I'd like everyone to read this (Rant on Enchanted Christmas)

[saving107]

on the Orgy Message Board we have an Ignore feature that allows you to ignore someone and there posts. they don't get banned, it is just whenever they reply or start a topic, if they are on your ignore list, you won't be able to see there post at all.

since Skullfarmer has not gotten banned yet, i think this feature would be great on this board.


P.S.
Orgy is a music band.

[Wonderlicious]

Somebody show me how to delete my account.

You can't. But you could ask Luke to be banned, which is kinda like being deleted...

[Mr. Toad]

P.S.
Orgy is a music band.

Damn.

[Paka]

JM, would you please cut it out with the juvenile vitriol? This topic may not be worthy of serious conversation, but it certainly doesn't warrant such spiteful comments, either.

I read your entire paper a couple days ago, Skullfarmer. It certainly is well-written, and anyone can see it's borne of an intense passion. On a much, much milder scale, I feel the same way about many of your points as applied to the Lion King cheapquels, especially such points as lack of consideration for the story's continuity, or even the lack of effort from the crew on a whole to make a good, worthwhile follow-up, a la Toy Story 2. I also agree, in a way, about the worthiness of cheapquels to be disliked so much; of course a individual can decide to not watch these video baby-sitters, or acknowledge them, but there's also the concern for Joe Public Jr. The sheer banality and unimaginative qualities of these cheapquels makes me wonder about the unseen long-term effects that may occur to the kids who watch them. Will they equate "Disney" with this tripe? Will their judgement of true quality be warped? Will their imagination and creative potential be stunted, because it was never tested and stretched in the first place? Who knows. It just makes me wonder sometimes.

On the flip side, though, I'd have to admit that your love and interest in Beauty and the Beast has crossed the line into the obsessive, in my opinion. I simply can't imagine a person watching a specific film multiple hundreds of times without getting bored of it, or going insane. There's affection for a film, and then there's distilled obsession. Not to give you flak or throw petty insults your way, but if you really have watched Beauty and the Beast ~800 times, I would come right out and say that that's simply unhealthy. Not that there's anything truly wrong with you, but I must say that there is more to life than said film. Too much of a good thing, as they say.
I addition, you lost a load of credibility in my eyes when you persistently slagged on Enchanted Christmas for its continuity problems, yet dismiss Maurice's indefinite time lost in the forest, a clear mistake on the filmmakers' part, as the film "being a fairy tale," and that fairy tales "don't always make perfect sense." That's just hypocritical of you, in my opinion. Is it not asking too much of you to admit that your beloved is less-than-perfect? I love The Lion King, though I have enough of a sense of humor to take it with its warts, like the mystery of Nala's paternity - an admitted directorial oversight. On a side note - that you refuse to see the TLK Broadway show because of "the human element" is just shallow and much too literal of you. That you are unable to look beyond "the human element" implies much about your character, methinks.

Anyway... sorry to have kind of "attacked" you in that last paragraph. But that's just how I feel about this situation. I understand your motives in your righteous hatred of the BatB cheapquels, but it does no one else much good - and only does harm to yourself - when you expend so much energy into such - dare I say it - a petty cause. Though I absolutely loathe the vast majority of Disney cheapquels and spin-offs, it does no good to keep stoking the fires about it. To others, it's just a broken record after a while. You've just got to know your limits, and learn when to call it a day!

[Kram Nebuer]

Skullfarmer, Thank you so much for your paper on The Enchanted Christmas! You have proven that there is such a thing of having way too much free-time. I applaud you for trying to prove that for us as I have always hardly been able to manage having a little free time. Yay for Skullfarmer! We should put him in the Guiness Book of World Records!

Though seriously, a newspaper editorial or 2 page review would've been alrightand understood, but to bash the filim in a long thesis paper is just wrong. A lot of work went into this movie and to discredit it so passionately and in 24 pages is very rude and disrespectful to the many artists, writers, producers, actors, etc who made this film for the purpose of spreading more holiday cheer. Their hearts were in the right place. Obviously, yours was not.

Anyhow, I liked The Enchanted Christmas. True, it definitely is not in the leagues with BatB, but it is a wonderful and great effort in making a sequel and holiday Disney movie. I was in 5th grade with its first release and my teacher rented it and showed it to us the last day before winter break. My class and I enjoyed it a lot and I was very happy to see another movie with some of my favorite Disney characters.

[Just Myself]

You want way too much free time? Check out my eight AOL Screen Names! Skullfarmer just wants to be famous.

JM, would you please cut it out with the juvenile vitriol?

Paka, I AM a juvenile... what the hell do you expect?

[Maerj]

I didn't read his essay on the Beauty and the Beast sequels, so I really can't comment on it.

I never watched the Beauty and the beast sequels, so I really can't comment on them either.

However, I did read this entire thread which was a very entertaining experience, probably much more than reading the essay or watching those sequels.

My advice is if you don't like one of those DTV sequels, do as I have done and avoid them. If you end up seeing one and you don't like it, then don't watch it again and pretend it doesn't exist. Merry Christmas!

[Just Myself]

Yeah, that's what we all said Maerj, but he just won't listen. He claims it 'screws over the franchise' as he told me personally.

Merry Christmas!!!

[Maerj]

Well JM, I just got back from watching BatB The Enchanted Christmas and I must say it really is one of the greatest DTV releases ever. I can't understand why it wasn't shown in theaters, it was really that good. Now I know some people like to read into things, but I gotta say that this was perhaps one of the most manly and heterosexual animated sequels ever produced. If someone has questions concerning their own sexual orientation, I suppose that they could watch this and be confused in thinking that there are some homosexual referenes. But there aren't.

P.S. Belle is hot.

[Just Myself]

Well with Maerj you never know when it's serious or seriously scarstic. S or SS. Gonna go with S on this one!

P.S. I've seen it. I find it only okay.

[Paka]

JM, would you please cut it out with the juvenile vitriol?

Paka, I AM a juvenile... what the hell do you expect?

Oh, well, you ARE a juvenile. Please accept my sincerest apologies.

[Just Myself]

Paka, I AM a juvenile... what the hell do you expect?

Oh, well, you ARE a juvenile. Please accept my sincerest apologies.

Well I'm sorry I don't act like an adult. You're one of the reasons I consider leaving UD.

[AwallaceUNC]

What's all this talk about burning copies of Enchanted Christmas? I still want to get my hands on a copy!

I don't think it's ok to dismiss the quality of any film as "it's just a cartoon" or "it's just a cheapquel." Hold them to the bar of any film and make a judgment. Does it fall so short that you can't enjoy it due to the shortcomings? In the case of Enchanted Christmas, certainly not! It's one of Disney's better sequels, in my opinion- definitely tolerable, and even enjoyable, I say!

Skullfarmer, you make some good points, and express them well. If you love BATB and hate the sequel- fine. If you want to watch the movie a lot and write long essays- fine! (Just clue your parents in on where you spend your time!). The problem I see it is not in how you view the films or how you spend your time, but rather the way in which you conduct yourself on this board. While you are free to voice your opinion, it is not acceptable to invade a forum and make it a host for your ranting. The issues you raise are certainly worthy of discussion! To actually contribute to the discussion and the forum as a whole, though, I recommend the following: (A) Engage with others' thoughts with depth, not just "how you can you disagree with me??"- get down to the quintessential, (B) Reply with tact- insults and rudeness get you nowhere, (C) Contribute in other areas of the forum- sticking to one subject and plugs for your essay can hardly be considered an enduring asset for any community.

JM- I think we all understand and appreciate that you are slightly younger than average here. However, that shouldn't really serve as an excuse for crass or frivelous posts- at least not on a regular basis. Throwing in random profanity rarely bolsters your arguments. Either you aren't old enough to contribute, or you are. I think that you are. Therefore, you should strive to raise your input to a valuable level on par with the rest of the board, the members of which endeavor to be mindful of your age. Find a level of engagement that you feel comfortable with at your age. Please don't take this as negative. UD enjoys having you around and you are an asset, I just thought I'd try to elaborate on some of Paka's points before you leave UD (we wouldn't want that!).

-Aaron

[orestes.]

I tried to read all that but I found it a bit boring. From what I read I honestly don't know how you got an A but I guess it improved later on. It felt like I was reading a rant by a Beauty and the Beast super-obsessed fan that was pissed off about the sequel. I have no idea why though since I got bored before I got to any substance.

[orestes.]

Like you Skullfarmer I have watched the original video and now the DVD release of Beauty and the Beast many times; at least fifty times and I have always found it very moving.

I'm closing in on my eight hundreth.

Yeah that helps support my super-obsessed comment. 800 times? It's a good movie but that's a lot of time spent watching one movie. That's like 72,000 minutes... 50 days straight of watching it. (may not be 100% correct since I suck at math)
Whatever the time spent I have finally found someone out there who has a more pointless life than mine. I feel good all of a sudden.

[orestes.]

deleted. who needs a war to break out?

[ichabod]

Yeah that helps support my super-obsessed comment. 800 times? It's a good movie but that's a lot of time spent watching one movie. That's like 72,000 minutes... 50 days straight of watching it. (may not be 100% correct since I suck at math)
Whatever the time spent I have finally found someone out there who has a more pointless life than mine. I feel good all of a sudden.

Or another way you could think of it. BATB was released in '91 it is now 14 years later. So if there are 365 days in a year x 14 = 5110, plus we have had 4 leap years since then +4 =5114 days.

5114 days/800 viewings is an average of 6.39. So you could say Skullfarmer has watched BatB approximately once a week since it was released!

[orestes.]

Putting it like that isn't so bad but still... that is a little nuts!

I know someone who does the same though with one of their VHS movies or they did for about a year. They would watch it once a week for about a year and then it became once a month.

My most watched DVD is 'Poltergeist' and I haven't seen it since August 11th. (I remember that because it was the last movie I watched before I went away for a couple months)

[That1GuyPictures]

I like the movie and it's music. It's an innocent children's film in my book.
If you want to look at it in a different way, that's fine with me.
But no matter what anyone else thinks, it's one of my favorite Christmas films, and the soudntrack to it includes some great arrangements of Christmas songs sung by the original voice of Belle. I understand why some dislike the film (and/or all made-for-video sequels) but I think this one has some very good quality to it. The music was written by a multiple-oscar nominee and the original voices all return. There have been many worse made-for-video sequels. This may not be a Disney great, but it certainly isn't the worst. (At least in my opinion...)

[Wonderlicious]

I've not commented on this piece properly, yet I've decided to comment on this essay in the style of Paka, awallacenuc and Kram, as I feel for once, I should say something without adding something crazy or ranting about BVHE UK.

I can understand your basic points on TEC. Personally, I was annoyed by The Lion King 2, Belle's Magical World and Aladdin and the King of Thieves, so much so that I once started a Satirical Sequels thread trying to deliver a twisted message of how I thought that some of the original films were being treated (although not always, I liked The Return of Jafar and The Rescuers Down Under, in the latter case more than the original).

On the flip side, though, I'd have to admit that your love and interest in Beauty and the Beast has crossed the line into the obsessive, in my opinion. I simply can't imagine a person watching a specific film multiple hundreds of times without getting bored of it, or going insane. There's affection for a film, and then there's distilled obsession. Not to give you flak or throw petty insults your way, but if you really have watched Beauty and the Beast ~800 times, I would come right out and say that that's simply unhealthy. Not that there's anything truly wrong with you, but I must say that there is more to life than said film. Too much of a good thing, as they say.

Paka's comments on your obsession of Beauty and the Beast sum up my thoughts too. This is something which can sometimes destroy loves of a certain movie. I think highly of Beauty and the Beast; it's in my Top 50 movies.

As the movie opens, we see a procession of people caroling in front of the castle singing "Deck The Halls." Just who these people are is a mystery; we never see them again. However, since BEAUTY AND THE BEAST takes place in the 18th century, the singing of "Deck The Halls" is anachronistic, since the words were composed by J. P. McCaskey...in 1881. This alone makes the movie redundant. It also proves that NOBODY INVOLVED WITH THE PROJECT DID ANY RESEARCH WHATSOEVER.

If that's a comment bashing TEC, then I think you're being hypocritical by liking Beauty and the Beast (and I presume, Disney in general). BATB has some anachronisms, too. In the Be Our Guest number, why does a dish and spoon version of the Eifell Tower appear? The film is set in the 18th century, yet la tour Eifell didn't get built until the late 19th century. I don't understand why you're calling this a flaw. I regard Beauty and the Beast as a praticly perfect film regardless of this anachronism (I find such things kind of sweet in their own way), so I think a bias is showing.

I think that you are entitled to have an opinion and I'm kinda sorry you've got lots of abuse for it. But at the same time, I think you've gone a bit over the top. But hey, that's my opinion, so don't bash me!

Not a message to Skullfarmer, but to Kram Nebuer:

Though seriously, a newspaper editorial or 2 page review would've been alrightand understood, but to bash the filim in a long thesis paper is just wrong. A lot of work went into this movie and to discredit it so passionately and in 24 pages is very rude and disrespectful to the many artists, writers, producers, actors, etc who made this film for the purpose of spreading more holiday cheer. Their hearts were in the right place. Obviously, yours was not.

Is this implying that you try to appreciate every movie because of the effort gone into it, even if you dislike it?

EDIT: Oh, I forgot that I had written a valid post on this topic before and just found it.