It's been proposed that "Calvin & Hobbes" is the result of someone inventing a super AI. That'd make an interesting movie, but it'd probably turn into "Kingdom Hearts II". =p In any case, I don't think you need to supply Pixar with research materials; just say "make something awesome!". "Calvin & Hobbes" and "Bloom County" would be my favorites among the ones you listed -- but wouldn't they all suffer from Hollywood's attempt to make them "darker & edgier"?
That "Stormtrooper" ruling has me amazed. Seeing as one of my main hobbies is scale model building and that this could force a LOT of ripple effect, especially among carmakers and those who license from them. The '57 Chevy, the '69 Charger, the '84 Trans-Am and the Delorean are all suddenly public domain? I'm sure you understand the significance this might have.
I'm not sure how it will work, either. Not knowing much about British law, I'd assume that a lot of designs are intentionally classified as "art" to get the longer trademark. Or perhaps there are other classifications?
I'd hope, if the right people were in charge, that they'd be comically darker and edgier:
"And here's where Calvin/Oliver accidentally destroys space/time." "Like '2012'?" "Sure, if that makes you go away." "Boffo!"
And what's weird, is that I'm seeing the "darker and edgier" replaced with "zappier and explodier," as seen in the work of Roland Emmerich, Michael Bay, etc. I think I want D&E back...
There was an Opus movie, it was direct to VHS, I believe, but I fondly remember A Wish For Wings That Work.
Calvin and Hobbes is one thing that might fare pretty well from "darker and edgier" to a degree, it already had it's dark and edgy moments (calvin discussing cannibalism with his mother, sculpting a big snow chicken cutting off a snowman's head, the film noir stuff, his desire to blow up his school[by today's standards, anyway]....)
I'm all for a Doonesbury movie, but it better get in line behind Transmetropolitan for "movies with a character based on Hunter S. Thompson".
I so wish someone had taken Patrick Stewart up on his offer to play Spider Jerusalem. That would have been epic. I don't know if he was completely right for the role (I don't think I've ever seen Stewart play "mischievously evil"), but I'd love to see him give it a try.
And I remember the Bloom County special! I used to have it on VHS, taped when it first aired. I miss that tape, along with my "Spitting Image" specials.
I can't be the only one who a) respects the effort it must have taken to collect all of that vintage '70s-early-'80s gear for the Fireflies video, or b) immediately wanted 20 minutes of nostalgia-time to play with those toys ;).
I'm glad I wasn't the only one playing "spot the toy you'd played with before." :)
I also like the light-up bits on the organ. If those were standard, they need to bring that kind of stuff back (though newer Casios do have light up keys).
I just liked the "magic" button. It reminded me of stickers you can get from XKCD that you can put on, say, a light switch, that read "magic" and "more magic"
Calvin and Hobbes will never happen.
anonymous
December 22 2009, 10:58:13 UTC
Watterson is one of the few to have almost complete control of his work and he has explicitly stated he hates the idea of anmation for Calvin. He talks at length in the anniversery book about how he'd hate to hear some voice actor put a voice to Calvin that would never match up to how he imagined it.
I have too agree, the first time I heard Snoopy actually talk in animation (instead of the grarwlgrawl he has in the early stuff) I was thinking... "really? That's what they used?".
Cartoons have people fill in the blanks more than just what happens between panels. They fill in he voice, movements, and the unseen personality of a character. It takes away slot of the perception to move to animation. That being said, it would have to be Pixar. I'm also all about a Farside, the characters there are one dimensional, you just need enough to get the joke and it's free to fill in the rest.
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It kind of reminds me of how Gene Roddenberry cut down the residuals to the composer of the Star Trek theme by adding lyrics. There's almost always a loophole.
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"And here's where Calvin/Oliver accidentally destroys space/time."
"Like '2012'?"
"Sure, if that makes you go away."
"Boffo!"
And what's weird, is that I'm seeing the "darker and edgier" replaced with "zappier and explodier," as seen in the work of Roland Emmerich, Michael Bay, etc. I think I want D&E back...
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And I seem to recall that Trudeau tried to make a Doonesbury musical that was well-written but whose songs went over like a lead balloon.
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As for the musical, there doesn't seem to be anything out there to share, sorry. And seeing how Frank Rich ripped it apart, that probably shouldn't have been a surprise: http://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/22/theater/stage-doonesbury.html?scp=1&sq=doonesbury+musical+review&st=nyt
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Calvin and Hobbes is one thing that might fare pretty well from "darker and edgier" to a degree, it already had it's dark and edgy moments (calvin discussing cannibalism with his mother, sculpting a big snow chicken cutting off a snowman's head, the film noir stuff, his desire to blow up his school[by today's standards, anyway]....)
I'm all for a Doonesbury movie, but it better get in line behind Transmetropolitan for "movies with a character based on Hunter S. Thompson".
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And I remember the Bloom County special! I used to have it on VHS, taped when it first aired. I miss that tape, along with my "Spitting Image" specials.
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I also like the light-up bits on the organ. If those were standard, they need to bring that kind of stuff back (though newer Casios do have light up keys).
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I have too agree, the first time I heard Snoopy actually talk in animation (instead of the grarwlgrawl he has in the early stuff) I was thinking... "really? That's what they used?".
Cartoons have people fill in the blanks more than just what happens between panels. They fill in he voice, movements, and the unseen personality of a character. It takes away slot of the perception to move to animation. That being said, it would have to be Pixar. I'm also all about a Farside, the characters there are one dimensional, you just need enough to get the joke and it's free to fill in the rest.
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