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F-ZeroOne

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  1. F-ZeroOne
    "My girlfriend is a Dalek now, shes a Dalek NOW!" was dressed in a red dress when she wasn't clad in a metal cyborg killing unit. I think thats where some confusion is creeping in. The robots weren't so much "based on" as indeed played by the UK comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Mitchell does quite a few panel comedy shows in the UK, "Q.I" among them (he was involved in the infamous "giant tortoise" debate on that programme). The duo together are probably most famous for a comedy show called "The Peep Show".
  2. F-ZeroOne
    Series 7:
  3. F-ZeroOne
    The first question I can remember asking my parents was "Who was the first man on the Moon?". I've always been a bit of a space cadet; Neil Armstrong was why.
  4. F-ZeroOne
    UK airdate for the new Who series has been confirmed - 1st September, 19:20 GMT. Spoiler follows for first episode title: There will also be a web exclusive mini-series following the homelife of the Ponds, called, um, "Pondlife" from 27th August. Not sure if that will be available in all regions, though.
  5. F-ZeroOne
    Aren't they making that movie? I think its called "Expendables 2"... And, oh, I presume following long established Hollywood tradition, Sir Patrick will be playing the bad guy?
  6. F-ZeroOne
    I'm going to be mischevious and point out that the Pixar movie "The Incredibles" features a giant robot (in fact, a series of giant robots) as the main threat quite a bit... Mind you, leading into whats said about a design tradition, the director of that film had previously made "The Iron Giant"...
  7. F-ZeroOne
    Wait, are you talking about a certain... half-breed with a grudge against against John Crichton? Because if you are... ewwwwwwww! I never got to see as much of Farscape as I would have liked, and what I did see was always out of order, but after a shaky start for the first few episodes theres no doubt it becomes one of the most "out there" SF series around.
  8. F-ZeroOne
    Its probably not entirely a coincidence that there was a twin-engined World War II fighter called the Lightning, either...
  9. F-ZeroOne
    So did I. I'll admit that the actors weren't well chosen, other than Angelia Jolie... I've probably been a bit harsh on "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", but its probably because I only saw it all the way through for the first time a couple of days ago and its fresher in my mind than "Star Trek: V".
  10. F-ZeroOne
    1) Prince of Space: early black-and-white Japanese superhero/Power Ranger-type movie. 2) Golgo 13 (the movie from the 1980s). When a fully nekkid woman is swimming across the screen and your entire attention is diverted to wondering how they did the water reflections then theres got to be something wrong with the film. 3) Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The SFX are excellent (for the period). The plot, on the other hand... its entertainment, Jim, but not as we know it. What would I wager? Uh, a drink I guess. They'd have to choose, I don't drink alcohol...
  11. F-ZeroOne
    We don't have any carriers yet (excepting a couple of helicopter carriers). We are bulding two - HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Queen Elizabeth (and no, its not named after any big-eared eco-friendly royals you might be familar with; theres been a "Prince of Wales" in Royal Navy service of one sort or another for centuries...!). They were being built with the F-35B in mind, but there was a U-Turn following a defence review and they decided to install catapaults. Then the cost of the installation rose (from a reported £400million to £2billion), so back to crossing our fingers reallyhard and hoping that F-35Bs can be made to work without bits dropping off etc. Its still unclear exactly how many carriers are going to wind up in service - due to budget concerns one of them was going to be mothballed almost from the moment it was built. Theres a hope now that if we do go for the F-35B then it might be possible to have both carriers in service as originally planned...
  12. F-ZeroOne
    Ta! The thing I found most amusing about the Gundam - this might depend on which train stop you get off at though - is that its sort of tucked round the back, almost like someone is ashamed to have it displayed in "full view"... I missed the event booklet...! One thing I forgot to mention is that before you enter the "Dome", you're given safety information using clips from the original series or SEED. Things like "No smoking or another Zaku will explode!"... I wasn't the only person smiling at this, though I was probably the only non-Asian in the queue... I was lucky enough to have a go on "Gundam: The Ride" when it was operating. That was great fun!
  13. F-ZeroOne
    Well, it seems a Prime Minister called Dave has decided that if the UK is going to have a plane called Dave - sorry, I mean, the F-35 - then its going to be the "B" variant after all. Just make it work, chaps, what?
  14. F-ZeroOne
    Turn-A is, by some accounts, the series that let Tomino finally overcome his decades-long battle with depression - this is why some of his earlier works are up and down like a yo-yo. Its still got some of his trademark narrative jumpiness - Tomino never can seem to let things sit still - but its probably his most balanced series since the original Gundam TV series (which I'm currently watching on DVD - isn't Bright just awesome...? ). Its a fantastic series overall, and really deserves to be known for being more than "just another Gundam series"... Tomino has always been a genius at creating worlds; one of the things thats striking me about the original series compared to things like SEED is just how detailed the setting its taking place is in, especially compared to other anime of the same vintage. I enjoyed SEED and Destiny (mostly, theres bits that made me despair for mecha fandom... ), but one gets the feeling that the reason UC stuff is so popular is because its setting is as solid as... well, an asteroid fortress.
  15. F-ZeroOne
    I got to visit the place a couple of weeks ago; this is my take on it (this was originally written for friends in e-mail so is a little more "Rage on!" than I would normally post here... ). GUNDAM FRONT SPECIAL REPORT! Not often one gets to be right at the beginning, or at least the day after the beginning. The giant Gundam statue - quite possibly the physical manifestation of Japans *third* religion - now resides in Odaiba, a bayside development which is perhaps the best place it could possibly be, because Odaiba *already* looks like a Star Trek set made real. Its now "part" of a shopping complex called "Divers City". Theres six floors of shopping, a couple of amusement arcades, the Gundam FRONT exhibition hall, and - for some inexplicable reason - a Maid Cafe (burn it with FIRE!). After taking several shots of what is as close to a religious experience as I am ever likely to get, I went to have a nose round. Theres a free display of Gundam model kits, and when I say "kits", I mean I think they have pretty much every damn Gundam model kit ever made, and then some. They even had the Flat from Turn-A Gundam and kits from Gundam X, and *no-one* remembers Gundam X. There was one exception - don't recall seeing any G-Saviour kits (Bandais ill-advised attempt to make a live-action Gundam movie), probably because Bandai is trying steadily to erase G-Saviour from existence. There is also a high fashion Gundam clothing shop. Yes, you heard that correctly and no, no-one appears to recognise the contradiction in terms. The rest of the attraction you have to pay for. Did I pony up my 1200 yen? No, I went to the Maid Cafe instead and let a maid write my name in tomato sauce across my food. LIKE HELL I DID. It starts with a movie in a panaromic dome. If you're not a Gundam fan, this will make no sense at all, consisting mostly of clips from the various series, plus some CGI recreations of famous Gundam battles. Theres an impressive sense of movement but one can't help but feel they could make more of the opportunity - a specially created short, for example. The exhibition hall itself, like most specialist Japanese exhibitions is fairly small. Theres a life size model of the cockpit section of some Gundam from Gundam SEED (it doesn't count), a wrecked Core Fighter, a model of space fortress A Baoa Qu, and the chance to get your photo taken with the Gundam character of your choice. I probably *should* have picked Loran Cehack from Turn-A, just to remind Bandai that it exists (I WANT MY DVDS, you... you... company!), but, you know... CHAR! CHAR! CHAR! More interesting are various articles from Gundam production, including opening storyboards for Turn-A Gundam (given all I've said about this, yes, well done but rather a bizarre choice - perhaps no-one will miss them?), Chars Counterattack (in which Amuro has such a different hairstyle compared to the final movie that I didn't actually recognise him at first), and most interesting of all, production sketches of the original designs for the iconic White Base, Zaku II and Gundam (before Tomino changed the design at a late stage and single-handedly nearly destroyed the Japanese toy industry - and not for the last time, either... ). There was also a frame signed by various Gundam staff, including a certain Kill 'em all Himself. And thats about your lot. The local UniQlo seems to have a nice line in Gundam exclusive t-shirts there (update: not that exclusive, I've now seen them at other UniQlo branches). Oh, theres a branch of the Gundam cafe there as well, but they only sell pre-packaged goods like cookies and some very nice-looking beam sabre umbrellas. Charmingly, their logo states Established 2010 until Universal Century 0079, which rather suggests a) they have a far-seeing business plan and b) perhaps they have some advance knowledge about the Republic of Zeon and its habit of dropping space colonies on people. Is it worth going out of your way to visit? Maybe not. The overall impression I got - especially considering that Bandai Sunrise must be sitting on a mother lode somewhere - is that a bit more could have been expected. The Gundam statue (prototype?) is definitely worth seeing though and if you haven't been to Odaiba before easily done as part of a trip (and at the nearby Decks shopping plaza, hidden on the fourth floor, is a gloriously 80s mini-Japanese retro arcade). The rest of it... well, I guess it depends if you find yourself NewType... F-ZeroOne. HASSHIN!
  16. F-ZeroOne
    IIRC, it was a gachapon like collectors/trading item. Thats one heckuva collection, Shaorin!
  17. F-ZeroOne
    Just another small point about "banning" "cutting-edge technology" - World War II fighter aircraft were, by and large, cutting edge technology at the time. In fact, some pilots of the era used to complain about the new-fangled gadgets like retractable landing gear and cockpit canopies that they didn't need in the good ol' days... At least one historian has argued that this sometimes had a detrimental effect on aircraft design, when pilots in some countires were able to exert an undue amount of influence (the example used was Japan, where the pilots preference for light, agile fighters meant sacrificing armour and firepower, though its no doubt more complicated than that as available engine power was another factor... )
  18. F-ZeroOne
    This is a little late - I've been away - but recently the Sinclair ZX Spectrum celebrated its 30th birthday. The humble "rubbber-keyed wonder" is widely credited with having created a nation of both gamers and games programmers in the UK, some of whom are still very much active today. Heres to tape loading, "BEEP" and colour clash!
  19. F-ZeroOne
    We probably wouldn't do much better than the late-model WWII planes, I think. If you ban jet engines you could well be banning turboprops - which are, essentially, a jet engine with a propeller...! If you still allow CAD at the design stage, then there might be some interesting designs allowed and also if you allow composite materials and computerised flight controls which may have a significant effect on weight and handling. Electronics are in everything these days, so fuel effiency might be better due to electronic engine controls, but if you don't allow that - well, the late war fighters were pushing the limits of conventional prop design (arguably, the P-38 with its compressibility issues was doing that in 1940!), which is why everyone started moving to jets in the first place. Regards UAVs in movies: actually, Sidewinders being used against ground targets is not completely unrealistic (leaving asides the fact that no current drone I know of mounts them); early Sidewinders reportedly often locked onto ground targets due to reflected heat, while recently the US carried out trials with the latest model 'winders for use against ground targets...
  20. F-ZeroOne
    When did the F-22 get a fold booster...?!
  21. F-ZeroOne
    "Macross" was one of the key "intro" series to anime for me, and probably many others (in whatever guise that may have been) - a great legacy he leaves behind.
  22. F-ZeroOne
    I think how I discovered "Macross" was through the "Robotech" RPG; pen-and-paper RPGs being one of the things I was into at the time. "Battletech" was also a bit of an influence. I also remember arguing with a friend of mine that there must be some reason why the "Jetfire" toy didn't look anything like its animated counterpart, even if I wasn't to discover the reasons for that for a very long time... This would all have been in the very late 80s/early 90s. I had a little inkling that some of the animation I watched as a kid was "different" due to shows like "Battle of the Planets" and "The Mysterious Cities of Gold". The first "Macross" I actually saw was either the "Clash of the Bionoids" version of "Do You Remember Love", or "Macross II", ironically enough. There were a couple of near misses, various cheap-and-cheerful VHS releases of various "Robotech" items were available in the UK but being a nipper I didn't have the pocket money... ("Robotech" was also shown on early UK satellite TV but I had no way of accessing it at the time). At some point, probably on a rare visit to "Forbidden Planet" in London, I picked up the first three "Robotech" novels. It was probably the high-quality (for the time) "Anime UK" magazine that started revealing some of the "truth" for me, and "Macross Plus" was probably what cemented things (the wait between volumes was agonising). It wasn't until the AnimEigo DVD releases that I actually saw the original TV series for the first time!
  23. F-ZeroOne
    "May require cement"...?
  24. F-ZeroOne
    He was doing what Char does: leaving stashes of gold bars around and hanging out in bars, picking up girls.
  25. F-ZeroOne
    Its around episode 20, though it might be best to think of it as getting "better". Basically, when Bright stops being straight man to a bunch of meddling kids, that'll be about when.
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