#WATCHWITHCUSHING! It takes a special friendship and almost psychic
understanding... in order to meet for what you know is probably the last
time, and to give exchanges and comments to each other, that because of
your bond, need only be given in your shared 'short hand', that has
been crafted and exchanged over many years, during tough times and good.
This is how we see a brief insight into the friendship, love and
respect both Peter Cushing and his close friend Christopher Lee had for
each other.
EVEN WITH THE CLOSE proximity of death, could be handled with
irony and gallows humour! Although, when asked by Peter, 'Will you fill
in for me, if I don't make it through this day?' even Lee could only
reply, 'Oh don't say that..' They behaved like this over a 30 year
career and friendship of even longer, even though, it was known in the
industry that even though Cushing and Lee had this closeness, their
wives Gitte Lee and Helen Cushing . . were not that close. What they
were was fiercely protective of their husbands, their careers, standing
and reputations.. plus Helen was born in Leningrad, USSR and Gitte in
Copenhagen, Denmark . . Strong wives, for husbands who loved to play 😊 - Marcus
IF YOU WRITE, BE IT FOR a blog, facebook page or even for your own amusement, do you ever feel like all the great ideas have already been taken by the ‘real’ writers out there? Do you ever think that maybe you’re not capable of an original idea? Me? I fight with it daily! Pablo Picasso once said, 'Nothing is truly original; we all build on the work, knowledge, wisdom and accomplishments of others'. In the inspiring book, 'Steal Like an Artist, 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative - by Austin Kleon, he states,'Nobody is born with a style or a voice. We don’t come out of the womb
knowing who we are. In the beginning, we learn by pretending to be our
heroes. We learn by copying' and 'We’re talking about practice here, not plagiarism – plagiarism is trying
to pass someone else’s work off as your own. Copying is about reverse
engineering. It’s like a mechanic taking apart a car to see how it
works!' With these gems of wisdom already in mind, I recently came across a quite startling feature, that has appeared at the tvandmovienews.com site.
ABOVE : In the 1971's Empire of a Thousand Planets, the figure on the left appears
as a member of a strange group known as the 'Enlightened'. When he is unmasked,
he reveals a face that is damaged, scarred and burned, similarly to Darth
Vader's on the right in the 1983 'The Return of the Jedi'
THE FEATURE and writing appears uncredited and explores a story that seems to have been quite common knowledge in the 'Star Wars' community for quite sometime, but for me, not being a reader of comic sci fi fiction, it's all news! It's such a startling theory and reveal, that I had to go look it up further. As it's base is grounded on the idea of plagiarism and theft, I was somewhat taken aback to see WHOLE slabs of this feature, reproduced typo errors and all, on other websites and blogs! Ironic or what? So, in presenting and writing my own take on this story.. I have to tread carefully. 😉😀 All the comic frames, are indeed not mine, I have 'borrowed them' from www.core77.com and http://www.tvandmovienews.com. Here goes . .
ABOVE : The Millennium Falcon maybe one of the most loved and respected space craft in sci fi cinema history. Can we say after all the work, the multiple design stages and planning that the Millennium Falcon went through, that this was also a lift from the 1971's The Empire of a Thousand Planets comic? I am not sure . .
IF YOU WERE one of the fortunates, who is old enough to remember when the FIRST 'Star Wars' movie was released back in May 25th 1977... just one day before Peter Cushing's 64th birthday, two days before Christopher Lee's and Vincent Price's birthdays... then undoubtedly you'll also remember leaving the cinema with total glee and wonder at the whole amazing package, you had just witnessed! For many, myself included I was stunned by the scale of the special effects, the sounds, the music, the 'other universe' creatures, the whole emotional ride and the fact my favourite actor, Peter Cushing who up until this film, had been taking a bit of a back-seat as far as 'amazing movies' were concerned was now also on that big screen and part of this mind blowing, fresh, new and exciting film! As far as movie experiences were concerned, as a teenager I seriously asked myself how could I ever be THIS excited over a new movie ever again!
MY NEXT QUESTION WAS, who was responsible for all this? What super gifted writer, put together such a thrilling concept, impressive script and very likeable and fascinating characters? The answer was quickly discovered, by me on the TV news that evening, a quite shy, quietly spoken bearded guy, from the US called George Lucas, who had been nursing the whole concept for years. It was his baby, his creation that he had been touting around the studios for quite some time. Wow! What I would have given to have just a few grains of his imaginative brain cells back then!
NOW? I AM NOT SOOOO SURE 😲😗😃 This weekend, reaching my fifth week of self isolation, during this very weird and frightening time, as well as weighing up the pros and cons of IF I should start decorating the hall and living room, I have been chewing over, the starling evidence of WHERE did George source those Star Wars characters, concepts and ideas? Taking into account of ol Pablo's point, I am not sure what I think or where Lucas lies in the whole scheme of things. Certainly, illustrator and artist, Jean-Claude Mezieres knows EXACTLY where his thoughts lie. It seems that George, for all three original Star Wars films had 'borrowed' quite liberally from the 'ideas and concepts' pantry of a French comic series called 'Valerian and Laureline' and had done so, without making reference or credit to its creators. This very popular sci fi comic was amazingly illustrated by one Jean- Claude Mezieres and written by Pierre Christin.
AT THE TIME, of the release of 'Star Wars' and the following two other movies, Mezieres was said to be, quite understandably, incensed. Now with both gentlemen in late seventies, they have simmered a little helped by their work finally getting some well deserved credit and influencing the 2017 film, 'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets', directed by a major fan, Luc Beeson!
IF YOU WOULD LIKE to share your thoughts on this feature, it is also being posted and shared on the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE TODAY! Your comments and input would be most welcome!
