Podcast 3 Supplemental - Prometheus, Ray Bradbury, Para Norman

Hey there, animation fans. Some follow ups to Podcast number three!

• Para Norman: new stop motion film coming from the makers of the excellent Coraline. You can read about their interesting way of using 3D printing to make their puppets here. 
• Ray Bradbury: the sad passing of an American literary legend. You can begin your journey into the Bradbury world from his official site, his connection with movies and television, and the old 1950's EC comics 
• Prometheus: 6/5 for the visuals, 2/5 for the gonzo story. Such a missed opportunity. Given the nature of the location and the strong sense of antiquity, the possibilities of the main character, Dr Shaw, and her beliefs being slowly challenged by the alien temple could have been a cracker. Not to mention the relationship between the android David and the human crew, and the changing power relationships as people realize what the Engineers represent.
  
  Imagine that as Prometheus: a dark and stormy planet, an expedition, far from home and picking through an ancient civilisation, evidence of our origins, and then, as the long nights pass, the storms come and go, and the tension slowly ratches up (like the 50's Thing, thawing out in its block of ice), as more and more evidence is uncovered, more secret chambers unearthed, more truths and story is fleshed out... the terrifying secret of the Engineers and their black goo... man, it really could have build up to something and hit us between the eyes, Exorcist style.
  
  But no. It astounds me that its written and put together like a routine bit of 21st franchise telly: you know the sort - lots of running around, silly plot twists and turns, written in episodes for far too many ads, inane action and dialogue, piling on the MacGuffins and gimmicks as a substitute for character development and substance... all designed to distract people channel hopping or remembering they haven't texted anyone for more than 30 seconds.
  
  I can't help it, but Prometheus for me should have been a 21st century update of Quatermass and the Pit - a surprisingly good bit of 1950's British telly concerning archaeological digs that reveal ancient aliens. It builds up suspense in a wonderfully old fashioned sort of way and there's also Quatermass 2: a surreptitious alien invasion that involves, of all things, a nasty black goo and terraforming. It was one of the breakout templates for British sci-fi, especially for things like the Hammer horror films and the early Doctor Who's. Chase them up.
  
  
  
  Anyway. For anyone curious about that old scallywag, Erich von Däniken, you can roll your eyes at his Chariot of the Gods. There was even a movie version (I recall seeing it as a kid, surrounded by a theatre full of guffawing teens) Apart from the patronising assumption that "primitive" peoples are basically incapable of their own development, it can't be denied that he exposed a lot of hitherto unpublicised ancient civilisations into the public realm.