Artistic license?

I haven’t seen this exact topic come up yet, so I thought I’d throw it out there. Almost from the beginning, I thought some of the on-screen details of “TSoN” could be chalked up to artistic license rather than—after allowing for suspension of disbelief—depictions of what “actually” happened.

1. The interior of the Brisby home. I’ve always felt that the winter past was the first they’d spent in the cinderblock, as in the O’Brien novel; otherwise, the matter of its being in the tractor’s path would surely have come up sooner. Given that, what are the odds they’d find one that’s completely enclosed, has a working fireplace and a window, a staircase with a carved wooden railing, and (this is the biggie) is overall far more spacious on the inside than the exterior would suggest? Shades of Dr. Who’s TARDIS!

2. The Great Owl’s lair. How do you make a hole in a tree look more dramatic? Turn it into Carlsbad Caverns! Even taking into account Mrs. B’s size, it’s still pretty, well, cavernous. See Dr. Who comment above. And did I mention the spider?

3. The Rats’ entranceway beneath the rosebush. Let’s see…”living” tendrils that lock tight over the entrance Mrs. B just passed through; “electric” pulses shooting about randomly; an orange glowing “scarecrow”; a brightly lit botanical garden with self-illuminating and –folding flowers. Reading some of the available fan-fiction (though I still have a lot left to cover) has given me the impression that I’m not the only one who thinks these details are just embellishment, because so far I haven’t seen anyone address or acknowledge them.

4. Glowing eyes. Some f-f authors (like Procyon) have tackled this one, though I’ve always regarded Nicodemus, the Great Owl, and Brutus as having them just to make them more visually striking.

5. Other details in the Rats’ colony, especially the elevator that plunges into an aquatic chamber that apparently goes through a regular cycle of filling and emptying. Why something so elaborate? A more basic elevator, as in the O’Brien novel, would have been more believable.

6. The voice of Dragon. The first time I saw it, it brought to mind the debut episode of the old Irwin Allen series, “Land of the Giants,” in which our heroes—humans stuck in an outsized but otherwise earthlike world—encounter a cat that roars like a lion. It just struck me as silly and lame, and I was ten at the time. Where the same was done with Dragon, this was obviously A.L., especially since he does meow outside the kitchen door.

7. In the O’Brien novel nobody is described as wearing clothing or walking upright. These were certainly changes made to make the characters more identifiable to the viewer, but it seems universally accepted that they’re an integral part of the movie and its characters.

8. On the other hand…there’s the matter of, shall we say, anatomical correctness. A clear-cut case of A.L. here, considering none of the male rats wear trousers and the heroine only wears a cape; but then again, it’s a tradition going back to animation’s infancy.

Interesting points you have there, all the more reason to write fanfiction, eh?

Exactly right, ConGie. A couple other bits that come to mind

1. Jeremy’s concentric-circled eyes when he lays them on the “sparkly.”

2. Jenner’s independently-operating eyebrows.

I love those eyebrows! =D They are so devious

Dragon looks like he's possessed by Satan's mentally challenged cousin, and Jenner is more like Hannibal Lector combined with Dick Cheney. Maybe after eating Jonathan, he became embedded with the NIMH treatment and became more powerful.

You can go on all day about the inconsistencies in the film. Why is the Rosebush entrance so small? How come every character she comes in contact with can kill her (shrew included), but she's just afraid of the owl? How come the cinderblock house is like a luxurious home, especially since they move into it once a year? No fanfiction can ever give a good explanation. The best ones simply don't bother to try....some things should be kept a mystery.

You bring up some interesting points.

I think in the film it was made clear (in my mind anyway) that Jonathan had lived in the cinder block. Justin says, "Her home, was Jonathan's home." That could explain how the carved staircase and the window got there. Has anyone ever noticed that there are two other rooms that are never shown. Martin is standing in the doorway of one when the Shrew comes to visit. That's not the bedroom, it's on the same wall as the fireplace. The bedroom door is on another wall. The other doorway is just bellow the entrance under the stairs. Speaking of the entrance, it can't be were it is in the film. It doesn't mach the exterior shots, that is, you would clearly be able to see the entrance from the outside. It can't be in the old pot. The window is on the same wall as the entrance, maybe that's more clear. Oh and not to mention the cinder block has hardwood floors, but that's just being nit picky.

The rest of the stuff, yeah artistic license. They wanted it to look cool so you end up with all manner of craziness. But as fare as Dragon go's, in your mind put the sounds of a regular cat in place of his the roars. Yeah, not too scary now.

I'll tell you what I find interesting, how well studied this film is. I've never known a group of people to get into the subtle nuance of a film (myself included). I would almost put a NIMH fan up against a Trekkie as far as attention to detail.

He would've had planned for his family to move in to the cinderblock long before he passed away and considering the attention to detail, the toys, and the mirror on the wall, he would've had to spent a long ass time building it. Remember that the move from their summer home by the lake to their winter home in the cinderblock, and the cinderblock is different every year, because the plow runs on by it. Funnily enough, Leehumis describes how he used the stone to make the cinderblock house, kinda cheesy, but it worked.

So yeah, I bet I can find 10 inconsistencies in each scene in the movie. Because I have nothing better to do at the moment, let's see if I can remember a few off the top of my head.

1. The NIMH scientists don't use gloves.
2. There's supposed to be 22 escaped animals from NIMH, but there clearly aren't that many when Jonathan opens the door.
3. The mice and rats have human hands complete with thumbs.
4. Nicodemus is old, but this ties in with the fact that he's a wizard.

Exactly right, ConGie. A couple other bits that come to mind:

1. Jeremy’s concentric-circled eyes when he lays them on the “sparkly.”

2. Jenner’s independently-operating eyebrows.

You forgot to mention Jeremy's teeth. :)

Exactly right, ConGie. A couple other bits that come to mind:

1. Jeremy’s concentric-circled eyes when he lays them on the “sparkly.”

2. Jenner’s independently-operating eyebrows.

You forgot to mention Jeremy's teeth. :)

You're right, I cant believe I didn't mention that. I don't really understand it, it's more creepy than anything. Birds with teeth creep the hell out of me.

I wonder how Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" would've been if the birds had a pair of molars.

There have been plenty of animated birds, such as Daffy Duck and Foghorn Leghorn, that had teeth that came and went from scene to scene. So I guess Jeremy's were just following in that tradition.

Exactly right, ConGie. A couple other bits that come to mind:

1. Jeremy’s concentric-circled eyes when he lays them on the “sparkly.”

2. Jenner’s independently-operating eyebrows.

You forgot to mention Jeremy's teeth. :)

You're right, I cant believe I didn't mention that. I don't really understand it, it's more creepy than anything. Birds with teeth creep the hell out of me.

I wonder how Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" would've been if the birds had a pair of molars.

http://webecoist.com/2010/09/28/brush-your-beak-10-amazing-birds-with-teeth/ ;)

Steven

Getting back to the interior of the cinderblock

Both Paul Gibbs and I seemed to have the same idea, to compromise between the book and movie version. He mentions the fireplace, the window and the stairway, but doesn't describe them in detail; and he describes there being only two rooms, in terms more like the O'Brien version. In my version I acknowledged the stairs and described how Johnathan installed the window, but I tended to shy away from the fireplace could a working fireplace as we know it really be that small?

Yeah...since my own fanfiction is going to be pretty dark, it'll be based off "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" especially since I wouldn't be using the film's artistic flares or plot devices to any meaningful effect. The book is better for writing fanfiction (in my opinion) because you don't have these overhanging inconsistencies to worry about. Though it's fun to see what you can do with them, like describe their origin, it's much better to focus on character development, which the book does a much better job of doing.

Not like you'll see my fanfiction in the near future due to all of the papers and midterms that stacked up in my face...

Speaking of which....

Good day.