DEFENDERS OF THE EARTH! Appreciation AND Continuity Order

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BTW as I was searching the internet I came a cross two toylines that are kind of similar to Visionaries but I don’t believe they had any cartoon series to support them.

Infaceables- Galoob.
Something like MOTU and Thundercats, as the characters had human faces but when the action feature was activated the rubber face blew out and changed shape into an animal shape.
It was from this line Galoob used a vehicle mould for Gripjaw. I am not sure what came first. Possibly DOTE but either way the mould was used and released but in a different colout to the Gripjaw shown on the back of the DOTE packaging.

Supernaturals- Tonka Toys.
A line of Knights and Indians etc with big holographic stickers.

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I’ve not heard of Infaceables, but I do remember seeing someone in the playground with a Supernaturals toy, before I started watching Visionaries.

Stuck inside today, waiting for the CD player to be delivered. At least, I assume it’s the CD player, I got a text from Parcel Force last night, and then again this morning, saying that my parcel from “Power Electrical” would be delivered today.

What with one thing and another, I haven’t been out and about properly since friday. I’m going stir crazy!

Even more infuriating is veoh, the vid site where I found about 20 episodes of C.O.P.S. - it keeps crashing and blaming adobe flash player. I’m more inclined to blame the website, as the 90min Robin Williams show I saw on youtube yesterday didn’t have any problems.

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Don’t really like Veoh. Haven’t had much experience with it. It keeps saying it has a English Dub of ‘Tales from Earthsea’ but it’s in Japanese with English Subs.

I would highly recommend you Watch Avatar The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. Great shows, I am really enjoying them. You can download them all for free off Kissanime really easy with no hassle. :thumbsup:

All goes to plan I am going to see Guardians of the Galaxy tonight. :smiley:

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That and the fact that it says “you might also like” - and lists a whole random bunch of videos that have NOTHING in common with the video I’m currently watching.

It does have another list of “related videos”, but that list can be minimised, the “you might also like” list can’t.

Now I need to think of a fresh trivia question. I’m still a bit pooped on the trivia front, after having to come up with three in quick succession the other week, I’m struggling!

Enjoy GotG!

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That was the first time I took part in one of those trivia games. It took me a while to come up with a good question.

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Well, it was a good one.

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Depending on how things go I might have to wait until tomorrow but hopefully I will get chance to go tonight to see it.
All the reviews and everyone I know that has seen it have said it is very good. A good thing about it is I have knowledge of the characters so I will be able to enjoy it just for what it is instead of thinking about how true it is to the comic stories and characters.

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I always figured it worked the other way around - if you have prior knowledge, you’re automatically making comparisons whether you want to or not! A bit like when I saw the film of Ice Station Zebra - took me the best part of a decade to think, “well, maybe it’s OK-ish if you haven’t read the book”. But it’s still awful if you have read it!

Well, I’ve come up with a trivia question.

And hopefully my CD player should be arriving within the hour. Half an hour ago I got a text saying it would arrive within the next 90min.

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In the case of the Stephen King book ‘Needful Things’ I personally thought the film was better. There was parts f the book I really liked and it did flesh out the characters better than the film but there was a few things the film left out and changed, especially the ending which I thought was a better ending than the book.

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You could argue the same about “The Three Musketeers”, which gets a bit long-winded in parts, it’s not the easiest read. But the 1970s films with Michael York and Oliver Reed etc are amazing. They don’t make any major changes as such, but they turn the book into something quite brilliant.

In 1989, they did “Return Of The Musketeers” with the same cast, based on Dumas’ own sequel, “Twenty Years After” - the book is even more tedious, but again the film is good enough - it was plagued by ill luck from day one, so it’s remarkable it got made at all.

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It’s been a while since I seen the York movie but it is definitely the best Movie adaption of the book. Although I though Sutherland and Curry were quite good in the Disney movie but that’s about it.

I heard the Orlando Bloom movie with the flying ships is awful.

I haven’t seen the BBC series so I can’t say how accurate it is.

‘Return of the Musketeers’ is odd. The more it isn’t as good as the original or sequel I still like it as we used to have it on video recorded off TV. I remember on the last day of school (first year in High School 97), we had to help the science teacher clean out her store as she was retiring and in the store she had the actual VHS cassette of ‘RotM’. I was looking at the case and she just gave it to me and said I could have it but when I got it home the tape was not in the best of shape and wouldn’t play.

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Tim Curry would have been a wonderful Richelieu in a proper film version. As it is here, he’s still the best performance in it.

I thought Kiefer Sutherland was actually miscast as Athos, but actually did do a good job. So maybe he wasn’t that hugely miscast. Again, it certainly wasn’t his fault that the film stank.

Given that it only has one scene in common with the book (the duel with the Cardinal’s guards at the start), it was always going to be a stinker. Fortunately I guessed in advance that it would be and so I was able to go, “yep!” - the Bryan Adams song with Sting and Rod Stewart at the end never sounded so good!

The Michael York stuff is indeed the definitive telling of the story, as we’ve discussed before (I remember telling you it was originally conceived in the 60s as a vehicle for The Beatles!).

There’s an OK version from the 1940s with Gene Kelly as D’Artagnan.

I heard the Orlando Bloom movie with the flying ships is awful.

Flying ships? Note to self. NEVER watch this film!

I haven’t seen the BBC series so I can’t say how accurate it is.

It’s not very accurate. That said, it’s not that bad, once you can accept that they’re doing things rather differently. It’s not brilliant, but it has its moments. Tom Burke as Athos is particularly good, reminiscent of Van Heflin from the 1940s version, and a little of Oliver Reed as well. And of course Peter Capaldi as Richelieu is perfect casting. I didn’t like him until I saw him in this.

And of course, if we’re talking adaptions of Dumas - Dogtanian And The Three Muskahounds. First version I saw. Even now though, there’s some episodes I know I can’t have seen (can’t remember which). But I know if I got the DVD there would be some episodes that would be completely new to me. And I only found out recently that the same guy who voiced Dogtanian, Cam Clarke, later voiced Leonardo and Rocksteady!

‘Return of the Musketeers’ is odd. The more it isn’t as good as the original or sequel I still like it as we used to have it on video recorded off TV. I remember on the last day of school (first year in High School 97), we had to help the science teacher clean out her store as she was retiring and in the store she had the actual VHS cassette of ‘RotM’. I was looking at the case and she just gave it to me and said I could have it but when I got it home the tape was not in the best of shape and wouldn’t play.

Unfortunate. Yes, the film isn’t as good as the original two, but the book isn’t as good as the film anyway!

And like I said, the film was plagued with bad luck from day one. Richard Chamberlain was injured, and didn’t exactly walk out, but his part was cut down considerably; and then of course Roy Kinnear was killed.

And of course Roy Kinnear was also Verucca Salt’s father in the 1971 musical version of Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. Verucca was the only child with her own song, “I Want It Now”, and earlier this year, I wondered if someone had put up onto youtube a video editing clips of her together with QUEEN’s “I Want It All” - and someone had. Works quite well.

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I remember our history teacher made us watch the Disney movie in class for a few lessons. He said it wasn’t exactly accurate but it was more just about the mistrust between England and France etc.

In regards to the Bloom movie, the ships look like zeplins and DeWinter is a ninja assassin…

Cam Clarke has done quite a lot of good characters. He-Mas also He-man in the 2002 series and aside from Leonardo and Dogtanian another one of his most famous roles is Max Sterling from Robotech.

The point I also meant to say was some long book that take place over a long period like Musketeers etc sometimes work better as a series instead of a movie.

I seen Guardians of the Galaxy last night. It’s okay, I personally don’t think it’s as good as everyone said it was. It is what it is…if I was marking it out of 10 I would say 6.5-7/10.

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He’d definitely have been better advised to put on the Michael York one.

You’re right again about the concept being better suited to a series. A proper BBC dramatisation is the only thing that could have any hope of outdoing the Michael York film. But it ain’t gonna happen.

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To make the King story, ‘Needful Things’, work it would really require a season of episodes to show the interactions with the towns folk and their back stories.

There is so many good scenes from the Musketeers that were not even shown in the films. Like the scene with Athos in the cellar and the execution scene.

That history teacher…in fact both my history teachers were idiots. I was good at history but because of them I didn’t take history for my G.C.S.E.s. Although when I wanted to switch from Business Studies and do History they wouldn’t let me. :mad:

I might try and catch up on the new BBC Musketeers series but I would be more interested in finishing watching Dogtanian. I know I finished the first disc, I can’t recall if I started the second disc.

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Not having read it, I’ll take your word for it.

There is so many good scenes from the Musketeers that were not even shown in the films. Like the scene with Athos in the cellar and the execution scene.

The scene with Athos in the cellar IS in the Gene Kelly one, if you ever get the chance to see it. The execution scene is done differently in every version, but never the same as the book.

That history teacher…in fact both my history teachers were idiots. I was good at history but because of them I didn’t take history for my G.C.S.E.s. Although when I wanted to switch from Business Studies and do History they wouldn’t let me. :mad:

It really is incredible the effect our teachers will have on our tastes. If you have a good (and also likeable) teacher, you’ll engage with the subject a lot better. I remember all the maths teachers I had in school. In particular Mr Slater, although not necessarily the most likeable of persons, he knew his onions when it came to maths, and was a damn good teacher. I respected him for that.

I might try and catch up on the new BBC Musketeers series but I would be more interested in finishing watching Dogtanian. I know I finished the first disc, I can’t recall if I started the second disc.

It was only earlier this year (I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before) that I found out that Dogtanian was made by the same people that made Willy Fog - but the discovery came as no surprise to me at all, because absolutely ANYTHING that you can say about the one show, you can say about the other.

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There is a series quite similar to Willy Fog and Dogtanian called Sherlock Hound. You can guess what it’s about. I have only seen one episode of it, it seems quite good.
Some of the episodes were directed by Hayao Miyazaki pre Studio Ghibli fame. :smiley:

Haven’t seen the Gene Kelly film.
I mean none of the films I saw captured thr execution scene as it was described in the book. In fact that scene from the book could make some great paintings.

I was originally going to get into teaching but even though I got my University place I deferred it for a year and during that time I got a place working in a High School as an Art Technician. It was a good experience but I realised it wasn’t something I really wanted to do, also my tutors and even some of the teachers at the school said if I wanted to concentrate on creating art getting into teaching wasn’t a good idea as it didn’t leave much free time for working on your own art.

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Yeah. I wonder how they handled The Hound Of The Baskervilles . . .

Haven’t seen the Gene Kelly film.
I mean none of the films I saw captured thr execution scene as it was described in the book. In fact that scene from the book could make some great paintings.

It’s been a while since I read the book last. I remember when they were taking her to be executed, Grimaud and Mousqueton were holding her initially, but she tried to tempt them into setting her free, but Athos overheard her and had Planchet and Bazin replace them. Obviously the Michael York film didn’t feature the other three servants at all.

The Gene Kelly film is all right. It’s a fair telling of the tale in its own right, and worth watching if you get the chance.

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Correct me if I am wrong but in the Dogtanian cartoon isn’t the names of Athos and Porthos mixed up.

Speaking of the Musketeers. There is an anime from the 70’s called Starzinger (Sci-Fi West Saga Starzinger) about three cyborgs helping a princess on a mission in space. In the English dubs the names of the cyborgs are loosely based on some of the Musketeers.
Jesse Dart (Dartanian)
Arimos (Aramis)
Porkos (Porthos)
Aside from that it has nothing at all to do with the Musketeers. It is a pretty good show from what I remember of it. Some of the tapes were released over here and called Sci-Bots.

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I seem to remember reading somewhere that some details were swapped over between Athos and Porthos - particularly the backstory with Milady.

Never heard of that Starzinger thingie. Although I seem to remember watching a one-off animation called “The Three Fishketeers” - which also had nothing to do with Dumas. The three heroes were called Toby, Gillas and Finner, if I recall.

Phew - got my 15-mile walk done today, after spending most of the week stuck inside the house. Well, not stuck exactly, but between a depression attack at the start of the week which was sustained by the shock of Robin Williams’ passing, and having to stay in to wait for that CD player, and then my computer being evil yesterday, I’ve not been out much at all.

Also made a bit more progress on the song. Firstly, I’ve changed the melody for the first half of the chorus - again! This is the third melody the chorus has had now since I started writing it! Although technically the melody for the first half is the melody that I had originally composed to go with the melody of the second half. For some reason I split them up the other week, when I thought of using a different melody for the first half first, and then added the second half later. But I’ve decided to put the original pairing back together.

This came to me on the walk, when I suddenly had the horrible feeling that the tune I was using for the first half might actually work better with some other verse melody that’s also been lying around in the back of my head for years (I have lots of bits and pieces of ideas lying around in the back of my head). I haven’t given them a proper go together yet - I wanted to check it out somewhere on my rounds today that had a piano but I wasn’t able to. I’ll give it a go later on.

Also, one of the four unwritten lines of the two unwritten two-line prechoruses came to me as I was walking in my front door. And I just knew it was perfect, because it references another song that had significance at the time of what this song is about.