Sky Captain similiar to The Warlords of the Air

[Anonymous]

I just finished watching Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and was struck by the uncanny similarity that the movie's concept had to Michael Moorcock's The Warlord of the Air Series. I know that the movie is not plagarized, but it is clear that a number of elements were taken from the the Warlord series, particularly, the usage of dirigibles, the concept of British air power, and a supposed genius (who at age 12) became disenchanted with the world. This sounded a lot like the genius of the second set in the Warlord of the Air Series.

In my mind, conceptually, the Warlord of the Air, if translated to the medium similar to Sky Captain, would make an incredible film, now that the technology is fully available to render such a work.

I read the Warlord series many years ago, and they were amongst my favorites in my more youthful days.

[Krzysiek]

No, not again! It has been discussed so many times on this forum:
topic 1) [broken link]Sky Captain
topic 2) [broken link]Avoiding unconscious plagiarism
topic 3) [broken link]hmm, Michael this new film looks VERY familiar to me...

[Anonymous]

Sky Captain sequel

Krzysiek,

You seem to have missed the point of my prior post. I knew after seeing the previews that Sky Captain was like Warlords of the Air, but did not think anything of the similarity. Then I saw the movie on DVD, and felt that the similarity was uncanny. I also watched the "Special features," and based on this felt that the Warlords series, which is, in my opinion, by definition a better story, would be an excellant possibility for such a movie. People are now ready for this.

The opening scene begins with the Hindenburg III. We know based on our own history that there was no Hindenburg III, hence, from the audience will feel that this movie represents a place similar but different to earth. A movie that explored this in more depth was "The One," with Jet Li.

Now, taking the next step, implies that a sequel to Sky Captain could be conceived, that such a sequel would build upon the technical effects presented by Sky Captain, and the story would be much better (i.e. The story of Oswald Bastable). Based on my viewing to the interview with John Avnet and his natural open mindedness, it seems that, perhaps, Michael might be interested in pursuing, at least through various agents, the possibility of such a movie concept.

[Michael Moorcock]

I'm looking forward to seeing the DVD of this. Clearly it didn't do enormous business, but it didn't cost and arm and a leg, either, so it's hard to know if they'll do another movie or not. Haven't seen it yet.

[nalpak retrac]

I too made the connection with Warlord of the Air. I should suggest, however, that the similarities are due to the fact that the creators--Mike on one hand, the Sky Captain producers on the other--were drawing upon similar fountains of inspiration: alternative (allegorical/hyperbolic) historical constructions, 30s worldview and aesthetics, and so on.

I very much agree that Warlord of the Air is a better story--more depth, more breath, tighter, better characters, more pith, and so on. The Sky Captian people are very good at manipulating imagery, and their acheivement in this respect is to be commended. The story was somewhat exciting, the various devices that moved the plot around were clever, but there was little, I thought, to draw the viewer into the film. We can thank the film makers for sharing their images with us, but there is very little else to appreciate in this film. Bit of nostalgia, what? We were left not "wondering at it all", but rather wondering about the sense of wonder that we have lost, a sense of wonder possessed by a culture now sixty years gone, a sense of wonder that, removed and numbed by our own times, we can only gawk at like slightly envious voyuers as we stimulate ourselves with fatty popcorn, sugary drinks and candies, and the vague expectation of our next sensational entertainment fix to come.

One rather painful blemish was casting Jude Law in the lead role. He is as wooden, as stiff and as boring as a lovely, dull, dim and empty public school lad ever was; he can barely understand the lines he is speaking (and we certainly heard this too in that horrid new film in which he lisps through the narration, *A series of Unfortunate Events*); and the notion, too, of casting this lovely dull lad as an American mercenary pilot from the 30s! Well, I just don't understand the decision? Does his mummy number among the backers of the film? I saw, too, I think, that Law was one of the producers--is this correct? I am rather dissapointed in viewing the spectacle of this lad's ego preventing him from seeing the Sky Captain role properly, and moreover casting his own silly self in the role and maring the film. Is there an English word for describing this particularly awkward strain of czhutspa? Cheek? Jammy Bounder? Arrogant Toff? Embarassing Tory? Mmm. "Stupid Lad" will have to do, I suppose.

And it does very well, really.

The cinematic re-make of The Avengers that came out several years ago was similarly marred by a wooden attempt at recreating the vision and the smartness of a previous age.

[Michael Moorcock]

As I understand it, the movie didn't do particularly well, which is why it's gone to DVD pretty quickly. The effects were supposed to be cheaper than the standard ones, but the movie still cost more than intended. A friend of mine has it and from his description of the plot, it doesn't sound like a Warlord rip -- indeed the plot is standard and that seems a terrible waste of money to me. I'm still looking forward to seeing it.

[Michael Moorcock]

They were using a lot of painted effects, which were supposed to be cheaper than the standard computer-generated effects you find in the likes of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. From what I've seen of the movie, I agree that it looks very good -- and it makes a nice change.
I don't see why different effects and styles shouldn't be used and it's a studio I'd like to work with some time if they do more movies. The problem with all these movies, in my view, is the stories. You could be doing a lot more, these days, than the standard 'villain wants to conquer/destroy world' themes.

[Michael Moorcock]

China Mieville's Iron Council is very good on such questions. The baddies are pretty much clearly the baddies, but the various ambiguities around the actions of the goodies is subtle and excellent. One of the best political novels I've read in a long time, in any genre.

[xidrep]

The 'painted' effects (from what I've seen) look good. I still think multiplane animation with painted layers ('specially if you've got the skill of Mario Larrinaga in King Kong '33) is the acme of cinematic beauty and (literally) 'depth'. A friend of mine said that she always preferred films where the special effects were 'real' models or sets, as opposed to CGI: she knew that the 'actual' objects existed somewhere, if only in miniature. I know what she means.
I think they should have spent the money that was splurged on 'Sky Captain' on funding the relaunch of my 'Skywhale' project. Then they couldd have got some real film of a dirigible with a Union Jack on the fins crashing into the Antarctic Ice. Spectacular! Splosh! Brr!

[Michael Moorcock]

Union Jacks, eh ? I thought they were abolishing that. Did the British Airship Co ever consider your Skywhale ?

[xidrep]

Well, I spent quite a lot of time on the 'phone to Jim Thiele of the American Blimp Corporation, and we had some discussions up at Telford with what was then (1997) the British arm of the company (ABC was their 'umbrella' group). They helped out with some technical suggestions, and then they put together some budgetary figures. That's when we started to realise that we were really up against it! They were actually quite interested in using one of their full-size ships (ie. fully-manned) which were probably the type you went up in. It was آ£80,000 just to get trained to fly one. They were very accomodating and enthusiastic, though, showing me all aspects of their operation (I've still not actually been up in one, though - weather was always against us - another indication of the vagaries of dirigibles in extreme environments (more extreme than the suburbs of Birmingham, even!)). Hence the gradual switch to autogyros.

[xidrep]

Well, I spent quite a lot of time on the 'phone to Jim Thiele of the American Blimp Corporation, and we had some discussions up at Telford with what was then (1997) the British arm of the company (ABC was their 'umbrella' group). They helped out with some technical suggestions, and then they put together some budgetary figures. That's when we started to realise that we were really up against it! They were actually quite interested in using one of their full-size ships (ie. fully-manned) which were probably the type you went up in. It was آ£80,000 just to get trained to fly one. They were very accomodating and enthusiastic, though, showing me all aspects of their operation (I've still not actually been up in one, though - weather was always against us - another indication of the vagaries of dirigibles in extreme environments (more extreme than the suburbs of Birmingham, even!)). Hence the gradual switch to autogyros.

[Michael Moorcock]

BAC was a British company which made dirigibles (not blimps) which were far more manouevrable and had engines which could seriously rotate. Beautiful things in the air -- a mixture of a balloon and a small plane. The guys I talked to were regular pilots who had done their training at Cardington but I wasn't aware of American interest. Unfortunately it was Australian interest (Alan thingy the lager-king) which ruined them, in that he had guaranteed funding so that the likes of me, who were ready to buy shares in the company, were apparently redundant. When Alan thingy went belly-up, so did the British Airship Corporation. Until then they'd been covering sports events, doing runs over London and had plans (can't remember if they were ever fulfilled) to start a London-Paris run. The problem with ships any larger than that was wind resistance, as I'm sure you know. You couldn't guarantee getting the buggers in on time, which meant a lot of people standing about being paid with nothing to do. Big jets have that one advantage.
Strange to think that Branson plans an airbus interior which follows the old Hindenburg (R-100) model. Makes me a trifle worried, by implication, about boarding it.

[xidrep]

Yes, I saw a BAC craft in-hangar once; in the Fuji livery in fact, like the one in your picture (Ta!). It was fascinating seeing them putting the pre-printed panels onto the hull. The Fuji used to float about above Sandown Park in Esher, then turned into a nice blue-and-orange for the RAC. I remember watching the Goodyear Blimps in the Seventies pitching, rolling and yawing alarmingly over the sky near my School in Worcester Park. Mind you, they existed, unlike the long silver or brown-coloured rigids that I also remember from the same period. Phantom memory/ wishful thinking! Must have been that large photo my Grandad took of the Graf Zeppelin that he showed me! (Actually, I have a large (18" x 10") photo of the Graf Zepp over Friedrichshaven, which came from the old Zeppelinwerke factory office. I bought it; I didn't nick it. It's unusually clear)

[Michael Moorcock]

Somewhere I have some drawings of plans for big cargo-carrying airships which, they argued, wouldn't have to be all that fast. Top-loaders. You used helicopters to lift containers into them. Looked a good plan, but there's always that same problem of needing to employ people to wait until the ship comes in. I suppose if you had enough of them, it would become economic. I really do believe we're going to need some similar technologies in the future if we're all going to stay rich. The argument is that even the current bunch of rich nations can't sustain themselves given the resources they're using. Which will require, if we're ALL going to get rich, better thinking about how to use resources and what alternatives would be best. There are now dozens of alternatives which only require a shift in economic thinking to get them going. Could be the sky will indeed one day be full of aerial cargo ships and passenger liners ferrying goods and people to the surface via
electrically powered helicopters and, um, autogyros...