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Eyrie Productions, Unlimited
Matrix Dragon
Charter Member
1893 posts |
Dec-20-06, 04:26 AM (EDT) |
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2. "RE: Annotations: S3M1"
In response to message #0
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>3043 In retrospect, this whole Valiant thing fails on a >few levels. Don't get me wrong, it led to some satisfying moments, >but it's such a huge and abrupt departure from what's gone before that >it jars the sensibilities, not to mention that it has a tendency to >stretch many readers' credulity. I wanted to get something of >an early-UF-without-quite-so-many-jokes feel with it, and a kind of >Tom Swiftian vibe given the youth of the key cast members involved. I >looked to things like Legion of Super-Heroes and the >aforementioned Tom Swift adventures for precedent and more or less >convinced myself that this was a perfectly viable direction to take. >And maybe it is, but now it just feels weird - not only because >the core cast is so young to be doing the things they're doing, but >because the sudden leap into straight-up space opera is like stepping >off an escalator to find oneself in a rock quarry. > >I don't have so much of a problem with the Fourth Symphony; they're >older there, around the same age that the founding Wedge Defenders >were when they began their great adventure, and at a time in their >lives when one expects things to change. Today I think it would've >been better if I had waited until then, around 2409-2410, to >start their space adventures. > >Of course, that would have left me with the problem of what they did >for the intervening years. One of the reasons I took the step of >making the Third Symphony space opera in the first place was because I >felt I had pretty well mined out the "adventures in high school" vein. > Plus, so much of what was going on, if only in the background, in the >first two Symphonies had to do with repairing the damage left behind >in the wake of Revolutionary Girl Utena. By the end of the >Second Symphony, that's pretty well done. Maybe I should've left them >more or less alone for a few years and let them finish school >uneventfully before picking them back up as young adults to continue >their adventures in a new format, with a new series title... > >... but what's done is done.While I can see how the 'Valiant shift' can be jarring, I personally feel it works. Possibly because there are extraordinary young people. All of them are rather mature for their age, often thanks to the incredible trials they've faced. They thrive on new experiences and challenges, even if they don't go looking for them. And the fact is, this is a universe that turned a group of 20th century college students into a galactic force of peace and heroics. The Duellists and their friends are actually BETTER PREPARED. Besides, Utena would have had to do this sooner or later. She's a Prince on a white horse and a paladin. Like it or not, if she didn't have the ability to go out on adventures and fight evil every now and then, she'd be miserable. And UF is a space opera... |
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Eyrie Productions,
Unlimited
Benjamin
D. Hutchins
E P U (Colour)
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