Peter's New Project

"In the finished version, Zahir comes off as an evil incarnation of Osiris, bent on world domination."

I'm not sure where you got this. To me he was only trying to show that humanities religious values were off base from the truth of this worlds divinity, and since the three major religions were warring in the background at the time, I thought it was safe to assume that the implied motives of his message "Your religions are false," were ones of peace.

You're right -- that is the interpretation I wanted and I'm really glad you got that. Thanks.

It was Gametap's instruction to make Zahir/Osiris the villain. In their rewrite, they had him say "Your religions are false. I am Osiris. Bow down and worship me." I refused and we compromised so that Lara kicks him after "I am Osiris".

As I said, in my version, Zahir was supposed to have been a man who sacrificed himself for Lara, and not a god at all. Originally, I had Lara be more touched by his sacrifice. She originalyy kissed him on the forehead when she turns away from his body without reviving him in ep. 1.

Gametap didn't even want her to say "I appreciate what you did for me at the museum" when she seeks him out. I fought for that one and got it-- but overall, the story is pretty watered down from what it should have been. The emotional relationship between Zahir and Lara was supposed to be much stronger.

"In their rewrite, they had him say 'Your religions are false. I am Osiris. Bow down and worship me.'"

Ouch, yeah, it's amazing how much one small line can cheapen an entire story. I suppose when your working with video media the dialog is usually so sparse that you have to be very careful of it's impact.

I'm guessing you couldn't get the line "so Osiris thinks he's the one true god," out. That was a little bit confusing, but I think there's enough ambiguity in the statement, and the end is strong enough, so that it doesn't confuse your original intent too much.

To be honest I don't think I would have liked Zahir coming back as a human. It may just be due to the fact that I saw this version first, but I really liked the idea of a god breaking off from a pantheon of indifferent overseers, or even just egotistical gods, and try to stop the violence that their own religions have created. And I loved the fact that the god who was chosen, Osiris, was of an extinct religion. It's someone who's been removed for two millennia from the ecstasy of unconditional fervent praise, and has had time to see the folly of organized religion by watching it unravel beneath the feet of the next generation of deities.
It's nifty. Too bad you couldn't have devoted more time to the subject. I guess you got longer than anyone else though.

As it is, Osiris' goal is to set off a religious war between the rival groups of monotheists, each of which claim to be the true religion. (Since they're so bent on meeting their maker.) The conflict is only on Earth between the human believers. As we find out in the Pleroma, the gods themselves get along with each other very well.

Lara herself becomes an unwitting pawn in Osiris' plan because she trusts Zahir. That's fine with me. I don't care much for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, as a character. As with Indiana Jones, I could never figure out what was supposed to be admirable about someone who steals the treasures of indigenous people.

That's why in every Tomb Raider comic (I read a lot of them before starting the project), she's trying to prevent some villain from acquiring the same relic she's after, but who wants to misuse its power for evil ends. That's also the plot of both movies, and a formula I tried to reverse by having her be the one who possesses the relic and her rivals trying to prevent her from using it.

Haha, interesting... I like that! I've never followed Tomb Raider and didn't see the irony in that.

And really, what kind of archaeologist wields a pair of pistols, Hong Kong action movie-style? Or a whip, for that matter?

"As it is, Osiris' goal is to set off a religious war between the rival groups of monotheists, each of which claim to be the true religion."

I saw his motives as peaceful. I think you could equally argue that he was trying to show the three leaders of the religions the truth about divinity, but he got interrupted, and things were misinterpreted, and a war broke out.

In defense of Indiana Jones, I just watched all three movies a few weeks ago after about 14 years, he really only found treasures that were abandoned or lost, I.E 1 & 3, and when he found a relic that was sacred to a still living society in number 2 he ended up returning it to them rather than keeping it for himself. Just thought I'd add that.

The only time I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark was in a theater in 1981. It was a profoundly alienating experience, and motivated me in a perverse way. (I quoted from it in both the AF pilot and the LTV short War.) During the opening sequence, when Indy steals an idol belonging to a native tribe who chase him through the jungle, the coaxing of viewer sympathy was so out of whack, the heavy hand of the director was so obvious, it affected my film watching from then on.

I only caught glimpses of parts 2 and 3 when they happened to be playing on TV in the background. I remember reading that Spielberg himself has apologized for 2, and I believe as penance for the pervasive racism in it, he made The Color Purple.

Hmmm, I had assumed that the people chasing after him were merely a local tribe from the area that his rival archaeologist had paid to hunt him down. There was the whole scene when Indiana came out and the rival was there giving them instructions in their language, which Indiana couldn't speak, but I can see your interpretation of it.

I don't know, I think I've become a little jaded to the constant drive for sensitivity towards presenting positive images of other cultures and races. Not that PC doesn't have it's place, or it's uses, but it really seems like one of those impossible fights against immorality. It's like we're searching for this perceptual perfection to impress into the masses of our society. But of course the enemy is invisible, and incalculable, and everchanging, so it ultimately feels like were in 1984's never-ending war, the one that's taking place just outside the city walls. The one that occupies a good portion of our society's time and concern as their own lives are left to fester and reek of poogas.
I don't know, I probably am just jaded. Maybe Utopia's right around the corner.

I wonder if the fact that Indy was fighting the Nazis was supposed to offset his other injustices...

http://video1.washingtontimes.com/zadzooks/2007/07/lara_croft_meets_peter_chung_1.html

(Appropriate venue for coverage of this particular project, considering who owns the Washington Times.)

Thanks for the link Peter, very interesting! Also, good luck with your current projects, I look forward to seeing the fruits of your efforts, as usual.

HI PERTER!!! :)

While digging around for press on the Tomb Raider shorts, I came across this, which I hadn't seen before. This was from Cannes during the Animatrix release. Michael Arias went on to direct the Tekkon Kinkreet movie soon afterwards.

http://www.filmfestivals.com/cgi-bin/fest_content/festivals.pl?debug=&channelbar=&lang=en&year=2003&fest=cannes_logs2003&page=play&partner=&medi_id=20299