Topic: Howard! The Duck!

Fuckin. This.

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Well it was bound to happen.

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Get that planet on the phone. Ain't no time to waste. Tell 'em he ain't comin' home. He done joined the human race.

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This is why we can't have nice things.

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5 (edited by oTom 2011-09-26 14:09:48)

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PLEASE say you have video of that outro.  Please. 

A Calvin & Hobbes that hops Calvin on Prozac... that probably leaves you with a really slow, depressing, non-fanciful 2nd act.  And has C&H ever really been about the value of imagination?  Obviously it's the gear that makes the comic turn, but if anything, his escapism causes him to screw up in school and with people.

I'd rather see a movie where C's overindulgence of imagination has led him to neglect a real world McGuffin and is at a crisis point with reality.  The third act would be finding some balance between responsibility and flights of fancy.  Or harnessing his flights of fancy to solve the problem. 

I dunno, sorry.  It's all I could think about once you guys mentioned it.

So yeah.  Howard the Duck.  Was my first time watching.  Won't be doing that again.

EDIT:  The more I think about it, the more I kind of like Prozac C&H - like Clockwork Orange, but with kids.  Clockwork Orange and Black Tail.

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You're probably right, the top of the second act is too early. Probably better at the midpoint instead, and yes, the depressing and non-fanciful "Dark Night of the Soul" would be deliberate, leading into the explosion of imagination that would comprise the third act.

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And Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern should be in it! And Calvin should set traps for them!

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The problem is doing an "explosion of imagination" that doesn't turn the movie into something like The Smurfs or, indeed, Home Alone.

Maybe change how it's delivered? Calvin was always one to talk philosophy in between throwing water balloons at Susie. Maybe make it about a very bright kid who desperately wants to be thought of as mature and is, unfortunately, held back by his immense imagination. Same story structure, of course.

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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Got a copy of this to watch during the live show with the sound off.  Probably will not go back an re-watch it, but I can see how someone could develop a thing for Lea Thompson.  I'm sure that one scene has led to more than one adolescent chubbies.

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That begs the question, WOULD it be official? I mean, there are currently FOUR screen representations of The Joker. Caesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill and Heath Ledger. They all have their own distinct voices, and they've all made their marks on the character.

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There's a current US series called Wilfred which has a similar set up, crazy guy speaks to and interacts with a neighbour's dog that to him is a guy in a suit. I'd imagine a C&H film being similar to this, and instead of a depressing Sucker Punch kind of story where fantasy clashes with reality in a psychological escape drama, you could do it more as in Heavenly Creatures where the fantasy is just a joyous diversion.

The problem though is that sort of comic strip doesn't lend itself well to being adapted into a feature length story form.

And to be on topic, I'm a big fan of the closing of Howard the Duck, with the rock concert. It's a pretty happy song (Lea Thompson's voice, if that's really her, is great) and it makes the movie end on a high note (which 80s movies were quite good at doing).

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan

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Nobody mentioned it in the episode, but the original Howard the Duck comic book is a important lesson for all you creative types out there. Before he was given his own title to work on, the creator stuck Howard in the background of another comic he was working on for Marvel on a work-for-hire basis. Part of the contract was that Marvel owned everything in that book. Therefore... they successfully claimed they owned all rights to the character and the creator lost control of it. It was one of the events that launched the whole movement for writers and artists instead of publishers to own their creations.

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That would have been an interesting meeting to listen in on....

Marvel: "We own that duck! That cigar-chomping duck that otherwise looks exactly like Donald Duck is ours now!"

Artist: "No way! I just stuck him in the background! You don't get any sense of character or anything! You don't know what he's like!"

M: "Ours!"

A: "Maybe I'll make a cigar-chomping goose then! Bam! No C&D potential from Disney! Enjoy your lazy Donald Duck clone!"

M: "You do a goose, and I swear to Thor we will sue to into a parallel dimension and we'll own that dimension too!"

A: "La la la! I can't hear you! Howard is mine, you thieving weasels!"

M: "Thieving weasels?! I— I like it! Have it on my desk by Monday! I'll let you work on the duck title!"

Either or both of these sides should be read in the voice of Miley Cyrus.

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I'm naming my new band "Thieving Weasels".

As far as C&H, Watterson will be dead eventually. What do you think will happen? Who will he leave the rights to? His kids? I bet you in a couple decades someone somewhere will be green-lighting a C&H TV show or movie.

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20 (edited by BigDamnArtist 2012-02-21 13:37:21)

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Heehee, I love going back and listening to episodes I missed and randomly hear my name come up in conversation! Thanks Teague.

EDIT: So not a good episode to watch at work. I'm sitting at my desk trying not to burst out laughing or crying. Way to pull it off at the end Brian. Amazing.

ZangrethorDigital.ca

Re: Howard! The Duck!