Destro Who?
Sorry, couldn’t resist, since Christopher Eccleston, my all-time favorite Doctor, has been cast as Destro. And Dennis Quaid is Hawk. Dennis Quaid. Who, a long time and some weight away, a certain ex said I was looking like. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that there’s going to be a Joe movie, and then I read this.
This is gonna be good.
Here’s a link to a picture of the good General apparently talking on a cell phone. Man, ya’d think Breaker and Dial Tone woulda come up with SOMETHING cooler….
http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4319&Itemid=99
The Underground Space Station 
Ya know, seeing this has really started me thinking of resurrecting the Lion Division.
“Who?” you ask.
“Well, I’ll tell you.” Sorry, Holy Grail moment.
Anyway–from 9th grade until my freshman year of college, I wrote about the Lion Division, a unit of Joes quartered in a dead survivalist’s mansion. A demolitions guy, a jungle combat guy, a Marine(who went nuts and turned into an Iron Grenadier), a Ranger, a sniper, a hot intelligence agent who first the Marine and then the Jungle combat guy hooked up with, a female infantry(who, at the time of the original writing turned out to be Swamp Rat’s unknown twin sister–an idea I threw out eventually as too Lucasian.) There was also a female gunner, a pilot, and the bad guy version of the Lions–the Coil. They weren’t introduced until the fifth or sixth book. Yeah, book. Okay, novella.
Now this has started me thinking “Novel-no. Comic-no. FILM–THAT’s the way to go.” Even though it’d be really expensive and really complicated and I don’t know that even with everyone I know, not just the creative types, if there’d be enough people.
Even though a few of my best friends could pass for Dreadnoks with no problem. No problem WHATsoever.
Maybe I’ll just do the comic. Or get Brian to do it animated.
So, is there ANYONE out there who doesn’t think now that I’m the geekiest of the geeks?
And yes, before anyone asks, they did remove the survivalist before they converted the house into Lion’s Den. SHEESH!
What a blast from the past, Sean. I used to read G.I Joe and owned some toys in the late 80’s and early 90’s. But since then I haven’t really thought about them. What do you think is the right approach for this story?
This whole thing just has me weeping. Some stuff sounds cool as hell. Ray Park as Snake-Eyes and Eccleston as Destro sound good to me, but some of the other news coming out just makes me nervous about the films final quality. I’m a Joe fan from the twelve inch days, the Intruder days, The Super-Joe days and so on. I even liked the odd variants created by the versions of Joe sold in other countries as their country’s spec-ops teams.
This just has me nervous with just about each new press relief.
The Ray Park thing has me a little queasy too, but he WAS really good in Sleepy Hollow, and the Maul combat scenes were the best part of that movie.
Dude, Ray Park as Snake Eyes was listed as one of the things I like. Since Snake Eyes didn’t talk, Ray’s Queen’s English isn’t an issue and the man can move like Snake Eyes should be able to move. Plus, when his face was shown in the Marvel comic (the source for much of the movie’s backstory ideas we’re told) he looked blandly generic and not unlike Mr. Park.
Now if only we could get Jet Li as Storm Shadow and a confirmed ten minute fight scene between the two…
Jet Li–Ray Park–Tommy–Snake Eyes—DROOOOOOOOOLLL!!
Usually, though, they showed his mask when he was in public. Also, I’ve always thought that they intentionally kept him pretty much featureless and non-descript since first, he had so much presence anyway, and second Snake Eyes is the archtype, the hero we all wanna be.
I hope whoever make the movie shows a little more respect to masks. Snake Eyes realy offers an opportunity for some great acting and directing.
Well, considering Snakes and Destro are both masked, so I’m HOPING that whoever they get understands their potential. (The masks, I mean.) Unfortunately, and this is only a small unfortunately, this is going to be(Probably, anyway) more an ensemble piece than just concentrating on one or two characters. Actually, that, boredom, and really wanting to be a Joe was what first started me writing my stuff. Now, since the exalted Mr. Hama is involved, I’m thinking it’s going to be done well.
An ensemble piece? Yeah, and then some…
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1046173/
Even if it is an ensemble, some characters are going to be more dominant than others. Like in the X-Men movies where Wolverine had moost of the limelight. I felt they even over did it after the first movie. If Snake Eyes is done right he’ll probably steal the show.
Having a few characters in the foreground works. Yes, with the X-Men I would’ve liked to have seen Scott more than Logan, but that’s just me. What Singer did right, though, is feature everyone to a certain extent, but concentrate on the principles more. The mistake Generations and Insurrection made, as much as I like those movies, (oh, be quiet, Haters) is that they tried to give everyone too much to do. Story time shouldn’t be sacrificed on the altar of Screen time. Personally, I’d like to see this movie follow Burton’s Batman, Singer’s X-Men, or Independence Day. All the characters have something to do, but there are one or two to focus on, and it all is necessary to the story. Don’t introduce everybody, don’t explain it all, don’t do the whole Raimi Spider-Man origin movie, just drop people in and tell them to hang on. If there was one weakness other than Jessica Alba that the first FF movie had, it was that it took too long to get them to BE the FF.
Oh, and I just saw this.
http://gameinvasion.comcast.net/gameinvasion/show?
I followed the link. CJ7 looks cool. Not sure about Kung Fu Panda.
I fear Kung Fu Panda may be on the fast track to Obscure Animated Trivia Question Hell, not unlike Madagascar, Titan AE, and Road to El Dorado.
That said, though, I did have an amusing minute or two picturing it 60’s Batman style, with the sound effects spelled out on screen. But in this case it would be “BAM!boo” of course.
Re X-men
I thought it was right to focus on Wolverine in the first movie, but felt it was overdoing it to focus on himi all the movies while neglecting a little the other characters and especially Scott.It was not that hey didn’t give them time, but they should have given them more instead of rehashing Wolverine.
Eeesh, Micha, one of your posts was marked as spam. I apologize, my friend! Stupid spam thing. The approach that I’ve been writing in my head for a while is sort of a “Meanwhile…” piece for when Devil’s Due relaunched the comics. Focus on the main group needed for that particular story. I think that’d be a good way for this movie to go. Also, since usually the bad guys are more interesting than the good guys, focus more on them. That was the one thing with the X-Men movies that I would’ve changed. More development on the Brotherhood, maybe showing that Mystique had been behind a bunch of stuff, Sabretooth being mistaken for Bigfoot and then killing people, things like that.
Well, like it or not, Wolvie’s the X-Men posterboy. Say “X-Men” to most people and three things pop into their heads-claws, attitude, and the word “Bub.” In fact, right now, Brian’s sick, home from school, playing X-Men Mutant Academy and the only names he remembers are Storm and Wolverine.
From March 3rd on MTV.com
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‘G.I. Joe’ Executive Producer Reveals Details About The Flick … And The Action Figures!
‘For fans, they’re really going to love this, because we take them on a journey,’ says Brian Goldner, who is also a bigwig at Hasbro.
By Larry Carroll, with reporting by Brian Jacks
Your grandparents remember a rah-rah line of 12-inch dolls with kung-fu grip, providing a male alternative to Barbie. Your older siblings (or, gasp!, parents) grew up with a highly stylized, action-packed, endearingly goofy cartoon franchise fueled by 3 3/4-inch action figures. You might recall anything from G.I. Joe Extreme to the Classic Collection, to pop-culture references like “knowing is half the battle.”
Now, a star-powered G.I. Joe movie has begun filming. But the question remains: What will the movie’s Joes be like? For the answer, we went straight to the only man who commands both Destro and General Hawk.
Brian Goldner is the chief operating officer at Hasbro, which first introduced Joe to action-minded adolescents in 1964, and is also the executive producer on the “Transformers” and “G.I. Joe” movies. ” ‘G.I. Joe’ has just gone into filming this past week, with a great cast and a tremendous story all based on the comics and the animation,” Goldner said. “I think fans, and fans to come, will really love what we’re doing.”
(In the MTV Movies blog, Goldner talks about the possibility of G.I. Joe’s classic vehicles showing up in the movie.)
Undoubtedly, such statements are as musical to the ears of longtime fans as the TV show’s theme song. But stars like Dennis Quaid, Sienna Miller and Marlon Wayans have been met with varying degrees of enthusiasm from such fans, and Quaid himself recently confirmed that many beloved characters — including Wild Bill, Shipwreck and Tomax and Xamot — won’t be in the flick.
“We all really loved what G.I. Joe was about in the ’80s; we loved that story arc and the concept of Joe vs. Cobra,” said Goldner, explaining that the people who created those characters will return, even if some of their creations won’t. Comics writer Larry Hama, Goldner confirmed, “is onboard, and he’s working with us on the script.
“And you may see him in the movie,” he added.
Noting that the flick, directed by “Mummy” mastermind Stephen Sommers, will largely sidestep the TV show and be more “about the comic books,” Goldner revealed some of the major characters and plotlines the film will explore. “We all know of the Arashikage [ninja clan], and we all know of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, but we need to build that story,” he explained. “We all know the story of Duke, and the story of the Baroness. … We know the story of Destro, but do we really? We need to go back and tell the origin story of how you get a Scottish arms dealer, who comes forward in history — how does that happen?”
“And Cobra Commander,” he added, referring to the evil terrorist leader who fan sites have reported will be portrayed by “Brick” star Joseph Gordon-Levitt. “In effect, this is all about the rise of Cobra Commander. … For fans, they’re really going to love this, because we take them on a journey. … We have to go through the first chapter and then build from there.”
Goldner was also eager to respond to the controversy over rumors that the patriotic nature of “G.I. Joe” was being toned down in order to be more appealing to a worldwide, post-9/11 audience. “Duke, in our story, really represents the pre-1983 G.I. Joe,” he said, linking Channing Tatum’s character to the dolls of the ’60s and ’70s. “If those fans that grew up on the 12-inch Army man are looking for where their anchor should be, it’s in Duke; he’s the leader of the team and clearly American.
“But the story, just like in the comic books, was a story that took us all over the world,” he continued. “That’s all we were really trying to get at. And everything else that fans have heard, about the early ideas or contemplations, that’s really gone. … We’re talking about a story that’s going to take us all over the world, from the desert to under the water, to the mountains to cities. … Clearly, the American military is involved, as are other forces. But at the end of the day, the force that matters is the G.I. Joe force, and the Pit, and all the things that relate to that.”
We caught up with Goldner at the New York Toy Fair, where he was giving fans a sneak preview of the G.I. Joe toys of the future. At the front of his thoughts, however, was the real-life stars who’d soon be creating the action figures’ action. “We think it’s amazing to have Channing Tatum as Duke, because I think he has a different kind of fanbase,” said the executive producer, who in May will become Hasbro’s CEO. “Clearly, Sienna Miller has a wonderful fanbase. Dennis Quaid as General Hawk, he has a tremendous fanbase. So bringing them all together, as an ensemble cast, is going to be really dynamic and something that people haven’t seen before. But it’ll still be very true to G.I. Joe.”
The next question would seem to be a logical one: Will the Joes we know and love be replaced by toy versions of Marlon Wayans and Arnold Vosloo? “Well, what was so magical about the ’80s G.I. Joe was the 3 3/4-inch product,” Goldner said, revealing that the dimensions of the star-faced toys would be along the lines of the “Real American Hero” line. “[That size] gives people a chance to get all the figures but get all of the vehicles. So it’s going to be in that scale. … Very true to where we were in the 1980s, and then we’ll take it forward.
“Steve Sommers is very different,” Goldner said, contrasting him with “Transformers” director Michael Bay. “But he’s perfect, because if you think about his movies like ‘The Mummy,’ it’s the perfect action/adventure movie. If you think about what we’re trying to do for G.I. Joe, really bringing back that ’80s G.I. Joe from the Marvel comics — those first 155 issues are really our focus. If you think about that, you’ll understand what we’re trying to get at with all those characters and all the intricate relationships.
“I don’t think you’d see this movie as wacky,” he promised, alluding to some of the more eccentric characters from the cartoon show. “I think you’re going to see this movie as being inspirational for younger kids and totally in the sweet spot for the guys who grew up on G.I. Joe.”
In August 2009, we’ll see it with our own eyes. In the meantime, “G.I. Joe” continues to shoot all over the world, with a budget so huge that it makes the U.S.S. Flagg aircraft carrier play set look like something you’d get at a 99-cent store.
Ya know, I wonder if General Flagg is alive or dead in this. If he’s alive, I can see a MASH reference from when he was a colonel.
Oh my f’n geekness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://aintitcool.com/node/36084
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I pasted this from the e-mail Jerry sent into a new post, but then, I saw it was here.
Check her out, boys!
http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=20658