Comments on: Explosive Decompression http://blog.thefurryone.net/2006/10/15/explosive-decompression/ Ramblings and musings of John Zeitler. Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:10:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Kain http://blog.thefurryone.net/2006/10/15/explosive-decompression/#comment-730 Kain Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:21:50 +0000 http://blog.thefurryone.net/2006/10/15/explosive-decompression/#comment-730 Honestly, the list of cable stations which have gone seriously downhill in the last four or five years (or which were at the bottom of the hill to begin with) is essentially a Who's Who of the offerings of my local branch of Comcast, so that somehow a basement door has been found at the rock bottom G4 has hit is not as surprising as it ought to be. (Although I give it points for being the only American televisual outlet for "Top Gear" co-presenter Richard Hammond, who is on British television on at least one station all day every day but who on American television only appears as the frontman of "Brainiac" - and he finally did the sensible thing and moved on from that programme anyway, so this one good point is now gone.) Seriously though, a cable station forgetting its roots and being left with nothing to set it apart from other cable stations, while always enfuriating to see, is not exactly new. AMC went from being a fraternal twin brother of TCM to Just Another Film Station showing awful films with censorship and endless ad breaks. (Ludicrously, the head of programming at AMC defended that shift by saying that that's how people are used to watching films on television. Yes, but THEY HATE IT. That's why they watched AMC in the first place, because THEY DIDN'T DO THAT.) Nick at Nite and TV Land now show syndie re-runs of programmes which already air syndie re-runs on half a dozen other stations. A&E used to be PBS with advertisements, now they air docu-reality programmes about bounty hunters, stock car racers, and tattoo parlour employees. (None of which qualifies as art or entertainment in my eyes, but I'm a snob that way.) And then there's the classic lament about how MTV and VH1 have completely forgotten their roots as music television. (Along similar lines, the British satellite station VH1 classic used to air primarily music videos from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, but when I last lived in England it had forgotten what "classic" meant and started airing videos from songs released mere months earlier.) Long story short: cable television is a wasteland. But it does have TCM and syndie re-runs of the three "CSI" series, so I have a subscription anyway. Oh well. Honestly, the list of cable stations which have gone seriously downhill in the last four or five years (or which were at the bottom of the hill to begin with) is essentially a Who’s Who of the offerings of my local branch of Comcast, so that somehow a basement door has been found at the rock bottom G4 has hit is not as surprising as it ought to be. (Although I give it points for being the only American televisual outlet for “Top Gear” co-presenter Richard Hammond, who is on British television on at least one station all day every day but who on American television only appears as the frontman of “Brainiac” - and he finally did the sensible thing and moved on from that programme anyway, so this one good point is now gone.)

Seriously though, a cable station forgetting its roots and being left with nothing to set it apart from other cable stations, while always enfuriating to see, is not exactly new. AMC went from being a fraternal twin brother of TCM to Just Another Film Station showing awful films with censorship and endless ad breaks. (Ludicrously, the head of programming at AMC defended that shift by saying that that’s how people are used to watching films on television. Yes, but THEY HATE IT. That’s why they watched AMC in the first place, because THEY DIDN’T DO THAT.) Nick at Nite and TV Land now show syndie re-runs of programmes which already air syndie re-runs on half a dozen other stations. A&E used to be PBS with advertisements, now they air docu-reality programmes about bounty hunters, stock car racers, and tattoo parlour employees. (None of which qualifies as art or entertainment in my eyes, but I’m a snob that way.) And then there’s the classic lament about how MTV and VH1 have completely forgotten their roots as music television. (Along similar lines, the British satellite station VH1 classic used to air primarily music videos from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, but when I last lived in England it had forgotten what “classic” meant and started airing videos from songs released mere months earlier.)

Long story short: cable television is a wasteland. But it does have TCM and syndie re-runs of the three “CSI” series, so I have a subscription anyway. Oh well.

]]> By: Ismail Saeed http://blog.thefurryone.net/2006/10/15/explosive-decompression/#comment-727 Ismail Saeed Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:36:50 +0000 http://blog.thefurryone.net/2006/10/15/explosive-decompression/#comment-727 Hey John, The Crest of the Stars novel is Crest of the Stars novel 1. "Crest of the Stars" the anime conflated the first *three* novels in the series into a single brisk anime series. If you buy the Banner box set, you'll be jumping ahead about three years and miss good content. Buying the CREST box set, though, is an idea. Anyway, novel 2 is on the release horizon for Tokyopop, and novel 3 after that. Just saying; if you want more, go with the next novel or buy the Crest anime series - Banner isn't next chronologically. Hey John,

The Crest of the Stars novel is Crest of the Stars novel 1. “Crest of the Stars” the anime conflated the first *three* novels in the series into a single brisk anime series.

If you buy the Banner box set, you’ll be jumping ahead about three years and miss good content.

Buying the CREST box set, though, is an idea.

Anyway, novel 2 is on the release horizon for Tokyopop, and novel 3 after that. Just saying; if you want more, go with the next novel or buy the Crest anime series - Banner isn’t next chronologically.

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