Fandom Tagged Articles at Cinematical

As much as we all fervently and loyally love Joss Whedon, it's time to face facts: His mojo is off. It's not gone -- I'd never suggest such a thing. One look at Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and the better episodes of Dollhouse prove that the magic is still there. However, it has lost its focus, writhing in the ether, struggling to gain the fame of his earlier television work -- fame that while never massive, was solid, loyal, and passionate.

With Dollhouse canceled, the question on everyone's mind is how can he get back to the success of Buffy? How can he shrug off the pain of two battles for ratings and second seasons, and present a show that ushers in a fandom rivaling what came before with Buffy, Giles, Willow, and Xander?

It seems like you can't swing an Ewok without hitting some kind of fan-made Star Wars art, toy, or collectible, but have you ever wondered what would have happened if the Rebels had started a grass-roots movement rather than mounting up and chucking an explosive down the thermal exhaust port of the Death Star? Well, Derrick Jensen has and the result is a funny video called If 'Star Wars' Was Made By Environmentalists. In *Jensen's video, the activist and author of A Language Older Than Words takes us through the 'original screenplay' for the sci-fi fantasy classic as it was written by a group of environmentalists ... and Eco-Tours to Endor are only the beginning.

The video takes plenty of jabs at the Left's inability to come to a decision, and the absurdity of trying to stop a murderous force with harsh language and touchy-feely slogans. But keep in mind that Jensen is what you could call a hard-line 'tree-hugger', and his philosophy is based on the idea that civilization is inherently unnatural and based on violence. But don't let that scare you off; there are jokes a-plenty for Star Wars fans, including relegating Luke, Leia, and "some robots" into minor characters and Vader's inability to produce accurate paperwork. But no matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on, the beauty of this particular video is that you don't need to share Jensen's views to find it funny, you just need a healthy appreciation for absurdity.

After the jump: a world where Ewoks sell designer coffee and Luke and Leia are only background...

*CORRECTION: The video was created by Frank Lopez of Submedia

...And I kind of liked it.

The first time I saw it was at an all-media screening full of women and the lucky teenage girls who knew them – daughters, nieces, friends' daughters, you get the idea.

(Pet peeve: They took away every. Single. Person's. Cellphone. And made us check them like coats at the most insanely tween club ever. I wanted to die. I understand the need to stop rude movie-goers from texting or Twittering during a movie, especially teen girls typing, "OMG RPattz sparkles!" But still, it only encourages me to hide my iPhone in an orifice next time I go to an all-media. Hopefully, it won't come down to full body searches, though.)

And even though a few girls did scream when Robert Pattinson's name came onscreen, and when he appeared onscreen, and when he took his shirt off onscreen, there was some giggling too. They knew it was silly, but the overwhelming crushed-out feeling took over – you know it from when you plastered posters on your wall, and yes, for the most part, those people were just as silly. (Except me, 'cause I had a Death poster from the Sandman comics. That's just how I rolled.)

It was like I could hear – no, feel – them blossoming into womanhood when he appeared onscreen. Creepy.

Cinematical will be hitting Comic-Con 2009 in San Diego again this year, bringing you the sights, highlights, and lowlights of the four-day geek mecca. A mecca that now officially has a schedule. Since cloning machines still haven't been invented, if anyone manages to do that in in the next couple of weeks please let us know. We're going to need to be at multiple locations during multiple simultaneous times.

But, that just about sums up the entirety of Comic-Con: dashing from panel to panel, catching a glimpse of the millions of costumes, stopping by booths, hitting parties, and then repeating. You can check out the full schedule right here (eventually -- it's Thursday and Friday only for now), and we'll be posting some of what's on our Cinematical Must See list as we work our way through the schedule with a highlighter, but here's a couple of standouts for Thursday:

• 11:00-12:30 Disney: 3D Panel- Walt Disney Pictures presents key filmmakers, select cast members and previously unseen footage from its upcoming slate, including Disney's A Christmas Carol, Alice In Wonderland and Tron. Special guests include Robert Zemeckis, Tim Burton, Sean Bailey, Steve Lisberger, and moderator Patton Oswalt. Hall H
• 12:45-2:00 20th Century Fox and James Cameron present Avatar- In this first public screening of footage in 3D from his much-anticipated action/adventure/fantasy, James Cameron, producer Jon Landau, and cast members take you to a spectacular new world beyond imagination. Conceived 14 years ago and over four years in the making, Avatar breaks new ground in delivering a fully immersive, emotional story and reinvents the movie-going experience. Hall H

Ah, 1980. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear when Jimmy Carter was in the White House, Hewlett Packard announced the release of its first home computer, and I was about to embark upon my senior year of high school. My hometown was pretty far off the beaten path and our nearest single screen movie theater was 13 miles away with the closest multiplex being 45 miles. In those days I wasn't always able to see every movie I wanted to, but I got caught up in my college years when I discovered premium cable channels and the newly born home video market. There were some classics that summer (The Empire Strikes Back, anyone?), some stuff I'd like to forget (Xanadu or Xana-don't?) and at least one film I can't find any record of (read on for that one).

Here's how the Summer of 1980 went:

May 9
It's interesting to note that the first two releases for the Summer of 1980 have both been recently remade more or less. I generally don't like slasher flicks but I make an exception for Friday the 13th because it hit before most of the genre cliches were established and that ending where Jason bursts out of the water literally had me jumping out of my seat. The Nude Bomb was a pretty awful feature version of the Get Smart TV series. When the film eventually played network television it was renamed The Return of Maxwell Smart.

Between seeing We are Wizards at SXSW last month, Elisabeth's excellent Geek Beat column on cosplay and costuming (that's her at the right, dressed as Queen Gorgo), JK Rowling squaring off in court with Steven Vander Ark over this Harry Potter Lexicon, and following the wonderful Twilight fan sites more closely of late, I feel like I've been double-dipped in fandom recently. All this has got me thinking on the concept of fandom and fantasy and what drives people (like myself) to obsess about fictional worlds and characters, and where the line is between healthy love and admiration for books and films and unhealthy obsession.

Don't get me wrong here ... I totally love fansites.. Fans who maintain fansites give hours and hours of their personal time to keeping those sites going, and when sites get popular, they have to recruit other obsessed fans to help them out, all while maintaining the quality of the site and keeping away trolls (and, in the case of Twilight Moms, maybe a few irate spouses to boot!) But how much is too much?

Fandom. It makes people do crazy things. People worship; people cherish; and people band together to fight. These days, we have heard all about that Fanboys debacle, which rages on while the film sits, tapping its impatient fingers. But that's only one aspect of fandom. There's also those love-filled homemade fan creations.

But this post is really all due to the picture above. Now, I've seen many funky fan crafts over the years, but this one I just loved. David Lynch isn't the sort of man who gets a ton of fan recreations, and honestly, aside from my still-unfinished oil painting of Jack Nance, this is the first one I've seen. It's simple, yet oh so bloody cool.

I have to admit it: I have an addiction to creating and appreciating funky things -- whether they be large, wine cork platters, a chess-themed birthday cake, or making a pair of underwear with Christopher Walken's face on the front. (Yes, I have a pair of Walken underthings. No, I will not share a picture.) I've always liked making things because, well, it's fun to do. But it also allows you to be original. Instead of paying someone to show your inner fan or inner taste, you can make something unique and filled with your own time and appreciation.

Oh, I know there are a slew of you out there who would love to be that guy -- all walking around the halls of your high school sporting Obi-Wan's robe, tellin' it like it is. Showing up to the office with authority: "Oh yeah, you want me to sit in that cubicle? Well, no one puts Obi-Wan in the corner!" Women would flock to you like they do in those annoying Axe deodorant commercials (Hey, I wear Axe and nothing like that ever happens to me!), while a day wouldn't go by without a high-five and a few dreamy stares. And then you wake up, realizing: "Holy crap, I just spent $100,000 on a freaking brown robe!"

Yes, that's (approximately) how much bidding will start at for a chance to own the original robe worn by Sir Alec Guinness in Star Wars. Oh, but that's not all -- folks can also pick up costumes worn in films like Titanic, Indiana Jones and Evita, as well as a number of James Bond's suits, when they go under the gavel at Bonhams Auctioneers. Roughly 350 to be exact, all provided by the London-based costume maker Angels. Tim Angel, of Angels, is honored to produce all these memorable movie costumes, but at the same time they could potentially hurt business. He notes, "The flip-side of creating such iconic costumes, that become so very famous and so firmly associated with key movies, is that they can never be used in other films or productions, nor can they be made available from our fancy dress shop."

I'm not sure what I would do with a brown robe worth $100,000. Where do you wear it? Could it be used as, like, an after shower robe? Do you hang it in the closet? For you Star Wars fanatics out there, is the price tag worth it? And, if you could own the original robe, what in the world would you do with it?

Remember the awesome series of knitted zombies that we linked to last year? Well, compared to this latest example of obsessive fandom, knitting zombies is about as easy as picking your teeth. You want do something that really shows your devotion? How about creating a massive, incredibly meticulous, dollhouse reproduction of Bag End (AKA the Baggins family home)? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

Livejournal user 'Obelia medusa' really, really loves The Lord of the Rings, so much so that she decided to devote 18 months of her life to making a hobbit house. From what I can tell, she combined information from both the movies and Tolkien's novels to come up with a floor plan, and to dictate her interior details. And I emphasize the word "details" - you think you're obsessive? Check out this status update from August: " The past year or so I've spent wiring (my hobbits need their candlelight, after all!) and installing wood paneling and flooring." Holy. Crap.

If you've got some free time today, go check out the pictures. While any obsession taken to this level is maybe just the slightest bit creepy, the devotion and craftsmanship - there are STAINED GLASS WINDOWS and TILE FLOORS, for the love of God! - are truly mind-blowing.

[via BoingBoing]