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WARNER ARCHIVE’S JONNY QUEST: BETTER IN BLU (Friday) – Okay, I’m not even going to front, I’m probably one of a handful of writers on the net who are absolutely crazy about the original Jonny Quest series. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve ’ve rewatched the series. So when I heard that Warner Archives would be releasing the series on Blu, I was beside myself.
Those who attended the panel were treating to a remastered — and might I add fantastic-looking — first half of the infamous episode “The Robot Spy”. The fact that the Blu Ray looks this outstanding is a pure testament to the original animation team’s incredible artwork on the series. Backgrounds are lush and vibrant.
The panel, moderated by Gary Miereanu, elaborated on the restoration process. Which included tracking down the highest quality cuts of Hoyt Curtain’s musical work for the series, re-inserting commercial break bumpers, and maintaining the original aspect ratio and even retaining certain politically incorrect scenes for the sake of preserving the original.
While the release date is still to be determined, Warner Archives promises it will arrive sooner than later, and definitely before 2020. This will be a day one purchase for myself. 4/5 Bibles.
TOLKIEN (Friday) – Arguably the most popular fantasy writer in history, J.R.R. Tolkien is, for many a geek, the man who introduced them to the craft. Coming from Fox Searchlight, Tolkien is the story of the writers origins, played by Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max Fury Road, X-Men).
Cliff Broadway, the man behind the Tolkien fansite OneRing.net, was moderating. The man’s enthusiasm for Tolkien was easily apparent. On the panel was Director Dome Karukoski, and cast members Anthony Boyle, Patrick Gibson, Tom Glynn-Carney, and of course Hoult, coming just from the Dark Phoenix panel.
Karukoski would elaborate on how this whole project began as a 12-year old reading Lord of the Rings for the first time. Shortly after, we were shown a clip from the film of the four childhood friends coming together to create the now famous group, the Tea Club and Barrovian Society — otherwise known as TCBS. For the uninitiated, the TCBS was a boyhood club founded by Tolkien and friends to “change the world through art”. It appears that this club and these friendships will be the primary focal point of the film.
The film doesn’t look to exactly critique the writer himself, but instead to shed light on some of the aspects that influenced his creation of the stories. On the other hand, those well versed in Tolkien lore will enjoy pointing out the different easter eggs, while the general pubic should enjoy what looks to be a very entertaining Bildungsroman. 3.75/5 Tolkien Novels.
Fox Searchlight’s Tolkien releases on Friday, May 10th.
-Dana Keels