After way too many years, a new Babylon 5 movie is coming out on DVD at the end of July. The movie, titled ‘The Lost Tales’ apparently takes place some 10 years after the end of the series (or the end of Season 4 at least) and is about Sheridan taking a trip back to Babylon 5 for a diplomatic conference of some sort. (more…)
One of my Xmas gifts from my sister was the first boxed set of Batman: The Animated Series. I had really forgotten how cool it was.
Damn… There is a real stinker on the first disc though. “The Underdwellers” was really really reminding me of the ancient Punky Brewster cartoon because the villain just looked so goofy and it came across more of as one of those old moral of the story bits at the end of a G.I.Joe or He-Man cartoon then the rest of the Batman cartoons did.
The show had and still has a great deal of style. Only just now starting on the second of the four discs in the box and it looks to promise some better episodes then the first disc did.
Definately reminds me of when it was first on. I remember just falling silent when it came on and just staring at the tv until it was over. It was so entirely different from anything else that was on tv at the time.
It does show its age a little. Or maybe that is me sitting 18″ away from a higher resolution screen then when I watched it before. Been watching it on my computer monitor in my new desk chair ( my other Xmas gift from my sister, she stole it from her office which I think makes me an accessory to her crime in some way or another ) since it is actually more comfortable then my sofa. Easier to keep my office heated then my living room too.
Batman Beyond from a few years back wasn’t a bad cartoon version of Batman updated to take place a little bit into the future. Wasn’t great, but had some nice takes on the rogue’s gallery.
Saw the new Batman cartoon the other day, actually seen it a few times when I remember it is on. Liked the music on it, not too fond of the animation style. I do have to give them points for a more interesting (IMNSHO) version of the Penguin and the Man-Bat, though if I remember right thier version of the ice guy (Dr. Freeze?) whose name escapes me at the moment was a bit disappointing after the very cool version that had gone before.
Anyways, back to watching the dvds. 21 episodes to go still in this boxed set.
Been passing some of the daytime hours lately watching movies with a friend. Odd thing to say, given that the friend is in another timezone, but it works out. Been fun, hadn’t seen some fo the movies for a while, some I had never seen before ( though owned, don’t ask. my dvd sorting method is poor. ).
Watched Ever After today. Hadn’t seen that in a long long time. You’ve Got Mail a few days ago. Actually, can’t think off hand of the entire list of movies we’ve watched. Also watched some of the Record of the Lodoss Wars and the third season of The Slayers.
Other then that… Drooling over CoV info still. City of Villains looks like a cooler game the more I hear about it. Really hoping that a lot of the little quality of life improvements, like shared mission completion ( 2 people have the same mission, they do one persons copy, both people can claim credit for it and both can advance their story-arcs from it ), will make it back into CoH.
Did the Synapse Task Force again last night. Long thing, but still fun. One of my favorites because I simply enjoy fighting Clockwork. Nice, simple, straightforward fights. Took my Ice/Ice blaster on it, was fun to have him out to play again too. Did take long enough that my back was hurting pretty bad by the end of it though.
Not much other news from my life then that. Scar still feels stiff and funny on my stomach. Ribs are still cracked and hurt when in chair for too long. Left hand still needs the splint most of the time and right hand still twinges with pain at weird times ( bruised but didn’t break it ).
(Originally posted at A Home Away from Hythia)
So even after posting last night and heading off to bed I still couldn’t get to sleep right away. Just as well as after a little bit it finally hit me that yesterday was Saturday and that meant a new Fullmetal Alchemist episode at 11:30.
It is really rather hard for me to summarize the story at this point, I missed the very end of the first season and the death of one of the main characters that apparently happened then. But last nights episode… Sin… Wow… How many secrets can you reveal, how much character development, how much drama and deception can you pack into a half hour?
It was also exactly what my brain needed as it was enough to pretty much draw all of my focus and let me ponder that until I fell asleep without random weirdness popping up inside my skull and keeping me awake.
The fifth DVD of the series ( The Cost of Living ) comes out in a few days, and I’ve seen all those episodes already but it’ll be nice to see them again with a literal English subtitle track for as pure a translation as I’ll get of the original Japanese story ( it also has an English caption subtitle track ). It is also the point where the story goes from being just a fun watch and a good story to where your jaw suddenly starts dropping at regular intervals at the choices the characters are forced to make and the depth of the story.
The sixth DVD ( Captured Souls ), which I’ve only seen the second and third of the four episodes on it, comes out in November and I am not sure if it ends the season or if there is one more DVD after that which I missed before the second season started.
And if I am going to go this fanboy on the series, I really should just do actual DVD reviews and synopsis of them at some point…
(Originally posted at A Home Away from Hythia)
I have to say off the bat that I am a little biased against most of these because I really do prefer subtitled anime over dubbed. English language voice actors just so very often miss out the nuances and inflections that carry over from the original Japanese dialogue. Even if I can’t make out what the words actually mean in Japanese, I can at least tell from a rising tone of voice, or a suddenly clipped enunciation a mood or tone that so horribly often isn’t expressed in the dubbed English audio track. That said most of what is aired on Cartoon Network is at least decently voice acted, but I still prefer subtitled and the original voice actors in a foreign language.
Naruto - Short synopsis is that the main character Naruto is a ninja trainee, but he is largely despised by the village he lives in because right after he was born a nine-tailed fox demon attacked the village and the villages former leader, in order to defeat it, sacrificed his life to bind the demon in the baby Naruto and the village was sworn to secrecy about this fact. So he grew up without family and with the adults who had been alive then looking at him as a demon and not as a person.
I really want to love this series. The manga is amazingly good. Awesome fight scenes in the manga, great characters and character development. The anime so far just seems to miss getting it a little. The pacing I think is where it is missing out at. All the action just seems so much slower paced on screen then it did when read in the manga, it seems to all be missing some sense of immediacy to it. I have the first five manga volumes, and fan-translated scans of it from the original Japanese release up to about volume 23. It is still a good watch despite my liking the manga better, and I plan to keep watching it. It is on Saturday nights at 7:30, 9 and 10 pm. 7:30 appears to be a repeat though and 9 and 10 are the new episode.
Bobobo-bo bo-bobo - Uhm. How to describe this… The main character whom the show is named after claims to be the Bo-tector of Hair. The villains go around the world shaving peoples heads and Bobobo with his big yellow afro of hair fights them using his… body hair. I mean, literally giant whip’like nose hairs shoot out of his nose and slap villains around.
This may be the single most absurd show I have seen in a long long long time. I’ve seen the first episode three times now and each time my brain partway through crawls off to a quiet cornor of my head and hides under a blanket until the show ends. It is just that weird. It is on Saturday nights at 10:30 pm.
Fullmetal Alchemist - Edward and Alphonse Elric are alchemists. They practice the art of alchemic transmutation, turning matter from one form or shape into another. They sought to learn alchemy after their mother died in an attempt to bring her back to life via a forbidden human transformation. They failed though, and in the process Alphonse lost his entire body and Edward lost his left leg and sacrificed his right arm to bond Alphonse’s soul to a suit of armor. Since then they have sought the legendary Philosopher’s Stone, an alchemic catalyst that may allow them to restore their bodies back to normal.
I love this show. I have the first four DVDs of it and both of the PS2 games that have come out so far. The show right now is just into the second season of the series and it continues to surprise with the sheer depth of the characters in the story. It is on Saturday nights at 11:30 pm.
Inu Yasha - Is a feudal fairy tale. Kagome is a modern Japanese school girl who never believed in myths and legends. Until she tumbles down a well into Japan’s ancient past and finds the tales are far too true and that her destiny is linked to one creature in particular, Inu-Yasha the doglike half-demon.
This is a very long series, I think right now it is airing the third or fourth season. It is also a very good series. The original manga was written by Rumiko Takahashi who also wrote Ranma 1/2 and Maison Ikkoku. It is very much a romance-action-feudal fairy tale. A lot of the story revolves around Kagome, Inu Yasha and Kikyo, the shrine maiden that Inu Yasha once loved and that Kagome may be the reincarnation of. I have the manga up to volume 13 and I know it stretches past 27 volumes. It airs at 11pm on Saturdays, and 12:30 and 3:30 am every weekday. Saturdays are the most recent / latest episode while the weekday airings tend to be earlier in the season or an earlier season.
Cowboy Bebop - It is the future, space travel is a reality via jumpgates around the solar system. Despite humanity spreading out across the solar system, society isn’t much better and crime is pretty rampant in some places. The crew of the Bebop are bounty hunters who make a living catching criminals and cashing them in.
The description I can give doesn’t come close to how amazingly damned cool this show is. The show literally oozes style, from the music to the animation all the way through. I have gotten a lot of art designer and musician friends hooked on anime by introducing them to this show. Most every episode has a unique musical theme that sets the score for the entire episode and the pacing for it too. I can’t even begin to describe the full effect of how it works. But it is good. That said, don’t watch this on Cartoon Network. They air it at 1:30 and 4:30 am on Sundays, but it is dubbed and while the English voice-acting is at least decent on this, it doesn’t always mesh as well with the music and the pacing as it should. I have all six DVDs of the series and the movie on dvd. The movie isn’t that good either, still a good show but it somehow lost the perfect sense of style from the series in the transition to the big screen and longer format.
Okay, handful of other really good cartoons on Cartoon Network right now, but left hand is cramping a little from typing and back is hurting, so ending this for now.
(Originally posted at A Home Away from Hythia)
I hate it when this happens. I had something deep and profound to write when I sat down, and the moment I began typing it slipped away so fast I can’t even make out the shape of the hole in my thoughts that the idea once filled. So you are going to get random crap instead.
Grumpy because the first MirrorMask showing in Oregon isn’t until the 14th of October. Check the theater listings here to see where the first showing is by wherever you are. MirrorMask was written by Neil Gaiman ( of Sandman fame ) whose blog can be found here.
Unrelated movie sidenote, of all of the comic properties I could have imagined them turning into a movie, Ghost Rider would not have made my list. I don’t know why I couldn’t picture it. It has everything needed for an action movie: dangerous rebel main character ( stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze ), some cool props ( his head turns into a flaming skull and he has a cool motorcycle ), a touch of supernatural evil ( main character makes a deal with the devil ), and lots of senseless violence ( he deals out vigilante justice ). Which basically means lots of motorcycle stunts, flame and explosions, as well as people being beaten by chains. Apparently it will be starring Nicholas Cage and set to come out July 2006.
(Originally posted at A Home Away from Hythia)
So in this weird increasing trend of me actually watching this big blocky television I have and actually using my cable for something other then weather reports and cartoon network, I spent a little bit of time in front of it tonight.
Supernatural was weird. At least the end of it was. Only say the last maybe fifteen or twenty minutes of it. Anyone see the entire thing and have an impression of it?
The premise, from what I could tell, was two brothers whose father has been hunting down supernatural killers but has disappeared and they are trying to find him now. One of them saw their mother get killed by something supernatural as a child.
Law & Order : SVU was decent. Story was the military using an anti-malarial drug with known side effects that was causing soldiers to murder and rape. Basically the sort of story where I spent most of the time thinking “Is this really supposed to surprise or shock me in some manner?” as I was watching it. Yes, I really am that cynical.
Daily Show with Jon Stewart though was the highlight of the night. At the end of the broadcast they had Kurt Vonnegut ( as in “Slaughterhouse Five” and “Breakfast of Champions” ) as a guest.
Vonnegut was hilarious. Despite looking ancient, he still had a sharp tongue in his mouth and a funny bit of wit to him. At the end he pulled out a list of ’shit I am tired of listening to’ and the one he had a chance to read was “forgive us our tresspasses, as we forgive those that tresspass against us” and his comment was something along the lines of ’someone tresspass against me and I am going to cut them’. Jon Stewart said he’d have the list posted up on the Daily Show website, but I am not seeing it at the moment.
Edit: ktbuffy let me know that the list has been posted up. It can be found here.
(Originally posted at A Home Away from Hythia)
The strange part of being sick and having a dysfunctional net connection ( which makes it sound like my modem needs Cialis ) is that I end up watching a lot of television.
There is a good chance that I watched more television yesterday then I did all last week. A pretty good chance actually given I found the tv remote under the listings for the week before last.
The bits that I am coherent enough to remember:
Krypto the Superdog is awful. Even if you consider it targetted at the kindergarten age crowd, it is awful. I really think they had to have made one hell of an effort to write stories as shallow as they have managed to.
I will admit, I have seen a decent episode in the past involved Bat-Dog and him being sneered at for his lack of ‘powers’ and then proving he just needed his smarts. But the two stories they had that I saw yesterday… An alien flea bites Krypto and causes Krypto to wreck his owners yard until alien flea powder is applied and the flea runs away, and Lex Corp has a ‘growing ray’ invented and Luthor’s pet iguana uses it on a caterpillar to make it a bigger meal and the caterpillar causes havoc in the city until it goes into a cocoon.
Two stories that easily could have been more then they were, the flea one could have been about needing to remember to take care of Krypto and groom him properly as just because he is the ‘Dog of Steel’ doesn’t mean he doesn’t get fleas. The second one could have been an imaginative re-write of the ‘Ugly Duckling’. Instead, they were mindless and shallow and really not even all that interestingly animated or voice-acted. Blegh.
Law & Order is something I have watched a lot of over the years. It is still one of those shows, and its spin-offs ( at least CI and SVU ), that I will take the time to watch since they are almost always well-written. I did stop watching it for a while, when they were big on the whole ‘Ripped from the Headlines, but with a Law & Order twist ending’ bit as that was really tiresome and often their twist endings were just… goofy. They’d be weird, silly, 11th hour stuff that would go against the flow of the rest of the episodes story. But whenever I turn on the tv, I often end up watching a lot of it as re-runs.
I do miss Lenny ( Jerry Orbach? ) in the new episodes. He was a great actor and him having been a part of the series for so long made it seem more real or immersive I suppose. He had certain habits and you would just get used to seeing them and there was the fun anticipation of looking forward to his ‘quip’ before the first commercial break. That said, I do still remember him best for his bit as a guest villain on Buck Rogers ages ago, where he was an evil band manager who was going to take over the solar system with his hypnotic messages over-laid on the bands live concert broadcast. So delightfully corny.
Medium is a show I have a weird love-hate relationship with. Something about the show, the premise with it or something, just quite simply rubs me the wrong way and makes me not want to like it. The writing and the acting though are exceptional.
It is possibly the only time I’ve seen a married couple with kids written on a tv program and you can actually believe that they are a married couple with kids. The disappointments about her having to work late, the playful bits of making up, him being angry and sleeping on the couch because he doesn’t want to be woken by her when she finally gets in from work, etc. It is just superbly written and acted and if I can just ignore the actual plot of the episodes and just watch the people act out being family members and listen to the banter it is an amazingly fun time.
Daily Show with John Stewart always makes me laugh out loud. Nothing really to say about this except that if you have a sense of humor, and aren’t so conservative that you believe that ’stoning’ isn’t a valid form of punishment, you should enjoy watching it.
Funny bit about the Daily Show, apparently Channel 4 in England just picked it up in syndication to broadcast it on their digital More4 station. Previous to that, to watch the Daily Show over there you apparently just got the cut-togethor weekly form of it that CNN would air. Something about CNN airing a weekly ‘highlights’ version of a fake news program like the Daily Show just makes me laugh.
Awake enough now to realize I need breakfast. Going to go raid my pantry and fridge for consumables and see if I can find a Law & Order episode on at this time of day.
(Originally posted at A Home Away from Hythia)