Megathread The Lara-Su Chronicles and Ken Penders topic - READ PAGE 164, POST 4096

[horridus]

9 hours ago, Tylinos said:

Still doesn't make Ken acting like he knows the inner workings of the new movie make any more sense, but hey, that's just Ken.

Or the inner workings of movies in general, really. He talks about these things like he's an expert, but the only 'movie' he's ever done any work on was The Republic... which was either a movie or a web serial or a TV series or *something*, and there is absolutely nothing available about it that doesn't come from an IMDB page or from Penders himself. Seriously, the guy who made Birdemic has more insight than him, because at least he made something (multiple times at that) that is known by the general public. 

As for that PG-13 comment, well, I call that the result of him once more doing everything in his power to distance himself from the reality that his career was spent writing a children's comic that starred an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog. He's not actually thinking about what the company or the target audience would want; it's what HE wants. 

[Tylinos]

Actually, he's also worked on the film version of The Lost Ones, which he's apparently still trying to finish alongside The Republic, despite about five years having passed since their filming.  (And in The Lost Ones' case, he said not long ago on Twitter that he's only now trying to assemble the footage into a presentation to even get it off the ground in the first place.  Seriously.)

Also, there's something available for The Republic.  He released a preview mini-episode a few years ago, and it's... Well, give it a watch and see for yourself:

 

Back on track, the PG-13 comment apparently came from the movie writer once stating over a year ago that he was aiming at the time for that rating.  Despite what Ken says, though, one comment doesn't lock it into "PG-13 or it's dead".  So many things could've happened since then.  Sega could've told the guy to make it PG, he could have written the script and decided himself that it'd work better as PG, he could've seen negative response to the PG-13 comment and changed his mind...  It was a single, off-handed comment from over a year ago.  It doesn't mean it stuck.  Heck, Ken himself has changed his mind after bizarre, off-handed comments plenty of times in the past.

[Tenko]

"Hardly. They're hired hands, with no particular authority on whether the project is actually greenlit."

Apart from the fact he seems to be in denial that the movie has been greenlit, considering I already mentioned both Sega and Sony made very public press releases that the project was moving forward. This...this just makes me laugh. After all the times in the past he has said he knows the inner workings of all things from business to comics, TV series to movies etc. just because he has had a little to do with them in the past (comics more so obviously). He believes that Van wouldn't have any official word on the Sonic movie as he's just a "hired hand".

That's right, one of the two official writers for the Sonic movie wouldn't know what's going on with the movie or what direction it's heading in ratings wise (since it stemmed from a comment I made saying the last official news was Van mentioning aiming for a PG-13 rating).

What Van says isn't official. He's just the writer, he wouldn't know...does anyone else see the irony here?

[King Scoopa Koopa]

1 hour ago, Tenko said:

What Van says isn't official. He's just the writer, he wouldn't know...does anyone else see the irony here?

Well, Penders is all-knowing, so no, I don't see any irony here.

[Idon'tcare]

10 hours ago, Tenko said:

So apparently according to Penders the movie HAS to be PG-13 or it will be "dead in the water". He seems to like using that one today.

I asked him why he thought that, when all of Sonic's game outings are G rated with the exception of Black Knight and Shadow the Hedgehog due to use of real world weapons. Why would a movie about a blue cartoon hedgehog and his animal friends, one that's always aimed for children as it's target audience, want to go for a PG-13 rating?

Will see what he says tomorrow.

Let's a take a look at Wikipedia's movie rating scale for an answer.

Quote

 

The ratings used since 1990 are:

• Rated G: General audiences – all ages admitted
• Rated PG: Parental guidance suggested – some material may not be suitable for children
• Rated PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned – some material may be inappropriate for children under 13
• Rated R: Restricted – under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian
• Rated NC-17: No children under 17 admitted [1990–1996] / No one 17 and under admitted [1996–present]

 

There we go, PG13 is the recommended rating for teenagers, its also the rating used for most of the block buster movies that's been thrown out of the Hollywood movie factories for the past three years. Therefor the logic states. PG13 = win, anything less = dead. Of course no cares about all those PG rated kids cartoons and movies who scrape in millions each year cause their plots are far too simple for teenagers to enjoy.

[Tenko]

Someone better get on the phone to Rainmaker and Sony quick!! Ratchet & Clank is going to bomb so hard, it's not PG-13!!

While your at it you better call the animation wing at Disney and tell them to stop producing bombs like Frozen, Inside Out, Big Hero 6 etc etc

/end sarcasm

You would think Penders had never seen a good G or PG rated movie. Either that or he thinks Sonic is aimed at teens rather than children. Probably just him still thinking his teen drama he wrote in Archie is the "real" Sonic as it should be.

[Tylinos]

In fairness, while what Ken's saying is pretty silly, it's possible his point is that Sega would have to be okay with a PG-13 film in order for them to even accept a script that's aiming to be PG-13, and that if they don't accept it, the project would die.

[antyep]

We all know this stems from denial and jealousy. He's just jealous because his movie pitch was rejected before the first page could be read. Can you image his reaction if Ian Potto actually got to write for a Sonic game like he always wanted?

[King Scoopa Koopa]

5 hours ago, Tenko said:

You would think Penders had never seen a good G or PG rated movie.

Might explain some of his output, actually.

4 hours ago, antyep said:

We all know this stems from denial and jealousy. He's just jealous because his movie pitch was rejected before the first page could be read. Can you image his reaction if Ian Potto actually got to write for a Sonic game like he always wanted?

I doubt he'd care, since games are so beneath him as a medium, and you can't tell real stories through them anyway.

Actually, he'd probably consider it a regression of Ian's career and point and laugh, even if Ian's script helped it become the best-selling, most critically acclaimed game of all time.

If it ain't a movie, it ain't real to him.

...unless he thinks anyone working on it even looked at his material, of course. Then their non-stories with their non-characters would be worthy of all of he and his lawyer's scorn.

[horridus]

12 hours ago, Tylinos said:

Actually, he's also worked on the film version of The Lost Ones, which he's apparently still trying to finish alongside The Republic, despite about five years having passed since their filming.  (And in The Lost Ones' case, he said not long ago on Twitter that he's only now trying to assemble the footage into a presentation to even get it off the ground in the first place.  Seriously.)

Also, there's something available for The Republic.  He released a preview mini-episode a few years ago, and it's... Well, give it a watch and see for yourself:

Oh trust me, I have seen. I wasn't exactly fond of the Bush Years either, but jeezum crow, that was just painful, and thats without getting into every *other* aspect of the damn thing. My point wasn't that there wasn't anything on it, just that there wasn't anything out there that hadn't been put out by Penders himself or the IMDB page. It was evidently supposed to air in 2005-6, and if it did, then it reaaaaally left a low impression. Much like the Lost Ones itself. 

You know, the funny thing is though, concering that Lost Ones film? He's actually justified the amount of time it's been taking by comparing it to the amount of time other Hollywood films take to get off the ground, citing X-Men specifically. Given his recent comments about how the Sonic movie is 'clearly' dead in the water and how the preproduction showing has been so lackluster, it's just kind of funny given the excuses he concocts for his own works lack of material. 

[Tenko]

His latest reason it's not going anywhere is that it's all about the cast. If no cast have been announced its not in production according to him.

His mind set is still the same tho, his other comment was that the movie, which is apparently dead in the water, would be the best way to relaunch the Sonic franchise. Again with the personal belief that the film is the most important aspect, that the franchise should be relaunched and modeled around it.

[Tylinos]

So, let me get this straight.  He said earlier that the project hasn't made any progress of note, and that he somehow knows (see: assumes) that they haven't done any real pre-production work.  Then you pointed out that Van Robichaux, whose involvement was confirmed over a year ago, said just the other day that the project is still going forward, and Ken still insists it isn't?

I get that this is Ken, and he tends to do this, but really?  Is he just that hung up on how his own Sonic film project never got fully greenlit?  Not every writer is going to be turned down by Sega in the end, Ken.  Sega not coming to an agreement on your idea doesn't mean they won't come to one on someone else's.  Maybe, for example, Mr. Robichaux's doesn't start off with some kid talking about knowing the true story of Sonic, and proceed to show the world exploding.

[Tenko]

I do find it asinine that Penders believes something announced as having been recently greenlit with ink still drying on paperwork in late 2014, that has no major production viewable to the public yet is 'dead in the water'.

Yet his project's, some of which have been in the pipeline for more than 10 years, with little in the way of headway made viewable to the public since their original announcements, are somehow comparable to all other Hollywood films that take a good while to get up and running. Couple that with his statements previously that there's a lot of work and production behind the scenes that general public man doesn't get to see...yet Sonic is obviously dead cayse we havent seen anything yet.

Does he ever not say one thing then get caught out peddling another to redeem his own hide.

[Gabz Girl]

Is Penders seriously still clinging to that Lost Ones movie concept? The trailer was laughably bad and amateur, why the hell doesn't he put all his focus on that bloody comic before some crappy movie that nobody except himself cares about? ><

It's like he can't decide what to do, or rather, he does too many things at the same time which slows him down even more. 

[horridus]

5 hours ago, Tenko said:

Does he ever not say one thing then get caught out peddling another to redeem his own hide.

Why of course he does, you big silly. 

Sometimes he doesn't even bother to respond at all to anything, or says something so completely out of left field that it almost counts as a non-sequiter ^^

 

[antyep]

3 hours ago, Gabz Girl said:

Is Penders seriously still clinging to that Lost Ones movie concept? The trailer was laughably bad and amateur, why the hell doesn't he put all his focus on that bloody comic before some crappy movie that nobody except himself cares about? ><

It's like he can't decide what to do, or rather, he does too many things at the same time which slows him down even more. 

Because he can't except the fact that comics, in his eyes: 'One of the lowest point in media', is the only thing he can do at this moment. That, and he's just plain lazy.

[Idon'tcare]

5 hours ago, antyep said:

Because he can't except the fact that comics, in his eyes: 'One of the lowest point in media', is the only thing he can do at this moment. That, and he's just plain lazy.

I should point out that he's not lazy, he's far too busy to produce his comic cause he's trying to get secure those movie deals for the TL-SC, the Lost Ones and The Republic while writing an app himself(Yeah right...) and running an online merchandise store at the same time.

Yes, I'm being sarcastic. 

[RaceProUK]

9 minutes ago, Idon'tcare said:

I should point out that he's not lazy, he's far too busy to produce his comic cause he's trying to get secure those movie deals for the TL-SC, the Lost Ones and The Republic while writing an app himself(Yeah right...) and running an online merchandise store at the same time. 

And not forgetting sending all those ridiculous tweets w.r.t. Archie Comics.

[Idon'tcare]

1 minute ago, RaceProUK said:

And not forgetting sending all those ridiculous tweets w.r.t. Archie Comics.

He's lucky he's self employed, any company worth their nickels and dimes would have kicked him out ages ago for being far too lazy.

[Tenko]

I see he is still trying to send Sega and Archie nudges. Again saying legal issues can be worked out in an amicable fashion. That he would be up for more talks to either work with his character's on the comic or on the movie.

He doesn't get the concept of burnt bridges huh. Or irony when hes going on about it being a fact of life that Ian won't work on the comics forever and will one day be replaced. Yet he still doesn't seem to grasp or accept that he's been replaced and isn't coming back....

[Killtank]

Ken has such misplaced priorities. I don't understand why with all these myriad projects, he can't seem to gain any traction with anything. He's far concerned with phone apps and phone cases to actually do any real work. I hate to be morbid, but I would not be terribly surprised if he died before anything hit stores. I'm not saying that to disparage him for the sake of being nasty. I just don't feel like he can get anything done with no editor watching his ever move. He languishes when nobody cracks a whip.

 I don't know what else to say about his man. I feel like I could claim the exact same criticisms time and time again, but it's hard to turn away from Ken and his shenanigans. He is a truly fascinating individual. I think he would be far less intriguing if he stuck to one thing and finished it within a reasonable span of time. He could just complete TL-SC after years of dragging his feet, but that's not likely to happen. It's like he procures pleasure out of squandering precious time and resources.

[horridus]

1 hour ago, Tenko said:

I see he is still trying to send Sega and Archie nudges. Again saying legal issues can be worked out in an amicable fashion. That he would be up for more talks to either work with his character's on the comic or on the movie.

He doesn't get the concept of burnt bridges huh. Or irony when hes going on about it being a fact of life that Ian won't work on the comics forever and will one day be replaced. Yet he still doesn't seem to grasp or accept that he's been replaced and isn't coming back....

So long as he demands co-ownership and that the continuity should more or less bow to his ultimate vision, it's never gonna happen, and that would even be if he had kept his mouth shut during and after the events of the trial. Hell, him attempting to lay claim to *Eggman* alone destroyed any chances of an 'amicable solution' being feasible. Penders really, really seems to buy into the idea that companies will put up with anything so long as it lands them profit, not wanting to grasp that different companies have different goals for their products... to say nothing of the fact that his ideas were never the massive, super important money makers that he thinks they were. 

 

[Idon'tcare]

Hmm.

 

https://twitter.com/KenPenders/status/688783474950455296

I'm pretty sure everyone who has worked on Sonic has gotten their slice of the pie Pender's. But it is sadly also a fact that so far, you're the only whining that your slice just isn't big enough for you. 

https://twitter.com/KenPenders/status/690788828211077120

Decarlo huh, considering the level of "quality" Archie had going for their Sonic art and stories at the time. $300 could be considered armed robbery for something that has zero shading, stiff poses and just low quality coloring...

 

 

[Tylinos]

In fairness, DeCarlo was one of Archie's more beloved artists of the time.  He created Josie and the Pussycats, and was one of Sabrina's creators.  Shortly before his death, he got into a dispute over the Josie and the Pussycats movie.  In the wake of it all, a lot of people agreed that DeCarlo was mistreated by the Archie higher-ups.

That said, though, Ken's forgetting that inflation is a thing.  $300 today is valued the same as about $215 was when DeCarlo was fired in 2000.  $300 in 2000 dollars would be worth around $420 today.  Of course he wasn't going to be paid $300 back then.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

On 1/21/2016 at 6:50 PM, Tenko said:

I see he is still trying to send Sega and Archie nudges. Again saying legal issues can be worked out in an amicable fashion. That he would be up for more talks to either work with his character's on the comic or on the movie.

He doesn't get the concept of burnt bridges huh. Or irony when hes going on about it being a fact of life that Ian won't work on the comics forever and will one day be replaced. Yet he still doesn't seem to grasp or accept that he's been replaced and isn't coming back....

 

Archie and Penders, respectively.

On 1/22/2016 at 7:22 PM, Killtank said:

Ken has such misplaced priorities. I don't understand why with all these myriad projects, he can't seem to gain any traction with anything. He's far concerned with phone apps and phone cases to actually do any real work. I hate to be morbid, but I would not be terribly surprised if he died before anything hit stores. I'm not saying that to disparage him for the sake of being nasty. I just don't feel like he can get anything done with no editor watching his ever move. He languishes when nobody cracks a whip.

No, we totally get what you mean. Ken isn't getting any younger.

On 1/22/2016 at 7:50 PM, horridus said:

So long as he demands co-ownership and that the continuity should more or less bow to his ultimate vision, it's never gonna happen, and that would even be if he had kept his mouth shut during and after the events of the trial. Hell, him attempting to lay claim to *Eggman* alone destroyed any chances of an 'amicable solution' being feasible. Penders really, really seems to buy into the idea that companies will put up with anything so long as it lands them profit, not wanting to grasp that different companies have different goals for their products... to say nothing of the fact that his ideas were never the massive, super important money makers that he thinks they were. 

That's the funny thing. In America, I dare say anything can happen, and if it makes financial sense, past grievances can be overlooked in the name of what's best for business.

In Japan, which has the last word on Sonic, we've seen that companies can get downright nasty with their grudges. I'm not saying that SEGA or Sonic Team have an outright grudge against Penders or even care about him so long as he stays way the hell over there, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn if they just blacklisted having anything more to do with him and are simply done with it.

Of course, Archie has no choice but to comply.