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Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow!

Posted by michael on from the where's-my-flying-car dept.

ph43thon writes "The New York Times Magazine has a neat story about the sci-fi nerd, Kerry Conran, behind 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.' It's an interesting look at his creative journey starting with a Macintosh IIci. It took him twelve hours just to render individual robot legs. Antisocial, shy people rejoice! Hide in your homes until you get discovered by a movie producer!!"

14 of 232 comments (clear)

  1. Obligatory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Google link

  2. The Trailer by AIX-Hood · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/skycaptain andtheworldoftomorrow/

    1. Re:The Trailer by fpp · · Score: 5, Informative

      Nope. Stargate.

      Using music from older movies is a common practice for trailers. Sometimes, the real music hasn't been recorded yet. Often, however, existing music is used because it gives audiences a vague sense of familiarity with the film, even when they haven't seen it yet.

    2. Re:The Trailer by delus10n0 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Sorry, wrong. It's track #26 from the movie soundtrack "Battle at the Pyramid" -- the TV show theme is a tiny re-working of that track.

      --
      Not All Who Wander Are Lost
  3. a couple of good interviews.. by fireduck · · Score: 4, Informative

    there's a couple of interviews with the principles behind this (producer, director, etc.) here and here. this definitely sounds like one very interesting film from a technical and artistic perspective.

  4. Totenkopf? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    "...as they track down a mysterious mad scientist named Totenkopf..."

    Hmmm, I can see a lot of people out there might get a wee bit pissed off about the fact that his scientist is named after the infamous SS Totenkopf (Death's Head) Division that ran... concentration camps.

    Yes, I know it sounds cool, I know a lot of people might think I'm being picky and overtly PC, but Totenkopf isn't a German surname (Dr. Deaths Head!?), and I kinda wonder - given it's background - if the guy actually knows the history behind it.

    1. Re:Totenkopf? by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 5, Informative

      3.SS-Pz.Div. "Totenkopf" was a Waffen SS Division, they didn't run the camps.

      http://www.feldgrau.com/3ss.html

      They were a combat Armor division on the Western and Eastern front.

      "Although after a shaky start they gained a fearsome fighting reputation they will always be associated with the concentration camp system and the running of the camps. This is due to the fact that the origins for this division can be traced back to the Totenkopfverbande which consisted of five pre-war standarten (regiments) who along with a few members of the SS-VT were responsible for guarding the concentration camps in Germany such as Dachau. This situation still persisted when the war started with guards being interchanged from frontline to concentration camp guard duties, however this practice was stopped when the invasion of Russia took place and manpower was needed at the front. Then the practice of interchanging men was almost identical as with any other Waffen SS unit."

      At the time they were guarding the Camps, they were Concentration Camps in the role of, Concentration peoples togeather, the murder for which the camps will be famous for wasn't spelled out until 1942.

      I'm not defending the Waffen-SS or anyother SS, but the 3.SS-Panzer was a combat Panzer unit and not a bunch of thugs shooting or gasing folks in a camp. They were a bunch of thugs shooting folks and burning villiages with tanks.

  5. Re:Not just hide and wait by Omerna · · Score: 2, Informative

    Conran is a "he". Not a "she".

    --


    No sig for you.
  6. Re:Does noone else see this movie as HILARIOUS? by Jonathan · · Score: 2, Informative

    The point is that it's supposed to be the future as depicted in 1930's pulp magazines.

  7. Re:Does noone else see this movie as HILARIOUS? by Valdrax · · Score: 4, Informative

    You seriously need some pulp fiction in your education, kid.
    I'll bet you've never even heard of Doc Savage.

    --
    If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
  8. Re:Stolen Music? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Often, when movie trailers are released, the composer hasn't finished composing and recording the soundtrack, so the movie company uses "needle drops". They often use music that the director has envisioned the final soundtrack to sound like. A good example of this is the music to Waterworld as it is used on so many trailers that it is almost a standard. Many directors get their needle drops so engrained in their heads that they often chuck the whole score some poor sod has written in favor of the temp music.

  9. Fizzled yes... by Cyno01 · · Score: 2, Informative

    But still a great movie. Not entirley original, had the obvious old pulp stories inspiration. Not that i cared at the time, i was just a little kid, even went as the Rocketeer for halloween. Spray painted 2 litre bottles and all...

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
  10. Re:$70 Million for and Indie? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Simple: Gwynith, Jude, and Angelina each got $22M for their parts, leaving $4M for everything else.

  11. Re:Setting by Erik+K.+Veland · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's called steampunk, neo-pulp and retro-futuristm.

    --
    "I tend to think of OS X as Linux with QA and Taste", James Gosling, creator of Java