Digested Digest / Weekly Stuff E-Zine: Special Edition #1 (August 4, 1999) ----Contents---- 1.) OMEGA's Ramblings 2.) Japanese Anime Quick Reviews 3.) Neon Genesis Evangelion (N64): Video Game Review 4.) Comic Books: Breaking The Fourth Wall: Fact or Fiction? 5.) Weird Al's "The Saga Begins" Lyrics 6.) Subscription Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1.) OMEGA's Ramblings The first question you may be asking is... WHY? And my answer is because I wanted to. After almost a year without doing Digested Digest / Weekly Stuff E-Zine, you miss the feeling you get when you put your heart into something. I can personally say I know how others feel when they create something worthwhile. Now you may not feel that way about this work... but that's your own opinion. ^_^ Now, I don't plan to make this a regular event. I did retire my e-zine for a reason. But, once in a while you have to go back to your past and take stuff off the shelf and dust it off and make it pretty so others might see what you once acomplished. I love sharing my ideas and my interest with other people. It just makes me feel good. That is the reason I love creating web pages. Because it is fun. ;-) And thus, I welcome you to the extra special editon of DD/WSE: Special Edition #1. This special issue is the first e-zine I have done since I quit doing my long running e-zine on November 29, 1998. If anyone is interested in the back issues of DD/WSE please check out... http://omega.hyper-space.com/access/wse/index.html for a complete archive of all the issues which chronical the anime, comic books, sci-fi, and video games from June 7 - November 29, 1998. Enjoy the issue. ^_^ Adam "OMEGA" Arnold ---------------------------------------------------------- 2.) Japanese Anime Quick Reviews Pokemon Movie I: Pikachu's Summer Vacation What happens when Ash, Brock, and Misty give their Pokemon a break in a giant pokemon amusement park? The answer is the pokemon have a great time is this short kawai (cute) movie! Pikachu and all the other leading pokemon find rivals and are challenged to find out which team is better. So the pokemon compete in races and events to prove who's better, but when Charazard gets stuck it's up to all the pokemon to work together to get Characzard out. Overall a great distraction from the usual episodes. Pokemon Movie II: Mewtwo Strikes Back Mewtwo, the genetically engineered upgrade of the rare Mew. Ash and other top-notch Pokemon trainers are invited to battle the greatest pokemon trainer in the world. But when a freak hurricane appears just as the trainers are about to sail to the meeting place only the strong of will are left to face the master. In a bizarre turn of events the trainers are all defeated by a trainer who is also... a pokemon? But when the pokemon are cloned, Mewtwo shows the would-be trainers the true meaning of a pokemon battle as all the pokemon must battle their exact duplicates in a battle to decide which is the one who deserves to live. Overall this is the BEST Pokemon ever created, in my opinion. This movie has action, suspense, danger, and Team Rocket. Galaxy Express 999: Eternal Fantasy (1998 movie) Based on the recent Galaxy Express 999 manga that is being published in the USA in Animerica magazine. This movie is the beginning chapter of the true ending to the original GE999 film from 1979. Meatel rescues Tetsuro from confinement on Earth so that they may journey the stars once more on a mission to ride 999 to the final port of call where they must put a stop to what they created when they destroyed the machine empire. But, what happens when the sun goes Super Nova and the innocence of child-hood is lost forever? Will the memories live on? Any film by Leiji Matsumoto is an event that is bound to have characters such as Captain Harlock or Queen Emeraldias in it. And this film is no different and shouldn't me missed if you are a Leiji fan. However, many of his films do drag on and can be a turn off to action oriented anime buffs, but Leiji anime is always a classic and shouldn't be missed by any Otaku. ---------------------------------------------------------- 3.) Neon Genesis Evangelion (N64): Video Game Review Publisher: Bandai Developer: Bandai Genre: Action Origin: Japan Number of Players:1 Rumble Pak: YES Expected Release Date: Japan Only Peripherals: Memory Pak Neon Genesis Evangelion 'It's like playing an animated TV show!' 2 new Neon Genesis Evangelion movies. June 25, 1999 Anime fans rejoice. Although Japanese developers usually skip over the N64 when it comes to anime-to-game conversions -- mostly due to the media restrictions of the cart format -- Bandai has recently signed on to bring the immensely popular Neon Genesis Evangelion to Nintendo's 64-bit platform. Called Shinseki Evangelion in Japan, the Gainax-produced anime series originally aired from October '95 to March '96 and soon spawned a feature movie release in '97. A long, long time ago, a meteor struck the Earth that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. This event came to be be known as "first impact". In the year 2000, a second impact occured as what was believed to be a meteor striking the Antarctic. It is later revealed to have been caused by an entity called Adam -- an Angel (called Shito, "disciples" in Japanese). The N64 game starts in the year 2015, 15 years after Second Impact. The Angels have returned and suddenly attack Tokyo-3. Using so-called "terror-fields" that cannot be penetrated by ordinary weapons, the Angels are taking on every human force sent out to oppose them. That's where you come in. As the pilot of the NERV-designed Evangelions, you take your giant humanoid combat mech into battle with the Angels. After watching a series of introduction cinemas consisting of both hand-drawn cel art and 3D polygonal sets, players jump into the role of Shinji Ikari, pilot of Evangelion test unit EVA-01. As fans of the show will know, Unit 01 suffers from a fateful imbalance that can cause the mech to go berserk, assaulting the enemy until it has won - or its energy drained. During the first battle with the Angel, EVA-01 can be either moved forward or backwards, shield itself against attacks, lash out, or pull off special moves by inputting button commands. Unlike traditional fighting games, Evangelion takes a more "interactive anime" style approach, meaning exact controls are in the background, whereas story and visuals are the most important aspect of the game. Imagine it like watching one of the episodes while having slight input as to the outcome. For example, once you engage the enemy in Tokyo-3, it is inevitable that you will be hampered by your opponent's forcefield. I you don't evade or shield yourself against attacks, the game will switch to a premade cinema cutscene of EVA -- pardon our Japanese -- severely getting the "kuso" kicked out of her... If you survive the assault, youwill get another shot at your target. Another failed attempt will see your mech flying horizontally through the air and slamming into the building, anime-style. Such a strong impact will inevitably result in EVA getting disconnected from its power-source. In order to operate and generate forcefields of their own, EVAs have to constantly be connected via a power cable. Once you have lost the link, you have only five minutes to down the enemy. And how do you do that? Go berserk. Bandai promises that the game will feature many of the characters that have endeared the series to both Japanese and western audiences. Since there are currently no plans for an international release of this game, all dialogue in the game appears either as Japanese text, or spoken by many of the original actors from the series. Outlook We got our hands on a very refined version of Evangelion and it's the closest thing you'll get to controlling the outcome of an anime show. While the lack of control could be a little frustrating for some, the look, sound and feel of what happens when you do throw a move are impressive enough to ease the pain. Any Evangelion fans who got their hands on tapes of the show, will probably be comfortable with the extremely heavy Japanese flavor of the game and have no problems about importing the game. At least it's cool whoop @ss Japanese fare and not kooky, corny, kiddie stuff that's also available in mass quantities. Unfortunately, it may not be cool enough to handle the American attention span and so the game probably won't make it to the U.S. Courtesy IGN64.com ~Source: Arc Nova / Forum Staff of Video Gaming Central ( 72064.3304@compuserve.com ) ---------------------------------------------------------- 4.) Comic Books: Breaking The Fourth Wall: Fact or Fiction? Breaking The Fourth Wall. In comic book language that reefers to any character who has learned about their fictionally by visiting the 'real world', meeting or talking with their creator, or learning the truth about their lives be soem other methoid. A number of characters have do this in the comics including Buddy Baxter (aka Animal Man) and Mr. Mxysptlk. But these instances of characters meeting their creators were simple plot-lines laid out by their creators... or were they? The following article from 'DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes' by Les Daniels presents a story in which the creators were actually visited by their characters in the real world.... Page 226: "One of the most popular to be incorporated into the Vertigo line, Hellblazer features a working-class hero co-created by Alan Moore. "Most of the occultists I know are street-level, so I though it would be interesting to see that reflected," says Moore. "And I don't expect anyone to believe this, but after I had written John Constantine as a character, I bumped into him in a sandwich bar, which was one of the eeriest experiences of my life." Moore also reports that writer Jamie Delano, who took over Constantine's adventures with the first issue of Hellblazer, experienced a similar eerie visitation. In Hellblazer #22 (September 1989), with art by Mark Buckingham and Alfredo Alcala, a long story arc by Delano reaches its conclusion as John Constantine and his companions conjue up two serpents to counteract a demon called Jallakuntillionkan. The cover is by Kent Williams, whose impressionistic painting style is an example of the new look that DC's Vertigo line brought to comics." Did these meetings actually occur or was it something they were smoking? Could we all someday meet a fictional character or are well all just crazed fanboys who need to get a life? Judge for yourself, but remember it might happen... The omniverse we live in is a place where anything is possible. To learn more about this and the topic of Hypertime, please visit The Unofficial Hypertime Web Site at http://travel.to/hypertime/ . ---------------------------------------------------------- 5.) Wierd Al's "The Saga Begins" Lyrics Lyrics for The Saga Begins Lyrical adaption of 'American Pie' by Don McLean Music Corporation of America, Inc./Benny Bird Music (BMI) (Administered by Copyright Management, Inc.) New lyrics by Al Yankovic With Special Thanks to George Lucas The Saga Begins A long long time ago in a galaxy far away Naboo was under an attack And I thought me and Qui-Gon Jinn Could talk the Federation into Maybe cutting them a little slack But their response, it didn't thrill us They locked the doors and tried to kill us We escaped from that gas Then met Jar Jar and Boss Nass We took a bongo from the scene And we went to Theed to see the queen We all wound up on Tatooine That's where we found this boy... Oh my my, this here Anakin guy May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" Did you know this junkyard slave Isn't even old enough to shave But he can use the Force they say Ahh, do you see him hitting on the queen Though he's just nine and she's fourteen Yeah, he's probably gonna marry her someday Well, I know he built C-3PO And I've heard how fast his pod can go And we were broke, it's true So we made a wager or two He was a prepubescent flyin' ace And the minute Jabba started off that race Well, I know who would win first place Oh yes, it was our boy We started singin'... My my, this here Anakin guy May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" Now we finally got to Coruscant The Jedi Council we knew would want To see how good the boy could be So we took him there and we told the tale How his midi-chlorians were off the scale And he might fulfill that prophecy Oh, the Council was impressed, of course Could he bring balance to the Force? They interviewed the kid Oh, training they forbid Because Yoda sensed in him much fear And Qui-Gon said, "Now listen here Just stick it in your pointy ear I still will teach this boy" He was singin'... My my, this here Anakin guy May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" We caught a ride back to Naboo 'Cause Queen Amidala wanted to I frankly would've liked to stay We all fought in that epic war And it wasn't long at all before Little Hotshot flew his plane and saved the day And in the end some Gungans died Some ships blew up and some pilots fried A lot of folks were croakin' The battle droids were broken And the Jedi I admire most Met up with Darth Maul and now he's toast Well, I'm still here and he's a ghost I guess I'll train this boy And I was singin'... My my, this here Anakin guy May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" We were singin'... My my, this here Anakin guy May be Vader someday later - now he's just a small fry And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" ~Source: http://members.tripod.com/lal2000/the_saga_begins_lyrics.txt ---------------------------------------------------------- 6.) Subscription Information This e-zine has only been sent to the Time Masters Mailing List, Pioneer Anime Mailing List, and a few close friends. This e-zine should not be taken as spam because if is for enjoyment only and I am not selling anything. I don't plan to offer subscriptions to the e-zine because this will probally be a one time-only thing. But, if I do decide to release another Special Edition the subscriber base should remain the same. So I hope you enjoyed this issue. ^_^ Drop me an e-mail about what you thought of this special issue at omega@hyper-space.com . Ja Ne. +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Adam "OMEGA" Arnold - omega@hyper-space.com - icq#7737442 Omega's Vanishing Point ~*~ http://omega.hyper-space.com/ Topics: Rip Hunter, Chronos, Linear Men, Supergirl's Wally, DCU, Oh My Goddess!, Pioneer Anime, Generation Girl Tori, & much more. +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+