The Pretender, Season 1
I'm currently finishing up with disc 6 of the first season of Pretender, and I've got to say that I'm still extremly happy that this show was chosen to get to DVD. I know most shows are making it these days, but this was far and away one of my favorites.
One thing that's surprising me is how quickly the plot line moved along. So many things have already happened by this next to last disc that I'm trying to figure out what happens in the second season!
A few things about the navigation: I don't like it. While the graphics are pretty, the navigation is uselessly complicated. You have to click on an episode title, go to a second menu, and then chose to play episode, use the set up menu, choose chapters, or go back.
Personally, if I want to have set up something, I want to do it before I pick my episode. I didn't like this when the Stargate DVDs started doing it, though they are even worse. On those, you have to click episode, then the title, and then play. If I'm watching a tv show on dvd, chances are I just want to play it. The Friends box sets have this much better organized, though they don't offer chapter selection: a major negative.
Pretender is only better as a show that can be watched in long sittings rather than waiting each week for the next installment. You really see Jarod's versatility that way, and how quickly he moves from one thing to the next. On Disc 6 you also get treated to Jarod's first "love" (if you don't count Miss Parker), and I remembered thinking the episode wasn't as bad as I thought.
Now that I'm older, I like it even better. The woman wasn't a typical model, but a woman that was actually beautiful. Not to mention it's the episode where Jarod learns about Star Wars. Other episodes haven't stood the test of time, and every once in a while I'm starting to actually think Jarod goes a little too far.
The behind the scenes featurettes are great, and overall it's well worth watching, whether you've seen it or not.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Monday, April 25, 2005
The Price
The Price by Anne Bishop, featured in Powers of Detection, edited by Dana Stabenow
I picked up this book at the bookstore for a lot of reasons. I pulled it off the shelf for the cover art, which I think is phenomenal. It's very intruiging, and I was looking for short stories as I currently have the attention span of a fruit fly.
What made me take it home was that it featured a story by Anne Bishop, who quickly became one of my favorite authors after I bought The Black Jewels Trilogy because, well, they had pretty covers. I had a gift certificate.
I didn't care if the story was based on the world of the Blood or maybe her other series, which I haven't read yet. But it turns out it was based on the BJT, and is a continuation from after the last book. I haven't read Dreams Made Flesh yet, so I don't know how it interacts with those stories.
Surreal is the main character of this story, which made me happy because I would say that she ties with Lucivar for my favorite character in the books. Daemon and Jaenelle are great, but Surreal has so many facets that never got explored. I hoped this would finally give us another one.
In a way, you did get to see a little more of her, but the story suffered greatly from being short. There is too much telling and not enough showing, and things wind up a little too neatly. Though I was happy to see Daemon and Jaenelle show up, they seemed like cameos made just to appease fans, and not vital to the story in the end.
I really wanted to see Surreal on her own, maybe with a new character, but not needing help from the other "mains" of the story. The end came too quickly and too neatly, with too much "inner thought" instead of action, despite a fabulous beginning. I also thought the ending didn't have near enough "bang."
For people who, like me, are in love with the world of the Blood, this is something you should read. But it absolutly isn't a place to start, and if you're only lukewarm to the BJT then don't read this as it won't offer you much.
I picked up this book at the bookstore for a lot of reasons. I pulled it off the shelf for the cover art, which I think is phenomenal. It's very intruiging, and I was looking for short stories as I currently have the attention span of a fruit fly.
What made me take it home was that it featured a story by Anne Bishop, who quickly became one of my favorite authors after I bought The Black Jewels Trilogy because, well, they had pretty covers. I had a gift certificate.
I didn't care if the story was based on the world of the Blood or maybe her other series, which I haven't read yet. But it turns out it was based on the BJT, and is a continuation from after the last book. I haven't read Dreams Made Flesh yet, so I don't know how it interacts with those stories.
Surreal is the main character of this story, which made me happy because I would say that she ties with Lucivar for my favorite character in the books. Daemon and Jaenelle are great, but Surreal has so many facets that never got explored. I hoped this would finally give us another one.
In a way, you did get to see a little more of her, but the story suffered greatly from being short. There is too much telling and not enough showing, and things wind up a little too neatly. Though I was happy to see Daemon and Jaenelle show up, they seemed like cameos made just to appease fans, and not vital to the story in the end.
I really wanted to see Surreal on her own, maybe with a new character, but not needing help from the other "mains" of the story. The end came too quickly and too neatly, with too much "inner thought" instead of action, despite a fabulous beginning. I also thought the ending didn't have near enough "bang."
For people who, like me, are in love with the world of the Blood, this is something you should read. But it absolutly isn't a place to start, and if you're only lukewarm to the BJT then don't read this as it won't offer you much.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Stellvia
Stellvia vol. 4
Tonight my sister and I watched the three episodes that make up volume 4 of Stellvia, an anime that's still in the process of being released by Geneon.
This show is quickly becoming one of my favorites the more I watch of it. Though there was a moment there when a new character was introduced, and was of course absolutly perfect and cute. But in the end she wasn't that big a deal and the show continued to focus on Shima Katase, the main character.
One of the best things about Stellvia istead of becoming a show entirely about space battles and mecha, it's actually about the people on board the Stellvia, a giant space station. You get your fair share of spaceships and such, but there's just as much personal interaction between the pilot trainees as there is actual training.
Of course this volume also starts to give you the payoff of the growing romantic attractions on the show, and it was better than I even thought it would have been.
There's mystery, spaceships, romance, angst, and humor. I really love this show, and I'd like to buy it one day to watch it over again. I highly reccomend it.
Tonight my sister and I watched the three episodes that make up volume 4 of Stellvia, an anime that's still in the process of being released by Geneon.
This show is quickly becoming one of my favorites the more I watch of it. Though there was a moment there when a new character was introduced, and was of course absolutly perfect and cute. But in the end she wasn't that big a deal and the show continued to focus on Shima Katase, the main character.
One of the best things about Stellvia istead of becoming a show entirely about space battles and mecha, it's actually about the people on board the Stellvia, a giant space station. You get your fair share of spaceships and such, but there's just as much personal interaction between the pilot trainees as there is actual training.
Of course this volume also starts to give you the payoff of the growing romantic attractions on the show, and it was better than I even thought it would have been.
There's mystery, spaceships, romance, angst, and humor. I really love this show, and I'd like to buy it one day to watch it over again. I highly reccomend it.
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