Subject: How to Train Your Dragon.
Author:
Posted on: 2015-04-17 19:26:00 UTC
I hated the book version of it, but absolutely adore the movies. Very entertaining films, with some of the best 3d animation I have seen to date, entertaining characters, and a plot that shares almost nothing with the books other then some names. And in this case, that is a blessing.
Getting the Show on the Road
Continuum: The Hobbit filmverse
Rated PG-13 for one dirty joke that I'm surprised has never been made.
I really like your agents. And the non-harmful mini-Sue was also adorable. I look forward to reading more from you!
She's a mini-Suu, from Monster Musume.
But more than just the missions, Gabby now has a picture!
I could technically have used the original Monster Girl Encyclopedia picture and said she was cosplaying, but what's the fun in that?
... to date a fricking dragon!?
My main thought was... why did she need killing? I think this is a case where we could benefit from seeing more of the badfic. The story as we readers get to see it is:
____ sneaks into the Mountain, just like Bilbo. She flatters Smaug, just like Bilbo. Smaug says he wants to keep her, which is admittedly weird. Smaug threatens her about dwarves, just like Bilbo. You tell us - but don't show - that ____ tells Smaug some stuff about the dwarves. Then Smaug decides to keep her.
I mean, okay, it's a bit on the weird side, but... I guess what I want to know is the details around the final quote. Did Smaug spend some time being convinced to like her? Did he flip straight from 'you stink of dwarf' to 'snuggletime'? Is there anything after?
I feel like I missed out on the story here.
hS
(Also, she seems to not have the Ring? Is that right? That would explain why Smaug didn't try to set her on fire - he knew she couldn't escape. Er... Bilbo did wear the Ring for the interview in the film, right? Please tell me he did.)
However, something makes him take it off. It's not of his own volition; we get weird Sauron images, and then Bilbo's just as surprised as we are that the Ring isn't on his finger.
In the film, Smaug's sadistic curiosity is what keeps Bilbo alive. He wants to know where Bilbo came from, so he can burn it to the ground. And when Bilbo finds the Arkenstone, Smaug is tempted to let him take it just to see Thorin suffer. And Smaug's patience does run out; when he figures that playing with Bilbo is getting boring, he immediately goes for the kill.
Yeah, Smaug's an ass in the movie.
As for the fic? It's here. You don't really miss too much in the mission.
Y'know, I didn't like The Desolation of Smaug much when I first saw it. The fact that I can ask one question about it and have you explain how badly they mucked up... is a big part of why.
(Also the pair of theme park rides in it. Also evil!Thranduil sneaking in. Also the entire film.)
(Srsly, why is it that the middle films in both trilogies went completely off the rails? Gah.)
No, you're right, I really didn't. Smaug says 'treasure' a few times, is all. I think you could've done with quoting some of that, though; the line "You are worth as much as all this gold in these halls," Smaug flattered you. is justification for PPC action all by itself, I think. But yeah... weird fic.
hS
Name one work of fiction where the films are definitively better than the book.
I admit that I personally prefer the Lord of the Rings movies, but that's mostly because I got bored by Tolkien's writing style. It's just.. slow.
Don't get me wrong, I love the world of Arda, but the books just aren't for me.
Of course, adding to that was the fact that my dad wouldn't let me see Return of the King until I'd read the book... grumble grumble...
For the subjective interpretation of "definitely better," mind you.
I would personally argue that the film versions of Jaws, Jurassic Park, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and several of the James Bond films are better than their literary precursors. Similarly, I would say that while Apocalypse Now is not necessarily better than Heart of Darkness, it is more meaningful given its updated setting. Other adaptations, such as The Godfather, I can't properly judge due to not having read the book.
Also, a fun fact I acquired while doing some searches on this topic. Did you know Die Hard is based on a book? It's called Nothing Lasts Forever, by Roderick Thorp. I seriously would have never guessed.
I hated the book version of it, but absolutely adore the movies. Very entertaining films, with some of the best 3d animation I have seen to date, entertaining characters, and a plot that shares almost nothing with the books other then some names. And in this case, that is a blessing.
If it doesn't have the same plot, the characters are changed if they're there at all, and it obviously has a different setting... it's a different canon. Whatever you think of the books, the movie can hardly be compared that way any more than you can compare any other pair of different canons.
Especially since the book's whole message got flipped. The book was about becoming a hero the hard way. In the movie, Hiccup was the only one with a dragon, and it was a Special Uncanon Dragon.
Basically, it's movie-form fanfic. With the parameters you're applying to the question, I could just as easily say "Frozen" and be in the same ballpark of adaptation-vs-separate canon.
Still not the same thing.
Star Wars is a good bet. I'm guessing there are Star Trek novelisations, too.
And... I mean, there's 'not as good as', and then there's 'gratuitously worse than'. Did PJ et al really look at Barrels Out of Bond and think, 'Alas, the best possible way we can film this is as a fairground attraction - if only we had more resources to properly do it justice!'? I really doubt it. They chopped out moments of character development, not because they didn't have space left in the movie, but because they wanted to fill that space with gigantic ridiculous CG action sequences.
And, y'know what? That's been the case for every movie other than Fellowship. The closest FotR has is the escape through Moria - but stack it up against Helm's Deep, the Mumakil, Goblin Town, barrels and gold statues, and about 2/3 of B5A... y'know?
hS
Is that they took three movies to do it. Jackson did a fine job of condensing Lord of the Rings. Was it perfect, no, but a very good adaptation in my opinion. But look at it this way:
The Hobbit: 320 Pages, Theatrical Runtime: 7 hours 54 Minutes
Lord of the Rings Saga 1216 Pages, Theatrical Runtime: 9 hours 18 minutes.
The Hobbit at nearly a quarter of the size of the Lord of the Rings is only an hour and 24 minutes shorter. The bottom line, is that New Line and Jackson were just milking it at that point. Three films for The Hobbit were unnecessary to tell the whole story.
And more directly to your point, the need to fill that excess space with something.
In Fairy Tail, there are OCs who are (biological) daughters of dragons, specifically Acnologia.
I'm wondering, can a mini-boarder be an agent? Because I think my dead mini would make a great idea for an agent (when I get permission, of course)!
From birth to death to work, sounds like it'll be a blast!
I don't know. But that could be an entertaining read. I see no specific reason why not, presuming you could make a reasonable, I use that term loosely, explanation as to why it came back. But I am not the best person to answer.
It was just pursued for a maniac wielding an axe. Is almost like the mini fell through a plothole... ~_^
That's... kinda creepy, and cruel regardless.
hS
"That's... kinda creepy, and cruel regardless."
That you find it fun is... kind of worrying.
Not normal minis, not mini-Boarders. Only mini-Sues.
What you just did was run after something named after your fellow Boarder with an axe. Do... do you not see why that's a problem?
hS
I see why that could be seen as a problem, but... I think more of a problem would be if I ran after the Boarder himself. Besides, what are we doing with mini-Boarders anyway?
Are you saying that the only reason you're not acting out fantasies of brutally murdering us is because you can do it to misspelled versions instead? I really don't think that's what you're saying. ^_~
hS
Say hello to Mat Cypher. Yes, I created this mini just for the sake of this demonstration.
Notice how he looks like an adorable, chibi version of you?
You now see why we have problems with you trying to kill mini-Boarders. It's like that one chick who was laughing about drowning puppies.
Hello, little buddy...
*offers the mini a hand* Huh... he's friendly. Well, I guess I could be good with just killing Sues...
People who think 'the PPC writes about violence at the end of missions' is the same thing as 'the PPC loves violence! If I make jokes about tearing their heads off they will love me!'.
It ain't.
hS
Because you're really starting to scare me.
And rather solidly in the "Not Funny" territory as well.
be good to the minis, unless they're mini-Sues.
Do you understand why being murderous to minis (especially mini-Boarders) is creepy?
they just want to live. It's not their fault for being created by Sue-thors... aaand there's the whole thing about them looking like my friends from the Board.
(In all seriousness though, this was kinda stupid of me, guys - I'm sorry. Still love me? ^___^)
Look at it this way, if someone was going about chasing after small cats with an axe, that signals a problem or two. And there is clearly a problem if that same person is chasing after a human with that same axe. Now instead of a small cat, that person is now chasing something that looks like a small version of a person. That seems to be a big red flag from society at a whole. Hence, why so many people are jumping on you for it.
Now further compounding that is your compounding the issue with your off hand comments about it. Even the apology can come across as a bit disingenuous. Your attitude just compounded the issue.
Now all that being said, I understand where everyone else is coming from, but I disagree with the approach. This might well be your particular brand of humor, and I both see the merits of and occasionally enjoy black comedy or gallows humor, but it is not for everyone. And the fact remains that a community like this is subject to the standards of behavior the community chooses for that. The community seems to have spoken about that particular behavior.
And now you know. And so now, just a few closing words before we move on.
Icky-Icky-Icky-Icky-Kapang-ZooBoing.
I went too far with the joke and caused commotion. Not very good first impression, is it?
I for one am satisfied that you got the message. Though I personally think the reaction may have been a bit disproportionate. Frankly as a whole, while I understand where they are coming from, it doesn't bother me.
As I said, it seems the message has been clearly received at this point. I think it has gone into broken record territory at this point.
And I accept the apology. As far as I am concerned, you are forgiven. Hence the Monty Python quote and moving on.
It seems to be more of a do we need to run away very quickly tenor to it. But I certainly cannot speak for anyone other than myself.
On the whole exchange I have my own opinions and attitudes.
They never show up in actual PPC writing (with one exception), and we generally just mess around with them on the Board.
Maybe I'm just impatient to finally start killing Sues :D
The PPC is not about killing - Sues or anything else. The PPC is a community, first and foremost. Making something funny (missions) out of something bad (badfic) is a close second. Killing isn't even on the list.
Up until now, I was just playing a character. I know the PPC is not about description of murders, tortures or any other means of violence. The point is to make fun of badfics, and sometimes even leave some tips for other people, so they don't repeat the mistakes.
I was never serious in my previous comments. Well, okay, I admit doing goof in the first one, with the axe. That was an honest mistake.
I'm sorry, if I played the joke a bit too long; sometimes, I can't get enough, even if people are bored with it already.
I know several people have said this already - I was one of them - but you don't seem to have taken it on-board. If you are 'playing a character' in all your interactions with your fellow Boarders, you're doing it wrong. We... don't really want to get to know a fictional character you're role-playing. We want to get to know you.
hS
I have this thing, where I use wrong words and expressions to convey the meaning, both online and in the real world. And that was the case here.
When I said 'playing a character' I meant something like 'stretch the joke'. I wasn't pretending to be somebody else, a created character or anyt RP-like thing. I'm sorry to everyone who misunderstood.
Now, please, can somebody neuralyze us all? I really want to forget making a bad impression on all my fellow Boarders, because I really was only trying to be funny, and not perceived as an uncultured dumbass...
I was a little worried about the mistreatment of cute and cuddly minis, especially minis of us.
But hey, misunderstandings happen. You'll notice that I didn't freak out on you, like Iximaz and Des seemed to have. I remained calm, and explained to the best of my ability why we were put off by your jokes.
Don't feel too bad; I screwed this up similarly to this in an RP. In the Rose Potter cleanup, I originally planned for Valon to kinda play Surgeon Simulator with a replacement of Luna Lovegood. This was a bit too far by the other PPCer's reckoning, so I had the Gods of Retcon give Valon a black eye and an altered history after he brought it up.
Everybody makes mistakes. We're only human. ^_^
Trying to make yourself look better than me and Des isn't going to do you any favors. And "You now see why we have problems with you trying to kill mini-Boarders. It's like that one chick who was laughing about drowning puppies." is not any less jumping down anyone's throat than what we were saying.
The matter has been settled with the Mini thing. Let's not start anything up again if we can help it. Voyd, that whole thing was pretty disrespectful to Ixi and Des. I know you're trying to help, but really wasn't the way to go about it, y'know? I don't think anyone wants to see another situation that could turn ugly, especially when we have newbies around to be a mentor towards.
To set the record straight, it did not make a bad impression on me. As I said at one point or another, it really doesn't bother me. And as perception, that's not what I got from it. What I got is someone who enjoys a bit of black/dark comedy.
all those hopeless Sues who claim to have dragon powers (yeah, I've seen some). Biggest problem about being part dragon is one of your ancestors having sex with a dragon.
the dragons can shapeshift. Then it makes sense, and can actually be really sweet when done right.
Of course, then you get into the horrors of things like what happened to Girard Draketooth's family in Order of the Stick...
Yeah, that was a nice show :3
