The Projector #61: Shrinking it Down (Patreon)

by Keith Phipps

I spent the morning watching (and then recapping) the second-season premiere of The Mandalorian, a show I’ve consistently enjoyed and a project that’s help make it easy to care about the future of Star Wars even after the disappointment of The Rise of Skywalker. Each week, for eight weeks in a row, a season of The Mandalorian offers a TV-sized journey into the Star Wars universe and while, in my estimation, it’s yet to deliver a disappointing episode, it inevitably will and it won’t be the end of the world when it does. You get more chances with a TV series and there’s less riding on each individual entry to keep the franchise alive. Each time out for a Star Wars movie it’s all or nothing. And when an entry doesn’t work, that mark lingers.

Maybe Star Wars is better off as television. Maybe most of the blockbuster franchises are better off as television. Take the recent, probably discontinued Star Trek series, the one set in what’s now known as the Kelvin Timeline. Fans had to wait four years between the first entry and the second, then three between the second and third. The cast had great chemistry, the sort of chemistry that works even better when viewers get to see it more often than every few years. On TV, a stumble like Star Trek Into Darkness would matter less. The series never really recovered from that bummer of second movie even though Star Trek Beyond was a lot of fun.

Would DC films work better on television? Arguably, they already do when you take in the lasting success of the Arrowverse series. Would Marvel? Maybe, maybe not, but does the MCU feel like it can be sustained for another 20 movies? Meanwhile, we see series after series that play like movies stretched out way too long.

So here’s my modest proposal: Let prestige TV and blockbuster filmmaking have a sort of Face/Off type switch. When regular moviegoing returns, whenever that may be, we’re going to return to a much different theatrical landscape. Why not try something dramatic? James Bond, Wonder Woman, Tomb Raider, Godzilla… shrink ’em down. All those movie-sized ideas being stretched across too many episodes, take ’em to the big screen. If nothing else, try it on as a thought experiment. Doesn’t it seem like that might be an improvement?

Eh. Maybe not. I could be wrong. But for less half-assed thoughts, check out our latest, sort-of surprise episode on The Fall, with special guest Elliott Kalan. We’ve also got a freewheeling discussion of horror movie up in the bonus feed, just in time for Halloween.

Have some reading time? Try these:

• For Polygon, Tasha Robinson talked to director Justin Simien about the horror politics of Bad Hair.

• For The Ringer, Keith Phipps investigated why blood looks so strange in ’70s horror movies.

• Want to read about animation? We’ve got some good news. You can read Bilge Ebiri’s discussion with Disney legend, and Over the Moon director Glen Keane covering his future and his Disney regrets at Vulture. Or, at Polygon, a profile with a different angle by Petrana Radulovic. Also from Radulovic at Polygon, a talk with the film’s Asian-American cast.

• And, at Vulture, animator Don Hertzfeldt discusses animation’s possible ascendance in a post-pandemic world.

• At RogerEbert.com, Robert Daniels considers the darker side of Harrison Ford.

• Were movies better when Whoopi Goldberg still made them? Soraya Nadia McDonald makes a strong case over at Vulture.

• Everybody knows that Edward Woodward’s character is the true villain of The Wicker Man. What Bill Ryan’s essay at The Bulwark presupposes is… maybe he’s not?