(no subject)

[bedlamsbard]

So I'm writing this scene for Bad Moon Rising chapter 4 -- although it might end up being 5, since I'm thinking about going back and filling out the beginning because I like the cliffhanger the scene ends on and I have an interlude chapter with Anakin that I could use -- and it's one of those scenes that's a little hard to write because it has the following elements: multiple characters, fighting, and escape/finding an escape route. It's the last part that's the most difficult for me, because I don't really have the layout of the building they're in figured out, I haven't really worked out the logistics yet, and I'm trying to build the scene towards a specific fight scene between Obi-Wan and [redacted]. Plus I've got Obi-Wan trying to shepherd six characters around -- all canon characters, three from the movies and three from the EU, one of whom we don't have a whole lot of characterization for -- and I'm not always certain exactly how they're going to react, or how they'll interact with each other or Obi-Wan or the situation. I'm thinking I might cut one or two of them out, but I worry that it lessens the impact of the scene and also I'll basically have to rewrite 2.5K. On the other hand, the logistics and choreography are really difficult for me right now, so I think that at the very least I need to sit back and work out what's going to happen and who's standing where when and when the cavalry show up, etc., etc.

Plus I have no one to bounce it off and see how it's going, so there's that. *sigh* I think I lack readers because I'm using EU characters from different levels of canon plus movie characters plus an AU plus genderfuck plus gen plus WIP plus it meandered around a bit while I figured out how I want to get my characters from point A to point B. Basically: how not to get people to read your fic.

Anyway, if anyone is interested in listening to me talk about lady!Obi-Wan and her hijinks with Anakin (and sometimes Padme) and having bits of fic thrown at them, let me know?

*

So today I rewatched The Phantom, which remains one of my favorite superhero movies of all time despite the fact that it is, on rewatch, kind of problematic and definitely ridiculous and wacky (but in a really good way!). Plus it's set in the 1930s, so there's a lot of costume porn (and I'm not talking about the Phantom's skin-tight purple uniform, because wtf is that even?). I love movies set in the 1930s, like Indiana Jones and The Mummy, it's like that perfect blend of modern and not-quite-there. Plus, you get to have plane chases and horseback chases and car chases -- all in the same chase.

One reason I love The Phantom is because it has two really awesome ladies: Diana Palmer, the love interest, who throws a mean right hook and knows how to elbow people violently in the face and sword fight and is a snappy dresser; and Sala, who is, wait for it and I wouldn't make this up, the captain of a band of all-female air pirates. ALL-FEMALE AIR PIRATES, GUYS. (I mean, there's the obligatory scene where the Phantom catches them in the locker room, but then one of them shoots at him and he jumps down the laundry shaft, but then they never show up again. Alas.) I love Sala, she's so badass, and -- wait for it -- this movie actually passes the Bechdel Test. I like to think that afterwards Sala tries to recruit Diana to join her merry band, or maybe just make out a bit.

And have I mentioned the wacky? It is delightfully wacky. It is so wacky I cannot spoil the ~twist, because you need to experience that ridiculousness for yourself, but I love it, really, I do. Plus, it's from 1996 and you get to see BABY BILLY ZANE playing the Phantom. Apparently they're making a reboot; I hope that they don't change the setting because I really don't think you can get away with having that origin story any time but the 1930s. But maybe we're no longer in the period where we can make thrilling adventure movies set in the 1930s, since lately it's been all 1950s or modern age and gloom and doom. (HE HAS NO MANPAIN, GUYS. When was the last time you saw a superhero without manpain? Instead of manpain, he has the ghost of his dead father, a white horse, and A GODDAMN WOLF. Also a lair shaped like a skull, because he Bruce Wayne-d before Bruce Wayne. But in the jungle. And he carries guns, though apparently not extra ammo, because SKINTIGHT PURPLE SUIT.)

Also I kind of want the story where the Phantom and Captain America meet up, I think that they might just cross paths in the 1940s, and then in the modern timeline the 23rd or 24th Phantom can team up with the Avengers! I think he and the Black Widow would get along.

(Also according to the trivia on IMDB, Billy Zane was actually really into the comics and specifically worked to get the character's trademark poses into the film -- which would explain a lot -- and also would go down to the store during filming in his costume.)

*

Speaking of: I finally saw The Avengers. IT WAS AMAZING. But you don't need me to tell you that, since I am pretty much the last person in fandom to see it. THE GODDAMN BLACK WIDOW, GUYS.

Comments

[darklyndsea]

I watched part of The Phantom when it was on TV a few years ago! I've always wanted to watch the rest of it (you know, the beginning), because it looked interesting.

...Sigh. Back to taking my take-home final (it's due at noon! I'm 35% done and still have both of the essays to do!)

[bedlamsbard]

If you have Netflix Instant, it's available there! The beginning does what I like in a superhero movie: gets the origin story out of the way in about two minutes, which is good, because the origin story is, uh, kind of wtf. (But I also am just generally not terribly keen on origin stories, I find them boring.)

Good luck on your final!

[darklyndsea]

I don't have Netflix. :(

My personal philosophy on origin stories is, the more cracktacular they are, the more detail the origin story should be shown in. Although, um, I think I probably have interesting standards on what qualifies as a cracktacular origin story, so...*shrugs*. If it boils down to revenge/they never got justice, or just having whacky powers so might as well use them, I don't really want to see it. I can't really think of any origin stories that don't fit into one of those categories right now, but I know that there's *some* origin story out there that I'm actually interested in.

Thanks!

[bedlamsbard]

*sadface* It's an old movie (1996) so I suspect it's available pretty cheaply on DVD.

I guess the thing with the Phantom's origin story is that it's not actually his origin story -- he's the 21st in line of a family of superheroes. Who started when this kid washed up on the shore of a fictional country and got taken in by the natives and appointed the protector of the jungle. Four hundred years before the movie takes place. So it's less origin story for him and more, "Hey, this is what I've been preparing for, it's the family business, you know, I don't have a problem with what I do! IT'S AWESOME." (Have I mentioned that, despite having the ghost of his dead dad hanging around, he has no manpain? When was the last time you saw a superhero without manpain?)

[darklyndsea]

Man, I love characters who are enthusiastically into whatever they do (as opposed to characters who whine about it all the time e.g. Buffy; of course, my preference is a bit different from yours in that it includes characters like Batman). The Flash doesn't have manpain, mostly. And non-movie Superman is pretty manpain free. Though if we're talking about in comics exclusively, I don't think *anybody* is manpain free, because they've got to fill all those issues with *something*.

[bedlamsbard]

He lives in the jungle and has a pet wolf! He's just the happiest superhero I've seen in a recent (...ish, given that it's from 1996) movie.

[medie]

Ooh that reminds me of that Syfy reboot they tried a couple years ago where it turns out the Phantom actually heads a worldwide organization that's very SHIELD-esque. Alas they did go with a manpain-ish backstory for that Phantom (having the Singh Brotherhood attack him and his mother while on a visit to NYC which resulted in her death and his being raised by adoptive parents with no clue as to his heritage) and I kept thinking it would have been so much more interesting if he had been the Phantom's younger brother and she was keeping up the family tradition and pretending the Phantom was still a man so as to throw the Brotherhood off.

Now I kind of want to marry that idea to your Avengers crossover idea. Natasha's the only one outside the Phantom's inner circle who knows the truth about the Phantom's identity and can find 'him' when no one else can and occasionally they gunshop together and Kit shares the really good tech with her and Steve maybe knows about the Phantom's organization and thinks that Kit is just one of his contacts and can't figure out why Natasha keeps smiling like that.

Ah my brain is a strange place sometimes.

[bedlamsbard]

HMM. Wow, it's really weird to picture the Phantom in a modern setting. But a lady!Phantom would be awesome.

Poor Steve, he'd initially be so excited that the Phantom was still around from his own time (hey, weirder things have happened) and then he'd realized that it's not actually the same Phantom.

[cursor_mundi]

THE GHOST WHO WALKS IS THE MOST AWESOME SUPERHERO EVER. Have you seen Phantom 2040? It's also on Netflix and is set in 2040 (durr), and Our Hero does not know he is Our Hero and has to learn all about his heritage and responsibility. It's in my queue and will eventually arrive, if I ever stop prioritizing things like White Collar. I was so excited when the Billy Zane film came out, because I read "The Phantom" religiously in the newspaper, and had tracked down a lot of collections, new comic series (Dark Horse, I think, did one around the time the movie came out), was working out connections between other hero figures like Zorro and Batman...

And that team-up should totally happen, there could be wacky hijinks as Steve gets jealous over the Phantom's ease with technology and the Phantom can offer the Avengers all sorts of useful tips for superheroing. (Key factor: secret identity! It adds to the mystique and increases the mindfuckery quota to a thousand and ... oh, wait...)

[bedlamsbard]

Hee! I haven't, I think my only experience with the Phantom is the 1996 movie and -- I feel reasonably certain that somewhere in my dad's Big Giant Box of Comics there is a Phantom comic. (I love that giant box, I need to haul it out again this summer. It's mostly Tarzan comics, since that's what I grew up on.)

I am sure that Clint and Natasha have some complicated backstory with the Phantom...