MovieChat Forums > Ready Player One (2018) Discussion > what kind of 80s stuff were you expectin...

what kind of 80s stuff were you expecting?

posted 7 years ago by bozo_500 (13385)
8 replies | jump to latest

In the race was expecting to see stuff like Michael Knight (CG 80s Hoff) in KITT shouting out to BA and Hannibal (CG 80s Mr T/Peppard) in the ATeam van which is next to Street Hawk and Magnum (CG 80s selleck) in his red Ferrari (also a nod to Selleck almost being Indy). as above Airwolf hovers and Stringfellow Hawke (80s JMV) call signs to Blue Thunder (1983 Roy Scheider at the controls), as 1980s Clint looks out the window of Firefox and nods to 1986 Tom Cruise in an F14 and then Superman (1980s Christopher Reeve) flys past his window.

Then in the bar scene wed see 1980s Wrath of Khan era Admiral Kirk & Captain Spock hanging out with 1977 New Hope era Han Solo and Starbuck (70s Dirk Benedict) as Temple of Doom era Indiana Jones walks out as he and Han double take at each other .. then 1980s Roger Moore Bond walks in the bar past the 1984 Arnold Terminator to join the various 007s already sat at a booth table, and in next booth we see is full of 1980s Kurts Russells (Snake Plissken, MacReady, and Jack Burton) as Flash Gordon (actual Sam Jones now from Teds no need to deage) gets up from a table and challenges Buck Rogers (70s Gill Gerard) to a game of Space Invaders. then a fight breaks out between 1988 McClane and 1987 Riggs and then we see Roy Batty with Deckard ordering at the bar

some of them could be the actual guys CG deaged as most would give their right nut to be in a Spielberg movie. but others who are deceased now (CReeve etc) would either be CG recreations or actual footage from various movies used spliced in via CG or just reaction shots...and that couldve also applied to the still living old guys just use old footage spliced in via CG (no need for the actual actors then cgi deaged unless necessary)

but was little to no use of particular actors images in the movie - just the iconic characters (that weren't specific to a particular actor) or ships/cars/clothes/equipment associated with them so mustve been a rights issue - yeh you can use stuff to do with such and such but not the actors likeness (probably why no Jack Nicolson in Shining scenes)

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 7 years ago

Actually, you raise an interesting point.

It's possible, even likely, that they didn't use those likenesses due to cost of licensing. But it's also possible that what we DID see in the movie was specifically chosen because players can see themselves as those characters. Parzival wears Buckaroo Banzai's suit, but he doesn't change his appearance to match Peter Weller because he wants to imagine himself as the hero, not the hero's actor. If that makes sense.

For example, Wade's step-uncle can imagine himself as Jim Raynor because Raynor's an avatar for whoever's playing Starcraft. Same with Halo's Master Chief, the Battletoads, etc.

I dunno, the Freddie Krueger avatar maybe blows that theory out of the water. Then again, the Freddy avatar had knives on both hands, so he wasn't ACTUALLY a Robert Englund or Jackie Earle Haley duplicate.

forget it, I'm just babbling now

[–] PeterVenkman (11) 7 years ago

Ghostbusters At least the stay puft marshmallow man somewhere in the race scene to crush some cars..

[–] bozo_500 (13385) 7 years ago

Was there anything GB even in it? don't think there was (nothing on the trivia/connections section) which is strange as its such a huge 80s movie as big as BTTF (maybe they couldn't get the rights to use anything)

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 7 years ago

Definitely missing on purpose, likely because of licensing costs - the novel’s Delorean, which the author duplicated in real life, has GB logos and an “ECTO-1” license plate, all missing from the film.

[–] whynotwriteme (7814) 7 years ago

Dungeon & Dragons. It was a huge letdown as the classic module "Tomb of Horrors" played such a large part in the novel. All we got in the movie was the face from the module on the back of the van.The whole time I should have been learning social skills and meeting girls in the early 80s, I was rolling dice and killing orcs instead. Would have liked to see that time memorialized.

[–] bozo_500 (13385) 7 years ago

re D&D - maybe Jeremy Irons should've appeared (and then everyone be like? "uh? who the hell is Irons supposed to be? I don't remember him in LOTR!?" lol)

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 4 years ago

I loved that sequence in the book the first time I read it.

Then, as I went on through the book, I realized the WHOLE THING was Cline's freakin' wish-fulfillment. And saddest of all, I only came to realize it when my own era-specific preferences veered off from his (I wasn't a Rush fan).

And THEN I really came to hate the whole thing - made me feel like a human Mary Sue.

Also, like whynotwriteme, it reminded me of time spent not-dating way back then. Enjoyable at the time, painful in retrospect.

Besides, even from an objective viewpoint, the Tomb of Horrors segment in the novel was terrible. Like much of the novel (and its sequel), Cline is just flatly describing other people's creations (that he happens to like).

And since Wade just happens to have the whole module downloaded (as do I, embarrassingly), the result is what one YouTube vlogger called, "a speed-run ... through a book."

Nah, I was happy enough with the one, minor callback in the film. No need to go further. DEFINITELY did not need to see Wade re-enacting "WarGames" and Monty Python.

[–] bozo_500 (13385) 6 years ago

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