October 28, 2004

Notes

But I Digress...
October 25, 1991

Some assorted and random natterings this week about nothing and everything in particular:

***

I continue to be underwhelmed by "Darkwing Duck." This, however, did not stop me from snatching up the utterly nifty new plush "Darkwing Duck" toy. The character still has a great visual, although I've always been partial to the basic "Shadow" look. Now if I could just really get into one of his stories...

***

There are certain people who are born to play certain roles. One of them was Shelly Duval as Olive Oyl. And now, if we can judge by the trailer currently in the theaters, is Angelica Houston as Morticia Addams. I have no idea what the movie is about, or whether the story will support the visuals. But based purely on the sheer look of it, I'll definitely see it (which, I imagine, is the equivalent of buying a comic book on the basis of the artwork.)

***

In watching a few episodes in the recent syndicated "Star Trek" marathon, I was struck by yet another difference between original and "Next Gen" that no one seems to have commented on. Although no one debates the superior quality of STTNG's visual effects, no one seems to discuss that the original series was a visually more striking series. Every shot is decked out with vibrant primary colors, the reds and yellows and blues, bouncing off each other. The visual displays on the bridge, rather than being realistic computer visualizations, were instead stationary pictures of star swirls. Far more simplistic and yet, in a way, far more effective.

Also, for all the ribbing that William Shatner gets about ham acting, he was also capable of transmitting amusement, annoyance, and a wide range of emotions, just with little movements of his eyes or twitches of his mouth. An actor of more range than I think many people are willing to credit.

Furthermore, I got a real kick out of the two-hour "Stark Trek" special that aired afterwards. In the course of it, Leonard Nimoy describes how the original series always managed to leaven situations with humor. I said much the same thing and got pilloried by various "Trek" fans. Nice to know where Nimoy--or at least, whoever wrote Nimoy's dialogue for him--stands.

* * *

Why are we so caught up in the world of comics that we forget about the real world?

In "Avengers" #340, we see the guys at the dedication of a new medical facility. In the course of this, the facility gets its very first patient when a woman, running across the street, gets hit by a hurtling car. (Never mind that, for an event like this, traffic would either be blocked off or else slowed to a crawl because of all the rubber-neckers staring at the superheroes. Maybe she was running on a sidestreet. Who knows?)

So she is immediately surrounded by people, with Captain America in the foreground.

Now I'm no paramedic (nor, for that matter, would it seem, is the paramedic on page 4 as he takes the woman's pulse incorrectly--although the unidentified guy on page 3 does it right.) But when I was in school, the first thing they taught me was, when you're at an accident scene, don't move the victim. Wait for medical personnel to show up. Now since they're across the street from a spanking new facility, we're talking, what? Thirty seconds until qualified help arrives?

So what does the star spangled Avenger do?

Moves the victim.

He raises her torso to roughly 45 degrees and cradles her in her lap. This should be enough, if the woman is unlucky, to potentially sever her spinal cord, puncture a lung, or cause a variety of other brutal internal injuries.

But that's not the worst of it. It's what Cap says that elevates the sequence to new heights of absurdity.

"Lie still, Miss," advises Cap.

Lie still?! That's pretty difficult considering you're moving her around, ya fathead!

And he's shifting her around pretty good, too. At the end of page 3, her head is cradled in his right hand. The next panel of the next page, her head's flipped over to his left hand. It's like the sequence in "Princess Bride" where the newly revived Westley is getting his head flopped about by Inigo.

And just to add a capper to it all--after the woman has been taken away (page 4, panel 3--wherein Cap is depicted standing stiffly and inexplicably pointing to a random spot about five feet in front of him; perspective has the woman off to the side, and besides, I think we all see her without Cap showing the way), in the very next panel Cap commiserates with the Wasp over how they've dispatched so many bad guys, "but when it came time to help one desperate individual--" to which the Wasp responds consollingly, "You can't blame yourself, Cap."

Yes you can, Cap. Yes you can.

The only upside to this mess is the cop who states, when the medics show up, that the crowd should "give the medics room to do their job--correctly." I can only assume that the scripter realized the implications of Cap's actions and tried to cover for it in dialogue. Nice try. Too little, too late. But a nice try.

* * *

I publicly apologize to Maggie Thompson for constantly dismissing her frequent advice to watch "Blackadder." I've finally gotten into it on a regular basis and, having slogged through the very uneven first season, I am now having a riotous time with the second and third and look forward to the fourth. If it's running on any PBS station in your neck of the woods, I recommend it highly. If nothing else, I'm sure local stations (or A&E) will be running "Blackadder's Christmas Carol" as we get closer to the holidays. That's a terrific jumping on point, giving the new viewer a feel for the history of the series; it's certainly what finally got me interested in the series.

* * *

Is anyone out there watching "Superboy?" I've finally had a chance to catch a few episodes since the abysmal first season put me off watching it and was mightily impressed. One with Luthor and Superboy trapped in a cave-in was as fascinating a character study of what makes the two enemies tick as anything I've read in comics. Another with Ron Ely portraying an alternate universe, retired Superman, made me want to see a whole series just about him. Especially when he, for no particular reason, made the utterly human gesture of popping a stick of gum in his mouth. Nice stuff.

* * *

People keep asking me if "Star Trek VI" is going to do well and whether people are going to like it (based on the fact that I read the script in doing the comic adaptation). I have no idea. Based purely on scripts, I thought that "The Rocketeer" would be the smash hit of the summer and that "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" would pack up his quiver and slink away after a couple of weeks. Well, the former did not (by all reports) perform anywhere near up to expectations, while "Dances with Thieves" did boffo. So I reserve judgment until I see the finished film...and even then, I won't know.

* * *

"Rahne of Terra"--people don't quite know what to make of this little flight of fancy of mine. Well, I wrote the plot a year ago, and created a story that starred Rahne Sinclair and the New Mutants, with Wolverine as a supporting cast member. But by the time the book came out, the New Mutants no longer existed as a team. This, I would presume, prompted Marvel to emphasize Wolverine in the packaging of the title. So anyone thinking they're buying a Wolverine story is going to gripe about it.

So be aware--"Rahne of Terra", just as the title implies, focuses on the New Mutants. Nor does it have anything to do with X-Force (which didn't exist when I wrote it) or X-Factor (which didn't have the current line-up when I wrote it). Wolverine is in it, but isn't the star. It has great art by Andy Kubert. It has different feel to it than a lot of my writing. And I'm pretty pleased with it. If you read the back cover copy before you buy it, you'll have an accurate idea of what the story is about.

* * *

I've decided that I let the Philly folk off too easy in "Oh So" in the matter of the term "suffering from" Downs syndrome. If a writer doesn't defend the English language, who will?

I suffer from near-sightedness. I'm not in pain from it. I don't lie awake sobbing over the cosmic injustice of it all. I don't agonize over all the people with perfect vision. I simply wear glasses that correct my vision. I deal with it. Which doesn't change the fact that I'm still suffering from near-sightedness.

What "suffering from" means in this context is that someone has a condition that will never change. They will never not have it. I will never not be near-sighted (unless my vision deteriorates and I become blind); and someone suffering from Downs Syndrome will never not have Downs Syndrome. They can cope with it. They can live a hearty and full life with it. But they'll always have it.

Sure the first definition in my dictionary of "suffer" is "to feel pain or distress," as an intransitive verb. As a transitive verb, however, it means "To endure or bear; stand." Under usage, it states, "suffering from applies more broadly to having a condition, such as anemia, that is...not necessarily painful."

I hope this has been educational to those who would dilute the English language further.

Oh, and while we're at it--my other pet peeves:

It's "He should be reined in," not "reigned in."

It's "He's a real trouper," not "trooper."

Never pay any attention to a letter that says, "Enclosed is a free gift!" First off, a gift is by definition free, so it's redundant. And secondly, that particular usage virtually guarantees that the gift will cost you something, meaning it's not free or a gift.

And finally, I'm not going bald--I'm Hairing Impaired.

Peter David, writer of stuff, just got the complete video set of "I Claudius" from his wife for his birthday. Really neat.

Posted by Glenn Hauman at October 28, 2004 12:00 PM | TrackBack | Other blogs commenting
Comments
Posted by: Paul Anthony Llossas at October 28, 2004 12:21 PM

Glad to see that someone else loved "Superboy: The Series" after the first season. Its too bad that Warner Bros. put a "gag order" which prevents it from being shown in syndication again. Anyone wants to know the story about that can go to "http://www.geocities.com/theboyofsteeltv/deathofsuperboy.html"

BTW, PAD, in retrospect, did it seem like the last two seasons were a foreshadowing of the "X-Files?" Clark (dark hair) and Lana (red tressed skeptic) working for a Department of Extranormal Affiars, or somesuch, with a bald supervisor, investigating phenomena with no rational explanation? Hmmm...

Posted by: The StarWolf at October 28, 2004 01:34 PM

Agreed. I, too, felt the original set designs worked better in terms of seeming futuristic. The TNG sets may be more technologically realistic, but they seemed a step backwards. Ditto the way their transporters seemed to take longer than the originals. And then there are the ones on ENTERPRISE - the most primitive model - which seem tobe the fastest?!

Posted by: Rick Keating at October 28, 2004 01:40 PM

PAD,

The Lex Luthor and Superboy in the cave (with Kryptonite) episode was my favorite of the 1980-1990s “Superboy” series. I rarely watched the show, but if I knew Sherman Howard as Lex Luthor was in a particular episode, I’d sit down and watch it, because I knew it’d be good.

Rick

Posted by: Rick Keating at October 28, 2004 01:42 PM

Just to clarify, that's (the late) 1980's- (the early) 1990's. Not the year 1980- the 1990s.

Rick

Posted by: bryan at October 28, 2004 03:29 PM

Ah Blackadder ..... That crown Jewel of Comedy. I bless my wife for introducing me to Edmund Blackadder, and washing the vile taste of other British comedies from my soul. Aroint thee Monty Python! Get Thee behind me Benny Hill.

Posted by: Jess Willey at October 28, 2004 06:28 PM

Nice cameoes by Edmund and Baldrick in X-Factor, BTW.

Posted by: John at October 28, 2004 08:02 PM

Someone please explain.. Edmund Blackadder in an X-Factor comic??

Posted by: Dazza at October 29, 2004 01:59 PM

Apparently, Gerard Christopher (Superboy in Seasons 2-4) is selling DVDs of the second season. Not sure how this is accomplished legally, but there you are:
http://www.gerardchristopher.com/videos.html

Posted by: Allyn Gibson at October 30, 2004 10:35 AM

Blackadder!

My favorite series is Blackadder the Third. "Duel and Duality" might just be the funniest half hour of television I've ever seen, though "Sense and Senility" would be a close second.

Posted by: Jess Willey at November 1, 2004 05:54 PM

Someone please explain.. Edmund Blackadder in an X-Factor comic??

Cooper's ex-husband was named Edmund... and there was an FBI agent named Baldrick... and they worked together for a few issues.

Posted by: Donald Fried at December 19, 2005 09:15 PM

I have to say that Xp-Factor #1 is the first X-Men comic that has been worth the time and energy to read since the last time Peter David wrote an X-man comic!