That's how I got into it: it was roughly 86/87 and I'd run out of books to read so my dad leant me his library copy of Mort (the 4th book) and bam!
That Wacky Redhead
- Thread starter Brainbin
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That's how I got into it: it was roughly 86/87 and I'd run out of books to read so my dad leant me his library copy of Mort (the 4th book) and bam!
It does look very Victorian/Edwardian industrial, which is not surprising considering how much Tolkien despised industrialization. But at the same time, it's not cartoonishly ominous - in fact, there's a certain charm and character to its gloomy austerity. And as for the gravel - well, the UK does have plenty of quarries
Maybe Mordor was an allegory for modern country and moderns society: ugly industrial complex backed by plenty of cheap food which allows for great expansion and/or power projection. The other states must industrialize or perish. But at the same time the old lovely small communities are becoming assimilated or smashed.
Be glad that so far the infamous Rule 34 wasn't invoked.
Do you plan to send the Soviets to their own over...mountain quagmire?
I think John Carpenter might still make his horror movie...Halloween was originally called The Babysitter Murders. Instead of Michael Myers and something happening over night night, while not have a Ted Bundy pastiche over the course of a summer?
As for Altman, Friday the 13th would probably still be Long Night at Camp Blood, made for nothing, but Altman would let the actors be a little looser. Of course, would Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left be made ITTL as a lead-in?
And thank to Mr. Wallace, they would call it The Alabama Chainsaw Massacre.
That would probably depend on whether or not Irwin Yablans still comes up with The Babysitter Murders idea or if it is butterflied away.
That said, it would make a lot of sense for the movie to keep its original concept if the giallo style were to become popular in the US in the 70s.
Friday the 13th's existence in OTL was due to the massive success of Halloween. Sean S. Cunningham was specifically trying to rip off that movie when he made Friday the 13th. If Halloween, in some form, is still made ITTL and doesn't see the same level of success, there is no equivalent to Friday the 13th in all likelihood. Maybe Cunningham is one of many filmmakers drawing inspiration from the De Palma directed giallo homage instead?
My previous discussions with Thande about BBC programming gave me the impression that the network felt populist soap operas like Coronation Street beneath them - the reason it took them a quarter-century to produce a response in EastEnders. Something tells me that they wouldn't tarry in bringing something like that to the air ITTL.
Indeed. (For reference, this thread fulfilled Godwin's Law less than six months after it was started.)NCW8 said:
Well, gentlemen, it honestly seems to me that even if the Discworld is butterly-resistant, it's going to come to prominence too late to be featured in this timeline
Tolkien was rather notoriously disdainful of people reading allegories into his narrative. The term he preferred to use instead was "applicability" - which (if I'm understanding his use of the term correctly) seems to be more Jungian - along the lines of archetypes, synchronicity, and the collective unconscious.
They're currently fighting the Afghan War, yes. The US isn't doing much about it because of a quid pro quo deal which is keeping Soviet agents out of Iran (and which prevented a Western boycott of the 1980 Olympics, leading to the famous expression that "Only Reagan could go to Moscow"). Not that the Afghan insurgents aren't doing a terrific job of keeping the Soviets bogged down without Western aid, as they have always done with foreign invaders throughout their history.Mefisto said:
I like this a lot. I can definitely see serial killer exploitation being a big thing - Ted Bundy was an aide to Daniel Evans, so we'd probably see a lot of movies about powerful, seductive people living double lives - something like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which is certainly "artsy" enough - based on a classic piece of literature and Fredric March won an Oscar for playing the character(s) in the 1931 adaptation of the story - the only acting Oscar awarded to a horror film IOTL until The Silence of the Lambs six decades later.
Hmmm. Well, it hadn't been that long since the POD, and it is adapted from a Bergman film which predates it (which, in turn, was based on an old Swedish folktale). I'd say it would probably be made ITTL. Whether it would be received as well, however, is an entirely different question. 1972 was a much brighter and sunnier time ITTL than IOTL.CobiWann said:
Wallace pastiche tends be more the province of Blaxploitation, such as the classic Finney, in which a caricature unimaginatively named "Wally" is the main villain. I might suggest that his ilk would appear in Blaxploitation-type horror, but it would be very difficult to reconcile those two genres. Blaxploitation's central theme is empowerment, and horror's central themes are helplessness and terror. Even something like Blacula is more akin to an epic tragedy than modern horror.CobiWann said:
It does seem a pretty simple and straightforward idea - and one that could easily be spun off from the serial killer exploitation of the mid-1970s.
Another most intriguing idea, and one that bears some serious consideration. On another note, Wikipedia has very helpfully added a picture of Keye Luke dated October 1, 1976 (a Friday) to their article about him, which is roughly contemporary with when he filmed The Journey of the Force ITTL:Time slip said:
I think that it's a bit more complex than that. As described on this BBC page, they did have a couple of successful TV soaps in the Fifties and Sixties. Arguably, before Eastenders, the Beeb's Radio Soaps did better than their TV counterparts (including the first BBC Soap that was made for an American audience in 1941).
To me, it looks like the introduction of Colour TV brought an end to Soaps on the BBC. ITV were willing to invest more in the production of Coronation Street and other Soaps either had to follow suit or stop being made. Crossroads was an exception that did neither, and became something of a joke due to its lower production values. The BBC seems to have decided that if you're going to invest that much in a show, then you might as well make a full drama series. There's also borderline cases, such as Z Cars, which for part of its run was broadcast twice a week, but is considered to be a Police Procedural rather than a Soap Opera.
Cheers,
Nigel.
Yeah, but as the article says, they were what you might call "public service" soaps, from the same school of thought that said Doctor Who should be about history and science, not Daleks. Whereas 'Stenders is very much entertainment first, educate or inform a distant second.
In the early days that's true, but it should be remembered that the original purpose of Soap Operas was to sell soap, so it's natural that a public service broadcaster would do something similar. After 1960, when they started facing competition from Coronation Street, the BBC Soaps started focussing more on entertainment.
Coronation Street itself has occasionally dipped into public service territory. For example, in 1971, they showed residents of the street getting used to decimalisation. In one episode they even featured one of the new fifty pence coins before they'd been issued.
Cheers,
Nigel.
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A little something I've been working on recently, a scene from the early '80s where a long-time Trek fan has stayed up late to obsess over his newly-purchased copy of the Star Trek Role Playing Game sourcebook.
Nixonshead, I can't say in words how great that image looks. I love the lighting, like it's a desk lamp just off-screen. The pen and the CED case almost make it seem like he's in the process of watching the show, evaluating how "canon" the RPG stats and such are and taking notes--which is exactly the sort of thing I can see somebody doing, because I used to be involved with it at a certain site you're familiar with. Other than liking the scene in general, the stats which were my own humble contribution were a lot of fun to come up with, but I have to say my favorite element is that mug--I want one myself.
I love the lighting, like it's a desk lamp just off-screen. The pen and the CED case almost make it seem like he's in the process of watching the show, evaluating how "canon" the RPG stats and such are and taking notes--which is exactly the sort of thing I can see somebody doing, because I used to be involved with it at a certain site you're familiar with. Other than liking the scene in general, the stats which were my own humble contribution were a lot of fun to come up with, but I have to say my favorite element is that mug--I want one myself.
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I would like to second all of the above comments. That picture is so evocative of what my desk looked like in the 80s
I want touch! *Reaches out hand* *Coldness of screen* *Sadness of soul*
I wonder if Nimoy advertised for RCA in this timeline.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4pBk3-fduU
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Seriously, that is amazing an there's a part of me that really thinks with joy it has to exist somewhere, even if my brain knows it really doesn't. I want that.
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That picture is so evocative of what my desk looked like in the 80s
My desk never looked that cool in the 80s.
I'm glad everyone enjoyed the image, it was a lot of fun to put together. As e of pi noted, he and Brainbin provided the stats for the RPG pages, which I'm told are playable. So for those interested, here's a copy of the pages from the book. I've redacted the image and descriptive text for the Declaration-class as these were just placeholders for the render - Kirk's USS Excelsior remains a WIP for the moment.
Also, here's the sleeve for the CED, with credits approved by Brainbin, slightly modified from the one used in the render to resolve some justification problems with the text:
Regarding the pen, it's actually modeled on a ballpoint I happened to have in my draw at the time! I wanted to add that and the mug to give some scale - it's easy to forget how big CEDs are if you're used to CDs/DVDs/Blu-ray!
Also, here's the sleeve for the CED, with credits approved by Brainbin, slightly modified from the one used in the render to resolve some justification problems with the text:
Regarding the pen, it's actually modeled on a ballpoint I happened to have in my draw at the time! I wanted to add that and the mug to give some scale - it's easy to forget how big CEDs are if you're used to CDs/DVDs/Blu-ray!
Well replace the mechanical pencil with a wooden HB, the Takei mug with one with York City on it, the CED with a recorded from the TV VHS of ST The Motion Picture or Star Trek TOS, and that Star Fleet book with its OTL equivalent from FASA. It's nowhere near as cool but I did say evocative not identical
Yep. In fact it's a modification of a real OTL coaster:
Brainbin has quite rightly pointed out that ITTL it should be "Beam me up Mr Kyle", but I was able to get away with that for the render since it's hidden under the mug