Links and Updates

A quick one this time around...

There are two new trailers for Raya and the Last Dragon; one good, one bad...

This is just a mess of editing and pacing, from the introductory voiceover: “remember what we’re looking for” – uh, no, we the audience have no idea what you’re looking for - to the premature reveal of a “con-baby”. Surely that should have been kept for the movie itself.

We get a gist of what’s going on (that various tribes are constantly at war) and how to solve the problem (somehow finding the last dragon is the key to lasting peace), but the introductions to the supporting characters are too quick to sink in, and that Raya clearly finds the last dragon is something else that Disney probably should have held back on.

The glimpses of the villain are pretty good – I don’t recall there being two women of the same age pitted against each other in a Disney Princess film before – and the chase/fight scenes look excellent. That lead-up to the throne room fight: hell yeah!

But then there’s the international trailer:

See, now this is MUCH better. Straight away we learn that Raya is looking for something, and an expository voiceover (courtesy of her father, I’m pretty sure) lays out the geography of the land and the fact it’s currently at war. Raya’s motivation is explained, and so is the reason why Sisu is so essential.

Speaking of, it also contains a more numinous introduction to the dragon – right before we hear Awkwafina’s voice. The rapport between Raya and Sisu reads exactly like that between Moana and Maui: a powerful supernatural being with confidence issues who speaks in modern colloquialisms is dragged into a conflict they don’t want to be a part of by our determined heroine. Hopefully they’ll find a way to set them apart from their predecessor (the fact that protagonist, subject and villain are all female is certainly a good start).

And yes, it’s pretty strange that Sisu has Elsa’s face, and yes, I already hate the smirky preteen boy with the Dreamworks Face – but the animation is beautiful, the dynamic between hero/villain looks intriguing, I loved Raya’s exchange with Sisu about trust, and boy does Kelly Marie Tran deserves all the nice things after the shit Disney pulled in Star Wars.

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Netflix has released the first images from their adaptation of Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone, and ... wow! I’m suddenly immensely excited for this. It’s a great story, it looks like it has a budget, and the casting is spot-on.

Inej!

Alina!

Kazz and Jesper and more Inej!

I’m still a little curious about how they’re going to adapt both the original trilogy and the follow-up duology together, since a. despite the common setting they’re completely different genres (one is a straight up coming-of-age Chosen One fantasy, the other a heist with a range of anti-heroes) and b. the presence of certain characters and scenarios in each one is indicative of the fact that Six of Crows definitely takes place after Shadow and Bone. But then this photo caught my attention:

Nina and Matthias, seemingly in the drastic survival situation that first requires them to work together? That makes sense, as Six of Crows relies heavily on flashback chapters that gradually divulge the dark backstories of the titular six – it appears we might be going to see their pasts play out in real time... though that would mean delaying the heist for at least a season.

But in any case, this looks surprisingly good, and is definitely what I’m most looking forward to this year. (Stand by for Darkling stans though. They’re going to be insufferable).

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Along with an adaptation of My Father’s Dragon, Cartoon Saloon is apparently also teaming up with Peter Dinklage for This Was Our Pact, based on the graphic novel of the same name. “Set on the night of an equinox festival, the story follows a group of kids who decide to follow the paper lanterns their town ceremonially drifts down river only to find themselves on an extraordinary journey filled with wondrous new sights and strange characters with only two rules; no one looks back and no one turns for home.”

That sounds amazing, though in sadder news on the “graphic novels turned cartoon” front, Disney’s closure of Blue Sky means that Nimona has been scrapped with less than a year of production left to go. Perhaps they’ll pick it up elsewhere, but man that sucks!

A hilarious “cancel the date” letter from Baroness Elsa Schraeder.

The terrifying true story of the Watcher House in New Jersey, which has apparently been picked up by Netflix. It doesn’t have a satisfying conclusion, but I made my poor co-worker read it before closing one evening and gave her nightmares, so now you have to as well.

One Kiwi Journalist’s investigation of Amanda Palmer’s Dubious Tweet. Yeah, the moment I read her comments I knew something was up. I could bring home the Nobel Peace Prize and not expect more than a nod of acknowledgment from my countrymen and women. We just don’t do this.

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On the same day Charisma Carpenter dropped a statement about the abuse she received at the hands of Joss Whedon on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, Disney announced that Gina Carano is no longer working for them in her capacity as Cara Dune.

Whew. The thing that rankles about Carpenter’s statement, is that (aside from a few more specifics) there’s nothing new in it. We KNEW this way back in 2004, and we collectively chose to ignore it. We also had testimonies from his ex-wife and the likes of James Marsters regarding his awful behaviour, and again – nobody did anything. Instead, Whedon enjoyed continued success for the next decade and a half, up to and including being handed the first Avengers film.

Carpenter’s words are worth reading in their entirety, and she’s so far been backed up by Amber Benson, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Michelle Trachtenberg. I also thought it was quite moving that she was spurred on by her support of Ray Fisher, who has made similar claims of bullying and abuse by Whedon on the set of Justice League (and has largely been lambasted for speaking out).

It sucks when a person who created media that means so much to you turns out to be a creep, though I refuse to let it destroy my fond memories of Buffy and Angel, two staples of my adolescence. Their existence is down to far more than just one man, and they’ll survive the tarnish of their creator.

As for Gina Carano, I haven’t been watching The Mandalorian, so I have no real attachment to her character or performance, but once more I’m truly stunned at a celebrity’s ability to talk absolute shit on social media and assume there won’t be any consequences.

For the record, I don’t think it was her latest post that got her fired – rather, she was let go at the end of season two and it was only due to her decision to compare her situation to Nazism that Disney decided to come out and make a statement. They were perhaps hoping they could just let the character go quietly, but that’s clearly not the case now. And to think, she was rumoured to be the lead of Rangers of the New Republic. As this tweet puts it: