Post by paulpogue on Oct 6, 2009 12:32:04 GMT -8
Every so often you'll come across a rare thing in storytelling: A concept that is so misguided, so poorly-thought-out, or so obviously imposed from above by a less-than-competent superior, that there is simply no way it could work. Such a concept has no right even making it to the public, let alone SUCCEEDING. And yet, there they are: Things that sound dumb just repeating them, let alone seeing them happen, but you love them anyway.
These are rare gems indeed. These aren't necessarily dumb ideas, but they sure are bad ideas, but much like how "Hey! Let's inject bread mold to fight disease" doesn't exactly sound like a winner on the surface, they succeed nonetheless. And often they are awesome precisely BECAUSE they defy these odds.
Here's a few of mine. What are yours?
Michael Keaton as Batman: I almost didn't use this one, because the film is now so beloved, but I think it fits my standards. Hard as it is to realize for those who weren't around for it, this was an AMAZINGLY controversial choice. Mr. Mom as Batman? Directed by the director of "Pee Wee's Big Adventure"? This thing is gonna make Adam West look like Frank Miller by comparison!
Now, anyone who had seen "Beetlejuice" already knew that Burton and Keaton both totally had it in them to pull of a great Batman, but to an awful lot of people at the time, it was a comedian and a quirky, untested director being handed the biggest risk of recent film history.
The aliens in "Galaxy Quest": Oh, there's a lot of ways "Galaxy Quest" could have gone awry. Using all the old cliches about nerds who live in their parent's basements? Trying to pull off the Star Trek dynamic with an entirely different cast of characters, several of whom have lived the typecasting nightmare themselves. Tim Allen as William Shatner? God almighty, this movie was almost destined to go off the rails at every moment.
But worst of all were THOSE FUCKING ALIENS. The ones with the high-pitched voices who recruit the crew in the first place. I knew I'd hate them from the first moment I saw them. They were a pile of cliches themselves, both lampooning how Hollywood views aliens and using them as cardboard cutouts of nerdy fans who are too dumb to know the difference between fantasy and reality. And that's all before you get to their moronic speech patterns, their childlike silliness, and that horrific honking laugh that makes Jar Jar Binks sound like Olivier.
And yet -- for reasons I still cannot fully explain -- they are AWESOME. I think -- and I'm just speculating off the top of my head here -- that one of the big reasons it works is that the script and likewise the characters ultimately respect them. The script isn't laughing at them -- these are creatures facing genocide who are literally clinging to their last hope, even if they don't know their hope is a cosmic joke. And the veteran actors playing opposite them really give it their all -- Tim Allen, when forced to admit to them that he's a fraud, really nails the acting, and when Alan Rickman just gives up all pretense after his would-be disciple is killed and lets loose with "By Grabthar's hammer," it really hits home.
Plus, and this is an element that should never be underestimated, Enrico Colantoni as their leader. Keith Mars, is there anything you can't do? His delivery of "Never give up, never surrender" at the climax is another of my all-time favorite triumphal moments.
Christopher Priest's "Black Panther," #51 through the end: This, to me, is the great granddaddy of all ideas that should not have worked. Forced to retool the series -- whether by circumstances, personal choice, or orders from above, I do not know -- Priest flushed EVERYTHING that made the series cool down the toilet. Political intrigue? Panther-as-Batman? Everett K. Ross' narration? International flights of wackiness through the backstory of the Marvel Universe? T'Challa himself? ALL gone, in favor of a brand-new Black Panther whose identity is a mystery in a grim-n-gritty, back-to-the-streets approach. And on top of that, NuPanther turns out to be a henpecked, not-too-bright cop who stole a Panther suit and is running the streets to stop a gang war while he battles police corruption and struggles to live up to the memory of his ZZZZ FOR GOD'S SAKE SOMEONE WAKE ME UP WHEN SOME ACTUAL SHIT STARTS TO HAPPEN.
Yeah, Kasper Cole didn't have a whole lot going for him. But by the end of his run with the character -- and the end of his run on Panther, period -- Priest had done the near-impossible, and caused me to care enough about Cole's predicament that I was genuinely sad to see him go, and even when T'Challa took up a prominent place in the Marvel U. again, as we all knew was inevitable, I regretted that Kasper was pretty much a goner. He got a few issues of "The Crew" out of it, but ever since, Cole has been a nonentity. Pity. He's still out there, around somewhere, and some clever writer could definitely do something with him. Anyone who could keep a political junkie like me interested after the most dizzying format change in comics history must have something going for him, right?
These are rare gems indeed. These aren't necessarily dumb ideas, but they sure are bad ideas, but much like how "Hey! Let's inject bread mold to fight disease" doesn't exactly sound like a winner on the surface, they succeed nonetheless. And often they are awesome precisely BECAUSE they defy these odds.
Here's a few of mine. What are yours?
Michael Keaton as Batman: I almost didn't use this one, because the film is now so beloved, but I think it fits my standards. Hard as it is to realize for those who weren't around for it, this was an AMAZINGLY controversial choice. Mr. Mom as Batman? Directed by the director of "Pee Wee's Big Adventure"? This thing is gonna make Adam West look like Frank Miller by comparison!
Now, anyone who had seen "Beetlejuice" already knew that Burton and Keaton both totally had it in them to pull of a great Batman, but to an awful lot of people at the time, it was a comedian and a quirky, untested director being handed the biggest risk of recent film history.
The aliens in "Galaxy Quest": Oh, there's a lot of ways "Galaxy Quest" could have gone awry. Using all the old cliches about nerds who live in their parent's basements? Trying to pull off the Star Trek dynamic with an entirely different cast of characters, several of whom have lived the typecasting nightmare themselves. Tim Allen as William Shatner? God almighty, this movie was almost destined to go off the rails at every moment.
But worst of all were THOSE FUCKING ALIENS. The ones with the high-pitched voices who recruit the crew in the first place. I knew I'd hate them from the first moment I saw them. They were a pile of cliches themselves, both lampooning how Hollywood views aliens and using them as cardboard cutouts of nerdy fans who are too dumb to know the difference between fantasy and reality. And that's all before you get to their moronic speech patterns, their childlike silliness, and that horrific honking laugh that makes Jar Jar Binks sound like Olivier.
And yet -- for reasons I still cannot fully explain -- they are AWESOME. I think -- and I'm just speculating off the top of my head here -- that one of the big reasons it works is that the script and likewise the characters ultimately respect them. The script isn't laughing at them -- these are creatures facing genocide who are literally clinging to their last hope, even if they don't know their hope is a cosmic joke. And the veteran actors playing opposite them really give it their all -- Tim Allen, when forced to admit to them that he's a fraud, really nails the acting, and when Alan Rickman just gives up all pretense after his would-be disciple is killed and lets loose with "By Grabthar's hammer," it really hits home.
Plus, and this is an element that should never be underestimated, Enrico Colantoni as their leader. Keith Mars, is there anything you can't do? His delivery of "Never give up, never surrender" at the climax is another of my all-time favorite triumphal moments.
Christopher Priest's "Black Panther," #51 through the end: This, to me, is the great granddaddy of all ideas that should not have worked. Forced to retool the series -- whether by circumstances, personal choice, or orders from above, I do not know -- Priest flushed EVERYTHING that made the series cool down the toilet. Political intrigue? Panther-as-Batman? Everett K. Ross' narration? International flights of wackiness through the backstory of the Marvel Universe? T'Challa himself? ALL gone, in favor of a brand-new Black Panther whose identity is a mystery in a grim-n-gritty, back-to-the-streets approach. And on top of that, NuPanther turns out to be a henpecked, not-too-bright cop who stole a Panther suit and is running the streets to stop a gang war while he battles police corruption and struggles to live up to the memory of his ZZZZ FOR GOD'S SAKE SOMEONE WAKE ME UP WHEN SOME ACTUAL SHIT STARTS TO HAPPEN.
Yeah, Kasper Cole didn't have a whole lot going for him. But by the end of his run with the character -- and the end of his run on Panther, period -- Priest had done the near-impossible, and caused me to care enough about Cole's predicament that I was genuinely sad to see him go, and even when T'Challa took up a prominent place in the Marvel U. again, as we all knew was inevitable, I regretted that Kasper was pretty much a goner. He got a few issues of "The Crew" out of it, but ever since, Cole has been a nonentity. Pity. He's still out there, around somewhere, and some clever writer could definitely do something with him. Anyone who could keep a political junkie like me interested after the most dizzying format change in comics history must have something going for him, right?
