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.
Is that actually Mark Hamill's head in the shot in the dark side cave or was it a fake?
I don't know, something always bothered me about that scene. Like how when Vader shows up it goes into slow motion. Or at least what counts for slow motion in 1979. Good thing we have the tech for really good slow motion. It is a great scene though, with Luke confronting his fear of Vader and his fear of ending up a Sith like him. A fear that is probably increased after discovering Vader is his father.
So many good options. Though are we really going to sit on 'The Secret' until there's no time left?
Hell, Bruce is the damn director and even he doesn't know.
[X] Plan Emotional Impact
[X]A Most Pressing Moment: You honestly think that Carrie is worried about the way you are filming the romance. She actually thinks you're being a little too obvious. And wants to make it far more subtle.
[X]The Vader Issue: Peter and David are… both not happy. David wants to know what the big secret is to improve his performance. And David is trying to get as many sword masters as possible to help him out with this.
[X]The Secret: George, what the fuck is the big secret. I need to prepare.
[X]Of Smoke, Mirrors, and Mark's face: Okay, a Vader helmet, a smoke screen, and a mask… Um… Mark, get over here, I have an idea?!
Hiawatha Directed by: Don Bluth
Written by: Dave Allister
Produced by: Yoshiyuki Tomino
Production Studio: Dreamworks Animation
Distribution: Lucasfilms
Starring: Gordon Tootosis, Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman, Wes Studi, Russell Means, James Apaumut Fall, Geraldine Keams
Film quality: D100 + 300 => 364
Audience:D100 + 250 => 321
Critics:D100 + 250 => 331 Budget: $25,000,000 Domestic:105,321,562 International: 112,451,889 Total Gross: $217,773,453
You know, for Dreamworks grand debut this was not at all what you were expecting. You had hoped for something more grander and ambitious to really innovate in the field of animation and show how animated films could be true equals to the greats of the decade. Unfortunately, for as much ambition and talent as Dreamworks had, the technology was just not there unlike George and his wonder inventions and not to mention the Writer's Room only pumped out a handful of animation scripts. Thus instead of a grand adventure, you settled for a historical epic of the formation of the Iroquois. Dreamworks was funny like that, the first official debut being Classical Tale instead of Gundam, but you suppose there was precedent with Rocky and Star Wars, and if nothing else Disney made history by adapting a German fairy tale.
Speaking of Disney, when they heard word of Hiawatha's production the company sent you a cease and desist, claiming that you were plagiarizing Little Hiawatha, an extreme action taken thanks to it being before the Entente and Disney wanting to assert their animation monopoly. Thankfully such a motion was swiftly struck down when the judge read the script and not only did they see that Hiawatha was a completely different plot to Disney's short, but that it was a adaptation of the 1855 poem which was public domain. A little bit of clever media contact later which prompted Native American protests against Disney for shutting down a film of their heritage, and the house of Mouse became quiet and Dreamworks was ready and willing to work on it in peace.
Unfortunately despite your love of animation you were out of the loop from Hiawatha's development like Gundam and Classical Tale due to lack of experience and expertise. From what you could tell from occasional drop-ins as well as talks with the people of Dreamworks, it was a mostly smooth production with the animators having dipped their feet with the two tv series and Don having proved himself through his excellent direction of Gundam. There was some minor issues of art direction and whether to go for realism or something more distinctive before settling on impressionist with many Sakuga moments. What came out after a year of hard labor and sweat which was leagues above most animated films with only War of the Worlds being a definitive superior in animated cinema.
The plot of the film was a fusion of both the poem The Song of Hiawatha and historical Iroquois lore and history to create a work of historical fiction that blends the past with fantasy. At first you were rather concerned that this would lead to Native backlash and a bastardization of the Iroquois through fantasy, but thankfully Don walked a fine line of adventure and historical respect to create a greater film than if Hiawatha had stuck to either half. The main protagonist was the titular Hiawatha, a young man whose birth brought forth a Christ-like destiny to unify the five Iroquois tribes and bring peace to the land. When Hiawatha's parents are murdered by the possessed Chief Tadodaho, he goes on a quest to avenge their deaths and unify the nations to oppose Tadodaho's tyrannical warpath. Through meeting the Great Peacemaker Deganawida, Hiawatha grows as a man and a leader, learning many heroic virtues and maturing to grow compassion and understanding through love and brotherhood. Throughout the film, Hiawatha goes on many adventures that forge strong ties with the Iroquois, leading to a final battle where Tadodaho is exorcised and through the granting of amnesty to the defeated Bithwanikumbakumba, Hiawatha proves his virtue and the Iroquois accept his place as leader, unifying the great nation through the creation of the Confederacy and bringing peace and prosperity to the land.
It was obvious to those who knew Tomino that he had some hand in the story process as producer. Hiawatha shared many themes with Gundam of peace through human understanding and also showing the ugly side of war and how violence should be a last resort to defend your home and loved ones. Hiawatha actually seemed to implement this message more effectively than Gundam as instead of Space Nazis being the antagonists, it was instead an aggressive tribe who were simply misled by their leader being corrupted by an evil spirit and the roots of their conflict were caused by a natural divide which Hiawatha managed to overcome. There also seemed to be in your opinion elements of Star Wars as the story kind of seemed like if Luke ran into Obi-wan as Han and Leia's parents with Han dying and Luke ending with Leia, a parallel which made Carrie laugh hysterically when you pointed it out to her.
By choosing to blend Iroquois history with the fictional and fantastic Song of Hiawatha, Hiawatha played off the strengths of both and made a film that could both be appreciated by general audiences and be timeless and a hallmark of native representation. The fantastical parts of the adventure and mysticism served to hook audiences in to enjoy the movie and once settled in, they would appreciate the very tasteful and respectful portrayal of authentic Iroquois culture that showed a rich and diverse people lacking in the classic stereotypes of Native Americans. There was a lot of beauty to be had in the colorful cast of characters, who were not savages of noble or ignorant kind, or tree hugging hippies who are perfect with no flaws. The Iroquois cast were simply people with the best and worst of humanity on display, which made them very relatable and enjoyable characters, serving as vehicles for a powerful and inspirational story that could be applied to many different cultures.
As was now becoming the Dreamworks standard, animation was of the highest quality. It wasn't quite the cutting edge innovation on display at Gundam, but you could perhaps describe it as the best of traditional cell animation. Don showed a talent in designing backgrounds with a preference of long and landscape shots that showed the beauty of pre-colonial New York with comparable quality to a classic western or 19th century American painting. The characters shared a similar fusion of ultra realism and fantastical emotion while having greater influence from Disney. This artstyle, Bluthism or Neo-Disney depending on your viewpoint, focused an emphasis on highlighting beauty with distinctive shapes and detailed "gritty" features, all the while action and movement was very fluid and natural as similar to Gundam.
While Hiawatha was Dreamworks first cinematic foray, the quality of voice acting was on par with a classic Disney performance. You took an awfully big risk assigning Tomino to only cast Native American actors for the roles as you knew they were screwed over continuously in Hollywood to never do non-Western work and deserved a break on Hiawatha. Mike was not a fan for fear of setting precedent for future Lucasfilms projects with "Race quotas" but for now your gamble turned out well as the actors all gave great performances with highlights going to Gordon and Russel who gave Oscar worthy performances. From all accounts the cast gave it their best shot and were happy with playing their parts, and that's all you could have asked for. Plus they for the most part made for good singing voices to accompany the soundtrack which was a blend of Iroquois music and Broadway style pieces.
So how was the reaction to Hiawatha? Well unfortunately it was no War of the Worlds, only making 200 million with Roy sending you a rather cheeky letter asking when Dreamworks was gonna knock Disney at the box office. Still, such a performance would have been thought impossible for an animated movie before War of the Worlds and it was better than most Lucasfilms proper movies, having virtually no competition and likely to be the best performing animated movie of the year. Of course half of the gross was domestic, but there was a very strong turnout in Canada, Latin America and Australia due to their own native histories with faithful Japan providing a sixth of the income due to the hype of a Dreamworks Anime movie. From all accounts, audiences and critics were in love with strong praise for the excellent story, beautiful animation and excellent balance of historical and cultural accuracy with fantastic and dramatic fun through the adventure.
Hiawatha also served as a very nice second film experience for Mary as thanks to Don's assurance, you, Carrie, Todd and Debbie attended the premiere with Mary. Thankfully like with Superman, Mary didn't fall asleep or cry throughout the movie, being in a very similar state of awe with great excitement for the colorful scenes and cheering for Hiawatha's journey. While moved by the intense action and drama, Mary didn't seem to be traumatized and you could have sworn you observed her trying to reenact the movie with Wally.
That left perhaps the most important reaction, how the various Native American tribes would react to perhaps the most high profile film concerning Natives in history, and they absolutely loved it! States such as Oklahoma, the Dakotas and Wyoming saw their theaters packed with visitors from the reservations and news interviews on the Reservations showed very enthusiastic feedback on the level of Star Wars. Native Americans were happy that for once they got a film centered around them with zero Cowboys, Wild West tropes or just a sad tale of being powerless and inevitable victims to the White Man. They were simply happy to finally have a film about a proud moment in Native American history that even as a fictionalized version, portrayed Iroquois culture and lore with respect with the characters written and acted with the same dignity and respect as any Disney film with a white cast instead of say Peter Pan and its infamous portrayal. This was a damn huge leap from the infamous 1973 Oscars and you were really happy to do what you could to help show their beautiful history. Hopefully this would help the general public be more appreciative and knowledgeable about Native culture and history, with a start.
Now just how does Hiawatha change the animation game? While not a traditional trailblazer it has certainly cemented the new age of animation where movies can be serious and fun with great potential beyond simple children's entertainment. It certainly has pushed a rising demand from the public that the Oscars include animation into the many categories or create a Best Animated feature. Blue Sky Studios was still placing all of their faith in their Ice Age movie, although there are reports of a divide in the studio on whether to keep the film about the animals or place greater focus on the prehistoric humans, which would be a hard switch considering how late into production they are. Disney is rather annoyed that Dreamworks pulled a fast one on them by making a very successful movie based on a story Walt wanted to turn into a proper film, but since it was done in the spirit of honest competition and the Entente was still around, they took no hostile moves. Instead, Roy has created a war room for the Animation department where they're trying to strategize on what the future of Disney's animated stories, styles and themes shall be to create a compact experience to sell versus Dreamworks. So far the mood from Roy seems to be fantasy, a resurrection of Disney princesses, and historical fictions like Hiawatha. Lastly the creation of such a high quality Native American movie completely absent of the usual tropes and cliches is making the studios pause and try to think of what Native stories they could tell similar to Hiawatha. You hope at the very least this can push Native actors to find greater success.
So overall, Hiawatha was a fine and noble debut for Dreamworks really good film that cemented that animation was entering a new golden age and Dreamworks was not a one trick mecha and could make art just as good as Lucasfilms proper. There was also now an established consensus in Dreamworks that while Tomino was the master storyteller, Don Bluth was king of animation and widely respected in the studio as Tomino's right hand and second-in-command. Don was equally feared and admired in the industry as the best artist alive, and you could not wait to see what he came up with next.
I feel like Star Wars and these new mega block busters are skewing Bruce's perception of how successful this latest film was. "Only" 105 million at the domestic box office would've put Hiawatha within the top 10 films of the decade in OTL.
BTW what is this supposed to mean? We did knock him with Gundam. And this movie made 200 million in profit, unless this quest has severe power creep where this number is considered a failure.
You know, it would be cool if we can start to do some joint-actions with the companies in America, like we just continue to dunk on them without end, and well after we finish this Star Wars movie it would be cool to see us open a park with a co-op with Disney i mean with the way we are blasting everthing a sci-fi park with Star Wars and Gundam theme would sell very much well and at least help us gain a ally in the home front
