What? Um...OK, let me be more specific
I recently saw...Valerian and The City of a Thousand Planets
The movie is beautiful, with fantastic visuals from design, to execution. Not just 'special effects' in the modern, CGI sense, but the aesthetics of everything from the uniforms of the Earth military, to the planetary environments was absolutely breathtaking.
The look of the film goes hand in hand with the world building of the setting. THIS is a universe I want to game in. I want to go to these planets, meet (or be) these aliens, and fight crime across the galaxy as a special agent of the Galaxity Council (OK, that's more from the graphic novels, but I like the name).
The film opens >>MINOR SPOILER WARNING<< with the origin of the City of a Thousand Planets set to one of my all time favorite songs. That sequence is practically worth the price of admission to the movie. It was that good. I wanted a detailed breakdown of who each group was, and when they arrived so I could have the info available if/when I get the chance to run a Valerian and Laureline RPG.
The film isn't perfect by any means, and its weaknesses lie mainly with the main actors, and the characters they play. While not poorly acted per se, they were a tad flat. The dialogue doesn't give them much to work with, as much of it is shallow, and cartoonish. It actually reminded me of what a comic book from France, badly translated into English, and then read aloud would sound like.
That's a shame, as that is not how the Valerian and Laureline comics read to me at all. Corny perhaps, and definitely molded from Space Opera clay, the dialogue of the graphic novels came off a bit more nuanced (especially Laureline), and complex.
I thought the story was interesting, whereas many critics designated it a mess, and incomprehensible. I definitely have to disagree. While not necessarily fine literature, the story worked, and made perfect sense to me as a Space Opera plot.
Overall I enjoyed it. I don't feel the need to see it again on the big screen, but I would definitely get it on DVD, or a similar format just to review the universe, and its curious inhabitants.
On a very different note...
People of Earth has returned for a second season!
I don't know if I've mentioned this little gem of a show before, but it's a very clever, oddball comedy, with a Sci-Fi twist that puts it right up my alley.
I find myself attracted to this show primarily because of its premise; A news magazine reporter decides to do a Human interest piece on a support group for people who believe they've been abducted by aliens, only to find out he may have been abducted himself.
The premise is further expanded upon as we see the aliens' side of the story, something I didn't really expect going in.
As some of you may know, UFOs and alien abductions are a favorite subject of mine dating back many years. I was a big fan of Project: UFO, and one of my all time favorite films is Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Having come out with my first professional RPG product, The Googly Eyed Primetime Puppet Show RPG, I am considering what my second one should be. An idea I've had on the back burner for a very long time is something called Visitors from Space, which definitely shares some similarities with People of Earth.
Well, off to my day job. I'll be back soon with some cool updates on my current gaming situation.
Until then, Watch the Skies...
AD
Barking Alien
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