At exactly 12:00 am (midnight), the XOC will celebrate it's 9th Anniversary as a Xena message board.
Well, it wasn't born at 12am exactly, but it was born on July 30, 1999.
Stop on by the XOC at around midnight to see my very special surprise. We're going....
Oh wait, that'll spoil the surprise.... SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
The Xena DVDs and quality
Things getting a little heated around here, so I want to sort of go over something concerning the Xena DVDs.
Shawn, replied to the movie thread stating that the quality of the DVDs may have played a role in the sets not selling well, especially the first two seasons.
While Shawn acknowledges the fact that the series was shot in 16mm film for the first two and a half seasons, he misses the mark in that it's the reason why people simply didn't buy the series on DVD.
Quality had little to do with it. The extras on the first two seasons definitely had some role to play in poor sales and the quality did suck. Kinda hard to justify spending $60 on a DVD set for just the series or $60 on a set for a couple of interviews and cheezy photo gallery.
Of the people who didn't buy the early sets, the biggest reason was cost and content. Not quality.
There are lots of reasons why some people didn't buy the sets. One, is money. That's probably the biggest reason of them all. Two, is availability. If you lived outside of where the series was sold (I'll get to the Internet in a moment), you were out of luck. The series was available at such places as: Best Buy, Circuit City, Media Play, Sam Goodey, F.Y.E., Target, Wal*Mart, K-Mart, Target. Three, the Internet. Some people just don't like to buy things on the Internet.
Reasons two and three are weak and at best are often a copout.
The fourth reason could be that people simply didn't know. If they didn't get the Sunday paper with all the ads, they were out of luck. The series wasn't advertised on TV that much. I can only think of a couple of adverts I saw: one was on Oxygen and the other on Sci-Fi Channel.
The fifth reason is that I sometimes think that fans get this thing into their heads that says: Xena was the really popular show and that everyone watched it and everyone will buy it. I've been in the fandom for (figuratively speaking, ten years but it's really more like nine). I don't talk to anyone that I talked when I first got into the fandom. Most of those people stopped watching after the fourth and fifth season. The rest didn't seem to care about the series after it ended and left the fandom a short time after that.
Why? I can tell you that the biggest reason I know of and it is, ironically the fandom drove many of these people off. This pretty is because of the petty arguments, lack of respect and general vile that gets spewed when people their view is the only view and everyone else is just ignorant. (It's the number reason why I go into a shell or go off on a tirade on the fandom at times because I'm sick of seeing people saying that because you don't see it this way you're an idiot.)
The sixth reason could be the quality, but I think that had little to do with the overall sales. In the later seasons (three to six), there would have been little excuse for people not to buy the sets based on quality because they were shooting in 35 mm film.
You're going to get compression no matter what. They used the masters and then digitized the film with enhanced Dolby 5.1 surround. (Note, the series masters were in Dolby 2.0.) In the end, what we got is no worse than what most shows filmed using similar stock. Could it have been better? Yeah, if you're willing to put up the cost to do it. But most fans were happy just getting the series onto DVD.
(Btw, I don't know what your problem is. I have a HD-DVD player and a 42-inch LCD with 1080i and the series looks fine to me and it looks better than a standard DVD.)
If they were to have done what you wanted Shawn, which was totally clean up the film---it would have put an individual set about $20 or $30 more. Now, you might be able to afford that. Most can't.
It comes down to cost and people just simply not caring enough to buy the sets.
Shawn, replied to the movie thread stating that the quality of the DVDs may have played a role in the sets not selling well, especially the first two seasons.
While Shawn acknowledges the fact that the series was shot in 16mm film for the first two and a half seasons, he misses the mark in that it's the reason why people simply didn't buy the series on DVD.
Quality had little to do with it. The extras on the first two seasons definitely had some role to play in poor sales and the quality did suck. Kinda hard to justify spending $60 on a DVD set for just the series or $60 on a set for a couple of interviews and cheezy photo gallery.
Of the people who didn't buy the early sets, the biggest reason was cost and content. Not quality.
There are lots of reasons why some people didn't buy the sets. One, is money. That's probably the biggest reason of them all. Two, is availability. If you lived outside of where the series was sold (I'll get to the Internet in a moment), you were out of luck. The series was available at such places as: Best Buy, Circuit City, Media Play, Sam Goodey, F.Y.E., Target, Wal*Mart, K-Mart, Target. Three, the Internet. Some people just don't like to buy things on the Internet.
Reasons two and three are weak and at best are often a copout.
The fourth reason could be that people simply didn't know. If they didn't get the Sunday paper with all the ads, they were out of luck. The series wasn't advertised on TV that much. I can only think of a couple of adverts I saw: one was on Oxygen and the other on Sci-Fi Channel.
The fifth reason is that I sometimes think that fans get this thing into their heads that says: Xena was the really popular show and that everyone watched it and everyone will buy it. I've been in the fandom for (figuratively speaking, ten years but it's really more like nine). I don't talk to anyone that I talked when I first got into the fandom. Most of those people stopped watching after the fourth and fifth season. The rest didn't seem to care about the series after it ended and left the fandom a short time after that.
Why? I can tell you that the biggest reason I know of and it is, ironically the fandom drove many of these people off. This pretty is because of the petty arguments, lack of respect and general vile that gets spewed when people their view is the only view and everyone else is just ignorant. (It's the number reason why I go into a shell or go off on a tirade on the fandom at times because I'm sick of seeing people saying that because you don't see it this way you're an idiot.)
The sixth reason could be the quality, but I think that had little to do with the overall sales. In the later seasons (three to six), there would have been little excuse for people not to buy the sets based on quality because they were shooting in 35 mm film.
You're going to get compression no matter what. They used the masters and then digitized the film with enhanced Dolby 5.1 surround. (Note, the series masters were in Dolby 2.0.) In the end, what we got is no worse than what most shows filmed using similar stock. Could it have been better? Yeah, if you're willing to put up the cost to do it. But most fans were happy just getting the series onto DVD.
(Btw, I don't know what your problem is. I have a HD-DVD player and a 42-inch LCD with 1080i and the series looks fine to me and it looks better than a standard DVD.)
If they were to have done what you wanted Shawn, which was totally clean up the film---it would have put an individual set about $20 or $30 more. Now, you might be able to afford that. Most can't.
It comes down to cost and people just simply not caring enough to buy the sets.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Bitch Slap!
Someone asked me my thoughts on this film. I'll be blunt: it looks crappy and stupid.
Before anyone goes: But, but you shouldn't judge it... know this: You don't know what I like to watch and vice versa!
Now, granted, I haven't see the film (nor care too) so it might be kind of judgmental of me to make that assumption that it is crappy and stupid. (Given the trailer, the producers haven't given me a reason to like it.)
However, having worked fourteen years in a video store and seeing thousands of movie trailers, I've gotten to be a good judge about movies. I can safely say, I've been more right than wrong about the "enjoyable" factor of a movie.
I know what my tastes are and what I like to watch. Bitch Slap isn't a movie I'd sit back on the recliner and watch much less go to a movie theater. (FYI: The same thing will go for Bedtime Stories at the end of the year.)
Now, obviously this movie gets some of the Xena and Hercules gang back together again for a brief moment in time. That's good from the outside looking in. But does that mean I have to subject myself to something I wouldn't normally watch if they weren't involved? No. It doesn't.
Will it help the movie? Probably not. Plenty of movies have star power only to fizzle in the box office. It's comes across as a more of a 'reunion' segment, sans the references to Xena and Hercules.
Should people be forced to watch it? No. Should they be allowed to bash the movie for being sleezy and slutty? Yeah. Should they be judged on that? NO!
It's an opinion. We're entitled to our opinions. And if we don't like someone's opinion, we deal with it in a respectable manner.
There is this expression:
What one man deems as art another deems as trash.
This applies to films. What one person may think is cool and funny, another thinks is trashy.
Titanic with Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio. I thought this was a good film. But I can name at least a dozen people who thought it was stupid from the trailer or after having watched it. Are they wrong because they haven't seen it? No. They know what they like to watch and the subject matter of the film simply doesn't appeal to them.
But just because we watch a trailer of a movie and get an opinin off of that, doesn't mean that we're being judgmental about the film itself. It means that we simply don't find the movie interesting or something we care to watch.
Before anyone goes: But, but you shouldn't judge it... know this: You don't know what I like to watch and vice versa!
Now, granted, I haven't see the film (nor care too) so it might be kind of judgmental of me to make that assumption that it is crappy and stupid. (Given the trailer, the producers haven't given me a reason to like it.)
However, having worked fourteen years in a video store and seeing thousands of movie trailers, I've gotten to be a good judge about movies. I can safely say, I've been more right than wrong about the "enjoyable" factor of a movie.
I know what my tastes are and what I like to watch. Bitch Slap isn't a movie I'd sit back on the recliner and watch much less go to a movie theater. (FYI: The same thing will go for Bedtime Stories at the end of the year.)
Now, obviously this movie gets some of the Xena and Hercules gang back together again for a brief moment in time. That's good from the outside looking in. But does that mean I have to subject myself to something I wouldn't normally watch if they weren't involved? No. It doesn't.
Will it help the movie? Probably not. Plenty of movies have star power only to fizzle in the box office. It's comes across as a more of a 'reunion' segment, sans the references to Xena and Hercules.
Should people be forced to watch it? No. Should they be allowed to bash the movie for being sleezy and slutty? Yeah. Should they be judged on that? NO!
It's an opinion. We're entitled to our opinions. And if we don't like someone's opinion, we deal with it in a respectable manner.
There is this expression:
What one man deems as art another deems as trash.
This applies to films. What one person may think is cool and funny, another thinks is trashy.
Titanic with Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio. I thought this was a good film. But I can name at least a dozen people who thought it was stupid from the trailer or after having watched it. Are they wrong because they haven't seen it? No. They know what they like to watch and the subject matter of the film simply doesn't appeal to them.
But just because we watch a trailer of a movie and get an opinin off of that, doesn't mean that we're being judgmental about the film itself. It means that we simply don't find the movie interesting or something we care to watch.
Los Angeles Xena Convention 2009
Creation has finally seen fit to update their Xena convention website with a couple of contests. Nothing new to report. It's the standard music video and center piece contest. For more information on the convention, visit the Official Xena Convention Website.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Internet Thievery!
Someone has saw fit to create a flickr account to post photos taken from the 2008 Burbank Convention. Not only did they use Steve's photos, they also used KT's photos that were published on the AfterEllen website.
This is just wrong!
I don't know what possesses some fans to do this. I don't. And I don't think I want to know really. It's just sickening.
That's why I watermark my photos to prohibit some lowlife fan from taking my photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenlsears/
This is not STEVEN L. SEARS and I suggest emailing flickr to get the account removed.
This is just wrong!
I don't know what possesses some fans to do this. I don't. And I don't think I want to know really. It's just sickening.
That's why I watermark my photos to prohibit some lowlife fan from taking my photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenlsears/
This is not STEVEN L. SEARS and I suggest emailing flickr to get the account removed.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Xena Movie News : An Explanation of Sorts
I haven’t made a ‘Xena’ movie post for a while. It was time to make a post since well, there’s all sorts of things floating about at the moment. The fact is Universal isn’t interested. They’ve told Rob Tapert and he has in turn told the fans that Universal is not interested and that writing in won’t make a difference.
Before I continue further, I’m going to provide links the previous posts I’ve made about the movie:
Under the Movie News label for my blog, I’ve written about the movie 21 times.
Questions from the Query (January 4, 2008)
http://xenaonline.blogspot.com/2008/01/questions-from-query.html
Is it too late for a movie (October 27, 2007)
http://xenaonline.blogspot.com/2007/10/xena-movie-is-it-too-late-for-lucy-and.html
YouTube and Xena’s Popularity (June 26, 2007)
http://xenaonline.blogspot.com/2007/06/youtube-and-xenas-popularity.html
I want a movie (June 16, 2007)
http://xenaonline.blogspot.com/2007/06/i-want-movie-they-should-just-make-it.html
More Thoughts on the Xena Movie (June 8, 2007)
http://xenaonline.blogspot.com/2007/06/more-thoughts-on-xena-movie.html
Why You Simply Can’t Buy the Rights to Xena (June 6, 2007)
http://xenaonline.blogspot.com/2007/06/why-you-cant-simply-buy-rights-to-xena.html
Xena Movie FAQ #2536 (April 27, 2007)
http://xenaonline.blogspot.com/2007/04/xena-movie-faq-2536.html
Now, I do have a lot of other posts. But I picked out the ones that offer the most insight and information about the ‘Xena’ movie. Everything that is being talked about from letter writing to handing out flyers at a convention has been done at one time or another. The key thing to remember in all of this is that the movie industry is now focused on making money. Twenty years ago, it was about making movies. Now with the way studios have merged and with the way things are set up now with actors and directors signing huge salaries, the studios are in the business of making money—no longer movies for fun.
So what can the fans do? Quite honesty, nothing can be done. I don’t mean to be a pessimist about this but it’s the truth. Universal has made it known to Rob that they’re no longer interested. Rogue Pictures is also not willing to make a movie.
There are also a lot of other problems. In the past, a female lead (think about how quickly Sex and the City went by the wayside at the movie theater) films have struggled to capture an audience. It’s even harder when it’s an action film—like ‘Electra’ with Jennifer Garner is a prime example. She was a successful character in the movie ‘Daredevil’ but when it became a spin-off it failed to capture an audience. Same thing with Halle Berry in ‘Catwoman’ it failed to capture an audience. You can even make an argument for the ‘Charlie’s Angels’ films. Those films along with ‘Tomb Raider’ never would have been possible without ‘Xena.’ Yet, the four films struggled at the box office. The ‘Tomb Raider’ movies faired better because of the popular video game franchise and well to be honest, Angelina Jolie was Lara Craft. But there are movies that have struggled to get off the ground.
‘Wonder Woman’ has been on again and off again for the last five or six years. It’s gone from writer to writer and it’s never been made. Nor will it probably be made.
The industry has taken to going to their vaults and re-making old movies for a more modern and sophisticated audience.
‘Red Sonja’ is also in the works and now has Red Sonja in Rose McGowan (terribly miscast if you ask me). If this movie works and succeeds (it doesn’t look likely given past records) does it beef up a chance for a ‘Xena’ movie? The short answer is no. Not very likely because with ‘Xena’ there are a lot of strings attached in terms of a story. (Remember, they’re in the business of making money.)
And there are films that have been in the works for years that are finally coming out.
This is the case for the ‘X-Files’ movie. This movie has been talked about since before the series ended in 2002. It finally was green-lighted last year and is due to come out this summer. Will this help the possibility of a ‘Xena’ movie if the movie is successful?
Again, the short answer is no. ‘Xena’ and the ‘X-Files’ are two different animals. There’s not a whole lot of baggage attached to the series. They can make the movie without fear of upsetting a portion of the base.
‘Xena’ doesn’t have the luxury. Everyone has a different opinion about the movie and everyone thinks their idea is the best one. If you do Story A you might piss off Group B. If you do Story B you might piss off Group A. There is very little middle ground for Rob. And what he does have is paper thin. He can’t do a story that’ll please the fans because that’ll alienate the larger potential movie going audience. Again, studios are in the business of making money nowadays.
This brings up ‘Serenity.’ Here, the fans were successful in their grassroots campaign. But unlike ‘Xena’ where there was an ending (whether one accepts it or not) ‘Firefly’ (which the movie was based on) had no finale. It was kicked to the curb by Fox. Universal snatched it up. The studio made marketing mistakes along the way. First, they relied on the grassroots method of publicity—it was cheap—the fans do your dirty work. Secondly, they marketed the show to fans who are about as reliable as a skyscraper built on swampland. It’s a shaky practice. And lastly, the movie failed in the box office. The fans failed to come out to the theater and they failed to bring in those who were not familiar with the ‘Firefly’ franchise. The movie was a success on home video. The reason why is probably because like a lot of people, they didn’t see spending $20 or more at the movie theater when they weren’t sure of the quality. The true test came on home video. It remained in the top 25 for something like eight weeks or so. That’s pretty good for a DVD.
So then it brings up the question would a DVD release benefit ‘Xena.’ This is about the only thing I can say might have a chance of working. You get passed that issue having to market your film to the general audience. But you also run into the same story problem you would with a feature version. But if the DVD sales of the series are any indication, a DVD release wouldn’t even happen either. They were disappointing. I think even Anchor Bay which was a distributor of the sets were shocked at how flat they were.
Every so often the rights issue comes up as an excuse. That’s a long settled issue. Universal owns the rights. Rob can’t buy them because he can’t afford to and even if he did with financial, he’s confronted with commitments to deliver a successful product to his backers. He can’t guarantee that because the fandom is unpredictable. No one is going to invest millions of dollars in a product that doesn’t show it’s going to be successful. They’re going to do research to see how much money the movie would get them. If they see that there’s no chance of a profit, it’s dead. (This is what happened in the first place.)
What’s the best way to get Universal’s attention? There isn’t any. Sending the studio emails, letters, faxes and postcards aren’t going to get it anymore noticed now than what it has in the last few years.
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