Before I get into the review, I want to go through a quick bit on how I decide what to review. The past few weeks, I’ve gone to see movies in the theatres that were based on or a continuation of an original work. Other times, I pick up a movie on DVD that looks like it would be interesting to review, good or bad. Then there’s how I chose The Mechanic; I picked up a DVD to watch for just entertainment and discover that it’s a remake of an earlier movie or based on a novel or short story. There are many movies throughout the history of Hollywood that were based on novels, short stories, and plays, and the output of film studios over the course of a hundred years means that I may not recognize a title as a remake. The discovery that a movie I’m watching is an adaptations means that my normal approach to reviews needs to take into account that I didn’t experience the original first. There’s a chance that the new order could skew the review.
The Mechanic, also known as The Killer of Killers, was released in 1972. Charles Bronson was known for his tough guy roles in movies like The Dirty Dozen, The Magnificent Seven, and Death Wish before starring in this movie. Playing Arthur Bishop, the titular hit man, the movie shows him going through two kills, the latter being his old friend, Harry McKenna. The McKenna’s son Steve, played by Jan Michael Vincent, seeks out Bishop to learn the trade. Bishop accepts Steve under his wing and starts teaching him not only his methods but his philosophy. However, the people who pay Bishop decide that this departure of the rules needs to be punished, setting up a conflict between mentor and teacher.
The remake of 2011 sees Jason Statham take on the Bronson role, with Ben Foster as the student Steve. The plot remains the same; Statham’s Bishop kills the father of Foster’s Steve and takes the kid under his wing. The difference comes in pacing. Bronson’s Mechanic is very much a character study of Arthur Bishop, a look into what makes a paid assassin tick, how he approaches his life. The 1972 movie is very much related to the earlier spaghetti westerns and samurai movies; Bronson’s Bishop has rules, both his own personal set and the set imposed by his employers, that he follows and is punished for breaking. The movie builds up suspense and drama, and takes its time showing who Arthur Bishop is. Statham’s Mechanic, however, is very much an action movie, and moves the focus from being a character study of Bishop to the mentor-student relationship between Bishop and Steve. The pace is faster; in the time it takes to get Bronson’s version to receive the order to kill Harry McKenna, Statham’s version has started Steve’s training. Both, however, keep the same ending for Steve.
As an adaptation, the 2011 remake changed the feel from the original. This is not necessarily a bad thing; as previously mentioned, a shot-for-shot remake will just have audiences wondering why they just didn’t watch the original. Changing to an action movie could draw in a larger audience, one that isn’t as used to the slower pace of the original. The focus on the relationship allowed the remake to explore a different aspect; instead of a samurai, Statham was more workman-like, professional, but doing a job instead of adopting a full lifestyle. Ultimately, it will come down to what a viewer wants, a character study of a hit man or an action movie involving the teaching of a specialized skill to a protege.
Next week, Muppets Most Wanted.
The review is about another movie still in theatres, so I’ll try to avoid spoilers as much as possible.
The idea of a heart-warming story about a boy and his dog is practically cliché. From Rin Tin Tin to Lassie to Boxey and Muffet on the original Battlestar Galactica, people have sat and watched stories where boy and dog save the day. However, only Ted Key flipped the relationship around.
Peabody’s Improbable History started in 1959 as a series of short cartoons as part of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show*. In each cartoon, Mr. Peabody, a brilliant dog capable of building a time machine, took his pet boy Sherman to a historical event using the WABAC Machine. The event would never be going as the history books said, though. There was always some problem that needed correcting, and Mr. Peabody was just the dog to help. Each short would end after the problem was solved and after Mr. Peabody quipped a pun related to what happened.
In 2002, Rob Minkoff decided to bring back Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman. After twelve years of development, caused in part by a similiarity to the first Despicable Me movie, Mr. Peabody and Sherman was released. The movie took the core concept of the original shorts, the trips taken by the main characters in the WABAC Machine, and expanded it, adding details to not just the world around Mr. Peabody and Sherman but the relations between the two. The movie starts with a nod to the original Peabody’s Improbable History with a trip to pre-Reign of Terror** France to visit Marie Antoinette. After a misunderstanding that escalates to revolution, Mr. Peabody extricates both Sherman and himself to return home after quipping a pun. All in all, a bang up job where nobody lost their head.
The movie continues, showing Sherman’s first day at school and dealing with one of the more dreaded beings ever to set foot on Earth, a girl named Penny. Things don’t go well, leading to Sherman biting Penny, setting off a chain of events that brings in Mrs. Grunion, a Dolores Umbridge-style antagonist. Grunion wants to separate dog and boy. In an effort to work things out with Penny’s family, Mr. Peabody invites them over for dinner to discuss the events. While Peabody charms Paul and Patty Peterson, Sherman gets to show Penny around, with strict orders to not show her the WABAC Machine. Naturally, Sherman shows Penny the WABAC Machine, starting the romp through history, meeting luminaries such as Tutankhamen, Agamemnon, and Leonardo da Vinci.
Between 1959 and 2014, a lot has changed in the world of animation. Computers, which were room-sized, tape-driven monstrosities with minimal graphics capability in 1959, are integral to animation today. Audiences expect more in the relationships between characters. Smoking is forbidden; the pipe-smoking Mr. Peabody of 1959 just wouldn’t be shown. Casual cruelty, especially towards children, is also frowned upon. The acceptable quality of animation has also changed; for a feature film, backgrounds can no longer be sketched in or repeated on a loop.
The other huge jump from Peabody’s Improbable History to Mr. Peabody and Sherman is running time. Peabody’s Improbable History was part of a 22 minute episode of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, so it never took more than four to five minutes. Mr. Peabody and Sherman runs 92 minutes; the movie just can’t rely on the old formula to work.
The scriptwriters were up for the task. They took the core of Peabody’s Improbable History and used it as the foundation for the movie. It didn’t matter if part of the audience was too young to have ever seen the shorts; the movie starts off with an extended version that would fit well in the original’s run. The movie then expands, discovering and developing the relationship between dog and boy, and between Mr. Peabody and Sherman with the rest of the world around them, all without sacrificing the humour Peabody’s Improbable History was known for. Sure, there may be a fart joke or two, but anyone who knows of history, of drama, and even of psychology will get the humour. You have to admire a movie that works in a subtle Oedipus complex gag into a scene inside the Trojan Horse.
Does Mr. Peabody and Sherman work as an adaptation? Yes. The script built on top of the original cartoon and expanded without sacrificing what made Peabody’s Improbable History memorable.
Next week, The Mechanic.
* Also known as Rocky and His Friends among others, depending on the syndicator.
** Five minutes before to the Reign of Terror.
Television series exist at the whim of a programming exec. Series not pulling in the right audience for advertisers get pulled, sometimes within weeks of the pilot airing. There have been times when the number of weeks is less than one. One case in Austrailia had the show pulled during airing.
The longer a series lasts, the more fans it picks up, through word of mouth or even accidentally catching an episode. If you’ve been following MuseHack or any site through Crossroads Alpha for any length of time, you’ll know that fans can get creative when supporting a series. This was as true with the original Star Trek as it was with Veronica Mars. What Star Trek fans didn’t have available to them was Kickstarter.
Veronica Mars aired first on UPN then on the CW after UPN merged with the WB network, lasting three seasons from 2004 to 2007. Sixty-four episodes, one fewer than traditionally needed for syndication, chronicled the life of the titular character in a film noir homage. Each season had its own mystery arc, with Veronica working on smaller cases each episode as well. Veronica was also an outsider in her school, the fallout of her father, as sherriff, trying to arrest a prominent Neptune, California, billionaire for the murder of one of Veronica’s friends. When her father became a private investigator, Veronica helped out, and took advantage of the skills she picked up to find her friend’s murderer.
Over the course of the three seasons, Veronica gained close friends and solved cases. The series ended with her having to make a difficult decision – leave the wretched hive of scum, villainy, and corruption known as Neptune or stay as a licensed detective herself.
Veronica’s choice was never shown. The series was cancelled after the third season, though work had been done for a potential fourth that would have seen Veronica as a rookie FBI agent. Fans wanted more. The Mars bar campaign saw ten thousand of the candy bars sent to CBS headquarters. However, the fate of the show was sealed. Being on a fifth network that had to merge to survive took its toll.
All was not lost. The creator, Rob Thomas, had written a Veronica Mars movie script. CBS, one of the co-owners of the CW along with Warner Bros, passed on the idea. However, a new player had arrived. Kickstarter gave people a chance to directly fund projects; money would only change hands if the donations reached the dollar value required set by the creators. All Kickstarter campaigns last thrity days, to give projects enough time to get the word out and drum up support. When the Veronica Mars movie went to Kickstarter, the $2 million goal was reached within 11 hours. Fans wanted the movie. The studios, seeing the interest, added to the funding and greenlit the movie.
The movie was released as a limited engagement, on a smaller number of screens than the typical release. At the same time, the movie was available for digital download. Opening night saw theatres sold out of tickets. With nine years between the end of the series and the movie opening, could the movie adapt to the time gap?
Adapting a TV series to a movie involves some growing pains. With Veronica Mars, there is an added complexity. Many adapted TV shows become just longer episodes, not really taking advantage of the new format. Fans can be vocal about what they want, but may not be aware of what they truly desire; it’s a delicate act balancing the familiar and the unexpected. Veronica‘s added complication is the lack of time for the season-long arc. Can the script handle needing to be both longer and shorter while still being Veronica Mars?
To appease the fan need for the familiar, the movie brought back many familiar faces. Along with Kristen Bell, Veronica herself, the movie reunited her with Jason Dohring, Tina Majorino, Percy Daggs III, Francis Capra, Krysten Ritter, Chris Lowell, Daran Norris, Ken Marino, Ryan Hansen, and Erinco Colantoni. Veronica gets dragged back to the wrteched hive after one of her Neptune friends is accused of murder before the weekend that the Neptune High School reunion takes place. The reunion acts as the perfect metaphor for the movie; almost ten years have past since fans last saw the characters. Who would they be now? Almost every character* had changed in surprising ways, the unexpected that the fans also want.
The core of the TV series was the drama that Veronica herself went through, the changed lives, even hers, in the wake of her investigations. Without that core, the Veronica Mars movie could just be the Betty Jupiter film. Rob Thomas, though, knew that core and used it as the base to build the rest of the movie on. Few characters get through the movie unscathed, and even Veronica herself gets caught in her own wake.
With the script getting to the heart of what made Veronica Mars a popular hit, even a cult classic, the adaptation to the big screen allowed fans to return to Neptune and enjoy a proper Veronica Mars story, gaining from the change in format without losing anything in translation.
Next week, Mr. Peabody and Sherman.
* There’s always that one person who doesn’t appear that he has left high school. For Veronica Mars, that person is Dick Cassavetes, played by Ryan Hansen.
Tie-ins are a hard fit for Lost in Translation. While tie-ins have appeared in the past, notably My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and the Richard Castle Nikki Heat novels, they are usually set aside for various reasons. However, The LEGO Movie created a dilemma. The film fell neatly into the gap between tie-in and adaptation. After seeing the movie, I really wanted to get some LEGO bricks to play with, but still felt like I had watched an awesome film that took into account the nature of the toy. Thus, the need to work out the nature of a tie-in work.
One of the views of tie-in works comes from advertising. A work is created to sell a product. Prior to the 1980s, works of this nature were seen as strictly advertising and were heavily restricted in what could and could not be shown. The regulations were loosened in during the Reagan administration in the US, paving the way for TV shows such as Transformers, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Jem and the Holograms, and MLP:FIM. While they could be aired, the product they were based on could not be advertised during their time slots. In the 80s, with Transformers and G.I. Joe, there was also Lazer Tag Academy and Pac-Man; quality was uneven. The memorable series treated the work as more than just advertising, elevating them above the pack.
The other main view of tie-works is the expanded universe. Star Trek and Star Wars are the exemplars here. Both have had novels, comics, and spin-off animated series. With Star Wars, the universe expanded by the extra material is considered canon, to one degree or another.* Paramount, however, does not consider the Star Trek expanded universe as canon, with a few exceptions. That difference aside, the main thrust with the tie-in works was to fill a demand by fans for more, particularly during the years where no more official work was expected. The Nikki Heat books fall into this category, being a tie-in to the TV series Castle, though in an unexpected manner.
The core element in both of the above is that the original creators, be they toy company or studio, are providing the impetus for the new works to be created in support of the original. Captain Power was meant to be part of an interactive toy, yet the stories delved into the nature of humanity and ended on a powerful note involving the death of one of the main characters.** With adaptations, the original work is moved to a different medium, typically book to movie like the Harry Potter series. Remakes and reboots can be done by the original studio, as what happened with Star Trek: The Next Generation, but are meant to stand on their own, not support the original.
This isn’t to say that tie-ins are inferior works. Captain Power, as mentioned above, became a cult hit as viewers realized the depth of the work. MLP:FIM became an Internet sensation because Lauren Faust wanted to make sure that the family show would be appreciated by the entire family. The Richard Castle novels, while based on the characters in Castle, are filtered through the titular character’s writing, allowing a fictional novelist to publish real books. In each of these cases, and in many more, the tie-in work goes beyond just supporting the original and becomes a work of its own merit. People don’t need the interactive starfighter to enjoy Captain Power, nor a pony for MLP:FIM, nor even watch Castle to enjoy a Nikki Heat book.
Will Lost in Translation look at tie-in works in the future? The answer is a definite “maybe”. The tie-in will have to transcend its nature and demonstrate that it can stand on its own.
Next week, Veronica Mars.
* West End Games’ Star Wars Sourcebook, published in 1987 and updated for the role-playing game’s second edition in 1994, has been used by the creative team of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. West End Games went bankrupt in 1998.
** Captain Power is being remade as Phoenix Rising, an hour-long science fiction drama, thanks to the original becoming a cult hit outside the target demographic.
Tie-ins are a difficult area to judge. At what point does a work stop being merchandising and start being a work of its own? I have reviewed some tie-in works, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic because of its impact on the Internet and the Richard Castle Nikki Heat novels because of the meta nature of the books. While I have reviewed movies based on toys – G.I. Joe – The Rise of Cobra and Battleship – I haven’t touched any of the animated works. The cartoons came about after the easing of US Federal Communications Commission regulations restricting toy- and game-based series in the 80s. While several cartoons from the era were memorable, including Transformers and Jem and the Holograms, most were just there for merchandising.
Last month, The LEGO Movie opened. A CGI animated action movie, The LEGO Movie was based on LEGO, the construction bricks created in 1949 and refined in 1958. Given that the company wasn’t directly behind the creation of the movie, I felt that The LEGO Movie was an adaptation.
Since the film is still in theatres, I’ll try to keep the summary as spoiler-free as possible. The plot has Emmett, a Minifig, find the Piece of Resistance that makes him the Special that can stop Lord Business from using his secret weapon to destroy all of the different worlds. Unfortunately, Emmett isn’t all that special, but WyldStyle, who was looking for the Piece of Resistance, is there to help him in the fight against Lord Business. Along the way, Emmett and Wyldstyle get help from Batman to get to Cloud Cuckooland to find the Master Builders in hiding.
The movie uses many a bad pun.
The characters are well aware that they are in a LEGO multiverse and most can build items out of the scenery. The CGI makes it hard to tell whether the settings were built physically out of LEGO bricks or if the animators were just that good. The ground, where it isn’t paved by flat-topped bricks, has the classic LEGO brick struts, including the company’s logo. With adaptations, the little details can make or break the work. The eye for detail in The LEGO Movie is amazing. Emmett’s hair has a molding seam. The 80s Spaceman’s helmet has a crack where the piece always got a crack. The Minifigs, for the most part, come from existing sets past and present. The construction scene as the big musical number starts has a Minifig calling for a 1×2 macaroni piece and getting it, just as people playing with LEGO bricks have since, well, 1958.
The LEGO Movie felt like the writers were playing with LEGO while working on the script. Building of items, like a motorcycle from parts in an alley, referenced the LEGO videogames, where players could do just that. The buildings, the vehicles, the animals, the sets, all could be built given enough bricks. Given that LEGO is a toy meant for creating your own designs, the movie showed possibilities and encouraged imagination.
As an adaptation, The LEGO Movie worked. Emmett lived in a LEGO world and acted knowing he was a LEGO minifig. All the bits came together and screamed “LEGO!” as the movie progressed while still allowing the story to unfold. The story itself could not be told without the LEGO bricks.
Next week, the nature of tie-in media and adaptations.
Not sure I’ll keep doing weekly updates since sometimes it’s “nothing to say.” Like in this case where I was sick last week . . . not a fun experience!
– Steven Savage
Apologies for the unannounced break. I ran into an odd situation with the planned review of The Mechanic, mainly losing my copy of the remake in my apartment.
In lieu of a proper review, I’ll throw open the floor for questions and comments. Is there something anyone would like reviewed? Is there a question about approach? Why is the sky blue? Feel free to ask below.
Again, my apologies.
A few weeks ago, I looked at the issues surrounding adapting a work to the silver screen. This week, I look at the smaller screen – television.
With movie adaptations, the big sacrifice is depth for time. Few people will sit in a theatre for longer than three hours, meaning that a lot of detail from novels especially gets lost. There just isn’t the time to do worldbuilding. Television allows for the build up of a storyline over a longer period of time, allowing characters to grow, allowing plots to wind around and find fertile ground.
What television lacks compares to movies is budget. A typical movie adaptations will have a large enough budget to cover salaries and special effects*. In a TV series, even the series has an overall cost similar to a blockbuster, that budget needs to be divided over the run of the season. A big effect at the start of the series may drain the FX budget for several weeks or even the rest of the season. There are ways to get around the cost, mainly through creative accounting**, but there is a limit on what can be done. Stock footage helps, to a degree. In the Stargate series, the whoosh of the stargate could be reused through out the franchise, allowing the crew to create different views to give the illusion of new effects. However, in the original Battlestar Galactica, starfighter combat boiled down to mixing up the same stock footage into different orders; there was always a scene where a Colonial Viper fired at the middle Cylon of a three-fighter formation, causing the other two Cylon fighters to break away from each other. With CGI, though, the effects team can create the needed elements once and then animate as needed at a lower cost. When the new budget comes around, the elements can be upgraded, which did happen with the Stargate whoosh.
Television is also very much ratings driven. A seven year arc is rare; studios need to know that the audience will not only be around for season one, but also for season seven, and that later seasons can draw in more people. Depending on the network or cable channel, the series may have two months to establish itself, or just one airing. The days where a show like M*A*S*H could linger near the bottom of the ratings until discovered by audiences is long gone. Shows now need to be instant hits from the beginning or so cheap that even a bottom rating still means the series makes money. The latter is typically filled by reality TV. A series could be cancelled before the planned arc is finished, because of low ratings, a change in the executive suite, or a network retool. A long arc will be left dangling.
One problem longer works may face is the slow switch from episodic to series arcs that’s happening. Most historical TV series were written so that each episode could stand alone, allowing networks to rerun episodes without disturbing continuity. Soap operas, both daytime and prime time, were the exception to the rule, but the idea of a non-soap that had a longer storyline was unheard of until relatively recently. Some network executives still aren’t fully aware of the idea; Firefly suffered when the series was aired out of order, destroying several storylines.
With the increased time available for a TV series***, it’s very possible that the show will outstrip the original work. Anime is well known for this phenonenom; it would be easier to list the number of series that didn’t outstrip the original manga. The possibility also exists in the North American market. A Song of Ice and Fire could run into this issue. George R.R. Martin can only write so fast and has released five books so far. The HBO adaptation A Game of Thrones has three seasons completed and has been renewed for a fourth, just one book back unless season four covers a smaller portion to give season five breather space. Completed book series won’t have this problem, but a TV series based on those books using the same approach as A Game of Thrones, that is, a book per season, then filler may be needed.
Actor availability is a rare issue, but can crop up. Usually, an actor is signed for the duration of a TV series. However, it is not unknown for an actor to want out of his contract. The reasons vary; conflicts with production staff or even the cast, a break of a lifetime comes up, injury, even pregnancy can require an actor to leave. If the actor is in a critical role, recasting becomes difficult. Movie series have also run into the same problem; in the Harry Potter movies, the death of Richard Harris required Warner Bros. to recast Dumbledore with Michael Gambon. And while most original TV series can write out a character and introduce a new one, adaptations aren’t as flexible if the goal is to remain accurate.
Television brings its own unique problems to adapting a work. With the smaller budget and push for ratings, a movie adaptation looks far better.
Next week, The Mechanic.
* Depending on the effect. Progress in technology allows for cost reductions over time, but early adopters pay more.
** In the first season of The Muppet Show, a prop that was meant to be used just once was used instead in three separate episodes, allowing its cost to also be split split over the episodes.
*** At about 45 minutes per episode and a 13 to 22 episode season, that’s about nine to seventeen hours available for storytelling in a broadcast year.
(I saw this article at the www.OngoingWorlds.com blog, and the original author was glad to let me repost it – I figure it fits our various endeavors here at the Sanctum. It’s by David Ball. David Ball is a web developer and writer. He created the www.OngoingWorlds.com website which allows writers/roleplayers to work together on continuous stories. He also occasionally blogs at www.scifiideas.com.)
Mary Sue characters are common in roleplaying and fanfiction, especially if the writer is an amateur and doesn’t yet know the error of their ways. Mary Sue characters are perfect in every way, they’re written so that everyone likes them, they’re smart, incredibly beautiful, incredibly useful, and can do just about anything. They don’t have any character flaws so can tackle any situation in their stride. After a while this behaviour becomes very boring and we’re reminded why decent stories have characters with just the right amount of interesting traits to add realism.
We call these types of characters “Mary Sue” after a Star Trek parody of a fanfiction story (see here for the origins of Mary Sue), but it’s not just females that make Mary Sues, the same annoying qualities can be given to males.
Marty Stu (also called Larry Stu or Gary Stu)
While Mary Sue was a true beauty to behold, and everyone fancied her (or so the writer mentioned), her male counterpart is similar but not the same. He is unbelievably handsome, and females will swoon at his very glance. But he’s also a man of action, in fact he’s the total embodiment of action. He’s strong, daring and athletic and can win any fight. Even if the writer mentions he’s not very physically strong, he’s at least physically fit and fast in a fight.
Marty Stu is also intelligent and extremely useful. He can solve any scenario with his advanced knowledge of astrophysics, nuclear science or computer hacking. He has knowledge well in advance of his years, a skill he shares with Mary Sue. This means he can finish off any story with the least amount of tension or drama, much to the annoyance of any member who wants to create suspense in your roleplaying game.
Because Marty Stu is more about the action than Mary Sue (although of course Mary Sue could be an action hero too), writing about a Marty Stu makes you dangerously close to becoming a god modder.
Einstein Sue
Like the way Mary Sue is perfect at her job, Einstein Sue is the most intelligent character… ever. She (or he) will be the one that always comes up with the best solution to a problem, despite a team of equally qualified scientists thinking about the same problem.
This character type isn’t just limited to roleplaying or fanfiction, you’ll also see it in TV, films and books as it’s a way to roll several boring scientist geek characters into one so that you can consilidate the character development.
Copycat Sue
This is common in roleplay spinoffs from a TV or film series when a member creates a new character that is almost identical to one of the characters from the show. The member can’t think up an original character so they take the character from the show, copy their personality, their upbringing, and creates an identical character. A few things might vary from the original, like they might have swapped gender, or changed the hair colour, or removed a few character traits they weren’t quite sure about, but more or less it’s a copy of the original.
Sometimes the character might even have a similar name to the original, or possibly be a long-lost relative they didn’t know about.
Jerk Sue
A short tempered character who lashes out with her fists, usually at men. Jerk Sue is probably supposed to come across as a feisty, kick-ass, independent woman who can fight her own battles, but actually comes across as an unhinged mentalcase that bullies other characters into getting her own way.
Sympathetic Sue
A character full of angst, this is a type of Mary Sue who wants your sympathy. She’s normally a female character, as they’re generally more emotional characters but could easily also be a male. Sympathy Sue probably had abusive parents, had a hard time growing up on the streets, saw her parents killed or is the last of her species. She cries a lot and might resort to self harm.
In roleplay this could mean the writer has some problems, or wants some attention. Or it could be a genuine character that the member is quite happy to write. There’s a possibility that this character could be played well, and these quirks used to develop a character, but in the case of a Sympathetic Sue, the usual Mary Sue elements have to be there also, and the amount of problems a character has doesn’t equate to the unrealistic and exaggerated amount of depression they have.
Relationship Sue
A common trait of a Mary Sue character is that they’re the perfect girl, and that everyone loves them, so they’re all part Relationship Sue too. But a Relationship Sue is a character who’s only purpose in a story or roleplaying game is to be the girlfriend or wife of another character.
When they’re introduced, they’ll be the absolute ideal girlfriend for the main character, and will be the perfect match in every way.
Lemon Stu (also known as a Casanova)
Lemon Stu is a character usually in sexually explicit fanfiction (sometimes called lemon fiction). Lemon Stu is a sexual predator, he’s the type of character who can sleep with any woman he wants, as often as he wants.
Usually written by a hormonal teenager with a sexual appetite larger than his vocabulary or knowledge of character development.
Just like the Marty Stu, Lemon Stu is perfect at what he puts his efforts into, and this is sex. Lemon Stu will be the best sex his partner will ever have, and he’ll last as long as he wants (or as long as his parner likes). There’ be no awkwardness, nothing will go wrong, and he will perform perfectly every time. He most likely won’t even fall asleep after sex.
Villain Sue
Most villains are given incredible powers to make them hard to kill. Imagine a villain so powerful and so evil that they’re actually impossible to kill. That’s the Villain Sue. S/he is so good at being a villain that you can’t actually kill them. This type of character is usually played by a god modder.
Parody Sue
An intentional parody of a Mary Sue, when a Mary Sue character is created and used deliberately for a joke. Often in this case the name “Mary Sue” is actually used to let everyone else know it’s just a joke. Too much use of a Parody Sue can be just as annoying as the real thing.
If you want to know more about how to spot a Mary Sue see this article and for more variants of Mary Sue character types, see this article on TV Tropes.
– Steven Savage
The year 1977 was a banner year for Hollywood. Several iconic films were released that year, including Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind to Saturday Night Fever. Star Wars alone dominated, giving way to an appetite for science fiction. Meanwhile, Saturday Night Fever tapped into the disco fever of the 70s. Not to be left out, car chase fans got their iconic film, Smokey and the Bandit.
The plot of Smokey and the Bandit is simple. Bandit, played by Burt Reynolds, and the Snowman, played by Jerry Reed, need to get a truckload of Coors beer from Texas to Georgia. At the time, Coors beer wasn’t available east of Texas due to an arrangement between Coors and Anhauser-Busch. Hauling a cargo of the beer was essentially bootlegging and, well, illegal. To distract the police during the cargo run, Bandit takes an advance on the payment to get a Trans Am to use to flush out roadblocks, giving the Snowman and his dog, Fred, open highway.
Along the way, an unexpected complication jumps into Bandit’s car. Carrie, played by Sally Field, left her fiancé at the altar and wants out of the county. Adding to the complexity, Carrie’s ex is the son of the Smokey, one Sheriff Buford T. Justice, played by Jackie Gleason. Sheriff Justice didn’t take the jilting of his son well, and starts his chase, completely unaware that there is a truck full of illegal beer involved. Most of the police are unaware of the beer in Snowman’s truck; Bandit becomes enough of a distraction that Snowman can keep the hammer down and speed with impunity.
Car chase movies exist solely for the automotive stunts. Plots don’t have to be elaborate, and Smokey and the Bandit‘s is more than enough for the vehicular carnage that ensues. The pull for these movies is in the chase; everything else is secondary. To be fair, all the main characters in Smokey and the Bandit have a motive for what they’re doing. Bandit and the Snowman want to win the $80 000 bet; Carrie is running away from a wedding she knows is wrong for her; and Sheriff Justice wants to stop and arrest the man who kidnapped his son’s bride.
Two more theatrical sequels followed, the first following the fallout of Bandit and Carrie breaking up, the second with Sheriff Justice trying and failing to adjust to a life of retirement. Smokey and the Bandit 2 held together well enough, going back to the core of the car chase. Smokey and the Bandit 3, however, went far overboard in the writing. Jackie Gleason pulled off the role, but the rest fell short.
Fast-forwarding, we reach the year 1994. The 500-channel universe hasn’t yet arrived, but both Bruce Springsteen and “Weird Al” Yankovic had commented on the number of hours to be filled; the former with “57 Channels (and Nothin’ On)” in 1992, the latter with “I Can’t Watch This” in 1993 with the line, “I hooked up 80 channels, and each one stunk”. While The Real World had started on MTV in 1992, the reality show explosion would go off in 2000 with the debut of Survivor on CBS. The airwaves and cable channels had to find programming somewhere, and syndication was hitting its stride. Universal Television responded to the need with its Action Pack, a number of movies meant for syndication. The Action Pack included Hercules: The Legendary Journeys*, TekWar, based on the novels by William Shatner, the Midnight Run films, based on the movie starring Robert DeNiro, and the Bandit movies, based on Smokey and the Bandit.
Four Bandit movies were made, with Hal Needham, creator and director of Smokey and the Bandit, as the executive producer and director. With Burt Reynolds working on the final season of Evening Shade, a new actor was needed. Brian Bloom, who would go on to play Pike in the adaptation of The A-Team, got the role. A few changes were made with the supporting cast. The Snowman and Carrie weren’t around; instead, Lynn Denton, son of the governor, was introduced as the Bandit’s best friend, and each movie had its own romantic interest. While the movies did have chase sequences, the focus turned to Bandit and his endeavors and complications. Bandit: Bandit Goes Country has him returning to his hometown to clear up long-standing feuds and meet up with an old girlfriend. Bandit: Bandit Bandit has him tracking down an imposter of himself who had stolen a prototype alternate fuel car. Bandit: Beauty and the Bandit has him helping a woman, played by Kathy Ireland**, on the run from both mobsters, federal agents, and a bounty hunter. Bandit: Bandit’s Silver Angel sees him stepping forward to help a circus owned by his late uncle.
The Bandit movies wound up in an odd position. For low budget TV movies, they were watchable and fun. However, by carrying the Bandit name, comparisons to the original would happen, and a theatrical release where cars could be abused and junked has the edge over a series of TV movies where repairs eat into the budget. At the same time, without the link to Smokey and the Bandit, the movies might get ignored or, worse, be thought of as a rip-off of the original work. Television adaptations also have a different flow thanks to the need for commercial breaks. A theatrical release can keep building to a big ending, adding ebbs to let the audience catch a breather. On TV, the requirement for advertisements means that, every ten to fifteen minutes, the movie needs to have a mini-cliffhanger to ensure viewers return after the ad. Viewing a TV show or a made-for-TV movie on DVD, with no commercial, can become choppy as a result.
Overall, the Bandit movies are fun for what they are, low-budget TV movies. Brian Bloom’s Bandit is clearly the same as Burt Reynold’s, a man who gets by on charm and can wind up over his head as a result. With Hal Needham on board as producer and director, the TV movies could keep to the core of the originals and move away from the car chase without losing the identity.
Next week, the February adaptational news round up.
* And, later, the Hercules spin-off, Xena: Warrior Princess.
** Kathy’s southern accent is far more easy to listen to than her squeaky voice in Alien from LA.
