I was very pleased (and a little relieved) to find out that there is an international group of fourteen space agencies, including the Canadian Space Agency, that has spent the last six
years working on a long term cooperative strategy for space exploration which they have recently made public. The International Space Exploration Coordination Group, or ISECG
(not a brilliant acronym, but life goes on) has developed a practical 25-year plan for putting astronauts - including Canadians - on Mars and the Moon.
(Well, mostly practical - I'm still not sure about the part where NASA wants to redirect an asteroid into a near-Earth orbit.)
Part
of the plan includes the construction of a space station in orbit around
the Moon, intended as a staging point for lunar exploration. Ha - I
refer you to my post of November 4, 2007 on the crucial role that space stations could play in interplanetary exploration. Gosh, guys, all you had to do was ask...
"It is dull, Son of Adam, to drink without eating," said the Queen presently. "What would you like best to eat?"
"Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty," said Edmund.
The
Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and
instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon,
which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best
Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre and
Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious.
C. S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
One
of my co-workers recently returned from a two-week Eastern
Mediterranean cruise. The first morning he was back, he went around the office offering
selections from a souvenir box of Turkish Delight, "Straight from the
bazaar!", as he cheerfully announced. Meh. No ill will, Edmund, but
I'll stick with Mars Bars.
Okay, you've got me: I don't care if Ben Affleck plays Batman.
I don't blame Mr. Affleck for the failings of the Daredevil movie. I think
there's a difference between what you do and what is done to you, and I
think that he did the best he could with the role. Would I have picked him for Batman? Probably not my first choice*, but I'm willing to let him take a shot at it: too many other people, like Michael Keaton and Heath Ledger, have been publicly villified for taking on iconic roles and then gone on to set the standard.
ANYway, once the smoke from the whole Batffleck thing has cleared, hopefully we can get back to the important question that's in front of us: when are they going to give Wonder Woman a shot at the big screen?
However, the issue here is the opposite of the Batman casting question. I really don't care who they cast as Wonder Woman - there are all sorts of options there, each with its own opportunities and pitfalls. The big question is how they decide to portray the character.
There are already a couple of independently produced trailer/short film presentations of Wonder Woman available online, which show two very different approaches: one relies on her WWII roots for inspiration, and the other is more of a plain-clothes introduction to Diana Prince.
They’re both well done, and I think they present an interesting challenge to the producers of a Wonder Woman film, but they don’t really show the full magnitude of the character’s abilities. The comic book version of Wonder Woman has gone up and down the range of
abilities over the years, but I think that it’s generally accepted that
her strength rivals that of Superman - a difficult impression to create on an independent budget.
Really though, this is all moot: Wonder Woman has already been
perfectly brought to life (so to speak) in five seasons of the animated Justice League/Justice League Unlimited series,
as well as in a solo feature-length animated film.** The Wonder Woman
of the animated world is everything that the character should be, and
that should provide the guidelines for live action.
So, there you go, Hollywood, there's Wonder Woman. All you have to do is to follow what they did in the animated versions.
Make her strong.
Make her proud.
Make her compassionate, but determined.
Make her fearless.
Make her a warrior.
Make her a goddess.
Make her wonderful.
- Sid
* I don't actually have a first choice, I'd have to do some research.
** The animated DC Comics television adaptations - Batman, Superman, Justice League, Teen Titans - have all been excellent. It's unfortunate that DC has such an uneven record in live action.
"Revolution is everywhere, in everything. It is infinite. There is no final revolution, no final number.
- Yevgeny Zamyatin
Yevgeny Zamyatin was a philosopher, author and dissident in a time and place that tolerated none of those roles - Stalin's Russia. His dystopian science fiction novel We, written in 1920, never saw publication in Russia. He died in Paris in 1937, exiled from Russia at his own request.
For me, his quote expresses the essential shared nature of science fiction and fantasy: a revolution that never ends - an infinite revolution.
Introduction
I've been reading science fiction and fantasy for as long as I can remember - in fact, my involvement goes back further than that, my mother used to say that she had read the Narnia books to me when I was a baby. I've maintained my interest over the years, and after my friend Colin started HIS blog (Campbell Brothers Winery), I thought to myself, hey, if no one stopped HIM*... I make no claim to being an authority in any way, shape or form, and since there are lots of lists, biographies and bibliographies out there on the net, this is just going to be a place for me to vent some of my thoughts and opinions.
*And the Campbell Brothers may be desperately in need of stopping, based on all evidence.
