05-08-03 @ 11:21 am EDT

I get so offtrack sometimes...I can't even remember how this happened. How did I end up typing this entry?...drat. I was surfing...I was surfing...damn, I can't even remember, but somehow...oh yeah! I noticed in a forum here that somebody from Star Trek: The Next Generation did a voice from The Secret Of NIMH! That was one of my favorite animated movies growing up. The clue gave the answer away as being Wil Wheaton (hope I'm spelling his name right...man, I can't type well today at all), but I could not remember him in that! Then again it's a very old film...like over twenty years old now, I believe. (The stuff I found said it's from 1982!) I guessed he voiced Timothy, the youngest mouse. I was wrong; I believe he did Martin. Oh well! Shannen Doherty was in it too! She voiced the girl mouse, Teresa! (I believe that was the older girl mouse, with the bow. I completely forgot about Cynthia. I haven't watched the film in a long while so my memory is bad. Hum...I just realized I have two adopted characters named Cynthia and Timothy. Coincidence?) When looking for credits info I started coming across fansites...OMG...and info on the sequel which I never watched and never wanted to...and then I just HAD to go looking at images and fanfics and fan art and all that other lovely stuff. I got SOOOOO sidetracked! ^_^ And so I decided to come here and write this entry, another random memory, this one about the wonder that is The Rats Of NIMH.

Like I said, this was one of my favorite animated movies growing up. I loved Don Bluth films because the animation was so GOOD. You can see their tongues and lips forming the syllables of EVERY WORD in Don Bluth cartoons. I remember I got a big stuffed Fievel for Christmas when An American Tail came out, and I also later on bought the book. All Dogs Go To Heaven, of course it made me cry. Ditto with The Land Before Time, all of the sequels to which SUCK BUTTERMILK. (I lost track of how many there were; the first sequel was bad enough. >_< ) I got all the rubber hand puppets for that movie when they came out at Pizza Hut--and a stuffed toy Petrie. Petrie was my fave! But The Secret Of NIMH will always hold a special place in my heart.

I remember when I was in elementary school there was another student who had a sort of playset for the movie. It wasn't Colorforms...it was a little cardboard set, all in color, three dimensional. With little cardboard punchouts of the characters to set up in it. Maybe other props too. I fell so deeply in love with this! I wanted it SO badly! Unfortunately I never got to play with it much; I can't blame this other student for not wanting to share it! And I was so little back then that I didn't know well enough to ask where to find one of my own. To this day I would STILL love one of those. *le sigh* :(

I bought the book itself much later on. It is VERY different from the movie. Mainly, the protagonist's name is not Mrs. Brisby at all. It's Mrs. FRISBY. I assume they changed her name to avoid trademark issues with the makers of the Frisbee! The illustrations in the book show that the characters of course LOOKED much different, and add to that the fact that there was no magical amulet stuff going on like in the movie; it was primarily about science. In fact, reading the book took away some of my enjoyment of the movie, because afterwards, comparing the two, I found the whole "magical" ending of the movie to be very contrived and disappointing. Oh well. The animation and characterization still ROCK.

Oh yeah...the characters. They are MUCH different between the two versions. For one thing, Nicodemus is nowhere near as old and doddery as he is in the movie. In one illustration in the book Mrs. Frisby/Brisby is talking to him and he's seated in a chair wearing something that looks like a smoking jacket...very distinguished, not old and wizardly. The owl looked very normal too. Secondly, I don't think Justin was anywhere near as charming as he was in the movie! (Yes...I am a closet Justin lover... ^_^; ) He just wasn't as important a character as the movie made him out to be, though he was by no means minor. Oh yeah, perhaps the biggest change was in Jenner. He doesn't even APPEAR in the book! He only appears in a flashback sequence when one of the other characters is telling what happens...he DIED long before the book takes place. (Forgive me if I'm wrong, I haven't read the book in even longer than I've seen the movie, but this is how I recall it.) Jenner wasn't even a bad guy! He was electrocuted along with some other rats while trying to steal electricity or something...I think he had gone against some of their rules in what he was doing, but he wasn't an evil villain. Just foolish and headstrong.

And the ending to the book was incredibly sad. Basically, the rats help Mrs. Frisby/Brisby get settled into her new home, and then...they trek off and disappear. I think they had to fight something in order to make sure she was safe. She doesn't even know if Justin is still alive or if he's dead. :*(

I think the ending was what I truly disliked about the book. But then again, sometimes sadness makes a story more real.

Anyway, back to the MOVIE! I fell in love with Justin from the moment I first set eyes on him. Remember him hissing, "Reveal...thy...name!"? *LMAO* And his little sentry uniform was cute also. I'm wracking my brain but I can't for the life of me remember the character of Jonathan!! In the pics I see of him he's carrying a big sword, but then again, didn't the others as well? Drat. I feel dumb for not remembering him. I assume he died. I can't remember the name of the bad guy rat who was killed near the end...he turned good at the last moment, and I liked the nobility he showed in doing so. I guess every movie needs a really bad guy, but what they did to Jenner was in no way justified by his actions in the book. They were like two completely different characters. Perhaps his character needs some angsty background for me to like him better. Oh yeah, I think Brutus spoke in the book, too. But not in the movie. Movie-Brutus was cool, but very one dimensional.

I think I should sum this up soon! ^_^

All righty...you may be asking, just HOW much did this movie influence Tehuti? (Of course you're not asking that, but humor me, please.) I'll let you see how it's influenced me...some of these are direct influence, and some are possibly subconscious...

* The very name "Justin" as used in my fiction to denote handsome, charming characters. I can think of two examples: Justin Dupries from Manitou Island and Return To Manitou Island, and Detective Justin Reichert from the unwritten Magic City. Both are soft spoken, not quite like Justin the rat, but they are also charming and polite and willing to fight if necessary.

* The surname "Jenner" as used in my novel, Minot. I'm giving away a major plot point here so DON'T READ THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH! Block it with your finger until you reach the next one if you're interested in reading my novel! I know, I probably already gave it away, but...Jenner is the bad guy in my novel, and I did not even KNOW this until I was halfway through writing it. I honestly thought he was the GOOD guy! But he ended up turning on me, damn him and his stylish last name. >_< Perhaps this was the influence of the old evil Jenner from the movie? Seems charming and chivalrous at first, but is in fact incredibly devious and conniving?

There are likely more influences, but since I have to end this entry soon, I will now name the BIGGEST influence The Secret Of NIMH has had on me. And that would be...are you really THAT surprised?...

ID: 198765 (Rated: PG-13)
Title: The Trench Rats
Description: Very strange furry story featuring rats fighting dogs in WWII. VERY strange!
By: Tehuti, Lord Of The Eight

Ta-daaaaaa! That's right...my very own Trench Rats...they are practically ripoffs of the rats of NIMH. I mean, c'mon, how much more obvious can you get. They live in a secret compound...they're hyperintelligent...they wear capes...one of them is a HYPERhyperintelligent mouse who was experimented on with drugs...they fight evil scientists (as in the Nazi kind)...and really, I mean REALLY, how could you possibly miss the blatant influence of Justin in my character of Gold Rat? I mean, really, Gold is just a much, much, MUCH more sexist version of Justin. Oh, don't get me wrong, he doesn't REALLY think of women that way, but he has this act to keep up, and all. But if you strip away the double entendres and obvious comeons, he's ALL Justin. ;)

At some point I even tried to draw my Rats to resemble those from the movie, and failed miserably. *sigh* Perhaps that was for the best, though...as the NIMH rats' looks don't work well for my characters, who are more anthropomorphic still. (They don't have short, bandy legs, for example.)

In very, very early versions of the Trench Rats stories, I had a female mouse character...I think she had a child...and she was trying to escape the Nazis. She ended up going to the Rats for help, and of course, she did not trust them at first as they were mysterious and had strange ways. Sound familiar? I dropped that storyline (though it seems to be echoed in Mirela's storyline, now) because it was so similar to the NIMH plot. In later parts of the story, so far unwritten, all the great principles of mysticism and violence and self-sacrifice come into play, also...I can't say who ends up alive and who ends up dead...but as with the original NIMH book, it's not a completely happy ending. *sniff*

I have one last thing to say before abruptly ending this entry! I SAW A DRAWING OF JUSTIN AND MRS. FRISBY KISSING!! IT WAS SOOOOOO CUUUUUUUTE!! :D Allegedly it was a scene to be included in the movie but was cut for time...DAMN YOU, DON BLUTH! And damn whoever drew that image for putting it forever in my head. That would have been an AWESOME scene. *SIGH*

Tar for now...

Edited to add: OH YEAH! I think Jonathan was Mrs. Frisby's husband--the hero mouse! I AM SO STUPID! >_<;;;