Dr. STONE SCIENCE FUTURE

Episode 31

Like it or loathe it, for over a century, mass media has shaped the way we view our world. Arguably, no technology has entranced the masses quite so completely as television. Here we are in 2026, fully one century since Scottish inventor John Logie Baird demonstrated the world's first mechanical television system, and you're reading an online review of an animated TV show. I wonder if Baird had any concept of how revolutionary his invention would become? He probably never anticipated the inexorable rise of anime, I suppose.

Senku understands the utility of widely accessible entertainment media, and in this episode becomes a TV (re)inventor and producer of varied flavors of programming. What better way to capture the minds of all those new people the Kingdom of Science must revive to then put to work to rebuild the world? Gen's attempts to explain to the confused newly revived citizens about Senku's plan to rocket to the moon to confront the mysterious Why Man pale in comparison to the seductive efficiency of phosphorescent cathode ray tube screens.

On another entertainment topic, Sai's overjoyed to receive his long awaited “SAL 9000” (an extremely on-the-nose 2001: A Space Odyssey reference), an enormous mechanical computer with the roughly equivalent processing power of a 1983 Nintendo Famicom. This is a 60MHz beast with 512k of memory, primitive by today's standards, but positively space-aged in the Stone World. Obviously, the first thing Sai does is code some video-games for it: blatant yet legally-distinct Tetris, Pac-Man, Breakout, and Asteroids clones.

All of this shiny new tech is powered by the newly-operational hydroelectric dam, complete with enormous metal pylons towering far above the forest below. It's a sobering reminder that with technological progress comes a cost to the natural world. Yet perhaps this is a small price to pay to be able to televise the Stone World's first ever US/Japan baseball fixture! The new “Dragon TV” station aims to fill the airways with new shows, including Treasure Island Cooking, Yuzuriha's Craft Hour, and… Magma's Elvis Impersonations…? It's an eclectic line-up, at least.

In the background, while the entertainment industry erupts back into life, so does the mysterious Medusa device, inexplicably breaking out of its vacuum-sealed jar, and suddenly petrifying Gen and Yo. In response, Senku orders removal of its battery, and for it to be sealed in an Akira-style spherical prison, under constant video-camera surveillance. It's such a potentially dangerous, disruptive device (that essentially offers its wielder a form of immortality) that it's surprising it hasn't been locked away so securely already. I expect we'll start to get answers about Medusa's true nature fairly soon… at least I hope so, with only six more episodes to go until the end.

Like the previous episode, there's a lot going on this week and we barely get time to breathe. The TV and video-game subplots are fun but rushed, but that seems to be the price we pay for getting a full adaptation of this story. Hopefully there will be a return to more emotional storytelling before the season is out. As much as I enjoy the rapid-fire scientific advancement part of Dr. Stone, sometimes that comes at the expense of meaningful character moments.

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