Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym)

Better known as "Thrawn McEwok". Sithposting on sci-fi, occasional remarks on other things. Once co-wrote a Star Wars book, but that doesn't count for anything!

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

Today, I will mostly be doing an impression of Obi-Wan doing a Jean-Luc impersonation.

*buycepaw*, as Mandalorian Ewoks say.

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@EvanSchultheis @EckhartsLadder Agreed - that's why the reboot knows how to do a certain sort of Vader moment (both in comics and live action)...

Mando, although a Western trope, works for the same reason - except, paradoxically, when they try to build him more directly into classic STAR WARS patterns...

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller As to the Thetis topic... I want to reference the Nolan sequel in my reply, but I'm not sure if you've seen it yet, and I want to avoid spoilers...

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller Cox's Agamemnon isn't tying heroines to the chariot tracks for the sheer villainy of it, though - in Scottish terms, he's just being the Big Man - I think it's a great performance...

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller @AquamanUniverse @X The screen version of Smiley is quite candidly based directly on a specific real-world agent - Le Carre and Guinness had lunch with him before filming (and you can see something of his dynamic with Le Carré in Smiley and Ricky Tarr)...

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller *mutters something incomprehensible in which the words "Athos" and "Tycho" can be vaguely overheard*

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller You're enjoying this idea, aren't you?!

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller @TheMiddleborne Rogue Trooper - a British comic-book character from the 1980s. I didn't read it regularly, but it always seemed one of the coolest and most interesting things in the wider genre, and I realised later that the writer was responsible for some other stuff that I absolutely ate up...

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller Unfortunately, after rewatching even a few scenes, I am now skewing towards Agamemnon in my accent...

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller I really like it - today's Sean Bean discussion reminded of me how his opening narration both homages and subverts Gladiator. And I thought just having Thetis walking on the beach was a brilliant way to do the "supernatural" element. Incredible cast, great costume design.

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller @AquamanUniverse @X Something I once read, but I can't find it online. Broadly speaking, though, it was about making an effort to hide his dark side and do the right thing, in terms similar to what you just described.

Very much not my own approach to life, but I can certainly respect it.

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller *trying to process the implications, but too busy grinning*

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller True, but Gunn also overloads his visuals with texture and complexity - that admittedly has some counterparts in the sixteenth-century setting but I think it would be altogether too busy as the overall aesthetic here. Peacemaker's maybe more block-colour in the way I want though.

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller @TheMiddleborne The real point is less that random tweet from me is going to get Mangold directing an A24 adaptation of the Odyssey, and more to emphasise that there are directors out there who would be capable of doing this right (also, I think Moon and Source Code are both great)...

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller @TheMiddleborne Scott hasn't done Greece yet! And I can't decide whether Ritchie and Bean would be a brilliant combination or whether it would miss the subtler qualities that Petersen facilitated.

Jones has just finished post-production on a CGI-animated comic-book adaptation (with Sean Bean!).

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller @AquamanUniverse @X You hide it rather well. Reminds me of something someone once said about Alec Guinness...

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller The Richelieu figure needs more of a Galactic stature, he has to be too big for Wedge to take down.

*pauses, bangs head off desk* Wait, Fel is Wedge's Rochefort. So his Richelieu is Thrawn...

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller I've been a fan of Gunn since well before he was big, but even if he could be persuade to go 19th-century for the soundtrack, his visual style is a whole lot busier than I think the material needs - the galley would fly, and he would add a furry, loveable-scamp CGI sidekick... :p

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller @TheMiddleborne Three who've hit that spot are Duncan Jones, James Mangold, Ridley Scott. Alex Garland, Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Joe Johnston, Guy Ritchie can certainly do the right sort of visuals, though I'm less sure if they have the necessary note of lightness.

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller @TheMiddleborne There are plenty of smart directors, but what you need is someone who can reliably get the right tone, either because it's their natural idiom or because they understand its stylistic language...

[Paul Urquhart (Pseudonym) @visor_t]

@ibmmiller Scott endures, the novels might survive like Virgil.

I want it as colourful as an Errol Flynn movie or either of the iconic film versions of Henry V, and I want it to use the two enduring hits from its various musical adaptations as incidental music in the appropriate scenes...