General Discussions

Can Joss Go to the Pirkinning?

POSTED BY: riprock
UPDATED: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 05:21
VIEWED: 647
PAGE 1 of 1

RIPROCK

Tuesday, November 22, 2005 5:21 AM

Most of you have probably already seen "Star Wreck: in the Pirkinning."

And most of you probably thought it had not-very-funny jokes and excellent special effects.

Here's the trick: that movie was made with no money, no pro actors, just a bunch of computers to grind out the CGI. Oh, yes, and a big sheet of blue linoleum.

So ... what if Joss Whedon was given access to a computer team with that kind of blue-screen skill?

Think about it: Joss' snappy jokes and dialogue, dirt-cheap special effects. Actors would be willing to work cheap.

Which means that Joss could own all the intellectual property, have total control of all the sequel rights, etc.

News link for those who haven't seen the "Pirkinning" flick:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051121/wr_nm/leisure_starwreck_dc

Edit:
Note that this is *not* a re-make of Firefly, a fan movie of Firefly, or another scheme to get the IP away from Fox. I should have mentioned at the start that the "Pirkinning" movie was very limited in that it used CGI for the sets in almost all cases. This is a big, big limit.

But it's also a big, big gain. "Pirkinning" has special effects that are as good as many big-budget Hollywood effects. Effectively the new methods give you millions of dollars of a specific variety of special effects for free. You just have to be clever enough to tell a story that can leverage that variety of effects. (Show of hands: does anyone else think Joss is clever? I think Joss is clever. Is he clever enough? I would like for him to prove he is...)

Firefly's sets were impressive, and the outdoor action sequences were likewise impressive. A CGI strategy is more challenging, unless you have a trained horse which can be trusted not to kick a hole through the linoleum bluescreen. Animals probably inflate the budgets, so it might not be able to be another horse opera.

However, I think Joss is up to a few challenges. It's not like he's a newbie.