The advent of digital special effects in movies has brought us some great entertainment. The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, for example, was really well done and would have been impossible to do, or do as well, 20 years ago. Twenty years ago, it would have looked like "The Neverending Story."
Of course, the problem with CGI is that today effects of the quality of "The Neverending Story" are insanely cheap. Great special effects are still incredibly expensive. Bad ones are nearly free. And the worst abuser of this technology is the Sci-Fi channel.
When I'm ready to go to bed, if I've been watching TV I have a ritual of taking one last turn around the dial to see what's on. Last night, I saw that Sci-Fi was showing a movie called "Mammoth." You guessed it. It was about a town terrorized by a mammoth that had somehow come back to life. Well, I new this would be too cheesy to pass up so I had to turn it on until the mammoth made an appearance. Words fail me. To say it was one of the worst special effects jobs ever is being too complimentary. Then again, this is the network that brought us "Mansquito."
The Sci-Fi channel has got to stop. Updated series like "Battlestar Galactica?" Fine. Heck, I'll ever take Buck Rogers re-runs. But please, stop making movies about giant snakes, saber-toothed tigers, half-men/half mosquitoes, and revived mammoths. I mean, even if it was done right, how scary is a mammoth? You could put one down with a 12 gauge shotgun. They don't fly, they're not fast, they don't have big teeth. I mean, when most people have nightmares about animals or fantasy creatures, I don't think elephants generally make the list. Yeah, I know all about rogue elephants killing people in Africa. But that usually happens to 1 or 2 villagers and then the elephant is killed. No big drama. Hell, pet turtles kill more people than that every year and you don't see giant turtle movies. It just has to stop. A test pattern would be more entertaining, and probably more visually sophisticated, than this schlock.
And just in case anyone at the Sci-Fi channel is reading this, remember, the giant turtle was my idea.
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3 comments:
I agree, the Attack of the Killer Mammoth is probably not going to raise anybody's pulse. Now, if they see the story about the guy in Germany whose animal collection turned on him, they'd have something. I can't believe Stephen Kind hadn't already thought of that.
You just won't let that story die, will you Mando?
I LOVE THAT STORY. Even though it's probably a fake, I love the idea of all those cooped-up creatures getting back at that fat bastard. It's all about the story line. Mammoths had their chance, their race is RUN. Black widow spiders, on the other hand, are still out-evolving other critters.
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