And I was worried about somebody coming up with something like “The Magellan Affair” AFTER we started to get it out there…

So, I’m sitting at my cushy government job surfing for any mention of “The Magellan Affair” like a needy puppy and come across this. I’ve kept myself from looking at much, but it seems like there’s a 90’s videogame that bears a scary retro sci-fi resemblance to what we did. It’s creepy, and to a copyright nazi like myself, a little disturbing. To show that I’m not just a copyright nazi but also a hypocrite, here’s a pic of the game I lifted off the net.

It’s strange. I’ve dabbled in PC games in the past.  Sam & Max Hit the Road and Grim Fandango were pretty awesome. Later on, I played the hell out of Freedom Force and Battle for Middle-Earth. Now, I’ve got Bob’s copy of Sam & Max: Season One that’s been sitting on my bookshelf for over a year. Not having the time to play it burns at my soul like a thousand packs of matches. On top of which, almost all of my friends are video game junkies. How the hell had I never heard of Tex Murphy?

I came up with The Magellan Affair during a party at Adrian’s (which I may or may not have named The House of Sin). It was just after Mosquito, and a drunken Adrian, Bob, and myself were leaning on the same wall hold us up. Bob (a CG wizard and sci-fi super freak) says, “what’s the next project?” Fedora wearing Adrian pipes in with, “Yeah, man, but it’s gotta have some blues in there!” In my drunken stupor I put both of those comments in a bowl with the fact that I’m an absolute nut for Bogart movies and Flash Gordon serials, mixed well, and served. The script was written in less than a week, and without any knowledge of Tex Murphy.

Odd? You bet. Maybe there is a collective consciousness and there really aren’t any new ideas.

I’m gonna go out of my way to not learn any more about Tex Murphy (other than an eventual post on that message board) and carry on with Magellan as is, just to see how close the end results end up being.

Holy crap, that was fun!

Now, I’ve been an over the top Trek fan since The Next Generation: Season Three. I even submitted some scripts way back when (an anger inducing and embarrassing story for another time). I lived and breathed that world.  I understood the technobabble. I choked a little when they started breaking rules the second after Roddenberry checked out. I loved TNG and liked DS9 right up til that Klingon War stuff when they fleshed out Garrek. I preferred the mystery around that character by far, and it felt kinda strange when it turned out he wasn’t gay. I couldn’t watch Voyager and hear Janeway without seeing Jane Curtin in her Conehead get up yelling, “Unacceptable! Unacceptable!” Enterprise was briefly interesting and soft-core pornish. All in all, the franchise needed new blood.

So, I’m watching this new movie and it feels fresh and reminiscent and charming as all get out. I ignore the prancing through Black Holes like it’s 1979, the supernova that catches everyone off guard and sneaks up on a planet unawares, and the whack-a-doo cadet cruise promotion to Captain. I ignore this all because it’s fun, and it’s make believe. I used to like reality in my sci-fi/fantasy as much (or more) than the next guy, but let’s face it, the late Ricardo Montalban never managed to take over a quarter of the Earth as emperor in the 90’s, so… you know… you gotta let it go.

I was never a huge fan of the original series, but it’s really hard not to love these new cast as the old characters. It was a well scripted, wonderfully paced, and fun adventure. It’s great escapism and surprisingly clean. I’m very glad Star Trek is kicking Wolverine’s ass (95% approval vs. 36% on Rotten Tomatoes). It gives me a little more faith in humanity. A little.

All in all, I’d give Star Trek 6 ridiculous promotions out of a possible 7.

I haven’t done a bit of advice in a while.  Here’s a gooder.

When it comes to indie film (especially zero budget video), it’s over-the-top important to always take care of your locations. It’s important, not just to your production, but your community as well. It sounds obvious, I know, but once you get filming you sometimes start to forget things or certain immediacies knock your priorities out of whack.

But here’s the deal.

Whether you attained these locations through family or friends or money or begging or whatever, you doubtlessly got them for a song and a fraction of what you should be paying. Don’t start thinking you’re entitled to the location. You treat every inch of it as if it was your own (or better), clean up after every shoot, and maintain steady communication. Just like the talent involved, you have to make the owners of these locations happy that they became involved with your project. If you can do that, they’re more inclined to help you (or another filmmaker) out in the future. Some folks say that the worst thing you can do in an indie shoot is “burn a location” or somehow tick off the owner in a way that turns them off any future productions (although actually burning a location down would have the same effect). This limits your potential down the line and seriously hampers the creative community.

I’ve approached locations in the past where they’ve declined my requests because they’d had unnecessary trouble in the past, and it sucks. No matter what your intentions are, you’re automatically seen as a nuisance and a troublemaker because someone before you dropped the ball.

Now, here’s my sad confession… I’ve burnt a location.

While using an old church for Magellan, I bust my ass to keep it tidy and clean. I would sometimes take trips out of town to double check on things. I might have been a little nuts about it, but to heck with that. You should be nuts. I was running myself a little hard, and during a shoot one night, I got hit by the flu. Pretty bad too. I can remember fighting it, all sweaty and messed up that whole night. Once we were done cleaning up, stumbling out last in the dark, I took a fall and dropped my car and church keys which I promptly locked inside. We popped the hinges of the front door and retrieved them, but I went from bad to worse on the ride home. That flu knocked me out for four days. I was a delirious mess. However, my relief at coming out of the other end of it was short-lived, as I got a call from the none too pleased church owner. Mice had gotten into the garbage bags (because there was food in them) and made a pretty big mess.  Then, once you see one thing that makes you mad, naturally you see some more. He was miffed and had every right to be. As soon as I hung up the phone, I rushed out there, cleaned the place, caught a bunch of mice, and mopped. I cleaned it far more than it had been in a decade, and did everything else I could to apologize, but the damage had already been done. The owner let me finish up my shoot over the next two weeks, but there’s little doubt in my mind what his opinion of me must be.

I screwed up. I don’t care how sick I was. I should have been out there (or found someone else to) the next morning (like I was every other shoot) to gather the garbage and double check things. It was a horrible mistake that still bugs the hell out of me over a year later.

Take it from me. Don’t burn locations.

Imagine my surprise Sunday night, to be surfing through the guide and find the premiere of an animated show made up of two of my lost loves - Arrested Development and Pushing Daisies.  When those shows were cancelled, I pretty much lost faith in humanity (silly to do over TV, I know, but they were AWFULLY good). 

Now, Arrested’s creator Mitchell Hurwitz’s come up with (which is to say he’s made an animated version of an Australian TV show from a couple of years ago with) an equally poorly named comedy about a group of jaded and broken school teachers.  Sit Down, Shut Up (really not a good name) is a way to re-unite the Awesome McAwesome Teen Wolf 2 (Jason Bateman), Devon Banks (Will Arnett), and Arthur Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler) with my much-loved Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth).  The critics flat out hated it, but what the hell.  They loved Arrested Development and it didn’t save it from the axe.

So, I’m left feeling pessimistically hopeful.  I love those guys and would watch them do most anything, but the critic’s hate it.  It seemed to have some potential, but it’s being handled by FOX (I read about it seconds before it aired for cryin’ out loud).  It’s got the face paced wit that I love, but it’s filled with some obviously crude and low brow stuff too (which might help it survive in today’s world of cow-tippers and UFC fans). I’m only really watching Lost and 30 Rock right now, but that bounces back and forth as to whether it’s a good or bad thing. I guess deep down, I want it to be good and I want it to be something that lasts, but I can’t even pretend to understand what elements come together to make that happen.

Bob Green and I have been working on Magellan for what seems like ever now, so it floors me that he can still floor me. I’ve clearly imagined the ballroom for Chapter 2 (and like to think I have a pretty good imagination), but then Bob sends me a pic of the 3D set he’s made and it ends up being better than I could ever have dreamed.

Now how cool is that? Epic (like, Lawrence of Arabia epic) props to Bob and all his high cholesterol glory!

I met Holly Laing and Drew Dailey during last year’s Winnipeg ComicCon and I’ve been keeping an eye on their upcoming Terra Webcomic.  It’s interesting stuff with some heavy Fireflyesque influences.  If you’re a Browncoat, or a sci-fi fan, or like looking at comics during work hours, or… I dunno… breathing, then check it out.

I’m especially jealous of Holly’s crisp and sure pencils.

These DC direct to DVD features won me over with Justice League: the New Frontier to the point that I purchased the new Wonder Woman Animated DVD sight unseen. Anything Bruce Timm touches is usually gold and it’s got Fillion doing the voice of Steve Trevor. On top of that, I was a huge fan of George Perez’s post-Crisis revamp of the character back in the 80’s. In fact, I was expecting this movie to be a sleeker, stylized version of the first few issues of that run. It wasn’t, and while my wife suggested that is WAS quite good, I had a few problems with it.

1.  The Script.  I like that Wonder Woman is a character that embodies feminism. I especially like it when she can accomplish that role without being in-your-face or over-the-top (or any other hyphenated three word clichés). This movie script managed to both throw it in your face AND undermine the feminism at the same time (which was kinda weird).  You’ve got WW yelling curses at unjust gender inequalities one minute (after Trevor tries to get her drunk and naked), then taking the time during the final battle climax to pose and tell the God of War, “you hit like a girl.”  All the amazons wanna kill Trevor for commenting on Wonder Woman’s rack under forced confession, but gather around and cheer as the couple smooches at the base of the Washington Monument in the end.

2. Kid Show/Not Kid Show. I know it’s silly to overanalyze the finer script details of a kid’s cartoon, but the bloody thing was PG-13. And rightly so. There was a TON of violence and a handful of decapitations. What’s more, almost every line out of Trevor’s mouth was a little too lewd for the kiddies. I read a glowing review from someone who let their 10 and 2 year old children watch it, and I’ll say that was a bad call. DC should decide which side of the kid/adult line they wanna straddle rather than bouncing back and forth. I was left with the idea that the movie’s specific target audience was the Simpson’s Comic Book Guy.

Mind you, the special feature documentaries were plenty cool and interesting (and full of nifty trivia tid-bits like Wonder Woman’s creator, William Moulton Marston, being the inventor of the lie-detector), but I like that kind of stuff, so for all I know they were boring.

I ended up climbing under our stairs to dig out the first twelve issues of the Perez series (no small task I assure you) just to see if my memory was playing tricks on me. It wasn’t. Even now, a hundred years later, the story and tone and artwork are all better than anything that’s been done before or since (the image of DC’s cover for issue #1 displayed above in all its thoughtfully stolen off the net glory). What I remember most is how Perez portrayed the character.  She was as gorgeous as any of the gals Perez drew, but somehow (and this should be considered a Very Big Deal as it was a comic book and I was in my late teens) he managed to convey a combination of power and grace and soul that the character deserved. She was beautiful and wearing next to nothing, but you respected and revered her.

I’d give the DVD three 80s reaffirmations out of five.

3″ of snow in one hour!?  With a foot more to come!?

Okay, I hear you.  No more whining.

Here’s a few more crew backgrounds.

You know what I hate?   Winter.

Just a couple of weeks ago it was still as cold as -40 around here (celsius or fahrenheit, take yer pick). This has been the harshest winter I can remember, and it’s certainly had an effect. We basically forced ourselves to go tobogganing a couple of times, but didn’t venture out skating or fort building or anything else the whole bloody winter. I’ve permanently scarred my 4 year old son ’cause it’s been so ass-bitingly cold. 

Just as important is the effect it’s had emotionally. You hear about SAD or other seasonal influences, but you never expect them to hit you. This year it not only hit me, but proceeded to kick me in the junk while I was down. Just regular day to day stuff ends up being a chore, let alone movie or webcomic goodies. Anyway, this isn’t supposed to be the sob story it’s become. The point is, for those of you that winter has pushed around, I get it.  It sucks.

Get with it, Spring. I’ve got stuff to do.