Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Tues Top Ten: Green Skinned Wonders

This list is dedicated to two crushes from childhood that never went away: First, Yvonne Craig (i.e. Batgirl!) who once played an Orion slave girl on Star Trek (prized for their eroticism). Second, Daryl Hannah... who is more caucasian than green but she doesn't think so. Leonardo DiCaprio may get all the press for being an environmentalist but Daryl is the hardcore real deal. I absolutely love her and you should, too. Plus you know: "California Mountain Snake" ... (red and yellow but you know -- snakes = green in the broader sense. Wha--Where am... Oh yes, the list).

Ten Best Green-Skinned Movie Characters

10 Speaking of snakes... One of the scariest things I ever saw as a kid was Medusa in The Clash of the Titans (1981). Don't stare too closely at her lopsided [shudder] key-lit eyes. You know what can happen... I'm so thankful that model work and stop motion haven't completely died in the movie making world because they are so much freakier than CGI as visual effects go. Yes they are remaking that one... and supposedly it's happening any minute now. The Parisian action director Louis Leterrier is helming. His last film was The Incredible Hulk so he must have a viridescent fetish. (How do you say "Orion slave girls" in French?)

09 I know Marvel and the Media have told me that I must prefer Leterrier's Incredible Hulk to Ang Lee's Hulk but I rarely do as I'm told. One reason to prefer the first Hulk (review) is that he seemed more phosphorescent and if you're going for scientific experiments gone awry which accidentally grant superhuman powers, why not saturate? Commit to the absurdity! (see also: Dr. Manhattan)

08 Buzz's run in with those squeaky aliens in Toy Story...
The Claw. The Claw is our master. It decides who will go and who will stay.
is still one of the funniest bits from any movie ever. I cherish the memory. I saw it with my brother and we had no idea what to expect (Pixar wasn't yet synonymous with instant classics). We laughed so hard that we missed the next few jokes that followed it.

07 Alligators (in general). Confession: I make a beeline at the zoo to see the alligator/crocs even though they never ever ever move. I wait and wait. They don't move! I love them onscreen even more (they move!) whether they're wrestling with Tarzan underwater, starring in comedic horror movies (Alligator) or trapped in supporting roles in cartoons (The Rescuers, Peter Pan)

06 Oola and Jabba The honeymoon was over even before the Jedi returned. Those crazy kids just couldn't work it out. She found him too possessive. He hated her independent streak. So he fed her to the rancor monster. What an a******.

05 This is more of a sideways fantasy than a reality. Plus no green-skin. There's talk of a Green Lantern movie very soon but the thing that would be brilliant that they'll never even consider doing is a hugely dense and populated sci-fi television series of Green Lantern Corps. Think of how many stories they could tell. There's more than just Hal Jordan to the Green Lantern mythos and we've got plenty of spandex single hero movies already. Try something new. The Pitch: Battlestar Galactica meets Dollhouse meets the superhero genre. Earth not included.

04 Kylie Minogue as "The Green Fairie" in Moulin Rouge! (retro) The most inspired / deranged pop star cameo ever? Maybe. Has anyone reading tried the newly legal absinthe? Did she appear to sing you showtunes? If so please tell me she knows more than just one song.

03 Yoda Make this list he must.

02 Even if I hadn't just been back to Wicked, there's no denying The Wicked Witch one of the top spots. I'm only denying her the top spot so that she'll terrorize me with an "I'll get you my pretty" or some such.



01 Kermit the Frog. The Muppets are Love.

Who would you include in a top ten green list? I admit I found the pickings a little slim. Blue is definitely more of a movie color.

previous top tens: overdue for Oscar, best TV of 2008, female directors, etc...
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26 comments:

Jason Adams said...

Godzilla!

NATHANIEL R said...

oopsie

I was actually thinking of putting Gamera on here. Was he green?

Anonymous said...

- Yoda
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Shrek

Anonymous said...

And of course I completely missed your Yoda mention. My bad.

Jason Adams said...

Gamera was green.

And I wasn't meaning to insinuate that you forgot him, Nat, just that I love Godzilla. AS ANY SANE PERSON WOULD. ;-)

But WORD to the Medusa love! That thing lead to many sleepless nights for lil' JA. And of course, Kermit is the be-all end-all when it comes to green.

NATHANIEL R said...

did anyone else see TOY STORY in 95 and have a similar "what the hell --- this is SO amazing!" experience? Talk about starting off with a bang. And to think they didn't really collapse afterwards under the weight of newly formed expectations.

wait. what color was Gamera. I LOVED Gamera. and Ghidra. Those were my two additional favs.

Anonymous said...

The lovely aliens in Mars Attacks.

Dave said...

Good god I love those aliens. I don't even remember seeing the film in cinemas (I know I did because apparently my younger sister fell asleep during it) but I went around saying that for months. And whenever I saw it again I started doing it again. I'm sure everyone around me loved it. (Rex is green, too, where's he on this list? How strange the two best characters from that film are green...)

NATHANIEL R said...

Iggy -YES. how could i forget. ACK ACK

Jason Adams said...

Ooh and Heimlich from A Bug's Life! I adore Heimlich!

Paul Outlaw said...

Florence Marly as the Alien Queen in Queen of Blood, an AIP classic. Super trashy '60s sci-fi vampire movie and what a cast (Basil Rathbone, Dennis Hopper, John Saxon).

Anonymous said...

The green M&M. After all, id the female one..;-)

Anonymous said...

and the Grinch! Hello!

NATHANIEL R said...

ooh Paul. I must see that movie.

Paul Outlaw said...

Nat, Dennis Hopper's oeuvre never ceases to amaze me. His next two releases after that were The Trip and Cool Hand Luke.

Brian Darr said...

Frankenstein's monster, as played by Boris Karloff. So they're black-and-white movies, but he wore green makeup because it photographed better that way. Here is a rare color photo of him in Jack Pierce's chosen shade.

Anonymous said...

Mike Wazowski! Pixar does love its green things.

Anonymous said...

I had some Absinthe in Switzerland last year at a bar called "Die Grüne Fee" (German for "the green fairy"). You drink it with lots of sugar and then add water according to your taste (there's a whole little ritual to it). I didn't like it much, which surprised me, because I usally really like anise. Kylie didn't appear either, so it really was a rather disappointing experience. The bar looked very nice though. :)

A favourite should-have-been green-skinned character of mine is Atreyu from the Neverending Story. His skin is olive green in the book (he is a Greenskin warrior after all), but apparently the makeup departement didn't manage to get it right when they made the film. Maybe they'll do better in the remake. ;)

Pedro said...

Maybe the creature from the Black Lagoon? The movie was in black and white, but he was amphibian, so he should have been green.

Pedro said...

Also Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc. (green and a cyclops!).

Janice said...

Your Muppets shout-out made my day (JIm Henson Forever!)

And kudos for the Daryl Hannah shout-out. Why is it that Leo and George and certain others are crowned as the "Green celebs" while Daryl just quietly goes along living her beliefs with a minimum of attention or fuss?

Vincetastic said...

Film Experience, this is a really great top ten list, I was hoping for more from Yoda, but I guess brevity is how he would have liked it. You can post this to our site http://www.toptentopten.com/ and then link back to your site. The coolest feature is you can let other people vote on the rankings of your list.

Cinesnatch said...

1) one mean green mother from outer space.

2) Heather Duke

NATHANIEL R said...

vince -- brilliant choices. particularly Duke.

Guy Lodge said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Guy Lodge said...

I second Anna's underwhelming absinthe experience -- I had it a few years ago in my South African college days (I have no idea if it was legal or not), and it didn't do anything for me that many more conventional spirits do.

On the other hand, my girlfriend at the time passed out after hers, but she'd been drinking so much already I don't know that the absinthe was necessarily to blame.

It sure is pretty, though.