(no subject)
Jan. 21st, 2014 10:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Looks like I'm going to be buried under a mountain of snow at the moment. There were 4 inches on the ground by the time I made it home, under blizzard conditions, and it's still going strong. It's quiet outside, as if the city has been placed underneath a big white blanket. Sort of pretty actually. Just wish I didn't have to troop through it tomorrow. (No, I don't get snow days - I work for a transportation agency. But if nothing is running - I'm taking a personal day. ) It's not the snow I dread, but the cold temperatures. Supposed to be in the teens tomorrow, and will be for the next few days, warmest is 34 on Sat. Which means the snow isn't going to melt any time soon.
2. Apparently they fired the previous scriptwriter for the new Star Wars, and now Lawrence Kasadan and JJ Abrahms have been announced as the new script writers, with Abrahms directing.
Star Wars "Episode VII" continues pre-production, Lawrence Kasdan and director J.J. Abrams have assumed screenwriting duties for the film. Kasdan, who has been serving as a consultant on the film, is a veteran of several classic Lucasfilm productions, writing the screenplay for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and serving as co-screenwriter for "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." Acclaimed director and screenwriter Abrams' credits include "Super 8," "Mission: Impossible III," "Fringe," and "Lost."
The other blurb that I've read is the focus is now going to return to Han, Leia, and Luke - with the next episodes focusing on their children.
As a fan of the original Star Wars franchise, specifically Empire Strikes Back, I'm thrilled.
(Note - I did not like the prequels - which disappointed me.) Star Wars was my original fandom, well that and The Monkeys. But Star Wars made me a sci-fi fan. (I was too young to enjoy Star Trek and Doctor Who - they were scary.) So - it looks like that Lucas leaving the franchise - might be the best thing that happened to it?
This sort of brings up something that I've been muddling over in regards to film and tv franchises...which is the credited creator often isn't what made the tv series wonderful.
Sure they came up with the world and the idea, but if it weren't for A,B,C,D,E, and F - that show would have sucked beans.
Having watched not one but two credited show-runner/directors attempt to continue their series long after they ended, I've decided that I'm crediting the wrong person for the film/series. In Lucas' case, it is worth noting that the best of the three films was written by Lawrence Kasadan, who also wrote Raider's of the Lost Arc, the best of the Indiana Jones films. Also, it's worth noting that the best of the Star Wars flicks was not directed by Lucas. And the executive producer is Kathleen Kennedy - who worked on the original films. Abrahams is a decent action director...so this could work. Plus it's not a reboot, as originally thought, but a continuation of the series. Apparently Mark Hamil, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford have all expressed interest in returning. If so, I hope they choose to focus on Han's character - just because Ford's the only one who has done much serious acting in the intervening years.
3. What is it about television serials and villains? You just can't keep a good villain down, can you? I keep wanting to ask the writers - what's the problem, you can't come up with new villains???
Good and nice tv characters die, dead to the world. They can't get out of jail even if they are innocent, can't escape...and we go through frustrating and lengthy trials. But villains? They can escape, get out jail, get let off the hook, and appear to be immortal. You can't kill them. It's not possible.
This is particularly true of daytime soap opera villains. And well villains on fantasy and science fictions series on occasion, as well as the occasional serial killer procedural. (Although weirdly, villains die off more on fantasy and sci-fi series...weirdly, because it's more plausible for the villain to survive on those series or at least pop up again.)
Whenever a nice or good character - is killed off they can't return from the dead. But a nasty villain - gets killed off and does return to drive the hero crazy. What's up with that?
I noticed this happening on Buffy - Jenny Calendar and Tara - dead. The villains...tend to survive, with a few exceptions. Will give that show credit for killing a lot of them off.
In soaps it's even worse...in General Hospital which jumped the shark four times in the space of one tv show - a record, but what do you expect with the writing team behind Special Needs Todd on OLTL? In that show, we have two villains back from the dead. Oh and another villain who kidnapped a lead heroine on the series, kept her hostage for two years, tortured her, and traumatized her family...not only got a get-out-of-jail free card but the position of Chief of Staff at General Hospital. Another villain - was stabbed, buried, and managed to dig herself out, drag herself to a hospital, and get fixed up, and come back and kidnap the girlfriend of the person who stabbed her. This same villain has been shot, and fallen off the roof of a building. And as far as I know - she's human. Alrighty then.
2. Apparently they fired the previous scriptwriter for the new Star Wars, and now Lawrence Kasadan and JJ Abrahms have been announced as the new script writers, with Abrahms directing.
Star Wars "Episode VII" continues pre-production, Lawrence Kasdan and director J.J. Abrams have assumed screenwriting duties for the film. Kasdan, who has been serving as a consultant on the film, is a veteran of several classic Lucasfilm productions, writing the screenplay for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and serving as co-screenwriter for "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." Acclaimed director and screenwriter Abrams' credits include "Super 8," "Mission: Impossible III," "Fringe," and "Lost."
The other blurb that I've read is the focus is now going to return to Han, Leia, and Luke - with the next episodes focusing on their children.
The new Star Wars film has been retooled to centre on the iconic characters of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Oscar-winning screenwriter Michael Arndt was replaced by saga stalwart Lawrence Kasdan in October for JJ Abrams's film, which is being pitched as the first in a new trilogy. The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog now reports that decision was taken because Arndt had planned to focus on the children of the characters played by Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford. Luke, Leia and Han would have appeared in supporting roles.
Kasdan, who wrote 1980's The Empire Strikes Back, will produce a screenplay that centres on the space opera's original stars so audiences can have "one more chance to enjoy them before a fitting send-off", suggests Heat Vision. "The new characters, the offspring, will now be in supporting roles ... and take centre stage in Episode VIII and IX," continues the report.
As a fan of the original Star Wars franchise, specifically Empire Strikes Back, I'm thrilled.
(Note - I did not like the prequels - which disappointed me.) Star Wars was my original fandom, well that and The Monkeys. But Star Wars made me a sci-fi fan. (I was too young to enjoy Star Trek and Doctor Who - they were scary.) So - it looks like that Lucas leaving the franchise - might be the best thing that happened to it?
This sort of brings up something that I've been muddling over in regards to film and tv franchises...which is the credited creator often isn't what made the tv series wonderful.
Sure they came up with the world and the idea, but if it weren't for A,B,C,D,E, and F - that show would have sucked beans.
Having watched not one but two credited show-runner/directors attempt to continue their series long after they ended, I've decided that I'm crediting the wrong person for the film/series. In Lucas' case, it is worth noting that the best of the three films was written by Lawrence Kasadan, who also wrote Raider's of the Lost Arc, the best of the Indiana Jones films. Also, it's worth noting that the best of the Star Wars flicks was not directed by Lucas. And the executive producer is Kathleen Kennedy - who worked on the original films. Abrahams is a decent action director...so this could work. Plus it's not a reboot, as originally thought, but a continuation of the series. Apparently Mark Hamil, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford have all expressed interest in returning. If so, I hope they choose to focus on Han's character - just because Ford's the only one who has done much serious acting in the intervening years.
3. What is it about television serials and villains? You just can't keep a good villain down, can you? I keep wanting to ask the writers - what's the problem, you can't come up with new villains???
Good and nice tv characters die, dead to the world. They can't get out of jail even if they are innocent, can't escape...and we go through frustrating and lengthy trials. But villains? They can escape, get out jail, get let off the hook, and appear to be immortal. You can't kill them. It's not possible.
This is particularly true of daytime soap opera villains. And well villains on fantasy and science fictions series on occasion, as well as the occasional serial killer procedural. (Although weirdly, villains die off more on fantasy and sci-fi series...weirdly, because it's more plausible for the villain to survive on those series or at least pop up again.)
Whenever a nice or good character - is killed off they can't return from the dead. But a nasty villain - gets killed off and does return to drive the hero crazy. What's up with that?
I noticed this happening on Buffy - Jenny Calendar and Tara - dead. The villains...tend to survive, with a few exceptions. Will give that show credit for killing a lot of them off.
In soaps it's even worse...in General Hospital which jumped the shark four times in the space of one tv show - a record, but what do you expect with the writing team behind Special Needs Todd on OLTL? In that show, we have two villains back from the dead. Oh and another villain who kidnapped a lead heroine on the series, kept her hostage for two years, tortured her, and traumatized her family...not only got a get-out-of-jail free card but the position of Chief of Staff at General Hospital. Another villain - was stabbed, buried, and managed to dig herself out, drag herself to a hospital, and get fixed up, and come back and kidnap the girlfriend of the person who stabbed her. This same villain has been shot, and fallen off the roof of a building. And as far as I know - she's human. Alrighty then.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2014-01-22 04:51 am (UTC)"I have a bad feeling about this."
no subject
Date: 2014-01-22 02:28 pm (UTC)Mark Hamil has done an enormous amount of excellent voice acting. If the scripts are good, I'm not worried about him. I'm slightly more worried about Carrie Fisher's ability to play anything outside of thinly veiled versions of Carrier Fisher.
Whenever a nice or good character - is killed off they can't return from the dead. But a nasty villain - gets killed off and does return to drive the hero crazy. What's up with that?
Ratings.
Writers love to write villains.
Actors love to play villains.
Coming up with new villains after you've put time into existing ones is hard....