Entertainment

1980’s ‘ThunderCats’ Return Using 3D Animation GGI

Published

3 years ago

August 19, 2020

Earlier this year, Mike Booth decided to learn the art of 3D editing, he wanted to add some simple effects to his films. Subsequently he took things a little further. Booth decided to recreate the entire opening intro to the 1980’s animated classic, ‘ThunderCats.’

“Earlier this year, I thought I’d have a go at learning how to use 3D animation software, really just so I could do some simple effects in my films… but I got a little bit carried away. The ThunderCats have been a love of mine since I can remember and the intro is something I thought would be a fun challenge to recreate and keep my interest while I was learning the software. I’ve got no plans to make anything else like this… for a few years, at least. I will at some point make a ThunderCats short film, making use of some of the years of notes I’ve kept for a feature trilogy, but I’ll wait until the software reaches a point where I can film a performance on my camera and just drag and drop it onto my 3D characters. All 3D animation was done in Blender, an awesome (and completely free) animation software. Shoutout to those behind the MB-Labs plugin for Blender which I used to create the base models for Lion-o, Cheetara, Tygra, Panthro, WilyKit and WilyKat. Lightning and smoke effects were done in Adobe After Effects. Edited in Premiere Pro. Thanks also to the many YouTubers who upload Blender tutorials – I must have watched hundreds of them. Ian Hubert’s lazy tutorials are particularly awesome and inspiring.”

‘ThunderCats’ made its debut in 1985, based on the characters created by Ted “Tobin” Wolf and head writer Leonard Starr. ThunderCats followed a group of humanoid lions who defended the galaxy from the super-villain Mumm-Ra.

FILM RATING

Drama

Elizabeth Debicki’s Diana Stars Despite Major Fumbles In ‘The Crown’

Published

7 days ago

November 21, 2023

Sean Colin Young

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

On November 16, 2023, the first instalment of Netflix’s final season of “The Crown” premiered, leaving me feeling disappointed. Despite my eagerness to watch, life’s commitments often took precedence, making it challenging to indulge in any content. However, after finally catching up, I found myself wishing I hadn’t bothered.

With an ensemble of Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II; Dominic West as Prince Charles, Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana, Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret, Salim Daw as Mohamed Al-Fayed, Khalid Abdalla as Dodi Fayed, and Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker Bowles, the first instalment of four episodes is set a year after Charles and Diana’s divorce and traces the events to the late princess and her alleged romantic partner Dodi.

I get the fact that Diana’s death was a significant event in modern British history, but the show did not feel like I was watching ‘The Crown’, I felt as if I were watching some Diana propaganda movie for the first half. Even with a legendary cast like the above-mentioned, there’s no escaping terrible writing, unfortunately. The script was demanding way too much from the cast and some scenes had me pulling my hair out.

But the worst was yet to come, after Diana’s death, there comes Ghost Diana, who has conversations with the Queen and the Prince of Wales and at this point, my eyes were staring at the ceiling rather than the screen as I heard the ghost Diana interactions with the queen and Charles, Another point of annoyance was the petulance of Charles and this public perception war with Diana which made me ask the question: Why? To the point that he hires a royal photographer to show his fatherly side.

The portrayal of Diana’s relationship with Dodi was cringeworthy, to say the least. The fact that Mohd. Fayed was pulling the strings to get Diana and Dodi together was drama that I was not looking for: and for what? Validation from the royal family? To be considered British? The fact that he bribed journalists to stalk Dodi and Diana was going way beyond the line of fictional liberties. These liberties were taken by Peter Morgan throughout the first half of the final season making it pretty unwatchable. I somehow got through it all. I am really on the fence with creative liberties but this season, in particular, was shallow and completely unnecessary.

But there are some moments worth praise, even though they are very few and very far in between. The scene where Charles tells William and Harry that their mother has passed away in a car accident or the scene where Harry is writing the card with the envelope titled ‘Mummy’ which is placed at the top of her coffin were moments that stood out for me personally more than Ghost Diana and the whole series at large.

Moreover, Debecki essayed Diana’s role in season five and this season, particularly Diana’s last eight weeks of her life were simply outstanding especially considering how bad the script was. The very moving scene for me was when Diana rejects Dodi’s proposal and Dodi finally manning up to his father; then the two talk about following their passions. This scene showed more maturity than perhaps the entire season before her death.

Perhaps The Crown is plagued by the extraordinary brilliance of the first four seasons that the fifth season and the sixth season tend to fall flat, as noted by The Guardian. And more outlets across the world have dismissed it as clumsy and predictable. I know it was history and creative liberties were taken–but the show just dragged along and it was simply one-dimensional throughout.

At this point, my expectations for the second half of the final season are way down after watching this show. The season is supposed to end with Charles marrying Camilla and William and Kate meeting at the University of St. Andrews.

The second instalment will hit Netflix on December 14.

Entertainment

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire | Official Teaser

In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the Spengler family returns to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.