May the Fourth be with you! (And also with you. – Am I the only one who always wants to respond that way?) Every year on Star Wars Day I share a special post. Being a pun and me loving some things Star Wars I feel compelled to recognize it every year.
The Words
This year I’m leaning into the librarian and scholar part of being part of the fandom. For Star Wars Day I offer a quiz of Star Wars related terms.
Sarah S. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many times at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. She is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales fighting to bring the History, Mystery, Magic, and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. How can you help? Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, look at her photos, and find her on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , SlideShare, and Academia.edu . Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and former director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.
It’s always interesting when things you are interested in cross. I saw a movie review YouTube channel that included a bit with the original Ghostbusters doing a stylized walk/dance through Times Square. I thought – “I never saw that.” I looked it up and apparently it was from the official Ray Parker, Jr. music video for the theme song. I looked it up and here it is.
For reasons I fail to understand part of it were drop in cameos of celebrities (mostly people who had connections to the leads and executive positions within the movie) doing the bust out shouts “GHOSTBUSTERS!” Unfortunately, instead of following the rhythm like anyone who knows the song would do, they just randomly say “Ghostbusters” breaking it in different places and saying it at different speeds. I mean, give them an earpiece and say the rhythm if that’s the only way they can say it correctly.
So ScreenRant that produces the video channel I watched also does a blog and they have a piece spelling out everyone who has a cameo. As I watched it I was kind of shocked because one of the cameos was Melissa Gilbert! Find it on this video about 2:20.
Melissa Gilbert Screen Capture from Ghostbusters Music Video
Sarah S. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many times at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. She is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales fighting to bring the History, Mystery, Magic, and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. How can you help? Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, look at her photos, and find her on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , SlideShare, and Academia.edu . Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and former director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.
The first thing I’ll say is I love this movie. The second is I don’t want a sequel. I care about these characters and think they could do other things, but I don’t think they could end up in this exact spot again and ending in this exact spot is part of the reason it’s so good. My nephew, having seen many recent Disney movies said, “they could do a sequel. It could be about the mother coming back and she could really be the evil one.” See what you’ve done Disney executives? All the poor woman do was die and you’ve got people suspecting she’s the “evil” one. Do NOT do that! (See note)
Plot – Spoilers Alert!
There is a spooky Haunted Mansion outside of Louisiana. An evil ghost, “a ghost who haunts ghosts,” has something evil happening. The ghosts “follow you home” and haunt you worse and worse until you return to the Haunted Mansion. A “Dream Team” is put together aka people they can afford by the new owner of the Haunted Mansion, her son, a priest who really isn’t one, a scientist who built a camera with the hopes of photographing ghosts, a medium, and an expert on Louisiana houses and hauntings. As we get further into the story we realize that the villain of the piece is the Hatbox Ghost, real name Alistar Crump. (I’m sure named for Rolly Crump.) Crump was turned evil by revenge and started doing black magic to keep himself powerful and young. Master Gracey, the original owner, but not builder of the house, started to do seances when his wife died of yellow fever to try to reach her again. He failed, but his constant seances brought in ghosts from all over the world (almost as if it was a retirement home for ghosts). Finally Crump spent the last 200 years or so gathering souls under his control including each of the owners of the house that he has convinced to kill themselves various ways over the years. He’s now collected 999 ghosts but must collect 1 more that is willing so his power will be complete and he’ll have the ability to take over more than this one house and its land. The writing is great and the acting is great, but my favorite thing about it is that I could see if this movie had been released in the 1960s it could really have inspired the ride we have today. It tracks backward and forward.
Where the Movie “Inspired” the Ride
So one of the things I like best about this movie is its ability to take things in the ride and make it make sense within the story of the movie.
Ghosts like the Hatbox Ghost and Constance Hatchaway and even the opera singer and the mummy from the cemetery scene are shown as characters, some more fully developed than others.
The Hatbox Ghost helps kick off the haunted part of the story by standing in the lane and in a soft voice echoing Little Leota’s voice “Hurry back!”
Once a person steps inside the house they have a ghost follow them home and haunt them with haunting events that get worse and worse until they return to the house. (Hitchhiking ghosts)
One ghost seems to be a take-off on Captain Gore and is a sea captain trying to get back to the sea.
The paintings of the two men shooting a duel from the ballroom are in a hallway and the current owner of the house says sometimes she walks through there and feels a pain on both sides (the ghost bullets).
The Haunted Mansion building is the same as the one in Disneyland except for the conservatory from Orlando’s. The seance room is set under the round glass conservatory roof. Crump’s Mansion that we only briefly shows us the rest of the exterior of the Haunted Mansion in Orlando.
When they are looking for the seance room they are in a hallway with scones fashioned to look like human arms like there are in the Haunted Mansion which they draw attention to as the priest pulls on one thinking it’s a lever to open the door.
In the seance room are 2 chairs. One if the Donald Duck chair from the infinite hallway scene Another is shaped like a Doom Buggy (the ride vehicle) and it does indeed ride the medium along as if it was a Doom Buggy and dumps her outside of the house.
Madame Leota is trapped in her crystal ball and after a brief reprieve is trapped again so she leads seances from inside the ball.
During one astral projection/reverse seance sequence we see the bust truly turning their heads to see what’s coming.
During an effort to get out of the house they are trapped in the stretching room which stretches. They hold onto the gargoyles that also rise up getting them away from all the dangers from the bottom of the paintings that have come to life and then the ceiling changes to what you see when you can see through the scrim except for the body.
When the dimensions are colliding as Crump tries to keep them in the house we see a set of stairs like those going in all directions like in the Orlando house.
He opens a door 2 times both times taking him to the cemetery where we see other ghosts including our 3 hitchhikers.
When Crump sends the ghosts after them at one point you see the floating skulls from the organ and the rotating ghost projections.
There is a ballroom full of characters from the ballroom scene at the Haunted Mansion and in the end they are all dancing to Grim, Grinning Ghosts.
Making the Hatbox’s ghost real name Crump is clearly a tribute to Rolly Crump who worked on the ride. Master Gracey is a fixture character of the Haunted Mansion although people don’t ever seem to understand that the title Master is not in the form of Mister, but is the older usage meaning a child of the house. I think the was a joke because Yale Gracey who also worked on the ride was quite a bit older than Rolly, but nobody gets it.
Also during the astral projection/reverse seance scene a ghost hides in a candle giving the candle a face that then tries to blow itself out to hide from the Hatbox Ghost. Seriously it’s the cutest think ever and I WANT MERCH of it!
Characters
I want to say that they cast this especially well. I didn’t know all the cast, including some that I think they expected me to know, but they were all fantastic. My favorite was the new owner’s little boy, Chase W. Dillon who has major reaction and comedy chops. I can’t wait to see what Dillon does best. But the interactions between the characters spark. They all have character arcs and a problem they have to get through over the course of the movie.
The other characters are:
Ben Matthias who is a widower scientific genius deep in depression who has invented a camera that can take photos of ghosts. He has to learn to deal with his grief over his wife and move on with it through the rest of his life.
Gabbie who is a doctor and a widow. She has come to New Orleans with her son after seeing what she thought was a great buy on an old house to start a bed and breakfast.
Father Kent who presents himself as an exorcist, but really he’s a salesman who dresses up to do phony exorcisms and has to learn to really help people and step up into that shepherd role helping people become what they need to be.
I would say this is the best Disney live action movie in a LONG while. I’d say it rates up there with Mary Poppins (the original), Swiss Family Robinson, The Parent Trap (the original), The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Love Bug (the original), and Blackbeard’s Ghost.
We went to see it in the theater as a family and we’ve watched it at least 8 times since it’s been on Disney+. I hope this movie will become a cult classic because it deserves it. Haven’t watched it yet? I’ll wait.
Note: As far as other Haunted Mansion movies go, the Eddie Murphy movie from 2003 is fine, but is basically more a Eddie Murphy movie than a Haunted Mansion movie. The Muppets Haunted Mansion is, of course, also amazing. There are problems (especially that the main “problem” Gonzo has to deal with was already dealt with in a feature movie – it’s called Muppets from Space), but I think it’s the best Muppet and most Muppet thing Disney has done with the Muppets since the completely perfect (with the song Love is Gone re-added) The Muppet Christmas Carol.
Sarah S. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many times at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. She is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales fighting to bring the History, Mystery, Magic, and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. How can you help? Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, look at her photos, and find her on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , SlideShare, and Academia.edu . Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and former director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.
The first thing to say is that I’m not big into superhero movies. Once you get past Superman I and the Richard Donner cut of Superman II, there are a lot of bad superhero movies out there. My mom aka my movie buddy has an utter hatred of them so unless I go out of my way to see them I don’t see many of them. She especially hates Ironman – which I don’t get – he’s hilarious. TV shows were where I got my superhero fix. I’m going out of my way to spell that out because even given all that I think Spiderman: No Way Home was the best movie of the last couple of years.
I wasn’t properly teed up for this movie. I hadn’t had any interest in the previous two “trilogies” so I didn’t know their Spidermen except from TV ads. I hadn’t seen all the necessary MCU movies for backstory. I hadn’t even seen the previous 2 Spiderman movies of the Home series. And I STILL think this was the best movie of the last couple of years, so if you haven’t seen any of the set up items either, don’t worry about it. You know Peter Parker is Spiderman, was bitten by a radioactive spider and given super powers, had Uncle Ben die because he didn’t use his powers to help when he could have, and “with great power comes great responsibility,” and BAM! you know enough to understand the movie. I did see Spiderman: Far From Home AFTER seeing this and while it explains a couple of things, it really didn’t impact my understanding of or my enjoyment of Spiderman: No Way Home. I also first watched this movie on an airplane on our way down to Walt Disney World which was NOT an ideal viewing system for this movie, but that didn’t even stop it and I watched it again on the way…home.
A Cunning Plan- That’s What We Need A Cunning Plan
My favorite thing about this movie without exception is that it takes the terrible decisions made by probably dozens of people at Sony studios over 20 years… and makes it look like they were planning a brilliant long term move this entire time. That they NEEDED multiple Spidermen to set up this movie so they obligingly went out made some with the intention of reaching the ability to do this movie. (They SO did NOT do this as a long term plan. These were individual short term decisions. Very bad short term decisions.) I am fairly certain that if we are still able to watch these movies in 100 years, maybe 200 years it will be accepted wisdom that this was part of a clever, brilliant plan.
What Happens
So what happens is Peter’s life falls apart after Mysterio postmortemly outs him as Spiderman in a doctored video making it look like Peter arranged the attacks to make himself look important and that he killed Mysterio. Peter’s life goes crazy and neither he nor either of his best friends get accepted into college because of the scandal. He goes to Dr. Strange and asks that he use magic to make everyone forget that Peter Parker is Spiderman. (See Note 1)
Peter interferes with the spell and it goes wrong. People from the different movies come spilling into this world including several amazing villains (and let’s be honest, the one way Sony has done better than Marvel is with the creation of great villains) William DeFoe (Green Goblin) has done the best acting in any superhero movie ever and Alfred Molina (Doc Ock) and Jamie Foxx (Electro) are both great. (Please see Note 2)
Fan Service
A big complaint you heard from some people was that this movie was full of fan service. Fan service is generally considered putting things in movies just to please fans. Things in this movie like the appearance of Matt Murdock aka Daredevil who had previously appeared in a Marvel show on Netflix and was played by the same actor. This confirmed that they and the characters that appeared in them were cannon in the MCU. Things like the line “with great power comes great responsibility” and many other things that you have to be a fan of Spiderman previously to get. They even had, but then cut, a bit with the actor who played Spidey on the 1970s TV show which is the show where I first learned about him. Some were just flashes as Electro briefly sports his energy mask from the comics as he blazes brighter.
I say yes, that’s a terrible idea to put in a movie things that people who will most likely pay to see this movie multiple times will love about this movie .~ (sarcasm mark) I’m not talking about making something so esoteric that you HAD to watch all the previous stuff to understand the entire movie, but adding call outs that fans will like is a good move. Plus, as I say I hadn’t really seen the movies and most of the TV shows that these things called out to and it might not have been as cool for me as it was for people who had, but I didn’t miss that knowledge at all and really enjoyed the movie.
Sing a Song
I found a song on YouTube which is the second best original song I’ve ever found there. I think you have to have seen the movie to appreciate it, but it’s a great re-telling of what happened. (See Note 3)
Deleted Scenes
Like I said, I first saw the movie on plane. This was clearly shot to be seen in a movie theater. When they re-released it in theaters with added footage I was sure to go see it on the big screen. I had been watching deleted scenes and I wondered what ones would be included in this re-release.
These are basically what they added. I’m glad they added the scene that had Tom Holland’s brother in it as a thief, but I see why they cut it. The dialog in the scene was pretty painful. I can see what they meant to do with the scene, but the dialog wasn’t needed. They added a bit of what Peter’s first school day back after his secret identity was revealed and I think that probably shouldn’t have been deleted in the first place. The scene in the elevator to Happy’s apartment doesn’t really add anything. It’s a nice beat, but I’d still cut it. The scene with Daredevil and Happy facing his legal problems and explaining the situation around Happy seeing the villains arrive at his apartment on his phone app was a definite improvement. More bonding time for the Spidermen definitely should NOT have been cut. In fact more spider bonding time should have been a given. The interview shows – weren’t great. They were a good choice to cut and shouldn’t have been put back.
The End
I highly enjoyed this movie. I enjoyed watching it on the teeny, tiny screen on the plane and it was worth seeing again on the big screen. Hope that they cut the talk show elements though – those were just bad and spoiled the rhythm of the movie. Either way you should see it, too.
Note 1: The best thing would have had him wish that people didn’t know Spiderman was Peter Parker or even have them forget Spiderman because then he could just come out again and nobody would remember what he had done before good or bad. BUT really this video from the “How It Should Have Ended” channel has the winner idea. Just have people forget Mysterio and everything he ever said, but it had to be this way “so the movie can happen” as they say on the Pitch Meeting channel. The other major problem with this is that I see no way the “solution” that Peter comes up with at the end makes any logical sense at all. Also, it could well spill over into the other 2 Spidermens realities. It’s just incredibly dangerous and I don’t see how it makes sense in any way whatsoever. Plus what about Flash’s book and all the stuff online and the TV shows and…it just doesn’t make any sense. It’s a satisfying ending though as long as you don’t pick at it.
Note 2: Sonny’s villains were superior to most of the MCU ones (except Loki, nobody will ever top Loki). A big improvement in this MCU version was the presentation of those villain characters. The Green Goblin wore a mask during most of his on screen time in his original movie as the comic character did. This time he destroyed his mask right away so you could appreciate the acting more. Doc Ock was using CGI arms instead of puppet arms and it just worked better, plus I think they did a better job explaining how the arms worked (based on this movie, not his). I’ve seen short clips of original Electro footage and they explained his change in color that this was a different universe so the power was different, but you could also see his face a lot clearer. It was just a better outfit and he looked cooler. There were problems with the other 2 villains because they were working on other things so barely did any in person acting on set, but the CGI version of the costumes were still better.
Sarah S. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many times at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. She is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales fighting to bring the History, Mystery, Magic, and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. How can you help? Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, look at her photos, and find her on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , SlideShare, and Academia.edu . Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and former director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.
My Star Wars Day Card – From my visit to Galaxy’s Edge in 2022
Happy Star Wars Day!
May the Fourth be with you! (And also with you. – Am I the only one who always wants to respond that way?) Every year on Star Wars Day I share a special post. Being a pun and me loving some things Star Wars I feel compelled to recognize it every year. In fact this year I created some “May the Fourth be with you” social media cards. Check them out on my various feeds.
A Librarian View
Librarians often have a different way of looking at things. I found this incredibly interesting analysis of the main story of Star Wars as told through various data storage mediums. Basically things that aren’t compatible and ARE compatible because as the Pitch Meeting channel always says “so the movie can happen.”
Being able to retrieve something from a now obsolete system may or may not be possible. Just look at my first novel written on an Apple IIc. Sure it was terrible (what do you expect from a 4th grader), but if I wanted to pull it out I couldn’t. Same deal with some Laura stuff I created on big floppy discs and on small floopy discs and on a Zip file. I never used WordStar myself, but I’ve heard stories of people breaking down and crying when they realize they can no longer access their thesis. Even the United States government that cleverly put everything in a census on a now out of date system may have trouble gaining access. In another story it was easier for a NASA project to retype all the data numbers from a hard copy than to retrieve them from the obsolete system.
Making the Jump to Hyperspeed
These same differences are clearly visible in the Star Wars movies.
Here are some quotes:
“Every time the Rebel Alliance changes bases, they must be lugging around a spaceship full of drives, both new and obsolete, to read every possible format.”
“In A New Hope, Luke Skywalker, who is tech-savvy enough to be trusted to help purchase a droid and then clean it up, seems to be stumped by the disk drive on R2-D2. ‘You’ve got something jammed in here real good,’ he says to R2-D2, as though he doesn’t know it’s a disk. If it’s a disk drive, wouldn’t it obviously be a disk, and wouldn’t he know to push a button to eject it?”
“Why on Earth are ports standardized but data storage isn’t? Why are data storage formats wildly variable, but file formats are readable across enemy lines? Why is it that I have to carry five dongles so my Macbook can play a PowerPoint presentation but a decades-old Rebel droid needs zero to stay interoperable with an enemy’s state-of-the-art battle station?”
“Like Galen Erso, the archivists chose to remain embedded inside the Empire, and as their act of resistance, build the most useless, asinine archival system the galaxy had ever seen.”
Sadly the photos that once graced this well documented article have disappeared, but you should read it anyway. It’s great.
Sarah S. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many times at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. She is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales fighting to bring the History, Mystery, Magic, and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. How can you help? Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, look at her photos, and find her on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , SlideShare, and Academia.edu . Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and former director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.
I must admit I haven’t seen all the Marvel movies. Mostly this is because my mother who absolutely hates anything having to do with superheroes that aren’t from the 1980s or earlier and the fact that I personally don’t care enough to go see them in the theater (except for Spiderman: No Way Home that was epic & if they ever release it in theaters again you must go). So where I first heard this wasn’t in person, it was pointed out by (I think) Christopher Czajka on a Facebook group. If that isn’t right, please let me know. I didn’t keep the posting.
Gotta Get Back in Time
There is a section of the Avengers: Endgame movie where Tony Stark has gone back in time (to “borrow” a magic stone – yes, I know infinity stones I’m simplifying here) and while there he runs into his father, Howard Stark. This means a lot to him because Tony’s father died fairly early and lots of Tony’s earlier troubles track back to his reaction to his father’s death. His mother (who isn’t shown) is currently pregnant with Tony. They talk a little – a talk loaded with double meanings for Tony as he can in a way say some things to his dad that he always wanted to even if his dad doesn’t know who he is. They eventually talk of children and Tony asks about the name of this baby he’s expecting which is Tony. …And that’s where this post comes from.
If Only Howard Stark Had Clear Diction
You can’t really hear clearly what name “Howard” is saying. It’s slurred just enough to cast doubt on what it really is. Chris heard it as and pointed it out as Almanzo. And when I heard it for the first time I totally heard that, but I watch with the closed captioning on most of the time (which is a pretty interesting thing comparing what the captioning says compared to the actual words you hear) and it didn’t say Almanzo. It didn’t even say Almonzo. It said Alonzo and listening again, yes, I could hear that. It just wasn’t clear exactly what he said.
So How Do We Find Out?
My next step was looking for a copy of the script. I found the one they released. There is a link to it is below the screen capture below, but doing a search you will find it quite a few places. What does that say? It says Elmonzo – which may have some meaning in the Marvel universe I’m not aware of. Please let me know if it does.
So is that the final answer? Not quite. The released script is a final script. It’s the kind they create from how the movie is actually edited together. Not a shooting script used with the movie as they made it. Since it wasn’t what they were shooting out of maybe there was some kind of change later? Maybe “Howard Stark” changed the name as he was saying it. Maybe it was supposed to be something else. After all closed captioning on major movies just comes straight off the script, too. How could I find out?
Disney Archive
I first tried to track down the script writers. They would be the final word unless it was improvised, right? Well, no luck. If anybody else has a way to contact them, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, please do and let me know. Then I tried to find a contact for actor John Slattery who played Howard Stark and see if he knew what he said. Again no luck. Then I thought Aha! the Disney Archive. Disney owns Marvel now and they’d have earlier scripts! They’d just have to pull a script and check that one word and I’d have my answer.
Now I could put in several interesting paragraphs here about the Disney Archive and how it was founded and the super cool projects they do, but that really doesn’t fit into this story. I will tell you back in the day I had written them twice. Once when Return to Witch Mountain had really shaken me. The movie sequel wasn’t the story I remembered at all and while I’m perfectly capable of making up stories about film characters they aren’t in scenes and I know the difference. I was remembering whole scenes I knew I hadn’t written, but they weren’t in either Escape to Witch Mountain or Return to Witch Mountain.
Turns out they were from an attempt at making it into a TV show that also had Eddie Albert playing his same character from the movies. It had only aired once and ratings were low enough they gave up the idea, but they shouldn’t have it was great & I still remember it a lot better than the sequel movie. I also wrote them about how Don Alejandro de la Vega, Zorro’s father, had found out about Don Diego’s secret identity and for that one they sent me photocopies of a couple of pages out of the original script so I could read it for myself. So with these two positive interactions I wrote again. This time I was asking them to look up the script and find one word and let me know what it was.
Instead of the helpful answer I got before I got a letter back full of legaleeze telling me Disney owned the property and I would have to get permission from their lawyers before they could tell me the one word that was already part of a released movie soundtrack. Disney is less helpful than they used to be in every single way. I hope Bob Igor’s return helps – I don’t think it will impact the archives at all though.
In World
So in world does it make sense that it could be Almanzo? Well, if it’s AlmAnzo it’s undoubtedly from Laura’s books and that works in 1970. There are very few unconnected Almanzos. It could be an Easter Egg dropped in because someone was a Laura fan. If it’s AlMONzo, it would still work in world because there is a Hallmark Hall of Fame radio drama of The Long Winter and for unknown reasons it also pronounces his name AlMONzo. That’s the only place I’ve found it pronounced like that pre-TV show. So if Tony’s mom was into old radio dramas or was a REALLY BIG Laura fan she might have heard it and that’s where she got the name. If it’s Alonzo that’s a more common name. If it’s Elmonzo I have absolutely no idea where they got that. Unless someone who was a Laura fan said throw in Almanzo or Almonzo and the person took a wild stab at spelling it.
So What Almost Was Tony’s Name?
Listening to the dialogue it sounds like it could be Almanzo or Almonzo. The closed captioning says Alonzo. The shooting script that’s released on online says Elmonzo. I must admit listening to it again I could also hear those two names. So of those possible names I’m leaning towards Alonzo because it’s a more common name and I could see how a discussion could get from that to Anthony fairly easily as discussions moved on. However, the shooting script does say Elmonzo so that’s what somebody thinks he said or was supposed to say. In that case it could really have come from somebody wanting it to be Almonzo and not knowing how to spell it or telling someone who didn’t know how to spell it to write it down. I still think it certainly could be any of them. So what do you think? Is it Almanzo, Almonzo, Elmonzo, or Alonzo?
Sarah S. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many times at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. She is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales fighting to bring the History, Mystery, Magic, and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. How can you help? Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, look at her photos, and find her on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , SlideShare, and Academia.edu . Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and former director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.
I’ve been working on a special post for Star Wars Day about my visit to Batuu, but I think that’s going to take a little longer than I originally thought. So to make sure I get something out for it here is the “Weird Al” Yankovic song about The Phantom Menace (1999).
When the first prequel came out, this was the first real Star Wars to come out in 16 years and we hadn’t known if we’d ever get anymore or not. Although there are a lot of issues fans complain about in the prequels, there are also a lot of people who truly enjoy them. This video was celebrating that ecstatic time when people were excited Star Wars was coming, but didn’t know what it would be yet.
Lyrics
Like all Weird Al songs, “The Saga Begins” is a parody. This time it’s of “American Pie” by Don McLean. Yankovicscrounged details about the plot of the movie everywhere he could and even paid for a special sneak peek look at the final movie to make sure they had the facts straight in the song.
McLean and his kids all love the parody. He’s been known to accidently start singing “The Saga Begins” at his concerts.
Accuracy
The song was credited for being amazingly accurate for the time it was written being almost completely written before the movie even came out. According to Wookiepedia: “The main inaccuracy is that Obi-Wan stayed at the queen’s royal starship after their arrival on Tatooine, rather than going with Qui-Gon and Padmé to search for a new part for the ship. Thus, he didn’t witness the podrace firsthand, and didn’t meet Anakin until he arrived at the starship with the rest of the group.”
Star Wars Music
John Williams music aside, there are some great Star Wars fan songs. “The Saga Begins” is probably the most well known. My favorite though is the one I shared last year, “I Love You More Than Star Wars.”
Sarah S. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many times at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. She is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales fighting to bring the History, Mystery, Magic, and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. How can you help? Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, look at her photos, and find her on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , SlideShare, and Academia.edu . Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and former director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.
You have probably noticed that my reviews are not speedy. 🙂 I like to watch something a couple of times and mentally write a review a few times before I actually sit down and write it. This one worked its way down into the deep cavass list of drafts so it’s been years. However, I think one of the reviews that has benefited by that approach is the season finale (maybe series finale?) of Sherlock. It’s been rolling around in my head periodically since it came out and it’s finally settled down so I’m sure what I think about it.
Fans were very divided about this last season of Sherlock. It’s probably the last we’ll get for a bit, but hopefully not the last ever as everyone involved seems eager to make more when schedules and stars align.
The Best Bit First
At first I was rather troubled by this season for reasons I will discuss below, but first I want to share what really hit me in the heart. Can you really do more than quibble about the season that gave us this?
I was so gobsmacked by this that the first time I heard it I immediately searched to find the text online. At that time it wasn’t anywhere. I’m sure it is now, but here’s the version I took down by rewatching that bit over and over again.
Mary Watson in the Sherlock episode – “The Final Problem”:
I know you two and if I’m gone I know what you could become
Frankly, it was not really what I think anybody was expecting and I think, in part, that was the point. From TPTB of the show, they said their scripts, the show was fanfic. In fanfic [I talk more in depth about that in my review for Star Trek (2009)] different rules apply. You try to change things up (moving a Victorian setting to a modern one – which they did SO brilliantly), you try to be clever (another check mark), you throw in Easter Eggs for fellow big fans, and often you try to explore something the original source material overlooks or a different way to get there. It’s especially appropriate to write fanfic of Sherlock Holmes because the first known fanfic was in response to this particular series of books. The first known example is from 1893 and much of its fanfic has been published in book form.
Steve Moffat and Mark Gatiss are true superfans of Sherlock Holmes. They know the original stories, background research, various adaptions, and fan theories. They incorporated all of that into their retelling of the canon. It was something they respected. That is part of the problem people have with it, too. If you aren’t as deep in the fandom as Moffat and Gatiss are you’re not going to understand what they are saying. As a very simple real life example, one time at work they were planning a menu for a holiday party. Someone said, “and of course we’ll have shortbread.” That’s one of my signature dishes that I always bring. So what they were saying was that my shortbread was good and I had to bring it. A new employee didn’t understand what they were saying and offered to bring her own. It’s like that. As someone not in the know you aren’t understanding the byplay and there was a lot of byplay in this final season.
I wish I could find the article, but I remember early on Moffat and Gatiss were interviewed and they said that what they’re writing is the fanfic. I think that is absolutely correct. It checks all the boxes for fanfic and one of those boxes is that it’s your version of the story. As a fanfic writer you are playing with other people’s stories and characters, but what you’re writing isn’t really real, it isn’t really canon. So you’re not trying to please your readers, you’re telling the story you want and if other people enjoy it great! If they don’t, who cares? It’s your fanfic. And so I don’t think they are really bothered by people not enjoying that final episode because it’s their fanfic and they left it set up so if they ever want to do more, they can, but they’re not leaving anybody hanging. It ends the way most Sherlock Holmes stories start — with the legend.
“So like Joss Whedon, can we assume that Steven Moffat views fan fiction as a worthwhile pastime for fans?
“I take it very seriously and I get very cross when people say I’ve mocked it. I would never do that as of anyone who has ever lived, I am the man who writes fan fiction for a living!””
LAST UPDATED May 23, 2022: Re-reading it, I decided to add the paragraph about the shortbread to clarify my point.
Sarah S. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many times at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. She is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales fighting to bring the History, Mystery, Magic, and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. How can you help? Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, look at her photos, and find her on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , SlideShare, and Academia.edu . Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and former director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.
I, for one, was really excited to hear about this Muppets/Haunted Mansion Disney+ special. Disney really hasn’t had a strong idea of what to do with the Muppets since they bought them (except for their show in Liberty Square which was pitch perfect). They currently have a show called Muppets Now on Disney+ that is short bits of the characters doing things that could very well be better shot versions of social media video shorts. I saw someone say online that this Haunted Mansion show was the best thing the Muppets have put out in years and I think I agree. I can see this becoming for Disney/Muppet fans an every year special to watch like It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!
Ed Asner
Before I dive in I want to point out that the recently passed Ed Asner had a small part in the special as one of the character ghosts in the haunted graveyard. Asner just recently passed, but it was fitting to have him here with his strong Disney connection in recent years.
(Also, have you seen the series of shorts called Dug Days? If you haven’t, you really need to hear Asner in Dug Days that also recently came out. It’s really great.)
There was a very short bit near the beginning of our Haunt Mansion visit – in the cemetery – that you could instantly tell was him and later in a practically perfect in every way moment, he lifted up a glass to toast the audience as part of the credits. What an amazing curtain call for a great actor. Goodbye Ed, you had spunk.
Other Stars
One of the things that makes a Muppet show a Muppet SHOW is their interaction with human characters. There have to be humans there to interact with and in Muppet style they often use stars. This goes back to the original Muppet Show TV show which was styled as a variety show with a different human special guest each week. For example, my favorite episode of the original show had Mark Hamill appearing both as himself and briefly as his “cousin” Luke Skywalker. It was SO great!
There are many stars, or at least very well known people, who did small bits of various sizes in this special. I want to specifically call out three. One was Pat Sajak who seems to be developing a bit of an overt Disney connection. Honestly he didn’t have much in common with the other people who did tombstones, but listening to a podcast just today he was mentioned as being part of 2 other recent Disney events so I think this might be becoming a thing.
The second one is John Stamos. Stamos is well known for his television acting career and is almost better known in the Disney fan community as a big Disney fan. He bought the original Disneyland sign among other amazing things. (The D of which is on display outside his house.) He has done a brilliant Disneybound as Prince Eric. He even asked his current wife to marry him at Disneyland and they honeymooned at Walt Disney World. So Stamos is well-known and well beloved of the Disney community. It would have been a shame if he hadn’t gotten a scene and one of decent length which he did. Although I didn’t really care for the payoff of it, it was great to have him there.
The third one is probably someone you wouldn’t know by sight even if they had given her more of her due screen time. Kim Irvine is the daughter of Imagineer and mystic seer model of the Haunted Mansion – with the best Haunted Mansion associated name ever – Leota Tombs. (No, seriously that was her real name.) Kim is now a major Imagineer herself and also has stepped into the crystal ball when new variation recordings of the séance scene were needed.
Plot – Spoiler Alert
So the plot of this special is that the Muppets are having a Halloween party, but Gonzo the Great and Pepe the King Prawn skip it. (Just pausing a minute to say HOW amazing were the Kermit as Piggy/Piggy as Kermit costumes? – So great.)
Gonzo because he has been issued one of those challenges – can you make it through the night at a haunted house – and Pepe….well Pepe seems to think that they are going to some kind of big swank party even though Gonzo repeatedly tells him they aren’t. They get there and pass through the cemetery – which is probably the best scene in the entire special. Loved the ghosts, SO well done.
Mary – “Wrote mysteries with masterful quill, not knowing the ink of words could kill” (Haunted Mansion Wiki’s list and links)
They get a musical number “Rest in Peace.” The Muppets always have the best music.
Gonzo and Pepe then proceed to the house where the host – the ghost host – invites them in and they explore many different rooms in the house. They drop in on various things you’d find around the Haunted Mansion and a few that never happened, but were planned. The second best scene involves the ballroom – because of course it does – that’s the best room in the attraction. It plays back to early Muppets where they did these scenes where the couples would be dancing and then take turns making jokes and it looked just like that. The ghosts then put on a variety show much like The Muppet Show and with our friends taking on dual rolls. Kermit is the MC with a mustache. Fozzie is the Hatbox Ghost (a big deal within Haunted Mansion fandom). Stanley and Waldorf appear IN A DOOM BUGGY. In a doom buggy THAT STOPS! (The Doom Buggies are a continuous ride system when there is some problem loading or unloading that takes extra time or if something breaks down the entire ride stops and it tells you to just sit there a minute just as they did here.) It’s all kinds of great. AND we get another song.
Then Constance Hatchaway (who will later show a red glowing heart) lures Pepe away and they have a great subplot spinning her plotline out, including ghosts of her dead husbands. The only real problem with it is that for her to be going to the trouble they should have established that she thought Pepe was rich – that was the point of her murder spree after all.
Gonzo meanwhile is sent to face his greatest fear which is apparently being left old and alone if he stops doing dangerous gags (which he has basically stopped doing before this special). Apparently Gonzo is SO afraid of being left alone (.~ that’s a sarcasm mark) that he totally doesn’t notice when Pepe wanders off and only remembers he was there at the last minute – see let’s have some consistency people. Gonzo faces his greatest fear and survives and is free to go as the sun is rising. BUT WHAT ABOUT PEPE?!!? Gonzo races through the Mansion and finds Pepe about to marry Constance, pushes Pepe out of the window and so they do the bit when the doom buggy falls in the Haunted Mansion. They land fine and so were both free. The cemetery watchman had dug their graves is a bit disappointed and the limo driver shows up to take them home instead. At the gate the Ghost Host shows up and reveals he was Gonzo’s hero – MacGuffin (wink, wink) – who had challenged him to spend the night in the house in disguise. He gives Gonzo a card with his autograph saying he hadn’t ever been able to face his fear and so is trapped in the Mansion forever – but it was over 100 years he disappeared- that’s just the 1920s seriously it blows my mind – so he’d be dead by now anyway. The limo driver also was really very good, even if she was outside the Haunted Mansion.
What Could Have Been Better
First thing I’d have done was axe Pepe. I’ve never really liked him. I kind of class him as talking food and he’s really unpleasant. I’d really preferred even one of the talking cabbages they sometimes have. (I have warm memories of past song numbers with them singing.) Who should fill that sidekick role in the script instead? Why Rizzo the Rat of course! As they showed in The Muppet Christmas Carol (best Muppet movie ever – best Christmas Carol movie ever – best Christmas movie ever??? well at least top 10) Gonzo and Rizzo have killer chemistry and witty banter. (Plus, the added benefit that Rizzo does NOT say “OK, man” like every 5 seconds.) Rizzo would have been perfect in this role AND I’d have believed it a lot more when Gonzo risked his life to go back in to save his friend. Also more that Constance would have been taken with him even if he wasn’t rich. (I just really love Rizzo the Rat. Give me more Rizzo the Rat, especially with Gonzo.)
Next, I’d make the scenes a little longer. I know, I know everybody is all about the fast scenes now. Has anyone tried long scenes about things people cared about in the last 10 years or so to see how they fared? Either way make the scenes just slightly longer. I don’t need long, lingering shots, but I’d like a chance to actually see the face of the human character before the scene cuts off whether I actually know them either by place I’d seen them before or name or not.
I’d re-do the bit about Gonzo being able to just be himself. I mean sure, look at the character bio and the plotline makes sense, but Gonzo has developed a lot since then. Heck he had an entire movie (Muppets From Space – true it wasn’t a very good movie, but still) that was basically about him figuring out who he was and where he belonged. So the idea that he’d suddenly feel only wanted because of his stunts is bizarrely out of place – unless you’re not a Muppets person to know that and who do they think is going to be watching this? Plus they spend quite a bit of time on it. I wouldn’t mind it quite so much if it had been shorter and the time cut used for those longer who is who shots. Still it’s a terrible plot point. Maybe have Gonzo looking to find Rizzo after they were separated instead? I mean it’s a nice plot point to have him be free and clear and go back for Pepe, but I don’t need it.
Finally, I think I’d have made John Stamos the graveyard guard/digger/watchman/whatever? instead. It was just a longer role. I don’t think the guy doing it for real was bad. He was really good, but it would have been a better fit for the kind of nod having him in the show came from to have Stamos take it.
Will I Watch It Again?
You bet! I may even watch it again before Halloween. It’s fun. It has some great stuff. I love the Constance Hatchaway storyline even if it’s with Pepe. There is lots of great fun stuff to spot. If you like Muppets, if you like the Haunted Mansion or even if you only like one or the other like my mom (who loves the Haunted Mansion and hates the Muppets) you’ll really enjoy it. And Constance Hatchway takes Little Loleta’s line urging us to “Hurry back!” So I will. After all the hitch-hiking ghost Muppets followed me home.
Sarah S. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many times at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. She is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales fighting to bring the History, Mystery, Magic, and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. How can you help? Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, look at her photos, and find her on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , SlideShare, and Academia.edu . Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and former director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.
I have extremely good news today and it is further proof that December 2020 intends to turn all this horrible thing after horrible thing around before we hit January 2021 bless its heart. First, the Charlie Brown Christmas will be shown on regular broadcast TV after all (on PBS). Now they’ve fixed the master having found the clip of the most important song in The Muppets Christmas Carol.
The Love
If you want to know how much I LOVE this movie and read a lot of really interesting stuff about it, read my previous post on The Muppets Christmas Carol. In it you will find stuff talking about how important this song is to the movie. It signals a major character growth by Scrooge and shows he’s broken, not bad. It shows him wishing things were different. IT SHOWS HE KNOWS THE WORDS! (Seriously read the whole article by Maddie Rodriguez about it.) And it ties into the reprise/revision of the final song of the movie, The Love We’ve Found which of course completes the character arc of the main character of the movie.
Is Gone
Short-sighted people at Disney (and as much as I love Disney they do some supremely stupid things) decided that despite its critical role in the movie that it didn’t fit in a movie made for children. The pulled it and while it was in the VHS releases, it hasn’t been found in DVD copies (except the 20th anniversary edition and then only in wide screen). Unbeknownst to the people writing the most about it, was that it was worse than someone at Disney having a stubborn streak and refusing to put it back. They’d actually lost the master copy of it! That’s beyond careless. (It’s right up there with the idea to pull the original tombstones from the Disneyland Haunted Mansion to put up some extra Jack Skellington pumpkins and then losing them. Seriously.)
Is Found
BUT I’m happy to inform you that I’m as happy as its director Brian Henson is that they FOUND the lost master and it has been restored! (“Tiny Tim who did NOT die!”) I’m so happy I may have to go back to Fezziwig’s party and dance a jig. Read all the details here and I’ll try to find a link for the full interview after the 25th to add it here, too.
Sarah S. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many times at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. She is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales fighting to bring the History, Mystery, Magic, and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. How can you help? Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, look at her photos, and find her on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , SlideShare, and Academia.edu . Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and former director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.
Marvel
I, for one, was really excited to hear about this Muppets/Haunted Mansion Disney+ special. Disney really hasn’t had a strong idea of what to do with the Muppets since they bought them (except for their show in Liberty Square which was pitch perfect). They currently have a show called Muppets Now on Disney+ that is short bits of the characters doing things that could very well be better shot versions of social media video shorts. I saw someone say online that this Haunted Mansion show was the best thing the Muppets have put out in years and I think I agree. I can see this becoming for Disney/Muppet fans an every year special to watch like It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!
Sarah's Notebook 