Star Wreck Released as Download 239
Arto Rantala writes "After seven years of production, Star Wreck: In The Pirkinning, the Finnish Star Trek / Babylon 5 parody movie, was finally released on DVD a month ago and is now available for download. In spite of its practically zero budget, the film has a hilariously captivating story, top notch CGI and even a couple of performances from professional actors. Download it now and buy the DVD if you like it! I know I did. You can also obtain it directly from the .torrent"
Is this an even or odd number movie? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Is the torrent legal? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Wheres the Babylon 5 factor? (Score:3, Interesting)
What the hell... A review (no major spoilers) (Score:5, Interesting)
Technically the movie was very good. The sound quality was good and the special effects were solid. There were a few spots I think could use polish- for example with the ship takes off the first time it goes straight up- I think a little tilt would have been used in the real series. But the quality was pro level in my opinion- "B" movie, not "A" movie- but pro.
Costumes. The costumes were pretty solid but one of the lower parts of the movie. This makes sense and you have to spend -real- money to buy fabric. This is probably one of the limiting factors of non-big budget productions going forward. You can simulate the sets, you can get actors cheap, but you have to spend real money on things like costumes, chairs, etc.
Production Quality. It was decent but suffered from having a small cast. You would see scores of starships but then only 20-30 people. I think some crowd scenes could be digitally multiplied to make them more effect.
Tone. This is where the movie is uneven. It can't decide if it wants to be serious with humor or outright parody. Some parts are excellent, tense, serious and then it will veer sharply into stupid things that would not happen in real life. On the other hand- a lot of other scenes were much more like what WOULD happen in real life than you typically see in movies. The tone may be required to avoid lawsuits since parody is protected.
Acting. To be honest- there is a lot higher quality acting than you might expect. Some of it is that the actors already know the character they are playing so they don't have to make it up. I think some actors play multiple roles. There are at least a dozen major characters in the movie and ALL are distinct and stand out (which is quite a feat in a 2 hour film). None of it felt "wooden". A fair amount of it was a bit overblown.
Makeup. The costuming for Dwarf was a bit weak- and the costuming for a non alien was cheesy (a choice they made for a nose joke I think). Info was well done. General costumes are solid. The females looked pretty hot in some cases (but tall thin in a short black leather skirt is going to work in most cases).
Action Scenes. These were very weak. Probably the weakest part of the film. I guess hollywood stuntpersons deserve a lot more credit than they get. I can understand- actors just can't hit and be hit without hurting themselves or getting hurt. Stuntpeople mitigate injury through training and they still get hurt.
In Jokes. This is where SW rules. They really have a lot of fun poking jokes at the characters- even to the point of using them to advance the plot. Some are dead on, some are stupid, some misfire. But a lot more hits than misses.
Plot. The plot is very well thought out- much better than many "A" hollywood movies. It has plenty of twists and turns. You don't know what to expect at any given time. I won't give much away but it is NOT just about a bunch of CGI ships flying around fighting- they ADVANCE the plot with those battles, but the plot is about characters and character conflict.
Ending. The ending was solid- and well I won't say more but apparently there are some mistaken data assumptions.
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There are MANY hollywood films out that I would not watch for free. This movie, I would have happily paid 6 bucks to see (maybe 7).
Re:Wheres the Babylon 5 factor? (Score:3, Interesting)
My one geeky disappointment is that the starfleet didn't take advantage of their superior maneuverability and the B5 heavy ships limitations (B5 big ships are japanese-like and have "BIG GUNS" that fire forward only.) It would have been nice for them to take advantage of that weakness.
Ask Slashdot (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:What the hell... A review (no major spoilers) (Score:1, Interesting)
And further: 9 or 10 if you also happen to be Finnish. Seriously. It was a fantastic movie from my point of view.
Re:What the hell... A review (no major spoilers) (Score:2, Interesting)
I have to say.. AMI bios and Finnish Linux bootscreen. Nice.
Re:My review (Score:1, Interesting)
But I'm a Finn and I didn't find it very funny either. But as entertainment it was better than many Hollywood films I have seen. And I don't usually like Finnish films (even I'm a Finn myself).
(* For example when they say "Kakun pala" in the film. They actually mean "that was easy", and it is translated as "peace of cake". But the difference is that "Kakun pala" means food in Finnish, it doesn't mean "that was easy". But the translation "peace of cake" means food, but it is more often used to mean "that was easy". It's not a very funny joke, but it is still a joke. (Don't expect it to be funny if you have to read this to understand it.)
Re: Translations (Score:3, Interesting)
The weird technical terminology in SW:ITP (such as "hand twinkler") has been consistently used in the previous Star Wreck movies [wikipedia.org], as well. They names are equally silly in the original Finnish dialog. There isn't really much you can do about it any longer, as those terms have become an integral part of the Star Wreck series.
That being said, if you have already seen the movie in its entirety, and don't fear of being spoiled any more, you might want to take a look at the annotated English translation [starwreck.com] which gives some backround to of many of the more peculiar word choices and figures of speech in the English subtitles.
Anyone considering fansubbing or fandubbing In the Pirkinning should study that document very carefully in order not to miss the many in-jokes and subleties in the original script.
Moreover, it would be highly advisable to contact the authors before conceiving translation projects of any kind so that things can be kept well-coordinated and technically sound, and you don't end up needlessly duplicating projects that others have already started working on.
To get in touch with the authors, try dropping a message on the Star Wreck Forum [starwreck.com], or simply emailing [starwreck.com] them.
Re:Ask Slashdot (Score:2, Interesting)
It wouldn't be 100% perfect unless you were extremely thorough, but could get a majority blocked that way.
I'm not entirely sure if this is a built-in feature, or a result of using the SafePeer plugin for Azureus. If so, SafePeer allows you to customise you list (just turn off the default 'periodic update', and manually add the IP ranges you wish to allow/deny).