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My new Terrahawk Prop

Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 1:33 pm
by Vanessa
Initially I wasn't too keen on the Roughnecks SST chronicles, but as I watched the various episodes it kinda grew on me. The characters themselves were well scripted, and I really enjoyed it and got into it after a while. It's a great pity they never bothered to finish the series off. It just stopped midway through the last season I wish they had blown Battlehawk up, it was rather gross IMHO. A sleeker design would have been very welcome!The prototype flying revolver sounds really good, such a pity it never saw the light of day...

My new Terrahawk Prop

Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 3:09 pm
by Crash
I think my dislike for SpaceHawk may stem from the way it was shot in the show. The still photos of the model itself are slightly more impressive but it still looks like a real kitbash full of household items rather than, for instance, Thunderbird2, which was presumably designed and then built.Google cranked out some faintly interesting stuff:http://martinbowersmodelworld.co.uk/ter ... reeh.htmAt the moment I'm watching Andromeda. It is a spectacularly attractive show on DVD and it has a terrific script.It occurs to me that Firefly actually just totally stole all of its regular characters from this show.Captain Hunt ~ Captain Reynolds (the macho-yet-sensitive, charismatic captain),Beka ~ Zoe (the macho-and-less-sensitive, female second-in-command),Tyr ~ Jayne (the macho-and-completely-insensitive gunslinger),Rev Bem ~ Shepherd Book (the complicated, religious type with an interesting past),Harper ~ Wash (the happy-go-lucky, small-but-useful, blond-haired person),Trance ~ River+Brother (the secretive girl that's there to fix everything in the end, who also works as the medic).(River was also totally thieved from Outlaw Star, right down to the scene where they get her out of her box).The only difference is the ship. The Firefly is the ugliest, most worthless rustbucket whereas the Andromeda is the lushest, most awesome ship.

My new Terrahawk Prop

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 12:15 pm
by Shane
Loved Starship Troopers! I hear it deviates from the books, but I think the movie was a little harshly judged by critics at the time who didn't really get that it was meant to be satirical.It was also one of the last great sci-fi films to use practical effects. I am a fan of practical models so I'm loving all of those craft in your links Crash.Not that I don't mind a bit of well rendered CGI when it's used right.I've just been to see Transformers 3 in 3D and while I still have issues with what Michael Bay has done with the franchise, the last hour of that movie is pretty gob smacking!

My new Terrahawk Prop

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 10:02 pm
by Crash
It was awesome! Just got back from it. I refused to see it in 3D. At our cinema it just has no effect and the glasses just make everything too dark to make out.All the people slagging it off, I just don't understand them. It was certainly better than the second one but so many people wouldn't even give it that much credit.I think some forums should just be closed down and the servers destroyed on grounds of user stupidity.I just love ships - CGI or handbuilt. They all have to be crafted. If they're well designed and then well put together, it's all good to me.Andromeda's ships are luscious. It's a shame a bit more isn't published about them.The decepticon aircraft this time were a bit too similar in style to the Battle Los Angeles alien drone craft.Some of the decepticons themselves were a bit too much like the alien brutes from Crysis2 not to be a little distracting.The problem with Starship Troopers was that the cynical nature of the propaganda either just didn't translate to the screen or wasn't done right.In the last film they got a bit more done with that but the rest of the film was ... B-rate at best. I could do with watching that one again if I had fonder vague memories of it.

My new Terrahawk Prop

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 6:04 am
by Shane
Yes, I think the hatred directed at Transformers 3 stems from how poorly received the second one was. The 3rd one is less goofy, but the first part of the movie shares most of the pitfalls that were evident in Transformers 2 and indeed Transformers 1.What I don't think is fair is that in the second half of the film Bay turns it around and produces the ultimate alien invasion movie with one of the best extended battle sequences in a long long time, however the critics have followed the party line and slated the movie outright, regardless of it's merits and it is currently around 30% at rotten tomatoes. I actually agree with you regarding 3D. I think for the most part that it's a bit of a gimmick. It worked well in Transformers 3, but the effect was used sparingly as it was in Avatar.Those are the only two 3D cinema experiences that I have enjoyed. If the cinema you're in isn't geared up properly to project in 3D, you're basically stuffed. Tron Legacy was a pretty dire experience for me as the projector's bulb wasn't adequate enough and so the image wasn't bright enough to compensate for the 3D glasses.Also, a lot of directors aren't doing a lot with the technology and often employ it far to subtly.The very worst aspect about the tech is when a completed non 3D film is converted to 3D just for the sake of it. The conversion is often rushed and the results are often unwatchable.The satire in Starship Troopers was a little subtle although the robocop style television segments helped to drive the point home. It can also be viewed as an action movie though, and I guess the satire went over the heads of a proportion of the viewing audience who just enjoyed the troopers getting pulled apart by alien bugs.Oh, and I'm loving the cube prop; that was a lucky find. I liked the cubes but I'd love to get hold of a working Zeroid. A little out of my price range methinks, but I'd be interested to know if any of those survived.




My new Terrahawk Prop

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 8:25 pm
by Mark42
Yes the working Zeroids do, but they have never been offered for sale as they belong to the builder Richard Gregory, although saying that they have actually been held, and displayed, for years by two people who ran the Gerry Anderson fan club.  The Spacehawk looks a bit thrown together because it was, it was never really designed. The Japanese investors were flying to Britain to visit the studio and Gerry Anderson had nothing to show them as they were still in pre-production and just setting up shop. So model maker Phil Rae was asked to provide something VERY fast, which he did by gluing 3 of his old spaceship model designs together.Totally agree with your Alien film comments, four wasn't too bad but the end was poor, the monster was rubbish, and nothing can get sucked through such a tiny hole unless it was just made of ice-cream & jelly!




My new Terrahawk Prop

Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 12:09 am
by Crash
30% Lord. I woulda thought 70% woulda been a less-than-generous score but I don't know where anything else sits on that scale. Maybe Aliens racks up a 40% but then that would just be a terrible scale.I through Transformers3 learned a lot from the other two. You could follow the action scenes without going back and stepping forward frame-by-frame and it had all the 'this is a bit too close to real life' awkward funny scenes and it was just an awesome, really well-made blast.I liked how they tried to tie the story into real-word events like the space-race and Chernobyl/Pripyat. To leverage serious events to support a truly ridiculous story! That was very clever.Also it was easy to see where everything was heading next but then it also did everything that you hoped it would so it won out there as well.I think much of my 3D skepticism may be because of our Newcastle Gate cinema. It was built as an Odeon in 2002 to replace the amazing art deco Odeon, which they closed and left to go derelict. When Odeon merged with UCI, they owned the Gate in Newcastle, Silverlink near North Shields and the Odeon at MetroCentre (ie. all 3 cinemas in a 10-mile radius of the city). The OFT made them sell one (they chose the Gate) to Empire and since then the place has got really dreary. The ticket offices are always closed. You get tickets at the popcorn stand/whatever instead and I don't think the 3D there must be the same level as elsewhere because ticket prices are way lower.That's the only place I ever go because the other two cinemas are hard to get to by bus. So maybe my 3D opinion has been tainted unfairly but it made Priest and Tron Legacy almost unwatchable for me too.That's interesting about Spacehawk, Mark.The thing about decompression in space is that it's not as explosive as people think because the force is only the weight of the air in the room and the speed at which it left the ship. So it would be like a gentle breeze going out through that porthole. A piece of paper might have been blown out but any solid object would have plugged it and wouldn't have been destroyed by the weight of the air pushing on it.Having said that, the creature did look as though it was made of icecream or birds***, one or the other.How that freaky thing was supposed to be 'even' more dangerous than the actual aliens I don't know. It looked more like a catering accident than a monster.




My new Terrahawk Prop

Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 12:38 am
by Shane
Rotten Tomatoes is usually on the ball, and a fair representation of the quality of a movie. It is critic based though, so there can be one or two odd-ball ratings. Interestingly the audience rating on there for Transformers 3 is much higher, so stuff the critics; Shockwave was a dude!I don't often do the 3D thang, but If I hear a movie is particularly geared up for the 3D format like Avatar and Transformers 3, then I'll nip off to London and view it on IMAX.Like you say, the old cinemas are generally too decrepit to project 3D properly and multiplexes like Cineworld can be even worse, as the staff; rightly or wrongly, sometimes just don't give a crap. I've had to walk out of a cinema screen on a number of occasions to tell somebody that the movie was in the wrong aspect ratio or that it was completely out of focus.

My new Terrahawk Prop

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:16 am
by Vanessa
I loved the original Starship Troopers film, right down to the 'cheesy' recruitment adverts   The cinemas near me are OK, except for the closest one, the Apollo, which is rubbish, and I've seen bigger tellys frankly...But the main cinemas are OK though.I think that cost-saving thing where you now have to buy tickets from the popcorn stand 'cos the ticket offices are closed, must be spreading...The last three cinemas I've been to have all had the same issue, and it really peeves me, having to wait ages in a queue to buy tickets while the family in front of you makes you late for the film by spending ages buying their popcorn, etc... The only two 3D experiences I've really enjoyed were Avatar and How to train your Dragon   Both were seen in one of the large newer multi-screen cinemas.I pushed the boat out and went to see TRON Legacy at IMAX and was bitterly disappointed. The only decent IMAX 3D experiences I've had have been watching those "made for IMAX" features, which are quite breathtaking, but not exactly big-budget blockbusters.I do really want to see TF3 in 3D soon tho', especially after hearing you guys talk about it.I also want to see HP7 ptII in 3D (acronym alert!).The part-human/part-alien monster in Alien 4 was just pants IMHO   Speaking of disinterested staff at cinemas, I once remember watching a film (can't remember which now) and the projector jammed and the film actually melted through and burned away, leaving us all watching a bright white light. I had to go and find someone to sort it out, and we all had to wait 30 mins while they got a spare reel up and running.  




My new Terrahawk Prop

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 1:18 am
by Crash
We had a classic the other week. The power went out just before Pirates of the Caribbean, (which should have been "SAGA over-50s cruise to the Caribbean" morelike - I actually fell asleep in the middle), was meant to start.So we just sat in total darkness for half-an-hour and I couldn't even get internet on my phone because all the routers in the Gate I was gonna hack into were without juice. (I don't believe in paying O2 for internet when it's all around anyway). It's so much more satisfying that way too.I have to go see Harry Potter and the Zimmerframe of Death on Sunday.I'm doing a mini-pupillage next week. I'm accepted onto the Bar training course here at Northumbria but seeing as St-Andrews screwed me out of my 2:1, which I earned despite them and seeing as there are only 400 actual pupillages available per year in the country, I'm not sure there's any point in taking it next year.I've come to genuinely despise academia.EDIT: Tron Legacy was great though. That film got 10/10 in my book for that blonde siren woman that strutted around in places. She was lush ... and evil! ... Awesome!!!How much did it suck massively in Transformers when that blue robot got executed??? The problem with that bit was that it was meant to heighten the tension when they went for Bumblebee and you just knew he was gonna get saved anyway and it just stank that he got saved and not the poor old bloke.