Everybody is sophisticated in this modern day and age. We know just about everything there is to know about how the big tent pole comic book movies are made. It’s not uncommon to see blogs with the words blue / green screen and cgi (computer generated effect) included in their contents. We now live in an age where it is possible to realize just about any effect or visual image you can imagine, yet a lot of big studio fantasy, sci-fi and comic book movies fail [miserably] to hit the mark.
Why is this?
Making these types of highly visual movies, working in this genre really isn’t rocket science.
The more I read online blogs and articles (actually little more than rants.), the more I am becoming convinced that this is a distinctly American affliction.
Every time we get a super hero show, it is an event that ratchets up big ratings and then eventually falls into obscurity (HEROES anybody?). During the late 70’s we had The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, and The Six Million Dollar Man & Bionic Woman to name a few. In the 80’s we had hybrid shows like Manimal, The Powers of Mathew Star, Knight Rider & others.
It appears the Hulk is poised to return to the small screen under the protective wing of Guillermo Del Toro. While this is a good thing I wonder what form the Green Giant will take in his new television incarnation. I doubt Del Toro would follow Kenneth Johnson’s take on the character too closely, but budgetary constraints most likely cause the Emerald Avenger to wreck any serious damage. So it may be that we are going to be treated to more of a character driven vehicle once again.
One thing about this new age of fantasy, sci-fi and super heroics in popular media is that it has turned almost everyone into somewhat of an accountant and a cynic. We talk about how true to the characters these projects are and blog about the budgets of these projects as if we had a personal stake in them.
All I’m saying is that I wish these kinds of movies and television shows had been the norm more so than now. I wish we always had the super hero films in more of their classical form from the old days. Don’t get me wrong, there were early attempts at this kind of thing back in the 30’s and 40’s with the movie serial.
This was the early days of the CB Movie … Producers were more open to experimentation and the “suit” was mostly kept out of the creative process. Watch some of these old serials and you’ll definitely be entertained.
These days, I have had little patience for the CB Movie because it has become synominous with “Studio Suits” and fallen into a glut of homogenous “Assembly Line” production.
This ultimately gives birth to thousands upon thousands of written online rants and articles. We (fan boys) have an affinity to characters and properties that we most identify with and feel some partial ownership of said item. Most filmmakers really don’t have a chance when it comes to making a CB Movie because some fraction of the audience will be left wanting. They just have to hope that a small enough portion of the audience will contain those angered cynics and that they can turn a profit.
This brings me back to wishing that CB Movies and Television shows were more of a norm in our culture.
Take for example Japanese pop culture. Japan has been producing Big and Small screen CB movies & television shows for generations now with no sign of letting up.
Super Giant (1957)
Ultraman (1966)
These types of programs are called Tokusatsu in the Japanese language.
Tokusatsu (特撮?) is a Japanese term that applies to any live-action film or television drama that usually features superheroes and makes considerable use of special effects (tokusatsu literally translates as "special filming" in Japanese).
Tokusatsu entertainment often deals with science fiction, fantasy or horror, but movies and television shows in other genres can sometimes count as tokusatsu as well. The most popular types of tokusatsu include kaiju monster movies (the Godzilla and Gamera film series), superhero TV serials (the Kamen Rider and Metal Hero Series), and mecha dramas (Giant Robo). Some tokusatsu television programs combine several of these subgenres (the Ultraman and Super Sentai series). Tokusatsu is one of the most popular forms of Japanese entertainment, but most tokusatsu movies and television programs are not widely known outside Asia.
(Wikipedia explanation)
MARVEL COMICS even ventured into Tokusatsu in 1978.
(Kinda makes me wish they had licenced the Avengers just to see how that would have turned out.)
Hakaider: Mechanical Violator (1995)
Note: Kind of like taking Iron Man, Robocop & Mad Max and sticking them in a blender.
(I have to admit that I find this movie infinitely more entertaining than either Iron Man one or two.)
Why can’t SMALLVILLE, HEROES (When it was actually on the air) or the upcoming CAPE (Which looks like complete derivative shite by the way.) be this daring? The Closest thing we got to kind of action in recent memory was Joss Whedon’s Buffy Spinoff “Angel.
SEE WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT?
[By the way … I would sincerely like to thank Mr. Whedon for his time in television.]
I don’t know what the future holds for CB Movies or this type of entertainment, but with a generation of armchair cynics and accountants, FOX Studios (Who seem to be purposely intent on angering fan boys around the world) and mismatched eclectic producers and directors leave me little to hope for. For every good “accident” of television, there are hundreds if not thousands of horrible failures looming in the wings.
…shadowgeek10 returns to the shadows once more …