This week on the Major Spoilers Podcast, Movies, Television Shows and Calvin and Hobbes (we don’t actually talk about comic books this week).
NOTE: There are some major spoilers in the Star Trek Into Darkness and Doctor Who reviews, so take precautions if you don’t want to be spoiled.
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Show Notes after the Jump!
NEWS
Disney announces Star Wars Rebels for 2014
LINK
REVIEWS
STEPHEN
Cloud Atlas
An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.
MATTHEW
Doctor Who: The Name of the Doctor
Clara is summoned to an impossible conference call, alerting her that the deadly Whisper Men are closing in on Vastra, Jenny and Strax. Someone is kidnapping the Doctor’s friends, leading him toward the one place in all of time and space that he should never go. It’s a deadly trap that threatens to unravel his past, present and future…
RODRIGO
Star Trek Into Darkness
With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.
ZACH
Teen Titans Go!
Teen Titans Go! focuses on the “funny business” that happens between the Teen Titans when not saving the world and when living together as teenagers without adult supervision. The Teen Titans must deal with situations such as teenage pranks reaching a whole new level, or having to take Driver’s Ed after wrecking the Batmobile. The show is part of the DC Nation block on Cartoon Network.
Major Spoilers Poll of the Week
Summer time means swimming pools, blockbuster movies, and comic book conventions.
Do you have plans to attend a comic book convention this summer?
Discussion:
Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin and Hobbes is unquestionably one of the most popular comic strips of all time. The imaginative world of a boy and his real-only-to-him tiger was first syndicated in 1985 and appeared in more than 2,400 newspapers when Bill Watterson retired on January 1, 1996. The entire body of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons published in a truly noteworthy tribute to this singular cartoon in The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. Composed of three hardcover, four-color volumes in a sturdy slipcase, this edition includes all Calvin and Hobbes cartoons that ever appeared in syndication. This is the treasure that all Calvin and Hobbes fans seek.
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6 Comments
My favourite series of strips is when Calvin breaks his Dad’s binoculars. As a young boy I was extremely clumsy and broke plenty of my Dad’s things. I definitely know the feeling of dying a thousand deaths before you even get in trouble.
As for the post-Watterson interpretations of Calvin and Hobbes, there has been exactly one attempt at a Calvin and Hobbes animation that I feel is worth anything. I like it because it doesn’t give Calvin a voice. It’s nice, short and sweet.
Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHjCE040aYU
This will be interesting to listen to. Unfortunately I won’t be listening to Matthew’s review until next week after the dvds come out. then i’ll come back and hear that one.
I’m a little surprised that you didn’t go into the significance of Calvin & Hobbes’ title (or maybe you did and I missed it?)
At any rate, the characters’ names are an allusion to John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes. Calvin (protestant theologian and the founder of Calvinism) and Hobbes (social philosopher and author of the Leviathan) both took an exceptionally dour view on human nature. Essentially, they believed that because Man is irreparably damaged by original sin, the only way to prevent social chaos is to bury individual will beneath the absolute authority of Church and State.
Watterson is mocking this idea that the human spirit is hopelessly corrupt – Calvin & Hobbes are sort of a distilled representation of the innocence, joy and wonder that children are capable of expressing. We are born by nature into this state, which we are forced to suppress so we can earn a living, grow old and wither up inside.
Just so you know, the sad batman picture is from an episode of Justice League Unlimited – “This Little Piggy.” where batman is forced to sing a Cabaret Jazz song “Am I Blue” by Eddie Cochran. (Kevin Conroy actually sings it, it is incredible).
I always liked the strip where Calvin asked his dad why old TV shows were black and white. His dad replies that it is because the world was black and white and color hadn’t been invented yet. When Calvin asks why old paintings were in color his dad replies that it was because artists are often insane. Simply brilliant. I channel Calvin’s dad whenever I can, it makes parenting more fun.
If you have a child, or are contemplating having a child, you owe it to that child to read Calvin and Hobbes. I’ve read thousands of books, comics and comic strips about children and none have gotten it so right. Maybe Beverly Cleary.
Watterson understands what it means to be a tiny person who is pretty sure he is smarter than the grown-ups around him. That is the way I felt as a child.
And it is gut-busting funny and the art is just fantastic. Dude can draw amazing dinosaurs and fighter jets and space ships!
Dad is my favorite character. I just love the way he fucks with Calvin. If I ever had a kid, I would probably ruin him.