An anonymous reader writes "The makers of the Star Trek and Babylon 5 cross-over spoof Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning have announced their upcoming movie Iron Sky. It's apparently another sci-fi comedy with its own universe. Says Director Timo Vuorensola: 'It is still an open question whether it will be distributed also for free. We would very much like it, but it will depend a lot on the financiers.'"
I saw the first one, it was really good, even though you need subs because of the finnish. Amazing what some students can do with some computer skills and amateur acting.
That is HILARIOUS!!!! OMG! When I saw the title "Star Wreck", I thought it would be lame and unimaginative, but jokes like that are comedy GOLD!!! I gotta see it now!
by Anonymous Coward
on Saturday May 13 2006, @05:48PM (#15326787)
It's a shame that they're doing comedy again. In the Pirkinning suffered from one clear drawback: Finns can't do parody. We suck at it - sorry.
ItP had really good special effects and decent everything else for an amateur movie - unfortunately the script was the weakest part. I hope they'd either try to make a serious movie or get someone else to try to write the funny parts, since there is potential in the other aspects of the earlier movie.
"It's a shame that they're doing comedy again. In the Pirkinning suffered from one clear drawback: Finns can't do parody. We suck at it - sorry."
Oh, I dunno about that. On a sci-fi forum I'm an active member of, we found quite a bit to laugh at. I'm wondering, though, if the humor was a little too niche'y. My parents would have gotten a huge laugh out of Galaxy Quest, but ItP, even if it were in English, would have missed many moments with them. I don't think it's that the Finns cannot do parody, I thin
"It's a shame that they're doing comedy again. In the Pirkinning suffered from one clear drawback: Finns can't do parody. We suck at it - sorry."
What? SW:ItP was funnier than any Mel Brooks movie I've ever seen.
The difference is that Brooks needs to make sure everyone gets the jokes, whereas the SW team was free to base them on references maybe 0,5 % of the population will recognize. If you don't get them, of course you're not going to like it.
Maybe if you are a Fin it is not funny, but believe me, the combination of the northern language together with the really funny script made me roll on the floor.
This movie was way funnier than spaceballs.
I hope they spend more time on the script this time. In the pirkening looked quite good, but the acting and script were just terrible. They also spent 8 years on the project, something that is quite unheard of when making a movie in Finland commercially. Production phase is usually around 1-2months (excluding preproduction and post). Will be interesting to see if they manage to make a good movie now that they have to work with financing and so on.. Hope they succeed tho, the industry could use some fresh young
I hope they spend more time on the script this time.
Johanna Sinisalo, author of "Not Before Sundown" [peterowen.com] is apparently helping out with the script.
I find it rather strange that you complain about the script and acting of "In the Pirkinning". Remember: these guys were amateurs. Of course if you compare their performance to "real" actors, their skills will fall short, period. That said, the movie was still very, very good and funny.
I can accept the fact that they're amateur actors, but that is still no excuse for the script. Even if they hired professional actors, the movie would have sucked because it simply wasn't funny. The general opinion seems to be that the movie was either crap, because the script sucked, or great, because it was pretty good for a bunch of amateurs. Considering EVERY writer starts out as an amateur, I think this is no excuse. If they charged anything for their next movie, I wouldn't watch it.
I can accept the fact that they're amateur actors, but that is still no excuse for the script.
I think the script was actually better than alot of the stuff Hollywood is pushing these days.
Even if they hired professional actors, the movie would have sucked because it simply wasn't funny.
I thought it was very funny. Maybe being a Finn helps me appreciate the Finnish humor more. And I think it was a lot funnier (again) than a lot of the stuff Hollywood pushes these days.
I think it's great that these fan-filmmakers are moving on to doing their own original work. But why do comedy? Science fiction and comedy don't go together well -- okay, maybe nobody has done it right. Or maybe it's just damned hard. Doing either comedy or science fiction well by itself is already hard to pull off. At best, maybe these guys will produce something of the brilliance of Red Dwarf or even the Hitchhiker's Guide. Or, worse, it will be (an unfunnier) Spaceballs.
I think space balls was a pretty nice movie! Maybe it's not hot shot intelligent kind of humor, but I laughed my ass off!
Qalaxy Quest with Tim Allen is much less known than the other ones you mentioned, but also pretty nice: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177789/ [imdb.com] Especially because of the many references to Sci-Fi fans and their peculiarities. Or am I insulting people here now:)
If you look at the imdb reviews, a lot of people are as positive as you are. Actually it's not really underrated, it's more that the movie producers didn't bother to promote the movie very much (they could've combined it with lots of funny actions, a similar sci-fi spoof in Germany ((t)raumschiff surprise) was accompanied by special offers at McDonalds). But this all probably has to do with the fact that 1999 was a very good movie year overall, and galaxy quest unfortunately got lost inbetween all this.
Wow...I really liked Spaceballs....and futurama...and tripping the rift...and Lexx....and Red Dwarf....I think science fiction and comedy do go really well together....because the supposed advancement of the future is set in stark contrast to the constancy of human frailty.....our collective intellect racing ahead of our collective wisdom....it makes one take oneself...and others...less seriously...and makes life more cheerful when you can accept the existenstial absurdity of the human condition
Firstly, comedy is really subjective...I've seen people fall down laughing at things I found dull, and other times I was the one laughing in a silent room. Good example is Spaceballs..plenty thought it was hillarious (during its time).
Secondly, sci-fi shows tend to rely on their gimmicks, focusing the special effects to let us know 'this is sci-fi'. Add in the suspension of disbelief necessary, it's hard to bridge that little gap to 'be funny' to the viewer. Generally the jokes would either just be 's
Please someone tell me I did not just see a diss against Spaceballs on Slashdot. What's next, people ranting about how the killer rabbit scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail was corny? Writing off Douglas Adams as a hopeless Steve Jobs fanboy just because Marvin happened to look a little bit like a Macintosh in the movie? Or maybe even a relativistic analysis of Star Wars based on camera angles proving once and for all that Han and Greedo shot at the same time but Han's blast arrived sooner from the v
Marvin had a brain that was practically the size of a planet and he was gloomy.
What part of 'brain the size of a planet' confuses people? Are there any other examples of Marvin exaggerating? Or using metaphor? Or expressing itself as anything other than a perfectly logical (although depressed) machine?
When Marvin says it has the brain the size of a planet, it means somewhere in the galaxy is a planet-sized object which serves the functions of Marvin's brain. There's no 'practically' about it. The s
First of all, you brought up Red Dwarf which is a perfect example of how to do sci-fi comedy. The sci-fi elements were cheesy as hell (like a shape-shifting emotion-sucking genetically-engineered lifeform that turns into a beachball to travel around), but that's what made them work. Other good examples: Sleeper [imdb.com], the Woody Allen take on those 1984-style dystopias. Galaxy Quest [imdb.com], I hate Tim Allen, but this movie's pretty damned funny. The Back to the Future [imdb.com] movies were successful by anybody's standards. He
More to the point, do they really think anyone would pay to see it, even if it wasn't pirated? I saw their previous one, and while it was a creditable effort as these things go, I'd rather watch reruns of DS9 than *pay* to see it. In fact I kind of felt I was doing them a favour by spending the time to watch it.
By the way, just to pre-empt some silly remarks, I am not directly talking about *this* movie (then you'd obviously have to pay in advance), but about securing their future a bit better as a group who don't just keep pumping out overly amateur content.
If they charge for it, someone will put it up for "free" within one day.
Star Wreck was "free" from day 1. Yet I tried very hard (and very unsuccessfully) to get a DVD. If it weren't for their decision that it was legally too risky to sell DVDs to the US market, they would be ~$20 richer today, and I would have a DVD in my possession.
No, it's not sad at all that somebody will put up a copy within hours. Copyright as we know it is ending - it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when and how. The reason is simple; you can't charge for non-work in the long run. Making an additional copy of something digital is nonwork today; it wasn't when you had to produce an additional physical copy; there were tangible costs associated with that.
Yet, some people are stuck in yesterday's copyright-based business model and are trying to adapt it to a w
If copyright ends, there goes the enforceability of GNU GPL too (among other licenses). The copyright system is the framework in which it lives. If there's no copyright system, for example the Linux kernel would become another cadaver for corporations to scavenge upon, taking advantage of something they had no part in creating in the first place.
So no, it is not a good thing if copyright ends.
Also, I don't see the reason why people download movies anyway, as most movies are crap and it's just a waste of tim
Releasing the first movie for free was refreshing and bold. It did what they wanted, and gained them popularity.
Now it's time to plant feet firmly in reality and have some business model. If they release it for 2 bucks via PayPal or credit card, most people will be able to afford it and still enjoy the product.
Another thing they can do is release a free copy with some ad blocks.
The biggest problem I see is that the more advanced computers get, the easier it is to get _good_ Trek-style special effects.
No computer in the world can help you write a better script, though. I certainly hope more emphasis is put on the writing this time around -- don't get me wrong, I thought the premise in Pirkinning was certainly interesting -- but calling it a Star Trek/B5 crossover is somewhat unrealistic, given what happened in the movie.
That doesn't mean I have any major issues to complain about overall. These people are doing this because they want to, and we really don't have the right to argue against a labor of love.
As for charging a fee to view this new movie: If it's reasonable, I'll pay without question. There's a difference in charging because you need to recoup operating costs: despite the (relative) ease in creating special effects, you need computers, props, makeup, time, effort, catering (pizza), film equipment, and so on, as opposed to churning out Star Trek: XI (thanks again, Paramount. After that last one, the idea makes me sick), to continue milking the cash cow for profits, damn your viewers to hell.
Here is another link to, ummm - damn, she is hot (haven't seen the movie yet), check out Tiina since the one above seemed to be taking too long to respond: http://www.starwreck.com/pages/tiina4.html [starwreck.com]
Quote: "Errr... why? It is a Finnish film, made in Finland by Finns - it would follow that they develop, script and shoot in Finnish. Surely."
I guess my answer is best given as a quote from some other web site, "First of all, Finnish is currently spoken by a mere.05% of the world's population; secondly one cannot learn the language in ten easy lessons; thirdly, a large number of Finns still do not understand it."
...That, and so the English speaking world could enjoy the film too. If it's subtitled, might as well just throw it into a PDF story book format.
The English speaking world cannot read or what's the problem with subtitles?
I'll take subtitles any day over badly spoken English or, worse yet, dubbing.
The first one was great (Score:3, Informative)
Amazing what some students can do with some computer skills and amateur acting.
Re:The first one was great (Score:3, Funny)
Twist drive - Warp drive
Maggot hole - Wormhole
See?
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
That is HILARIOUS!!!! OMG! When I saw the title "Star Wreck", I thought it would be lame and unimaginative, but jokes like that are comedy GOLD!!! I gotta see it now!
Finns Can't do Parody (Score:5, Insightful)
ItP had really good special effects and decent everything else for an amateur movie - unfortunately the script was the weakest part. I hope they'd either try to make a serious movie or get someone else to try to write the funny parts, since there is potential in the other aspects of the earlier movie.
Re:Finns Can't do Parody (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh, I dunno about that. On a sci-fi forum I'm an active member of, we found quite a bit to laugh at. I'm wondering, though, if the humor was a little too niche'y. My parents would have gotten a huge laugh out of Galaxy Quest, but ItP, even if it were in English, would have missed many moments with them. I don't think it's that the Finns cannot do parody, I thin
I have to disagree (Score:3, Insightful)
"Scream my rank"
That had myself and all my buddies watching at the time in stitches.
Re:Finns Can't do Parody (Score:3, Interesting)
"It's a shame that they're doing comedy again. In the Pirkinning suffered from one clear drawback: Finns can't do parody. We suck at it - sorry."
What? SW:ItP was funnier than any Mel Brooks movie I've ever seen.
The difference is that Brooks needs to make sure everyone gets the jokes, whereas the SW team was free to base them on references maybe 0,5 % of the population will recognize. If you don't get them, of course you're not going to like it.
Re:Finns Can't do Parody (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent
Effects where great, but... (Score:1, Insightful)
In the pirkening looked quite good, but the acting and script were just terrible.
They also spent 8 years on the project, something that is quite unheard of when making a movie in Finland commercially. Production phase is usually around 1-2months (excluding preproduction and post).
Will be interesting to see if they manage to make a good movie now that they have to work with financing and so on..
Hope they succeed tho, the industry could use some fresh young
Re:Effects where great, but... (Score:2)
Johanna Sinisalo, author of "Not Before Sundown" [peterowen.com] is apparently helping out with the script.
I find it rather strange that you complain about the script and acting of "In the Pirkinning". Remember: these guys were amateurs. Of course if you compare their performance to "real" actors, their skills will fall short, period. That said, the movie was still very, very good and funny.
Re:Effects where great, but... (Score:2)
Even if they hired professional actors, the movie would have sucked because it simply wasn't funny.
The general opinion seems to be that the movie was either crap, because the script sucked, or great, because it was pretty good for a bunch of amateurs.
Considering EVERY writer starts out as an amateur, I think this is no excuse.
If they charged anything for their next movie, I wouldn't watch it.
Re:Effects where great, but... (Score:2)
I think the script was actually better than alot of the stuff Hollywood is pushing these days.
I thought it was very funny. Maybe being a Finn helps me appreciate the Finnish humor more. And I think it was a lot funnier (again) than a lot of the stuff Hollywood pushes these days.
Fan film to original (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Fan film to original (Score:4, Informative)
Qalaxy Quest with Tim Allen is much less known than the other ones you mentioned, but also pretty nice: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177789/ [imdb.com] Especially because of the many references to Sci-Fi fans and their peculiarities. Or am I insulting people here now :)
Parent
Re:Galaxy Quest is underappreciated (Score:2)
An
Re:Fan film to original (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Fan film to original (Score:2, Interesting)
Secondly, sci-fi shows tend to rely on their gimmicks, focusing the special effects to let us know 'this is sci-fi'. Add in the suspension of disbelief necessary, it's hard to bridge that little gap to 'be funny' to the viewer. Generally the jokes would either just be 's
Re:Fan film to original (Score:2)
OK, that was a joke. But see how that joke and Star Wars went together so well, thus proving my point?
The only problem is that fans of sci-fi tend to be nitpicky geeks would wouldn't know humour unless it bit them on their ever growing butts.
Oh no you didn't, gurl! (Score:2, Flamebait)
whaHuh? (Score:2)
What part of 'brain the size of a planet' confuses people? Are there any other examples of Marvin exaggerating? Or using metaphor? Or expressing itself as anything other than a perfectly logical (although depressed) machine?
When Marvin says it has the brain the size of a planet, it means somewhere in the galaxy is a planet-sized object which serves the functions of Marvin's brain. There's no 'practically' about it. The s
Spaceballs as unfunny? (Score:2)
Re:Fan film to original (Score:2)
Other good examples: Sleeper [imdb.com], the Woody Allen take on those 1984-style dystopias. Galaxy Quest [imdb.com], I hate Tim Allen, but this movie's pretty damned funny. The Back to the Future [imdb.com] movies were successful by anybody's standards. He
Re:Fan film to original (Score:3, Informative)
Take a look at Wikipedia's list of comedy science fiction movies [wikipedia.org] and notice all the good ones in there.
Re:Fan film to original (Score:2)
Re:Fan film to original (Score:2)
I'm completely with you there. "Can you fashion some sort of rudimentary lathe?"
And Tony Shalhoub was just genius as Stoned Scotty.
But... (Score:2)
Re:But... (Score:2)
He's kidding right? (Score:2)
He's kidding, right? If they charge for it, someone will put it up for "free" within one day.
Sad, but true.
Re:He's kidding right? (Score:2, Troll)
Re:He's kidding right? (Score:2)
Voila, the point of movie production companies.
Re:He's kidding right? (Score:2)
Re:He's kidding right? (Score:3, Interesting)
Star Wreck was "free" from day 1. Yet I tried very hard (and very unsuccessfully) to get a DVD. If it weren't for their decision that it was legally too risky to sell DVDs to the US market, they would be ~$20 richer today, and I would have a DVD in my possession.
Being able to download a movie isn't everything.
Get the DVD? Support the creators! (Score:2, Informative)
http://store.starwreck.com/epages/TP.sf/?ObjectID
They are also accepting donations toward "Iron Sky" at
http://www.ironsky.net/ [ironsky.net]
Not sad at all (Score:3, Insightful)
The reason is simple; you can't charge for non-work in the long run. Making an additional copy of something digital is nonwork today; it wasn't when you had to produce an additional physical copy; there were tangible costs associated with that.
Yet, some people are stuck in yesterday's copyright-based business model and are trying to adapt it to a w
No, it's not a good thing (Score:2)
If copyright ends, there goes the enforceability of GNU GPL too (among other licenses). The copyright system is the framework in which it lives. If there's no copyright system, for example the Linux kernel would become another cadaver for corporations to scavenge upon, taking advantage of something they had no part in creating in the first place.
So no, it is not a good thing if copyright ends.
Also, I don't see the reason why people download movies anyway, as most movies are crap and it's just a waste of tim
Re:Not sad at all (Score:2)
Are you sure? My impression is that all forms of copying will be outlawed - even the ctrl-c key combo!
hi's and her's (Score:2, Funny)
Re:hi's and her's (Score:2)
Ladies and gentleman, this man is so dense, he cannot be x-rayed.
Torrent! (Score:1)
Break the model (Score:5, Insightful)
Now it's time to plant feet firmly in reality and have some business model. If they release it for 2 bucks via PayPal or credit card, most people will be able to afford it and still enjoy the product.
Another thing they can do is release a free copy with some ad blocks.
Re:Break the model (Score:2)
To the creators (Score:2, Informative)
Re:To the creators (Score:2, Funny)
Perspective (Score:4, Insightful)
The biggest problem I see is that the more advanced computers get, the easier it is to get _good_ Trek-style special effects.
No computer in the world can help you write a better script, though. I certainly hope more emphasis is put on the writing this time around -- don't get me wrong, I thought the premise in Pirkinning was certainly interesting -- but calling it a Star Trek/B5 crossover is somewhat unrealistic, given what happened in the movie.
That doesn't mean I have any major issues to complain about overall. These people are doing this because they want to, and we really don't have the right to argue against a labor of love.
As for charging a fee to view this new movie: If it's reasonable, I'll pay without question. There's a difference in charging because you need to recoup operating costs: despite the (relative) ease in creating special effects, you need computers, props, makeup, time, effort, catering (pizza), film equipment, and so on, as opposed to churning out Star Trek: XI (thanks again, Paramount. After that last one, the idea makes me sick), to continue milking the cash cow for profits, damn your viewers to hell.
With the brunette, their movie may be watchable. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:With the brunette, their movie may be watchable (Score:3, Informative)
http://starbase.globalpc.net/~xmx/images/babe1.jp
Re:With the brunette, their movie may be watchable (Score:2)
Enjoy!
Re:With the brunette, their movie may be watchable (Score:2)
Free or not, it doesn't matter (Score:2, Funny)
Re:English version please? (Score:3, Interesting)
I guess my answer is best given as a quote from some other web site, "First of all, Finnish is currently spoken by a mere .05% of the world's population; secondly one cannot learn the language in ten easy lessons; thirdly, a large number of Finns still do not understand it."
http://www.mit.edu/~tahnan/finnish.html [mit.edu]
Re:English version please? (Score:3, Insightful)