Tag Archives: Percy Jackson

The idea that was 

There is a setting that we at times tend to forget. Disney paved the way and some will like that path and some will not. But it isn’t up to Disney and others can follow that path. Particularly a path that was set out by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. The name of that movie was Titan AE. The setting was one that I see as a movie that was released in a bad time setting. 2000-2001 was not a great time setting for a lot of people and it was competing with MI2, Gladiator, The Perfect Storm and X-men. A non-Disney animation doesn’t really hold up a candle to that. But in this age of special effects and graphic Machine learning design (calling it AI sounds like a mass) this setting could well work in the age of Netflix/Paramount/Disney plus all competing for a larger slice of the pie. I reckon that Don Bluth has a lot more materials and that setting might help him. So what happens when this 95 minute setting becomes a mini series of 4 episodes each an hour long? I reckon that there are reasons why some of the cast members would love to get involved and when you see the average scripts that these studios accept, the complete rewrite of a decent script might hold water with these streamers. A setting where we get the good, the bad and the energetic and it all comes to blow starting in episode 3 with episode 4 as the finale. You see, some are thinking the other way round, but I reckon that Titan AE has what it takes to get into a real action movie. The stage was properly presented by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. As such whilst some go for the ‘the movie was a failure’ some could see the open sided win that is right there for the taking and it might make for a decent mini series. As I see it, the streamers see the benefit of that equation. That being said, there is no reason why the original designers couldn’t offer this to the SBA or a player like Dubai One. The options is not seeing it, but seeing where it could hold water too and the second option might require more rewrite (making it more Arabic set) but the story doesn’t change and the makers had a decent setting to begin with. So whilst everyone is redoing the same thing (example: Harry Potter and Percy Jackson) others might seek a wider spread of a setting that was in the past a little too constricting. As such is there a setting where the new could be derived from the old, whilst not relying on a remaster?  I don’t think from animation to real life action is a remaster, but that is merely me. And when the stage is placed on the new borders, some might create an entirely new frontier. That is something worth considering (at least that is what I think).

And when you have considered that as a solution, what will some do about those not ‘in league’ with Zeus, but what happens when a simple girl enters The Eleusis Ploutonion? Did anyone consider being original and brave? The setting that someone is pushing the boundaries of the past into the future by using the known parts and throw them upside down. Because the facts that were were often whispered by the victor. So what happens when someone found tablets that were set in hidden scriptures. Hidden because the victors would never allow them to be released or to survive. But what happens when someone with the powers of a god could foresee that happening and they would have had ways to plant the fruits of their achievements in other ways?

It is just a thought, but we are always ‘pushed’ to accept the writings of the old, but what happens when there are older writings still? Where could they be hidden and how could they be ‘resurrected’? It just a thought to have, because the bulk of movies and series never go into that equation. Just like seemingly no one considered that Titan AE might become an excellent movie.

Just food for thought. Have a great day.

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Brain what?

Today I stopped (via YouTube) to watch one movie that I had not seen for some time. Who could pass up the chance to watch Natalie Wood again, in this movie with Louise Fletcher and Christoper Walken it is all about recording the brain. The movie Brainstorm (1983) is all about what is not possible and it is done well, the story takes a little dip when the military gets involved (like it was in the 80’s) but overall still an entertaining movie. I wondered what would happen if some young upstart (new director) gets to talk to a decently financed producer and makes this into a mini series for whatever streaming service takes it. A friend of mine (yes, I actually have those) wondered why I am not going that distance myself. Well, I turned 59, I am not a director, I do not feel that I would make a decent director and starting a new career as well as getting schooling at 59 is not my idea of retirement preparations. 

So as I was pondering that field we were not meant for show business, apart from the optional new anime by Ridley Scott where I am considering to do the Dutch voice over, there is no real flame to go that distance. Yet, in that same setting I was wondering the advances that Electroencephalography has made (if any), you see that is still an important part, if there is to be any real AI in computing, a better recollection and parsing systems is required and Electroencephalography might be the only technology that gives (at some point in time) a more human (or is that humane) setting towards AI. That drive could be part of the brainstorm mini series. It is not the weirdest idea, the writer Bruce Joel Rubin did make a real good script, he was also behind Ghost, Jacob’s Ladder, and Deep Impact (and a few more), as such this man has earned his stripes. But the nagging feeling that the movie left behind beckons exploring. The 80’s was a great era for loopy ideas, but not one for deeply thought through options. I reckon that these movies are all under investigation by the streaming houses as remaking IP tends to be a lot cheaper than making new IP. The fact that this movie is almost 40 years old gives it the forgotten tender group.

Yet in all this we need to wonder if this all we are, are new IP settings (Harry Potter, Game of Thrones) so rare that remaking is all we can do? There are almost 130 million books out in the open, is finding new IP that hard? The producers seem to clamp down on the bestseller lists and when the going gets tough they fold (example: Percy Jackson series), yet in all this the world has so much more to offer. It had one additional thing to offer, because my mind got the better of me. It started with me reading a part wrong ‘One idiot abroad’, this was accentuated with the slightly ‘psycho’ look of Stephen Merchant. It showed two additional people and the thought came ‘One won’t make it out alive’ and I giggled. That is a popcorn moment, it is reality TV that I would watch, especially when death becomes a factor. Consider all these celebrity survival games. We all get it, there needs to be a winner, but let’s be honest, should the losers survive? 

There is no way that you haven’t had  similar thought at some point. It is almost as corny (and perhaps essential) as letting an anti-vaxxer Twitter influencer die of Covid-19, some things are just meant to be and should that person be allowed to deprive actual victims of essential oxygen? We are setting the stage that the makers have given us and we twist that setting a little more. It is almost like walking into a bookshop and placing some of the Stephen King books ‘the Stand’ in the non-fictional section, there is a little demon on our shoulder whispering “You can do that, do not be the pussy you usually are”, and at some point we just give in.

If we are out thinking patterns, is it not equally so that intelligence will be shaped by the quirks we give into? Yet what is the stage where we record these impulses and can they actually be recorded at present? If electroencephalography is the way to that, is it not also the way towards an actual AI? If a biochemical computer can be mapped and truly be understood, is that not a first step in creating a silicon version to do something similar? Yes, I understand that they are not the same, but to get the other version working, it needs to be able or an effort needs to be made to mimic the other version, that has been true for the longest time. You see, mimicking also shows what goes wrong and when we understand, truly understand why it is going wrong, we can work towards new levels of innovation.

The path to innovation is never a straight line, only according to some person with a business degree and basic knowledge of Excel, they think it is a simple formula, but the rest, those treading innovation will tell you it is something different entirely, perhaps a new Brainstorm might reveal a lot more scientific paths than we give the art credit for.

Speaking of credits, those who follow me, let it be known that a certain counter is at 21,447, as such certain revelations will not take much longer.

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