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Sonic Live Action Movie Thread (Read OP for topic rules) "Trailer 2 on Page 482)


Badnik Mechanic

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Sonic's character is fine for what this movie does, but it's a decidedly different take if you're used to his game incarnation.

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17 hours ago, Zulon Eredas said:

If there's a sequel, I wonder...

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If Tails will already be going by his nickname

 

Oh, unless they get another writer who completely botches it, absolutely not.

Donut Lord, Pretzel Lady, Eggman... nicknaming people is this Sonic's thing.

1 hour ago, Indigo Rush said:

 

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It's really just their way of showing how fast he is. It's one way other speed-centric heroes (Flash, Quicksilver) are portrayed in media.

 

To this point, note how

Robotnik isn't stopped when he goes to press the button, but moves very, very slowly until he presses it.

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2 hours ago, Solister said:

This is something which is bugging me. Not actually a spoiler (If there's any in this movie aside you know what), but maybe people, like me, want every single detail as they watch the movie for the first time.

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You know something which bugs me in the movie? The stop time control scene.

AFAIK, Sonic doesn't have any ability to control time (yet) so those scenes (On the bar is the first which comes in my mind, not sure if there was another) really left me with a question mark in my head. I even though on Chaos Control, but there were not even Chaos Emeralds in the movie (In fact, where the hell they went? Not in Forces and not in the movie?).

But yeah, I can't find a logic explanation for this. Except if it was in slow motion and Sonic was so fast which looked he was in normal speed and people's usual velocity was so slow which barely look they were millimeter moving

And if anyone's going to reply me, please use quote button because it's been really hard to keep up with this topic. (By this, I'll receive a notification direct to your reply).

No time stopping here As some have said he is super fast. Its also

Spoiler

eggman is able to break out so to speak of the slow down. He is now moving on par with sonics speed. That is why sonic was surprised when he is attacking him on the building cause he is still moving in super speed

 

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1 hour ago, Kuzu said:

Sonic's character is fine for what this movie does, but it's a decidedly different take if you're used to his game incarnation.

The thing is with the game characterization though is that Sonic has been there and done that. His confidence and skills are because he's been really good at what he does. He already knew Eggman in the first game and had run ins with him. The dynamic was already established, and the games never touched on what Sonic was before he was. 

The point is, we don't know who game Sonic was before he was as it was never explored in Japanese media by Naka and co. outside of a really weird background where he's the reincarnation of an airplane pilot. 

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Sonic's characterization is definitely interesting and different here, no doubt, it makes sense for the story they wanted to tell, the fact that he's lived alone and wanted to try out as many things as possible. I couldn't have seen a different Sonic here, and it's really refreshing to see him so active and not laid back which I hated in other media, it's just a boring representation of the character, especially in Boom where he's like a mono-expressive comedian.

And I'm so so so glad it's breaking records at the box office! As one of the literal few fans who believed in the movie since it was announced (lol) it's really satisfying. But I don't blame other people for wanting actual proof that it was gonna be good, because the genre had a lot of misteps in the past, so… I still don't buy that shit though, every movie is a different case IMO, and it proved true.

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48 minutes ago, Jack at the Cinema said:

As one of the literal few fans who believed in the movie since it was announced (lol) it's really satisfying.

 

Wouldn't pound your chest too hard for that one. It was quite literally the backlash to the original vision that pushed the movie back to the drawing board, slid it into an infinitely more favorable time slot, and dumped a buzz worthy level of free press into its lap that it wouldn't have had otherwise.

 

In an M. Night Shyamalan level plot twist, the negative nancies probably had more to do with the success of this film than the positive pete's. Everything came together as a result of the vitriol and lack of faith the masses had for the original vision. Without them, this movie would have been both visually unappealing and buried behind a time slot featuring the highest grossing animated film in the history of cinema.

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1 hour ago, Sega DogTagz said:

In an M. Night Shyamalan level plot twist, the negative nancies probably had more to do with the success of this film than the positive pete's.

Yeah, ideally negative feedback is supposed to help improve something so I wouldn't even call it a twist really. It is a pretty extreme case here though that's for sure. I'm still not really interested in seeing the movie...but I have to admit I'm curious to see what how the sequel will be like now.

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I'll start by saying that I watched the film earlier than expected last night. I'm very pleased that it turned out so much better than I was expecting. The turnaround for the film since the second trailer with Hesse's redesign has been amazing and I'm glad things worked out for the most part. Was the film great? No, but there were moments when it was. I feel like most of the human characters in this are how other fans perceive the human characters in Sonic X - which I personally love but others find boring. The characters in this are pretty boring, cookie-cutter characters. Tom and his wife are probably the most obvious given they get the most screen time. For audience insert characters they aren't terrible, but they don't have enough personality to really stand out and the scenes where they aren't interacting with Sonic or Robotnik are likely to get the audience to tune out rather than be engaging on their own. I will be coming back to Tom once I start addressing the topic of comparing Movie!Sonic and Game!Sonic though.

So let's get to the big ones here - Sonic and Robotnik - who are the only real reasons to see this movie. Voice wise, Ben's voice for Sonic works 99% of the time, and when it doesn't it's because the script is forcing him to say some pretty un-Sonic things

biggest ones being when Sonic is trying to show off in front of the guys in the bar and when he's trying to convince Tom to stay in Green Hills during badnik attack on the car.

Personality wise, I liked this version of Sonic fine, but found him a little annoying in some of his early scenes with Tom where he's acting sort of awkward. It makes sense given this Sonic

has been alone for 10 years

and wants to desperately make friends, but that lack of self-confidence really made the character read oddly to me in those scenes because of how the character has largely been depicted in the games and other media. Maybe you could argue this has been explored in SatAM and the Archie comics to some extent because of his larger range of emotions in those stories, but even in those, Sonic showing a need for attention is something where the only example I can think of is him vying for Sally's attention on occasion which is vastly different from what's been shown here. This version of Sonic is being portrayed as a "kid"

down to being adopted at the end

, which I think is why he's so strange in this movie to some extent. No other version of Sonic besides literal younger versions of Sonic in SatAM, Underground, and the Archie comics have behaved this way and even in those the younger versions we see in say "Blast to the Past" are more overconfident than self questioning. I point all this out because when stuff like this happened it would take me out of the movie - but for the most part Sonic does come across as genuine in portrayal. He's good when he's quipping, I like seeing him running around and pretty much all of his dialogue with Robotnik is exactly what I would expect in the games - so where it really mattered it worked great, but there's a bit of a disconnect with certain scenes where the film wants to portray a version of Sonic that I don't necessarily agree with. But most of this can probably be chalked up to "origin story" and should be avoidable in a sequel.

So now let's talk about Robotnik. Unlike Sonic, it takes Robotnik a long time to really start feeling like he's game counterpart. For most of the film, Carey's portrayal is sort of doing this just eccentric scientist thing that is actually rather downplayed compared to what I expect from both Eggman and Carey. Because of this, I think I buy him being a different interpretation of Robotnik more than Sonic being different from his game counterpart because the differences seem larger. Carey's transformation is subtle and mostly occurs with his interactions with Tom and Sonic as they egg him on and bruise his ego. Before that though, we actually get to see him acting in ways I wasn't expecting when he's alone. Seeing Robotnik dancing around and listening to music while he works is something I don't think we've ever seen in another piece of media, but actually came across as fairly authentic and I just really liked getting a chance at seeing Robotnik actually working on his research and technology. I also was surprised by how much of a presence Stone had and liked that we got scenes that sort of resembled his interactions with say Snively, Grimer, or Starline to some extent. By the time we get to

the fight in San Fransisco

he feels like he's finally become his game counterpart. Because he has this more gradual transformation from researcher in a lab coat to supervillain pilot this film feels much more like an origin story for him - it sells it a lot better.

Since there's really no better place to put this stuff, here's some other thoughts on the other aspects of the film. I'll go ahead and say easily the best scene in the film is the Sonic and Eggman fight in San Fransisco, which perfectly encapsulates the action I expect from the characters, lots of great action, momentum, comedy, and suspense. It's no wonder this is how they decided to open the movie and I really hope the next film has more scenes like this. The stuff at the beginning with Longclaw and the echidnas are interesting - I wish Longclaw was in more of the film because she's something new to the franchise and obviously the echidnas raises a bunch of questions as to what is or isn't different between this universe and the one from the games, but I can only expect that will be explored more in the sequel. Lastly, I liked seeing Tails at the end - am morbidly curious what he looked like before Hesse was brought on board, but am happy he looks good. I wonder if Colleen will voice him in the sequel of if she was used so they didn't have to have an actual audition for such a small cameo.

Okay, so all the movie specific chatter is out of the way, now let's talk about Game!Sonic for a hot minute. I really don't agree that Game!Sonic is boring, and I think the use of the scene in Sonic Unleashed as an example of that is a good indication that many here just don't "get" Game!Sonic's narrative role or personality, or at the very least see no value in it; which again, I don't agree with. Game!Sonic (and by extension other more Japanese developed versions of Sonic like seen in Sonic X) are, like Goku for those bringing him up with this "shonen protagonist" point, is an example of a character with a Flat Character Arc. Sonic does not develop as a character from story to story or within a story because that's not his purpose within the larger Sonic meta-narrative, his purpose is to facilitate change in the world around him and the characters he meets. Whether that be trying to stop Eggman's schemes and save the world, turning characters that were his enemies to his friends through his example such as Knuckles or Shadow or Silver, or just by helping a character learn about themselves or overcome something personally afflicting them like the little animals stuck in badniks or Chris or Blaze or Elise or Chip or even the Avatar from Sonic Forces. This is how a Game!Sonic story works. This goes back even as far as the Mary Garnet story from the Sonic the Hedgehog Technical Files - it's something that's been intrinsic about the character from his inception. Other variations of Sonic have strayed from this to some extent - mostly on giving Sonic a home to defend rather than being an adventurer as is seen in SatAM, Archie Sonic, or Underground. But even in these various versions, Sonic is still seen as an altruistic character that does the right thing because it's the right thing to do. To come back around to this movie - this same narrative arc occurs as Sonic helps Tom see what's important to him

getting him to see that he values his role in Green Hills and ultimately doesn't want to move away

. Even this version of Sonic maintains Sonic's narrative purpose.

Now there are two obvious rebuttals I can see here: 1. Does Sonic have to be flawless in order to achieve this? Going back to the Sonic Unleashed cutscene here. No, but I'd argue the Unleashed cutscene isn't meant to say Sonic is flawless, it's meant to say Sonic's true to his own nature. Many I'm sure would argue that the Archie Comics version of this was better since it shows Sonic fighting back against Dark Gaia's influence rather than being unaffected by it, but in both cases Sonic is able to be himself in a way anyone else affected by Dark Gaia is unable to. The same truth is there they just portray it in different ways. I would also say that the scene from Sonic Unleashed is not necessarily always true of Sonic as written by Japanese writers, as a similar scene occurs in episode 67 of Sonic X - but here Sonic nearly gives into negative emotions and becomes Dark Super Sonic for a few minutes. The point here is that Sonic's nature can be pushed, but in the end always stays true to itself - which is not a lack of a flaw but instead one of the strengths of the character. The other obvious rebuttal: 2. Can't Sonic undergo some sort of growth even while being a flat character archetype? And I would say... maybe. Archie!Sonic for example is a version of the character that can grow, learn, and develop in significant ways in face of new circumstances such as stepping up as a leader during the Mecha Sally Arc or admitting to and amending mistakes like during House of Cards. But Game!Sonic is trickier because the narrative has a shorter span to properly develop this character growth. I believe he's absolutely capable of it, but Sonic Lost World in my opinion demonstrates the difficulties of it because it attempts to do that and is comes across rather poorly. Sonic Lost World attempts to show Sonic making mistakes and coming into conflict with his best friend, but I'd argue it feels disingenuous because Sonic isn't actually making the mistakes the narrative wants us to think he's making with aligning with Eggman and because Tails comes across as mean and spiteful instead of sensible and ignored. Many of the narrative mistakes in Sonic Lost World are probably down to Pontaff just not getting the characters, so I don't think it's impossible to tell that kind of story with Game!Sonic inherently, but the game does showcase an attempt at it that simply doesn't work.

Now, even after all that text I'd argue you can still dislike Game!Sonic if you don't like the archetype he represents. But to say that something is inherently wrong with Game!Sonic because of his character traits is at best inaccurate. He has a clear narrative purpose, has traits that make him interesting to follow, and works well as a protagonist for a long running franchise like this - one that allows him for more narrative potential than other video game mascots you could name. It's sometimes been a bumpy ride, but I love the character Game!Sonic is and wouldn't want to lose that version of him.

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It has the biggest opening for a video game movie?

What the hell? We all thought it would fail.

Amazing how a redesign can fix anything

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I'm hoping for $500,000,000 for the life of this movie...Detective Pikachu was just shy of that but I think Sonic has the legs to potentially get there especially since it hasn't even opened in Japan or China yet(though it may be awhile for China due to that vile Coronavirus).

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Found these from the official Sonic Movie Facebook page.:

I noticed that the 1st picture is similar to this one.:

Spoiler
EQ74AEcWAAEc2qv?format=jpg&name=largeEQ73_w2WoAA-EmI?format=jpg&name=medium

Also, Japanese trailer and a picture of the mascot costume in Japan. I also found some pictures that was taken from the filming set.:

Spoiler

 

 

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Just saw the Sonic movie and absolutely loved it. I hope that lots of other directors in Hollywood will treat this movie as the primary role-model for their future projects, so that the decade of 2020ies could have plenty of decent films instead of cringey and pointless filth which fails to impress the true core fans of various franchises.

The cliffhanger scenes at the very end were superb and left me wanting more. I'm expecting a sequel to arrive ASAP where Doctor Robotnik finally gains some weight from consuming those strange mushrooms while being marooned on that mushroom planet, and where there will be an epic showdown of the geniuses between him and Tails.

Please give me a sequel soon!

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Double Toasted Review:

Spoiler

Overall Korey gives it a High Rental (Matinee for kids).

After seeing this and some of the reactions here, even though haven't watched it, I feel that I'm in the camp that's less than positive because of how the writing and even action is weak and underwhelming, what you see from the trailers is what you get overall. Again, much of what I've seen from the trailers, adverts, and scenes really didn't click for me at all, not even much of the Sonic and Eggman stuff. Sonic feels like Deadpool's bargain bin Mini-Me who talks too much and still see Jim Carey as Ace Ventura in Robotnik cosplay. Tom and other human characters being total blah and uninteresting. The writing feels like it was regurgitated from the Hollywood family film formula machine that hits every check mark with (dated) pop culture references, occasional fart jokes, etc. (I honestly do hope this won't affect Game Sonic, I know the writing in the games aren't that great but still...)

I still believe we've been robbed of a better experience if it was fully animated where Sonic blends in and fits and interacts the environment better along with being less restricted in the real world. And more fantastical looking set pieces that he can interact with and show off his speed where better action scenes can take place. I just really hate things that are wasted potential.

Probably the silver lining here with the movie's success is that Sega might want to do more movies but not just milking this for more sequels. I'm thinking that we might get a separate fully animated feature film. Maybe not theatrical but more akin to the DCAU with direct to DVD/Blu-Ray or even Netflix/Streaming service animated movies that CGI or preferably 2D that might be experimental in terms of animation styles and genres and interesting to see how Sonic and friends fit into them (probably one of the only ways to have fan favorites appear). Steampunk Sonic, Into the Sonic Verse or franchise crossovers anyone? Hey, if Gotham By Gaslight and Batman vs TMNT can work, why not? But of course, Sega or whatever hired studio that attempts it need to have good writers and can't emphasis that enough (as well as less executive meddling and creative restraints/restrictions). It's the only thing that I'm hopeful about.

But alas, this is Sega we're talking about so...

 

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2 hours ago, GentlemanX said:

Seeing Robotnik dancing around and listening to music while he works is something I don't think we've ever seen in another piece of media

Your avatar implies that you're a Sonic X fan, so this claim confuses me.

3a6.gif

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20 minutes ago, Razule said:

Those came out about 30 years ago, dude.

Anyway, I'm thinking Metal Sonic is the logical progression to this movie. Hopefully we get Amy and Knuckles too, possibly the Death Egg? 

 

My theater was PACKED and the audience applaued three separate times! Kids were running out of the theater acting like Sonic and people were quoting him. It makes me soooo happy! :D this is exactly what I wanted! Sonic is about to become the next Transformers for Paramount and I can't fucking wait for it!

I'm ready for round 2 with the blue 

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2 hours ago, AdventChild said:

Double Toasted Review:

  Reveal hidden contents

Overall Korey gives it a High Rental (Matinee for kids).

After seeing this and some of the reactions here, even though haven't watched it, I feel that I'm in the camp that's less than positive because of how the writing and even action is weak and underwhelming, what you see from the trailers is what you get overall. Again, much of what I've seen from the trailers, adverts, and scenes really didn't click for me at all, not even much of the Sonic and Eggman stuff. Sonic feels like Deadpool's bargain bin Mini-Me who talks too much and still see Jim Carey as Ace Ventura in Robotnik cosplay. Tom and other human characters being total blah and uninteresting. The writing feels like it was regurgitated from the Hollywood family film formula machine that hits every check mark with (dated) pop culture references, occasional fart jokes, etc. (I honestly do hope this won't affect Game Sonic, I know the writing in the games aren't that great but still...)

I still believe we've been robbed of a better experience if it was fully animated where Sonic blends in and fits and interacts the environment better along with being less restricted in the real world. And more fantastical looking set pieces that he can interact with and show off his speed where better action scenes can take place. I just really hate things that are wasted potential.

Probably the silver lining here with the movie's success is that Sega might want to do more movies but not just milking this for more sequels. I'm thinking that we might get a separate fully animated feature film. Maybe not theatrical but more akin to the DCAU with direct to DVD/Blu-Ray or even Netflix/Streaming service animated movies that CGI or preferably 2D that might be experimental in terms of animation styles and genres and interesting to see how Sonic and friends fit into them (probably one of the only ways to have fan favorites appear). Steampunk Sonic, Into the Sonic Verse or franchise crossovers anyone? Hey, if Gotham By Gaslight and Batman vs TMNT can work, why not? But of course, Sega or whatever hired studio that attempts it need to have good writers and can't emphasis that enough (as well as less executive meddling and creative restraints/restrictions). It's the only thing that I'm hopeful about.

But alas, this is Sega we're talking about so...

 

I would happily accept and enjoy if they stayed with the cgi/live action if they keep it like this. Film was amazing. Animated is fine and all but i think it being a mixture has lead to this huge of a success so far. Cant wait for 2.

 

As for 2 I see a lot online already tossing amy and metal and such in. Doubt well see her or metal till at least a third film. While yes they could shove in a lot i doubt thats going to happen. If anything 2 will have tails and possibly knuckles since the echindas have been seen already. As for eggman i see him building some wild mech to combat sonic the the final act. first and mid point will be sonic and tom meeting tails and helping him stop a threat. possibly a confused knuckles as usual.

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7 hours ago, VisionaryofSUPER said:

The thing is with the game characterization though is that Sonic has been there and done that. His confidence and skills are because he's been really good at what he does. He already knew Eggman in the first game and had run ins with him. The dynamic was already established, and the games never touched on what Sonic was before he was. 

The point is, we don't know who game Sonic was before he was as it was never explored in Japanese media by Naka and co. outside of a really weird background where he's the reincarnation of an airplane pilot. 

The thing is those very documents say that, in Sonic's fiction, the the first time he met Eggman, he stood up to him and barked at the Badniks to go back to where they came from. Sonic was always a scrappy kid who took no bullshit. The personality in the movie suits it's own version of the story, but it was really weird feeling to see a character I've always associated with confidence and independence acting so lonely and openly emotionally vulnerable, heh. At least he was still never afraid of Eggman or anything.

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Part of me wishes they never showed the footage of bald Jim Eggman at the end of the original trailer.

Imagine how much of a surprise it would've been seeing him like that. The way he was revealed was top notch!

Spoiler

Though I wonder how his 'stache grew so much? According to his wrist device its only been 7 days since he arrived. Wacky ring portal shenanigans messed with his DNA maybe? lol

 

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Found a interview with the writers. This is what they say about the development of the movie:

Spoiler

What was it like seeing the interest in response to Sonic?

Josh Miller: That was really weird. The whole time we were working on the script, the design had come up here and there. We weren’t getting day to day updates, we were seeing updates maybe once a month.

Pat: We weren’t really concerned about that, we were concerned with making the story work. The one thing we would say to them was that he has to be cute and that people have to want to hug him. I guess that the first design wasn’t, but the new one is. It got there eventually.

This version of Sonic has been on his own for so long, that he’s even started quietly talking to himself. It’s a very sad way to approach the character. Where did the idea for that direction come from,?

Josh: It’s probably too long of a story to talk about all the permutations and ideas we had on the movie while working with [Jeff Fowler] our director before we landed on what you see in the movie. We knew that we wanted him to grow up on Earth so that he had the personality of an Earthling but in hiding. His arc for the movie is getting to join that community.

Pat: Right from the get-go we wanted Sonic to be this relatable kind of kid. You just wanted Sonic to have this deep yearning… It sort of came out as this idea of him being a stranger on a strange planet, sort of like Superman. But unlike Superman, he doesn’t look like a human so he’s sort of on the outside looking in. We also talked about The Little Mermaid in terms of wanting to be a part of things and he can never have it. Which seemed like a really powerful emotion that people could relate too.

Josh: Because we’ve seen him like watching TV and movies over people’s shoulders from outside… the idea of talking to himself was, like any kid, they were playing out these little fantasies all the time where he’s all the characters… because he doesn’t have any friends. His speed allows him to do that and play those characters. To play out those pop culture inspired influences in a way someone without super speed couldn’t do it.

Pat: When we came up with the baseball scene and the idea of him switching places playing all these different characters… it felt good, it felt cinematic. It felt like it would be a lot of fun, and that audiences would connect with that.

Was there ever any temptation to take Sonic more off-world for the film, or to use more of the flashy elements from other entries in the franchise?

Josh: The boring, practical reason [why we stayed on Earth] was because of the budget. It was made apparent to us what the limitations were. Everyone – the studio, the producers, our director, hoped that this is like what they did with The Purge, the first movie. Where you [can hint] at what greater world can be out there, and then if the first movie is a success then we can start opening that up. We kind of just wanted to get our foot in the movie door.

Pat: Just the practicality of it. Each CGI character costs a lot to make. In an early draft of this we had a lot of CG characters and a lot of the alien worlds.

Josh: And then one by one, it was like ‘you gotta cut this!’

 

Source: https://www.theilluminerdi.com/2020/02/12/sonic-the-hedgehog-writers-1/

Also found this.:

23 hours ago, Sega DogTagz said:

 

For the record, he was asked to appear as a cameo at some point. Getting the shot done just got got lost in the shuffle and it never happened. Could have been during the shift between Sony and Paramount or after all the hubbub with the redesign. Who knows.

Wow. really? I didn't know about that. Do you have the source for that?

 

 

 

 

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