JELEINEN

Ridiculously large robots, made-up science, and galaxies as living organisms are not hard SF. I love Aim for the Top! to death, but it's definitely space opera (which is why I don't use the term in dirision). I believe it was Galaxy that used to run an ad in the back talking about the stories you'd find inside. It had two snippets of story side-by-side that were nearly identical, except in one the character rode a horse and had a six-shooter. In the other, the character rode a rocket and had a ray-gun. The latter was space opera (the ad even points this out) and the magazine assured its readers that they wouldn't find anything like published by them. Can hard SF stories have strong stories and even action and excitement? Absolutely. Is there a lot of hard SF that is sorely lacking in these elements? Definitely (Sturgeon's Law and all that). Is there a lot of space opera that has the same problems as hard SF when it comes to story or characterization? Very much so. All of that is entirely besides the point. What defines hard SF is its trueness to scientific fact (yes, a gimme or two is usually accepted; FTL being the most common), while space opera is adventure stories that use the same trappings, but without paying attention to the actual science behind them. Neither definition is a judgement of the story involved. For reading on the subject, I recommend David Hartwell's works, especially the excellent Age of Wonders.

Space opera, without a doubt. Edit: this doesn't mean that I think space opera isn't SF. It's just a kind of SF (adventure stories as opposed to science heavy hard SF or New Wave SF), and I, myself, don't use it as a derogatory term, nor do any others I know of anymore.

The basic premise of Reality Dysfunction completely violates hard SF. Yeah, so he goes into detail on how a group lives; doesn't change the fact that the plot is a bunch of dead people running around possessing everyone.

Reality Dysfunction hard SF? Riiiight. Definitely space opera though; it's very much an adventure story. And your definitions are completely off, as it has nothing to do with the quality of the work, but the content. I do agree that space opera is no longer the derogatory term it once was, but you'll note I said that in my post. As for more SF being written today, my question is, "where the heck is it?" I go to the SF/Fantasy section of any given book store and I see lots of new fantasy, but little new SF, other than stuff tied to a media work (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.). The fact of the matter is, SF has always been dependent on magazines for most of its volume. Since the magazines have been steadily dying since the late sixties, the amount of SF being published has decreased right along with. And, SF's attempt to be purely novel-based has been shaky at best. Likewise, SF is still snubbed by the literati who go out of their way to classify the handful of SF stories they accept as anything but SF (1984 for example). The attempt at making SF high literature (called the New Wave) was still born in the early sixties.

Nope. Space opera is merely an adventure story with science fiction trappings. The term was coined as a play on "saddle opera" (saddle operas were western adventure stories that were published in pulps and were often very formulaic in nature) and was originally a derogatory term used by "real" science fiction magazines like Astounding and Galaxy. It's since lost most of its negative connotations, especially since probably 99% of all media SF is space opera.

That ban was lifted years ago. There may still be some residual effects from it, but I don't think anyone can continue to point to it as the source for lolicon.

I find it interesting that they kept the flag on top the car and the Dixie horn. I'm not a big fan of the South or all it stood for, but it's nice to see political correctness get a slap in the face now and then.

Actually, almost all animated SF is space opera. This show didn't click with me either. I don't think it was bad, but I just walked away from it feeling "meh." For some bizarre reason, people keep wanting to compare this to Legend of the Galactic Heroes, which it actually has very little in common with. I would be willing to give the novels a try, if they were to come out in English.

*Kicks himself for not recommending this* Awesome... Awesome... Awesome show. In addition to the 110 episodes of the main series. There's also 52 side episodes and 2 movies.

Comments moved from other thread because it's likely to get deleted for duplication: Given AIC's track record of making crappy sequals to older shows, I don't expect much from this. The again, I wonder how much worse than part 3 it can get.

All but the last title has been licensed. Zipang is indeed excellent, but it's very different from Final Countdown in its execution. It's much more philisophical and has a lot less action. It's definitely a thinking person's show.

Def Leppard kicked ass. I feel compelled to add a minor correction to your statement, Mike... Def Leppard KICKS ass. They're far from finished yet! They're on tour right now with Brian Adams. They might as well be finished.

It's one of those pieces of legislation that congressmen can point to durring the next election and say, "See how I'm looking out for your kids?" With the amount of judicial precedence against it, I can't imagine anyone realistically expects it to stick.

I don't mind it being family friendly. I enjoy taking my young nephews to movies. I just don't like the plot premise. It sounds like Herbie the Love Bug.

Looks like the place to post this: http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/050526d.php Does not sound good at all.

Very cool, and not a bad price either. I must get one.

Where's the part where someone calls someone else a 'Nazi?'

That's not a problem. It's called plot. I thought that he was faking was kinda obvious.

As has been said, bringing balance to the force does not mean equaling out the Sith and the Jedi. It means eliminating the Sith altogether. The Dark Side is what makes the Force out of balance. The problem is that the Jedi had become so dogmatic and hide bound, that they couldn't even see the Sith right in front of them. The dogma of eliminating emotion and attachment is what Qui Gon and later Luke reject, and what Anikan had such a hard time dealing with.

But the Jedi had been fighting at their side for a few years now. They had a comradery going, and I think even friendships. That's what makes the betrayal so shocking. You litterally have a clone trooper handing Obiwan his light saber (a clone Obiwan was on a first name basis with), then a few seconds later, trying to kill him.

It was stated in one of the earlier films that the Jedi had lost their precognitive ability, so getting blind sided by the clones makes sense. As for making sure that the order wasn't given accidently, I imagine that it could only come from Palpatine (he gave it personally). It's very obvious that Palpatine was in complete control of the situation on board the ship at the beginning. The "what the f*ck are you doing to me?" look that Dooku gives him when Palpatine is telling Anikan to kill him says it all. And by the time Palpatine shows his true nature to Anikan, Anikan is already too far in to get out (even though he does make an attempt to do the right thing, sort of a last gasp effort). I agree with Togo; once Anikan gives in, the dark side takes over and it just snowballs big time (which is what Yoda says would happen all along). And "the end justifies the means" is a very persuasive arguement that people in the real world fall for all the time. Again, I found the fall of Anikan to be very well done, and really this is what the film hinged on.

I think that was Lucas' kid. Loved the movie. What made it great was that Anikan's fall was so believable. He's scared, yet there's this bit of arrogance there. He's got problems and no one seems to help (man, could Yoda have given worse advice?) except Palpatine, who just preys on his emotions. The bit where he recommends Anikan go deal with Grevious, knowing that the Jedi will baulk and send Obiwan instead, leaving Anikan without his one real friend, is just brilliant. The scene in the theater box was also excellent. I need to see it again.

I'll agree with the story sucking. There were plot holes big enough to drive a Mac truck through. By the end of the entirely too long scene on top the oil rig, I was yelling at the screen for the characters to just shut the f*ck up and shoot each other already. And all the cannons can be shut down from just one? Who's the moron who made that brilliant defense strategy? The action figure was pretty cool though, if a bit over priced.

The guy's at it again, this time with the original ship: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=114077 I can't wait to see a finished model.

Just finished Gankutsuou last month and it was excellent. A great take on a classic story. Watching School Rumble as it gets subbed. Easily one of the funniest shows to come out in a while. Speed Graffer is pretty good, so far. It's also fun seeing a show with a Duran Duran opening song. Finished Beck a while back and thoroughly enjoyed it. Excellent character development and the music isn't half bad (not as good as it's made out to be in the show, but then what is?). Zipang is good, and I highly recommend it to all the military fetishists on this site. Mai Hime turned out to be a lot better than I expected it to be. I really should finish watching it.