Forum - View topicANNCast - Manic Maughan-day
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CareyGrant
Posts: 453 |
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Oh, no, I haven't forgotten the RROD and the "JunkBox360" or what a P.O.S. Windows is. Micro$oft is all about subpar products and greed, however, they have the means/resources (Read: Obscene amounts of Money) to BUY pretty much whomever they'd like. They could have easily -spent more than a 1.50 $US, which is what it looks like they paid to make this... after they hoped in their time machine to the early 1980's- hired out the best of Hollywood and Japan to write, animate and Dub the thing. But they didn't. For the "Mario" of the Xbox (aka Master Chief) and their most iconic and obscenely popular cult phenom Halo, they should have pulled out all the stops to make a gem that would surpass the Animatrix; thrown an obscene -for the anime industry, but a trifle to them- amount of money at it, step back, and let their hired geniuses do their thing while they swam laps in they're Money Bin in Seattle, ala Scrouge McDuck. But... what they and we ended up with was TOTALLY underwhelming, totally craptactular and totally forgettable, but, I guess that's also very Micro$oft: underwhelming you with overhyped, subpar junk. |
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gartholamundi
 Posts: 316 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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5th Element -- absolutely excellent. all around. from the storyline, to the characters, to the races, to the actors, to the music -- awesome. i was blown away. so blown away that i saw the film FIVE times in the theaters, bought the DVD when it came out, then bought the special edition 2-disc DVD when that came out later. after watching it ten times i quit keeping track of how often i watched it. it is seriously amazing, and so incredibly and richly detailed that i can still watch it and see little bits here and there in the backgrounds that i don't remember having seen before. a totally realized sci-fi epic universe. -- Tim -- you rocked this podcast! LoGH is on my list now, and i can't wait to see Redline. thanks SO VERY MUCH for your review!! |
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qollocust
 Posts: 182 Location: Philadelphia |
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I completely agree. I read a lot of her books when I was younger around the same time I was just getting into anime and often thought back then how awesome it would be to see these stories animated. Plus we need more good fantasy in anime. |
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doctordoom85
 Posts: 2093 |
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I have to speak up in defense of the LOST finale (and the series as a whole, I guess). First of all, I'll at least give kudos to Zac for not being amongst the countless people who completely misinterpreted the ending. spoiler[Christian clearly explained that everything that happened on the Island was real, and everyone died exactly when we saw or assumed they died, some before Jack's death, some after. Despite this, fans either ignored everything Christian was saying, or focused too much on those images of the 815 wreckage during the credits that ABC threw in (the writers had nothing to do with that, so those shots are non-canon), so they reached the incorrect "conclusion" that everyone had been dead since the beginning of the series. As such, a lot of the "finale blew!" comments are actually coming from people who didn't even understand what they saw. Not all, mind you, but a good deal of them.]
Now then, the whole spoiler["Losties re-uniting in the afterlife" did not come out of left field. Okay, arguably the idea they could actually do something like that, but the theme of the bond between the characters ("live together, die alone" = nakama theme) has been present since Season 1, episode 5. Christian even points this out when he says the time they spent together was the best times of their lives (and Jacob reiterates how awful their pre-Island lives truly were, a lesson Jack had to relearn when he temporarily left the Island). Jack attempted to change all this when he (technically, Juliet) detonated the bomb, but the past never changed, Daniel said that constantly in Season 5 and his new theory that they could was destined to turn out wrong. Instead, it created a purgatory world where they could re-unite. The result of the bomb is random, though more sensible than an actual alternate-reality (since there would be a few continuity errors, like Jack's appendix scar, if it were), but the idea of it coming about isn't farfetched considering the show has already acknowledged existence post-deaths with the ghosts of Charlie, Michael, etc. Season 2 was NOT focused on Walt. That was Michael's season arc, and it had nothing to do with any ability Walt might have, but simply because his son was kidnapped. Season 2 focused on the Swan, faith vs. science, and the growing presence of the Others via "Henry Gale"/Ben. Heck, Michael wasn't even present for half of the season. Walt himself has become somewhat of an annoying overexaggerated element amongst the fans. Why does Walt in particular have to have an explanation of why he has these abilities? Nobody ever asks why Miles can hear dead people's final thoughts or why Hurley can talk to ghosts, so why the double standard? Walt was brought into the series to set-up further characters having supernatural abilities and as an element to give Michael more character depth. Walt was never really a significant character in terms of depth, and considering he was only on the Island for a month and spent the rest of his life off-Island, it would have been really random for him to be in the church. Finally, there's really no point in picking on Season 2. It's generally considered by LOST fans to be the "weakest" (but still pretty good) season, and has the most filler (Sawyer and Hurley go tree-frog hunting?!). There really weren't many unanswered questions by the end. We know what the monster is. We know most of what we need to know about the Others. We know practically everything about DHARMA. We know what the whispers are. We know about Jacob. We know everything about the Swan/hatch. Etc, etc. The remaining unanswered questions are pretty minor in comparison and can easily be given reasonable answers if you pay attention to the answers and elements provided in the show. LOST didn't enter exposition-mode to address every single thing the fanbase couldn't get, and thank God it didn't as far as I'm concerned. Besides, at the end of the day, ask a good majority of LOST fans what is the real strength of LOST and they'll say it's the characters. With very few arguable exceptions, the entire cast of LOST went through constant character development and emerged very different from how they started. Seeing everyone re-unite in the afterlife at the end was heartwarming, and watching Jack die as he smiled at seeing his friends survive and flying away was heartbreaking and heartwarming. The series ends exactly as it began (shoe still hanging from a tree, Vincent arrives, Jack opens/closes eye) in a brilliant way.] Overall, LOST will be one of my favorite fictional series period, and the writers/actors/crew have provided six terrific years of TV. For that, I'm truly grateful. |
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writerpatrick
 Posts: 671 Location: Canada |
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I"m glad to hear a Lost fan being honest about the show. I'm also glad I never watched it. And I'm particularly glad not to have to put up with Lost fans ranting on about how great the show was when they were only trying to justify a bad show.
I didn't get into watching it because at the time it conflicted with another show I was watching, but I wasn't all that turned on by it. It was a case of a whole bunch of gimmicks being thrown in to fool the fans into thinking it was something clever. And a lot of people forget that in the first couple years Abrams denied that the show was SF, even though he wound up making it SF when he couldn't figure out how to explain stuff. Lost was no Life on Mars (UK version)/Ashes to Ashes. Although you compared the show to Evangelon, there's a lot of anime it could get compared to. But anime itself usually had the advantage of being based upon a novel or manga to begin with, so there's already a story there. |
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Raneth
Posts: 271 |
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I could read the transcription in a third to a half the time it takes to listen to the whole thing, at my own pace. On top of that, deaf people are SOL. I'd love a transcription. |
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jrnemanich
 Posts: 238 Location: Denver |
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LoGH is my favariote show.
Last edited by jrnemanich on Fri May 28, 2010 2:59 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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agila61
 Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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Animating Star Trek! ... there's a new idea! A second arc for Firefly would be comfortable in an anime setting, though to tap the fanatical firefly fans would require the original actors as VA's. Wonder whether a Japanese release would be dubbed or subbed. Ringworld would work as an anime ... it would be easier to anime a Pierson's Puppeteer than to insert it with CGI into a live action show. The Earthsea Trilogy that was butchered into a lame live action show could make excellent fodder for an anime series. |
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varmintx
 Posts: 1200 Location: Covington, KY |
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Anime_Rapture
 Posts: 33 Location: Madison, WI |
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Oh man, I never thought about this, but when I was in middle school/high school I loved her work!! I assume I still do, just haven't read it in a while. But I agree!! |
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CareyGrant
Posts: 453 |
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Really? I saw one just the other day on... was it the MLB channel or... Food Network? Or perhaps ESPN? Regardless, I was shocked.
Not having read the series or author -and always looking for a good read- what's her stuff like? Whom would you compare her to? |
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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The Metropolis anime makes me rage not because it's THAT BAD, but because it's THAT much of a missed opportunity in my book.
It had BEAUTIFUL art. It had a respectable, compelling story, and a script that, while it probably could have used a few more drafts, was pretty decent. With all that in its favor, it was just distressing to see utterly incompetent direction and incomprehensible and outright incoherent directorial and editing choices just club all that potential in the knees. Discordant edits, OFFENSIVELY inappropriate musical choices, and those incomprehensible Looney Toons style bubble-fade outs (only to fade back in in the SAME SCENE) made it pretty clear that Rintaro, as has kind of become famous for, had completely disregarded the characters and the story and had descended into complete self-indulgence. I was further offended while preparing interview material for Big Apple Anime Fest. Rintaro, on camera, admitted Tezuka never wanted an anime made of it, and he had to wait for the guy to die so he could make it. That's just disrespectful on pretty much every level. Sitting through that film was tantamount to watching Rintaro drunkenly fill his mouth with tempera paint and blow it out all over an art exhibit. It's the hard work and the money of hundreds, including the original creator, dashed and imperiled for the sake of one person's dysfunctional creative masturbation. That's more than bad direction, as a student of film and as a wanna-be creative myself, I find that grossly offensive. I had many opportunities to meet Rintaro and I avoided him because I was so disgusted by this. |
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doctordoom85
Posts: 2093 |
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-that's quite narrow-minded. I'll "rant" about LOST because I genuinely considered it a solid experience and work of fiction. Neither side, love or hate, can "justify" anything, it's all subjective opinions. And to be quite frank, it's the hating side that usually rants more when it comes to these sorts of things -JJ Abrams stopped being involved with LOST before Season 1 even finished, dude. LOST is really Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse's baby. And sci-fi? LOST is more of a mix of sci-fi/fantasy/supernatural than straight sci-fi. |
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Anime_Rapture
Posts: 33 Location: Madison, WI |
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Oh man, The Fifth Element is freaking awesome!! I would definitely recommend it. |
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agila61
Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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Of bloody course it isn't, what do you think "XYZ! ... thats a new idea!" bloody means. Struth, |
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