It’s not nostalgia. It’s HBO. In particular, it’s Home Box Office doing a first rate job of doing reinvented retro right while tapping into the buried memories of TV viewers of a certain stripe.
HBO has pulled from its classic 80s feature presentation past to put a modern spin on that thing viewers would see while hoping for some sweet pay cable Reagan era butts or whatever it is people wanted from the movie that came on after The Hitchhiker. Airing before the HBO premiere of X-Men: Apocalypse (savvy!), viewers will get an intro resembling the old style, but with a much more visually ambitious take on zooming out to reveal a larger world. Think “Doctor Strange kicks back and watches Rich Hall’s latest sniglet after a long day.”
We’ve plunked the 1983 version below to compare and contrast. Maybe I’m just a sucker for this sorta thing, but it really feels like the best mix of warm and fuzzy with something more inspired and modern than just self-reference.
Of course, we wouldn’t mind an update on this feat of HBO excellence. Make it happen, powerful TV executives! Call James Cameron, Elon Musk and NASA if you have to!
(Via TV Insider)
