Frank Miller to write/direct Buck Rogers

[Steeler80]

Whatever happened to the days when news of Frank Miller getting hold of a property would thrill me? Now it's like waiting for a train wreck you know's going to happen.

[SUP-Ronin]

Twiki will be a midget in a bondage costume.

They already did a version of that.

[ctc]

>Lets not see lots of dark, brooding, disturbed characters

I think that IS Miller's idea of fun....

>They are no less plausible than Lucas's ships in Star Wars or Rodenberry's in Star Trek

AMEN! Unfortunately that doesn't conform to the current idea of the "right" way of doing spaceships. They'll probably end up with super-busy video game looking designs.

>The 1981 film looked like a comic strip come to life.

I thought the 80's Flash Gordon REALLY caught the look of the comic. Maybe not so much the feel and characters, but it definitely had the right look.

Sadly, I think we would have got something closer to the old school Buck had they made it a few years ago, when "steampunk" was hip.

Don C.

[johnmiic]

Here's what Miller's edict should be for a Buck film. Make it fun! Make it enjoyable! Thrill audiences! Lets not see lots of dark, brooding, disturbed characters. There comes a certain disconnect that Buck will feel, a certain sadness at being thrust 500 years foward and losing all his loved ones and friends but beyond that let the guy show that people can adapt to new surroundings and that he cares about his home and it's people. That would make a good Buck film. Miller can do it if he tries.

I think they should go back to basics on Buck and Flash. They don't have to make a new version of Buck as a wise-craking, macho guy, ( Gil Gerard's portrayal was reportedly dictated by the studio to try and be like Burt Reynolds in Smokey & The Bandit). I would love to see them go back to some of the wild rocket designs from the 30's and just make them work plausibly. They are no less plausible than Lucas's ships in Star Wars or Rodenberry's in Star Trek. We accept them more because I think they abandon simplistic rocket shapes, they are filmed better-different asthetic, they have more detial and are filmed in color,( a very subliminal suggestion that we perceive shows/films in b&w = old but color = new). Alex Ross even said of Flash Gordon, (1981), it need not be like Star Wars. The 1981 film looked like a comic strip come to life.

[thunderbolt]

^^^ Just once I'd like to see a period piece superhero movie. Green Lantern or Flash set in the late 50's.

[palitoy]

I agree Mike, I'd love to see the movie in some kind of post modern art deco style too. Let's get the old buzzing rockets back but make them look realistic somehow.

[mego73]

I truly hate the impulse that modern Science Fiction and remakes have to make it dark and pessimistic. And each time, they say it's a new approach. Not that it doesn't work now and again, but Buck Rogers is begging for a more traditional approach, much like Superman got in the 1978 movie.

[palitoy]

As it stands, from what I've seen, the Sam Jones TV movie was a better adaptation.

Chris

Sam Jones was great in that, I wasn't thrilled about the 80s look for it but it had it's moments. I especially liked the theme song and the montage.

Eisner wasn't pleased however, he kind of refused to talk about it with me.

[Earth 2 Chris]

As it stands, from what I've seen, the Sam Jones TV movie was a better adaptation.

Chris

[palitoy]

Yeah. I suspect 'cos Batman has made so much money that's what the producers explicitly wanted.... and I'm thinkin' Batman is the mental image of "costumed hero" that everyone works from now.

Much of the Sin City crew could fly as well but in a sense you're right. The Spirit would be a hard sell to a backer, so they sold it out a little. Too bad, I think one of his more appealing facets is washed out.

I think that would have worked better. Most of the comics I'd seen were kinda cartoony; at least enough that live action doesn't really do it justice. And not in the "dark, gritty exaggerated action" sense. It was mostly in the expressions and physical takes.

I agree, the Spirit comic is good at channelling some noir moments, it's very atmospheric. The settings, the back grounds, the characters, an animated feature would have brough that to life easily.

It could be done in live action but Miller's take on Noir is over the top and not real subtle, the Spirit comics are wonderfully subtle.

[ctc]

>This "befuddled" element (while pretty accurate, i like to think of it as human) doesn't seem to fit in Miller's "vision".

Yeah. I suspect 'cos Batman has made so much money that's what the producers explicitly wanted.... and I'm thinkin' Batman is the mental image of "costumed hero" that everyone works from now.

>I wish Brad Bird had gotten his animated feature off the ground.

I think that would have worked better. Most of the comics I'd seen were kinda cartoony; at least enough that live action doesn't really do it justice. And not in the "dark, gritty exaggerated action" sense. It was mostly in the expressions and physical takes.

Don C.

[palitoy]

>The similiarities to the Burton film are few and far between.

I don't mean the film, I mean the character in general. I'm not an expert, but in the Spirit stories I can remember he seemed a lot more.... I don't want to say "befuddled," but he wasn't the super in-control action hero type. Everything I've seen and heard of the new movie makes him seem like a watered down Batman.

Don C.

That I get, yeah that's one of my bigger problems with this version, that guy looks like the Spirit but he isn't acting like him. What's with the over serious "Whisper talk", the ability to fly from rooftops and defy gravity in truly odd ways?

This "befuddled" element (while pretty accurate, i like to think of it as human) doesn't seem to fit in Miller's "vision".

I wish Brad Bird had gotten his animated feature off the ground.

[ctc]

>The similiarities to the Burton film are few and far between.

I don't mean the film, I mean the character in general. I'm not an expert, but in the Spirit stories I can remember he seemed a lot more.... I don't want to say "befuddled," but he wasn't the super in-control action hero type. Everything I've seen and heard of the new movie makes him seem like a watered down Batman.

Don C.

[palitoy]

>

>The early word on the Spirit seems to be "poo poo".

Weird. Everyone LOVED it when it was called "Batman."

You should probably read up before you make statements like this. The similiarities to the Burton film are few and far between. It may be a better film if Burton made it.

[thunderbolt]

The Sin City movie style might be a interesting take for Buck's retro future look.