Re: Entertainment Joys

[bomaye]

I watched the first two seasons of that fairly recently and started the third before I got off track.

I find it really hard to watch because it's got pretty bad logic for even cartoons. Shredder and Krang basically being an old married couple all the time is great, though.

[Datelessman]

I watched the first two seasons of that fairly recently and started the third before I got off track.

I find it really hard to watch because it's got pretty bad logic for even cartoons. Shredder and Krang basically being an old married couple all the time is great, though.

Yeah, at best it's a product of its time. TMNT was the hottest thing ever so it was all about pumping out episodes as fast as possible. Season 3 is a whopping 47 episodes to get to syndication length, and seasons 4-5 (the first on CBS) were long too. It's very dopey and the animation errors are pretty glaring. But, when it started I was 5, so, I was in their demographic.

Shredder and Krang totally fight like an old married couple.

The Turtles also eat some of the most disgusting pizzas you can ever think of. This last episode involved pizza with crunchy peanut butter & pickles.

[bomaye]

"Hrm, midnight, I guess I'll get an hour-ish start on Zelda."

*plays game*

*looks at clock*

"4 AM wtf"

[Werel]

Death Note movie was better than I expected. Knew nothing about the anime, just wanted to see demon Willem Dafoe (again). Pacing was ridiculous, like 9 seasons of a show in 90 minutes, but the content wasn't bad and execution/stylization was totally entertaining.

[waxingjaney]

Get out your walkers and put in your hearing aids. The DCAU is a quarter-century old.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5wxu2h

[Datelessman]

Get out your walkers and put in your hearing aids. The DCAU is a quarter-century old.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5wxu2h

I just got B:TAS and SUPERMAN:TAS on DVD. I'm ready!

Seriously, one of the most ground breaking cartoons ever. And later we got "Gargoyles".

[bomaye]

So I'm on a high tower in Zelda. I jump off, using the Paraglider to try to parachute my way down to an out of-the-way area. There's a thunderstorm going on at the time.

I get struck by lightning in mid-air and instantly die. Except I have a Fairy in my inventory. It resurrects me mid-air.

As it's resurrecting me, I realize that while it's filling my hearts like Fairies do, it doesn't reset the reaction animation from getting hit. I can't activate my paraglider.

So I plummet to my death and a game over anyway

[Enail]

And yet it's a joy?

[bomaye]

Ye, "Game Over" just put me back on the Tower anyways, its mostly just sitting there and going "Did that just fucking happen? "

[bomaye]

[German Talk Show Lady to Robin Williams]: Mr Williams, why do you think there's not so much comedy in Germany?
[Robin Williams]: Did you ever think you tried to kill all the funny people?
[Me:] [Ricky Gervais laugh]

[bomaye]

>Zelda

Me: "Okay, today, I'm gonna go to Rito Village and start that segment of the game."

*5 hours pass*

Me: ...Fuck, I didn't even start going to Rito Village yet.

*2 more hours pass*

Me: ...Fuck, I still haven't started going to Rito Village yet

[Werel]

SHIN. GODZILLA.

Satire and political commentary were sharp but not too on the nose, visuals were hilarious and great, and oh my god, as soon as I saw

Spoiler:

Strongly recommend this movie to pretty much anyone.

[DoubtfulGuest]

SHIN. GODZILLA.

Satire and political commentary were sharp but not too on the nose, visuals were hilarious and great, and oh my god, as soon as I saw

Spoiler:

Strongly recommend this movie to pretty much anyone.

Aw man! I love it. It's so awkward-looking!

I grew up watching old Toho films (my favorite was Mothra vs. Godzilla from 1964. War of the Gargantuas has since become my favorite-for anyone unfamiliar with that film, it's about two gigantic yeti-like humanoids who fight each other. It's brilliant).

I had a pretty good movie weekend-saw Mulholland Drive for the first time, in a theater. Here's me during the movie:



(I've since done some reading on it, and I have-I think-a better idea of what's going on. David Lynch doesn't tell you what you're supposed to think, which I like. I don't think everything needs to be wrapped up in a neat little package. As soon as I have some time I'm watching it again).

Also watched Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind on the big screen. I love the worldbuilding and imagery so much, and, of course, the themes are as timely as ever (unfortunately, in some ways. Not just the environmentalist themes, but the whole "Giant Warrior/nuclear weapons" stuff? Yeah). The guy in front of me who fell asleep and started snoring loudly during the dramatic climax didn't even manage to ruin it for me.

[Enail]

Nausicaa is so wonderful! Have you read the manga? It's much more sweeping and fits in much more worldbuilding!

[DoubtfulGuest]

Nausicaa is so wonderful! Have you read the manga? It's much more sweeping and fits in much more worldbuilding!

Yes! Years ago (high school-ish), before I saw the film. Actually, my only real criticism of the film is how much of the stuff in the manga had to be trimmed to keep it at a reasonable length. I'm thinking of picking up the collected box set so I can reread it (it usually goes for about $60, but if you compare that to the cost of buying the individual softcover volumes, it's not a bad deal).

Enail, are you familiar with the whole Warriors of the Wind fiasco?



Remember how Doctor Doom and a winged horse were in Nausicaa? And how Nausicaa herself is off to the side so you don't think she's the hero (I mean, who wants to watch something about a GIRL, amIright)? I wonder whose idea it was to come up with new characters who only appear on the VHS box.  

I just can't imagine taking something beautiful and deciding to just...mangle it. I guess that's me being naive (I mean, obviously anime was very much a niche thing in the U.S. in the 1980s, but still, I feel like it'd be hard to watch a film like that and decide to just chop it up and release it as a straight-to-video B-movie).

http://cinema.wisc.edu/blog/2016/09/06/when-nausica%C3%A4-became-warriors-wind

[Werel]

Aw man! I love it. It's so awkward-looking!

YES! That's what makes it scary to me, the fact that it actually looks like some ungainly sea creature that's found itself on land and is just brainlessly panicking and destroying everything.

I had a pretty good movie weekend-saw Mulholland Drive for the first time, in a theater. (I've since done some reading on it, and I have-I think-a better idea of what's going on. David Lynch doesn't tell you what you're supposed to think, which I like. I don't think everything needs to be wrapped up in a neat little package. As soon as I have some time I'm watching it again).

Oh man, I just finished Twin Peaks: The Return, and while I was never that into the original one, the new series was faaaaaaantastic. Much to my shame as a pretentious art movie lover, I've never seen a single David Lynch movie, but now I'm ready to tear through his whole canon. Will come back to this thread to discuss Mulholland Drive once I get to it.

And Nausicaa! Yes!

Oh btw, @DoubtfulGuest, did you end up going to Future Islands (if the tour's made it to your neck of the woods yet)? What'd you think?

[Enail]

Yes, I have so much rage for that terrible chopped version!

[Datelessman]

Unfortunately, such butcherings were common in the early era of anime dubbing and re-release in the late 80's. Thankfully, we've evolved since then.

Even though FUNimation and Viz pretty much have the license for about 75% of all anime available in the states.

[waxingjaney]

Unfortunately, such butcherings were common in the early era of anime dubbing and re-release in the late 80's.

That was an extension of the general idea that foreign films had to be dubbed and recut for American audiences, which was largely true when movies were either short-run in theaters, or occasionally cut down for TV showings. "Mad Max" was obscure and exotic enough to be dubbed; anime had no chance.

[DoubtfulGuest]

Oh man, I just finished Twin Peaks: The Return, and while I was never that into the original one, the new series was faaaaaaantastic. Much to my shame as a pretentious art movie lover, I've never seen a single David Lynch movie, but now I'm ready to tear through his whole canon. Will come back to this thread to discuss Mulholland Drive once I get to it.

I think if you liked The Return (which I haven't seen yet-I know some of what happens) you'd like his films, though I haven't seen all of them (and Dune doesn't really count. It's pretty neat, visually, and there's some other interesting stuff going in it, but the material didn't seem like a good fit for him. It does make me wonder what Return of the Jedi could have been like if he'd directed it when George Lucas offered it to him).

Mulholland Drive...I think you really have to be able to immerse yourself in it, especially if you're seeing it for the first time (and you have to set aside a little bit of time-it's over 2 hours long, though it didn't feel like it for me). It's not something you watch on your phone, or while you're fixing dinner...so I feel pretty fortunate to have first seen it in a theater, which I believe is probably where it's meant to be seen. And Naomi Watts is amazing. I think it's best to go in without knowing what to expect, other than that it's about identity and wondering what is "real" and that kind of stuff. I feel like Lynch wants the "meaning" to be something each viewer finds for themselves, if that makes sense (I've watched clips of him talking about his films and he doesn't explain what they "mean" in the conventional sense-he has said he doesn't even know what some of the things in his movies mean, though that doesn't necessarily mean they don't mean anything).

I also watched an interesting documentary on Lynch recently, The Art Life. He's an odd man. I think with some of the material on his childhood, I at least see where his obvious fascination with 50s Americana comes from-he seemed to have what we would think of as this very normal childhood in 50s suburbia, but this was interrupted by these inexplicable, dark experiences that hinted at this "other" reality...and, of course, you see all that in his work. Anyway, he seems very affable, but certainly an odd duck.

Oh btw, @DoubtfulGuest, did you end up going to Future Islands (if the tour's made it to your neck of the woods yet)? What'd you think?

Never made it I think it was last weekend. Next time I want to go to a concert and it's on a day I work, I need to  plan it way in advance.

[Datelessman]

Unfortunately, such butcherings were common in the early era of anime dubbing and re-release in the late 80's.

That was an extension of the general idea that foreign films had to be dubbed and recut for American audiences, which was largely true when movies were either short-run in theaters, or occasionally cut down for TV showings. "Mad Max" was obscure and exotic enough to be dubbed; anime had no chance.

Very true. Streamline Pictures was at times notorious for "creative" dubs in the early 90's. A few years later in the 90's Sci-Fi used to air marathons.

At least the industry has evolved a bit, with more accurate dubs. Whether the dubs are of better acting quality or not is up to the otaku. I mean, when I was a kid and the DIC dub of SAILOR MOON was airing in broadcast syndication in the mid 90's, all I heard from fans was how butchered and rewritten it was (to the point that the orientations of two characters were altered and rewritten). Nowadays with FUNimation producing a more accurate dub, I've seen plenty of fans nostalgic for the old one now that they've grown up. I've even seen some debates about the various dubs of AKIRA. Such is life. People want what they want sometimes.

[bomaye]

[waxingjaney]

Ha. The advent of the DVD took the fire out of the sub/dub wars. People still prefer one or the other, but it's nowhere near as contentious as it was in the days of VHS bootlegs.

[Enail]

I think also the quality of dubs improved; less cutting these days and I think the voices are supposed to be better? Ghibli movies are the only things I'll watch dubbed (b/c they release them in theatres), and for Howl's Moving Castle, I actually thought the dub was better!?

[Datelessman]

Ha. The advent of the DVD took the fire out of the sub/dub wars. People still prefer one or the other, but it's nowhere near as contentious as it was in the days of VHS bootlegs.

Absolutely. During the VHS era when you had to buy a different tape (which was usually slightly more expensive), the dub/sub war was at its peak. That was also the time when a few companies were known for being "creative" with dubs, such as the aforementioned Streamline as well as Manga (then known as Manga Video and I think still active in the U.K. as....Manga U.K.). Subs are less expensive to produce, but dubs usually sold better.

Viz (then called Viz Video) sometimes had some odd choices regarding that. They actually edited out about 5-10 minutes of extra footage from their dub of the OAV FATAL FURY 2 and left it as a sub exclusive (which they used to mention in advertisements for that version in their catalogs. Yes, I used to get print anime catalogs from Viz). To this day I have no idea why; it was a brief fight without much dialogue.

As you said, DVD's took the wind out of that. I believe to this day dual language DVD's still sell better, regardless of otaku's preferences for subs. Heck, I'd argue a lot of the sales drop in legal anime wasn't just because of bootlegs or illegal DL's, but because DVD's made it much cheaper. A series which may have been about $200+ to buy on VHS was usually something like $50-$100 on DVD, if not cheaper. I imagine people who got long series on VHS like DBZ must have been kicking themselves later. Heck, last year I got the 2003 Sony dub of the ASTRO BOY series which was 40+ episodes for under $9 on Amazon.

I think also the quality of dubs improved; less cutting these days and I think the voices are supposed to be better? Ghibli movies are the only things I'll watch dubbed (b/c they release them in theatres), and for Howl's Moving Castle, I actually thought the dub was better!?

I think the translation process has also gotten better, or at least is done in a less slapdash way. In fairness, the industry was still finding its feet in the late 80's/early 90's, whereas now the few companies that still do it have it down to a science. Much like with comics and other industries, it's been around long enough that people who were fans themselves can become part of the process to become sticklers for quality.

I do agree that the directing & acting on dubs has improved, for the most part. Many of the "best" VA's from the 90's/early 2000's era such as Steve Blum, Laura Bailey, and Kari Wahlgren have broken into voicing "mainstream" animation, whereas "mainstream" VA's voicing anime sometimes is more frequent. There's less of a divide among VA's than there was in the 90's. That said, it also depends on the studio. FUNimation and VIZ can often afford high quality dubs with better quality VA's; smaller ones (such as SENTAI FILMWORKS) can be hit or miss. Sentai's dub of the GOLGO 13 series, for instance, was produced around 2008-2009 and is mediocre at best in terms of acting quality, even though the translation is mostly accurate. The consolidation of the industry from about 10 companies (including defunct studios like Central Park Media, ADV, Pioneer/Geneon) to "the big two" (FUNimation & Viz) and everyone else, much like comic books, may have also played a role in this.

Disney usually shells out top talent for their Ghibli dubs, for obvious reasons. In fact I think the only Ghibli film they don't have any rights to was, ironically, their first: "LUPIN THE THIRD: CASTLE OF COGLIOSTRO". That one was dubbed once in the mid 90's by Streamline (in a wildly inaccurate and rewritten translation) and then a second time by Manga in 1998-1999 (in a dub which was more accurate, yet had more PG-13 level cussing because Manga at the time was infamous for that). Discotek Media just re-released it on blu-ray. For even more random knowledge, David Hayter (of Metal Gear Solid fame) voiced Lupin in the Manga dub. Hayter also played the lead in the direct-to-video manga adaptation sequel, GUYVER 2: DARK HERO. He's had an interesting career.

There are a few dubs that even hardcore otakus sometimes prefer to the subs. In my experience this has usually been for comedic series. In my travels back in the day, so called "superior dubs" were for stuff such as GOLDEN BOY, SHINESMAN, and VIRTUA FIGHTER (which are all hilarious). I believe all but GOLDEN BOY are currently out of print. Again, in the era of superior dubs I think this may be more of a frequent, consistent opinion, especially for younger fans who weren't around for those VHS dub/sub wars waxingjaney mentioned.

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