Oversimplified assertions about marketing don't really illuminate anything.
Return of space adventure???
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
On the other hand, you can't discount the practical, real-world, business issues entirely. If only as a reality check, it's useful to step back and consider how different mediums may be aimed at different demographics . . . .
Teenagers vs. housewives is one possible explanation for why what works in the movies might not work on network tv.
(I'm not sure it's the explanation, but it's a plausible attempt to explain the discrepancy.)
I still remember Berman relaying the story of Robert Picardo trying to decide which flour to redo his kitchen with, the cheap one or the expensive one, and Berman telling him to go with the expensive one, and laughing. That's one practical piece of junk food any woman won't want to swallow.
Prometheus is sci-fi done well. Avatar is not. Good sci fi should be for children of all ages.
Prometheus is sci-fi done well. Avatar is not. Good sci fi should be for children of all ages.
Last edited:
Fan films also produce one episode a year. Try doing 13-22 times that on a volunteer budget and see how far you get.
Tell that to the Blood & Chrome producers who had a ton of trouble working with virtual sets on a budget.
Prometheus isn't even out yet. How about we reserve judgement until we actually see it. And plenty of people disagree with you about Avatar.
Yeah, and that's nonsense. There ought to be good sf intended for adults, good sf intended for children, etc. Oh, and please retire the hoary "children of all ages" foolishness.
BTW, Prometheus has received an MPAA rating of "R" - so it's not intended for children at all. Just one more instance of your not knowing what you're talking about.
And Avatar is brilliant.
Avatar, doesn't matter what any of us think of it (I actually enjoyed it, and didn't have a problem with "Dances with Smurfs"). But, anyways, doesn't matter what we think of it, it made a pile of cash, it's got a standard that is will be respected by anyone making Space SciFi, TV and Movies are not charity, and they're not Art that lives on, because they integrity, if the audience doesn't support it, it's not tax funded art, it's cold hard cash that has to pay for itself to survive
Green Screen sets, Blood and Chrome staff learned, it's not as cheap and swift as believed. Sanctuary, has a good handle of the scheduling of it, but it takes them 42 ( or mabe 48?) weeks to put an episode in the can. They've done it for four years, so they know how to keep all the balls in the air and move each one forward weekly, that's skill that shouldn't be taken lightly or dismissed when choosing to go that route with Green Screen Sets.
Green Screen sets, Blood and Chrome staff learned, it's not as cheap and swift as believed. Sanctuary, has a good handle of the scheduling of it, but it takes them 42 ( or mabe 48?) weeks to put an episode in the can. They've done it for four years, so they know how to keep all the balls in the air and move each one forward weekly, that's skill that shouldn't be taken lightly or dismissed when choosing to go that route with Green Screen Sets.
Avatar looked great, like something out of Analog come to life; but the story was pretty lame.
Indeed.
And you are the acknowledged master of oversimplified assertions. Like that one.
Also, someday you should look up the meaning of the word "marketing."It's an explanation that doesn't get enough press. My goal here is to divert attention from the explanation that gets too damn much attention: the content and quality of movies and TV shows.
People need to pay more attention to business reasons that have a huge impact on what we see, completely distinct from whether we like this or that content, or what color the spaceship's nacelles might be, or whether we think Avatar is a shallow and slightly embarrassing rehash of Whitey Saves the Noble Savage.
Yes. But did that stop it from making boatloads of money? No.
What's more important, the lame story, or the boatloads of money? The latter of course.
I thinkt the fundamental problem with space adventure is the widespread notion that the solar system is full of boring rocks. There's a subsidiary problem with people no longer buying the concept of traveling in a starship being like traveling on a boat or plane. (And there are a vociferous minority who insist on the total impossibility of star travel of any sort, just because.)
Avatar's story was not Mighty Whitey Saves the Noble Savages, it was Whitey Goes Native, Confesses Whitey's Sins and Everyone Gets Saved by the God Who Is REAL! (and by his girlfriend.) Whatever is lame in Avatar's story involves Eywa. Nobody cares about the Mighty Whitey trope, as is proven by the fact that nobody* was concerned by the real Mighty Whitey trope in John Carter, except the writers who knocked themselves out trying to excise from the source material.
*I mentioned it in my comments but this is an internet BBS and doesn't count. Athena Andriadis brought it up on her website, but she's kind of duplicitous and likes to pose as a lefty (BUT NOT COMMIE!) so pretend arguments are cool with her. No one from the left criticized Avatar on those grounds, not least for the good reason it's not Mighty Whitey. The indifference to the error in the criticism exposes the dishonesty.
Avatar's story was not Mighty Whitey Saves the Noble Savages, it was Whitey Goes Native, Confesses Whitey's Sins and Everyone Gets Saved by the God Who Is REAL! (and by his girlfriend.) Whatever is lame in Avatar's story involves Eywa. Nobody cares about the Mighty Whitey trope, as is proven by the fact that nobody* was concerned by the real Mighty Whitey trope in John Carter, except the writers who knocked themselves out trying to excise from the source material.
*I mentioned it in my comments but this is an internet BBS and doesn't count. Athena Andriadis brought it up on her website, but she's kind of duplicitous and likes to pose as a lefty (BUT NOT COMMIE!) so pretend arguments are cool with her. No one from the left criticized Avatar on those grounds, not least for the good reason it's not Mighty Whitey. The indifference to the error in the criticism exposes the dishonesty.
Last edited:
Somewhat off topic, but they've definitely nailed the Alien vibe in Prometheus. I knew absolutely nothing about the film but I half-watched a bit of some trailer on TV the other day while doing something else, and thought to myself "looks cool, but wow, they've ripped off Alien a lot"! 
I had no idea it IS actually connected to the Alien franchise until reading this thread.... d'oh!
I had no idea it IS actually connected to the Alien franchise until reading this thread.... d'oh!
No, it never does.
Exactly. To the major studios, at least, quality means nothing and money means everything. That's why we have nuTrek.
It doesn't matter how well it does, because John Carter will cancel it out.
And note, please, that I wasn't the one who said this.To the major studios, at least, quality means nothing and money means everything. That's why we have nuTrek.
And such irony. A film I have no respect for makes loads of money while another I quite liked is scorned unfairly.It doesn't matter how well it does, because John Carter will cancel it out.
Interesting assessment of a film no one has seen yet.
Proof of that is:
- The return of Dallas to TNT this summer
- The popularity of the various Real Housewives shows
- The huge popularity of Dancing with the Stars.
- One thing though is interesting at the same time - middle age women no longer watch the "Soaps," - I guess because so many of them are at work during the day. - with the exception of Ann Romney who is the most famous stay at home mom in America today.
Similar threads
