Witnesses Trailer a Triumph

[dastardly stem]

I guess I am not following, stem. Would you mind expatiating on your question a bit?

It was meant more rhetorical. I don't know why the plates should even factor into the story anymore. Joseph never looked at them, they lay hidden while he dictated the words.

[Tom]

Professor Peterson was kind enough to contact me in order to set me straight on the nature of this "trailer." It is a kind of project overview that combines elements of the film and the documentary. The trailer that is being shown in Megaplex Theaters is professionally produced. We have no access to that at present, unless we can get to a Megaplex Theater.

When the time of the film's release draws nigh, the professionally produced trailer will be published online.

Both Ann Taves and John Butler are almost certainly going to be in the documentary, and, as many of you already know, neither is a member of the LDS Church.

Thank you, Kishkumen. I assume that the trailer being shown in Megaplex Theatres is not the project overview posted at the Witnesses website. I would check it out in a theater, but COVID-19 is a serious problem.

In the meantime, I would direct everyone's attention to a behind-the-scenes video clip from the film: https://m.Facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 3653873596. The clip features actors portraying Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and a highly astonished David Whitmer.

[Lem]

Megaplex theatres has a YouTube channel with a playlist of current trailers, but the Witnesses trailer hasn't shown up on it yet.

Trailers

138 videos•229 views•Updated today•

You love movies, and so does Megaplex. See the latest trailers with all of today's hottest stars, all for movies coming soon to your local Megaplex Theatre

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... aq0kEAWXbn

[Dr Exiled]

Professor Peterson was kind enough to contact me in order to set me straight on the nature of this "trailer." It is a kind of project overview that combines elements of the film and the documentary. The trailer that is being shown in Megaplex Theaters is professionally produced. We have no access to that at present, unless we can get to a Megaplex Theater.

When the time of the film's release draws nigh, the professionally produced trailer will be published online.

Both Ann Taves and John Butler are almost certainly going to be in the documentary, and, as many of you already know, neither is a member of the LDS Church.

Thank you, Kishkumen. I assume that the trailer being shown in Megaplex Theatres is not the project overview posted at the Witnesses website. I would check it out in a theater, but COVID-19 is a serious problem.

In the meantime, I would direct everyone's attention to a behind-the-scenes video clip from the film: https://m.Facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 3653873596. The clip features actors portraying Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and a highly astonished David Whitmer.

At least the clip shows the beginnings of David Whitmer's gullibility, via being promised a prominent role in God's one and only church. He is astonished and pleased by the news in the clip, a good sign for Joseph Smith, the fraudster, that his mark will be ready. Oliver is the one disclosing it to David, that David will be a leader. That might be a fair representation of what could have occurred as Oliver was probably in on the righteous con, being promised a prominent role himself, and so would know to butter up the mark.

Now, after the box containing the plates is put on the table, will David ask, then demand to see the plates? Probably not. David wasn't that skeptical and already showed the start of a bromance with Joseph Smith in the scene on Facebook. So, if he did ask, he would have been easily quieted with the "God" won't allow anyone to see the prop excuse. But if you are righteous, David, all is possible. "God" chose you of all people David .... blah, blah, blah.

[Dr Exiled]

Megaplex theatres has a YouTube channel with a playlist of current trailers, but the Witnesses trailer hasn't shown up on it yet.

Trailers

138 videos•229 views•Updated today•

You love movies, and so does Megaplex. See the latest trailers with all of today's hottest stars, all for movies coming soon to your local Megaplex Theatre

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... aq0kEAWXbn

I thought Coach P, thespian, got one of the local theater workers to insert the witnesses preview clip during previews for only one of the movies showing at one theater in Provo/Orem?

[Res Ipsa]

Oh, Megaplex is a Morridor thing. That's why I hadn't heard of it.

[Lem]

They really have someone in the film saying that the original plates were just a prop? Isn't that kind of like blowing a hole in the bottom of your ship just as you set sail?

Nothing they can show in the film can possibly be inconsistent with the plates having been a prop ... because the plates in the film are a prop. If it can be shown on film with a prop, it could have happened with a prop originally.

Isn't this going to occur to a lot of viewers?

That's a great point. I am sure some will make the connection regarding the film prop and Joseph Smith creating a prop that remained hidden from everyone to avoid exposure of the hoax.

It has apparently occurred to Peterson himself....

The existence of both the Book of Mormon plates and our prop plates requires explanation. As I said above, somebody made them.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeterson?s=plates

[Dr Exiled]

That's a great point. I am sure some will make the connection regarding the film prop and Joseph Smith creating a prop that remained hidden from everyone to avoid exposure of the hoax.

It has apparently occurred to Peterson himself....

The existence of both the Book of Mormon plates and our prop plates requires explanation. As I said above, somebody made them.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeterson?s=plates

I love that physics guy posts his outsider views here.

Another point that is going to be misleading about the witnesses film is that the plates are shown to the audience. In real life, as we all understand, no one saw them except for a few insiders that had to be "spiritually" prepared first, as if that should be a requirement to see some object like a book or a top hat. A more accurate portrayal would be to always keep the plates from view in the movie and leave the audience as we actually are today, having to trust some insider witnesses that there were actual ancient plates that weren't just a mere prop for a con.

[Tom]

I must point out that the Interpreter Foundation's chair has posted an "earnest" and rather agonizing year-end appeal for more money for the Witnesses project. As a lead-in to the appeal, he complains about an "attack on several organizations including the Interpreter Foundation [that] was posted online." He writes:

One element of the recent attack says that the Interpreter Foundation, in particular, has fully a million dollars in “extra” annual money, and then — as if the two facts are related — observes rather ominously that I’ve gone on cruises. In actual point of fact, the million dollars in question are probably those that we’ve raised and largely spent in order to complete the forthcoming Witnesses theatrical film.

Probably? He doesn't know? If he doesn't know, what are we to make of this statement in the same painful appeal:

We have kept the funding for our Witnesses film project separate from the general funding for Interpreter proper. I made a solemn promise to my board that I would not allow the movie effort, or fundraising for it, to come at the expense of the basic Foundation itself. I intend to keep that promise.

In any case, it seems that approximately $200,000 is needed to fund an "expanded advertising budget" for the theatrical film. Why? The film's distributor apparently "feels that [Witnesses'] wonderful and dedicated filmmakers have created an exceptionally significant movie." I'm looking forward to seeing this "exceptionally significant movie."

It also seems that an undefined amount of additional money is needed to produce 3-5-minute "snippets," which the Interpreter Foundation's chair defines as "online short features aimed at a youngish audience" intended to "deal with every significant issue, every serious objection, connected with the testimonies of the official and unofficial witnesses to the Book of Mormon." I suggest contacting Kwaku El to head up this project. By all accounts, he's the expert on reaching a youngish Latter-day Saint audience with accurate, well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of the Church.

In related news, it seems that the Interpreter Foundation's Giving Tuesday 2020 Facebook fundraiser is not going well. Be the answer. As Sarah McLachlan famously sang, "I will be the answer at the end of the line." Please give. Just give.

[Philo Sofee]

Isn't it interesting how he says every serious problem will be explored with the witnesses? I ask, just who gets to decide what is serious and what isn't? If it's Mormons who gets to decide, then they can literally skip anything that will shake testimonies, and work only with what they alone term serious, and yet still claim in their own minds truthfully at least, that they did deal with every serious problem in their eyes, not the outside world's eye. In other words, it's faith promoting fluff without any real discussion of the issues.