I just got back from a theatre screening of the Rankin & Bass' cartoon adaptation of Peter S. Beagle's novel, The Last Unicorn. Mr. Beagle was there himself, and though I haven't read the novel yet, I am huge fantasy enthusiast and completist, as well as a fan Rankin & Bass' fantasy films. So I picked up the blu-ray as well as a couple of his novels to get signed. Peter Beagle is a hugely influential fantasy author, whose prominence came at a time that the field itself was just burgeoning. Beagle's novel, The Last Unicorn, features the first ever appearance of a female unicorn, now a common theme in fantasy fiction.
Prior to the screening, Peter S. Beagle and his agent answered questions. One of the interesting ones was about a screenplay for a Star Trek episode. The question regarded making the jump from fantasy to sci-fi, Mr. Beagle explained how he considered writing to be hard work, and that you do what is needed to feed mouthes. So as a result he often took on all kinds of jobs that were less than usual for most fantasy writers (which he didn't have a problem identitfying himself as such).
Also interesting was his response to the age old question of his influences, he mentioned T.H. White being his biggest influence as a writer, but mentioned his favourite part of Tolkien's work was the way he incorporated poetry and lyrics in his works, Beagle being a musician himself, also incorporated music into some of his works.
Interesting to film fans is that the films rights are reverting to Beagle and his parent company later this year. This means the requests that they have received for a full length live action film to be made, may actually come to fruition. It'd be freaking awesome if Christopher Lee reprised his role as King Haggard.
For those unfamiliar with it, the story is based around a unicorn who discovers that she is the last one on earth. She goes one a quest to discover what has happened to the rest of her kind. Along the way she is joined my Schmendrick the magician and bandit/free woman, Molly Grue. Eventually the crew uncovers the whereabouts of the unicorns, they had been hearded by a great fiery bull into evil King Haggard's castle.
The cast of voice actors is tremendous: Christopher Lee as King Haggard, Mia Farrow as the Last Unicorn and Jeff Bridges as Prince Lir. To match the amazing voice talent is some beautiful animation and backgrounds. To top it off is a hilarious soundtrack that is maybe just a little too cheesy for it's own good. Nonetheless it hardly detracts from a fantastic movie. If this event comes to your town, please go, it will be well worth your while.
The swag:
This one had really nice art throughout, the other pictures I took didn't turn out unfortunately.
Prior to the screening, Peter S. Beagle and his agent answered questions. One of the interesting ones was about a screenplay for a Star Trek episode. The question regarded making the jump from fantasy to sci-fi, Mr. Beagle explained how he considered writing to be hard work, and that you do what is needed to feed mouthes. So as a result he often took on all kinds of jobs that were less than usual for most fantasy writers (which he didn't have a problem identitfying himself as such).
Also interesting was his response to the age old question of his influences, he mentioned T.H. White being his biggest influence as a writer, but mentioned his favourite part of Tolkien's work was the way he incorporated poetry and lyrics in his works, Beagle being a musician himself, also incorporated music into some of his works.
Interesting to film fans is that the films rights are reverting to Beagle and his parent company later this year. This means the requests that they have received for a full length live action film to be made, may actually come to fruition. It'd be freaking awesome if Christopher Lee reprised his role as King Haggard.
For those unfamiliar with it, the story is based around a unicorn who discovers that she is the last one on earth. She goes one a quest to discover what has happened to the rest of her kind. Along the way she is joined my Schmendrick the magician and bandit/free woman, Molly Grue. Eventually the crew uncovers the whereabouts of the unicorns, they had been hearded by a great fiery bull into evil King Haggard's castle.
The cast of voice actors is tremendous: Christopher Lee as King Haggard, Mia Farrow as the Last Unicorn and Jeff Bridges as Prince Lir. To match the amazing voice talent is some beautiful animation and backgrounds. To top it off is a hilarious soundtrack that is maybe just a little too cheesy for it's own good. Nonetheless it hardly detracts from a fantastic movie. If this event comes to your town, please go, it will be well worth your while.
The swag:
This one had really nice art throughout, the other pictures I took didn't turn out unfortunately.
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