Wednesday, December 01, 2004

A THOUGHT ON SF & F

I've been watching a few eps of an as-yet-unreleased kids show with lots of CGI. A couple of thoughts:

a. the fantastickal creatures, if there are any, should be interesting as characters, not just as fantastickal creatures. One of the reasons Winnie the Pooh holds up is that all the Pooh characters are recognizable people. I always get a distinct sense that Eeyore is a particular friend of A. A. Milne who must have had a habit of oh-poor-me-ing. That's the sense you want: that there's a real person in there, even if the person is a Wookiee. Jabba the Hutt was a terrific repulsive bandit leader -- he'd have been almost as much fun if he weren't a giant slug.

b. the human characters should be more interesting than the fantastickal creatures. We're supposed to care about and root for them, right? So if we're more drawn to the fantastickal creatures, because they're more compelling, something's wrong.

Of course characters aren't interesting on their own, just laying there like a lox. They have to be doing something interesting. That's why Dorothy is running away from home to save Toto before the twister whisks her away to Oz. If you're doing your job right, we'll have a sense that your character is worried about the end of the world -- but really worried if his girl will still hate him if the world doesn't explode.

And this particular show doesn't do that.

Ah, well.

1:28 PM

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