[video] » the phantom menace awakens [sw]

[rhodanum]

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Because I want more people to see this: han_spinel on Twitter created a lovely fan-trailer for "The Phantom Menace", a shot-for-shot visual parallel to "The Force Awakens" official theatrical trailer.

TPM is the film that made a Star Wars fan out of me and it's heartening to see it loved and appreciated, particularly now, in the year of its 20th anniversary.

Comments

[sonofgodzilla]

Oh, there's so much here! I promise you will definitely be the first to hear when I start! I'm super excited as I have been starved of fandom with real canon/lore so it will be nice to explore something new!

And speaking of fandom, I've never seen Avatar/Korra either! But this post looks absolutely wonderful!

[rhodanum]

Avatar and Korra are excellent as well, though a much more significant proposition than Oban, in terms of length (ATLA is 61 episodes and LOK is 51 episodes). Unlike Oban, though, both of them have absolutely gorgeous Blu-Ray sets available online.

[sonofgodzilla]

Avatar has always felt like something of a commitment to get into and I must confess, I've sort of shied away from that. I might dip my toe in the water in future - but first, Oban though!

[sonofgodzilla]

My gosh, I just watched the opening episode of Oban and it is *so* charming. I can't believe something like this passed me by!

[rhodanum]

Aaaaah, I'm so glad you like it! It's got a hell of a lot of charm, doesn't it? This is one of the things I mean when I keep saying that it's an underrated gem (partly because a lot of Americans weren't interested in it for being an European co-production and partly because anime fans weren't interested in it for not being 'pure anime', but rather co-produced between Japan and France and Canada).

On the other hand, I'm also a bit pleased that it's not more well-known. With fandom in the state it's currently in, I'd have been dodging hate aimed at my favorite character in Oban left and right and I'd rather not go through that, after dealing with Dragon Age and Star Wars fandoms, thank you very much!

[sonofgodzilla]

I was having a conversation earlier and I feel the French were ahead of us in a lot of respects when it came to cartoons - like they seemed to instinctively understand anime so much better than we did at that point. But yes, I think the characters and the story is super charming so far, looking forward to watching more!

And I totally get that feeling - like I always want to get people into this thing because I love it but I also don't want to have to deal with the bullshit and politics of others.

[rhodanum]

I got that impression as well, as far as the French are concerned. It helps that animated collaborations with Japan aren't at all a new thing for them (one of my favorites, aside for Oban, is Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea / Les Mondes Engloutis, that aired in the early 80s and ended up being a staple of my childhood through re-runs in the 90s. Also generally unknown in the English-speaking world, despite the fact that it had a very good ENG dub).

I wanted to do a comprehensive rec thread for some of my favorites on Twitter, at one point. But knowing the sort of people most active on Twitter, I gave it up as a very bad idea.

[sonofgodzilla]

That last comment is very wry and very apt.

I don't know either of these shows, you know, although stuff like Mysterious Cities of Gold was par for the course when I was young.

[rhodanum]

Oooh, I've heard a lot about Mysterious Cities of Gold, though I never caught it when it was airing on TV. It's on my (admittedly very large) backlog, along with other classics I either missed or only watched as a child and now have the opportunity to look at with adult eyes.

[sonofgodzilla]

It was like the show for children for a while - I never really liked it that much, I was much more into Ulysses 31 and Battle of the Planets because I was the archetypal science fiction nerd kid when I was little. I might have to go back to Mysterious Cities myself just to try and remember what all the fuss was about.