say, can you see

Thunderhowl · Post by **Thunderhowl** » Tue May 01, 2007 1:56 am

JmcV wrote:We should totally have a video game movie night, and watch like...The Wizard, and The Last Starfighter, and Tron. I'm missing some, I know I am. What else belongs on the list?

I own all three. Unless you aren't talking about Ralph Bakshi's Wizard. In that case I only have two.

Tom the Fanboy · Post by **Tom the Fanboy** » Tue May 01, 2007 5:51 am

Wouldn't that be "Wizards"?

Well, there was an arcade game in Hackers that was used to increase the romantic tension. Also, Marty McFly learned his awesome gunslinging skills at the 7-11.

Those are the only video game movies I know where the movie wasn't ABOUT the video game characters themselves.

JmcV · Post by **JmcV** » Sat May 05, 2007 3:32 pm

I'm thinking of the movie where the blind kid is really good at pinball. that's "the wizard" innit? or am i off my rocker?

SickandCute · Post by **SickandCute** » Sun May 06, 2007 12:54 am

JmcV wrote:I'm thinking of the movie where the blind kid is really good at pinball. that's "the wizard" innit? or am i off my rocker?

Thats tommy. Was it all musical?
'That deaf dumb and blind kid can sure play a mean pinbaaaall'.
Tommy.

Thunderhowl · Post by **Thunderhowl** » Sun May 06, 2007 1:09 am

Tom the Fanboy wrote:Wouldn't that be "Wizards"?

Right. Whatever. You all know what I meant.

Xaq · Post by **Xaq** » Sun May 06, 2007 9:46 pm

"Ralph Bakshi's Wizard" sounds WAY cooler than the movie Wizards was. I picture a Hippy equivalent of Merlin. (this joke is funnier if you've ever seen Ralph Bakshi interviewed)

JmcV · Post by **JmcV** » Mon May 07, 2007 2:37 am

well, we could always go for really laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame gaming movies

and watching that one called mazes and monsters

which is like this terrible, horrible, putrescent ripoff of d&d

tom hanks is like 40 and plays a 15 year old that gets addicted to d&d err *ahem* SORRY m&m (lol)

the group he plays in are (of course) all sick, twisted invididuals who play "real" d&d, like in a cave, and they dress up and use props and stuff, except that sometimes they're not props and people die, and then the concerned parents intervene and save poor little tommy hanks from a life of doom.

wasn't that just the message we all needed to go around about d&d? *sigh*

Thunderhowl · Post by **Thunderhowl** » Mon May 07, 2007 7:07 am

JmcV wrote:well, we could always go for really laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame gaming movies

and watching that one called mazes and monsters

which is like this terrible, horrible, putrescent ripoff of d&d

tom hanks is like 40 and plays a 15 year old that gets addicted to d&d err *ahem* SORRY m&m (lol)

the group he plays in are (of course) all sick, twisted invididuals who play "real" d&d, like in a cave, and they dress up and use props and stuff, except that sometimes they're not props and people die, and then the concerned parents intervene and save poor little tommy hanks from a life of doom.

wasn't that just the message we all needed to go around about d&d? *sigh*

I HATE Mazes and Monsters. It sends me into a rage just from hearing someone else mention it. I hate it so much that I have less respect for Tom Hanks just for starring in it. I hate it more than I hate Boba Fett. Ask xaq how much that is. He knows.

*is mad at JmcV now*

That "movie", (and by movie I mean piece of Nazi Propaganda thinly veiled as a TV movie) came out during a rash of really slanted attacks against gaming in the 80s. I remember how furious it made me to watch a talk show and to have them slam my hobby, call everyone who played it a Satan worshipper and assorted bull like that.

Gah. I'm so mad I have to walk away from the computer for a second.

**********

Ok. I'm back and much calmer. I'm also not mad at JmcV anymore.

Don't waste your time watching that piece of filth. It's time you won't get back, and will regret you spent.
/rant

JmcV · Post by **JmcV** » Mon May 07, 2007 2:10 pm

sorry, i thought that by my stream of sarcastic remarks you would know i was joking. i watched that movie once...because, from the title, i thought it would be a cool but cheesy ripoff type movie about d&d, and that it would have funny cheesy geeky stuff.

don't be mad at me!! *hugs*

Thunderhowl · Post by **Thunderhowl** » Tue May 08, 2007 12:35 am

JmcV wrote:sorry, i thought that by my stream of sarcastic remarks you would know i was joking. i watched that movie once...because, from the title, i thought it would be a cool but cheesy ripoff type movie about d&d, and that it would have funny cheesy geeky stuff.

don't be mad at me!! *hugs*

I wasn't mad at you for liking it...I was mad at you for mentioning it.
It's an awful movie. I hate it with every fiber of my being. After talking about it I have to brush my teeth to get the foul taste out of my mouth. After typing about it I have to wash my hands.
Don't worry. I'm not mad at you anymore.

However, if we want to watch bad gamer movies, there's Hawk the Slayer, Krull, Red Sonja, the D&D movie, Robot Jocks, Dragon Slayer...the list goes on and on. I love almost all of these movies, in spite of how bad they are (in some cases BECAUSE of how bad they are), but I'll never watch Mazes and Monsters again, because I won't watch any movie that was designed and filmed specifically to attack gaming.

Tom the Fanboy · Post by **Tom the Fanboy** » Tue May 08, 2007 6:58 am

It's like someone suggesting the Chick Tract "Dark Dungeons" in the reading thread.

Tommy is a rock opera movie based on the album of the same name. Man, we need more Rock operas nowadays. You know, musicals that aren't lame.

Narf the Mouse · Post by **Narf the Mouse** » Tue May 08, 2007 6:12 pm

Well, hey, 'dark dungeons' is hilarious, if you look at it the right way.

And some people have done some superb *parodies.

* Can you actually call it a 'parady' if 'dark dungeons' is the source material?

Thunderhowl · Post by **Thunderhowl** » Wed May 09, 2007 1:57 am

Narf the Mouse wrote:Well, hey, 'dark dungeons' is hilarious, if you look at it the right way.

And some people have done some superb *parodies.

* Can you actually call it a 'parady' if 'dark dungeons' is the source material?

It's a fine line between parody and attack though, with often the only way to tell is to know where it's coming from. Knight's of the Dinner Table and Dork Tower have suffered some backlash from the Gamer Communities as treading close to the line, where the only thing that kept them in the realm of parody was knowing that they are poking fun from the inside and not from the outside. Gamers have feelings too.

If anyone I had ever met had taken Dark Dungeons seriously then I would have gotten upset. Fortunately, where I'm from Chick is laughed at as a crackpot, so he doesn't really present a threat to Gaming.
Unfortunately, the previously mentioned "movie" was taken very seriously at the time it came out. Did you know that as a direct result of that film and the hype surrounding it, game companies like Palladium and TSR started putting disclaimers into their books, where they didn't outright change the text in the book itself? Spells and monsters were removed and the "suggested age requirements" for the games changed focus from being the time that people could understand the complexity of the system to the time they were old enough to deal with the mature themes. It was a dark time for gaming.

Narf the Mouse · Post by **Narf the Mouse** » Wed May 09, 2007 2:46 am

Aren't all age labels today based on when they can deal with the themes?

Thunderhowl · Post by **Thunderhowl** » Thu May 10, 2007 1:36 am

Narf the Mouse wrote:Aren't all age labels today based on when they can deal with the themes?

I believe that's the case now, but for rpgs in the olden days it was more an indicator of how complex the system was.

*sigh*
Now I feel really old.

Narf the Mouse · Post by **Narf the Mouse** » Thu May 10, 2007 4:57 pm

Ouch. One thing I hated as a kid was not being told things 'Because I wouldn't understand them'.

Given that I was contemplating the mathematical relationship between finite and infinite numbers at the age of twelve...

Xaq · Post by **Xaq** » Fri May 11, 2007 2:35 pm

On the one hand, games like Palladium Fantasy, who once had darker, more sinister details in certain supplements (like the original Sexual Deviance table for insane NPCs, and the twisted write-ups for the minions of Hell), felt the need to remove that material, and place "content warning" disclaimers about the occult in the front of all of their books... but on the other hand, there are games companies (like White Wolf) that went a completely different route, slapping a general "mature audiences" warning on the product and then putting in whatever they damn well pleased (like the various Black Dog products).

I chalk it up there with the same stupidity that requires "caution, contents are hot" warnings on McDonald's coffee cups, and "do not eat" on packets of silicon. In the US, litigation is so prevailent that these things will always have to exist, and it just plain sucks, period.

Narf the Mouse · Post by **Narf the Mouse** » Fri May 11, 2007 7:57 pm

I think of them as clarification labels, like: 'This movie pretends to be a comedy, but it's really a gratuitus near-porn movie' or 'This movie says it's an action movie, but they don't even show fake blood'.

DrunkenPrayer · Post by **DrunkenPrayer** » Mon May 14, 2007 7:03 am

Thunderhowl wrote: However, if we want to watch bad gamer movies, there's Hawk the Slayer, Krull, Red Sonja, the D&D movie, Robot Jocks, Dragon Slayer...the list goes on and on. I love almost all of these movies, in spite of how bad they are (in some cases BECAUSE of how bad they are), but I'll never watch Mazes and Monsters again, because I won't watch any movie that was designed and filmed specifically to attack gaming.

Despite never playing D&D I thought the film was brilliant because of how bad it was. Anyone who watched it expecting an epic fantasy film would be sorely disappointed though. I'm sure I still have Hawk The Slayer on VHS somewhere, I bought it for like £1 (less than a dollar, I think) at a car boot sale not knowing what the world it was. But then again this was at the same time that I was listening to Manowar because they had cool album covers.

Thunderhowl · Post by **Thunderhowl** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:55 pm

Manowar = Awesome!

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