Welcome back to the Randomizer!
Today I'm going to talk about a particular subject
concerning bad movies. A couple months ago, I watched an interesting film called
Felix the Cat: The Movie. I had heard
before that it was absolutely horrible, with lazy animation, stupid characters
and very bad plot devices. I watched it, and I do have to agree. Everything
about it was pure laughable, despite the DVD skipping through a chunk of the
film. It wasn't a good film by any standards. Like Felix the Cat (or crap as I
call it), there are plenty of horrible films out there that have their own
releases on DVD nowadays.
So what's my point? Well.....there is an animated film out
there that will probably NEVER be released on DVD at all. A film that's
infamous around on the internet, in general for Japanese animation fans. Some of these fans see it as an abomination
of great work, horrible dubbing, unnecessary editing, and just pure evil (along
with Twilight I'm sure). Nowadays you can only find it on either EBay or Amazon
because it is such a rare film, you will never find it anywhere else. Kind of
like finding Mew in the Pokémon games. This film is simply called:
Warriors of the Wind
If you've never heard of this before, some fans will say:
"Good. Keep it that way". Seriously they might actually say that. But
I say: Give it a go. It's important you will learn something.
Warriors of the Wind is
the first American dub of the Japanese film: Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind, directed by the legendary (and
now retired) Hayao Miyasaki. You may recognise him for his many films such as Spirited Away, My Neighbour Tortoro, and Princess
Mononoke. The dub isn't just hated by fans. Miyazaki himself was pissed
that his project was turned on its head and didn't allow any dubbing of his
films for over a decade, until 1995 when Nausicca
was dubbed by Disney. Subsequently after that, Disney has maintained the
dubbing process for all Miyazaki's films. And pretty much everyone has a happy
ending: The fans are appeased, Disney makes money and Miyazaki can have a
comfortable life.
But today, just for today, I am going to talk about one of
the animation taboos that SHOULD be brought up regardless of its status. Quickly
after going over the plot, I will go into what edits were made from the
original and what was subsequently lost as a result, the audio that hardcore
fans have issue with, and how the marketing didn't help the film overall .
Finally, in accordance with what I said about bad movies, I will talk about
whether this film should be released onto DVD at all, since the only way you
can watch this is on video and having a video player handy at the time.
This subject has been on my mind for a long time, ever since
I had an interest in Anime in the first place. It formed part of my university
dissertation as I was talking about the localisation of anime in the United States,
and almost became a published piece to a magazine that talked about nostalgic
anime. Because of doing my blog and writing my Robyn Hood book, along with my
jobs and trying to get my social life back from under the sofa, I virtually
have no time in doing a formal essay about the film itself. This version of
Warriors of the Wind will be an informal article, in accordance with the brand
of humour and titbits I can talk about while writing this.
So here we go: Warriors
of the Wind!
---------------------------------------------------------
(The plot follows the original Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind film)
In the future, the world was devastated by the apocalyptic
event, 'Seven Days of Fire'. It destroyed the human race and gave birth to the
Toxic Jungle, a haven for evolved insects and supposedly dangerous to humans.
One thousand years later, human settlements exist in
different settings. The Valley of the Wind is one such place, home to Princess
Nausicaa who ventures out to the Toxic Jungle to research it, talk with the
creatures in the forest, including one sect called the Ohmu, and secretly
finding a cure for her dying father. She meets the swordmaster Yupa after an
expedition into the forest and they go back to the Valley.
Princess Nausicaa
That night, an aircraft from the Kingdom of Tolmekia that
had accidently entered the forest, crashes and blows up in the Valley. The only
survivor of the crash, a captive Princess from Pejite, pleads that the cargo be
destroyed before she dies herself. One surviving insect is led back to the
jungle by Nausicaa while she sees one of the Ohmu in the distance. The cargo is
in question an embryo of a Giant Warrior, one of many weapons that had caused
the Seven Days of Fire in the first place.
The next morning, Princess Kushana of Tolmekia invades the
Valley, killing Nausicaa's father in the process. Nausicaa sees his body and
goes into RAGE MODE and kills some of the men before being stopped by Yupa,
whom she unintentionally stabs in the hand. Kushana proceeds to subjugate the
Valley and arranges to take Nausicaa and others back with her to Pejite.
Preparing to leave, Yupa discovers Nausicaa's research lab.
She is shutting it down, but not before she explains that plants grown in clean
soil and water do not produce toxin, and the jungle has been tainted by man.
She also has become afraid of herself, after her outburst and does not wish to
kill again.
On route, the escort is attacked by a Pejite interceptor and
dismantled quickly. Nausicaa, Kushana and the hostages escape and crash-land in
the jungle itself, disturbing a group of Ohmu before Nausicaa soothes them. She
attempts to save the pilot but both get sucked into quicksand and end up below
the jungle. Conveniently they can breathe. Hurrah! Nausicaa finds out that the
jungle plants are actually PURIFYING the pollution above in the top-soil, and
producing clean water that remains in secret underground.
Nausicaa and the pilot called Asabel, go to Pejite and
discover it has been overwhelmed by the insects of the forest. But Pejite
survivors had secured an airship and lured the insects into attacking the
Tolmekians, planning to do the same in the Valley. Nausicaa is pissed at this
and tries to flee but is unsuccessful. Thanks to Asabel's mother, she manages
to escape and get back to the Valley.
Along the way, she finds two Pejite soldiers using a wounded
baby Ohmu to lead the rest of the enraged adults into the Valley. Kushana
launches tanks to no avail against the Ohmu and hatches the Giant Warrior ahead
of its time. The Ohmu are barely affected, and the Warrior soon collapses into
many pieces.
Nausicaa saves the baby Ohmu from going into acid that it
confuses for water, her foot taking the pain and gaining the trust of it. They
are dropped in front of the now stampeding herd of Ohmu, and are run over for
their trouble. But the herd take a hint and stop in its tracks, just short of
coming into the valley. The Ohmu manages to bring Nausicaa back to life, using
golden tentacles that make appearances every now to heal whoever.
Behold the Amazing Ohmu Balancing Act!
With the trouble over, the Tolmekians leave the Valley for
home and the Pejites remain to help the Valley rebuild itself after the events.
In the meantime, underneath the Toxic Jungle in the underground cavern, a
simple tree is starting to grow. The planet is beginning to heal itself....
The end :D.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Needless to say, the film was immensely popular in Japan
when it was first released, drawing under one million people to see it. It led
to the creation of Studio Ghibli and made Miyazaki a household name overnight.
Over thirty years after its release, the original film is still popular today
among critics and fans, having 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and currently hold
8.0 on the IMDB scale.
Now we come to the first dub. And it's quite a fall. Like a
drunk guy attempt to tip-toe on a flight of stairs, hoping to get 20 quid from
his best mate.
The film came to New World Pictures for distribution to
American audiences, and went through the process of localisation.
Localisation is when a product of foreign make is changed to
suit a home country's aesthetical needs. Where animation is concerned, this
involves: Firstly, dubbing a recognisable language over the original because
not many people will understand what the characters are talking about. Secondly,
altering the on-screen visuals via digital means or simply editing out bits of
footage if deemed inappropriate for the target audience. Thirdly, the original
plots can be changed in respect to a target audience. For example, Yu-Gi-Oh had
a great number of plot changes concerning trying to get a card back by the
honourable way, rather than just taking it outright. This was changed to just
saying "take the card, it can help you defeat the bad guys!"
Whatever.
This process has been used many times with Japanese animated
and live action programmes, most famously with Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Power
Rangers. But I'm sure you knew they can from Japan already so I'll keep my
mouth shut. Trivial matter, it has happened with a certain French show
involving a magic roundabout. I think it was called........Le Sooty Spectacle.
It involved stop motion.....right?
Not featured: Magic Roundabout
But I digress. The idea of localisation can be grating
amongst the hardcore side of anime fans, criticising the changes made by those
in charge. And as you've probably guessed, Warriors of the Wind was no
exception. In fact, it was worse for some. According to Nausicaa.net, it's
claimed that New World Pictures wanted to market the film as a kid's action
film, so they exorcised half an hour's footage from the film and garbled the
storyline. In addition, the cast were not told about the story, so therefore
the acting was substandard.
Well, let's see if any of that is true. Here then are some
points that should be noted.
·
Editing
It has been claimed that one of the mistakes the film made
in editing was removing the "slow parts of the film", leaving in the
action pieces in one setting, and keeping it to a 90 minute time frame.
One of the pieces removed was actually an important part of
the film: The Laboratory scene before Nausicaa leaves with Princess Kushana. Here
we see how clean soil and water has helped grow plants unaffected by toxins,
and some character development for Nausicaa upset at her actions of killing
people when they killed her father, not wishing to go down that road again.
One of the major themes in this film is environmentalism,
coincidently supported by WWF. That's right, the very same panda who sued World
Wrestling Entertainment for name infringement. Nausicaa is a representation of
that theme, wanting to understand further how the nature of the Toxic Jungle
works, eventually coming to protect it from those who would do harm to it.
To me in a way, losing this scene was a bad idea because you
see how Nausicaa is intelligent in figuring out an important plot point: that
the jungle isn't responsible for the pollution, it's the soil in the earth
already that holds the poison. That enables the research to develop further and
understanding how the jungle works, eventually finding the underground cavern
that holds the clean water to help grow the planet again. The meaning of this
point is that nature is taking its time to slowly rebuild itself, the trees
taking the pollution to turn it inert and dying as a result, turning back into
purified sand.
By taking that scene out, we don't exactly get a
step-by-step plan of understanding how the planet works. The dub jumps from
thinking the jungle is bad, to saying "oh it's not bad at all"
without a good explanation why. There is one piece of dialogue probably
mentioning why this is, but I couldn't even hear it because the audio at that
moment was pretty bad.
Moving to the point of her declaring she doesn't want to
kill, it does bug me a bit. Ok she doesn't want to kill anymore fair enough,
she doesn't do that for the rest of the film. But that's it. It's not exactly
brought up again. You could argue that she doesn't want any deaths in the valley
after learning of the Pejite's plans, but I would say that the Valley is her
home and she loves her people, not wanting any of them to be hurt.
Her rage doesn't die either, showing her shooting a machine
gun around the feet of the two Pejite men holding the baby Ohmu captive, and
telling them to set her down in front of the stampeding adults. So she's
willing to shoot them to save the Ohmu, after she said she doesn't to kill
anyone again. I'm not sure it's a good construction of character for her in
that department. Maybe it's a point of showing she's still human and pretty
much allowed to be pissed off, but when she says she doesn't want to kill
anyone and does that.....That says to me: What?
A second editing point is the loss of the original opening
and ending credits. The opening does go into significant detail about the
'Seven Days of Fire' that led us to the events of the film, showing the
creation of the Giant Warriors, the destruction of the earth, and the formation
of the Toxic Jungle. The ending credits pretty much wrap up the storylines
throughout the film: The Tolmekians leave, peace returns to the valley,
Nausicaa has fun doing other things, Lord Yupa and Astapor go exploring, and a
tree is growing in the underground cavern. Hooray! And all of that's been cut
out!
What they don't show is the rebuilding of Kim Kardashian's butt. She does look like that underneath.
Now the opening credits don't exactly suffer badly because
the edit does hold the original explanation about the Giant Warriors destroying
the world beforehand, although it is while Yupa and another villager are
dialoguing with each other after the ship crash the night before. The story
isn't all lost entirely therefore, and was probably kept in for some
explanation as to where the creatures came from.
The ending credits don't get the same treatment and are
completely cut out, only showing Nausicaa celebrating with her people and then
cutting instantly to the tree growing in the ground. Ok, the story ends
peacefully enough and everyone is happy. But I suppose what is lost is the
overall finality of it all. We don't have any idea what happens to the
characters after the story is done, or see what they get up to in the aftermath.
You could argue that in defence, do we need to see the ending in full? Peace is
returned. Isn't that enough to go on by? On the other hand, it can be insulting
to just end the story at just that point. We've been along this journey with
the characters, gotten to know them, seen them develop further and maybe it
would be nice to see where they end up.
It's like the Lord of the Rings films in one way if you
think about it. Everyone knows about the multiple "ending" shots. But
if the story just ended at Frodo and Sam at the top of Mount Doom, surrounded
by the oncoming lava flows, how would you feel? You've been on this journey
with the characters, only to see them trapped at the top of that mountain. Do
they survive or not?
Maybe sometimes we NEED those answers to show the state of
the characters and what the state of this world has become after the journey.
If a film just ends like that, we're left with more questions than answers,
like did the Tolmekians ever go back home, what happens to the Valley after
everything, and do Nausicaa and Astapor ever get jiggy with it? If we don't get
those little answers, the film might be kind of screwed. Immensely. And people
will hate you.
One interesting point I will tell is that when the film does
end, you don't get any credits of people from America, only those Japanese
animators and the man himself. So the English voice actors don't get a tick do
they? They did do the dubbing.......nice.
So yea, a lot of things are lost completely by taking out
these "slow moving pieces". They might have been slow, but they do
hold some character development and some further understanding about the world
and how the characters live in it. Indeed, the major theme of the environment
is robbed of focus, with the action scenes remained relatively untouched. The
editing choices then weren't the best for the movie, especially where a message
of environmentalism is concerned.
·
Audio
Now we come to the dubbing. As I've mentioned above, it was
claimed that the acting was substandard because the actors weren't told of the
story.
But in my honest opinion....I don't recall it being as so
awful as it's so claimed. Yes, the delivery of it can be so cheesy (hearing the
line "Kill him and you'll be famous" just had me in fits of laughter
first time out), but I don't believe it was really terrible. I remember the
gut-wrenching scream Nausicaa makes when she is pushed into acid. It was
primal, agonising and simply raw. Compared to the Disney dub, I thought the
former was better done. You just got the full emotion. At least in my mind. But
granted there are moments where you can't even hear what the actors are saying
at all, like when Nausicaa is in the cavern and there's one sentence where I
couldn't understand what she was saying. You need the hearing of a bat to hear
what she said. And there are two very kiddish lines to hear in some dignity
despite the silly connotation.
"I don't think you're as evil as you claim to be"
"Ah ha but I am!"
Do you feel as if they hurt? It did to me. I cried for days.
Meanwhile, in some reviews spread over the web, the voice
acting hasn't been shot down so much either. Anime Bargain Bin Reviews state
that while the dubbing isn't the best, it's still a good effort. The Critical
Eye also states that the voice acting was fairly good. So really, you should
trust these guys, and me. More me than anyone else. Because Simon says.
The problem here really is a matter of opinion. For the most
part on the internet, you can see what people can say about it, but I think there's
only a few reviews that can say WHY they believe it's bad. To me, it's in the
middle. Not always good, but substandard? Hell no. You really have to see the
dub to at least say whatever you want to say about the acting. Also the story
about the actors? In my research for this future essay, I could not find a
single piece of evidence for that at all. It's only mentioned on Nausicca.net,
and nowhere else. So here one lesson for you kids: Don't trust Nausicaa.net!
The Devil's spawn....
The second bit of audio is the soundtrack. With some anime
nowadays especially on TV, companies can change the soundtrack from its
original counterpart. But where Warriors
of the Wind is concerned, oddly enough, the music soundtrack to the film
ISN'T changed at all. It is mostly left intact, albeit with some bits probably
cut completely thanks to the editing. Nice to see someone had some taste to
leave it in.
Some of the tracks are very beautiful to hear in their
splendour. The piano theme present throughout the film is exquisite, and can be
compared to Ludovico Einaudi in terms of freaking awesomeness. The orchestral
bits are very much to die for, especially the track: Battle between Mehve and
Corvette. This was one I kept coming back to and just enjoyed the fast paced
nature as it continued in its kind of tragic, warlike tone.
One thing I HATE about the soundtrack is a little kid that
repeats: La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. You won't know what I mean by this,
unless you've actually seen either film. It just scares me and annoys me at the
same time, and it's bringing me closer to wanting to be deaf. In fact, when I
go deaf I will at least be happy that I don't have to hear that kid singing
that bloody tune.
For the most part, the soundtrack is pretty enjoyable, epic
and such a wonder to experience when you get the opportunity.
Overall, the audio is above average in my opinion. In a way
this whole section is largely based on opinions. Depending if you watch this
particular dub in general, I cannot say for you whether you will like it or
hate it, even if my name is Simon. Much. Listening to the dub in general there
are some nice enjoyable silliness to it all, but there are some pretty powerful
moments despite that. The soundtrack is on the same level, with some really
great music, but annoying fucking lyrics that definitely grate on me. So if I
MUST have to say it's worth watching for the audio, yes. It is.
·
Marketing
Marketing a film is quite important to bring in the intended
audience to watch the film in the first place. So how was this film marketed?......Do
apples grow on trees?
Well let's start with the poster.
This is pretty much a 75 per cent hilarious lie. See the
characters of the blonde guy, Skeletor and the Pegasus there? Weren't in the
movie! Sucks actually, I was looking forward to seeing some sort of He-Man
rip-off in this. The only things that are in the movie are the girl on the
glider (meant to be Nausicaa, but she went to the hairdressers and turned
blonde), and the Giant Warrior. Actually the giant warrior appears twice in the
poster: On the right holding a lightsaber, and actually the giant creature
they're riding on. Sooo.....actually, I'm not sure it's worth an Inception
Joke. More like what the fuck logic.
So why were these so-called characters put on the poster? I
have no idea. It might have been to do with the claims of trying to turn this
film into a kid's action movie with space fantasy elements around, but as far
as I could find there's no proof (Nausicaa.net!!!). It does boggle the mind
somewhat. Can you imagine as a kid seeing that poster and thinking "Wow, a
robot Skeletor's in this movie!", only to be disappointed that he wasn't
in at all, you were duped from the beginning. My guess is you'd be like
".....you assholes" and probably having to put 50p in the swear jar.
Talking of kid's action movie, the trailer for the film could
be classed as helping the film be seen as a kid's action movie
(COOUGHNAUSICCA.NETCOUGH). The narrator describes the film as the most
fantastic family adventure in a world one thousand years from now, along with
saying Astapor is searching for a home which is a 100 per cent lie. New World
Picture had such a way with leading its audience on. He also mentions at the
end that Warriors is rated PG
(Parental Guidance). So does this argue in favour of the purists?
Umm.....maybe? To defend the film for a moment, the original
Japanese film itself is still classed as PG anyway. And surprisingly, death is
introduced in quite a big manner. Right at the opening, Lord Yupa comes across
a village infected by spores of the Toxic Jungle, with all the inhabitants
dead. It's not exactly something you see from a PG rated movie so dramatically,
because of the up-front imagery used. In addition, I refer you back to Nausicaa
being pushed into the acid. Not something you see nowadays for kid's films
either right?
So was Warriors
really a kid's film in the first place, or made into one? Granted as I've
mentioned the film has most of its action intact, while the emotional
developments are cut out. But I don't know, it is suspect to call it a kid's
action movie, when the original is rated for kids and still has all those quite
dark moments. There's not enough information to go by to say for definite if
the film was made more for kids by New World, so calling it as such could be a
little hypocritical. But there are a few flashes here and there.
The marketing of the film then....was really shit. The poster
is a bit of a joke in promoting the film with non-existent characters and
changing everything around in a daft way, putting the actual hero of the story
right at the back (sexism at its finest). The trailer didn't really help
matters either as it promoted the film with one lie, and it probably still gets
a bit of stick today. You can find it on YouTube if you fancy gazing into the
abyss. These are two perfect funny examples of how not to promote a film in any
manner, the poster in particular. Marketing should show the film for what it
really is, not changing it all round so the audience is mislead by what is
shown then what is true.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
So now you've read about what made the film "fail"
as a result. You've seen what meanings have been lost in editing, how opinions
can affect the dubbing, and how marketing has been an absolute failure. These
things have earned this movie no respect from the hardcore fans in droves and
it has been disowned beyond believe. In particular, some focus goes onto the
plot being "cheapened" so to speak, losing the environmental message
that Miyazaki worked to show poignantly.
So here's the one final question: Should this film just be
forgotten in history in light of the "damage" it has, or does it
deserve a release onto DVD and at least be remembered?
In my view, Yes. It should be remembered because it is not
as bad as people make it out to be. But I think it will not happen anytime
soon.
With everything going against it, Warriors of the Wind does have problems. I won't deny it. It has
lost an important message that does resonate with a lot of people: Keeping the
planet safe. That constant theme has near disappeared with the poor editing and
changes made. Miyazaki had even requested that people forget this version of
his film existed. And it's understandable. If you had your own project that you
considered special to your heart, you'd be pissed if someone messed with it.
But for what it's worth, I never thought of it as a waste of
time and money watching it, just an enjoyable thrill. For all its bad points,
there are some good gems here and there that I like. And in all honesty, I
thought both versions had their good and bad points, on par with each other
somewhat. The development is better in the original, but the dub has its
moments and has some credibility in leaving the music when it could've changed
it to something more akin to an American audience.
Going on to DVD is another matter. With the original film
freely available, and evidently more popular at that, Warriors of the Wind is never going to see a release anytime soon.
With all the hatred on this dub, it's understandable. Unlike Felix the Cat: The Movie, this film will
lounge around the Internet and video players for years to come. Yeah, you had forgotten
about that didn't you? That film and other bad films are given releases on to
DVD despite their unpopular nature. I can imagine because the companies that
own the films can do whatever they want with them and get them out of the way faster.
Since Warriors was originally a Miyazaki film, it doesn't and won't get the
same treatment.
It is a sad thing, but unsurprising.
-----------------------------------------
To sum up altogether, Warriors
of the Wind is not an atrocity as hardcore fans have made it out, but it is
completely understandable why they would hate it so much. It will not see the
day of DVD release I think in our lifetime, unless someone is very crafty and
able to do bootlegs of the thing.
This is a film that shouldn't be forgotten in any way, but
sadly I think will do so anyway. The damage has been done before our time and
unlikely to be fixed so quickly. The fans will continue to bash it unashamedly
and heap praise on the uncut version. It is a harsh gesture, but
understandable.
Perhaps one good thing has come out of this film. It has
allowed fans and film admirers alike to enjoy the releases of his films
completely uncut, and able to watch them freely with no anger whatsoever. They
should remember then that because of Warriors
of the Wind, they wouldn't have been able to view Miyazaki's films in all
their glory. The films have a strict 'no-cut' policy after the debacle and have
probably brought in new fans to enjoy the series of films to their hearts
content.
As for Warriors,
it has been consigned to the history books, likely to stay there for all
eternity. But articles like this can hopefully leave you with the knowledge
that this dub is still in existence, and should be watched because it is not
bad.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's it for this week. But before I go let me ask you
something. You may have noticed a number of jokes going around this blog for a
few times about Twilight. Well.......
It's happening. The jokes have all been leading up to this.
Subtly and quietly.
In 2 weeks from now, I will be looking at the infamous
Twilight Saga. All five films will be reviewed in 500 words each, and I will
give my take on some major questions that have plagued the series throughout
its four year existence. The books will not be the focus, as that will take too
long and I have no good reading habit at all.
Until then, this is the Randomizer signing out. And....pray
for me guys. Pray for me.....
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