“The ‘Wild, Wild, West’ movie had such promise, and it was completely squandered. A pox on all involved.”

(Following response from Jon Peters edited by Kit Johnson)

But didn’t you see the GIANT F–KIN’ SPIDER?!?!
THAT WAS F–KIN’ AWESOME! NOW IMAGINE IF I COULD HAVE PUT THAT GIANT F–KIN’ SPIDER IN SUPERMAN RETURNS! THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN F–KIN’ AWESOME!
-Jon Peters, producer of WILD, WILD WEST and SUPERMAN RETURNS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYhLIThTvk

For me, CGI is a mixed bag. Sometimes its good (LORD OF THE RINGS, NARNIA) and can do things that are difficult to do live action but it can become tedious when put in the hands of lazy directors (Lucas, Zemeckis, Cameron, all three of whom USED to be good).

I think DeMille could have used CGI very well with some of the scenes.

It is not good or bad, but, instead, it can be used poorly or very well.

It’s a new day and nobody’s pissed in my cornflakes yet, so I’m downright convivial, but what definitions are you taking about? I don’t know what a “Babbage-derived computer” is, but I know about the analytical engines designed and built by Charles Babbage. What about them is analog? And yes, I am saying hand-cranked adding machines are digital. They tally one gear-tooth at a time. It seems like you are defining digital as electronic and analog as mechanical. That’s not right. I’m not looking them up, but in layperson’s terms analog means continuous and digital means discrete increments. A slide rule is analog, the slide can stop anywhere along the ruler. A geared adding machine is digital, the teeth only mesh at specific intervals. A quartz watch is digital, quartz vibrates at a certain, exact interval. Most spring-wound watches are analog, their movements are continuous.

Speaking of the movie that shall not be named, Bob Conrad actually had a pretty substantial role in the movie, playing a sheriff that helps out the ersatz Jim and Artie. When he found out that Loveless wasn’t played by a midget, however, he flew in to a rage and stormed off the set claiming it was an insult to the memory of Michael Dunn, who, I guess, he was best buddies with. He’s also very active in midget rights, or he was, anyway. Anyhow, he left them in the lurch with no real warning, and they were already filming. There wasn’t any point in recasting, since the whole part revolved around Bob’s history and personality, so they ended up just basically ditching nearly the entire sequence, including (I’m told) some fairly extensive western town sets they’d built.

To which I say: Good for Bob!