Messages

1

Off Topic / Re: This is the News!

« on: 02 July, 2022, 12:11:45 PM »

As to the veracity of Private Eye. Maybe I'm wrong but I can't imagine the magazine risking a lawsuit on mere gossip.

The briefest familiarity with the history of PI very much says otherwise.

2

Off Topic / Re: This is the News!

« on: 02 July, 2022, 10:59:06 AM »

It’s also entirely unsubstantiated - When did this happen?  Who was the unnamed MP who witnessed it? What’s the source of this story? - hence why it’s so far one scurrilous paragraph in a Private Eye story, rather than national news.

Not running an unproven story that’s completely libellous if untrue isn’t censorship.

3

General / Re: Button Man movie has already been released

« on: 27 June, 2022, 02:01:37 PM »

Rebellion have nothing to do with it.  Button Man is creator-owned, and in development at Netflix.

To kinda answer your question--

Goodfellas, released in 1990 is based on a 1985 book by Nicholas Pileggi.  Pileggi's book was called Wiseguy, but in 1986 Brian De Palm made a terrible Mafia comedy called Wise Guys. His film had nothing to do with the Pileggi book, other than both of them using a slang name for US mobsters.

The movie of Pileggi's book became Goodfellas, not Wiseguy.  Why?  Probably because the film studio didn't want anyone to confuse it with a fairly recent, really bad, flop gangster comedy.

Netflix could probably easily release something sharing the title - but no plot elements - of an obscure Australian short horror film, especially since the source material their project comes from predates this other Button Man.

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General / Re: Button Man movie has already been released

« on: 27 June, 2022, 01:24:09 PM »

But surely you can't make another film and call it Rocky, Terminator, First Blood, etc etc

You can make a film and call it Button Man because, despite your use of 'another film and call it Rocky, Terminator' etc, there is no other pre-existing film called Button Man.

As already said, 'button man' is a gangster slang term that's been out there for decades  (It's used in dialogue in Godfather Part 2, in 1974.  Should Francis Coppola and Mario Puzo sue John Wagner for using it?)

You can't copyright slang expressions, commonly used phrases etc.  If someone did a movie called Button Man using the premise of the Wagner & Ranson comic series, then that would be a different matter.

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Megazine / Re: Meg 445 - Case of Questions

« on: 15 June, 2022, 06:05:56 PM »

ialso i didn't realise paul kupperberg didn't do anything else for the prog due to his editorial job at dc that was a new bit of info for me

He was editor on their two short-lived Dredd titles.  Probably because he ‘got’ 2000AD, I  suppose.

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Film & TV / Re: Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ (High Chance of SPOILERS)

« on: 14 June, 2022, 11:56:14 AM »

But i find it stupid that he lost his mojo in the first place however. Did I miss something? Has hiding from the inquisitors actively made him rusty?

Many skills atrophy surprisingly quickly with disuse, and it would seem that Obi-Wan has been quite actively avoiding using his. By the time of ANH, there's no gravity-defying shenanigans or moving objects around — a couple of "Jedi mind tricks" and that's pretty much your lot, so I don't have any particular problem with the level of power he's demonstrating here.

SPOILERS FOR THE REBELS ANIMATED SERIES



in the (great) Twin Suns episode, the Guinness Kenobi faces off against Darth Maul for the last time…..and gets in one lethal lightsabre blow before Maul can even react.  The old geezer is definitely a Jedi Master at the top of his game.

That episode was written by Dave Fiiloni, whose fingerprints are all over the Kenobi show, and Feloni’s a huuuuge continuity guy, so you’ve got to assume the two things are still going to join up.

7

Events / Re: BHP Glasgow Comic Con 4 June drinkies?

« on: 06 June, 2022, 06:32:17 PM »

I didn’t see a peep about it on social media this weekend.

The move from a big prestige venue in the city centre to a sports centre a few miles from the centre didn’t inspire confidence that this was an event on a successful rebound.

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General / Re: Forthcoming Thrills - 2022

« on: 24 May, 2022, 10:10:40 PM »

i think it was the most hackneyed work of garth's career. usually the master of confounding and shocking writing, in this instance everything is wholly predictable.
give me grant morrison's superb and disturbing subversion of dare instead, please.

Is that the one where Dan Dare gets bummed by the Mekon?

Oh yeah. Subversive.

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General / Re: Forthcoming Thrills - 2022

« on: 23 May, 2022, 10:02:10 AM »

the company address is a private residence in a very leafy part of Surrey.

Fuck me, you need a few quid to live in that neighbourhood!

Yes. Check out how many of the houses there have private pools, on Google Maps...

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General / Re: Forthcoming Thrills - 2022

« on: 23 May, 2022, 09:37:28 AM »

My guess is that the Dan Dare Corp (and some of the other IP owners who seem to just be sitting on material) refuse to accept a lot of (what seem to be reasonable) offers because if they did accept they'd be setting a price below what they've valued their IP at.

They'd rather bring in zero income and claim it's worth X million pounds than make at least some money but have to admit that they previously over-estimated the value. I'm assuming there's a tax advantage or similar involved somewhere along the line.

if you look at the Companies House info on the rather grandly-titled Dan Dare Corporation, you see its only two personnel  have the same surname (husband and wife team, I'm guessing) and that the company address is a private residence in a very leafy part of Surrey.

There's little to no money actually moving through the company, and. yeah, the impression I get is someone just sitting on their IP in the fading hope it might be worth something again as a film or TV property.

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General / Re: Forthcoming Thrills - 2022

« on: 21 May, 2022, 06:12:06 PM »

they're definitely not running out - don't they own nearly all the history of british comics

I meant in the sense of readily available content. Having a massive archive is one thing. Spending a lot of effort cleaning strips up for a ‘free’ component of a magazine probably isn’t the best use of resources.

THIS.

I don’t think many people commenting realise just what it takes to clean up these old stories to make them presentable for republishing.

12

Film Discussion / Re: Shako's cocaine rampage

« on: 21 May, 2022, 01:25:27 PM »

“The only bear on the DEA’s death-list.”

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General / Re: Forum’s Favourite Thrill - Aquila vs. Necronauts Round 3 Heat 10

« on: 17 May, 2022, 12:13:28 AM »

Necronauts ... predates League of Extraorindary Gentlemen, even, doesn't it?

Apparently not. LoEG is 1999, Necronauts is 2000. (Publication-wise, any road.)

A version of Necronauts was announced by Tundra Comics in 1992.  It was the exact same concept, but would have been a lesser story than the one that saw print 8 years later in the prog.

14

Film & TV / Re: New Doctor Who Picked.

« on: 10 May, 2022, 04:05:29 PM »

I was recently watching some classic Who as a man struggled with some green painted bubble wrap on his arm - it was fantastic! 

'The Ark in Space' is my guess for that one - things have rather moved on!

I do wonder if Dan O'Bannon ever saw this story.

Ex-BBC man Ridley Scott would be a much safer bet…

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Film & TV / Re: Dr Who: Legend of the Sea Devils

« on: 20 April, 2022, 11:39:06 AM »

Doctor:  "Yaz, you're the most amazing person I've ever met!"

When did this happen? Was there an entire series or two we missed when Yaz became not just interesting, but the most amazing person a 2000 year-old time traveller has ever met?

You can't just have one character tell us how amazing someone is. You have to have invested in actually showing it.