Thanks to everyone for your responses to my latest update, back on the previous page! I realize that there's a lot of information there, and I want to thank you all for slogging through it and mustering your replies. I would still love to hear from the rest of you about your thoughts as well, so by all means please feel free to contribute! Even if it's just a generic compliment - I'm not opposed to those or anything, you know As always, my responses to those posts from prior to my most recent update first...
And as for Bluhdorn? Well, that little misadventure has only just begun...
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There's just one more update in the 1978-79 cycle, which I hope to have ready - along with the interlude written by e of pi - before the end of the month, as is my custom. Now I make no promises, of course, and I will serve no update before its time; but I will say that encouraging words probably wouldn't hurt
Thank you! I appreciate your constructive advice.Yes, the revised version does sound a lot more plausible.
Yes, I was referring to this technicality... which really does speak for itself, doesn't it?Although the hereditary members are elected...by the other hereditary peers. (Ironically this is the only election involving the British government that uses AV as the voting system).
To be honest, I was actually pulling for Thornton to outlive Smith, if only because he was so much older. Still, 92 years young is absolutely nothing to sneer at.Thande said:And back in the 70s, who the heck would have thought he would live the longest? Or that Captain Peacock would outlive Miss Brahms and Mr Lucas?
You're welcome to speculate, but please bear in mind that you're never going to be reading about those topics in any detail in the timeline proper.Well, getting my answer on the prolife movement has kept me interested. I think this might keep the movement somewhat less partisanly Republican (I know there are lots of prolifers in the Dems, but they always seem to be sidelined) - we might see the continuance of phenomenon such as the stances of Roberti, the father of California gun control. At the same time, lack of evangelical backing might make it a weaker movement, still largely a Catholic phenomenon (IIRC the SBC was still pro-choice around this time).
Well, Innocent XIV was described in his days as a cardinal as "affable and smiling". Perhaps he won't be shrewd like JPII, but I wouldn't write him off entirely.Francisco Cojuanco said:The election of Pope Innocent seems to have major implications for the media role of the Papacy. Agree or disagree with him, JPII had a lot of charisma about him, and to a large extent defined the modern public perception of the Papacy. I see Innocent as being not like that.
You can say that againFrancisco Cojuanco said:All on account of that wacky redhead!
Thank you, SteveWell some post inflation possibly but the quality still remains very high so that's the main thing and definitely makes it worth reading through.
It does - though obviously there's a good deal of compression there, as each film is only about two hours long. (The OTL film clocked in at 132 minutes.)stevep said:Love the idea of a LOTR series as animation that early, especially since it sounds like it sticks pretty close to the books.
Intriguing analysis, Steve, though it remains to be seen how right you are, of coursestevep said:Fascinating run of events and the development of a subtly different set of films and more drastically different set of Oscar awards. Along with a small hint of a major storm to come. I get the feeling that whoever wins TTL there's not going to be a Star Wars trilogy as the subject will be too poisonous, even if anyone secure clear control of the rights.
You flatter me, FalkenburgA tour de force, Brainbin.
Well, thank you, I do try. At the end of the day, timelines are really about people, both great and small.Falkenburg said:Finely crafted and soundly internally consistent. An outstanding job.
So many intriguing and poignant (in the case of Achebe and McQueen) little details.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love it when people quote my catchphrases back at me?Falkenburg said:Remarkable. And all on account of That Wacky Redhead.
Thank you, NigelYet Another Interesting Post.
A cute idea, but I'm afraid that won't be happening ITTL.NCW8 said:It's obviously not a Beatles production, but it would be fun to have some of the Fab Four lend their vocal talents to the film. I'd particularly like to hear John Lennon as Gollum.
The smoking pen, as it were - and note that The Jungle Book and The Aristocats (the two films from which Robin Hood cribbed the most heavily) were Disney's two immediately preceding releases. To be honest, it's almost as if the animators wanted to be caught. And it's no wonder why Don Bluth left later on, IOTL.NCW8 said:That's interesting. I'd heard that Robin Hood reused animation from previous Disney films, but I've never seen it presented like that.
No, I think I'm going to spare the good people of TTL the Wilhelm Scream (well, beyond its original appearances in 1950s B-movies, anyway).NCW8 said:On the subject of re-using material - does the Wilhelm Scream get revived ITTL ? The original sound effect dates from the 1950s, but its inclusion in Star Wars and the Indiana Jones films encouraged its use in other films so that it has now appeared in over 200 films.
Thank you, ThandeGood update.
I'm glad that you were able to suspend your disbelief; personally, I found the rotoscoping to be horribly jarring.Thande said:I personally enjoyed the rotoscoping in the Bakshi film as it grants an otherworldly sense to the whole affairs, although I agree it was overused.
You mean, along the lines of Song of the South, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Or using some other method?Thande said:I'm kind of a sucker for mixing styles of animation though, I also enjoyed the somewhat strange use of mixing live action with hand-drawn animation in the BBC version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.
I would have loved to see Tolkien's reaction to the OTL Lord of the Rings film, had he lived. That man had a gift for put-downs, no doubt about it.Thande said:Tolkien of course wouldn't like it but then he was a perfectionist who was never satisfied with his own work, never mind anyone else's interpretation of it I recall him writing a critique of a proposed film script by Zimmerman that was practically longer than the script itself Well worth a read if you can find a copy of The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially because it inadvertently rebuts all those idiots who think the Eagles are a deus ex machina (Zimmerman wanted to cut out the journey from Rivendell to Moria by having the Fellowship ride on Eagles, to which Tolkien acidly replied that they were not 'Middle-earth's taxi service')
Sorry, Thande, I had to go with the creative consensus on this one, not being an enthusiast of the Legendarium myself.Thande said:I see a failure to understand the character's extremely important relevance to the thematic structure is common to adaptation attempts in all TLs then Honestly, one might as well cut Caliban out of The Tempest or something...
I'm very much in agreement, gentlemen (unsurprisingly). But would the BBC have been able to handle the sheer scale of a lavish and epic Lord of the Rings series by about 1970? It couldn't be any later, given that Tolkien sold the movie rights in 1969, IOTL (and ITTL, for that matter).Thande said:I will say that while I have many issues with the Peter Jackson films, I am always acutely aware that they are far more faithful than pretty much any other proposed film adaptation of LOTR I've ever heard of, and depressingly they may represent the best possible adaptation we can realistically get in the medium of film! (Which of course raises the question, as Brainbin himself has done with Harry Potter, of whether a TV series would do it better justice, despite the lack of such a grand scale).
The Lord of the Rings would have made a very good TV series in the style of Game of Thrones. But sadly both Ralph Bakshi and Peter Jackson were faster.
While Bakshi's version was in most cases much closer to the novels, Jackson's version had the better music and design.
Well, we've seen over and over again in popular culture that derivative can be good; it just can't be original. Then again, this is Disney we're talking about.Yeah, yeah...Robin Hood borrowed a lot of animation...doesn't matter, it's still one of Disney's best. It's one of the few movies I loved as a kid, that I still love without reservation.
Well, I told you I wasn't writing a utopiajpj1421 said:And wooo!! sounds like there's a good LOTR cartoon in this TL. And take that Annie Hall, Journey for the Force (I'm sure) is awesome. So while American crumbles under Reagan, at least entertainment culture flourishes.
I'm glad you love it! Being an advocate for television, I had ideological reservations about giving Network the Oscar, but even I can't always have it my way.I love the Best Picture list of TTL. Think Bludhorn's in deep s**t.
And as for Bluhdorn? Well, that little misadventure has only just begun...
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There's just one more update in the 1978-79 cycle, which I hope to have ready - along with the interlude written by e of pi - before the end of the month, as is my custom. Now I make no promises, of course, and I will serve no update before its time; but I will say that encouraging words probably wouldn't hurt