A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

A few days ago, Harry Turtledove, one of the authors I follow on Twitter (and the only one with whom I interact regularly on that social media platform), posted this whimsical Christmas wish list from the 1970s: #70sChristmasList Harvest gold refrigerator Avocado stove Betamax Quadraphonic sound system English Leather, or maybe Brut Cargo pants for the guys Hot pants for the women Platform shoes A leisure suit A case of Miller Lite Or of US-brewed (aka ruined) Löwenbräu I thought this was clever, amusing, and cool, so I replied with a #70sChristmasList of my own: #70s ChristmasList Stereo system with LP/8-track/AM-FM radio Brut, or English Leather Wacky Packages Star Wars figures (by Kenner) Billy Joel albums Star Wars OST 2-LP set Superman OST 2-LP set Classical music LPs A Bridge Too Far book Over the past few days, I've been going through the decades (the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s) and thinking of typical Christmas wish lists based on the trends of the...

(C) 2008 Paramount Home Entertainment Pros:  The few great Trek films are included; extras are mostly nice Cons:  If you have the two-disc Collector Editions, you don't need this! Although I've come to love the DVD (Digital Video Disk, or Digitally Versatile Disk) format ever since I purchased my first in the spring of 1999, there's one particular sales technique involving the admittedly-useful and versatile format that has made me somewhat annoyed with the various movie studios - the seemingly endless re-release and repackaging of popular films such as the  Alien  franchise, the Jack Ryan film series and the  Die Hard  series. All right, I confess: sometimes it's good that studios will backtrack and improve upon a "bare-bones" first edition of one of my favorite movies, particularly DVDs that lacked such extras as director's commentary tracks, deleted scenes, and behind-the-scenes featurettes. I tend to like those bonus features; as an...

After the cancellation by ABC of his ambitious and expensive television series,  The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles,  executive producer George Lucas tried several methods to save the show and give viewers - especially pre-teen kids and young adults - its trademark mix of education and entertainment. For instance, after ABC axed  Young Indy  from its lineup (citing the show's lavish budgets as its primary reason), Lucasfilm Limited produced four made-for-TV movies which aired on cable's Family Channel over a two-year period (1994-1996).  Another life-saving measure was the hiring of film editor T.M. Christopher, who not only had worked with Lucas as an editor on the Classic  Star Wars  Trilogy, but also with Milos Forman in cutting 1984's  Amadeus. Christopher (who also was involved in the 1997 updating of the original  Star Wars  films into their still controversial Special Edition versions)  was assigned to  re-edit 44 episod...

In March of 1992, Lucasfilm Ltd., Paramount Television, and ABC Television gave viewers the first episode of  The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles , a series which explored the formative years of Henry Jones, Jr. a few decades before the events depicted in the  Indiana Jones Trilogy . Part  Indy  prequel, part history lesson, this was one of the rare television projects personally overseen by George Lucas, and it was intended to entertain fans of the archaeologist/adventurer while at the same time introducing many of them to important persons with whom a young Indy might have interacted with as he followed his father, Professor Henry Jones, Sr., and mother Anna on a global lecture tour as a ten-year-old, then later getting into more Indy-like situations during World War I and the post-war Jazz Age. The idea of Lucas' fictional hero interacting with real historical characters wasn't new; in 1989's  Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade , the Man with the Hat ...