Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 December 6

= December 6 =

Was the space battle the reason most people liked Star Wars when it first came out in 1977?
Was the space battle at the end of the original film the reason most people liked Star Wars back in 1977? 98.234.170.206 (talk) 04:05, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * They must have liked the earlier parts of the movie too or they would have walked out before the battle scene. It was a classic entry in the "Good guys in White Hats vs Bad guys in Black Hats" genre, with some handsome actors, quaint robots, and a clever script. HiLo48 (talk) 04:13, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Star Wars was directed as a space opera. It was something completely unknown to the general audience - especially the target audience of young boys. The combination of the music and special effects made it popular. The music is often overshadowed by the special effects and merchandising, but when people hear the initial horns and percussion, they know exactly what is coming. The special effects, while poor in today's standards, were revolutionary. People who hated the poor script and bad directing still commented on the amazing special effects. -- k a i n a w &trade; 04:22, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * For interest, Kainaw, did you mean by "space opera" purely its resembling a conventional Opera set in space, or were you also alluding to the originally literary genre of Space opera? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.66.198 (talk) 06:47, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * As Kainaw says,the special effects were revolutionary. In 1977, when someone was trying to describe the film to me, they said; "First you see this HUGE space ship fly past and you think 'WOW' and THEN there's one A HUNDRED TIMES BIGGER following it - it's AMAZING!" And that was just the opening sequence. It was a spectacle unlike any previous film, but looks a bit humdrum now. Alansplodge (talk) 10:26, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * "Space opera" could be a play on "horse opera", a term often used for westerns. (Gene Roddenberry conceived Star Trek originally as "Wagon Train to the stars". It also resembled the King Arthur stories. A colleague of mine called it "eye candy". Basically it was just fun to watch, and maybe more importantly is that it kind of came out of nowhere, after a decade full of "message" films. It's the purest of the 6 entries, despite Lucas' constant tinkering with it. Just as 2001 advanced the special effects expectations, so did the original Star Wars. And in those days before videotape, youngsters would see it over and over again. In my local theater, in a not-large midwestern city, it played first-run for at least six months. Nowadays it's in the video stores by then. The movie set a new standard for special effects that was soon copied and advanced, by films such as the first Star Trek movie, Superman, and also its own sequels. The scenes with the Millennium Falcon fighting against four of the TIE fighters helped to launch the video-game revolution. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 12:16, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Just for a reference on how revolutionary Star Wars was in terms of style and special effects, other science fiction films released at the same time look and feel nothing like it. Take, for example, films like Logan's Run (film) and The Man Who Fell to Earth (film) and Rollerball (1975 film).  In the mid 1970s, science fiction films were dystopian, earth-based, and arty, and had almost nothing of what we would call "special effects".  Star Wars introduced narrative elements unknown in contemporary sci-fi, including a Tolkienesque world with its own mythology and politics completely unlike the earth, a rather hopeful outlook, and of course the kickin' special effects.  Lucas basically took the old Flash Gordon seriels, Japanese Samurai films, Westerns, and Lord of the Rings, and stuck it in a blender with a John Williams soundtrack.  The way it combined the ethos of the New Hollywood generation of filmmaking into sci-fi themes.  -- Jayron  32  16:35, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Close Encounters of the Third Kind also came out at around the same time (and it also featured John Williams's music). A very different concept from Star Wars, but then, the stories are also very different. I know which one I've always preferred.  --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  19:04, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * One thing I think helped was the "good" robots. In most sci-fi, robots are evil, like Terminator (excluding the reprogrammed Terminators in T2 and T3) and Battlestar Galactica (excluding the pet "dog" with pneumatic legs). StuRat (talk) 18:25, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Most kids of that era would have wanted an R2D2 of their own (not so sure about C3PO, but maybe some would have wanted him too). --Colapeninsula (talk) 11:15, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Was going to the movies the most popular leisure activity in the late 1940's (around 1949)? If not, what was?
Wondering if anyone has the answer to this.. 98.234.170.206 (talk) 04:07, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Dances were also popular. HiLo48 (talk) 04:15, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * The horizontal tango was apparently quite popular. Mitch Ames (talk) 06:35, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Probably listening to the radio or reading (including reading newspapers, comics etc); though drinking and conversing would doubtless also score highly. It depends what you mean by "most popular" and "leisure activity", and what age/social/national group you're talking about.  In Britain people went to the cinema around once every 2 weeks on average.; figures in the US were similar. --Colapeninsula (talk) 09:38, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

Deciding what movie to see
What movie should I see? 98.234.170.206 (talk) 04:11, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * You should see the movie that gives you the most enjoyment per dollar you spend on the ticket. Nobody here has any way to know what movie that would be. -- k a i n a w &trade; 04:12, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Indecision? Why I Don't Go to the Movies? One of the fine examples in Category:Film stubs? Clarityfiend (talk) 09:01, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * If you're open to anything, just go to your local video store and start with the A's and work your way around the store. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 12:08, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * I found it very entertaining to work my way through all the best pictures and similar lists.--Shantavira|feed me 14:21, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * If the OP wants to restrict himself to quality films (or reasonable facsimiles), yes, that would be a good approach. Preferably in chronological order rather than alphabetical, to more keenly observe changing styles and themes over the years. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 17:04, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Ew, oscar-winning films. I suggest instead working through Category:Film genres, and trying to get hold of the archetypal or notable films for each genre as mentioned in the articles. Card Zero  (talk) 14:06, 7 December 2011 (UTC)
 * You have a point. I've seen the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men and the turkey-winning Plan 9 From Outer Space. Guess which one I've seen more than once and would see again. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:55, 8 December 2011 (UTC)
 * The American Film Institute produced a number of "top 100" lists of various descriptions (See: AFI 100 Years... series). Wikipedia also has a List of films considered the best page, which includes genre and by-country breakdowns. (There's also a List of films considered the worst page, if feel more like that.) -- 140.142.20.229 (talk) 21:47, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Film with double-jointed aliens and falling bathtubs
I need help identifying a film that I saw on TV many years ago. It was probably made in the mid-nineties, and no later than the late nineties. The plot had something to do with sinister aliens, which were humanoid, but with knees that bent in the opposite way. Their strange knees gave them the ability to jump like crickets. I only recall one scene clearly, and it had no aliens in it: A man is taking a bath in a hotel, when suddenly the bathtub in the room overhead comes crashing through the ceiling. The man leaps out of the bathtub just in the nick of time. The falling bathtub lands in the bathtub that he has just vacated, and both tubs plummet through the floor, leaving a gaping hole. Any ideas? L ANTZY T ALK 06:26, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * The Arrival. Orange Suede Sofa  (talk) 06:31, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks, that was quick! L ANTZY T ALK 06:52, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

Can not find a reference
I need to find confirming information on the awards won by a particular Taiwan actor. I can't find it; it was in 2009. :-( But, it is listed on the actor's Chinese Wiki page without a reference.  Can I mark that information as  and hope? Or, is that cheating?  :-)--I B d Shank (Talk-Talk) 12:13, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * If the awards aren't reported in any news media and don't even have a website, are they really important enough to be mentioned in a Wikipedia article? Although there's nothing to stop you doing what you said, unsourced claims, particularly referring to obscure awards nobody's heard of, are quite likely to be removed from an article. --Colapeninsula (talk) 13:48, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * The Taipei Film Festival is not exactly obscure, but their website leaves a lot to be desired, and my Chinese comprehension is not all that good. I was hoping the Chinese site might come up with a good reference.  You did give me the idea to check the newspaper archives.  Thanks. :-)--I B d Shank (Talk-Talk) 03:40, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Chase Patton
A couple years ago, backup MU quarterback Chase Patton was talked up as a sure-thing draft pick. I heard he went to both the Bears and the Chiefs. Then, nothing. His name popped up today and I searched, but I can't find anything on him. Was he ever drafted? Did he go to Canada? Did he drop football? -- k a i n a w &trade; 18:11, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * He was never drafted, but spent some time on the Bears practice squad: . I can't find anything else about him since 2009.  Sounds like a "camp arm" as they say; he may be out of pro football; if he was playing in Canada or the Arena League, his name would at least show up on a roster on their websites.  -- Jayron  32  19:40, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Thanks. Finally found this. He's in dental school. -- k a i n a w &trade; 20:02, 6 December 2011 (UTC)