According to Madman, Samurai Champloo starts on SBS next week, Thursday 23rd March at 10pm! (in the old GitS spot). I'll have to tape it as West Wing is on at the same time!!
Anime always straddles that weird area for me: dub it so it can be accepted by the "mainstream" (ie, people afraid of having to "read" their movies), but keeping it pure by subbing. I assume SBS is taking the road most traveled.
And I tend to enjoy dubbed anime... I was jolted by the new dub for Akira... all the tics and beats that I knew by heart just weren't there anymore :(
However, I remember being horribly disappointed when I saw Princess Mononoke (yay free media screening!) and realising it was the subbed version and not the Gaiman scripted version!
The usual problem with most dubbed anime is that it's done so lazily. The emotions of the speech is either too forced or nonexistent that it's just dull.
Just a little preface here: we've been getting the WW since it started in the US, (on free-to-air TV, in my case), only the TV station showing it screwed around with the times they showed it: initially 9.30pm (primetime-ish), middle of the week, finally late at night (11.30pm-ish), then not really bothering to show it at all. The same network has done this with all the "cool" shows: Sopranos (which I don't like), Six Feet Under, and even one international show they bloody co-produced, Farscape! They'll start showing it at a decent time and day and then... not.
So, I watched it when I could - honest story as an aside: came home one night, running late to watch WW, turned the TV on only to see a plane slam into the side of the World Trade Centre, and first damn thought was "Wow, they've really upped the stakes on the West Wing..." (bloody TV has addled my brain) - saw up until about the start of the 4th season (I think).
The ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: govt. owned, no ads, excellent programming) screens the WW now, thank god! No ads! I wish they'd start screening it from Season 1, but, luckily, they started from where I left off watching it (which I'm pretty sure is Season 4), the start of which I love: Toby, Josh and whatsername get left behind by the motorcade, and Leo, et al, are dealing with having assassinated That Guy Who's Name I Can't Remember...
What was the question again? ;)
I really enjoy the West Wing, generally because of the dialogue and the cast. I can keep track of whats going on, but they sometimes lose me! I realise its a completely idealised Lefty wet dream of what a President (or any leader of a country) should be, but they play that idealism really well. While there are a lot of times I find myself agreeing with what the characters say or do, I stay for the characters and their interactions.
I don't think I'm making that much sense. It's a hell of a lot more exciting that local Australian politics, where all they do at Question Time is yell at each other, trying to smear names, and the party I support have no hope at getting back into power for next, oh I don't know, 500 years! Damn Howard!
I hear it all goes downhill, writing-wise, after S4, after Sorkin. Which is a shame as I like both Alan Alda (shut up! I love me some MASH!) and Jimmy Smits.
Toby, Josh, and Donna [just filling in your blank] in the heartland was one of the best episodes. I actually quote the little speech by the dad in the bar at the end in everyday situations. Brilliant stuff.
I think the thing about the idealism of the President is that he is actually someone you would want in office. No matter what your political beliefs, Bartlett and his staff actually try to do what's right. Sometimes they take the Democrat point of view, sometimes they realize that the Republicans have the right idea.
I don't really feel like it has gone down hill since season four. In fact, some of the first episodes of season five are the best Toby storylines. The only thing I do not like about it is when they keep talking about one situation over and over and over. Like Kasikstan (sp?). It's like X-Files, where I thought that the show suffered from portraying the "big conspiracy" instead of focusing on the singular stories.
In the end my opinion is that West Wing is the best series ever, except for The Andy Griffith Show. If you ever get to watch Andy Griffith, you'll be hooked!
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March 15 2006, 18:07:26 UTC 6 years ago
I really wish that SBS would broadcast their anime in Japanese with the subs like all their other foreign lanuage shows and movies.
March 16 2006, 01:21:02 UTC 6 years ago
And I tend to enjoy dubbed anime... I was jolted by the new dub for Akira... all the tics and beats that I knew by heart just weren't there anymore :(
However, I remember being horribly disappointed when I saw Princess Mononoke (yay free media screening!) and realising it was the subbed version and not the Gaiman scripted version!
March 16 2006, 11:08:58 UTC 6 years ago
March 16 2006, 01:31:35 UTC 6 years ago
March 16 2006, 04:05:42 UTC 6 years ago
So, I watched it when I could - honest story as an aside: came home one night, running late to watch WW, turned the TV on only to see a plane slam into the side of the World Trade Centre, and first damn thought was "Wow, they've really upped the stakes on the West Wing..." (bloody TV has addled my brain) - saw up until about the start of the 4th season (I think).
The ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: govt. owned, no ads, excellent programming) screens the WW now, thank god! No ads! I wish they'd start screening it from Season 1, but, luckily, they started from where I left off watching it (which I'm pretty sure is Season 4), the start of which I love: Toby, Josh and whatsername get left behind by the motorcade, and Leo, et al, are dealing with having assassinated That Guy Who's Name I Can't Remember...
What was the question again? ;)
I really enjoy the West Wing, generally because of the dialogue and the cast. I can keep track of whats going on, but they sometimes lose me! I realise its a completely idealised Lefty wet dream of what a President (or any leader of a country) should be, but they play that idealism really well. While there are a lot of times I find myself agreeing with what the characters say or do, I stay for the characters and their interactions.
I don't think I'm making that much sense. It's a hell of a lot more exciting that local Australian politics, where all they do at Question Time is yell at each other, trying to smear names, and the party I support have no hope at getting back into power for next, oh I don't know, 500 years! Damn Howard!
I hear it all goes downhill, writing-wise, after S4, after Sorkin. Which is a shame as I like both Alan Alda (shut up! I love me some MASH!) and Jimmy Smits.
What do you think of the show?
March 19 2006, 01:58:56 UTC 6 years ago
Toby, Josh, and Donna [just filling in your blank] in the heartland was one of the best episodes. I actually quote the little speech by the dad in the bar at the end in everyday situations. Brilliant stuff.
I think the thing about the idealism of the President is that he is actually someone you would want in office. No matter what your political beliefs, Bartlett and his staff actually try to do what's right. Sometimes they take the Democrat point of view, sometimes they realize that the Republicans have the right idea.
I don't really feel like it has gone down hill since season four. In fact, some of the first episodes of season five are the best Toby storylines. The only thing I do not like about it is when they keep talking about one situation over and over and over. Like Kasikstan (sp?). It's like X-Files, where I thought that the show suffered from portraying the "big conspiracy" instead of focusing on the singular stories.
In the end my opinion is that West Wing is the best series ever, except for The Andy Griffith Show. If you ever get to watch Andy Griffith, you'll be hooked!