Santa Claus: The Rant!

In the early stages of the development of this website, I received a rather harsh e-mail from a fellow calling himself "Devastation Bob." This fellow, claiming (and I use the word with trepidation) to be a serious film buff, apparently had a few problems with not only my continued maintenance of KringleQuest, but also my long-dreamed-of live-action movie remake of Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth. I was especially furious when this same fellow dared to call me "Salkind's lapdog." No doubt this guy had a problem with the Salkinds and their films (including, presumably, the Superman movies).

Now, I don't wanna get off on a rant here, but understand this, boys and girls: I don't take kindly to people who insult good films that really haven't had a proper chance to shine because others couldn't see such a picture for what it was. I have endured such derisions almost from the moment I founded Electric Pirates Entertainment. Then, as now, the initial U.S. box-office failure of Roman Polanski's Pirates remains EPE's raison d'erte, if you will. While Santa Claus: The Movie might not have been a big hit here in the U.S. in 1985, in the U.K., it has been and continues to be embraced by young moviegoers throughout the Planet.

Part of the reason I subsequently attempted to spearhead a movement to put together a retrospective of the complete works of the Salkinds is that Alexander has been dead for almost 25 years now. We can no longer afford to have his legacy lost to us forever because of some legal and copyright loopholes. Some of you, I suppose, would rather that Alexander's legacy be forgotten, regardless of all that --- but frankly, I just can't! Matter of fact, I won't!

And, as I still continue to do, I will challenge anybody with the attitude possessed by this creep "Devastation Bob" and others of his kind to find any online resources for all things Salkind. Until he shut down his famous Superman Web Central shortly after the death of Dudley Moore, my colleague Hiphats had that burden. Now, only a select few of us, including myself, are left to pick up where he left off --- and I will tell you right now, we are proud to be Salkind's Lapdogs!

Alexander and Ilya influenced us in ways you could not even begin to understand, let alone comprehend. If that were not so, you would not find our presence on the web. I've said it countless times before, and I'll darn well say it again: KringleQuest is here for the long haul, and if you got a problem with that, or with any of my fellow Salkind-inspired websites, I only got three words for you: Leave us alone!

Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Sincerely yours,

RICHARD WASHINGTON

Senior Elf-in-Charge, KringleQuest.com, v.5