Synchtube Tropers (Riff on Videos and Movies)

"Yes", as in "yes the writing isn't complete shit"? Because that's what sentence you'd get if you replaced "maybe" with "yes".

So there you have it. Tonight we're watching Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s magnum opus Plan 9 from Outer Space.

My dad likes this movie a lot.

Btw, a question for the group here. A few years back, I did a liveblog of a hilariously awful kids' book (The Adventures of Archie Reynolds), riffing it chapter by chapter. However, it got deleted without warning because apparently I accused the author of fraud (basically, I did more than just point out how suspicious the book's glowing reviews, all written within a similar timeframe and all written by New Jerseyians were, and outright accused him of having written the reviews himself). Later on, the author himself (he even identified as such in his edit reasons) edited numerous pages related to his book, deleted a comment I'd posted on someone else's review mentioning his book, and edited my Troper page, all to remove negative references to his book, while using an "intimidating" screenname: prosecutor4.

Well, I'm in the mood to revisit this book. It truly is amazingly, astoundingly, hilariously awful. If I do liveblog it again, who'd like to follow the liveblog and check it out, and leave comments? It may not be riffing a movie, especially since you can't actually see the book itself, but it's still gonna be amazing.

I'd read it.

Okay. Considering trying live blogging again myself. Though I probably won't attempt a 50 episode long series again.

the page for that book is amazing. my favourite part is the trope explanation for shown their work:

Shown Their Work: The author has a great deal of knowledge involving tunnel construction, and it shows. The tunnel and its design are described in great detail.

i know when im reading a story about kids fighting smugglers, the first thing i check for is if the tunnel construction is accurate

edited 19th Oct '14 11:50:29 AM by dreamedkestrel

You laugh, but written depictions of tunnel construction are a lost art these days. I'll bet you that the average author couldn't tell you the difference between a cavern-split and an oak-spar (or any other number of terms I make up, for that matter).

I kind of wonder how bad the writing is now...

You'd be amazed by how bad the writing is. Heck, I'd love to buy a copy of the book for one of the Tropers here if they'd be up for doing a Dramatic Reading or something similar. Then we'd have a video we could watch together as a group.

But I'm glad so many of you are up for a liveblog of the book. So, you think I should do it soon?

Why not?

Welp, following this week's episode of Lexx, at the top of the coming hour, we got Plan 9 from Outer Space, written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr.

Join us! http://cytu.be/r/TroperCoven

that was fun, and id never seen it before, but i guess it was a replay? are we doing more replays these days, or am i going crazy?

I have a somewhat odd suggestion for a Halloween feature. Somewhat, odd because it is, by some definitions actually a good movie (although still quite campy): The Vincent Price film Theatre of Blood (trailer). Vincent Price plays an overly hammy actor who kills the critics who trashed him in various ways. Anyway, it might be worth a watch.

While I can see why Plan 9 from Outer Space is considered a So Bad, It's Good classic, I still think it's been dethroned by The Room. Plan 9's bizarre "resurrect the dead so people will believe that aliens exist so they'll talk to the aliens and learn nonviolence from them plot" at least shows an effort to create something complicated, whereas The Room is simply trying to tell a basic "girl cheats on guy" story, and somehow manages to fuck that up and everything about it.

Even when I was a kid and my dad showed me Plan 9, I could still identify some of the things about it that were dumb, like scenes changing from day to night for no reason, and the pilots flying a plane in what looks like someone's living room. But most of the So Bad, It's Good was lost on me at the time. Now I can recognize a lot more. I still consider the living room cockpit a classic, because even as a kid I could tell how fake it looked.

Okay, so a few Tropers said they'd like to see me liveblog The Adventures of Archie Reynolds. Anyone else want to take up on it, or spread the word? I'd like to have a good-sized audience. I really am disappointed the original liveblog got taken down.

Maybe I could start on the weekend. Or today perhaps. I have the time. I could do it chapter by chapter. Believe me, you're in for a treat. Even a movie based on that book, if one existed, wouldn't be able to match the book's horrible narration. Entire scenes get destroyed by horrible writing, things that don't make sense, exact distances that wouldn't add up in real life, and more. You should see the narration mention that someone fell in "two separate piles of doo" because they slipped in dog poop while chasing someone, or the scene in the book that gets repeated almost verbatim 10 pages after it first occurs.

Shall I list the book's many sins, or some of them, and give a preview of what to expect?

edited 20th Oct '14 8:01:17 AM by BonsaiForest

I'll see what I can do.

Both The Room and Plan 9 are s, by our own estimations. It's a tough call, but I still think it's too early to know for sure what kind of legacy (if any) The Room might actually have; only time may tell.

Anyway, tonight we revisit the great "bodybuilding champion, actor, songwriter, screenwriter, historian, vocalist and musician" John Mikl Thor in the memorable Rock 'N' Roll Nightmare.

No trailer, so this song number from the movie will have to suffice...

Sure.

edited 20th Oct '14 8:22:11 AM by Morgikit

Okay, to preview The Adventures of Archie Reynolds, a list of some, just some, of its problems:

• A scene that's repeated 10 pages after it first shows up. Basically, the kids wander through a tunnel, encounter a wall which is described in detail, and say "Well, looks like that's the end of the path". The exact same thing happens 10 pages later, making me think at first it was a misprint, only to realize that nope, the author literally did type basically the exact same scene with slightly different wording twice.
• A boy throws a key at a window in order to lure an angry dog out of a house. Immediately afterwards, the dog shows up and chases the bad guys.
• Mobsters whose names are Lefty, Happy, Sluggo and Boss.
• Bullies store snowballs in the freezer for use in the summertime. Said bullies also carry a soccer net to use to catch other kids. They also talk like pirates.
• The boy/girl rivalry is ridiculous, since these characters are twelve.
• A girl wants to trick a boy she has a crush on into tackling her during a game of "tackleball". She does so by stealing the boy. The boy explicitly tries to take the ball without tackling her. Remember, they're twelve. "Nothing doing! We don't want to tackle any girls! That's not fun!"
• Archie's two friends, Billy and Hank, are a hive mind. They both say the exact same thing at the exact same time. They're always described in the form of "_______" said Billy and Hank or Billy and Hank [performed action]. Only once are they ever separated physically, and the closest they get to being separated mentally is having Billy say one thing and Hank say the obvious next thing.
• Scenes that are meant to be slapstick are described in a very clinical way. I didn't know that someone could slip on "two separate piles of doo".
• Action is described clinically. "This is because ___" begins several sentences that try to explain why something happened the way it happened.
• Exact measurements - numbers of inches, feet, etc. are used to describe things. But they're used really badly. Things are described at unreal sizes that make no sense.
• We're supposed to believe that a group of kids can drag an inflatable boat through multiple people's yards through multiple town blocks up to a river, and no-one happened to be outdoors that day and noticed.
• A girl is tied up and gagged in a crate. The boy who finds her takes 3 pages to recognize the obvious and open the crate. Nothing else to distract him happens during those 3 pages - no flashbacks, no other dialog, nothing. The kid really is that dense.
• The bad guys' plan makes no sense. They discover that their jewels are stolen, so they... kidnap a random girl and stash her in the same location their jewels were originally kept. As if she wouldn't be discovered by the person who robbed them.
• Timeframes are given for how long the kids celebrate their victories. Like, they're described as dancing and slapping each other on the back for 10 minutes. 30 minutes. 3 hours. I'm serious; their victory dances and parties are given exact timeframes that make no sense. There's like 5 of these celebrations in the whole book.

There's more. A lot more...

How's the preview sound, Morgi?

edited 20th Oct '14 12:11:29 PM by BonsaiForest

I did get it right, right? :/

edited 20th Oct '14 9:41:22 AM by Knowlessman

For a second, I thought you were making fun of that book.

Anyway, I think you got Ice-T's intro right, from what I remember (can't view video at work).

to be stupidly literal, its "ATTN: if you have any problems with etc," and of course you missed "and btw fuh q"

but youre doing gods work in bringing the gospel of ice-t to the ignorant masses

edited 20th Oct '14 12:07:02 PM by dreamedkestrel

Alright, following a run of Are You Afraid of the Dark? and a bunch of John Mikl Thor videos...

We bring you even MORE John Mikl Thor at the top of the coming hour in Rock 'N' Roll Nightmare.

Join us! http://cytu.be/r/TroperCoven

More great 80's horror is on show tonight in Waxwork, starring Zach Galligan, David Warner, and John Rhys-Davies in the coveted role of "Werewolf".

i gotta convince myself to commit to this place

it looks cooooool but

But?

What commit? I miss every Monday. :/ I only come when I happen to have the night open. Granted, that's most nights...