90-second version of A Wrinkle in Time

The Newbery is the most prestigious prize in children's literature; "90-Second Newbery" is a competition to abridge a wonderful kids' book into a 90-second video. Here's the entry for Madeline L'Engle's classic "A Wrinkle in Time." Great work!

"A Wrinkle In Time" In 90 Seconds (Thanks, Spocko, via Submitterator!)

RIP: author Madeleine L'Engle - Boing Boing

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Ernunnos

I laughed, I cried.
rebdav

I loved the book as a kid, and this is a VERY funny/sarcastic take on the story.
snoproblem

Now that’s funny. Good work, guys.
chgoliz

I tell my kids I read BB for the tech articles, but really it’s for Wonderful Things like this.
bkofford

The word “sweded” comes to mind.
Anonymous

That might be a bit big for my monitor. Or my wall.
beepie

bigger please.
Anonymous

that went well
lasttide

First thought: Oh I love that book, this’ll be great.

Second thought (sadly true): Hey, Meg shouldn’t be blonde! Like 20% of the text in this book is about her mouse-brown hair.

Third thought: Why the fuck do I remember the specific phrase “mouse-brown hair” from a book I read when I was 6?
DSMVWL THS

Semi-tangential rant:

Vimeo sucks so fucking hard. I truly do not understand why they still have a reputation for technical superiority over YouTube. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to watch a Vimeo clip that didn’t stop multiple times because the playback overtook the streaming… this being only the latest example.

Is this posted on a properly working video site like YouTube, where I can watch it as it was intended to be seen?
- Anonymous
  
  You want the YouTube version? You got it:
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhsCCQrCNAs
Disasteradio

Methinks it’s time for me to upgrade this CRT. (Something beautiful about that though!)
Cowicide

It took 90 seconds to scroll to here.
Kwekubo

For those whose screens can’t handle screen resolutions of 60000 x 37500, here’s the link: http://player.vimeo.com/video/18694727
sapere_aude

Was this formatted so that it could be viewed from the Moon?
spocko

Yea! The kids made the front page of BoingBoing! This is the kind of publicity that will launch their careers! And hopefully the movie careers of the people who made the movie. I think we need more of these kind of fun, funny films.

I love their adaptation of the book, but I really loved the ending with the kids dancing to Telstar. We don’t see enough joy in our movies and films, and I’m always on the look out for examples of them. Before this I watched and rewatched the singing and dancing in Glee to “Valerie” Check it out on Hulu (http://www.hulu.com/watch/195817/glee-special-education)
The clip is at 32:30.

As for Wrinkle In Time. One of my favorite memories as a child is in grade school was when Sister Silvia Marie read the book to us after recess. We would come in, put our heads on our desk and she would read. Since there were no movie adaptions of the book we had to create all the images in our mind. Just like the author intended!

When I was an adult I read L’Engle’s “Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art”, which was very fascinating. The book had almost as powerful of an impact on me as an adult as Winkle in Time dis on me as a child.

Finally, I think that L’Engle herself would enjoy this, and hopefully she would approve of the line reading that I adored in this film.

“It’s the power of love!”
bklynchris

I made it 30 secs, then had to go brush my teeth bc I barfed in my mouth a little. I think snarkasm would be a little better than sarcasm as a description…and, yes, I know the same could be said for my comment, sorry.
- spocko
  
  I weep for you. Should have stuck around for the dancing to Telstar. Your loss.
Anonymous

I thought the explanation of the Tesseract was hysterical.
bklynma

I really loved the dancing at the end.

Sigh. I want to have had their childhood. These kids will grow up to be very interesting people.
spaceman_spiff

Wow. These kids transformed Maedline L’Engle into Philip K. Dick so effortlessly!
- spaceman_spiff
  
  And that was a compliment BTW.
  - Anonymous
    
    yes I was cause PK Dick couldn’t have done it as well
Featureless Cube

Here’s more details on the “90-Second Newbery” Video Contest website. It’s worth reading. There will be a film festival of 90-Second Newberys at the New York Public Library in fall 2011. It’s curated by YA author James Kennedy. Who is, um, me.
bkad

Wow, that was really good.
Anonymous

why do I get the feeling these kids don’t go to public school?
My guess: Waldorf?
Donald Petersen

I too loved this book as a kid (who didn’t?), but I’m durned if I can remember a single salient part of the story that didn’t end up here in the video (except for the largely nonsalient twins Sandy and Dennys… btw, was that pronounced like the greasy spoon restaurant or like “Dennis”? I’ve always wondered.). I’m slightly taken aback that a 90-second rundown could sum up that book as well as it did.

Their next mission, should they decide to accept it: Frank Bonham’s “The Missing Persons League”!
haineux

“Telstar” by The Tornados. Better than just about any other “satellite rock” songs. Except maybe this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IAZsprQzoI