180 Degrees of Separation: Beauty and the Beast

As I was watching Soul Train last weekend, with a special tribute to the late Donna Summer (RIP), I realized that dance moves, music, fashion, and entertainment are all coming full circle. High waisted skirts, platforms, sequins, you name it, are coming back. If artists aren't completely remixing old school songs, then they have heavy samples playing in the background. And one thing I never thought I'd see again...

Shoulder pads!

That was a fashion 'faux poo poo' in my book. Women looking like linebackers with Olive Oyl legs. And now you see asymmetrical or cone shaped shoulder pads on the red carpet. *Shivers* At a certain point, fashion, music, and entertainment take a 360` turn. Film and television remakes are running rampant with reboots like Spiderman taking place within a five year span. Spiderman was a 2002-2007 film franchise based on the comic book from the 1960s. The film is being rebooted for a release this year. In TV land, one of my, and a very passionate cult fan following, favorite shows is Beauty and the Beast starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton playing Vincent and Catherine. The show aired on CBS from 1987-1990. The show recreated the love of two of the most known characters with drama, suspense, and action. The makeup of the kind-hearted Vincent, who portrayed Beast, was phenomenal and blew many fans away week after week.

This brings me to my main point. The CW has decided to reboot this cult classic with Kristin Kreuk playing Catherine and Jay Ryan as Bruce Bann--Vincent. That was all fine and dandy until I saw the trailer and Vincent now looks like a GQ model with a simple scar on his cheek. Ummm. Not so beastly. Apparently this Vincent is a doctor who's chosen to stay in hiding because he Hulk's out every now and then to protect Catherine, but this doesn't capture the true essence of the divide between Vincent and Catherine and why they can't be together in the same world due to the ignorance of society unable to accept Vincent's physical appearance being so different. I don't know what route they're going in for the reboot because, from the poster, the 2012 Vincent looks like he could blend in just fine. I could see having his face half blocked out by a shadow with the same beastly eyes seen in the trailer, but apparently they just wanted to upset me. I understand that Koslow is aiming for a modernized version, but if the premise is lost from the show that it is following in the footsteps of, it may give many fans a disheartening feeling upon attempting to return to the franchise. Alas, we shall see how this show pans out, but I'm already giving it a very questionable side eye. Judge for yourself. 

Photo courtesy of IMDB.com

Terminator: Guide to the Future

It was a beautiful Spring day in March: the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and there I was in my car eating a Moon Pie (yes, a Moon Pie) when, suddenly, for about 3 minutes, the complete Terminator chronology came to me with the speed of a Moto-Terminator. It was, in a word, magical. I like to think that the "Governator" (aka Schwarzenegger) and Michael Biehn would be so proud.

However, I then lost my knowledge cloud. If you know the 'Terminator' timeline like the back of your hand, I commend you. But seeing as I am a visual learner, I thought I'd make a little 'Terminator Timeline Guide' that will (hopefully) provide an accurate and succinct chronology of all four movies of the franchise. If you take into account the different "Terminator" editions throughout the series, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, you may already be confused. Thus, a breakdown:

Terminator:

Terminator: T-800 (Evil)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day: T-800 (Protector, reprogrammed, sent back by adult John Connor)

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines: T-850 (Protector, sent back by Katherine Connor)

Terminator Salvation: T-800 (Evil, original, in a very unnerving CGI form)

The Baddies: 

Terminator: T-800

Terminator 2: Judgment Day: T-1000 = The liquid metal assassin

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines: T-X = Terminatrix

Terminator Salvation: Skynet and a "clustercuss" of machines and robots including the original T-800

Timeline:

1984 (May) - T-800 tries to kill Sarah Connor. Sarah and Kyle Reese make the baby. Kyle Reese dies.

1995 – John Connor is 10 (a very mature looking one at that. Hmmm). John and the reprogrammed T-800 (sent from the future by adult John to protect young John) break, a now buff and kick-butt, Sarah out of a psych ward and attempt to stop Skynet from being created.

1997 – Sarah Connor dies from Leukemia.

2003 – Pre-cyborg Marcus Wright signs body over for medical research to Skynet.

2004 (August) – John Connor is 19/20. John again meets his future wife and second in command, Katherine. Skynet is activated and initiates Judgment Day.

2018 – John Connor is 33/34. The war between Skynet & humanity ensues. Kyle Reese is primary Skynet target due to the knowledge that he will go back to 1984 and become John's father. John Connor fights along side, cyborg, Wright against the T-800 and they blow up Skynet station.

2021- 2027 – Kyle Reese serves in 132^nd Infantry of Resistance.

2027 – 2029 - John Connor and Kyle Reese are BFF’s. ("Papa, can you hear me?") Reese works in Tech-Com under Connor.

2029 – Resistance takes down the last of Skynet’s defense, but Skynet’s secret masterplan sends evil T-800 back to 1984 to destroy Sarah Connor. Connor sends Reese back to 1984, too, but the time travel equipment gets destroyed leaving them in 1984.

Whew! I don't know about you, but there are now some beads of sweat upon my brow. Now, if more movies are made and let's say, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) or Michael Biehn return to the series, my head just may explode. Ha!