Lets Watch: Skyland

[LaZodiac]

Skyland. A world that was blown into billions of floating islands, orbiting around a singular core. Ruled by Sphere, a world government that keeps the world in check. This is Skyland, The New World.

Skyland, Le Nouveau Monde (Skyland, The New World), or just known as Skyland in English, is a CGI animated series created in France with assistance from Canadian TV, produced by Method Films and 9 Story Entertainment. It's apparently based on a set of novels by David Carlyle, who I can find no information about what so ever. He doesn't even have a wikipage.

I'll be watching an episode every Monday and Friday, and multi-part episodes follow that same rule. I bring this up because the opening two episodes ARE a full 60 minute thing, but as with RWBY I'll only be watching each part individually. With that all said, lets begin.

Episode 1: Dawn of a New Day, part 1

Spoiler

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We begin with narration, telling us more or less what I said above (I'm putting that in after watching, to give this some more gravitas). Though the nice narrator lady says millions instead of billions, which seems more believable. As to be expected from such a vast destruction, water is now REALLY hard to come by.

Sphere controls distribution of water, with their "Guardians". But the narrator says they're an evil dictatorship, so don't like them!

...Guardian's are "enhanced humans" known as...as Seijuns.

Seijuns.

...alright! Lets go with Seijuns. Anyway, these Seijuns are people who are born with supernatural powers that are activated by sunlight.

Powered by the sun, eh?

Okay. Okay then. Seijuns powered by the sun. I got it. (thank you internet [also don't worry I'll stop this now] )

Anyway, some Seijuns escape from Sphere and join up with AWESOME REBEL PIRATES, the only hope left to liberate Skyland. The narrator then helpfully informs us of the names of our protagonists, Elina (a Seijun) and her brother Mahad. I'm assuming not related by blood because "Elina and Mahad" seems like an odd choice of names.

Oh, the Narrator says they're both her children. Nevermind then. Still silly, but maybe it's like a cultural thing. "If it's a girl I'll name her in my way, if it's a boy you name it in your way" or something. Doubting we'll find out, but okay!

...after the narration and a title screen, we're greeted to...a really good looking scene of a seagull flying through clouds, as it passes over floating cities, with soft elegant piano music playing. It's...actually really artistic. I like it.

The seagulls pass by a large structure with "Babylon" written on it, and we hear bells and stuff, the kind of sounds you'd expect from an idealistic little village in the countryside. Only it's floating in the sky. We get a few landscape shots, and they're all...VERY good looking, all hand crafted looking and very well drawn. Then floats by a large airship, which clearly shows us the tech level is gonna be steampunky, since it's...basically a steam ship (complete with smoke stack) that can fly. It's CG, like most things in this, so it kind of...stands out against the drawn backgrounds. It's strange. Doesn't flow well.

Anyway, two people on...hover motorcycles fly off from the ship, past from farmers. This area is CG, and actually looks quite nice, and thus everything fits a little better.

On said motorbikes are THEE people, actually. The blue one has a dude in blue and the red one has a red dude and a lady sitting on the back.

The lady, who we know is Elina due to what she says, then says "He's got you this time Mahad". Elina's voice actress immediately reminds me of someone, but I'm not sure who.

I'm not sure I'm keen on the voice acting just yet, but we'll see as the episode (and series) goes along.

Anyway, they start racing through rocks and stuff, and like...the girl on Mahad's bike says they won't get through, but then Mahad says "You maybe right Hanako". Okay so I'm wrong it's not Elina also oh my god Mahad's voice actor is so bad. I know it's just like, the two lines I've heard so far, but it seems REALLY bad.

Anyway, the blue guy ditches the race because he almost crashes with a comedic "oh no!" shout. So I suppose Mahad wins! His prize is apparently the death of his friend because at those speeds the blue guy would be splattered against the tree he just landed in, because it turns out he bailed poorly and fell off his bike.

"Remind me again why I keep hanging out with you?"
"Because I'm the best."

Okay, I'll admit that line's pretty good. But yeah, this...the animation seems a little under half decent, and the dubbing for the lip flaps are...pretty crap (though I imagine the lip flaps are just as bad since this is a CGI cartoon).

Anyway, Shumnai (the blue guy. And [sic] on that name spelling. No idea) drives up on his motorcycle, and Mahad is like "What'samatter, go the wrong way?" Haha, making light of his apparent friend almost dying.

Then a bunch of...CHRON transport shuttles from Star Wars show up. Seriously, they look like these things, only the blade is thicker.

Hanako tells us "It's the Sphere, coming to take our water again!". Thank you Hanako. Mahad says that if "Marcus Ferrow [sic] was still around" they wouldn't be so brave. So I'm assuming Marcus is his father figure.

Oh no, apparently they're going to Mahad's place. I wonder why that could be *vague allusions to the opening spoiling plot points oooooh wiggles figures mystseriously*

Anyway, we cut to a young girl in overalls and a cute rhino image on it. Her cloths are white and red so we can surmise she's Mahad's sister, and therefor Elina. She...looks a LOT like Katarra from Avatar. Huh.

She manages to get the basketball stuck between the hoop and the backboard. Unsure if that's a skilled shot or a failed one.

After looking around she...glares at the ball, and we start hearing a buzzing sound, and the ball starts moving as she tilts her head. This is all well and good at showing us a Seijun's power, but if this is also going to get her captured or whatever, I'm calling bullcrap. The ball could just be rolling in the wind.

Okay now the ball floating in mid air and going through the hoop, that I can see getting her captured.

Oh hey, Elina's mother shows up, and she scolds her for using her powers (for the right reasons). She...basically looks exactly like Elina only older. Understandable.

Elina's voice actress is 100% totally a child, and her acting is as good as to be expected given this.

After some minor "you're ashamed of me!" "no, I just don't want you to be a Guardian" "I'd never be a guardian the bad guys are bad guys." banter, Mom offers to bake cookies after she puts some stuff in the garage. Cookies are just sort of a theme of CGI based cartoons, isn't it?

That doll (called Fillia if curious) looks nothing like Elina, but that's just how Dad's work I suppose. Also, somber music implies Dad is dead. Elina then just says "How come you never told us how he died?" which is pretty shocking for what is supposed to be a children's/teen's show. But good on them. Also, calling it here, Dad isn't dead.

Anyway, after turning the corner to the house they find that Sphere has arrived. And...actually look really cool. Despite the hightech CHRON ships, the "brigadiers" look like semi steam punk robots. They only thing they're missing is a more worn look.

The Brigidiers have the best voice acting so far. Monotonous, hard to understand, robotic slurring! It fits though. They want their water tax. Mom tells Elina to go inside (though I'll note that every time she's said her name she said Lina, so maybe I heard it wrong the first time?) but Elina, being a child person, at the last minute decides to yell at one of the Brigidiers, claiming they steal water to fill up the Sphere Leader's swimming pools.

The brig's have some pretty poor programming if they consider that resistance, but alright. The one she yells at picks her up (hand doesn't close) and at this point I notice they have arm cannons. Awesome. Mom tries to stop them from picking her up and gets clonked over the head by another one's metal arm. That's gonna hurt.

He's just about to gun her down too, but then a boomerang flies out of nowhere and decapitates the brig! It then hits the arm of the one grabbing Elina, removing it's arm (though from the looks of it it just removed the arm from it's joint slot as if it was an action figure).

Not surprisingly, the boomerang thrower was Mahad. What is surprising is that the boomerang looks...like a normal boomerang. Not metal or anything. So he just messed those robots up old school style.

They all raise their guns to shoot, though it's...pretty clear Mahad's got this handled. Elina decides otherwise (understandable she's like six) and causes a large blue burst of energy that electrocutes the remaining brigs, causing them to fall down. This'll be hard to explain.

More brig's show up, and Mahad says they should just act natural. Dude you're surrounded by the corpses of their allies, robot or no they're gonna notice.

Mom tells them to stand behind her, and faces the marching Brig's, as well as two CHRON ships. I'm betting she's a Seijun and is gonna wreck house.

The robots all fire their blasts as Mom starts charging up her power because she IS a Seijun. She then does a spin where she grabs all their blasts and puts them into a giant ball of energy and destroys one of the CHRON ships entirely with it.

She then proceeds to wreck house.

Unfortunately, this is bad. Cause now the Guardian's are gonna show up. Life will never be the same again!

After some awkward silence as we linger on that shot for too long, we head to the ominous floating fortress of ominousness! It's Sphere HQ. And I'll note, I like the Sphere logo, it's a big ole S, shaped like an orb.

Inside, an AI lady tells "Commander Oslow" about what happened. I recognize the AI's voice actress but don't recall her name, but she's a good one. Oslow meanwhile is a skeevy looking bald guy in a space suit. Honestly looks like an evil Jeane Luc Picard. His acting is more Shatnerian though.

He...he then claims that no Seijun has that type of power, except himself. Unless...*ominous orchestra stiiiing*. Anyway, we also learn the AI's name, D1.

We linger far too long on the shot of her bowing in acceptence of his order to give her the coordinates, and then fade to black for a comercial that would exist if this was on TV. Now back to Bablyon.

...back at the farm, Mom is showing Mahad how to pilot the CHRON ship they apparently HIJACKED. ALRIGHT THEN. She shows him how to set it up so it'll take him and Elina where they need to go. Where are they going? To see The Vector, the man who helped Mom escape the Guardian academy, and will presumably help Elina learn her power.

Okay, the ships are called Patrollers, but I'm going to keep on calling them CHRONs if that's alright with you guys, because they really do look EXACTLY like those things.

While Elina and Maha bicker about if they can fly it or what not, Mom activates the ship and sneaks off, leaving herself behind while they escape.

I don't...QUITE understand what Mom's logic here is, but alright. I guess she's just assuming they won't realize Elina is a Seijun, and the implication is that they totally know Mahad and Elina stole this ship and are in it but they don't care since they're not Seijuns.

Also, calling that Mahad is secretly a Seijun he just don't know how to use his powers. Just feels like a thing that'd happen.

I'll admit, this goodbye scene is a little sad, but it's also kind of silly because Mahad and Elina don't have the best voice actors, and the CG can't really animate their faces well.

After the ship leaves, Mom looks one last time longingly at the doll Elina had, and D1 announces that she's surrounded. Apparently D1 isn't an AI, but hologram phone calls have poopy reception.

I wish this series was about Mom, she's great. D1 asks if this is her doing. Mom says "Yes. They look better in pieces, don't they?" but we, the audience, can see that D1 is charging up an energy blast behind her back. She fires it, and Mom just bitch slaps it back at her because Mom don't give no ****s.

D1 has decided this makes it personal, and orders the Brig's not to attack. This is honestly for the best because if four of them give Mom the power to obliterate one of the shuttles, ten of them could probably end this fight immediately. For Mom.

I'm kind of liking D1 as a villain. Her design is weird (bald with a big red thing on her head, black military suit) but she's got gumption, I'll give her that.

...apparently those motorcycles where scooters. Okay. Anyway, up with Maha, they encounter from Brig controlled CHRON shuttles, and have to evade them.

Mahad tries really hard to be snarky like Mom and fails. Why can't this series be about Mom.

Cut back to Mom and D1 playing tennis with their power balls. Really hope the fighting becomes more involved then this, though it's clear Mom is just messing with D1 to buy them time.

Oh hey, the ominous fortress of ominousness has a name. The Monolith. And it's big enough to BLOT OUT THE SUN...if positioned in the right location. That's actually really cool, and if it disables Seijun powers as effectively as I imagine it will, also a really good idea too.

We cut back to Mahad trying to evade the Brig's in his shuttle, and he says that it's time for class to learn the final lesson, and it ends with a BLAST. Please stop talking Mahad.

The brig's are really bad pilots. They've gotta stop crashing into each other.

FINALLY we learn Mom's name, from Oslow. Her name is Me-lah. That's how it sounds. NO idea how to spell it so I'm sticking to calling her Mom.

Oslow and Mom banter for a bit. Oslow says they were meant to be together and...sigh. Brings up The Prophecy. "He will unify the Earth with the Lady of Light."

Mom, rightly so, tells Oslow to stuff his fairytale nonsense because this is stupid, and if it was real it wouldn't be about them anyway cause they're old now.

...Oslow then shows that he may actually be more of an anti villian, something I was not expecting from this. He wants to use their powers combined to take over the corrupt fools in charge of the Sphere. That's a level of depth from our antagonist I was not expecting.

Unfortunately, Oslow notices the doll. He, as would be expected, tears the doll in half while threatening her children, saying she should be more cooperative "for their sake". We don't see the doll get ripped in half so presumably that's just an issue they had in animation.

Mom shouts and tries to blow up Oslow, but he reflects it because he's pretty strong. Oslow captures Mom and brings her on the Monolith, and orders D1 to find her children. Oslow then says he's taking Mom to Carson [sic] Prison, where all people like her go.

...okay, that's actually really cool. Despite being amazingly pale, Oslow spends every day and night not doing stuff, bathing in sunlight. Doing this, he has overcharged his powers so that they're much stronger now, and omnipresent. He can even use them when the sun is gone, something Mom can't do. He's a pretty big threat!

Mom, sensibly, says that no one can do what he did safely, cause his powers will start eating away at him from the insides, like an overclocked computer running for too long. And seeing as how he's very pale and got big bags under his eyes, she seems to be right.

Meanwhile with the kids, they've apparently arrived at their destination. An area where the land looks like it's been torn asunder and riddled with holes, "like a war zone."

As they explore the area in their shuttle, the big steamer ship shows up again. Apparently they didn't come from it and that was just a misinterpretation on my part. Interesting...wonder what those pirates were doing in Babylon (assuming they were pirates).

Oh, wait, no, this ship looks a little different. And on it's rudder it has a pirate looking cat face, so it's pirates. CAT PIRATES. The pirates start following Mahad and Elina and...roll credits.

Okay, correcting some of my spelling at the end here. Elina is Lena, Mom is Mila but will stay Mom because it's just funnier that way to me. Blue guy was Shoomday (...alright). Oslow is spelt Oslo, D1 is Diwan which...seems silly but to be fair I thought she was called D1 because I thought she was an AI at first.

Final note about the credits. I see a bunch of nostalgic notes in the credits that denote this as something made by Canadian Television Productions. Really bringing back memories.

And that's the first episode! My thoughts? It's actually pretty alright. I'm not the biggest fan of Mahad, but Lena is alright (though clearly a child). Mom is the best and I hope she shows up more, and as villains, Diwan and Oslo are actually fairly effective (Diwan much less so, but in a way that still makes her intimidating). The end of the episode isn't very good, but that's because it's intended to be watched as a 60 minute special two parter, not as two episodes. So I can understand that. At any rate, I AM interested where this is going to go.

Episode Guide Season 1:

Spoiler

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Episode 1: Dawn of a New Day part 1 (it's this post!)

Episode 2: Dawn of a New Day part 2

Episode 3: The Great Wall

Episode 4: Mogura

Episode 5: Raging Archipelago

Episode 6: Eye of the Storm

Episode 7: Mutiny

Episode 8: Manipulations

Episode 9: King for a Day

Episode 10: Red Rock People

Episode 11: Babylonia

Episode 12: Bloodties

Episode 13: Life in Puerto Angel

Episode Guide Season 2:

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Episode 14: Shadows of the Past

Episode 15: Heart of the Arena

Episode 16: Wind Devils

Episode 17: Cortes' Secret

Episode 18: Island of the Child King

Episode 19: Alice

Episode 20: Secret Power

Episode 21: Book of Worlds

Episode 22: Infiltration

Episode 23: Blue Sky

Episode 24: The Secret of Temuera

Episode 25: Kharzem Fortress, part 1

Episode 26: Kharzem Fortress, part 2

[Somensjev]

this actually sounds really cool, i might have to watch it
i think i'll watch the episodes as you update though, otherwise i'd end up ahead and get bored

edit: just watched episode one, it looks so familiar, the characters, the animation style, everything about it looks familiar, and i don't know why

[LaZodiac]

this actually sounds really cool, i might have to watch it
i think i'll watch the episodes as you update though, otherwise i'd end up ahead and get bored

edit: just watched episode one, it looks so familiar, the characters, the animation style, everything about it looks familiar, and i don't know why

I've had that same feeling. Part of me just wants to go "oh, it's because Rawhide suggested it after RWBY, so it reminds me of RWBY" but I feel it's more then that.

But yes. Glad you enjoyed

[Somensjev]

I've had that same feeling. Part of me just wants to go "oh, it's because Rawhide suggested it after RWBY, so it reminds me of RWBY" but I feel it's more then that.

But yes. Glad you enjoyed

it's like i've watched it a long time ago, but i can't remember when or why, or even how does that make sense?
like i can almost remember the plot, but i'm just left there remembering nothing

[LaZodiac]

it's like i've watched it a long time ago, but i can't remember when or why, or even how does that make sense?
like i can almost remember the plot, but i'm just left there remembering nothing

That's the exact same feeling I have. It's weird.

[Somensjev]

That's the exact same feeling I have. It's weird.

well, at least i'm not crazy unless we're both crazy

also, i look forward to episode two

[AdmiralCheez]

Oh hey, I remember this show! I think it aired on Nickelodeon around the same time as the first season as Avatar: The Last Airbender. I remember that I really liked the setting, and was more interested in the pirates and the fight over water resources than the two main characters. I don't remember how it ended though, or even if it got a proper ending. It might have just been cancelled due to lack of ratings.

[LaZodiac]

Oh hey, I remember this show! I think it aired on Nickelodeon around the same time as the first season as Avatar: The Last Airbender. I remember that I really liked the setting, and was more interested in the pirates and the fight over water resources than the two main characters. I don't remember how it ended though, or even if it got a proper ending. It might have just been cancelled due to lack of ratings.

We'll have to see together then

[Hopeless]

Remember watching that episode reminded me of Malo Korrigan except I was able to watch more episodes of Malo and Skyland seemed to disappear off the tv channel without trace.

Will have to see if it still exists in some form as I recall the kids joined up with an airship crew not sure if that was part of the pilot episode though...

[LaZodiac]

It's probably part of episode 2. Remember, Episode 1 and 2 are designed to be watched as one full hour long pilot. I just didn't do that.

[Kitten Champion]

A lot the show is fuzzy to me, I recall the animation wasn't that bad with a cohesive style that was very bright and well defined. There was however one point that really bothered me. At some point in the show during this usual bit where the protagonist flirted with one of the older female characters who's name escapes me, he asks her whether her name was Italian or not. Something along those lines.

I thought it was just odd considering the setting is so divorced from reality, even if it is technically Earth in the distant future it's not exactly apparent or a subject which came up previously to my recollection. So it suddenly being brought up in a throwaway line just raised a lot of questions for me. Like, what is Italy or an Italian to a post-apocalyptic world of floating islands where the Earth has literally been turned upside down? Exactly what are the ethnicities of all the characters anyways? And how is that a pick-up line?

It would be like if in the Hunger Games movie there was a Walmart in the Capital City that Katniss just happens to walk by. It's not impossible for a Walmart to be there but I would be sincerely curious as to why. It's a minor issue really, just empty phatic chatter as far as dialogue goes, but since I remember it it must have had some lasting impact on me.

[LaZodiac]

A lot the show is fuzzy to me, I recall the animation wasn't that bad with a cohesive style that was very bright and well defined. There was however one point that really bothered me. At some point in the show during this usual bit where the protagonist flirted with one of the older female characters who's name escapes me, he asks her whether her name was Italian or not. Something along those lines.

Hmm, that DOES sound like an oddity. We'll have to wait and see!

Also, is it just me or does EVERYONE except Rawhide have vague recollections of this show but nothing else?

[Somensjev]

Hmm, that DOES sound like an oddity. We'll have to wait and see!

Also, is it just me or does EVERYONE except Rawhide have vague recollections of this show but nothing else?

it's not just you

[LaZodiac]

When we last left off, we were...well, in the middle of the episode honestly, because the pilot is two episodes long! But whatever, SKYLAND!

Episode 2: Dawn of a New Day, part 2

Spoiler

Show

Huh, apparently Mom's narration is just the opening theme of the series. Alright.

Hahaha. Oh god, the really bombastic DAAN DAAN music, combined with their emotionless faces as they fly the CHRON shuttle, is hilaaarious. IT lasts for just long enough to be funny. At any rate, the episode actually begins! Mahad has noticed they're being followed by pirates.

Lina thinks they might know who Vector is, and Mahad is like "are you kidding, they might of known Marcus Ferrel!" and this just raises the question of "why are they trusting pirates?" I mean yeah, pirates are against Sphere that we know of, but they could just be random PIRATES. It happens!

Considering all the ships the pirate ship just deployed, and that they started shooting (inaccurately) at the shuttle shows that you shouldn't trust pirates. Though seriously, they can't hit it and it's moving in a straight line. That's a little silly.

Lina brings up that they're in a Sphere patrol ship, which is why they're being attacked. Valid point.

..Mahad's an idiot. Hey, lets fly our ship CLOSER to the pirate ship, to make them less likely to shoot us. I get where he's coming from, but this seems all together like the wrong thing to do.

And...and then our heroes get shot down, and a vaguely scottish pirate man is like "call back the mosquito's, that's one less Sphere ship in the world.". This is going well.

Anyway, on the bridge of the pirate ship, our big ole scotsmen of a captain hears the distress call Lina sent out, saying they're not enemies, and a little child that looks like Aang from Avatar with hair (and sounds like him too. Hmm.) says they should rescue the survivors, since it sounds like a little girl.

Cortez, the scottish esque pirate man, says it's a trap, and one of the Mosquito pilots says that her scanners pick up some Sphere ships, which proves his point. I suppose it does.

The kid, who I think is called Wyatt but I'm not sure, manages to guilt him into checking JUST in case. I can tell this kid might be pretty annoying. We'll see though.

Meanwhile on the Monolith, Oslo is going on about the prophecy again, and I think they're trying to get across that Oslo really does care about Mom, but for the wrong reasons, so it's kind of tragically touching maybe? I don't know, the acting isn't exactly good enough to get across the deeper underlying emotions, but it's clear they are probably there. Anyway, Mom is being sent to the borg cube prison.

Back with our heroes, Diwan has found their crashed ship...but no one is there. This is an interesting idea, not actually showing the pirates picking our heroes up. I wonder what, if anything, they're trying to hide by this.

We then cut to the ship, where Mahad and Lina are now located! Lina is grateful they got picked up, Mahad is (understandably) annoyed but Lina covers his mouth when he tries to get angry about it. The animation is still kind of clunky, with poor lip flaps and the occasional odd head movement, but they seem a little less bad in this episode.

Anyway, some old guy shows up saying he's angry that they changed direction and he thinks Cortez is lost. Alright. Turns out this old guy is a scientist who's here to see if Portal Block is "drifting", which we can easily infer to be "oh **** our land mass is escaping orbit we're all doomed". Cortez suddenly gets REALLY pissed, because the old man mentioned the name of their home block in front of strangers and...I'll be honest, that DOES make sense. Knowing where a pirate lives kind of ruins his chances of surviving quite a bit.

Oh, okay, the small child is called Cheng. And the scientist is...THE VECTOR! What stroke of luck!

...apparently this is really important, because Vector says "I've been waiting for this day to come. SO IT BEGINS!"

Anyway, we get some explanation. Vector was chosen by Mom to guard after them once Oslo found her, and he would "lead them to their father's past". Cortez gives the obvious question of "why not just tell them?" but his face is animated so stiffly I can't help but laugh at his gruffness.

Mahad picks up some subtle clues apparently I didn't, and assumes this means Cortez knows his father. Upon asking Cortez stammers over his worlds. So I'm guessing Oslo is their Dad at this point, Darth Vader style. Would explain Oslo's obsession over Mom.

Vector then reveals he has...a map! Understandably this is something impossible given what Skyland is, and he says as such. It's not even complete, but it's something. It'll allow them to find their Dad's secret, final safehouse. Which is sure to contain something important and vital.

Cortez figures he's being forced into bringing these kids there (he is). Vector calls him a coward if he says he won't, so Cortez decides to do it. It's an odd exchange, especially since we know basically nothing about these two, and they...basically know nothing about our heroes though it's clear they know their Dad so I suppose it's justified. This just seems to be moving a little quickly.

Meanwhile Diwan found the pirates and is stalking them. Suspense!

Also meanwhile, Mahad tries, and fails (poorly) to hit on the pilot of the pirate ship while they're flying at high speed through fog. So yeah, I don't like Mahad that much. He then falls into her arms as the ship makes a hard turn...in the sky, and he "smoothly" asks her name. It's Dahlia.

She basically tells him to **** off, which I appreciate.

"Dahlia, is that spanish or italian?" Yeah, that line kind of breaks the immersion. Also, is stupid. ALSO, SHE IS PILOTING AND SHE TOLD YOU TO GO AWAY. PLEASE DO THIS.

...okay, the acting for it isn't that good, but that line was still great. Cortez mentions this block was his hideout because it's always covered in dense fog. He then says "He was a clever man. A trait known to skip a generation." and then Mahad is like "..hey! Don't insult my sister."

Maybe it's just because of our equal dislike of Mahad, but I like Cortez.

Anyway, they land and Vector says the two of them have to explore the giant city alone because....reasons. Lina's Seijun powers will guide them. They find a door that Lina thinks they should go in, but it's locked by a password. Mahad tries their names and none of that works. And, since the true protagonist is Lina, the password is the name of her doll. They're inside the plot house!

After doing...apparently a bunch of exploring off screen, they open up the roof to like...a ship garage or something, which gives them some light to see with. And inside this garage is...what is essentially an X Wing or Y Wing from Star Wars.. Alright.

Mahad says "oh my god it's the Hyperion" and explains this is the ship piloted by legendary pirate Marcus Ferrel. So...I guess he's their Dad then. Seems as good a guess as any at this point

Suddenly the pirate ship gets attacked by the CHRON shuttles! They quickly drop that Shields are a thing for ships. Good to know. They leave the city so they have room to launch the Mosquito's, and thus begin the dog fighting! I'm surprised the pirate ship itself lacks guns.

Meanwhile, Mahad and Lina are messing around inside the cockpit. They find a picture of Marcus Ferrel and Mom together hugging, and Mahad is like "That's obviously Marcus Ferrel, but why is Mom in here?"

Lina, thankfully, points out how stupid Mahad is and reveals he's their father!

Also, the picture is actually hand drawn. And the art style of the drawing looks...REALLY COOL actually, and makes me wish this was animated instead of CG. THAT TENDS TO HAPPEN WITH THESE SHOWS.

As Mahad fanboys over the fact that he's the son of a hero, Diwan shows up to put a rain on his happiness parade, mentioning that yeah, he's a hero. A dead one.

Diwan has captured our heroes, and mentions that the Hyperion is one of Sphere's prototype ships, the last remaining defiance Marcus showed. So she orders the Brig's to set up bombs on it, and rips up the photo.

Now it's time for Diwan to fight Lina. And since this is a tv show for young teen's Diwan is going to get her ass handed to her, probably.

...okay, the fighting has been much more improved. No longer are they playing tennis with power balls. They're jumping around super high and blowing each other back with energy waves and stuff. It's pretty cool. Also Diwan's winning, which makes sense.

...holy ****. Okay, Mahad, if you just stop talking, or grow a sense of intelligence, I will REALLY like he. He just escaped a Brig in a REALLY cool way, flipping over it's head while in it's grasp to escape it, then SLICING IT IN HALF with his boomerang. That was pretty cool.

He's still a goober though. Good god, stop snarking at emotionless robots.

He is REALLY lucky none of them can hit that pillar. He's also REALLY luck Brig's are stupid as hell. Unfortunately Lina isn't as lucky, as she's basically lost. However, she jumps off the edge of where she and Diwan are fighting, right onto the Hyperion that Mahad just started up! Now to make their daring escape!

Meanwhile in the dog fight, the Mosquito's have been recalled since they're heavily damaged, and...the shields are DEAD. Not gone, not down, the shields HAVE DIED. Tragic. Poor Shields. We'll remember you.

Cortez says they can't take another hit, the ship proceeds to take at least five hits after saying as such. Alright. But then the Hyperion appears and starts crushing the CHRON shuttles to pieces! They all think Marcus is back which implies he's not dead, and I hope isn't just a bit of writing or translation failure and is actually meant to hint Marcus is alive, because that'd be WICKED foreshadowing.

"I love this ship, it's almost alive. It's as if it knows what I want it to do." OKAY! Theory time. So, Seijuns create the same energy balls that the guns for the Brig's do. Sphere has the Guardians, a bunch of Seijuns, but so far we've only seen Diwan and Oslo. My theory, they grind any "unimportant" Seijuns into goo to use to create Brig's and other weaponry tech. The Hyperion was rebuilt out of Marcus's body to give him the same sort of thing to his ship. This is probably very wrong, but we'll see.

...there is something so awkward and "wrong" about the whole "looks like we have a new family" "yeah, hand picked by our mother" exchange. To me at least.

Meanwhile in the prison cube, Oslo is still trying to get Mom to join him. We also see a dude with some robotic bits on his eyes that speaks in a robot voice. That, coupled with Diwan's red plate on her head seems to hint towards my random theory being right maybe.

Mom then taunts Oslo by saying maybe it's her children that are the subject of the prophesy, and that they'll destroy Sphere once and for all. I honestly think she's just messing with him.

.........UM...ALRIGHT. Oslo says that if Lina is the "Lady of Light" from Prophesy, he'll just make it so that THEY rule together. Oslo's like 30. She's like 6. Ew.

Finally, we cut back to the pirate crew as they reach Portal Angel. We close out with the nice piano music from the beginning of episode 1, which gives us some nice closure.

And that was episode 2! My thoughts? That...was actually pretty enjoyable. The animation is still clunky but given the time this came out, maybe they just weren't used to the program yet. The voice acting is a little bleh, but then it IS intended to be a kids to teen show so I can understand not TRYING to get super good actors like some other shows would. And maybe they'll grow into their roles as time goes on. Diwan has proven herself to be capable of fighting children, but still has a rough time and will likely be pushed aside once Lina gets some proper training. Mahad meanwhile is a fairly good (if lucky) fighter and once he gets more serious, he'll be someone I can at least stand. I wouldn't mind learning more about the crew (we still don't know Black Guy Crewmember's name, but I'm ASSUMING it's Wyatt).

Overall, as an hour long pilot episode? This is good. See you guys on Monday for episode 3, where hopefully things won't suddenly fall apart.

[HalfTangible]

Who's idea was it to have statues that you have to BUY be part of the game... You're competing with Pokemon, and all their stuff is-

... oh wait, wrong skyland.

Never heard of this thing.

[Rawhide]

Who's idea was it to have statues that you have to BUY be part of the game... You're competing with Pokemon, and all their stuff is-

... oh wait, wrong skyland.

Never heard of this thing.

No no no, you're thinking about Skylanders. This is Skyland. Completely different.

I get the names mixed up all the time.

[LaZodiac]

No no no, you're thinking about Skylanders. This is Skyland. Completely different.

I get the names mixed up all the time.

Ah, Rawhide! Welcome, was wondering when you'd get here since this is your suggestion

What's funny is that at least two others have also made that same mistake.

[HalfTangible]

No no no, you're thinking about Skylanders. This is Skyland. Completely different.

I get the names mixed up all the time.

Yes I know they're two different things that's the joke!!

[Rawhide]

Yes I know they're two different things that's the joke!!

*cough*whitetext*cough*

[Jayngfet]

Sign me into the "vague recollections" club. I remember when it premiered forever ago, ran decent to mediocre numbers, then got absolutely destroyed when Avatar showed up and did everything it did with higher production quality.

I remember catching it years later at like 5am, back when I wound up watching tv at 5am every day because sometimes schedules can get weird, but that's it.

[LaZodiac]

Sign me into the "vague recollections" club. I remember when it premiered forever ago, ran decent to mediocre numbers, then got absolutely destroyed when Avatar showed up and did everything it did with higher production quality.

I remember catching it years later at like 5am, back when I wound up watching tv at 5am every day because sometimes schedules can get weird, but that's it.

Wait so Avatar DID come after it? Despite both having rather similiar looking casts? Interesting.

[Rawhide]

Ah, Rawhide! Welcome, was wondering when you'd get here since this is your suggestion

What's funny is that at least two others have also made that same mistake.

I've been here all along! I've been reading the thread since it began, but haven't really had much to say, yet. I hope you're enjoying it, and I hope the fact that it's not freely available for anyone to watch at any time doesn't hinder your potential audience too much. Are there any online services that stream it? We should make a list of them with how much they cost.

[LaZodiac]

I've been here all along! I've been reading the thread since it began, but haven't really had much to say, yet. I hope you're enjoying it, and I hope the fact that it's not freely available for anyone to watch at any time doesn't hinder your potential audience too much. Are there any online services that stream it? We should make a list of them with how much they cost.

I am enjoying it. It hasn't done anything that bad, and actually has done a lot of things right. I'm looking forward to it getting better. And yes, here's hoping we still get the draw we had with RWBY, I don't wanna have to double post updates, and I really want to incite discussion. There is a lot we can talk about with this series, I feel.

[LaZodiac]

With the pilot episode out of the way, we can now safely enter into episode three! Lets see where it leads!

Episode 3: The Great Wall

Spoiler

Show

Hmm, the opening has changed a bit. A little more action-y, a little faster, and instead of an enigmatic blue mystery background, it's showing clips from episode 1 and 2. It's pretty good, though weird.

After a calming scene of the pirate ship docking, we cut to a bar where Mahad is telling Dahlia about the fight. Though it's clearly exaggerated. Oh Mahad. Also he mentions blowing the Brig's into "space junk". And I mean...TECHNICALLY, yeah, they're in space, not on a planet, but...atomsphere? I guess? Whatever.

Oh, Cortez shows up and scares Mahad, and apparently the above mentioned stuff DID happen, just off screen, Mahad messing with squads he's not allowed to because it's drawing attention to Puerto Angel (thanks for correcting me on this guys.)

Meanwhile Lena's just walking around to Vector's house, and hey look he has visitors. I wonder who.

It's...some guy called Lee! He's the loyal desciple of a friend of Vector's, called "Hailong Zalo". Man, the names in this series are weird. At least it makes sense though, assuming this is the real Earth, it's entirely possible cultures got scrambled when the earth exploded.

According to Lee, Zalo wants to meet "little phoenix", aka Lena. He has a message for her, about her mother, and I'm going to assume it's a trap.

Then Lee, Lena, and Mahad just...sort of fly to where Zalo is. Alright. On the way they pass a statue, but I forget what it's called. Mahadama Buddha I think, but I forget completely!

Lee insists that Zalo leads the most peaceful community in all of Skyland. Based on the obviously Chinese names and terminology, and the episode title, I'm expecting Space Mongolians. I better get Space Mongolians.

Anyway, we arrive in the place where he lives (for the life of me I cannot tell what they're calling it, except it's Chinese. My best guess is Xiashilong.) Turns out, lots of Sphere ships here! Lee says they're hear because Zalo has a deal where they only mine half the stones in their quarries, but it's getting hard to appease them.

So this is going to be a gigantic trap.

Anyway, some CHRON shuttles find and start chasing them. I'm expecting this to end poorly, especially since if Mahad shoots them out of the sky it'll basically be in the view of hundreds of people. We'll see though.

Oh okay they'll just get blown up by some rocks because they flew into too tight a passage. Alright. You know that action scene felt completely out of place and unneeded. Please don't fall apart show.

Anyway, they've taken enough damage that they're starting to crash (makes me think that no, Mahad is a liar and he wasn't nearly as effective against those guys at the beginning of the episode as he claimed). We get a theoretically funny joke with them flying into a kite, but...eh.

...Lee says they have to hurry because "the Sphere turned on us."

Uh...no. Mahad's a pirate, you realize. They haven't turned on you at all. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE DECENT WRITING D:

Anyway, they arrive and meet Feng, who looks almost exactly like Lee but evil! He reveals that Zalo was...captured by the Sphere already. Okay, so it wasn't a trap. That's something at least. At any rate, Feng has his guards capture out heroes because, as he said, no one should ever make a deal with Sphere. So he's going to use them as bargaining chips to make a deal with Sphere.



Meanwhile, back at Port Angel, a news report says that the chinaplace got taken over by Sphere. Okay so I guess the Sphere did betray them all...apparently.

Feng and Lee banter about each other's side. Lee feels betrayed, Feng thinks that since he's the master now Lee should just listen to him. Lee thinks we should fight the Sphere, Lee is like yeah we should but we can't so lets just capitulate instead. ALRIGHT.

...at any rate, our heroes begin their escape, before they're even put into prison. Since it apparently took almost an entire day just to get them to were the prisons would be. I think Lena might of actually killed the dudes she slammed into the roof with her powers. Jeez.

Meanwhile Mahad can't even begin to fight without his boomerang. Everyone point and laugh.

...this doesn't feel like it's the third episode, I'm realizing. It IS, but it doesn't feel like it. It feels like we're supposed to know more about...all the things, but we just don't.

I'm...I'm sorry, why is there a door that leads out INTO THE SKY. Anyway, they're trapped, but Lee shows up and lowers a rope for them to escape with. A REALLY long rope. Alright.

Back at the Monolith with Oslo. He's in this sunlight bathe. Diwan tells Oslow the kids are in Chinaland, and he's like "alright. Leave them alive. Don't take any action until I'm there". I feel like this will backfire, but good on Oslo to be like "don't do anything stupid, I'll be there in a bit."

Back at the gang, Lee asks them to help Zalo. The problem isn't getting into the prison, it's getting out! Of course it is. Anyway, Mahad waits until they're literally at the gates of the prison to ask what Lee's plan is. Since this plan involves tying himself and Lena up, I REALLY HAVE TO QUESTION JUST HOW SMART THIS GUY IS. Holy christ Mahad, you got tied. I think the plan is to fake your capture. JUST A HUNCH.

...Mahad actually believes Lee is a traitor and a liar. I hate you, Mahad.

...really? They threw Mahad and Lena into the same cell as Zalo? I mean yeah, Lena's a Seijun, this is a cell that blocks out sunlight, I get that. It just seems like it might be prudent to NOT do that. Just saying.

Okay so Zalo mentions he's telepathic, he can use his Seijun powers to communicate through thought. At what point did Mom send this message? She's been in a prison that cuts out all light completely. It's been established that even she can't use her powers in the dark. When did she send this message? And how much time has even passed since they arrived at Port Angel before all this episode started anyway! WHAT IS HAPPENING.

Zalo says he can't transmit the message in a dark room like this. ZALO. USE YOUR WORDS. JUST SAY THE MESSAGE. Oh my goodness. And Mahad goes nuts, saying this is "the story of our lives. Nothing ever goes as planned!". Dude it's episode three, save your bitching for later.

...mixed in with all this stupid we get some actually really interesting backstory on Mom. She used to be a lot like Mahad, rash and impatient. She volunteered to join Sphere to help people. But upon realizing how corrupt it was, she wanted to leave. This is pretty cool. Also apparently Dad just vanished, didn't explicitly die. Alright. Also, during this entire scene we get some wonderful hand drawn art of them all. Once again proving that as cool and apparently cheap as CG shows can be, you really should stick with traditional animation. Please.

Mahad realizes he's a gigantic tool, having caused so much trouble for Mom ontop of all her suffering, pretending to be a mundane human. I agree with Mahad on this.

Then Lee shows up to save them because he's tricking them because it was a fake betrayal because it's obvious NO ONE WOULD FALL FOR THIS.

....MEANWHILE, IN PORT ANGEL, CORTEZ IS WONDERING WHERE MAHAD AND LENA ARE. Did...did NO ONE TELL CORTEZ? WHY THE **** NOT?!

Our hero's get out of the prison, but exit right into a veritable army of Brig's and Diwan. This'll be troublesome. There is apparently some connection between Diwan and Zalo.

Zalo says violence is not the solution, Mahad saves Zalo by picking the brig that was going to shoot him to death. I know that's not what he meant, but still.

God, the Brig's are the most retarded robots I've ever seen. And I've seen the I Robot movie. And the Robots movie. I've seen a lot of robot things.

How is Diwan able to use her powers at night? Or is she in some faint sunlight because the sun is beginning to rise, and our heroes just aren't? Or is she just strong enough to use ambient light. Or is this just a weak blast since it's just force lightning instead of a giant ball of glowy.

Seeing as how Zalo has enough power now to transmit the message to Lena, it's safe to assume that since they're outside and it's slooowly creeping towards dawn, there's "just enough" sunlight to power basic techniques.

...hey, when Lena gets the mental message, she's floating around in a giant orange space that looks like the mysterious blue space used during the credits, and during episode 1 and 2's opening narration. Neat.

So, this message? It's basically just a retread of what happened when they first left her. She's alright, everything will be fine, the two of you together can kick Oslo's pasty white Picard ass, and they'll get to meet up soon. Okay I love you bye bye.

...and...and then I think Zalo DIES. And Lena goes psycho and obliterates the bridge the Brig's were standing on, killing all the robots and possibly fatally wounding Diwan as well.

Oh, no, Diwan's fine. Also, she apparently used so much power that it's day now, and even though they where both on bridge's, Diwan and Lena are standing on floating earth platforms, preparing for a super power battle. You know, this isn't what I expected when I heard "powers powered by sunlight".

...they all just sort of zap hard to see lightning bolt wisps at each other. Lena is losing apparently. Oh my god this is reminding me of the psychic's from South Park. This shouldn't be happening.

Mahad distracts her with a boomerang. He's on a floating platform too, so, I...look, I know this is likely untrue, but are we meant to believe Lena destroys Chinaland, and our heroes all just happened to find floating Blocks to use as platforms that where cast forth from the rubble? Because that's what this appears to be.

Diwan starts blasting at Mahad using the energy balls, and he's...pulling some fairly acrobatic stunts to avoid the blasts, jumping from one platform to the next.

And...and then Diwan is about to blast them both, but before she can she gets knocked down, but Oslo, who has shown up. He is dissapoint, sun. He explicitly said to not do ANYTHING until he arrived. Talk about a hardcase.

Because of Oslo's distraction, the pirate ship is able to sneak up on them. Declaring they have lost, Oslo and Diwan leave. Never mind that one of the numerous Mosquito's could...you know, blow up the platform they're on, killing them both. Or that they could fight the Mosquito's with their powers. And...and I...

Chinaland is okay, Zalo isn't dead, the day is saved! Lee says that thanks to them Chinaland, and says they'll be ready for them in the future.

We get some banter to close out the episode, and...roll credits.

That's the episode. My thoughts?

WHAT THE **** HAPPENED?! This show started off rather decently! And...and then suddenly we get THIS crap! After having such a good build up in episodes 1 and 2, even if it wasn't the BEST, it was still passable! This...this is like a mid season filler episode AS EPISODE THREE. What has happened? What did I even watch? WHAT IS THIS?!

That aside, I like the idea that Seijun's can have more the just explody splode powers and telekinesis. Telepathy is a good one. I just expected this series to be more...more, I guess. We only know two Guardians, we barely know any other heroes other then the main two and Cortez. It's...it's very strange. Whatever. I hope you enjoyed, we'll get to episode 4 this Friday.

ALSO WHAT DID THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THE GREAT WALL! WHERE ARE MY SPACE MONGOLIANS!

[Kitten Champion]

Well, the first two episodes were done like a short TV movie, if I recall correctly. So they probably had more production value and skilled writing attached to them. I would guess, since I can't remember, that they fall into a far more predictable formula after that.

It's probably why the only things I remember about the series were in the pilot.

[HalfTangible]

Space Mongolians?

Space Mongolians.

[LaZodiac]

Well, the first two episodes were done like a short TV movie, if I recall correctly. So they probably had more production value and skilled writing attached to them. I would guess, since I can't remember, that they fall into a far more predictable formula after that.

It's probably why the only things I remember about the series were in the pilot.

Makes sense. Still though, that's kind of ridiculous.

Space Mongolians?

Space Mongolians.

I approve of this.

[Jayngfet]

Wait so Avatar DID come after it? Despite both having rather similiar looking casts? Interesting.

Avatar came out like six months earlier, but I don't believe it got imported to France or Canada where Skyland was primarily made and marketed until a while later. Even then, Avatar was done on YTV in Canada while Teletoon got Skyland.

Though given production times and differing studios odds are nobody in either group had a good idea what the other was actually doing. It's just that they both wound up creating similar dynamics independently, as often happens.

[LaZodiac]

Avatar came out like six months earlier, but I don't believe it got imported to France or Canada where Skyland was primarily made and marketed until a while later. Even then, Avatar was done on YTV in Canada while Teletoon got Skyland.

Though given production times and differing studios odds are nobody in either group had a good idea what the other was actually doing. It's just that they both wound up creating similar dynamics independently, as often happens.

Stuff like that has always been an interesting curiosity to me.

[Coidzor]

Sadly, Space Mongolians would distract too much from the dumb robots and Dark Knight Picard due to being probably better villain fodder.

Hmm, that DOES sound like an oddity. We'll have to wait and see!

Also, is it just me or does EVERYONE except Rawhide have vague recollections of this show but nothing else?

I've not recollection of the show whatsoever. I keep thinking of Skylanders in the context of a bunch of little fiddly toys with mix-and-match tops/bottoms.

Which seem preferable to the main characters so far. xD