Once Upon a Geek

Just a heads-up… I appeared in a couple recent episodes of The Unique Geek podcast.

The Unique Geek Issue #70 features the usual gang as we discuss the latest mediocre offerings from Lucas as well as the lackluster summer movie season.  Really we are just a bunch of grumpy guys with nothing better to do.

The Unique Geek Issue #71 features the usual gang as we discuss the new Incredible Hulk film.  Well… we try to discuss the film, but as usual we wander off topic a bit.

Be sure to check out these podcasts and the rest of The Unique Geek podcasts.

A few weeks back I wrote a blog post on a book I was reading, ”Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils”.  It was an older book that was published back in 1991, but I read it to tide me over until I got around to seeing “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull”.  Well, I finished this book and enjoyed it (definitely more traditional Indiana Jones than the new movie).  This adventure took place between the “Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” TV series and “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, and definitely captured the spirit of Indy.  I would recommend it to anyone who liked ”Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”.  It felt more in-tune with that film than the others.  As I mentioned before, it covered all the good bits of Indiana Jones like lost ruins, booby traps, things going wrong for Indy, a beautiful girl, and almost losing his hat.  The only negative comment I have is that the story ended somewhat abruptly, however, I understand why they had to do that.  You’d have to read the story to understand what I mean. 

Now I’m reading another older book (1993), Doctor Who The New Adventures “Deceit” by Peter Darvill-Evans.  These original novels by Virgin publishing started shortly after the first Doctor Who TV series was cancelled.  These books tackled stories too broad and deep for the small screen, and took Doctor Who into previously unexplored realms of time and space.  They explored much more mature themes and really helped push the storytelling for Doctor Who forward.  The stories were very enjoyable, featured plots that would run across multiple novels, and really kept the Doctor Who torch burning during the lean years (between the end of the first TV series and the 1996 TV movies).  I’d be willing to say that the current TV series would not have been so successful without these novels.  In fact, several of the authors for the new TV series wrote New Adventures novels first, such as: Russell T Davies, Paul Cornell, Mark Gatiss, Gareth Roberts, and Steven Moffat (he wrote a short story).  Also worth noting, the season three two-parter, “Human Nature” and “Family of Blood” was an adaptation of the New Adventures novel “Human Nature” by Paul Cornell. 

The New Adventures novels followed the adventures of the Sylvester McCoy Doctor, along with Ace, and several new companions.  The most popular of these newly-created companions is Professor Bernice Summerfield.  She totally kicks ass and eventually got her own line of books and audio dramas.  The reason I chose to read “Deceit” (book 13 out of the 61 books published) was because Abslom Daak has an appearance in this one.  I’m about 100 pages in and the book is very enjoyable.  I had forgotten that the New Adventures books take a while to get used to.  They say most books are written at a 6th grade level.  I would say these books are written at a slightly higher level, which requires some additional focus from the reader.  One of the interesting things about the New Adventures novels is that the Doctor typically doesn’t show up for the first 50 pages.  It can be a bit frustrating at first, but it gives the novelist some time to really develop the supporting characters.

After “Deceit”, I’ll be reading Star Wars Legacy of the Force “Fury” by Aaron Allston. “Legacy of the Force” has been a surprisingly good run of Star Wars novels.  “Fury” is the seventh book in a nine book cycle.  I’ll have to write a post about this series sooner or later.  I’m loving it!

After that, I’ll probably read ”Indiana Jones and the Genesis Deluge” by Rob Macgregor.  I’ve purchased the book and read the first few pages.  Even though I was only a few pages in, I found it really compelling.  I can’t wait to get around to this one.

There you go… my summer reading list. 

A while back, I wrote a blog post about the upcoming Indiana Jones comic digest.  Well… it came out this past Wednesday.  Now go buy it!

I finally saw “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”. I liked it. Yup, I’m one of the few geeks I know that actually enjoyed the movie.

Now, I have to admit that I was probably not impartial going in. I’d read quite a bit of spoilers, so I was much better prepared for the controversial parts as compared to most people. I think knowing about those parts in advance (and already personally working through the surprise and disappointment) allowed me to enjoy the film more. It’s sort of like having surgery. Prior to the surgery, the doctor explains in gory detail what they are going to do to you. So when its time for the actual procedure, you aren’t really surprised or upset by the painful bits.

Beware, there be SPOILERS ahead…
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Things I liked…

• I enjoyed the second Act that took place back at the University. I felt like they introduced a nice subplot about a hero getting older. Loved the line, “We seem to have reached the age where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away.” I liked that they lingered on the photo of Indy’s dad.

• Indy gaining a son was a perfect counterpoint to the earlier scene about getting older. Here Indy is given something new (a son he never knew he had). Well structured.

• I enjoyed hearing Harrison Ford’s famous Star Wars line, “I got a bad feeling about this.”

• I thought the use of the army ants was really cool! Very unexpected but fitting for Indiana Jones. I’m going to have the creepy crawlies for days.

• Throughout the movie I was waiting for the moment, and dreading the thought of, when Indy would put the hat on Mutt as sort of a passing of the torch. I was happy to see that moment was stolen from Mutt. It symbolically said that Mutt wasn’t picking up Indy’s mantle and that Indy was still around. Nice.

• I liked that the his son was called Mutt. Given that Indiana chose his name because of their dog, Mutt was a funny choice and seemed to fit with the 1950’s era. I’m sure some people thought it was a silly homage to how Indiana chose his name, but I liked it (especially because they didn’t actually come out and remind us during the film).

Things I struggled with…

• I’m all about Indiana action being over the top. However, even I had a hard time overlooking some of the ridiculous stunts, such as the atomic refrigerator & Mutt on the vines. Additionally, as it did with Ravenface, the bad stunt stand-ins during the motorcycle chase really took me out of the film.

• I could have done without the majority of the sci-fi stuff. I think they could have still done a Crystal Skull plot (but more based upon the Mitchell-Hedges skull and myth), included Area 51, but only hinted at and left the audience wondering about the alien stuff.

General missives…

• I thought I’d heard during pre-production that John Hurt was playing Abner Ravenwood. I wonder what happened there.
• Why did the aliens need to be from another dimension? Was outer space just to simple of a concept? Given the homage to the 1950’s alien invasion movies, I would have thought simply making them from outer space would have made more sense.

• In regard to the sci-fi elements, I understand where the filmmakers were coming from. I think their hearts were in the right place and they were in a Catch-22 situation. If they simply made another archeological adventure movie, fans would have griped that there was nothing new and they failed to live up to the old films. By going in a different direction, they risked alienating fans with the psychic/dimensional subplot. Either way, the fan base was going to doom the movie. So I think trying something different was probably the best approach (even though I personally didn’t like some of the elements).

Again, overall I enjoyed the movie. I may not have agreed with some elements, but overall it was a fun adventure romp with a hero from my childhood.  I probably won’t see it in the theater again, but I’m sure I’ll buy the DVD.

The Irredeemable Shag

http://onceuponageek.com

I just started reading “Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils“, a novel by Rob MacGregor.  Given my current work schedule and chasing around after my kids, I haven’t had a chance to see ”Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” yet.  I’ve heard a lot of negative things about the new movie, so I decided to tide myself over with some of the novels that I’ve heard are good.  My friend Patrick recommended the Rob MacGregor novels.

I’m only about a quarter of the way through the book, but I’m really enjoying it.  It takes place after the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, before the movies, and has a really high adventure feeling to it.  Lost ruins, booby traps, things going wrong for Indy, a beautiful girl, almost losing his hat… y’know the fun bits of Indiana Jones!  I started with this book, even though it’s MacGregor’s third Indy novel.  I couldn’t find his first two Indy novels the day I went shopping, and this one is MacGregor’s favorite.  Assuming I enjoy this book the whole way through, I’ll sure I’ll go back and get the previous novels.

And on a somewhat related note, if you haven’t read the Indiana Jones lyrics, you’ve got to check them out!  Too funny!

We decided to have a family movie night last Saturday.  After being exposed to all the hype surrounding Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, my eight-year old step-son wanted to watch some of the original Indiana Jones films.  He’d never seen them before, so we started with “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. 

Interestingly enough, I was the exact same age my step-son is now when I first saw this movie.  My dad, my brother, and I got to see a free sneak preview a few days before the regular release (so this would be early June 1981).  At this point, there was very little known about the film other than it was by the creators of Star Wars and Jaws.  In the car on the way to the theater, my eight-year old self decided that the film must be about finding Noah’s Ark.  Needless to say I wasn’t disappointed that I was wrong after seeing this awesome film.  Going to see movies with my dad growing up was a special treat, so I have fond memories of that night.

Fast forward to the present.  It was really fun watching “Raiders of the Lost Ark” through my step-son’s eyes.  He was excited in all the right places, loved the action, got scared at the end and peeked through his fingers while covering his eyes.  We even dug out my old brown fedora for him to wear during the movie.  He said it made him feel safer.  It’s nice to see that classic high adventure movies such as “Raiders of the Lost Ark” can still thrill children today.

Afterwards, we watched one of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles stories - “Treasure of the Peacock’s Eye”.  Truthfully, this was just a re-edit of a few of the weekly episodes.  Regardless, my step-son really enjoyed the story.  I think he connected with young Indy and enjoyed seeing Indy learn the skills he would go on to use later in life.

Later at the grocery store, he asked my wife to buy him a box of Corn Pops cereal.  Being a kind mother, she bought the cereal for him.  It just so happened that this box of Corn Pops contained an Indiana Jones toy.  What my wife didn’t know is that he hates Corn Pops and it was simply a ruse to get the Indy toy.  Pretty clever kid. 

You throw me the Corn Pops, I throw you the whip!

If you’re like me, you’re getting anxious for the new Indiana Jones movie - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  However, I thought it worth pointing out another cool Indiana Jones item on the horizon.  On June 11th, Dark Horse Comics will be publishing Indiana Jones Adventures Vol. 1.  This is a pocket-sized 80-page comic that is kid-friendly and should be fun for adults and children.  The cost is only $6.95, which is a bargain for an 80-page comic!

Dark Horse describes it as “a story for anyone looking for stunning visuals, thrill-a-minute storytelling, and one unmistakable archaeologist!”  Dark Horse is following the same model they used for their Star Wars Clone Wars Adventure series (based upon the popular cartoon mini-series).  That model being cartoon-style art, digest format publication, and targeting the book for adults and children. 

I realize some of you will automatically dismiss this as “kid’s comics”.  However, I gotta tell you some of the most fun comics being published today are these kid-friendly books.  Many really convey the excitement of comics, capture the colorful dynamic action, and have straight-forward plots without talking down to the reader.  As a comic reader, I find these types of books fun, refreshing, and adventurous.  Just a few examples of great kid-friendly comics on the market today include Power Pack, Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, and Franklin Richards.  Just remember how much you loved “Batman: The Animated Series”.  That’s a good example of an action-oriented series targeted at adults and children.

Gotta run.  No time for love, Doctor Jones!