I think part of the idea was: How much setup does a movie based on Greek mythology need? We all know who Zeus and Hades are. We all like giant Scorpions and Greek soldiers fighting. Put them in a box, let them fight... MAKE MONEY!
But it didn't really work, in my humblest of opinions.
We all know it was evil... but why was that again?
All answers are welcome, but something deeper than "The Emperor was evil, therefore the Empire was evil" would be awesome.
All Gov't's first task is self preservation. What was it about the Empire that made it so evil?
I guess it's hard for me to separate Pullman's statements on the matter from the material in the book itself. I believe him when he says what his intentions were. Perhaps if I had read the books prior to hearing what he said they were about I would feel differently.
Similarly, I thought the DaVinci code was a decent romp when I first read it. Then I heard/saw Dan Brown out there trying to convince people it was all true. That ruined his books for me.
Yeah, the books don't say there is no God, just that the angel currently claiming to be God is lying. He was the first angel created, so when all the other angels came into being just after him, he kicked back and said, "See what a good job I did, guys?"
But that angel is the God of all of the religions in the book, right? The gap is pretty narrow between that and Pullman preaching that the God that all reallife religions and religious people worship (like myself, for example) is not actually a God, but a charlatan who deserves to be put down and overthrown. And I know a lot of people who love the books cherish that element of it.
It's sort of like me saying that I made up this story about these two friends on a Star Wars message board (not this one, it's fictional) named Bingowings and ChainsawAsh (not you two, these are just characters in my story) and they are the ugliest fellows you ever saw. You might feel a little offended at that, no matter how many times I assured you it was all a little fiction I came up with, right?
But like I said, perhaps I would see it differently had I read the books without the influence of Pullman's extratextual commentary.
One more comment about the Jedi in this timeframe, which I sort of hinted at here:
The Jedi, previous to this, are not an official "group" but more like samurai who are out doing their own thing... The war causes them to organize- which makes it easier for their enemies to take them out.
Most people are a little suspicious of the Jedi at this point in time. The back to back Clone Wars are blamed on the Jedi. Not because of anything specific they did... but more for not stopping them in the first place. The Jedi are supposed to help keep the peace- the wars have been anything buy peace. A lot of people look to the Jedi to throw off their non-agressive ways and forecefully bring peace to the galaxy. The fact that they haven't means that a lot of people have lost hope and trust in the Jedi. Less devout Jedi have begun to leave the order and stopped self identifying as such to avoid the persecution.
When the masterminds of this second (and last) Clone War are revealed to be Dark Jedi, then the Jedi organize to fight back. Because the Dark Jedi are their responsibility, and because they are besmirching their good name, they rally to defeat them. People get behind them then. And they are rock stars for a season... then the Dark Times begin...
Ashtu.
I promised to brain dump in this forum the thoughts and ideas I've been mulling over for xhonzi's interpretation of "The Mulligan Prequel Trilogy" or mPT. I've decided to break each major subject into its own thread, even though each thread may not get a lot of traffic. The idea there is to keep the subject from wandering too far, though I do know that this is OT.com afterall.
Primer: You may want to read my first thread about the Clone Wars setting: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/mPT-The-Clone-Wars/topic/11866/
Also, let me try to give some credit where it is due. While many of these ideas were devloped outside of the OT.com influence, many others were developed by or in conjunction with members here, but I won't be giving specific credit because I can't remember who said what/where/when.
I don't know: Pullman seems to think so:
Philip Pullman:My books are about killing God!
"I suppose technically, you'd have to put me down as an agnostic. But if there is a God, and He is as the Christians describe Him, then He deserves to be put down and rebelled against".
Pullman has said in interviews and appearances that this argument can extend to all religions.
Hmm... I never knew that, despite all of my time in Albania... I wonder if C3PX will have anything to say about that when he comes back.
Hmmm ... nuk e dija, pavarësisht kohën që kisha në Shqipëri... Mundoj unë nëse C3PX do të ketë ndonjë gjë të thotë kur ai kthehet.
Yeah, they've really raped that metaphor through cliched use.
*sorry*
Thing with the DVD's is...
ANH..Greedo shoots first...Crap!!!
ESB...Bloody new Palps scene and then the whole Vaders Shuttle scene...And Fetts shitty voice....Crap!!!
ROTJ...Well Hayden (which I don't mind so much, but only if we watch them 1 - 6, otherwise it makes no bloody sense)....
And the GOUT dvd's just look a little shitty on a big TV...
I want her to see the films in the best possible way she can...It's important to me...haha!!!
Have you considered Harmy? I haven't watched them yet myself, but I dig the idea of them... Which reminds me... watch Harmy's DSEs.
We watched the new Clash of the Titans last night. (Don't blame me! Redbox keeps sending me these 'free rental' coupons. Which, if you're wondering, get you $1 off of a $1.50 BD rental). I enjoyed the three major action pieces (Scorpions, Medusa, and the Kraken) on their own, but I have to say I thought the movie overall was a real stinker.
I'm frequently amazed after sitting through a full length feature to think- This movie wasn't worth 2 hours of my time, but a handful of people spent 2+ years of their lives to make it. I didn't find anything very compelling in Clash of the Titans, so I'm a little baffled that everyone that read the script decided it was a 'go' movie.
I was disappointed in the underuse of the Pantheon of Gods. Zeus has lots of screentime, but very little character depth of any kind. Hades gets screentime, but beyond 'wanting to stick it to Zeus' he's also very boring. Apollo, Athena, etc.. are on screen for a few seconds total, and usually out of focus.
I think it's interesting to compare this movie to its namesake, and understand how they're both a product of their times. Some spoilers to follow, but really, it's not good enough to worry about spoiling:
The romance: 1981 had a pretty traditional love story between Andromeda and Perseus. She was a princess, she was in distress, and the hero got to rescue her and therefore woo her. The new movie still has a princess named Andromeda in it, but Perseus really couldn't care less. In fact, Perseus can't be bothered to care much about anything in the movie, it seems, except getting revenge on Hades for flippantly sinking his adopted family's fishing boat and doing it on his own mortal terms and ignoring Zeus's attempts to help him out. Along the way, there is some vague sexual tension between Perseus and some cursed Gemma Arterton (whom I couldn't recognize here from watching Prince of Persia two days prior. I guess one of the movies had her in good make-up?) character who has been watching over Perseus since he was a baby (sounds 'hot', amiright?). The movie ends telling us they live happily ever after together, which had me wondering when I was told that either of them were really interested in that. I guess I missed an alternate ending where Andromeda and Perseus end up together, but they don't even really interact in the movie... so that doesn't seem that it would work. At any rate (I'm rambling) it's odd that Andromeda is still in the movie when her role as the romantic interest has been supplanted by Arterton's character. I suppose that our modern sensibilities require that the female lead do something other than wait back at the castle and worry, knit, and maybe make cookies. So Arterton gets to go on the adventure, and Andromeda gets to be put into peril. Perseus is indifferent in any case. Boy, do I love post modernism!
Additionaly, this movie has an odd religious message, when compared to the original. The reason the gods of Olympus are upset in the first place in this movie is that man is turning away from their religion and deciding to "do it myself!" The people portrayed to be anti-religion are practical and heroic. The people who are pro-religion are fearful idiots at their best, and dangerous crazy cult members who sacrifice virgin princesses and burn their own skin in futility at their worst. So I took a kind of "Rah rah atheism!" message from that. Which is odd, since the movie spends a great deal of time reminding us that Zeus and Hades are, in fact, real gods who do respond to things like worship and prayer. I just think it's an odd time to make a "god does not exist" statement... in a movie showcasing how powerful the gods are. And that Perseus is able to succeed where everyone else fails... because he's half god. It reminded me of The Golden Compass books/movie. "God does not exist! I will prove it to you by showing Him to you, showing you that He isn't as good as everyone says He is, and then we'll KILL him! Take THAT! the God in whom I do not believe!" At any rate, this is a very fitting story for a movie made in today's religious belief climate, I guess. It would have never flown in 1981.
In conclusion, I found it to be an odd (and bad, as long as we're assigning adjectives) film that didn't seem to know what to do with itself, except for showing Greeks (with British accents, and all other trappings of movie historical types) fight giant Greek inspired monsters. That part was just fine... I just wish that there would have been some more substance to it. Not a whole lot, just something that made the waiting between action scenes worthwhile.
But Mads Mikkelsen (not to be confused with Michael Madsen) was excellent.
*coughs up milk, some of which comes up my nose* What? The DVD's not that bad? Have you compared Revisited to the 2004 DVD? I know you're a woman, but surely you have more discerning tastes than that, Gaffer?
Sweet!
In other news, with 8 new R.E.M. tracks released for Rock Band today, I shall have no problem spending my 2400 pts this month, with or without the option to gift points to poor SIMs.
Porkins and the Came From Behinds ride again!
The gifting part?
Yes, the PT becomes a GIANT flashback. I'm not completely sold on the 451236 order, but that might just be due to my undying hatred of the PT. Even so... do you want to watch three mostly unrelated movies before resolving the ESB cliff hangers?
Ringo- you can buy 400 and 800 point lumps from Xbox.com.
I've never personally cared about the lumps that points are sold in as I usually keep a stack of points on my account. So I've never had to buy 500 so that I could spend 400. Though- it's not like the remaining 100 expire or anything... Next time you needed 400, and you bought another 500... You'd have 200 left over, right? Eventually it would work itself out. Maybe people are worried about loaning MS a couple bucks until they spend it?
I do wish I could gift some points to the sims. And by sims, I mean my wife, kids, or friends. My family can play whatever I buy for the xbox on my account, but my son has recently taken to football and he wanted to get a football for his avatar. It was 80 points, which equates to about 50 cents from the points in my account. It seems worth it, to me, to encourage his interest in the sport... But I don't want to unload $5 on 400 points just to spend 80 of them. Who knows how long it would take to spend all 400 points on his account, if ever. It'd be nice if I could 'paypal' him the 80 points or just gift him the football.
You guys are no fun. I guess I'll just wait for C3PX to show up, because I know he'd like a little exercise like this.
What money? It's points!
Xbox: Spend 2400 pts on Xbox Live in the month of October, get 800 back. http://www.xbox.com/en-US/press/2010/0930-thankyougift.htm
So, I'd been seeing this advertised, but I assumed it was only for certain XBLA titles like they've done in the past. But it's actually for anything... So it's like get 2400 pts worth of stuff for 1600, I guess.
I'll probably get (since I was going to get them anyways, sooner or later):
Minerva Den for BioShock 2 - 800
Lara Croft and the G o' L - 1200
Monkey Island 2 - 800
Some Rock Band tracks - 400 or 500
Any better ideas?
Do you ever see product placement, or some sponsorships and wonder which way the money went?
a) Tiger woods wears a Tag Heuer chronometer. It's obvious they pay him to wear it and to have his name/image associated with their brand. (At least, this was the case a year ago.) Product -> Wearer
b) YOU wear a Tag Heuer chronometer... you pay big bucks for the watch, so... Product <- Wearer.
Those two are easy... here comes the dodgy one:
c) Pro Golfer Matt Jones wants to wear a Tag Heuer... does he have to pay for one? Does he get paid for one? Or do they give him one for free and it's a wash? Product ??? Wearer.
Iron Man drinks a Dr. Pepper. Product -> Drinker.
YOU drink a Dr. Pepper. Product <- Drinker.
So... Brad Pitt drinks a Dr. Pepper. Product ??? Drinker.
James Bond drives an Aston Martin. Product ??? Driver
What do you think?
George shot first?
I made an English account for my PS3 so I could download the Castlevania Demo. It clocked in at about 1.5 GB and took me about 12 or 15 minutes to beat... so I'm not sure why it was so short...
I liked what I played, but these kind of games tend to not demo very well, in my opinion. I'm hoping to like the full game- when I get around to playing it in 6 to 8 months. ;)
EDIT: Bah! Now the Castlevania demo is on 360 for everybody... so much for being sneaky.
(Galactic) Empire State of Mind http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fvWgJz6ees
Seriously, go listen to it/watch it.
Yep, that's Dead Rising 2 alright. I guess you haven't been keeping tabs on this game, Frink? Or are you just surprised he didn't duct tape chainsaws to the front of his trike?
What I have planned for Palpatine I know isn't going to be very popular. Most of the time, other people's ideas are met with, "Hmm... I don't know, that seems to be as bad (or worse!) as the Prequels we have right now..." But my Palpatine plans are more commonly met with:
PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY:
NOOooooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooo!
And so I'll do it in another thread, just to keep that kind of response out of this one. ;)