June 04, 2019

Midway 2019

I'm going to go a little far afield from my usual Midway day posts, because I have some news to report.  You may or may not be aware of the upcoming Hollywood movie on the Battle of Midway, due to be released in November.


I've known about this for well over a year, thanks to my membership in the Battle of Midway Round Table.  The production company involved has been asking the BOMRT historical accuracy questions... "where was the radio set located in a Dauntless, and what color would it be," that sort of thing (note: I made that up).  Sadly, there's a NDA on the man running the Round Table, so he can't tell us much about the film.  He's assured us that they're pushing to make it look as realistic as possible.

Which is, of course, great!  If there's one Pacific War naval battle that deserves a good movie, it's Midway... and no, I don't count that '70s extrusion as "good".  But this movie isn't my news... no, my news is something a little more personal.

I've been hired as a historical consultant on the Battle of Midway!  A youtube history channel is going to be doing a series of videos on Midway, and I've been tabbed to do the historical legwork.  I can't reveal the channel name yet, mostly because I forgot to ask the Power That Be for permission and he's on a business trip, but its been around for a couple-three years, and has well over 500k subscribers.

The plan is that we'll be releasing these videos as we get closer to movie release date, and there's hope for an actual tie-in with the film... y'know, concentrate on the characters the movie is featuring, sponsorship, that sort of thing.  None of that is guaranteed... indeed, I gather only the first contacts have been made... but there is optimism.

All of which is to say, I'm really really excited about this.  It'll be a fun way to spend time, I'm getting paid for it, and anything that educates about the Battle of Midway is okay in my book!  More details will be made available as I get permission, so look forward to that... and lets hope that Midway gets the movie treatment it deserves!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 01:09 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
Post contains 380 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Hah, I saw a link to that poster on a forum, and wondered if I should rush over here to dump a link and see if you had a reaction.  I should have known that you would be way ahead of me on this topic.

Posted by: David at June 04, 2019 03:08 PM (A/T0R)

2 Hey, congrats!

Posted by: Rick C at June 04, 2019 06:34 PM (Iwkd4)

3 Hey, congrats! They couldn't have found anyone better for the job.

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at June 04, 2019 11:37 PM (v29Tn)

4 I agree, this is very pride-worthy, especially if they pay actual money for the job.

Posted by: Pete at June 05, 2019 05:45 PM (LZ7Bg)

5 I don't want to say how much I'm getting, but it'll buy a LOT of rye bread and duck chow.

Posted by: Wonderduck at June 05, 2019 08:22 PM (EXhwA)

6 Awesome! How did you come to be such an expert on Midway anyway?

Posted by: Mauser at June 05, 2019 10:34 PM (Ix1l6)

7 Honestly?  I've literally spent a lifetime at it.  Somewhere around the age of 10, Vaucaunson's Duck and I began playing Victory In The Pacific by Avalon Hill.  I began reading books from the library about the Pacific war, and somewhere along the way I stumbled over a children's book on Midway.  
No idea what the name of it was; all I remember about it is that it had line drawings of the various carrier planes used.
Anyway, from that point on, I was hooked.  I read everything I could get my hands on: Lord's Incredible Victory, Prange's Miracle at Midway, even Fuchida's Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan.
But I never stopped reading about the Pacific War.  I didn't really become "an expert" on Midway until after I read Shattered Sword.  At that point, I realized that there was a whole new round of books on Midway that went deeper into the battle than I ever knew possible.  
It's been a heady, fascinating past 15 years.

Posted by: Wonderduck at June 06, 2019 02:02 AM (EXhwA)

8 Very cool! I'm happy for you. 

Posted by: Kathryn at June 06, 2019 06:31 AM (rWZ8Y)

9 This is SUPREMELY COOL. Looking forward to all of what results from your and others' efforts.

Posted by: Karel P Kerezman at June 06, 2019 12:53 PM (yisPP)

10 That is FANTASTIC!  Congratulations!  I can't wait to see it!

And the movie sounds good too.

Posted by: Ed Hering at June 06, 2019 01:03 PM (/cXdK)

11 You know where that might lead.  You will have to write your own book about Midway.

Posted by: Mauser at June 07, 2019 11:32 PM (Ix1l6)

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