for all of us who've seen the light, salute the dead and lead the fight (part III)

(Continued from part II.)


(Two stills from The Rocketeer.)

[14:36] Edward Pearse: Cinema has given us a few offerings that have tried to capture the dieselpunk feel.
[14:37] Edward Pearse: As Jimmy mentioned Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is probably the best example.
[14:37] Jimmy Branagh: The film wasn;t too good but it looked great.
can double as submarines, giant flying airbases, mad science, the Hindenburg III, and a whole bunch of other things.
[14:38] Daisy Baker (sweetdanax24): The Rocketeer comic moreso than the film, but i do count the Rocketeer...err, as you can tell.
[14:38] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): There's definitely a strong dieselpunk feel in the Russian Guardians movie, but it is more far-fetched
[14:38] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance) wonders if "Gravity's Rainbow" would qualify as dieselpunk... more fantasy than scifi really...

(Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow movie poster on the left, Iron Sky movie poster on the left.)

[14:38] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): I also tend to toss Dark City in
[14:38] Edward Pearse: The Rocketeer is heavily pulp but again I think captures the dieselpunk feel.
[14:38] Darlingmonster Ember: yes!
[14:38] Edward Pearse: Hey who's giving this presentation? :-)
[14:39] Edward Pearse: Flyboy Cliff Secord stumbles across a jetpack made by Howard Hughes and has to deal with US government agents, Nazis and spies while trying to save his girlfriend.
[14:39] Vernden Jervil: We are trying to help you make the entire hour!
[14:39] Nyx Malaspina: that brings us back to aesthetics....what about books....I don't read that genre but surely there must be authors who write this genre.
[14:39] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) ducks her head
[14:39] Edward Pearse: We'll get there
[14:39] Edward Pearse: The movie is an adaptation of a comic book character created by Dave Stevens that first appeared in 1982, the year after Raiders of the Lost Ark.
[14:39] Edward Pearse: In the comics Cliff's girlfriend Betty is heavily inspired by pinup queen Bettie Page and is a lot less PG than the movie was.
[14:40] Daisy Baker (sweetdanax24) grins.
[14:40] Daisy Baker (sweetdanax24) lifts her leg just high enough, then folds it over the other.

(The Dark City movie poster, and a still from the film.)

[14:40] Edward Pearse: The movie Dark City presents a different take.
[14:41] Edward Pearse: Less pulp adventure it and more suspense thriller (I hesitate to call it a horror) it concerns an amnesiac man who struggles with the reality he is presented with.
[14:41] Edward Pearse: The setting is again very 1940s in its appearance, and is entirely set at night.
[14:41] Edward Pearse: I recommend all three
[14:41] Nyx Malaspina: (forgot about that film...really enjoyed it!)
[14:41] Ceejay Writer: 2013 Movie: Snowpiercer.
[14:42] Edward Pearse: Iron Sky I would argue at least starts out as a dieselpunk movie.
[14:42] Edward Pearse: There's not much more dieselpunk than space Nazis on the moon.
[14:42] Ceejay Writer: Fully agree.
[14:42] Edward Pearse: 1940s flying saucers and moon bases.
[14:42] Jimmy Branagh chuckles

Space Nazis seem to be a trope, yes.

[14:42] Edward Pearse: There's also a sequel which I haven't seen yet but it digs out all the pulp tropes it can get its hands on
[14:43] Edward Pearse: Following a nuclear holocaust on earth, survivors living in an abandoned Nazi base on the far side of the Moon board a barely-functioning spacecraft, and travel to the nucleus of the hollow Earth in an attempt to recover the Holy Grail from a group of reptilian shape-shifters who are led by Tyrannosaurus-riding Adolf Hitler.
[14:43] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Red fire!
[14:43] Edward Pearse: No I am not making this up.
[14:43] Darlingmonster Ember: ga wuh?
[14:43] Edward Pearse: By a similar extent the opening of Hellboy also uses the dieselpunk aesthetic.
[14:43] Polly (polly.ellsmere): think I've had dreams like that
[14:44] Edward Pearse: I've already mentioned Nazis, so Nazi's with an immortal Rasputin and a clockwork undead
[14:44] Edward Pearse: SS officer pretty much nail it on the head.
[14:44] Sabine Artemis (sabineartemis): Iron Sky.
[14:44] Nyx Malaspina: XD
[14:44] Darlingmonster Ember: yep
[14:45] Edward Pearse: The first of Marvel's Captain America movies is very dieselpunk, although again, it heavy on the pulp storyline.
[14:46] Edward Pearse: Giant 6 wheeled cars, the Super Valkyrie plane, and even the little one man submarine at the start are all examples of future tech but done in a 1940s style.
[14:46] Edward Pearse: Interestingly director Joe Johnson's work on the Rocketeer landed him the recommendation to direct Captain America: The First Avenger.
[14:46] Edward Pearse: So there may be stylistic similarities beyond the setting.
[14:46] Daisy Baker (sweetdanax24): Ahhh, love that one, too
[14:47] Ceejay Writer: *giddy* So. Many. Pictures.

I know, it was hard to get them all in frame at times!

[14:47] Edward Pearse: Sucker Punch, for all its issues as a movie again has some excellent dieselpunk imagery
[14:47] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) grins
[14:48] Prof (professor.woodsheart): I always though April and the Extraordinary World crosses genres, from SP to DP – steam power taken the extreme and ending with rocket ships
[14:48] Nyx Malaspina: waits for Tank Girl to be mentioned...yes yes I know...
[14:48] Edward Pearse: I didn't include pictures but I also like me some Alec Baldwin The Shadow
[14:48] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): (This is gonna be heck to blog.)
[14:49] Edward Pearse: Huh. Actually Tank Girl completely slipped my mind
[14:49] Edward Pearse: But yes, Tank Girl
[14:49] Poison (marylucretia): green hornet
[14:49] Edward Pearse: Comics over the movie
[14:49] Edward Pearse: Though the movie has its charm
[14:49] Edward Pearse: TV tends to be a bit less forthcoming with the genre
[14:49] Ceejay Writer: No worries. I'll have it blogged by days end tomorrow!
[14:50] Ceejay Writer: I'm used to the madness.
[14:50] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) looks appreciative
[14:50] Ceejay Writer looks slightly deranged

(Two different posters for Iron Sky.)

[14:50] Liz Wilner: would the series His Dark Materials qualify?
[14:50] Edward Pearse: Marvel's Agent Carter definitely has a dieselpunk flair
[14:50] Edward Pearse: I suppose that's to be expected following on from the Captain America movie.
[14:51] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): Surely Dark Materials is a bit too much of an alternate time line
[14:51] Edward Pearse: The series features Peggy Carter working with the SSR.
[14:51] Edward Pearse: There's stolen high tech weapons, made by Howard Stark
[14:51] Edward Pearse: There's comic book villains and weird science and a whole bunch of things.
[14:51] Vernden Jervil: I don't think it is too alternate...and don't call me Shirley.
[14:51] Darlingmonster Ember: yum
[14:51] Edward Pearse: Plus it's set in the late 1940s so there's that look with all the tech.
[14:51] Edward Pearse: The anime Last Exile has some excellent dieselpunk vehicles.
[14:52] Tamlorn Carterhaugh Wood (tamlorn): What is interesting is my father was an engineer on cargo ships doing the Pacific Rim trade. He started on diesel powered ships, moved to steam which was more efficient, and then to atomic power. So the genres almost seem to be reversed.

That would be fascinating.

[14:52] Edward Pearse: The van ships are planes that fly by a form of antigravity (I don't remember it being properly explained)
[14:52] Edward Pearse: I've seen Tales From the Gold Monkey suggested as a contender.
[14:52] Ceejay Writer: Roger, got your vector, Vernden
[14:52] Edward Pearse: This 80s TV show rode the wave of Indiana Jones with a 1930s smuggler group based around the Pacific Islands.
[14:52] Edward Pearse: I remember the series. I'm unsure, but I supposed if we can take Indiana Jones as an influence then sure, why not.
[14:53] Prof (professor.woodsheart): City of Ember?
[14:53] Ceejay Writer: I'd like to see that series again and see how I feel about it.

(Prototype art for a dieselpunk plane.)

[14:53] Edward Pearse: Computer games have brought their own contribution to dieselpunk
[14:53] Sasha Prismara Featherlight (sashaveiloftears): I just started watching the Walking dead: world beyond, good start to the apocalypse. Seems more of a political agenda going on finally in the storyline
[14:53] Edward Pearse: Let me just shuffle some space here for a sec
[14:54] Sasha Prismara Featherlight (sashaveiloftears): It may not be steam punk, but it's punk so far I think
[14:54] Ceejay Writer watches Salon building collapse
[14:54] Polly (polly.ellsmere): surfeit of images crowding my camera out the door
[14:55] Edward Pearse: Of these I would say Crimson Skies would be the best known
[14:55] Darlingmonster Ember: nods
[14:55] Edward Pearse: Crimson Skies started as a board game in 1998 and was adapted to PC in 2000
[14:55] Edward Pearse: Set in alternative 1930s where the United States has collapsed, air travel is the most common form of transport. This has lead to...
[14:55] Edward Pearse: Sky Pirates!
[14:56] Edward Pearse: The aeroplanes featured all sorts of weirdness with bent wings and rear fitted propellers.
[14:56] Edward Pearse: Iron Harvest was released last year and has seen mostly positive reviews
[14:57] Edward Pearse: Real Time Strategy game set in the early 1920s.
[14:57] Edward Pearse: It features giant Mechs and looks pretty impressive, though I've yet to play it myself

(Continued in part four.)