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Feb. 17th, 2008 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckA few more DVDs that I've recently watched. (I'll probably be posting some book logging soon, too. Writing book up right after I read them is leading to my saying more.)
Dragon's World: A Fantasy Made Real - I wasn't at all sure what to expect from this, but Netflix thought that I'd like it, and the library had it, so... Dragon's World is basically one of those CGI nature documentaries about the lives of dinosaurs except about dragons if they'd existed. It includes evolutionary theories about dragon lineages and a modern day documentary/re-enactment of a young paleontologist whose wild theories nearly destroy his career before he's vindicated by the discovery of a frozen dragon corpse in Romania.
I was actually fairly impressed by the acting and cinematography in as much as it all looked exactly like what you'd get in one of those History Channel/Discovery Channel shows with wooden re-enactment in the human sections and obsessed academics in the modern segments. (According to the extras, this was made for Animal Planet which probably explains why Scott and I missed it when it aired. We just weren't paying enough attention in the right places.) They figured out the effect they wanted and then went for it. I especially liked the acting from the junior paleontologists assisting the guy with the wild theories. I'm not sure they had any lines, but it was quite clear that they thought he was nuts-- apart from the fact that he kept being right. (Library)
Justice League Unlimited season 1 discs 3 and 4 - The huge cast is both a strength and a weakness of this series. That is, they have characters to suit any story, any angle, but none of the characters get quite enough screen time to persuade me to connect with them. Still, we both like superheroes, so we have fun watching it. (Netflix)
Kurau Phantom Memory 5-8 - First, there's some sort of narrative rule that, any time a hard edged character looks out the window of a moving vehicle and starts a flashback to an idyllic childhood, we're about to see that childhood wrecked. Also, characters on the run don't get to have more than one episode in any given sanctuary.
I'm finding it a little odd to watch something with primarily female main characters that has (so far) no romance. Kurau and Christmas are focused on their relationship with each other. (If I understand correctly, they're both aliens, a 'Rynax pair' (mentioned in the first episode and thus, at least to me, not a spoiler). For a while they both inhabited the body of the human girl, Kurau, using her name. Then Christmas recovered enough to be conscious and somehow formed a clone of the Kurau body as it was when they first arrived ten years before. I think...)
Still liking it well enough. (Netflix)
Petite Princess Yucie 15-18 - The library doesn't have this volume, so I got it from Netflix. It's the only one the library doesn't have, so I suspect that they had it once upon a time. Not that odd gaps in the collection don't occur from time to time.
The anime remains very sweet and very much aimed at showing the rewards of friendship, kindness, cooperation and so on. It was pretty much the right speed for watching during Scott's Dragonlance session last week. (Netflix)
Utawarerumono 1-5 - I didn't expect to like this because somehow I'd gotten the impression that it would have horror elements or perhaps some level of confusing paranoid fantasy. Instead, I got medieval village life heading toward rebellion and civil war. I peeked at the Wikipedia entry after I discovered that Netflix doesn't have the entire series (They lack DVD 3 out of six). I blinked a little to see that the anime's based off a hentai game.
These five episodes are mostly set up and character development. They move-- not exactly at leisurely pace but not as fast as I'd expect. I like the characters, including the amnesiac protagonist (who has a mask covering his upper face that no one can remove). I expect that there will be a lot more blood in later episodes, and what I found at Wikipedia makes me expect some SF/horror elements, too. I do want to see the rest, though. I just have to decide if I can deal with skipping a DVD (or if I'm going to work hard to find it elsewhere).
Anybody out there seen this and have an opinion about the viability of skipping a DVD? Or a recommendation for a site with episode summaries that will let me have some idea of what I've missed? Or a copy to loan me?(Netflix)
Dragon's World: A Fantasy Made Real - I wasn't at all sure what to expect from this, but Netflix thought that I'd like it, and the library had it, so... Dragon's World is basically one of those CGI nature documentaries about the lives of dinosaurs except about dragons if they'd existed. It includes evolutionary theories about dragon lineages and a modern day documentary/re-enactment of a young paleontologist whose wild theories nearly destroy his career before he's vindicated by the discovery of a frozen dragon corpse in Romania.
I was actually fairly impressed by the acting and cinematography in as much as it all looked exactly like what you'd get in one of those History Channel/Discovery Channel shows with wooden re-enactment in the human sections and obsessed academics in the modern segments. (According to the extras, this was made for Animal Planet which probably explains why Scott and I missed it when it aired. We just weren't paying enough attention in the right places.) They figured out the effect they wanted and then went for it. I especially liked the acting from the junior paleontologists assisting the guy with the wild theories. I'm not sure they had any lines, but it was quite clear that they thought he was nuts-- apart from the fact that he kept being right. (Library)
Justice League Unlimited season 1 discs 3 and 4 - The huge cast is both a strength and a weakness of this series. That is, they have characters to suit any story, any angle, but none of the characters get quite enough screen time to persuade me to connect with them. Still, we both like superheroes, so we have fun watching it. (Netflix)
Kurau Phantom Memory 5-8 - First, there's some sort of narrative rule that, any time a hard edged character looks out the window of a moving vehicle and starts a flashback to an idyllic childhood, we're about to see that childhood wrecked. Also, characters on the run don't get to have more than one episode in any given sanctuary.
I'm finding it a little odd to watch something with primarily female main characters that has (so far) no romance. Kurau and Christmas are focused on their relationship with each other. (If I understand correctly, they're both aliens, a 'Rynax pair' (mentioned in the first episode and thus, at least to me, not a spoiler). For a while they both inhabited the body of the human girl, Kurau, using her name. Then Christmas recovered enough to be conscious and somehow formed a clone of the Kurau body as it was when they first arrived ten years before. I think...)
Still liking it well enough. (Netflix)
Petite Princess Yucie 15-18 - The library doesn't have this volume, so I got it from Netflix. It's the only one the library doesn't have, so I suspect that they had it once upon a time. Not that odd gaps in the collection don't occur from time to time.
The anime remains very sweet and very much aimed at showing the rewards of friendship, kindness, cooperation and so on. It was pretty much the right speed for watching during Scott's Dragonlance session last week. (Netflix)
Utawarerumono 1-5 - I didn't expect to like this because somehow I'd gotten the impression that it would have horror elements or perhaps some level of confusing paranoid fantasy. Instead, I got medieval village life heading toward rebellion and civil war. I peeked at the Wikipedia entry after I discovered that Netflix doesn't have the entire series (They lack DVD 3 out of six). I blinked a little to see that the anime's based off a hentai game.
These five episodes are mostly set up and character development. They move-- not exactly at leisurely pace but not as fast as I'd expect. I like the characters, including the amnesiac protagonist (who has a mask covering his upper face that no one can remove). I expect that there will be a lot more blood in later episodes, and what I found at Wikipedia makes me expect some SF/horror elements, too. I do want to see the rest, though. I just have to decide if I can deal with skipping a DVD (or if I'm going to work hard to find it elsewhere).
Anybody out there seen this and have an opinion about the viability of skipping a DVD? Or a recommendation for a site with episode summaries that will let me have some idea of what I've missed? Or a copy to loan me?(Netflix)
