Don't Be So Quix to Judge?

So it turns out that Terry Gilliam is not the only one who is using Cervantes’s famous foibled fighter Don Quixote as a springboard for a feature film. Joel Silver and Warner Bros. are planning an adventure for the knight errant as well. However, they’re taking a “different” approach. They’re making it more sleek and modern-ish. It's being touted as akin to the Pirates of the Caribbean series. It's also been described as along the lines of the recent Sherlock Holmes film.

My gut reaction: Please don’t.

Then I thought about it a bit more. Before I get to my re-evaluation, let me rant just a wee bit. I have not, and will not, see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. Why? Because I’m a purist at heart. And I’m sorry, but that is NOT Sherlock Holmes. I’m not saying it should be banned or anything. Just that I can’t abide it myself. Part of my disenchantment is the title. In my opinion, you can’t go calling it Sherlock Holmes when it doesn’t fit with the original concept. Holmes is not an action hero. I’d have less of a problem with it if they’d titled it Sherlock, or Holmes. I say less because the truth is even though that would ‘settle' the matter for me, I just don’t like the idea of Holmes with weaponry, clever quips that belong in “flicks” and such action-oriented sequences. In other words, I don’t cotton to a James Bond-esque Sherlock.

Okay, so, as you might guess, I’m hoping that the new Don Quixote movie is not simply titled Don Quixote when it's nothing like the original. And then the more I thought about it, the more I warmed the idea of revamping this tale. Unlike Holmes, Quixote lends itself to this kind of treatment. I can totally see some dude with ramshackle but nifty armor loaded with pop out knives. I already have a mental image of his army of transforming windmills. It would be stupid… but the kind of stupid that works. And my title suggestion? Quixotic. Or, better yet, if it turns out to be “full on” techno-saavy knight errantry… then I say Psychotic Quixotic.

Let’s hope it’s fun.

Flying High.. and Don't PANic, It's Almost Right

Anon finished Peter Pan: Betwixt-and-Between,
my interquel adventure, a little while ago now.
We’ve been discussing it back and forth via emails.

Here are just a few comments that brought me joy:

Oh. My. God. :D :D :D :D :D
This gets better and better! While there are still some problems, this REALLY feels like Barrie's Peter Pan!

Wow.... O_O I did not expect that....
This chapter opened up looking like the kind of heartless fun that I remember and love, and then --

Now I REALLY want to finish this thing tonight

Overall, an EXCELLENT final chapter to the book! Could hardly have been better if you tried

As for the book overall? Aside from [ … ], it was VERY much what I'd hoped for!
In some ways it was even MORE than I'd hoped for, as it pointed things out that hadn't even occurred to me, and made me curious about others! It really DOES feel very much like "Chapters 7-20" of Peter Pan In Kensington Gardens, the Peter Pan book with no ending!

The “problems” and “Aside from” spoken of are mainly the same ones that I have mentioned as possibly being problematic in other posts regarding this book. However, it’s also still the case that it isn’t as if these things cannot be smoothed out. Especially since Anon had given me some great suggestions. And the “did not expect that” refers to something that shocked in the good way.

Anon also had some issues along the way which wound up working themselves out. For instance, Anon thought Pan seemed too poilte. But as I pointed out in our email-ing, the boy Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens is quite different from the one in the Neverland. Without giving too much away, it's the events of this novel that shape him into the cocky, rude and horribly self-absorbed boy that we somehow love in spite of all that.

Having someone so well versed in the world of Barrie certainly helped quite a bit. And it’s not just the re-tuning to make those sections more Barrie-like. Anon came up with some delicious tidbits to add as well as ideas to further the impact.

And so, it’s back to wordsmithing for me… Although I am going to take a little bit of break first. But I’ll get to it soon enough. So anyone else who is looking forward to the “lost chapters” of Peter Pan’s life, just hang on for a little while longer. Once I’m done with the rewrites, I’ll be sending it off to Andrea Hook & Jill Jones.

And what’s on the agenda after that? I’m not sure. I certainly am not lacking for ideas, thank goodness. I have a few things I can go back to as well as a few new projects to begin. As of yet none of them are leaping out at me. But I expect one of my characters (or a new character) to come knocking before I’m ready to return to the page.

I can, however, say that as of right now I do not expect to be returning to Peter Pan. I’ve had enough of him for a while. But there’s plenty more to write about the boy… so I’m not done with him yet.

Oh... the pic is the "tagline" for this book.

Josiecat's Declaration

Buttercup and Josiecat are here.

I just had to share what Josiecat said moments ago.

Her boss, with no discernable provocation to do so, asked her,

"Do you believe in fairies?"

She replied, "HELL YEAH!"

Hosah.

A New Meaning to Pan Seared...

Strange, but this is the first I am hearing of...
... a vegetable named after the eternal boy?

Yep, this is "Peter Pan Squash."

Up until now if I'd heard "Peter Pan squash" it would have brought to mind a dim-witted troll living in the Neverland (or NeverWorld) declaring his plan for the day.

Somehow (with a grumble) I think peanut butter would be more up his alley in terms of taste.



Good grief...

Gilliam's Arc - A Flood of Films Flowing into Fantasy

I have now seen all of Terry Gilliam’s films.

Last Friday night, Buttercup and I watched Jabberwocky.
I rather liked it. It’s not the best movie, but it’s not bad either.

How does it fare in terms of a Gilliam flick?

Well, given that it’s his first movie (Monty Python films not included) it serves as a missing link, even though it comes first. How so? Well, Jabberwocky is very straightforward. Sure, it veers a little here and there, but it’s nothing like the double-backflipping and turning reality inside out as per Gilliam’s later movies. What this shows, then, is a definite arc of his work. From single-streamed story to various streams of consciousness flowing in and out of each other. A progression (or degeneration, however one chooses to look at it) of storytelling technique, getting less and less linear as he goes along.

At this rate, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote will be a series of semi-related images.
I jest. But it is interesting that as projects came, he beefs up the surreal quality each time.

And for the record, Jabberwocky pretty much follows the Lewis Carroll poem. It’s not a direct adaptation, not by a longshot. But it does tell roughly that same story. In fact, it's quite Monty Python-like. From the humor to the look of it. And having the always great Michael Palin as the guy who falls into being the hero bolsters that feeling. Thus, it stands to reason that as time went on in his films, Gilliam steered farther away from the Pythonic influence. I'd also like to say that Deborah Fallender did a great job as the princess. She played it rather like a medieval Marcia Brady.

And how did the famed monster look? It’s the second best brought to the screen (of 3.) Burton’s takes the Unbirthday Cake, to be sure. But Gilliam’s is impressive for 1977, certainly. And it’s much better (in terms of design and action) than the one in the 1985 made-for-TV Alice in Wonderland.

I’ve also come to realize that I’d been looking at the works Gilliam had written. There is, of course, also The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys and The Brothers Grimm. I've seen each of those, too. And on the whole, I liked them as well. But each of them is a linear tale... although the fantastic hand of Gilliam is definitely present in each!

Trying to Grok Gilliam

The Ever-Jelly

Is Peter Pan staying young by an absolute choice really so far fetched?
Mother Nature has shown it's possible!

Meet the Turritopsi nutricula, a jellyfish living with its own fountain of youth. This sea creature has the ability to regenerate its cells so as to become young again, literally. A kind of reboot of the life cycle, over and over again. You can read more about them here.

The part that's a little scary? They're mulitplying... and they're immortal.

Anyone who says magic doesn't exist and Nature doesn't strike back, think again.

He Writes... He Scores... With Some Time-Out

Well, my “faithful reader” Anon has begun

Peter Pan: Betwixt-and-Between.
So far, it’s very well received. WHEW!

How can I not be pleased with being told it "DEFINITELY" feels like we're back in the world of Peter Pan? Anon also said that it doesn't feel like a new book. Rather, it feels like Chapter 7 of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. (i.e. the next chapter of it, as if it actually came next.) Thanks, Anon! Glad you're enjoying it.

Anon does have some minor issues, though, but that's to be expected of the first read through of something so near and dear to the heart.

You might recall I’d been a tad worried about the one section of it - I said it might seen too outlandish. To my relief, Anon doesn’t hate it or think it too strange. Then again, the general feeling is that it doesn’t quite fit. That is to say… yet. For it’s not as if it can’t, it just doesn’t seem so quite right at this point. But from Anon’s comments/comparison to Barrie (on this part as well as another) I know just how to fix it so that it will thus become much more Barriesque. Thanks for the inadvertent suggestion on how to make it work, Anon!

Anon is only four chapters in so far… and there’s a lot to come in the next ten. Here's hoping the "wonderings" and "issues-that-might-not-be-issues-after-all" turn into a genuine love of the book!

For the record, I'm going to make the necessary revisions before I pass it along to Hook & Jill author Andrea Jones. No sense in giving her something to read that can use some polishing, eh?

I'll keep you posted.