40 QUESTIONS TIME - 04/06/07

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

so how bout that will wheaton?  hes next isnt he?

[Pak-Man]

I can't put my finger on why, but Fred Savage seems more like the logical progression to me. :^)

[dignan]

I can't put my finger on why, but Fred Savage seems more like the logical progression to me. :^)

You know, The Wizard HAS been released on DVD. 

[Douglin]

Oh come on, Neil is still a star, don't start lumping him in with Kevin Arnold, what's next that kid from 'small wonder', or how about one of the kids from 'you can't do that on television'

[Minnesota]

Why in the world would you ever want Wesley Crusher as a guest riffer? Or Fred Savage for that matter, I think you two have lost it 

[dignan]

Oh come on, Neil is still a star, don't start lumping him in with Kevin Arnold, what's next that kid from 'small wonder', or how about one of the kids from 'you can't do that on television'

Man, I'd love to hear what "Moose" is up to these days. 

[6079SmithW]

I'm going to say right here and now that, if there is a rifftrack that features Will Wheaton, and he's a Lowtax level guest riffer and not a Chad Vader one, it will be the first track I don't buy. I don't hate the guy, I wish him well at whatever the hell he's doing, but I do find him painfully unfunny and also I don't like his voice.

Kevin Arnold I'd be all for. I liked him in Working.

[Petey Wheatstraw]

...it doesn't shove bland, annoying show-tunes sung by annoying, unhuman demons in our face...

No it just has bad pop songs

Danny Elfman's Loompa-songs are terrific. And he doesn't invent some crappy lyrics to go along with his music, like the composer for the 1971 film. Those lyrics are Dahl's own poems from the original novel.

Danny Elfman is one of those composers where - even if the movie itself is an unwatchable piece of garbage so bad that even Mystery Science Theater 3000 would be afraid to touch it - you know the soundtrack album's worth listening to. He's a GREAT composer. You should have known better than to insult something Danny Elfman did when you took a look at my personal pic (it's Danny as Satan in FORBIDDEN ZONE).

I'm not going to go on debating the merits of Willy Wonka. I just don't like the 1971 adaptation. That's all.

[6079SmithW]

Danny Elfman's comic book movie music has been relatively weak, IMO. With the exception of the Batman theme, which was the best part of that movie, I think it generally misses the instant association between theme and character that those sorts of movies need.

And the Oompa Loompa songs were far more annoying in the Johnny Depp version, regardless of the origins of their lyrics. They were a hallucinatory highlight of the first movie, and one of the worst parts of the second.

[J-Proof]

Elfman's finest work.... PEEWEE'S BIG ADVENTURE!!!

[Petey Wheatstraw]

They were a hallucinatory highlight of the first movie

"Highlight," as in, "I'm just going to go and highlight this section of the weapons catalog. This looks like the perfect handgun to shoot myself in the face with."

Elfman is one of the best composers alive. If you think that godawful crap Mel Stuart and David Seltzer tried to pass off as "music" is in any way a "highlight," we're done talking. The music of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory was one of the major reasons why I found the film to be so unwatchable.

[dignan]

Elfman's finest work.... PEEWEE'S BIG ADVENTURE!!!

Hmm, while no doubt great, I'd go with Beetlejuice, probably. 

[6079SmithW]

They were a hallucinatory highlight of the first movie

"Highlight," as in, "I'm just going to go and highlight this section of the weapons catalog. This looks like the perfect handgun to shoot myself in the face with."

Elfman is one of the best composers alive. If you think that godawful crap Mel Stuart and David Seltzer tried to pass off as "music" is in any way a "highlight," we're done talking. The music of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory was one of the major reasons why I found the film to be so unwatchable.

All right, look, man. Just because you had to hear the soundtrack doesn't mean that everyone else has to experience the songs in the same painful manner- yes, the Oompa Loompa songs would be godawful if you heard them on the radio. And, yes, most of the rest of the music from that movie is pretty bad (although the only things that come to mind are the frightening Candyman song and that stupid one Charlie's mother sings.) However, the Oompa Loompa songs work well within the movie, when combined with the visuals that play during the songs. It's strange and unexpected and entertaining.

The Oompa Loompa songs in the second movie aren't strange in any surprising way, feel like they're trying (and failing) to be hip, and make me wish that I was watching Johnny Depp again.

[dignan]

Wait, I've changed my mind.  Edward Scissorhands might be Elfman's best score for me.  If we aren't counting "Dead Man's Party," by Oingo Boingo.

[6079SmithW]

Batman theme. It's the only thing about that movie that really captures the character, and it goes over the opening to B:TAS amazingly well.