A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

© 1973 Filmation and Paramount Television. STAR TREK © CBS Studios Someone on Quora asked this question: In Star Trek: The Animated Series, why was Chekov replaced by an officer with three arms as the ship's navigator? In 1973, when Filmation got the contract from NBC and Paramount Television (the entity that inherited the Star Trek intellectual property after Paramount Pictures purchased Desilu in 1967) to produce Star Trek: The Animated Series , it faced one of the main issues that dogged creator/producer Gene Roddenberry when he was making the live action show: budget limitations. Television networks are nothing but penurious when it comes to paying for production costs under most circumstances. They are, after all, a business entity and not a charity ward for actors, writers, producers, and directors, and they’re only willing to shell out top dollar for proven genres and well-known talent because, in the suits’ estimation, that’s what gets the audience to park its ...

Superman was also released as a "Christmas movie" in 1978. It didn't change the "true meaning of Christmas." © 1978 DC Comics and Warner Bros.  Someone on Quora asks: Do you think that Disney's plan to release Star Wars movies around Christmas is to make the holiday about Star Wars instead of the true meaning of Christmas? Hardly. Traditionally, all of the major movie studios, including Paramount Pictures, Columbia, Universal, MGM, and Disney’s newest acquisition, 20th Century Fox, have  always  released major movies during the December holiday season. This is nothing new, and it’s not, as you suggest, a marketing strategy centered around one movie franchise. There are several reasons behind this strategy, but the biggest ones are: The holiday season is when most businesses usually make the most money Children and adolescents are on winter break The last quarter of the year (October, November, and December) is when most studios releas...

Someone - naturally - on Quora asks: Is the MCU based on anything? If you’re asking if the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is based on a single book or comic book story, the answer is  no.  As far as I know, there is no single source for the various films and television series produced by Marvel Studios over the past 11 years. The first film in the current MCU was 2008’s  Iron Man.  The latest entry in the series is  Avengers: Endgame.  In addition, ABC-TV (which is owned by Marvel Enterprises’ corporate parent, The Walt Disney Company) airs  Secret Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,  which is also integrated into the MCU. That having been said, the MCU is based primarily on the characters created by Marvel Comics and the various comic book series that shared a common fictional universe. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Spider-Man, Hulk, Doctor Strange, Nick Fury, and Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel are all characters created originally for Marvel Com...

Someone on Quora asks: Are you disappointed that Rey has seemingly reforged the Skywalker lightsaber hilt, rather than constructing her own design? No. Why would I be? Look. I’m a movie buff. I’m a reviewer. I’m a  Star Wars  fan. And I’m also acquainted with creating content because I’m also a writer. I learned long ago that I, a consumer of the  Star Wars  films that Lucasfilm has made from 1977 to 2019, have no say in what George Lucas or Kathleen Kennedy decide to make or green light. That applies to every other movie I have watched, whether they’re franchise films or standalone ones. Therefore, since I was 17, I have gone to each film without a wishlist of “fanboy theories” or things I want to see happen. Same applies for Star Wars - Episode IX; The Rise of Skywalker. In this specific instance, I am not disappointed at all that Rey managed to repair the Skywalker lightsaber. In fact, this is one of the very few plot points that I anticipated wh...

Cover photo © Los Angeles Philharmonic © 2019 Deutsche Grammophon On March 29, Berlin-based Deutsche Grammophon released Celebrating John Williams: Gustavo Dudamel/Los Angeles Philharmonic, a 2-CD set that presents 19 of the world-renowned composer-conductor's best-known (and best-loved) themes. Recorded live at the Los Angeles Philharmonic's (LAP) home in the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the album showcases music from Maestro Williams' illustrious career, including selections from the Harry Potter series, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and other films by Steven Spielberg, the 1984 Summer Olympiad in Los Angeles, and more.  No other world-class orchestra champions the classic film music tradition like the Los Angeles Philharmonic does - and the close working relationship its Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel has established with legendary film-music composer John Williams makes this the ultimate showcase album of the composer's greatest works. - B...

Someone on Quora asks:  What do you think of the Star Wars Episode IX trailer? As someone who has seen every  Star Wars  trailer for the live action Episodes since 1976, I can honestly say it’s par for the course for a Lucasfilm  Star Wars  trailer. In essence, it follows the conventions of the  Star Wars  teaser trailers that have come before. It gives the audience glimpses of what the filmmakers have to offer without giving the narrative away. Obviously, there are stylistic differences between the teaser for the first  Star Wars  Skywalker Saga film and the one for the last. For instance, there’s no “voice of God” narrator in the teaser for  The Rise of Skywalker ; instead, we have Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, reciting some dialogue that gives viewers a hint about the thematic content of the film  without  spoilers. I also like the fact that the  Episode IX  trailer is itself a callback...

Would "flying water tankers" have been able to successfully extinguish the Notre Dame fire? No. Firefighting “bombers” would not have been able to successfully extinguish the fire that seriously damaged the Cathedral of Notre Dame. On the contrary, they would have just completed the destruction of the ancient structure that the flames started. To wit: Call them air tankers, water bombers, or aerial firefighters, fixed-wing aircraft that drop either water or flame retardant are fine for helping douse or at least diminish wildfires in remote, unpopulated areas such as forests or national parks. In heavily urbanized areas, such as Metro Paris in France, water bombers are useless. I mean, okay. The planes will douse the fire, sure. But they’ll also cause a lot of destruction, injuries, and even loss of lives. Air tankers are not precision instruments. If we were to make an analogy, using a water bomber on Notre Dame is like using a sledgehammer to swat a mosqui...