[IW] Ordinary Worlds with valuables!

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Actually, I don't think art is going to be all that profitable.

The great works of a couple hundred divergent timelines arriving in the space of a decade or two have completely fragmented the Homeline market, and collapsed the Homeline film and publishing industries at the same time. For actual physical art, you don't actually saturate the market, but as it's now pretty much impossible to prove something is genuine, and even if you can somebody could discover a new line with another copy (and an older/better preserved/whatever one at that) tomorrow, rendering yours an "inferior copy". This means the investment side of the market that's so driven up prices in the last few decades is pretty much gone. Collectors and art lovers are still out there, so there's still *some* market, but nobody pays millions of dollars for a painting anymore.

However, new works of popular art, from the Complete Mystery of Edwin Drood to Lovecraft's major Sci Fi novels of the 1950's, would have audiences, paying audiences. If there was a parallel where a Sci Fi film was a major hit in Hollywood in the 1920's, convincing the studio heads there's money in Sci Fi (which most of the moghuls doubted profoundly), then many of the classic Hollywood stars of the 1930's and 40's might have made Sci Fi and/or Fantasy films. A movie, where Humphrey Bogart plays Northwest Smith with Katherine Hepburn as Jirel of Jory, would find an audience quickly. And fast money is what counts in film distribution, and always did.

So there is some money in popular art.

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

However, new works of popular art, from the Complete Mystery of Edwin Drood to Lovecraft's major Sci Fi novels of the 1950's, would have audiences, paying audiences. If there was a parallel where a Sci Fi film was a major hit in Hollywood in the 1920's, convincing the studio heads there's money in Sci Fi (which most of the moghuls doubted profoundly), then many of the classic Hollywood stars of the 1930's and 40's might have made Sci Fi and/or Fantasy films. A movie, where Humphrey Bograt plays Northwest Smith with Katherine Hepburn as Jirel of Jory, would find an audience quickly. And fast money is what counts in film distribution, and always did.

So there is some money in popular art.

Exactly. Consider this possibility, which I raised about seven months back in the "Infinite Film" thread, and tell me it wouldn't make money if it could get past Lucas's legal team on Homeline:

Originally Posted by Rocket Man

Star Wars: Episodes I, II and III:(1999. 2002, 2005) When George Lucas finally put the wheels in motion for his prequel trilogy, he knew that few films would be studied so closely by such a driven fan base. The temptation was great to take the helm himself and oversee every shot, dictate every line, to make sure his new masterpiece was flawless.

But before diving into the new project, George reviewed the first three films again. And he realized that the one that had gotten the strongest audience reaction had been The Empire Strikes Back ... the one where he had adopted the most hands-off style, crafting the basic storyline but leaving its telling largely in another's hands.

Which is how George happened to call Irvin Kershner and ask if he would do some Jedi magic one more time.

As before, Kershner wanted actors, not ventriloquist's dummies. He gave his cast license to relax, even to improvise. They responded, and responded well. (A full two minutes of dialogue between Padme and Anakin in Episode II was never in the original script; Kershner declared it "too good to lose" and kept it in the final production.) Some of the elements that were weighted heavily toward a child audience were softened or removed altogether, as was an early idea of Lucas's for something called midi-chlorians, which Kershner convinced him was "too confusing for an audience that wants rayguns, spaceships, and flashy warriors." George's idea for the character of Jar-Jar Binks remained ( a clumsy character was one of the classic Star Wars tropes, after all), but was allowed to be more appealing and even to show some growth. And the casting of Haley Joel Osment as a young Anakin Skywalker in the first film would later be viewed as inspired.

The overall result was a second supernova in cinema history. The Phantom Menace met with some naysayers -- the buildup had been such that no movie could match it -- but in general, the new trilogy met with a warm response from both audiences and critics. "The tragic life and love of Anakin Skywalker (Jonathan Jackson) cuts like a lightsaber blade," Roger Ebert said in a look back at the films. "Whatever else this backstory may be, it is no Jedi mind trick."

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Rocket Man

Exactly. Consider this possibility, which I raised about seven months back in the "Infinite Film" thread, and tell me it wouldn't make money if it could get past Lucas's legal team on Homeline:

Well, they'd own it. And the point at which Homeline abandoned making blockbuster movies in favour of just yerking them from other lines was past, so their Lucas might not have ever made a set of prequels anyway.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Rocket Man

Exactly. Consider this possibility, which I raised about seven months back in the "Infinite Film" thread, and tell me it wouldn't make money if it could get past Lucas's legal team on Homeline:

I don't know that it necessarily would, and I'm pretty confident it wouldn't make anywhere *near* as much money as Lucasfilms made on our timeline. Remember these things aren't being introduced into OTL, they're being introduced into Homeline, where they are in competition with several dozen other different "greatest science fiction films ever made", including a couple likely to have been released within a month or two.

[vitruvian]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Isn't interfering with echoes a really really bad idea? What if you cause it to shift?

How is nabbing stuff that's about to be lost or destroyed and never recovered interfering with the timeline? After all, if nobody ever finds out it went missing to another timeline rather than the bottom of the sea, it won't affect anybody's decisions or lives, will it?

[vitruvian]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

However, new works of popular art, from the Complete Mystery of Edwin Drood to Lovecraft's major Sci Fi novels of the 1950's, would have audiences, paying audiences. If there was a parallel where a Sci Fi film was a major hit in Hollywood in the 1920's, convincing the studio heads there's money in Sci Fi (which most of the moghuls doubted profoundly), then many of the classic Hollywood stars of the 1930's and 40's might have made Sci Fi and/or Fantasy films. A movie, where Humphrey Bograt plays Northwest Smith with Katherine Hepburn as Jirel of Jory, would find an audience quickly. And fast money is what counts in film distribution, and always did.

So there is some money in popular art.

While Homeline doesn't worry about compensation to anybody in other timelines, Infinity or whoever is planning to distribute these things may run into major trouble from the artists, estates, or companies controlling the rights to anything that hasn't gone into public domain on Homeline itself. Lost Dickens is going to be fine, but the character and stories of Northwest Smith are likely to still be in copyright, and couldn't be distributed even in another medium unless license terms were arranged. Or consider the case of adult (as in erotica) Disney films from another timeline with different moral standards resulting a lawsuit from the Mouse of Homeline for trademark dilution and harming numerous marks in value.

[Ed the Coastie]

I don't know how "valuable" they would be...but what about parallels or echos from which breeding populations of Hobbits (Homo floresiensis) and Titanthropes (Titanthropus clemensi from Riverworld) have been rescued? I've always wanted to play a Patrol agent who was a Titanthrope, but my GM always nixed the idea. (Something about how it's REALLY difficult for an 8' tall humanoid with a schnoz the size of a normal human's head to be inconspicuous much of anywhere...)

[Pragmatic]

Doesn't one of the Time Travel, Alternate Earths, or Infinite Worlds books have a list of "alternate books by authors"?

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Apache

So what? I'm filthy rich and living it up in another parallel where I own an entire island stocked with Jessica Alba's, Natalie Portman's, and Megan Fox's.....what do I care if some echoe shifts?

The I-Cops' Human Trafficking squad, largely made up of surviving former abductees and family members who saw too much, might care very much indeed.

[Tyneras]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

The I-Cops' Human Trafficking squad, largely made up of surviving former abductees and family members who saw too much, might care very much indeed.

Enough Wealth, Contacts, and Favors can give you Legal Immunity. Unless the dominant species is Homo Moralus, but then they wouldn't be stealing other planets property and ideas without compensation either.