The New York Geeks sit down to talk about instances of retroactive continuity (or “retcons”) in various forms of fiction — when creators or copyright holders go back and mess around with previously established works. We’re looking at YOU, George Lucas.

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Show Notes:

Break Song: Pinky and the Brain (and Larry)

The Secret History of Star Wars: In Tribute to Marcia Lucas

If Nicolas Cage can be critically acclaimed, then Ben Oviatt can still be an astronaut. Our “Greatest Actor” series continues.

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Show Notes:

Break Song: “Nicolas Cage Wants Cake” by Harry Partridge

Phantom Menace 3-D release date: February 10, 2012

iPad 2 released

Nintendo e-Reader

3DS card system

Luke Cage

Nic Cage Internet Memes:

• Nicolas Cage as Everyone
• Nicolas Cage’s Hair is a Bird
• Nicolas Cage, Internet God

Nouveau Shamanic

Superman Lives Suit

It’s hard to bring up Star Wars Episode 1 and not get sidetracked for a few minutes.

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The internet is teeming with opinion and criticism, and the New York Geeks channel their inner Christopher Nolan as they attempt to review people who review people — AVGN, Nostalgia Critic, Plinkett, the much-maligned Lights Camera Jackson, and more.

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Show Notes:

Break Song: Theme from “The Critic”

Nintendo 3DS

Angry Video Game Nerd/James Rolfe

• CD-i Review
• Swordquest
• Ghostbusters
• Castlevania 2
• AVGN vs. Nostalgia Critic
• “Board James” – Mr. Bucket

That Guy With The Glasses/Doug Walker/Nostalgia Critic

• Neverending Story 3 Review
• Kickassia

Nostalgia Chick

• The Smurfette Principle
• Labyrinth

Maddox/The Best Page In The Universe

Penny Arcade

Red Letter Media

Reverend Anthony Burch

TED Talks

Lights Camera Jackson

• Howard Stern Reaction
• with Jane Lynch
• Tron Legacy Review

Paganomation Tron Legacy Review

Tron has been aging on a disconnected hard drive for the last 28 years. A Western Digital My Book, from the looks of it.

The first Tron has inspired countless (every?) animator alive today. And if you need to check the changes in the world from the ’80s, remember the oft-quoted fact that Tron was not qualified for special FX awards because “using computers was cheating.” A while ago I re-watched Tron on my Mac laptop, via a possibly torrented movie file from a friend. In the ’80s, computers looked like this:

an '80s computer

The whole idea of Tron was inspired by this machine, and the possibilities that came with it. Enter static flickers, black lights, spinning disks (direct technical influence) and motorcycles. Would it have been too much to ask for a new Tron that was equally influenced by today’s world of Apple, Sony, Facebook, and Google? Do we not have an equally inspiring technical society today, that looks good even in plaid and thick-rimmed glasses?

The story of Tron Legacy is clearly meant to capitalize on the current generation of artists who were so inspired by the first film. (Capitalism: Disney’s rewriting the past so that every boy had Tron action figures and posters in their bedroom.) Since the target audience is kids who grew up, a father-son story works perfectly. A confused wayward child seeking adulthood/closure travels to a fantasy realm to find the answer to life’s persistent questions. This never fails to introduce a fantasy world but neither is it very original.

SPOILER ALERT
Traveling to Tron myself, I expected a hell of a lot more. But as Joseph Kosinski explains, Tron has been running on Jeff Bridges desk since he mysteriously disappeared, and it had no internet connection. My heart died a little when Jeff Bridges seriously asks: “What’s wi-fi? Oh, I invented that in 1985.” Really? Because it should have been part of your world and made it more interesting. Mr. Kosinski failed to distinguish Tron Legacy from any of the countless other sci-fi movies in this post-Matrix world. (Constantine, Matrix 2, A Scanner Darkly, and Titan AE come to mind.)

My personal problem with the film concerns the party scene. The people were supposed to be avatars of computer programs, and I really expected a variety of characters surpassing the diversity of Mos Eisley’s cantina. But instead, I got a stilted world where every girl has the same shiny black bowl haircut, and wore the silver astronaut dresses. Strangely, Daft Punk fit perfectly into this scene, having kept their style the same for years from the original Tron. They kept to their tiny DJ box, smartly avoiding everyone.

Tron has a highly specific artistic style that was reinterpreted by a first time architect/film director, who hired fashion designers, car designers, and other architects to work for the first time in film design. They did a beautiful job modernizing all of Tron’s concepts: the game arena is ingenious, and Jeff’s house is a perfect blend of 2001-Space-Odessey and iPod sensibility. And the action sequences are pretty exhilarating… arcade games inspired the 2D blocking of the light cycles so I suppose the Xbox inspired the 3D blocking of the light-jet-thingies.

I interpret this sudden rush of good-feeling towards Tron Legacy as Christmas cheer, but maybe it means that the movie is not all bad, and that many people will enjoy it anyway. If you needed one reason to watch: go for the young CGI Jeff Bridges. (Mr Kosinski tried to say something about how there are special relationships with Jeff Bridges and his real son versus his digital son, but I have no idea what he’s talking about.)

The New York Geeks catch the New York premiere of “Superman-Batman: Apocalypse” at the Paley Center for Media. Sadly, “Apocalypse” doesn’t begin to describe this mess of a direct-to-video animated film. Also, SPOILERS.

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Show Notes:

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse Official Site

The Paley Center for Media

‘Superman/Batman: Apocalypse’ Is A Faithfully Flawed Adaptation on ComicsAlliance.com

The New York Geeks jump out of the screen and into your homes for a discussion on the recent resurgence of 3-D media; where it’s been, where it’s going, and whether it will ever be seen as more than just a gimmick.

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Show Notes:

The Distressed Watcher – 5 Reasons Why Scott Pilgrim Flopped at tgwtg.com

Scott Pilgrim vs. The Unfortunate Tendency to Review the Audience

BTTF Part II Nike self-lacing sneaker design patented

BTTF episodic game series by Telltale

Avatar re-release

Break: Excerpt from “Intermission in 3-D!” by Don Hertzfeldt

Stereoscopy

Roger Ebert – Why I Hate 3-D (And You Should, Too)

Nintendo 3DS

Here’s an interesting article on how Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz characterizes the changes from film to film in both the original trilogy and the prequels. Doesn’t tell us too much more than we already know, but it’s interesting to hear him talk about it.

Did ‘Star Wars’ become a toy story? Producer Gary Kurtz looks back | Hero Complex | Los Angeles Times.