November 06, 2012
November 05, 2012
Starchaser: The Legend of Orin
This 1985 animated sci-fi adventure film was written by Jeffrey Scott and was one of the first animated movies to mix traditional and computer animation. Long time actor/fight choreographer and stuntman Anthony De Longis played the evil Lord Zygon, most notably the best voice performance of the film. It is also one of the first animated films to be made and released in stereoscopic 3D.
The film has since gained a small cult status, but have been criticized over the years due to the obvious similarities to Star Wars and He-Man.
The setup should be instantly familiar: a young plucky kid from the ass-end of the universe teams up with a wise-cracking smuggler and a pair of bickering robots to defeat a mechanical bad guy who is trying to take over the universe. Throw in a beautiful princess and a super-cool spaceship and you could be forgiven for thinking you just watched STAR WARS.
Some of the names featured in the credits have gone on to greater things: among them most notably are Bill Kroyer, who along with John Lasseter was a CGI pioneer that went on to become a director (of the great short Technological Threat, the feature FernGully, and supervisor of effects for such films as Scooby-Doo and Garfield), and Darrell Rooney, mostly known for directing direct-to-video sequels to The Lion King, Lady And The Tramp and Mulan.
Finding information about how this film was made is next to impossible. Some sources say Filmation did have a small part in the development of the film, other sources say it was a co-production between a couple Italian animation studios and a few more in South Korea.
Either way, there's lots of care taken into the film's production design and animation, their budget was low, but they had lots of passion for this project. It's definitely not for kids, mature conten in the form violence, frightening monsters, three-boobed women, and man-droids that look like creepy mutated cyborgs are just some o the reasons why this probably traumatized 10 year old kids at the time.
If you're fan of He-man, Thundarr the Barbarian, The Last Starfighter and Star Wars, then you can't miss this!
The Trailer:
The Film:
The film has since gained a small cult status, but have been criticized over the years due to the obvious similarities to Star Wars and He-Man.
Synopsis:You can't deny the fun 80's style space-adventure epic of this fantasy/sci-fi rotoscoped animation blend, despite the blatant ripoffs of other sci-fi films of the time. It looks like 1983's Fire & Ice set in outer space, the voice acting is solid at times and pretty dodgy at other times, and the animation is a mixture of Ralph Bakshi meets Filmation. With some impressive 3DCG animated ships that blend in perfectly with the 2D animated characters and hand-painted backgrounds.
Set on the subterranean Mine-World, a band of human worker are treated like slaves under the power of the evil overlord Zygon until one, Orin, unearths the hilt of a mythical sword that only he can master. Escaping the planet, he runs into the rogue smuggler Dagg and a pair of helpful droids and the princess. They all team up to return to the Mine-World with a plan to defeat Zygon and free Orin's enslaved people.
The setup should be instantly familiar: a young plucky kid from the ass-end of the universe teams up with a wise-cracking smuggler and a pair of bickering robots to defeat a mechanical bad guy who is trying to take over the universe. Throw in a beautiful princess and a super-cool spaceship and you could be forgiven for thinking you just watched STAR WARS.
But what if one of those bickering robots is a foxy fembot who gets together with the smuggler, women and old people are beaten and killed on-screen within the first few minutes, and the screenplay contains profanity that would make Han Solo blush? Even though it takes huge bites out of Star Wars and Heavy Metal with its storyline, characters and even contains some identical shots, Starchaser has a lot going for it. It fuses elements from a variety of sources and regurgitates them into an enjoyable slice of interplanetary hokum. But it has an edge to it, which is the reason why it has a PG rating rather than the ‘suitable for all’ rating of its older half-brother. There are sexual undertones, including the love between a man and a fembot and even a throwaway line implying paedophilia. The original parts of the story are well-written, with plenty of one-liners and the inspiration even comes full circle in the end.
Some of the names featured in the credits have gone on to greater things: among them most notably are Bill Kroyer, who along with John Lasseter was a CGI pioneer that went on to become a director (of the great short Technological Threat, the feature FernGully, and supervisor of effects for such films as Scooby-Doo and Garfield), and Darrell Rooney, mostly known for directing direct-to-video sequels to The Lion King, Lady And The Tramp and Mulan.
Also in the animation line up are veteran animator Tom Sito, who has since hopped between Richard Williams’ studio (on Raggedy Ann And Andy, Ziggy’s Gift), Disney (Lion King, Pocahontas, Roger Rabbit, Aladdin, Dinosaur, Fantasia/2000), DreamWorks (Prince Of Egypt, Antz, Spirit, Shrek) and Warners (Osmosis Jones, Looney Tunes: Back In Action, Son Of The Mask) and is now President of the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists guild, and Chris Bailey, recently of the Clerks cartoon series, Mickey’s Runaway Brain short and the Kim Possible show.
Finding information about how this film was made is next to impossible. Some sources say Filmation did have a small part in the development of the film, other sources say it was a co-production between a couple Italian animation studios and a few more in South Korea.
Either way, there's lots of care taken into the film's production design and animation, their budget was low, but they had lots of passion for this project. It's definitely not for kids, mature conten in the form violence, frightening monsters, three-boobed women, and man-droids that look like creepy mutated cyborgs are just some o the reasons why this probably traumatized 10 year old kids at the time.
If you're fan of He-man, Thundarr the Barbarian, The Last Starfighter and Star Wars, then you can't miss this!
The Trailer:
The Film:
November 04, 2012
Saga of Rex Kickstarter project
Legendary animator and all around amazing artist Michel Gagne (Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, and FX animator/designer on Iron Giant, Ratatouille, Clone Wars and Osmosis Jones), has posted his kickstarter project: an animated adaptation of his Saga of Rex comics, first published in Flight, now collected by Image. Give it a look-see! You could help in the making of a truly awesome and charming tale. Only 17 ays left to donate!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/michelgagne/the-saga-of-rex-the-animated-film-project
November 03, 2012
We Are Legion
WE ARE LEGION: The Story of the Hacktivists (premiered at SXSW 2012) takes us inside the world of Anonymous, the radical "hacktivist" collective that has redefined civil disobedience for the digital age. The film traces the collective's evolution from merry pranksters to a full-blown movement with a global reach. In the last year, Anonymous has been associated with attacks or “raids” on hundred’s of targets ranging from financial institutions, cyber-security firms to foreign dictators. They played a vital role in the “Occupy” movement and recently launched the largest DDoS attacks in history against Hollywood for their support of SOPA.
I just watched this documentary, I thought it was quite interesting, I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the internet censorship debate, hackers and freedom of speech issues.
Armed with colleagues from the filmmaking and digital communities, in March of 2012, writer/director Brian Knappenberger weighed in on the challenges of making the film, the roots of Anonymous, and their current battles with Hollywood.
Listen to it here.
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Subscribe to the Flooby Nooby TWITTER!
Why?
I'm not entirely sure.
I'll try to put stuff up there that's cool... I guess...
When I can... whenever I can spare the time.
I'll only post really cool stuff on there... and I'll try to post more often...
instead of the usual once per month:
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In the mean time, here's some beautiful CHUCK JONES roughs from the 1952 Warner Brothers short FEED THE KITTY - via Hans Bacher's blog.
© WB / chuck jones
Why?
I'm not entirely sure.
I'll try to put stuff up there that's cool... I guess...
When I can... whenever I can spare the time.
I'll only post really cool stuff on there... and I'll try to post more often...
instead of the usual once per month:
In the mean time, here's some beautiful CHUCK JONES roughs from the 1952 Warner Brothers short FEED THE KITTY - via Hans Bacher's blog.
© WB / chuck jones
November 02, 2012
How Mythbuster Adam Savage Made A Doc Ock Costume For Patton Oswalt
Savage made it easier on Oswalt by placing the weight of the foam arms on the costume wearer's shoulders rather than the waist and back. The arms themselves are made of wraps of durable, but lightweight armature wire covered in foam.
Looks pretty awesome in action, doesn't it?
Darth Vader: What will you do next?
In light of the crazy Disney-Lucasfilm/ILM merger, comes this painfully true and poignant article by Mark Mayerson,
read it here.
Duke of Fancy - Romney Rhymes With Money
Recent CalArts Character Animation graduate John Dusenberry has teamed up with Zack Keller, co-creator of the hit YouTube series Dick Figures, to create and produce a new web series, Duke of Fancy. The show will air on Rugburn, a collaborative YouTube channel between studios Six Point Harness and Titmouse. The show is set to premiere in early 2013.
Source: OnAnimation
Source: OnAnimation
November 01, 2012
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