Nerd Rage
I don't get mad over my fiction very often. (Okay, that's a lie.) I usually get angry about what I feel is pretty valid stuff. But twice (!!) already this week I've been presented with little details about upcoming Things I Care About (or Kinda Care About) that are making the nerd in me rage - and rage hard.
First: Star Trek.
I've been hearing rumbling rumors that Benedict Cumberbatch's character in Star Trek Into Darkness may, in fact, be Khan.
This irritates me.
Oh, lawd, does this irritate me.
Now, don't get me wrong. I love Khan. He's a great villain. I completely agree that The Wrath of Khan is one of the greatest Star Trek films ever made.
But.
Buuuuut.
This is an alternate universe. Yes, you can make the argument that Khan was originally created BEFORE Spock Prime had the chance to come back and fuck up the timeline, splitting it into TOS and Nu!Trek, so there's a logical following that Khan could still be a player in Into Darkness or later Nu!Trek films without ruining continuity. I'll gladly grant that. I was granting that to the writers long before Into Darkness was even being written. If they wanted to use Khan, they could - the means were already there.
But. Again: this is an alternate universe. A chance to start anew, to rewrite and do more with the series now than ever could be done with Star Trek when it was originally airing. There is SO MUCH ground that can be covered - all of which is new, or new to Star Trek. So why, why, are we rehashing a villain, especially so soon? Why does it have to be Khan? What's wrong with leaving him as this John Hamilton, or whatever the fuck code name they're using for Cumberbatch's character?
And why, if the rumors are true, did they fucking whitewash Khan into Benedict Cumberbatch?!
Second, the first trailer for Ender's Game was finally released. While I have no intention of seeing this film any time soon (Orson Scott Card is not getting ANY financial support from me in the foreseeable future and possibly beyond that), I do still have fond memories of the first time I read the book and am vaguely curious about its translation to film, so I clicked on the trailer.
The Battle Room is made of glass. You can see the Earth down below. Now, this is cool - except for the fact that the big point of the Battle Room was how damn disorienting it was. Solid colors, no gravity, no sense of up or down. The whole big thing in the book is that Ender managed to find a way to give himself (and later, his team) orientation in that space. The enemy's gate is down. It was one of the first really good signs to the reader that Ender wasn't just special, he was SPECIAL.
So tell me. How the sweet hell is that going to be an important part of the movie when YOU CAN SEE THE EARTH BELOW YOU while fighting? I had wondered if maybe it'd only be transparent when it's not in use and then it would go opaque when battles started in it, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
/nerd rage
FURTHER BECAUSE I CAN:
Tony, Tony, that car was not one of yours. It could not drive itself. You needed to - look, I know it's Christmas and you're in a hurry and there's almost no one on the road but that car cannot drive itself and you need to keep your eyes on the road, not read reports borrowed from a dead vet's wife. THE ROAD, TONY. Also you need to steer. Tony. Tony. STEER THE DAMN CAR AND KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD BEFORE YOU KILL YOURSELF.
...In short: nerd rage in IM3 means that Tony Stark did not drive the car he so surreptitiously stole from the not-dead, Extremis-infected agent and instead took the time to read reports.
He didn't even try driving the car with his KNEES, which I might've kinda bought.
This entry was originally posted at dreamwidth.org. You can comment on either site.
First: Star Trek.
I've been hearing rumbling rumors that Benedict Cumberbatch's character in Star Trek Into Darkness may, in fact, be Khan.
This irritates me.
Oh, lawd, does this irritate me.
Now, don't get me wrong. I love Khan. He's a great villain. I completely agree that The Wrath of Khan is one of the greatest Star Trek films ever made.
But.
Buuuuut.
This is an alternate universe. Yes, you can make the argument that Khan was originally created BEFORE Spock Prime had the chance to come back and fuck up the timeline, splitting it into TOS and Nu!Trek, so there's a logical following that Khan could still be a player in Into Darkness or later Nu!Trek films without ruining continuity. I'll gladly grant that. I was granting that to the writers long before Into Darkness was even being written. If they wanted to use Khan, they could - the means were already there.
But. Again: this is an alternate universe. A chance to start anew, to rewrite and do more with the series now than ever could be done with Star Trek when it was originally airing. There is SO MUCH ground that can be covered - all of which is new, or new to Star Trek. So why, why, are we rehashing a villain, especially so soon? Why does it have to be Khan? What's wrong with leaving him as this John Hamilton, or whatever the fuck code name they're using for Cumberbatch's character?
And why, if the rumors are true, did they fucking whitewash Khan into Benedict Cumberbatch?!
Second, the first trailer for Ender's Game was finally released. While I have no intention of seeing this film any time soon (Orson Scott Card is not getting ANY financial support from me in the foreseeable future and possibly beyond that), I do still have fond memories of the first time I read the book and am vaguely curious about its translation to film, so I clicked on the trailer.
The Battle Room is made of glass. You can see the Earth down below. Now, this is cool - except for the fact that the big point of the Battle Room was how damn disorienting it was. Solid colors, no gravity, no sense of up or down. The whole big thing in the book is that Ender managed to find a way to give himself (and later, his team) orientation in that space. The enemy's gate is down. It was one of the first really good signs to the reader that Ender wasn't just special, he was SPECIAL.
So tell me. How the sweet hell is that going to be an important part of the movie when YOU CAN SEE THE EARTH BELOW YOU while fighting? I had wondered if maybe it'd only be transparent when it's not in use and then it would go opaque when battles started in it, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
/nerd rage
FURTHER BECAUSE I CAN:
Tony, Tony, that car was not one of yours. It could not drive itself. You needed to - look, I know it's Christmas and you're in a hurry and there's almost no one on the road but that car cannot drive itself and you need to keep your eyes on the road, not read reports borrowed from a dead vet's wife. THE ROAD, TONY. Also you need to steer. Tony. Tony. STEER THE DAMN CAR AND KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD BEFORE YOU KILL YOURSELF.
...In short: nerd rage in IM3 means that Tony Stark did not drive the car he so surreptitiously stole from the not-dead, Extremis-infected agent and instead took the time to read reports.
He didn't even try driving the car with his KNEES, which I might've kinda bought.
This entry was originally posted at dreamwidth.org. You can comment on either site.