Chris’s newest addiction: the 7th Sea CCG
The 7th Sea Collectible Card Game is a game of pirates and magic on the high seas of the fictional 17th century world of Théah. I don't play the 7th Sea Collectible Card Game. I have never played the 7th Sea Collectible Card Game. I never intend to play the 7th Sea Collectible Card Game. I don't even like collectible card games. So why in the hell do I love these things so much?
I guess in order for this to make any sense, I should explain what 7th Sea is…
7th Sea is a pen and paper role-playing game (RPG). 7th Sea players take on the roles you would typically see in pirate movies: swashbuckling pirates, courtly noblemen, Musketeers, romantic swordsmen, etc. But 7th Sea mixes it up by adding magic to their world, as well as a few monsters, hints at a dark, sinister occult past age, and enough socio-, econo-, politico-religious intrigue and scheming secret societies to make The DaVinci Code look like a beginner's manual to high school cliques. Couple all of that with rules that are easy to learn and all make perfect sense in the context of the game, and you've got one of the best, most original RPGs I've ever come across. I had the two 7th Sea core rulebooks for damn near a year before we here at the Sci-Fi Guys gave 'em a try. Now we've each got our own set and dozens of expansion books to boot. I really can't say enough about 7th Sea. If you're into RPGs at all and you liked Pirates Of The Caribbean or The Princess Bride, you need to pick up 7th Sea.
If you can find it, that is. Sadly, 7th Sea is a dead game. In 2000, TSR, the publishers of Dungeons & Dragons, released the 3rd Edition rules for Dungeons & Dragons under what they called the Open Gaming License, allowing anyone to publish D&D compatible books under the 3rd Edition d20 system without paying royalties to TSR. People jumped on the d20 bandwagon left and right, flooding the market with tons of low quality crap. Seriously, you couldn't look at a game store shelf without seeing 20 different books from 20 different companies, all full of minutely different versions of fucking kobalds and orcs. There was so much garbage out there it was unbelievable.
In 2004, Alderac Entertainment Group, the publishers of 7th Sea and the samurai RPG Legend Of The Five Rings, switched from their elegant "roll and keep" game mechanics shared by the two games to TSR's shitty d20 rules, essentially transforming those award winning, groundbreaking games into two more convoluted, pointlessly complex, rules laden expansions for D&D; two more turds in an ocean of diarrhea. Not only that, but they changed the look of the books entirely and renamed 7th Sea to Swashbuckling Adventures, so it wasn't really clear if what you were seeing was really 7th Sea for d20, or just another fly-by-night game company's barely legal ripoff. Long story short, when AEG left the charm of their old system behind, they left a lot of players behind with it. The line hit a tremendous slump, and as of 2005, the 7th Sea/Swashbuckling Adventures RPG was dead, and it eventually dragged the collectible card game down with it.
It bugs me that the RPG is dead, but I couldn't be happier that the card game is. One reason I have never liked collectible card games is that they never stop bilking the fans of the game with the fucking "must-have limited collector's edition variant foil cards" bullshit, the endless expansions of the same crap rehashed over and over, and the price… sweet mudder uh jaysus, the prices they charge are outrageous. Four or five bucks is standard for a 15 card booster pack. Fifteen cards. For five dollars. FIVE DOLLARS. That's fucking ridiculous! If they charged that for playing cards, a standard poker deck with two jokers would run you $20. I don't care how you try to justify the prices, that's bullshit. They're little pieces of paper, folks. At those prices, they deserve to go out of business.
I will hand it to the people at AEG, though; the collectible card version of 7th Sea is actually pretty sweet. Whereas the RPG lets players choose, customize, and to some degree fine-tune the types of characters and adventures they want to play, the card game is another matter entirely. Although the card game follows, and often cleverly adds to, the 7th Sea storyline set up in the RPG, the limitations of condensing the rich world of Théah into a card game meant they had to narrow the focus, and they did so in the very best way possible. They brought the game back to its roots – pirates.
There's only so much you can do with a card once its printed, so AEG wisely did not attempt to duplicate the customizability a role-playing game can offer, opting for afar more card game friendly approach. Each player starts out with a captain card, a ship card, and a sea card. The rest of the cards they draw and play during the course of the game add crew to the ship, help during ship to ship combat, or act to improve the crew, captain, or ship cards. Probably other things, too. I don't know. I've never played it. I'm more or less talking out of my ass here. As a matter of fact, go get some white-out and just paint over this whole paragraph on your monitor. Go ahead, it won't hurt my feelings.
I don't like CCGs, I've made that clear. But I have to give credit where credit is due; AEG did one hell of a job with 7th Sea. They took great pains to ensure that 7th Sea CCG not only stayed true to to its roots, but actually added to the original game in very positive manner. I guess that's why AEG is considered by many CCG players to have produced two of the finest collectible card games ever made, 7th Sea and Deadlands: Doomtown, which was also based on an award winning, groundbreaking role-playing game, and my favorite RPG of all time, Deadlands (which narrowly avoided being destroyed by its own ill-advised switch to d20). Good job, AEG. You get an extra cookie at storytime.
These are my cards. The two long boxes are 800-count. The smaller box up front is 300-count. The individual deck boxes contains 65 cards each. Factor in the ones I didn't take a picture of, and I'd estimate I've got about 2500 7th Sea cards. That's a hell of a lot of cards for a game I don't want to play. So why do I have them? Three reasons…
1) They're cool. I know I'm really testing the limits of the world 'cool' with that statement, so let me rephrase; they're neat. Sports fans collect baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and god knows what other kinds of cards, which are basically cool little pictures with condensed info devoted to explaining how whomever is pictured effects whatever game they're playing. The point is, if you're into whatever's on the card, they're neat. Since I don't play the game, these are like baseball cards to me. I look at the pic, read the stats, compare them to other cards, and open every new pack like a little kid ripping into a pack of cards to see if he's gonna finally get his favorite player's card. These really aren't any different; just switch the picture of the steroid enhanced, drug addicted felon with that of an undead skeleton pirate with a rusty cutlass, then change the 'Upper Deck' copyright info to 'AEG,' and they're pretty much the same thing. They've even got stats, character info, and some of the crew cards are labeled 'Experienced.' The ones that aren't? Rookie cards. The only real difference I see is that no pirates or skeletons are EVER going to enter into any contracts that make the person pictured refuse to sign a little kid's card if it's not the right fucking brand. Yeah, that's right. Who's hobby is shitty now?
Fuck. Pro. Sports.
2) 7th Sea is a dead game. Had I not known that, I never would have picked my first set of cards up. I got them because I'm a big fan of 7th Sea, not because I'm looking to get into a new game that will empty my wallet faster than a trip to Barry Bonds' "supplement" dealer. Why am I picking on sports stars today? I don't know either, but it sure is fun.
3) They were cheap as hell. To be honest with you, reasons 1 and 2 wouldn't mean jack if reason 3 wasn't in place. I got my first batch, and every card since, on deep clearance, and that's the only way I'll buy them. Regular price for those 65-card decks is $9. No thank you. Are they fun enough to justify having 2500 cards around? You bet your ass. And if I find more on sale, I may take it up to an even three thousand. Are they fun enough to justify having 2500 cards at full retail price? Fuck no. This is one hobby that's best kept cheap.
August 7th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Hey folks,
We installed a new spam filter, and I’ve been reading a lot of complaints about this specific program deleting good posts outright and reporting only spam for administrators to see. I’ve disabled the blacklist option, so hopefully I’ll see everything that comes through and get a better idea of what’s being filtered and what’s not.
We haven’t had anything reported to us at all, so for all I know, everything is kosher. But if there’s a problem posting, we need to know ASAP. If you have any trouble, I mean ANY trouble, no matter how slight, email me right away at sci.fi.guys@gmail.com.
My intention with this site has always been a place of public interaction, and if this spam filter is going to fuck with that, then it’ll have to go. Again, if you try to post and are refused or get any kind of error at all, email me at sci.fi.guys@gmail.com and tell me as much about it as you can. Send me screen shots, capture text, whatever.
August 7th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Man you gotta love Keith….he really is crazy and that’s why he will be the last person living on earth after humanity finally craps out.
August 7th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Sweet jesus, this man is my hero. If I die, dear, you can snort my ashes. I would consider it an honor.
August 7th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Sci-Fi Guys music correspondent Mouser
See he was respectful. He knew he couldn’t use the dust pan on his Dad. Fucking Keith!!!! He could very well live until 150. Will he snort Mick’s ashes is my question?
August 7th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
I’m gonna cut them with cocaine if that’s ok with you
August 7th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
With all the ritalin I’ve taken over the years, there’s probably already plenty of amphetamines in there. I’d be a good buzz.
August 7th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Actually I think I would consider using you in a mixed drink. I never was much on snorting things up my nose. Ritialin + Alcohol = Party Time!
August 7th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
It had better be tequila. If you’re gonna drink me, that’s really the only way.
August 7th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
I’ve been trying to add this comment to your article on the 7th sea card game. At first I got a spam alert and it wouldn’t let me post it. So I hit the back button, copied my text and pasted into a new entry and I now get a wordpress error saying it’s a duplicate comment, despite nothing appearing. Bizarre.
This is what I wrote:
That image of the Crescent is dead-on Aziz.
(Get rid of the facial hair and tattoos, though)
I wouldn’t be too harsh on Alderac. At least many of their later books included rules for both the old roll-keep and d20 systems.
Their biggest screw up, in my opinion, was changing the game’s name from 7th Sea to Swashbuckling Adventures, and in the process redesigning the entire product line to the point where it was impossible to tell on first glance whether the two games were even related. Why throw away the brand identity and consumer loyalty you’ve worked so hard to establish?
Had they been smart, instead of redesigning the entire system they should have continued to develop new material in their traditional style and released an independent supplemental handbook detailing the new “optional” d20 rules and conversion process. Loyal fans would have been satisfied, brand integrity maintained, and d20 fanatics appeased. Everyone wins.
August 7th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Of course it would be tequila with a grapefruit chaser
As soon as I sent you the original article I thought it should go on the site. I mean how many people think that Keith is really human, everyone knows he’s an alien (the kind from space) 
August 7th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
The Gravedigger's Shovel
Prepare one Torque Wrench. Add 1/4 teaspoon ashes of Chris (may substitute ashes of someone else if no ashes of Chris can be obtained). Shake with ice, strain, and pour into a chilled highball glass.
DanM – Actually, that Crescent is Kheired-Din himself. I haven’t read the 7th Sea Crescent Empire or Pirate Nations handbooks extensively, so I’m not sure exactly how much info there is about him in the books. But the CCG greatly expands on his life, making him a major player in the overall 7th Sea story, which I will not spoil here. However, I will say this: the card game unveils Kheired-Din as arguably the most important pirate on the seas of Théah. A horrible human being, but historically very important.
I’ll grant that AEG did appear to learn from the failure of Deadlands d20. Instead of focusing on re-releasing their entire inventory in the d20 format, they published quite a few dual-statted books, which were actually quite good. But despite this, the damage was done.
As you said, the name change and corresponding change in appearance made the books look like a whole new line, not a continuation of 7th Sea. Customers don’t like being jerked around; if you’re gonna keep making 7th Sea books, you should probably make them look like 7th Sea books, and, by all means, fucking call them 7th Sea books. These books weren’t well advertised, and a lot of time went by before I even realized that some of them could be used with the old system. I can tell you myself that I passed these books over for quite a while. I didn’t know it was a 7th Sea book, so why should I, a person who wants nothing to do with a d20 game, pick up a d20 book to check on the back if it just might be compatible with 7th Sea, when the 7th Sea name and logo are nowhere on the cover? I’m not a psychic. It doesn’t make sense that I would do that. They really shot themselves in the foot with their sudden switch to a new name, new system, and new format. In the end, that’s what killed them.
August 7th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Test Test
August 7th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Pulled this off yahoo…..since this thread has taken a turn towards aliens thought I would post it. Trust No One Mr. Mulder
August 7th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Well, if this is the only place in the universe where life exists, it would be a terrible waste of space.
August 7th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Tom Cruise. Captain Christopher Pike.
http://movies.ign.com/articles/810/810794p1.html
August 7th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Hey Dan, this is the first thing that popped into my head when I read your comment. I know alot of people don’t like The Meaning of Life, but I would rate it as my #1 Python movie and I always loved this song.
August 7th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Monty Python – “The Galaxy Song”
August 7th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
I've been trying like hell all day to figure a way that ties pirates, Keith Richards, and aliens together, and I've finally done it! Let's hop in the Way Back Machine and I'll tell you all about it…
After the release of 1966's Between The Buttons, and before they began recording the 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request, The Rolling Stones entered their experimental psychidelic phase.
Experimenting with the various hard drugs and exotic musical instruments which would ultimately give Majesties its weird, head-trip vibe, the Stones recorded a very unusual version of "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" in what is believed to be late 1966 or early 1967.
Most of the recordings made during this period were never used on any official release, but many have been collected, preserved, and distributed by bootleggers through the years. This very alien sounding Christmas carol, which the Stones referred to by the very sci-fi name "Cosmic Christmas," found its way onto a bootleg album called "Thee Satanic Sessions". "Cosmic Christmas" was popular enough with the underground psychidelic movement that it was released as a bootleg 45rpm single, pressed in green vinyl with a red label, complete with a record sleeve designed to look like wrapping paper.
And there you have it; pirated music, Keith Richards and The Rolling Stones, and an alien Christmas carol. Could it possibly get any better? Yeah, it could. You could download it for free, just by clicking the single below. How is this possible? Through the magic of a Sci-Fi Guys Christmas Miracle, that's how! God bless us, every one!
August 8th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Here is something I thought Chris would for sure be interested seeing as it’s transformers. I figured I would post it on the site. Follow this link to see the 7 most Useless Transformers ever.
http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=2175
August 9th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Damn it, I forgot to check that link out last night. It's blocked from work, so I still haven't seen it.
But check out what I did find:
This is the coolest truck ever. It's Russian. Its like a sabre-toothed locomotive panther demon from the darkest bowels of Hell. It seems pretty clear that a lot of work went into this, but according to what I've read its not a show piece. Some bad ass trucker actually drives this on the highways of Russia. Can you imagine being some guy getting drunk on homemade vodka walking down some lonely stretch of Siberian back road, and looking up to see this coming at you? This thing is ten times scarier than that truck in Maximum Overdrive. I'd shit myself. But I love this truck. I totally want one. Click the pics for a larger view.
August 9th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
click to see full portrait
August 10th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
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August 10, 2007
The Top 9 Upcoming Stan Lee Film Cameos
9> Just to keep up with all of his appearances, StanTube.com is launched.
8> The latest special edition rerelease of "Star Wars" has Stan sitting next to Han in the cantina.
7> It turns out the *real* Bourne Ultimatum was a non-negotiable request for 50% of the "Spider-Man 3" domestic gross.
6> In "Hulk 2," he's credited as "Old Guy Thrown 300 Yards Over a Rights Dispute."
5> In the upcoming "Namor" movie, Stan Lee is shown as the only person on the planet who gives a crap about the "Namor" movie.
4> Three-episode stint as Meredith's boyfriend on "Grey's Anatomy."
3> "Good evening, Mr. Bond! And I see you've brought your grandfather with you."
2> In "Stardust," as a young man searches for the fallen star, you can *just* make out an old man in the background trying to take credit for everything.
and the Number 1 Upcoming Stan Lee Film Cameo …
1> "Yippie ki-yay, True Believers!"
http://www.topfive.com
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Selected from 33 submissions from 13 contributors.
This week's list authors are:
Matt Van Opens, Watertown, WI — 1, 2, 5 (Hat trick! 12th #1!)
Kevin Freels, Walnut Creek, CA — 3, 7
Erik Deckers, Syracuse, IN — 4
Mark David, Sunnyvale, CA — 6, Topic
Eric Rossing, Franklin, MA — 8
Marc Berard, Central Falls, RI — 9
Jennifer Ford, Chicago, IL — Mystery Woman
TOPFIVE.COM'S LITTLE FIVERS
"Top 10" lists on a variety of subjects
http://www.littlefivers.com
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Copyright 2007 by Chris White All rights reserved.
Do not forward, publish, broadcast, or use in any manner without crediting "TopFive.com"
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August 10th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
So it’s really Stan that shoots first huh? Surely he’s gonna make an appearence somewhere in the next two Harry Potter movies.
August 10th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
I knew it was really Stan that shot first. Isn’t he gonna make an appearance in the last two Harry Potter movies?
August 10th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
HELL YEAH! No matter how crappy they make this, I will see it!
August 10th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
August 10th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
The above Simpons episode is hillarious. I love it when comic book guy says that Stan Lee has lost his mind while Stan is trying to turn into the incredible Hulk…….”wait I actually did it once”.
I swear I’m so tired of Hollywood. First they don’t have an original story idea anymore. I knew as soon as I saw the previews for Stardust that it was adapted from a book, it was why to creative.
Basically what Hollywood is doing now is taking things that we liked from the 80′s and making them into bloated over cgi’d crapfests. Why you ask? Because the people (such as ourselves) are now in our 30′s with jobs and many of us (not me) with kids. So Hollywood sees this as their chance to capitalize and make a major money grab. We see that they are making major movies out of stuff we loved as a kid and they are banking that we will take our kids to go see this stuff because we want to see it and possibly share it with them, in turn our kids will love it and want all of the promotional toys and other crap associated with the movie.
It’s an amazing money making scheme, unfortunately it also manges to ruin some of the cartoons I remeber watching after school and on Saturdays as a kid because they have to try and market it to the kids of today.
Anyway that’s how I feel about it and really that’s why I rarely go to the movies anymore. I BLAME STAN LEE!!!!!!!!!
August 10th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
And the very worst part of it is that they get these people with NO IDEA what the original, successful, iconic stories were like to come in and fuck it all up. Let’s look at the track record:
Joel fucking Schumacher took Tim Burton’s twisted and cartoonish, but still appropriately dark and brutal, approach to the Batman story and singlehandedly torpedoed the franchise. Because he is openly gay and apparently has an IQ of about 40, he took it upon himself to turn Batman Forever and Batman & Robin into two feature-length slapstick gay jokes, the latter of which did so poorly that Warner Bros. placed the entire series of movies on hiatus, eventually canceling the next Batman movie Batman: Triumphant. The franchise was shut down, and it took seven years for the much darker Batman Begins to be released in what the studio widely publicized as a comprehensive reboot of the franchise.
Sam Raimi was a HUGE Spider-Man fan and made two incredibly awesome movies, then Avi Arad came in and pressured him to fuck the third movie up completely. How? By altering the god damn story. Sam, don’t be a pussy next time. You know how to make films. Arad’s not a filmmaker, he’s a fucking manufacturing businessman. He has no goddamn place giving you movie making advice, and you have no goddamn place listening to him.
Michael Bay, who’s name is a subdefinition of ‘suck’ in the New American Dictionary, has bragged about the fact that he only watched the first ten or fifteen minutes of the The Transfomers: The Movie and viewed none of the episodes or comic books, and his version of TransFormers was, well, you’ll have to wait for my review…
Stuart Baird, who turned Star Trek: Nemesis into a film almost completely devoid of human emotion, was asked to direct that movie without ever having watched a single episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation; LeVar Burton said that during the first six fucking weeks of shooting Nemesis he kept calling him “Laverne” and constantly referred to Geordi LaForge, a blind human being, as a fucking alien.
Jeremiah Chechik took the classic TV series The Avengers and, well let’s just say that I cannot wait to be there when Mrs. X sees it. Here’s a little hint of how good it is: he directed The Avengers in 1998 and didn’t work again until 2004. And he’s only been working in TV; no movies after The Avengers. Draw your own conclusions.
Do you see my point here? You don’t have to like these series to understand that, with so many fans out there, there’s something inherently attractive about the stories. Even if you don’t see it yourself, its there. There are a lot of actors and directors who make a point during interviews to say “Before I was hired on to this film/show/whatever, I had never even seen/heard of [insert franchise here].”
Do people really think that makes them seem cool, or young, or fresh, or better suited to the task of recreating these stories in a positive way? Because it doesn’t. It makes them seem ignorant and insulated. I don’t want to go watch a guy in the role of Hamlet who’s never fucking heard of Shakespeare before. He’d fucking suck. I want a classically trained Shakespearean actor who knows what the fuck he’s doing, and how to make 400 year old writing seem vibrant, natural and alive.
The same goes with Batman, Spider-Man, The TransFormers, Star Trek, and everything else I like. If there are attractive, intelligent, engaging, well-told stories in place, then people like those franchises for a reason, and you’d have to be a complete fucking moron not to incorporate those elements into a remake. Those stories are WHY there is a remake. They made the memories in the first place. You don’t have a great Sandman story that sets up a wonderful sympathetic villain and then just cut out all of those good character scenes to give fucking Venom more on-screen time. You don’t put nipples on Batman’s suit, then get all bitchy when people complain that you’ve ruined the grim mood of a tale of violent vengeance. You don’t call your movie TransFormers, then make the whole thing about two dimensional, pointless human characters who weren’t even IN the original stories. Not if you give a damn about what you’re doing you don’t. Because showing that sort of disregard for the qualities of the franchises that made a remake possible is the fastest way to ruin your efforts.
Something just occurred to me. Look back over this page. Mystical pirates, Keith Richards, tequila, UFO sightings, Star Trek, Monty Python, scary Russian semis, Star Wars rock concerts, Voltron, bustin’ on Stan Lee, bitching about Hollywood… Jesus Christ, I love you guys. Sorry to get all maudlin and sappy, folks, but seeing all of this makes all the late nights of writing and editing and fiddling with the web site all worth it. No joke, seeing conversations like this here on our site… sometimes I feel like the luckiest guy in the world.
Thank you guys so much, including those of you who read and never post. ALL of you make this totally worth it. Ok, now that I’ve been a complete lovey-dovey pussy, maybe I should get some nipples put on my Chris suit…
August 10th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
With the Avengers movie they adpated the damn thing from an original episode, they couldn’t even come up with an origianl plot idea from the movie. I haven’t seen the movie yet, God help me and everyone else when I do, but from what I’ve heard they must not have watch the T.V. show at all. And it is doublely insulting that they only used Patrick Macnee’s voice (the original Steed). I mean the guy created the character from literatally 2 lines in the pilot script and they couldn’t even give him a guest role in front of the camera.
If Chris Carter wasn’t going to be involved with the 2nd x-files movie, which I now believe will come out when Chinese Democracy and the second Blackberry Smoke cd both hit stores, I would totally boycott it just like I did Blues Brothers 2000. That is one movie that no amount of convincing will ever ever ever get me to watch.
Oh Chris in terms of directors fucking great tv shows, comic books, cartoons ect. up by not having seen or read them make sure you add Wild Wild West to that list. Great tv show (available on dvd), shitty shitty movie.
You should post the story (I know it’s available on youtube) where Kevin Smith talks about getting invited to write a Superman treatment and then after about 6 script rewrites they send him to the guy who eventually directed Wild Wild West and all the guy talks about is how there should be a big fucking robot spider in the Superman movie and Kevin Smith is like…..uh ok. I think that clip says alot.
August 10th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
You ever read the story of how Kevin Smith was supposed to direct a new Fletch movie with Jason Lee as a young Fletch? As I understand it, Smith met with Chevy Chase to discuss the movie, and Chevy Chase was such an asshole that Smith just sort of abandoned the whole thing. I think the way Kevin Smith put it was that he sat down to a meal only to hear Chevy Chase take credit for “everything funny that ever happened.” I’ve heard he’s a complete prick. He’s been banned from hosting SNL since the mid-80s, and he’s one of the original cast members. Apparently he was so shitty to work with when he came back to host that Lorne won’t have him back again.
August 11th, 2007 at 7:59 am
Ignorance is bliss. I think I’m one of the seven people in the world that actually likes the Wild Wild West movie. With Transformers I knew going in that as soon as the lights dim I should switch off the brain and shutdown any connections to Transformer memories – that made it a really fun movie. With Wild Wild West I only had to switch off the brain. Ignorance is truly bliss.
August 12th, 2007 at 10:30 am
I would say I liked the Wild West Movie too. I go to a movie to be entertained. It’s as simple as that. If that was accomplished it was a good movie.
Mrs. X…that useless transformers link was awesome! I laughed out loud sitting here…I forgot about the transormer that turns into a microscope!
August 13th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I’ve never seen a single episode of Wild Wild West and I thought the movie was absolute shit. I usually love Will Smith and Kevin Kline, and its fucking hard to make me dislike anything with Salma Hayek in it, especially when she looks like this…
…but, seriously, that movie was fucking horrible. Some very decent visuals, though. I will give it that.
I love you, Salma. Call me.
Chris
August 13th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
I will say that I visually I liked the movie I’m a sucker for sci-fi westerns. But I was none to impressed with the script or the acting.
August 13th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
I meant visually I liked the movie. My brain thinks faster than I type
August 13th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
All I’m saying is this: I like sci fi. I like westerns. I like sci-fi westerns. I like Will Smith. I like Kevin Klein. I like giant machines. I like giant spiders. I like giant mechanical spiders. I love steampunk. I LOVE Salma Hayek. But I hated Wild Wild West. Now, how shitty does a movie have to be to have all those elements I like and still disappoint me? Pretty fuckin’ shitty.
August 14th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Hey since Chris mentioned the fact that Keven Smith was supposed to make a Fletch movie and it got killed by hollywood, check out this link about other other movies that got killed by hollywood and why. http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=2304&pageid=1.
I had no idea about the ghostbusters thing.
August 14th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
I can’t see it from work! What Ghostbusters thing? Tell me, tell me!!
August 14th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Ghostbusters 3: Ghostbusters in Hell
Dan Aykroyd has been desperately pushing for a Ghostbusters sequel for over a decade (yes, we’re refusing to acknowledge that Ghostbusters 2 exists). He wrote a script years ago called Ghostbusters: Hellbent (later changed to the more descriptive Ghostbusters in Hell when co-conspirator Harold Ramis got involved) where the ghostbusting crew wind up in a version of New York that exists only in Hell. As the original actors aged and the film continued to not get made, the script was changed to accommodate new, younger group of comedy all-stars to play newly-hired ghostbusters—which, for better or worse, was going to include Ben Stiller.
Why it didn’t get made: Because “Billy” didn’t want to get within ten feet of the thing, according to Aykroyd. “Billy” is Bill Murray, who didn’t like how the second movie turned out (what second movie?) and has since dedicated his life to making more serious films. To be fair, special effects are fun to watch but not so much fun to act in. Murray, now in his late 50s, probably didn’t want to spend half a year in front of green screens, covered in slime and getting thrashed around by hydraulic monsters, with Aykroyd and Ramis calling him “Billy” and giving him big thumbs-up signs the whole time
And while we’re on the subject: Before the original Ghostbusters came around, Ivan Reitman, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd were in talks to make Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It was scrapped when Aykroyd came up with the idea for Ghostbusters.
August 14th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Yeah, at one point Will Smith was in talks to replace Murray. But now Murray and all the rest are on board to do the voices in GB3, which will be all CGI. I have no idea if they’re gonna keep that same script or go with something entirely new. With Bill Murray on board, though, there’s a MUCH better chance this will actually get made this time.
August 15th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
I’m not sure about the whole CGI thing. They could cop out and make it geared more towards kids than adults. Although I will say that I am a huge fan of the Ghostbusters cartoon. I loved watching that on Saturday mornings. They should put that out on DVD if it isn’t already out.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
There are three DVDs out, but no season by season collections. I, and a LOT of other fans, are waiting for Sony/Columbia/whoever the hell owns those cartoons to get off their asses and release The Real Ghostbusters DVDs as soon as possible.
I know this is only going to fuel Q’s hatred for Sony, but they’ve released the three four-episode discs to test the market, presumably to get an idea of how well they’re gonna sell if whole seasons come out. Unfortunately, this is the shittiest method of trying to predict sales. The DVD buying public has seen this exact strategy time and time again, and are sick of buying individual DVDs when they know damn well the whole seasons are sure to follow. People don’t want to buy the same shit twice, no matter how much they like it. Selling individual DVDs as a test of the market is outmoded and obsolete. We, as a public, are onto them. We don’t fall for the tease anymore. But companies continue to do it, and continue to misunderstand their consumers by doing so. Sony should check out the Ghostbusters fan sites; these people are fucking clamoring for The Real Ghostbusters seasons. We have been for years. Sony is sitting on a fortune, and doesn’t seem to have the will and/or smarts to recognize it.