Shallow Foundations
Note: Although this blog references The Rise of Skywalker, at this point I still haven’t seen it. When you sit down to write a story, you create characters who’ll serve that story. They each have a unique function. Once that function is complete, the character is done. They exit the story. James Bond movies illustrate how characters function in self-contained stories. Bond’s boss, M, briefs Bond about his mission. Q will provide Bond with weapons and gadgets. Once M and Q have fulfilled their roles, their jobs are complete. In a few Bonds, M and Q might reappear, but usually never with any great depth, necessity, or regularity. There’ll be…
Respecting Quality
Note: The following contains spoilers for the entire Terminator franchise. There are six Terminator movies. In the first movie, The Terminator (1984), a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) – a cyborg – is sent back from the future to kill a woman, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), who’ll give birth to the saviour of humanity, John Connor, in a fight against the sentient artificial intelligence, Skynet, and the machines it commands. A resistance fighter, Reese (Michael Biehn) is sent back to protect Sarah, but inevitably she must fight for her own life. Sarah Connor’s transformation from terrified waitress to tough, hardened soldier in Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) is totally believable. The…