The Hobbit and Time Bandits - are they similar?

I got distracted this evening by finally watching The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey directed by Peter Jackson with the new all singing (literally) and dancing (yup that too in the early part) colour adaptation. Admittedly, I was only half watching it whilst doing something else and I will concentrate more next time. 

But the premise of the whole story, and yes I know that J. R. R. Tolkien wrote it before Messrs Gilliam & Palin, seemed very similar to Time Bandits. Maybe it was the journey or the quest motif that both parties are starting on with the inclusion of an odd one out. Be it Bilbo Baggins or Kevin. Or is it because the dwarfs (or dwarves) seem to be either eating, fighting or running? Both use a map (of sorts).

Have a look at the trailer for The Hobbit:

And then compare it with the Time Bandits trailer:

If you can't find a copy of this film, there is currently a copy hiding within the depths of the YouTube oubliette (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AJPA5LzqXI). Admittedly, The Hobbit doesn't switch from time to time but maybe I have lost the plot. I look forward to your thoughts. This blog may resume more sense soon.

Is "Finding Nemo" the wrong title for the film?

The title for that Pixar produced piscatorial parable - Finding Nemo - did it have the wrong title?

Cracked (2013) describes the film as "...a heartfelt father-and-son story in which an entire family of clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) is viciously devoured by a barracuda, and then the son is abducted by scuba divers and forced into performing peepshows for a sociopathic human child." That article continues to explore further disturbing truths about the Amphiprion ocellaris, I'll let you read that yourself.

But get out that Latin dictionary, the word "nemo" means no-one or nobody. Now, call me old-fashioned, but if you call a film "Finding No-one" or "Finding No-body", then you don't fill the screen up with assorted marine crustaceans, cephalopods and cetaceans. A Yahoo question and answer thread lists Clown Fish, Blue Tang, Moorish Idol, Puffer Fish, Starfish, White Shark, Sea Turtle, Sting Ray to name but a few.

Mr. Ray, the fish that takes the school class, is, I, assume is not a qualified teacher as s(he) lacks the male reproductive organs [the claspers] according to IMDB.

When he sings "Let's Name the Species" song, he sings both assorted phyla names and then classes of the phylum Cnidaria (Coelenterata) and a class within the phylum Mollusca. This IMDB article continues to explain:

"...although it is revealed, in the DVD, that Mr. Ray isn't an actual scientist, more that he just picks things up. In that case, it could very well be that he mistook the one for the other, not knowing that he was passing on incorrect information." (IMDB 2013)

Maybe Pixar were recreating a fish based Odyssey where our hero, Odysseus, is asked his name by the cyclops, Polyphemus:

"Odysseus gives as "Outis" 'No One'." (Gill, About.com 2013)

I am sure I can add more to this thread and may even cause a discussion, so what your thoughts?

Finding Nemo (2003) - Goofs - IMDb. 2013. Finding Nemo (2003) - Goofs - IMDb. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266543/trivia?tab=gf&ref_=tt_trv_gf. [Accessed 01 June 2013].

Odyssey Book IX - Summary of the Events in Odyssey Book IX. 2013. Odyssey Book IX - Summary of the Events in Odyssey Book IX. [ONLINE] Available at: http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/trojanwarinlit/a/OdysseyIX.htm. [Accessed 01 June 2013].

The Dirty Truth About 'Finding Nemo' | Cracked.com. 2013. The Dirty Truth About 'Finding Nemo' | Cracked.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/the-dirty-truth-about-finding-nemo/#ixzz2UoxapwPO. [Accessed 31 May 2013].

The Troll under the Bridge

Another twilight thinking that could keep you awake at night. If you, the person reading this, are of a certain age you may remember that you were told of a bridge that had three goats, be they brothers or familial relations, attempted to cross. Only for their passage to be blocked by a creature that has been named as a troll. 

But what is a troll? 

An imaginary creature from Norse and Scandinavian mythology, who dwell in isolation with a potential hatred of sunlight that may lead to petrifaction (the process where organic material is replaced by stone). Their appearance can be linked to the location of where the tale may have been first told. Long hair, ugliness and poor hygiene feature heavily as do disguises.

But these trolls can differ in their textual origin  - for example the trolls in J.R.R.Tolkein's Lord of the Rings epic are broken down into six forms with one sub-group speaking a form of Cockney English, drinking beer, eating flesh (be it Hobbit or mutton) and turning to stone in sunlight. However, Terry Pratchett's Discworld trolls are seen as living and moving rocks that have jobs as policemen and concert promoters.

Two artists, Brian and Wendy Froud, have made part of their careers by painting and making images and models of these creatures and have recently released a book of these:

Trolls have even been sculpted in plastic with never blinking glass eyes and acrylic hair that can be seen in communities on people's desktops or in the bedrooms of children.

They, the trolls, may even hide within the ones and zeros of the Internet as someone who posts messages, mainly in a negative sense, within a Web 2.0 framework.

But let us return to that bridge and to that troll - is it not just the addition of one letter that turned the toll on the bridge, that demand for money for using a crossing over a river, to an anti-social and potentially smelly troll that demands the flesh of a goat. The comedian Mark Thomas whilst protesting against the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (Socpa) demonstrated on Hungerford Bridge to demand trolls for London Bridges shouting:

"We need trolls! We are overrun with goats! These goats coming over here, stealing our jobs, getting the best houses! It wouldn't happen if we had trolls. And I bet they would keep the underside clear of dead Italian bankers, too." Thomas, M. (2013)

So are tolls the modern version of trolls and do we need both in today's society? I don't answer the questions - I just pose them. And do check under the bed tonight to see if there are the two glinting lights of reflecting eyes underneath the mattress. Sleep well.

Mark Thomas on demonstrating near the Houses of Parliament | Politics | The Guardian . 2013. Mark Thomas on demonstrating near the Houses of Parliament | Politics | The Guardian . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2006/oct/12/houseofcommons.comment. [Accessed 30 May 2013].