daughter of ming

I can not remember when I first came into contact with the world of Flash Gordon, but something about it appealed to me.  Maybe it was the odd spaceships that flew the skies of Mongo that caught my attention.  Maybe it was the look of Ming himself that made me watch these grainy black and white serials that aired on a local channel here years ago.  What I do know is that the Sci-Fi Channel has tweaked the story just enough to make it live again in the twenty first century.

The people behind this new incarnation did away with the bottle shaped spaceships that buzzed at they flew and created rifts instead to connect the Earth to a foreign planet.  That change was easy enough to accept.  Next they gave Flash a different reason for going to Mongo.  He was searching for his father.  Once again this change was fine with me.  Plus I liked the addition of a female warrior named Baylin into the core group of characters.

So with all of these positives going for the program, it was sad to watch the season finale yesterday.  It ended better than most television programs end.  Many plot threads were ended giving it a satisfying conclusion in case there is no second season and also left more than enough room for a second season.

After being disappointed by the goofy Coyote Ragtime Show, I have to say that I am very impressed with the anime series Ergo Proxy.  A mere four episodes into the story, the title has quickly shot to the top of my favorites list.  There are so many strengths to the series that I am not sure where to begin.  First of all, instead of a whiny adolescent male protagonist, we are given a sarcastic female lead who is quite likable.  Then there is the overall look of the animation itself that I love.  There are shades of blue and grey everywhere, yet I can still see what is happening.  Finally, the influence of the movie Blade Runner can be seen with human looking androids caught up in a mystery.