Author: Robert Greenberger

Walt Disney learned much from the work performed in [[[Snow White]]], his first animated feature.  The story was fairly basic and almost too short and to the point. For his second outing, he intended for something to further demonstrate his mastery of the animated form. As a result, his work in translating Carlo Collodi’s [[[Pinocchio]]] from book to cartoon kept changing through the production and as a result, the finished product was a giant leap forward.

The lush color palette and ease of motion employed by the characters is confident, evoking a storybook feeling while telling an entertaining tale.  You’re reminded of all this when re-watching the film on the new 70th Anniversary DVD, on sale Tuesday.

Disney took the popular 1883 novel, which focused largely on social themes and reshaped it into an American kid-friendly story with heavy lessons to be imparted. Interestingly, the movie, released February 7, 1940, didn’t fare well at first thanks to the global concerns over war, but grew over time to be an enduring classic.

How the book was adapted complete with an alternate ending is just part of the anniversary extras included on the Blu-ray and two-disc standard DVD editions. The Blu-ray also includes the single disc DVD which has just the movie, some trailers, and some music videos. The rest of the goodies, of which there are many, were not available for review since just the Blu-ray was provided to journalists.

So, let’s talk about the movie.  The story of the kindly toy maker, Geppetto, who constructed a boy puppet as a substitute son, is a lovely beginning. The turquoise fairy (renamed the simpler blue fairy in the movie) arrives and bestows life on the toy and promises to turn him into a real boy if he learns to behave and accept the responsibility that comes with life. Being entirely naïve about what that means, and presuming Geppetto too old to teach him, the fairy taps Jiminy Cricket to play the role of conscience. The boy begins a series of exploits that shows the audience the need to listen to the little voice in the back of your mind.

Pinocchio is easily lured away from the tried and true path, such as attending school, for the easier vices.  He’s constantly taken advantage of by adults, both human and anthropomorphic.  By film’s end, none of them are made to pay for their perfidy. In fact, they remain at large; tempting others to stray while Pinocchio, having learned his lesson, returns to Geppetto’s loving arms. As they manage to survive the whale Monstro’s hunger, Pinocchio earns his human flesh.

The animation is lush, the backgrounds colorful.  A lot of time and attention is given to showing off, especially early on in the toy shop as the various creations perform.  Later, there’s tremendous activity in the background, notably when Pinocchio and Lampwick find the other boys who are a busy bunch.

We all know the songs from the film and the signature moments such as the wooden boy’s nose grow long enough to house a bird’s nest when he lies.  There is a gentle humor to Jiminy’s commentary and affection runs strongly through the good characters.  It’s not a terribly scary movie, compared with the chilling Queen-turned-witch in the previous feature.  There are thrills, such as the escape from the whale, and the 88 minutes pass with nary a lull.

The film transfer is crisp, the colors as rich as ever.  The sound is sharp. If this is not in your family’s video library, it probably should be and you have three versions to pick from so it all depends upon how many extra bells and whistles you want.

How do you exploit a finite series and wring every last licensing dollar out of it? DC Comics has come up with a plethora of nifty brand extensions from the long awaited action figures to the nice art book from Titan Books.  But, the most interesting and innovative has to be the Watchmen Complete Motion Comic which has effectively animated the dozen issues, added narration and music, and turned it into something new.  This has been available for purchase on line, chiefly through iTunes, but today the complete series is being released in a two-disc DVD set.

Those of us with long enough memories have equated it with the cheaply animated [[[Marvel Super Heroes]]], from Grantray-Lawrence Animation in 1966. Unlike that hodge podge, all the art you see is from Dave Gibbons’ illustrations. He was actively involved with the production and his attention to detail comes through.

One of the biggest advantages to this method is that each panel can now be studied on the big screen.  You can check out all the background details, all the little things that Alan Moore had Dave add to scenes to get the message subtly across.  This, in some ways, surpasses the Absolute Watchmen for that enlargement.

Characters walk, wave their arms, move their eyes, and so on.  The motion is more fluid than one would expect and the background characters and objects move nicely.  The captions and word balloons are retained to give it that “comic book comes to life” feel but director Jake S. Hughes also employs film techniques to change scenes and tosses in some CGI animation for special effects but is judicious with their use.

What you lose, though, is the tightly constructed format which was also done intentionally.  The 9-panel grid that Dave employed was as much an element in the maxiseries as was the story. In fact, the [[[Watchmen]]] may well have been one of the first comic books to have been designed from the ground up prior to work beginning on the scripts.

It’s all a tradeoff.  Much as I miss the grid, I miss more the excised dialogue which was trimmed, we’re told, in the in interest of time. As a result, this is an adaptation and not a complete retelling of the comic in animated form.  Similarly, all the backup material which rounded out each issue is gone. You’ll have to a buy Tales of the Black Freighter on DVD later this month for that pirate tale along with Under the Hood. Of course, you could wait for the mega-version when director Zack Snyder integrates everything into one master story but I digress.

One of the additions, which I found myself enjoying, was the music, scored in a James Horner style. It was moody, low key and totally appropriate to the subject matter. And in a goofy way, I loved that the word balloon tails followed the characters as they moved, always how I imagined things working after reading Who Censored Roger Rabbit?

The vocal work is entirely handled by one voice actor, rather than a complete cast. Tom Stechschulte, a television actor, does a superior job giving life to each character.  His female voices were off-putting but he nailed all of the male parts which was quite a challenge.

The extras here are trailers for related product and an extended look at the just-released Wonder Woman animated feature.  There are other, cooler, extras on the Blu-ray disc which was not reviewed.  Now, is this affordable and worth having?  Overall, this was a satisfying experience and helped me refresh myself on the story in time for the movie. You could download each chapter for $1.99 ($24 total) or buy the DVD which retails for $29.98 but obviously will be discounted just about everywhere you look. The kicker, though, is that it comes with a $7.50 coupon to use with purchasing your movie ticket so there is a cost savings to be had.

Philip José Farmer’s website reports the author has passed.

“Philip José Farmer passed away peacefully in his sleep this morning.

“He will be missed greatly by his wife Bette, his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, friends and countless fans around the world.

“January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2008. R.I.P.

“We love you Phil.”

Best known for creating Riverworld, Farmer has written science fiction, fantasy and dabbled in other genres. His concept of metafiction, bringing in characters from other authors’ worlds in many ways led to birth of the fan fiction universe.  His Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life blended elements from across fiction and reality, leading to the introduction of the final publication of Riverworld concept: everyone who ever lived wound up resurrected in an afterlife located on a river that circled an entire world. The concept was developed for a series on the Sci FI Channel but never went beyond the pilot. Farmer first conceived the notion for a story he wrote in 1952 for a contest, which he won.

Farmer first gained attention for his World of Tiers series of stories which crossed multiple artificially constructed parallel universes. The first was published in 1966 and ended with a final volume in 1993.

Among his peers, he was bold in his use of sexuality and religion beginning with his first published effort.

The author was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, but relocated to Peoria, Illinois and lived there for much of his life. His first story was “The Lovers” which won him immediate attention and the Hugo Award as "most promising new writer" in 1953.

Through the years he wrote original works and played with other franchises including authorized Tarzan and Doc Savage stories in the wake of his “biographical” work with both pulp heroes. He has written novels, short stories, essays, reviews and articles with several projects still scheduled for publication.

But what he may be best remembered for is his work in creating the Wold Newton family; a group of heroic and villainous literary figures that Farmer postulated belonged to the same genetic family. Some of these characters are adventurers, some are detectives, some explorers and scientists, some espionage agents, and some are evil geniuses. The Wold Newton family originated when a radioactive meteor landed in Wold Newton, England, in the year 1795. The radiation caused a genetic mutation in those present, which endowed many of their descendants with extremely high intelligence and strength, as well as an exceptional capacity and drive to perform good, or, as the case may be, evil deeds.

Popular characters that Farmer concluded were members of the Wold Newton mutant family include: Solomon Kane; Captain Blood; The Scarlet Pimpernel; Harry Flashman; Sherlock Holmes and his nemesis Professor Moriarty (aka Captain Nemo); Phileas Fogg; The Time Traveler; Allan Quatermain; Tarzan and his son Korak; A.J. Raffles; Professor Challenger; Richard Hannay; Bulldog Drummond; Fu Manchu and his adversary, Sir Denis Nayland Smith; G-8; The Shadow; Sam Spade; Doc Savage, his cousin Pat Savage, and one of his five assistants, Monk Mayfair; The Spider; Nero Wolfe; Mr. Moto; The Avenger; Philip Marlowe; James Bond; Lew Archer; and Travis McGee. Others took it even farther, proposing that the family reached as far into the past as Conan, and as far into the future as Mr. Spock. Farmer’s work was a direct inspiration for Warren Ellis’s Planetary.

He was nominated six times for the Hugo Award, winning four times while collecting two Nebula nominations. Farmer received the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award, lifetime achievement, awarded at the 2000 Nebula Awards Ceremony in addition to the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and Forry Award for Lifetime Achievement.