Re: Armies a,d navies and Dune, not again! :)
CSUE@delphi.com
Thu, 10 Jul 1997 12:11:08 -0400 (EDT)
Well, as far as I can tell, there's no way for me to reconfigure Delphi's
backwards editor to my own liking, so I'll just have to type
REAL fcarefully (unlike there) and avoid backspace...!
Well, it is true that the Imperial forces use their ships to land and
put down rebellions on planets; we get a real
impressive sequence of that in series 3 when they
go to Earth. HOWEVER, the
Alliance also needs "army-like" forces; remember during the
coup d'etat in series 1, when Yang had to put down
rebellions on four planets before heading to the capitol? That was
when he really put the Rosenritters through their paces. The Alliance,
too, needs to be able to wage land battles, and not simply nuke the hell
out of their own citizens, you see.
I would have liked to see some mass drivers in sue for
pl(sue? I meant use!) planetary bombardment, however.
BLAM! Think Gundam. Bye-bye, Australia!
Re: "Run away" versus "retreat" - Maybe there's no distinction in the
terms in Chinese, but there very definitely is one in the original
Japanese version. Japanese has MANY words that mean retreat, and Tanak
uses none of them in certain situaions. He uses "Nigeru" (nigete),
which means "flee," "run waway," etc. Tsk!! Actually, any modern-day
commander who used such a term would probably get court-martialled
or something for dereliction of duty. Maybe the politically correct
term would be "advance, backwards?" :D
Re: the changed ending of GHL - YES IT'S A SERIES 4 SPOILER, DEAL
WITH IT - Well, Hilda did not make thtat cute little speech in the
original books about Reinhart dying because of fate. (Feh!) And
they cut out the part where Reinhart has Mittermeier's son "swaer
loyalty to" 9(as much as a tiny child can) his own son before
he dies. They show the kids holding hands, but that's
about it. Reinhart wants his son to have the same kind of good
friend that he did when Kircheis was alive (sort of cute!).
And the final word on the Dune fiasco...
1. It's not a "TV version," it's called a director's cut. THey
happened to show that version in TV once, that's all. I'm sure
it's available on tape or LD (Criterion version?).
2. The director's cut was NOT unauthorized. "Allen Smithee" was a
pseudonym. Do some research.
3. The Hollywood ending was totally eunnecessary. Talk about pandering
to America's delicate sensibilities! The original ending and point
(there are no messiahs) was good enough to keep the book in print all
these years; it wshould have been good enough for theaters.
4. They DID screw up Baron Harkonnen's character incredibly. "Floating
fat man," indeed! He was much more sinister in the book. O f course,
they screwed up other characters, as well, but none quite so blatantly.
(Like, Kyle McLaughlin - sp? - trying to play a teenager! HEH!) By
comparison, I think most of GHL's characters were kept true to the books.
I think the fewer changes we see in GHL (from books to screen), in the
OAV series anyway, are due to Tanaka's insistence on tight control over the
project. He may have had less control over the first movie. The
second movie is better in that respect, though (more faithful). He also
seems to be keeping a rein on the manga project, although the one REALLY
blatant change - making Rubinsky a WOMAN, ugh - make me wonder...
OK! Who's up for the Dune versus GHL thesis competition? :D (If I
were STILL a starving grad student, it might be tempting, but back then,
GHL wsas still being written...) *sigh* Be sure and throw in a few
references to "family atomics." ;>
- Sue