Buicks and Mutants and Feet
Oh my! Sorry, couldn't help myself...
Anyway, I just finished reading Stephen King's 2002 release, From A Buick 8. Now, from what I had heard about the novel coming in, both from fans and from King himself, I wasn't expecting a lot. He had described it as Christine all over again.
After reading it, I didn't think it was bad. I enjoyed it, even though the ending felt somewhat strung out. And I'm still trying to piece together the Dark Tower reference, as I had a few ideas at first but none of them really panned out. Is the Buick a Low Man's car? Does it open up onto todash space? I keep forgetting that the DT series is over, so unless I re-read everything and find the answers there, then they'll never be answered.
Next up, there's a "source" being quoted on darkhorizons.com about the X-Men 3. First off, he threw out a few potential directors, neither of whom bug me or make me very excited. The guy who directed Behind Enemy Lines is one candidate, and Brett Ratner, who directed Rush Hour and Red Dragon, is the other.
However, what really struck me was his next paragraph. Here's the direct cut-and-paste from the article:
Avi Arad wasn't kidding when he called the film "controversial," either. Three major characters that absolutely should not die, die. Really dead, too. Not Spock Dead. And one mutant who should not lose her powers, loses her powers permanently. Really loses them, too. And the sex scene... when you see who does what to who... oh, boy. The entire X-MEN universe may face some incredible overhauls, and it's going to be fascinating to see what fandom does when faced with this stuff".
This is REALLY interesting me because, if its true, the writing team has basically has decided to throw comic book continuity out the window. And hear hear, I say. There were a lot of fans who came into the first movie and said "Wait, Rogue's a teenager, and she's hooking up with Iceman? Pyro's in the school? Mystique's naked? Blasphemous!" But I love it. The comic book reality shouldn't affect the movie reality, like the movie reality has affected the comic book. If one starts bleeding into the other, then it starts affecting how the story should be told.
I know that doesn't make a lot of sense when I say it, but I know what I'm talking about. Example, Michael Crichton releases the book Jurassic Park. In this book, the lawyer lives, the old man and the chaos theorist die. Spielberg makes the movie version of said book, where the lawyer dies and the old man and chaos theorist live.
After the movie is released, Crichton writes the next book, The Lost World. Instead of continuing where his last book left off, he alters his plotline to reflect the movie's chronology. He kills the lawyer off with a heart attack between books, and tells the reader that, no, the chaos theorist really didn't die. In fact, he's the main character of this story!
The movie version of the X-Men should be different than the comic book version. A writer of the movie should see where his story is going, and not be hindered by what the comic book history says is "right" or "wrong". And if that means he sees three characters dying, one losing her powers, and two more doing the horizontal mambo, then more power to him.
So I shall now lay out my theory as to what the hell the source is talking about.
Deaths:
1) Magneto. They're setting up a prequel for him, so it'd be a nice way to give him a Darth Vader-style tragic arc.
2) Storm. Halle Berry's been moaning about these movies for the last few years, so the best way to handle her character without re-casting her in any new sequels would be to just kill her off completely.
3) Cyclops, because no one's expecting it.
The only character I know who will NOT die would be Wolverine, who, like Magneto, they're planning on doing a new solo movie on in the future. So unless its a flashback movie, no go.
Power loss:
Well, first off, they say that the mutant will be losing "her" powers. Since there are only five women in the cast, that narrows the field down a bit.
1) Shadowcat. She made brief appearances in the first two movies, but they're re-casting her for a larger role in this one. Losing her powers wouldn't make a huge dent in continuity, so its either a good or bad call depending on how large of a role the writers are making the loss in the storyline.
2) Mystique. Right now there aren't a lot of Brotherhood members, so taking her powers would be kind of limiting to future storylines. Besides, keeping Stamos in full-body makeup is probably good for ticket sales, so that's probably out.
3) Jean Grey. Makes too much sense in her character, so it probably wouldn't draw the source's response of "absolutely shouldn't lose them." If they're going with Dark Phoenix, then that'd be the best way to take her out in the end would be to make her lose her powers.
Which leaves two characters, both of whom would make a lot of sense:
4) Storm. For the same reasons that killing her off would make sense: Berry doesn't want to come back unless she has a major role. And, sorry Halle, Storm has NEVER had a major role in the comic book or the movies, so its difficult to find a place for her at the top of a food chain that's already crowded with Wolverine, Jean, Magneto, Professor X, Cyclops, Angel, Pyro, and...
5) Rogue. Makes far too much sense, again, but its also something that would throw comic book fans. Rogue should NOT lose her powers because, more than any other character, her powers define who she is. She has emotional attachment issues because of the physical limitations. The reason her relationships, with Gambit in the comics and with Iceman in the movies, are more interesting because we know that any touch could kill the guy.
Taking Rogue's powers would be the ultimate "gift" to Rogue the character, but would change her character and also remove the commentary about the limitations that mutations can cause.
As for the sex scene... well, that one I'm not going to touch, because there's too many potentials for odd combinations or weird ways to go about it. Rogue/Iceman, Wolverine/Jean, Mystique/Wolverine, even Storm/Nightcrawler. We'll have to see what happens, I guess.
In other news, we have our first major concern for Fiddler. Our Hodel, my Hodel, has a potential stress fracture in her foot and had to be carried out of rehearsal last night. Hopefully its nothing too serious, something that can be Ace bandaged, but we'll have to see what happens.
Anyway, I just finished reading Stephen King's 2002 release, From A Buick 8. Now, from what I had heard about the novel coming in, both from fans and from King himself, I wasn't expecting a lot. He had described it as Christine all over again.
After reading it, I didn't think it was bad. I enjoyed it, even though the ending felt somewhat strung out. And I'm still trying to piece together the Dark Tower reference, as I had a few ideas at first but none of them really panned out. Is the Buick a Low Man's car? Does it open up onto todash space? I keep forgetting that the DT series is over, so unless I re-read everything and find the answers there, then they'll never be answered.
Next up, there's a "source" being quoted on darkhorizons.com about the X-Men 3. First off, he threw out a few potential directors, neither of whom bug me or make me very excited. The guy who directed Behind Enemy Lines is one candidate, and Brett Ratner, who directed Rush Hour and Red Dragon, is the other.
However, what really struck me was his next paragraph. Here's the direct cut-and-paste from the article:
Avi Arad wasn't kidding when he called the film "controversial," either. Three major characters that absolutely should not die, die. Really dead, too. Not Spock Dead. And one mutant who should not lose her powers, loses her powers permanently. Really loses them, too. And the sex scene... when you see who does what to who... oh, boy. The entire X-MEN universe may face some incredible overhauls, and it's going to be fascinating to see what fandom does when faced with this stuff".
This is REALLY interesting me because, if its true, the writing team has basically has decided to throw comic book continuity out the window. And hear hear, I say. There were a lot of fans who came into the first movie and said "Wait, Rogue's a teenager, and she's hooking up with Iceman? Pyro's in the school? Mystique's naked? Blasphemous!" But I love it. The comic book reality shouldn't affect the movie reality, like the movie reality has affected the comic book. If one starts bleeding into the other, then it starts affecting how the story should be told.
I know that doesn't make a lot of sense when I say it, but I know what I'm talking about. Example, Michael Crichton releases the book Jurassic Park. In this book, the lawyer lives, the old man and the chaos theorist die. Spielberg makes the movie version of said book, where the lawyer dies and the old man and chaos theorist live.
After the movie is released, Crichton writes the next book, The Lost World. Instead of continuing where his last book left off, he alters his plotline to reflect the movie's chronology. He kills the lawyer off with a heart attack between books, and tells the reader that, no, the chaos theorist really didn't die. In fact, he's the main character of this story!
The movie version of the X-Men should be different than the comic book version. A writer of the movie should see where his story is going, and not be hindered by what the comic book history says is "right" or "wrong". And if that means he sees three characters dying, one losing her powers, and two more doing the horizontal mambo, then more power to him.
So I shall now lay out my theory as to what the hell the source is talking about.
Deaths:
1) Magneto. They're setting up a prequel for him, so it'd be a nice way to give him a Darth Vader-style tragic arc.
2) Storm. Halle Berry's been moaning about these movies for the last few years, so the best way to handle her character without re-casting her in any new sequels would be to just kill her off completely.
3) Cyclops, because no one's expecting it.
The only character I know who will NOT die would be Wolverine, who, like Magneto, they're planning on doing a new solo movie on in the future. So unless its a flashback movie, no go.
Power loss:
Well, first off, they say that the mutant will be losing "her" powers. Since there are only five women in the cast, that narrows the field down a bit.
1) Shadowcat. She made brief appearances in the first two movies, but they're re-casting her for a larger role in this one. Losing her powers wouldn't make a huge dent in continuity, so its either a good or bad call depending on how large of a role the writers are making the loss in the storyline.
2) Mystique. Right now there aren't a lot of Brotherhood members, so taking her powers would be kind of limiting to future storylines. Besides, keeping Stamos in full-body makeup is probably good for ticket sales, so that's probably out.
3) Jean Grey. Makes too much sense in her character, so it probably wouldn't draw the source's response of "absolutely shouldn't lose them." If they're going with Dark Phoenix, then that'd be the best way to take her out in the end would be to make her lose her powers.
Which leaves two characters, both of whom would make a lot of sense:
4) Storm. For the same reasons that killing her off would make sense: Berry doesn't want to come back unless she has a major role. And, sorry Halle, Storm has NEVER had a major role in the comic book or the movies, so its difficult to find a place for her at the top of a food chain that's already crowded with Wolverine, Jean, Magneto, Professor X, Cyclops, Angel, Pyro, and...
5) Rogue. Makes far too much sense, again, but its also something that would throw comic book fans. Rogue should NOT lose her powers because, more than any other character, her powers define who she is. She has emotional attachment issues because of the physical limitations. The reason her relationships, with Gambit in the comics and with Iceman in the movies, are more interesting because we know that any touch could kill the guy.
Taking Rogue's powers would be the ultimate "gift" to Rogue the character, but would change her character and also remove the commentary about the limitations that mutations can cause.
As for the sex scene... well, that one I'm not going to touch, because there's too many potentials for odd combinations or weird ways to go about it. Rogue/Iceman, Wolverine/Jean, Mystique/Wolverine, even Storm/Nightcrawler. We'll have to see what happens, I guess.
In other news, we have our first major concern for Fiddler. Our Hodel, my Hodel, has a potential stress fracture in her foot and had to be carried out of rehearsal last night. Hopefully its nothing too serious, something that can be Ace bandaged, but we'll have to see what happens.
posted by Bill at 9:24 AM
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