Thoughtful Words For Jeffrey Boam

Posted by Ultraman Tiga from ts004d15.las-nv.concentric.net on January 29, 2000 at 05:33:16:

Initially, I didn't care for his work. I first heard of him on LC and LW2, which released in the same year. I kind of enjoyed LW2, which is not built on logic or character, then, those were the same reason why I was initially disappointed by LC. Especially considering what Rob MacGregor had done with the LC novelization, and the comments he made about Jeffrey Boam and his script in STARLOG (years later) seemed to ring very true to me as well. Jeffrey Boam was strictly a comic-book writer, nothing more. He seemed to confirm it in an interview when he decribed his process of, "taking out the boring stuff and leaving in the fun stuff" (from another STARLOG interview).

When Brisco County Jr. came along, I had my reservations. LW3 turned out to be horrendous, one of the worst action films I had ever seen (which is saying alot, but then most bad action films have some MST3K compatible enjoyment quality - LW3 had zero). Brisco would star one of the world's most underused comic actors, fan favorite Bruce Cambpell, and yet the hype was built on the fact that Jeffrey Boam and his partner were the show's creators. The ads kept comparing the character to Bond and IJ, which is always a bad idea (that kind of advertising simply screams, "We have nothing else going for this show." There were some interesting, pulpy elements, but the show was never really that great, largely thanks to Bruce Campbell's overly dry, energyless performance. He never really played a character, and simply drifted through the scenes with some ambivilance. It could have gotten better over time, or maybe the problem was in the writing, we may never know.

At this point in time, I thought I would never enjoy Boam's work, but it was clear that his name was coming up in a lot of the kind of material that I am attracted to. So I had reservations again, when 'The Phantom' press kit went to work. I had to put up with a another somewhat smug interview article in STARLOG, where he complained (paraphrasing), "Do I treat it as a spoof, or do I really try to create an interesting character out of this? I like to think I blend the elements, and have a little of both."

I took the comment as being what was wrong with Boam's work. He like this material, but doesn't know what it was about the original material that he liked. The key ingredient, is that the original author's took it very seriously.

Nonetheless, 'The Phantom' was being directed by the great Simon Wincer, whose other works I admire greatly. If he makes a film, I will go and watch it (the esception being 'The Great Panda Adventure', though I would still lvoe to watch it someday). There had to be something good about the 'The Phantom' if he was involved.

Imagine my suprise when almost every element of 'The Phantom' worked. It all starts at the scripting level, and 'The Phantom' had an excellent script at that. So much that even jaded ol' Rob MacGregor came back to do the novelization.

I finally felt positive about Boam, and eagerly awaited whatever the man wanted to do next. As an aspiring adventure writer, I will always think of Jeffrey Boam. Wether I enjoyed his work or not, he was always cranking out the kind of material that I am glad somebody felt the need to work on. I even used his name as a scapegoat for the naive elements of this forum once, posting as him, claiming the next Indy adventure would feature the hero trying to recover his Dusenburg in the 1950's. Not only did several members of the forum believe this, but some web pages as well! Micah quickly reformed the group so that no such posts could happen again, and I immediately came out to admit to my crime. The forum was a festival of lies at the time, and I was just joining in on the madness, trying to create the most interesting and imginative and most believable lie. Shame on me.

Though I was hoping someone else would get to crack at the next Indy screenplay, it's clear that by being asked back to Lucasfilm's fold to write for Indy once more, the man himself was obviously beloved by those who knew him, and so his work must have been appreciated. His passing is a complete suprise to me, and now I am saddened that I will not get to see more of his stuff.

ULTRAMAN TIGA / Scott Burkhart, 1.29.00

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A tear trickles to my eye, *sob* : - ( (nm) Allu 12:35:14 1/29/2000 (0)

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: Initially, I didn't care for his work.  I  first heard of him on LC and LW2, which released in the same year.  I kind of enjoyed LW2, which is not built on logic or character, then, those were the same reason why I was initially disappointed by LC.  Especially considering what Rob MacGregor had done with the LC novelization, and the comments he made about Jeffrey Boam and his script in STARLOG (years later) seemed to ring very true to me as well.  Jeffrey Boam was strictly a comic-book writer, nothing more.  He seemed to confirm it in an interview when he decribed his process of, "taking out the boring stuff and leaving in the fun stuff" (from another STARLOG interview).

: When Brisco County Jr. came along, I had my reservations.  LW3 turned out to be horrendous, one of the worst action films I had ever seen (which is saying alot, but then most bad action films have some MST3K compatible enjoyment quality - LW3 had zero).  Brisco would star one of the world's most underused comic actors, fan favorite Bruce Cambpell, and yet the hype was built on the fact that Jeffrey Boam and his partner were the show's creators.  The ads kept comparing the character to Bond and IJ, which is always a bad idea (that kind of advertising simply screams, "We have nothing else going for this show."  There were some interesting, pulpy elements, but the show was never really that great, largely thanks to Bruce Campbell's overly dry, energyless performance.  He never really played a character, and simply drifted through the scenes with some ambivilance.  It could have gotten better over time, or maybe the problem was in the writing, we may never know.

: At this point in time, I thought I would never enjoy Boam's work, but it was clear that his name was coming up in a lot of the kind of material that I am attracted to.  So I had reservations again, when 'The Phantom' press kit went to work.  I had to put up with a another somewhat smug interview article in STARLOG, where he complained (paraphrasing), "Do I treat it as a spoof, or do I really try to create an interesting character out of this?  I like to think I blend the elements, and have a little of both."

: I took the comment as being what was wrong with Boam's work.  He like this material, but doesn't know what it was about the original material that he liked.  The key ingredient, is that the original author's took it very seriously.

: Nonetheless, 'The Phantom' was being directed by the great Simon Wincer, whose other works I admire greatly.  If he makes a film, I will go and watch it (the esception being 'The Great Panda Adventure', though I would still lvoe to watch it someday).  There had to be something good about the 'The Phantom' if he was involved.

: Imagine my suprise when almost every element of 'The Phantom' worked. It all starts at the scripting level, and 'The Phantom' had an excellent script at that.  So much that even jaded ol' Rob MacGregor came back to do the novelization.

: I finally felt positive about Boam, and eagerly awaited whatever the man wanted to do next.  As an aspiring adventure writer, I will always think of Jeffrey Boam. Wether I enjoyed his work or not, he was always cranking out the kind of material that I am glad somebody felt the need to work on.  I even used his name as a scapegoat for the naive elements of this forum once, posting as him, claiming the next Indy adventure would feature the hero trying to recover his Dusenburg in the 1950's.  Not only did several members of the forum believe this, but some web pages as well!  Micah quickly reformed the group so that no such posts could happen again, and I immediately came out to admit to my crime.  The forum was a festival of lies at the time, and I was just joining in on the madness, trying to create the most interesting and imginative and most believable lie.  Shame on me.

: Though I was hoping someone else would get to crack at the next Indy screenplay, it's clear that by being asked back to Lucasfilm's fold to write for Indy once more, the man himself was obviously beloved by those who knew him, and so his work must have been appreciated.  His passing is a complete suprise to me, and now I am saddened that I will not get to see more of his stuff.

: ULTRAMAN TIGA / Scott Burkhart, 1.29.00

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