Super Punch: May 2012

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Prometheus poster

One of three Prometheus posters Ibraheem Youssef created for Empire Online.

More fun from Reddit's fan theory thread

More fun from Reddit's fan theory thread:

War of the Worlds:

I thought Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds would have been 100x better if the final shot was that tripod falling down and its alien pilot falling out except for one crucial diffence : instead of a generic alien body, the aliens behind the invasion are E.T's.

Avatar:

the planet Pandora functions as a giant and incredibly intelligent neural network, and essentially rewrites Jake Sully's mind to protect one of it's primary networking hubs. Right before he connects to the tree of knowledge (or whatever it was called), he's still talking like a marine, mentioning that he's tired of this hippy bullshit, and how he's super excited that he's getting his legs. Then BAM, he connects to the planet, and suddenly everything is sacred, he's in love, et cetera.

Kill Bill:

The Bride doesn't kill Bill in Kill Bill.
First you have to put her rampage in chronological order... She wakes up in the hospitl, kills Buck, flies to Japan, kills everyone in the tea house, then comes back to the states to kill Vernita Green. We know this because O Ren's name is already crossed off the list when she parks outside Vernita's house.
In the process of killing Greene, she accidentally does so in front of her young daughter. Her immediate reaction is shame. She tries to hide the knife behind her leg.
From that point on, she doesn't kill anyone else. Budd dies from a snake bite. Daryl Hannah's character has her eye plucked out but is left alive.
Then we get to Bill... they tell the story of the five point palm fist of death technique, but in the training sequences it's never shown that she learns it. We are specifically told that Pai Mei never taught it to anyone.
The other part that's suspicious is the play acting, when Beatrix first runs into the house there's a play scene with her daughter, they pretend to shoot her and she pretends to be dead. This is what Bill does.
At the end of the film, Beatrix is curled up on a bathroom floor crying "Thank you, thank you." Who is she thanking? Bill for letting her go. It was the only way for either of them to exit the situation gracefully.
During the end credits, each of the people on the list who died gets a line through their name. Daryl Hannah is marked with a question mark because she was left alive... but Bill? Bill's name isn't marked at all.
Because they never killed Bill in Kill Bill.

Scooby-Doo:

The original Scooby Doo series is set after a horrible economic depression. Everything is abandoned and falling apart, and all of the villains are people who would normally be really respected (professors, museum curators, celebrities) who have fallen into hard times just like everyone else.

The Rock:

Sean Connery's character in The Rock (John Patrick Mason) is actually James Bond. He got caught spying on America and was hidden away in various prisons. "This man does not exist not in the United States or Great Britain" says FBI Director Womack. This ties in with the theory of James Bond being a code name for different agents.

Doctor Who:

My current favorite is that in the new series of Doctor Who, the character Rory Williams is actually the Doctors arch nemesis, The Master.
I'm just going to copy and paste the theory:
"Rory has been becoming much more irrational and aggresively violent. Also, in the episode "Let's Kill Hitler" after witnessing River's regeneration and being exposed to RAW TIME ENERGY for the first time, he begins to complain of a "banging in my head", which Amy dismisses as Hitler in the closet. Also think back to "The God Complex". Rory did not have a room. He was the only character they made a point to say did not have one. And when the Doctor looked into his room all he said was "Of course it was you." and we hear the wailing of the TARDIS distress call in 4 repetitions. The only other time it has made this sound was when The Master stole it in series 3."

Is Disney's Haunted Mansion about suicide? And is R2-D2 Luke's dad?

From a Reddit thread about fan theories:

In the Haunted Mansion at Disney World/Disneyland, "you" commit suicide during the course of the ride and become a ghost.
At the beginning of the ride the ghost host (the narrator) says the only way to escape the mansion is to die, and he shows that he hanged himself. Near the end of the ride there's a moment where the ride vehicle turns around backwards and you go off a balcony, which according to this theory represents you jumping to your death.
Before this part of the ride the ghosts are all trying to scare you, but afterwards they sing excitedly and invite you to party with them. (The Grim Grinnin' Ghosts song.) The only human character in the ride, a groundskeeper, appears after the balcony drop. He faces toward the riders and seems terrified of you.
Could be totally accidental, could be an intentional subtlety by the designers, but either way I've never looked at that ride the same way since.

This one's even better:

I remember a pretty solid one about how R2D2 was Luke's father.
This was before Empire Strikes Back came out.
Luke's father was mortally wounded by Vader. His brain was removed from his body and placed in life support inside a robot.
This is why C3P0 is so worried about R2's operational status. C3 knows that R2 has biological components.
Turns out Luke, who got VERY little Jedi training, isn't all that great--it's his Jedi father, inside of R2, every time. Think about it: Early on, when Luke does something with the force R2 is ALWAYS there. Except for the one time on Hoth--and what is R2 doing at that time? Deploying a long range force antenna we NEVER see again.

Also, Tom Bombadil was evil.

Also, and this may be a big Game of Thrones spoiler, maybe Jon Snow's parents are Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. And that's why the series is a Song of Ice and Fire.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Bioshock goods at the official Irrational Games shop

Expensive Andrew Ryan statue and Murder of Crows bottle on sale at the Irrational Games shop.

The Wrath of Khan poster

The Wrath of Khan poster by We Buy Your Kids for Mondo.

Hines Ward on the Gotham Rogues figure by McFarlane

New from McFarlane, Hines Ward in a Gotham Knights uniform from The Dark Knight Rises. Available for preorder at the BBTS.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Catwoman's heel

Official London Olympics police mascot figurine

London 2012 Olympic Games mascot Wenlock as a police constable figurine. Via.

Small handwritten cards by Britt Wilson

Douglas Adams quotes handwritten by Britt Wilson on business card-sized cards on sale at Etsy.

Portal wedding cake

Portal wedding cake.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

More Tron: Uprising art

Alberto Mielgo posted some Tron: Uprising art and comments on production of the series.

*Buy Neca Tron toys at eBay.

Redshirt tee

Redshirt tee by Ian Wilding.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

MARTA KAUFFMAN: It was a fascinating casting experience. We saw a countless number of actors, but things happened as they were supposed to happen. One of the first actors on our list was Matthew Perry to play Chandler, but he was doing a show called LAX 2194 [a Fox pilot about baggage handlers in the year 2194], so he wasn’t available. We brought other people in.

And another:

LISA KUDROW (actor): I thought Mad About You was the best-written show I’d ever seen, and I always liked talking to writers. Jeffrey Klarik was one of the writers who was always really friendly and complimentary, and I didn’t know his boyfriend was David Crane. David saw me, because he paid attention to everything Jeffrey did. And I think that’s how I got called in for an audition for Friends.

I read for David and Marta, and then I had to go back and read for Jimmy Burrows. That scared me a lot, because of Frasier. He’s kind of who fired me.

Kudrow had originally been cast as Roz on the sitcom Frasier but was fired during rehearsals for the pilot episode, which Burrows directed.

And one more:

DAVID CRANE: Joey was never stupid when we pitched the show. He wasn’t stupid until we were shooting the pilot, and somebody said, “Matt plays dumb really well.”

Monday, May 21, 2012

Using off road courses to sell luxury automobiles

Businessweek on manufacturers using off road courses to sell luxury automobiles:

At the Land Rover Experience Driving Schools, you don’t learn how to parallel park. Pushing the vehicles to their limits—or rather showing how few limits they have—is the order of the day. The brand hosts three such programs year-round on the grounds of American resorts: the Biltmore Estate in Asheville; the Quail Lodge in Carmel, Calif.; and the Equinox in Manchester Village, Vt. You don’t have to be a guest to take part: For $250 per hour (or $1,200 for a full day) you can hop into a $90,000 luxury truck and learn how to drive through mud, gravel, ruts, and streams, just like those stunts in TV ads the fine print warns you not to attempt.

And:

Now that nearly all luxe car companies have developed their own driving-experience programs, those seeking to differentiate their brands are having to offer ever more extravagant courses. Bentley (VOW) and Mercedes both hosted instructional ice driving events near the Arctic Circle this winter. BMW held invitation-only “Training for Professionals” programs in Berlin to sway the expert chauffeurs who drive dignitaries in armored vehicles.

Nike's reversible periodic table trenchcoat

Part of the Nike x Tom Sachs space travel-inspired clothing line.

Skyfall teaser trailer

Skyfall teaser trailer.

*Buy James Bond Swatches at eBay.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Tron:Uprising concept art

Cartoon Brew posted a big gallery of Tron: Uprising concept art and storyboards. I took the liberty of cropping two of Alberto Mielgo's paintings into widescreen wallpapers. Here's links to the Tron art team's personal websites. And if you haven't watched the first episode yet, here it is:

(The main character is absurdly generic, Tron's face looks a little silly, computer world helicopters don't make much sense to me, and the arena choreography doesn't look quite right. But otherwise, terrific episode. It's also free in iTunes.)

*Buy Tron toys at eBay.