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I remember seeing advertisements on TV for the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers when I was a kid. I may have even seen an episode or two, but I certainly didn't watch it on a regular basis. I don't think it was until much later that I found out it was originally a Japanese show called Super Sentai. When they brought it to the USA they cast american kids and refilmed scenes where the characters weren't in costume, and then spliced that new footage with the action sequences from the Japanese show.
Well, I hadn't heard anything about the Power Rangers or Super Sentai for a long time, and I had sort of assumed the show was long gone. Just today, I discovered that it is currently in its 35th season in Japan. I also learned that each season of the show is treated as a separate series, dealing with a totally different set of heroes dealing with a totally different menace. All of this was brought to my attention when I found this video of the opening to the 33rd Super Sentai series.
Now, party of me wants to laugh at the pure campy-ness of that, but part of me feels like a ten-year-old boy sitting in front of the TV on a Saturday morning thinking "This is so awesome!" I did a quick Google image search and found the picture below of the main cast from that series. Why are campy Japanese superheroes so awesome? And why do Japanese kids look so much cooler than American kids?
This is a photo I snapped a while ago. I saw this statue in somebody's yard and it reminded me of the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who. I adjusted the colors in the photo digitally in an attempt to evoke the kind of spooky mood associated with these aliens.
I'll admit I don't really follow Doctor Who, although I do like the concept of the show and the character. However, for the benefit of my friends and family who are Doctor Who inthusiasts, I thought I would share a couple of random Doctor Who references I encountered randomly while roving very nerdy circles of the internet. Enjoy!
In late 2002 a very unique show aired on television called Firefly. This sci-fi show featured strong western motifs as it followed the lives of a crew of renegades operating a mercenary ship on the fringes of space. The stories were well told, the characters had depth, and the dialog was tightly written. Unfortunately, the show was short lived at only fourteen episodes. A movie sequel called Serenity was released in 2005, and the story has also been expanded through two graphic novels. Even with the relatively small extent of this franchise, its creators have been able to depict a setting rich in flavor and texture. They've provided just enough for a creative fan to build on and imagine their own stories set in the 'verse of Firefly and Serenity.
That's why it was very cool that they released the Serenity Role Playing Game. As a fan of the setting, and of roleplaying, a couple of years ago I got some of my siblings and friends together to play. We created our own characters to crew our own Firefly-class starship and had some pretty cool adventures together. A few months ago, I got to thinking that it could be very fun and interresting to turn our adventures into a series of short stories, and even expand on them. I'm calling this new "spin-off" series Flyin'. This title is taken from an exchange of dialog between two characters in the pilot episode of the original show.
Simon: Are you always this sentimental?
Mal: I had a good day.
Simon: You had the Alliance on you, criminals and savages... half the people on the ship have been shot or wounded including yourself, and you're harboring known fugitives.
Mal: We're still flying.
Simon: That's not much.
Mal: It's enough.
To me, that exchange summerizes pretty well the main theme of the show. It's about people living rugged, dangerous lives, and barely scraping by. For many of them, if they're still flying that's good enough.
So, as I set out to begin writing these stories, I found that I was having some difficulty getting a handle on four of the characters I would be writing about, since they were invented by my siblings and friends while we played the roleplaying game, rather than being my own creations. I got the idea to draw illustrations of each of the seven main characters, and I've found that in doing so I've been able to get a better grasp on the characters. So, here below I'm sharing what might be considered an ad of sorts diplaying the main cast of my stories along with the title of the series (click for full view).
I felt like doing some art today, so I made this anime-style drawing of the character Peter Petrelli from the show Heroes. It's based on a still of the character from an episode in season 1, where Hiro travels to the future and meets a future version of Peter (hence the scar on his forehead which the present Peter lacks).
Star Trek is a 2009 film that offers a new take on the classic series. The film features time-traveling Romulans from the future causing events that create an alternate timeline. This allows the movie to go back and explore the early adventures of the original show’s characters without facing continuity restraints. The film focuses primarily on Kirk and Spock, showing bits of their early lives and how each of them ended up joining Starfleet. Things quickly escalate when Starfleet is called on to aid the planet Vulcan – a mission that goes sour quickly, leaving many Starfleet vessels destroyed and the enterprise without a captain. The fledgling crew of the enterprise, most of whom are still cadets, must pull together to overcome the Romulan threat.
This film was very well written. It captured a sense of epic adventure and heroism that Star Trek often seems to lack. They also did a good job writing and casting the characters. I felt like I could be watching younger versions of the original cast. This film actually made me like Kirk. I didn’t much care for him in the original series and movies. It also gave a new perspective on Spock, my favorite character from the original show, which only made him more intriguing. I like how they made Spock’s repressed emotions an actual plot point, rather than just a minor background element.
This film definitely revived the franchise for me. I’m looking forward to a sequel.
Roleplaying
Because of my obsession with roleplaying games, I tend to watch most movies and shows with an eye for what I could take from it and apply to gaming. Here are some ideas from Star Trek.
Space Exploration Adventures: This movie got me excited for the idea of playing an RPG about space exploration adventures. I’ve been working on an RPG of my own for a while now that would essentially be Star Trek with the branding removed. Some of the things I like about Star Trek that could make for interesting roleplaying are the galactic politics, the alien cultures, and the random encounters made while exploring new regions of space.
Character Driven Plot: To a large extent, the plot of Star Trek is tied very closely to the characters involved. I think the film did a great job of making the characters matter to the overall story. This could/should be done in any RPG, but this film made me a little more alert to strive for that kind of character involvement in RPGs.
I had the idea to put together promotional images and brief descriptions of imaginary TV shows using the titles of popular shows already on TV. Hopefully you’ll get a laugh out of them.
Based in the 1950’s, American Idol is a pulp action serial about a team of adventuring archeologists searching for ancient treasures of the Native Americans. Follow their daring escapades as they delve through pueblo ruins and Amazon temples, facing danger at every turn. Can they outwit ancient traps and puzzles while racing to stay one step ahead of the soviets?
A spin-off from the original Star Trek series, Bones combines medical drama with science fiction. Join Dr. “Bones” McCoy as he travels the galaxy aboard the newly commissioned medical ship USS Reprieve, treating epidemics wherever they strike the Federation.
Step back in time to the medieval ages in Castle, the newest workplace sitcom on the air. If you think your boss is a tyrant, try being a knight for King Henry! Stress levels skyrocket when new yearly dragon-slaying quotas go into effect, and rumor has it that any underperformers will be sent off to the crusades.
Military action meets cute and fuzzy in Chuck, the new, zanny action-comedy about animals taking up arms against human oppression. Chuck the woodchuck has seen one too many trees plowed down for urban expansion, and decides to fight back as he leads a platoon of his furry friends into guerilla warfare. Chuck would!
Complete strangers take on home improvement projects together in the new reality TV game show House. Two teams of 6 people each move into separate houses. Both houses are old and dilapidated and the teams have just 1 month to completely remodel them. Tense drama and quirky antics mix with power tools and paintbrushes.
The History Channel original miniseries, How I Met Your Mother, explores the amazing true love stories of five couples that met during World War II. Dramatic reenactments supplement the touching tales told by the actual lovers and their friends and relatives.
Enter the highly competitive world of the professional chess tournament in Kings, the newest drama on NBC. Some of the smartest -and best looking- men and women from around the world vie for the championship, while they use their wits to manipulate events both on and off the chess board. Are you a pawn, or a king?
Four college kids set out for the adventure of their lives in Lost, a new coming of age dramedy on the CW. While attempting a great American road trip from
Survivor is a shocking new conspiracy thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat! 12 unsuspecting victims find themselves as the contestants in a deadly underground game where their lives are on the line. A mysterious organization sabotages their daily lives in every way imaginable, forcing them to fight for their very survival. The last man standing wins one hundred million dollars, but at what price?
Political and personal drama abounds in The Office. Michael Schrute has just been elected as the president of the
What do you think? Have a different take on a show title you would like to share?
Back in November, I said that my weekly time log posts would become monthly time log posts, and I haven't posted about my time log project since. Well, I've still been logging how I use my time, and I thought I'd post an update regarding the month of February.
Last month I spent 130 hours on theocratic activities. That includes 94 hours working with the RBC #10 in Oviedo. I'm really happy that my time spent on theocratic activities has moved to first place (after sleep that is).
Next I spent 76.5 hours on secular work. With the holiday season well behind us my work as dropped to part time hours, which I'm fine with for now. I had been hoping to gain full-time employment this year, but I've changed my attitude somewhat and am planning on putting off working full-time in favor of trying to regular pioneer.
I spent 34 hours reading. That isn't entirely accurate. Because a lot of my "work" with the RBC involves waiting around for materials to be delivered, I actually spent quite a few hours reading while I was there. These 34 hours represent time devoted solely to reading.
Creative pastimes, such as working on this blog and my wiki, creative writing, art, game design, and RPG prep, received 47 hours of my time. I'm pretty happy with that. I don't feel like that's an exorbitant amount of time, and I think I've accomplished a fair amount on my various projects.
Entertainment took up another 47 hours. This includes watching movies and shows, playing card games, board games, role-playing games, and sports.
Lastly, I spent 5.5 hours on housework, errands, and shopping.
Overall, I'm very happy with how I spent my time last month. I'm actually very happy with my life in general. Not that everything is going perfectly, but for the first time in a long time I feel like I'm right where I need to be in life, doing what I need to be doing. And that makes the bumps in the road a lot easier to put up with.
Not long ago I purchased the entire collection of Batman: The Animated Series. I recently finished watching the first volume, or season, of the show. The show first aired in 1992 to 1995. I watched it as a kid, and it definitely shaped my perception of the Batman character growing up. It’s interesting watching it again so many years later, and noting how many episodes I still remember.
The cartoon has a very distinct animation style. The art is very dark, minimalist, and stylized. Having grown accustomed to watching recent anime, it was a bit of a shock seeing American cartooning from the 90s. At first it seemed really crude. After awhile though, I’ve come to appreciate the simplicity of it. The animation tells the stories adequately and occasionally exceeds my expectations. I like how they combine Batman’s sci-fi elements with a sense of nostalgia. The cars, buildings, and clothing are styled after the fashions of the 1940s. All television and computer screens are black and white. I like the title cards at the beginning of each episode, which mimic the style of old movies. The music has a dark, theatrical style, and is pretty good, but lacking much variation in style. The whole thing has a certain amount of film-noir inspired style to it.
The writing for this show is the greatest point in its favor. So far, each episode has held my interest, with none of them coming across as boring or repetitive. A few have struck me as really well written, but I’ll mention just two specifically.
“Heart of Ice” introduces the character of Mr. Freeze to the series, and put a new spin on his back-story that turned him from a stereotypical mad scientist into a tragic character motivated by vengeance for a lost love. This episode won the show an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program.
“Joker’s Favor” is about an average family man named Charlie who runs afoul of the Joker by cursing him out on the busy highway after a bad day at work. After pleading for his life, the Joker spares him in exchange for a favor to be performed at some later date. Two years later, Charlie has changed his name and moved him and his family out of Gotham, but the Joker has been keeping track of him for these past two years and is ready to collect on the favor owed. This episode introduced the Joker’s sidekick Harley Quinn for the first time in any medium, and featured one of the best plot twists at the end of any episode in volume one.
Roleplaying
Because of my obsession with roleplaying games, I tend to watch most movies and shows with an eye for what I could take from it and apply to gaming. Here are some ideas from Batman: The Animated Series.
Recent History Setting: Batman: TAS is interesting in how they portray the setting, mimicking the styles of the 1940s while being very vague about the actual year(s) in which the story is set. I’ve played in modern settings, sci-fi settings, and a host of other universes, but I’ve never played a game set in recent history. That might be interesting, depending on the type of game.
Rogues Gallery: One of the fun things about Batman: TAS is the recurring villains. Not every episode features one of Batman’s more recognizable foes, but it is fun to watch them escape Arkham and hatch new plots against Gotham City and Batman. The nice thing about recurring villains is that they carry certain themes with them, and you can often identify the mastermind behind a particular crime by the nature of the crime or the way it was committed, before the criminal is even revealed on-screen. It allows you to set certain expectation for the audience/players, and either reward them for paying attention or surprise them with a twist.
I enjoyed the soundtrack to the anime Noir so much that I bought both volumes of it on CD. The musical score was composed mostly by Yuki Kajiura and is very unique in my experience with anime soundtracks. The music has a very international flavor that fits the style of the show. It features some interesting choices of instruments including woodwinds, accordions, Spanish guitar, and bagpipes. Some of the tracks are accompanied with lyrics which are sung in several languages including Japanese, English, Italian, and Latin. The musical score blends elements of techno, opera, and Paris street music to produce a unique sound.
The most recognizable tracks are on the first volume, including the songs Canta Per Me and Salva Nos, which are heard in one form or another in nearly every episode of the show. Another notable track from the first volume is Mélodie, which starts out with the simple tune of the music box stopwatch that is important to the show, and then expands the tune into a fast-paced techno track. Two noteworthy tracks from the second volume are Salva Nos II and Beautiful Emotions. The first is a foreboding reprise of the popular theme with an industrial sound, and the second is a piano version of the song from the ending credits without the lyrics.
Click on the links above to hear these tracks on YouTube.
Hear any good music lately? Please share!
I recently finished watching the anime series Full Metal Panic!, so here's my review:
The series follows Sousuke Sagara, a member of the covert anti-terrorist mercenary group Mithril, tasked with protecting Kaname Chidori, a spirited Japanese high school girl.
Unbeknownst to Chidori, she is a specially gifted person called a "Whispered", and has highly sensitive technological secrets locked away inside her brain. This is what makes her a prime target for certain terrorist organizations.
In order to protect her, Sagara infiltrates Chidori's high school, posing as a transfer student. He is only 17 himself, but is an accomplished soldier. He was born in the fictional, war-torn country of Helmajistan, and has been fighting on battlefields since he was 8 years old. For this reason he finds it very difficult to integrate into normal high school life. That's where a lot of the comedy in the show comes from.
The story starts out rather light-hearted with Sagara receiving his assignment and struggling to fit in to high school society while keeping a watchful eye on Chidori. The action comes in fairly quickly though when a group of terrorists manage to kidnap Chidori and her entire class. Sagara springs into action, with the aid of his fellow agents, to rescue her and the class. I like that right from this first encounter they establish pretty clearly that Chidori is not a damsel in distress, but is a brave and competent young woman. While she doesn't have the skills that Sagara has, she keeps a cool head under pressure and helps devise a plan to enable their escape. The series progresses with three major plot arcs, each raising the stakes for both of the main characters.
This struck me as a very well developed and balanced anime. The main plot was very serious in tone, with daring heroics and tragic consequences, while they still managed to insert a fair amount of humor throughout. There was also a good balance of action, plot, and character development. The supporting cast, including Sagara's fellow mercenaries and Chidori's classmates, were very colorful and interesting in their own right and did much to enhance the show. There are two continuations to this series, so obviously the ending couldn't wrap up the story entirely, but it was a satisfying conclusion nonetheless.
This anime was produced by a studio called Gonzo which does some of my favorite modern animation. The animation is very crisp, vibrant, and dynamic. They make use of CGI effects for some scenes, including the outside shots of Mithril's submarine. The character designs also have a very fresh, flashy style that I prefer. The soundtrack was fine, but not outstanding. The Japanese voice acting seemed to fit the characters well, but I didn't listen to any of the English dubs.
Now, in spite of the various good things this show has going for it, and even with the absence of anything I really disliked about it, I don't feel particularly compelled to buy it like I do with most of my favorite anime. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because, with two continuations to the series that I still haven't seen, I just haven't got the whole story yet. After I see the follow-up series maybe I can make a better judgment of the entire franchise.
Roleplaying
Because of my obsession with roleplaying games, I tend to watch most movies and shows with an eye for what I could take from it and apply to gaming. Here are some ideas from Full Metal Panic!.
A Soldier in Civilian Clothing: This series wasn't actually one of my inspirations for the "Freshmen Agents" RPG I thought of running with the BESM system, but I did find myself mining it for ideas for that game. Sagara's awkward position as an agent undercover in a normal high school produced a lot of plot ideas I'll probably twist, reconfigure, and reuse in "Freshmen Agents".
Recurring Villain: I don't think it's giving too much away to say that, yep, that bad guy from the first story arc is going to show up again. I don't believe I've ever really used a recurring villain in an RPG before, at least not to good effect. I think I should give that a try, as recurring villains can be powerful motivators for protagonists, especially if the villain is tied in with the hero personally some how.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is an anime series about an eccentric and hyper-active high school girl who is bored with her life and the world. While Haruhi is the central character in the plot, the story is told from the perspective of Kyon, one of her classmates. The anime is an adaptation of a series of Japanese novels. The first six episodes of the show adapt the story of the first book, while the next seven episodes adapt random chapters of later novels, and the final episode is an original story written specifically for the anime.
The story begins with the beginning of a new school-year. When Haruhi has the opportunity to introduce herself to the class, she flatly declares: “I'm Haruhi Suzumiya, from East Junior High. First off, I'm not interested in ordinary people. But, if any of you are aliens, time-travelers, or espers, please come see me. That is all!”
Haruhi quickly imposes her forceful personality on Kyon, a rather easily overshadowed guy, and draws him into her wacky antics and her search for the mysterious and abnormal. Together they form a school club called the SOS Brigade with a mission statement of: “Spreading Excitement All Over the World with the Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade” They quickly build the cast of supporting characters by enlisting three more students into their club: a quiet, brainy girl who seems to do little but read, a meek girl who Haruhi bullies into cosplay hijinks, and a ‘mysterious’ transfer student with a carefree attitude.
Gradually, Kyon discovers that Yuki, the brainy girl, is in fact a “humanoid interface,” or an artificial human, created by an extraterrestrial supercomputer in order to interact with organic life-forms. Mikuru, the meek cosplayer, soon reveals to Kyon that she is actually a time-traveler from the future. And finally, Itsuki, the easy-going transfer student, shows Kyon that he is actually an esper, a human gifted with psionic powers. All three of them have been assigned by their various agencies to observe Haruhi whom they each believe is critically important for various reasons. Yuki says that Haruhi’s existence produces contradictory data in the universe, Mikuru says that Haruhi disrupts the time stream, and Itsuki claims that Haruhi may be more than human, and that the entire universe may exist in its present state because of her. Haruhi remains, and must remain, unaware of her importance, and Kyon must now help the other three prevent one crisis after another, as Haruhi’s reality-changing powers threaten to destroy the world if left unchecked.
Now, when I first began watching this anime, I knew nothing about the novels it was based on, or about the plotline in general. All I knew was that it featured a young, spunky female lead. Any of you should know by now that those kinds of characters appeal to me (witness Ahsoka Tano, Rosetta Passel, Rani Dashel). Haruhi doesn’t quite shine as bright as she could in this way, however, because she pushes the paradigm just a bit too far, to the point of obnoxiousness. She does soften up a bit in the latter part of the series, but I would have liked to see her do so just a bit more, and maybe form some more obvious attachments with the supporting characters.
Likewise, I was pleasantly surprised by the wacky sci-fi elements, but was a little disappointed by the way that, after the first six episodes, the show abandons any over-arching plot and simply becomes “what crazy story can we tell this time?”. Also, the series lacks a satisfying conclusion, though supposedly there is a second season in the works.
However, after doing a little more research and learning about the show’s origins, I can understand why the show turned out somewhat dissatisfying. I think they would have done better to fill the second half of the show by completely adapting another one of the books instead of grabbing random stories from the rest of the series. I think I might be interested in getting the complete story from the novels if there is an English translation.
As far as production values go, it’s a newer anime from a good studio, so overall the art, music, etc. was very nice but not ground breaking. Some of the writing was hilarious, especially some of Kyon’s internal narrations. The Japanese voice-acting was good, but I didn’t listen to the English dubs, so I can’t say anything about them. The show featured some perverted humor/fan-service, but it wasn’t a pervasive element, and only appeared periodically.
Roleplaying
Because of my obsession with roleplaying games, I tend to watch most movies and shows with an eye for what I could take from it and apply to gaming. Here are some ideas from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
Non-serious Sci-Fi: I’ve only ever explored this once in RPGs with the game InSpectres. This show definitely has fun with its mix-match of sci-fi tropes, and I think running a sci-fi game that’s loose and zany could be fun.
A Supporting Character's Narration: I think it’s interesting how this show is obviously about Haruhi even though it’s narrated by her friend Kyon. This might be challenging to set up, but I think it could be interesting to play a game where the player characters are the supporting cast through whom the life of the main character is explored. This goes against the grain of RPGs in general, where the PCs are supposed to be the stars of the show. It also threatens to leave the players feeling bored and disaffected. If it could be pulled off it would require a central NPC character with a really dynamic personality that could capture the players’ interest and affection, and the PCs would have to be allowed to have an important impact on the story even as supporting characters. Perhaps the central character could even be a sort of “communal” PC that the players share, while they each also have their own side character.
I just finished watching the series Noir, so here's my review:
The series follows the story of two young female assassins who embark together on a personal journey to seek answers about mysteries from their past. Yumura Kirika has no memory of her past. She awoke one day with only an identity she knows is fake, a gun, and a mysterious watch. Mireille Bouquet has repressed memories of her parents' unsolved murder, but Kirika's watch begins to bring those memories back.
During the course of the series, they are lured into more and more traps by a secret organization named Les Soldats ("The Soldiers" in French), and eventually find themselves caught up in a globe-spanning conspiracy.
The plot develops at a steady pace, gradually revealing more secrets and surprises until the very end. Amidst the danger and intrigue, they still find time for a good amount of character development. The conclusion of the series was as satisfying as the journey.
The anime is somewhat unique among serious anime stories in that it takes place squarely in the real modern world. The action takes place in various countries, mostly in Eastern Europe. The creators scouted locations just like they would for a live-action production, and scenes that take place in Paris and other real-world cities are based on actual locations. The guns and other props, and costumes, were likewise drawn from actual real-life sources. While a lot of these details will go unnoticed by most viewers, I think the effort put into it probably helped the show capture a realistic feel.
The animation wasn't as stunningly beautiful as some I've seen, but it was consistently good, and there was some clever use of lighting and camera angles that made it rather exceptional. The musical score was also very well chosen and conducted. It's cool to see various musical themes carried throughout the series, and some of the music they choose for the action scenes was great.
The action in the show was pretty well done. The fight scenes aren't especially flashy, but they're made interesting by Mireille and Kirika's clever tactics. Also, while the series did feature plenty of gun-play, there was very little blood and nothing gruesome. Actually, I thought the way they handled the violence and killing was rather mature. Rather than trying to justify the main characters' violent lifestyle, or trying to make it seem appealing, they made it obvious that the violence was actually quite pointless and tragic. While they didn't exactly shove that message in the viewers' faces, it was definitely a running theme throughout the whole series. This combined with Kirika's amnesia, and the extensive action scenes, actually reminded me a bit of the Bourne movies.
Roleplaying
Because of my obsession with roleplaying games, I tend to watch most movies and shows with an eye for what I could take from it and apply to gaming. Here are some ideas from Noir.
Amnesiac characters: Rather than having a player create a background story for their character, have them begin with no memory of their past, and let the GM fill it in as they go. I've done this once with my Times Forgotten campaign. It's worked out alright there, but not every player might be up for this idea.
Play Wushu Open: This show actually reminded me of a free generic RPG I read recently called Wushu Open. The show features numerous battles wherein the main characters mow down a large number of nameless evil minions, punctuated by more intense battles against a single more worthy foe. Wushu Open features rules for descriptive action of exactly this type.
Shadow Conspiracies sans Sci-Fi: Some time ago I was working on writing a sci-fi mystery/conspiracy/thriller RPG called Shadow Conspiracies (working title). This anime strikes me as a good example of what that RPG might be like if played without the sci-fi elements.
I know I've mentioned it before, but I have to say again how much I like the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoon. It truly revitalizes the Star Wars universe for me. Last weeks episode, "The Downfall of a Droid", is an excellent example of how it does this.
Upbeat techno music is scattered throughout the soundtrack for the episode, giving it a fresh and exciting feel, instead of the dramatic orchestral arrangements of the movies. The battle that Anakin and Ahsoka fight against the IG assassin droids in a narrow ship's hold is both creative and visually dynamic.
Now, don't misunderstand me here. I love the Star Wars movies, especially the original trilogy. However, with all of the expanded universe content that's been produced in the form of books, video games, etc., I feel like Star Wars is getting worn thin. Some EU content manages to capture the charm of the original movies, such as the Thrawn book trilogy. Others try to freshen things up, but in ways that aren't to my taste. The New Jedi Order book series falls into that category. The Clone Wars cartoon, on the other hand, offers a new take on Star Wars without compromising the classic Star Wars style.
You can see 2 minute "dataclip" recaps of all of the cartoon episodes, and full videos of the last couple of episodes at the official website.
Have you seen The Clone Wars cartoon? What do you think of it? How does it compare to the movies and to other EU material?
This post is prompted by a news article I read here. It announced that Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander, two of the original writers and executive producers of Heroes, are no longer working on the show. Apparently they were bumped because the show's ratings are continually dropping off. The article went on to relate the writer's opinion of why the show is failing.
I'm not sure I agree with all of the observations made in the article, but I will say that I have been somewhat dissatisfied with the show since the end of season 1. I'll cut them some slack because season 2 was cut short, and season 3 seems to have some good things going for it. I just thought I would share a few thoughts on what I think Heroes is doing well, and where I think they've made some mistakes.
I think that, for the most part, season 3 is on the right track. Arthur Petrelli makes a compelling new villian, and the whole family in-fighting aspect of the story is interresting. It looks like that will take off even further in next week's episode. I like what they've done with Sylar so far this season. Making Sylar a Petrelli was unexpected, but probably a good move. It makes him a lot more involved in the intricacies of the plot, and they've developed his character in unexpected ways.
The article mentioned above complains about how they've added so many new characters throughout seasons 2 and 3. I don't mind the new characters, but honestly I'd rather see more of the old characters who have sort of dissipeared from the show. I'd like to see more of the Haitian, Micah, and even Molly. What ever happened to Claude Rains?
Another thing that the article complained about was the way the show has moved away from it's "ordinary people with extraordinary abilities" origins, and has become more like the X-Men without leather jumpsuits. I think that's just a natural evolution of the show. As the characters become more accustomed to their powers, they're going to continue to be less and less "normal". I'm not sure that's a bad thing, but it certainly does change the tone of the story.
I think my biggest complaint against Heroes would be the somewhat hit-and-miss writing as of late. It seems that sometimes the writers just simply forget about what's come before. An outstanding example of this is Caitlin. After the plague of season 2 has been adverted, Peter never even attempts to travel to the future to bring her back. Did he really just forget about her that easily? Obviously the writers did. Less obvious examples are future-Peter being killed by a bullet in one episode when he should be invulnerable to that kind of thing, and Sylar missing a very opportune time to use his super-hearing.
I hope the show picks up the slack and continues to run strong for at least a couple more years, but I'm a little uncertain about it right now.
What do you think? How is Heroes doing? What's the good and the bad in your opinion?
This post is coming a little late because I've been busy. Here's my report for last week. It wasn't as great as the previous week, but it was OK.
The biggest disappointment was that I didn't get out in service at all. Also, I missed 1 day of personal study. My theocratic activities still held third place amongst all of my activities though, right after sleeping and work. Reading was a pretty close fourth, and movies/shows and housework tied for fifth.
While I did miss service last week, I guess I can still be happy that, overall, I didn't let my spiritual activities drop below third place. That means I spent more time on personal study and meeting preparation to make up for it. I'm not entirely sure why I missed service both Thursday and Saturday, but I suppose a big factor might be my sleeping schedule. Sleep has been a bit erratic for me lately.
My brother Brian and his wife Cherie finished their visit last week, however, and my brother David will be leaving tomorrow. While I enjoy their company, I know that their presence disrupted my schedule somewhat. Hopefully things will begin to stabilize more soon.
In the coming weeks I need to refocus on service and personal study in order to keep up my spiritual routine.
It started out very innocently. I've been reading the rulebook for an RPG called Primetime Adventures. It is a game where a group of friends get together and roleplay the events of a make-believe television show. It looks like a fun game, and I'd love to play it some time.
However, reading the book also got me thinking about ideas for a television show, and also got me thinking about what makes entertaining television. Meanwhile, my day job doesn't require a whole lot of thought process to carry out, so I found myself thinking about ideas for shows while I worked. A few days ago, I hit on an idea that instantly caused an imaginative explosion inside my head. The more I think on the idea, the more possibilities for entertaining stories pop into my head. I believe I've hit on an idea that has huge potential. It makes me want to quit my day job so I can write this series. I doubt that will ever happen, but I'd still like to write some of the stories this idea brings to mind in my spare time.
I don't want to say too much about my idea yet, as I'm still working out the details. For now I'll just say this: It's a character-driven drama disguised as a sci-fi action series. It involves aliens, superheroes, and an apocalypse - combining those elements in a way that I think will be unique and compelling, while not treading too closely to already existing shows like Heroes or Smallville.
I'll post more about this idea as I continue to develop it.
I haven't posted in a while, but I decided to make some comments on this television season so far.
Heroes is definitely going strong. The last episode was another good entry in the series. Arthur Petrelli is shaping up to be a fine villain, and I can't wait to see how this story continues to progress.
The Big Bang Theory continues to amuse. It seems like they've been focusing on Sheldon quite a bit lately. He's my favorite character on the show, so that's a win for me.
I haven't watched The Office in about 3 weeks now, and I don't think I'll bother to. Unfortunately, that show seems to have lost most of its humor now, and the little story-arcs with some of the characters are no longer interesting enough to keep me involved.
Recently I've gotten little bits of the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoon. You can find brief video summaries of all of the episodes so far, and a couple of complete episodes, on Cartoon Network's website. It seems like a really engaging show, and a worthy follow-up to the animated movie. I hope I get a chance to see more full episodes of this series. I think it's a fresh take on Star Wars that really breaths some new life into the franchise.
After watching Heroes last night I feel that once again Peter and Sylar are the stars of the show. Making them brothers introduces an interesting dynamic to their rivalry. Now that Peter has acquired Sylar's power he is also manifesting "the hunger" that Sylar exhibits. While this makes for an interesting development, I'm actually far more interested in where Sylar might be headed. I love the irony in his character right now. Is he really trying to turn over a new leaf, or is he just putting on a good show? His actions would seem to indicate that he's really trying to impove, but then he turns around and does/says something that makes you wonder.
Speaking of the Petrellis, I wonder if Nathan's discovery of his powers being synthetic will cause him to become distanced from Peter. Of course, I'm assuming that Peter and Sylar came by their powers naturally. Maybe we'll learn otherwise later.
I liked what I've seen of Arthur Petrelli so far. The way they're portraying him reminds me of a true villian mastermind. He seems so vulnerable confined to a bed, and yet someone as powerful as Maury Parkman acts as his toady to carry out his plans. I suspect that he'll soon be healed, probably by Adam's blood, so that he can be up and moving around. It was said in the first season that Arthur commited suicide, but that obviously isn't true. I wonder what the story behind that is.
Overall, I liked last night's episode pretty well. Other than a small slip by the writers, forgetting that Sylar has super-hearing, it was a pretty well writen story. I'm looking forward to next week.
New episodes of the Big Bang Theory and Heroes were on last night.
In the Big Bang Theory, Penny gets hooked on a massively multi-player online roleplaying game called Age of Conan. The show poked some fun at people who experience such an addiction. Overall the episode was pretty funny.
In Heroes, a good portion of the show focused on Peter traveling to a possible future where characters' allegiances have shifted. The big surprise was that Sylar was a good guy living a normal suburban life with a young son.
We got a glimpse of Mohinder's fate due to his experiment with giving himself powers. I thought his "mutant" appearance was kind of cheesily done. Mostly they just covered him up and kept him in the shadows. The plot with mohinder made it seem like they were developing him as a Beast or Nightcrawler type mutant - someone who wears their powers out in the open for everyone to see, whether he likes it or not.
Hiro and Ando's antics were a nice comical diversion, including when they went to get the "key" at the end. I'm not sure where they're going with Matt's sudden new abilities, but it might be interresting. I thought it was odd that Molly looks exactly the same four years in the future. I would think a kid her age would have changed quite a bit in four years, but I guess they couldn't really help it unless they got a different actress.
When Nathan asked Linderman if he was appearing to him through telepathy, Linderman responded that it wasn't anything so obvious. It makes me wonder what the real explaination will be.