Gephyrophillia | Watch This Space #17

Originally Posted on 12/16/2002 by Jeff Harris

Okay, it's not all that exciting.

Let's see. While I've been working on a project for a bud of mine as well as suffering from the late fall sinus attack from hell, I have learned a few things.

- The Anime Network is on the air . . . in Philadelphia . . . as a video-on-demand service. What video-on-demand (VOD) is supposed to be is essentially television you control, rewinding and fast-forwarding programs anytime you want without a use of the personal video recorder or a hard drive on your digital television top. Yeah, it's a good idea and all, but given the fact that this is the format The Anime Network is initially launched as, rather than a, say, regularly programmed network (not to mention the fact that we already have the option of rewinding and fast-forwarding anime on video and DVD), this is kind of disappointing. Hopefully they're going to have a regular network, but if this is The Anime Network's intent, I don't think I want it yet (and I'm probably the only guy with the guts to actually say something about it, but then again, I'm just one guy).

- Taken, a 20-hour miniseries that was Sci-Fi Channel's first major series event, was awesome. It was nice and refreshing to see science-fiction on the Anything But network, especially one with a really good story and bittersweet Bebopesque finale (an ambiguous ending complete with a somber tune during the credits).

- Two more weeks, until the new Toonami lineup launches. If I was a real internet fanatic, I would type out w00t, but I won't go that far.

- While watching Space Ghost the other night on Boomeraction, I got a wee bit annoyed. They edited the end of The Final Confrontation. It wasn't a minor cut either, but a rather major cut. See, it was the episode where Space Ghost defeated the Council of Doom. No minor thing, considering the fact that they were trying to KILL Space Ghost during the entire Council of Doom storyline, in which all of Space Ghost's major enemies (including Moltar, Zorak, and Brak) joined together to defeat the hero. Their efforts were thwarted by Space Ghost with help of all the Hanna-Barbera action heroes at the time from Mightor and Birdman to The Herculoids and Shazzan (the only time Space Ghost and Dino Boy actually shared space on-screen). The thing is that, well, all the bad guys were killed in an explosion on that planet. Then, at the end, Space Ghost and crew reflected on it.

However, they completely edited out the explosion (only showing the planet filling up with flames moments before the explosion) and edited out Space Ghost's comments aboard the Phantom Cruiser (though the comment he made about the Council meeting their end slipped out). I know people are still a bit squeamish about explosions over a year since the terrorist attacks, but, and pardon me for being crass, come the flip on! This was a cartoon made almost forty years ago and the bad guys actually getting it in the end, so why did they edit the ending? Political correctness? Nah. This has nothing to do with political correctness. The whole idea of the hero killing the villian in animation isn't a taboo subject anymore. Reruns? Bingo. Making the untrained viewer think that the Council of Doom survived to fight another day justifies a reason to rerun the episodes over and over again. Either that, or they want to make it seem that Moltar, Zorak, and Brak survived to become sidekicks on Space Ghost's talk show. Pity, since this was actually one of the few Hanna-Barbera action franchises to actually end with a finale, and what an explosive finale it was.

- Lupin III (I could hear the "this is nothing but a Bebop ripoff" protest from newbies right now), Peter Chang's Reign, and Trigun have all been picked up to air on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Okay. Good additions. But what about Toonami? This year haven't really seen new anime additions to the block, save G Gundam, Armada, and Zoids: Chaotic Century/Guardian Force (yeah, there was that other one, but that's best left behind), so some new franchise has to be added in the '03 (BTW, are you guys aware that on Mondays through Thursdays, there are five and a half hours of anime on Cartoon Network, two hours of which air OUTSIDE the Toonami block?).

- Year's winding down, and I got a lot to say. I'm too quiet now, but trust me. About mid-week, I'll be more open about my reactions to the year that was. Toonami 2002 had some ups and downs, and to be honest, I'm kind of glad that it's over. Don't get me wrong, some things about 2002 I did enjoy tremendously, but more often than not, Toonami (and Cartoon Network as a whole) seemed to be corrupted by an incidious touch this year. I'll talk more about it mid-week. It's an earful, I know.

- Two weeks from today, TechTV premieres Anime Unleashed Mondays through Thursdays at 1 AM EST and Fridays at 11 PM and 1:30 AM EST. A show a day. It's not really a block, but rather a strip. If it was two different shows a day, I'd call it a block, but since it's a different show a day, it's a strip. People ought to know.

Gotta go. Still have some presents to get and some packages to send off in the mail. I'll be back tomorrow with another update, maybe one with more substance.

Until we are one, later.
Jeff Harris
CNX Creator/Webmaster
December 16, 2002