Down with the blonde brat of course!! And here's why IMHO:
While LoGH is the best space drama ever, it's not without imperfections.
I'm not talking about the technical imperfections (crude animation etc.)
which one can easily overlook if the story is good enough. I'm talking
about the imperfections in the overall story of LoGH:
Donno about anybody else, but the reason I like watching and reading
scifi is so that I can expand my horizon by learning about some real
profound and out-of-this-world concepts, be it scientific or spiritual.
Unfortunately, the premise of LoGH, as Walter knows so well :), is:
"Zu jeder Zeit, an jeder Ort, bleibt das Tun der Menschen das gleiche..."
which translates into: "Through all of time, through all of space,
Man's deeds stay the same..." This means that LoGH is basically our
familiar political and war drama in a future setting. And this is indeed
the case. The characters in LoGH behave exactly as what we're used to,
and sometimes even more medieval than we're used to. While I'm sure
some of you would appreciate this mixture of antique human behaviour
and future-looking battle scenes, for me it's not quite enough. What
I'd love to see is a truly mind-boggling concept which underlies the
story of the show, but there isn't one. Spectacular space battle scenes
cannot make up for a lack of real intellectual breakthrough. Episode
after episode we see the bickerings between politicians, the endless power
struggles... These may be very fascinating if we're watching a WWI
drama, but when transposed into the setting of LoGH, they look trivial.
To illustrate what I mean by profound concepts, consider Asimov's
Foundation Trilogy (never mind about the later books in the series).
The one truly profound idea that threads through the story is that
of Psychohistory: The almost exact prediction of global human
behaviour through the use of mathematics. Another example is the
idea of the "First Ones" in Babylon 5 (which is almost the same idea
as that of the "Progenitors" in David Brin's Uplift War series BTW)
Yet another example is the Borg in STTNG... These are all mind-opening
concepts which leave one thinking afterwards. And this is what's
lacking in LoGH. (LoGH does have a lot of technical innovations,
like the Iserlohn Fortress, Thor's Hammer etc. but these do not
constitute any advanced concept, but are mere extrapolation of what
we know)
OK, back to the point :) Why "Down with the blonde brat" then? Well,
His Majesty Reinhard von Lohengramm is the center of all the ambition,
all the political struggle, and all the medieval emotions which I like
to see expunged from the show. Thus DOWN WITH THE BLONDE BRAT!! And
why "Long Live Yang Wen-Li"? It's because he's the opposite of the
blonde brat, so the enemy of my enemy must be my ally :)
Nevertheless, I still consider LoGH the best space drama ever. I only
hope they'd let me write the story :) Until then,
Love Live Yang Wen-Li! Down with the blonde brat!!
Ming.
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