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My knowledge of this is almost entirely based on that episode of Head Of The Class where they performed this musical.

That's about all I know. There's a song that I assume is called "Manchester England"

Okay, so, I had a movie all lined up that I've been meaning to pick for a really long time; however, it's not streaming anywhere, and given current affairs, I didn't want to put too many people out of pocket to rent something that may or not be good. So I narrowed it down to two other choices, and I'm picking the one that (I think) might generate the most discussion (either in a good or bad way). The good news is, this is also a pick I've had in my back pocket for as long as we've been doing this. In fact, it was almost my second ever pick after Hairspray. I didn't choose it because I didn't want it to seem like I had a theme (although, my third pick would have definitely been Head had I gone with this second. ) I have no idea what it's about, but it's on Amazon Video.

Oh crap. Now we're all going to get billed for this response.

I'm jumping the gun a little but Cameron asked me to create the thread. So, here with something I am sure we will all despise and detest, is Cameron H.!

When I hear Treat Williams and Beverly D'Angelo the first thing I think of is Manchester, England.

That means I can pick this for my next one. Oh, wait, it's not a musical. I still like it.

Sorry! I will do the one meant to do next time!

Twas a land of Vampyre and Frankensteins. The Vampyre liked it sideways, but the Frankensteins were made of decaying body parts and were, thus, not sexually viable.

So, wait! This 2016 movie ISN'T the one we're watching?

High fives for all the shy guys.....for keeping their fucking hands to themselves...

I know that it was controversial for having naked actors on stage, and that “The Age of Aquarius” is in it. Other than that, I have no clue.

Well if this IMDB description doesn't clarify it I don't know what will.

I'd be curious how accurate this is to the law school experience. I'm assuming it's kind of the Platoon of law school movies where he condensed every crazy story into one group of kids. I assume there's some validity because the author was a lawyer.

First year in law school is the trying, difficult one. For various reasons. But it generally gets easier from there. (I'm a lawyer.) I've been meaning to watch Paper Chase sometime, I'll try to do that this week!

I hate to brag but I put my pants on two legs at a time.

Solomon Grundy was pants-free when pants-free wasn’t cool.

To me the weirdest thing is why is Japan so late to the party? The commander gets older and older in each meeting implying that this is going on over the course of his life and the Japanese are the last while China is the first. Japan was in space before China. The first Japanese person in space was in 1990 and they went aboard MIR since then they've had a steady stream of astronauts and worked on the International Space Station. China's first astronaut wasn't until 2004 or so. While they're working on their own space station Japan has continued involvement with the international space community. So why is it that doesn't come along until the very end of the commander's life? China is another country with a history of bowing and not shaking and yet they start off with a full embrace? Wouldn't it make more sense for a bowing/shaking mix-up to be the first interaction from a story point of view thus setting up that everybody shakes regardless of race, gender or species?

I remember seeing the trailer for this movie and thinking that the leads were supposed to be related instead of love interests. Maybe its "attractiveness bias," but Dane Dehaan and Cara Delevingne (who are, in their defense, very attractive), look like they could be siblings. In this movie, they have zero on-screen chemistry and come across more like and antagonistic and quarreling fraternal brother and sister. The movie falls flat for me because of Dehaan's character especially, who is supposed to be this roguish Han Solo type, but doesn't really look or act like he has the years of experience behind him performing this insanely dangerous line of work. Han Solo, Indiana Jones, James Bond: I believe that these guys have seen some shit and shrug it off with a rye comment and a smirk to stave-off the gravity of what they've been through. However, just like in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (another dumpster fire that HDTGM definitely needs to cover), Dehaan comes across in this film like an immature fancy lad pretending to be an adult, rather than the scruffy, hard-scrabble rule-abiding-rule-breaker he's supposed to be. They may be long in the tooth for it now, but Clive Owen could have played Valerian, with Eva Green playing Laureline. Just a thought.

The movie is mostly based on the volume 6 of the series, Ambassador of Shadow; the multi-dimensional black market seems to be Luc Besson’s own invention. Major differences between the movie and the original comic book: 1. The “city of 1000 planets” is called Point Central in the comic. It’s not made of a human space station. Rather, it’s like an accumulation of various space vessels and constructions, built on top of and next to each other, by various alien races gradually over time. 2. Clive Owen’s character is actually the ambassador of Earth in the comic. Before he got kidnapped, he’s about to give a speech to the members of the council of Point Central; this is the first time Earth is giving a turn to preside over the council. 3. Valérian and Laureline are not just space cops; they are space AND time cops. They travelled through space and time to fight the bad guys. 4. Laureline is actually a peasant girl from 11th century France whom Valerian meets during a time travelling mission to capture a mad scientist from the future in volume 1. At one point, Laureline gets turned into a unicorn by the said mad scientist. And because unicorns can read mind, she discovers Valerian’s true identity, so he has no choice but to take her along to the future. And she gets all the necessary training with a zap from a “mnemonic machine.” So no “school,” I guess. 5. Valérian actually does very little in the original story. He gets captured while trying to rescue the ambassador and gets taken along. So, it is up to Laureline to do the rescuing. Teaming up with a mousy colonel (the ambassador’s assistant, who also does very little,) she travels throughout this “city” searching for Valerian and the ambassador. 6. The red-light districts scene is very tame and different from the movie. No Jessica Rabbit. There is more than one “Bubble.” Instead of doing a sexy shapeshifter nurse dance sequence, they turn into tunic-wearing human hunks and try to seduce Laureline. And no, the shape-shifter doesn’t get killed for helping Laureline. Also, no Ethan Hawke 7. The Mul aliens do not kidnaps the ambassador in the comic; they hire mercenaries of another race to do the job. And they are not from the planet Mul, and are not “in-one-with-nature.” Rather, they are an ancient race of beings who not only constructed the foundation for Point Central, but are also so powerful that they have mastered over physical matters. They’re called themselves “Shadow,” as they no longer have a physical body. 8. The Earth ambassador originally plans to take over Point Central with a fleet of spaceships. The Shadows, however, don’t want Point Central to be run solely by one race of people. So they threaten to blow up the Earth’s armada by summoning black-holes. Then they take him, together with Valerian, to what seems like a hut, called the House of Wisdom. We never see what happens inside the hut. But after the ambassador comes out of the hut, he seems changed and decides to pursuit a policy of peace. After he finally goes in front of the council to make his speech, we’re told that another race of alien, called Zools, who are responsible for maintaining Point Central, have begun to takes over the place, because they are sick of corruption on Point Central and want to drive out the profiteers. Then the ambassador emerged from the council and said that not only the council didn’t give him the opportunity to make the speech, they also decided to banish the Earth government from Point Central for 100 years. 9. Valérian and Laureline are very much in love at the start of this story. They do kisses and hugs, but no wrestle.

Am I the only one that finds the very existence of Alpha to be depressing? I mean we start out with a space station that is meant to bring about harmony among nations and when it gets too big we just jettison it and all of its inhabitants out into deep space with no hope of ever returning. Is there no need to keep the scientists and engineers that would be occupying such a station around or was it serving no direct purpose at all? Second, as beautiful as the planet Mul was, there is clearly a horrifying monster species living on that world. Giant seashells don't exist without giant mollusks to produce them. With very little vegetation, there must be carnivorous snails weighing several tons roaming around in search for food.

Right away I knew were in for it. Damn, that shaking hands scene. Triggered due to our current moment, but also because I wondered-- why are these guys such terrible diplomats? Don't roll your eyes when the Japanese guests bow at you, even though apparently they're the ONLY group of people in the ENTIRE UNIVERSE that doesn't shake hands. Or is every alien race diplomatic enough to learn about Western earth culture, but we don't have to greet visitors by learning how they express greetings? I guess we shouldn't be surprised with all the implicit sexism that also didn't change for 800 years. Not just in leaving out Lauraleen in the title or the "wait in the lobby" moments but with all of the "be a man" or "oh, surprised that a little girl can do this?" kind of dialogue throughout. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Microagressions. So, yeah, the shaking hands thing --- gratuitous, yes, but, if you connect it to the pivotal backstory about whatever war it was that wiped out planet Mul, the movie seems to suggest that all is not well in future paradise. Humans may have joined the galaxy at some point (the opening montage) but it didn't go very well and resulted in, literally, untold violence (the planet destruction) and currently the situation remains uneasy and delicate (the United Human Federation, or UHF -- best pronounced in a Jason Manzoukis voice.) If only that was a bit more, I dunno, clear and/or prominent or whatever, it would help fit a lot of the elements together, from the ways the areas of Thousand-world-city interact to the way Valerian is motivated as a peacekeeper. Maybe this is more richly in the original material?

Plugs theme!