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Month: May 2024

Protagonists and Antagonists. Fiction Hack: Episode 010protagonists and antagonists

Protagonists and Antagonists. Fiction Hack: Episode 010

Published May 29, 2024 by Colin

We all think we know what we mean when we talk about protagonists and antagonists, but do we actually? Let’s dive deeper into the words’ origins…

Ross’ Notes

  • First up, as I hope I made clear, I am not using these two words in their conventional meaning. The accepted usage of “protagonist” today is simply “main character”. I think that this loses an important nuance, however, and one that we would have to invent terminology to redefine both protagonists and antagonists. Why go to that hassle when we can just use the old word in a new way?
  • From Wiktionary: PROTAGONST – from Ancient Greek πρωταγωνιστής (prōtagōnistḗs, “a chief actor”), from πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”) + ἀγωνιστής (agōnistḗs, “a combatant, pleader, actor”).
  • From Wiktionary: ANTAGONIST – From Ancient Greek ἀνταγωνιστής (antagōnistḗs, “opponent”) (ἀντί (antí, “against”) + ἀγωνιστής (agōnistḗs, “a combatant, pleader, actor”)), from ἀνταγωνίζεσθαι (antagōnízesthai, “antagonize”).
  • My explanation of Greek Tragedy is very brief and mostly inaccurate. But it will do for now as a simple understanding until we can explore it more later. A certain amount of Classics scholarship is guesswork, supposition, or hearsay anyway.
  • Important to understand about Predator (1987), the actual story being told changes. This is a comprehensive flip–all story objectives are exchanged for completely new objectives. Thus the protagonists’ and antagonists’ roles flip.
  • Anagnorisis is my new favourite word. Might be worth an episode. Write in if you’d like to hear that.
  • That’s me, still bringing up Star Wars…
  • Lawrence of Arabia (1962) was written by Robert Bolt, who certainly knew what he was about. He won two Oscars and wrote the screenplays for Doctor Zhivago (1965), A Man For All Seasons (1966), which is another personal favourite, and The Mission (1988). 
  • Definitely check out Changing Lanes (2002). Very interesting when discussing protagonists and antagonists.
  • Shakespeare’s Coriolanus is certainly one of the more spirited and violent fish-out-of-water stories you’ll come across.

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The Problem with Die Hard: Episode 009the problem with die hard

The Problem with Die Hard: Episode 009

Published May 25, 2024 by Ross Lawhead

What is the problem with Die Hard? It’s just a fun movie right? I mean, Bruce Willis is really good in it, Alan Rickman gives a career-making performance, and there are a couple cool explosions. What’s not to like? What’s the problem with Die Hard? Well…

Ross’ Show Notes

  • John McTiernan on IMDB.com. For more information about his hard times, check out this article.
  • Think about how phenomenal McTiernan’s early career was. Three solid movies that all launched franchises, after a fashion. Die Hard (1988) has had four sequels to date and that isn’t even the front runner. Predator (1987) has had four and is getting a fifth this year, and Hunt For Red October (1990) was the first of the five Jack Ryan movies, a character which also now has its own series on Amazon Prime. The actors that have played Jack Ryan are Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford (twice), Ben Affleck, Chris Pine, and John Krasinski. 
  • The Thai movie staring Tony Jaa that Colin is describing looks to be The Protector (2005).
  • Do listen to the Die Hard commentary. Other factual information has been taken from Wikipedia: Die Hard, Die Hard 2 (1990), Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995), Live Free or Die Hard (2007), A Good Day to Die Hard (2013).
  • First Blood was released in 1982, and Commando was 1985. Defining a genre is pretty hard to do. But many credit First Blood as the first of the 80s wave of action movies. That same year saw Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in the first “buddy cop movie”, 48 Hrs.
  • Other high points of the 80s Action genre are Terminator in 1984 and Lethal Weapon  in 1987.
  • The Detective (1968) on IMDB.com.
  • Gordon Douglas directed The Detective, and he was quite the workhorse. Starting out as a child (teenage, really) actor in Hal Roach comedies, he went on to direct the horror classic Them! (1954), They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970), and a host of Frank Sinatra vehicles, including my favourite: Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964).
  • The Martin Lawrence movie I was talking about was Blue Streak (1999), which was considered pretty solid at the time, but now shows how tired the genre had become just before The Matrix (1999) reset the bar and invented a new visual language for (American) action movies. Then Bourne happened. And now John Wick.
  • Yeah, listen to the Predator director’s commentary as well, it’s real good.
  • Do you have a problem with Die Hard? Tweet #fictionhack.

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Remembering Steve Ditko: Fiction Hack Episode 008remembering steve ditko

Remembering Steve Ditko: Fiction Hack Episode 008

Published May 21, 2024 by Colin

This week we are remembering Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, The Question, Rorshach, and much, much more. Just like the heroes he created and helped develop, Ditko was a mysterious, complex, and principled individual. Today we try to open a little of that up for you.

Ross’ Show Notes

  • Here’s a list of characters that Steve Ditko created on Wikipedia. Not all of them had their own titles, of course, but it’s pretty impressive.
  • William Sydney Porter’s pen name was O. Henry.
  • My history of Marvel Comics is not strictly accurate, but it is the simplest way of thinking about it. Fortunately, there are a lot of good biographies of early comics history. My favourite, for its objectivity, is Sean Howe’s Marvel: The Untold Story.
  •  Here’s a sample of Alan Moore’s scriptwriting style, which I don’t think anyone would advise emulating. This is the description for ONE PANEL on the first page of Watchmen. You can find it in the Watchmen Absolute edition.

Alan Moore Watchmen Script

remembering steve ditko

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Star Trek: Fiction Hack Episode 007Star Trek

Star Trek: Fiction Hack Episode 007

Published May 17, 2024 by Colin

What’s this? Ross is the layman and Colin is the expert? Have we entered a mirrorverse? That would explain why both Colin and Ross are wearing dark goatees (Ross has a darker goatee on top of his beard–it’s weird). This week we talk Star Trek!

Ross’ Show Notes

  • Star Trek is massive. There have been 7 TV shows (including the Animated Series) totalling incorporating seasons, totalling 740 episodes. Additionally, there have been and a whopping 13 movies.
  • Here’s a clip from Star Trek: Next Voyage (known now as The Animated Series). All the voice actors are the show’s original actors, except for Walter Koenig (Chekov), apparently due to budgetary reasons.

  • I haven’t even tried to count the Star Trek novels. Here’s a list on Wikipedia, though.
  • Star Trek novels have been published continually since 1967 and have had some pretty big names in SF associated with them. James Blish wrote the very first original novel called “Spock Must Die”, as well as episode novelizations. Multi-Hugo Award winner Joe Haldeman followed suit in the Seventies and since then Harlan Ellison, Theodore Sturgeon, Vonda N MacIntyre, and Greg Bear are more award winners who have penned ST novels.
  • The best Star Trek novelisation that I’ve read is Star Trek: Federation by Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens. It’s a Original Series/Next Generation crossover which shows early Kirk scenes at the academy and also ties in the creator of the warp drive, Zefram Cochrane, and that’s who James Cromwell plays in Star Trek: First Contact, not Scott Bakula in Enterprise, that’s why I got confused. Anyway, 5 stars.

  • I still like Star Trek: Generations, though. Doesn’t anyone else?
  • Colin says that the Original Series’ (TOS) pilot, The Cage, is not canon, but that is not my understanding. Captain Pike appeared in The Menagerie episode of TOS, and no information given there conflicted with the pilot, in fact, much of it was confirmed. The reason that Pike did not appear later was not a story reason, but because the actor backed out. Pike appears in the novels and was recast as an integral character in the J. J. Abrams reboot. So there.
  • Wow. There have been a LOT of fan-made Star Trek episodes and movies! By far my favourite is Star Trek Continues, both in conception and production. It’s a continuation of the Original Series, which works well being super low budget. They’ve even pushed the colours to match TOS, and the make-up and effects work is spot on. They even have a pretty good Shatner. Definitely check it out:

  • Colin’s favourite episode is “The Inner Light” season 5, episode 25. The short story I couldn’t remember the name of is An Occurrence at Owl Creek by Ambrose Bierce. Read it. It’s good. It’s short.
  • My favourite episode is season 6, episode 21 called “Frame of Mind”.
  • Westworld (1976) is quite well thought of today. IMDB gives it 7/10, Metacritic gives it 77, and Rotten Tomatoes gives it 86% fresh. Which isn’t awful.
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Ant-man and The Wasp: Fiction Hack Episode 006

Ant-man and The Wasp: Fiction Hack Episode 006

Published May 13, 2024 by Colin

Marvel Studios is about to release its 20th movie, Ant-Man and The Wasp! As a long-time comic nerd, that blows my mind. Ant-Man is a very unlikely hero who has been around since the beginning and has a hard time keeping his own series. The Wasp has generally been a tag-along character to him. Along with Guardians of the Galaxy, he’s been one of the most obscure characters picked to headline his own movie. So who is Ant-Man and/or The Wasp? Who are they in the comics, and who are they in the movies?

Ross’ Show Notes

  • My Fantastic Four review site is called FF 1 by 1, and it is totally ongoing (even though I’ve been taking a break this year).
  • The best info on comic characters (apart from me) is still probably Wikipedia. Here are the entries for Ant-Man and The Wasp.
  • Peyton Reed isn’t a name you probably knew before Ant-Man, but he directed the first Bring It On (2000), as well as Yes Man (2008), and every episode of The Weird Al Show (1997). For those alone I will forgive him Down With Love (2003).
  • My personal favourite tale featuring (the original) Ant-Man and The Wasp is Kurt Busiek’s 12 issue limited series Avengers Forever. Carlos Pacheco’s art is top tier and although it reaches deep into pre-90s comic lore, it’s friendly for a newcomer.
  • I don’t know if I made it clear, but Hope Van Dyne did appear first in Marvel Comics, although not in strict continuity. MC2 (Marvel Comics 2) were a spin-off imprint from the late 1990s, created when Tom DeFalco (one of my personal favourite writers) was removed from marvel as Editor-In-Chief in 1994. Fan outcry (or, let’s say, demand) was such that Marvel gave DeFalco creative control over a small group of titles, MC2, which essentially showed how the key marvel characters would have progressed under his supervision. Spider-Girl, with Ron Frenz, was the forerunner success and became known as the comic they couldn’t kill after fan outcry (it really was an outcry this time) forced Marvel to rescind several cancellations–eventually going on to be Marvel’s longest-running female-titled comic, hitting 100 issues. Other titles were The Fantastic Five, J2, Wild Thing, and A-Next. Hope Van Dyne, as the daughter of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, appeared in issue 7 of A-Next as The Red Queen, leader of the Revengers, squaring off against Cassandra Lang (that name familiar?) a size-changing hero called Stinger.
  • I’m supposed to put links out and embeds into my notes for SEO purposes. Here’s a trailer, I guess:

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Chekhov’s Gun and the Mystery box: Fiction Hack Episode 005

Chekhov’s Gun and the Mystery box: Fiction Hack Episode 005

Published May 9, 2024 by Colin

As Russian playwright Anton Chekhov once said: “I’ve got a gun!” Why is this an important statement in the history of fictional narrative? And how does it relate to some sort of box that J. J. Abrams once got as a kid? (Hint: Alfred Hitchcock)

The answers are inside…

Ross’ Show Notes

“Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.”

“One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn’t going to go off. It’s wrong to make promises you don’t mean to keep.” Chekhov, letter to Aleksandr Semenovich Lazarev (pseudonym of A. S. Gruzinsky), 1 November 1889.

“If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there.” From Gurlyand’s Reminiscences of A. P. Chekhov, in Teatr i iskusstvo 1904, No. 28, 11 July, p. 521.

“There is a distinct difference between “suspense” and “surprise,” and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I’ll explain what I mean.

We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let’s suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, “Boom!” There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o’clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: “You shouldn’t be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!”

In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story.”

“[If I tell people who Cumberbatch plays, they know that they] would have a five-second rush of exhilaration followed by four months of being completely and totally bummed out that they can’t tell anybody else and that when it gets revealed in the movie, it will have been spoiled for them. That’s why they’re called ‘spoilers,’ they’re not called ‘awesomes.’”

  • J. J. Abram’s TED talk is still up on their website, but I’ll also post it below. I’m still scratching my head about it. I don’t know, should I let it go?
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