And a bit more about Roc the giant bird. Basically, in the
canon of the “Arabian nights” it is nothing more than a giant eagle or a hawk,
whose wings overshadow the sun and who feeds on elephants, cattle, giant snakes
and so on. There is not much monstrous about the Roc, then, other than its
size. Roc is an uttermost – well, one of the uttermost – manifestation of humans’
ancestral primate fear of the diurnal birds of prey that hunted our ancestors
(fact that is supported by the fossils), nothing more. In Harryhausen’s Sinbad
movies the Roc was just a “random encounter”, a monster that Sinbad and his
crew had to defeat. In Sinbad 2012, the Roc is actually turning to be a helpful
and intelligent ally to Sinbad, after he frees the giant bird from Razia’s
chains. Score 1 for the new Sinbad show and for the new and improved (as hard
as it is to believe) Roc!
Showing posts with label roc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label roc. Show all posts
Monday, 16 July 2012
Sunday, 15 July 2012
Re: Sinbad 2012, ep 2 (01)
Today's episode main themes were captivity and team work. Sinbad is held captive by his grandmother's curse, he and his crew are being held captive by Razia and her Water-thieves, and the Roc is being held captive by Razia as well. Razia is shown opposing to Sinbad in terms of leadership, since apparently in her authoritarian way she needs the Water-thieves to be important. Uh, no. Even without Razia's leadership the Water-thieves will still be a problem to the nearby ships - they don't appear to be turning into anglers and farmers as soon as Razia's son is slain and she is dethroned. They may be less organized, but it takes the brute physical strength of a Roc to save Sinbad and his crew.
Sinbad and his crew... Supposedly, in the middle of this crisis, they learned teamwork, and Rina, apparently, isn't just a pickpocket, but a member of the WWF, unlike Anwar, who couldn't be sounding more like Connor Temple if he didn't try. Why, his relationship with Rina is sort of like Connor and Abby's, where it's the girl, who's the brawn and the common sense. At least, not to add insult to injury, Rina isn't blond.
Back to team work. The quintet learned to act together? Well, sort of. After all, when the fat is in the fire, all people try to work together; you need a special sort of hatred to keep them apart and at each others throats at the moment of need, and this doesn't appear to be the case here.
These philosophical issues, however, take a second place to the fact that night and day seem to be jumping like crazy in the new Sinbad-verse. Yes, undoubtedly, the show's producers are using CGI to make the times of the day (pun intended), but did they have to make them jump like crazy? I have no idea.
Finally, the Roc. Yes, it's CGI'd, but why does it need horns? It's a bird, it's supposed to be relatively light weight and aerodynamic, and even though it's a magical bird, horns are simply... unnecessary. Plus, it's a force for goodness (at least in this ep), so the horns don't have any metaphorical significance, either.
As for its behavior... yes, the "new" Roc is spot-on: it capsized ships (well, boats), and it gave fair winds, and it's big. Pretty much how it is described in the canon Arabian mythology. Whether or not the new TV series will diverge from this stereotype in the next episodes or not, only time will tell.
So, some philosophical pretensions to fill the dialogue, some CGI of various quality, and a reasonably canonic (and understandable, pardon my English) monster. A rather regular S&S show episode, that.
Sinbad and his crew... Supposedly, in the middle of this crisis, they learned teamwork, and Rina, apparently, isn't just a pickpocket, but a member of the WWF, unlike Anwar, who couldn't be sounding more like Connor Temple if he didn't try. Why, his relationship with Rina is sort of like Connor and Abby's, where it's the girl, who's the brawn and the common sense. At least, not to add insult to injury, Rina isn't blond.
Back to team work. The quintet learned to act together? Well, sort of. After all, when the fat is in the fire, all people try to work together; you need a special sort of hatred to keep them apart and at each others throats at the moment of need, and this doesn't appear to be the case here.
These philosophical issues, however, take a second place to the fact that night and day seem to be jumping like crazy in the new Sinbad-verse. Yes, undoubtedly, the show's producers are using CGI to make the times of the day (pun intended), but did they have to make them jump like crazy? I have no idea.
Finally, the Roc. Yes, it's CGI'd, but why does it need horns? It's a bird, it's supposed to be relatively light weight and aerodynamic, and even though it's a magical bird, horns are simply... unnecessary. Plus, it's a force for goodness (at least in this ep), so the horns don't have any metaphorical significance, either.
As for its behavior... yes, the "new" Roc is spot-on: it capsized ships (well, boats), and it gave fair winds, and it's big. Pretty much how it is described in the canon Arabian mythology. Whether or not the new TV series will diverge from this stereotype in the next episodes or not, only time will tell.
So, some philosophical pretensions to fill the dialogue, some CGI of various quality, and a reasonably canonic (and understandable, pardon my English) monster. A rather regular S&S show episode, that.
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