You know Messor, there's nothing I love more than a good story. I marvel at the guys, like Oeming, who can tell a great yarn. I particularly enjoy revisiting successful stories to appreciate the economy and structure, be it books, dvd, or comics.

My buddy Neil gives me grief for my affection for Next Generation dvds. He grimaces at the thought of the girlie vulcan boy, among others. So there are a few bad eggs in the batch? I'd rather delight in the good stories, that are amazingly well crafted. Like the episode where Riker brings a addictive game aboard ship. -Beautiful bit of storytelling there. I've watched 30 times, easy and every time I'm sucked into the story with a big grin on my face.

Good stories embrace human emotions and human reactions. We've all had days where life feels utterly helpless... and as such we can tap into the emotional state that overwhelms Frodo at the prospect of recovering the ring. Or we've sat in the dark, alone feeling a bit TOO alone for safety's sake. When a story rings true about our human experience, it just works.
Unfortunately, american story telling tends to assume it's the bells and whistles that are the thing. The plot point IS the explosion. The good guy is the last man standing. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The idea should be to tap into human emotions. Set up a situation where WE CARE, WE FEEL and we wonder "OH, MY GOD! WHAT WOULD I DO?!?"
Case in point: the FF cartoon. What a forgettable experience... It's like a demographicly plotted pastiche of 'kewl.' There are enough light effects in the backgrounds to simulate watching Akira on acid. Johnny's got just enough gel in his hair and point to his chin to brand him as 'hip' from half a mile away. I'm shocked they didn't draw him with just enough droop to his belt line that we could read 2ist, or whatever the latest hip brand is on his underwear. -Attitude abounds. Much of it the worst attitude... Sue is a complaining 4 year old. "I want it and I WANT IT NOWWWWWWW."

All very sleek and edgy...

But do I care??????????????????

Does anyone CARE? Why would they? What human experience can I relate all this too? I suppose the lights remind me of looking at Christmas tree lights in my youth. But those lights sat still long enough to be savored. And as much as I like kids, whining 4 year olds drive me mad. Whining 24 year olds make me want to slap them. What a loss. I watched the first cartoon and the story was so misdirected towards being hip, rather than pulling me into their humanity... I haven't the slightest care to come back.

Now that Moriarity story on NextGen, I've done that a thousand times... love it. Love it. Love it.