We haven’t had a random positivity thread in a while, so how about this: Answer one or more of the following.
- What TV series deserved another season?
- What book would you adapt as an anime?
- Suggest one movie that you think belongs in the required viewing of an Introductory Film Studies college course.
- What film or film series most needs a Muppet version? Hard mode: not the Benoit Blanc murder mysteries.
(1) A lot of the stuff Netflix axed as soon as they hit three seasons instead of paying the guild mandated raises, like Santa Clarita Diet. Also on the subject of Netflix, the cancellation of Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance after one season season was completely unforgivable, a really high quality labor of love that didn’t deserve to be done like this.
(2) Recency bias but Redliners by David Drake, I guess, military sci-fi should fit the style. It’s the story of a mid-alien-war settler expedition in non-enemy territory that on the dl was supposed to work as a more active means of reintegrating it’s guard detachment of ptsd’ed out veterans (the titular redliners) back into society, that goes immediately, terribly, awry.
(3) Matrix and Oldboy for perfecting various aspects of film-making into cultural milestonehood, but realistically anyone aspiring to film making would probably be far better server by binging MST3K and Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace.
(4) Star Trek, probably. Its parodies already seem more in the spirit of the original than the current series anyway.
- Rome (HBO), Jessica Jones (Disney), Black Mirror (Netflix) come to mind.
- The Book of Mormon. (I don’t enjoy anime. But really, I’d love to see Dungeon Crawler Carl adapted, in any form.)
- The Incredibles. It’s a stupid, sappy story. Been told a thousand times. A B(ish)-list cast. And yet, it still hits hard.
- I haven’t seen it, nor do I plan to - but if “Melenia” had a muppet version, I’d sit through it.
No, there is nothing artistic or educated about my taste in film. I survive on the worst kind of commercial drivel.
Let’s go with (3). I have a list of films and other media based on the idea that the highest form of storytelling is when the story is an analogy for the process of telling the story, as in Hotel California or House of Leaves or Myst. I think that I would require students to consider one of the top three films from my list: The Matrix, Inception, or Shrek, viewer’s choice.
Shadow and Bone fell into the Netflix trap of not becoming a culture-dominating mega-hit to justify getting a third season where the various “pay me pls” clauses of everyone’s contract would come due and I’m still low-key mad about it. But that show was better than it needed to be and they were just on the cusp of main love interest Mal becoming the slightest bit interesting.
God, when was the last time I read a book that wasn’t to a child? Uh… I think Lies of Locke Lamora could be pretty fun to adapt, and might encourage the next book to get published in a more timely fashion. But let’s lean hard into anime specifically and spotlight the webnovel Sunspot. It’s already rolling around in magical girl (plus magical enby) territory, but the way the magic system is described as like a combination of knitting, weaving, lasers and integrated circuit design seems like it would translate into aniqmation to be really goddamn cool.
I feel like the film school set watches enough good movies. What’s a movie that’s terrible in an interesting way that could teach aspiring filmmakers something about the craft beyond just “don’t do that”? I’ve been thinking and can’t come up with one, so I’m just gonna say Plan 9 from Outer Space so all the aspiring film guys can have a little bit of fun.
And it’s not a movie, but if I can submit a TV show I’m really tickled by the idea of The Muppets Get Leverage. Same premise, team of crooks taking one back for the little guy by conning the 1%. But while all the targets and their associates are the actual people (rotating cast of guest stars?) the crew are all muppets. Kermit as the mastermind, Miss Piggy as the grifter, Animal as the hitter, Gonzo’s your hacker, and let’s bring in Abby Kadabby as the thief. Sam the Eagle has a recurring role as the insurance agent turned interpol officer trying to chase them down.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa i hit cancel insteaad of reply and my post got eaten sorry i’ll just listpost now then
What’s a movie that’s terrible in an interesting way that could teach aspiring filmmakers something about the craft beyond just “don’t do that”?
- Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam (“Turkish Star Wars”) it’s great it’s fun it’s inventive it does sampling
- After Last Season ; it’s weird and sedate and bare and hypnotic and cool
they’re legitimately great movies if you’re into the possibilities of cinema imo but if you want well regarded movies that do similar things go with:
- Céline et Julie vont en bateau – Phantom Ladies over Paris
- Věra Chytilová’s Daisies (Sedmikrásky)
they’re all very fun and very free in form
also Céline & Julie would make a great muppet film i’m sure
- TV Show: Extraordinary, quirky take on the superhero genre, cancelled after 2 seasons.
- Anime: Because I like space battles anime, the Honorverse by David Weber (not great sci-fi, but one of my guilty pleasures).
- Obligatory Movie: “Le Roi et l’Oiseau” [The King and the Mockingbird] (animation edition)
- I want my long version of the thunderbird edition of Stargate sg1 (see episode 200).
- TV Series: Alien Nation and Space: Above and Beyond
- Anime: No idea, sorry
- Introductory Film Studies college course: Hot Fuzz
- Muppet Movie Version: Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition
I was just thinking about Alien Nation the other day.
I think the Master and Commander series would work as an anime. I’d accept CGI for the technical aspects of the ships - in fact, I’m sure that’s the only realistic way to portray all the vessels in the books.
There’s a ton of nuance in the books that can be used as voiceover filler too. Perfect fit.
The VA who portrays Major Kusanagi can be the one behind Diana Villiers. EDIT sadly she passed away in 2024 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atsuko_Tanaka.
Master And Commander would probably be great with muppets too.
I haven’t been to awful in a minute, been busy with a combination of life, work, and Hades II. Here are my answers:
- TV series that deserve more seasons: I would like 10 more seasons of Young Justice.
- Books as anime: Something like Catch-22 or Slaughterhouse V could work as animation. Maybe not anime specifically, but hey why not. Also, I learned recently that Deltora Quest, an action/adventure fantasy series for young teens was adapted into an anime, like, a while ago.
- I’m not enough of a film bro to have a quality comment on what should be in a film studies course. Instead I’ll say my favourite movie of all time Everything Everywhere All at Once. It’s a shame that the directors haven’t done anything since, especially not any shitty both sides-y documentaries/credulous AI propaganda.
- Muppet version? I would like the movie “Joker” replaced throughout reality with “Muppet Joker”
