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Short historical note: in case you were wondering about PM editing up there, it's my fault. [headdesk]. I thought I was reply/quoting Worlebird's article, but I'd accidentally wiped it out by editing it (moderators have the edit button on every post). Luckily, Peter found a copy in his browser cache and restored it. Anyhow, on to the offending article...
I'm just gonna use colors for quoting.
<span class="ev_code_BLUE">blue is me</span> and <span class="ev_code_GREEN">green is worlebird</span>.
<span class="ev_code_blue">But then I freak because a) they don't explain he's wearing a helmet for the same reason that Magento does: to block Prof. X's scanning.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">Yeah, but that wouldn't have really fit into the film. it would have been a real non-sequitur for anyone who wasn't familiar with the comics. Besides, I thought "to keep my face pretty" was a hilarious answer.</span>
It was, and I know that from the film POV, it makes sense, but some line between Magneto & Juggernaut, say, something about getting their helmets from the same tailor or something would've made me a lot happier.
<span class="ev_code_blue">And b) because Prof. X walks right by him. Not even recognizing that he's just walked by his own bullying half-brother.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">Again, backstory would have been needed to even make this make any sense. Not enough time, and not enough significance to the story being told.</span>
Yes, and no. Again, from the film POV, all this makes sense, but from a comic book continuity sense, it really really doesn't. That would have been like having Scott walk by Alex. In this situation, I think they could have just as easily gotten a different supervillain from the rogue's gallery--Blob or someone, and avoided the problem altogether. The reason you use Juggernaut is because of his relationship with Prof. X. Otherwise he's just another thug.
<span class="ev_code_blue">I freak because Colossus/Peter isn't Russian.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">Well, we don't actually know that. He just doesn't have a heavy accent. He doesn't say very much in the film.</span>
He's supposed to have an accent. Hell, Storm is supposed to have an accent. So is Rogue. The fact that none of them do en masse is something that distresses me. One of the reasons we liked reading X-Men in the day is that it wasn't American-centric. It's an attitude that could bear a bit more representation in US culture.
<span class="ev_code_blue">That Pyro isn't an Aussie.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">I'll give you that one. He talks a lot and definitley doesn't have the accent.</span>
Of course, that's probably the one where I have the least license to quibble. He started out as an Englishman and only later became an Aussie through mistaken continuity errors.
<span class="ev_code_blue">That nobody actually calls Warren "Angel" at any point.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">He just BARELY joined. He has apparently been kind of "in the closet" because of his dad for quite some time now. He isn't even an X-Man yet, just a new student..... </span>
Again another HUGE problem for me, because the original team in the comic was Scott, Jean, Warren, Hank, and Bobby. Mixing the old and new X-Men, and making the older guys YOUNGER drives me nuts. Bobby and Warren should have the same age and status as Hank. But they don't. Sersious my-brain-hurts moments ensue because of this.
<span class="ev_code_green">At least the characters were in there, and relatively intact.</span>
Except that they're not the same Bobby (who generally wisecracks as much as Peter Parker in the Silver Age stuff) and Warren (the ladies' man) we've ever seen in the comics.
<span class="ev_code_blue">That the Phoenix Saga Doesn't Go That Way.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">Well, the way it REALLY goes would be a little long and confusing for a movie, don't you think? </span>
Oh, definitely. But then why use it at all? Why not just stick with the Genosha storyline? The entire Phoenix subplot could've been dropped from the movie, and led to a far clearer and cleaner narrative.
<span class="ev_code_green">At least they got some of the pieces in there, and they were willing to make a popular character into a major villian.</span>
Yes, but compared to what it was like when the comic came out, and Marvel was willing to KILL one of their most beloved long-termed characters ... sorry, but what the moviemakers did is like a candle against the arclight of the original Phoenix Saga to me--and absolutely NONE of that got in. And they used the third-generation retcon version of the story.
<span class="ev_code_blue">That nobody mentions Moira McTaggart and Prof. X used to be lovers.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">She's in there for a whole 2 minutes. What do you expect?</span>
A difference in manner as to how they greet each other. From the way they're presented, you'd think they'd never met in person and only corresponded over technical papers. That Moira's had a son by Charles without telling him would have certainly changed how she greeted him. A smile on Prof. X's face would've been enough. I'm not asking for the full-blown story, just the feeling that the full-blown story is still back there somewhere.
<span class="ev_code_blue">That Rogue doesn't have a Southern accent.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">Sure she does. What X-Men movies have you been watching? It just isn't the major over the top accent that she sports in the comics, complete with words like "shugah". Considering Ana Paquin is a Canadian raised in New Zealand, I'm glad she kept the accent subtle. Trying to do a heavy accent would probably have sounded ridiculous.</span>
But that's my problem. "In the comics" is what's set in my head in concrete. It remains that that's not Rogue's accent from the comics.
<span class="ev_code_blue">That they didn't put Callisto into the street gangs that Magneto finds.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">Uhhh.... actually... That woman who can sense where a mutant is and what their powers are was Callisto.
Yeah, I know. That one bugged me too.</span>
Yup. You know what they were going for, but they miss by so much, when it wouldn't have taken a much more effort to get it right.
<span class="ev_code_blue">Where'd Nightcrawler go?</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">Maybe he went home. *chuckle*</span>
Or Alan Cummmings had more Broadway gigs to fulfill and couldn't free up his schedules. (grin).
<span class="ev_code_green">Better question, where'd Beast come from? All of a sudden he's Secretary of Mutant affairs, and we never even saw him as an X-Man. He used to be one, I guess, since he comments that the suit used to fit him.</span>
Actually, that didn't bug me at all, because he was blue, hairy post-lab-accident Beast. At that point, he was long past being an X-Man and well into being an Avenger. [grin].
<span class="ev_code_green">Honestly, I don't think the film's biggest problem was leaving out comic book continuity.</span>
Oh, I agree. As I said above, it's my personal problem, because unlike the majority of people going to see the film, I have so much of that continuity stuffed behind the eyeballs. To all the newbies, it's not even a hiccup on the radar.
<span class="ev_code_green">... The film's biggest problem was strength of the internal story.
Not that it was bad, I mean, I enjoyed it. But it could have been better.</span>
The eternal cry of Hollywood big-budget movies: too many people worried about making a hit and not enoguh people worried about making a good movie. (grin). And at any rate, it's still a better X-Men movie than the kind of spandex-laden thing we thought we were going to get back in the '80s.
I'm just gonna use colors for quoting.
<span class="ev_code_BLUE">blue is me</span> and <span class="ev_code_GREEN">green is worlebird</span>. <span class="ev_code_blue">But then I freak because a) they don't explain he's wearing a helmet for the same reason that Magento does: to block Prof. X's scanning.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">Yeah, but that wouldn't have really fit into the film. it would have been a real non-sequitur for anyone who wasn't familiar with the comics. Besides, I thought "to keep my face pretty" was a hilarious answer.</span>
It was, and I know that from the film POV, it makes sense, but some line between Magneto & Juggernaut, say, something about getting their helmets from the same tailor or something would've made me a lot happier.
<span class="ev_code_blue">And b) because Prof. X walks right by him. Not even recognizing that he's just walked by his own bullying half-brother.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">Again, backstory would have been needed to even make this make any sense. Not enough time, and not enough significance to the story being told.</span>
Yes, and no. Again, from the film POV, all this makes sense, but from a comic book continuity sense, it really really doesn't. That would have been like having Scott walk by Alex. In this situation, I think they could have just as easily gotten a different supervillain from the rogue's gallery--Blob or someone, and avoided the problem altogether. The reason you use Juggernaut is because of his relationship with Prof. X. Otherwise he's just another thug.
<span class="ev_code_blue">I freak because Colossus/Peter isn't Russian.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">Well, we don't actually know that. He just doesn't have a heavy accent. He doesn't say very much in the film.</span>
He's supposed to have an accent. Hell, Storm is supposed to have an accent. So is Rogue. The fact that none of them do en masse is something that distresses me. One of the reasons we liked reading X-Men in the day is that it wasn't American-centric. It's an attitude that could bear a bit more representation in US culture.
<span class="ev_code_blue">That Pyro isn't an Aussie.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">I'll give you that one. He talks a lot and definitley doesn't have the accent.</span>
Of course, that's probably the one where I have the least license to quibble. He started out as an Englishman and only later became an Aussie through mistaken continuity errors.
<span class="ev_code_blue">That nobody actually calls Warren "Angel" at any point.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">He just BARELY joined. He has apparently been kind of "in the closet" because of his dad for quite some time now. He isn't even an X-Man yet, just a new student..... </span>
Again another HUGE problem for me, because the original team in the comic was Scott, Jean, Warren, Hank, and Bobby. Mixing the old and new X-Men, and making the older guys YOUNGER drives me nuts. Bobby and Warren should have the same age and status as Hank. But they don't. Sersious my-brain-hurts moments ensue because of this.
<span class="ev_code_green">At least the characters were in there, and relatively intact.</span>
Except that they're not the same Bobby (who generally wisecracks as much as Peter Parker in the Silver Age stuff) and Warren (the ladies' man) we've ever seen in the comics.
<span class="ev_code_blue">That the Phoenix Saga Doesn't Go That Way.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">Well, the way it REALLY goes would be a little long and confusing for a movie, don't you think? </span>
Oh, definitely. But then why use it at all? Why not just stick with the Genosha storyline? The entire Phoenix subplot could've been dropped from the movie, and led to a far clearer and cleaner narrative.
<span class="ev_code_green">At least they got some of the pieces in there, and they were willing to make a popular character into a major villian.</span>
Yes, but compared to what it was like when the comic came out, and Marvel was willing to KILL one of their most beloved long-termed characters ... sorry, but what the moviemakers did is like a candle against the arclight of the original Phoenix Saga to me--and absolutely NONE of that got in. And they used the third-generation retcon version of the story.
<span class="ev_code_blue">That nobody mentions Moira McTaggart and Prof. X used to be lovers.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">She's in there for a whole 2 minutes. What do you expect?</span>
A difference in manner as to how they greet each other. From the way they're presented, you'd think they'd never met in person and only corresponded over technical papers. That Moira's had a son by Charles without telling him would have certainly changed how she greeted him. A smile on Prof. X's face would've been enough. I'm not asking for the full-blown story, just the feeling that the full-blown story is still back there somewhere.
<span class="ev_code_blue">That Rogue doesn't have a Southern accent.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">Sure she does. What X-Men movies have you been watching? It just isn't the major over the top accent that she sports in the comics, complete with words like "shugah". Considering Ana Paquin is a Canadian raised in New Zealand, I'm glad she kept the accent subtle. Trying to do a heavy accent would probably have sounded ridiculous.</span>
But that's my problem. "In the comics" is what's set in my head in concrete. It remains that that's not Rogue's accent from the comics.
<span class="ev_code_blue">That they didn't put Callisto into the street gangs that Magneto finds.</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">Uhhh.... actually... That woman who can sense where a mutant is and what their powers are was Callisto.
Yeah, I know. That one bugged me too.</span>
Yup. You know what they were going for, but they miss by so much, when it wouldn't have taken a much more effort to get it right.
<span class="ev_code_blue">Where'd Nightcrawler go?</span>
<span class="ev_code_green">Maybe he went home. *chuckle*</span>
Or Alan Cummmings had more Broadway gigs to fulfill and couldn't free up his schedules. (grin).
<span class="ev_code_green">Better question, where'd Beast come from? All of a sudden he's Secretary of Mutant affairs, and we never even saw him as an X-Man. He used to be one, I guess, since he comments that the suit used to fit him.</span>
Actually, that didn't bug me at all, because he was blue, hairy post-lab-accident Beast.
At that point, he was long past being an X-Man and well into being an Avenger. [grin].<span class="ev_code_green">Honestly, I don't think the film's biggest problem was leaving out comic book continuity.</span>
Oh, I agree. As I said above, it's my personal problem, because unlike the majority of people going to see the film, I have so much of that continuity stuffed behind the eyeballs. To all the newbies, it's not even a hiccup on the radar.
<span class="ev_code_green">... The film's biggest problem was strength of the internal story.
Not that it was bad, I mean, I enjoyed it. But it could have been better.</span>
The eternal cry of Hollywood big-budget movies: too many people worried about making a hit and not enoguh people worried about making a good movie. (grin). And at any rate, it's still a better X-Men movie than the kind of spandex-laden thing we thought we were going to get back in the '80s.
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