Midnight Ramblings

IT'S BACK! According to this morning's Edmonton Journal, '90s nostalgia has officially begun! Some are wondering if it can really be called nostalgia, seeing as to how many of the icons of the 1990s, such as Starbucks, Friends, and The Simpsons, are still going strong. But, most others say that it's never too early to be nostalgic, and that Heart of the Ocean pendants from Titanic will be the next mood rings! Apparently, this new trend is being brought to you by...me, and my demographic. (That would be people in our mid-20s.) See, the way the analysists see it, my demographic is now finsihed with being nostalgic for our childhood (which was what fueled 80s nostalgia). We're all grown up now, and have become nostalgic for our high school and college years. I don't know about you, but I'm going to go home this weekend, crack open a Crystal Pepsi, crank up some Spice Girls tunes, and watch Jurrasic Park.

Speaking of '90s nostalgia.... Classes finished early yesterday, so I went across the street to Kingsway Garden Mall and browsed through DVDs. One I saw in the discount bin that I was really tempted to get was Godzilla (1998). Despite everyone now proclaiming that this movie sucks, I still like it as big, goofy fun. I would by the DVD simply for the teaser trailer that run in front of Men in Black in the summer of 1997. I still think that it's one of the best teasers ever made. Remember this one? It's the one with the kids on a field trip at a natural history museum, and they come up to the T-Rex skeleton. As their teacher describes the T-Rex, the students hear the distant booming of something that sounds like thunder. And it's getting closer and closer. And the walls begin to shake. And suddenly, Godzilla's foot comes through the skylight and crushes the T-Rex skeleton in a single step! The words "From the Creators of Independence Day" flash on screen. We go back to the museum, where Godzilla raises his foot and begins his walk, while the children watch his giant tail swaying with his steps. The words appread, "Guess Who's Coming to Town?" They fade away, and, matching up with Godzilla's trademark roar, we see the title: "Godzilla. May 1998."

I thought that was the best teaser ever until the ill-fated World Trade Center teaser for Spider-Man. Remember that one? Bank robbers pull off the ultimate heist and make their escape by helicopter, only to be caught in a giant spider web that Spider-Man spun between the Twin Towers. Throw in some gratuitous footage of Spidey webswinging, intercut with the words, "Next summer. Take the ultimate spin. Spider-Man. May 2002." This was in the summer of 2001 that this teaser ran, and it was pulled from theaters after the 9/11 attacks. But I digress.

Also in that discount bin I saw Terry Gilliam's Brazil. That's another film I always wanted to see, but my local video store never seems to have it. I mainly want to see it because, way back in high school, when my class was studying 1984 and I adpoted it as my all-time favourite book, that was the one film that my teacher always drew analogies with. Plus, Yves highly recommends it, so why not? If fishing it out of a DVD discount bin is the only way to see it, then maybe it's worth the $15.

But they're actually quite low on my DVD wish list right now. Right at the top is The Tick: The Complete Series. The short-lived live-action TV version of Ben Edlund's comic creation comes to the digital format for the ages! It doesn't have much for bonus features, though. Just running commentaries on every episode by creater Ben Edlund and executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld. You might remember Sonnenfeld as the director of such fine films as The Addams Family movies, the Men in Black movies, and Get Shorty. He was the man who brought the live-action Tick to television, and even directed the pilot episode. And, I say now we have to make Sonnenfeld stick to his word. Shortly after The Tick made its TV debut, Sonnenfeld said that, if the series failed, he would LOVE to do the live-action Tick movie.

And then, there's always the DVD dream projects. Now that 20th Century Fox has just one season left to go for The X-Files, I'm hoping that, for completness, they'll do the DVD boxed set The Lone Gunmen: The Complete Series. I loved the quirky charm of this short-lived X-Files spin-off, and DVD is really becoming a format for such projects. If you believe that your TV show was sheer brilliance, but only 12 people watched it, and those 12 people thought it was sheer brilliance, then there's a good chance that the studio who made it will put all 6 episodes in a huge DVD boxed set so those 12 people will buy it. It's all about the money, people.

Next Issue...The Quest for Crystal Pepsi