see Jack and Co. on the BIIIIIG screen. So I'll probably give it a shot. Mind you I never did see Superman Returns at Imax. Ah well.

EDIT: I just realized that this isn't at Imax. Fascinating.

Oh, by the way

The world DIDN'T end. Welcome to August 23rd!

A Bridge Toon Far

Ok, I'm trying to follow some logic here. Admittedly, I'm mixing the logic of the entertainment industry and politicians. This is dangerous under the best of circumstances. It's difficult enough taking them on one at a time.

But here we go:

Did any of you see this? They're eliminating smoking from Tom and Jerry cartoons. (Heaven help them when Tom or Jer get blown up and wind up in Al Jolsen blackface, but that's another issue.)

"Turner recognizes that it is not suitable for cartoons aimed at children to portray smoking in a cool context and has additionally pledged to review the entire Hanna-Barbera catalog to remove scenes that appear to glamorize or encourage smoking," Cecilia Persson, a Turner VP, said in a statement. "

"Turner, however, won't simply cut each instance of smoking from the classic 'toons, simply the ones, per Ofcom, "where smoking appeared to be condoned, acceptable, glamorized or where it might encourage imitation."

Here's where I get confused. Kids don't LIKE 2D animation. It doesn't sell. It's old. Kids don't like old stuff. It has to be new. That's why Disney eliminated it's 2D animation division. That's why Star Wars, etc. have shiny new special effects. 'Cause otherwise the Younger Generation wouldn't watch them. Seriously!

But now, we're told, these old cartoons (Good grief, they're talking Popye. Popeye was crusty when I was a tot!) are so influential that they will unerringly lead to imitation! Kids will be unable to resist! No other cultural force (*cough*PARENTS*cough*) will be able to combat their insidious influence! From this I will also infer that little boys and girls will be seen dressing in flapper skirts and zoot suits. They cannot resist. Hey, maybe this means hats and ties will come back. This could be an up!

Oh, and for those of you that think this is just a Brit thing, a few years ago Disney released Pecos Bill on DVD. There's a scene where under the influence of sighting the lovely lass he is destined to fall for (and who will be his DOOOOOM - there's the lesson!) he is seen ineptly rolling a cigarette, pouring the tobacco on his tongue and rolling the paper over nothing is what is surely comic depravity at it's most brazen. This was wisely removed by the Disney editors. Well, the tobacco was removed. He now waves his hands in the air for no apparent reason with his tongue hanging out. I bet the handicapped are offended now.

She's Tore Up Plenty

But she'll fly true. I want one.

As some of you have noticed

I cannot spell thier correctly to save my life. Which means saving yours is out of the question. I'll try. Really I shall.

August 22nd

Hey, I just realized that the world is supposed to end today! Boy, that'll be a load off. No need to mow the lawn if the earth is scorched, eh?

Just remember, I loved you all. Except the ones I didn't and I should have anyway. But no hard feeling, right? (You stupid nutjob.)

I remember reading a prayer that went something like "Oh Lord, please don't let me die in a way that will make a darkly humorous and ironic headline in the papers." This would just fit that to a tee, wouldn't it?

Now we'll NEVER learn how Pirates of the Caribbean turned out.

I wonder who's going to do it? I bet it'll be the Norwegian Grandmothers from Minnesota. They're always twitchy.

World Trade Center - The Tallguy Review

As mentioned yesterday, we saw World Trade Center this weekend. The short story - 4 1/2 out of five. Go see it.

The long story. Well...

(This may threaten to ramble into Harry Knowles territory. I promise not to mention anything I ate or how it was disposed of.)

I realized something that didn't quite occur to me, even when I saw United 93. To some of you that know me, it's probably painfully obvious. There's a big part of me that still lives in that day. Certainly that week. Anyone that has talked to me even passingly knows that I woke up that morning because my father called to tell me the towers were gone and the Pentagon had been hit. And I didn't believe him. By the time I knew anything was happening it was all over. I always divide up time by "Did it happen before or after September 2001?"

To branch even further off the subject, we watched The Dish the other day. The Dish is about the radio telescope in Parkes, Austrailia that was used to receive the television signals from the first moon landing. High tech space exploration comes to small farm town Australia. Warm hearted hilarity ensues. What has this got to do with World Trade Center? Well, both films take the opportunity to show "what happened that day". Not at Houston. Not on the moon. Not in Manhattan. Not on Air Force One. They show people huddled around their TV sets. They show people thousands of miles away Getting The News. They show where YOU were on those days.

50 years from now our children and our grandchildren (and so on) will know the burning towers the way I knew Hiroshima, or Kennedy's motorcade or, well, Armstrong standing on the moon. But I don't know if they'll get how still the world was. How empty the streets were. How empty the skies were. How full the churches were. Stone gives us a pretty good look at some of this (except that last one - more in a moment). Nobody comments on it, it's just there. If you didn't live through it, you might not notice it. But if you did it makes you nod in remembrance.

An interesting device that Stone uses to bring you back to 2001 is that almost all of the news coverage is from Peter Jennings. And there's a lot of news coverage. I've heard the accusation that the movie never tells you how this happened. That it's a pretty generic disaster movie, not the result of an intentional attack. I'd say those people aren't paying attention. You get the same news in the movie that we did on that day. And the people in the movie have the same reactions we did. They know what happened as quickly (or slowly) as we did. Both President Bush and Rudy Giuliani are shown, and neither one with an eye roll. As the gent in the bar in Wisconsin watches towers burn on the TV and is told who did it he grumbles "Bastards!" What more do you need? Also, while the only trace you see of the airliners is the shadow of a jet passing over the buildings, the movie is not shy about showing the destruction up close and personal. I think I saw more of the towers on fire in this movie than I did in real life.

I don't think anyone expected Oliver Stone to make this movie. He plays it very very straight. You keep waiting for a wry wink at the audience, some ironic nod "Well, people think these were knights in shining armor, but they weren't." Because it's such a bug's eye view of the event he doesn't feel the need to show anymore than the people struggling through the day. I mentioned the churches. The one church we see is pretty much empty. But it's early in the day, and there is a narrative reason for it - to show off one character. But I can't complain too much. Almost every character in the film has a very strong faith. Heck, most of them are Catholic. And it's never laughed at (ok, other than the Crazy Marine, but he's a Crazy Marine). It's always played sincere. I think some of the audience we saw it with (yes, I have another Stupid Audience story) was almost uncomfortable with the fact that a dying man sees Jesus, in full old-school Catholic imagery, and it's not supposed to be stupid.

That may be my only complaint about the movie - It's almost too heroic. These characters came out of comic books and war movies. It's not somber (and there are actually some really good laughs). But the Port Authority in particular are beyond belief. But that was how the world was. We couldn't believe it then, either.

A comparison between Katrina and 9/11: Katrina was how the world always told us people would act. 9/11 was how people acted in the movies.

Nicholas Cage is terrific. The whole cast is. But Cage in particular manages to be so salt-of-the-earth. He's everything a big movie star isn't. Personally I think it's the moustache.

I didn't tell you much of the meat of the movie, because, well, you just have to see it. There are surprises in a movie were you think you know all of it. That's not the point, it's not the Roller Coaster Thriller of the Summer. But I figured I'd save that for you.

I will be interested what this movie looks like 50 years from now. When people no longer have a catch in their breath just seeing the skyline with the towers still standing. Just the title card "September 11th, 2001" has an effect. You never know more than the characters. (He never tells you that the second tower is collapsing. The characters don't know and never really find out.) I'm always curious how much people will get, how much they're supposed to know.

Bringing us to our Stupid Audience Story of the day. Why do people see a movie about a real-life event and feel the need to fill in all of the gaps with the person sitting next to them? Same thing happened at United 93. People around us TALKING about what's going on in the movie. "Ohhhh, see that was before they knew there was a second plane." "Well I heard that these guys were never told" blah blah blah BLAH BLAH! SHUT UP! Talk about it over coffee when the movie is over! So at the start of the movie when the people behind us start having a lively conversation I give my First Warning "Shhhhhh!". The usual surprised silence, that lasts about a second. Finally I turn around and say "Would you please talk about it AFTER the movie?" I am told firmly "Simmer down, buddy." Um, WHAT? I didn't shout, growl, swear, or even really raise my voice. At which point My Sweety, My Darling, My Reason For Living, She Who Is My Wife just about jumps at the guy and say "It isn't your living room, BUDDY." We did have peace after that, but I grumbled for a long time. (I was kind of hoping to get someone removed from the theater. It's been a while.) Grrrrr. Stupid people. It's tough to watch a movie about The Day We All Came Together and want to strangle everyone else in the audience.

ANYWAY - like I said: 4 1/2 out of five. Go see it.

My Hero James

Just so's you know: James "The Forehead" Lileks is not helping me avoid becoming a cranky old man. Not even a little bit. He makes it look so... Smooth.

Saw World Trade Center

We saw World Trade Center. There will be a lengthy, rambling, overwrought review in the next few days. Four and a half stars. None of my problems with the movie are any of the expected "It's an Oliver Stone flick" gotchas. Go see it if you can.

At the Waarthog's Request (kinda)

Here is the Ptolemy class tug:





And the Saladin Class Destroyer:






Now somebody break out the C.W. McCall, cause we got a great big CONVOY!

My Dad is Famous!

Taking a spin around SciFi-Meshes (as is my habit) and I ran across this:

Someone else is using my Little Blue Guy for scale. For those that don't know, the Little Blue Guy is traced off a photo of my dear old Dad. (Not to be confused with the tall guy in the Tallguy logo, that's me.)

Easier to Model When Cloaked

Here's the latest sub-project:

  

  

  

I'd do one of it cloaked, but the render times are extraordinary. (That's funny, see, cause when it's cloaked it's invisible, so, like, it doesn't take any time-- never mind...)

And the finishing (modeling) touches on the Surya:

  

  

  

  

  

  

Not a bad weeks (four days!) modeling! Soon it will be texture-o-rama! (Obviously the Romulan ship needs a good bird-y paint job.)

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.

An interesting list of names, to be sure. I'm just tickled that the directors of Superman and Spider-Man are on here. The Scott brothers (Top Gun, Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise, Gladiator, Spy Games - ok, I'm more partial to Ridley than Tony) are a bit of a surprise. Bruce Willis and Dennis Hopper should surprise no-one. Wow, Don Johnson AND Michael Mann (creator of Miami Vice). Where's Philip Michael Thomas? (Sadly, I don't really expect Olmos' name to be on there. But then, I haven't seen the whole list. Maybe I'm being unfair to Admiral Adama.)

My favorite Dennis Hopper interview was where he denounced the characters in the world-changin (*cough*) Easy Rider as "hating thier country" and "getting what they deserved". (Quoting from memory.) I also remember the interviewer was beside himself. "That movie was my bible and you just stomped on it!" I should see if that's floating about anywhere.

UPDATE: Here's the ad. Pat Sajak!

Jumping Out of Perfectly Good Airplanes -- For FREEDOM!

Well what do you know? Today is National Airborne Day!

I'd post some pictures of my She Who Is My Wife (my Sweety, my Life, my Love, my Reason for Living) jumping out of perfectly good aircraft but a) I don't have any handy and 2) I want to be able to go home tonight.

3D Wednesday

I'm currently working on a Trek ship from the Original Series era. It's supposed to be the class that got refit into the Avenger / Miranda class. (Reliant from Wrath of Khan.) I'm seeing how quick I can knock this out. Pretty quick, as it turns out.


  

  

  

  




  

  

  

  

Trek Trumps Everything

I just saw a news item for the latest DVD season of Quantum Leap (nope, still no Scarecrow and Mrs. King, sorry). An odd thing happened. I saw Scott Bakula, under the words QUANTUM LEAP no less, and thought "Hmmm. Capt. Archer from Enterprise."

Yesterday I caught a few minutes of Benson on TVLand and when Clayton showed up I thought "Odo (from Deep Space Nine)".

Now, keep in mind that I don't LIKE Enterprise, and I never watched THAT much DS9. I remember when ENT first started it was always "Captain Sam" or "The guy from Quantum Leap". Now, obviously, the conversion is complete. So face it, once you've been in Star Trek, that's who you are. Deal with it.

p.s. There was no picture of Al, so I don't know if I'd have thought "Brother Cavil" - So the BSG segment of this experiment has gone untested. Show me a Miami Vice cast photo (Edward James Olmos) and we'll see. Nah, I'd probably think "Blade Runner". Might even mumble "BUT THEN AGAIN, WHO DOES?". (Mumbling in load echo-ey tones is hard.) And if I saw Michelle Forbes in Homocide or something (Ensign Ro / Admiral Caine) all bets are off. No Firefly cast has appeared on BSG so far (although Jane Espenson will be writing an ep). What if SHATNER was on Galactica? Hrmm. Might be dangerous.

We now return you to your Wednesday, already in progress.

Maybe we're learning?

Or maybe nobody pays attention to Showtime? Didn't Stargate start out on Showtime? That's been running for 10 years and most people don't even know it's on! (Mind you, the people who know REALLY know. Their not like Browncoats, but then who is?)

Showtime Entertainment chief Robert Greenblatt has expressed surprise that the pay-TV network's Weeds, about a suburban mom who sells marijuana, has created no controversy. Greenblatt told today's (Monday) Philadelphia Inquirer that the show has been ignored by anti-drug groups, religious groups, and family groups. "Controversy is always a good thing for us," Greenblatt told the newspaper. "It's great to have people talking about your stuff. When we get a great script, I'm always hoping what goes along with it is some stirred-up emotions."

Maybe controversial isn't the gold-mine it once was? Or maybe something also has to be good? Or at least interesting? I mean, Toxic Avenger XXVI might have it's controversy, but who cares?

Lost Moon

(Did you know Jim Lovell is from Wisconsin? Has streets named after him and everything! But this isn't about him. I just stole his title.)

It always amazes me the things that get lost. For instance, I discovered that Paramount had lost the original miniature of the Next Generation Enterprise. Ok, 1) It's BIG! It's six feet long! and 2) ok, I know the three foot miniature of the Original Series Enterprise remains lost to this day. But that was back when Star Trek was a failed TV show, never to be heard from again. So I can understand that. This was after Trek had been around for 25 years, was a cultural phenomenon and TNG had run for SEVEN YEARS! And they just LOST it? Mind you, it's about to be auctioned off for an expected $60,000! (See honey, makes the Master Replicas Enterprise look kind of... affordable!)

But that's not what I'm writing about. They LOST THE MOON FILMS! What are they going to do next? Misplace the Constitution?!? (Ship, document, I don't care, pick one. Hey look! It's Napoleon's birthday!) I also read recently that the bits of the Skylab program that aren't in the NASM are falling to bits, to say nothing of being a popular site for keggers. (You have Google, go look it up.) The Saturn V that sits outside Johnson Space Center is also falling apart. 50 years from now we'll say "Hrmm. Where did this stuff go?" I'll be old and won't remember my name anymore. But I'll probably intermittently mumble stuff like "HAN SHOT FIRST!" or "THERE IS NO THIRD PLANET!" and of course "WE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE MOON!" The rest home staff will love that.

(This just in -- Jim Lovell is NOT from Wisconsin. His wife is, and he went to school there. He's from Cleveland, OH! Why isn't there a James Lovell street THERE? For that matter, how come there isn't a Jerry Siegel street and a Joel Schuster Lane? Heh, Lane... Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, my toe!)