'The Man Who Saves the World' and why I might not be turning European after all...

Apparently if you buy a TV or radio in Germany you have pay a monthly usage tax. This money goes to support the excellent public TV and radio stations...but technically, everyone has to pay these fees. This really changes how your perceive the mediums...Can you imagine having a TV or radio and having to pay taxes just to watch/listen to them? And, if you don't pay these fees you are acting illegally and have to hide your TVs and radios in a closet if someone comes by to check your house for TVs and radios? I guess this really happens and apparently they will show up on Saturday mornings to catch people off guard. Is this really worth less commercials and not having to listen to public radio and TV pledge drives?

We never watched that much TV so not having a TV hasn't been that big of deal but we really started to miss our Netflix. Germany does not have Netflix, but Amazon just launched a new program here that is very similar but not as extensive or cheap. We opted to spend Christmas together at home and I really wanted to chill out and watch some movies. We checked the iTunes store for the new Battlestar Galatica episodes and everything that used to be on there from the SciFi channel was gone. I searched around and found some comments which said the CEO of NBC (which owns SciFi or the show now?) made the decision to pull everything from iTunes and at least a few people are sad enough to post about not being able to purchase their TV watching this way.

First thing I visited the official BSG SciFi site and discovered that the extended special episode "Razor" had been aired but the new season was pushed back to March or April (as long as the writer's strike did not interfere). I went to watch a trailer for the new season (again, on the official site) and could not because of "licensing restrictions" that did not allow viewing outside of the US. Scrolled down and found comments complaining about this issue, esp. from the UK (aren't most of the actors British!?) Here is a quote:
"Same thing here, living in the uk, i can't watch episodes online. I bought every BSG series on iTunes but thanks to NBC retarded CEO i'll have to find other way to watch it. way to embrace the new technologies... iTunes gives people the simpler way to watch content from their home, select their own content and their happy to pay for it."

On further investigation it seemed there was a big mess because "Razor" was leaked online 22 days before it was suppose to air on regular TV. Is this what caused them to pull all the episodes from iTunes? This is absurd. A) They dragged out releasing "Razor" for months leaving the fans of the show in some sort of BSG void....so of course they would go to greater lengths to watch something new. B) BSG is SciFi. Don't you think that means there are a million techie geeks watching this that can disseminate any new info across the world instantaneously? and C) The solution is not to figuratively slap the fans on the wrists by removing the episodes from legitimate downloading. Don't you think this obviously forces people to look elsewhere (to places where the show will get NO revenue) to obtain the same info? Like the newspaper industry, the TV stations are freaking out but have it all backwards. The newspaper industry whines about lack of classified ads in a craigslist world. The more they resist the information age, the further they fall behind...and the more likely people will just find ways to get around them!

This all leads to a second point about accessibility. We found our favorite SF dance station, Energy 92.7, online and have been listening to that...but when we went to find our favorite classic rock stations online, 107.7 The Bone in SF and US97 in Springfield, again, because of licensing restrictions, we were blocked from streaming the music. I don't know if it is just me, but I have never felt like I was restricted from information online like this before. It is very unnerving. Is it the US restricting use outside...or Germany trying to protect its archaic radio and TV taxes? I lean toward thinking the latter...but who knows. Of course, there are always ways to get around it, like perhaps setting up a proxy server on a US based server so the site only recognizes a local IP address, but I don't think think that I am going to do that just so I can listen to 'Get the Led Out' on The Bone.

This is not to mention that R is currently searching for a low key cell phone 'repair' shop to unlock his North American phone to use here in Europe. Even though he owns the phone, and it is technically not illegal to unlock them (you can find all kinds of sites online that will do it for a high fee) any major phone provider will not do it for you...because I guess they are all in agreement that they will force their customers to pay higher international service instead of allowing their customers (with their own phones) to switch to cheaper local services.

But I digress....with all these restrictions I started looking for free downloads online. At first I looked for specific things...and most could be found, though many times were bad in-theatre recordings or bit torrents that take hours, if not days, to download, that then may or may not work. All of this led me to a few sites that have thousands of movies and shows readily available to watch but are confusingly organized. So now, if I am in the mood to watch some 'TV', instead of looking for something specific I just go to some of these sites and see what I can find. That has opened up a whole new world of movie watching.

At first we started with the obvious blockbusters like 300 and Blades of Glory....but then I found a bizarre file titled, "The Man Who Saves the Earth" or Turkish Star Wars (with English subtitles). I watched this movie the other night and it was one of the most inspiring things I have seen in a long time.

Later research on Wikipedia explained, "Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam [The Man Who Saves the World] was released in 1982 in the midst of massive political upheaval. As a result, American-made films weren't easily acquired and were often remade with a Turkish cast and setting. The four most notable films to be so bootlegged are Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, The Exorcist and E.T., all of which have Turkish variations." Not only was Star Wars footage reassembled but, "The musical soundtrack is entirely lifted from Western film hits of the time, primarily using Raiders of the Lost Ark. There are also scenes incorporating the music of Moonraker, Ben Hur, Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galactica, Planet of the Apes, Silent Running and Disney's The Black Hole."

Sure, artists are always working with found footage, but I have never seen film footage used to re/create another major motion picture. Copyright issue are so ingrained I think this would be unthinkable, except completely outside the context where the original film(s) were created and (as in this case) out of restricted necessity. The original films could not be viewed during this time of Turkish upheaval so maybe this 80's film rang true to my current situation with limited access. This film was a creative, if not only amazingly campy, solution to get around those restrictions.



And finally, we have gotten back into watching what I consider to be the best TV show ever, a Canadian Showcase series called Trailer Park Boys. Perhaps it is no coincidence that many of the antics that drive each of the episodes of this mockumentary involve (usually illegally) finding ways around a system that only work legitimately for people who have the money to legally take part in it. And, for all it's Reno 911-type humor, also attempts to explore basic existential questions about what is ultimately important in life when you cannot purchase all of the things you desire.

So, if you are in the US you can rent all the seasons of TPB on Netflix, or if you are not in the US and have tons of disposable income you can purchase the DVDs and have them shipped at a great expense to your house (which is a whole other story*), or if neither one of these is an option (or you even want to cut down your 'carbon footprint' by not having these little plastic disks shipped around) you can view all the extras and every season of TPB here.

*the other story* After R's mom sent us a small box of US goods that cost her 70$, we thought that we would try a local Mail Boxes Etc. to ship a few Christmas boxes home by UPS. Once in the store the clerk warned us that each of our four boxes was going to cost 19euro to ship but would be there on Monday (Christmas Eve). While expensive, we were expecting as much and decided to go on with the plan. After filling out all the custom info and paperwork for each package the clerk gave us our grand total, which was 383euro. We thought this was a joke, or a miscommunication of his broken English. Turns out each package was not 19euro, but 90euro (we had misunderstood!). We cancelled that order immediately and are waiting for the Holidays (and the long lines) to be over to ship our boxes by freight, on a ship, through Deutsche Post.