...steven8?

I was reading the 'New Celtx Release' thread a short while ago and saw that steven8 is now just a 'Guest User'. This seems very odd, considering that, for instance, his SoulShadows script was only posted lest than two weeks ago. He commented on at least one of my scripts, and I remember reading some stuff of his I liked...if you're gone, Steven, then best of luck and have a good one. If not, then what's happened?

Anyway, this got me thinking about other stuff that just seemed to disappear. Well, this, and an article today on the BBC News website called 'What happened to Second Life?' So, I thought I'd start a 'Whatever Happened To...' thread, where people could occasionally post about stuff that seemed to vanish, and perhaps if anyone was interested they could try and find out and then post a 'WEHT' of their own. I know there's a site for this (www.weht.net), but I was thinking more 'stuff' or crazes than people. It can be movie-related, or not.

I know I've already mentioned steven8, but I thought I'd throw another one out for public consumption. So...

Whatever happened to...The Golden Compass sequels?

I hated the first film, but it wasn't universally panned, it made close to $400 million worldwide, and it did win an Oscar (for Visual Effects). And yet now, nearly two years after its release, there is nothing to be heard about the sequels. No director attached, no writers, no release date...nothing. I know the producers were determined to carry on, but I suppose if the sums didn't add up, that was never going to happen. I tried to find an official answer online, and eventually did: according to this article - http://www.independent.co.uk/a.....onicles-1213848.html - Warner Bros. have pulled the plug.

I suppose, then it joins the ranks of 'franchises that weren't', along with the Alex Rider series, Jumper, The Seeker: Dark is Rising, Inkheart, and many more. Maybe if the first one wasn't such a stinking pile of crap, they'd have been given a chance to make 2 and 3. Having seen the first one, I'm glad they weren't...

Okay, that one was quite easy. Anyone got a WEHT they'd like to look into?

Steven8 left of his own free will. I don't know his reasons, but no one here asked him to go.

Golden Compass? That's easy. The writer pissed everyone off and made it into a circus. There is such a thing as bad publicity and whether you like it or not, the church segment of the world holds a lot of pull. Pullman's remarks did not endear that particular segment to his books. We may have a freedom of religion in the US, as soon as Pullman made his book overtly anti-religious, it brought out the church crowd, and Warner Bros. likely wanted no part of that kind of battle.

This differs from the church segment attacking Harry Potter in that JK Rowling never attacked anything religious in the book or story, and so it was just "a bunch of fanatics." When you say "I killed God at the end," the chances of pissing at least someone off are pretty good. Of course I flipped right to the end of the last book to find out what he did, and I could see how that would upset some people.

EDIT: I'd be interested to see if anything has changed since that article with was done on the heels of last year's little disaster.

Quoted from George Willson Steven8 left of his own free will. I don't know his reasons, but no one here asked him to go.

I found this, actually, since I remembered him making this comment a few months back on the How Serious Are You? thread:

Posted: August 17th, 2009, 10:35pm  

I am not serious about writing professionally.  The idea of seeing your name on the screen as writer of a major motion picture is very exciting, but I know in my heart that that world is not for me.  I love reading scripts, and writing scripts, but I know that I'll never be a professional writer.  I haven't been very active lately.  Mostly posting in the General Section(s)  I'm waiting for my rotation on the Soul Shadows, enjoying the input, then I may just disappear.  

A good friend has convinced me to get back into the art biz and wants me to illustrate his comic book idea, so I've been shaking the rust off.

That solves that, then. He just did exactly what he said he'd do. So long, Steven. Hope the comic book goes well. And if anyone wonders why I could instantly go and dig that post up...I have a strange memory.

Someone else do a WEHT!

Whatever happened to worthwhile CGI movies?

Seriously. Where are they? I checked under the carpet, in the closet, outside behind a tree. They are gone.

Maybe I'll go put them on a milk carton.

Quoted from George Willson Steven8 left of his own free will. I don't know his reasons, but no one here asked him to go. Golden Compass? That's easy. The writer pissed everyone off and made it into a circus. There is such a thing as bad publicity and whether you like it or not, the church segment of the world holds a lot of pull. Pullman's remarks did not endear that particular segment to his books. We may have a freedom of religion in the US, as soon as Pullman made his book overtly anti-religious, it brought out the church crowd, and Warner Bros. likely wanted no part of that kind of battle. This differs from the church segment attacking Harry Potter in that JK Rowling never attacked anything religious in the book or story, and so it was just "a bunch of fanatics." When you say "I killed God at the end," the chances of pissing at least someone off are pretty good. Of course I flipped right to the end of the last book to find out what he did, and I could see how that would upset some people. EDIT: I'd be interested to see if anything has changed since that article with was done on the heels of last year's little disaster.

I think exactly the opposite. The studio sanitized the film and took out the anti-religious stance, totally destroying the concept of the novel.

They also hired a crap director who cut and chopped away all the mystery of the novel and left a confusing and childish mess.

The result is a film that was a terrible introduction to one of the great modern fantasy worlds. The sequels would have made a loss because no-one would have wanted to watch them. The die-hards fans hated it and it made no real sense to the new initiates.

I don;t think for a second that anyone really cares what Christains think, the more nosie they make about it the better. It's just free publicity. It just wasn't going to make its money back because they ruined it.

It's a real shame when studios make such a pigs ear of films because that's it. It's gone forever. There will never be a definitive version of such a great book made on film.

It would piss me the hell off if I was a novellist and they gave a guy like the American Pie Director my film. A crazy decision.

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films It's a real shame when studios make such a pigs ear of films because that's it. It's gone forever. There will never be a definitive version of such a great book made on film.

Not entirely true. When The Lord of the Rings was done in 1978, it was a part 1, and nothing else was made of it. The stories are enduring enough, however, that it had another shot, and something great was made of it. As long as someone loves reading the books, someone will want to try again at some point. As long as the book has fans, it'll have an audience.

Quoted from George Willson Not entirely true. When The Lord of the Rings was done in 1978, it was a part 1, and nothing else was made of it. The stories are enduring enough, however, that it had another shot, and something great was made of it. As long as someone loves reading the books, someone will want to try again at some point. As long as the book has fans, it'll have an audience.

LOTR is something of an exception though as it's one of the most famous of all novels.

The Dark Materials is toast unfortunately.

Seems I was a bit harsh on Weiz before, as it seems he fought quite hard to keep the story intact, but New-Line pressured him into changing the story. He even resigned and was brought back on later on only because of a plea by Pullman.

New-Line had to restructure financially after the flop of the film. If studios haven't got the balls to make films properly they should fuck of and let soemone else do it. IMHO of course.

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films New-Line had to restructure financially after the flop of the film. If studios haven't got the balls to make films properly they should fuck of and let soemone else do it. IMHO of course.

Hehe, studios haven't learned that in the first hundred years. I doubt they'll learn it going forward. They will "rework" something to what they think people will want to see instead of trusting the creative talents of those in the middle of it. I'll bet one reason some of the greatest films out there are as good as they are is because the studios actually did stay out of them and let the creative teams do their thing. The Golden Compass may be a good example of what happens when a studio decides how the story should be made. There are tons of those examples out there so. Most of them are sequels.

I knew this would happen when I mentioned The Golden Compass...

Quoted from Mr. Blonde Whatever happened to worthwhile CGI movies?

Jurassic Park ended its theatrical run.  

Yeah I never got the whole Golden Compass movie thing. Why on earth would a studio pick a Satanic theme book and chop out all the satanism? What's the point? There is a dozen other fantasy books I can think of that New Line could have spent their money on and produced.

They where on a good thing with Lord Of the Rings so they should have stuck with that style of fantasy and did Dragonlance or Sword of Shannara. Why they wasted money on a fantasy book that bashes the Catholic church is beyond me.  

Quoted from tonkatough Yeah I never got the whole Golden Compass movie thing. Why on earth would a studio pick a Satanic theme book and chop out all the satanism? What's the point? There is a dozen other fantasy books I can think of that New Line could have spent their money on and produced. They where on a good thing with Lord Of the Rings so they should have stuck with that style of fantasy and did Dragonlance or Sword of Shannara. Why they wasted money on a fantasy book that bashes the Catholic church is beyond me.

Whoa, steady on - anti-Church is one thing, but Satanism is quite another.

Whatever happened to...rationality?

Heh! Obviously you haven't read the Satanic Bible. Don't believe the hype, the Satanic Bible is NOT what the media portrays it to be.
   Every theme of the downside of organised religion in Phil Pullman book is lifted right out of the Satanic Bible.

  

Steven8 is no more?  He's a good guy from OH.  Wonder why he left?

Whatever happened to Edward Norton and Ryan Gosling? Just as they seemed poised to take over Hollywood they went back under the radar. As a fan of both of them I'm a little disappointed.