Thursday, September 30, 2010

A Brunch of Fun

Ever read a book, love it, have so much to say about it, have some questions and wish you could sit down with the author to chat about it? Well, my friend Buttercup did - and also had the chance to play it out as such over brunch. Okay, granted, the author is me, so it's not all that exciting.

But to me it is. I mean, who doesn't want to hear that their work is appreciated, mulled over and evoked genuine feelings? Not only those aspects, but I really love experiencing my books vicariously through someone else. (See this post.)

And so, last Saturday Buttercup and I met at the Heartland CafĂ© (which is near to her) and sat down to brunch (as the jacket cover of the flap of the hardcover of Peter Pan's NeverWorld will tell you I love to do) and discussed What If It's a Trick Question? We had a lovely time and each of us were able to gain new insights into the tale. She marveled at how it really, as she said, just keeps unfolding. I told her of the sequel (which I hadn't originally planned on writing) as well as its "companion" books that I'll probably be doing as well. She knew of the companion books already, actually. But I’d been eager to tell her of the next book for quite some time but naturally I had to wait until she finished.

All in all, I really enjoy answering questions and hearing about how my work has affected others. Should time and such permit, I’d love to be able to offer a “Brunch with the Author” by way of, who knows, a contest or something?

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Another Peter JaPAN

Apparently this November another comic/graphic novel version of
Peter and Wendy will be out.
The Japanese mangaka group CLAMP will be producing illustrations
 for Aoi Tori's publication.
The purist in me isn't all that fond of the depiction,
but the drawing is lovely otherwise.
I can't read Japanese anyway.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

T.S. Eliot Applies Here, Too...

The Naming of Cats - T.S. Eliot

I’m still nomenclature hunting.

I’ve got two of the main characters’ names and one for the minor-ish guy. But the main character that I already love the most... well, the jury is still out.

It’s not as if I’m entirely fussy. Okay, truthfully, I am fussy. Quite. But I mean, hey, shouldn’t I be? First of all, I need to be able to “work” with it and see it on the page – a lot. Second (and more importantly) character names can make all the difference. Would the world love Pansy O’Hara just as well? Or Sniffy (the original proposed name of Snoopy)? Or Alexander Darling leaving with Peter Pan? Possibly, sure, as it could just be a matter of what we’re used to... nevertheless, there’s no question of a name’s “power.” It has to ring true or “sound right.”

Part of the fussiness can be chalked up to just not liking them. But, of course, it’s by taste. One name on my list of potentials Bart and members of his family like a lot, saying it sounds upper crust. Me? I think it sounds like a hick. This character is neither of those. (If you’re wondering why it had been on my list then, it’s because it’s a bit unique, which, I think, is why they like it.) Buttercup has had a few suggestions [and doesn’t like the name they do either], but essentially naysays herself shortly after and those that she does like, I have issues. Perhaps they remind me of someone I’d rather not think about, or it’s too similar to a name I’ve used before or has a heavy association otherwise.

Then there’s the fact that I’m working within a restriction. For this book, the name has to be something from the late 1800’s. Subset factors are involved, too. I’m hoping for a polysyllabic name (it just feels right for the character) as well as it must actually sound archaic, or at least vaguely uncommon by today's standards. Plus, it needs to be appropriate for his character – not just personality, but his circumstances and situation in life.

All of these elements add up to a tricky ordeal. Needless to say, I’ve gone through quite a number of names on my list (circa 15). And you know what? Eventually the supply of names that fit the criteria are exhausted and one of them needs to be selected. Sure, I could just make one up, but that opens up a whole new set of issues (such as it can’t sound too outlandish or forced.)

Eventually a name will stick (actually there’s a place-holder name in my notes, but despite my gravitating toward it, that moniker sounds like it’s trying too hard to fit the bill) and I’ll be that much further along.

But in the end, the character has to approve. I mean, really, he would know what his name is, wouldn’t he? For me it’s usually the case that a character is more likely to reject a name... and thus makes me guess what s/he is called.  I’ve been “yelled” at by one for spelling his name wrong. So sooner or later they’re vocal about it... I just have to find the right one to start.

Fortunately I just might have stumbled across it. Who am I kidding?  I probably saw it many times and am just now starting to “cotton” to it. [Refer to remark about exhausting the supply.]

I’ll see what the peanut gallery thinks of it, too. But, yes, I  have the final decision.
(Until the character speaks up!)

Ever realize this much goes into the naming of characters?

Monday, September 27, 2010

Another Barrie-ophile Says...

Well, folks, Peter Pan: Betwixt-and-Between, my interquel to Barrie, is in the hands of Andrea Jones, author of Hook & Jill. And I mean that literally. A print out has been sent to her. Wondering about her opinion? Here’s her initial reaction to having read some of it:
The style is just so... Barrie!
And that quote (used with permission) came with a statement of loving it thus far.

It looks like Anon is not alone in that assessment. I certainly hope the rest of Peter Pan’s early adventure is to Andrea’s liking. (Well, of course I would.) And even if she does have some issues with it, I look forward to those as well. Since she’s got such a handle and great perspective on Barrie herself, it can only serve to make it an even better book should it need another draft.

Thanks, Andrea!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Paging the Creative Process

Sometimes I forget how much fun the start of the creative process can be. I've gathered up the notes and jots I had for the next book. As you might recall, I'm planning two different books that deal with the same subject matter. However, one is meant to be frightening and the other not so much. I don't want to call it an outright comedy, since I don't see overt humor as part of it. I had thought it would be difficult to sort which bits to use for which tale. But no, it seems I had been organizing the files that way all along. (Obviously it's been a little while since I jotted anything down for either one.) There is one snippet from the "scary" ideas that I think I'll be using for this book rather than the other, though. It just doesn't have the fright vibe.

Otherwise, I've been poring through my book of names... and I think I found that character's name I've been looking for and thought I might have had before. I'd also been hunting around the internet, doing a little preliminary research on what has been done already in this vein... and that of course led to another page or set of goodies to peruse. The ideas are bouncing around in my head and starting to multiply. No, I don't have a clear picture of the entire tale, yet. It's a lot of fun to watch a story grow.

It's also amazing to me that not every novel comes to me in the same way. This one, for instance, I have the general idea that I'm adding to and "listening" for more from the characters. But as for exactly where it’s going and what the characters want...? [None of them have been all too vocal.] But that's another way that it happens. For What If It's a Trick Question? the main character Jeremy would not shut up. I had to write an outline in paragraphs just to keep up with him and the whole story. Other stories have "tentpoles" to them, including the beginning, middle and ending and I just have to fill in the rest.

Of course, with any of these “methods” there’s always a curve ball or some part of the story that’s “missing.” In these instances, I kind of roll with the changes or let the details work out as I go. Usually the characters will come and help me -- after all, it’s their story, they lived it, they would know. And that’s the part I think I enjoy the most... the sudden and unexpected discoveries along the way. It’s the closest I can come to experiencing one of my own books unfettered by knowing what happens.

So I’ll just keep looking into the subject material, making discoveries, sorting and hammering out and listening for the characters and soon enough I’ll not be able to keep the words off the page. At least that’s the general idea...

...and how happy will I be when the title of the book is known to me?  I've only written one book that I had no idea of the title until 3/4 of the way through writing it, and that's Jeremy's story.  Midnight Chaser had a switch in title, but only by a word cut and flip of words.  Somehow I prefer knowing what a book is called as I write it. 

Monday, September 20, 2010

Needs a few more VOLTS, no?

Well, another
"Looking forward to it!"
has gone down the drain for me.

I thought a live-action Voltron would be a lot of fun.  Then I saw the concept art.

Sorry, no offense to anyone involved, but NO.

At least not for me.  Yes, I expected a redesign.  But I just don't like this one.  And besides my personal pereferences, don't you think it looks entirely too similar to another giant robot franchise of films?  (I bet you can guess that I am not a fan of the look of that, either.  I've seen plenty of "John/Jane Doe" homespun animations that run circles around the look of those films, mostly because they kept true to the original cartoon.)

Oh well.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Closing the Window on the Drafts

All righty.

I’m done with the run-through after the
Peter Pan: Betwixt-and-Between revisions.

It wound up with quite a few more changes.  And I’m rather happy besides those, since I ran across the very type of glitch I thought I might. I had a bit of detail leftover from the previous incarnation that would have read as an incongruity with the rest of the story as it now stands.

The word count is now 50,063. If you do the math, that’s 36 words cut from last time. But that’s not really the truth. Fact is I cut a great deal more than that, nearly going below the 50,000 mark. GASP! I think the lowest number had been 18 (over).  But you see, I added quite a bit, too, going all the way back up to 83 or so.  So it fluctuated immensely as I went along.  Call me banal, but I found it interesting watching the tally go up and down.

I also caught a couple of neat references/parallels to Barrie’s Peter and Wendy that I didn’t notice before. Some of what I took out had been direct references, actually. I realized that a few of them probably did more harm than good in the sense that they wound up undermining the joy of discovering them when reading the well-known story. (Especially if reading the Peter Pan story from the beginning!) There are still some overt mentions here and there, but not without cause.

As before, I’m pleased with the overall result. Like I had said, it’s a smoother and more satisfying piece.

And now... I shall send it along to Andrea Jones. Will she run it up her flagpole and salute it?

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Go Storth...

You know the "Captcha" entries for when you comment on the internet?
If not, it's explained here.

Well, sometimes the results are quite amusing. Often the words they have don't actually exist, all the better for the rationale behind the service.

Not that it's particularly uncanny or anything, but this one got me thinking:

storthed conclusion

I'm not sure what "storthed" means (it's not a word) but it sounds great with "conclusion." I'm getting a vibe of negativity. 'The book is plotted very well and the characters engaging but it all comes to head in a storthed conclusion.' Seems like it should come to mean something...

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Child-alike

A little while ago I had a post about Doctor Who.  I mentioned my friend Nightfogger who's an avid fan.  He posted this quote on Facebook and I just had to share it.

There's no point being grown-up if you can't be childish sometimes.
 - The Doctor

Sunday, September 12, 2010

99 Pages Off a Done Man's Chest

Well, just moments ago I put the last word into Peter Pan: Betwixt and-Between.  Yes, it's now finished for the second time.  Hosah.

I'm quite glad of the revision, for it's definitely a smoother and more engaging book than its previous incarnation.  A little of the credit goes to the characters.  When called upon, they really came through for me.  A lot of credit goes to Anon, who showed me the turbulences along with heaps of encouragement.  Toward the end of the process a scene greatly improved because I tinkered it out with Anon via email.  (I shared it as per it containing the result of a particular good suggestion.)  Much must go to Barrie and a bit to James Fenimore Cooper.   And lastly, I suppose, to whatever it is that makes me write.

The second word tally is one shy of ending in a 100.  It just qualifies for a novel at 50,099.  Not that it should be ascribed any sort of significance, but I cannot help but think of the upcomming centennial of the publication Peter and Wendy.  It's just one year away and here I am one word shy of 100.

I shall, naturally, read it through as a whole again.  Especially since I tinkered around in the middle bits here and there after the revise-through.

And then (as you probably know by now) it's off to Andrea Jones, author of Hook & Jill.  I'm looking forward to her critique of it.  She has such a wonderful perspective, approach and understanding of Barrie's world and I'm eager to share what I have wrought with the pieces of imagination I had available.

Then what happens?  Que sera sera.


Saturday, September 11, 2010

What's Up, Doctor?

Sometimes I’m what I call a “peripheral fan.” That means that I generally appreciate something, but I am not ga-ga for it, nor do I seek it out regularly. But I know enough to get by and will gladly watch (or read or whatever the case may be) that ‘something’ every so often.

Well, one thing I am a peripheral fan of is Doctor Who.

I just wanted to say that I think Doctor Who is pretty damn ingenious. if you’re not aware of him, you’ve been in a virtual closet. He’s been around since 1963. At any rate, here’s a good description, as per how it appears on Wikipedia:

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious and eccentric humanoid alien known as the Doctor who travels through time and space in his spacecraft, the TARDIS (an acronym for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space), which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s British police box. With his companions, he explores time and space, faces a variety of foes, saves civilizations, defeats alien, human and technological enemies of sorts, helping others and righting wrongs, as well as improving the way people, aliens and robots choose to live their lives.

What I really like about this show is the built-in aspects that allow for ease of production. One could argue that they’re cop-outs, I suppose, but when it’s woven into the fabric of story with such wonderful coloration, it’s hard to easily dismiss it as anything but adding to the overall fun.

Not mentioned in that summary is that the Doctor has died many times. But you see, he’s actually a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. Gallifreyans will “regenerate,” and can do so 12 times, for a total of 13 incarnations. What fun! But what that means in practical terms is that 13 different actors can play him over the course of, er, time. Not only is that cooler/fairer to actors, but it also, of course, enables the story/character to go on for many years. (But not forever... they’re on the 11th Doctor now!)

Another deliciously conspicuous “cop-out” is the TARDIS itself. It’s supposed to have a “cloaking device,” by which it seamlessly blends into its surroundings so as not to disrupt space-time (or expose the Doctor.) Well, we only see it as a 1950s-style British police box. The reason? It has a malfunction of its Chameleon Circuit and is thus stuck in that shape. Not only is this convenient for filming and budgetary concerns, it present quite a “joke.” It’s rather funny on its own, but to have it negating one of the very technological wonders of the Doctor’s device... that’s especially humorous.  [Note:  My friend Nightfogger who is a devoted fan of the Doctor who read this post before it went up informs me:  "We do get to see the TARDIS as other things a few times (a harpsichord, a stone pillar) but it always ends up back as the police box."]  See, I'm just peripheral.  :)
And since he can travel in time, well, that allows for any number of scenarios. One of my personal favorites is when the TARDIS lands on the deck of a ship at sea. It frightens the hell out of the crew and passengers and they all jump overboard, thus instantly and forever abandoning their vessel. The Doctor looks over and sees the name of the ship: Mary Celeste. He comments on that mystery being solved. (Click the ship name if you aren’t aware of it.) But how great is it to not be limited to a particular time or place?  From one episode to the next you can be in the future or the roaring 20’s.

So there you have it. Wacky “devices” nicely tucked into a witty, sometimes funny and always poignant storyline. No wonder it’s the longest-running science fiction television show in the world as well as the most successful science fiction series of all time.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Tower Power

In this day and age (21st Century, no less) we think we have "seen it all."
But here's something unprecedented.
I especially like it because it has to do with novels.

When it comes to adapting a narrative book into the moving picture medium there's generally a choice between making a film or a TV mini-series.  Sure, there are variants such as making a book into two films, or producing a regular series out of it.  I've often expressed that I think Peter and Wendy would work best as a mini-series.  And truth be told, I think my What If It's a Trick Question? lends itself better to episodic television, just given the nature of the piece.

So what's this about unprecedented?

Stephen King's popular series The Dark Tower is being brought to the screen.  So?  How about...BOTH.  Yep, both the big silver screen and the "small screen" of TV (which is kind of a weird term nowadays given the size of many TVs).  After much debate and stops and starts on how best to handle King's epic as a "movie" they eventually came up with a solution.

It will first appear as a film, with theatrical release.  It will then come to television (with the same actors from the movie) and continue on for a while as a series/show.  It will next (contiguously) move back into another film (theater) and... you get the idea.  It will be three movies, with a television series (as part of the the continuing saga) as bridges between the flicks.

I can't say (who can?) how well it will work or turn out... but nevertheless, it is highly intriguing.  And at any rate, historic.
Ron Howard will be directing.

I will shamefully admit that I have not gotten around to reading The Dark Tower.  But I probably will now that it's going to be adapted so "never before seen"ly.  Besides, my fan Anon adores the series and (if I recall correctly) compared WIIaTQuestion? in terms of 'epicness' (to some degree).  I should probably read it, then, no?

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Next on the Agenda

Well, as the revisions on Peter Pan: Betwixt-and-Between draw to a close (I just have a few tidbits/scenes to plunk in here and there) I am already thinking about what I will work on next.  But, that's to be expected, write?  It won't be a story about the boy who never grew up since I've had enough of him for now.  But I can and shall always return to him.

I'm fortunate to not have a lack of  ideas that I've been kicking around, and I thought for a while there that I'd tackle the sequel to What If It's a Trick Question?  But the truth is I'm just not "feeling" it yet. 

I'm now leaning toward a particular story that's been scratching at my proverbial door for quite some time .  I keep "hearing" about it, although not from any particular character.  It should be a lot of fun to write.  It's one of two 'ghost stories' I've had my "eye on" and it's the non-scary of the two.  I don't want to reveal the crux of it, but suffice to say that it's not a haunting in the traditional sense.  I imagine it to be peppered with humor (but that's not the difference/plot point either.)

There's sort of a problem, though.  I've got the premise, but the ultimate goal(s) of the characters has not yet been revealed to me.  So there's this cool idea floating around, but no end or purpose in sight.  Minor goals, yes.  Major driving plot, no.  However, I'm confident that there is someone fictional ready to spill his or her beans any time now.  Perhaps if I start defining the characters more clearly the overall scope will arise.

I do know the "nature" of one of the characters, but he's not the protagonist.  I might have a name for him... not that I love it nor hate it, but I wrote it down just to be sure.  I used the marvelous internet to check and see if it had been as original as I thought, but alas, it actually is a last name.  And here I imagined I'd created something altogether unheard of - how silly of me.  I don't remember ever hearing the name/word before, but I guess that subconscious is a powerful thing, eh?  Thus, I might not use it.  No, not because it isn't wholly original, but for the simple reason that I am not in love with it.  It came to me two days ago and I haven't "heard " from nor had any great revelations or insights about him other than what I already know, so I'm thinking maybe it's not his name after all.  But it's got to be close, for it doesn't quite feel wrong.

Well, I'll know soon enough... and who's to say?  Right now Buttercup is still reading What If It's a Trick Question?  Life has interfered several times now.  But she's almost done!  Perhaps her enthusiasm when she does finish will ignite the further adventures of those characters after all.  [And then with my luck, the 'ghost story' characters will haunt me to death as I'm working on the sequel.]

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

To PRE or Not to PRE?

A while back in the comments of this post, I started to ponder the idea of “prequel.” It’s a curious thing, a prequel. For in order to be a prequel for the audience, the “original” needs to have come first. That sounds like a no-brainer. But consider some examples.

As I’ve said before (and also re-posted links to Danny Pitt Stoller’s great articles as such) The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis are often [and I feel erroneously] read in chronological order. Technically, of course, The Magician’s Nephew is a prequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. But for many, it’s not seen/understood that way, though it is most definitely a prequel as far as Lewis is concerned — he didn’t know the events himself when he wrote LWW!

George Lucas’s epic saga of Star Wars is famous for having prequels. But let’s face the facts. It’s a bit different than with C.S. Lewis. Here, they are not really prequels. Lucas had written out the grand scheme of the story he wished to tell from the start. Granted, it received rewrites and drop-outs, but on the whole, he knew the spine of the story. Due to feasibility concerns he began his tale in the middle. (Also because Episode IV - A New Hope is the only part that can manage to stand alone [in case it had been a flop.])  I cannot confirm that it is true, but allegedly Hayden Christensen wants to one day show his kids the episodes “in order,” meaning beginning with Episode I - The Phantom Menace. (I think that would ruin the suspense of the saga, just for the record.) Either way, the “prequel trilogy” is only such because they came out secondary to the “original” set.  According to Lucas’s musing and composition, they’re not — at least not in the same sense as Lewis.

Those are but two examples of this "phenomenon."

When I’d been writing Peter Pan: Betwixt-and-Between I always thought of it as an interquel (a sequel to one story and a prequel to another). I had just assumed that people would already know the story of Peter Pan (a.k.a. Peter and Wendy.) Anon pointed out to me that someone, however, just might not know that story and read the adventures of Peter Pan from “the beginning,” starting with Barrie’s Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (or The Little White Bird), moving on to my interquel and then on to the story most of us know. It didn’t really occur to me that someone wouldn't consider it an "adventure before." (To quote Slightly in Hogan’s version: Stupid of me.) But seriously, although unlikely, it’s bound to happen. Thus, in that sense, I did not write an interquel/prequel.

The status of “prequel” is relative.  Something to think about, eh?

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Don't Panic - It's Still Flying


In case the status of the revisions on Peter Pan: Betwixt-and-Between have been wondered about...I took a break from it on purpose. Not so much from lack of initiative or even oversaturation, but from the standpoint of being able to have a “fresher” read of it. After having made all the minor tweaks (and some major ones!) and also having left myself in-document comments and reminders on what to toy with later, I decided it would be a good idea to come back to it after a hiatus.


The idea worked out well. I’ve been back into it for a while now. I certainly did need to go away from it and then read through from the beginning in order to keep the changes straight.  I do have that fresh look I needed, as I actually had forgotten one of the next scenes coming up that a character spoke about.  I find myself cutting lines and simplifying others. I’ve put in a couple of the bigger additions, too. All in all, I’m happy (or happier, to be accurate) with it. It certainly flows much better now and the kinks have been smoothed out. I’m currently going into Chapter 11 (of 14.) Once I’m all through I’ll go back and put in a chunk that I didn’t have the gumption to write when I came to it. And then it should be all set to put into the hands of Andrea Jones, author of Hook & Jill. She’ll be the second person to read it.

After that, well, its fate is still up in the air...

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Page 326


Waiting for something to load, I picked up my 'baby name book' which I have, of course, to consult for character names.  I opened a page at random and landed on the name Lindford, an Old English place name meaning "Linden tree ford" or "flax ford."  Yeah, okay, so what?  Well, I worked my way down the page, stopping to read about the name Linus and glad for the Peanuts mention, nodded at the not-so-suprising notion that Lionel means "young lion"... and then what do I see?  Llewellyn.  As in Llewellyn Davies, the "adopted family" of Sir J.M. Barrie.

I love "coincindences."

By the way, according to my book there's some discrepency over the meaning of Llewellyn.  Apparently it's "resembling a lion" but another school of thought akins it to "leader."  In either case, the name is of Welsh origin.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Playing Around


I had just been thumbing thru the script to the play Peter Pan.  As I have said before, it's not as saturated in me as so with the novel, since I tend to deal with the book.

I had to share this, as I truly laughed out loud.  In Barrie's description of how to portray Nana, he writes:

...must never be on two legs except on those rare occasions when an ordinary nurse would be on four.

Ah, the cleverness of Barrie!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Bill & Ted: STILL totally EXCELLENT

Not sure if it has been here on this site, but it’s no secret that I am a fan of Bill & Ted. (Well, if it had been, it isn’t one now.) Yes, they’re utterly silly, but hey, that’s why I like them.

I remember seeing the ads on TV for it, thinking how (dare I say) stupid it looked. But my friend Zaph (rest his soul) and I needed something to do on a Friday night. And we figured: It’s about time travel (a subject of which I am [and he had been] a sucker for) and something, at least one thing, will be funny. Well, we loved it. It had been so much more than I expected it to be, and the toying with time clocked in rather nicely, too. The (sad?) truth of it is... we saw it every consecutive Friday for seven weeks. We probably would have seen it more, but (definitely sadly, perhaps horribly) our preferred movie theater started to chop it up. Yes, really! We knew, we had seen it many times. But whole parts of scenes were missing. I don’t know the reason for it, but nevertheless, it had happened.


I even "had to" have (and did obtain!) a red denim jacket like Ted "Theodore" Logan.  [And did so without the internet.  {The internet didn't exist!}]

Another anecdote... Zaph and I had been in a fast food place and two nuns arrived. They spoke the praises of a movie, none other than Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. They were ecstatic that we liked it, too. They’d been entranced by the wonderful message of “Be excellent to each other,” finding it a hip way of expressing the purest form of their beliefs.

I’ll also tell you that Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is the movie I have seen the most. I won’t disclose how many times, partly because it has been so many times I lost track. (Double digits involved.)

Naturally, I’d been really happy about the sequel, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey coming out. And yes, I liked it, too. No, I didn’t love it as much, but I found it totally worthy. A bit of cool trivia from the sequel - the villain in it is named De Nomolos, a very slick and (ahem!) excellent name for a bad guy. Here’s the trivia part. It’s derived from simply flipping the names of one of the writers (of both films): Ed Solomon.

I even sort of liked the cartoon series. It could have been much better, but what we got had been a lot of fun for someone who just can’t get enough of those lovable doofs. However, as we learned from the ill-fated live action show (which lasted for what, two weeks?) it’s not always the case that we will love them. Not having Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves really made a difference. (In cartoon form it didn’t matter so much.)  [For the record, my friends and I wanted a TV series long before either had been announced.  The cartoon show,as it appeared, had been title Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures.  I don't recall the live-action title and don't even feel like looking it up.  Not to sound pompous, but I liked our title for a series better:  Triumphant Tales of Bill & Ted]

WELL, they’ve been kicking around the idea of a third movie for about 15 years now. I’m happy to report that it is still alive. Yes, there’s a distinct possibility that they’re going for the charm of three. The best news is that Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson, as well as the all-important Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves are all on board - so long as they agree on the script/story. The general consensus is that it will deal with Little Bill and Little Ted (their kids, as established in Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.) Too bad George Carlin can’t be involved. Rest his soul, too. If you think about it, it might seem overkill and a rehash to keep his character Rufus as part of the storyline anyway.

Time (ha!) will tell, but I’m hoping it does show up.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

NetherNeverland

Well, here's the new face for Peter Pan.
That's actor Charlie Rowe, playing Peter in the SyFy Channel's Neverland.
(The photo is not from the SyFy 4-hour movie event.)
New information has come forth.

I'll say flat out, I'm a bit disinterested.  For one thing, it's going to be a prequel to "Peter Pan."  Not that I object to them doing that... I'm cool with it as long as it's a re-imagining and not meant to be directly contiguous with Barrie's tale.  The fact of it is, though, that I'd looked forward to a re-invention of the story we all know... maybe with flying airship pirates and laser swords and rotating hook hands.  Not that I'm particularly excited for those things.  I just mean I wanted to see it sent into some other style and universe.  Thus, a prequel doesn't quite cut the mustard for me.  It seems to borrow from iconic lore enough, but it doesn't sound very 'Peter Pan' to me, either.  I'll still watch of course, just to see what they do with it.  It's being brought to us from writer/director Nick Willing.  Somehow that's a good match for Darling, so I guess I'm willing, too.

I've borrowed this from MovieWeb, who posted the rest of the story here.
Sweeping in time from the turbulent seas of the pirates of the Caribbean to the back alleys of Dickensian London to a world of pure imagination, Neverland is the inspired origin story of one of the most cherished characters of all time, Peter Pan.

Raised on the streets of turn-of-the century London, orphaned Peter and his pals survive by their fearless wits as cunning young pickpockets. Now, they've been rounded up by their mentor Jimmy Hook to snatch a priceless--some believe, magical--treasure which transports them to another world. Neverland is a realm of white jungles and legendary mysteries of eternal youth, where unknown friends and enemies snatched from time welcome the new travelers with both excitement and trepidation. These groups include a band of 18th century pirates led by the power-mad Elizabeth Bonny, and the Native American Kaw tribe led by a Holy Man, which has protected the secret of the tree spirits from Bonny and her gang for ages - and that has meant war. But as the fight to save this strange and beautiful world becomes vital, Hook, Peter, and the ragamuffin lost boys consider that growing old somewhere in time could be less important than growing up, right here in their new home called Neverland.

Cause for PANic?