ororama

My daughter wanted to see Epic, and I wanted to see it in 3D, so we didn't save it for next month. I read a couple reviews that dismissed it as taking a bit from this movie and a bit from that one, which was true, but our family enjoyed it.

ntnon

If the numbering/counting remains not a one-thing-one-number (i.e. combining shorter TV shows into one item), I was going to ask why it's four half-hour shows and not three, which I thought I remembered it being in one of the previous challenges... but I've just spot-checked Comedy and Action (one item, one number) and Horror (four) and now wonder if I didn't imagine it being three...

Maybe it's simply because I tend to think in terms of British - and specifically BBC - half-hour shows where the programmes often seem closer to 30 minutes than 22, making the total run time c. 90 minutes and comparable to c. 88.

In any case, I'm happy with either method as long as it's clear..!

(I do wonder - but fear over-complicating things - if there ought to be a caveat in the case of 'one-thing-one-number' that there be a rough requirement for a percentage of items over an hour...? I know these are personal challenges rather than competitions, but I also remember some rumblings a few months ago about comparability...)

Travis McClain

I've proposed opening up the last day of the Historical Appreciation Challenge to time travel films, for those who might want to get double credit in the transitional hours. We've still got almost two full weeks left of that challenge, incidentally, so it's not at all too late to join!

As host or just as another participant, this is always my favorite thing to read in any challenge.

I'm merely "someone", am I? Hmmpf! See if I talk you into spending any more of your money...! *sulks*

You know, just recently I had a conversation in which I again expressed how odd I think it is that Will Smith has managed to avoid being labeled a sci-fi guy despite so much of his filmography being in the genre. It's true that he only has eight SF/fantasy credits to date. That's not many, but he's only got eleven other film credits so far - and only Will Smith's accountant remembers that he was even in Where the Day Takes You. Six Degrees of Separation was terrific, Made in America was not; both are pretty well forgotten by mainstream viewers and probably entirely unknown to the current generation of fans who identify him more these days as Jayden Smith's dad than as the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Or, put another way: Remove Independence Day, Men in Black and its sequels, Wild Wild West, I, Robot, I Am Legend, Hancock and After Earth from his filmography and what's really left?

As for the checklist, offhand my first thought is that I've always meant to suggest changing the wording of

--- Watch a Criterion version film

to

--- Watch a film in The Criterion Collection

Other suggestions:

Add Watch a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation Winner to the checklist. It's probably a better starting point than the Academy Awards, really, since SF winners at the Oscars are almost exclusively for special effects and technical things, whereas the Hugo Awards are for story.

Add "First Contact" to subgenres. There have been numerous movies about mankind's first contact with an alien species over the years. Offhand, recent prolific ones that come to mind include Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Contact, War of the Worlds and Signs.

Most of the rest of it looks pretty basic and I don't see a whole lot of room for tweaking except for the specific actors. I'd second Will Smith for inclusion.

Dimension X

I think the special counting came about to allow TV content in Challenges that were originally movie only. I think 4 half hour shows instead of 3 was decided on as a sort of "penalty" for watching TV shows instead of movies.
I'm pretty sure I was the cause of those "rumblings" when I decided to change the Comedy Challenge over to "easy counting."

ororama

I haven't seen all of Will Smith's movies in the sci-fi/fantasy genres, but all of his movies that I have seen have been in those genres. As a result, I was surprised not to see his name suggested, when there were actors already in the checklist who people have indicated have only 4 genre credits. His movies are easily available, and he has a qualifying movie currently in theaters.

My reference to him as prolific in the genres was based on the same ideas that MinLShaw expressed above, and successful referred to the box office success of most of these movies.

I accidentally saw a few minutes of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and thought that he was the worst actor that I had ever seen. I was surprised at what a charming and capable actor he had become when I saw Wild Wild West.

I don't do checklists, although I may glance at them for viewing ideas in some challenges, so I don't have anything invested in this discussion, but I think he is about as good a choice as any for inclusion. I do tend to forget about Lugosi and Karloff as major figures in the sci-fi genre, until I look at specific titles that are sci-fi as well as horror. Their importance to sci-fi is great, of course.

shadokitty

As was suggested earlier, I changed the counting method to the easy counting method of 1 item equals one entry, minus the sci fi/fantasy radio as that still counts the same.

Prizes have also been announced:

Group 1: Navy vs the Night Monsters/Octaman
Group 2: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 2 Volumes 1 and 2
Group 3: Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot
Group 4: UltraSeven Complete Series

shadokitty

Also, since we have had a lot of talk lately about Will Smith, I decided to go with the consensus and add Will Smith to the checklist.

Ash Ketchum

I want three of those prizes. What do I have to do to win?

shadokitty

Easy entries this time around, participate and you get one entry. Simple as that.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

It was for the run times. 4 regular half hour US shows end up being around 90 minutes after commercials are removed and that's a somewhat standard movie run time, so it balanced out.

BobO'Link

I'll second all those and suggest adding "doesn't have to be a actual Criterion disk" (or similar wording) to the Criterion line to avoid confusion.

I've always wondered why Hugo Award (and Saturn too) winners (and possibly nominees) haven't been on the checklist but always forget to ask until it's too late!

LJG765

Sorry, Travis! Yes, you were the one who made me spend money!

pacaway

I don't know why that bothers people so much. Every movie borrows from what's come before. As long as it is not blatant plagiarism, like The Island ripping off Clonus, I don't see the problem. Especially in this genre where we see a lot of building on previous themes.

pacaway

Don't live outside the US.

LJG765

For me, it's how well they used the previous movie and not that it was in a different one. If it takes me out of the movie, they did it badly. If I have to reflect about the scene, well, I'll probably take it as a homage rather than rip off.

Take the new Star Trek movie. In that universe that is outside of the original, I didn't mind how much the scene with was similar to the original Wrath of Khan. It has been so long since I've watched it, that it really just reminded me of the movie in a good way.

Another person (Travis, see I'm using you particularly here!), disliked it because it used almost the same lines/actions of the original.

For me, it was them honoring the original, plus the added fact it's the same people but certain events have changed-but the same events will crop up too. So here, there are slight differences, but the emotions are the same and the basic people are the same so you're getting the same effect. And sorry, that got off topic pretty quickly!

Travis McClain

Yeah, I think the big issues with recycling from other movies are: How original is the synthesis, and how much is acknowledging influence versus trying to re-use what someone else did as a shortcut to manufacturing a response from me? If I feel like someone copied and pasted an entire passage from another movie, there better be an exceptionally clever reason for it. It works well in parodies but otherwise, it's an almost guaranteed way to ruin the movie for me.

As for Star Trek Into Darkness, the way I've put it is that [that one scene] goes way past homage and into outright plagiarism. They may have "turned it around" but it's still reciting verbatim whole bits of dialog. It took me completely out of the movie and felt lazy and cheap to me. It felt like glorified fan fiction to me to watch that scene. The second time through it wasn't as grating but I still hate it.

popcorn

Last year, I watched the entire Battlestar Galactica series for this challenge. This year, I'm letting my teenage son satisfy his sci-fi re/watch list. Along the way, I'll sneak in some Méliès, never seen classics, and B-movies.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Dawn of the Dead claimed to be a reboot and not a remake but when they start lifting dialogue from the original, that really took me out of the film.

mrcellophane

I have a quick suggestion for the checklist! How would y'all feel about adding Philip K. Dick to the checklist? He could be his own entry or added to the Ray Bradbury entry.

shadokitty

Not being familiar with him, I will defer to other opinions.

Travis McClain

Philip K. Dick wrote several stories that have been adapted as some prolific movies over the years, among them:

• Blade Runner (from the short story, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?")
• Total Recall (from the short story, "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale")
• Screamers (from the short story, "Second Variety")
• Minority Report (from the short story, "The Minority Report")
• Impostor (from the short story of the same name; also adapted for the British TV series Out of This World)
• Paycheck (from the short story of the same name)
• A Scanner Darkly (from the novel of the same name)

Next, Radio Free Albemuth and The Adjustment Bureau were also all taken from his works of the same names but not as faithfully. That's ten stories adapted, with two versions of Total Recall (1990 and 2012) and two versions of Impostor for a total of twelve possible viewing choices. Given how notable the bulk of these are, I think it's a solid checklist recommendation.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I'm for combining him with Ray and would also like to suggest an additional pairing with Hewlett-Packard Lovecraft. While he may seem to be horror, his films fit in perfectly with the Dark Fantasy theme.

pacaway

I don't know about all of you, but I am anxiously awaiting the list thread!

shadokitty

I'll have it up next week.

BobO'Link

I own copies of all the films based on Dick's work listed as well as the printed material. I'm good with adding Dick. Combined with Bradbury and Lovecraft would be very good, but I'm also OK with each of them as separate checklist item.