Action figures, Movies, Games, TV shows, things I like, Things I hate, weird news old or recent... they're fair game for my rants.
DISCLAIMER: OPINIONS POSTED ARE EXAGGERATED FOR COMEDIC EFFECT!! Got it?
Minus the whole asshole who thinks he's God thing. But he's totally the new Seagal as his movies are getting the Straight to Streaming stigma that plagued Seagal during the straight to DVD twilight of his acting career.
Is part of the Live Action Cast for Voltron Live Action on Amazon. Honestly, I dunno. Cavill is box office cancer. Sure, Voltron is direct to streaming, but Cavill has been a flop magnet for some time.
I have to be honest here. I'm very afraid about this project... I fear massive disrespect towards the original. I fear changes made for "modern audiences". I mean Disney is allegedly changing the Doom/Richards relationship. So you can see why I'm worried.
Iknow that this is old news, but I was asked my thoughts about it. Like it says on the title: it's not a big deal. Shiro, the kickass paladin who can be a bit dull at times likes men. It's not a bad thing really. All this time, he never showed interest in women and he was a kickass capable warrior. Unless he suddenly becomes "Gayshiro" and does everything very homosexually, while pointing out that he is doing it VERY HOMOSEXUALLY, then there is no big deal.
In a way it's nice that this is revealed on almost the wnd of the series. Since they are dealing with the Paladins returning to Earth and finding out what changed while they were gone. This reveal feels organic. My only fear is that Shiro becomes "The gay one" as in stereotypical gay dude. Luckily, the whole Girl Pidge reveal has shown us that it wasn't a big deal... mostly because of the writing.
(Wish I could say the same of Etherian girl Utena)
Also, Shiro's former partner is called Adam. A part of me wants David Hayter to voice him...
No, but seriously, It's just how Lance was officially made into a Latino... a "throwaway line" about him being Cuban. (Though his Latino Heat gave it away a long time ago)
I've not finished watching Voltron: Legendary Defender yet... I'm about 7 episodes or so, but I'm of mixed emotions with this re-imagining.
It's much better than Voltron Force, eh? and no, the eh, is not a jab against Canada. I'm using speak to text and it came out like that. I have deleted a few umms and uhhs but I found the eh kinda cute. So totally nothing to do with Voltron Force using Canadian VAs.
Let's start with the bad: The Voltron Theme makes no reference to the Original Theme, but it's way better than Voltron Force's. One good thing I can say about Voltron: The Third Dimension is that they kept the Real Voltron Theme...
Allura no longer pilots a lion. She stays behind most of the time and away from the action. Seriously? All the brouhaha about Empowering Women in the 21st Century and this new Allura is chilling on the Castle, while the Male Pilots are on the trenches? That's Sexist!! At least 80s Allura went out there and fought!
The episodes are not meant for stand-alone watching. The show is meant to be binge watched and that makes you burn through them too fast!
The Good: The Voice Cast, but to be fair, ALL Voltron toons have had GREAT VAs. (Nothing tops the Original with Narration by Optimus Prime Himself!) but to be fair, Voltron Force Had an Optimus Prime (energon) AND He-Man (new Adventures) in their VA group... (and a bunch of VAs from 200X MOTU and MLP:FIM)
For Legendary Defender We get a SpectacularSven, I mean Shiro... with a Robotic Right Arm (and for a few times he suffers some mild lapses involving the arm... Coincidences with Shalashaska are purely coincidental) Allura is a Batgirl with a British Accent. Haggar is voiced by Cree Summer. I was going to add a Penny Clip, but most of the clips I found are from the Netflix Gadget voiced by Princess Bookhorse. So, yeah! Legendary Defender has some great VAs
The series itself is pretty good! I did not like how they managed the Transformation without the Traditional lines... They did throw nods to it though. The "Form Feet and Legs..." was made in a joking manner, which pissed me off. No exaggeration here. It pissed me off for reals. The "Activate Interlocks..." was used for the Castle, that's a Spaceship now!
The episodes are not meant for stand-alone watching. The show is meant to be binge watched and that makes you lose notion of the time! Then we have the...
Spoilers redacted.
You got Netflix? You should be watching Voltron... IT's pretty good... Unlike...
Apparently yesterday was the Super Bowl... Movie Trailers, weird commercials, like Matthew Broderick's Day off... But that's not what I'm here to talk about... I'm here to talk about the Two things that brought He-Man to my mind...
MetLife has an interesting ad with a ton of Cartoon characters used to promote Life insurance... This is nothing new for them since they've been using Charlie Brown and friends to promote the same thing for ages... This time they went ALL in and brought Voltron, Teh Scooby Gang, Fat Albert and THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN THE UNIVERSE!! among the characters shown...
3 things bugged me with this ad:
-Why is Fred such an A-Hole? I mean look at him: Driving the Mystery Machine with Velma... Where is Daphne? (We find out later on the ad.) Or Shaggy and Scooby... That's Right Fred Ditches Shaggy and Scooby to fend off the Ghost... OK it's Casper, but still Fred Drives off with Velma while Shaggy and Scooby have to follow them ON FOOT while running away from a ghost!? It's not like Shaggy said: "Gee Fred, I'll like walk all the way to the meeting point while you drive away in the van!"
-What was Daphne doing with Richie Rich? In the back of his Limo and Richie's face watching her leave does hint that he may WANT to do some naughty things with her or he TOTALLY DID some naughty things on the back of his limo...
-What the Heck He-Man and Voltron are doing there!?
Now the other thing that drew my attention was Madonna's Dress for the Half-time show...
Peter Falk, known to many of us as Columbo has passed away. He was also the grandpa on the Cool Movie with Andre The Giant, a guy who looks like Bow, the kid from Wonder Years and Jen Ny! from Forrest Gump! (The movie makes also as a nice Vintage MOTU checklist...) He was being treated for Alzheimer's Disease... IMHO the worst Disease for a person...
Nick premiered the New Voltron show. The idea is cool although a bit over used... Feels like a Stephen J. Cannell take on Voltron. Since my Provider does NOT have Nicktoons I only saw the premiere online that Nick.com had. Love the voice acting and the overused SJC plot... Hate the new kid protagonists and the art style... Wish I could see more of it to be more objective.
Marvel is Killing Peter Parker... No not the Devil Dealing Momma's boy, but the Ultimate Universe version of Spidey... I bet this is a silly event to shake the Ultimate universe to it's core... Wouldn't be surprised if a "Spider-Clone" takes the Mantle... Or if the whole thing sucks, ret-con it to have the real Peter switched with a clone somewhere during the last few issues before his "death".
Tomorrow starts the 4th Season of True Blood... I recently saw the previous 3 seasons and I'm now hooked... If I could describe True Blood in one sentence I guess it would be: What would happen if Twilight was Super Badass and did not have to cater to tween girls... Well True Blood is ten times more awesome than that.
Anime. The cartoons from Japan. Ususally harder to translate into live action films, yet Hollywood wants to do it. Not even the Japanese themselves can bring decent anime to live action. But they've done it a lot better than Hollywood, why? No executive Douchebaggery and desire to leave their own stamp on the project. No cultural differences wall affecting the production. etc. So far the only Amaricanized Anime live action movie that worked is Speed Racer.
Now, that I got that out of my chest I'm gonna do another of my lists.This time they'll be of Anime that SHOULD be adapted to Live Action Hollywood Movies and Anime that SHOULDN'T BE TOUCHED BY HOLLYWOOD EVER!! (Especially Fox)
First on my list of Anime that should be made into a movie:
Full Metal Panic! (The exclamation point is part of the title) It's about a Secret Military Organization that sent one of their members to protect a girl with mysterious abilities. The only problem is that she's a highschool student and the Bodyguard is a teen who was raised as a soldier and only has lived in the battlefield. There are giant Mechas somewhere in the story too. This yells adapt me! Romantic Comedy Elements, Cool action scenes, Fish out of water situations... I'm pretty sure that Hollywood would go for Zac Efron to play Sagara Sousuke, and I actually wouldn't mind right now. A few months back I would've screamed ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR #$%^& MIND!?
Fullmetal Alchemist This one also say Adapt me!! The Elric Brothers lived a happy life with their mother until she died. They attempt to revive their mother by using Alchemy, but something went wrong... The younger brother, Alphonse, lost his body and Edward, the elder, lost an arm and a leg. (one in the attempt of reviving his mother, the other while binding his brother's soul to an armored suit. Now Edwars, outfitted with some advanced prosthetics and Alphonse (the sentient Armor) travel the world in search of the Philosopher's Stone. A stone that allows the user to practice Alchemy without the side effects of Equivalent Exchange. (In order to get something you must give something with the same value)
Hellsing Long story short. Britan's Protestant Church have a special unit dealing with the supernatural, led by a descendant of Abraham Van Helsing (as in the rival of Dracula). Her Paramilitary Organization fights the undead with heavy firepower and a secret weapon. Alucard... a vampire. I mean THE vampire. Alucard is so awesome that makes Blade look like a sissy.
Neon Genesis Evangelion. This one screams Make me!! (Even thoguh Hollywood has a 99% of chance of dropping the ball here.) Psychologicaly damaged teens pilotig big "Mechas" (Trying to avoid spoilers) and defending the Earth from the otherworldy beings called "Angels". Yes there is a boatload of Christian symbols used here. (That's what Japan does when they want to do something cool. They add lots of elements from Western Religion even when they don't have anything to do with the story.)
Now The following Scream STAY AWAY HOLLYWOOD!!
Ranma 1/2: The story of a boy who gets cursed by becoming female when doused with cold water and returns to normal with warm water. Tons of fighting and romantic comedy elements, yet it's charm would be lost because he's a boy that turns into a girl when doused with cold water.
Yu-Gi-Oh! (and any other anime that involves the fate of humanity being decided by plaing a Children's card game.) Why? The fate of humanity being decided by a Children's card game... I love Yu-gi-oh! But I wouldn' go see alive action movie (unless they gave away free cards. The only reason why I saw the animated movie at the theatres.)
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Ahh! Haruhi... You are one seriously messed up girl. You might not know this but Haruhi has the powers of a god and she doesn't know it. She is surrounded by an alien, a time traveler, an Esper (A mystic power ranger type of character that works for a secret organiztion.) Funny fact the english dub of Kouzumi the Esper is a Power Ranger, not Tommy... (one of the other guys who was on Tommy's team.) and last but not least Kyon. The normal guy who gets sucked into this mess because he shares a connection with Haruhi. Also they's try to have a teen star playing Haruhi and possibly have Haruhi-inspired songs... (As much as I might like Miley Cyrus' acting and singing I do NOT want her to be a part of a Haruhi project!!)
Naruto: First of all they would make these kids 18+ and defeat the whole kid ninjas beating the crap out of everything. There's also the bad aftertaste of the 3 Ninjas movies and Surf Ninjas (The only movie ever to promote the battery juice devouring Game Gear and to have Leslie Nielsen as a cyborg villain.) Believe it!
Last but not least...
An americanized live action will suck. That is all.
Funny thing is that I love all of these except Naruto. I didn't add Gatchaman, Voltron or Macross to these lists because I mentioned them on another topic.
As you already might have noticed I love 80s toons. (I grew up with them, so they hold a dear place in my heart.) We got Transformers and GI Joe. (Both had their flaws, but I'm not going to get into that here.) I'm just going to call forth a couple of 80s toons that could be kickass Live Action Movies.
10- Robotech: The Macross Saga
The first mature animated series that dealt with an Alien invasion and humanity's struggles to defend Earth from the Zentraedi threat. There's enough material there for 3 films. (not counting material from Robotech: The Masters or Robotech: The Next Generation). There are some rumors that Tobey Maguire (as in Spider-man, Tobey Maguire) is involved in bringing Robotech to live action.
9-M.A.S.K.
Mobile Armored Strike Kommand or M.A.S.K. A team of crimefighters/special unit with kickass super-powered vehicles fighting the evil V.E.N.O.M. (Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem) Now this is the movie that Michael Bay should've directed instead of Transformers. Mega suped up Cars, explosions, helicopters, possible use of armies...
8-Dino Riders
Ah, Dino Riders. Jurassic Park meets Star Wars. Need I say more? A battle between peace-loving aliens and war mongering aliens using prehistoric Earth animals... Dinosaurs with Big Freaking Lasers...
7-The Centurions
Man and Machine... Power Extreme! This lands in borderline Ironman rip-off, but the potential for a cool blockbuster action movie is there. A cyborg terrorist bent over on taking the world vs. a trio of exo-suit warriors determined to stop him. Land, Sea, and Air action.
6- Voltron: Defender of the Universe
There were talks about a Live Action Voltron, written by Justin Marks (The guy behind the "fantastic" script of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li.) Hopefully the suits involved in the production of Voltron will not use Justin Marks' script. If we're going to do movies with giant Mechas, we have to have Voltron. (since he's the token giant mecha from the 80s. the 70s is Mazinger Z's turf.)
5-G-Force
I'm not talking about the Disney Gerbil movie that I almost watched thinking that it was a Live Action Adaptation of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, or Battle of The Planets. There are two reasons why I'm chooseing G-Force rather than Battle of the Planets.
-G-force is the second attempt to translate and adapt Science Ninja Team Gatchaman for Western Audiences. The first was Battle of The Planets (1978) This second attempt was in the 80s, so I can choose it to be on my list.
-G-Force is more faithful to SNT Gatchaman than Battle of the Planets.
There is a CGI Gatchaman movie coming for 2011, might be cool, but This one would be awesome to see as a Live Action movie.
4-Jem and the Holograms
Ah Jem, she was Truly Outrageous! Way before the age of Hannah Montana there was JEM.
Jerrica Benton + Holographic Machine (Synergy) = JEM. Action, Adventure, Romance, Mild Superhero-esque Drama, Jem has it all... Also it was one of the few "Girl" shows of the 80s that I could watch... and the only one that was a cartoon and did not involve He-Man's Sister... If they ever make a Jem movie, I hope that Miley Cyrus does NOT play Jerrica or Jem.
3- Silverhawks
Partly CGI, Partly Live Action would be the only way to go with SilverHawks. Space bird themed policemen that share many similarities to Thundercats would be really awesome to have on the... silver screen.
2-Thundercats
Let's see cat people fighting evil antropomorphic animals and a mummy. This movie should be made in a stylized way because I wouldn't want the Thundercats to look like extras from CATS. The Hero, Lion-O was Literally a 10 year old in the body of an Adult... That is his charm. Hopefully this will get made someday.
1-He-Man and The Masters of the Universe
The list wouldn't be complete if I didn't place He-Man on it. I love He-Man and its about time we get a Masters of The Universe Movie that is Actually Masters of the Universe, not Jack Kirby's Fourth World with He-Man and the MOTU names/characters sprinkled in between.
Now for the ten 80s cartoons that should NEVER become movies.
10- Captain N: The Game Master
Not only it was an ad for Nintendo games; it was a bad one. The people behind the toon didn't sdeem to care about the characters in the show vs the characters in the game. Also this is the second attempt at making the Power Glove look cool. I'm sorry little jerk from The Wizard... The Power Glove is NOT cool.
9-Turbo Teen
Teen turns into his car and is now a crimefighter. Since it's a teen that turns into a car, the car can speak... Is it me or do I smell a KITT knockoff? This could work as a comedy, the raunchy type of course. Transforming from Teen to Car and vice-versa on the most awkward moments. Thanks but I'll pass...
8- Mr.T
Out of all of the Toon to Live Action movies, This one could be the easiest. It has Mr. T as THE main character. That should be awesome enough, but I fear that it wouldn't work to bring in the masses. It's Mr. T running around with teenagers solving mysteries... Not even my love for Mr. T would make me want to watch this.
7-Rubik, the Amazing Cube
A movie based on a TV show Based on Rubik's Cube? NO! It shouldn't be done, but there's talks about a Candy Land and Stretch Armstrong movies. So this could happen even though it shouldn't. I don't know what is worth, that we had a cartoon about Rubik's cube or that Menudo (or some menudo sound alikes) sang the Theme Song.
6-Pole Position
The Problem with Pole Position is that most of the amazing stuff that the cars did kinda can be done now and the rest is just a M.A.S.K. knockoff. Also the Mystery solving teens theme works on TV, but not so well in movies. Also the amount of Pole Position puns that can be made. This is LOOSELY based on the videogame with the same name... (emphasis on Loosely.)
Jonny Quest is awesome. Race Banon oozes pure awesomeness. Why wouldn't I want a Jonny Quest movie? Hardrock comes to mind in the category Things that Ruined Jonny Quest. I also fear that Hadji would lose his magical Sim, sim, salabim powers.
for the very same reasons this joke was made.
4- The Jetsons
Yes, they were originally made in the 60s, but they had various episodes made in the 80s. Why the Jetsons should never see the light of day? The Flintstones live action movies come to mind... and the possibility of having Ray Romano as George Jetson. not Everybody loves Raymond.
3-The Smurfs
I still don't know if Gargamel wants to make gold or eat the Smurfs. That's really smurfed up. There are rumors of a Smurfs movie and I fear that it'll be on modern times. If that rumor is true then there's another reason why Hollywood should stop smurfing up movies trying to leave their smurfing mark on them. The medieval orld of the Smurfs can work, but only if they treat the source with respect. Would I see it on the theatres, no. maybe on FX or Cartoon Network... If they do it on medieval times,not Smurfs on 21st century Earth.
2-Bravestarr
New Texas Sheriff Bravestarr, with Thirty/Thirty are cleaning up town, but This team dynamic might be affected by the disdain for antropomorphic animals in live action that many movie goers/excecs have. Would it be awesome? yes. Would I see it? Most likely, unless they try to make it more cool/hip, which would mean sticking to self-deprecating humor and low borw jokes, a la Bayformers...
1-Dino Saucers
The intro says it all. Kids meet alien dinos, alien Dinos use kids as their liasons with Earth while they battle evil alien dinos. But Hollywood would take the Transformers approach and focus on the kids instead of the Dinos.
