| |
I believe the prospects for official ancient toy themes relies on popular
entertainment. (Personally, I'd rather not see an official one.)
Unfortunately that iron has been heated and cooled already. The "Sword and
Sandals" genre in the past few years was largely an adult phenomenon, aside
from Hercules & Xena. Kids didn't go for the Disney movies.
There's a connection between how kids play with toys, and the stories that
are already in their heads to act out. It works with adults too, and I think
most of the popular fare has been aimed at, or succeeded with, adults more
than kids.
"Sword and Sandals" is always going to be a curious mixture of fact, legend,
and fun fantasy. _Hercules: The Legendary Journeys_ (which primed the pump)
was perfectly modern, with hardly any historical grounding and plenty of
latitude taken with the mythical sources. It was also a great success on all
levels, even toys, but it's over now.
Meanwhile, a bunch of adults re-watched the recently re-mastered movies they
watched in Saturday morning re-runs as kids: Ben Hur, Demetrios and the
Gladiators, Quo Vadis, Spartacus... the big 80s miniseries Masada & AD,
BBC's I Claudius... so far neglected are Clash of the Titans, Jason and the
Argonauts, and the Sinbad movies of Ray Harryhausen, which are barely
obtainable in poor copies.
Then we got the Odyssey on TV, which was not bad, and the awful Argonauts
miniseries followed the smash success of Ridley Scott's _Gladiator_. And
_Cleopatra_ got remade, then _Attila the Hun_. This was all after Disney had
a flop with Hercules, plus the spurious Atlantis. Disney's out for the
count, but Dreamworks did well with Prince of Egypt. Ridley Scott's
tailcoat-followers wasted an opportunity with _Vercingetorix_, but we can
reasonably expect a Gladiator II phenom with Scott's next movie, Alexander
the Great.
As a footnote, the attempt to put Romans vs Druids on TV, _Roar_, flopped.
However, the Sword & Sandals genre definitely came back to life in recent
years, and may not have expired again yet, with Ridley Scott batting next.
The only way this is going to make an impact in the playing-with-toys world
is if kids get excited about it. I just don't see it: the good stuff is
going to be rated R. He-Man and Skeletor are going to have a bigger booth at
Toy Fair 2003 than Alexander III of Macedon will get.
I'm not going to claim there is really educational value in this sort of
fare, but it certainly paves the way for books to appeal to an audience
primed on movies, and that's a positive for those who wish to awaken a sense
of being close to the past, of needing to know it and bring it into present
focus. The books are out there: I found another picture book this morning (A
Street Through Time, or something like that), and my comic dealer just
stocked _Asterix_, which is terrific fun.
Getting kids interested in history is a noble cause, and who cares if the
media helps a little or a lot?
|
|
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: New release of Castle series
|
| Hi Pedro, "Pedro Silva" <el_gordo@netc.pt> wrote in message news:GvIBGx.DH8@lugnet.com... (...) romans* (...) a (...) This is a great idea. I'd love to see such a theme. "LEGO antique civilizations" maybe? This theme could go on for years: chariots, (...) (23 years ago, 3-May-02, to lugnet.castle)
|
42 Messages in This Thread:
 
 
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
