April 10, 2021

Yesterday was Friday, and I tried to make some progress on BABY TEETH, the screenplay I'm writing. I had the beat sheet done and was happy with it until I took two weeks off to rewrite another project. When I came back to the beat sheet it felt drab. So I started thinking of ways to totally pull it apart or spin it around. I am going to combine two of the main characters into the protagonist. But I've decided, for now, to not switch the protagonist to the mother character. For class, my homework is to write up to the inciting incident. So I reworked the first part of the beat sheet and started on pages. 

Oh! That stuff wasn't all that interesting. What I meant to talk about was finding an early script for Gremlins. I'd like some of what's good about Gremlins -- which may be my favorite movie -- to be good about Baby Teeth. So I decided to read the Gremlins script to try to get some additional ideas. Well, the script I found is an earlier draft -- the spec before Spielberg got his hands on it, apparently. It's quite a bit different and darker than the final movie, so far. (I haven't finished reading.) 

MLog Time! 

**SPOILERS**

FLASH GORDON

1980

Directed by: Mike Hodges

Written by: Lorenzo Semple Jr. 

Watched: 4/9/21

Flash Gordon, the quarterback for the New York Jets, crashes a small plane into the lab of scientist Hans Zarkov after Ming the Merciless of the planet Mongo (and emperor of the universe) starts toying with Earth. Dr. Zarkov kidnaps Flash and his companion Dale Arden and brings them with him on his rocket ship to confront Ming. Ming takes the three captive. The Earthlings realize that Ming is a psycho and that he has kept the people from the moons of Mongo under his thumb by pitting them all against each other. Flash, through his bravery and decency, convinces the Hawkmen and the men of Aboria to “team up” and overthrow Ming. 

Brian Blessed is the leader of the Hawkmen and he is great. So loud, such a big mouth. All of the men (except for the Earth men) wear eyeliner, which is also great. The costumes are GREAT. The music – done by Queen – is great. The look is great. The movie seems to have a good handle on what it wants to be. An action comic movie that’s put in the work but doesn’t take itself too seriously. 

Rating: ★★★★