First Look at "Johnny Thunder and the Secret of Marco Polo: The Adventure Retold!"

By: Andrew Bermudez

(Mustache Maniacs Film Co. Headquarters; March 17, 2019)

     While it has become controversial among the fan community, we decided in 2017 to remake Johnny Thunder and the Secret of Marco Polo, with new effects, modern animation, and more! Here's what you can expect from the new version.

Now More Cinematic Than Ever!

     One thing that we have grown in since the release of the original film is how cinematic our newer films feel (at least in comparison). We want to carry this over into the new film, and this title treatment exemplifies that. It's not final, but it takes clear cues from the original Orient Expedition title treatment (the final version will look similar to this one).

A Change in Atmosphere!

     The film is (obviously) going to follow the same plot as the original film, but we want to give this film more emotional impact in terms of lighting (the original film had pretty even lighting). As you can see here in this concept painting, the opening is going to be even more dramatic than before, with it now set in a real-life Venice locale.

Finally Realizing Decade-Old Ideas!

     One major limitation at the time of the release of Johnny Thunder and the Secret of Marco Polo was that we couldn't realize some of the extravagant concepts that we had at the time, including this vista for the Scorpion Palace, as illustrated above. The new film is finally going to make these ideas a reality with brand-new effects, more elaborate sets, and more! Remember how we said that Johnny Thunder and the Secret of Marco Polo's largest film set was Downtown Xi'an, at 9 32x32 baseplates? Expect many of this film's sets to dwarf that one.

Character Redesigns!

     With more modern pieces and detailed minifigures made available in the last ten years, we decided that it was time to give these characters the designs that they deserve. Pictured above is Col. Michelle Mustard, who is now dressed in more accurate UN Peacekeeper attire. Some of the characters, like Col. Mustard, also had their personalities tweaked (canonically permitting). This was done to "tone down" the aspects of the film that outraged some viewers the first time around. This brings us to our next point.

Why Remake This Film At All?

     This question has been the crux of the controversy surrounding this project, as we have plenty of new projects going on with Project U and Digital Decade. Going in, we knew that this would happen, so we did not tread lightly. Here are a few points made for and against the original film and how we'll address them this time around.

• Isn't the old film fine? For many people, it is, but most of those people have nostalgic ties to the film from when they saw it new. If someone with no such ties were to see the film today, they're just going to see lackluster animation when compared to our other films. This was the factor that led to the decision to remake the film instead of the originally-planned special edition.
• Are the Indian Thieves and Babloo racist? At the time, we were trying to make the film close to the LEGO sets, but they do have character aspects that would lead them to be racist characters. To fix this, we're deconstructing Western notions of India in the film and representing the Indian characters as more modern characters. However, to create a sense a "fairness" throughout the film, we're giving Italy, Nepal, and China the same treatment. After all, would it really be better if we left the other countries as caricatures? This is one of the reasons for the aforementioned characterization changes.
• Will this mess up the Cinematic Universe? We knew going in that certain aspects of the story (Chang Wu's revolution, for example) had to stay, or else the Official Cinematic Universe would be compromised. Before putting finger to keyboard, we reviewed the entire cinematic universe so that we could figure out what can be changed and what has to stay the same. At the end of the day, only one change in the story impacts the state of the cinematic universe, and it's one not addressed in any other stories. On the other hand, this film does now feature foreshadowing for future events (like those in Johnny Thunder and the Wisdom of the Ancients and Legends of the Universe).

Lead Out

     We don't have an official release date yet, but we want to have this film out sometime during the duration of Project U. Check back for more updates!

Next Time: Get ready to dive into Johnny Thunder and the Wonders Beneath the Waves!