Get Our Droid App
Friend and Follow us!
Member of the DWPA
Transmissions From Atlantis is back with an action packed episode 3! In this week’s ‘sode, we’re going to ramp it up a bit with three new segments.
Before we get to far into, though – we ask for your help in support of our artist Ray Dillon and his lovely wife Renae. Renae is very ill, has been in the hospital for a while and as starving artists – they do not have any health insurance.
If you’re willing to donate financially or send a card in for Renae – here’s where it needs to go: http://raydillon.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-wife-renae-de-liz-is-going-to-be.html
Okay, now that the sad news is out of the way – let’s talk the fun stuff!
In our new segment – News of the Weird – we’re going to tackle about the Baltic Sea UFO (USO?) and the oncoming zombie apocalypse.
In Rita’s Reading Review, the lovely Rita will be giving you the low down on Rick Riordan’s latest stuff as well as some interesting news on Game Thrones/Song of Fire and Ice creator George R.R. Martin.
In our third new segment – Transmissions Received – we interview South African film maker and actor Curtis Ryan Woodside.
Since we mentioned Game of Thrones, we’ll talk about the Bush head controversy, Rita will tell you why she hates Dark Knight and isn’t looking forward to Dark Knight Rises. In our Doctor Who segment, we’ll give you the 411 on which Sherlock star wants to succeed Matt Smith as the 12th Doctor, we’ll give you some juicy morsels of information on the new companion, Clara, we’ll let you know which Classic Who baddie will be making a return to the small screen in the series and Rita will tell you about our TARDIS horror story.
If all that isn’t enough - we have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sanctuary, Eureka, Warehouse 13 and our review of True Blood Season 5, Episode 2!
Whoo! Get in here and listen – you know you want to!
Show Lineup
3:32 Open
4:50 Help for Ray Dillon and Renae De Liz
7:26 News of the weird…The Baltic Sea UFO
12:03 The Zombie Apocalypse
17:34 The Walking Dead Comic hits 100 issues
19:13 SPOILERS season 3 of Walking Dead
20:00 Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtle Reboot is DEAD…For Now…
22:50 Warehouse 13, Sanctuary and Eureka
28:44 The Dark Knight Rises (and why Rita hates Dark Knight)
Rita’s Reading Review
36:25 Rick Riordan
41:17 George RR Martin
49:05- More Game of Thrones – Bush Head still is a controversy
Transmissions Received
55:14-Transmission Received…by South African Filmmaker Curtis Ryan Woodside (requires both left channel and right channel – i.e. both head phones – to hear full conversation)
Doctor Who Segment
1:12:00 – From Doctor Who TV, Steven Moffat reveals on the new Companion – CLARA!
1:20:00 – Which Sherlock actor wants to be the next Doctor?
1:23:00 – Which Classic Baddie Returns to Doctor Who?
1:27:00 – Rita and Jason’s TARDIS Nightmare
1:30:00 – True Blood – Season 5 Episode 2 – Authority Always Wins Review
1:38:00 – Closing
Feed: http://transmissionsfromatlantis.com/?feed=rss2&cat=4
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
“Why not just focus on Game of Thrones?”
From a purely business standpoint, that makes sense. But does this make sense on a creative level? And what does it say about us a society when it has all become about the “sequel” or the “franchise”? Assuming that we take George R.R. Martin’s comments at face value, shouldn’t we be celebrating the fact that he wants to work on other projects besides the Song of Fire and Ice/Game of Thrones book and television series?
After all, one could expand on this argument and say that Steven Moffat should simply focus on Doctor Who since it’s his most “successful” property, or franchise. Of course, if Moffat had done just that, there would never have been a Sherlock series, which would be a shame. But think about this as well, would Sherlock have worked as a series if, assuming everything else was the same, the characters had been named “Steve and Wilson”? Or was Sherlock only a success because its a “re-imagining” of an existing, popular property?
This lack of original creative material can easily be seen with this year’s crop of summer films. Outside of “Brave” and “Savages”, I can’t think of too many films that are really, truly, original films that could also become potential hits. Now I’m not saying that a film that’s a sequel, reboot, or re-imagining can’t be a good film, “The Avengers” was a really good film and a lot of fun as well. So was the re-imagined “Snow White and the Huntsman”. But where’s the unexpected, out of nowhere, film that takes everyone by surprise like the original “Hangover” or last year’s “Bridesmaids”?
Getting back to literary works, I think it will be interesting to see how J.K. Rowling’s new book “The Casual Vacancy” does in the current marketplace. The logical thing for Rowling to have done would have been to write a new story set in the “Harry Potter” universe. I’m sure, at first, there will be some interest from Harry Potter readers in Rowling’s new work, but if it isn’t able to stand on its own and create new fans who might not have necessarily read the Harry Potter novels, will there be pressure put on Rowling to revisit the Potter universe? Is Rowling now pigeon-holed as a fantasy author, or will she be able to write in another genre? After all, while Stephen King has written some non-horror novels and projects, Stephen King is pretty much pigeon-holed as a horror author which makes it very difficult for an author even of King’s stature to make a success of any non-horror project.
Obviously, there has to be some balance. One can’t ignore the franchises like Song of Fire and Ice, as they are what pays the bills and let’s face it, the entertainment industry is first and foremost a business. Fans of George R.R. Martin want new Song of Fire and Ice novels, and no doubt sales of the Song of Fire and Ice novels and it television spin-off are what pay the bills for the book publishers and allow Martin to continue to write. But should George R.R. Martin simply focus on Song of Fire and Ice/Game of Thrones, as was suggested? In my humble opinion, it’s not an easy answer.
However, I do think it would make for an excellent discussion for a future podcast, what’s a good balance between taking a risk and working with new material vs. playing it safe with a well-established and well-known franchise? And is there a good balance in the entertainment industry or has the focus shifted towards the franchises and playing it safe?
Great podcast, by the way. Love a podcast that makes me think.
Mark, great stuff!
I think if George R.R. Martin showed that he can provide quality books but not take 5-7 years to produce them, then by all means he should branch out and try new things. But as Rita said – the Song of Fire and Ice series is his breadwinner. It takes quite a long time to build an audience and believe me – in today’s twitter age attention spans are minute. If you take too long to produce your work, you’ll lose you that base quickly.
It’s happened to me. I took a few years between Ancient Rising and it’s sequel Rise of the Ancients Annuna. The book wasn’t in the same stratosphere that Martin had – but I had a nice little fan base who enjoyed the first book and pestered me for the second.
By the time the sequel was published – most of that fan base had moved on to something else and I had to start over. Annuna failed because of that (not to mention it was a departure from the action adventure of the first book and was more sci-fi, which certainly didn’t help it’s case).
Now, Song of Fire and Ice has millions of fans of the series – but he (for lack of a better term) abuses those fans by having such a gulf between releases. It puts more pressure on himself to come up with a quality work his fans love that rekindles the fire for the series but especially in this age, it has to negatively effect his bottom line.
The show has given Song of Fire and Ice a second life and now he’s feeling the heat. Will it get him focused to produce a quality book 6 and 7 or will he rush it and these will be subpar to the previous 5 installments?
It will be interesting to see. As you mentioned, I’m also interested to see how Rowling does with her new venture.