Hannibal's house (where Jono just stays sometimes), Saturday night

[sharp_as_knives]

After a lovely dinner and a conversation that involved a lot of boggling on Jono's behalf and bemusement on Hannibal's, Hannibal had thrown up his metaphoric hands and made some very good popcorn.

They were now downstairs in the media room, ensconced comfortably on the sofa and trying to keep the cats out of said popcorn.

"I fail to see why it's so scandalous," Hannibal said, shaking his head. "It isn't as though I don't know what it is; I'm hardly blind to popular culture. It simply isn't something I've felt the need to watch."



[For the one mentioned! But texts or calls or whatever, why not?]

Comments

[furnaceface]

//Well... no. And I can't see you really going out of your way to do so, but...// Jono held up his DVD boxed set, that scandalized look going nowhere. //Space Battles. Who hasn't seen Space Battles??//

Hannibal Lecter, apparently. Keep up, Jono.

//I won't even make you watch the horrid prequels, but we are going to make our way through the fourth-née-first one tonight if it kills me.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"If you say so," Hannibal agreed equably. He picked Joni up from her place nose-first at the bowl and set her on the floor. Again. "I should hate for my education to be lacking in any way."

Like by not having watched some truly execrable movies.

[furnaceface]

Hey, now. The original trilogy were classics. And Jono even had the copies without all of the re-Lucasing gumming everything up inexplicably.

//See, that's why you really keep me around,// Jono replied. //The educational possibilities.//

See Jono. See Jono hitting play.

//If nothing else, I imagine you'll be able to appreciate the soundtrack?//

[sharp_as_knives]

"You won't mind then if I watch it with my eyes closed?" Hannibal asked innocently.

[furnaceface]

//Only if you don't mind my bony elbows,// Jono countered sweetly. //Actually, watching it now, you'd be able to easily pick out the beginnings of what a lot of what modern cinematographers use as a basis for their work, now. It's interesting from a technical standpoint, that way, too.//

Ah, the opening scrawl. Thank goodness they had a large television screen.

[sharp_as_knives]

"I suppose I shall make do, then." Hannibal picked Joni up from next to the bowl and set her on the opposite side of Jono.

"We get a prologue?" he asked as he read the scrawl.

[furnaceface]

//It's Space Battles tradition,// Jono confirmed, reaching down to scratch Joni behind the ears. //A little bit of background for the rebellion that's going on. You can probably follow along well enough without reading it, but it doesn't hurt, really.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"It seems a clumsy way of introduction," Hannibal noted. He read it, though, before settling back as the action began. "This was made decades ago?" he asked to verify.

[furnaceface]

//May '77,// Jono confirmed with a nod. //Few months before I was born, actually. Got Hensen to do a lot of the puppets for it and everything. I don't think they expected it to be half as popular as it was, right off the bat.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"Puppets?" Hannibal asked. "Where are there puppets?"

[furnaceface]

//All over,// Jono replied, amused. //It does take place in space, after all.//

It was right in the name, Hannibal.

//Hell, we'll probably see some in the next few minutes or so. They're actually fairly realistic.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"What does being in space have to do with puppets?" Hannibal asked. He raised an eyebrow at Jono. "Are puppets a requirement of space movies?" He hadn't been aware of that.

[furnaceface]

//Only if you're watching a science fiction space opera,// Jono mused. //These days people rely on CG, which... eugh. Give me a good practical effect any day of the week.//

A pause.

//The puppets are aliens,// he explained. //There are whole other civilizations in this universe that Lucas built.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"I had thought they were largely people in makeup and costumes," Hannibal observed.

He cocked his head as the villain - no, he hadn't been introduced, but it was patently obvious - came on the screen. "Somewhat of a Japanese influence, is there?"

[furnaceface]

//A bit,// Jono agreed. //Lucas was hugely inspired by Kurosawa, I believe. And a lot of old fantasy as well, though the Japanese might have had a snicker or two at the name of the Merlin equivalent.//

It meant something like 'belt-bowl-sword-belt.'

[sharp_as_knives]

"Oh?" Hannibal had heard a number of the names before, and most of them seemed rather snicker-worthy. "I can't wait to see him."

[furnaceface]

//That shouldn't take too long,// Jono replied. //Once we get to the whiny kid on the desert world, he won't be too far behind.//

Jono was doing a great job of selling this movie, wasn't he?

[sharp_as_knives]

Excellent salesmanship, yes.

"Why is this movie considered classic again?"

[furnaceface]

//Because it's a cinematic masterpiece and a forerunner for most special effects and storytelling tropes we see in films today,// Jono replied, leaning sideways to bump his shoulder against Hannibal's. //Plus, it's fun. And it was something people had never seen before. Even if shows like Galaxy Quest had given people a taste of science fiction before, the whole space fantasy thing was largely unexplored.//

A beat.

//Did I mention that it's fun? I feel as though I need to stress that one, for some reason.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"You did, yes." Hannibal grinned at him and at a bit of the popcorn (holding the bowl well away from Beethoven's inquiring nose). "I won't dispute that or the special effects, but a cinematic masterpiece?" That, he was a bit skeptical about.

[furnaceface]

//Some people say so, anyway,// Jono muttered, wrinkling his nose at Hannibal for that one. //If nothing else, it did lay the groundwork for a good number of masterpieces to come. And the things they did with the ships in space and scene composition and special effects were groundbreaking in their time.//

A beat.

//So, yes, I'd say it was, in some sense.//

So there, Hannibal. So there. Jono was going to be a sci-fi movie brat at you now.

[sharp_as_knives]

And Hannibal was just going to continue to be amused. "Fair enough. I suppose I'll wait and see...is that her hair, or a rather unfortunate hat?"

[furnaceface]

//The unfortunate hats are in the prequel movies,// Jono promised. //That's her hair.//

A beat.

//I'm surprised you haven't at least seen the 'I have pastries glued to the sides of my head' look around, before. This film has been pervasive in popular culture for nearly forty years now.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"I've seen similar things, but it's often difficult to tell the details," Hannibal said with a shrug. "And anyone whose pastries look like that is doing something very wrong."

[furnaceface]

//Well, they're space pastries,// Jono replied, amused. //Anyway, people don't like her for her hair. She's more than capable of holding her own among the boys' club of the rest of the cast.//

And she didn't make it easy for that smug smuggler, either.