Featuring Matt Anderson and Ben De Bono
Standard Podcast
April 17, 2024
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1) I grew up watching Robin Williams on “Mork and Mindy,” so I have not only been a fan of his for quite some time, but also have associated him with the sf genre, albeit in one of its silliest (though sometimes unexpectedly affecting) manifestations. “Dead Poets Society” was one of the first films I ever took a date to; my would-be girlfriend and I were both big English class nerds, so it was the perfect choice. I just saw the trailer for “Night at the Museum 3” this weekend; I expect there will be a pall of some sort over that movie’s premiere this Christmas.
We Presbyterians aren’t officially supposed to pray for the dead, but I think that’s one baby the Reformers may have thrown out with the bathwater. It’s no lack of trust in God’s grace to pray that someone receive it in the next life, especially when that person has been struggling with such personal demons as Robin Williams apparently was. So rest eternal grant him, O Lord, and all those who have taken their own lives, and let light eternal shine on them.
2) My 13-year-old son and his friend were debating this question over the weekend: Who’d be the better subject for a film, Aquaman or Namor the Sub-Mariner? What say you two gentlemen? I say Aquaman, and not just because I’m more of a DC guy – Aquaman retains so much of the feel of Arthurian legend (heck, isn’t his given name Arthur?), and “Camelot under the seas, with superpowers” sounds like a pretty great elevator pitch to me. What does Namor do? Just invade, invade, invade. Again with the angry invasions! 😉
3) Don’t know how a big-screen B5 reboot will go over… I liked the TV show, but it’s been done pretty well, and what more changes could one ring on that tale? I’m with Ben on this one. Do something new, JMS! On the other hand, is it necessarily true that an artist should never retell the same story more than once? Someone once made the analogy to preachers. Why do preachers preach more than one sermon? (At least ostensibly they do!) I grant it’s not exactly the same situation, but if you’ve got a good story to tell, might not something, even many things, be gained by retelling it a number of times in a number of different ways? I don’t know, something to ponder…
4) Don’t forget Clancy Brown’s turn as the dead sheriff in “Sleepy Hollow” (although I don’t plan to stick with that series in season 2 – it got really, really weird and stupid, really, really fast, I’m afraid…)
5) Yes, Johnny Depp is in “Into the Woods,” but guess who else is? James Corden! By the way, Matt, the musical is about 30 years old, so it predates “Fables” by quite a bit. It is a wonderful show and I hope the movie will be a good adaptation. Don’t write it off just yet!