F-ZeroOne

Just to balance the books a bit, there have been a couple of occasions where I've had positive "communication" experiences (excluding those with friends or contacts of friends). One time me and my brother were looking for a particular fashion shop [1] in Harajuku and the quest was getting to the point where it was looking likely we would be taking separate flights back home... Out of the blue, this voice says, "Excuse me, can I help you?" and this complete stranger, a young Japanese man, spends the next 15 minutes helping us find the shop we were looking for. Turned out that he had studied in England for a bit. We never did get a chance to thank him properly. On another occasion, I was on my way to Yokosuka to look at the warship Mikasa, and didn't realise that I had to change trains on the way. An elderly Japanese man on the same train told me what was happening with no prompting from me and in no less than a Texan accent! Turned out he had lived in Texas back in the 60s. [1] I admire Nigo, the founder of "A Bathing Ape", who is a Star Wars fan and therefore One Of Us. In the unlikely event I ever meet him, though, I will kick him very hard in the lower regions for only putting directions to the shops in the shops [2]. [2] Things are a bit easier now; the brand was a bit less well known and there was much less internet information available at the time.

As RFT has mentioned, my understanding from other forums is that its new for Farnborough.

There is to be another Doctor Who Prom [1] this weekend, Saturday 24th & 25th July at the Royal Albert Hall, once again featuring music from the show plus a few classical pieces. Its being broadcast on one of the BBCs satellite radio channels and the event will be filmed for future broadcast at a later date. [1] Just to avoid any cross-cultural confusion, "The Proms" is an annual British showcase of (mostly) classical music, so banish any thoughts of Daleks in badly-chosen tuxedos mooching in the locker room because they couldn't get a date with the leader of the Skaro cheer-leading squad [2]... [2] "Give me an E! Give me a X! Give me a T! Give me a... "

"What are your primary objectives, Taranis?" "To kick the arse of Her Majesty's enemies and drink tea. And I am all out of tea."

The BBC are currently running a series called "How To Build A... " - last week, they covered the Astute nuclear attack submarine; this week they covered Rolls-Royce and its line of commercial jet engines. Might be interesting for those who like the non-military side of things (I know I'd forgotten just how much jet engines are hand assembled!). Its currently broadcast on BBC2 at 21:00GMT, just after Top Gear...

Bandai did make a toy of the Model-97. It was a "Cloth Gear" item; essentially a metal frame which you snap the plastic armour parts onto. I have one; not a brilliant toy (the plastic armour greatly restricts the movement of the inner frame, making you wonder why they bothered making it poseable in the first place) but the "police blue" colour scheme does make it stand out. You're mostly right though; to the best of my knowledge theres very few, if any, other representations of the Model-97 in toy form.

For the record: yes, "completing" Gundam for a normal human is possibly, by now, verging on the impossible. Wait a few years until everyone is NewType and you might stand a chance... One thing to bear in mind with a lot of the early Gundams (pretty much everything pre-1990) is that the series quality is tied fairly strongly to the narrative quirks and techniques of Gundams creator, Yoshiyuki Tomino. He has a rather restless style - it often seems that he just cannot bear to have his characters sit still, and character development tends to take place in the gaps between the fighting - and its also worth bearing in mind that when these series were made, the way people watched them was different. It can fairly be claimed that many Tomino series have episodes which are mostly fight scenes. Back then, however, people didn't watch these series in 12-episode marathons, they ran home from school [1] and sat down to watch a once-a-week treat. I know at about the age of the typical anime-watching fan back then, I'd be bored if there wasn't Zaku-on-Gundam action that week! Tomino also suffered from depression throughout his career and his mood could affect the series he was working on; happily he appears to have reached an equilibrium now. My personal preference is for the Universal Century based Gundams; I've seen several of the alternate shows and enjoyed them (mostly!) but they do tend to lack the sense of "history" of the UC-era. A few summarised thoughts: The original series: a classic, though its disco-era stylings can look rather odd now. Can seem rather slow-going at first until around episode 30 onwards, and then you can almost hear Tomino switching gears to a higher plane. The movies are good for a capsule understanding of how everything started. Zeta Gundam: goes on a bit too long, and arguably the story runs out of steam well before the end, but essentially "fixed" the "style" of the Gundam universe for many years to come. Gundam ZZ: oops. This is what happens when Tomino takes a few too many of the happy pills. The first twenty odd episodes are painful - Tomino can do comedy, and quite well if Xabungle is anything to go by, but Gundam is perhaps not the place for it generally - but after that the series improves considerably. Unfortunately many seem to give up by that point... Chars Counterattack: its a gorgeous anime production of the kind they Just Don't Make Anymore <TM> but impossible to escape the feeling that someone hasn't quite filled in all the story elements for you. Gundam 0083: it looks fantastic, the designs are excellent, the music is great, the production values are high, but the characters are cut-out from cardboard and pasted onto a story from a colouring book. Worth watching - its almost impossible not to like it - but a bit hollow on the inside. Gundam 0080: despite a rather glaring plot hole, one of the most effective Gundam stories of all; an excellent, self contained tale of the tragedy of war. Ending guaranteed to make even grown men shed manly tears. Gundam Victory: I found this very depressing - it has probably the highest character death rate of any Tomino Gundam - but many disagree and it does have plenty going for it, including an immensely likeable junior lead character and some great music. Turn-A Gundam: I have to declare I am biased here. I think that Turn-A is one of the most fantastic anime I've ever seen; Tomino made this after Victory as a "cure" for one of his bouts of depression, and despite probably the most bizarre Gundam setting yet (a retro-styled alternate Earth) it really, really, works. Virtually every element that you think would be a disaster is instead a triumph. It can't entirely escape Tominos narrative jumpiness and the series lacks a clear villain, but overall Tomino showed how you truly reinvent a franchise. Gundam SEED and Destiny: I thoroughly enjoyed watching these series - I felt Destiny was superior overall - but having seen them after watching Turn-A they do feel just a little bit hollow. Of course, everyone has different opinions; these are just mine! [1] Gundam has always had a reputation for attracting a somewhat "older" audience, so my analogy might entirely hold water, but I hope you can see what I'm getting at.

Penultimate episode of this series just finished. Bloody... er... heck. Incidentally, US viewers may wish to consider the following (which my Mum had to point out! Mild spoiler from this weeks episode, but based on information already broadcast in previous episodes):

Quite a few people seem to have enjoyed that one; I particularly liked what they did with the TARDIS... :)Shades of Urusei Yatsura for me, as well! Apparently it was filmed later on and some people have got the impression that Matt Smith was more settled into the character by that point.

US Manga Corps released a DVD collection a couple of years back; it had the original Project A-Ko, plus all the OAVs (including "VS") and various extras like a short film about the making of the music. All the anime was subtitled. I don't know how easy it is to get hold of these days.

Its the anime that has everything. I've watched it many, many times over the years and almost always spot something new each time. If you have the re-issued DVD with the directors commentary, its interesting to note how he remarks that he'd never be allowed to get away with some of the "homages" he did when he made it.

One of the stranger places I've ever been to in Japan, the small town of Sakai-Minato; its the home of Ge Ge Ge No Kitaro, and not a place to go if you're easily given the willies! There is Japanese vending machine coffee, and then there is THE BOSS. Accept no substitutes! Japanese formal gardens always give the impression that no detail was left to chance; I'm almost prepared to believe that this brush was left unattended on purpose!

I'd like to visit the Gundam cafe, it looks pretty well done actually. Meanwhile on that theme, back when Bandai had a Bandai museum (possibly they still do, but last I heard it had been moved some way from Tokyo, and the original wasn't exactly close to start with!):

My all-time favourite photo of Japan that I took myself, and a total fluke as well - held the compact digital camera over my head and pressed the button. This, incidentally, is also why one does not visit Shibuya on Sunday nights if you're planning to get anything done there...!

Planetes is really, really good; essentially Patlabor on TV, but in Space. It does have a bit of a shift in tone towards the end, though.

Theres been some comment that the Amgels seem to be contradicting their own established rules; however at least some of it might be explained by the Doctor stating that the Angels we've met before were in poor condition and these new ones are a lot more powerful (also, IIRC from Blink, the Angels there fed off the energy released by sending their victims back in time; here, they have access to a more powerful and readily available energy source... ) Also, Mr. Moffat would appear to be teasing us more than we know (possible large spoiler about future events):

Okay, there would appear to be some phrases that we're not going to be able to use for any episode Mr. Moffat has done the script for. These include "Well, that was an average episode" and "Yeah, its fine to watch that one alone, in the dark, at night." Cracking follow-up to last weeks and possibly the first episode to really allow Matt Smith to show off what he can do as The Doctor. Also, be prepared for questions... Spoiler:

Sorry, Knight26, I forgot you work on those birds! I wasn't being serious, I saw it in the print edition of todays Mail on Sunday and almost laughed out loud at the tone of it myself...!

Apparently Global Hawks are going to be used to spy on our citizens too. One would think that you people think that we're up to something...

Surprise candidate for the next Master? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8642854.stm Graham Norton is a UK based chat show host and he has previous in this regard; during the broadcast of the very first episode of the revived Who series back in 2005, a technical error caused Nortons voice to be briefly heard during the episode. Or was it just a technical error, and did the BBC find a small, doll-like corpse in the controllers chair that evening...?

Carrots. Also, Gundam simply has by far the biggest name recognition in Japan.

Don't think theres going to be too many mixed feelings about this one.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that even Gainax staff thought that rape scene was a mistake. As for Japanese TV, I was watching some live action drama at about 15:00 one afternoon in Tokyo and suddenly... hanky-panky of a kind not normally allowed in the UK until after 21:00...!

I have an Ataru, but hes about three inches tall. I suppose I could always make out it was some accident from eating Oni food or something...

Its all about Lum. It always was.