Yes yes another one of these threads. We have one for cartoons but not films and figured its a sensible division. As the title goes, "Post Any Movie Thought On Your Mind". You may want to use the spoiler functions more than usual, given the medium in question.
So, Sonic's live action films. Something that's bugging me is how Rings work. These golden baubles serve as a powerful instant teleportation system. Toss one while thinking of a location, and the Ring grows into a single use portal to that location. Sonic has a bag of them. The user does need to have a vague idea of what the target location is, or Rings don't work. On the face of it they seem benign: They're.a reinterpretation of the Giant Rings from the game series. If Sonic drops his bag, everyone can make jokes about how he lost his Rings because of taking damage, just like the games. Rings can quickly bring characters into a story, and get the cast to easily rendezvous as a film reaches a climatic point. Action sequences can be built around Rings' teleportation.
All well and good sure, but there's something about them I dislike. In creating Rings, the Sonic films inadvertently block off any story about going from point A to point B. Traveling in and of itself cannot be a story, only things that occur at end points can. And that's weird. Sonic is extremely fast, sure, but one of the property's strengths is its strong sense of place: that's why the franchise can keep bringing back old locations without people getting tired of them. Even if Sonic is on a non-stop run, even if he's boosting and everything's a bit blurry, every location is in one way or another special and unique. Eerie caverns, gaudy casinos, overgrown jungles. Which tracks: Sonic doesn't just fight for the people, he fights for the world itself. Levels like Angel Island Zone and Planet Wisp, having the player traverse through environments broken and tattered by Eggman's machinations, show the player what is really at stake. (I was personally a little crushed seeing Planet Wisp in Team Sonic Racing still have the orange factories and industry. Even when Eggman is ousted those scars remain.) Unless plot intervention stops Sonic from using Rings, in the films it would be difficult to recreate these moments. A scenic pan over a devastated landscape, sure, but there wouldn't be anything to stop Sonic from just warping to where the antagonist is after the pan, and that means there's less time to settle on exactly what any given place is. I'm not sure I agree with that.
Oh and some stories kind of break due to Rings as a concept. For instance, Sonic Heroes' Team Sonic story gets its tension from the ticking clock the team has to locate Eggman and his superweapon. When the characters can teleport across any distance at no cost, its really hard to make the clock feel like it matters without making the timer unreasonably short.
(This thread mostly exists so that the above isn't a status post)
So, Sonic's live action films. Something that's bugging me is how Rings work. These golden baubles serve as a powerful instant teleportation system. Toss one while thinking of a location, and the Ring grows into a single use portal to that location. Sonic has a bag of them. The user does need to have a vague idea of what the target location is, or Rings don't work. On the face of it they seem benign: They're.a reinterpretation of the Giant Rings from the game series. If Sonic drops his bag, everyone can make jokes about how he lost his Rings because of taking damage, just like the games. Rings can quickly bring characters into a story, and get the cast to easily rendezvous as a film reaches a climatic point. Action sequences can be built around Rings' teleportation.
All well and good sure, but there's something about them I dislike. In creating Rings, the Sonic films inadvertently block off any story about going from point A to point B. Traveling in and of itself cannot be a story, only things that occur at end points can. And that's weird. Sonic is extremely fast, sure, but one of the property's strengths is its strong sense of place: that's why the franchise can keep bringing back old locations without people getting tired of them. Even if Sonic is on a non-stop run, even if he's boosting and everything's a bit blurry, every location is in one way or another special and unique. Eerie caverns, gaudy casinos, overgrown jungles. Which tracks: Sonic doesn't just fight for the people, he fights for the world itself. Levels like Angel Island Zone and Planet Wisp, having the player traverse through environments broken and tattered by Eggman's machinations, show the player what is really at stake. (I was personally a little crushed seeing Planet Wisp in Team Sonic Racing still have the orange factories and industry. Even when Eggman is ousted those scars remain.) Unless plot intervention stops Sonic from using Rings, in the films it would be difficult to recreate these moments. A scenic pan over a devastated landscape, sure, but there wouldn't be anything to stop Sonic from just warping to where the antagonist is after the pan, and that means there's less time to settle on exactly what any given place is. I'm not sure I agree with that.
Oh and some stories kind of break due to Rings as a concept. For instance, Sonic Heroes' Team Sonic story gets its tension from the ticking clock the team has to locate Eggman and his superweapon. When the characters can teleport across any distance at no cost, its really hard to make the clock feel like it matters without making the timer unreasonably short.
(This thread mostly exists so that the above isn't a status post)
