TV
The Password is Courage
I’m not a big anime watcher, usually only falling back on it when I’m in a coding slump and feeling really bored. It was on one such occasion that I picked up Soul Eater. It’s rare to get such a character-driven story out of mainstream anime. The characters, music, art design, style… all of it clicked with me. I fell in love with it from the first episode.
I stopped watching about a month before the story ended so that I could see the final five episodes all in one go. Well, it ended late last month and I only just got around to watching them. Maybe because I was busy, maybe because I didn’t want to admit to myself that it was over. Little of both, probably.
In the end it was a disappointment. Soul Eater could have been so much more, if only they had focused on the characters instead of devolving into a huge action battle. I guess such an ending it is to be expected from something based on a shōnen manga, though from what I’ve heard it deviated quite a bit from the source, which is still ongoing. Maybe I’ll pick that up.
And another…
BSG got a shoutout in last night’s 30 Rock! Elisa (Salma Hayek) was in a shirt, and Frank (Judah Friedlander) said “What the frak?!”.
CSI Cameos
Lots of BSG people in last week’s sci-fi focused CSI (A Space Oddity). I spotted Grace Park (Boomer/Athena/Eight), Kate Vernon (Ellen), Rekha Sharma (Tory), and Ron Moore (series creator). They also mentioned taking a decades-old TV show and updating it to make a hit. Hehe.
You were a frakkin good show
So say we all!
Battlestar Galactica coming to a close, but Caprica remains inbound.
A few weeks ago, for the first time in my life, I watched a TV episode twice. Back to back, with no break in between. Blood on the Scales, for me, was pure gold. The story was incredible, especially if you got the chance to see the webisodes that supplied important context for it. The acting was top-notch. Alessandro Juliani in particular, who has had a relatively small amount of screen time before now, really stepped up to deliver a wonderful moving performance. The music—oh my sweet god the music. Anyone who knows me well will know my love for the BSG soundtracks, but the music in this particular episode spoke to me on such a profound level that I literally missed dialog at points and had to rewind to hear it again. I will be shocked, pleasantly, if I ever watch another episode of any other TV show that affects me like this one.
This Friday begins the final countdown for Battlestar. It will be the first in a three episode arc to end the series. On one hand I am sad to see it go. I will miss not just watching it, but hopping online afterward to read Bear McCreary’s enthralling behind-the-scenes summary of the score. But on the other hand, I would rather see it get the strong finish it deserves than see it become the proverbial Old Yeller like Stargate: SG-1 did.
But Caprica will be starting early next year, so maybe all is not lost. I worry about them milking the mythos to death in it, but these guys transformed a corny 70s show into something amazing, so I have a lot of hope. Earlier this month, Bear gave an early preview performance of the music of Caprica.
