Thus revealed, the creature buried its nose in the tire-tilled soil...
June 15, 2005
"Veronica Mars" and ZOMBIE <3

I happened to catch an episode of "Veronica Mars" tonight, and I have to admit that it wasn't too bad. Actually, De recommended the show to me quite a while ago, but I never got around to watching it -- namely because I was never sure when it was on and, because it's a UPN show, I never bothered to check. But tonight, as I happened to be fixing some dinner and had decided to eat it in front of the television -- and because the standup act on Comedy Central (I tend to watch whatever's on CC on these nights, since "Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy" is usually on Cartoon Network at the time and I fucking hate that show) had irritated me so greatly that I didn't want to see what followed, I ended up looking through the TV listings to see what else I could watch. And voila, the legendary "Veronica Mars" was coming on! So I watched. And, like I said, not bad!

One thing bothered me, though -- while the show itself bears very few similarities to my beloved "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", for some reason I couldn't ignore how much Kristen Bell's Veronica Mars looks like Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy. The thing is, she doesn't even look all that much like her! But somehow the clothes she wears, the poses she strikes, the expression on her face -- I kept thinking, "Dude, that is so Buffy." If a young Alyson Hannigan guest starred on the show and I wasn't paying too much attention, you could probably trick me into thinking that I was watching an episode of "Buffy" for a few minutes. And it bothers me because I think the apparent similarity is more/less intentional.

Also, how did I not know that George A. Romero's got a new zombie movie -- Land of the Dead -- due out next week?!?!? I'm ashamed for not knowing about this. I mean, ZOMBIES! Romero zombies! I should know these things! For once in I can't remember how long, I'm actually experiencing feeling of excitement about the prospect of viewing a new release in the theater! Even Batman Begins didn't get a rise out of me.

Man, this entry sure has a lot of IMDb links in it.

Oh, and sorry about the lack of Scary-Crayon updates this week! I've been a little busy with a new project of mine. Hopefully I'll get SC updated tomorrow night. Hopefully. Okay? Ja!

-posted by Wes | 10:38 pm | Comments (8)
8 Comments »
  • Becky says:

    I'm so anxious for the new Batman...over a zombie pic. Maybe we aren't meant to be movie buddies, after all? My Nashville friend, Michael, is trying to get me into Buffy as I never watched it when it ran live. He also loves Veronica Mars, so I may have to check it out some time.

  • I saw Batman Begins today.. and it was in-freaking-credible.

  • Wes says:

    Becky. Becky! Surely you can understand the importance of this. This isn't just "a zombie pic." This is a Romero zombie pic. Remember the original Night of the Living Dead (1968)? Dawn of the Dead (1978, not the shitty 2004 "remake")? Day of the Dead (1985)? All Romero! These are established genre classics -- and Land of the Dead looks to be the fourth in the series! And as much as I like Batman (I don't like the idea of Christian Bale as Batman, though, and no live-action Batman flick will ever top the 1992-1995 animated series), he can't hope to displace my love for the holy trilogy of zombie movies. Which will now soon be a quadril... the hell? I don't think "quadrilogy" is a word.

    Anyway, watch the bloody flicks, Becky (assuming you haven't...) -- then you'll understand. 🙂

  • Becky says:

    I will try at least hte first one, but I can't imagine that a bunch of zombies will be that entertaining, but I can give it a fair shot. I actually like Christian Bale as the idea, at least it was a little "different." I never thought Michael Keaton fit the role, either. Then again, I think they've done a better job at casting villians than the actual Batman character.

  • Michael says:

    Veronica Mars is a great show. I love it and I am not ashamed to say that.

    Now, if you do get hooked (and you will), do NOT give in to the tempation to read the SPOILERs on the resolution of the central mysteries of season one. Trust me...it's worht the ride unaware.

  • Michael says:

    And Wes--you're right...the animated series did kick all forms of ass....

    Speaking of DVDs I need to obsesss over getting now that the Buffy collection is complete...

  • Wes says:

    Becky: I'll wait until you've seen Night of the Living Dead (remember, the 1968 version -- you can find it hella cheap these days; it's in all kinds of budget horror DVD sets -- though the 1990 remake starring Tony Todd wasn't half bad either) to comment further, but seriously, it's fantastic. Romero was pretty much the guy who turned zombie films into vehicles for social commentary, which is what they more/less were (and, moreover, could be expected to be -- even the sillier ones) until fairly recently (with the Resident Evil films and the craptastic Dawn of the Dead remake, etc., though 28 Days Later retained the deeper touches of the more mature genre offerings). So if you were wondering why I'm so into zombie flicks, that's the reason -- Romero made them mean something.

    And yeah, I agree that the casting choices for Batman haven't been all that great, though I think Michael Keaton's been my favorite -- if only because his mouth and chin looked so cool in the mask (which, I think, is probably why they cast him in the role). But I dunno who I'd choose to play Batman. Billy Zane, maybe?

    Michael: I'll be honest -- I liked what I saw of "Veronica Mars", but I wasn't hooked (which may be because I'm a latecomer and don't really know what's going on) and probably wouldn't go out of my way to watch every week. However, I would probably buy the season DVD set(s) and watch those. There's a show called "Wonderfalls" (I think?) that I also wouldn't mind checking out in that capacity.

    And your Buffy collection is complete? Awesome! Mine too -- I stopped with Season 5, since as far as I'm convinced that's where the series ended. 😉

  • Jesus says:

    I want to see Land more than Batman. It's Romero! And a dead movie, been 20 years since last one! And I fuckin hate Ed Edd and Eddy too. That show is like for retards or something, I just don't find it funny, and the character designs are so ugly I saw that Veronica Mars show once or twice it was decent but I just found it so hard to actually catch when it's on. I forget or something else good is on. And Kristen Bell is one hot piece of ass. Much hotter than SMG, IMHO.

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