What should listeners expect Monday morning as the all-new Classical 91.7 takes the air for the first time? CultureMap spoke to Program Director St.John Flynn to get the skinny on those first few moments on-air.
When the station makes its debut at 6 a.m. Monday morning, the first voice listeners hear will be that of Elaine Kennedy hosting the Morning Show. Flynn says that most mornings, NPR News headlines will break in one minute in, but not so on the first day.
"It would be strange to talk for a minute about a new music station and then launch in to NPR News, so we're just going to launch into it with Elaine at 6 a.m. and then go into the first piece of music — the first piece is a surprise."
Listeners who are unable to hear the debut on-air can listen simultaneously online or on the 88.7 HD2 channel.
The University of Houston purchased the frequency of the former KTRU-FM from the University of Houston and is making it an-all classical music station on the 91.7 FM dial. The former KUHF-FM frequency (88.7 FM), which had a a mix of news and classical music, becomes an all-news station on Monday at 4 a.m.
Classical favorites such as The Front Row, From the Top and broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera will all move to the new classical station. In a statement, officials said they plan to highlight the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Houston Ballet Orchestra, The Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and others in regular concert broadcasts.
A sneak preview of the programming for both stations can be accessed here. Both stations will broadcast programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Toothless and Mason Thames in How to Train Your Dragon.
Let’s get it out of the way right at the top: The new live-action How to Train Your Dragon, coming a mere 15 years after the original animated film, serves no real purpose other than to make more money for Universal Pictures and Dreamworks Pictures. However, unlike Disney’s approach toward remaking their animated movies, this attempt manages to succeed on its own merits instead of being a half-baked vessel for nostalgia.
As fans will remember, Hiccup (Mason Thames) lives in Berk, a town on a remote island populated by Vikings who constantly have to defend themselves against rampaging dragons. Hiccup’s dad, Stoick (Gerard Butler), is the community’s vaunted leader, with a legacy that seems impossible for Hiccup to measure up to, especially since he’s stuck in the armory alongside Gobber (Nick Frost).
But Hiccup has a knack for inventions, and his use of one new weapon during a dragon attack takes down a feared Night Fury. Finding the wounded dragon deep in the forest, Hiccup decides against killing it, leading to an unexpected bond between the two of them. Most of the film shows Hiccup trying to prove himself to his townspeople, including the fierce Astrid (Nico Parker), while also nursing the dragon he dubs Toothless back to health with the help of another one of his ingenious creations.
Written and directed by Dean DeBlois (who’s had the same roles on all four HTTYD films), the film is most notable for how engaging it is despite it retelling a story many already know and love. The biggest reason for this is a pivot away from telling a story mainly for kids toward one that feels like an extremely light version of Game of Thrones. Almost right away, there are real stakes for the people in the film, and the way DeBlois and his team stage the scenes, the danger can be felt by the audience.
This sense of “realness” comes through especially well in the scenes between Hiccup and Toothless. The design of Toothless is faithful to the original, but the CGI makes the dragon feel amazingly believable. And when they start flying, the film literally and metaphorically takes off. At multiple points, the camera seems to have trouble keeping them in frame, a smart move toward verisimilitude when the filmmakers clearly could have made it an overly smooth watching experience.
Even though it’s more serious than the original, the film still has plenty of fun to offer. Characters like Gobber (who replaces his two missing limbs with odd contraptions) and the ragtag group of teenagers who come to be in awe of Hiccup’s skills at taming dragons provide more than a few laughs. Hiccup isn’t quite as goofy as he was when voiced by Jay Baruchel, which turns out to be a good thing as his sense of purpose amps up the drama of the story.
Thames’ performance gets better and better as the film goes along, as Hiccup goes from town whipping boy toward hero. He really shines in the last act when he’s given a few scenes that show off his acting range. Parker is equally good, demonstrating the girl power needed for the role, but also the softness of a potential love interest. Butler, the only actor reprising their voice role, is a great presence who sells the outsized personality of Stoick.
Against the odds, this new version of How to Train Your Dragon is equal to the success of the first film, accomplishing the goal of making it feel like you’re watching the story for the first time. If live-action remakes are going to continue to come out, future filmmakers should study this film for how to respect both the history of the franchise and the audience paying good money to be entertained.
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How to Train Your Dragon opens in theaters on June 13.
