Toy Story That Time Forgot

Because it's getting close to the holiday season, Toy Story That Time Forgot has been on television fairly often in the last few weeks.  I was going to watch it two weeks ago, but then I discovered that last year I'd taped it off television (or whatever the digital equivalent of taping is).  I watched that instead (no commercials!), and I noticed what I think is a reference to Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

In an arena-style battle, the battlesaurs release the Goliathon, who then eats Woody and Buzz.  For a few seconds, Woody's arm is shown sticking out of the Goliathon's teeth:

(Because I taped this off television, the quality's not that great.)

This same thing happens in Return of the Jedi, after the rancor eats a Gamorrean guard.  The guard's arm sticks out, and the rancor slurps up the rest of it as he turns to face Luke Sywalker:

(I have only the full screen edition of Return of the Jedi.)

Both creatures are positioned in the frame the same way (that is, they're looking the same direction), and the shape of their heads is fairly similar.  It's mostly just a mouth, with some tiny eyes just above it.

Beyond the visual similarity, there's something else that makes me pretty confident that this is an intentional Star Wars reference.  Earlier in Toy Story That Time Forgot, the Cleric comments on how Woody, Buzz, Rex, and Trixie have no armor:  "I find their lack of armor disturbing."  There's a very similar line in Star Wars -  Episode IV: A New Hope: "I find your lack of faith disturbing."

Toy Story 2

This post contains some spoilers.

Last week, after I watched Toy Story, I watched Toy Story 2 (coincidentally on the sixteenth anniversary of its release [24 November 1999], just as I'd knowingly watched Toy Story on its twentieth anniversary).  I don't think I'd seen Toy Story 2 as recently as I had Toy Story, so there was a lot more that I didn't remember.  I found some new stuff too.

This might be obvious but I didn't notice until watching it this time that some of the elements of Zurg's fortress are marked with Zs.  When the ground gives way under Buzz, the negative space around the prongs form a Z:

After he drops through, the light shining down also marks out a Z:

The floor tiles (in the foreground below) are hexagons with a Z in the middle:

The second thing I noticed is that when Woody's arm gets ripped, there's a dramatic change in lighting.  Immediately after it's happened, before Andy has really had time to react, it's still bright and sunny from when Woody and Buzz saved the day in Andy's imaginary situation:

But once Andy realizes what's happened, it turns dark:

The last thing I noticed was the western flavor of Woody, Buzz, and Bull's Eye's chase after Jessie on the luggage cart at the airport.  In many ways, it's like a traditional train car robbery (so in some ways, it's reminiscent of Woody's Round-up from earlier in the movie).  They have to catch up to the luggage cart, and Woody has to get from Bull's Eye to the cart while everything is moving, like a bandit jumping from his horse onto a train:

Then, Woody has to climb over three semi-enclosed carts (like train cars) to an open cart (like a tinder car).  The tractor at the front is like the engine:

Toy Story

This post contains some spoilers.

Earlier this week, I watched Toy Story on the twentieth anniversary of its release (22 November 1995).  I've watched it a lot, but I hadn't seen it recently, so I found some things I hadn't noticed before.

There's a great change in lighting during the scene when Buzz decides to help Woody because he (Buzz) can still be Andy's toy even if he isn't a space ranger.  At first, when Buzz is depressed about learning that he's not a real space ranger, the weather is rainy and overcast:

But after Woody cheers him up and gives him hope again, the storm ends, and the sun comes out, resulting in a brighter palette:

The second thing I discovered is that carpet in the upstairs hallway in Sid's house seems to have some resemblance to some carpet in The Shining:

I haven't seen The Shining (I'm not much for horror movies), but I found this frame on the Wikipedia page:

Both carpet designs are interlocking patterns based on hexagonal shapes.

The only reason I noticed this similarity is that I follow Lee Unkrich on Twitter and a few months ago he posted pictures of a shirt and a watch band with the same pattern.  He was one of the editors for Toy Story, so I don't know if he had anything to do with that design element, but it seems possible.

Finally, during the end credits, "You've Got a Friend in Me" is sung by Randy Newman and Lyle Lovett, where - earlier in the film - it's sung by Newman alone.  In a way, it follows the same arc as the movie: at the beginning, Woody is Andy's favorite toy, and there's only one singer.  By the end though, Woody and Buzz are Andy's two favorite toys, and the song is sung by two singers.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S3E10 - Heroes on Both Sides

Recently, I happened to see a picture of the British House of Commons.  It looked familiar to me, but the reason it looked familiar is that it seems to be the origin of the design for the Separatist Parliament in an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  Senator Amidala visits Mina Bonteri, an old friend of hers who is now a Separatist senator, and convinces her to make a motion for peace talks in the parliament:

Like the British House of Commons, there's the same layout (slightly modified), a fair amount of spires in the design, and green benches.

(source)

(source)

(source)

I don't think the similarity in design is meant to imply any connections, but I found it interesting that such an old building seems to have been the basis for a science fiction setting.

Divergent

Since March I've been reading the Divergent books (I started the third one about two weeks ago).  I recently watched the first movie for the first time, and about halfway through, when Tris visits Erudite headquarters and speaks with Jeanine Matthews, I started paying attention to the actresses' eye colors.

Because it's in Erudite headquarters where there's a lot of blue (blue is the Erudite's color), Jeanine's blue eyes really stand out:

Her eye color tacitly indicates her undying loyalty to Erudite.  It sort of connects to the old saying "the eyes are the window to the soul."  She's Erudite to the core, and her eyes demonstrate this.

I'm not quite sure about this, but it seems that Tris' eyes are hazel, a mix of colors:

In a way, this too indicates her faction, or rather her aptitude for multiple factions.  Just as her eye color is a mix, she has qualities of three different factions - Abnegation, Erudite, and Dauntless.

Firefly - Jaynestown

This post contains spoilers.

A few months ago, I rewatched the Firefly series (now I've seen it three times) so I could watch the movie for the first time.  Recently though, I found myself thinking about Fess Higgins' posture near the end of "Jaynestown."

After having heard that Jayne's returned to the factory settlement of Canton, Magistrate Higgins puts a land-lock on Serenity so that he can't leave Higgins's Moon.  Years ago, Jayne stole "sixty thousand" from him (it's made clear that the "sixty thousand" is an amount of money, although the monetary unit is not really specified), and the magistrate wants him to run into his old partner, whom he (Jayne) had betrayed in the course of the robbery and whom the magistrate releases from prison in order to create a conflict.  It's implied that Inara convinces Fess (the magistrate's son) to remove the land-lock, after he tells her about the "folk hero" and that he "sort of hate[s] the idea of his getting caught."  Fess admires Jayne as folk hero because he stole from his father while Fess is still firmly under his control.

After Serenity takes off at the end of the episode - without any trouble from port control - the scene cuts to Fess explaining to his father that he "sent an override to port control [and] lifted the land-lock on Serenity."  After the magistrate expresses his anger, Fess says (in something of a medium shot), "You wanted to make a man out of me, Dad."

Then the angle changes to see him sitting at a table before he says, "I guess it worked."

His posture here emphasizes what he says.  It's almost comically large, and - as I learned from a TED talk a few years ago - posture is related to confidence.  It's subtle, but it's a detail that really helps to visually portray how Fess has changed.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S1E22 - Hostage Crisis

This post contains spoilers for Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

Near the beginning of this episode, Anakin Skywalker is trying to convince Padmé Amidala to go away with him.  She declines because of the important senatorial work she had to do, but Skywalker isn't convinced by this.  He explains that nothing is more important to him than their love and that he'll prove it.  He says, "When I finished constructing my lightsaber, Obi-Wan said to me, 'Anakin, this weapon is your life.' This weapon is my life," and then he gives it to her.

As he hands it to her, it's facing a direction in which - were it activated - it would eviscerate her:

This foreshadows events in Star Wars - Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith.  In the movie, Skywalker has dreams in which Amidala dies in childbirth.  Emperor Palpatine tells him that there's a way that he (Skywalker) can save people from death, and Skywalker joins the Sith in order to learn this power.  However, his joining the dark side is devastating for Amidala, who loses the will to live.

Skywalker's giving her his lightsaber in this particular way in "Hostage Crisis" foreshadows that.  He's only a small step away from something that will fatally injure her.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S1E15 - Trespass

This post contains spoilers.

Recently, I've been making my way through the first season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  It's the first time I've watched them on DVD, but I saw most of the first two seasons on the Star Wars website shortly after they aired (I don't think I actually saw any on television).  In any case, I noticed something interesting in episode fifteen - "Trespass."

The episode begins with a short narration:

Republic outpost overrun!  The Jedi have lost all contact with the clone security force stationed on the bleak, snow-covered planet of Orto Plutonia.  Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, accompanied by dignitaries from the nearby moon of Pantora, are sent to investigate the disappearance of the clone troopers on the desolate and forbidding landscape.

Upon arriving at the outpost, they find clone trooper helmets positioned atop spears:

Shortly afterwards, they investigate a Separatist post and find droid heads similarly displayed:

Skywalker posits, "By the look of things, I'd say whoever attacked our base took out the droids, also."  He's proven correct when they discover a band of Talz on the planet, which was previously thought uninhabited.  This discovery causes problems with the dignitaries.  Chairman Cho repeatedly declares that they are savages and believes that he has control over them.  The chief of the Talz, Thi-Sen, wishes for peace but doesn't want Cho to remain on his planet.  Despite the protestations of the Jedi and Senator Chuchi, Cho refuses to recognize Thi-Sen's authority or comply with his request, and he declares war:

The Talz ambush the Chairman and the clones tasked with protecting him when they (the Chairman and the clones) are en route - ostensibly - to the Republic outpost (it's not clear exactly where they're going).  Meanwhile, Senator Chuchi contacts Pantora's Speaker of the Assembly, and the Assembly decides that Cho is over-stepping his bounds.  The Speaker tells Chuchi to negotiate peace between Pantora and the Talz.

By the time the Jedi and the Senator catch up to the Chairman and the clones, they've been pummeled by the Talz.  Captain Rex explains that they're "in quite a mess" and that the Chairman is injured.  Chuchi tells Cho that she is going to settle the dispute, to which Cho again objects.  He dies in the midst of his protesting.

Chuchi takes Cho's hat and one of the Talz's spears and walks up to Thi-Sen.  Plunging the spear into the ground, she then places the Chairman's hat upon it.   Through C-3PO's interpreting, she tells Thi-Sen that "to die for one's people is a great sacrifice.  To live for one's people, an even greater sacrifice.  I choose to live for my people.  What do you choose?"

Thi-Sen places his own spear in the ground and chooses to live too.  Chuchi leaves Orto Plutonia under the Talz's watch and recognizes their authority and rights.

Unlike Cho's accusatory gestures when he declares war, Chuchi's body language itself (holding out her hand to Thi-Sen) is welcoming and peaceful.

More significant, though, is Chuchi's placing the deceased Chairman's hat atop the spear.  It illustrates not only that she wants to put the conflict to rest but also - perhaps more importantly - that she understands some of the Talz's culture.  It's as if she gives the Talz their victory over Cho.  She mirrors that aspect of their culture in order to demonstrate her wish for peaceful relations, to which Thi-Sen positively responds.

Ratatouille

Yester-day I watched Ratatouille, and I noticed something interesting about the designs surrounding the food critic Anton Ego.  At the very beginning of the movie, he's briefly present (on television), but when he's first properly introduced, there are design elements around him that are suggestive of death.  The typewriter on which he types his reviews vaguely resembles a skull:

And the room in which he does his writing - as viewed from above - has the same shape as a coffin, even with padded walls:

Both of these death-like features visually connect Ego with the restaurant fatalities that his reviews can cause.  He's a Grim Reaper, but of a different type of death: closed restaurants.

Additionally, while watching the movie, I found some of Pixar's hidden references.

I've seen this elsewhere, but I might as well mentioned it.  While Remy is first exploring Paris, he's startled by the silhouette of a dog that looks like that of Doug from Pixar's Up, which would be released a few years later (Ratatouille was released in 2007; Up in 2009).

Pixar's A113 is present on one of the rat's ear tags.

"Light" in Star Wars: A New Hope

Last month I read Star Wars Storyboards: The Original Trilogy.  While reading it, it occurred to me that the name Luke probably comes from lux, the Latin word for light.  I looked this up in a name source book I have and confirmed it.  Incidentally, Lucas also comes from the same root.

As a name for the character, it's apt because he's one of the heroes of the original trilogy, and it's especially apt because he embodies the light side of the force.

But because I'd been reading this book of the storyboards, it occurred to me that Luke's manifestation of light is also represented visually.  One of the first scenes that he's in features the double sunset of Tatooine:

(I have only the full screen version.)

There are two suns, which in the immediate context tacitly illustrate Luke as light, but they're also an indication of the two twins - Luke and Leia.

Back to the Future, Part II

I wouldn't necessarily say that this post contains spoilers, but it might ruin the movie for you.

I recently re-watched the Back to the Future movies, mostly so I could write about sleep and how there seems to be time-travel-related jet-lag, but it's also given me an opportunity to write about the alternate timelines in Back to the Future, Part II, a feature that's bothered me for years.  The movie doesn't follow its own logic.

The alternate timeline part is explained after Marty McFly and Dr. Brown return to 1985 but find that it's vastly different.  Doc says that "Prior to this point in time, somewhere in the past, the timeline skewed into this tangent, creating an alternate 1985."  He even draws a diagram:

This 1985 is alternate because Biff from 2015 went back to 1955 and changed the course of future history by giving his past self the sports almanac.  But since 2015 Biff changed the course of future history when he's in 1955, when he returns to 2015, it should be the 2015 of that now-alternate timeline - the same timeline that Doc and Marty experience in 1985.  Instead, the movie shows 2015 Biff returning to the same 2015:

Like the newspapers change after key events are prevented later in the movie, 2015 should change around Doc and Marty from the "original" 2015 to the alternate 2015.  I'm not sure what would happen to Biff though.

It might be that 2015 Biff can return to the original 2015 because that skewing of the timeline would change his own future so much.  So he's returned to his own time, which then vanishes as the now-altered timeline takes prominence.  That's the only explanation I can think of, but it still seems a contrivance just so that the Delorean can be returned to Doc and Marty.

Sleep in the Back to the Future Trilogy

A few months ago, I got to thinking about sleep in the Back to the Future movies, specifically the recurring scenes where Marty McFly wakes up and is told "you've been asleep for [however many] hours."  I recently re-watched them all, and I think those scenes are meant to indicate a sort of time-travel jet-lag.  In the same way that people's sleep schedules get messed up after a lot of travelling to and/or through different time zones, Marty McFly's sleep schedule is messed up because of the time travelling.

Shortly after he travels to 1955, he's hit by a car and wakes up after nine hours.

"You've been asleep for almost nine hours now."

In the alternate 1985, he's hit on the head and wakes up after two hours.

"You've been asleep for almost two hours."

In 1885, he falls down an incline, hitting his head on a fence, and wakes up after six hours.

"You've been asleep for nearly six hours now."

Granted, he's hit on the head before each lengthy period of sleep, but in Back to the Future, Part III, he wakes up (without having been hit) and says, "Oh, man, did I sleep."

Before I watched the movies, I wondered if the number of hours he was sleeping before those recurring scenes had any connection to how far away (temporally) he was from the original 1985.  That doesn't seem to be the case, but I still think that there's something to the sleeping-as-time-travel-jet-lag idea.  Those scenes indicate that the time travel is - in some way at least - affecting his sleep.

Pleasantville

A few days ago, I watched Pleasantville.  It's one of my favorite movies because there's so much within a relatively simple plot.  Watching it this time, I noticed the framing of this particular scene:

George has entered the bowling alley and explained that there's now real rain and that when he got home, there was no one there - and no dinner! - waiting for him.  One of the bowlers asks the mayor, "What are we gonna do, Bob?" before the camera turns to him.

The particular framing here accomplishes two things:

First, it presents Bob in a position of power because it literally looks up to him.  His speech itself shows that he has power too.  He says that "something is happening to our town" and that "it's a question of values.  It's a question of whether we want to hold on to those values that made this place great.  So a time has come to make a decision.  Are we in this thing alone, or are we in it together?"  From the framing and from his speech, it's evident that Bob wants to be - and is - the leader of those who are in it together.

Second, there are elements in this shot that illustrate the values that Pleasantville had previously adhered to - the same values that Bob refers to.  There are the bowling scores that - if I'm interpreting them correctly - have every frame as either a strike or a spare.  Every pin was knocked down.  There are also the names.  The first group has names that all start with J - Jack, Jay, John, Jim, and Jeff.  The second group seems to all start with B - Big Bob, Bill, Ben.  And in his dialogue, Bob includes two more:  "But if George here doesn't get his dinner, any one of us could be next. It could be you, Gus.  Or you, Roy.  Or even you, Ralph."  There's George & Gus and Roy & Ralph.  Between the bowling prowess and the nominal alliteration, the perfection (or maybe even the conformity) of Pleasantville is illustrated.

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

This post contains some minor spoilers.

In July, I started reading the Bible, and in Genesis, I came across a part that describes a breastpiece that the Hebrew priests wore:

You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, in skilled work.  In the style of the ephod you shall make it - of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen shall you make it.  It shall be square and doubled, a span its length and a span its breadth.  You shall set in it four rows of stones.  A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle shall be the first row; and the second row and emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper.  They shall be set in gold filigree.  There shall be twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel.  They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes.  You shall make for the breastpiece twisted chains like cords, of pure gold.  And you shall make for the breastpiece two rings of gold, and put the two rings on the two edges of the breastpiece.  And you shall put the two cords of gold in the two rings at the edges of the breastpiece.  The two ends of the two cords you shall attach to the two settings of filigree, and so attach it in front to the shoulder pieces of the ephod.  You shall make two rings of gold, and put them at the two ends of the breastpiece, on its inside edge next to the ephod.  And you shall make two rings of gold, and attach them in front to the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, at its seam above the skillfully woven band of the ephod.  And they shall bind the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, so that it may lie on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, so that the breastpiece shall not come loose from the ephod.  (Exodus 28:15-28)

I'd noticed that Belloq has some ceremonial-looking clothing during the part of Raiders of the Lost Ark when they open the ark, so I re-watched the movie in order to compare it to this Biblical description.  Because it's dark (and because I'm not that acquainted with varieties of gems), I'm not sure if Belloq's breastpiece matches up exactly, but it has a least a few qualities in common with the Biblical description:

There's also:

You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, 'Holy to the LORD.'  And you shall fasten it on the turban by a cord of blue.  It shall be on the front of the turban.  ...  You shall weave the coat in checker work of fine linen, and you shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash embroidered with needlework.  (Exodus 28:36-37, 39)

Again, some of the smaller details are hard to see in the movie, but in general it seems to correspond fairly closely.

More interesting than that, however, is the staff that Belloq is holding:

I think the animal on the staff is meant to be a calf, specifically a golden calf, like the one in Exodus 32.  While Moses is on Mount Sinai getting the Ten Commandments, the Israelites have Aaron craft a golden calf, which they then worship.  Both God and Moses become angry about this.  God tells Moses, "'Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them....'" (Exodus 32:10).  God's wrath about the golden calf seems to have some connection with Belloq's staff and the effect that the Ark of the Covenant has on the Nazis when they open it.

Grimm - S1E8 - Game Ogre

After three murders in this episode, Hank realizes that the victims are all connected to the arrest and conviction of Oleg Stark, who's since escaped and is tracking down those who sentenced him.  In researching his file, Nick discovers that Stark "displays signs of congenital analgesia, a rare genetic disorder which deadens the nerve endings, making it difficult to process pain" and has "abnormally dense" bones:

Later Nick discovers that Stark is a Siegbarste, which Monroe describes as "your basic ogre."

It's significant that his last name is Stark - the German word for strong.  Stark's deadened nerve endings and dense bones seem to contribute to his strength.  At the very least, they help to increase his persistence.

I think it's also significant that that characteristic is his last name.  It's sort of the opposite of the word Grimm.  In the show, it seems that the Grimm Brothers' last name has become the appellation of those who can see Wesen.

Grimm - S3E21 - The Inheritance

This post contains some minor spoilers.

After re-watching this episode of Grimm, I started thinking about the name of one of the characters - Rolek Porter.  It's not a very common name, so I thought that there had to be some sort of reference hidden in it.  I couldn't come up with anything for Rolek, but the Porter part is actually pretty descriptive of the character.

Rolek Porter is dying, and before he's gone, he wants to give Nick a trunk of some Grimm-related things and an-other key.  Like Nick, Porter is a Grimm, but he doesn't seem to be as involved in the Wesen world as Nick is.  Porter tells Nick that he (Porter) "couldn't do what [his ancestors] did" or what Nick does.  So while Porter has a trunk of Grimm things, he doesn't really use them himself (and his son isn't a Grimm so he wouldn't have a use for them).  This is where the Porter part of his name comes in; he just carries the stuff.

That section of his name works especially well in that Porter came from Pennsylvania to Oregon to give Nick the trunk.  It's also interesting that Porter is first introduced in a hotel, so there's a tenuous connection to hotel porters:

Grimm - S3E15 - Once We Were Gods

Episode fifteen of season three of Grimm starts with some construction workers finding an Egyptian sarcophagus in a secret room:

They call a professor named Vera Gates to investigate it:

It occurred to me how appropriate the name Vera Gates is for a scientist.

I'm fairly certain that Vera comes from the Latin word verum, which means truth.  It's the same root that the word veracity comes from (also the word very, which I found interesting).  So truth combined with gates seems to name a character who is a guardian of knowledge.  It's especially apt considering her dedication to her job, which doesn't falter even after her lab has been broken into and vandalized.  She asserts, "This is science.  I won't be scared into not doing my research."

Grimm - S3E11 - The Good Soldier

This post contains spoilers.

I've been re-watching season three of Grimm, and I noticed a small but significant detail in episode eleven - "The Good Soldier."

After a murder, Nick and Hank investigate Jim McCabe, a coworker of the murder victim.  They visit him at his office, where he has a statue of a lion on his desk:

After two similar murders, Nick and Hank discover that the murderer they're looking for is a manticore.  (Unbeknownst to them, there are actually two murderers.)  In the trailer, they - along with Juliette - learn that the manticore has the body of a lion (or a Lowen, in the Grimm terminology) with the tail of a scorpion:

The lion statue on his desk appears innocuous early in the episode, but it seems to function as a sort of fore-shadowing that McCabe, who committed two of the murders, is a manticore:

The episode's plot mostly revolves around Frankie Gonzales, an army specialist who was raped.  (Her colonel kills one of her rapists as a sort of vengeance, and McCabe kills an-other of her rapists and his wife in order to prevent a confession that would reveal him as a third rapist.)  Gonzales carves the date of her attack (November 11, 2010) into her arm, and - in one instance - blots the wound with a napkin so that the date transfers in her blood:

She then gives this to one of her rapists in an attempt to get him to confess.

I think the date is significant.  November 11 is Veterans Day, so it has a connection to the military.  It's also the date of the Armistice in World War I (which Veteran's Day came out of), but in the episode, it marks the opposite, as it's the beginning of all the problems.