Sunday, August 31, 2014

Geekdom Madness - TRG: Tall and Small

Let's play some....umm....stick football? It's getting harder to do these intros...




Let's reacquaint ourselves with the combatants:




JACK SKELLINGTON




Jack Skellington was created by Tim Burton for his 1982 poem "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Burton was working for the Walt Disney company at the time as an animator, and under contract had to leave the poem with the company when he left. After Burton became a smash success with films such as "Beetlejuice" (1988) and "Batman" (1989), Disney found the poem and helped Burton produce a film in 1993. As Burton was working on 1992's "Batman Returns," he hired his friend Henry Selick to direct the film in stop-motion animation.

The original poem was inspired by the various Christmas specials of Burton's youth combined with his feelings of isolation and difference. Jack was conceived as a somewhat "Anti-Grinch" character; someone who loved Christmas but couldn't quite get it right.

Disney released the film under Touchstone Pictures, where it achieved critical acclaim, but only a modest box-office. It did however gain a massive cult following which allowed Disney to fully embrace it almost a decade after its release, including it in their film pantheon and related material. Jack in particular is popular as one of Burton's quintessential "outsider" figures.

Jack Skellington was originally supposed to be voiced by composer Danny Elfman, but the studio only allowed him to perform the singing voice (one of the reasons Elfman had a brief falling-out with longtime collaborator Burton). Jack's speaking voice was performed by Chris Sarandon in the film and all other official appearances.



STEWIE GRIFFIN



Stewie Gilligan Griffin was created by Seth MacFarlane for the 1999 TV show "Family Guy." MacFarlane came under some scrutiny for Stewie's uncanny resemblance to Chris Ware's 1991 comic strip "Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth." MacFarlane maintains Stewie is original, though recognizes that the similarities are "shocking."

Stewie was originally constructed as a diabolical villain, the joke being the sophisticated evil coming from a one-year-old. As the series progressed, the writers became interested more in Stewie's ambiguous sexuality and his struggle to figure out his orientation - still as a one-year-old.

Stewie was at once and remains arguably the most popular and recognizable character from the show.

Stewie is one of the many characters voiced by MacFarlane himself, who based the voice off of Rex Harrison's role in 1964's "My Fair Lady."

Final Thoughts
Umm.........I got nothing........


As always, make sure you're viewing the WEB version of the site and vote in the poll on the right-hand side of the screen. Poll closes Friday, and results posted on Saturday. Feel free to discuss your pick in the comments below.



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