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kouzof
Reviews
Grand Star (2007)
How to reduce an epic
The series is based on "The Ice Company" series of comics, by G. J. Arnaud, that spans over 80 comic books and 20 years. The comic -almost- has the depth of Dune in politics, the vision of 2001, and the atmosphere of Blade Runner.
The TV series on the other hand, is targeted to (very young) teenagers. It has reduced the politics to these of a town mayor (the governor of the single Grand Star base), the vision to the here and now (looking for the sun to shine), and the atmosphere to that of McDonalds meets the Mad Max. Oh, and the (new) protagonist is telekinetic as well. Hmmm..
And, I really couldn't stand the way the scenery is designed. All through the series there is talk about energy shortages, power outages and death due to lack of energy (and, consequently, heating). And there is electric lighting in abundance, running electronic equipment everywhere having large and bright displays, all the corridors have good lighting, in all public places the props are neon lights and bright displays, and all doors are motorized. Hope they do not open the windows while turning on the air condition. The electric bill should be awful.
If you like good sci-fi please do not bother with this series. On the other hand, if you are a 12yo and only like cartoons, then this won't be too difficult to watch. And will have human actors.
The Colour of Magic (2008)
The colourless movie
Having read the books some years ago, thought that I had forgotten it enough to watch the movie like a first time. I had seen Lord of the Rings as well and knew that a long book could not fit well in a movie, no matter what.
I started watching, and some things just don't look right. Ankh-Morpock is like a medieval town as seen on TV. No character will shine his missing tooth at you and steal you blind, they are -almost- like normal people. People that are employees in a present day firm (and not one that Dilbert would have anything to do with it, mind you). The flavor of the movie is nothing like the aroma of a sweaty and greased worn-out shirt. It definitely does not make your eyes water.
The movie tries to reach for the big audience, which has never heard of Terry Pratchet's work, by re-telling the Discworld like a city out of Xena: The warrior princes. Generally speaking the scenes could have been directed much better, and the montage was not even up to TV standards. And all reeks of a hasty production, to ride the wave of good publicity of "Hogfather".
The only thing you get that has a true Discworld sense out of this movie, is the feeling you get after having seen it: you feel mugged of your time.
Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu (1988)
A series that could have been great if not for plot and science.
Although there are very few huge sci-fi anime, the story is epic indeed in its dimensions, and a huge amount of work has been done for this anime, a surprising little work has been done for:
A) The plot
The two basic characters are promoted from lieutenants to admirals in no time. Of course that way you get young heroes as main characters, but it is annoying in the extreme. All their classmates should be after their heads with such shameless promotions. There is only one candidate for the democratic elections in FPA, whose party is not democratically organized at all. The elected governing party is governed by a single person, which is also corrupted in the extreme and when there is unrest, a paramilitary organization which is secretly funded by the government, beats everyone senseless. This is not a democracy, this is Hitler's 3rd Reich in rebirth! Besides, While you sit and enjoy watching the series, secret organizations with huge potential come out of thin air (ie the Earth Sect), pull strings, change the plot (or do not change it at all, just fill the episode) and disappear, while there secret service sits idle. People behave irrationally from one moment to the next (so as to have a sub-plot good for a couple episodes) and get killed randomly with no purpose at all (as if the plot of each episode is designed throwing dice). It seems as if different ways to develop the plot battle in each episode along the star-ships.
B) The battle tactics
Even though the star-ships clearly use reaction engines (rockets) for propulsion, they are moving backwards and forwards like changing gears in a car. Nobody ever builds up speed, the ships stop instantly and get into reverse with a small retro burn, and orbital mechanics are thrown out of the window. Furthermore, nobody wears space-suits in battle, so whenever a ship is hit, all the crew die. And ships blow with a single hit. The huge star-fleets are deployed in formations, maneuver like dinosaurs, fire at each other and wait to be fired upon, all this in 2-dimensions! The battles are like watching the English fleet attacking the Spanish armada in the 15th century, or infantry maneuver, fire, being hit and regroup in American Civil War, while the formations are like ancient infantry phalanxes (wedge and rectangular). Even the tactical displays which the commanders look upon are 2-dimensional, like watching a strategy board-game (most probably where they got the ideas for the tactics - it is either that, or the plot was a medieval setting carelessly changed to sci-fi ).
C) Armoured knights and plot/scientific devices
Energy weapons can not be used most of the times, due to some special "particles" that explode and kill everybody. So, they end up yielding battle axes at each other and wearing body armor (which never stops either energy weapons or the axes). The whole setting is like a middle ages brawl setting thrust forward in the 25th century There is no explanation about the technologies, the engines, the weapons, the navigation methods, anything technological at all except the particles that forbid the use of energy weapons. It seems that this was done on purpose, so as to provide less technological restrictions for the senseless plot and battle tactics.
Either i am reading too much sci-fi and become very demanding of this poor anime in my old age, or this is an epic sized blunder.