Star Wars Episode VII?

George Lucas, famous for creating the beloved movie series "Star Wars" as well as "Indiana Jones" (aka my favorite movies ever) has sold LucasArts to Disney. Promptly, Disney has announced Star Wars Episode 7 to be in production for 2015.

I love Star Wars. It was my favorite movie series growing up, and I still love them as much as I did way back when, but as much of a fan as I am, I can see that there is a line that shouldn't be crossed. I'm not exactly looking forward to there being an Episode 7, because the story of the series was about Anakin Skywalker's journey becoming Darth Vader (the argument can be made that the Original Trilogy is about Luke, but big picture is about Vader) and the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire. Both Darth Vader and the Empire were defeated, so is there really any further story to tag onto this movie series? The established story arc was brought to a close.

another thing that bugs me is that the visual difference between the Original and Prequel trilogies are like night and day. The prequel trilogy is probably like 80% computer-generated (a good deal of Episode 1 was shot practically) as opposed to the Original Trilogy, which was probably 25% or less computer-generated. Adding another 80% or more computer-generated trilogy could potentially decrease the magic of the Original Trilogy. This pains me greatly.

All this being said, I'm still a fan of Star Wars. All I'm really trying to say is that while I will be interested to see the movie, I'm not jumping up in down in my seat for it.

New Video - Don't Look or it Takes You

I've been trying to put together a Halloween video for a while now, and while the "Hotel of Horror" video I shot in my hotel in LeClaire Iowa does qualify as Halloween, it just wasn't doing it for me. That video was just something I put together on the spurs of the moment, and while shooting it I had no clue what it would end up being. This new video I shot last night takes the cake, and it deals with a computer game that's currently popular, "Slender: The Eight Pages". While I've never played the game myself, I've seen countless YouTube videos about it recently. "Don't Look or it Takes You" was an idea I was toying around with since the beginning of this month, possibly before then as well.

Don't Look or it Takes You

There are some subtle things in this video that refer to horror: In the tight shot of the flashlight being picked up and turned on, on the desk there is a "Pirates of the Caribbean" soundtrack box set (I highly recommend these scores, they're amazing) with the Skull and Crossbones on an angle, but still facing the camera. Also there is an "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" collector's glass that the light first shines on. Although it's barely visible, the top of a CD case for the soundtrack of "Titanic" is right below the flashlight. While "Titanic" is not a horror film, it still deals with the horrendous disaster of the Titanic.

Also, I did a Behind-The-Scenes video to compliment it. I don't normally spend the time to do BTS vids (most of the time, the making of process is quite boring), but since this one I had to do some more technique-related things, I figured it'd be worth my while. Little did I know that doing this BTS video would lead to me going to war against my old computer... but I won the battle.

On The Road

Yesterday, my family and I took a one-day trip over to Leclaire, Iowa to do some antiquing (a family favorite). This town has been made famous by the television show, American Pickers. For those of you who haven't seen this show, it's about these two guys who "travel the back roads of America looking for rusty gold". They search all over for antiques they can buy and sell, with the help of Danielle, who keeps their shop (Antique Archaeology) and sends them leads.

While we were there, we got to go to the store where the show is filmed. While we didn't meet Mike, Frank, or Dannie, we did get to see several items that we saw them buy on the show. It was really cool, and for me, it was just about as cool as seeing the Harry Potter exhibition a few years ago, or when the Star Wars costumes and props were on display in Toledo when I was a kid. We also think we saw Mike's car downtown!

Also while I was in Iowa, I shot a short film in our hotel room. Busted out my new Antique Archaeology tee for it. :)

Questions and Answers: Chronicles of the Chronicler (series)

WARNING: This Q&A contains plot spoilers!

Q: What is "The Fallen Order"?

A: The title of the first season is somewhat unexplained, but "The Fallen Order" refers to the Toa. At the start of the film, the Toa have all disappeared. It is revealed in Episode 2 that the most of them have died. Takua, Pohatu, and Onua are still alive, but Takua has shirked his responsibilities as Toa, Pohatu has been possessed by the dark side, and Onua is in hiding. The order of the Toa has apparently fallen and has been fallen for quite some time. In the end of the film, both Onua and Pohatu die, but Takua returns as Toa, restoring this Order to a fraction of its former glory.


Q: How closely do these stories tie in to the original Bionicle story lines?

A: There are varying degrees of faithfulness to the source material. The first one starts off utterly defying the real story lines by saying the Toa and some of the Turaga have died. The series also overlook the fact that it is very possible to bring a Bionicle back to life (this being most obvious in the first and third seasons, where all characters react as though it is impossible). The original 2003 Bionicle plot line killed Jaller, Takua, and Makuta all off, but brought them back. Also in the 2003 plot, the island of Mata-Nui was destroyed, and the Matoran were moved to the island of Metru-Nui. There are also several more Great Kanohi masks than the limited number mentioned in the second season (which were limited to just the Toa Nuva masks, the Toa Metru Masks, the Mask of Time, and the masks of Takua and Makuta).
However, every single character in the series came from the original stories (with the only exception of Altair in "The Lost World") with their original personalities in tact (the only exceptions are Brander, Boras, and Aft; none of whom had personalities in the original stories). The Toa characters have more flaws than in the original stories, but the core characteristics are grounded in the source material. All of the original terms (such as Rahi, Widgets, and Kanohi) were used too.
It can also be noted that in the third season, the Mask of Time creates an "alternate reality" scenario, so it's a little permissible to excuse these differences.
 

Q: Why does Vakama sound like Professor Snape from Harry Potter?

A: I did all of the voices in the first two seasons and most of them in the third season. When you have that many characters to do, you sometimes need to do some imitating of other voices to add some variety. For Vakama, I did an imitation of Alan Rickman's performance as Professor Severus Snape from the beloved film series based on J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels. Some viewers of this series seem to dislike this choice, but I really thought the voice suited the character.
Some other voices that were based on celebrities' voices are: Kongu - Billy Boyd, Whenua - Ray Winstone, Matau - George Harrison, Ehrye - Christan Bale (as Batman), Nuparu - Gordon Ramsey (only in "Masks of Power"), Matoro - Paul Lieberstein (only "Masks of Power"), Brander - Christopher Lee, Aft - Andy Serkis (as Gollum), Norik - Ian McKellen, Altair - Christopher Lloyd.
It can also be noted that Makuta's voice in the series is based heavily on Lee Tockar's performance of the character in the Bionicle motion pictures.


Q: Will there be any future installments of the COTC series?

A: No. The series is over. It had a definite ending that tied up the lose ends.
I'm not going to say that there won't be any spin-offs. I've got some ideas I'm considering (ONLY considering, nothing is definite).


Q: Why did several characters' voices change in the final season?

A: Hahli and Pohatu were voiced by Shannon Asprooth and Carl Mohr in this film. I didn't think the audience would get up in arms if an actual woman voiced Hahli instead of me, and all of Pohatu's lines in Season 1 were distorted given his condition and to sound more menacing. As for some of the other characters, the voices were changed for other reasons. I had a hard time recreating Matoro's, Onua's, and Hewkii's voices from the first two seasons. When I tried to do Matoro's, my voice kept squeaking and it sounded really bad. Onua's original voice I never really liked, but two years had passed between "Fallen Order" and "The Lost World", and I was having a hard time getting it to sound the same. Hewkii always presented a problem because in Season 1, I did his voice while recovering from a cold, so I had a hard time recreating it in Season 2 as well.

MST3K Puppet rough sketches

I've been working on figuring out what the MST3K robots were A) made of and B) operated. It'd be fun to make my own replicas of them someday...

MST3K remake: a crazy dream, but a dream none the less

Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I don't know what I'd be getting myself into, but I seriously would love to do a Mystery Science Theater 3000 remake. I am serious here, too. I may be just a amateur film maker, but I very much would want to do it.

 

 As far as I can tell, the fanbase from MST3K has never died out. There are still thousands of fans out there, who would crave to see the Not-To-Distant Future again. I am one of them, and I do crave it. This is a show that lasted ten seasons and made a total of 197 two-hour shows (without commercial signs, hour and a half) AND a full-length feature film! Not many television shows make it that far, including the popular ones. Whether you liked Joel or Mike better as the host, or if you preferred the Mads over Pearl, Bobo and Brain Guy, you can't deny the show was something special. In 2007, it was included on Time Magazine's list of 100 Best Television Shows of All-Time. The show has even been referenced (albeit subtly) on the popular TV series, "The Office". (season 3 episode 23 "Beach Games", Michael jumps out of the bus onto the sand, turns around and shouts "WATCH OUT FOR SNAKES!!!", one of the show's biggest recurring gags inspired by the 1962 movie "Eegah" featured on MST3K season 5.)

I've seen the behind-the-scenes video they made in the Season 8ish period for the show, and I have a good understanding on how the show was made. It's all very simplistic, and any remake would have to be just as simplistic, just as cheesy to make it work. They themselves even said that they were using real film-student level techniques to achieve the theater segments (a Chroma effect, which I have done some experimenting with in the past). I also understand the hardships they went through righting the scripts for the theater segments, making sure that they synced up with the film and were delivered at just the right moment. The puppets were made with regular house-hold items, and puppeteered using PVC pipes and fishing wire. I do admit, I'm baffled as to how they made Crow's eyes move, but I understand the mechanics behind the mouth and head.

One disadvantage (or possibly an advantage for a remake to put a fresh spin on them) is that some of the house-hold items used to create the 'Bots aren't in production anymore. Servo's head was obviously made out of a candy dispenser that is still in production (as far as I know) and Crow's head of a bowling pin, soap dish, hockey mask (also heard it said that its a lacrosse net, but I'm not sure), and some ping-pong balls. I'm also told that most Crow's pieces that make up his body aren't in production anymore, so it might just be easier (and cheaper) to style your own Crow body for a remake. Gypsy is another matter. I'm not entirely sure what she is made of, but I think it might be a length of pipe, a large flashlight, and an upside down child's car seat. I would also guess that Gypsy would be top-heavy, so I assume there must be some kind of counter-weight down below. Cambot is really no biggie, really. His appearance changed every new theme song video from the KTMA era episodes, to official season 1, to season 2, then again in season 5. Plus, he was never on-screen very much if at all. It would be easy to make a new cambot puppet.

^ this video give excellent examples of how the PVC pipes were used to control the heads.

http://www.mst3kguy.com/Bots/BotsTop.htm - this website list pieces used to make replica 'Bots.

There are still plenty of bad movies out there. They make more of them every year, and in some cases, Hollywood hasn't gotten any better! Some films are just asking for the MST3K treatment. And another reason I think doing a remake of MST3K would be fun and cool is that it's a new generation. While most of the jokes on the original show are still hilarious to this day, some jokes go over the younger viewer's heads. My father and brother have had to explain some of them to me in the past, and I typically understand most of the riffs. Updating the commentary on some new film would be a great way of bringing this beloved television show back to life.

As always, budget is a key factor. I'd figure it would be best to pay homage to how cheesily done the original sets and such were. That was part of what made the host segments funny. Sure, update them a little, but not that much. The biggest coup would be to get the rights to the show, and to a movie to make fun of. That wouldn't be cheap at all, even if the movie is a piece of crap. At first I thought, would a kickstarter get anywhere near close enough to make a decent attempt? Then I read that when the original 16mm film workprint of the infamous "Manos: The Hands of Fate" (a legend amongst MST3K fans everywhere) was discovered and a guy raised 48,000 dollars on kickstarter to remaster it. If he could get that amount of support from fans of MST3K (and let's face it, how many of them were fans of the movie on its own?), then how much could be raised for the actual show itself?

Again, this is just my wishful thinking that I could remake the show. I know it will probably never ever happen, but you've got to have ambition if you're gonna make it in the film business, right? Never give up on your dreams. Maybe some day, I will be able to fulfill this hopeless fantasy... but for now, it remains just that: A fantasy.

My Reviews: Sherlock - Season 2

I previously wrote a review of Sherlock season 1, and I loved it. Now I'm moving onto season 2.

I first watched it online off the BCC (or PBS, I forget where it was) website, where it was available for a short period of time. The quality wasn't great, but hey it was free. More recently, I acquired it on DVD from my library, so I could watch it again and pay more attention. As was the case in season 1, I enjoyed the season greatly. That being said, I probably enjoyed the first one better.

I still won't go into details on the plots, it's still mystery-oriented (obviously) and I still believe you shouldn't know too much about mystery plots going into the show. I'm told that the three episodes they did for this season were adaptations of three of the most popular Sherlock Holmes stories. I've never actually read them, though. They definitely went down the darker route, and made Sherlock almost an unlikeable character at times. They also delved deeper into the characters, fleshing out the relationships of Sherlock and Mycroft. At times, though, I felt Watson's character development was put on hold.

The first episode of the season went way over my head the first time I watched it. It might have been just because I was watching it in my living room while my dad and brother were watching sports on the TV... but the story WAS complicated. BUT.... the last episode was just. Pure. AMAZING. The ending had me glued to the screen, and that's actually hard to do for me! I'm struggling not to give away any spoilers in this review, but just trust me: It's done very well, and I hate having to wait for the next season!