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.
[]A Dinner from Hell (Rumors around that Cat gave a complete script to her brother for a very big price)
[]I love this (Moonlight Dinner has now become… a rumor all studios want due to one fact… Cats been very angry at Warner)
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades Directed by: Kenji Mizumi
Produced by: Shintaro Katsu, Hisaharu Matsubara
Distribution (USA): Lucasfilm Unlimited
Starring: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Akihiro Tomikawa, Go Kato, Isao Yamagata and Yuko Hamada.
International Box Office: $25,000,000
Lucasfilm Unlimited Profits: $12,500,000
After the success of the previous Lone Wolf and Cub film you'd raised your expectations in both the monetary and artistic sense for when it came to the sequel. Mike had even gone full form on this film to promote it and make sure that every single fan of the previous knew when and where they could watch it.
The fact that the film had at one point nearly been distributed by Columbia Pictures before they backed out of the deal had nothing to do with it, you're sure.
But it does its part, along with the considerable fanbase the previous film generated, to once more drive everyone to the movie theaters to see the newest offering by Lucasfilm, and the results were everything they expected and more. America, and really all audiences, do want to see what happens to the heroes in movies once the film ends, and Ogami Ittō's journey through bandits and Ronin, along with his son is just the kind of climactic adventure that everyone wanted to see. Once more, Ittō took hold of his sword to protect those more unfortunate, yet also left shades of grey in his methods and execution. Of particular note was the emphasis that the movie put in questioning the code of honor, and what being a good man actually meant. The Ronin character of Kanbei, masterfully played by Go Kato, although appearing only briefly and in selective scenes, nonetheless still makes you care and wonder about his life.
Sometimes you wonder why is it that movies such as these are left to linger, when all the other crap the studios just seem to throw out get top billing...but not this time however. An audience has grown, an audience who's seen what Japan can offer to the west in terms of plot, storytelling, and even Directing. Audiences packed the theaters, eager and thirsty for more of Ittō's fights, more father and son bonding, more violence and blood...and they were not left wanting. The movie had everything they wanted and more, the violence was not over the top but just the right amount to underscore a scene. The blood was not gratuitous but neither was it shy when it came to appearance. The discussion on morality was not preachy but neither was it absent, instead it was brought to the audience in a combination of sight and speech that asked you to think and come to you own conclusions. It was a movie that truly explored so many angles while making sure to entertain its audience.
Already you can hear the frustrated yelling from the other studios at having lost this undiscovered market, and trying again and again to push aside your contracts in favor of theirs. If they're smart, they'll make sure to try and learn as much as possible from the films to improve their current ones (You're sure Universal is already doing so, Disney and Columbia you're not so sure) just like you're sure both Martin is doing. He actually seemed to like this one.
Huh, a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
Critics were not left behind either when it came to praising the film, with many claiming it deserved a spot in the Best Foreign Film Category in the Oscars (now that would be something to see), or at the very least an honorable mention. It only helped inflame the desire to see the film, so in a way, you owe the critics for finally recognizing true cinema when they see it. Toho was surprised as well, not expecting such a response from the American Market when it came to this series in particular. They were proud of their Godzilla series, and had spent decades in the American Market to create a niche for it, only for a couple of movies to nearly match it financially and become the new flagbearer when it came to Japanese Cinema. They don't know how to react, and last you heard there seemed to be a newfound rivalry between the producers of both franchises. Both sides are already talking to Lucasfilms and asking for their next movie to be the next one to be released, and Mike of course is loving it as he plays both sides to get better benefits from their already signed contract.
You really don't know what to think of him sometimes, but here and now you'll just let him have this. Lucasfilms Unlimited just made a cool 12.5 million, brought true cinema art to theaters, and started a new franchise war in Toho. All in all, this is a big a win for you.
Hmm, can we get an option to talk to him or make a bid for Dune, or do we need to make one with thw Write In? And if we do, should we use the Normal Options Write In, or the Lucasfilms Options Write In?
Hmm, can we get an option to talk to him or make a bid for Dune, or do we need to make one with thw Write In? And if we do, should we use the Normal Options Write In, or the Lucasfilms Options Write In?
Bruce hadn't been sleeping well the last week or so, the constant work on Carrie's movie keeping him up near consistently into the Witching Hour. For days on end, he would lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, unable to drift off into a peaceful slumber, to the point he was pretty sure he was giving himself experiencing vivid hallucinations, delirious and disorientated. The most common one by far seemed like Carrie asking him to stay the extra hour to learn to sing, but even if he did -
Tonight, on this particularly restless night at four in the morning, Bruce found himself caught up in a fever dream. He was in Colonial America, and the world was in chaos. In the distance, he spotted George Washington who was speeding down the road in a flashy Dodge Challenger, racing after a group of redcoats. As he watched the bizarre scene unfold before him, he realized he was in the middle of creating a movie pitch. With all the enthusiasm he could muster, he began to narrate the story as if it were a comedic epic in the style of an absurdist Monty Python sketch.
"George Washington, the greatest military leader of all time, spends his days chasing down the enemy in a sleek sports car, with the top down and his hair blowing in the wind. As he fires his musket out the window, the redcoats flee in terror. But what's this? Suddenly, Washington is abducted by a group of French spies, and taken to a secret location for interrogation. Little do they know that Martha Washington, the greatest opera singer in the world, is hot on their heels."
In his feverish state, Bruce watched on as his story unfolded, almost as if it were a movie playing in his mind. The scene shifted, and suddenly he found himself in a grand opera house, with Martha Washington coaching her husband through an elaborate song and dance routine. Despite his delirium and exhaustion, he found himself awed by the beauty of Martha's voice. Even as he watched George perform his part, he found himself surprised by his own golden pipes. Somehow, even in his delirium, he'd managed to create a masterpiece.
As he collapsed back onto his pillows, Bruce couldn't help but wonder if there was any truth to his fever dream. However, he knew one thing for certain - he had just created the best movie pitch of his life, and it was all thanks to his sleep deprivation.
I'd prefer if he didn't. I know we want him to be good, or at least competent, in many skills. But I find it more fun for him to have this weaknesses and needing others to help him with them.
Does Carrie have any famous fans or friends who aren't really connected to Bruce?
What kind of changes have been made on the landscape of TV?
What's the current leadership of Disney and state of the Disney family like at the moment? The late 70's seemed to be a tumultuous time as Card Walker was making power plays, Donn Tatum was relegated and Ron Miller and Roy Disney had a feud. Although maybe the threat of Universal is helping to bury the hatchet.
Has Marcia ever done any editing jobs besides George's movies?
What is Carrie's ambitions for her acting career, also is she making new music?
Did any athletes try to follow Bruce in acting appearances?
What does Todd plan to do after he graduates high school? That should happen in May and while Todd went to architecture school, here he has a legit resume of film production work so he's got lots of options.
What's Paramount's current strategy for movies? They seem to be the second most profitable of the establishment under Universal, but they don't have Mike as their President like OTL to help make their greatest hits come to life.
How is United Artists reacting to the fact that people conisder them part of the establishment and Lucasfilms has usurped their reputation as a studio for artists with heavy creative freedom?
What is Clint planning to do next besides getting the rights to Dirty Harry?
You mentioned that Cat wrote some scripts for the Irish film industry. Has any new films been made in Ireland? Cause OTL they had a drought in '75 and '76 until they showed two movies in '77. Also what does she think of her sister-in-law's writing talent?
What's the current status of Star Trek's future?
Who wants Bruce to star in their movies outside of Lucasfilms?
Has Mark Hamill gotten any work post-Star Wars?
Is Bruce close to any of the cast of American Graffiti?
"NOOOO!!!! The one thing the Goose was shit at is writing, he can't be married to an S-Tier writer!" Carrie: HAHA, Oscar Award for Best Screenplay go BRRR!!!!
I strongly reccomend that we reach out to Frank Herbert and network before we buy the rights and if he doesn't like us we don't buy them. Like I said before, if Frank reacts to Star Wars the same way as OTL and Lucasfilms is the one who holds the film rights then he is most likely going to back his threats and legit sue Lucasfilms for Star Wars being a supposed plagiarised rip off of Dune. If Frank is on good terms with us even if he doesn't like Star Wars, then not only will that not happen but we'll probably have an easier time securing the rights.
If he's gone to the movies then he's seen the trailers. Probably not going to have a definite opinion at this point besides thinking the visual effects look good since he doesn't know a lot about the story.
I'd prefer if he didn't. I know we want him to be good, or at least competent, in many skills. But I find it more fun for him to have this weaknesses and needing others to help him with them.
While I'm okay if Bruce doesn't have the same quality voice and talent as Carrie and I don't give a shit about him winning a Grammy or Tony, I do want Bruce to learn how to sing. Not to build a music career, but I think it would be sweet for him and Carrie to do duets or star in Musicals together. Ultimately, I think Bruce would want to do it just because he loves Carrie's music and wants to have fun with her even if they're not going to become the next Sonny and Cher.
To put it Bluntly, when she isn't at the office, she's either hanging out with the up and comers of Hollywood, meeting with several directors she wants to try to bring into the Lucasfilm family (though she has the creeps around Michal Cimino, the Deerhunter guy) and she has basically been incredibly hard-working in networking with everyone.
Remember when you said that she had basically rolled nat 20's on charisma for most of her life after star wars?
Well, she's done that here, and oh boy when I say she made friends with everyone in Hollywood, I'm only exaggerating a tiny bit.
Besides Game shows coming back since the strike to the forefront...
Well, with the strike getting people paid, most studios are trying to do lower budget or episodic shows that can... bring in the raitings without doing anything special.
While there is... a lack of ambition to try something big, at least right now.
Carrie kinda dosen't have any more. She's already got an oscar, multiple ones at that, and she really wants to wait till after star Wars to really think of what is her next big goal is.
And she's written but not produced tons of music. She has several albums worth of songs written that she hides in her closet like Bruce hides all his film and TV ideas.
She is afraid of branching out because she thinks it's going to make her change direction.
How is United Artists reacting to the fact that people conisder them part of the establishment and Lucasfilms has usurped their reputation as a studio for artists with heavy creative freedom?
Let's just say that they are trying desperately to win that reputation back, but the problem is... With what money?
They are barely in the green most years and most ideas they have to turn down because of the budgetary costs, and because Universal is really pumping out features like it's going out of style.
Universal is willing to throw a 10 million dollar per film contract for Bruce if he comes over to the Darkside... even more if he decides to serve as a producer.
Everyone else is still a little to weary of him to try.
Not as close as you think. He was distant for most of the production after all.
Though Harrison has been around the office, talking to Alan Ladd about a movie he's producing...
A Noir film that might be an interesting thing, if Alan can get ILM involved. A little Sci Fi movie that he got from a writer that hates Hollywood, or at least the system in it.
Unfortunately, he can't hire the man he wanted but decided to take a chance on a guy George requested.
So Harrison Ford Got the call for a film that doesn't even have a title yet. That dosen't even have a completed Script.
Ultimately, I think Bruce would want to do it just because he loves Carrie's music and wants to have fun with her even if they're not going to become the next Sonny and Cher.
Don Bluth felt frustration rise, something that he was coming to be acquainted with on a daily basis ever since he was made directing animator for the upcoming Disney film, The Rescuers. Not because of the film, oh no. After so many years of drawing sequences for the ever-dwindling number of films that Disney deigned to give them to work, it was finally his turn at the wheel so to speak. Finally time for the staff who had been hard at work with them since 67', and finally not the "9 Old Men" who controlled all things animation when it came to drawing.
But it was all so fucking frustrating!
'We can't do that.' 'It's too expensive.' 'That's not how Walt would've done it.' 'You're steeping too out of line.' 'Just wait for your turn.'
He should have known that nothing would change, that even if he was still the Director there would still be limits imposed, there would still be rules and cut saving measures that would just make any and all idea that he, or those under his aegis, had too expensive, or too risky. Reitherman always hooked up with the Corporates at Disney repeated that like a mantra every single time he even suggested an addition or change. And if it wasn't Reitherman then it was one of the old men, clearly unwilling to give up the idea that everything had to be done just as the time of Walt's era, even reusing the same old cell animations of the time.
Disney animation, the same animation that had inspired him on his path of life, was dying. It had started dying from the moment Walt died, and now was an unrecognizable shell of its former self. The company refused to give more budget, the animators were hampered from even trying new methods; hell, he was sure that both Glen and Ron were as tired of having to redraw the same thing over and over again with no end in sight, even if they'd told him to bear it till they were at the top to bring their ideas to reality.
But he was so tired of waiting.
The Rescuers was supposed to be his proof of concept, the idea that would finally show them that they could do films different. And instead it was being buried to the point that every day it was a fight just to keep it from being cancelled.
He'd just said his goodbyes to Glen and Ron for the day, got into his car and went for a drive. It had been a taxing day, one of the worst so far; Reitherman coming down to see the progress of the film (and criticize it), rumors about budget cuts again, having to wrangle animators to work a bit longer than their usual amount, and to top it all off, a very serious rumor about Disney investing more into their Live Action department and on a new Director for a three-film deal, for horror movies of all things. With that amount of money he could've finished The Rescuers in half the time he'd scheduled.
He turned the car on the corner, he did not want to go home right now. He did not want to go drinking like he told his friends (and as Mormon he couldn't either) so that only left his one refuge.
Parking on the side and leaving the car he saw it, an old used bookstore, right between a gun shop and a liquor store...how has it managed to stay afloat he never knew. But from the first time he found the store it's never been closed, and the owner never seemed to age that much either. He was there, right behind the counter as he entered.
"Evening Frank."
"Welcome back Don, another hard day at work?"
Don just gave a nod as he moved through the old shelfs. It had been a random day, similar to this now that he thought about it, when he'd just needed...something, anything that could take his mind off of the entire morass that was his work at the moment. Disney had just not been doing right in the last few years, and this had been felt most of all by the animators. And for Don, it just so happened that a good book, one that could spark his imagination and originality could usually send him on a small trip...at least for a bit.
Frank's shop was ideal for this. A store that could give some second-hand books on the cheap, perfect for his salary and for his mind. Looking at the usual spread however, he didn't feel the same pull he usually did when he found a new story. Everything just seemed grey to him at the moment, especially knowing he had to go back tomorrow and do the entire process all over again.
He was dreading going back to work...what was wrong with his life?
Those were his thoughts as he moves his hands through the old books...that is until he found an oddity. An old hefty book, quite big at that, and one that almost stuck out from the shelfs. Curious, he pulled it out and...
An old cover in black and white, the images in it were drawn in a style he had not seen before; A monkey, a man on a horse, a pig, and a... what the hell is that other creature? There was no mention of the author, but the title of the book was prominent in big blocky letters.
Journey to the West.
Huh, well color him impressed. This had sparked his curiosity, and the price seemed reasonable enough. Frank seemed glad to get rid of it (apparently it had just languished for years in storage now) and was willing to sell the remaining 3 volumes at a discount (There's 4 volumes?!), so with his new purchases in his arms, Bluth went home, and prepared to read a couple of chapters before going to bed.
By the next day he had red baggy eyes as he went to work, yet his enthusiasm and energy were greater than ever, almost infectious as he told Glen and Ron about this new amazing book he'd found, the imagination and creativity in it, the small hand drawings he made of the characters themselves in a single night of passion.
And as he saw the light shine in their eyes, he knew that this was something that had to be animated.
A.N: I figure that with how the rolls were insistent on just destroying Disney until just recently that the ones who would be suffering the most would be the Animation Department. During the 70's Disney pretty much ignored it and focused more on their parks and live action, not to mention that this seems to be the pattern still so I figure animators are getting the wrong end of the stick even more than before. Don Bluth, and the friends who worked with him (Such as Glen Keane and Ron Clements) would be feeling the burn, and probably be at their limits with this. I figure that Bluth learning of a book that he would love to animate, and sharing it with his friends, would create a passion in them to make it real, and to jump ship if Disney is not willing to do so.
So good news for Star Wars planning. A while ago I remember a major debate over what and who to bring over from Legends and Canon into the Quest with one of the biggest points of conflict being all the Order 66 survivors and who was affiliated with the Rebellion or not, or even if there would be other Jedi besides Luke period. Well good news, according to this video, George actually planned all along for there to be 50-100 Jedi to be surviving in the Original Trilogy with some vague plans later on of Luke connecting with them and establishing the NJO. View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxCoJbkMJaA
So people like Cal, Ezra and Ahsoka should definitely be okay for the EU and even hints in the movies and possible show appearences. For now, I think the main point is that we save all the Order 66 survivors for the EU and not have them be on the OT as that would take away from Luke and the significance of Obi-wan and Yoda. Allude that there are other Jedi out there, but they either refuse to fight or have walked away from the path of the Jedi like Cal and Ahsoka no longer identifying as such or the Skirata adopted Jedi becoming Mandalorians instead. From here instead of Luke fucking around for 8 years and then founding the Yavin Academy with Jedi kids and his friends from the Rebel Alliance, we can have post-Endor see Luke begin a great journey across the galaxy to connect with the survivors, learn of what lead to the Order's downfall, and then create a New Jedi Order that has learned from the old.
will say, I think it be appropriate to add just abit of 80s and 90s puff. It's not like the EU folks have a detailed set of plans for the universe to come, and well, it's the era, lean into the cheese.
So good news for Star Wars planning. A while ago I remember a major debate over what and who to bring over from Legends and Canon into the Quest with one of the biggest points of conflict being all the Order 66 survivors and who was affiliated with the Rebellion or not, or even if there would be other Jedi besides Luke period. Well good news, according to this video, George actually planned all along for there to be 50-100 Jedi to be surviving in the Original Trilogy with some vague plans later on of Luke connecting with them and establishing the NJO. View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxCoJbkMJaA
So people like Cal, Ezra and Ahsoka should definitely be okay for the EU and even hints in the movies and possible show appearences. For now, I think the main point is that we save all the Order 66 survivors for the EU and not have them be on the OT as that would take away from Luke and the significance of Obi-wan and Yoda. Allude that there are other Jedi out there, but they either refuse to fight or have walked away from the path of the Jedi like Cal and Ahsoka no longer identifying as such or the Skirata adopted Jedi becoming Mandalorians instead. From here instead of Luke fucking around for 8 years and then founding the Yavin Academy with Jedi kids and his friends from the Rebel Alliance, we can have post-Endor see Luke begin a great journey across the galaxy to connect with the survivors, learn of what lead to the Order's downfall, and then create a New Jedi Order that has learned from the old.
I think this is a fantastic idea! Personally, I was a bit conflicted because I recall during the planning for Star Wars that we had thought to add a line where Leia tells Luke about all the Jedi that had fought in the rebellion, which I personally thought was brilliant but was a bit leery because it might take something from the EU and then make it canon. But with this we can have both without outright taking away what makes Luke special, which is the man who will rebuild the Jedi Order better than before.
I'm all for Ahsoka Tano still bein alive, and Kal Skirata and his Mandalorian Force Users could make for an interesting arc or movie down the line, but I want to make sure of one thing; I don't want Ezra Bridger to make any appearance in this universe. I don't know what possessed anyone to make him a Jedi, but if we're supposed to add anything from Rebels then I would rather it be Kanan. His story is the more interesting one in my opinion.
