The Scorpion Cha-ching

[Chris Hurd]

Howdy from Texas,

I think it's amazing that we've reached an age where the marketing hype built around a simple action movie can reach the power to alter entire blocks of television programming.

Tonight the Discovery channel had several programs back-to-back about ancient Egyptian history, etc. intertwined with the theme of the forthcoming "Scorpion King" movie. It's bad enough that CNN (that's Crap, Not News) actually builds in movie pitches as part of its news programming, but to have an entire evening of supposedly educational info-tainment on a respected channel like Discovery constructed around the release date of a particular action movie... now that's *marketing,* baby! Apologies to anyone who actually works/worked for CNN.

"Conan! What is best in life?"

"To crush your enemies... to see them driven before you... and to hear the lamentations of the women."

Yeah, yeah, okay I'll *probably* see it. On DVD though.

[Ken Tanaka]

I also saw part of that Discovery show tonight and had the same reaction. I think they recently also flogged Ice Age within several shows. Clearly the studios think they've "Discovered" a new marketing channel that reaches refugees from the standard network fare. I'm also bugged by this garbage hype and just click away when I see it. But, being over 35, I doubt that the advertisers could care less.

[Guy Pringle]

Let's not forget Animal Planet's "Scorpions", Microfilming techniques and special effects illustrate survival techniques of the arachnid.

[Rik Sanchez]

Didn't Luis Bunuel's movie L'Age D'or opening scene have a bunch of scorpions in it? I saw it a long time ago, but my friend has the video so I can't confirm it, he also has my Bunuel book. Reading about scorpions brought that up, sorry it doesn't really apply to the thread.

But it's only a matter of time before Scorpion fever hits Japan. When I had cable I used to watch Discovery all the time, I'm sure the Japanese Discovery channel does the same marketing stuff, they always follow what the U.S. does.

[Adrian Douglas]

The hype can sure be annoying, but it also has an upside. If Discovery Channel is playing all these docos then it means that the people who made the docos are being paid, which in turn means more perople out there making quality programs.

The big trick is to be the one that is being paid to make the programs. Some people will cry 'sell out' but who really cares. We are all here because DV gives us a way to do what we love, making videos, and I don't know anyone who can honestly say that they would stop doing it if someone was paying them. The hard part is sticking to your creative ideals when some network goose with the checkbook is trying to tell you whats good.

[Chris Hurd]

Yeah, that's right... the Ice Age tie-in... I had seen all that, and I guess it didn't really register how trendy this sort of thing is until I realized Scorpion King was being done the exact same way.

Another movie with scorpions: the beginning of Sam Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch." A difficult sequence to watch, and it sets the stage for the rest of the film.

[Guy Pringle]

OK, so who wants to help me with my "Spider" doccy? The deadline is looming! Ha! Ha!

[Aaron Frick]

Yeah, it's way out of control. I think a lot of this hype has to do with the corporate make-up of our broadcast and cable world where a small number of corps. own the majority of the viewing outlets and if they are not involved with an issue surrounded with hyp they still try to cash in one way or another.