Cold Steel Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Did anyone seen this movie at all? I thought it was fantastic in that it showed all the pulp elements and was a little sad that it did not make it in the Pulp Hero resources list in the back of the book at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clsage Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow Did anyone seen this movie at all? I thought it was fantastic in that it showed all the pulp elements and was a little sad that it did not make it in the Pulp Hero resources list in the back of the book at all. Hmmm....Well, I've only read the novelization (and that was back when the film was first released) but I agree the setting has potential. As for why it didn't make the 'resource list cut' ? I'm not in the know but just a guess is that the printing of Pulp Hero might predate the release of the film (the film came out in...2004. I don't yet own a copy of Pulp Hero so I can't check the printing date...). Just my slightly greater than $.02US. -Carl- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I was on the list of not fans of this film, but certainly it had Pulp elements. Not enough Nazis were punched for my tastes, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I saw it... which is why I didn't put it on the PH filmography. I thought it was just awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steamteck Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I agree and I am an enormous pulp fan. Pulp conventions tend to be natural law in my campaigns. I was very disappointed. seemed put together by someone who knew most of the genre troupes but didn't really get The spirit of the Pulps to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I actually enjoyed the film quite a bit (except that I thought Angelina Jolie's character was rather underused, or else oversold). I'd always assumed that it was omitted because it was more "neo-Pulp," not really a product of the era. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opal Posted February 11, 2008 Report Share Posted February 11, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I like SCatWoT just fine, but yes the whole thing was kinda 'neo pulp' - kind of to pulp what streamline modern is to art deco. So, it looks like pulp, unless you're really, really into pulp. Personally I found the deviations acceptable, though the pacing wasn't that great, and it never quite came together. It had very much the feel of a lot of really cool ideas for scenes strung together so that all the really cool scenes could be used. Considering that the whole venture started with the scene of robots attacking New York, I may even be right. It would probably be remembered as a revolutionary new style of filmaking, too, if Sin City hadn't come out around the same time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inu Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I like SCatWoT just fine, but yes the whole thing was kinda 'neo pulp' - kind of to pulp what streamline modern is to art deco. So, it looks like pulp, unless you're really, really into pulp. Personally I found the deviations acceptable, though the pacing wasn't that great, and it never quite came together. It had very much the feel of a lot of really cool ideas for scenes strung together so that all the really cool scenes could be used. Considering that the whole venture started with the scene of robots attacking New York, I may even be right. It would probably be remembered as a revolutionary new style of filmaking, too, if Sin City hadn't come out around the same time... 'Around the same time' being 'over a year apart'. ^_- I loved the film, myself. The pacing/editing was a little odd at times, but I thought it did manage to contribute to the weird flavour of the film. I'm not too familiar with pulp, myself, so I had no preconceptions it had to live up to. I liked the stuff it had, and the oddball nature, and how it kept entirely consistent to its tone, without dropping the mask once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrestlinggeek Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I liked the movie very much. If I ever get to run the pulp campaign rattling around in the back of my head, I will definitely steal some stuff for it. Of course, just about everything steal-worthy was used previously somewhere else. Plus I just love the villain's name. Totenkoff (sp?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I liked the movie very much. If I ever get to run the pulp campaign rattling around in the back of my head' date=' I will definitely steal some stuff for it. Of course, just about everything steal-worthy was used previously somewhere else. Plus I just love the villain's name. Totenkoff (sp?)[/quote'] I liked the movie, and I found the casting for the villian more approperate than I thought it would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Monster Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I put it in the 'nice try' category - a few decent ideas, a lot of botched ones. My biggest complaints: too much copy-and-paste - even *one* of those giant robots stomping thru the city would have been an impressive demonstration; to have hundreds or thousands was just ludicrous. Talk about taking suspension of disbelief and wringing its neck like a rebellious chicken! The other was, given a fleet of five - five!! - zeppelins at Captain's base, why *why* did they have to just blow them *all* up? Useless waste of potential! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I actually enjoyed it a lot. But I didn't look at is as a Pulp Movie. But rather as a collage of Pulp tropes loosely tied together. It had them all, Robots, Airships, Fighters, Rockets and so on. I believe they knew it would be a one shot and so had fun. With the exception of Indiana Jones most Pulpy movies were either not properly promoted or they missed. Nate & Hayes, The Shadow, The Rocketeer, The Phantom and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaft Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow Totenkopf: Skull or Death's Head. So that villain's name translates to Dr Skull. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totenkopf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starblaze Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I thought that as movies go it was pretty much 'style over substance'. They put pretty special effects in it but the acting was very bland and the plot didn't really work for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSgt Baloo Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I thought that as movies go it was pretty much 'style over substance'. They put pretty special effects in it but the acting was very bland and the plot didn't really work for me. From what I understand, Sky Captain was supposed to be a technology demonstrator to call the industry's attention to the capabilities of realistic CGI. I liked seeing all the "neat toys" but regretted that it wasn't really aimed at pulp fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireTiger Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I like the film, though I agree it isn't really Pulp, though it is Pulp-ish in its own ways. One of the reasons I liked it is from the nods made in the film to various ideas and works from around the Pulp era. The initial scene with the marching robots draws a lot from the 2nd of the Superman animated shorts: The Mechanical Monsters (1941). Robot #5 from that short even makes an appearance as one of the non-functional machines in storage at Sky Captain's base. Polly's telephone report on the approach of machines over the city takes several lines directly from the radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds (1938). To be specific, the lines are from a radio-announcer's description of the Martian anti-personnel weapon—the Black Smoke—as it approaches his position on the roof of the broadcasting building. The sound effects used for some of the beam weapons employed by the robots comes from sound effects created for the 1953 film version of The War of the Worlds. The sound effect for the Martian heat ray in particular. The line borrowed from The Empire Strikes Back that was used for when Joe & Polly are about to land on the hover-carrier I thought a little out of place, though. The story takes place somewhen in the 1940s, which puts it out of the Pulp-era in general. I think that films like this can provide a bit of inspiration when creating one's own Pulp material, SCatWoT, in particular for runs that emphasize weird science plots. Oh yes, almost forgot this one (pardon me while I drop it into Spoiler tags, just in case): The atomic boosters that would have ignited the atmosphere echo some real fears from the early days weapon's research. There were those who thought that when we tested the first bomb we'd get a non-stop reaction, with results like the boosters would have caused. There are probably other tidbits like that in the film, those above are only what I recall having noticed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Mackinder Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I enjoyed the movie. OK, not the greatest movie ever, but it was entertaining AND had a vague senblance of a storyline and likable characters - which is all I ask for. Never felt that seeing it was a total waste of my time or money. Easy to please, maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternal_sage Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow From what I understand' date=' Sky Captain was supposed to be a technology demonstrator to call the industry's attention to the capabilities of realistic CGI. I liked seeing all the "neat toys" but regretted that it wasn't really aimed at pulp fans.[/quote'] not only is this more or less correct, but it goes deeper than this. apparently the guy showed the technology demonstration (which was a bunch of planes and robots blowing up, all disjointed and plotless) and the studio said "yes! thats awesome. make THAT into a feature length film!" it was just a demo reel, and it didn't even have a script until after large portions of the CG had been done. thats why the movie tanked. its was all just smoke and mirrors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Monster Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow Totenkopf: Skull or Death's Head. So that villain's name translates to Dr Skull. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totenkopf Or Doctor Deadhead. (...and his Mellow Truckers of Doom!!!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GamePhil Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow The thing I hated the most was the wasted potential. I remember thinking at the time that it had enough cool visuals and the atoms of concepts to go into a small group of movies or even a long-running series, if they had been developed and extended. Thinking back, it may have only made it to one somewhat longer, actually good movie (with respect to DW, who once said something like that), but that was my impression at the time. Cool to look at, possibly even a good movie to get visual inspiration from, but overall a disappointment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inu Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow Or Doctor Deadhead. (...and his Mellow Truckers of Doom!!!!) I like Death's Head, myself, for a bit of a poetic turn. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I like the film, though I agree it isn't really Pulp, though it is Pulp-ish in its own ways. The story takes place somewhen in the 1940s, which puts it out of the Pulp-era in general. Actually the Pulp Era ran from the 1920's to the 1950's. Though I am pretty sure they were mostly gone by 46-48ish. But I don't really know. If you trust the Wikipedia it says the first recognized Pulp was Frank Munsey's revamped Argosy Magazine of 1896 and the 1957 bankruptcy of the American News Company as marking the end of the "pulp era. But then I have yet to find many people who can agree on it. All of the things in the movie, from the fighter becomeing a sub, to robots, to the rockets were all inspired by Pulp rags in the era. While I prefer 1930-1939ish, the 1940's were still in the Pulp era. From what I understand' date=' Sky Captain was supposed to be a technology demonstrator to call the industry's attention to the capabilities of realistic CGI. I liked seeing all the "neat toys" but regretted that it wasn't really aimed at pulp fans.[/quote'] That explains a lot. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steamteck Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I actually enjoyed it a lot. But I didn't look at is as a Pulp Movie. But rather as a collage of Pulp tropes loosely tied together. It had them all, Robots, Airships, Fighters, Rockets and so on. I believe they knew it would be a one shot and so had fun. With the exception of Indiana Jones most Pulpy movies were either not properly promoted or they missed. Nate & Hayes, The Shadow, The Rocketeer, The Phantom and so on. Most of those " he Shadow, The Rocketeer, and The Phantom were right on target. I really really liked Nate & Hayes but it wasn't pulp to me. If you mean they weren't huge commercial successes, You're probably right. In sky captain I found Gweneth Paltrow a complete loss. Angelina Jolie was underused. Jude Law did just fine. The movie almost made it but fell short on many counts. Often doing the troupe of the genre but missing the spirit of it quite cleanly. I really hated the actual man was dead and his machines were carrying out his orders. Good pulp need a good villain not the machine wizard of OZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yansuf Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I didn't like the movie at all. Particularly having the British Royal Navy had several flying aircraft carriers and airplanes that could function as submarines, with a woman as their commander. Yes, pulp did have many advanced "weird science" items, but they were never part of the regular armed forces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 Re: Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow I saw it... which is why I didn't put it on the PH filmography. I thought it was just awful. Or I could be blunt, like this guy. You must spread some rep around before giving it to Steve Long again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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