In this episode Mike Suderman and Leah Erbe chat about 2 fantastic films, in both the modern and classical sense, Fifth Element and Fight club
Fifth Element
Release: 1997
Director: Luc Besson
Stars: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Chris Tucker, Ian Holm
Fight Club
Release: 1999
Director: David Fincher
Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf, Helena Bonham Carter, Jared Leto
The Comic Series
One of Luc Besson’s biggest influences and the basis of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is the comic series “Valérian and Laureline”. It is a French science fiction comics series that was first published in 1967 that was created by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières. It was also an influence for Star Wars.
Plavalaguna aka the Diva
The Diva is portrayed by French Actress Maiwenn Le Besco where the singing voice is provided by Albanian Opera Singer Inva Mula-Tchako.
You Rock My World
Here is the video Leah was talking about. It is not animated but Chris Tucker is definitely in there….with Marlon Brando?!
Evil Sphere
According to some googling the evil sphere is 1200 miles in diameter where as our moon is 2160 miles in diameter, so it is quite a bit smaller. But one thing is interesting is that it was stopped 62miles from the Earth’s surface where as our moon is 239,000 miles from earth. This means it should have a significant impact on the Earth.
Fight Club 2 Correction
So, in my retelling of what I read in the “Fight Club 2” comic I said The narrator and Marla live in the Paper St house but I got that wrong. They live in a house in the suburbs but the Narrator does end but back at that house.
Also I was wrong on the release dates, The first issue of “Fight Club 2” was released in 2015 and the novel was released in 1996.
Also, there is a “Fight Club 3”. It is 12 issues released every month of 2019.
Star Trek Connection
From Fifth Element Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister was Klaang in the premiere episode of “Star Trek Enterprise”
I also found a connection in Fight Club! Zach Grenier who portrayed Richard Chesler (the Narrator’s boss) was also in “Star Trek Enterprise” (S2E12 “The Catwalk).