Mary Nyan
It Happened One Night, Death Takes a Holiday, and The Gay Divorcee! ( tahs Nyoka to go next)
Nyoka:
Spitfire, Of Human Bondage, and Anne of Green Gables! (tags Ilyana with a brush of the tail)
Ilyana:
I will nominate Treasure Island, Cleopatra, and Tarzan and His Mate! (tail-tags Meryl)
Meryl:
The Black Cat, Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back, and The Man Who Knew Too Much! (tags Beebee)
Beebee:
Forsaking All Others, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, and Here Comes the Navy, nyan! (tags jeannie)
Jeannie:
The short films by Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy. (tags Elizabeth)
Elizabeth:
The shorts by Our Gang, The Three Stooges, and Wheeler & Woolsey! (tags Petra)
Petra:
The Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Mickey Mouse, and Silly Symphonies shorts, nyan! (tags Yvonne)
Yvonne:
The Krazy Kat, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts, nyan! Back to Mike, nyan!
Mike:
Oh I gotta go with It Happened One Night, Tarzan and his Maet, and the Three Stooges! Well, that was another expedient little Lightning Round, and to continue our movie topics, I’ll start our
TV, DVD & Movie Mewsings, with my review of the
Limited 45th Anniversary Steelbook edition of my
favorite movie, Star Trek – The Motion Picture!
But don’t worry- I promise top be brief this time! Ah, as some of y’all know, ever since the morning of Friday, December 7th, 1979 when I bought the first ticket for the first screening of Star Trek- The Motion Picture at the Janus Theater in Greensboro (about 230 miles NW of Catgirl Island), that has been my all time favorite movie, Now, I’ve never said it was a perfect movie. nor have i claimed it is the best movie, but merely that it is my favorite. Since then, I’ve watched the different versions of it many many times. There’s the original theatrical version, the longer 1983 televised version, the 2001 Director’s Cut, and the 2022 remastered version thereof.
This time, I’m just commenting on the new edition, which includes the theatrical vesion and special features on a 4K disk and Blu-ray disk, and the digital code with a lovely booklet in the metal case. As I do not own a 4K UHD player, TV or High Speed HDMI Cat 2 cables, I cant watch the 4K Ultra HD disk nor have an opinion of it. I don’rtuse the digital code to download or stream movies, so I can’t comment on that either. The Blu-ray disk includes the movie and the special features which include the Library Computer, several documentary shorts, deleted scenes, storyboards, Trailers & TV spots- all of which which have been released previously on Blu-ray.
The Blu-Ray’a Dolby audio choices are Enflish 7.1 TruHD, German 2.0. French 2.0. Spanish Mono, Japanese Mono, the isoloated music score, and commentary by Daren Dochterman, Michael & Denise Okuda, Judith & Garfield Reeves- Stevens. The optonal subtitles are English, English SDH, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Danish, Dutch , Finnish and Swedish. The front of the case bears th famous Bob Peak poster art, and the case’s liner is ia large photo of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Decker ans Ilia (probe) walking iowards V’ger. For me, the real allure is the enclosed 5×6.5” full color 24 page booket which is a replica of a 1979 publicity booklet.
The front of the booklet bears Roger Huyssen’s teaser poster art, the back cover has John Berkey’s advance poster art, and inside are storyboards, concept art, production stills, behind the scenes & publicity photos. This booklet is not the same publication as Paramount’s Star Trek – The Motion Picture Handbook of Production Information, Pressbook, Press kit, or Pocket Books’ Publishing Campaign kit. I read somewhere that a set of photos were supposedly included in the case,, but that seems to be incorrect. So that’s whatcha get! Ah, Now to continue or Trek topics, here’s Jen to discuss a recent short film that moved us all to joyful tears-
“765874 Unification”
Hai. The latest of the short videos by Otoy https://home.otoy.com for the Roddenberry Archive https://roddenberry.x.io, 765874 Unification (the digits corresponding to J.M. Colt’s Starfleet seraial number) is the meowgnificently beautifully poignant short film pertaining to the reunion of Janes T, Kirk (who passed away on the 1993 movie Star Trek: Generations) and Spock (who passed away in the 2015 movie Star Trek Beyond. This 10.75 minute short was directed & edited by Carlos Gaena, executively purrduced by Rod Roddenberry, William Shatner, Susan Bay Nimoy, and writer Jules Urbach;
…with the mewsic by Michael Giacchino, cinematography by Leonidas Jaramillo, purrduction design by DavidBlass, and visual FX supurrvised by Mark Spatnny. The film uses purractical & digital purrosthetics, real sets locations &digital extentions to commeowmerate the 30th anniversary Star Trek: Generations and stars William Shatner & Sam Witwer as Kirk, Robin Curtis as Saavik, Lawrence Ellek as Spock, Mark Cinnery as Sorak, Gary Lockwood as Gary Mitchell, Gordon Tarpley as Yor, John Daltorio as Crusher, and Mahe Thaissa as Colt, with several “easter eggs” throughout.
For all of us here at The Mew, “765874 Unification” serves as a purrofoundly wonderful coda and mea culpa for what we thought were very unsatisfying depurrtures of Kirk and Spock from their mortal existence. I give this and Otoy’s other short Star Trek films (which can be eat https://www.youtube.com/@OTOY) the highest purraise; I will reccmmend it to all fans of those iconic heroes, and I wish to thank the brilliant cast, crew, advisors, and other folks at Otoy and the Roddenberry Archive. I am done, and nyow I will turn The Mew over to Meryi, who will tell us her opinion of
Wicked: Part I.
Meryl
Hai! Since 1910 there have been many literary, stage & cinematic adaptions of Frank L, Baun’s 1900 tale The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and of course the most famous one is the 1939 movie that starred Judy Garland. Of the live-action & animated movie & TV remakes & sequels that I have seen, such as Journey Back to Oz (1972), The Wiz (1978), Return to Oz (1985), The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz (2005), Tin Man (2007), Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), and The Wiz Live! (2015), I think that Wicked: Part 1 is my easiily favoritest !By the way I must admit that I have not (yet) read Gregory Maguire’s 1995 Wicked novel no have I seen the 2003 Broadway version.
i am purrticularly fond of Eric Shanower’s five “Adventures in Oz” graphic novels that were published from 1986 to 1992, but I have stray-catted from this topic! I was very impressed by the captivatingly beautiful purreview trailers, so Wicked is one of this years movies that I have quite eagerly awaited! Firected by Jhn M. Cgu whose movie Crazy Rich Asians U titally loved, Wicked: Part i’s wonderful cast includes Cynthia Erivo as Elphabam, Ariana Grande as Galinda, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero , Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Jeff Goldblum as The Wizaed, Ethan Slater as Boq, Marissa Bode as Nessarose, and Peter Dinklage as the voice of Dr. Dillamond!
There are surpurrise appurrances & easter eggs too! I wish it was not quite as rushed, and I wish some characters were more deveoped, but is the excellent tale of the witch’s origin as the smart, sympathetic character who struggles with biogtry, fear, misunderstandings, manipulations, school life, peer purressure, her uncontrolled power, and the relationship with her frenemy Galinda. I think it has the great story, directing, purrformances, sets, locations, art direction, visual FX, choreography, mewsic, sound, costumes, hair & make-up! I love the songs, i purrchased the CD, and I give the movie the grade of an A Minus! I am done, and nyow here is Ilyana to review
Moana 2!
Ilyana
Arigato! We loved Disney’s 2016 animated Moana movie and its soundtack CD, so I was eager to see what its delightful characters are up to this sequel, in which Moana and a crew search for a legendary island, but they will need Maui’s help against the supurrnatural threats.The first good mews is that the returning voice cast includes Auliʻi Cravalho as Moana, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the demigod Maui. Alan Tudyk as Heihei the rooster, Temuera Morrison as Moana’s chief Tui, Nicole Scherzinger as Moana’s mom Sina, and Rachel House as Moana’s grandmother Tala!
Pua the pig is back too! The 2nd good mews is they are joined by Hualalai Chung as Moni thestrong fan-artist, Rose Matafeo as Loto the genius builder, David Fane as Kele the grouchy farmer, Gerald Ramsey as Tautai the ancestral spirit, Tofiga Fepulea’i as the evil stormy god Nalo, Awhimai Fraser as Nalo’s batty goddess servant Matangi, and Khaleesi Lambert who just about steals the show as Moana’s adorably cute widdle sister Simea! The other good mews is that the movie’s character & creature designs, scenic art, visual & sound FX and animation are quite supurrb!
There are many fun and lovely moments, but sequel’s plot and songs did not wow me as much as its purredecessor; there are characters that I wish were more develped such as the villains and Moana’s fan-girlfriends; plus the pace seemed too rushed, and the movie seems too short and purrdictable, so I will give Moana 2 the average grade of a C. It’s not bad, but it’s not great. That is all for our movie mewsings, and nyow here is Nyoka to start our
Purrinted-Media Mewsings, with
her review of Rowrbrazzle #163.
Nyoka:
Hai! Since 1984, Rowrbrazzle has been the wonderful quarterly APA (amateur press association) anthology magazine purrtaining to furry fandom, funny animal and anthropurrmorphic history, events, art, and tales! Expurrtly edited by Edd Vick (who also contributed 26 other pages), it is compurrised of comics, purrose, essays, articles, discussions, editorials, comics, illustrations, photos, convention reports, correspondances, remeowmberances, and the current meowmbership roster and rules. Issue #163’s theme is “Furries in History” and consists of three 8.5×11” stapled sections totaling 280 pages, 45 of which are in full color!
The front cover art is by Mike (who also contributed 12 other pages), the 2nd section’s front cover is by Danny Ferbert (who also contributed 5 other pages), the 3rd sections’s front cover is by Tim Fay, and the back cover is by Mary Bellamy (who also contributed 5 other pages).
Sammiched betwixt those covers are the contributions by many other awesome artists, authors, editors and journalists such as—
Charles Brubaker (who also included a bonus zine pamphlet), Robert Alley, Mike Glyer, Simon Barber, Matt McAndrews, Kjartan Arnorsson, Charles Garofalo, Niall Shapiro, J.W. Kennedy, Michael Pena, Chris Yost…
… Marino Yunig,
John Bandow, David Fruner, Kurt Wilcken, Walt Wenz, William Earl Haskell, Ed Pegg, Jr, Thomas Milliorn, Ken Marcinkevicius,, Mark Ashworth, Emeowrgency Officer Steven F. Scharff, Jim & Melody Rondeau, and
a posthumous article by the late 11 time Hugo nominee Taral Wayne. As mewsual, It is the very entertaining, informative, diverse and beautiful issue,
and for more information about Rowrbrazzle, I will recommend i
Mark Schultz Portfolio: The Complete Drawings!
Mary Nyan:
ne of the nicest andf most brilliant artists
who is purrhaps most famous for his Xenozoic Tales / Cadillacs & Dinosaur series and his astounding illustrations of peoplw, landscapes, and creatures, purrticulatly the purrehistotic type! We have enjoyed his supurrb books such as Storms at Sea, Sub Human, Carbon, and his five Various Drawings books, so I was quite eager to get this meowgnificent book which was publushed last mmonth by Flesk, which is known for beautiful art books!
Although smaller in height and width than the Various Drawings book, Portffolio is much thicker at 10x 7.5 x 1.26”, and this $49.95 trade papurrback book has 431 pages that are brimming with about 450 sumpyuous illustrations, which include all of the pics form the five Various Drawings books, plus 160 images that have not been collected purreviously, plus it has the introduction and annotations by Schultz! The book is also available in the hardcover edition and the limited deluxe signed hardcover ediion.
On the front cover is his sexy scrappy postapocalyptic heroine Hannah Dundee with the spear, knife, surf bord and the stringer full of yummy fish! I should warn y’all that amongst the many creatures depicted in the book, there are marine life and lizards aplenty, which might cause cravings for the seafood and reptile meat in addition to the fine art, so I will give the book the high purraise grade of the “A” as in Allosaurus! That is all for our purrinted-media mewsings, and nyow here is Lizzy to purrsent