Essay: It's So Hard To Find Good Help These Days

[firestar9mm]

As my current icon may indicate, the best discovery I've made this month by far has to be the complete DVD set of a cartoon I adored when it was on the air, Pirates of Dark Water.  Originally a five-part miniseries that eventually extended to 21 episodes, Dark Water was fun, colorful and entertaining, and while I'm upset that it was cancelled

Comments

[plainrea]

Actually, BOTH Rosalie and Jasper offer to kill her, the difference being Rosalie looks to Carlisle for "permission" (or rather, justification) while Jasper simply stands there formulating the best way to inconspicuously end her life. =^_^= Bonus: He was willing to go through Edward to do it (who IMO should be thrown in a big bonfire three seconds after Pants is offed).

But I agree that not NEARLY enough attention is paid to the supporting cast (of anything). Think of all the heroes/heroines who'd been obliterated Episode 1 without the aid and ingenuity of the "groupies." Ryo, Ren, Sailor Moon...all are only as strong as the team supporting them. I mean, Kogane would have had a pretty hard time forming Golion by himself.

The Troopers are by far my favorite supporting cast, largely because the creators of the show respected their characters by establishing them AS characters instead of the third, fourth, and fifth armors. They had personalities, interests, families, historical backgrounds, and even a friggin' stat chart for the Troopers' individual strengths and weaknesses (still the coolest thing I've seen for an anime EVER). Hell, a lot of fans argue that the creators gave greater attention to their side characters (Seiji in particular) than they ever did Ryo (who let's face it, is pretty much the series punching bag).

And even though the series stinks, I STILL say Sesshoumaru from IY was one of the all-time baddest villains EVER (until Rumiko fucked him up, like everyone/everything else in IY). I mean, the dude was so bad he cared for a human girl. A human! And Sesshoumaru didn't even like humans! But he cared for her anyway. Because a true badass can go against his own rules and still be the sickest thing on the field. Nothing cooler than a villain who goes against his own credo. xD

[firestar9mm]

I feel like the YST team did such a good job on the four other Ronin that I don't even feel like they're a supporting cast. I consider the entire unit of five to be the "main character". And as you said, that's saying a lot.

I don't know if you've ever seen that bit on the RWXL site entitled "Ryo's Glass Cage of Emotion", but it is hilarious. I always wanted to do a video montage called "Ode to the Face Plant" which consisted of a series of smash cuts between shots of Ryo and the other Ronin getting pile-driven through three floors and a basement, probably set to a nice classical piece, like "Ave Maria" or "The Blue Danube". Which is another thing I love about the Ronin story--the heroes have to work for it. Especially in the beginning--when the Ronin are all locked in their places of power and Mia is ferrying everyone around to help save them, they're always fine when they wake up. It's the rescuers who are bloody and battered.

[plainrea]

I haven't visited a YST/RW site in years (I didn't think any were up and running, besides mine). But I think multi-floor pitfalls through ten-story buildings is a staple favorite of mine in film. My favorite "fall-through-multiple-floors" scene is from The Frighteners when Michael J. Fox is caught between Patricia and Dammers, both wielding shotguns, and "trips" himself backwards so that Patricia's shotgun fires at Dammers face. He falls (quite dramatically) through like, 5 or 6 floors, until he crashes back-first into one of the sub-floors, where Patricia eventually chokes him to death with the same shotgun that shot Dammers. It's kind of ridiculous, when you think about it, but I don't think a movie before or since has handled crashing through multiple floors so well.

If you ever did get around to making that montage, I'd be first in line to see it. Lord knows, you'd have plenty of footage to work with. *^_^*

[firestar9mm]

The Frighteners has got to be one of the most underrated movies ever. I know it's got a huge cult following, but it deserves to have one! I only wish I'd been able to see that film in a theater. They never show it on cable unless I'm at my parents', and my sister will never watch it with me because she says it's scary. I argue that only about half of the movie is scary--the rest is a comedy.

[plainrea]

I'm fortunate enough to own The Frighteners on VHS. One of these days I'll need to upgrade to DVD in case my tape player ever officially dies. *sadface*

And I completely agree. That anyone could be honest-to-God frightened by The Frighteners is silly (knowing the director, I'd bet money the title was done partially as a misnomer to intentionally poke fun at the film). You're too busy laughing your ass off to be scared. Michael J. Fox is a comedic king.