Vanished off the face of the planet...

Wow, it's been a while. Mood? Stressed. Not too bad, but I'm on the run. (and hungry like a wolf....)

I'm working as a programmer now, on a mainframe database that was first built when I was less than two years old. Even for a baby like me (only a quarter of a century!), that's kind of dating the system. I'm working like a dog on this, trying to catch up with the other programmers.

Also, did I mention I wrote a play, I'm going to be acting a minor part in it, and trying to work out my creative differences with the director? Yeah, she and I end up clashing a lot, and I'm kind of a jerk on my good days. Worse, she's a good friend, and I really don't want to start trouble--we have trouble-makers in the cast who jump on any friction as a good time to drag the play down. By drag down I mean goof off during rehearsals, skip rehearsals, etc. So I'm trying to present a united front while also giving voice to my ideas. It means being a balanced, mature individual and keeping the dialog civil. I hate doing that. It makes me feel old.

Also, buying the house is proceeding on schedule.

Also, the director of my play is tapping me to write, film and edit a documentary in my spare time. (ha ha ha!)

And, in case that's not enough, there's my writing. (oh, woe!)

All this personal update is just to let you know why I'm feeling a little rushed for breath. So, for writing, let's talk about the Fantastic Four movie, what was wrong, what was right, why fans are unsatisfied, and why they shouldn't be.

First of all; what was wrong? Well, bad writing. I'm analyzing this movie as a writer, for writers, so let's all be honest. If you find yourself in a position where you need a plot twist to make the movie go better, and that convenient plot twist involves a battle in the air, that's nice. If it's so convenient it'll make people's teeth hurt, it's too much. If it involves science and the best you can do is some technobabble that's so unconvincing nobody buys it, you've wasted your time. Also, if you have a villain everybody loves, somebody seminally evil, don't you think you owe it to yourself to give them enough screen time to really, really shine?

What was right? Well, the writers did a couple of things I approve of. First of all, they ignored the Thing. The first movie was his; he didn't need further development. They focused on developing the character who needed the most growth, the hot-headed Johnny Storm. We need to remember that it's our most flawed characters who are the most interesting, who have the most potential for change, for reflection. The ones that are written in stone (ha! pun!) don't need it. Secondly, the writers focused on the sad tragedy of the Silver Surfer in exactly the right ways. Thirdly, they did develop Dr Doom in such a way that you got to know just a little more about him--just a little. A castle in Latveria? A quest for power? A hankering for revenge? Tastes, nothing more. If they come back for a third movie, they better pay that off with some big Doom.

Why are fans unsatisfied? Because they want more Superman, more Batman, more X-Men, and FF has never been about those. This is a story about a family. A family under siege in every way. A family that needs to figure out what being celebrities means for their lives, and needs to save the world. This is more sit-com than superhero. This is more about Sue's relationship with Reed than the end of the world. The Fantastic Four comic books have always known this.

By the by; my favorite Fantastic Four comic book? The one-shot about a PR man brought in to 'reboot' their image. All throughout the guy is confused as to why he's there, and Sue accuses Johnny of bringing him on board because he's a showboater. Johnny is, of course, offended, as he didn't bring him on. The dude is expecting super heroes, and finds a family. He's surprised. Most of them don't want the public eye, but here they are, center stage.

Cut to the end of the comic book. Reed is all along with his child, making faces. Ever the absent-minded jokester. (I think it's Franklin, as a baby, but I might be wrong) He says, "let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a very smart man..." His story stops, and for a second we see torment on his face. He starts over. "Once upon a time there was a very stupid man, and he turned his friends and family into monsters, into freaks. And he knew that if they tried to hide from the world like mutants that his friends would be hated and feared, that they could never live normal lives. He knew that the only way they could ever have anything close to normal lives ever again was to push them into the public eye, to make people love them. It might be hard, but love is better than hate; so he bought a very big building, and put them in silly costumes, and did everything he could to make sure that the world knew that these were heroes, not villains, and that they were good people. And he hopes that maybe someday he'll be able to make up for what he's done to them." He stops there and stares into the distance. "Maybe."

To me, that was the best comic ever. It cuts right to the root of it. Are these people to be feared? No. They want everybody to know they're just a family trying to save the world.

That's why this movie works, in my humble opinion. A smaller, more personal scope; a fun, family-oriented super-hero movie; and, of course, a more personal movie.

Naysayers may say what they like. I know this is no Spiderman, no Batman, but it's not supposed to be. This is something all its own, something true to the original.

That's what writers need to do. You don't need to copy the successful formula. You need to find the core, the message that is all your own, the sensibility that's all your own. You need to let it loose, fling it out there. You need to be true to that core message. You need to be... dare I say it? You need to be fantastic.