PattyRay38

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It's because [Leslie Jones] went on the defense and made it about race. It was never about race - it was about people waiting 30 years for a seuqle to a beloved film and that sequel having nothing to do with the originals and that it starred approximately 1/2 of a funny person's worth of actor's.

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This is one aspect of this “toxic fandom” thing I have been saying since 2016 when the Ghostbusters remake came out. Paul Feig and the actresses went on the defensive on everyone who was not instantly supportive, calling fans “basement dwellers” and whatnot. The problem and toxicity was something they somewhat created themselves and it could have all been avoided pretty easily. No one involved in that film took into account the “waiting 30 years” thing and seemed to forget that, since 1990, Dan Ackroyd had, every few years or so, talked in some interview about progress made on Ghostbusters 3 and how they were “really close to going into production” so many times. This wasn’t the case of a movie coming out in 1984 and not being talked about in any way shape or form for 30 years and then they announce are remake. This was a situation where fans were constantly being teased with a third installment so it stands to reason that any announcement of a remake would not be received well, whether with team of Ghostbusters made of women or men.

And in truth, all the remake had to do was to adhere to a line that Bill Murray said in the original Ghostbusters movie where he talked about the “franchising rights alone could be worth millions.” If they wanted to do a lady Ghostbusters, just set it in the same world as the original Ghostbusters movie and treat them like a franchise opening up after 25 or 30 years of no ghost sightings in the world. Instead of having the original actors cameo as random characters, have them show up at the end just like they did at the end of Ghostbusters Afterlife. Have the Kate McKinnon character be someone who were defines the technology of Egon Spengler instead of creating it brand new. Maybe have her be a niece even. Excluding the part of the movie where people don’t believe in the existence of ghosts period, much of the narrative of that movie could have been completely unchanged by setting it in the world of the original Ghostbusters. Also, then they could’ve taken advantage of the fact that they filmed the movie in Boston by just setting it in Boston.

I do agree with the “toxic fandom” part where people attacked Leslie Jones. Even though she did speak negatively towards fans, going after her and sending her death, threats or posting personal pictures from her cell phone online was pretty sick of people to have done, especially because aside from a couple of the scenes of her character that were shown in the trailer, such as her getting dropped when trying to do the Mosh pit thing and asking “is this a lady thing or a black thing“ and the scene where she slapping Melissa McCartney and yelling “the power of Patty protects you,” her character through the rest of the film was actually nowhere near as bad as it seemed like it would be. That doesn’t change the fact that the 2016 Ghostbusters was just an unfunny film, but this is just one example of the creative woke types complaining about a small component of people who are complaining and are actually terrible and misogynistic people, but instead directing insulting words towards people who have genuine complaints or concerns, and that escalation is what is causing fandom to reject what people are doing to these long-standing franchisees.

And the fact the matter is that fandom can accept something new, which is shown by the fact that people didn’t reject having either youthful or useful female characters as primary protagonist in Ghostbuster Afterlife and its sequel. Also, male fans have long been accepting of actual good and well written and well performed female lead characters. I mean, have these woke types forgotten the fact that characters such as Ripley from Aliens or Sarah Connor exist? Or in modern times, look at the acclaim the first wonder, woman movie got and how no one was bashing Gal Gadot for her performance, That movie simply told a superhero origin film In the mold of all classic superhero origin, films, just this time with a female superhero instead of a male one.

No clue. I stopped going to his store a bit before he closed due to not having the same disposable income. He also, I believe, was having issues getting his books in on time and I think it hurt his business, so when I did try and stop by, he was closed. I know he also was late in adopting newer computer-based sales methods that other shops already had, so that may have hurt things for him too. I did hear from another former customer years ago he may have been briefly living in the spare storage room at the shop. Aside from hearing someone saying they say him at that Borders before it closed, no word at all. I think he was originally from Iowa or somewhere up there, so maybe he moved back? I do wish I knew, and hope he is doing well.

Yep, BJ was his name. He briefly around mid-2000s had his own shop down the street named Baker Comics, but he had to shut down due to some financial issues I think. Not too sure what happened to him, but I heard at one point he was at the Borders that is not the Main Event place at the Mall of LA. Good dude, and I spent quite a bit of time at his spot in the Book Warehouse and at his own shop.

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Amy TESD or What Say You fans on here?

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Looks like there's a fellow Ant/ Nuggelo in the house, am I right?

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Hayden Christensen and Jake Lloyd's careers have been going strong, no reason to think Daisy Ridley and John Boyega won't have good careers.

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Portman and McGregor already had well established careers. This is the first time most people have heard of Ridley and Boyega.

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While I agree that their pre-established careers helped McGregor and Portman escape unscathed from the prequels, you can't compare Ridley and Boyega to Lloyd and Christiansen. You can't simply because unlike Lloyd and Christiansen, who received MASSIVE negative criticism for their performances of Anakin Skywalker, Ridley and Boyega's performances of Rey and Finn have gotten quite a lot of deserved praise. This isn't to say that they are shoe-ins for long and diverse careers, just that you can't compare them to actors who aren't beloved additions to the Star Wars series.

First off, really enjoyed the film and came away with much more positive to say than when I saw Phantom Menace the first time (and I came away immediately with issues and poking holes in the continuity errors on that film). Aside from getting a bit glassy-eyed when being re-introduced to Han, Leia, Chewie, etc, I really dug the new cast members and didn't feel like any did a bad job. Again, compared to the prequels, on Episode I I really only enjoyed Qui Gon, unnecessary character he was notwithstanding, and Palpatine. Even though I came to feel Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan was the best performance in that trilogy, that only really began in Episode II. But I liked Finn, Rey, Poe, and yep, BB-8 right from the start and can't wait to see them again.

As I said in blueboy's separate post, I really enjoyed Adam Driver's performance as Kylo Ren. He plays a character who desperately want to be Darth Vader but is just not getting it done right, despite his viciousness in the villlage on Jakku and his killing of his father. What works so well is where he tries and fails at being a badd arse Sith-wannabe. He isn't able to construct a perfect lightsaber, instead building one that is jagged and rough and not smooth and sleek. He doesn't intimidate the Tarkin-like guy, nor does anyone cower before him. He royally screws up when in his arrogance kidnaps Rey to discover Luke's location instead of making sure to take the droid. I'm fascinated because I don't see him as being the true villain of this trilogy--instead, I see him maybe being turned back to the light by Episode IX.

This is where a theory (well, really more of an idea) cropped up tonight for me, a story idea that I know I am going to be crucified for, because even as I thought it I could not believe I liked it and almost hate myself for liking it. So Kylo Ren's whole deal is "wanting to finish what [Darth Vader] started," right? Well, we know in Return of the Jedi that Vader, at the end, went back to the Light Side and reverted back to being Anakin Skywalker. So Ren is basing his whole being on what is basically a lie, as his grandfather, in the end, turned against the Empire and the Dark Side. What is, in Episode VIII or IX, Anakin himself, called on by Luke, confronts Ren and turns him back to Ben Solo so as to defeat Snoke once and for all.

Yes, this is me advocating actually embracing Lucas's alteration of adding in Hayden Christiansen as Force Ghost Anakin and justifying it by bringing Hayden BACK as Anakin and redeem his performance as Anakin by having him be directed by a better director while working off a better script. By doing this, you could also correct the whole "how does Luke know Hayden is Anakin when he saw Sebastian Shaw as Anakin" problem. Have a flashback with Luke and Anakin talking right after the end of Jedi (and use the Michael Douglas "Ant-Man de-aging" CG to make this scene work. Again, I almost hate myself for wanting Hayden Christiansen back as Anakin, but I think it could actually work and imagine if doing so helps eliminate the bad taste his performance left in everyone's mouth!

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I am one of those "horrible professors". The reason many of us don't round up is because we indicate in the syllabus what the threshold for a grade is. If you miss it by a lot or by a little, you still miss it.

It much like being told that the train leaves at 3:00 pm and you show up at 3:01. The train has already left.

You can ask, but I will also tell you that pleading a little too hard is a major turn off for us, and at some point it becomes an irritant.

Your best bet is to learn the lesson and strive to do better in the future.

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Yeah, I must be a horrible teacher too! Had a student unable to take a department-issued final exam because she tanked one of her essays (98/300pts) and it dropped her grade below what was required just to take the exam. When I told her the bad news, she had the gall to say she wanted to appeal her grade because she felt she was messed over on that essay she failed. Fact was, she turned it in over a week late, didn't include the required outside sources, didn't follow the specs of the paper (and did exactly what I told the class NOT to do), and messed up a few other things. And one of my advisors, when I told him all of this, was like "touch shite, but she fricked up."

The moral of the story, OP, is to do the work and earn your grade. And if a class, as the one you're describing, will determine keeping or losing TOPS, fricking do the work to earn the grade you need and don't bitch when you don't get it.

I have to admit, these changes to Batman and Superman fan are hard for me to take. I will say, I am willing to try the Superman change (as I haven't gotten totally bored with the Superman books yet, some 'meh' stories notwithstanding), but this is the end for me with the Batman books for the time being. "Batman and Robin" book aside--which was the BEST Batman book of the line, consistently--Scott Snyder's Batman book has been boring me for a while now (so did his Superman Unchained book) so this change is my exit strategy on his run. But, I was one who dropped Batman when Grant Morrison was writing it, so there you go.

I do have to disagree with two points made in this thread.

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i mean thor was a frog at one point.

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was mentioned a few times. So was Spider-Ham. These aren't the best examples when dealing with a major character's status quo change, as Thor as a frog lasted what, two issues or so? A couple issue storyline is one thing, an open-ended status quo change is another. And Spider-Ham? That was a separate book aimed at kids--it never replaced the main Spider-Man. Now the female Thor or Falcon as Captain America? Valid examples there.

I'll go one better than greatest animated series of all time. This cartoon is the single greatest version of the character of Batman, and his world, that has ever existed, comics included. Every major important character (Jason Todd excluded) was not only included but represented perfectly. It also introduced characters such as Renee Montoya and, more importantly, Harley Quinn. My only criticism of the series is in the character design of a few characters. During the Fox Kids run, Penguin and Catwoman were designed to look like their Batman Returns counterparts, and in the Kids WB version, the Joker and Riddler designs were far inferior to the earlier ones, especially compared with how great the Scarecrow redesign was.

To this day, I still hear Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as Joker, Bob Hastings as Gordon and Robert Costanza as Bullock. The series is nearly perfect and still is cited as a Batman high point over 20 years after it debuted.

If you go digital (though you can get them in print if you search for them and/or peruse a comic shop or two), Superman Adventures, Batman Adventures (and anything else based on the old Bruce Timm animated series, including Justice League) are good books. Also, can not recommend more the digital first series Batman: Lil Gotham. The best Batman book in a long time and perfect for kids. DC Comics app (thru Comixology) should have all or most of these.