chillin’ with apollo.
so here’s a weird thing that actually happened. before he died last year, i had a few long conversations with Captain Apollo.
yeah, richard hatch, that’s the original Battlestar captain (for that extra punch of nerd cred) was trying to get a comic off the ground. this was a few years ago, but a friend who had met him, and presumably passed, put him in contact with me. we chatted over webcam, and we talked at length about story, he shared with me his plot lines, and what he would like to see happen. good guy. a bit strange in a fun way, but he came up through science fiction tv in the 70s…. you can’t get out of that normal. look at shatner. i got a shatner story too, but that, as they say, is for another time.
for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being that this story i’m telling you now would have likely been my only compensation, i passed on the idea. not before i chipped a bunch of notes his way. i’m hopelessly helpful of creative endeavors IF, and only if, i think i can in some small way, improve them with my point of view. sadly, i don’t think he realized his idea before his passing. which is sad, but i also think it may have had a flaw, which no one was going to be able to wrestle out of the project.
i’m sure it has several names, jesus complex for one might fit, but he referred to his main character, as a ‘way shower’. a moses character, who, if nothing else, was destined to succeed, with a 50/50 chance of sacrificing themselves in the end, for an extra martyrdom boost. as a myth, that rocks. pure genius, don’t change a thing. as any other narrative…. maybe not as much.
at this point, i want to jump out ahead of it, i’m neither a star fucker, nor am i pissing on the memory of a sci fi legend. he was a cool guy. his story had an issue. to me, it’s a fatal flaw. but, i think it’s something alot of stories suffer from these days. and in a way, it comes down to jeopardy, and self doubt. if you can’t really lose, or there’s no feeling like you might, then no one will worry about you. no connection. no moment of doubt. if you don’t doubt yourself, you never have a low point. a point where everything is bleak, and you can barely go on. it’s the only way to get the best ‘moment of redemption’.
which brings me to ‘thor: ragnorok (2017)’
thor: ragnorak…. how can i say this… it’s as if we were watching the day dream of a white suburban kid who dropped acid in his mom’s basement while flash gordon was on tv in the background.
i actually liked it, somewhat. and i was pleasantly surprised that i actually expected thor to have the same issues i was discussing earlier, but not so much. as a kid, i never read much thor, cause i always saw him and alot of other conan-esque characters as the undisputed hero of their own story. why would i want to read about a legend in the making, when i can watch a series of close calls and near misses by someone who isn’t actually ‘a GOD’
all in all, i found it amusing, though ultimately forgettable. not as bad as i’d have thought, and not citizen kane. i think it suffered from the same conceit that alot of comic book movies suffer from. that we all know the source material, and we don’t need a big preamble when the hulk shows up half way into the movie. or dr strange provides help moving the plot along in act 1. or were they helping move along the dr strange movie to a sequel……? at any rate, if you showed this movie to someone who had no idea who any of these character were, it would be confusing and odd. then again, why would someone like that be watching this movie? maybe the fans are better served not slowing down for noobs, and this is just the new formula for movies as series….
last note, i know it’s a super hero movie, but if cate blanchett is the ancient banished goddess of death, having her show up in pvc and halloween eye makeup is just dumb.
… I thought Hela was a) very true to the original source material, and b) more’n a little hot.
no one said cate blanchett isn’t a handsome woman, but this might go to my point. when you say source material, do you mean the comic, or the mythology from which the comic was based. cause if we’re talking straight up Norse myth, I’d like to see more from a ‘goddess of death’.
either way, it’s largely a matter of taste.
Marvel source material. If it was the original Norse material, it would have been Anne Ramsey (Throw Mama from the Train).
HAHA! brilliant. call me crazy, but THAT is a movie i want to see. man, if death is scary, why does the personification of it have to be hawt? i’m straying from the point i think…..
It’s cool you got to have that kind of interaction with him before he died. I like having conversations with famous people, and look forward to your Shatner story!
Sadly it is really hard to avoid typical plot tropes when writing. I think my unwillingness to conform and endless search for a brand spanking new idea are why I remain unpublished.
Now get to the part where you confess to the poor man’s murder so that you could steal his brainchild and make it into this comic!
the Shatner story is more involved, but less personal. in short, I worked for a company he owned in part that folded, so I was part of a labour dispute when he and other partners were sued. hundreds of people got canned with absolutely no warning, and after years of back and forth, only 3 people stuck it out and got paid. one if them was yours truly.
but no, I never killed Richard hatch. never got the chance even!
I think conforming certainly does give you a better shot at getting noticed, cause you already speaking the language that people are comfortable with, but it might not be as rewarding. then again, the woman who wrote 50 shades of grey has ‘island fortress’ money, so whatever. money isn’t the be all and end all, but it’s a nice accompaniment to getting noticed.