Moonlight Mile: X-68 Lift Off

Scramjet, GO!

Conspiracy, engineering eye candy, a brief "good luck ritual" scene that was too dark to see on my monitor? This was a fine conclusion.

Not to put down the previous three episodes, but this one was most refreshing. There was no one in need of saving, we are perhaps one step closer to seeing what the US is up to, and China is brought in with a coy little scene. Like the Moon Walker arc, technology is front and centre, but unlike the Moon Walker arc, nothing goes wrong.

Usually technology is in the background and taken for granted as it should be, like in Planetes, but when it's not and doesn't manage to blow up or otherwise embarrass itself with all eyes upon it, truly it is a glorious day.

Chest shot! That ought to slow him down!

Yes, I still play a (one) game, and snipers are still a royal nuisance, and being shot in the leg doesn't slow anyone down despite messages stating the contrary.

They didn't have to be so heavy-handed about this shot. Targeting lasers aren't as thick as some dude's finger, and people like infrared sites nowadays because they have this neat property of being outside the visible wavelength range. At most, a tiny red dot would have sufficed, like they did for the first episode.

I chuckled

At first I was going to say he looks like the guy on the Tiberian Sun box art, but the target finder is on the opposite eye and the finder's support rises from the bottom instead of dropping down from the top. In reality, this one just looks like a guy with a monocle. Cue annoying social laugh.

While Goro's path is interesting in its own right, Lostman's military path is much more in line with what I was expecting, ever since watching the MM preview trailer. While the realistic physics and technology were cool, conspiracy and conflict were the main selling points, and they were almost non-existent for most of the series.

The ISA is also a work in progress, while the US military is already there. Having an established power base is much more in line with expectations of a showdown of epic proportions.

This baby can turn on a dime, Macross Zero style!

Another exemplary display of technology. Still darker than black (ops).

At the end of the day, the preview mismanaged expectations, but even taking it as it is, Moonlight Mile's mostly "Problem of the Week" structure did not cover the same amount of moral/philosophical ground as Planetes.

Continue Entry......

Moonlight Mile - Lift Off

Moonlight Mile is dark. The in-capsule scenes from episode 9 expose the weak contrast ratio of my external monitor, and I have to turn to my laptop, which is situated off-angle, to get at the outlines.

Darker than black. Seriously.

Even though at this point I still have two more episodes to go before finishing this first season, it has been evident for a while now that Moonlight Mile wasn't going to meet expectations, and maybe it's partly my fault. Elaboration after these messages.

* * *

When Moonlight Mile was first announced, comparisons were immediately drawn to Planetes. By now it's apparent that Moonlight Mile is weaker than Planetes. A large part of that disappointment, for me, was caused because I fell into the OP trap: that the scenes from the OP sequence might actually take place at one point or another within the following 12 episodes. What I realized too late was that they might take place in the second season.

The first episode only reinforced the belief that we'd see some real conflict break out and the exposure of a conspiracy. All evidence of a conspiracy vanished in subsequent episodes and when they eventually surfaced, there wouldn't be nearly enough time to pursue that story, pre-occupied as the series is with resolving the current cover-up plot.

In terms of actual comparisons to Planetes, the two series share an episodic structure. Related to this, obviously, is that you can't expose a space conspiracy and resolve it within the same episode. Where the two differ is how they use this structure. Moonlight Mile takes the tried and true shounen, We Are Training/Leveling Up path. In Planetes, there is a minimal amount of training and then we're into the fray.

Where side characters in Moonlight Mile are generally an impediment to the protagonists' progress, mainly Goro's, or are in need of rescue to drive the story forward, Planetes features side characters with somewhat more fleshed out back stories. They either have an effect on the main cast, or pose moral questions to the viewer. Either way, their interactions with the main characters are generally not hostile.

Bailing out in progress.

You could say that Moonlight Mile, as it currently stands in its first season, is a really typical shounen dressed up with sex, hints of more mature themes, technological plausibility, and GAR-ness. Here's hoping that the second season does one better.

Riyoko chokes on her LIES.

For those who have seen episode 10, Riyoko's actions seem to be inconsistent with previous behaviour. There's only really one way to reconcile it, which is to say that she's being insincere. This, despite little hints to the contrary throughout the series. There just wasn't enough screen time given to support this turn of events.

Continue Entry......