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AmeriGirl26's Replies
This was a tv movie on a tv budget, what do you expect? And frankly, I think they spent more on this film than any of the other DCOMs at the time.
I think I might have several explanations for this.
1.) They have managed to invent artificial gravity by the time 2049 came around, and the rotation of the space station has more to do with keeping it from getting cooked by solar radiation on one side. Many people don't know this, but shuttles out in orbit have to rotate to prevent the sun from cooking one side. Astronauts call this "the barbecue roll." The rotation of the station could also enable solar arrays built onto the outside to absorb maximum sunlight if each and every panel (you can't really pick them out on the show) gets some sunlight during certain parts of the station's orbit.
2.) This movie was made on a budget, and they probably couldn't afford to show people walking at weird angles contrary to what one's perception of gravity should be on earth, vs. space.
It's a common trick of the trade used in show business. People like actors that look younger than they really are, so they can have them play younger roles, but have the maturity and reliability that comes with an older age. This is done all the time, where the actors playing kids or teenagers are actually much older than their character. It's especially helpful that for a lot of young adults, there actually isn't much physical changeover from high school to college during the first few years, beyond changing hair and clothes. There are also some people who have a genetic trait that we in the vernacular call being "baby-faced," where they look younger than they really are. Some examples would include:
- Billie Burke playing a seemingly ageless [20/30/40-something] Glinda in "The Wizard of Oz" when she was in her 50s
- Gary Burghoff playing a 19-year-old Radar on "M*A*S*H" in his 30s
- Michael J. Fox playing a teenaged Marty McFly on "Back to the Future" in his late 20s/early30s
- Jennifer Lawrence playing a 16-year-old Katniss in the first "Hunger Games" movie when she was 20
- Kirsten Storms playing a 13-year-old Zenon in "Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century" when she was 15
- Melissa Joan Hart playing 16-year-old Sabrina when she was already in her early 20s when the tv show started
- the little boy actor in "Heaven Is For Real" playing a 4-year-old child, when he in fact is 6
Sadly, not all film/tv makers are good at choosing young-looking actors, if that awful film "Grease" is anything to go by. They also play on the fact that most viewers are not experts in what people of certain ages look like.
It's nothing at all like "Once Upon A Time." While Storybrook was formed by a spell in another world in 1980s Maine, that's all the two shows have in common. "Once Upon A Time" is much lighter (at least during the first few seasons), doesn't really involve very many kids, and the present story takes place in the early 2010s.
"Stranger Things," on the other hand, takes place entirely in the 1980s, and mostly involves kids and teenagers living in a small Indiana town.
Oh, they probably did it for laughs. You'll note that they did not have any intimate scenes, and pretended to be a moron married to a hen-pecking wife. Even better, the hen-pecking wife likes to sic her dog on people, hehe.
It was creepy enough coming from Sarah, considering she loved collecting rat tails, eating spiders, and torturing young men that spent the night with her. She didn't just bed them, after all. There's a reason Winnifred told the bus driver he wouldn't want to spend the night with Sarah.
You must also realize that Winnifred is very insecure about her appearance, and anyone who made it obvious that she was ugly usually paid dearly, particularly if it was a guy going after her prettier [sluttier] sister instead of her. Or worse, doing her sister on the side while romancing her at the same time, and lying about it.
Oh, I remember why! It wasn't until Max lit the Black Candle that Binx got his voice back. So for centuries, he was powerless to make anything more than cat noises.
You are correct in all these things.
Herakles was the son of Zeus and Aclemene (ah-kluh-meen), a woman whom prophecy said would give birth to the strongest man ever to live, and Zeus helped that prophecy along.
It was BELLEROPHON who had Pegasus, NOT Herakles or Perseus. These Hollywood writers never can get these myths straight. They always want the ancient Greek hero riding a winged horse, when most of them didn't need or use one.
Her name was short for "Megara," and they don't say so in the film, beyond having her wear a purple dress, but she was a Princess.
And you're right, James Woods stole the show and his character gave me nightmares.
Okay, these replies are apparently kinda limited in characters, so I'll continue in other posts.
5.) Relating to Reason #3, they painted the various Greek gods as black and white, and that is NOT how the ancient Greeks viewed them. In fact, many of the myths actually painted the Olympians as being flawed characters, having both good and bad traits, just like mortals. The only major differences were that the gods were immortal and had magic powers. The Disney film paints Zeus as an all-good guy, living up on Mt. Olympus in "heaven" with the other gods, while Hades is the all-evil guy, ruling in "hell" under the earth. But the thing was, Hades was not exactly the ancient Greek version of Satan. He wasn't the one who slept with a ton of mortal women to fulfill various schemes, nor did he ruin their lives by angering his wife into going after them; that was all Zeus. 90% of the Greek myths are due to Zeus being unable to keep it in his pants. Hades also (ironic as this sounds) didn't kill the most mortals. That was Poseidon and his angry seas that did that. However, he did have to kidnap Persephone in order to have a wife, and he did have demons and dark spirits working for him. That was accurate. However, there was NEVER a myth that stated that he despised his job and wanted something more. In fact, there's more evidence to suggest that he did it because he knew no other god would. I'm not saying that he himself was better than his brothers, but to say he was 100% evil in the myths was not accurate either.
6.) Relating to Reason #5 above, they really had no reason to involve Hades at all in the story, and frankly, I was angry that he tried to steal the show. He was barely involved at all in the myths of Herakles, though he did allow the guy to borrow Cerberus in the last Task, but only briefly. The Disney version of Hades gave me nightmares for years after seeing that movie.
Well.....I've been reluctant to say because my reasons are numerous enough to fill a paperback novel, but I'll try to keep it brief.
1.) Yes, it is an EXTREMELY inaccurate to the original myths about this guy.
2.) Relating to the reason above, this was NOT a story made for children. In fact, it was during this time in Disney history when Michael Eisner was in charge of the studio and deranged enough to allow several stories that were totally unfit for children to be made into Disney films, including "Pocahontas," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," and this film. The ancient myths of HERAKLES, not Hercules, had elements in them that you do NOT want kids to learn about at too young an age, such as incest, rape, tricking someone into adultery, attempted infanticide, murder of one's family, and a number of other difficult subjects.
3.) They made the extreme mistake of Anglicizing the myths, trying to draw parallels between this and Christianity, and frankly, they did a terrible job. While I come from an Anglo-Saxon Christian background, I also enjoy learning about other myths, and frankly, if you look into many ancient myths and religions versus Christianity, (and I mean the WHOLE thing, not just an overview) you'll find they actually have NOTHING in common, whatsoever. In fact, the fake parallels they were drawing in this film were extremely lazy ones some idiot in America would do after reading a children's guide to ancient Greek mythology.
4.) Relating to Reason #2, to clean up the story a bit, they stole the plot lines of "Rocky" and "Superman," (The 1970s film with Christopher Reeve). Talk about more lazy writing. On some levels it's creative, but from veteran story-tellers' point of view, it was a cheap road to take in script-writing.
I did, when I was 11 or 12 (the movie came out in June, so it was probably before my birthday at the time, making me 11). Even still, I wish I hadn't seen it in theaters. That movie gave me nightmares.
According to ancient Greek mythology; Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades were brothers, and after they won the war with the Titans, they drew lots. Zeus got the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the Underworld.
And yes, it actually is referenced in the film. It's when Hades comes to the party celebrating Hercules' birth, and Zeus greets Hades as his "brother."
It was actually very common in the myths for the gods to have war with their relatives, and it actually made the whole thing more dramatic.
Everything. There's a reason I call it "STD" or "SJW: The Next Generation." It's not Star Trek, it's a crime against everything that's true Star Trek. And after this mess, I'll never complain about "Enterprise" ever again. There's a reason I avoided this show. I didn't want it polluting my brain with ideas and images I would never be able to wipe from my mind ever again. Even my dad and brother, (who have lower standards of story quality for sci-fi tv than I do), said it was weapons-grade dog crap.
Oh, no, no, no, there are [i]tons[/i] of famous women in history. Hell, the world's first known author was a woman! The trouble is, the museum in the film is old school, so it's gonna focus more on male figures than female ones, and it was in the script.
I could name at least 25 different famous women off the top of my head, particularly women that would fit right in with that museum:
- Queen Elizabeth I
- Queen Victoria
- Amelia Earhart (who got to show up in the 2nd movie)
- quite a number of First Ladies who left their mark on America
- Annie Oakley
- Emily Dickinson
- the Bronte Sisters
- Madame Curie
- Eleanor of Aquitaine
- Margaret Thatcher
- Sylvia Plath
- Queen Marie Antoinette
- Mary Shelley
- Agatha Christie
- Jane Austen
- Florence Nightingale
- Pocahontas (AKA Matoaka, which was her real name)
- Catherine the Great
- Alexandra Romanov
- Anastasia Romanov
- all 6 wives of Henry VIII
- Queen Isabella of Spain
- Mary, Queen of Scots
The list goes on and on. Frankly, I wasn't bothered by the lack of women because I'm used to it in a lot of films, and I liked the two women who figured prominently in the story anyway. It's one reason I was heartbroken when we didn't see Rebecca again in the sequels as Larry's girlfriend.