LAST EDITED ON Apr-02-10 AT 01:51 PM (EDT)
9 The title comes from a song on They Might Be Giants' 1994 album John Henry. "The End of the Tour" also serves as this piece's closing credits music.45 Morgan Arena is, among other things, the home of New Avalon's major-league basketball, hockey, and gravityball teams. Indeed, it's named for Kei Morgan, who, as captain of the WDF gravball team Morgan's M-Deck Marauders, won more of that sport's trophies than anybody has room for.
104 In addition to being the home of the New Avalon Cossacks of the Galactic Football League, Avalon County Colosseum (and woe to anyone who spells it "Coliseum" in the press) is also home to New Avalon's turfball, field hockey and robopolo teams.
110 The Cowboys have never defeated the Cossacks. At home or away. Ever.
350 A good real-world example of this: the Arsenal in Watertown, Massachusetts, which is today an office building, but which still has souvenirs of its old job, like the occasional preserved overhead crane.
373 The World Wide Building is a former textile warehouse next to the Charles River in Waltham. The UF version is a replica, right down to the Moody Street, Waltham address painted on the façade.
401 Later renamed "BBC Offworld Service". Like Network 23, the Beeb narrowly avoided being consumed by the Earth Alliance propaganda machine; unlike Network 23, they slipped out quietly rather than shooting their way off Earth. From 2406 to 2412, the BBC transmitted from a hastily expanded broadcast center on New Caledonia.
594 Here we see that Tsuwabuki, too, is stepping out of his old role of "hapless minion" and taking his place as part of Cephiro's next generation of heroes.
604 Tsuwabuki is making a simple healing potion - rather in demand around Tenjou Academy these days, given how many students are trying to follow Prince Tenjou's recklessly athletic example.
712 Might've been Akio himself, which could explain why some of her movements and mannerisms strike Utena as creepily familiar; but we don't know for certain, and if so, the transfer was somewhat incomplete, since Akio was Cephiro's greatest swordsman, and Utena defeated Kanae fairly easily.
883 If I ever have a band, and that band covers this song, it will appear on the album jacket as "The Kids Are Alright (sic)".
912 A reference to a joke from William Shatner's appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1986; in one of the sketches, in which Shatner is ostensibly at a Star Trek convention (the infamous "Get a Life" sketch), the MC claims that, in Japan, the show is known as Sulu: Master of Navigation.
917 Other famous users of Rickenbacker guitars include Peter Buck of R.E.M., Tom Petty, Pete Townshend of The Who (in UF, a personal hero and indeed acquaintance of Miki's), and all of the Beatles at one time or another.
936 Two-Part Invention in F Major, BWV 779, an old favorite (it also appears, in its Switched-On Bach incarnation, as the HAL 14000 startup sound in Neon Exodus Evangelion). In high school, a trumpeter friend and I worked out an arrangement for cornet and euphonium, but we never got a chance to play it in public.
967 Stop the presses! Juri! Smiling broadly! IN PUBLIC! PJM
985 Again, at this early stage in the song's UF evolution, this should probably be the Neil Young original, even if I do cringe at the sound of the guy's voice.
1246 Another of my favorite paragraphs.
1275 At last, Marty is correctly identified as an NAPD officer.
1339 That is, the theme from Invader Zim.
1341 "Fools! You have no idea what power you toy with! Release the pig!"
1349 And boy, wasn't Kate surprised when she heard that line on the later concert recording. PJM
1353 A nod to one of the only sources of music videos in my hometown in the early MTV era, back when MTV played videos but my local cable system didn't carry it: All Hit Videos, a locally produced program shown on WVII, the ABC affiliate in Bangor, very late at night, one day a week.
1414 "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
1460 It's not that Kate thinks she's Too Indie To Take The Man's Money or anything; it's just that she doesn't want the hassle involved in being a Big-Time Rock Star right now.
1481 In UF, Cargo Six is a chain of discount stores specializing in clearing out surplus goods from other retailers, liquidating inventory from bankruptcies, and so forth. You never know what you're going to find there, so the stores advertise their current stock in local media, with the tagline, "$WHATEVER is now available at Cargo Six!" The phrase itself (and Sanan's announcement) is a reference to the original theatrical version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, in which, after Admiral Kirk and Scotty arrive on board, the PA system aboard the Enterprise can be heard announcing, "Attention, launch crews. A travel pod is now available at cargo six. Travel pod available, cargo six." In the 2001 Director's Edition of the movie, which has a completely different sound mix, the PA announcements are different.
1614 I think Anne suggested Juri's phrasing here, specifically her use of the word "gallant".
And very good phrasing it is, too. Anne gets a cookie. PJM
1657 Big Q is a joking reference to a couple of different real-world supermarket chains, most notably the now-gone Big D supermarkets of metro-west Massachusetts (the name was short for, I kid you not, "Big Discount Wonder Mart"). The Big D at the corner of Park Avenue and Highland Street in Worcester (now a Price Chopper) was the supermarket of choice for WPI students back in the day. There was also a chain in upstate New York, near where Zoner grew up, called Big N. Also, there's the old Quaker State motor oil slogan, "The Big Q stands for Quality."
1705 And now, Utena finally puts together something that's been subconsciously bugging her since Ceremony & Celebration.
1754 One of my favorite Anthy lines of all time.
1766 The Black Angus was inspired by the chain of steakhouses in the Bay Area of California by the same name, though I understand they've rather gone downhill since Zoner and I frequented the one in Pleasanton back in the day.
1891 As Gryphon hoped, Guy has caught up to his sister and Sylvie, at least in terms of mental/emotional maturity, over the course of the summer. I'm sure the Chief didn't have the particular way Guy did it in mind when he hoped it, but...
1942 Yes, Kozue's feelings for her brother are complicated, and yes, like Amanda's, they slop over somewhat into zones considered outré by modern Western standards. To be honest, I don't think this is my invention, particularly; it seethes at the heart of the entire conflicted mess of a relationship they have in Revolutionary Girl Utena, but - unlike the other, even more broken sibling relationships in that series - it never entirely explodes out into the open. At this point in the Symphonies it remains an unresolved thread dangling from the source material - and eventually it will provide an interesting contrast to the way the others turned out. At any rate, right now Kozue doesn't really know what she feels for anyone and Miki still doesn't quite know what to make of her behavior, and we'll be coming back to all this later on.
Take one part sibling rivalry, one part protectiveness, one part jealousy, one part lone wolf, one part overshadowedness, one part guilt, one part possessiveness. Mix well, split and refold in two with a divorce, then set to simmer with developing adolescent awareness of the opposite sex. Garnish with black rose petals. Serves one twin sibling. PJM
1949 While we're on the subject, Priss isn't particularly interested in Guy that way; she just hates the idea of Sylvie getting up to anything she can't play a part in.