New Year, New Anticipation!
Okay, so thanks to being a pastor (which means that I was uber-busy with Christmas), family illness, travel, more illness, a wedding renewal, and a couple of funerals to boot, the elaborate post I had planned for today didn’t come […]
John Otte on Jan 2, 2013
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Okay, so thanks to being a pastor (which means that I was uber-busy with Christmas), family illness, travel, more illness, a wedding renewal, and a couple of funerals to boot, the elaborate post I had planned for today didn’t come to pass. Sorry. So instead, I leave you with this question:
What Speculative something-or-other (be it book, movie, video game or whatever, either Christian or not) are you looking forward to most in 2013?
Man of Steel, I think. The Hobbit this year wasn’t bad, but it was nowhere near the level of the LotR movies, so I think my anticipation is greatly diminished.
Man of Steel should be a fun one. Hopefully this reboot fares better than the last one. :I
JRR Tolkien’s King Arthur poem!
It comes out in May
On a funny note: I’m anticipating how many ways we can squeeze Orlando Bloom onto next year’s Hobbit movie posters. I like Mr. Bloom, but trying to find a poster without him on it is going to be impossible!
Hmm…I think the next Star Trek movie. 🙂
Agreed!
Definitely this one!
Most of the speculative stories that I hope to consume in 2013 were created in 2012 or earlier, because I’m slow. But there are some things that I’m waiting for:
A Memory of Light, the final book in The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and finished by Brandon Sanderson. It’s scheduled to be released January 8th — next Tuesday!
Valor’s Worth by Rebecca P. Minor, but I still have to catch up with Curse Bearer.
Hadean Lands by Andrew Plotkin, an interactive fiction. I dearly hope that it will be realsed for platforms other than the iPhone.
After having seen The Hobbit movie last night, the next movie in the artificial Hobbit movie trilogy is in the same category for me as the next Star Trek movie. I will want to see them, because I’m highly invested in the stories (especially with The Hobbit, but also to an extent with Star Trek), but I also feel that the essence of the original stories is being desecrated and violated by the filmmakers, and I’m not eager to see more sacrilege.
I kind of get what you’re saying about the Hobbit movie. I think my problem with it was more the fact that they tried to force a more “adult” atmosphere on what is, essentially, a children’s story. I’ll be there for Part 2, though, because I did enjoy the first one.
As for Star Trek, we’re just going to have to agree to disagree. I liked the new take on it. Although personally, I’m still betting that the mystery villain isn’t Khan or some related associate but Gary Mitchell from “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”
We do have to agree to disagree, because out of those two movies, I liked The Hobbit better (or disliked it less). Both movies suffer from being too goofy, in my opinion. That is my main problem with The Hobbit. I particularly disliked the moment when Gandalf stands before the Great Goblin on the wooden bridge, and the Goblin taunts Gandalf by saying “What are you going to do now, Wizard?” Then Gandalf slashes the Goblin across is flabby belly, and then the goblin holds his belly and says, “That’ll do it.” To me, that scene was disgraceful, and it betrayed the theme of the seriousness of war against orcs that had been expressed earlier in the flashback to Thror’s battle with Azog.
The 2009 Star Trek movie has the same problem with goofiness, but I also think its changes to the storyline are unpardonable. If they wanted to make a new Star Trek movie, they could just set it at any time in the future. The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, and Voyager all take place within a relatively small span of years — those three series even overlap. It’s not like the Mayan Apocalypse ended up happening in 2512. Instead, they had to go back and re-tell Captain Kirk’s story, altering the timeline so that none of the TV series that we know and love are now “canonical” according to the new timeline. The fact that they have a science fictional device to explain the altered timeline only makes it worse. It seems very disrespectful to me.
I could have done without that, but I must admit, I laughed.
And we even more must admit that The Hobbit book included moments like these! In that case, our argument is what Tolkien for being silly, not the film.
It helps that orcs and goblins are separate species, something the film could have brought out more (at least with a quick reference).
Oddly, most people didn’t like the Azog subplot. I thought it was just fine.
Either way, with the film’s high challenge of both adapting the book, with all its oddly idiosyncratic moments and whimsical fairy-tale elements (talking troll purse!) and keeping in mind Tolkien’s later expansions and the existing The Lord of the Rings books and films, I thought the film struck an exquisite balance.
A few thoughts on Star Trek …
True. But those series aren’t as recognizable. We must admit, too, that a main purpose of rebooting the series is name recognition. “Mr. Plinkett,” in his excellent (though frequently foul-mouthed and crude) overview of the Star Trek reboot, explains the marketing concept: tapping into Name Recognition above all else, to cut through the media fog of not only other movies but TV, internet, smartphones, music everything else, with an Oh yes, I remember that. (This is also why we keep getting stupid cartoon-characters-in-the-“real-world” movies, along with the shlock that is flagrantly “based” on board games.)
This is the most ironic and amusing fact of the whole “reboot” deal — only one existing Star Trek series was left un-rebooted. Can you guess which one? Hint 1: you didn’t mention it above. Hint 2: its captain’s dog was mentioned in the film.
I have to agree with Stephen on this one. I too was a little upset with the fact that they took a buzzsaw to canon and shredded a lot of it (I mean, come on, they destroyed Vulcan, fer cryin’ out loud!). But then, once I realized that this was an alternate timeline, I was actually okay with it.
I think Stephen hit it on the head (or rather, Mr. Plinkett did). Who would come to a Star Trek movie set 100+ years after Voyager? Or in the time of Enterprise (the aforementioned still canonical TV series Stephen mentioned)? Not many. Sure, there’d be a few lookie-loos because of J. J. Abrams’s name, but it wouldn’t draw as well as it did. And that’s because when people think Star Trek, they don’t think Picard or Odo or the Doctor (not Who, obviously, the EMH). They think Kirk and Spock and McCoy. Without them, to most folks, it’s not Star Trek.
I guess why I’m okay with this is because it’s a way to see new stories with the original crew. Some things will stay sort of the same (i.e. Kirk cheating on the Kobayashi Maru). Others will shock us. That’s why I’m really hoping that the next movie is not some sort of re-telling of The Wrath of Khan. We already have that one and it’s held up well. Let the story be a new one!
But again, I know, we’ll have to agree to disagree. And I’m okay with that too.
I understand this mentally, but I don’t relate to it. I’m too young, I guess. I respect the Original Series, but for me, the go-to standard Star Trek is TNG. For me, Star Trek‘s glory day’s weren’t as long ago. Maybe that’s why it’s harder for me to accept a “reboot.”
Agreed. I think a re-telling of The Wrath of Khan would be boring, because we already know the story. Then again, it might be aggravating, because we don’t (or at least, people like me don’t) want them to mess with the story too much.
John, Stephen, thank you both for the discussion.
I know that Tolkien included silliness and comic relief, but I don’t think that moments like that horrible travesty with the Great Goblin are anything like Tolkien’s wonder-based jovialness. Earlier on, the movie did well incorporating some of Tolkien’s own comic relief, such as the legend of the origin of golf. I’m even willing to accept the shield-skating and dwarf-tossing from the LotR movies as close enough to the spirit of jovial comic relief. However, the goblin liposuction is too much. Tolkien is never crude. I also don’t think that Tolkien would have made fun of the act of killing anything, even a goblin. Killing goblins may be necessary, good, and honorable, but it should never be fun or cute. The thing that really made me mad was that the movie expresses this very theme explicitly, when Fili and Kili were trying to scare Bilbo by telling him about goblin raids. Thorin came over and scolded them, and then the scene cut to the battle that lead to Thror’s death. This built up a theme about the grimness of war, and this theme was explicitly betrayed with that horrible moment with the Great Goblin.
I agree. We’ll never know, but maybe the auidence would have received this subplot better if its foundation had not been overthrown by the betrayal of theme of war being serious.
The only one left that I know of is Enterprise. But you are a far better Trekkie than I am. I should admit that I haven’t seen enough of Voyager to count for anything (only vague memories from my childhood), and that I’ve only recently begun watching Deep Space 9. I’ve never seen anything from Enterprise.
Ordinarily I would agree, especially given his own portrayals of war’s horrors, and clear grounding of this truth in his own background. But then there’s this, a startlingly “modern,” even video-game-esque touch, which if I hadn’t read the books I would have assumed the films added:
By the way, this is Speculative Faith comment number 8,000. 😀
A month ago I would have said the second Hobbit movie, but after seeing this one my excitement is somewhat diminished. So I’ll have to say Andrew Peterson’s The Warden and the Wolf King, which I very much hope will come out in the next year even though the date hasn’t actually been released yet.
The new Hobbit movie, Dragonwitch by Anne Elisabeth Stengl, and the year of Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary and all associated celebrations
I’ll second Dragonwitch! I’m on the edge of my seat for it!!!
I forgot to mention Doctor Who! Then again, I probably won’t see much of this year’s material until it comes out on Netflix, which will most likely be next year. Oh well, I look forward to seeing the episodes of season 7 that have already aired whenever Netflix gets them.
I LOVED the Hobbit movie. But since I’ve already seen it, it doesn’t count for this question.
Hmm. I’m looking forward to the rest of Grimm, and Doctor Who season 7 now that the new companion has come along.
For books: I’m planning to read everything by Anne Elizabeth Stengl, since I’ve been remiss with her series. Also I’m going to reread all the Temeraire books and catch up on the latest book, which I’ve not read yet. Also I want to read a bunch of popular stuff I’ve heard of but not read, like Percy Jackson or I Am Number 4. Or 9 or whatever number he was.
Also I want to read some Philip K. Dick, since I’ve enjoyed every movie that’s been based on one of his stories. I feel like he’s getting to be the 7 degrees of separation guy–this movie was inspired by this book dedicated to Philip K. Dick.
So is anyone else looking forward to Pacific Rim? I know it looks like a large, loud mess, but I think that’s what will make it fun. Although I still think they made a mistake by hiring the same voice actress as GLaDOS (with the same vocal effects and sing-songy tone) to do the computer for the movie.
American Kaiju movies have a really bad track record, so I’m kind of concerned. Cautiously optimistic, though I wonder why they didn’t just take an anime and make a movie based on it. If you like the idea though John, you should check out the 1990’s Gamera movies. They’re some of the best giant monster movies ever made.
In chronological (I think), not priority, order of expected films:
Also, I just learned that Kerry Nietz has a new novel releasing in February: Mask. I have no clue what it’s about, but after The DarkTrench Saga I will keeping buying this man’s books.
That’s a good list!
Is it bad if I say I’m looking forward to the publication of two more of my books? Namely Failstate: Legends in the spring and Numb in the fall? Is that too self-serving?
You know what, forget I said anything. 😉
I forgot about Thor! The design for the dark elves is most interesting. I just hope they keep the same tone as the last one, I liked the chivalry on the part of Thor and the Warriors Three (plus Sif of course!) But then I’m a sucker for Chivalry.