Messages

I have to take issue, briefly, with the statement that LoTR isn't overly Christian, by simply quoting Tolkein himself.

"The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision."

You may want to delve further into Tolkein's religious subtexts by going to http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/articles/tolkien.html and, oh bugger it, just copy the above quote into a google search and play til your hearts are content.

That Tolkein was a Christian, writing a Christian book- which I am fundamentally opposed to- is beyond question. You take issue with my accusations of it being Right Wing- well, to my mind, the mere fact that it has an overt religious thrust, renders it such. The fact that it is also deeply conservative (small 'c' there) and Nationalistic (please don't ask me to go into that, I don't want to sit here all day- but even the most blinded LoTR geeks surely can't dispute that?) makes it as Right Wing as the Daily Mail- and in much the same ways. You don't need to be a black leather wearing, shaven headed, big booted german to be right wing. It's about more than just nazism.

As far as the Star Wars stuff goes- of course I'll defend Clones. I fucking love it! And the bit where Anakin explains his slaughter of the tuskens is the most moving part of any of the five movies so far.

Oh- and Genrally Contrary- I waggle my genitalia at your boastful claim to be the most left wing person here!

Steev

I really couldn't disagree more with any and all of the opinions expressed here. I stand by my view of the Lord of the Rings trilogy- and if you accuse me of lazy criticism, then I'm happy to recline on that bed with the likes of Germaine Greer, whose reading of LoTR I staunchly agree with.

As I suspected though, as happened when at the age of nine I told my school friends in the playground that I didn't believe in the Bible, I see panic and confusion in the virtual faces of those here. That's fine- i really don't mind. Put it this way- I saw the first film once, on dvd, and despised it. It's dull beyond belief, populated with alarmingly miscast actors and has the stodgiest screenplay possible- one that slows down the pace of the movie even further. Added to which the effects work, which as I said before, may be "realistic", but is phenomenally lacking in creativity, and you have one of, in my opinion, the worst and most barren "blockbusters" ever made. The dubious political message and Right-Wing Christian preachiness behind it all just reinforces it's standing as a movie i shall never watch again. As for the sequels- there is more chance of me becoming a priest, than there is of watching either of them.

Again, I'm sorry. It's not that I "don't get" the phenomenon, but rather that I sadly think I do, and it sends shivers down my spine.

As for Attack of the Clones- While The Phantom Menace was merely a long and drawn out set up for all the things that will happen later, bogged down by storytelling as stodgy as even the first Rings movie, AOTC was, for me, the most fun I've had in a cinema since I was 16 and in the back row with "Dirty Kirstie". The Star Wars movies were an integral part of my youth, and I'm glad that Lucas has pulled it together to give the new generation a movie that is at the very least far better than Return of the Jedi, and when it really gets going (from Anakin and Padme's declaration of love to the final shot of their marriage) it's probably the very best of all of them. It's still problematic in the first half- but I'd rather take the incredible glories of the second half over the misadventures of Tolkein's Middle-Class Little Englanders any day.

Steev

"ever since I arrived at Cambridge as a student in 1964 and encountered a tribe of full-grown women wearing puffed sleeves, clutching teddies and babbling excitedly about the doings of hobbits, it has been my nightmare that Tolkien would turn out to be the most influential writer of the 20th century. The bad dream has been realized."
- Germaine Greer

You're all completely mad- or at least, have extremely dissappointing taste in films! Deathwatch is, without any shadow of a doubt, one of the most intense, disturbing and downright nastiest horror movies in living memory.

At times I was transported back to the glory days of the 'eighties.

As for Serkis's Gollum link, well. I haven't seen Lord of the Rings part 2- and nor will I- so I can't really comment. But I will. The first was the lousiest excuse for cinema I've ever seen. I fought to stay awake and fought back my disgust at the crap set design (the hobbits lived in teletubbyland fer fuckssakes!) and bizarre campery of the acting. Not to mention the plodding pace, incredible miscasting, appalling dialogue and lousy effects work- that while appearing "real", had no imagination applied to it beyond a cursory look at some of the fantasy art that has disgraced the pages of cheap LOTR editions over the decades.

And that's not to mention the disgusting RightWing nationalism of the original story in the first place. I think it's a very severe indication of the swing in social politics that in the 2000s the LoTR films are lauded as much as they are. Horrible, horrible film. Sorry.

But deathwatch- with it's WW1 trench setting, a lead character called Charley, bio-wire and complete lack of humour, is one of those little gems that only those among us with a particular bent will 'get'. Absolutely my favourite film of the year so far. Mind you, my top five last year were Dagon, Wendigo, Dog Soldiers, Attack of the Clones and Moulin Rouge, so what do I know?

Steev

Wholeheartedly agree. Best British horror movie in yonks- far better than 28Days Later, which I thought derivative pants, and maybe arguably better than Dog Soldiers- if only because the makers had the faith in the material to leave it devoid of gags. But that's not to say that Dog Soldiers isn't one of the ten greatest movies ever made, cos it is. Okay, I may be overstating it a bit there, but as movies go, I'd take DS a hundred times in a row while sitting on spike, than suffer one single minute of Lord of the Rings, Gangs of New York or other such piffle.

As for the "New Wave of British Horror"- let's not get too excited just yet. For every Dog Soldiers or Deathwatch, there's a Lighthouse, Ghost Rig and The Bunker waiting to come along.

Steev

If so, I wish he'd stop. It's just not fair to get our hopes up. Unless of course, mighty greeny has lined up a fantastic new scripting droid like Hilary Robinson to complete the saga. No, I jest.

But, I really do wish Tharg would just say "it's never coming back, and there's nothing I can do about it" rather than string us along. On the other hand, what do we know? Alan Moore isn't a monster- he's a lovely chap, very smart, funny and approachable- not to mention kind- so maybe we aren't getting the whole story (in more ways than one, heh). Surely Moore can see that the comic is the 2000ad he had dealings with IN NAME ONLY now, and if the rights could be sorted, then...

Mind you, if the publishing schedule of league of Extraordinary gents vols 1 and 2 is anything to go by, I don't think there's much chance of seeing another six books before the turn of the century...

Steev

I was merely being penickitty, young man, pay it no mind.

I am on no wrong feet at all!

For the record I quite like Dr Who books and ocassionally audios, but don't have much time for the tv series these days, LOATHE Star Trek, babylon5, Stargate, farscape, Buffy, Angel, Charmed, and basically anything formulaic that comes in from the yanks. I adore the Star Wars saga, loathe Lord of the Rings (but you knew that. heh.) and The matrix and do not read science fiction novels, at all.

The only TV scifi I like is the original twilight zone, some of the 80s relaunch, and little bits of the new version, and some Dr Who (notably Hartnell, Tom Baker and McCoy). As for the rest of 'telefantasy'- I have an allergy to puppets, men in bowler hats, portmerion village, Peter Wyngarde and Strange. The first 2 series of The X Files were good, but then it got crap. Er... and I can't think of any more. Oh, Blakes 7- that was bollocks too.

As for the cinema, I generally avoid scifi movies if possible. I'm a horror person.

I read 2000ad because it's the best of British comics, and I like comics in general. But not Manga, which I hate.

I utterly despise Red Dwarf. I love Porridge, Rising Damp and Whatever Happened to The Likely Lads? And Frasier. My favourite music other than that mentioned includes the mary Shelley's Frankenstein soundtrack, bauhaus, The Sisters, The Mish, Wolfsheim, Puccini, Adam Ant, Duran Duran, Iron maiden and Jethro Tull.

I am not a number I am free man.

But as I said, i didn't like that either, but I like the sentiment.

Steev
Mr so left-wing, Arthur Scargill and Marx visit me in my dreams, the anti-sci-fi man.

...I have no idea what a 'lazer gnu' is, but before Gordon Rennie, Si Spurrier, David Bishop or any other lurking droids jump on it, I want to add (c) Steev Hopper 2003. Thank you.

Steev

Oi, yer Slips! Don't go generalising me, matey. I may be "early thirties" but I certainly don't like "the same music" and ABSOLUTELY certainly don't "like sci-fi". I read 2000ad cos it's a great comic- not cos it's scifi,I wouldn't care if it was all about war, romance and barbarians with nary a lazer gnu in sight!

This week I have been mostly reading 'The Ultimate Jack The Ripper Sourcebook' by Stewart Evans and Keith Skinner, listening to VNV Nation, Faith & The Muse, Damien Youth and The Merry Thoughts, and watching Coronation Street and World War One in Colour on ch5.

Steev

I was always a bit iffy about the raptors too- them not being in my 'Dinosaurs of the Earth' Nugget Nature Book. I felt it as a personal insult when they were elevated to the position of 'most dangerous dinosaur', knocking the tyrannosaurus off the top. And- since when did it become a 'T-Rex'? It was a Tyrannosaurus, or a Tyrannosaur when I was a nipper. And I think I have Flesh to blame for the latter.

Still loved JP though. As someone said- it was fabulous to at last see dinosaurs as living, breathing monsters. Even if they were exaggerated and stylised to hell. I mean, the "T-Rex" even has a comedy "evil" furrowed brow. I have to admit though- the first shot of the brachiosaurs by the waterhole and the swell of the music had me in floods of tears in the cinema, the first five or so times I saw it.

JP2 was appalling. Just a cut n paste version of the first, with two of everything, that happened to accidentally contain bits that reminded me of Flesh.

JP3, on the other hand, was fabulous. Before Walking With Dinos came along and ruined it all by making the monsters as mysterious as cows and sheep (by inventing lifecycles for them and dressing it up as "science"), before all that, the absolutely fantastic shot of the Teradacytl moving across the bridge and out of the fog is worth the price of admission alone. This was probably the last time dinosaurs were "monsters", before they were tamed and, in what could be seen as political correctness gone MAD, we were told we had to treat them as "creatures" in future. Bugger that! They're big. They kill people in films. They're monsters.

But XTNCT. Yes, good. Too early to tell really, but I liked the first part. The raptor and his speech alone is enough to raise it above the norm.

Steev

Steev

Not often am I moved to review a prog, but this week's is possibly the very best in living memory and I am quite literally masturbating with excitement. well, perhaps not, but I could be.

The cover alone, by my old college mate, mr. langley, is utterly incredible. As someone who has made a living out of photoshop for the last ten years (though thankfully no longer, after this week- bwahahahahah!) I am at a loss as to how he does what he does. He's the best thing to hit the prog for years- and for those who claim that 2000ad "had better artists in the old days" (as did the adolescent twat I met in the comic shop today) I will say just this: "Langley, Irving, Fraser, D'Israeli." And we still have messers Ezquerra, Burns, Ridgeway and Gibson around too. Truly we are blessed.

This current Dredd story is so much better than what we have been used to of late. I wasn't overly keen on the Chief Judge's Man story- not because it was poor, but because it was much-of-a-muchness for me and didn't give me anything new. With The Satanist, however, Wagner's really giving us glimpses inside Joe's head, and it's proof, if any were needed, that there's more than just "life" in the old strip yet.

Leviathan, while only being one episode old, is already looking to be the highlight of the year for me. The big double pager of the ship was beyond my expectations, and D'Israeli- well, I cannot possibly say anything that hasn't already been said. The man's a genius, and I'd pay to see his drawings of poo.

Sorry, did I say Leviathan was the highlight of the year? Well, what's Slaine then? Can the prog GET any better- this is the best the strip has been in years. Mills is writing hard and fast, giving us great concepts, dialogue and characters, and Langley's art threatens to jump off the page and chase me round the house, warbling. Stunning.

Stronty improves upon last week's opener, and even Bek and Kawl- which previosuly I have loathed, benefitted from the Wicker man/ Lords of Misrule feel, and was actually funny- a nice counterpoint to the rest of the prog.

I feel I am gibbering. Best prog since progs began. Tharg, you're my hero.

And I haven't even mentioned the astonishing new issue of the Meg...

Steev

Imagine my surprise when, wandering around Safeway the other day, I found a copy of Toxic loitering with intent by the birthday cards. I pounced and was horrified to find it's an Egmont-owned pre-teen "naughty boys" mag with no redeeming features whatsoever. However, it did come with a free Hulk hero-clix figure and a packet of Haribo sweets, so I bought it anyway.

Does this mean that, in some far-off day when 2000ad finally bites the dust, a decade later we'll be wandering around a european-style hypermarket staffed entirely by (ahem) "economic migrants" only to find "2000ad issue one" with a big pic of S Club 11 on the front, or somesuch, costing five euros? Zut Alors! This must not happen! And how has a comic called Toxic been on the shelf for the best part of a year without me noticing?

All this serves just to make me nostalgic for the proper one. I want to see The Driver back. And Coffin. And Accident Man. And Sex Warrior. And that one about the dinosaurs fighting robot men on motorbikes or something. What about the Colin Macneill story that was running when it got cancelled? Could the Megazine print the rest of that? But mostly I just want to see The Driver again.

"Hide in yer hole! I'm on Cruise Control!"

Steev
Living in the past.

Imagine my surprise when, wandering around Safeway the other day, I found a copy of Toxic loitering with intent by the birthday cards. I pounced and was horrified to find it's an Egmont-owned pre-teen "naughty boys" mag with no redeeming features whatsoever. However, it did come with a free Hulk hero-clix figure and a packet of Haribo sweets, so I bought it anyway.

Does this mean that, in some far-off day when 2000ad finally bites the dust, a decade later we'll be wandering around a european-style hypermarket staffed entirely by (ahem) "economic migrants" only to find "2000ad issue one" with a big pic of S Club 11 on the front, or somesuch, costing five euros? Zut Alors! This must not happen! And how has a comic called Toxic been on the shelf for the best part of a year without me noticing?

All this serves just to make me nostalgic for the proper one. I want to see The Driver back. And Coffin. And Accident Man. And Sex Warrior. And that one about the dinosaurs fighting robot men on motorbikes or something. What about the Colin Macneill story that was running when it got cancelled? Could the Megazine print the rest of that? But mostly I just want to see The Driver again.

"Hide in yer hole! I'm on Cruise Control!"

Steev
Living in the past.

Just ordered mine through the subscriber service- and ticked the box to order "Extreme Editions #2 to #5' as well. Hurrah for me. Now they'd better actually make them!

Steev

Also, if you're quick, and a Dr Who fan, WH Smiths tills are scanning the Eighth Doctor special in at the quid-off price of ?3.99.

Result!

Steev

Excellent stuff! Congrats to you and the missus. Good pic too. So much hair! Our's is eleven days old now, and last night had the first of what I expect will become many restless nights.

People without children listen ye well: when parents talk about the hell of the sleepless night, no matter how much you think "it can't be as bad as that", it IS. It's like Tharg announcing Robo Hunter's coming back, by Alan Grant and ian Gibson, only to find when it turns up Michael Fleisher scripting and it's turned into a 'photostory' in 45 episodes. Only far, far worse.

Steev