Difference between revisions of "Television in Fenspace"
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Revision as of 21:01, 31 December 2009
Whenever you have enough people, you have civilization. And whenever you have enough civilization, you get television. It's a well-known fact. And yes, Fenspace has its own television. We're not savages out here you know.
Fen-made TV & Movies
Television
Skysaber Conquers the Universe: (Garhalla, Animated, 30 min) An animated feature starring the interdimensional superspy Skysaber as he tears across the multiverse wreaking havoc on everyone and everything he meets.
Tower of Wonder: (Prometheus Forge Productions, 1 hr) Educational program hosted by Leonard da Quirm, aimed at explaining the mysteries of handwavium.
Naze Nani Fenspace: (Kandor Studios, 30 min) Much like "Tower of Wonder," only aimed at a younger audience.
Asteroid Blues: (Silvery Moon, 1 hr) Live-action drama about a small asteroid-mining outpost in the Main Belt.
Catgirl Bebop: (Serenity Studios, Animated, 1 hr) Action show about bounty hunters crossing the solar system chasing rogue catgirls.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: (Banzai Institue Films, 1 hr) Tales of the Hong Kong Cavaliers and the Blue Blazer Irregulars, both fictional and based on real events. Stories are told in serial format, with breaks filled with informative vignettes from the Institute. Regular features include "Everyday Heroes" (spotlights on real people Doing Good), "Fit Body, Fit Mind" (fitness), "What's Rockin'?" (music spotlight), and "A Moment of Your Time...." (Buckaroo's mail call/op-ed/philosophy section).
Neon Genesis Evangelion FLASH!: (EPU Studios, Animated, 30 min) Re-deconstruction of the famous 1996 deconstruction of the giant robot genre Neon Genesis Evangelion and the 2007 reconstruction Neon Genesis Evangelion Angelic Days. A rather intense parody of late '90s / early '00s "serious mecha" shows, helped along by acerbic commentary by EPU original characters DJ Croft and Jon Ellison.
Undocumented Features: (EPU Studios, Animated, 30 min) Adaptation of the popular ongoing mashup fan novel series. Notable for having the single largest cast of genre characters of any show except maybe Skysaber Conquers the Universe.
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon FS: (Toei, Animated, 30 min) The latest province of the Sailor Moon empire, the action is moved from Tokyo to Crystal Tokyo as a group of Senshi living on Venus suddenly become "real" Senshi and have to defend their homeworld from pirate youma. Based (very, very loosely) on rumors of extradimensional Senshi showing up on Crystal Paris.
Gundam Wave: (Sunrise, Animated, 30 min) Basically a retelling of the '12-'14 Boskone War, but with 500% more giant robots. What really makes Gundam Wave interesting is the based-on-a-true-story B-arc about a crew of mecha enthusiasts from Hokkaido who build their own full-scale Gundam in defiance of local handwavium restrictions.
The ReAnimator |
The ReAnimator - self-named because "it sounds about ten times cooler than just 'Animator'" - is a Wavetech computer/animation studio created from his computer, DVD player, and various peripherals by a True Neutral who prefers to go by "Mekboy". Upon the addition of handwavium to the combination, it metamorphosed into a rather ugly cybernetic/organic hybrid with a computer screen and a mouth as its most noticeable attributes. Experimentally, Mekboy offered it his Negima! DVD set, which it promptly ate, then plugged itself into an Internet jack. Shortly afterward, it also ate Mekboy's first few volumes of the Negima! manga, and became silent.
Some days later, it spat out a DVD which Mekboy discovered to contain a high-resolution video file: the first episode of a new Negima! series. As it turned out, the ReAnimator had decided that it could do better than XEBEC had in adapting the manga. And indeed, the next few episodes it produced over the next month were highly faithful to Akamatsu's manga, superbly animated, and well voiced, with the curious quirk that there was no music - apparently it lacked the skill to compose any. Undaunted, Mekboy assembled a team of musicians and sound editors to make up for this deficiency, and eventually - with Akamatsu's agreement - released what, indeed, most fen have taken to calling NDR, for "Negima Done RIGHT." After the full run of Akamatsu's manga had been adapted, the ReAnimator took to adapting Ranma ½, calling the animation and characterization in Studio Deen's anime "craptacular" and posting a 3,000-word essay online on "Why Stopping in the Middle is Bad." For personal amusement, it has also created several music videos and distributed them freely online. These include "Bell B. Dandy," in which the goddess Belldandy gives an enthusiastic performance of Johnny B. Goode, "Kanon Rock," in which the cast of Kanon performs JerryC's hit rendition of a classical piece, and "Kumikyoku," a spectacularly animated and choreographed rendition of the eleven-minute medley circulated on the video sharing site Nico Nico Douga. Reportedly, discussions are also underway to produce adaptations of Animorphs and Megatokyo. The ReAnimator can purportedly be a very temperamental and demanding creator; one assistant described headquarters as the only place in Fenspace that serves DVDs with chocolate sauce. Particularly infamous are its arguments with Benjamin Hutchins over the production and creative control of an Undocumented Features series. All attempts at producing a new ReAnimator without the original's problems have dramatically failed. Nevertheless, it remains one of the most profitable media producers in Fenspace. |
Movies
Skysaber vs. River Tam (Anime, 2012)
The first feature-length production from the creators of Skysaber Conquers the Universe, billed as "the first true action movie" where the two title characters spend 90 minutes beating each other to a pulp in increasingly over-the-top ways. Of particular note is a sequence where Skysaber tries to use the TransAmerica Pyramid to swat River, only to have her dodge into the upended building, race through the corridors like a demented version of The Poseidon Adventure, emerge from the roof and spin-kick Skysaber into the Pacific. Loud, ludicrous and surprisingly fun. +++1/2
The Handwavium Man (Thriller, 2010)
After being left for dead by a Boskonian raid, a man is rebuilt with state-of-the-kludge cybernetics and sent to infiltrate a crime family. First feature length film from the Luna Film Studios. (++1/2)
To Boldly Go (Documentary, 2009)
A documentary covering the conception, construction and flight of the USS Miranda.
Raise the Yamato! (Documentary, 2013)
True story of a splinter group of Boskone seeking to build their own Space Cruiser, and the multi-national backlash and manhunt that resulted.
Re-Animator: The Musical (Musical, 2011)
Specially filmed live performance of the cult-favorite musical by Tom Smith and R.K. Milholland.
Fenspace in Mundane TV
CSI did a show featuring "Fenspace" during its final season (season 10, aired Feb 15, 2010). It was poorly received by the fenspace audience due to its condescending and less than flattering portrayal of their subculture. In this they are joined by... every single other subculture that has been featured on a CSI episode.
There was also at least one episode of House which dealt with a handwavium issue. Specifically it included the good Doctor proposing the use of illegal (on Earth) biomodding to treat a patient's terminal cancer (it was later revealed not to be cancer and no such procedure was performed). A major subtext of the episode was House considering the use of Thionite, but he rejects it by the end of the episode. Many other episodes following this one included at least once one of his team suggesting the weekly mystery ailment may be related to handwavium, which it never turns out to be. This has led to a popular fan refrain "It's never handwavium!" (The term handwavium was never used in either show.)
Several Hollywood productions, while not aimed at the fen market, have been filmed in Fenspace. Joss Whedon filmed several episodes of a short science-fiction drama called Doing Well, using various Fenspace locales as backdrops (including Stellvia, Kandor City and Utopia Planitia). The show featured extensive use of handwaved special effects and the first use of an AI actor in a mundane production. Production was halted during the Operation Great Justice crisis, and it is doubtful that Mr. Whedon will be able to secure financial backing from Earth to reinvigorate the show. While much of the filing was done in Fenspace, a good deal was also done in soundstages in LA.
Other science-fiction movies produced in space include a poorly recieved reimagining of Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, a film called Space Kittens that went straight to video, and the movies Mass Effect and Bioshock based on the popular video games of the same name and directed by Uwe Boll.
Universal was rumored to be considering shooting the next Star Trek motion picture entirely in space. William Shatner was supposed to reprise his role as Kirk after receiving a handwave treatment that would restore his youthful vitality. These rumors are denied by everyone involved but that doesn't stop people from speculating.
The reality show Survivor: Mars was a critical success. All of the participants were from Earth with no Fen involved. A season of The Amazing Race featured three episodes that were set in Fenspace (one on Mars, one in Kandor City and one on Venus). Both Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy have had week-long specials that took place on Stellvia (the view of the Earth from the large viewport that served as backdrop to the soundstage was spectacular).
Fenspace (and handwavium) has been referenced a multitude of times on many popular shows, however they are often encountered as hazards to be overcome and one-step-short-of villians. Amazingly enough, one of the most positive representations of fen occured, and still occurs, on the soap opera One Life To Live (airing weekdays on ABC). The popular character John McBain was transformed in 2011 into a catgirl when one of the other characters spiked his food with handwavium in an elaborate plot to break up his marriage. Jo McBain is one of the most popular characters on the serial, and her struggle to deal with the reality of her new condition and the prejudice associated with it is a major story arc. Despite this, many in Fenspace complain because the actress who potrays Jo McBain is an unmodded human in makeup. (To be fair, the catgirl prosthetics are wavejobs commisioned from Vulpine's Puppetworks and are amazing relalistic.)
Noah Scott has appeared on a few episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher, Larry King Live, and one episode of The Colbert Report. After the famous "Bear Incident" Colbert refuses to mention The Professor on his TV show. Conan O'Brien has featured some of the more photogenic and popular people of Fenspace on his show and was the first person to knowingly do a live on-air interview of an AI (well, at least a live made-on-Earth interview).
Fenspace appears often on mundane news services, less so in the United States then in other countries more symapthetic to fen politics. Fox News media commentator Bill O'Reilly has a particular hatred for fen and Fenspace, a fact he is more than willing to make clear whenever he is given an excuse.
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