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Star Blazers Available Online
Amphigory writes, "Anyone who was young and geeky in the 80's remembers Star Blazers -- an anime sci-fi series. Anyway, some of the episodes are now available online in their entirety. The only problem is that most of them won't play in Xanim. " I absolutely adored this show in my younger years. Lately watching Lain, DBZ and Battle Athletes has rekindled my adoration for this stuff. Highly recommended if you're nostalgic.
If you like G-Force, you'll like GW. Though it is somewhat depressing, bleak, and chaotic in its portrayl of the future.
Personally, I don't like mecha anime much (Macross is an exception). Battle Athletes, Armitage III (not the Elizabeth Berkeley version), Dirty Pair, My Dear Marie, Oh my Goddess, and Aika... ohhh... Aika... Now Hargen was a man with a plan!
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Now if someone can trnsalte them to something that doesn't use the Sorenson codec...
Anybody remember Star Blazer, the old Apple II game? Man, I loved that one. That and BCs Quest for Tires.
Call me a freak, but I haven't seen an action cartoon I could sit through for more than 1.2 shows. I don't know what it is, but I only watch comedy type cartoons. Come to think of it, I prefer comedy movies over other types as well. Give me Holy Grail any day over Die Hard.
.. but I enjoy it.
Back in college people with many similar interests would gab on and on about the latest Anime show and stuff. Meanwhile I would be shushing them because a new Animaniacs was on. But for these types, the cartoon network has some good stuff. Give me some Cow & Chicken or Powerpuff Girls anytime, and Johnny Bravo's obsession with the weird Scooby-Doo chic (Thelma?) gets me rollin every time.
I'm rambling too
robotech (Which was a basterdization of three seasons of macross)
Robotech was a bastardization of three completely unrelated series: SDF Macross, Southern Cross, and M.O.S.P.E.A.D.A. (or some similarly absurd acronym). The original Macross will be released as a DVD box set by AnimEigo.
Actually, Cartoon Network has attempted to run the entire Robotech series a couple times now in the past few years.
Actually, they ran through the series several times but only the first two parts (Macross Saga and Southern Cross). I don't know what the deal was but they never showed even an episode of The New Generation which most people liked best (they even had a clip or two in the Toonami commercials that advertised Robotech). The Macross Saga is just as awesome but I have to say that Southern Cross blows. If there were gonna leave any part out they should've left out that one.
as supposedly there are many veiled hints of lesbianism and homosexuality they left out or omitted.
There aren't veiled hints of lesbianism, there is outright lesbianism/homosexuality. In the Americanized version they changed one of the bad guys into a female because he was gay and had a relationship with one of the other bad guys. In the third season two of the Outer Senshi are lesbian lovers (no attempts to hide it). The Sailor Stars of the last season are females who transform into males when in disguise. One of them always hits on Sailor Moon.
The original Japanese series is quite good and very funny. The Americanized version is complete crap.
Oh yeah, before I forget: Gargoyles was also a great show! Of course, that's from Disney, so you can't like Gargoyles if you don't like Disney... :-p
--
Ski-U-Mah!
Stop the MPAA
Yeah, my uncle used to watch Batman all of the time -- the first time that I remember seeing someone older than 15 be interested in a `cartoon'.. That show also had coolest opening animation and music that I can remember.
;-)
;-)
Of course, I have to say that I also thoroughly enjoyed some of the other WB stuff -- Tiny Toons was a favorite of mine as a kid, and Animaniacs was even better (some of the extra characters were especially enjoyable -- Pinky and the Brain is definitely on the top of the heap). Freakazoid was a short-lived show, but the few episodes I saw were very funny.
These days, the Simpsons is probably the king of the hill, but Family Guy is a great show that loves to play on the short attention spans of audiences these days. Futurama is pretty good, but it will probably take a while for that show to distance itself enough from the Simpsons to stand entirely on its own (although I thought the most recent episode was very good).
Of course, those are all comedies -- but I like to laugh, what can I say?
I have been pretty impressed with Batman Beyond, and Superman does have some pretty good stuff too. However, I don't like it when shows of any kind play too much to the ``moral of the story'' crowd..
Okay.. I'm rambling.. sorry
--
Ski-U-Mah!
Stop the MPAA
Most of the time when animation buffs here the words "American Animation" they either gag, or they pretend like they have never heard the term before.
:)
However, I am opposing that opinion. As much as I enjoy Japanese Animation (and yes, it is better than American Animation - but I'm arguing that not all American stuff is in the gutter), I have enjoyed many purely american shows that have the same essential elements as any good anime series or movie.
The most anime-like American animation out there is, most likely, Batman: The Animated Series. The series, IMO, is the epitome of what American animation houses - even if it is Warner Brothers - can produce when money isn't everything. The original artists for Batman were given some extra money to do the series, and it turned out to be a hit. Dark though it was, the series took into account everything a good story should have - great plots, essential character flaws (for instance, Bruce Wayne's constant struggle between living a "normal" life versus the life of Batman, or the clash between his love for Selena Kyle versus the fact that Catwoman is a criminal). The new Batman / Superman adventures, and even Batman Beyond to an extent, aren't as great as the original Batman, but they are measuring up pretty well.
And who can forget The Simpsons? The show has definitely captured what it means to be "American" down to the most minute details (with exaggeration for laughs
[shameless plug] I have started an online petition to have Batman: The Animated Series published on DVD here NOTE: *PLEASE* don't Slashdot this site. As much as I would love to have a thousand people sign my petition, I'm pretty sure it's a small server that would just cringe at the oncoming traffic. [/shameless plug] Quite surprisingly (or should I say not surprisingly?), a number of people have answered the question "how much would you pay?" with the words "Whatever it takes!"
You should never take life too seriously - You'll never get out of it alive.
Damn, I'm only about a 5 minute walk away from the Convention Center! Consider it marked on my calendar!
How many people out there actually like Lain? In my opinion, it was terrible.
:), Neon Genesis Evangelion, and many others.
Hey, I liked Lain. Sure it was confusing and wierd and they didn't seem to like explaining stuff, but once you get past that it is really rather enthralling. One thing you have to remember is that Lain is not ment to be understood, it is ment to be experienced.
As for bad dubs, I'm sure I don't have to reiterate how horrible a job some of these companies do. (cough)Streamline(cough)(cough)
There are better Animes out there though, Cowboy Bebop, Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou[1], Card Captor Sakura
[1]: Kare Kano for short, which roughly translated means "His and Her Circumstances", just be sure you get the Pero Pero subs because they subtitle the text on the screen.
I read the internet for the articles.
Fairy Princess Ren Certainly an interesting choice. It was billed at an anime convention like so: This is your anime. This is your anime on crack. Any questions?
This could not be more appropriate.
If you like Fairy Princess Ren, I highly recommend watching Kodomo no Omocha TV. Just as spastic and much longer (there are something like 100+ episodes of this series).
If you're wondering what other people thought of a few series, you should want to check out the Fall 1999 VTAS ratings charts (with graphs). Beware that this chart is about a year old and severly underrates Kare Kano. ^_^
I read the internet for the articles.
However, the company who animated it (Foundation Imaging), is working on a Heavy Gear show set in the same HG universe as Loki's latest port, which should prove interesting...
:wq
Just last week I was trying to remember what crappy cartoon of my youth had the imagination capturing WAVE MOTION GUN. It could take out a whole fleet in a single blast -- but only infrequently and after the 'big things are happening' music had been playing for at least five minutes.
can't wait for Captor Nikki! NOT
Lighten up, last I heard, it was being marketed under the name "Card Captor".
In some instances, they kind of "unscrewed" it a little for US audiences, as supposedly there are many veiled hints of lesbianism and homosexuality they left out or omitted. Some depictions of nudity do exist in the original (although supposedly never in the transformation scene). I get this information from people on the lists that I subscribe to, I have yet to see any Sailor Moon. I never get cable or anything like that, so I don't even have a chance of seeing it. I think it's a typical "Magical Girl" show, meaning I won't like it. There are some "shoujo" shows or shows meant for girls & women that I do like, such as Fushigi Yuugi and Revolutionary Girl Utena, but my impression of Sailor Moon is that it's waaay to far off the cliff.
I could have sworn the DVDs use 2.0 "surround", I didn't even play it with any special DSP mode other than just plain Pro-Logic. It really feels like I am IN the crowd, with sounds to the front, sides and rear.
Maybe there was an oversight in not encoding the surround into the VHS. That would be unfortunate.
The Tenchi "Ultimate Edition" of the OVAs include 5.1, as well as Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll and Armitage III. There are a few more R1 releases that have it, but I forget what they all are.
IMO Lain can be understood... Check out this link for more depth:
http://www.cjas.org/~leng/lain.htm
Lain looks AWESOME on DVD format, and when you play it back with a surround sound system it sounds fantastic, very immersive.
Thanks for putting out the full name of "Kare Kuno". I know that the Japanese like to give things shorthand names, but it took a long time for me to find that out, as well as the full name. Personally, I think the title "translation" "His and Her Circumstances" to be extremely stilted. I found one I like better: "He said, She said", it may not be totally literal, but I think it passes on the general idea much better.
I thought about not saying anything, but "information wants to be free!"
(For the record, I don't see anything wrong with Rob doing that -- I just find it amusing.)
--
-- Slashdot sucks.
...you should see what they had planned for Sailor Moon sometime. Yes, you heard me right. Back in '93, Saban and DIC were in a bidding war for the U.S. rights to SM. Each made a trailer.
Now don't get me wrong; what DIC did to SM is pretty awful. But after seeing what Saban had planned for the series, I can forgive DIC for everything they did, simply because they saved the series from Saban's Evil Clutches.
By the way, I actually got the opportunity to see the first few episodes of Zyuranger (the series which would become the first season of Power Rangers. Loath as I am to say it, Saban actually improved that series a bit. Not much, mind you, but a bit.
And, oh yes, "bastardizing" is a word.
...but first, a few comments on your choices.
Utena - One of The Greatest Series of All Time. I used to be the self-appointed High Priest of Utena-Sama at the anime club here, but then someone else got tapes of the ending before I did. So I've been demoted to Chu-chu no Miko.
Evangelion - The Greatest Series of All Time. Particularly good for pissing off the Christian Right (assuming you can get them to watch, which will be a feat in and of itself).
Escaflowne - Haven't seen it yet, but I'm going to this weekend (honest; girlfriend's coming ans she insists I see this thing). Heard lots of good stuff about it though, especially the music.
Rayearth - I didn't much care for most of the series, but the ending to Season 1 has quite frankly the coolest plot twist I've seen in a long time.
Kenshin - Awesome series. Good action, great characters, greater story.
Oh! My Goddess - Sweet story. Saccharine, almost. If you want a really good laugh, check out SD Mini Goddess sometime (a continuation where the Goddesses go chibi-cute and befriend a talking rat which isn't cute in the least).
And now, for the ones I would add to your list...
Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou - also called "His and Her Circumstances," or "KareKano." This can be summed up in three words: Anno does shoujo. For those of you who've seen Evangelion, this description should be causing your brain to bluescreen (you shoulda seen what happened when I unloaded it on a bunch of friends). But he pulls it off so well it's unbelieveable.
Marmalade Boy - Very long, very good. But if you don't like sappy stuff, avoid this series like the plague, 'cause it lays the warm fuzzies on thick.
Flame of Recca - The series said to have everything but mechs. One of my favorite action series. And its opening sequence is awesome to boot. Just avoid the Shinsen Gumi translation; they screwed this one up bad (of course, I'm still mad at them over the superfluous hyphens they stuck in Kenshin at random points).
Ranma 1/2 - The most ubiquitous anime out there. Love it or hate it, you've got to at least see some of it. Action, comedy, hyperdimensional 2-ton mallets, and relationships which skip the love-triangle and go straight for the love-polyhedra... oh, and plenty of fanservice for the ecchi out there. Not as much as some (cough... Bakuretsu Hunters... cough...) but more than enough for most of us.
Bubblegum Crisis - The classic mecha. Short series. At least see Episodes 5 and 6 if nothing else.
Vampire Princess Miyu - Take Sailor Moon. Vampire Princess Miyu is the opposite of that. In other words, absolutely amazing (then again, I suppose SM would be too, were it not for those $#%*#!s Usagi and Chibi-Usa...)
Princess Army Wedding Combat - I'm not going to spoil this one for you. Suffice it to say that anything with a title like that is worth watching once.
Kodomo no Omocha - also called "Kodocha" or "Child's Toy." I think the slogan of the fansubbers puts it best: "Cheaper than crack, and lots more fun." The second-season opening is one of the most surreal anime experiences you'll ever have. Trust me on this.
Fairy Princess Ren - Called Elf Princess Ren in the US, this is basically a spoof on just about everything. And from what I hear, one of the few good dubs out there.
The Slayers - Some of the best music out there. I think this series was meant to be a spoof on other anime. If so, it pulls it off brilliantly. I just hope it really was intended as a spoof.
Those are my favorites. I generally don't care for mahou shoujo (Utena, Miyu, and Rayearth being the major exceptions). I'm more for the straight shoujo, and shounen to a lesser extent.
Now, the major question: put Pikachu, Chu-chu, Mokona, and Ryo-Ohki in the ring together. Who wins?
Boku no Marie is a great little series, but it ends with the single most cruel cliffhanger I've ever seen... and then there's no more! I liked the series, but I have a lot of trouble recommending any series which left the entire anime club screaming for blood because there was no more after they showed 1-3 one day.
OMAKE! One of the animated series I mentioned here never actually existed. Tell me which one that was...
Almost perfect score. You got the non-anime question right. I'm very impressed to see someone remembered Wildfire; no one else I've ever talked to seems to know what the hell I'm talking about.
As for PAWC, yes, it really is an anime (two-episode OAV, subbed by Tomodachi). If you've seen Marmalade Boy then take that and add judo. That gives you PWAC.
I think its still being shown at some wierd middle-of-the-night time on the SciFi channel.
I remember watching an espisode maybe two or three months ago. It might've just been a BG marathon though...
Yes I totally recommend Serial Experiment Lain. It's very slow and painful to watch, but it totally eats into your head. I'd say the experience is similar to watching 2001 except that it lasts 6 hours.
Also Cowboy Bebop is high on my list as well because it has it all in action flicks except for the stupid name. It's a futuristic bounty hunter story with a marvious plot, well done animation, and blues/jazz soundtrack that can't be beat. Hell, the soundtrack is all I've been listening to for the past few weeks.
-- Making computers see, hear, and think... http://www.componica.com/
Star Blazers is of course very cool. I never actually saw it til I was in college. It was a bit before my time - I'm of the group that grew up with Battle of the Planets and Tranzor Z.
Those were all fun, but the series that got me into anime were Robotech and the rare, but cool, Thunderbirds 2086. God knows only two other people that I know of ever saw the latter. Anyone else ever see it?
Stuff I'd reccomend to anyone looking to get into anime:
*Serial Experiments Lain
*Macross Plus
*Vision of Escaflowne (this is one of my favorites)
*Neon Genesis Evangelion
*Cowboy Bebop
Of course many anime series have tightly scripted plots that run through the series' length. So you have to watch 'em in order. This was always the bane of the american dubbed series on tv.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
And of course, what's so great about Escaflowne for (imho a significant portion of) the /. crowd is that your appreciation of what's going on can only be improved by a good grounding in science.
To say more would be to give away major parts of the story - perhaps as vile a sin as spoiling B5 episodes. But me and my fellow sci geeks dropped our jaws on the floor for a pretty large part of the series.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Supermarionation!
**>>BELCH
Gunbuster had a few geeky scenes. Those "science lessons" at the end of each episode were pretty messed up. Sort of "A Brief History of Time" meets "Babylon 5, if you can imagine such a thing. And Noriko is an otaku! Mucho excelante!
A lot of my fellow geeks love the good giant robot shows. Gundam Wing, Evangelion, Macross Plus, etc, and some of us love the really cheesy ones. Yelling out "FORM BLAZING SWORD!!!" at the right time will reduce us to tears of laughter.
You remember Sabre Rider too?! My family keeps thinking that I'm making up false memories whenever I mention it. Thanks for reassuring me that I'm sane. :)
>4.)El Hazard - Not the most deep series, but a
>heck of a lot of fun! C'mon - we all secretly
>wished we could be Jinnai and conquer nations
>with our hordes of Bugrom troops in our preppy
>school uniforms! That and Ifurita just kicks ass!
Tell me about. My main box is named "ifurita".
Jinnai's great. He's my all-time favourite male character. Some fans may castrate me for this, but I think his english dub voice pulled off that laugh better than the original actor. I can actually imitate his laugh fairly well. Scares the hell out of my classmates. ^_^
>It felt like somebody watched Eva while stoned
>and said, "Hey, I can do more weird than that!"
O_o Oy vey. Seriousltyy
>That's right, all of Bishojou Senshi Sailormoon S
>and Bishojou Senshi Sailormoon SS, brutally
>butchered for American television!
Awwwwwww, FUCK. What are they going to do to Michiru and Haruka? I know for damned sure they won't have *their* dialouge accurately translated. Pricks... They should just broadcast the fansubs instead.
Maul dun said:
You too, eh? (We shall turn the editors into sho'nuff otaku yet! :)
I've not seen Serial Experiments Lain yet (friend of mine has it though)...I have a hard time believing it can be a worse mindfsck than End of Evangelion, though. (Basically, people whinged about the last two episodes...so the writer crafted something designed to be completely and utterly so much of a mindfsck that mind-altering substances are almost essential to keep one's head from hurting, much less understanding the plot. :)
Heyyyy...I've heard of Cowboy Bebop, at least :) (Heard the soundtracks before seeing the actual anime, which (if memory serves) JUST officially came out in the States)
Agreed, damn good story. I STILL think that Vash the Stampede from Trigun would win, though, if just out of dumb luck :)
*ROTFLMAO at mention of Nadesico*
Yes! Definitely one of the funnier anime I've ever seen (ranks right up there with Trigun and all the various Slayers series, IMHO)...one of the best pisstakes I've seen, hands down. :)
A few other picks I'd add:
Damn near everyone has already mentioned Rurouni Kenshin and Escaflowne and Evangelion. :) I'd REALLY recommend you get a hold of these if you can (Escaflowne and Eva should be no prob now, Kenshin's gonna be harder--most of it is only available in fansubs, most fansubbers aren't distributing it because Sony's officially announced it will be released stateside...though out west where you lucky bastards can watch anime on PBS instead of Red Dwarf can prolly catch it under the title of Samurai X (what the hell was Sony smoking when they came up with that title, anyways?)...) Same for Ah!Megumisama/"Oh! My Goddess" (you HAVE to admire any anime where the World Tree is Big Iron, there are programmer goddesses, one of the main characters is a CS major, and Fortran is mentioned :).
Slayers in any way, shape or form it comes. :) The first two series, Slayers and Slayers Next, have been officially released Stateside; supposedly Slayers Try is either planned to be shown or is being shown on Sci-Fi Channel. Pretty much imagine Lodoss War, or a D&D game, gone horribly, HORRIBLY wrong... :)
Lodoss War for that matter--rumour has it that this anime was based off a Japanese RPG that itself was based off AD&D :) (Maybe Slayers WAS based off a Lodoss War game gone horribly wrong... :) Good series though.
For that matter, if you like Slayers and Nadesico, try to get a copy of Lost Universe--basically, Slayers In Space :) (And done by the same crew what brought us Slayers, yet)
People have already mentioned Utena. :) I've not seen all of it yet but looks pretty good :)
Nazca is good if you're into swordplay...only thing that bothers me is the Incas with katanas (sometimes being into ancient American history can be a detriment... :) but VERY interesting series involving reincarination, etc.
Trigun, Vash The Freakin' Stampede. 'Nuff Said. :) (For those who have seen Kenshin: Imagine Sanosuke with blond hair, with the utter luck of Coyote. :)
One anime I'm really surprised hasn't been brought up yet is Princess Mononoke--especially since it's the first anime to receive a major US theatrical release. Gaiman's job at translating and the dub isn't bad at all; then again, I've seen both the official version and a fansub. (This is also one of the few dubs I've ever seen that doesn't make me wince.)
Bubblegum Crisis, if you've not seen it already. Stay the fucking HELL away from the dub; it sucks, sucks, SUCKS (it's possibly the best known way of inflicting torture on poor otaku other than repeatedly playing the Tenchi March :P).
El Hazard is a must-see--both the OVA and TV series. (The TV series is screamingly funny in parts.)
Probably Tenchi Muyo OVA; sub or dub is fine, even though Tenchi sounds amazingly like Kermit the Frog and Ryoko sounds amazingly like she's originally from Louisville, Kentucky :) The series does go downhill from there, so basically check to see if you like it first. Avoid "Tenchi Forever" like the goddamned plague. :)
Any Microsoft-hating geek owes it to himself to at least watch Magical Girl Pretty Sammy episode 2 ("Revenge of the Giant Electronic Brain" or something like that). Possibly the FUNNIEST pisstake I have EVER seen of Microsoft. Mac fans will appreciate it more, because Washu's computer looks VERY similar to an iBook (maybe Pioneer should sue Apple for gimmick infringement... :)
Card Captor Sakura, if you can get hold of a good fansub. (Supposedly will be officially released soon Stateside...not bad shoujo stuff, though, and I tend not to like shoujo. :)
People have already mentioned Vampire Hunter D and Vampire Princess Miyu. Go watch. Seriously.
If one is into more "adult" material, F-Cubed (especially "Night of the F-Cubed") and Ogenki Clinic are screamingly funny hentai. :)
People have already mentioned Macross Plus. Go watch. Seriously.
BGC 2040 should not be watched if one has previously seen any Bubblegum Crisis, as it's basically in an alternate universe and a failure to remember this may cause headaches and/or ranting. (Then again, Tenchi Muyo is even worse--no less than four or five SEPARATE universes with the same characters. Go fig.)
I really wish Sony would hurry the hell up and bring Rurouni Kenshin over Stateside to video so I don't have to watch fourth-generation Hecto Abysmal (HECTO is a fansub group; if you have a choice between HECTO and anyone else go with the other guys; for those of you who whinge on about Shinsen Gumi fansubs, HECTO makes Shinsen Gumi fansubs look like Masterpiece Theatre in comparison; it helps to have a working knowledge of Cantonese to understand HECTO subs--have I gotten it across that HECTO subs really ARE abysmal? :) fansubbed copies. Me want my Kenshin, damnit :)
I wish TV Tokyo would start an American version of Anime X (Anime X is a Japanese all-anime channel which TV Tokyo--the major broadcasters of anime in Japan--runs on the Japanese DSS service); if they did, I would WILLINGLY get digital satellite for that. Same for anyone who did an uncensored anime channel (have I ever mentioned just how MUCH I hate what the US Censorship Bored did to Sailor Moon and DBZ, and why I shudder in fear every time I read that one post that insinuates Cartoon Network might be carrying Tenchi Muyo? :P).
I wish one of the PBS affiliates would show Britcoms and the other would show anime on Saturday nights; then I could die a happy otaku :)
(OK, does it show I'm just a wee bit addicted? Blame it on my loving crack-pusher friends who have nearly 1000 tapes of anime between them and have formed an informal otaku society here. :)
-Windigo The Feral (NYAR!)
I would not reccommend Evangelion, because I was very disappointed with it.
I didn't sympathise with any of the characters, the plot of the series really went nowhere, and then it turned into an incoherent art flick at the end. None of the characters really change or grow (unless you count dying or losing their minds), and by the time it ends, you just don't care any more.
I forgive Anno, because Kareshi Kanojo no Jijyou , his next series, is really great, but Eva just left a bad taste in my mouth.
There are a lot better series out there: Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Irresponsible Captian Tyler, Slayers, Maison Ikkoku, Kimagure Orange Road, etc., etc.
Jon
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
He NEVER CAME BACK! (NEVER CAME BACK! NEVER CAME BACK! NEVER CAME BACK!)
I still remember seeing that episode, and it's probably been 20 years.
Jon
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
I have not seen any Star Blazers episode.
In the pre-globalization era, many things didn't went around the globe as fast as today.
But I do remember Robotech...Oh! Yes I do!!!
I still wonder If there's some place selling Robotech entire collection...I would pay for it...
I know "alternative" places to get Robotech VHS's, but AFAIK, they are low quality, and I'm not that kind of person.
Last thing...can anybody recomend me to download Star Blazers videos? Does it worth my time being a Robotech fan?
Those are pretty good choices, except for DBZ. It's not bad, but when a battle is dragged on for more than 3 episodes, it starts getting a little bit hoohum!
A small and rather unknown gem is Fairy Princess Ren (released as Elf Princess Rane by AnimeWorks in the US). The subtitled version will show you the true power of Feng Sui...
<FENG SUI>
yrT gnihctaw siht ta rouf ni eht gninrom! ll'uoY yllaicepse ekil gnidaer seltitbus nettirw siht yaw nehw amukaT sekam sih owt etunim hceeps...
</FENG SUI>
It's too bad the production company only made two episodes. It actually had some potential...
GATCHABAGOOSE!
Right on!
Gundam Wing is awesome. I am still in awe that the show was created in 1979 it seems too well drawn for that. The plot is awefully sophisticated maybe over the head of kids. I would rather have my kid watch that then most of the garbage on TV. I wish more there were more shows like this on American TV that deal with the philosophy of war, man/machines, and space colonies. Instead we are just bomarded with garbage and cheezey pokemon rip offs more interested in selling toys than enlightening people.
- Thats my 2 cents.
"Damn, I'm only about a 5 minute walk away from the Convention Center! Consider it marked on my calendar!"
We'll be glad to see you there! For others interested in attending Otakon 2000, the convention will be held August 4-6 (Friday through Sunday) at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, MD. Registration for all three days is $45 at the door ($40 if you pre-register by May 27th). Single-day memberships and groups discounts are also available, see Otakon's website for details.
For more information, please visit Otakon's website at www.otakon.com, or write:
OTAKON(TM) 2000
PO Box 149
Morristown, PA 19067
"Lain, DBZ and Battle Athletes"
Well, that's a pretty eclectic selection. We've got:
Lain: Complex and surreal, at times expressionistic. A classmate of the main character, Lain, commits suicide. Shortly afterwards, members of the class start receiving e-mails claiming to be from the deceased girl. That's not what Lain is about, but to explain further would require interpretation on my part. I highly recommend you watch it and make your own interpretations. Requires patience. Also recommended for viewers of Lain: Key the Metal Idol, Angel's Egg, Neon Genesis Evangelion.
(Plug from an Otakon staffer: Both the creator and character designer for Lain will appear at Otakon 2000, the East Coast's biggest anime convention, located in Baltimore, MD.)
DBZ: Journey to the West meets the WWF, anime style with some SF thrown in. Loosely based on the ancient Chinese tale of a monkey king who was born from a stone, and I do mean loosely. Fun, but not very cerebral. The story breaks down in later episodes as characters spend much of their time hurling chi-blasts at each other. Also recommended for DBZ fans: Er... I haven't a clue what would appeal to DBZ fans.
Battle Athletes: Cute schoolgirls compete for the "Cosmo Beauty" prize. A little silly, takes a while for the story to kick in. Animation quality is pretty good, on par with most of Pioneer's other stuff. Also recommended for Battle Athletes fans: Sailor Moon, Gunbuster.
Close the World. Otakunize the Next
It is one of the best anime to come out in a long time (and I've seen almost all of them - running reg at fanime con (the guy in the red hat) for the last three years should tell you that...), but it's not the best cyberpunk.
By FAR the best cyberpunk put to film as of yet is Bladrunner. It DID have cyber. If you missed it, you obviously don't get the genre. I'd recomend you go read Gibson and Sterling as a refresher... to even put the Matrix in that catagory (absolutly NO punk whatsoever; just a cheep rehash of a few of the flashier points) is complete hersey.
But Serial Experiment Lain is great stuff. Maybe it's that I first saw each episode while tripping heavily on acid... Ok; rant mode off...
Ce n'est pas une signature automatique.
As a kid I LOOOOOOOOOOOVED Star Blazers and you can imagine my excitement when I saw the whole series in the local video store. I of course got it out and watched it.
Unfortunately, my 25 year old brain interpreted it somewhat differently than my ~10 year old brain and I tainted my happy memories of one of my favourite cartoons.
So think of the happy memories before you click.
Oh, and as for it preceding a new Star Blazers...well, this project (courtesy of The Other Great Satan, Walt Disney) has been in the works for quite some time, and there's plenty here to make a dyed-in-the-wool fan of Starblazers shudder. (Even though I've never seen the show, but plan to remedy this soon...) Particularly the bit where the ship is changed to the Arizona...
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
One: It's being written by Carl "anime antichrist" Macek, who (as the stillborn Sentinels proves) can't write a series worth a darn--the only reason Robotech was so great is that he had 80% of the storyline handed to him completely intact on a silver platter, and all he had to do was switch some names and things around.
Two: It's set a thousand years after the original show. Which smells suspiciously like how they made the movie The Lawnmower Man--"let's use the name, because it's such a draw, but make it so we don't have to have any connection whatsoever to the original version." They'll probably end up screwing the hell out of the continuity of the original show, too.
And let's not forget Two and a Half: It's caused the cancellation/nongranting of all existing Robotech licenses for the last couple of years...no new computer games, books, toys, and so forth. Which is a good reason to be annoyed all by itself.
And by the way...Reba West was drunk when she recorded the songs for Robotech, because she was originally too self-conscious to sing on her own. If you listen close to a couple of the songs on the Perfect Collection CD, you can sort of tell...
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
And don't count Robotech 3000 out yet; it's looking like production is indeed proceeding on it...
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Do a Yahoo search on gatchaman and I'm sure you'll find the info. They start coming out... later this month I think, and they're going to release like one DVD a month until its all out. I think the price was something like US$40 per disc, so its pricy, but worth it.
D
hmm, well lets see here. i'm really tired but let's see if i can still respond coherently:
:)
Ah!Megami-sama [Ah!MyGoddess] actually takes place at a technical college.. Keichii is a CS student and he builds racing cars in his spare time. Which SCREAMS geek. AMG has a very interesting theological system going on, in that the Godesses are actually !!!sysadmins!!! for the system running the universe, Ygdrasil, which is portrayed as more or less a huge ethereal abstract mainframe or something, with little monsters running around in it that need to be "debugged". Ygdrasil has system outages, needs maintenence, and basically is a perfect allegory of a computer system. The only way they could make the whole thing cooler is by adding Daemons.
Skuld, besides being a Godess sysadmin in the Mother of All Sysadmin Jobs, appears to be a rather competent Electrical Engineer as well who can randomly design mecha in her spare time and, upon seeing blueprints for one of Keichii's racekart things sitting around, on the spot grabs a pencil and redesigns it to be more efficient. Just because she can.
Ghost in the Shell is vaguely geeky in that it involves androids, computer systems, and the idea of the human mind being transferred to a digital form and thus losing its meaning as it becomes an increasingly mechanical abstract digital construct rather than a real human soul. Meanwhile while mind decays, body becomes irrelivant; just a container that can be summoned and discarded at will, letting the mind, however little of its content the mind still contains, do its work. While this isn't very geeky in itself, it certainly describes prevailing geek lifestyle. Becoming a part of the machine.. hm. i can relate to that.
There's probably some others i can't remember at the moment. I'm _tired_.
I think Ah!Megami-sama takes the prize for one very important reason: it actually contains FORTRAN . Keichii knows it.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Cowboy BeBop is being aired in Italy by - you'd never guess - MTV. Prime time, even.
Alexander, Peter Chung of Aeon Flux fame together with Studio Mad House (Night Warriors is the only title coming to mind, but there's much more) ended last Thursday (MTV, Prime time).
CGI
t erm=cgi
(1) (Computer Graphics Interface) A device independent graphics language
for display and printing that stemmed from GKS.
(2) (Computer-Generated Image) A picture created in the computer. See
computer animation.
(3) See CGI script.
http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm?
010110000010110101010100011110010111000001100101
I should point out that while Battle Athletes is cool, Battle Athletes Victory kicks ass! *_*
Other animes I'd recommend:
Revolutionary Girl Utena - this series is MESSED UP, but it's MESSED UP GOOD. I highly recommend this series; you'll hate it at first, but eventually, you'll love the twisted storylines... [eg]
Neon Genesis Evangelion - a classic; man versus the angels, lotsa biblical stuff, really really cool mechs, etc.
Escaflowne - girl gets tossed into a dimension of fantasy and wishes.
Magic Knights Rayearth - Three girls get tossed into a mythical land, supposedly chosen as the magic knights. A cult favorite.
Rurouni Kenshin - If you like swordfight-type shows, this is a goodie; it's about a swordsman back in the meiji era of Japan who's trying to get away from the killing that plagued his earlier life as one of the greatest killers of his time.
Oh! My Goddess - Another classic about a boy who accidentally dials-a-goddess....
Those are some of the first ones I saw when I was getting into anime. Now that I've been around for a while, I prefer the mahou shoujo shows, (magical girl shows, aimed at little girls but still watched by lotsa other age groups..) but I've also got a few shounen (boy) shows in my collection.
Links I'd recommend people check out: Anipike, and EX Online.
I've got a few other links hidden on my own webpage, too, and a few other series mentioned there, in case anyone's interested in those shoujo shows I was talking about...
James
And yes, Lost Universe IS Slayers in Space.
Sort of... same writer, same chara designer, same animation studio, mostly the same seiyuu, and same metamythology. But not the same characters, premise, or even universe. (The Slayers world is one of four universes in their mythology. The Lost Universe universe is one of the other three.) There is a cross-over in Slayers Try involving the Gorn Nova and Dark Star, but that was not part of the novels and even the creator said that the two series use the same words (the mythology) for different things. Funny, though... characters in both series have light sabers (Kain's Psy Blade, Gourry's Kikari no Ken/Gorn Nova).
And I avoid any and all dubs, personally. It's just ... wrong.
Normally, I do too, but the Trigun dub is actually better than the original Japanese IMHO. (Speaking of series crossovers, Vash really reminds me of Justy Ueki Tylor in the Old West...)
--
Right off I can remember that Madhouse also did Ninja Scroll [Jubei Ninpucho], Trigun, and the finishing work on All-Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku [Bannou Bunka Nekomusume] (which Gainax actually did some animation for as well).
--
Yep, Channel 56 and Channel 25 in Boston aired Force Five, Robotech, Star Blazers, Tranzor Z, Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years, and maybe one other show when I was in High School (85-89).
Man, that was the shit!
Pope
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
Mmm...Lum!
Boy, I wish we could get Urusai Yatsura on the air! Now that Maison Ikkoku comic has ended, I have no reason to go on...
Pope
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
I love old Japanaese Anime. As fate would have it I married the daughter of Mizuki Ichirou, who sang the music for Captain Harlock and Great Mazinger, among countless others. Fortunately I get to re-live the nostalgia almost daily.
Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman) has come back. there are several video episode made not long ago. My father in law sang on those as well, so I got them free...
Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman) has come back. there are several video episodes made not long ago. My father in law sang on those as well, so I got them free...Unfortunatley the original was edited down so much for the US. Apparently there was a lot of violence...didn't harm the Japanese too much though *grin*.
There have been far too many re-iterations of SB already. There are about seven movies, which got so bad that even Japanese fans re-named movie no.4 "Be Forever Yamato (the Argo's Japanese name)" as "Drag on Forever Yamato". Seems Reiji Matsumoto and crew would destroy the ship and kill off the crew just to have them spontaniously re-generate for another go-around.
The last movie I know of I saw on a shelf in Japan...this one was in a totally different style and had SMAP doing the voice acting...sad.
The only good stuff to come back is DevilMan, Mazinger, and GetaRobo.
Don't get me started on those bastards @Saban. They steal everything. I know the executive producer at TOEI, the man responsible for all the Kamen Rider and Ranger shows. Nicest guy in the world. Saban totally f**ked him over. He ended up retiring from TOEI.
Saban has made millions by absolutely bastardizing (is that even a word???) everything that has come out of Toei Studios. Too bad for him Yoshikawa-san has retired. No one to rip off anymore. I wonder how many times Saban can recycle the same cut scenes...
StarVengers (GetaRobo) was very good. I had a think for GaiKing though....
Most of my friends seemed to like Grandizer the best.
Oh gawd you're right. At least SMAP grew up on the stuff...
I know of no dubbed or subtitled version of the series, other than maybe a fan sub. There are subtitled versions of the various movies out.
As to the editing, I've never seen the original, but I did read a web page by someone who watched both and listed the differences in some detail.
There wasn't much really, a lot got through that probably won't be in the Gundam Wing dubbing being done now.
The intro WWII video footage of American dive bombers destroying the Yamato was cut. A bit of fan service with Nova (her name is Yuri?). The doctor is always drinking "spring water". And a few bits of violence, like when Derek Wildstar (Kodai?) tries to kill the captured Gamilon.
Sorry, this is not really ontopic... but... I can't resist. How many people out there actually like Lain? In my opinion, it was terrible. Now, I love a brainfsck as much as the next guy, ala Evangelion, but this was just too contrived. It felt like somebody watched Eva while stoned and said, "Hey, I can do more weird than that!" The whole time I was watching it, I had the feeling it wasn't nearly so deep as it seemed, and was just intentionally trying to be confusing. Turns out I was right, too.
Just to be ontopic a little bit, Star Blazers is pretty cool. Speaking of badly dubbed anime, here's a scoop for you: the same company that brought you two seasons of Sailor Moon (butchered, oh, the humanity) is now officially bringing you 77 more episodes! That's right, all of Bishojou Senshi Sailormoon S and Bishojou Senshi Sailormoon SS, brutally butchered for American television! I can't wait! Actually, I'm sure this sounds sarcastic, but this is actually a good thing. Anyway, I've blabbered enough...
Supreme Lord High Commander of the Interstellar Task Force for the Eradication of Stupidity
I have seen ALL of Lain, on DVD, and it only gets worse as it goes along. It becomes more and more contrived. The story becomes ever more vapid. And the conclusion, frankly, blows chunks. I can think of a million endings that would have been much, much better, and I'm not a very good author. Again, I repeat, I have seen ALL of Lain, and I am a Computer Science kind of guy, and I still think it was bad. It wasn't weird... it was trying to be weird, and that just offends me.
Supreme Lord High Commander of the Interstellar Task Force for the Eradication of Stupidity
Having frame by framed some other scenes, I know that much of the "streaming code" is the actual 3D description language for the Navi scenes and a few CG backgrounds. When I mentioned this to our Anime Club, somebody shouted out the obvious - "Hey, does that mean that Lain is Open Source?"
-grin-
Ghost in the Shell (commonly known as GITS, notice that there is *NO* second 'R') is a good anime, yes. The manga (comic) upon which it is based, however, is MUCH more geek. Masume Shiro[1] is a ubergeek who loves throwing detail into each mundane bit (example: explaining how the touch sensors on a cyborg are built using nanites burrowing into the skin, leaving fiber optic channels behind them, plugging into receptors) and apologizing for the glossing over of technical bits.
The Ghost in the Shell manga definately has a deeper ending that is more fully explained than the Anime ending (or Lain or End of Eva, for that matter - but then, written word holds more bandwidth for abstract concepts).
obRant:
Incidently, I am a big science fiction/fantasy fan who likes quite a bit of anime. I am really getting sick, however, of otaku (anime fans, literally "geeks") who like anime just for the sake of the fact that it is japanese animation, and sneer at everything else. A closed mind, no matter how outside of mainstream, is still closed.
[1] - Don't complain about the spelling. I did the best I could, and it kept getting farther away the more I tried :)
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
I watched a third-generation video tape copy of Starblzers and RoboTech few months ago and I throughly enjoyed it, now I can hopefully I can watch them tomorrow morning after they recover from the /. effect.
-- ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space!
Just wondering what everyone thought as the "geekiest" anime. What I mean is what anime do you think most applies to computer geeks more then it would apply to anyone else? My opinion is Lain. When i viewed it is was with some friends who were not as technically inclined and they didn't enjoy it as much. But my fellow geeks loved it. Any other suggestions? Mecha anime or DBZ for example?
It takes some time for me to realize that Star Blazers is the anime I loved, Uchu Senkan Yamato, when I was 11 years old. It was in year 1975, and the show was the reason why I wake up before 11 on Sunday morinings. (My local station showed it on Sunday mornings.) I think that was the show that made ``anime'' mainstream in Japan.
But I never have seen Star Blazers. According to this, the show was made suited for American audience. Seems quite different.
After growing up, I had chances to see Uchu Senkan Yamato couple of times. I realized that there were so many right-wing things going on in the show. Some points were embarassingly nationalistic. Maybe that was the Japanese mentality in those days. And modifying the show may be justifiable.
However, the whole point of Yamato was that they used WWII battleship, which was already obsolete at the time it was born (ironically the Japanese made it clear that the time was not for battleships but for airplanes), but still the biggest and perhaps the most beautiful, as a spaceship. Many Japanese see the battleship as a tragedic ship. It was used for a Kamikaze attack. The ship being revived to save the earth naturally had quite a power to attract Japanese audience. The ship being named Yamato was a crucial point of the story.
It also seems that Star Blazers was tamed for younger audience. The original show was not meant for kids at least, it just seems that creators of the show created what they wanted to create, not thinking of marketing or anything. In fact, IIRC, the show was cancelled or shortened by commercial pressure. (But the popularity exploded after the show was over, and they made sequels, movies, etc.) But because of this show, and people realizing that creating good story in anime can be successful, anime in Japan completely changed.
So, if you could have a chance, I'd recommend to see the original. (Is dubbed or subtitled version available in the U.S.?)
LOL, were you not aware of your namesake? hehe
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they should put it on right after DBZ, although screaming "IT"S A GUNDAM!" and killing everything is really fun on Q3A. I actually wrote a paper in college comparing Japanese and American cultures using Robotech and G.I.Joe. I wonder if it still exists....
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I'm psyched to see this whole series. I'm having flashbacks about being glued to the screen as a young'un.
I for one, am VERY happy to see stuff like this on the 'Net, it's one of the things it's really good for. Here's to more old TV on the Net! For FREE! (beer). Sit back relax, have a beer or two, and click on a banner when you leave. The Net as it should be.
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from their "News" page.
9/10/1999 - Animanga Community 'Star Blazers on the Internet'
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I think its still being shown at some wierd middle-of-the-night time on the SciFi channel.
I think it's on at 8AM CST on Sunday's. I guess that could be "some wierd middle-of-the-night time" in some parts of the world.
Now I really must challenge this incredibly small-minded viewpoint (and I'm not even talking about that "Not all American stuff is in the gutter" throwing-a-bone maneuver); there's an entire planet outside of America and Japan, you know!
Go to a Spike and Mike festival. Read some of the articles in Animation Blast. That might at least give you a start to finding some of the whole continents of artwork being imaginatively brought to life, that could eat Batman for breakfast, and that aren't 'anime-like' or in fact like anything else on Earth.
While the normals were having a regular childhood, us pasty-faced geeks were glued to TV watching anime!
My short list:
Captain Harlock (aka Albator)
Grandizer (aka Goldorak)
Captain Future (aka Capitaine FLAM)
Robotech the MACROSS Saga
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Just point yer browser ate k1/download/ e k2/download/ e k3/download/
http://www.studionext.com/features/Starblazers/We
http://www.studionext.com/features/Starblazers/We
http://www.studionext.com/features/Starblazers/We
and so on and you'll be able to Save Link As... to your heart's content.
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Did you see the live-action version of this? It got canceled, but it was the one where the earth will be pretty much dead withing a small number of years unless our heroes leave in an alien-tech ship and find the solution. They have only their skills and a really big gun front-mounted in the nose of the ship that they can only fire in the most dire situations.
;-)
Oh sorry, that was Crusade
C'mon, Galen; tell them that we're looking for Trillana!
I've always wondered if they made it to Iscandar. I still get parts of the theme song stuck in my head.
-nme!
You can get vivo's of NGE WHERE !!! WHERE !!! WHERE !!! (Sorry but some of us get addicted to really great anime like Neon Genesis (Shin Seki?) Evangelion)
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Laptop006
Melbourne, Australia
/* FUCK - The F-word is here so that you can grep for it */
Robotech NO!!! - Macross YES!!! Robotech is a poorly scripted and edited rip-off of three -seperate- japanese TV series. One that's very good (Super Dimensional Fortress: Macross), one that's Ok (Genesis Climber Mospeada), and one that's not so Ok (Super Dimension Armored calvery: Southern cross). I've seen all three in both their original japanese and their(inferior:P) english incarnation. Of the three Super Dimensional Fortress: Macross is the best of the bunch, it also happens to be the oldest(originaly it came out in 82')and generaly it's the most sucessful(creating at last count; 4-5 TV series spin-offs, 2 movies, and 5+ games on several platforms). For more information here are some links: A ok site for anime in general(but they don't update as often as they should)- http://www.anipike.com/ A site specifcly on Robotech/Macross- http://robotech.simplenet.com/whatisrobotech.htm AND the company that's bought the rights for the Macross series(since Streamline Cinema bit the big one-may Streamline enjoy it's punisment in the firey depths of hell(with really really low bandwidth))- http://www.animego.com/ Remember -Animego- IS the otaku's(loosely translated; the japanese word for nerd or geek) best friend WORSHIP THEM they bring out the really really good, realitivly obscure stuff. So please support them and go to their site!
Sixth Sense: "I see dead people"
/.ers signing our guest and bullitin boards(I don't have to maintain the site BWHAHAHA! I have my minions to do that, so come and do as you wish). We're based in LAS VEGAS, and as for as I know we are the only active, purely Anime, club in the whole state of Nevada, so if your nearby(from NV,SoCAL,AZ or visiting from somewhere else) please contact us! (BTW my name is george)
Serial Experiment Lain: I get their E-mail
How for have ou gotten into the series? In club we've gotten to eppisode six, and the series keeps getting better and better. I think it's funy that 12-year-old-Lain goes from being a "norm" using a kid's internet appilance, to setting up what looks like a huge Linux(YAY:)cluster in her room IN JUST TWO EPPISODES!(and her room looks a lot like mine except, her equipment is top of the line and 90% running, while mine... is, umm... not...)
BTW: I don't know if it's in the dub version(dubs usually put me into convultions), watch the subtitled version. The "Be" in the "To -Be- Continued" at the end of each eppisode, is the Be-OS "BE". You know, The blue capital "B" and the red lowercase "e". Watch and see for yourself.
The club I belong to(and rule with an iron fist BWHAHAHAHA!)is Meijin Kenryoku Please come and visit us. I love getting
sig-ver 2.1
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74% Slashdot Pure
I used to watch Starblazers and Force Five every day after school. I think Force Five aired primarily in New England. Anyone else watch it? And if you did, who thought Starvengers was the best of the 5?
You're forgetting to mention Macross 7, the TV show about a group of musician pacifists (including Max and Miria's daughter) in control of customized Valkyries. It takes place on Max's ship. It had a pretty kick-ass intro song, "Seventh Moon."
...Unless you're only talking about shows available on DVD. Wouldn't know about that. =)
There were also a bunch of gaiden side-stories on console video games, like Macross 2036 and Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie. I've only played the latter, and the main boss isn't Zentoradi.
It is still the dark of night.
Yes! This had to be my first exposure to Anime. I am not a die-hard fan (I like the genre, and I enjoy watching an anime flick now and again, but I don't have a huge collection or anything) - but this series was great. I would love to see an episode again myself...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Now, please, someone tell me they remember Marine Boy...
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
Which anime show(shown in the US) used Atari 8-bit lettering for the episode title at the beginning of the show? That quesiton's been racking me for years. Remember seing it on KXLI channel 41 in St. Cloud.
If I could get G-Force online, I would be good to go.
"If you have done 6 impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways" -- hhgg
Desdemona: Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi)
Coldstone: Michael Dorn (Worf)
Xanatos: Jonathan Frakes (Will Riker)
Owen, Puck: Brent Spiner(Data)
Titania, Anastasia Renard: Kate Mulgrew (Capt. Janeway)
Also some other well-known actors:
Hudson: Ed Asner (Mary Tyler Moore Show)
Fox: Laura San Giacomo (Just Shoot Me)
Broadway: Bill Faggerbakke (Coach)
Keith David, the latter-day James Earl Jones, voiced Goliath. He also provides the voice for Spawn on HBO and played Cameron Diaz's father in "Something about Mary" ("open up a can'o whoopass!").
This was definitely one of the best American animated series ever created.
What I mainly remember from BG is the keyboard on the console at the side of the bridge.
Did anyone else notice that it (the keyboard) was from an IBM model 29 keypunch?
For that matter, when was the last time anyone even saw a model 29? Setup a drum card? Got a pants cuff full of chads? Dropped your deck on the way to submit the job "one last time"?
Excercises for students:
1) calculate the equivalent of 80-column tab cards carried on a standard cd-rom. Assume one box/tray of cards equals 2400 cards and one case of cards equals 5 boxes. How many cases of cards on that cd-rom?
2) Assume a business environment; how much would that volume of cards weigh and how long would it take you to haul that volume from the third floor machine room to the basement archive using only a two wheeled dolly?
In that time (shortly after the dinosaurs died), males were either wearing pants with cuffs or diapers.
Pants without cuffs (or diapers) were sufficient to see that you got neither promotion nor pay raise at work.
http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~nmedbery/real_video/index .htm
here is the site where you can download the episodes
It has some old puppet space programs from the 60's.
If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem
Remember Battlestar Galactica? now there was a realistic space show--excellent acting, special effects--and swearing, too!
what the frack?
Interested in the Colorado Lottery or Powerball games?
check out http://colotto.com
I remember watching Star Blazers religiously after school when it first came on TV. I was about eight years old. Then we moved out to the sticks where cable wasn't available and I couldn't get the station in that it was on. For a couple days I sat there trying to make out what was going on through the static. I was actually pretty heart-broken.
I eventually forgot about it until I was about 21 and met a woman that had it on video. The only problem was that when I went over to her place to see it she kept pushing her hentai collection on me--which might not have been a problem if she wasn't a nasty ex-biker chick and about 15 years older than me.
Maybe at last I can finally see how it turned out--I'll have to remember to check it out when the site is no longer slashdotted.
numb
*nt* = no text
But while we're getting a lot of overexposure from Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon and even (shudders) Gundam Wing on Cartoon Network, it seems that the average geek in North America is missing out on some better anime that Japan has to offer.
For example, I'm not quite sure if everyone here has heard of Cowboy Bebop. A must see series for a Japanese Animation fan, especially those into action.
And if you're a hard core fan of Japanese Animation, you can't miss out on Nadesico, which is a pretty much a parody of EVERYTHING, including those cheezily animated 70's giant robot anime. Yet it has a plot to call its own. I think it was declared by some to be the "Best Anime Ever." I'd agree with this. Of course, if you are a real hard core fan, you've probably already seen this one.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
I always wanted a wave motion gun on my old Chevy (just to clear a path through heavy traffic) and I am deeply disappointed that they have yet to be invented. Dammit, what's it going to take? An alien invader poisoning the surface of the planet with radiation or something?
And the brethren went away edified.
Star Blazers was the shit when I was 9 years old. I remember watching it everyday after school in '79 (and later Force Five, Captain Harlock, Robotech, etc...). And that was back when only us geeks knew what Japanimation was. When I was young, there weren't Anime sections in your local video stores... you kids today don't know how good you have it :-)
...
Anyway, I came across this online 6 or 7 years ago:
********************************************
Picard:
Captain's Log, Stardate 98765432.10. While on a routine mission to the Achbarditaniary System, our sensors picked up a strange fluctuation in the space-time continuum. While we cannot determine the source of this disturbance, long-range sensors are picking up a lone vessel in the immediate vicinity. We are en route to investigate.
Q:
Jean-Luc, mon capitaine. I'm back!
Picard:
Q, get out of here!
Q:
Non, mon ami. I have a contract, remember?
Picard:
(fume)
Data:
Captain, I do not think that Q's contract pertains to this particular scenario. Technically, this is not a parody, but another inane attempt to pit our ship against another genre vessel. Precedents include the Battlestar Galactica, Cylon Base Stars, Blake's 7, Dr. Who's Tardis, Robotech Veritechs, the Batmobile, Dastardly and Muttley's flying--
Picard:
Enough, Data, we get the point. Excellent. Q, you are not wanted here, nor legally required to be here. You will leave.
Q:
Hurumph. It's a silly premise, anyway. But I'll be back. I'll be watching.
[Q disappears in a bright flash.]
Picard:
Finally. Let's get on with this. Beverly's waiting for me....
Wesley:
Hey!!!
Riker:
Shut up, boy!
Picard:
Number One, remember this is NOT a parody.
Riker:
Sorry.
Wesley:
Thanks!
Picard:
Shut up boy.
[cut to Yamato]
Venture:
Derek! What was that ship?
Wildstar:
I don't know, Mark. I think it was one of the Comet Empire's new Space Destroyers. We were hit by a Magna-Laser Cannon!
Sandor:
They destroyed the Third Bridge.
Nova:
But where are we now, Derek? Where did the enemy ship go?
Homer:
I lost contact with the Third Space Fleet, Captain.
IQ-9:
MY SENSORS DETECT ANOTHER SHIP APPROACHING. VERY FAST. FASTER THAN A GENIUS ROBOT CAN COMPUTE. I AM A FAILURE.
[IQ-9 tips over and falls]
Nova:
EEEEK! I have it on the scope. It's back!
Wildstar:
Recall the repair teams. Ready the shock cannons.
Eager:
Aye, aye, sir.
[cut to Enterprise]
Riker:
What the hell is that? Looks like an old Earth Navy Battleship.
Worf:
Sensors show it is an old Earth Navy Battleship.
Riker:
You're kidding.
Worf:
Klingons do not kid. The ship has been modified to be spaceworthy. It is arming its weapons. It is using an unidentifiable energy, but it does seem to be... tachyon based.
Picard:
Tachyon? Can our shields deflect that?
Worf:
I don't know. It is not mentioned in "Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise."
Riker:
That means... we're at the mercy of the writer!
Picard:
Merde.
Worf:
However, that should be little problem. The ship is NOT shielded.
Picard:
Good. Mr. Worf, raise our shields and hail that vessel.
Worf:
Aye sir.
[Yamato]
Nova:
Distance to Space Destroyer 40 mega-meters. Oh! Derek! There's an energy reading building around the Destroyer.
Wildstar:
Fire all shock cannons!
[Enterprise]
Picard:
Attention alien vessel, I am Captain Jean-Luc--
[The ship rocks violently as its shields absorb the attack]
Worf:
We are under fire. Permission to destroy alien vessel.
Picard:
Negative, Mr. Worf. Our shields seem able to deal with their weapons. We are on a peaceful mission.
Worf:
(under breath) Wimp.
Picard:
What was that?
Worf:
I said wim-pieth. It's Klingon for Wise Leader.
Picard:
Why, thank you. Let's try communicating again. I am Captain--
Wildstar:
Fire the shock cannons! Fire all missiles! Ready fore torpedo tubes!
[Once again, the Enterprise rocks violently as its shields absorb another attack]
Picard:
I am Captain--
[another attack...]
Picard:
I am Captain--
[and another...]
Riker:
Captain! You've tried that 20 times. They aren't listening.
Data:
Shields are beginning to weaken, sir.
Picard:
Very well. Stand by while I convert from Peace Mode to Kick-Ass Mode.
[He turns around in his chair three times.]
Picard:
There. That'll be enough of that. I'm tired of being a sitting target. Mr. Worf, target one of those laser turrets and fire main phasers, short duration.
Worf:
(with a big shit-eating grin) Yes sir!
[The Enterprise fires several volleys, causing severe damage to the Yamato]
Picard:
Worf, I said one shot.
Worf:
Oops. Finger stuck.
Data:
Direct hit, sir. The alien ship has sustained heavy damage. It is... burning sir.
Wesley:
That's impossible. You can't have a fire in space. There's no oxygen!
Data:
Nevertheless, there is a large fire... and smoke.
Picard:
This is damn peculiar.
[back on the Yamato...]
Homer:
They've destroyed Turret Number three!
Sandor:
They've destroyed Bridge Number three.
Wildstar:
Grrrr. We can't just sit here. Let's see how their force field stands up to real power. Ready the WAVE MOTION GUN!!!
Orion:
Transferring all energy to Wave-Motion Gun.
[cut to Enterprise.]
Picard:
That seems to have taken the fight out of them. They've stopped firing. Now maybe they're willing to talk.
Data:
Captain, I read a buildup of that strange tachyon energy inside that hole in the front of the ship. Readings go off the scale.
[Everyone looks up at the screen. White swirls of energy are building around the front of the Argo. Everyone suddenly notices that the other ship is no longer damaged.]
Riker:
What the hell? What happened to all of the damage? We crippled that ship.
Data:
Sensors show that the alien vessel is fully functional.
Picard:
Could that ship be of Borg design?
Data:
Negative, sir. It is constructed of simple metals as found on Earth.
Riker:
Look at the glow on the front of the ship. It's getting ready to fire.
Picard:
Well, it's just sitting there. Let's put a stop to this right away. Mr. Worf, fire phasers and photon torpedoes.
[Yamato]
Sandor:
They destroyed Bridge Number Three.
Venture:
Derek! We have to get out of here. We're heavily damaged!
Wildstar:
GRRRR. No! Continue countdown for the Wave-Motion Gun. Launch all Black Tiger Fighters to stop their firing.
Data:
The enemy ship is heavily damaged. Yet they still continue to build up to fire. Their fighters are ineffectual.
Picard:
Enough is enough. Mr. Worf, fire phasers, wide spread, to destroy those fighters, then bear all weapons on that ship and destroy her.
Worf:
Phasers readied, fired!
Worf:
Photon torpedoes, armed... fired!
[The Enterprise unleashes barrage after barrage of photon torpedoes. Fire and smoke engulf the Yamato.]
Worf:
Four dozen torpedoes scored direct hits on the alien vessel. She must be totally vaporized in that cloud.
Picard:
Very well. It had to be done. Scan the wreckage, then we'll proceed to Starbase 69 for repairs and debriefing.
Wesley:
S-S-Sir, LOOK!
[The Enterprise crew looks up in astonishment as the Yamato emerges from the cloud]
Sandor:
They destroyed Bridge Number Three.
Wildstar:
3... 2... 1... FIREEEE!!!!
[The Enterprise is completely destroyed by the wave motion gun's massive beam]
Venture:
Whew. That was a close one.
Wildstar:
Sure was. Send out the repair teams. Let's move on with our mission. We have a planet to save.
Nova:
Oh, Derek!
I was going to ask exactly the same thing, in exactly the same tone! You must be my long lost AC Brother!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
The Beast Wars and Machines are produced by Mainframe Entertainment of Vancouver. They also create 'War Planets/Shadow Raiders', and did (and will do more) Reboot.
*All* of their CGI is top notch. If you watch Reboot from it's first season through to it's third, which spans the real world years from the fall of 1994 to the summer of 1999, you can see the effect of increasing hardware speeds and experience in the quality of the CGI.
Starship Troopers is the *only* other TV CGI which I've seen that approaches the quality that Mainframe turns out. You say it's done by Foundation Imaging? Hmmm, a quick look at their website doesn't clearly indicate to me what other series they currently have under production. Can anyone familiar with the company tell us what other shows (with good CGI and storylines) they are making, other than the Starship Troopers stuff?
Finally, are there any other CGI houses out there doing work of the quality of Mainframe and Foundation?
---
OK I'm on dialup, but its free so I can wait, but I can't download any of it! Obviouly the streaming option is pointless for a 56K user, but I tried the other options and it tells me I need QT3+ BUT I HAVE QT4.1 or whatever I redownloaded today from Apple. Stupid QT/IE/windows :-(
On another note, did they have "parents groups" when we were kids (20 or so years ago), or are those recent inventions? I just don't remember hearing about "parents groups" complaining about stuff when I was a kid; now you can't turn around without falling over one. No wonder most kids shows suck these days; the producers have to dumb down anything that might remotely result in a lawsuit. It's amazing how the complainers never bother to notice that there must not be a direct link between TV violence and real violence, since if that were true Japan would be a smoldering hole in the ground by now. Dragonball Z alone would have taken out three major cities! :)
Sorry, just had to rant for a second. I now return you to your regularly scheduled hot grits, trolls, and flames.
Mark
I've got all 36 episodes of Robotech in Realmedia format and the first half of the sequel series Southern Cross. Managed to download them all about a year ago. Sorry I don't have the URL any more but you might want to look for the "Robotech Project" or something similar - it was a site dedicated to keeping the show alive. They had hi res G2 format files and links to sites that had slightly lower res vids for Southern Cross and Invid.
;) If you're still desparate, get in touch we'll arrange something.
If you _do_ find it, let me know
Maq
"Stage lights flashing; The feeling's smashing...."
If you liked robotech (Which was a basterdization of three seasons of macross) try macross plus.
Macross plus takes place long after minmei and the robotech saga takes place, but it still specializes in the Macross subtext of music (besides the big robots.) With yoko kanno doing the music, your ears are in for a particluar treat.. Not only that, the visuals are incredible and the story line is nothing short of amazing. Not even mentioning the references to HAL.
Goto anime on dvd
Oh yeah, shameless plug for the anime mag i write for, at anime
no
Now you're talking !
Bring back Captain Scarlet and their successors UFO.
Anyone remember why the staff of the Moonbase had to use the same wardobe as the first Star Trek series ?
And Space 1999 while we're at it....
Life is just a bowl of All Bran - Small Faces
This is has undoubtedly got to be the best kids program I watched.
It was amazing.
I'm still in denial since when it last came on TV.
Anybody know whether there are any episodes of this online?
Why do they think I should have to download 50+MB every time I want to see an episode?
If you are giving it away free, why not just give it instead of dangling it in front of my bandwidth challenged face?
At first I was ecstatic, now I'm just pissed...
It's becoming more prevalent on the web. More and more sites are using Apple's Quicktime "feature" to make sure the user can't save a movie to disk for *gasp* another view.
I should of have realized it was coming when Quicktime came out with that braindead installation, forcing you to re-download the thing every time (I got around that, though).
And what does it give them except for excessive network traffic? They are giving it away for FREE for crying out loud.
Talk about clueless management...
Yeah, galaxy rangers rocked. I think I have some of those episodes taped somewhere........ Perhaps I'll capture them and post them somewhere someday..........
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
--
Very Realistic.... Can't wait till I can smoke a huge cigar in a tiny space fighter cockpit like Starbuck always did. Just imagine all the advances in air filtration that lie ahead!
"DBZ: Journey to the West meets the WWF"
:).
That's an interesting comparison, Especially since a friend of mine made DBZ characters for his WWF Attitude game on the Playstation. He didn't just make one or two, But 30!!. We used to let the CPU go nuts in a Royal Rumble match and watch it for 30 minutes to see who would come out on top. Suprising Mr Popo walked away with the win once.
The best matches were the 16 man stable Hardcore Finisher only matches in my opinion. Vegeta always used the kick ass in those.
The biggest Upset was we Finally got Goku to win the title belt. he defended it by beating three characters. (Majin buu, Frieza and Recoom) Then He finally made Chi Chi and she proceded to kick Goku's Ass and won by submission
If your wondering. The characters that closely resembled the counterpart were Gohan (dressed like Great Sayanman), Mr Popo, Trunks, Nappa, Piccolo, Nail and Mr Satan. The other Ones matched very well too, just these particular ones made you think that the programmers has this in mind for create a wrestler.
On a side note. In Wrestlemania 2000 for the N64, one of the many Taunts is the Spirit Bomb! Too bad we couldn't make a good Goku for it.
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
Sabre Rider.. i think i remember that..
what about the Star Sherifs? I know it's not anime..
--DV
--DV
In this day it is safer to be a ninja than a samurai
1) earth defense force getting their asses kicked, then wild star's brother's torpedo ship taking on about 100 enemy ships so that the captain can get away.
2) tralayna and her sister, then nova...
3) wild star finding his brother's gun and ship on titan.
4) the ship that the scientist guy blows up with his explosive-filled limbs. then wildstar finds his limbless body in wreckage. (why couldn't data on STTNG do anything like that.)
5) argo vs. the three battle cruisers and gets it's ass kicked because it can't use the wave motion gun.
6) whoops! i forgot before the first warp jump, when one of the badly damaged fighters almost didn't make. oh yeah, and then wildstar not having anybody on earth to call because they were all dead...
7) argo kicking the crap out of deselok's home world. (deselok always had two or three human women with him...)
8) wildstar being reunited with his brother.
9) nova almost dying on the return journey. the death of the captain...
10) all those times, when the captain had "spring water" with the ships crew...
okay... time for me to work...
andrew park
Why did I lurk so long before registering for a Slashdot account? I could have had a Slashdot ID of less than 100000.
Now if only Battle of the Planets would come back. That show ruled when I was nine or ten.
Like so many successful and long-running TV series, there is a logical place where they should be laid to rest. In StarBlazer's case it was once they reached Earth. Unfortunately, they didn't get it. Ah well.
http://pcblues.com - Digits and Wood
That's great that they're releasing old anime series' on the net, now I want to be able to download the Samurai Pizza Cats episodes! It's Samurai Saving Time! KillerPenguin
Thank you.
"At the end of the journey, all men think that their youth was Arcadia..." -Goethe
"Pick an A.C. sailor!.. We're cheaper than Karma Wh*res!" - A.C.
$HOME is where the
-- silver_p
OK, I'm having a *major* geek-gasm here. I apologize in advance for knowing the following information, because to remember this information 20 years later is just too geeky for words.
I think the ship you're talking about was the Andromeda, and, as I recall, it was the "flagship" of the new fleet built after the Argo/Yamato got back to Earth.
--Mythos
You mean the ship that sank in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and has sunk everytime the government tries to raise it? Doesn't the Navy consider that ship nothing short of haunted???
--Mythos
Gundam Wing is cool! Not for kids, really, but cool!
--Mythos
--
Sigh. You shouldn't talk about places you've never been to. That's what they do in Russia.
Seriously though, in my experience, the only people who ever say stuff like this are:
1) People who have never been on acid.
2) People who are always on acid.
Please don't take this as a flame, but it just kinda strikes me as the "It tastes like chicken" crap. Whenever someone said this to me, it's always been disgusting, and not in the least bit like chicken. The only thing that tastes like chicken is chicken. The only thing like a trip is a trip.
Soon as I read this, my eyes glazed over and grew to about 1/2 the size of my face
Is this official/legal? Getting vivos of series like Neon Genesis Evangelion is increasing hugely in popularity, from net to ftp to hotline to irc.
(my only complete japanese sentence: but...i'm sooo hungry!)
Original Animated Video I think. It refers to direct release-to-video, which is usually the best form of anime. Not as cheap and long as T.V. episode-by-episode, but still longer then a quick movie, usually. Example: El-Hazard was originally an OAV, volumes, 1 hour each. Then, they made a TV series, 2 sequel series (El-Hazard II and El-Hazard, the Alternative World). For those of you that haven't seen it, its the funniest stuff out there (the original OAV is the best part by far though). Drunks and giant bugs and magical powers and martial arts and lesbians and sex jokes and all that fun stuff that makes Japan better then us (j/k).
I get a similar problem: noone remembers my fave classic anime, Sabre Rider and the Star Sheriffs. That, and series III of Robotech (the Invid Invasion, cyclones whoop Valkrye @$$!)
Yah, I remember Dark Water. It came out at the same time as Bucky O'Hare (I have the first episodes on video of that). Cool fantasy sci-fi settings like that were awesome. Nostalgia kicking in overdrive.
I was deprived of the Star Blazers as a child. But does anyone remember the Galaxy Rangers? Anyone I've asked about seem to not remember them. They were the coolest. It was almost a rated 'R' cartoon for it's time.
-- --
Stay Tuned Next Week For...
The Adventures of Open Souce Man!
-- --
Stay Tuned Next Week For...
The Adventures of Open Souce Man!
(with Natalie Portman and her Aibo)
Speaking of R rated cartoons, anyone other than me watch Inhumanoids?
Sure. I loved that show. I can't remember for the life of me what it was about, tho. Something about giant monsters who did stuff (yeah, like _thats_ not vague, or anything)
-- --
Stay Tuned Next Week For...
The Adventures of Open Souce Man!
-- --
Stay Tuned Next Week For...
The Adventures of Open Souce Man!
(with Natalie Portman and her Aibo)
Wow, that threat worked! You were moderated up! A moderator must live near you :)
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
I don't remember any of those... but my highschool years were 1994-1999 (jr/sr highschool - that's 7 to 12th). But I do remember when I first caught on to why WLVI was Channel 56...
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
http://scifi.ign.com/tv/4151.html
Be afraid. It looks horrible, and I can't remember where I was reading it, but there's a rumor floating around that there won't be any variable fighters, which just ain't right... Of course, I'm a Macross fan, not a Robotech fan, but it still offends me =)
They just don't come that way in real life!
What does OAV mean? I see this term all the time in association with anime. Is it an acronym?
-Stevewww.xalien.com/anime
Although it is hard to come by the original Robotech series, Robotech was based on a Japanese series called Macross (at least the first part). There are two "sequels" to Macross you can get on DVD. The better set is called Macross Plus. Well worth checking out. The animation for Macross Plus is far better than the original Robotech stuff, although the plot isn't quite as compelling.
-Stevewww.xalien.com/anime
My friends and I have a running joke about the wave motion gun. You see it really could destroy whole planets (I think it even detroyed a small star during one episode), but only when the plot allowed for it. If Deslok's ship was hit with the wave motion gun it would merely be damaged (because we couldn't kill off the main villian so easily). When the Comet Empire was hit with dozens of blast from Wave motion guns at once it wasn't even damaged! Now whenever we see a movie or a TV show that has inconsistencies like this we refer to the Wave Motion Gun Effect.
-Stevewww.xalien.com/anime
Possible Intepretation:
Space Cruiser Argo = geek force one
advanced technology = Linux
the deadly contamination = take a wild wild guess
Geeze, was this guy ahead of his time or what?
Things are more like they are now than they ever were before. - Dwight D. Eisenhower
Just a note: cgi => computer generated imagery is correct, no?
I write (in C++) the other sort, and I'm wondering if my brain is coughing up a wrong acronym.
-- Still waiting for the Nike endorsement
In the last year, new versions of many old toons from that era have shown their faces. Some have been good - I point to the decent cgi Beast Wars and its magnificent sequel Beast Machines, which take off from a distant future (cast into the past) of the classic American version of Transformers - but most have been abysmal. G.I. Joe extreme was a joke, extreme Ghostbusters was lackluster, the cgi Voltron 3D is even flatter than the original, and seems to employ the same story and dialog writers, and I'm just relieved that the Robotech 2100 project that was being floated never got off the ground.
The only kind of cartoons that seem to be showing up these days are really crude brainchildren of Ren and Stimpy, cgi based shows, and superhero cartoons. And "generation 2" versions of classics. Of the above, some are rather good... the short bits on Cartoon Network can be rather witty, and of the cgis, the above mentioned TF derivative and the movie-and-book hybrid Starship Troopers are rather well done and, frankly, artisticly beautiful... and WB's Batman shows are actually very good... but for the most part, the "revival" category bites. I liked Star Blazers, but I have this horrifying vision of it in bad cgi with worse writing.
-- Still waiting for the Nike endorsement
oh, that's right. there's no grrrrlz here, huh? Still, Honey is boss & don't I keep seeing Grandpa Danbei popping up in DBZ?
I wonder how come Saban hasn't taken the show and changed it around like he did with Dynamen and calling it Power Rangers. A few shows I'd like to see again are Gigantor, Thundar the Barbarian, and those freaky marrionette shows like Thunderbirds and Fireball XL-5.
Oh yea and some HR Puff-n-stuff.
---
eeww, I'll have a crab juice.