Disney's Tolkien

A cocky young man decides he's too good for his job as an assistant pig keeper, even if that pig is an oracle--or "oracular"--pig. He sets off to save the world and a princess along the way in Disney's 1985 animated film The Black Cauldron. The first such film to be produced without any of the "Nine Old Men" doing the animation--though Milt Kahl came out of retirement to do uncredited character design--it was an infamously troubled production. Based on a Tolkien knock-off series called The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, it joined a host of other Tolkien imitators filling screens and pages in the 1980s' fantasy boom. Disney's film differs significantly from the source material, though, in some ways improving it but in most ways diminishing it. Which is certainly not to say the books are masterpieces.

I find my 2017 review still squares with my current opinion of the film and covers a lot of ground I won't retread. But since then I have read the first book in the Prydain series so I'll mainly be talking about some of the differences between the source and adaptation to-day.

I guess if you've grown tired of reading Lord of the Rings over and over, picking up one of its countless imitators is a valid choice (I've always been partial to Dragonlance myself). The first book from the Chronicles of Prydain begins, like Lord of the Rings, with a protagonist in a relatively humble station of life. The pig really acts as a version of the One Ring, a McGuffin which the protagonist underestimates the value of and which draws him to centre stage in world events.

Disney's film does a better job of establishing Taran (Grant Bardsley) as a character by giving him some silly scenes, stumbling about as he shows off for the pig. The book starts more heavily on tedious infodumps. Tolkien, of course, is known for having paragraphs of exposition but one of the reasons The Lord of the Rings succeeds so well is that the exposition it starts with, about Hobbits, is so charming. It's populated by colourful characters with amusing names. Taking influence, perhaps, from Tolkien's expertise as a linguist, Lloyd Alexander models most of his fantasy names on Welsh. Which is interesting but not quite as charming as Brandybuck or Proudfoot (Proudfeet).

Giving Taran some scenes being awkward humanises him. Disney's film version also feels a bit influenced by Luke Skywalker. He even gets a glowing, magic sword.

In fact, it's the Princess Ellonwy who gets the sword in the book, not Taran. As in the film, it's taken from a king's tomb but in the book its enchantment prohibits anyone but people with royal blood from using it. Taran nearly fries himself when he tries.

Ellonwy in the book is a redhead, not a blonde, and her fractious, teasing personality is more of a tsudere layer than in the film. By this point, I'm used to Disney making its young female leads less interesting than in their source materials--that goes for Alice, Wendy, Aurora, Perdita, and Bianca with Cinderella being the exception.

Ellonwy, voiced by Susan Sheridan, is also poorly animated in the film. Both she and Taran show the absence of the Old Men. They move around a lot, so the effort is there, but few of their movements look human or evocative. The film fares better with more exaggerated, cartoonish characters, like Gurgi (John Byner) and Fflewddur Fflam (Nigel Hawthorne). Fflewddur is an altogether broader character than he is in the book but, considering the minor role he occupies, that may be for the best.

The film removes a significant character, essentially the book's Aragorn with a dose of Gandalf and Ivanhoe. Gwydion is a prince Taran meets in the woods early on. Much as Tolkien found himself obliged to get Gandalf out of the way so he'd stop making things too easy for his adventurers, Gwedion gets swept aside before too long but his presence explains a lot that doesn't make any sense in the film, most notably Gurgi.

In my last review of the film, I wondered what Gurgi was, why Gurgi attaches himself to Taran, and above all, why no-one in the film asked these questions. The book gave me my answers--in the book, Gurgi is much more humanoid, making it natural Taran doesn't ask what he is immediately, but he does eventually and Gwydion explains how Gurgi is a being who believes himself more evil than he is. The implication is that he's gone mystically feral somehow but for the most part his nature is still shrouded in mystery--which is fine. But it doesn't make sense for Taran not to wonder.

The book also provides a reason for Gurgi to be there in the first place--he's an old follower of Gwydion. When Gwydion disappears, Gurgi naturally transfers loyalty to Taran, after Gwydion made it clear how important Taran was. But how important is Taran, really?

In Disney's film, Ellonwy points out Taran was only useful in their escape from the castle because of his new sword. After this, it's debatable whether anything Taran does is of use. He trades the sword for the Black Cauldron but no-one stops to ask if that's a good idea. They want to stop the Cauldron from ending up with the Horned King (John Hurt) but are Taran and his friends really better equipped to keep it safe than the witches who seem able to stash it in purple ether?

In the book, Taran gradually starts to take on a leadership role by making more mature decisions than Ellonwy, who can't seem to outgrow her petulance. Part of this gradual process is her barely repressed, growing admiration for Taran. The relationship between the two is a surprisingly subtle rendering of a teenage romance and one of the best features of the book. It's a shame it's basically absent from the film.

It remains a visually interesting misfire with a captivating villain in John Hurt's Horned King but The Black Cauldron is certainly not the film that brought Disney out of its slump.

The Black Cauldron is available on Disney*.

Twitter Sonnet #1435

The spider paint conducts a living silk.
The timing builds a perfect score from string.
The fluffy cakes were poured from turnip milk.
The searchers shunned aggressive spots from Bing.
A braggart built a chicken out of clams.
The biggest bowl could never crack for beets.
The raging brook was babb'ling 'bout the dams.
The wonder's drained beyond electric beats.
The query burns in rounded, brainy hair.
The walking dog relinquished bills for lips.
A set of coins became a ringing care.
Behind the table something softly sips.
The sooty iron trapped the schnauzer man.
The greater pizza rode the thicker pan.

The Past TV Dictates the Future TV

And I'm still watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I gather the younger generations aren't really impressed by the series. Who'd have thought Friends would retain more pop cultural currency? I guess a lot of people, it was always more mainstream. The special effects on Buffy certainly haven't aged well.

There's also the lack of a proper HD release and Joss Whedon's name mysteriously being mud in Hollywood because he cheated on his wife. How can that sink someone's career in this day and age? Then there's the mysterious behind the scenes drama with his Justice League reshoots. I feel like no-one's taking Ray Fisher's allegations seriously anymore, he seems pretty clearly to be trying to make PR hay. The vague rumour about Whedon locking Gal Gadot in a room seems to be holding more water. When Warners said they were taking "remedial action" following the investigation prompted by Fisher's allegations, I assumed it was kicking Whedon off the new series about Victorian crime fighting women he created for HBO Max. Now I'm starting to wonder if he left that show for different reasons because iO9 just published a new positive review of Firefly, Whedon's popular, prematurely cancelled series from a couple decades ago. Since iO9 seems to be completely a corporate shill at this point, I assume very few articles get written by them unless a studio asked or paid for it. Which makes me wonder if a Firefly relaunch is on the horizon. We are in the age of relaunches and reboots, and, Whedon's phony controversies aside, there are few properties more deserving.

Another of those few is obviously Twin Peaks. Are any of you still watching David Lynch's weather reports? In the past couple he's referred to douglas firs and cherry pie.

That stuff about the ice cream and the cherry pie having been refrigerated makes me wonder if his new Wisteria series is a spin-off of Twin Peaks. Obviously that would be much more exciting than a Firefly continuation but I'd be very happy to see both. In any case, the massive influence Twin Peaks and Buffy continue to have on new television and film ensures they'll have at least one kind of immortality.

Aunts and Butlers Abound

The Fourth Doctor and Romana I are caught up in a P.G. Wodehouse homage in the Doctor Who audio play The Auntie Matter. I've never read P.G. Wodehouse but I gather this story's business with butlers and an addle-brained, aristocratic chap with many aunts are references to Jeeves and Wooster. It's a pretty enjoyable story, even not knowing Wodehouse.

Taking refuge from the Black Guardian in 1920s England, the Doctor (Tom Baker) and Romana (Mary Tamm) are separated and each heroically battles the same demoniac aunt without ever being aware of what the other is doing. Mary Tamm is particularly funny as she coolly and politely handles tone deaf flirtations from Reggie (Robert Portal).

Part way through yesterday, I realised I'd listened to this audioplay before. I must have been really drunk or something the first time because I barely remember most of it.

This audio play was released in 2013, six months after Mary Tamm's death, and there are a few nice interviews with cast and crew remembering her. Tom Baker sadly points out a number of his younger castmates have been dying, including both Mary Tamm and Elisabeth Sladen. I've noticed this before--it's strange that most of the companions from the 1960s are still alive while most of the ones from the 70s have died. What were people eating in the '70s? Whatever it was, I'm glad Tom Baker apparently avoided it.

Tamm doesn't sound sick or even old in her audio plays. It's easy to picture the beautiful, supercilious young Time Lady catching the eye of the foolish Reggie.

The Auntie Matter is available on Big Finish.

Don't You Wonder Sometimes About Sound and Vision?

It's back to the good old MCU with WandaVision, a new series on Disney+ that premiered with two episodes last night. The characters of Wanda and Vision from The Avengers movies are inexplicably placed in a TV sitcom format with teasing hints that evil shenanigans are afoot. Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany reprise their roles from the films and both get a better chance to be sweet and charming than they ever had in the movies. So far the writing isn't very interesting, either as a homage to old sitcoms or as an intriguing Twilight Zone-ish story. But I'm inclined to keep watching for the performances.

I gather we'll be watching the super couple progress through eras of sitcoms one decade at a time. Episode one was a 1950s tale resembling I Love Lucy while episode two looks more like The Dick Van Dyke Show or Bewitched.

The obviously computer animated second opening sequence is one of the ways in which the show fails to surpass films like Pleasantville in terms of capturing the look of a real period TV show. Other problems are more subtle, like the editing or the use of low angle close-ups. Taken as episodes of a sitcom in themselves, they feature typical screwball plots about Wanda and Vision desperately trying to impress people while concealing their magical powers. Series creator Jac Shaeffer concocts gags like Wanda, wearing negligee, sneaking up behind Vision's boss to cover his eyes, mistaking him for her husband. The boss's total lack of resemblance to Vision, and being accompanied by his wife, make the plausibility of the gag too weak, rendering it awkward and weird instead of funny.

But Olsen and Bettany are really good, particularly Bettany who somehow manages to project strength, vulnerability, and goofiness all at once. It's nice to see the two of them settle down on the couch at the end of each episode.

WandaVision is available on Disney+.

Twitter Sonnet #1434

The question turned around the mouth like bone.
The worried edge acquired ragged sheets.
A chorus jams the dead and broken phone.
And something cold and distant softly beats.
The useful sack was never clearly wine.
The perfect power wields a sword of teeth.
Distinguished pets observe divided twine.
A hundred blades construct the grassy wreath.
The candy's soft with microwaving hair.
Behind the sun were promised shades of use.
As dancing ducks abandoned splashy care.
The empty coat would ride the black caboose.
Returning sights romance the magic screen.
Decisions shrank to choose the useful bean.

The Ever Culpable Robert Culp

You'd think Robert Culp would have learned not to tangle with Columbo but one year after he first played a murderer on the show he played another one in an episode appropriately called "Double Exposure". He is pretty perfect as an adversary for Columbo. He smoothly transitions from comfortably smug to bitterly exasperated.

This time he plays some kind of advertising guru who kills a client during the screening of a commercial. Columbo (Peter Falk), as usual, goes overboard in praising the prime suspect, even checking out books from the library Culp's character wrote. The two have nice chemistry.

Two other notable scenes feature a projectionist letting Columbo in on a few tricks of his trade and Columbo wandering around the supermarket. Both are nice little slices of that vanished world of 1970s America.

Columbo is available with commercials on Amazon Prime.

Why Him, Naomi?

Last time I wrote about The Expanse, I wondered why in the Belt Naomi would be attracted to Marco Inaros in the first place. Last night's new episode sort of gave me an answer, or at any rate it had a flashback to when they were young and in love and Filip was just born.

She looks so mature, not fifteen or sixteen, as I guess her age would have to be. I can't find the age of Jasai Chase Owens, who plays Filip most of the time, anywhere on the internet but considering he has a history of aiding in terrorist attacks I figure he has to be at least seventeen by this point. Dominique Tipper, who plays Naomi, is listed as being 32 or 33 (weird seeing such imprecision about someone in a major TV series). I guess Naomi's meant to be older than Tipper or maybe Belters have accelerated pregnancies.

Still, I don't find Marco (Keon Alexander) or Filip very interesting but I like the story of Naomi's struggle. Tipper's performance makes the scenes really work when she's talking about nearly committing suicide. And I liked how the episode came back to that story in the climax.

I was sorry not to see Amos or Avasarala this week but an episode focused on Naomi is always a good idea.

The Expanse is available on Amazon Prime.

One Out of Seven

Despite the popularity of pirate films in the mid-20th century, there were surprisingly few made about the infamous Barbary pirates. 1953's Raiders of the Seven Seas takes one of the first and most successful of the Barbary pirates, Barbarossa, and changes nearly everything about him. A pirate whose exploits occurred primarily in the Mediterranean is depicted as a menace of the Caribbean and as a liberator of slaves instead of a procurer. For a low budget pirate film with a B list cast, it was better than I expected but not by much.

Nearly everyone was miscast, including John Payne as Barbarossa. The real life Turk is portrayed as a Spaniard (in the service of Morocco) by an American actor who makes no attempt to do anything with his accent. The stilted dialogue comes out like a type writer from him and other Americans in the cast but Payne at least had some star quality and roguish charm. He has exactly one good sword fight against a villain, played by Gerald Mohr, possibly the most miscast person in the film.

MST3k fans will remember him from Invasion USA in which he plays, as he so often did, a cheap substitute for Humphrey Bogart. Which makes him stick out like an even sorer thumb in this movie.

Despite the fact that the real Barbarossa died in the 16th century, I did appreciate some historical authenticity in the film's chosen time period of the early 17th century. Nobody wears tricorne hats. And I like how the hold of Barbarossa's ship is portrayed as disgusting.

That's Donna Reed, the biggest star in the film, though she really has no business playing a Spanish noblewoman. She looks fantastic, though, and she fills out her gorgeous costumes perfectly.

Lon Cheney Jr. plays Barbarossa's helmsman unremarkably. I guess it would be a spoiler to tell you he dies in the film except later, thanks to lousy editing, he turns up back at the helm in the background of a shot.

So I don't really know what to tell you.

After the decent sword fight in the middle, the end is anticlimactic. But there are worse pirate films.

Raiders of the Seven Seas is available on Amazon Prime.

Twitter Sonnet #1433

Insistent spots appeared across the grass.
The timing fell as gears were scattered round.
A growing cloud became a hardened mass.
We wanted snow but took an icy sound.
The greeting passed from wall to wall to floor.
The shelter grew to house electric air.
A ghostly crowd detached the fragile door.
A plushy pig was full of warmth and care.
A cherry watched a wave relinquish days.
Returning moons denote the planet place.
The lonesome ships repair to lively bays.
The empty night concocts a watching face.
The extra glasses blurred a pencilled seam.
Eraser smudges craft a novel dream.

Cold Chicken Feathers

I guess I didn't need to go all the way to Shiga to see snow because we had plenty right here in Kashihara this morning.

Though, sadly, it didn't pile up. Despite the fact that the snowflakes were as big as chicken feathers and it snowed non-stop for over four hours there was almost no sign it'd snowed less than an hour after it stopped. Even these rice fields were all but clear of snow an hour after it stopped.

That's the view from a fourth floor classroom of the school where I'm working now.

So, yes, it's been cold around here lately. A few days ago, I took my hand out of some hot water and noticed steam coming off my fingers that looked like smoke.

I was reminded of the Beast's claws smoking from the hot blood of a recent kill in Jean Cocteau's Belle et la Bete.

I guess it wasn't so far fetched after all.

Human Organisation

Amazon Prime is releasing episodes of The Expanse on a weekly basis, on Wednesdays, which should make it easier for me to blog about. But I seem to get sidetracked every Thursday, first by New Years, then by the U.S. Capitol mob. But last week's Expanse, an episode called "Tribes", is certainly not irrelevant to current events, though the terrorist depicted on the show commits a far worse series of crimes.

Marco Inaros (Keon Alexander) is kind of disappointingly one dimensional, coming off as just simply a madman. How did he get anyone to follow him? Why did Naomi (Dominique Tipper) have a son with him? Still, I like how the aftermath of him destroying several Earth and Martian cities has been handled with the other characters. Drummer (Cara Gee), coming to the grim decision that she has to ally herself with Marco for now, is a nice subplot and makes you wonder how often that happens, how often people who aren't 100% onboard with the party line are forced to support it in the interest of survival, not just for themselves but for their people.

Amos (Wes Chatham) has the key line in the episode; "The thing about civilisation is, it keeps you civil. Get rid of one and you can't count on the other . . . People are tribal. The more settled things are, the bigger the tribes can be. The churn comes and the tribes get small again. Right now, you and I are a tribe of two." He's talking to Clarissa Mao (Nadine Nicole) with whom he's trekking through the wilderness in the wake of the attacks. Introduced in season three, Clarissa mostly sat out season 4, in prison for the crimes she committed. Now the prison's destroyed along with the rest of the city and, as she and Amos encounter crazed survivalists and harsh weather, the legal system that says she should be incarcerated indeed doesn't seem to be very relevant anymore.

One of the advantages of studying history is that it provides perspective on human behaviour. Old history books and the events themselves weren't created under the shadow of current attitudes or prescribed morals. It's a way of getting your head above the trees for a moment. Science Fiction is kind of a way of manufacturing this perspective--it has the disadvantage of the writers inevitably being influenced by the current climate but, to bold writers, that can also be an advantage. Anyone nowadays worried about censorship, and there are legitimate concerns on that front, should be reminded we still have access to art and history. In many ways, better access than at any time in human history. The amount of work a controlling power would have to do to truly shut off all avenues of independent thought may be beyond any currently existing human entity.

The Expanse is available on Amazon Prime.

Death and a Wedding and Time Travel

Donna Noble continued her bad luck wedding streak in the 2016 Doctor Who audio play "Death and the Queen". A primarily comedic and solidly written script from James Goss is turned to gold by performances from David Tennant and Catherine Tate.

It begins in the French Riviera in the 18th century where Donna (Tate) meets a handsome prince while playing roulette. She accepts his marriage proposal despite the Doctor's (Tennant) misgivings arising from the fact that he's never heard of Prince Rudolph's (Blake Ritson) country. Donna, for the opportunity of being Queen, isn't overly concerned by such trivial details.

Alice Krige plays the Queen Mum of the mystery country and she and Tate have a lot of amusing verbal sparring. Most of the good stuff is between Tennant and Tate, though, who have brilliant chemistry as always.

"Death and the Queen" is available at Big Finish.com.

Twitter Sonnet #1432

The light of jellied suns assumes the room.
Responses taped the painted wall to wood.
The broken hands were scraped along the loom.
A leaking engine shakes beneath the hood.
A truncheon scraped the beggar's broken drum.
The vanished thief is sleeping close at night.
The heater yields a steady, aimless hum.
Distracted drunks believe they drank the right.
The circling earth was not the kind to see.
The tasty stones were churning arms away.
We gather leaves to dress the naked tree.
Invited late, the night disturbs the day.
The butter layer thinly coats the cake.
A fleet of flowers sank beneath the lake.

Familiar Faces and Their Fragile Dreams

I find Akira Kurosawa's 1957 adaptation of The Lower Depths (どん底) strangely comforting. I feel the same way about The Seventh Seal--although both films are fundamentally very grim, they both do such a good job of establishing the sense of a world by creating so many characters with diverse motives operating in it that revisiting them feels like visiting old friends. Considered a very faithful adaptation of Maxim Gorky's 1902 Russian play, watching Kurosawa's version again last night I found myself thinking the story works as a very intelligent rebuke to the famous Karl Marx quote, "Religion is the opium of the people."

I like how Bokuzen Hidari's character never directly claims to be a monk, despite bearing the accoutrements of one, but everyone calls him a fraud anyway. When he kindly tells the dying woman (Eiko Miyoshi) about a paradisical afterlife or the alcoholic actor (Kamatari Fujiwara) that there's a temple where his damaged liver can be healed, the gambler (Koji Mitsui) and Sutekichi (Toshiro Mifune), the thief, bitterly relish making cynical pronouncements about it under a thin guise of good nature. They both assert of course we all know he's lying but isn't he kind?

If they thought about it for a moment, they might realise showing off their own powers of perception would have a devastating impact on the people Hidari was trying to console, as it does for the actor.

Those shots of Fujiwara sitting motionless in his bunk while the prostitute (Akemi Negishi) is arguing in the foreground are so devastating. I like how Kurosawa shows the actor draw the curtain across his bunk but then shows us through two wooden beams that he's still just sitting there, staring into a void.

I also like how Kurosawa doesn't go to a closeup of him when the prostitute runs outside. The camera stays outside and watches him say farewell through the rain.

This is all after the three principle actors have left the film--Toshiro Mifune, Bokuzen Hidari, and Kyoko Kagawa. The drama about Mifune and Kagawa's brittle romance is rightly placed at the centre of the film, the dream that takes form but is dragged down by the general misery is a perfect cornerstone. But it's a film about the suffering of a society so it's important for the narrative to cast a wider net and place the leading conflict in the context of other lives with other motives and other desperate dreams.

The Lower Depths is available on The Criterion Channel.

The Appeal of Simpler Fiction

I'm still watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I'm now seven episodes into season 2. "Lie to Me", which first aired in November 1997, was written and directed by Joss Whedon and is the first really interesting episode from him so far, not counting the pilot. There's more to it than jokes and pulp, you start to get a bigger sense of emotional stakes largely thanks to a one-off character, an old classmate of Buffy's called Ford (Billy Fordham).

He shows up at Sunnydale High at the beginning of the episode much to Buffy's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) surprise. She's surprisingly candid in explaining to Xander (Nicolas Brendon) and Willow (Alyson Hannigan) that she'd had a massive crush on Ford in fifth grade. She even mentions listening to know "When I Think About You I Touch Myself", lamely adding that she didn't originally understand what the song meant. Could a fifth grader in L.A. really have been that innocent in the 90s? It seems implausible--though not as implausible as Willow just at that moment figuring out the song's meaning. It comes off more like coy burlesque humour, which I can kind of appreciate.

I found it a little more difficult accepting the fact that, when Ford reveals he knew Buffy was the Slayer, no-one asks how he came by that information, not even Giles (Anthony Stewart Head). But I can forgive the episode its faults when its plot about a vampire worshipping cult naively bargaining with vampires pays off so tragically.

It's the first moment of moral ambiguity on the show--suddenly Ford seems to have a point when he wants to live forever, and the vampire being a demon concept suddenly seems especially cruel. And it adds an intriguing shade to the subplot about Angel (David Boreanaz) and Drusilla (Juliet Landau) advanced in this episode.

It feels like, with this episode, Whedon finally caught up with reading Anne Rice as the layers of tragedy in Drusilla's past have that kind of operatic despair. She's almost Claudia from Interview with the Vampire. There's an interesting juxtaposition, now that I think about it, between Angel recalling how he obsessed with the exceptionally pure innocence of the human Drusilla and the innocence Buffy exhibits chatting about her crush on Ford. Adding another layer of intrigue is the fact that we've not yet been told that Angel has regained his soul in the years since he turned Drusilla into a vampire.

The episode also continues a satisfying development for Willow from throughout the season. I love the scene where she invites Angel into her room--he walks in all in satin and leather while she's wearing a big shirt and bunny slippers.

What a fun way to break the Anne Rice vibe (and I say that as someone who likes Rice's early books). Yet it's not so ironic as to break the fourth wall. Willow's personality always comes off as authentic, that's part of her charm.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is available in a lousy cropped format on Amazon Prime.

Twitter Sonnet #1431

The wrinkled cup supports an even tea.
Confirming flights, the narrow phones report.
Advancing trays collapsed to feed the bee.
A group of feathered men with grace contort.
A punching card was holes away from rock.
Approval spoke in scattered sounds and blips.
Galactic dough retreats beneath the sock.
She takes her drink and time and slowly sips.
Mistaken skulls were floating out the mall.
We traded hats between the empty racks.
Decision sports create a choosy ball.
The heavy shirts condemn the brittle backs.
The even rooms distort misshapen lights.
A metal rod disturbs the wooden fights.