Lets Watch: Skyland

[LaZodiac]

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



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

To be fair Lena is still tolerable, she just needs training.

And sadly, yes, Space Mongolian's would be far superior to the Brig's, and thus no Space Mongolians.

Seriously though does anyone know why this was called The Great Wall? I'm GENUINELY confused by this.

[Coidzor]

To be fair Lena is still tolerable, she just needs training.

And sadly, yes, Space Mongolian's would be far superior to the Brig's, and thus no Space Mongolians.

Seriously though does anyone know why this was called The Great Wall? I'm GENUINELY confused by this.

It's still her fault the series started, though, which I guess I *shouldn't* hold against her, but...

Also, I'm not quite sure if they'd be able to survive the transition into Saturday Day Morning Cartoon Villainy anyway.

Foreshadowing as to what all of those stones/blocks were being mined for? Heavy-handed china reference?

[LaZodiac]

Welp, time to land some Sky. Here's hoping it's a good one today!

Episode 4: Mogura

Spoiler

Show

Full disclosure, first thing I thought when seeing the title of this episode? MOGERA!

We open with some nice calming music as Lena tries to water the single remaining flower in a less then stellar looking garden. No water is coming out of her...sippy cup? Yeah, that's a sippy cup. Nothin's coming out!

"You look just as thirsty as me" says Lena. Okay, I'm a little excited for this episode right now, if only because exploring the idea of "what do we do for water?" is really cool to me. They live on floating blocks, this should be something that comes up, and I'm glad it has.

...apparently it DOES rain in Skyland. This is a little odd to me, but I can understand it. Gotta wonder how sour it is for a rain storm to happen UNDER you though.

After talking with the flower for a bit, Lena gets a headache. I...presume headaches can be caused by a lack of water, but the framing of the shot makes it seem like the sun is causing it. Since she's a Seijun, you'd think the sun wouldn't cause negative effects to her. Hell if anything, Seijun's should be filled up by the sun!

Oh, I get it. The flower is going to have poisoned her or something. Anyway, on with the episode.

Meanwhile, on the suddenly much thinner pirate ship, Mahad and Cheng are practicing aiming by shooting at sky debris. Makes sense. This ship is apparently INCREDIBLY under staffed, so training someone else to run the guns might be a good idea.

...Cheng hits a big target and blows it up. He says he got it. Mahad says he was aiming at the little one. No he wasn't. Even Cheng believes he was aiming at the little one. We were LOOKING THROUGH THE GUN, he was aiming at the big one. WHAT IS GOING ON?

Then Lena wakes up on the ship. She...I could of swore she wasn't there in previous shots. She asks what has happened, I ASK THIS AS WELL. Anyway, Cheng explains she DID faint of dehydration, and they...brought her along on the pirate ship because...

Anyway, Mahad is (understandably) mad at Lena for wasting her water rations on a flower. I'll admit, this makes a LOT of sense. She could die. That's bad. The flower is not important, especially in a water shortage. Cheng helpfully gives her the last of his water, though Lena says she'd rather not drink someone else's water. This is a nice scene.

...Vector found a block of ice, which is why the pirate ship is out. Interesting. I'm surprised the ice hasn't MELTED, but interesting all the same. Also explains why Lena had to come.

Uuunfortunately for our heroes, the Sphere got to it first, and have started mining it with their drilling station. BEWARE THE FROZEN HEART.

...oh, oh wow that's bad. They've been GONE FOR YEARS. That means Sphere found this place...years ago. This was all for nothing. Cortez says there is no water here, and it's time to GTFO. However, Lena says she can sense something inside the station. I'm not sure I trust her, Seijuns are powered by the sun, there is no real precedent for them sensing water.

Cortez believes it though, so they go in. Except Lena. Lena gets to stay in the boat. Despite being the one sensing the water and thus most useful for the trip. Alright

A lot of this episode's run time was used for shots of the ship docking with stuff. And there is just so much bloom. Did JJ Abrams film this show?

...Cheng can hack into the Sphere computers so he can direct them, apparently. Direct them to what though? Are they just...going to where the water would be? Can't Cheng, if he can hack the system like this, just...check if there is water by looking at the system files? Maybe it's because this is old tech that was abandoned? I don't know.

Cortez and...the Black Dude who's name I forget (Williams, I think) have high tech future guns. Dahlia has a tech bow. This is silly.

If this place has been abandoned for years, why do they have to proceed with caution? Are there just...Brigs, standing around, doing nothing? Waiting for people to show up? Why would they do This?

...okay...I don't know WHAT it is, but when our heroes walk by a little robot eye, it...activates some kind of super awesome mega robot way down below, and it looks PRETTY COOL. From what we've seen anyway.

Mahad seriously just ****ing stop it okay? Dahlia checks out the main frame computer, to see if there is any information to glean. She says she found a message. Mahad says "from one of your ex boyfriends no doubt." STOP IT MAHAD.

The message is of a Sphere agent saying that "The Mogur has gone berserk" and that they're evacuating. So okay, killer psycho robot, that's a step up. Though I've gotta admit, the animation for the guy in the video is suuuuper bad, holy crap

...Mogura are drilling robots that detect, find, and then retrieve water. Considering what humans are mostly made of...I can see this going very badly if it suddenly glitched and went berserk. Ooooh dear.

Oh wow Dahlia even mentions it. She doesn't say what specifically happens, but the implication is there. Anyway, Cheng says that the scanners indicate something is coming towards them, so they get ready to fight. Even though he brought his boomerang with him, Dahlia gives him a gun because "you'll need it". We'll see. Considering how crappy the Brig's are, I shouldn't REALLY assume the robot will be that strong.

...it opens the door a little bit and everyone unloads on it, MISSING ENTIRELY. Guys, guys, you're not storm troopers. You're allowed to hit things. Then it just kinda shuffles away, us barely seeing it. Then it busts through just as Mahad is taunting how weak it is and oh my god I think it's a giant spider. I haven't yet seen a clear enough shot to be sure, but I think Mogura is a giant mecha spider.

After escaping through the air shaft Dahlia falls on Mahad and he does the expected joke, and looking at Dahlia's hand I can tell either the animation isn't very good, or she's considering punching his face in. DO IT DAHLIA. GIVE IN AND PUNCH.

Yeah, the Mogura is a giant spider robot. This is actually a fairly cool idea. It'd even be really good at "drilling" for water using lasers in it's spider fangs, and then sucking it all up like a spider would normally! And it's...also a pretty gruesome sight to think of it doing it to a person.

Strangely, it just sorta...walks by their hiding spot. However, Cheng mentions this strangeness, which means it's intentional. Wonder what it is...at any rate, they found the water storage room! How helpful! There is a TON of water here! Millions of litres! Enough for months!

Wait, months? This looks more like YEARS to me.

...according to Cortez, since there was so much water in this room (and it's the room where water GOES, I presume) it couldn't sense them cause they blended in. Clever.

...no way. Dahlia has a drink of water, and they leave to explore this area some more. A siiiiiingle drop of water falls off the facet aaaaaaaaaaaall the way down and lands DIRECTLY in front of the Mogura, which will apparently entice it into going into the water storage room. Alright. I want my robot fight scene anyway.

I'M SORRY WHAT. The drought that's going on in Port Angel HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR TWENTY YEARS!? No. No it hasn't. That place is green as hell. A twenty year drought doesn't allow for such green pastures and meadows. You'd all be dead as ****.

Anyway, while Cortez and Wyatt (the black guy, they said his name!) open up the water valves to get the water into their ship, Mahad is going to go fight the Mogura. This is an issue because Mahad is dumb, so they send Dahlia after him to prevent him from doing anything stupid. Too late.

It goes as well as you'd imagine. Dahlia and Mahad are trapped in a corner, which causes the Mogura to start moving extra slowly, so as to avoid killing them for purposes of plot. Though I can understand it slowing down so it doesn't ram into a steel wall.

...oh, it was just slowing down so it could build up charge speed and squish them. I suppose that's one way to get the water out. Thankfully for our heroes, Cheng managed to catch the Mogura between a door, crushing it. It's still able to move though, and is breaking it's way through. It's at this point that Lena, who fell unconcious again, starts astrally projecting herself to Mahad and saying words at him.

And then, while in astral projection form, using her powers to open up a door that couldn't open. Alright! Lena's supposed to be super powerful I can accept unconcious usage of her power!

...okay, okay, that's great. Our heroes escape in an elevator (sort of, the Mogura is still on them, but can't get to them quite yet) and elevator music is playing. Sadly, instead of awkward silence, they have a sort of argument over how useless Mahad is and how conversely useful Lena is.

Oh wow the Mogura just smashed an arm through the elevator floor and almost impaled Mahad. Looks like they're going to be in some deep trouble. However...some how or another, Cortez was able to stop their elevator, get them out of it, and then leave through an air shaft again. All with the Mogura just...not attacking in that period of time. I hate this show sometimes.

However! Before they get to the ship, the Mogura shows up, and attacks! And gets it's face riddled with laser blasts from Cortez and Wyatt, though it appears to do no damage. It zaps all their weapons away with a lightning blast (I can justify it not killing them rather easily. The electricity would of destroyed all the water inside them, and thus would not of been a efficient attack protocol). The day is now up to Cheng to save. So he...he takes out a KID SIZED BAZOOKA AND JUST SHOOTS THE MOGURA! He kills the **** out of it too, though Mahad is the one who takes out the foot it uses to hold onto the edge.

Hooray! Now everyone can have nice clean water. Lena see's a spider on the boat and gets scared, everyone laughs, DA EN- WAIT WHAT THE MOGURA IS ON THE SHIP OH GOD. I was seriously writing that this was going to be a pithy jokey ending when suddenly MOGURA ATTACK. Note to self, show can and will still surprise you, even if it's quality has been lowered. IT tries to break through, but Lena blasts it away with her Seijun powers.

NOW Lena makes the pithy joke and the episode ends.

So, that's the episode! My thoughts? Better then last time, that's for bloody sure! Much more sensible, relatively better written. Mahad's still a stupid, but Dahlia's still also cool. The drought would of been more impactful if we knew more about Port Angel, so this could of afford to be a later episode, but all in all it was alright. I'd say above average. The surprise at the end was both actually kind of cool, but also not even needed. Also, they spent so long lingering on shots of the ship that I expected the spider to be hitching a ride, but I never saw it, so the show succeeded at tricking me into expecting the twist, realizing the twist wouldn't come...and then twisting in that way anyway! Hat's off to them for that.

[Rawhide]

The Great Wall:
At the beginning of the show, didn't you notice them have to travel through a gap in a huge protective wall? I mean, it's not like invaders could go over or under, they would need to go through the checkpoint. That was the great wall.

Doorway to Hell:
The door went nowhere because the entire building existed before shattering to pieces to form Skyland. You can see the balcony and the top of the steps that used to exist.

A Rose By Any Other Name:
It's obvious that Skyland used to be Earth. They probably still teach people about the old countries and people are probably still patriotic about their heritage. I see no reason why asking which culture the name originated from would be unusual. In fact, this was likely used to reinforce that it did used to be Earth, and isn't just some random setting.

[LaZodiac]

The Great Wall:
At the beginning of the show, didn't you notice them have to travel through a gap in a huge protective wall? I mean, it's not like invaders could go over or under, they would need to go through the checkpoint. That was the great wall.

If I recall, it wasn't exactly a DOME, was it? Either way, this still seems...tangentely related at best. It featured in absolutely no way in the plot.

Doorway to Hell:
The door went nowhere because the entire building existed before shattering to pieces to form Skyland. You can see the balcony and the top of the steps that used to exist.

Yes, I figured as much. I think I might of forgot to write that

A Rose By Any Other Name:
It's obvious that Skyland used to be Earth. They probably still teach people about the old countries and people are probably still patriotic about their heritage. I see no reason why asking which culture the name originated from would be unusual. In fact, this was likely used to reinforce that it did used to be Earth, and isn't just some random setting.

Yeah, I can understand that. I'm just shocked that this knowledge hasn't been lost, if it's been so long since Skyland was formed. Unless it wasn't formed a long time ago!

[Rawhide]

If I recall, it wasn't exactly a DOME, was it? Either way, this still seems...tangentely related at best. It featured in absolutely no way in the plot.

No, it wasn't a dome, it was a wall. They mentioned it as they arrived "Welcome to <this place they were going to>", then discussed the amount of Sphere ships, all using the opening because they couldn't fly over or under it. It was probably the great wall itself, actually.

[LaZodiac]

No, it wasn't a dome, it was a wall. They mentioned it as they arrived "Welcome to <this place they were going to>", then discussed the amount of Sphere ships, all using the opening because they couldn't fly over or under it. It was probably the great wall itself, actually.

Why COULDN'T they fly over or under it? I don't recall this in the slightest, sorry

[Rawhide]

Why COULDN'T they fly over or under it? I don't recall this in the slightest, sorry

Because it's a wall, you can't just fly over or under a defensive wall.

[LaZodiac]

Because it's a wall, you can't just fly over or under a defensive wall.

...so you're saying it had defenses on it? Cause if it didn't...I imagine it'd be quite easy to fly over or under a wall that is in the sky.

[Rawhide]

...so you're saying it had defenses on it? Cause if it didn't...I imagine it'd be quite easy to fly over or under a wall that is in the sky.

Then why else would everyone need to fly through that small opening rather than just going over or under it? Geez, don't you know anything about defensive walls?

[LaZodiac]

Then why else would everyone need to fly through that small opening rather than just going over or under it? Geez, don't you know anything about defensive walls?

All I know is that they don't explain why they have to fly through the opening. What exactly am I not understanding here?

[Rawhide]

All I know is that they don't explain why they have to fly through the opening. What exactly am I not understanding here?

Ok, reread the whole conversation about the great wall, but this time, pretend I'm saying exactly the opposite of what I'm saying.

[LaZodiac]

Ok, reread the whole conversation about the great wall, but this time, pretend I'm saying exactly the opposite of what I'm saying.

Oh, okay. I get it now (sort of). You're being sarcastic probably.

[Rawhide]

Oh, okay. I get it now (sort of). You're being sarcastic probably.

Yeah, this bit here "I mean, it's not like invaders could go over or under, they would need to go through the checkpoint." was sarcastic.

Why the heck did everyone go through that narrow passageway? And what purpose did the wall serve when people could just fly over or under it?

---

As to why the episode is called The Great Wall? Well, I've seen flimsier excuses to name an episode something.

[LaZodiac]

Yeah, this bit here "I mean, it's not like invaders could go over or under, they would need to go through the checkpoint." was sarcastic.

Why the heck did everyone go through that narrow passageway? And what purpose did the wall serve when people could just fly over or under it?

---

As to why the episode is called The Great Wall? Well, I've seen flimsier excuses to name an episode something.

Yeah, sorry for not getting it Rawhide

I have no idea. I honestly wonder if the creators even knew.

True, I have as well, though I can't off the top of my head think of any examples...

[Rawhide]

Yeah, sorry for not getting it Rawhide

It's fine. I had hoped that if I just kept making my assertion even more ridiculous, you'd eventually catch on.

[LaZodiac]

It's fine. I had hoped that if I just kept making my assertion even more ridiculous, you'd eventually catch on.

Spoilers it's because I'm a goof. I saw your post in my email and went "oh man, that's clearly sarcastic" but then I saw the text wasn't blue (forgetting that this isn't a 100% thing everyone always uses, shame on me!) and thus tricked myself into thinking you where serious

[Rawhide]

ROLL CALL!

So, who here is following this thread, and in what manner are you following? This is for everyone, including those who have already posted, but especially for those who are following along but don't have anything to say (yet).

The questions are:
- Are you following the thread?
- Have you seen the series before? When?
- Were you aware of the series before?
- - Or did you have some vague recollection of the series which this thread has prompted? (As it seems to be so common.)
- Are you watching the series along with LaZodiac?
- - Or have you gone ahead and watched the whole/large part of the series due to this thread?
- - Or are you following the thread as a gauge of whether you should watch the series or not?



My answers:
- Are you following the thread?
Yes, obviously.

- Have you seen the series before? When?
Yes. A year or so ago, maybe two or three. Not exactly sure.

- Were you aware of the series before?
Yes, obviously.

- - Or did you have some vague recollection of the series which this thread has prompted? (As it seems to be so common.)
N/A

- Are you watching the series along with LaZodiac?
Yes, watching it again, though I'm currently one episode behind.

- - Or have you gone ahead and watched the whole/large part of the series due to this thread?
N/A

- - Or are you following the thread as a gauge of whether you should watch the series or not?
N/A

(You obviously don't need to include any N/A questions/answers.)

[Coidzor]

- Are you following the thread?

I believe so, yes. I think I posted, so it should be in my subscribed threads area. If not, this post'll do that. Plus I've checked it from time to time, at times when I've forgotten about the MF schedule.

- Have you seen the series before? When?

Not to my knowledge. I wasn't really watching much television when Avatar: The Last Airbender started being a thing, which is about when this came out, from what I've gathered. I barely caught a couple episodes of that on CN, from being prodded by my friends.

- Were you aware of the series before?

No, no sir. I believe I mentioned I mistook it for that skylanders thing.

- Are you watching the series along with LaZodiac?

Nope, no idea where to find it to do so.

- - Or are you following the thread as a gauge of whether you should watch the series or not?

I suppose partially I've been sizing up whether it would be worth the effort to find a source to obtain it from?

[Somensjev]

ROLL CALL!

So, who here is following this thread, and in what manner are you following? This is for everyone, including those who have already posted, but especially for those who are following along but don't have anything to say (yet).

The questions are:
- Are you following the thread?
- Have you seen the series before? When?
- Were you aware of the series before?
- - Or did you have some vague recollection of the series which this thread has prompted? (As it seems to be so common.)
- Are you watching the series along with LaZodiac?
- - Or have you gone ahead and watched the whole/large part of the series due to this thread?
- - Or are you following the thread as a gauge of whether you should watch the series or not?

My answers:
- Are you following the thread?
Yes, but i haven't had time to watch the episodes after the first, i'm going to watch them later tonight

- Have you seen the series before? When?
apparently

- Were you aware of the series before?
apparently

- Or did you have some vague recollection of the series which this thread has prompted?
yes

- Are you watching the series along with LaZodiac?
the first episode, yes. however i've fallen far behind

- - Or have you gone ahead and watched the whole/large part of the series due to this thread?
N/A

- - Or are you following the thread as a gauge of whether you should watch the series or not?
N/A

[Rawhide]

Nope, no idea where to find it to do so.

I suppose partially I've been sizing up whether it would be worth the effort to find a source to obtain it from?

It doesn't appear to be on any streaming sites like Netflix or Hulu as far as I can see. You'd probably need to either buy it or find a copy at a rental store. Or, like I have, know someone with it and borrow it from them.

---

And by following, I don't mean subscribed, just paying attention to in one form or another.

[AMX]

The questions are:
- Are you following the thread?

Yes.

- Have you seen the series before? When?

Yes.
Back when it was new, it was on TV over here.
Also, I tracked down the English version last year.

- Were you aware of the series before?
- - Or did you have some vague recollection of the series which this thread has prompted? (As it seems to be so common.)

Yes.
"Vague recollection" would be a good description of why I re-watched it not all that long ago, but that was before this thread.

- Are you watching the series along with LaZodiac?
- - Or have you gone ahead and watched the whole/large part of the series due to this thread?
- - Or are you following the thread as a gauge of whether you should watch the series or not?

No.
I might watch some individual episodes if I notice I can't remember what LaZodiac is talking about.

[Rawhide]

If this place has been abandoned for years, why do they have to proceed with caution? Are there just...Brigs, standing around, doing nothing? Waiting for people to show up? Why would they do This?

Booby traps. Security systems. Robotic guards.

...it opens the door a little bit and everyone unloads on it, MISSING ENTIRELY. Guys, guys, you're not storm troopers. You're allowed to hit things. Then it just kinda shuffles away, us barely seeing it. Then it busts through just as Mahad is taunting how weak it is and oh my god I think it's a giant spider. I haven't yet seen a clear enough shot to be sure, but I think Mogura is a giant mecha spider.

A few shots clearly hit, and make it back off for a bit.

Wait, months? This looks more like YEARS to me.

Depends on how many people they need to keep hydrated.

I'M SORRY WHAT. The drought that's going on in Port Angel HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR TWENTY YEARS!? No. No it hasn't. That place is green as hell. A twenty year drought doesn't allow for such green pastures and meadows. You'd all be dead as ****.

A drought doesn't mean no rain/water, just below a certain threshold. And some plants are more drought resistant than others. Australian grass, for example, is generally much hardier to low water conditions.

It goes as well as you'd imagine. Dahlia and Mahad are trapped in a corner, which causes the Mogura to start moving extra slowly, so as to avoid killing them for purposes of plot. Though I can understand it slowing down so it doesn't ram into a steel wall.

...oh, it was just slowing down so it could build up charge speed and squish them. I suppose that's one way to get the water out. Thankfully for our heroes, Cheng managed to catch the Mogura between a door, crushing it. It's still able to move though, and is breaking it's way through. It's at this point that Lena, who fell unconcious again, starts astrally projecting herself to Mahad and saying words at him.

Dahlia hit it with her bow, it slowed down, then sped back up.

---

Also, the intro definitely mentions that it is 23rd century Earth. So, Italy et. al. were definitely countries at some point. History is probably still taught, keeping knowledge of them alive, and it's probable that after the shattering, people of the same culture banded together in much the same way as you get communities of immigrants from the same culture.

[LaZodiac]

Booby traps. Security systems. Robotic guards.

The traps I can see, but considering how pathetic the Brig's are I'm surprised Sphere has any influence in the skies.

A drought doesn't mean no rain/water, just below a certain threshold. And some plants are more drought resistant than others. Australian grass, for example, is generally much hardier to low water conditions.

I'll admit, that's all my mistake. I live in a place that doesn't GET droughts, so I just don't know how they work

Also, the intro definitely mentions that it is 23rd century Earth. So, Italy et. al. were definitely countries at some point. History is probably still taught, keeping knowledge of them alive, and it's probable that after the shattering, people of the same culture banded together in much the same way as you get communities of immigrants from the same culture.

Understandable. I'm just curious when this takes place, in relation to when the earth was first shattered. I'm presuming we'll learn in the future, but I'm guessing the Earth was solid before Mom's time given how little difference there seems to be between the blocks, in terms of culture.

To explain, in the game Baten Kaitos, the world is a bunch of flying islands like in Skyland. But it's been a long enough time that each island has basically developed their own culture, and each island is like a new world. That's what I sort of expected here.

[Rawhide]

I'll admit, that's all my mistake. I live in a place that doesn't GET droughts, so I just don't know how they work

I'm going to tell you something that, if you don't already know it, will blow your mind.

The world's largest desert is Antarctica, despite housing 90% of the Earth's fresh water.

[LaZodiac]

I'm going to tell you something that, if you don't already know it, will blow your mind.

The world's largest desert is Antarctica, despite housing 90% of the Earth's fresh water.

I am aware of this. It's still pretty cool

[Rawhide]

I am aware of this. It's still pretty cool

Other than the permanently frozen ice that covers the majority of the continent, it's actually the driest place on Earth.

[AdmiralCheez]

- Are you following the thread? Yes

- Have you seen the series before? When? I have, mostly when it aired the first time on Nickelodeon. I don't remember much of what happened after the pilot episode though.

- Were you aware of the series before? Yes, I actually remembered the show existed at some point last year, but never got around to rewatching it, and let it fall back into the dark abyss of forgotten memories.

- Are you watching the series along with LaZodiac? Trying to, but finding the episodes legally is proving to be a challenge. I found the two halves of the pilot on one of the composite artist's Vimeo page for demo purposes. Not sure if I should link that or not. Also found an Amazon listing for the DVDs, but they were Region 4 encoded, and my player is locked to Region 1.

[LaZodiac]

First of I'd just like to say, thank you for answering Rawhide's question, guys. It's nice to know you still care, and I'll be sure to try and make some talking points for us. I think there might be some stuff to discuss about with this show (in part because it was suggested for watching, it's gotta have SOMETHING going for it. I'm predicting either suddenly getting really great, or really terrible. Hoping for the former.)

Secondly, today's episode title is great and I really hope it delivers. Lets dive right in!

Episode 5: Raging Archipelago

Spoiler

Show

We...open on a dude. He looks like someone we should know, and is in a prison jumpsuit like Mom was when she was captured. He's in one of the CHRONE shuttles, and he's apparently hoping he'll make it. Considering the quality of the Brig's we've seen so far, I'm pretty sure he can easily evade the four chasing after him.

Especially because the Mosquito's are here! Hooray for the Mosquito's! If I knew more about Battlestar Galacta I'd make more jokes about them regarding them but whatever. Also it seems that Wyatt is piloting one the Mosquito's. Which is odd, I sort of figured they were automated because...well, we've never seen more crew then Wyatt, Cortez, Dahlia and Cheng, so...I honestly figured they were automated.

Also a question. The pirate ship is called Saint Nazire, or something along those lines. Can anyone figure out what, if anything, that is a reference to? Because I can't tell at all.

Anyway, on the pirate ship, Cheng confirms that yes, this is the guy we're looking for. Since we're playing the pronoun game we the AUDIENCE don't know who this is. But understandable, these people DO know who he is, so they shouldn't be spouting exposition to people who'd already know.

Then an air battle happens. Wyatt and the Mosquito's shoot down the CHRONE's pretty effectively. But unfortunately, according to Cheng, the reactor on the escapee's ship is going to explode! The animation and voice acting for this makes it sound like a good thing, when it's clearly not. Welp.

Anyway, the guy jumps out of his shuttle, and Mahad uses the Hyperion to fly after him so they can save him from...falling forever, or I suppose falling into the sun/whatever it is that the Blocks float around. The planet's core I suppose? No idea.

...okay no that guy's dead, the way they catch him wouldn't work at all. At the very least he's gonna have some busted up bones. I'll appreciate, however, that they don't just slide under him and impact into him like Superman would (which would liquify someone) and instead fly under him, maintaining slightly slower speed then him so he plops into the ship. Though with a relatively loud and fast thunk regardless.

The guy mumbles some stuff. Carson, the Sphere, children, ugh. All that fun stuff. Lena eases his pain (it seems the landing did actually rough him up. Huh.) He then passes out. With that done, we're off to Port Angel. Hooray.

At the bar, Cortez asks the bartender for "two more waters, please". As someone who works at a bar...no, that's not how that works. At all. In FRENCH, maybe? But in English, no. Anyway, Wyatt reveals (only now) that...maybe this guy isn't actually an escapee. The shuttle's could of attacked him during that entire chase, but they didn't, even though they had ample opportunity too. Wyatt, they're Brigs, I don't think you can just assume incompetence is secretly malevolent.

At any rate Cortez agrees, but if he really did escape from Carsen/Cars-in/Karsan (the prison they send Seijuns and other people the Sphere wants silenced forever) he'd be able to bring them to their mother! So that'd be good! More importantly he'd probably be a Seijun, and thus could train Lena into a badass.

Anyway, the Escapee is telling Mahad and Lena about a sky route that has a constant flucuating storm in it. We've been told maps don't work but maybe this is just a paper version of whatever Vector's cybermap is, or it's specifically a map of what a specific, unmoving area looks like, but where it IS in the world is undetermined unless you have Vector's cybermap. I don't know, either way it sounds sketchy. And we don't even know what it's to be used for yet!

Oh, okay, it's his escape route from the prison. Mahad is like "perfect, that's how I'll get in!" which makes no sense because the storm cloud isn't the prison, it's just what he used to escape the prison...somehow. Okay this makes no sense. Lena then randomly says "What if you're lying!" and I'm like...okay, why are you doing this? Whatever, Mahad brings up a good point for once in his life. The dude jumped from his shuttle trusting they'd be able to catch him, that's gotta count for something.

*thinks back to Agents of Shield*

Yup, totally has to count for something.

Anyway, the Escapee says he's gonna help get Mahad into the prison. If he IS evil, this is going to be really funny later.

We...then cut directly to our heroes in the middle of the storm, trying to fly through it without being killed. Alright. Why such the sudden pacing all of a sudden? There is lightning everywhere and they're risking their lives, and Mahad is like "I LOVE IT HERE!" and the Escapee (we still don't even know his name!) says "You're crazy!"

He then taps Lena, who is sitting right next to Mahad, on the shoulder and says "Your brothers crazy. You know that?" and I don't know if it's the sub par voice acting or what but this line is actually really funny. Anyway, the Escapee insists that this is the right way.

They escape the storm, and encounter...what looks like a gothic cathedral. This looks nothing like what we saw back in episode 2. But alright, maybe this isn't Kharsem (I looked it up while avoiding spoilers) and is just...some random cathedral out of nowhere.

...IT'S PARIS!! Mahad mentions it's a really nice place. Oh you Francophones. Nice to see the Eiffial Tower is still standing somehow. Also I'm going to hazard and guess and say that Paris isn't always this piss yellow and it's just the storm clouds surrounding it. All my joking aside this is actually a really nice sight to see. Anyway, they land and begin exploring.

So, a question. Why is Kharsem here? Last we saw it was just a giant borg cube, what's it doing in the middle of Paris, of all places? They say it's a good place to hide, and due to the storm this is true. But like...it still seems a little out of the way for such an important prison.

Mahad notices there aren't any guards, but the Escapee shushes him before he can make anymore Witty Dialogue. Thank you, nameless prisoner man. While walking through a metro, we see some feet walking past the screen, and Lena gets a vision (we don't see it) and panics a little. Mahad doubts her visions and Lena gets upset. Oh Mahad.

Suddenly all the lights go out, replaced by row upon row of blue lights that are spaced together perfectly to be a line of Brigs. Mahad looks around, trying to find Lena and Sansken (the name of the Escapee! First time we hear it said in the episode.) He doesn't notice that he's surrounded by Brigs. Oh Mahad.

To his credit, if only just, Lena doesn't realize it either. Neither of them can find Sansken. OH MAN GUYS, I THINK ITS A TRAP.

...our heroes discover they are Brigs. The Brigs continue to just sort of stand there. Sansken then...saves them from the Brigs by finding them and leading them to the exit. Ah...alright? Oh, but there Diwan is! It WAS a trap! Diwan points out that they really should of known this was coming given how easy it was to infiltrate what is supposed to be the most secure prison in the world. She has a point.

And that's why they went to Paris. Kharsem isn't even here! It really was all a big trap. Mahad and Lena ineffectually do tantrum punches at Sansken because ANGRY. Sansken manages to pick up both of them, one in each arm, and tosses them against a wall!

Sansken reveals that, gasp, he was doing this for his children! Now we know what his uninteligable keyphrase babbling when he fell into the Hyperion is all about! Diwan then releases his children and they run to him and hug and yay and stuff.

Diwan then tells em all to just get out, and Sansken is like "...how're we getting out I don't have a ship?" and Diwan tells him that's his problem, especially because officially he IS an escapee and wanted by the Sphere. Makes me wonder what, if anything, he actually did.

Sansken accepts this. Unfortunately for everyone involved on team villain, after being thrown into a wall, after everyone was distracted by the hostage exchange, Lena and Mahad just...sorta crawled away into an air duct. Score one for the good guys?

Mahad stealth kills one of the Brig's with an iron pipe after using his boomerang as a distraction. The second Brig then gets killed by the boomerang as it returns. This is actually kind of cool, though seriously my god Sphere make your robots a little less ****, okay? Please?

What's funny though is that, a Brig reports to Diwan that they found Mahad. So to them, this is a success. Diwan tells all her Brigs to converge on Mahad, while she'll take care of Lena. She's got a grudge, after all. However, since Mahad and Lena are in the same area they're just walking together. Alright. Really makes this scene kind of pointless now doesn't it.

...Mahad uses the corpses of one of the Brig's to hijack one of the subway trains and uses it to escape the metro tunnel. He also almost runs over Diwan, and slaughters her Brig squad via train. Or at least theoretically, the four or so Brig's with her have vanished and become only a single Brig, who is capable of just not being hit by the train somehow.

The train is headed for an exit, likely into thin air, so our heroes rush to get out. Mahad...trips over the Brig corpse, and gets his pant leg caught on it's hand. He hits it with his boomerang to get it off but now the boomerang has decided it can't cut metal (and he can't cut the pant leg because these models aren't modifiable).

...THE TRAIN FLIES OUT OF THE METRO AND STARTS FALLING. Our heroes hold on for dear life, theoretically seconds away from inevitable death! I say theoretically because assuming they don't land, and assuming the core is something you can't land on, they could just keep falling forever.

Lena starts using her powers to slow the descent of the train (good!)
Mahad starts swimming in the sky to get to her (bad!)

Unfortunately, Lena says she can't do it, there isn't enough light to fuel her powers enough to do it. Then, Deus Ex Machina style, the storm parts and sun shines and charges Lena up. Thanks to that, our heroes survive, and the train goes back into a spare tunnel. Likely to another thin air exit from which they will die for real this time, because Mahad said the controls are broken and thus the train cannot stop.

The train stops. It stops at a station that, if I was French, would probably have some importance to me. I'm not and it doesn't. Also...a bunch of Brig's and Diwan are just waiting for them there. Well then.

...MEANWHILE, with Sansken...he...he's at where the Hyperion landed. And there is a Brig guarding it. Sansken taps the Brig on the shoulder. It turns to face him.

SANSKEN PUNCHES THE BRIG IN THE FACE! WITH HIS HAND! UNCOVERED. The Brig GOES DOWN LIKE A SACK OF LEAD WEIGHTS. SANSKEN JUST PUNCHED OUT A GOD DAMN ROBOT.

I don't care how ****ty the Brig's are, they've been killed only by tech or powers so far. This dude just slugged a robot in the face and it died. That's badass. I hope Sansken is a Seijun so he can actually teach Lena how to do things like this.

...Sansken legitimately is just here for the ship. Alright.

Meanwhile, Lena and Mahad are being escorted to...somewhere, with the Brigs and Diwan. They are engaging in Witty Banter that is Acted Poorly, as is the norm for the series. The Hyperion lifts off and flies away, though there is no way Sansken isn't going to Han Solo this.

...OSLO is here for whatever reason, to greet Mahad and Lena. Mostly Lena. Oslo's animation isn't that good at all here, but his acting is above average as it tends to be. His lines are also creepy as **** knowing that he intends to not only train Lena in her powers, but groom her to be his bride, more or less, because of some silly prophecy which may or may not even exist because only Oslo and Mom have brought it up.

Suddenly the gate opens up again, and Lena uses that brief charge to send Diwan and a Brig flying, then blasts some power at Oslo. Oslo catches the power ball and...HAHAHAHAHA. HE THROWS IT AT MAHAD! Okay, see, that's a good one. Oslo's too good to play your stupid ass powerball tennis ****. He'll throw it at the guy who has no way of reflecting it back, and use that to dissuade you from attacking. See, that's cool.

Oslo starts using telekinesis to drag the two to him, while Lena uses her barely visible lightning beams to...tickle Oslo to death, I suppose because they're useless. Oh, I see, she's using the lightning beams to sort of counter his power, and it makes a big glowy ball of...power.

Then the Hyperion shows up, and opens fire on Oslo! I knew it! Also the sound effects for the Hyperion's guns reminds me of something, can't tell what exactly though. Anyway, Oslo is fine, but our heroes escape. Mahad fakes being angry at Sansken, they all fly home, hooray! After escaping some CHRONE shuttles, but that really doesn't mean much considering.

They have some silly banter about hope and family and exploding robots. THE END.

My thoughts? This was alright. I'd put it on the same general level as Mogura, though it suffered from worse writing over all. And some of the scenes where just...laughably bad. And laughably good, as "SLUGGING A ROBOT IN THE FACE" is something really awesome, and I hope someone can make a gif of it (I'd appreciate it if you did guys, just saying ).

So yeah, Skyland. We're 5 episodes in, and so far we've just been kinda middle of the road, dipping a little under or above par. I'm excited to see what the next five will bring. See you on Friday.

Also the episode title in no way reflected the episode. Paris isn't an archipelago.

[Durkoala]

High Gaiz!
I'm so funny annoyingly fixated on puns today

ROLL CALL!
[QUESTIONS]

Well, if you insist.

- Sort of. I took a few looks at it while I was away, and I think I will follow it from now.
- Nope. I hadn't heard of it until I saw this thread.
- Probably not. I love settings with a heavy sky focus and I'm sure I'd remember Saiyans fighting robots for water.

-Not watching the series as I don't know where to find it.
- - I am gauging to see if its worth putting an effort to find it. It sounds pretty cool. Fake Saaiyans iin the Skyy...

Quick question for LaZodiac. Do you take notes as you watch the show, or do you write up your reactions afterward? I'd like to start my own Let's Watch and I'm looking for tips.

Anyway, it's good to be back.