Tiki Steampunk

Hi again all,

This is probably a weird topic, but it's been on my mind again, doubtless on account of my preparations to don the EnchantedTikiGoth persona at the club tonight, complete with purple lei and eyeliner maori designs. I thought I might have better luck with it here than on other forums.

I was just wondering what films you guys might know about where Tiki-type stuff and Steampunk/Victorian Sci-Fi/Jules Verne-type stuff cross swords. I only know of three, all of which are Disney: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (the cannibal incident), Swiss Family Robinson (bamboo-tech), and In Search of the Castaways (in which they're cast away on New Zealand).

Of course, combining Tiki and Steampunk is always a bit of a stretch, since they recall two entirely separate eras, but there was an Atomic Age Sci-Fi resurgence in Victorian adaptations... But I digress.

Anyways, I exhausted the Steampunk side regarding this question, so I figured that if anyone is going to know, it's gotta' be the Tiki side.

Thanks!
Cory

[ Edited by: EnchantedTikiGoth on 2004-04-03 10:18 ]

I can't quite follow where you want to go with this, but it sounds intriguing.

If you can't find what you're looking for just make it up as you go. Let your fancy flow!

If it's fun & makes people happy you'll have them eating the B.S. right out of your hand. Or maybe they'll think you're nuts, but at least you'll have fun creating your own little fiction.

I dunno'... I'm just looking for more movies with neat steam-powered contraptions and Tiki grooviness :)

[ Edited by: EnchantedTikiGoth on 2004-04-03 16:36 ]

There's lots of groovy steam powered contraptions in "Willy Wonka's Exotic Cocktail Test Kitchen". Available only in Make-Believe-Vision at this time.

On 2004-04-03 10:17, EnchantedTikiGoth wrote:

the EnchantedTikiGoth persona at the club tonight, complete with purple lei and eyeliner maori designs.

[ Edited by: EnchantedTikiGoth on 2004-04-03 10:18 ]

I once knew of a "Sunshine Goth", who was a goth that wore Hawaiian shirts on top of his goth clothes and had big blonde crimpted hair .
I love the idea of steampunk-tiki, as much as i love vintage tiki i find devising alt-tiki very interesting.

Oh dear... Uh... I don't think that the Professor and co. are exactly of the right time period... whew

That "Sunshine Goth" thing sounds amusing... My own TikiGoth look went off pretty well, and the bartenders even congratulated me for bringing my own paper umbrella :lol:

My own fixation on finding some Tiki Steampunk comes from my liking both Tiki and Steampunk, and my neurotic need to have everything in my life make coherent sense and have tangible connections (I may very well be guilty of G.K. Chesterton's charge: "The aesthete aims at harmony rather than beauty.").

In a roundabout way I did manage to get into Tiki via Goth. Basically, Goth leads to old horror movies which leads to mid-century monster chic which leads to mid-century pop culture which leads to Tiki. Now I'm looking to see if I can find some connection - even a thin, tenuous one - between that and Steampunk.

The only place I'm really expecting to find anything, though, is in mid-century adaptations of Victorian Sci-Fi, which were a part of the Atomic Age Sci-Fi movie explosion. So far, the only person who seems to have tapped into this possibility is Walt Disney, frightening as that may be.

What other sort of Alt-Tiki might there be?

Cory

How about Dr Dolittle? Or would that be more fantasy than sci-fi?

I don't have a real strong handle on the steampunk concept. Would "The Wild Wild West" be steampunk? How about the Doc Savage books? Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter/Lost World/Tarzan pulps? Man I loved that stuff when I was a kid.

What does the steampunk crowd do/collect? Are there art, music, clothing style genres that especially appeal to the steampunk community? Just curious.

?

On 2004-04-04 19:04, Kono wrote:
How about Dr Dolittle? Or would that be more fantasy than sci-fi?

I'm not familiar enough with it, but from what I do know, I'm thinking children's fairy tale.

I don't have a real strong handle on the steampunk concept. Would "The Wild Wild West" be steampunk?

Yep... Not a lot of Steampunk fans cared for the movie (I think it's alright if you turn your brain off), but the technology is definitely Steampunk.

How about the Doc Savage books? Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter/Lost World/Tarzan pulps? Man I loved that stuff when I was a kid.

Pulp is a genre unto itself. Scientific Romances basically ran through the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Pulp picks up the war and interwar years, to be followed by straight-up Sci-Fi as we known it today. Steampunk is, technically, modern imitation or adaptation of Scientific Romances.

Anyways, Doc Savage is Pulp, and Burroughs' work sort of straddles the line between Scientific Romance and Pulp. And, incidentally, The Lost World (my favorite novel!) was by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. You might be thinking of Burroughs' Land that Time Forgot trilogy.

What does the steampunk crowd do/collect? Are there art, music, clothing style genres that especially appeal to the steampunk community? Just curious.

I should probably just refer you to my Steampunk website for further details: http://welcome.to/steampunk

Cory

Nice site, but no mention of Bryan Talbot's "Luther Arkwright" or "Heart of the Empire" comics, or Talbots great art work on Pat Mills "Nemesis the Warlock" particularly when they go to the "Gothick Empire"

http://www.dreamnation.fsnet.co.uk/battle2.html#gand

And to further take this off topic, what did you think of the "League of Extraordinary gentlemen" movie?

scooby doo 1 - spooky island?!?

rowan atkinson + witch doctors=...

ETG, The only thing I can think of is Chtulonic Horror with it's "Deep Ones" & occasionally Georgian/Victorian settings, but that's from the Horror/Fantasy side. If you're looking for source material you can try naval histories from that time period focused on the South Pacific. Or Michael Moorcock's Oswald Bastable books: "The Warlord of the Air," "The Land Leviathan," & "The Steel Tsar." There wasn't much Tiki in them, more East India/China than South Pacific.

Cthulhu tiki..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3186362577&category=230

On 2004-04-05 15:47, atomictonytiki wrote:
Cthulhu tiki..
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3186362577&category=230

I prefer Cthulhu Clause.

On 2004-04-03 16:36, EnchantedTikiGoth wrote:
I dunno'... I'm just looking for more movies with neat steam-powered contraptions and Tiki grooviness :)

When you say that The Tikiccino Machine on page 112 of TBOT comes to mind

[ Edited by: naugatiki on 2004-04-06 08:55 ]

Anybody here familiar with the "Flashman Memoirs?" Did Harry Flashman ever wench around the south Pacific?

I've just become acquainted with this series but I know he does spend some time in Asia.

ETG, I'm sure you've already thought of this, but in case you haven't, a simple IMDB search on "Jules Verne" brings up the many, many, many film/tv adaptations of his work. I'm not very up to speed on steampunk (if I've really had any exposure at all, it would be "The Difference Engine," is that a bit in line with what you're thinking?), but it would seem to me that any Victorian-age references to Polynesia would be focused very much on the primitive, and it would take an imagination like Jules Verne's to go totally nutty and throw machines into the mix. None of the movies that come up on IMDB seem to be a slam-dunk, but there are so many versions of "Mysterious Island," perhaps one of them will give you what you're looking for. It's been a long time since I've seen "Around the World in 80 Days," does it have any stops in Polynesia, or just Asia?

I may be totally missing the point of what you're looking for, feel free to disregard.

On 2004-04-05 11:16, atomictonytiki wrote:
Nice site, but no mention of Bryan Talbot's "Luther Arkwright" or "Heart of the Empire" comics, or Talbots great art work on Pat Mills "Nemesis the Warlock" particularly when they go to the "Gothick Empire"
...
And to further take this off topic, what did you think of the "League of Extraordinary gentlemen" movie?

I am familiar with Brian Talbot's work, and will probably get around to reviewing it some day. Unfortunately, there's a LOT that isn't on my site, either because I'm not familiar enough with it, haven't got around to reviewing it, or haven't found anyone volunteering to review it for me. Of course, I'm always willing to take submissions :wink:

As for LXG, I don't know because nothing about that movie made we want to see it. I love the comic to death, therefore I didn't want to psychologically taint it by polluting my mind with the pale perversion that Hollywood produced.

On 2004-04-05 11:57, freddiefreelance wrote:
If you're looking for source material you can try naval histories from that time period focused on the South Pacific.

I'm looking more just to be entertained. But thank you for the recommendations.

On 2004-04-06 09:05, Humuhumu wrote:
ETG, I'm sure you've already thought of this, but in case you haven't, a simple IMDB search on "Jules Verne" brings up the many, many, many film/tv adaptations of his work. I'm not very up to speed on steampunk (if I've really had any exposure at all, it would be "The Difference Engine," is that a bit in line with what you're thinking?), but it would seem to me that any Victorian-age references to Polynesia would be focused very much on the primitive, and it would take an imagination like Jules Verne's to go totally nutty and throw machines into the mix. None of the movies that come up on IMDB seem to be a slam-dunk, but there are so many versions of "Mysterious Island," perhaps one of them will give you what you're looking for. It's been a long time since I've seen "Around the World in 80 Days," does it have any stops in Polynesia, or just Asia?

I may be totally missing the point of what you're looking for, feel free to disregard.

No, you're pretty bang on. The Difference Engine is one of the primary texts for Steampunk, and what got the genre its name (Cyberpunk authours writing Victorian-type Sci-Fi = "Steampunk", much to their chagrin).

The problem with doing the IMDb searches is that it's hard to get a feel for the actual movie itself and what it might contain. One might not guess from the entry on Disney's 20K that there's this whole slew of cannibals in it. I do still have to get around to checking Ray Harryhausen's Mysterious Island though... I might have see it when I was a wee one, but even then I don't really remember it.

Likewise with Around the World in 80 Days. I wonder if the new version with Jackie Chan is going to have any Tiki goodness in it...

Anyways, thanks everyone!
Cory

I thought of something: "The Maracot Deep," by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. You could also look into some of his other fantasies & adventure stories.

This may be relevant. Or not.

While I doubt there are any illustrations of tikis, there was a game awhile back called SPACE:1889. An adaptation of Space 1999 into a Victorian setting. Who knows maybe theres an encounter with some strange race with tribal totems somewhere.
TG

Doing a quick search I came across this tidbit; "Under an agreement with Frank Chadwick, Heliograph has reprinted all of the GDW Space: 1889 titles with the exception ofTemple of the Beastmen."
http://heliograph.com/space1889/

[ Edited by: TikiGardener on 2004-04-06 16:03 ]

I'm pretty familiar with Conan Doyle's work, what with his Lost World being my obsessively all-time favorite novel. I can't think of any of his that have Polynesian themes though. The Maracot Deep is an Atlantis novel thinly veiling a Spiritualist tract, if I remember correctly.

And I'm familiar with Space:1889... I'm asking pretty specifically for Tiki Steampunk stuff, as opposed to just general Steampunk. But thanks for the recommendations nevertheless!

Now that pinapple thing... Might not be relevant, but that IS pretty darn cool! Thanks for posting it!

Cory

I am excited to discover that Robby Rodriquez is slated to direct
"John Carter of Mars" (having read the entire 11 vloume series by Edgar Rice Burroughs as a pimply teenager):

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/496/496070p1.html?fromint=1

There's a load of crap on it on the Internet .This site about an aborted 1970 version is interesting:

http://www.design-concepts.co.uk/Mars/johncarterplaces.htm

I'm surprised nobody's dragged out HP Lovecraft. Not really Victorian era, but somewhere nearby.

Specifically, I'm thinking of "The Shadow over Innsmouth" where the sea captain (Marsh) makes a pact with the fish people somewhere in the south seas, and intermarries with them to cement the deal. While not overtly tiki, the occult sects that worship the fish people could quite easily be interpreted in such a framework.

"The Call of Cthulhu" takes place somewhere in the pacific, and could easily be set in the Victorian era. "Dagon", iirc, involves the aforementioned fish-people also.

All this sound intriguing, machines made of bamboo, rock, flotsam and jetsam all working off of volcano powered geothermic steam. Gas masks helmets made from gourds to protect them from letahal gases. All the creation of some deranged castaway genius. who has enslaved the locals to do his evil dirty work. I see this easily combined with Bigbrotiki's vision in this link:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=881&forum=1&start=0

Except put them in a victorian era rather than atomic. Sounds like it has potential to be a cartoon, movie or bad dream after to many sips out of a dirty hubcap.

Chongolio

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=881&forum=1&14

-- I believe that our Heavenly Father invented the monkey because he was disappointed in man."
... Mark Twain

Come explore http://www.lost-isle.com

[ Edited by: Chongolio on 2004-04-08 19:14 ]

Captain Nemo with castaways and giant animals..

"THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND OF CAPTAIN NEMO"

http://www.cultmovies.dk/nemo/nemos.htm

I'm still looking for the "Punk" in steampunk,
what the....

Sorry double clickin,

what the....

[ Edited by: Bwana Tiki on 2004-04-08 20:21 ]

On 2004-04-08 20:19, Bwana Tiki wrote:
I'm still looking for the "Punk" in steampunk,

My take on it is that "Steampunk" is a reversal of "Cyberpunk", you know going the opposite direction with it.

The "punk" in Cyberpunk comes from the dystopian take on the material. Steampunk began as a variation on Cyberpunk, so it inherited the dystopian "punk" element. As a genre though, Steampunk has branched out quite a bit and in most cases no longer deserves the term "punk". But the name is tight and catchy, so it has stuck.

Thanks for the recommendations too guys! Keep 'em coming!

Cory

Here are some steampunk tikis for sale:

http://www.carvedfromwood.co.uk/steampunk.html

I see your Steampunk Tiki and raise you "Captain Hold-Fast in his Steam Submarine"

Now THAT I want a mug of.
Where's Squid?!

He's come to plunder you tiki bar!

Ok, I will play Devils Advocate here, No, Just No! there I said it, now back away from the Kool aid.
You can have your Steam Punk, you can have Tiki, but one cancels the other out, you risk the formation of a micro black hole
forming in your skull & I won't let that happen without a fight.

Now Punk & Tiki mix well, like a Mai Tai with attitude.
But what do I know?
:tiki: I am just a punk with a Mai Tai.:drink: :tiki:
I liked that a bit so I just made it my new signature....

Now Punk & Tiki mix well, like a Mai Tai with attitude.
But what do I know?
I am just a punk with a Mai Tai.

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2009-08-01 00:08 ]

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2009-08-01 00:09 ]

Ha, that's just as absurd as Tiki mixing with Hotrod and Rockabilly! :D

Tiki & Country Music, Nooooo

Ahh but Tiki & Jazz work for me....

There is no Rap in Tiki,it is the code of the Moai's

I find the steampunk thing pretty cool. Id love to see a full on steampunk theme restaurant :P

Id love to see Thor's take on tiki/steampunk crossover!

Tiki & Country Music, Nooooo

Sounds like Trader Hics!

[ Edited by: hewey 2009-08-01 00:43 ]

Now Tiki & Ferrets really mix well, especially if you have a Rare Tiki Ferret.

Now if Disco & Tiki mixed, it would create a Genetic Mutation that would be dead before it left the table.

Hey Hewey,
I am still waiting for a Blade Runner themed Restaurant.

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2009-08-07 10:47 ]

I dunno, but we could use some cool movies with that mix... not more Michael Bay shlock.

'Thinking, "The Leaguge Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" movie has a good go at being called Steampunk genre ?

Ooh, wait, 'just thought of another one:

What about author H. Rider Haggard, novelist-author of "King Solomon's Mines" and "She"?