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Q: Why has it taken so long for V to show us what the Vs look like? I don’t remember the original series taking this long — and they didn’t even have CGI back then! — MAGPIE, Toronto, Canada
The Oracle Speaks:
If the network had had their way, it would’ve taken even longer still.
“When I took over the show [mid-way through the first season], there were some mandates from the people who pay my paycheck,” says V showrunner Scott Rosenbaum. “I was told I could not show what a visitor looked like, under any circumstances.”
Rosenbaum wasn’t happy.
“I reacted very negatively to that,” he says, “but I was put in a position where I couldn’t [show the Vs]. I fought that fight every day, every phone call, every [set of notes]. It was difficult for me, because I was reading this fan-stuff online [about the need to show the visitors], and I was thinking, ‘I agree with that!’”
Eventually, the network relented. “And it happened to coincide with what I think the fans wanted right from the start,” Rosenbaum says.
It’s hard to imagine what the suits were thinking, except to acknowledge that it had been a while since there’d been much sci-fi on broadcast television, and they may simply have been unfamiliar with what the audience wanted.
“Sometimes less is more, but this is a case where it definitely wasn’t,” Rosenbaum tells me. “I understood the fan frustration. Look, we know what they are [from the original]. It’s not a secret, so there’s no reason to hang onto it. There are a lot of other secrets to keep, but that was one that you owe it almost to show it to them. If it had been up to me, I would’ve showed them by the second episode.”
Q: Ever notice how Yoda’s words of wisdom are so often wrong?
The Oracle Speaks:
You have a point. Consider:
- “If you leave now, help them you could; but you would destroy all for which they have fought, and suffered.” [Not true: Luke saves them, but doesn't destroy all they have fought and suffered.]
- “Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.’ [Not true: with help from Luke, Darth Vadar turns away from the dark path in the end.]
And then there’s the fact that Yoda and Obi-Wan totally lie to Luke about the identify of his father, shrugging it off with the condescending, “Not ready for the burden were you.”
And I’m not even considering any Yoda dialogue from the prequel movies (which I’ve only seen once and am now basically pretending don’t exist).
On the other hand, Yoda is also right more than a few times:
- “No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.”
- “That is why you fail.”
- “No. There is another.”
The point is, when your wisdom is as wise as Yoda’s sometimes is (and when you’re performed by someone as bad-ass as Frank Oz!), you’re allowed a few blind spots here and there.
Plus, as Yoda himself points out, “When 900 years you reach, look as good you will not, hmm?”
I’d say the same thing also applies to his mental acuity.
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Q: I agree with y
Q: What’s the deal with Steven Spielberg’s time-travel, dinosaur series Terra Nova? I thought it was coming in January. — Dan, Vancouver, WA
Q: It depressed me to see the new movie The Rite, which seems like yet another rip-off of The Exorcist. Just out of curiosity, how many “demon possession” movies have their been now anyway? – MM, Calgary, Canada
In the months ahead, fantasy or sci-fi movies I’m looking forward to include The Adjustment Bureau, starring Matt Damon (March 4), about a man who decides to defy his “destiny,” and The Source Code (April 1), about Jake Gyllenhaal forced to relive the last eight minutes of his life (it’s by the director of Moon, which was flawed but interesting).
Q: Okay, so I’m thoroughly confused about the green mist in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Who or what was it exactly? — MAGPIE, Toronto, Canada
Q: My husband and I home-school our daughter. She is in 6th grade and loves role playing games such as D&D and Free Realms. I am trying to figure out ways to itemize RPG’s in her school transcript so she gets school credit for playing RPG’s. I know the obvious ways to incorporate these games into her schooling in areas such as math, reading, logic, and problem-solving, but I am having a hard time coming up with other educational benefits of RPG’s that I can list. My husband and I support her playing (my husband even plays D&D along with her) and we would like to be able to give her school credit for doing so. Do you have any suggestions on how to include RPG’s in a school transcript? — Debbie
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The way I see it, the existence of a heaven requires some manner of a literal “soul” — some part of the human experience that exists apart from the physical. But everything we’ve learned to date about ourselves and the universe suggests that there is no such thing. Do we all agree that single-celled organisms have no souls? What about houseflies? So the existence of a soul requires intelligence, right? But if humans evolved from less intelligent animals, doesn’t that imply that there was once a being that didn’t have a soul that gave birth to a being that did? Or did our evolutionary ancestors have a degree of a soul?
A: Look, it makes a great story, okay? The set of a movie about vengeful spirits was inhabited by actual vengeful spirits?
Q: Do you think Katherine will get out the original tomb this season on The Vampire Diaries? Before, I would’ve said no, but with this show, you never know. — Myna, Monterrey, CA
Q: What’s the real reason they split Deathly Hallows into two movies? Was it greed? – Erik, Athens, GA
Look, let’s be real here, okay? The Harry Potter movies have grossed a total of $5.4 billion dollars — with billions of dollars more in ancillary revenue (up to $20 billion total by some estimates). Does anyone really think they wouldn’t look for another reason to extend the franchise — a way that doesn’t seem too craven or cynical, so as to not provoke a backlash on the part of the audience?
Q: Voldemort’s nose-less face: is that make-up or CGI? — Amy, Henderson, NV
A: No. There was some confusion in the press, because the screenplays for the two movies were written at the same time, the movies were filmed at the same time, and some of the producers talked publicly about their tinkering with the ending once filming was completed. And, of course, they did test-screenings to find out if the ending they chose was “working.”
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But if the Percy Jackson franchise really is dead (as I suspect it is), it doesn’t surprise me too much. The movie was something of a disappointment, grossing only $226 million world-wide on a budget of almost $100 million (keep in mind that the studio splits the gross with theater-owners, and they had to spend at least another $50 million to promote the film).
Q: It’s a fantasy trope that you can’t ever vanquish Great Evil completely: Sauron, Voldemort, the White Witch — somehow they always come back. I get that it’s a metaphor for how evil is eternal. But how does their ability to resurrect themselves work exactly? – MegaMouth, Manchester, NH
Meanwhile, Sauron, who started out as an immortal anyway, created the One Ring to gain additional power and influence, forging it in secret to give him control over the other Rings of Power, but also requiring that he imbue it with much of his power and some degree of his essence. When Isildur cut the ring off Sauron’s finger in the War Against the Last Alliance, it destroyed his weakened physical body, but his soul lived on in hiding, desperate to regain the ring and the power it wielded over the other rings.
Meanwhile, Sauron’s return to power, initially in the forests of Dol Guldur (part of Mirkwood Forest), is directly aided by the Nazgul, especially the Witch-King of Angmar — nine weak-willed former humans who were seduced and destroyed by the Rings of Power. Subsequently, infighting on the part of the White Council and Saruman (who hoped to gain the One Ring for himself) allowed Sauron’s hatred and evil to grow unchecked.
It’s always hard to say exactly which movies are “flops”: a movie can have a respectable gross, but if the budget is insanely high (like Prince Caspian), it can still be considered a failure. Likewise, a movie can do poorly at the domestic box office (like The Golden Compass), but go on to do reasonably well via international releases, home video, and other revenue streams.
Q: Wentworth Miller replacing Andy Whitfield as Spartacus: your thoughts? – Mark, Del Mar, CA
Q: Gremlins was easily one of the dumbest movies of the 1980s, which is saying something — you can’t get them wet? Really? So … I can only assume a remake is in the works. True? — MatterOfFact, Carson City, NV
The good news is that you made a terrific return on your investment — it’s grown by over 300% a year!