Sometimes They Come Back

A few years ago, if you had asked me if I'd like to have one of my favorite fandoms/franchises come back into the light, I'd have given you a resounding "yes!" Remakes, reboots, sequels, updates (for brevity: "revivals")... any of these would certainly make me happy, for one or more of the following reasons:

*A revival would signify that my fandom still had value & importance.

*A revival would potentially bring new people to the fandom, increasing its overall "value."

*Merchandise!

*Something new to watch and enjoy.

For years, it seemed like everybody else's fandoms got shiny new shows, remakes, and sequels, while my fandoms sat idly back in history, remembered by few and forgotten by most. My brother's favorite franchises, in particular, always seemed to be thriving. He liked James Bond (currently at 26 films), Star Wars (8-odd films, with more to come), and Star Trek (currently clocking in at 12 movies and 6 shows).



My fandoms didn't produce as much material, and certainly not as often as my brother's did. Mine also went through some serious dry spells. My fandoms have included Lois & Clark (canceled in 1997), Mystery Science Theater 3000 (canceled in 1999), The Pretender (2001), Harry Potter (last book in 2007; last movie in 2011), DuckTales (canceled in 1990), Indiana Jones (a 19-year film gap between films III and IV), Nancy Drew (mediocre TV movie in 2002, rotten film in 2007), Beauty and the Beast, Back To The Future, Anne Of Green Gables, Full House, and Pride & Prejudice.

Back To The Future, one my favorites (both as a kid and a young adult), had two sequels (1989 & 1990) as well as an animated TV series, so that was fortunate for us fans. I also loved Beauty and the Beast (1991), which... um, well, also had 2 sequels (horrific abominations that they are.) Another fave of mine, My Girl (1991) got a sequel in 1994, which I really liked. On the other hand, Father Of The Bride, a favorite go-to film of my preteen years, had a less-desirable sequel of its own in 1995. Father Of The Bride Part 2 may have been my first indication, at the tender age of 15, that revivals aren't always great.

Eeeek!

Then there are remakes & updates. The two that stand out for me are The Parent Trap (original: 1961/remake: 1998) and Freaky Friday (original: 1976, remakes: 1995 and 2003). Both of the original films had a fun premise, but by the 90's, it was clear the earlier versions needed updating. The original Parent Trap has a weird, sort of flippant encounter with domestic violence, and the girls dancing to Annette Funicello records is just a bit too old-fashioned to even be quaint. The original Freaky Friday mom is stuck in an antiquated female role (Dishwashing! Cleaning! Mending! Baking!) and seems to like it, while the dad is a sexist douche. Annabel's friends say things like "far out" and one is literally named Bambi. FF's two updates both did a fair job, though I won't be surprised if another Freaky Friday comes along in the 2020s.

This is how it tended to go for most of my life. Every few years, there'd be some kind of fandom-related revival to look forward to. Even if the final product itself wasn't great, the revival could pave the way for something better. Like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. The movie may have been a bummer, but its release prompted a lot of cool merchandise, including multiple LEGO sets and video games.

But within the past couple of years, something strange has been happening with my fandoms. In a short time period -- the last two years, in fact -- a bunch of my fandoms have come swarming back from the land of relative obscurity and into the limelight. Crashing, more like. All at once. So much for that "every few years" thing....


2016 & 2017

• DuckTales: After Treasure Of The Lost Lamp in 1990, DT had a 23-year dry spell. In 2013, they remade the video game (DuckTales Remastered). Now -- oh what the heck -- they're rebooting the freaking show!!

• Anne Of Green Gables revivals are rampant these days. Admittedly, it seems like Kevin Sullivan releases some new Anne-related product every time there's a new moon, but not counting him, just in the last decade we've had books (Before Green Gables and Looking For Anne Of Green Gables), a movie (PBS's Anne Of Green Gables, with 2 sequels planned), and a Netflix series (Anne With An 'E'). Those last two came out within the last eight months. Two entirely independent productions about the same fiery Canadian redhead in less than a year!

I'm thinking of climbing a wild cherry tree to get away from it all...

• Full House: Only in my wildest teenage dreams could that show have come back, but it has -- as Fuller House for Netflix. It premiered in February, 2016. With 90% of the original cast on board, it is already filming season 3. I don't like it, but... it's there.

• Mystery Science Theater 3000: I could have never imagined it would be back. I resigned myself to enjoying Rifftrax in all its humorous glory. But... they brought it back. The actual show. I mean, there's a new Joel/Mike character, and the bots sound different, and Tom Servo can, um, fly now? But it's still shadows in a theater making fun of cheesy movies, as if they've been carrying on that way for 18 years, no big deal.

Finally, there's...

• Beauty and the Beast. I loved the original. Top 3 films of all time. For years I had wanted, and thought about, a live-action version. Probably ever since they did those live-action 101 Dalmatian movies with Glenn Close in the 90s. I imagined this new BATB being darker than the original, more adult. Angsty. Romantic. Heart-wrenching. Beautiful.

Y u no luv me?

Well, I do know some people who loved it!

Just the other day, it was announced that the 90's cartoon series Animaniacs may be coming back. While that show wasn't one of my personal favorites, it was important to people I know. Maybe those people are currently feeling excited. Or maybe they're feeling the way I am. Which is...

NO. STOP. LEAVE IT ALONE. BACK AWAY, HOLLYWOOD. PUT DOWN THE CAMERA. BACK, I SAY!

*Backs away slowly*

*Hides under a pop culture-less rock*

Molly Goes To Minnesota: Part 3

Molly Goes To Minnesota: Part 3
(See also: Part 1, Part 2)

Day 2 - Late Afternoon & Evening

By the time I was able to drag myself away from the art museum, it was nearly 5pm, and I wanted to be downtown by 6. I took a bus. I could've walked, but my shoulders were killing me from carrying my bag all day.

Downtown Minneapolis was loud and crowded, and just when I was starting to feel overwhelmed and crazy, I saw it...

an oasis...

one of my favorite sights in the whole entire world...

PANERA BREAD!

So I stopped in, bought a panini & hung out there for a while. Then it was time to head to the theater for the hottest ticket in town.... Rifftrax Live!

A lot of people were already waiting in the lobby....

Well, people and robots.

Before long, they let us into the theater. I was in the third row! Amazing seats!

They had a few shark balloons around the theater. I think some had helium, and one was being remote-controlled.

Prior to the show, we got to see the joke slides ("trivia") they show before any Rifftrax Live presentation.

Then some folks came on stage and began to throw things to the audience -- T-shirts and rubber sharks. I've been to events where people get absolutely rabid about catching "free stuff" and will bring out their claws. But when a shark came towards me, and I caught it -- only to drop it --  I was able to retrieve it without being eaten alive. (Thank you, seat-neighbors... you are second to none!)

So now I have this shark. I love it!

At 7:00, the show began. Now, I've been to most of the Riffrax broadcasts that go out to theaters around the country. By the time they get to Oregon, they're not live; we're 2 hours behind. So experiencing it live was something new. Also, experiencing it with Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett -- RIGHT THERE... yeah... that was pretty amazing!

The guys introduced themselves and made some jokes, then told us we were going to watch a Short that had MST3K ties. It was A Case Of Spring Fever! COILY!! I've seen that one many times. The new jokes were great! It was obvious that a lot of people there hadn't seen the short before (or not in a very long time) because they weren't just laughing at the jokes, but laughing at the short itself. (Well, it is completely insane.)

Next they showed us a preview of the next Rifftrax Live show, which'll be the 1998 movie Godzilla. The sound didn't work on the clip at first, but the guys ad libbed like pros. (ie "Godzilla was actually a silent film!")

Then we got to the meat of the evening -- Sharknado. I had never watched it... I'd debated whether or not to do so before this performance, but ultimately decided not to. It turned out to be horrible, the movie. But the riffing was top-notch.

While the movie was playing and the riffing was happening, I didn't know where to look. Part of me wanted to watch the movie, part of me just wanted to continuously stare at the Riffers. I was in the same room as Mike, Kevin, and Bill (or Mike, Servo, and Crow, if you will.) I just... didn't know what to do with myself!

The movie -- and the riffing -- got a lot of laughs. Some of the scenes were sooo absurd. There was a guy sitting not too far from me who kept going, "WHAT?!" throughout the film... verbalizing what the rest of us were definitely thinking. There's one scene in particular where the star of the movie goes into a shark with a chainsaw... and if that's not bad enough, comes out alive... and if that's not bad enough... well, I'm going to make you watch the movie to see what happens next, because it is SO COMPLETELY NUTS. People were roaring with laughter!

When the show ended, it took quite a while to get out of the theater. The aisles were small and few, and a lot of people were standing around chatting. I worked my way out of the theater by going down several different rows to try to get around people, and as luck would have it, I ran in to someone gushing over someone else and wanting to take a photo. Who was this someone else? It took me a minute to place him, but then I realized -- it was Trace Beaulieu (Dr. Forrester, and the first Crow T. Robot!) How exciting to see an unexpected member of the MST cast at the show!

Outside, afterwards, I stood with some other fans, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Riffers as they left. Instead of Riffers, we saw a flying shark!

Apparently one of the shark balloons either got loose or was let loose. In the picture above -- see the top of that building on the right, with the light posts on top of the railing? People were eating dinner up there. I hope they were appropriately amused/frightened.

Below is the van that, I presume, broadcasts the show to the other theaters? Or at least helps with that endeavor?

It never really occurred to me how much work it probably takes to make one of these shows happen, not only live, but simultaneously around the country (and Canada!)

[Side note: Back home in Oregon, on Tuesday, 7/15, my friend and I went to the encore showing of Rifftrax Live: Sharknado! at our local theater. So I got to watch the same show I did on Thursday, yet it was a completely different experience. It was really cool! I saw myself on screen a couple of times, too. The movie and the riffs still made me laugh, and I heard a few jokes I hadn't caught the first time around. So great.]

So Thursday was a very busy, very crazy, very awesome day. After the live show, rather than trying to spend the next hour trying to make bus connections, I splurged and took a taxi back to the motel. There, I began making plans for Friday.

* * * * *

What did I end up doing? Find out in Part 4!

10 Movie Characters I've Got A Crush On

Come on, admit it, at some point you, too, have crushed on a movie character.  Am I right?  Sitting there in the theater, eating your overpriced popcorn, you've nearly fallen out of your seat because suddenly there appears the most gorgeous, adorable, perfect character you've ever seen.  Right there in front of you.  Thirty feet tall.  Tall and beautiful.

And alas, they're not real.

And that hurts.

Thank goodness for DVD players and the ability to watch those movies over and over again.  And in the darkness of your own living room, you can close your eyes... and pretend....

Here are my top ten movie crushes, in no particular order...

1. Louis Connelly, August Rush

If you can, in fact, remove your jaw from the floor after witnessing any scene which involves Jonathan Rhys Meyers, you perhaps can then take the time to appreciate how absolutely adorable his character is.  Louis is a musician who meets The One.  When he loses her through circumstances beyond his control, he crashes.  But when he decides he's going to go out and find her, hope -- and music -- comes back into his life, and he takes up his guitar again.  And damn, he is good.  Pros: A nice guy, a great musician, very passionate.  Cons: Has some inner demons he needs to purge.

2. Clark Kent, Superman Returns

Some people think Lois Lane is kind of a moron.  Supposedly this is because she can not tell that Clark Kent is Superman, even though she has spent ample time with both of them.  But really, I think the main reason she is moronic because she is WITH ANOTHER GUY.  I mean sure, James Marsden's cute and all, but how can she ignore Brandon Routh's smoldering eyes?  How can she not see how completely beautiful a person he is?  Why is she still with James Marsden even, I don't know, ten seconds after Clark Kent's come back to Metropolis?  Really, Lois -- we need to have a talk.  Pros: Kind to children and animals.  Cons: Is kind of awkward and dweeby... OR IS HE? 

3. Gilbert Blythe, Anne Of Green Gables and Anne Of Green Gables: The Sequel

 

There is something to be said for a guy who truly loves just one girl, even when she gives him no hope whatsoever.  A guy who offers this girl rides to and from work.  Who offers a switcharoo so that she can have his job, because it's closer to her home.  And who stands by while she gets her act together, waiting as patiently as he can.  In some places, he'd be called a stalker.  But viewers know Gilbert Blythe's heart is true, and FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, ANNE, GET A CLUE!  (Whoa, did that just rhyme?  Go me!)  Pros: Sweet, patient, smart.  Cons: He does like to tease...

4. Mike Nelson, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie

Oh, Mike, Mike, Mike.  Mike's stuck on a spaceship called the Satellite of Love.  He lives with four robots.  They're forced to watch terrible, gut-wrenchingly awful movies, and yet -- he and his pals find humor in all of them.  Their riffs -- everything from obscure pop culture references to simply making fun of the stupidity on screen directly --  consistently leave me in stitches.  Pros: Mike is extremely witty and is patient with his robot friends, even though they give him a hard time.  Cons: He's sort of stuck... up in space.  Not much hope for a "life", really...

5. Benny Rodriguez,  

The Sandlot

I know, I know, the kid's like 13 years old and I should not be crushing on him at my age.  But considering I was about that age when I first saw the film, and considering the actor is, in fact, older than I am in real life, I see no wrongdoing.  So leave me alone, dangit!  Meanwhile, Benny is the most adorable member of the Sandlot squad.  He's the best at baseball, the fastest runner, and he's super sweet.  While the other Sandlot kids are cracking rude jokes about the new kid, Benny reaches out and invites him to play ball.  Pros: Total sweetheart, the only one brave enough to truly face "The Beast."  Cons: Has some personal fears he must overcome.  But hey, who doesn't?


6. Johnny Martin, Penelope

In this film, a twist on the "Beauty and the Beast" story, Johnny falls in love with Penelope, despite her fantastical disfigurement.  He sees her for her true beauty.  Now he's just got to get her to see that!  Pros: He's super sweet, and plays musical instruments like a pro.  Cons: He has some personal problems early on in the film, but he eventually cleans himself up.  Yay for reformation!

7. Indiana Jones, the first three Indiana Jones films

Brilliant, brave, and badass -- let's face it, Indiana Jones is the epitome of cool.  Pros: Good-looking, resourceful, can handle just about anything.  Cons: Except snakes.

8. Oliver Wood, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

It'd be one thing if Oliver Wood was just a good-looking Quidditch player... but no.  They had to go and cast a gorgeous Scottish actor (Sean Biggerstaff) in the role of the Gryffindor Quidditch captain.  Whenever Oliver goes about explaining the wizarding game to little Harry Potter, I tend to lose all sense of time and space.  Pros: The accent, omg the accent.  Cons: In the books, Oliver's kind of crazy.  But wait, who said anything about the books?  This list is about movie characters!  Forget that then -- Oliver is awesome.

9. Robin Hood, Disney's Robin Hood

I am not ashamed to admit I think an animated fox is kinda sexy.  Robin Hood is clever and brave and has an English accent, oh my.  Pros: He's a one-woman man, dutifully devoted to his childhood love, Maid Marion.  He would even die for her, which is totally romantic.  Cons: He's a little cocky, but at least he can back it up.  Have you seen him with a bow & arrow?

10. Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice (1995)

So he's prideful.  And prejudiced.  But only at first!  Elizabeth Bennet manages to warm & soften his heart like a yummy Tollhouse cookie.  Pros: Mr. Darcy is nice to his little sister, mean to anyone who'd try to hurt the women in his life, and looks great after a midday swim.  Cons: Always with the staring, the longing staring.  We're not Edward Cullen, here, Darcy!  And it's not polite to stare!  Oh, but it's okay... you're adorable, I forgive you!

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Well, looks like I couldn't stop at just 10! Here are four more movie characters I've got a crush on.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I hope you enjoyed this list, and maybe even agreed with me on a few of them.  If not, tell me about your movie crushes.  And if you're currently in a relationship now and couldn't possibly admit to having any current crushes -- tell me who you liked when you were a kid.  Was it Han Solo?  Marty McFly?  Charles Foster Kane?  (Hey, I don't know how old you are!)  Leave some comments and let me know!