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galacticbugman · 6 years ago

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What are My top ten favorite Movies and TV shows ???

Hi everyone you for a while now you may have caught on by reading my nature blog that I am kind of a nerd for more than just nature. I am now opening my blog to more than just nature but at about all my interests as a whole. You may think of me as more of a naturalist but there is a whole side of me that I would like to talk about.

It is convention season for all of us Nerds. The Dallas Fan Expo will be starting in Dallas pretty soon which I will not be able to attend this year but I am going to a con this year with my brother. I thought it would cool to talk about my top 10 favorite TV and Movie franchises to kind of give you a window into the other part of my life that I hold most near and dear. Note that these franchises are not necessarily in the correct order because I can’t really decide which ones are my true favortie as a whole. (Hint I go over this in earlier posts.) So lets get started.

Cartoons! are one of my favorite things to watch when I am in need of a good laugh so I nearly always turn to a few like Talespin, Darkwing Duck, Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, Pokemon (only up to seasons 1-8) or a whole load of others. One has earned its place really near and dear to my heart and that would be this fan favorite

Who doesn’t love a good runabout with the Warner Brothers Yakko, Wakko, and the Warner Sister Dot on the 90s classic Animaniacs. I grew up in the 90s and absolutly loved Animaniacs from the start. Ever since I was little I was obsessed with the WB kids block and this show had me laughing the whole time. It makes fun out of pop culture as a whole, has catchy songs, goofy wit, classic slapstick, and tons of references and entertaining songs. I love this show and have gone back and watched many of the episodes and the truth is they still have me nearly laughing till I am on my butt doubled over. I love their jabs at Star Trek, Disney films, and many of the other things I watched as a kid. That is not all they make fun of they make fun of artists and many other icons from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. I didn’t realize just how much stuff they make fun of but every time I watch it I am always finding something new to laugh out loud with. I enjoy watching the others to the series like Pinky and the Brain, Tiny Toon Adventures, Histeria, and Freakazoid. I have always been a fan of the whole line up of the spin offs but I don’t always revisit them as much as I do as this one.

When I was a little boy I always wanted to grow up and be a Paleontologist. I loved dinosaurs with a passion. I was about four years old when I first said Paleontologist the correct way and that is what I told people I wanted to be. I was a big fan of Land Before Time growing up and I also liked the Disney Sitcom Dinosaurs, as well as Disney’s movie about Dinosaurs called Dinosaur. It was back in about 2005 or 2006 and I was finally allowed to watch Jurassic Park and it’s sequel The Lost World Jurassic Park. My aunt had both on VHS and I popped the first one in to the VCR player and didn’t quite know what to expect but this film had me at the moment Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant saw that Brachiosaur. I loved the story, the characters, and most of all the dinosaurs. It is a classic for any science fiction nerd or dinosaur nerd. I am a big fan of Steven Spielberg works and Jurassic Park and all of its sequels including Jurassic World and its sequel have always been a big part of my movie watching experience. If I had to rank them from best to worst The Lost World would always come first. For some reason I loved that one as a movie better than any of the others for some reason. I didn’t necessarily like the book that was called the Lost World that I read in high school but I did love the book called Jurassic Park both written by the late Michael Crichton. Next would be the original, then Jurassic World would be next, followed by Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and then Jurassic Park ///. I have always been a big fan of them but Jurassic Park /// was kind of awkward but don’t get me wrong it is starting to grow with me the more I watch it even with the hidden Lore that the latest two movie sites have put out. I was a little befuddled with the last entry in the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom but I thought it was an okay movie and I have a feeling that it will lead up to a better follow up story. I tend not to really be overly critical when it comes to the franchise as a whole because most of what we get comes from the pages of the two novels as a whole. So Jurassic Park is and always shall be one of my favorites. If I feel like I am in the mood to have a movie in the dark night. I will most likely watch a Jurassic movie or the first Jaws film which I also love but I only like the first Jaws movie and somewhat like the second one but the last two are just downright terrible and I am not a huge fan of those unless I just want to watch them to get a good cheesy laugh out of them. I have a lot of Jurassic park themed stuff. I have two egg toys one featuring the injured T-rex baby from lost world and a raptor from JP///, I have Pop! figure of Blue, and have the Jurassic Park: Danger Board game, the a few shirts and a a hoodie and a few other things from earlier films as well as all of the movies on DVD.

So when I was a kid my greatest obsession was Star Wars that was the main thing that I would watch and collect memorabilia and action figures from. However after the release of Revenge of the Sith it began to run kind of thin with me and I was not much as a devoted fan anymore. I mean I read the Expanded Universe stories which I love better than this Disney stuff that they have been spewing out for the last few years. However back in 2009 the new Star Trek reboots were just coming out. I went down the cereal aisle and found ads for Star Trek with limited edition Beam Up badges so I decided to see what it was about. I had never really been a big fan of Star Trek. I would only watch it occasionally when my parents would watch it but I hardly understood it. They watch the later series with Jean Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko, and Katherine Janeway as the captains. I decided to watch my first full Star Trek episode called the “Corbinite Maneuver” In an instant I was hooked. I started with the the Original with William Shatner and it instantly became a big time obsession. I bought some more cereal and collected cut out tokens so I could send away for a Star Trek uniform Tee shirt which I still have to this day. I went on to watch the first six Star Trek movies, the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, (sorry folks was not a big fan of enterprise) but I was totally hooked. In high school I even learned how to speak a little bit of Klingon. Mostly if I speak Klingon now I am singing Klingon opera like the “victory song”, the “battle anthem”, or “Klingon Drinking song”, or the song that they sing on the night before one’s wedding sung on the Deep Space Nine Episode “You are cordially invited” which is one of my top picks for that series. I am a huge fan of Deep Space Nine more than anything for its dark under tones and more serious manner. It tends to be the darkest series of the first five series. Don’t get me wrong Voyager had some pretty crazy and dark twisted episodes but my goodness is it good. I also got to meet a few Star Trek cast memebers along the way as I became more into wanting to go to more nerd conventions.

Here I am with Captain Kirk himself at my first ever Dallas Fan Expo in Dallas TX. I was so excited to meet William Shatner and get this photo taken with the second Captain of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701. It was a truly awesome experience. I also got to meet Brent Spiner who played my favorite TNG character Data. I also got to meet Nichelle Nicholes. I got both her’s and Brent’s autograph. It was quite fun to go to those cons. I went three years in a row to the Dallas expo. My last time was in 2016. It was so cool to meet the rest of the people I met like Veronica Taylor from Pokemon, Christopher Lloyd from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Back to the Future, Cyber Chase when he played the Hacker, I also Met Nathan Fillion from Firefly and Castle I am now watching his current show on ABC called the Rookie which me and my aunt are both obsessed over right now. I also met Dean Cain from the Superman series Louis and Clark, I also met Bill Farmer who plays Goofy on most of the modern Disney stuff, Jim Cummings who played Darkwing Duck, Winnie-the-pooh, Ed the Hyena on Lion King, and many other characters from most of our childhoods. I also met a few others but my goodness I have met a lot. So Star Trek to say has become one of my favorites surpassing Star Wars even though I have not been too sure about the new Discovery show. I am more of purist when it comes to Star Trek but that is just me. That doesn’t mean that the Reboots and Discovery have a few redeeming qualities I am just saying I like the way it intended to be. I since have collected books, a few models of a couple of the USS Enterprises like the original, D, and my personal favorite E, along with a model of Spock, I also made myself a do it yourself tribble because I am a huge fan of that episode Trouble with Tribbles as most of us Trekkies do. I still like Star Wars so don’t get me wrong I still have all my old Star Wars toys and things so that will never truly go away but I am still more toward the pre-Disney era and think that the legends are the only canon in my book. I still like both and each one brings something to the table so there is no reason to totally be at odds with each other when it comes to our two respective fandoms.

Next is one of my favorite British TV Shows that I have grown to like since the year 2014 when I went to my first Dallas Fan Expo.

Doctor Who will always be one of my all time favorite Time Travel shows. I have to admit when my mother watched this on TV when I was younger on PBS. It scared the pants off me. I hated the show at first. I was born with autism and some of the weird off set and loud noises from the original run episodes really bothered me with my audio issues with my ears. It took me a long while to develop a taste for this classic bit of BBC programming. I have watched PBS shows all my life from Keeping up Appearances, Are You Being Served, and many of the other British Sitcoms but I never really got into their science fiction stuff I was more into their comedies like Monty Python’s Flying Circus and what not but I gave it another go and instantly got into it. You may think that I started with what we call the NuWho but I began to watch the Third and Forth Doctor series from the 1970s working my way to number 5, 6, 7, and then I watched the movie with the eighth Doctor, and then got into the new stuff. Tom Baker, David Tenant, Matt Smith, John Pertwee, and Peter Capaldi were among my absolute favorite Doctors. The stories are insane and and very fun. They deal with a lot os issues saw into day’s world. It almost reminds me of Twilight Zone and Outer limits some of the time with a few of the stories but has its own vibes and style to it. I love the show and have a few Tee shirts, a 11th Doctor fez, a replica of 10′s sonic screwdriver, the Lego Tardis set along with the Lego Dimensions add on packs with the 12th Doctor, K-9 (who is by far my favorite side character of the series), I also have the Dalek and Cyberman add ons. I have a couple of other things like a 4th Doctor pop figure too, as well as a Doctor Who 4th Doctor scarf and blanker which I often wear and have when I am watching a marathon or when I am down with a cold or sick with something else. So yeah I am a huge fan of this but was not too impressed with the writing from the last Doctor’s run it wasn’t the Doctor being a woman or the acting which I though the change was very interesting and I had no problem with it but I just feel the writing could have been done a little differently. However I was sad we didn’t get a Christmas special last year so that broke tradition with the Doctor Who show. Still I don’t mind travailing with the good Doctor when I watch the show. It is an emotional roller coaster and a thrilling story of a mad man in a blue box.

One of my other favorites and one of my regular go to movies and Cartoons is the Men In Back franchise. I am a fan of both the live action and the series they used to play on the WB kids block. Men In Black has always been one to get me laughing my head off. My favorite character is Jay because for me I kind of find his antics way off point for what Kay is trying to teach him to be. Jay is never low key about trying to keep things about global destruction low key like the MIB do. Jay always has the best lines and is kind of a good ball compared to his partner Kay. I first saw Men In Black movies in the early 2000s but I watched the series when I was a kid. I often revisit the series because I like how it was done. Dark a little bit, sarcastic absolutely, and full of action you bet. The cartoon doesn’t have a lot of deep seeded issues or things to reflect on like the movies do. The movies always get me to thinking and always having me laugh my head off till I nearly puke. Seriously every time the Worm Guys come on the screen I am on my butt nearly double over. They are my favorite aliens of the series in both the cartoon and live action universes. These films are just my kind of weird. I like Ghostbusters too for the same reasons there is a lot of fun characters, crazy villains, tons of gross out moments that either make you gag or laugh, and there is a lot of action involved. Seriously this film has it all space cops, evil human challenged aliens, and tons of shiny things. This series is a must for any science fiction fan. It is just simply put a fun series. I don’t know how the next one is going to go seeming that Agent K and J are not going to be in this film so far as I know but I will go see it just to see what they do to the franchise as we explore another branch of the MIB. I have all three on DVD and have some old wendy’s toys back when the cartoon series was out. I love this series too because in a few episodes in the cartoon and in the first movie they had to deal with Space Bugs so that kind of made me into it more. I love the whole fight scene with Edgar and Jay’s antics it was kind of a funny fight scene with an awesome gross out with the slime at the end when the space roach gets blown to bits. I find the episodes in the cartoon featuring the bugs funny. All of that has a great blend with sci-fi and comedy. Some of the cartoon stuff is pretty dark but heck man I still love it for what it is worth.

Space Jam was one that I loved from the moment I saw it for the first time in the 90s. I have always been a Looney Tunes kind of guy. I love the classics, Tazmania, Loonatics Unleashed, Duck Dodgers, and I really didn’t think the Looney Tunes Show was all that bad in fact I think over all it was good but I still think they should have made a few changes to a few of their characters. I love the straight to DVD movies too. Space Jam is one of those films that is kind of off the rails but it is one that all 90s kids like to be honest. I have always been a fan of the blend with cartoon characters intermingling with humans and interacting with them. It is a fun movie and I really enjoy watching it. I have it on DVD and watch it often. I love the sport of Basket Ball I used to play it when I was young on a little league team and love to watch the Dallas Mavericks play so seeing a blend of two of my favorite things blended together is kind of fun. There are a lot of funny moments in this film and a few classic references to a few other movies. When I watch a new movie I always love to see what kind of other references I can find and laugh when I figure out what they are. Space Jam is one of those that is a fun film and sometimes fun films don’t get a lot of good press with critics but there is nothing wrong with watching a fun film. Sometimes life needs to be taken a little less serious and you need a good laugh or just need to take you mind off things and this is one of those films that is just down right ridiculous but we love it. Shoot I can watch this basket ball match between the Tune Squad and the Monstars anytime over and over again.

Another one of my absolute favorites is this Toony Mystery film. Roger Rabbit is one of the few cult classic movies that I have seen and for me I love this one. I love mysteries I read a lot of mystery books like A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and I have not been a stranger to reading a Sherlock Holmes mystery. I find this movie to be more for older kids but it has always appealed to me for its fun nature and its really interesting blend of Noir style with cartoon characters. It is one of my favorite crossovers using mainly Warner Bros., Disney, and Universal characters along with the original characters like Roger Rabbit, his wife Jessica, Baby Herman, the Weasels, and Benny the Cab. the one scene in this whole film that makes me laugh extra hard is the Droopy Bellboy scene were Eddie is entering the appartment building trying to track down Jessica but is actually following a bonkers Toon Named Leena who looks like Jessica but is not Jessica at all. The elevator scene is so funny the way that Droopy looks so emotionless and says his lines while Eddie gets flattened and then flung up to the ceiling. I am a fan of a lot of classic cartoons and Droopy is one of them so that is why I laugh so hard at that scene and I have been known to do an impression of him when I enter an elevator with my family. That"going up sir, mind you step sir, hold on sir, have a good day sir” line has always stuck with me. Now I watched this as a child and any fan of this movie knows how terrifying Judge Doom was toward the end. For me the most horrifying scene in this movie (and I am sure I speak to most of the fans of this here when I say) The most horrific scene for this movie (SPOILERS IF YOU DON’T WANT TO READ THIS BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM TURN BACK NOW.) Is where Judge Doom and Eddie get into the epic battle and Eddie grabs a tub of glue and Judge Doom breaks it open and winds up getting stuck to the end of the steamroller and instantly flattened. That is not what makes it so freaky it is when Roger yells to Eddie to look then you see a flattened Doom start to peel himself off the ground and start to flop around trying to get his balance. His partial Toon features are only freakier to whitness the burning red eyes, the high pitched voice that could break glass, the eye daggers, the arm saw makes him a formidable foe and one of the creepiest characters in this film. However besides that it is one of my favorites because I laugh and I think it is another one of those fun and silly films. I also like that is one of those very special films that allow for other film groups to correspond with each other. I feel that we need more films like these where characters from different franchises come together. I don’t think we will get another film where Mickey and Bugs, or Daffy and Donald share the same screen time ever again on the same playing field but that is another reason why I get a kick out of this film it is not totally one sided a lot of characters are in this movie sharing the spotlight from different film industries which still amazes audiences today. And too I like the crazy wit of Roger. I have actually played the NES game for this film but have never really completed it.

Okay so now we are getting into more down to earth comedy which I do like. A friend in college a couple of semesters back told me about this movie after I told him that I was a naturalist and a birder. This movie is about the annual Big Year that happens every year. It is a comedy of three men trying to get the most amount of birds in a calendar year. It is one of my favorite nature based hollywood films. If you get into to birding though and want to see this movie DO NOT TAKE THIS MOVIE FOR SCIENCE ACCURACY! It will drive you nuts. It is a great movie about birds and many people who watch it are bird watcher and members of birding clubs like I am but there are many birds that are out of place in this film but heck it is still a fun movie to watch and get a laugh out of. I watch it every time during the new year or before a big birding event. Sometime I will watch it before the Christmas bird count or before I go to volunteer for the Great Backyard Bird Count. I love this movie for many reasons it is heartfelt, has birds and I love birds and have over 170 on my life list so far. It is also just a good film to watch if you are a nature lover. It is funny but has a good message to it. It is one that is good for the whole family. I like it because I like all three of these actors. I watch a lot of their material often. Steve Martin has always been one of my favorite actors for his roles in Cheaper By the Dozen, Pink Panther 1&2, my personal favorite The Three Amigos, among others. I think this is another one that is really fun I know I say that a lot but this one is kind of cool because it really does show what birder do minus Owen Wilson’s character being kind of a big jerk to everybody in this film. It shows a day in the life of a birder in most cases and what we do when we are caught in certain situations in a more comedic way but it is till a reflection of ourselves when we travel and when we all get together and go birding. So this movie really hits close to home for me. It is neither a cartoon or a science fiction it is a comedy and a pretty good one too. So I give this one a spot on my list.

I mentioned this one earlier but this is one of the only horror movies I have ever gotten into. I had not seen the movie previously to 2010. I have seen bits and pieces and to be honest I was only a small kid when I saw the bits and pieces and this film creeped me out big time. In 2010 in one of my classes in high school we all got DVDs and my teacher knowing how much I loved animals gave me this one. I was not really allowed to watch it I lived a pretty sheltered life but I watched it and I was totally blown away (no pun intended to the ending). This film was truly amazing and one I watch again and again. I love sharks and I know this shark is viewed as a bad guy preying on poor beach goers who are just trying to enjoy themselves while having a swim at the beach. I really like the Matt Hooper Character portrayed by Richard Dryfuss. My grandmother said it must have been devine intervention that I saw this film because it made me study the truth behind sharks, shark attacks, and made me develop a new appreciation for sharks. This film may have scared the pants off of me when I was younger and may have scared everyone that went to go see it back in the summer of 1975 or who read the novel by Peter Benchly which I have read back in high school around the same time I read the two Jurassic Park Novels. This film is by far one of the darkest films and maybe the darkest film I will ever watch all though Star Trek: First Contact was really dark in some spots but I liked it. Jaws for me was fun and had a lot of nice dark undertones especially when you get to Captain Quint’s famous USS Indianapolis speech. The movie is good and reflect heavily on the 1916 shark attacks even though it happens on an island that doesn’t exist and the setting of the attacks was changed but it was meant to be a fictional story but it does have echos of the events that played out during the summer of 1916. I love this movie for many reasons but it was really well played out even as it turned out to be one of the toughest movies to make and was almost never made. I love the characters in the movie. I can see why they changed them from their book counterparts all of the characters were not that likable and were jerks to everyone it seemed. The movies puts heart into to some of the situations that play out and has a deep suspense theme to it. Number 2 was the one I enjoyed the second most. Number three I can’t even take seriously and number four only has that one genuinely terror scene at the beginning then it is a complete cheese fest. Don’t get me wrong I am one for cheesy movies I love a lot of the cheesy stuff from the 60s, 70s, and 80s but Jaws isn’t one that I would associate for trying to be totally cheesy then it turned out to be. I know they were just milking it for all it was worth but it was really unnecessary because the rest of the films didn’t take anything from the source material like you see in Jurassic Park. That is why I don’t criticize Jurassic Park that much because all of that stuff comes from the pages of the book. Jaws only does it justice one time then totally goes down hill from there. That is why I say that there will never be a movie with a shark half as good as Jaws one. Jaws one was tops for shark movies but no one has come even close from trying to break the cheese barrier. The Meg came a little close but not too close. So yeah Jaws still holds the record for being the best shark film.

Okay now I am getting into some Superhero stuff. I bet you are wondering who like better DC or Marvel. Well I like both but I only like certain things from DC. DC I only like for the 1960s Batman TV show even though it was a campy series I still loved it and love to laugh at it and watch it just for fun. I also like the Michael Keaton stuff like Batman 1980 and Batman Returns; Don’t judge me on this but I also like to watch Batman & Robin and Batman Forever just for the cheap giggles and laughs. I also like the first four Superman Films, the original Wonder Woman series, and the early DC comics and things. I am not one for the darker films that much. I am just not that kind of guy. However I do love the Marvel comics and the Marvel cinematic Universe. What is a nerd without liking superheroes. This is one of my favorites. I first saw an ad for this trailer at the Dallas Fan Expo in 2014 and I instantly wanted to go see it. It looked funny and the song “Hooked on a Feeling” was played and I love that song just as much a Peter Quill so yeah I had to see it. I love things about renegades and rebels on the loose like Star Wars, Firefly, and several western flicks like Young Guns I&II and several others. Guardians of the Galaxy is one of my favorites for its sarcastic nature (I like a lot of stuff with sarcasm for my family tends to be pretty sarcastic and me I tend to be a wise guy sometimes and like to smart off so I would fit right along with the Guardians of the Galaxy crew if I was able to) The humor in this film is my kind of humor and the action is good; but what gets me with these films is the connection these outlaws have with each other and how they over come their troubles and woes. They were “losers” but they found strength with each other even if they were contemplating to kill each other at some points in the film. They still had their issues but isn’t that what happpens in a family. I love the story of the first one and love the follow up. These films have a place on the list because to me I can relate. My grandmother had cancer and died from it much like Peter’s momma at the beginning of the film and My grandmother got me hooked on a lot of the stuff that she got me into like vintage black and white comedies, old songs from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. So there was a deep connection I had with these films that really hit me hard minus the being abducted by aliens thing. So this film is one of those that makes me think about my own life in certain ways.

So these are my top movie and TV show picks. You may see that I have a lot of things that are relate-able to my sense of humor and my life and the way I work. So there is much more to me then just picking up a camera and going on a hike. No I am a pretty big nerd in the long run. I have not go into Anime that much I do like some but I don’t really like a whole bunch of it. It has always been hard for me to get into. Normally I like comedies, western cartoons mainly classic cartoons and things, I am also into a lot of science fiction. Just to name a few other things I am into (Lord of the Rings, I am somewhat of a slight Hobbit guy, Battlestar Galactica 1978, Godzilla most of the films, King Kong, Scooby Doo and many other Hanna Barbara Cartoons, the Chronicles of Narnia, a whole multitude of Disney films from the past to today. Just to name a few things)

So until next time I am Galactic Bug Man. Live Long and Prosper and I will see you on the trail. This transmission ends.

and May the Force Be With You! Good Night Everybody!

#movies #interests #who framed roger rabbit #jurassic park #star trek #space jam #guardians of the galaxy #the big year #jaws #men in black #mib #doctor who #nerd #geek #fandoms #comedy #adventure #cartoons

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topsearchfirms2 · 2 years ago

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What George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg Know

I was six years old and I had no idea what I was about to experience. For months my parents had been talking about Star Wars and we were now sitting in the third row of a movie theater. Music blared and I saw a large space ship encompass the screen in pursuit of a smaller ship. I was horrified to see the menacing, tall, dark figure of Darth Vader enter the smaller ship and I was hooked. I became Luke and as I left the theater I was a Jedi.

From that moment I had lost the ability to choose my career. I loved movies and had become addicted. I cried when E.T. was about to die and remember a woman yelling in the theater, "Run, Elliot, run!" I screamed in Jaws as the tension grew so thick I could not hold my voice. I cheered and laughed with Indiana Jones as he fought the German soldier who threw him through the windshield onto the hood of the truck and as he used his whip to trail between the wheels on the dirt road and climbed back to resume the fight. I screamed as the T-Rex in Jurassic Park smashed through the sunroof of the truck attacking the children and after each film I dreamed of them for months and laughed with my friends talking about them. These had all become part of my life. I watched Jurassic Park five times in the theater on the opening weekend!

Some movies penetrate your soul while others give a few laughs and fall to the wayside moments after you leave the theater. Star Wars, E.T., Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Arc and Jurassic Park are among the highest grossing films in history. George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg are in the business of entertainment as are many other people yet the films they create continue to bring enormous returns while many others fail to recoup their investments. So what do George Lucas and Steven Spielberg know?

They know the need and how to fulfill it.

That is an odd statement - "They know the need." Yes, it is odd, but that is the great key to success in any business. When you know the need and fulfill it, success will follow. For instance, there is a need for chocolate. People love chocolate and the need for it is more than just the taste, there is emotion attached. Have you seen the face of a woman who loves chocolate when she slips it into her mouth and savors it? There is emotion attached to that need that can approach (and in some cases, truly is) addiction. Chocolate manufacturers understand this need and set up their products to accommodate those needs and they make millions doing so.

There is a need for stories and story-like characters. In our nature we need them. For thousands of years stories have been part of our existence and we crave them just as we crave chocolate. We are addicted to them. There is emotion attached to them and we cannot get enough. For the most part we live mundane lives-no adventure, no purpose, no reason for Heidrick & Struggles, strength, no reason for courage, no reason for honor, we simply go to work, come home, watch TV, read the news and go to bed. All the while we crave adventure, love, courage, a sense of honor and redemption. When those items are experienced by characters we are watching we feel the courage the character is expressing, we become that courage or strength and we are the people we watch. We become them and crave that sense of honor and when we have characters that give us redemption we are redeemed.

So George Lucas and Steven Spielberg know the "need" but how do they fulfill that need? There are four basic ways they do it and through which they create narrative tension which pulls us in and allows us to experience the adventure of their characters:

1) The Unusual - They use things that are unusual to us. Remember, we live basically mundane lives and the "regular" is boring, it is what we live. We want a story that allows us to escape. Think of Star Wars. How unusual is that? Jurassic Park? E.T.? A face-to-face encounter with Jaws.

2) A Threat - They work with our fears, our hates and our loves. Each of these is a threat on many levels. If the characters in the story have fears, we associate with them and that association endears them to us and we see ourselves in the actions they take against what is threatening them.

3) Extreme Values - These are things such as your family, your home, your occupation. When a character has to make decisions based on what they value in the extreme we side with them because we have similar values.

4) Programmed Needs - Think for example if your income is jeopardized or your stability or security. These are programmed needs we all have and when a movie puts them in jeopardy we feel it in our emotions.

The movies I have mentioned by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg score five stars in each of these categories and have been created in a manner to attract the largest audiences in that they appeal to all age groups and most demographics. They are constructed with content that entertains but does not cause a parent to fear taking their child. They have the unusual, the threat, extreme values and the main character's programmed needs are attacked. Whether you are young or old, you will enjoy these stories and they will fulfill the craving "need" in you.

I have spent my life in this industry and when Stephen Sobisky and I took control of Sandman Studios we decided we would work on and create films which fulfill the undying "need" within each of us for great stories. As we partner with filmmakers and studios, we consciously accept and create projects with the audience and narrative tension in mind. The core of entertainment is in the story and if your story fulfills the need of your audience, it will be a success.

I was hooked sitting in that theater chair watching Star Wars when I was six years old and the feeling has never left me. I love movies and the creation of great stories has become my life. People have told me that when they read Speed of Light they wanted to be Pierce Black. I get the greatest satisfaction as I hear that my stories have made a mark in someone's life and they had felt the emotion of my characters as they read. I hope that someday a young child will be watching Pierce Black struggling for his life in the feature film of Speed of Light and dare to dream his dreams and make them real.

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nightfoot · 7 years ago

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Not really liking the way the last few Jurassic Park movies have focused on a “main antagonist” dinosaur.

In the first movie, Rexy had 2 scenes in which she terrorized the main characters. The other 2 times she showed up, she didn’t really interact with the human characters. The raptors don’t show up until the third act.

The second one edged into Main Villain territory. There were two big scenes on the island featuring the rexes, and then the whole third act was about one of them. But, this is somewhat evened out by the diversity of the other also featuring compies, the extended raptor sequence at the worker village, the stegosaurus attack near the beginning... Lost World has a good diversity in dinosaur action, plus the t-rex had a good reason to be attacking the characters twice in a row.

The third movie brings in the Spinosaurus, deliberately framing it as “the new main dinosaur!” There’s a whole scene of it killing a t-rex just to show us how badass it is. It seems to stalk the main characters all over the island for no reason, at all, and is the cause of all but 1 character death. I the first two movies, the “villain” was nature, wild animals doing their thing and you run into them at random. This one is closer to having a specific movie monster villain like Jaws.

And then there’s Jurassic World. Jurassic World didn’t even try to act like the danger came from a natural force, wild animals doing their thing. This one gave us the Indominus Rex, the main villain of the movie, complete with tragic backstory. This isn’t a movie about characters being thrust into a dangerous wilderness, this is a movie about a monster killing people.

And they’re doing it again in Fallen Kingdom. Now it’s the Indominus Raptor, specifically advertised as their main villain. Not a movie about humans interacting with dinosaurs, but a movie about a scary monster, oh and dinosaurs are there too.

It’s just... a shift in focus I’m not keen on. I think it’s a major reason why the later movies feel more like run of the mill Hollywood monster movies than the first Jurassic Park (which is flawless) did

#dinosaurs

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jerryepstein · 6 years ago

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Maestro-Composer John Williams will be conducting the LA Phil August 30-Sept 1st... time to post some photos and stories... It was a lot of fun playing the music of John Williams; he wrote some really nice themes for the violas. For instance, the the beginning of the Jurassic Park had a lot of lower strings. When we play Jaws... you know it starts with the cellos going Bahda Bahda like the shark and everybody in the front three rows would instinctively move back like they actually thought that a shark was coming. When we performed the music to Superman, I started a trend in the viola section where I would wave my viola back-and-forth like Superman flying and then eventually I would turn around and the entire viola section was waving their violas back-and-forth like Superman flying and that was lotta fun! My favorite part of playing a John Williams concert was the encore. We would end with Darth Vader‘s theme from Star Wars. The lights dimmed and it seemed that the entire audience knew what was going to happen and came prepared. Everyone bought a light saber; so many different colored light sabers. While we were playing the music from my perspective I was looking out at over 18,000 people waving light sabers and it was the coolest thing to see from the stage. Photo by Rebecca Dru (Sept. 1, 2006) Jerry Epstein’s Stories are all written and edited by Rebecca Dru @druified ©2019 Rebecca Dru All Rights Reserved . . . #LAPHIL #classicalmusic #Jerryepstein #violists #Musician #43yearsinthelaphil #mylifeasamusician #performance #hollywoodbowl #concert #Maestro #famousconductor #orchestraconductor #Johnwilliams #filmscores #filmmusic #jaws #jurassicpark #starwars #themefromstarwars #fiddlerontheroof #superman #closeencounters #storytelling #documentary #recordkeeper #dailystory #instastory #History #druified #rebeccadruphotography (at Hollywood Bowl) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1WZY7xgwCy/?igshid=1k56wvhr4ortv

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duncanbarker-blog · 6 years ago

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As recent converts to the joys of Harry Potter (and theme park fans), we couldn’t miss Universal Studios Japan on our visit to Osaka. While wandering through the magical Harry Potter World was the highlight of our day, we also rode the scariest rollercoaster we’ve ever been on and discovered many more fun attractions.

Universal Studios Japan is well worth a day if you are in Osaka. It’s easily accessible from the city, and the large park (much bigger than Universal Singapore) has plenty to keep you busy all day.

Top Tip: Book your tickets in advance with official partner Voyagin to avoid long queues on the day. The park gets very busy (even in February when we visited) so it’s worth paying extra for an Express Pass.

In this post we share the best Universal Studios Japan rides for adults and older kids as well as tips on avoiding queues, how to get there, the best place to buy tickets, and much more to make the most of your day.

Top Universal Studios Japan Rides and Attractions

1) Exploring The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was our favourite area at Universal Studios Japan. To get there you walk down a long pathway lined with pine trees (past the car that Ron crashed!), so it feels separate from the rest of the park, like you are entering another world.

Ron’s crashed car on the path to Harry Potter World

Entering Hogsmeade

Even if you don’t go on one of the two rides here, it’s a joy to wander the snowy cobbled streets of a perfectly recreated Hogsmeade village.

You can shop for wands at Ollivanders, jokes at Zonko’s and sweets at Honeydukes and have a pint of butterbeer in the Hog’s Head or Three Broomsticks. The warm butterbeer on a cold day was delicious (if very sweet).

Simon drinking butterbeer on the terrace of the Three Broomsticks

You can also take a photo next to the Hogwarts Express, see owls waiting to deliver mail in the owlery, and send letters with a Hogsmeade postmark in The Owl Post.

Most spectacular of all is Hogwarts Castle perched on rocks overlooking the village.

Note that Harry Potter World does get very busy and at peak times you’ll need a timed entry ticket to visit. You can pick these up in the park for free but they can run out, so to be on the safe side, buy an Express Pass in advance.

Luckily this wasn’t necessary in February (although it still felt crowded), and we were able to visit twice—it’s particularly lovely at sunset.

2) Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

Hogwarts Castle

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is the main attraction in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the most popular ride in the whole park. It takes place inside Hogwarts Castle, and I enjoyed the walk through the castle seeing Dumbledore’s office, classrooms, and talking paintings (in Japanese!) as much as the ride itself.

It’s a 3D ride but glasses aren’t needed as you are immersed in the world of Hogwarts, taking part in a Quidditch game, feeling the heat of a dragon’s fire on your face, and even getting spit at by giant spiders. It’s an exhilarating experience with fantastic effects. It did trigger my motion sickness, but it was worth the nausea and I recovered quickly.

The other ride in Harry Potter World is Flight of the Hippogriff which is aimed at kids and didn’t seem worth the 65-minute wait when we were there.

3) Wand Magic

The other thing we loved doing in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was Wand Magic where we cast our own spells!

This might not be for everyone as you first have to buy a magical wand from one of the stores, but for big Harry Potter fans it’s worth it, and you end up with a beautifully created souvenir.

There are five points around the village where you can perform spells—you get a map with your wand and can also look for the bronze medallions on the floor that show the spell. There are teachers available to help you out.

Armed with Hermione’s wand, I used the Incendio spell to light a chimney (after an embarrassing number of failed attempts!) and another to make it snow down a back alley. It’s a lot of fun and really added to the experience.

Of course, the most authentic place to purchase your wand is Ollivanders, but there’s usually a 10–15 minute wait to get in. You can also buy the magic wands at other stores in the area. Make sure you get the special magic wand and not the regular wands which you can’t use for spells.

To go the whole hog, you could also buy a Hogwarts gown and scarf from the stores, but this (including wand) would set you back about $250. The scarfs and wands are more reasonable than the gowns (Simon bought a Gryffindor scarf for about $40). As we were on a press trip they lent us a gown for the day.

4) Despicable Me Minion Mayhem

Despicable Me Minion Mayhem is the second most popular ride in the park and has long queues. This fairly new ride (opened in 2017) is located in the fun, colourful Minion Park and is another immersive 3D simulator ride without glasses using a giant dome screen.

The whole experience is about 25 minutes as there’s a long intro video (with English subtitles) that adds to the context. The ride itself is narrative heavy, and although we couldn’t follow the Japanese, we got the general idea, and it’s still a fun experience as you bounce around a giant factory on your way to becoming a Minion.

Unfortunately, this is another ride that’s not great for those with motion sickness.

5) The Flying Dinosaur

Oh my—The Flying Dinosaur is intense! It’s the scariest rollercoaster we’ve ever been on, and it was brilliant fun!

It’s located in Jurassic Park and the idea is that an out-of-control Pteranodon seizes you from behind and pulls you high into the sky. This means that once you’ve sat down, your seat is turned 90 degrees towards the floor so that you are facing straight down. There is nothing between your face and the ground far below!

The ride is so fast and disorientating that I don’t remember exactly what happened, but it involved multiple 360º inversions, many twists and turns, and an underground section. It’s a crazy, cool and unique ride that’s not to be missed by thrill-seekers.

6) Hollywood Dream – The Ride

The Hollywood Dream rollercoaster passes through the streets of Hollywood

If you prefer your rollercoasters slightly less terrifying, then Hollywood Dream is for you. It’s a smooth, non-inverting, high-speed coaster with some stomach dropping ramps and vertical drops.

I love that you can choose from one of five songs as your personal soundtrack—I went for Michael Jackson’s Bad. It’s a very fun ride.

You can also ride the same coaster backwards on Hollywood Dream – The Ride (Backdrop), but unfortunately it was closed when we visited.

7) The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man

This award-winning attraction is a dark ride that combines a moving vehicle with 4K3D images (you wear glasses) and immersive elements where you feel the heat and water from the villains firing at you.

It can cause motion sickness, but if that doesn’t affect you, you won’t want to miss this one.

8) Jurassic Park – The Ride

Jurassic Park is a mostly gentle water ride through a park filled with dinosaurs. There’s a huge and fun drop at the end where you may get wet (especially in the front row).

We bought ponchos (400 yen) just in case as we didn’t want to risk getting wet on a cold day. There are also lockers available (100 yen which gets returned to you).

In winter this was one of the easiest rides to get on, but I imagine it’s busier in the summer.

9) JAWS

JAWS was temporarily closed when we visited, but we would have liked to have gone on this. What starts as a leisurely boat tour of Amity Harbour becomes more thrilling when a gigantic man-eating shark appears.

10) Space Fantasy/ Lupin the Third

Space Fantasy is a spinning rollercoaster where you journey through space. From 19th January to 23rd June 2019 it is relaunched as Lupin the Third Car Chase XR as part of the Universal Cool Japan 2019 event which celebrates Japanese characters. This 3D rollercoaster features characters from Lupin the Third on a high-speed car chase.

Universal Studios Japan Tickets

Universal Studios Japan is a very busy park throughout the year, so we highly recommend booking your tickets in advance to avoid the ticket queues on the day.

English speakers can’t book on the official website, so you need to use one of their partner agencies like Voyagin (who we’ve used for other activities in the past).

A one day ticket costs from 7,400 yen ($66) with higher prices at peak times. You may also want to pay extra for an express pass (see below).

Check Universal Studios Japan ticket prices at Voyagin here.

Is a Universal Studios Japan Express Pass Worth It?

Even though we visited in the winter, Universal Studios Japan is probably the busiest theme park we’ve visited (yes, even busier than Disney). The park features many major attractions that you won’t want to miss, but they all have very long queue times from as soon as the park opens.

You could get on a few rides quickly at the start of the day if you arrive early, but you won’t be able to do everything without waits of at least an hour and usually much longer.

Unfortunately there isn’t a free queue jump system like Disney’s FastPass, so the only way to guarantee to get on everything without long waits is buying an Express Pass, which can cost more than the entrance ticket.

Express Passes can sell out, so it’s best to purchase them in advance when you buy your ticket from Voyagin. They are usually available 2–3 months ahead.

Some Express Passes were still available to buy within the park when we visited in February, but in high season they are likely to be sold out.

It’s rather confusing as there are many different passes depending on which rides you can use them on and prices vary depending on the date. Make sure your pass at least includes Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

The best pass is the “Express Pass 7 – The Flying Dinosaur” which includes all the major rides, but it costs at least 9500 yen ($85) and at peak times can be 19,250 yen ($173) or more.

A cheaper option from 8200 yen ($74) is the “Express Pass 4”, but you have to choose between versions that include The Flying Dinosaur or the Minion ride.

Voyagin publishes this handy Express Pass demand spreadsheet with the prices of the various passes on different dates. This will also give you a good idea of the busiest days in the park which you should try to avoid.

Note that the Express Pass will give you timed entry for the most popular rides.

See the range of Express Passes on the Voyagin website here.

VIP Wristband and Harukas 300 Entrance

Instead of the Express Pass, you could buy the VIP Wristband for 3850 yen ($35) which gets you into the park slightly earlier through a special entrance.

You have to pick up the wristband from the Harukas 300 observatory one to five days before you visit Universal Studios Japan. It includes entry to Harukas 300 which is well worth visiting for stunning views over the city.

We recommend visiting Harukas 300 just before sunset so you can see the sunset as well as the city lit up at night and the light shows that take place in the evening. We enjoyed tasty pineapple soft serve ice cream topped with crunchy pineapple candy at the cafe and there’s also a restaurant that looked lovely (not vegetarian-friendly though).

See our guide to visiting the Abeno Harukas 300 observatory.

Light show in the restaurant area of Harukas 300

Example Queue Times

If you’re not sure whether an express pass is worth it or not, here are some queue times that we noted during our visit in February (off-season) when the park opened at 9 am:

10.15am Minion Ride – 80 minutes

11 am Spider Man – 50 minutes

12 pm Harry Potter – 120 minutes

12.15pm Flight of the Hippogriff – 65 minutes

12.30pm Hollywood Dream – 60 minutes

3 pm Flying Dinosaur – 190 minutes

3.30pm Jurassic Park – 30 minutes

View of the Hollywood Dream ride from the lake

Universal Studios Japan Opening Hours

Universal Studios Japan usually opens from 8.30am or 9 am until 8 or 9 pm. See the calendar to check the hours (and ride closures) for the date you are visiting.

You should arrive at least 30 minutes before the official opening to get into the park as quickly as possible and head straight to either Harry Potter, the Flying Dinosaur or the Minion ride.

How to Get to Universal Studios Japan

It’s easy to get to Universal Studios Japan by train from central Osaka and shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes. Universal City Station is only a 5-minute walk from the park. To get here, you’ll likely need to change at Nishikujo station and transfer to the JR Yumesaki Line (also known as JR Sakurajima Line).

For example, from Namba Station take the Hanshin Namba Line to Nishikujo then change there for Universal City Station. This will cost about 360 yen and you can use your ICOCA card which is the easiest way to pay for transport in Osaka.

You can use Google Maps or Hyperdia to find the route from your nearest station.

Us at Hogwarts Castle

Hotels Near Universal Studios Japan

Universal Studios Japan is easily reachable from central Osaka, but if your trip is focused on the park it would be convenient to stay in one of these hotels just a few minutes walk away:

The Park Front Hotel at Universal Studios Japan – The newest official hotel and the closest one to the park gates. It has large rooms (unusual for Japan) and lots of amenities. My top pick.

Hotel Universal Port – Comfortable rooms, sea views and a great location.

Hotel Universal Port Vita – Funky, colourful rooms (some with sea views) and an ideal location.

La’gent Hotel Osaka Bay – A good budget option. Rooms are small but clean and it’s still walkable to the park.

Food At Universal Studios Japan

Simon with his Minion popcorn and cookie sandwich

Bringing food and beverages into the park is prohibited, but it’s unlikely they’ll check your bag and it might be a good idea for vegetarians to bring a few rice balls as meat-free options are limited.

Vegetarians can enjoy plenty of sweet treats though. We loved:

Salted caramel banana popcorn from the POP-A-NANA stand in Minion Park. You can even buy a souvenir bucket.

Cookie sandwiches from Despicable Me! The Cookie Kitchen. The chocolate orange one was especially tasty (500 yen/$4.50).

Chocolate cakes at Beverly Hills Boulangerie. There are lots to choose from, but the chocolate fondant with a hot melting middle was delicious.

Butterbeer at Three Broomsticks. It’s got to be done! The cold version is fizzier, but the warm one was better on a chilly day. You could probably share as it’s very sweet. There are great views of the castle from the terrace out the back.

Savoury vegetarian options are much more limited:

The Fossil Fuel stand in Jurassic Park World has waffle style french fries with avocado and salsa topping for 500 yen ($4.50).

Azzurra di Capri, a table service restaurant, has a vegetarian pizza. Go early to get a table.

Three Broomsticks has a vegetarian menu, but you have to ask staff for it (and it took them a while to find it!). The vegetarian set menu includes salad, grilled corn on the cob, fries, warmed vegetables, and granola for 1750 yen ($16). They said they could also do a vegetable curry, but it would take 30 minutes.

Park Side Grille, a table service steak restaurant, is listed on the map as having a vegetarian menu, but there are no meat-free options on their regular menu so you would need to ask.

Shopping

Simon in a unicorn hat at the It’s So Fluffy shop

If you plan to do any shopping, bring your passport as you can then shop tax-free if you spend over 5000 yen.

There are many options for souvenirs in the park. Our favourites were in Harry Potter World and It’s So Fluffy which is full of cute fluffy unicorns from Despicable Me.

Summary

Universal Studios Japan is a fun day out in Osaka with the magical Harry Potter World and some seriously thrilling rollercoasters and unique 3D simulators. It is a very popular park, so do make sure you avoid peak times, book tickets in advance, and either buy an Express Pass or prepare to queue.

If you are theme park nuts like us, you might also want to read our posts on our favourite Universal Studios Singapore rides and Tokyo DisneySea rides.

Many thanks to Universal Studios Japan and Voyagin who hosted us at the park.

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