Last Christmas

I have been a fan of Doctor Who pretty much since it was first brought to the United States I discovered Doctor Who in the 1970’s when it was broadcast on New York’s channel 9- WWOR-TV. The first episode I ever watched was episode 1 of “The Ark in Space.” I was hooked. Doctor Who quicjly became my favorite TV show. While the Christmas special is staple of the current Doctor Who series, back in the days of classic Who, it didn’t exit. In fact during it’ initial 26 year run, there were only 2 Christmas themed episodes. The very first episode to premiere on Christmas Day was "The Feast of Steven" It just happened that the episode was slated to air on Christmas day, so the BBC decided to make a festive episode. It is right in the middle of the 12 part Dalek Master Plan serial and really has nothing to do that story. It is sort of a side story. The other was the pilot to K-9 and Company. Some fans don’t count this as a Doctor Who xmas special as the Doctor isn’t in it…but it does feature K-9 and Sarah Jane and it does take place on Christmas. Back then, the internet didn’t exist. (yeah I know I am dating myself) Most of my information about Doctor Who came from British magazines and books that I stumbled upon.

I do know there was a Doctor Who Christmas connection even back then… but it was in the form of special recorded message and not a full flung special episode as it is now. It might appear on something like Blue Peter or maybe it was a special Holiday station ID for the BBC…either way it was something that aired once and as I don’t live in the UK, I never got to see. Some of these have made it youtube.
While I am happy to see a new and often times longer than usual episode of Doctor Who, the xmas themed episodes are sometimes not my favorites. When I saw the trailer to the current one, I groaned. Santa Clause?? Really. I feared the show had jumped the shark. While Doctor Who is a children’s show and it is known for its humour…I thought this might be going to far. But it is Doctor Who …so I was going to watch it anyway.
And I was presently surprised. It was brilliant. Very well written. And pretty scary for a christmas episode. The whole Santa thing was handled very smartly. The story deals with what is a dream and what is reality. Is Santa really there? Is he a figment of someone’s imagination… The story does take place on Christmas Eve and they are on a research lab close to the North pole. All the things that I thought were going to bring the episode down, like Rudolph’s red nose and Christmas elves just worked and made the story better. The Doctor, while trying to prove that Santa was a hallucination, asked Father Christmas, how he fit all those toys in his sack. To which, Santa answered, “it’s bigger on the inside.” The story is sort of like the move “Inception” except I like it a little better as at its base “Inception” was a heist-adventure movie and Doctor Who’s “Last Christmas” is more a horror story. This episode , like my other favorite Xmas special, “ The Next Doctor,” is just a great story…even if you remove all the Christmas elements it would be amazing…although the holiday elements enhance the story and make it even better. I really don’t want to spoil it, if any of my readers haven’t seen it yet. It must be available on BBC iPlayer, Amazon video or Itunes.

Cutey Honey Flash The Movie

Apparently, you can't keep a good man down...or even me.  Even though I came down with a cold on Sunday, I still had enough energy to subtitle the Cutey Honey Flash Movie.  Years ago I paid a friend to translate the movie and back then, I didn't know how to subtitle, so I gave the script to a fansubber friend of mine. Of course now I know how to sub a video.  I recently got a hold of the Cutey Honey DVD and as i still have the timed script, I decided to make a subtitled DVD,  As it was mostly already timed, it was pretty easy..as I had to do was make certain the 1rst line of dialogue matched up and the rest was gravy. I was going to add mine name to the timing credit but due to being sick....I forgot.... I also got the TV series.  This will prove more difficult because even though I did sub episodes 37-38 myself, and my fansubber buddy subbed episodes 33-35...I can't find the timed scripts (meaning I will have to retime them)  I will probably find them after I re-time as I don't throw anything away.....and that is the type of luck I am having...  I found Russian fansub scripts for the entire series.  I will translate those into English and I am going to use those the subtitle the episodes I don't have scripts for..... (IE episodes 26-32,39)

IMDb Link........: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0422610/




Genre............: action, magical girl, adventure, sci-fi, shoujo

Distributor......: TOEI ANIMATION

Year.............: 1997

Country..........: Japan

Director.........: Sasaki Noriyo




Source...........: DVD5 Retail

DVD Format.......: NTSC

DVD Size.........: DVD5

Programs Used....: AnyDVD

Video Bitrate....: 9800 Kbps

Screen Format....: Fullscreen

Audio Language...: Japanese

Audio Format.....: AC3

Subtitles........: English (custom)




Menu.............: Untouched

Video............: Untouched

DVD Extras.......: theatrical trailer

Fall Anime!!!!!

I have been scoping out the upcoming anime…basically to I can figure out what I should be looking for to download and watch…

Irst on my list is Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai! [Wanna be the Strongest in the World] an anime about Joshi Puroresu!  Sign me up!  This particular anime will have team behind Ikkitousen/Queen’s Blade working on it.  Being a big fan of Ikkitousen I feel that it is probably in good hands. I think the action of Ikkitousen and Queen’s Blade is very good…this would be true even if you removed all the fan service shots (of which both series are famous for) The one thing that really separates Ikkitousen from a lot of the other fighting girls anime is that Ikkitousen has a great story.  I haven’t read the manga that Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai! is based on so I don’t know how good the story is, but I hope it is awesome! 

Seeing how I am fan of Ikkitousen, it should come as no surprise that I am also interested in Kill La Kill series.  This is another entry into the fighting school girls genre of anime.  While this genre has  had some  real gems, it also has a lot of forgettable entries as well.  The PV for this anime looks really bad ass so I am hoping this will join the ranks of  Project A-Ko Tenjo Tenge and Ikkitousen.

While were on subject, this fall we will see the next installment of FREEZING. This season is called Freezing Vibration.  I liked the 1rst series so I am excited for this new one. 

Now I know Unbreakable Machine Doll is based on a manga…but I haven’t read it so I don’t know much about it.  The PV looks good but then again most trailers look good.  That is how they get to tune into the show.  Looks kind of like Pokémon but with Cute Girls… But I liked Sekirei so I might like this anime as well. 

O-K I think I have more then covered the Fighting Femmes portion of anime… what about Monster fighting and Giant Robots?  Well there is a new Gundam coming out…but I think that horse has been severally beaten enough..  There a few cookie-cutter shonen animes like  Gaist Crusher….They may be good…but they  look like something I have seen several times before and the little I have read about them hasn’t really piked my interest.  One I was kind of interested in before I read more about it was Seiyuu Sentai Boisutoumu 7. I thought it might be like Akibaranager but then I heard it was going to be a motion comic and I lost interest. Then there is Samurai Flamenco. The adds don’t give me enough to go on but it looks kind of Kamen Rider-esque so I will give it a shot. I don’t know enough about Neppuu Kairiku Bushi Road to be excited or nonplussed  about it. Infinite Stratos 2 will probably be very good…but I need to finish the original first.  I own it but for some reason I didn’t finish watching it… but I don ‘t think I stopped because I didn’t like it... 

Another upcoming anime that looks like it could be very good is Pupa.  I don’t know much about this one. It is a horror anime about cursed brother and sister….  Sounds like it could be very gory…. I want to see this but I fear it might be highly censored like Blood-C was.  I couldn’t watch the TV version of it because it was so edited…so I had to wait for the DVD/Blu ray release to come out…  I have a sneaky Suspicion that this anime will be another one of these….

Another upcoming show that looks promising is Coppelion.   Don’t know too much about this show. It is labeled as an action show and if you  The only thing I really know about the series (other than it is a post-apocalyptic anime) comes from this promo trailer.  The character designs and the backgrounds look quite nice… if you start at about the minute fourteen mark it gets kind action packed….  It could be good… Time will tell…

Strike the Blood could either be the most awesome thing ever or it could totally suck…  The PV looks good, well except for the fact that it looks like Vampires are walking around in the daylight.  Vampires in the daylight is a big pet peeve of mine in Vampire stories…  The lead character is supposed to be the world’s most powerful vampire, so maybe this is a special ability…