TBF, Mags, you have been doing a lot of the heavylifting for the quest, so this will be in good hands.
To be clear to everyone, this is just me burning out on imagination of the quest, since my muse has been hitting me over the head a lot with so many different ideas that I just can't find myself too interested in this.
I'll still hang out here, though, since this still does have a sepcial place in my heart.
I'd like to thank you all for making this a wonderful experience while it lasted.
I'd also like to thank @Magoose, @Fluffy_serpent, and @Martin Noctis for doing so much to help prepare and write this quest. I couldn't have done it without you all.
-[X]There is nothing but problems from Hell, and I can fix them: Jesus Christ… you were going to need to go to your priest for the amount of blasphemy you were about to unleash… because someone is going to be… very unfortunate when you saw the wrecked ship you had built DC: 40 Rolled:D100 => 1
Everything was Gone. Everything. The ships, the sets, all of it was destroyed due to some civil disobedience that got out of control.
Then you learned… quite to your shock… that the Greek Government would not allow you to film anymore due to some… well not diplomatic fuckery, but from the fact that, unlike other film productions this year… you didn't pay a certain minister a donation to his political party… and your film permits were delayed, and then outright canceled.
WHAT THE FUCK!
Critical Failure: Greece has all but kicked you out and you are unable to film there due to fuckery and corruption in the greek ministry of culture.
Mike is on it, but he tells you to go somewhere else while he basically tells them that there will be hell to pay.
You have to find a new filming location.
If not, production rolls will all automatically fail.
Bruh, we become fluent in Greek and this is how Greece repays us? Country is really playing to the stereotypes. Greece has no idea how much they're fucking up their film investments from the domino effect because of this. At least our life isn't in danger, but an unfortunate L. At least this makes for good story stuff with Steve's warning of the curse of boats, lol.
-[X]George and Mike's staring contest: You look at the two men and shake your head. "What the fuck are you two doing?" Then you saw the poster on the table and realized one thing… You were surrounded by idiots sometimes. DC: ??? Rolled:D100 => 5
You were too busy with the… Greek Problem, so Mike and George didn't seem important.
You were sure they could survive without you for a while.
Failure: Unknown Effect on when you come back from Conan Production.
Honestly if we're going to be a functioning company, we need the remainder of ownership to be functional without Bruce having to play peacemaker constantly. Hopefully this doesn't lead to anything awful.
-[X]For a Few months: You are going to prepare the kids for you being gone for a few months… and you need to find a way to break it to them without… making things scary for them. DC: ??? Rolled:D100 => 62
You took a deep breath and knelt down to the kids as you all sat in the living room. "Kids, Carrie, you all know that sometimes I go on little trips for work."
Mary nodded, but Joe said. "No."
"Well I have to go for a little while longer for this time." You said.
"But you will come back?" Sarah asked.
"Of course I will." You said with a small smile. "I always will. It's just going to be for a little longer than I hoped."
You saw how sad they were, but they would get through this…
Well at least we won't suffer as a father. Unfortunate part of Hollywood life, though at the very least I'm assuming that Bruce as the co-owner of his studio has a very liberal working schedule like 4 day work weeks so on the other hand, the kids can see him more on a regular week than most families. So long as there's no other commitments, I won't mind to the rest of '83 being family focused.
-[X]Quiet and Carrie: Carrie and you lay in bed, as you normally would before she stopped. "Bruce, do you think I am still beautiful?" You then realized she was looking at you. DC: ??? Rolled:D100 + 30 => 105
Carrie laid next to you as you were preparing to go to bed. She placed a hand on you and it made you look to her. "Carrie what is wrong?"
Carrie could only look deeply in your eyes. "Bruce… do you think I am still beautiful?"
At those simple words, you embraced her. "After how many years and four children, you feel the need to ask me that? After promising you that I would be with you always?" You both placed each other's foreheads on each other, feeling each other in the intimate way. "How could I ever imagine a life without you?"
Carrie was in tears. "I love you." she whispered.
You could only say the words that would always make her feel better. "I know."
-[X]A Charitable Heart: You want to invest your newfound wealth. Maybe even save some lives while you are at it. (Linetail what you wish to invest in below this action, and the amount of money you want to donate in)
--[X] Donate $50 Million to the Arbor Day Foundation. Rolled:D100 => 12
You gave the funds, but you don't think that it would be doing anything important… at least right now.
Reward: Donated 50 million to the Arbor Day Foundation.
I'm pretty sure we have a +50 to charity actions within the US due to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Although I guess in the end we get millions of trees planted so that's a common O'Brian W.
[X]Modeling (Advertisements): Thankfully another Call Came in, one from an ad firm. They need you to have some pictures taken so that they are used for saner things. Like selling cars, or ice cream. DC: 40
--[X] Do a commercial for Oatfield Rolled:D100 => 67
To think you played into the Irish patriot in this one, being Cu Chulainn. And it was a blast of you being laying on the ground with one eye open… while at the end, being fed the Oatfield treats at the end for being a good dog.
Honestly, for a week's work, and just having an absolute blast doing it, made the whole commercial be just better than everything.
Reward: Oatfields sees a huge increase in sale due to the commercial, and some calling it one of your best performances… ever.
That was just sad that there were some people who thought that.
-[X] Lobbying $3 Million. Lobby the California state legislature to support the creation of a high speed rail system. This project, known as California High Speed Rail, will implement a Japanese style high speed rail system for quick transportation between Los Angeles and San Francisco. If the project has further support, also extend to San Diego and Sacramento. Rolled:D100 => 96
To think that you had support for the project almost immediately, and some of the State Senate and even congressional members were putting in their weight to get it passed, promising to get federal funding for the project once it was passed in the state legislature.
And it was passed almost unanimously.
reward: California is building a Japanese Style, High-speed rail system.
Cool, hopefully this sees a domino effect of more high-speed rail across the US. With this and the nuclear support, world will probably be healthier in 2024 ITL. At the very least, we can have easy trips to the Lucas' and Gavin's family without pumping a shit load of CO2 with planes.
Hey, Whenyouseeyou, how about instead of whining and blaming everyone else, you actually write the Omakes for a change? I had a busy weekend with family and didn't devote much time to writing and I'm sure lots of other people are busy. Put your money where your mouth is and take action instead of expecting others to do work every update.
Also this sucks but it isn't the end and there's no justification for Reagan to do anything extreme or the Democrats would be justified in saying its an abuse of power. This isn't important to the well being of the United States and it's not like we can even spin this as anti-Communist superweapon like Dracula. Just let Greece suffer economically when American investors see it's a shit country to put money in.
My nominations for filming locations are South Italy (Naples, Sicily and Sardinia can make great locations), Spain, France and Corsica, and Croatia/Yugoslavia.
Honestly if we're going to be a functioning company, we need the remainder of ownership to be functional without Bruce having to play peacemaker constantly. Hopefully this doesn't lead to anything awful.
I'd personally recommend Croatia having been there and seen the medieval towns and structures and the many islands etc, it's honestly beautiful and the Old City in Dubrovnik is a perfect place to film….
-[X]There is nothing but problems from Hell, and I can fix them: Jesus Christ… you were going to need to go to your priest for the amount of blasphemy you were about to unleash… because someone is going to be… very unfortunate when you saw the wrecked ship you had built DC: 40 Rolled:D100 => 1
Bah, no one likes the Greeks. The only reson they're not kicked out of Europe is because we dislike the Turks more and because they own the Aegean. (This is a joke BTW)
-[X]George and Mike's staring contest: You look at the two men and shake your head. "What the fuck are you two doing?" Then you saw the poster on the table and realized one thing… You were surrounded by idiots sometimes. DC: ??? Rolled:D100 => 5
You were too busy with the… Greek Problem, so Mike and George didn't seem important.
You were sure they could survive without you for a while.
Failure: Unknown Effect on when you come back from Conan Production.
Every couple of updates we have a new problem in the company where Bruce is forced to cool ego's, this not good and damning for the company. I wish we could do something to stop this.
To think that you had support for the project almost immediately, and some of the State Senate and even congressional members were putting in their weight to get it passed, promising to get federal funding for the project once it was passed in the state legislature.
And it was passed almost unanimously.
reward: California is building a Japanese Style, High-speed rail system.
I wonder how this will be organised and owned. Like 50/50 state and federal goverment with Japenees aid or owned by Amtrack or something. I don't know how the US gov works in cases like this. Also wasn't Joe Biden a big fan of railways/Amtrack, so he could see Bruce in a better light as a workable moderate.
Curse you, Greece!! When the film will be released, you will not receive it! Your people will cry out and demand the import of Conan and your government shall pay! You have now made The Goose your enemy!!
I worry the fate of the company if Bruce has to keep intervening between fights between our heads every other year. Like Jesus I think we have overextended to the point that too many egos are in one company and Bruce is the only thing keeping it from rapidly devolving into an ugly fight.
Fuck Greece Conan 2 shall be the most glorious tourism advertisement for whoever is chosen to replace them and the the they would realize the folly of their decicion along with Hollywood never doing a movie there for at least a decade!
Hey, Whenyouseeyou, how about instead of whining and blaming everyone else, you actually write the Omakes for a change? I had a busy weekend with family and didn't devote much time to writing and I'm sure lots of other people are busy. Put your money where your mouth is and take action instead of expecting others to do work every update.
You know full well that he won't. That's just what he does. He whines and bitches and tells other people to do more work and says stupid shit until you blow a fuse. I'm still fucking pissed off thinking about his fucking badgering over the Undertale pitch. It's why I've got him set to ignore now, so I don't have to look at his posts.
You know full well that he won't. That's just what he does. He whines and bitches and tells other people to do more work and says stupid shit until you blow a fuse. I'm still fucking pissed off thinking about his fucking badgering over the Undertale pitch. It's why I've got him set to ignore now, so I don't have to look at his posts.
Yep, he's been doing this pretty much since he first popped up in the thread. My personal experience with him involved him constantly harassing me over the Undertale pitch I was working on, but he'd frame it as if I wasn't actually working on it and say something along the lines of "someone should really do an Undertale pitch" or other similar refrains. He was doing it constantly and eventually I gave up telling him that I was already working on it since he clearly didn't give a fuck, especially since he'd also sometimes try to "recruit" others into making the pitch before I could finish. Eventually, I lost my patience and I made a big ol' post complaining at him before later blocking him.
I know I shouldn't do this and should just ignore it, but at this point, I don't care if I get a staff warning for this or something because I can't fucking deal with this anymore so at this point, I'm going to ask that you shut the fuck up. I have already told you numerous fucking times that I...
Damn fucking hell. I feel bad for you man, there is no good excuse why you should focus on making the pitch in exchange of failing a college class. No quest is worth you suffering this much. What an Asshole to harrass you while your going through this. I hope you're doing good and making up for things.
I was planning on asking you about Undertale Yellow but this just feels inconsiderate.
Damn fucking hell. I feel bad for you man, there is no good excuse why you should focus on making the pitch in exchange of failing a college class. No quest is worth you suffering this much. What an Asshole to harrass you while your going through this. I hope you're doing good and making up for things.
I was planning on asking you about Undertale Yellow but this just feels inconsiderate.
Yeah, I'm doing well now. Thanks for the concern. Uni is still giving me some problems(I swear to God, incompetent doesn't even begin to cover the administration), but other than that, things are going well for me.
All I will say is that if I can write 4 omakes for another quest, help two qms with their ideas and be a bale to write an update for the quest in two days…
Know that I belive that people can write omakes.
But I don't like people blaming others for not writing omakes or trying when they don't even try.
Thinking on it, what makes the Conan rejection even more illiterate on Greece's part is the pure economic power that Bruce represents. OTL there were 15 billionaires in the US in 1983. Bruce, Carrie and George are billionaires. That's literally billions of dollars that will never get invested into the Greek economy and while Bruce may not be so vindictive as to go on the warpath against Greece, I'm sure Carrie would be happy to slander the nation to her huge social network of the famous in Hollywood.
Also in a form of hilarious irony, Greece should currently be under the rule of a Socialist party which even with Romania I could see them still taking power due to the conservatives being the one to rule during Stagflation and the Second Oil Shock, so Bruce has another incident to further entrench his conservatism, lol.
I'd personally recommend Croatia having been there and seen the medieval towns and structures and the many islands etc, it's honestly beautiful and the Old City in Dubrovnik is a perfect place to film….
Well, they are major fans of Star Wars and Tito legit requested to know how the trilogy would end before he died. Plus Yugoslavia kind of replaced China as a Communist US Ally thanks to their crucial role in delivering aid to Romania during the war. So I feel like we could film in Croatia with no issues, but maybe Bruce wouldn't want to risk it.
Every couple of updates we have a new problem in the company where Bruce is forced to cool ego's, this not good and damning for the company. I wish we could do something to stop this.
I worry the fate of the company if Bruce has to keep intervening between fights between our heads every other year. Like Jesus I think we have overextended to the point that too many egos are in one company and Bruce is the only thing keeping it from rapidly devolving into an ugly fight.
Part of me understands that it's to fill up space within the action economy, but it's the way it's presented where George and others are butting heads with heavy passions and can't resolve it on their own without Bruce's aid is what bothers me. If it was just phrased to be a disagreement and Bruce giving his opinion and taking a side that'd be one thing. I guess that's one of the downsides of not having open stock.
Well, at least the next generation should be more civil with Wally and Bruce's kids. But yeah, if the vindictive goose with anger managements is peacemaker, company culture needs to change.
Also something hillarious I discovered on a wikipedia dive, apparently in Ducktales Canon, Donald has a cousin named "Gladstone Gander" who is an obscenely lucky Goose who manages to succeed in whatever he wants to do and never comes into harm. It's like a straight parody of Bruce except Gladstone was made in 1948, lmao. Maybe because of Bruce he'll be more prominent in DuckTales material or we have a more direct Bruce parody in "Gavin Gander".
Part of me understands that it's to fill up space within the action economy, but it's the way it's presented where George and others are butting heads with heavy passions and can't resolve it on their own without Bruce's aid is what bothers me. If it was just phrased to be a disagreement and Bruce giving his opinion and taking a side that'd be one thing. I guess that's one of the downsides of not having open stock.
Its partly by that, and partly because George wants to spend money... not so responsibly, and Mike is try ing to restrain his boss from making... and spending obsene amounts of money with Bruce giving his go-ahead.
Flashdance Directed by: Brian De Palma
Written by: Tom Hedley, Joe Esterzhas
Produced by: Don Simpson, Jerry Bruckheimer
Production and Distribution: Lucasfilms Unlimited
Starring: Jennifer Beals, Kevin Costner
Quality: 371
Audience: 361
Critics: 371
Budget: $7,500,000 Domestic: $123,456,234 Foreign: $53,323,523
Total Gross: $176,779,757
After the shitshow fiasco that was the Greece and their lack of financial literacy and decency, you needed a strong palette cleanser to get your mind off of the disaster and move forward. Most of that was through spending time with Carrie and the kids and pets, cherishing each moment before you went off for filming, but there was also other good things in life like the High-Speed Rail success, Oatfield commercials and the success of Flashdance, Lucasfilms' appetizer to cinema before the grand finale that was Return of the Jedi.
Set in Pittsburgh, Flashdance follows the life and struggles of Alex Owens, an 18 year old steel worker whose trying to get by in life with her dog in a converted warehouse. Alex dreams of being a professional dancer and while she's talented, she lacks the formal training and funds to pursue the education for a career, thus forcing her to get by as a night cabaret dancer. Alex's situation is shared by her friends who work at the club, one of which aspires to become a famous comedian and the other a professional figure skater. Everything changes for Alex when she meets the owner of the Steel Mill Nick Hurley who first saw her in the club, with the two of them hitting it off and beginning a relationship, while Alex does her best to try and pursue her dreams.
Flashdance was an interesting movie with it being one of the few original works not conceived in-house. Instead, Don Simpson had discovered the script before arriving to Lucasfilms and had begged Mike to allow him and Jerry to produce it after they were done with Solomon Kane. Mike became convinced and Flashdance was given the greenlight with Brian being brought on board last year, wanting to test himself with original material.
At the same time, he was hitting something of a rough patch with his wife Nancy Allen and they both agreed for some space to work things out with Nancy starring in a different film, thus partially the reason Jennifer Beals was starring in Flashdance. You're unsure of what exactly is going on there, but Nancy had a lot of discussions with Carrie and Brian with George, both trying to get advice and inspiration on how to make a Hollywood marriage work. Hopefully things work out alright.
Back to the film itself, Brian did something very fun and innovative that was probably the most daring innovations to music in film since American Graffiti and Some Nights, he made Flashdance a music video based musical. Instead of having the characters break out into song and dance, there were several scenes where Alex and other characters would perform dance numbers to a pop soundtrack filmed in the same style as MTV. This was because in Brian's own words, "To get a feel for the music I watched hours of MTV and just decided that the presentation and style was what worked best for Alex. Sure this meant that some of the strengths of the traditional musical were absent, but it made Flashdance a very fun film with lots of viewers captivated by the dance sequences.
Brian combines this with a very character driven story that while not the most complex or deep story, does present an engaging personal narrative and shares a relatable personal struggle of following dreams in modern America. Many critics and audiences have described Flashdance as "Lucasfilms' Saturday Night Fever", though its in a good way as like John's hit movie, it really captures the atmosphere of the decade, the vibes of contemporary music culture, and the struggles and ambitions of a generation in urban America. Put it simply, Flashdance did for Pop what Saturday Night Fever did for Disco.
Though for all of Brian's creativity and genius, it was Jennifer Beals who carried a lot of the emotional core and greatness of the screen with your Moonlight Diner co-star charming viewers and capturing hearts as the lovable underdog Alex, being an inspirational and likable figure that powers through adversity with grit and determination. Jennifer was really charismatic and grew a lot from her debut in talent, and when she did try her hand at dancing with a third of the dance scenes being done by her, she was pretty reasonably well.
The rest of the cast was competent though forgettable, but Brian did really well in choosing struggling and unknown Kevin Costner. He matched Jennifer's charisma and really helped to seal the romance with the two's chemistry and Nick's personality playing well off of Alex with the two showing a lot of duality in the young adults of today. You wouldn't exactly call Kevin a sex icon yet, but he was a favorite of a lot of female audiences and you could see a lot of potential for him down the line if he was given the proper material.
Financially, Flashdance was a success with over $176 million in global gross. It didn't exactly dominate the cinemas or become filled with conversation, but it successfully reached out to its target audience and then some with demographics showing most audiences being 18-30 year olds who were either inspired by Alex's story or vibed to the MTV style musical. Unfortunately, foreign box office was really modest as international audiences would rather see Killer Queen and Flashdance's themes and presentation didn't really resonate with anyone overseas so there wasn't really a particularly spectacular national showing.
While not the greatest Lucasfilms showing, you think it's kind of impressive how Flashdance managed to find a nine digit box office in spite of everything going against it. Being a R-rated film, sandwiched between Killer Queen and Return of the Jedi, lacking in star power and its relatively mundane concept. It most certainly didn't help that a week or two into Return's run that Flashdance was pulled just to make space for Return, but even if spring and summer were quiet seasons, you couldn't see Flashdance making more than $300 million tops. Still, pretty decent.
Audiences and critics were both roughly equal in praise for the same and right reasons. Praise was given to Brian's direction, Jennifer Beal's screen presence, the unique music video formatted musical, and the incredible soundtrack. The soundtrack was perhaps the most successful part of the movie as all the songs displayed became popular hits on the radio for the rest of the year with 'Flashdance...what a feeling' and Maniac both getting nominated for Oscars, going platinum, and becoming mainstays of 80s music. Overall a pretty solid De Palma film, and as time passed Flashdance would be regarded as an iconic and quintessential 80s film to be representative of so many of the passions and struggles that Baby Boomers dealt with in the 80s and for many was an inspiring tale.
Overall you're happy for Brian that he was able to create a great film off of original material and that Flashdance being between Killer Queen and Star Wars didn't mean it'd be a flop. With back to back hits as the leading actress with Moonlight Diner and Flashdance, Hollywood expected great things from Jennifer Beals and you were excited to have her be a regular star for Lucasfilms. Unfortunately it seems like that'll have to wait a while as Jennifer told you at the premiere she was committed to going to Yale for the next four years and would be on hiatus unless a film came up that really grabbed her attention. Unfortunate, but at least Jennifer was doing her best and you left an open door to your co-star for when she returned.
Also on a personal note, after the shitshow with David Prowse, you became personally motivated to do some good and right some wrongs, especially with George and Mike butting heads over...whatever they were. Two such opportunities came with Flashdance where two women tried to get what they deserved in relation to earnings for the movie. The first was Maureen Marder who sued Tom Hedly for only receiving $2,300 when the movie made $176 million while Flashdance was based off of her life story. To be fair, such a deal had been done when Tom was writing Flashdance independently before he got into contact with Lucasfilms and Don and Jerry. Lucasfilms Legal did defend Hedly with the Courts ruling unanimously that the contract was lawful, though you also directed for an out of court settlement with Maureen being given $100,000 for her contributions. Some lawyers grumbled, but it was in line with your policy on sponsoring authors and historical and contemporary inspirations and Maureen was happy to have made something substantial to help with the bills.
The second and more famous was Irene Cara. For her issue, Lucasfilms was completely innocent of fault as it was a case of her record label being sleazy, with Irene only receiving hundreds of dollars for royalties of the hottest song of the year. Irene rightfully sued, but she had a rather incompetent team of lawyers who fumbled the process, and Network Records successfully blacklisted Cara and prevented her from jumping ship. While Irene did eventually win her lawsuit, she couldn't even receive any money as by the time she won, Network Records went defunct and she couldn't receive compensation.
Fortunately for Irene, you were married to a beautiful saint and living Rockergal who wasn't afraid to pull a Silverhand and flip the bird to the music industry on a regular basis. When Carrie found out about the lack of payments and Irene having become blacklisted, she befriended the pop star and shared her case with you. You both agreed to right wrongs with you giving a couple million for lost revenue by her label's incompetence, well earned as in many respects Irene had been what made Flashdance a hit, while Carrie was able to guide her to Curb Records for new work with a better contract along with open door offers for Lucasfilms auditions. A wrong was righted and a star would not have her flame snuffed out prematurely.
That was good and if those rolls couldn't save flashdance from the Star Wars train I can only wait to see Star Wars become the GOAT of GOATs and the film that defined a century
I was just thinking that when the Discworld books really get going* we could approach Sir Terry regarding not only adaptations but maybe a tabletop RPG as well.
I'd figure that the reputation we would've accrued faithfully adapting the works of Howard, King, and Dahl would help sway Pratchett in regards to having Lucasfilm make Discworld movies.
And I'm imagining that we could use the tabletop RPG to fill in places on the disc the books never covered. I'm picturing a city called "New Ankh" as a pastiche of NYC. And other fun stuff like that.
*1986/1987 at the earliest since at that point Pratchett started cranking out two books a year for quite a few years.
I was just thinking that when the Discworld books really get going* we could approach Sir Terry regarding not only adaptations but maybe a tabletop RPG as well.
I'd figure that the reputation we would've accrued faithfully adapting the works of Howard, King, and Dahl would help sway Pratchett in regards to having Lucasfilm make Discworld movies.
And I'm imagining that we could use the tabletop RPG to fill in places on the disc the books never covered. I'm picturing a city called "New Ankh" as a pastiche of NYC. And other fun stuff like that.
*1986/1987 at the earliest since at that point Pratchett started cranking out two books a year for quite a few years.
I'd love to see a Discworld tabletop and especially a series of animated movies based on each of the books.
A Discworld tabletop would be amazing though and could 100% parody DND and other table top tropes of the games and encourage the REALLY silly type gamers and dungeon mastering styles.
EDIT: Also the city of Ankh-Morpork IS ALREADY a parody of New York and about a hundred other "Big cities" the world over.
It exists to fill the trope of the "Local Big City" and parody the hell out of it
Zu Warriors From The Magic Mountain Directed by: Tsui Hark
Written by: Shui Chung-yuet and Sze-to Cheuk-hon
Produced by: Raymond Chow
Production Studio: Paragon Films Ltd.
Distribution Studio: Lucasfilms Unlimited
Starring: Yuen Biao (Di Ming-qi), Sammo Hung (Red Army Soldier/Chang Mei), Brigitte Lin (The Ice Queen), Adam Cheng (Ding Yin), Judy Ongg (Lady Li I-Chi), Damian Lau (Xiao Rou), Mang Hoi (Yi Zhen), Moon Lee (Mu Sang), Corey Yuen (Blood Demon) and Norman Chui (The Heaven's Blade).
Domestic: $20,809,366 International: $11,414,655
Total Gross: $32,224,021
When the first news arrived from Hong Kong about their turnabout against their eventual future as part of the Chinese State once more, you were of two minds; on the one hand you could not help but feel somewhat happy, as you knew very well how repressive and intolerant of new ideas and forms of expression they could be (one just had to look at Romania to see a picture-perfect example of it) and you'd owed so much to Hong Kong for kickstarting your own career as well. Who knows where you'd be right now had you not met Master Bruce and had he not vouched for you for one of his films after all.
And to think that they had gotten even better now! You'd worked in Hng Kong once about 10 years back, and once more just last year, but in that amount of time so many things had changed in cinema; what was considered as the "Hong Kong New Wave" was in its full swing, where directors, producers and even actors were now pushing the boundaries of cinema in a way that made the advances made by visionaries like Kubrick, Steven or George seem downright conservative. You were not exactly sure what to think of it yourself, as there was a clear line in between taking inspiration from what came before, and just abandoning it to go with anything and everything all at once.
Well, to each their own you guess.
From your previous work at John Woo's set you recall giving a small speech to the assembled actors, thanking them for their contribution and talking about your previous experiences when working in their city, which despite having had to deal with the Triads it still made for some unforgettable moments. Among the men there, you recall meeting an older man who introduced himself as Raymond Chow, a man who much like yourself was determined to make his own path in Hong Kong Cinema, as well as to expand it to the world. After a brief conversation he left you his card and promised to be in touch.
And it seemed the time was set to be now. Chow contacted you about the possibility for Lucasfilms to distribute one of their latest films, a story about a genre that you had yet to hear about... something called "Wuxia"? Jeez, you may speak the language, but there are some clear holed in your cultural knowledge. Whatever it may be, it involves martial arts, magic, constant fighting, magic, comedy, magic, magic, and did he mention magic?
Yeah, you think you get the gist.
Well, you're not one to ignore opportunities like these, and despite your somewhat lackluster knowledge of the Wuxia Genre, you do feel that this could be a good opportunity for Lucasfilms, and America, to expand on its repertoire and tastes for all kinds of new and exotic films. After all, Hong Kong was mainly known in America for their Bruce Lee films, so this would be something wholly new and fascinating for them to watch. After some brief negotiations, and the later details which you'd leave to Mike (and you hope that you don't have to step up to deal with another squabble between him and George again), all was set for Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain to be released.
And oh my God just what were you watching!?
The best, and most simple, way to summarize the would be; during a feudal period with many warring clans, a young warrior who deserts his army, after being disillusioned by the endless civil wars that have been fought. After falling off of a cliff, he finds himself in a magical land in the middle of its own war. The forces of Good, led by the ancient sorcerer Chang Mei, are at odds with the forces of Evil, led by the Blood Demon. The Young Soldier teams up with a group of heroic warriors, including the Monk Xiao Rou, the swordsman Ding Yin and the Ice Queen, to help defeat the evil menace. On the way however, the soldier, Di Ming-qi, and the monk's apprentice, must find the Dual Swords to use in containing the Blood Demon once more.
All in all, a regular by the book adventure story at first glance, would it not that nearly everything there happens at the first 20 minutes of the film. The movie is wild on its pacing, moving from scene to scene without giving hardly a moment to breather, yet giving such amazing atmospheric and environmental shots that you tend to hyperfocus more on what is going on around while also seeing the characters interact. And don't even get you started on the characters, because the way they manage to go from enemies to friends, near strangers to trusted colleagues, and outright strangers to lovers is just ridiculous... and yet for this movie, it works so well.
Most of the success can be attributed not only to characters like Brigitte Lin and Yuen Biao, who many agreed just stole the show whenever they made any appearance, but also the wild, weird, and at times bizarre directive style of Tsui Hark, who already was being considered one of the leading pioneers of the New Wave of Directors in Hong Kong. The man was able to weave amazing and fun stories to tell, with different concepts woven together, while at the same times integrating a powerful message in its movies without sounding outright preachy nor condescending.
But overall, the message can also be summed up as "They are bad, we are good" and it would make no difference either. You don't need to go beyond that to enjoy the film, and the film is incredibly fun overall!
The action is nearly non-stop. It first starts out with some basic swordplay. And once Di Ming-qi reaches the mountain, than everything shifts into overdrive. Optical FX fly across the screen at dizzying speeds. Humans and demons fly across the screen at dizzying speeds. People get frozen alive. Women fly around with swirling cloth in their wake. Men fly around chained to boulders. Eyebrows are used to contain evil. The body around the possessed masters suddenly explode as if gunshots are coming from them... just, what is this madness you're seeing?
And why can't you get enough of it?
But above all, you think the greatest accomplishment from the director and actors involved was actually making you care about the characters, and that's because despite how one note they may seem at first glance, in reality altogether, the small idiosyncrasies, dialogue and gestures builds an entire picture of who they are, what they hope for, and what do they want. Yuen Biao as Di Ming-qi gives an amazing performance as a scared man who only wants to live in peace, but also someone who does not seem to recognize his own courage when standing in danger for the chance to get power to help those he fought for and against before. It's quite fascinating seeing a character such as this, one that would be more at home in a comedy film being the main lead and hero in an action movie.
Huh, a comedian playing a hero, now that would be something to see.
And as for Sammo Hung well, you don't think there's going to be anyone disagreeing in how he manages to move from one role to another at the snap of a finger, considering how he played two roles in this movie, both clearly independent from each other, and both as equally important for the main character. You're still not completely sure just what happened at the end, whether he was escaping, or if he somehow got powers as well, but it does make for an intriguing post-movie mystery.
Brigitte Lin's performance has been nothing short of "groundbreaking" garnering praise from both critics and audience alike, and when paired Adam Cheng's more stoic and heroic character, that's when sparks fly between them, the chemistry clearly visible to everyone on the audience. Despite them having little to few scenes in between them you cannot deny that it was more than enough for you to feel something for these characters.
You have to admit, you grew fond of many of the characters who at first seemed like they would not be that important to the story, such as the ones played by Mang Hoi and Moon Lee. The former seemed more for comedic purposes, yet managed to also show incredible levels of courage and loyalty, as well as full on determination whenever the chips were down and he needed to put his life on the line. The latter, though at first she seemed to be just one of the many background sword fighters, she quickly showed she had more personality than anyone expected; daring, forward, not afraid to take on dangers, and to have her opinion heard. That in the end she is part of whom Chang Mei considers as "The Next Generation" is valid in your eyes.
Although the film is most definitely a wild fantasy, Hark continues to bombard his audience with allegory of his social-political beliefs. During the next hour you were treated to some of the most imaginative visual film-making produced. Hark shows giant stone elephants used as projectiles, ghostly figures who attack from giant clay jars, black cloaked demons who multiply and attack with flags, monks fighting with giant flying cymbals, animated skulls, lightning bolts from finger tips, flying swordsmen, a beautiful mountain top shrine inhabited by beautiful female priestesses led by The Ice Queen, and a host of other such amazing sights.
Which is why you decided to have this film pai up with Flashdance, figuring that the wildly diverse tones in both films could, if anything, complement each other when it comes to the box office. Certainly, those who went to films and were not in the mood for a more character driven film, would then be drawn in by the amazing special effects (still not on the level of ILM, but still quite respectable) fight scenes and choreography of an entire new and fun world.
And what do you know, you were right!
With an earnings estimate of $32 million dollars, quite a good haul for a genre making its first debut in the states, Zu Warriors of the Magic Mountain gained the love of the audience, as well as the loyalty of a new fanbase who have come to love the entire premise and how quirky and fun it can be. Many of them, just like you, having their own favorite character to root for, as well as just loving to watch the entire vistas and designs.
Though most of the earning came for the American Market, you would be remiss if you did not mention how the international market played its share as well... though perhaps not as much as you'd hoped. In the Japanese and East Asian Markets it made for huge returns, the shared experiences in culture already making it at the very least familiar in what exactly they were talking about. South Korea being the greatest consumer in this case.
Europe had the hardest problem to get into the right mindset for this kind of films, with lower returns as well as showings due to lack of interest. Not even Romania, where they love everything Lucasfilms, could muster the same level of enthusiasm as they'd done for your previous viewings. Ardmore once more worked on the distribution for both England and Ireland primarily, which helped in the sales of tickets in those areas, but not as much as it had been hoped for.
Critics were not so kind to the movie however, though many were still in favor of showing what was clearly a "bold and imaginative" concept, many others compared it as a "poor man's attempt at copying Kurosawa, and failing at it"... There are moments when you wonder if they actually hear themselves speak before saying anything, or just have some proof reading done, because what does one have to do with the other you'll never know.
But if anything, this has convinced you that you need to bring more movies like these to America, or at the very least more movies by the director when made. Raymond Chow is ready to sign an exclusive deal for distribution to the United States, and a more equitable one when it comes to the International Market, which you are more than willing to agree on, if only for the chance of more films like these ones to have their time in the spotlight.
Overall, this is a movie that despite having some flaws when you stop and think about it a little too deeply, in the end it's a very fun film, one that you would not mind watching again, and perhaps showing it to some of your friends and see what they think about it.
Video Game Pitch: Immunity Game Developer: LucasArts Entertainment Director: Yutaka Sugano Genre: Action, Hack and Slash, Shooter
A side-scrolling action game that combines hack and slash and shooter elements, Immunity is a game that takes place within the human body where players will take control of a white blood cell named Shiro whose mission is to eliminate any and all germs that enter the body and try to contaminate and kill the body.
The game is divided into five overworlds based on different stages of the human life. Toddler, Childhood, Adolescence, Adult, and Elderly. The overworlds are then divided into three sub stages with an increasing difficulty mode of easy, medium and hard. Each sublevel contains enemies based on a particular disease that is common for such an age group with the end of each level being the player facing a boss version of such a disease. The player must kill all germs and once the game is completed, a small cinematic will show the human that Shiro was protecting celebrating their 100th birthday. Each game over means that the human has either fallen into heavy illness or died depending on the level.
Players have three forms of combat. The basic form is a knife which can be used to slash enemies. A medium attack is a gun used for ranged combat (with bullets being pills) though players have to collect pills for ammo magazines throughout the stage and don't have infinite charge. There is also the heavy attack which is a strong punch, but such leaves the player vulnerable to the enemies.
Health is determined by Shiro consuming apple icons located through the stages. Like Mario, there are three different forms for Shiro to use as a health system. The base is the Neutrophil form. The first power up is a Macrophage and the second is the Killer T cell. With each powerup, Shiro grows taller and has more power in attacks. The player starts out with three lives and gains lives either through accumulating required points or consuming a golden apple.
Players will also have the option to customize who the human Shiro inhabits looks like with name, gender and appearance. While it has no affect on gameplay, it is meant to get the players dedicated to completing the game and averting a game over as if they themselves were at risk.
