Episode 145 - The Evil Dead Films

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Anyone who’s seen the Aurora Borealis either in pictures, on video or in person knows the beauty these “Northern Lights” can produce. But they’ve rarely produced anything as beautiful as the time they allowed John Sullivan to reconnect with his long-dead father and try to save his life.

 Episode 144 - James Bond Music - Part 4
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As a member of the Television Club back in college I did a show about superheroes on film and television. This was 1992 mind you, so beyond the Supermans, the Batmans and the Hulk, most of what I was covering could hardly be considered classic.

It's hard to conceive of now but back in my day (did I really just say that?) superheroes were hardly the hot properties they are today. Aside from the aforementioned Batman and Superman, few studios were willing to take a gamble on characters from the funnybooks, and when they did they often strayed so far from the source material that the result was sheer parody.

The 80s and 90s are rife with superhero misfires both on film and television, but for today let's focus on The Punisher, Captain America and Roger Corman's infamous, unreleased Fantastic Four.

In 1989, we couldn't know we were teetering on the brink of a superhero renaissance, Sure, Tim Burton's Batman had just been released, but like Superman before it, all that film managed to do was spawn sequels, not films based on other properties. And while Superman was brought to life using state of the art techniques, no one was willing to lay out the money to realize lesser tier characters (like Iron Man perhaps?) in a realistic fashion.

By the year 2000, with the release of X-Men, everything changed. CGI effects had been around nearly a decade and had become cheap enough to breathe life into a whole host of characters that practical effects simply could not.

But in 1989, superheroes remained the purview of low budget filmmakers, many whose hearts were in the right place, but simply could not afford to create something taken seriously by the mainstream. Marvel licensed out its properties (for nominal fees) understanding that a lot of these films would never get made.

When New World Pictures bought Marvel in 1987 they announced an ambitious slate of film and television superhero adaptations. Formerly owned by Mr. Corman, New World existed in the same universe as Cannon Films, primarily producing schlocky genre and exploitation films (with an occasional diamond in the rough). Even as a 17-year old I knew not to be optimistic.

The only theatrical film they managed to produce was The Punisher starring Dolph Lundgren, which was slated to open in the summer of 1989, around the same time as Batman.

It didn't.

The non-release of The Punisher begat a trend for superhero films of this era that saw most of them released straight to video. Now, even though I understood these efforts would be of inferior quality it became an obsession for me to get my hands on them. And the only way to do that was to go to a comic book convention. No problem there.

At this time I was as deep into comics as ever, but when I attended cons I was more interested in the dealers hawking bootleg vhs tapes of stuff like the Star Wars Holiday Special and Legends of the Superheroes (which I've discussed previously). This was Holy Grail type stuff for me and prior to the Internet, the only way to obtain them was through cons or sketchy mail order.

I grabbed The Punisher sometime in '89, and it was my first (of many) time coded workprints. It wasn't the longer version that I would obtain many years later, and aside from the temp track and extra snippets of violence, it resembled the final cut that was released to video in 1991.

The Punisher is probably the best of the trio. Let's face it – there's not a heck of a lot of backstory to mess up. Frank Castle's family is murdered and he sets out to kill as many criminals as humanly possible. Period. The end.

In essence, the filmmakers got it right. The big mistake was inexplicably not showing Frank wearing his trademark skull shirt, as if they were trying to distance themselves from the comic (hardly a first with these adaptations).

Lundgren was his usual monosyllabic self, but he played the character as morose and as straight up as he is meant to be. Oscar winner Lou Gossett Jr. is on hand to lend some credibility, and for my money, it worked. It was a B production all the way, but it captured the spirit of a character who I wasn't all that fond of, but who was incredibly popular at the time.

Again, it makes no sense to me, given how popular The Punisher was at the time, that an A-list production could not be mounted on a reasonable budget. By the time those A-list films appeared Frank Castle was not nearly as popular, and they tanked.

I bought The Punisher on laserdisc and dvd, and eventually I found that elusive longer workrpint, which today has been included on a new special edition blu ray, which is available only in Germany. The blu ray features an audio commentary from director Mark Goldblatt and three versions of the film, including the workprint.

Here's a link to purchase The Punisher blu ray: http://shop.dtm.at/product_info.php?products_id=51271&osCsid=a34c9ee2452a4558ddb091eca1f54b49

We'll discuss Cap and the FF film in the upcoming weeks!

 Episode 143 - Doctor Who, Season 7 Recap

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Okay…Spoiler Alert Countdown (last chance to turn back):

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Superman’s home world of Krypton?  It isn’t destroyed.

If the rumors are to be believed, “Man of Steel” changes Superman’s back story so that all Kryptonians are genetically created, with DNA that designates the rank, role in society, etc.  But Superman’s parents, Jor-El and Lara, chose to ignore the mandate, and had their baby the good-ol-fashioned “cue the mood music and Courvoisier” way.

At some point a civil war breaks out ( whether this stems directly from baby Kal-El or not is uncertain).  As a result of the chaos, Jor-El and Lara send baby Superman to earth.

Going back and watching the most recent trailer with this in mind, three moments appear to lend credence to this rumor:

• The first actually close to the beginning and it’s a voice over (around 0:35) by Russel Crowe (playing Jor-El) where he says “What if a child dreamed of becoming something other than what society intended?”

• Next, we see Zod (played by Michael Shannon) asking “You believe your son is safe?” and then shouting (around 2:14) “I Will Find Him!” It’s believed that Zod is leading the charge to ensure that all the kids remain genetically manufactured, and so he’s telling Jor-El that he will not rest until he finds the baby.

• Finally towards the end of the trailer (2:35) Lois Lane asks the willingly incarcerated Superman about his emblem.  He explains that it’s not an “S.”  He elaborates, “On my world, it means hope.”

Note that he doesn’t say “On my world, it meant hope” — past tense.  Now it’s possible he still means that, the same way that someone might say “T-Rex?  He’s the most ferocious of all the dinosaurs.”  However my gut is saying no, and in fact Zack Snyder has in fact spared Krypton.

The thing that makes Superman so special, other than the leaping the tall buildings and so forth, is the fact that he’s “The Last Son of Krypton.”  Though our planet is his adopted home, his true home, his family, his entire race are dust in the solar winds.  Surrounded by friends and millions of people on Earth, Superman is still utterly alone.

(Okay, his cousin Supergirl, several pets and villain like Zod have cropped up over the years, but we digress).

Yet, despite that solitude, he embraces the love, guidance and teachings of his adopted parents as well as the purpose for which his biological parents sent him to our planet: Not only to escape their planet’s destruction, but to become a champion for good — a symbol to help us strive to become better.

And now…that’s gone.

This feels like a change just for change’s sake.  It’s not the only one either in the film.  By now most people know (mini spoilers ahead) that Perry White is played by Lawrence Fishburne and Jimmy Olsen is (allegedly) a girl.  And Superman’s costume has lost its red underwear.

Those are all minor things we can live with.  But Krypton surviving?  That’s iconic.

There are things you just don’t mess with.  Batman’s parents must always die to push him into a life of crime-fighting.  You can make the killer Joe Chill or pre-Joker Jack Napier, but without their deaths, Bruce isn’t going to dress up as a bat and hang around in caves with Dick (there’s a joke in there somewhere, but let’s stay PG-13 for now).

If Krypton still exists, what stops Superman from saying “Later Earthlings” and flying off back home?  His moral upbringing by the Kents I suppose.  Maybe Snyder believes it would be more powerful a message to give Kal-El a choice, and in the end he chooses to remain Earth’s protector.

Will this really be a big deal?  I guess it will depend on the rest of the movie.  Again, the trailers look amazing, and I do like how Clark starts out as an “unknown hero” helping people as he’s trying to figure out his purpose in the world.  As long as the spirit of who Superman is remains intact, then it shouldn’t matter right?

What do you think?  Is changing Krypton’s fate a deal-breaker for you, or not a big deal so long as the story is well-told?

UPDATE 05/24/13

Been meaning to circle back around to this, but a few weeks ago, Russell Crow — who plays Jor El in the upcoming film — posted a tweet that seems to squash the rumors regarding Krypton’s demise:

“ahem…as I was saying…my name is Jor El, of Krypton, as my planet dies I send 2 you my son, Kal. So he may live. He will arrive June 14″

Now we can take Russell’s post at face value and assume Krypton goes bye-bye.  But…there are many ways for the planet to “die.”  The original history saw Krypton explode due to its unstable core.  Other retellings have seen completely different reasons for the planet’s end.  A recent retcon for example showed Krypton’s demise at the hand of hostile aliens.

Plus, there’s the fact that what we’ve seen so far supports the idea of some sort of civil war taking place on Krypton.  Perhaps the planet death is more of an extinction event than an explosion.  If that happens, then where does that leave the whole Kryptonite aspect of the Superman mythos?   Fortunately we only have a few more weeks until we find out.

In the meanwhile we have the “World’s Finest” rumors to start freaking out over.

 Episode 142 - Flash Gordon - Geek Commentary
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All of us of a certain age remember how agonizing the wait between Star Wars films was. Three years felt like thirteen. We had no access to spoilers of any kind and the big reveal at the end of ESB left us all reeling. Hell, I used to have dreams about what ROTJ would be like!

I'd say the years between ESB and ROTJ represented the height of my immersion into Star Wars (ages 10-13 for me). The obsession for figures, the reading of ancillary materials like comics and novels and the desire to learn any morsel or crumb about the next film was intense.

I should add that yes, I'm that guy. I want to know it all. I don't care. It doesn't affect my enjoyment of the film. ROTJ was probably the first time I managed to spoil a film so completely - well before it was released (and in 1983, that took some doing!)

Some of you may remember an outfit called Scholastic that used to sell books to kids through their schools. Teachers would hand out a Scholastic flyer and we could pick from a large selection of offerings. Mom and Dad would write a check and anywhere from two weeks to a month later, our stuff would arrive.

Well, in February of '83 I opened my Scholastic flyer and there it was – the Official Return of the Jedi Storybook! Shipping in March! Hell, yes!

The teacher had my parents' check the next day.

Lucasfilm must have caught this and a few weeks later I received a notice that the ROTJ Storybook would not ship until May. Curses!

All was not lost however. About a month before ROTJ premiered I came back from the schoolyard to find my Holy Grail on the teacher's desk. She presented it to me and for about the next half hour I knew what it felt like to be popular, as everyone (and I mean everyone – cool kids and all) huddled around my desk to soak up the details.

My thirst for spoilers fully slaked, I had a new goal in mind – to see the film with no crowds. I remember the hell of seeing ESB with lines stretching all the way to Jersey, and I wanted no part of that.

Luckily for me, a solution presented itself right away. ROTJ would be released on a Wednesday. I attended Catholic grammar school and every Thursday was designated a "half-day" for teacher meetings and other administrative nonsense.

A friend of mine asked his mother to take us to see the film at a 1:00 p.m. showing the day after it came out, which she was happy to do. So, on May 26, 1983 I, two friends and a handful of die hards, saw ROTJ in an almost empty theater. We exited to a riot scene waiting for the next show. Mission accomplished.

So did I like it? Of course! Did I like the Ewoks? I certainly didn't mind them. At the time, I wasn't pondering questions as lofty as how these little furballs were able to take out an entire legion of the Emperor's troops. I absolutely loved Jabba's palace and the battle on the sail barge (boo on Boba Fett's death!)

The climactic duel and Vader's redemption also captivated me, and I felt his last minute conversion was credible and moving. I would say the only problem I had (back then) was the reveal of Leia as Luke's sister. It felt like a convenient, pat solution to the love triangle and the whole, "There is another" question (little did I know what was to come!) and yeah, the second Death Star felt really lazy.

I was oblivious to the departure of Producer Gary Kurtz and how that affected the plot, and in retrospect, I would've loved to see an ROTJ with his participation. Having said that, I still think the film works, on many levels. It's exciting and leaves little room for exposition, which is good, because the real downward spiral of corny, stilted Star Wars dialogue began here ("Hold me!" ugh)

In terms of the entire trilogy I'm most impressed by the evolution of Luke. In Jedi, he is a serious, confident badass. Hamill's performance is mature and assured, and it's my favorite part of the film. His verbal jousting with the Emperor and the way he goads his father away from the Dark side really stand out in my consciousness when I consider the film.

30 years on I see the chinks in Jedi's armor, but I still love it. You can poke holes in it for sure, but those holes pale by comparison to the craters found in the Prequels.

Depending on the day, I either rank it just above or just below Revenge of the Sith (after ESB and ANH of course!)

The dearth of new Star Wars material drove me to the Final Frontier rather quickly, and within the next year Star Trek had supplanted Star Wars as my favorite piece of science fiction ephemera. Star Wars runs a close second though, and as each new film was released I still mustered that childhood enthusiasm for them (as I suspect will happen when Episode VII is released).   

There are very few satisfying third acts in a film trilogy (notice I didn't say Part III's) but ROTJ delivered on the promise of ANH. It took a few cheesy short cuts here and there but for my money it's the most satisfying wrap up of any saga to date!

 Episode 141 - Return of the Jedi - 30th Anniversary
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Episode 140 - Falling Into The Black Hole

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