7th Station ~TV, movies, games~

[Zunu]

I've started watching Arcane on Netflix, which is an animated series based on the League of Legends online game. I have no idea how faithful the series is to the game, of which I know absolutely nothing, but the animation is visually stunning and the story is like a pretty good YA (young adult) fantasy novel. It's been getting raves all over the internet, including (currently) 100%/98% on Rotten Tomatoes. From what I've seen so far, I completely concur.



Years ago, I really loved Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere urban fantasy novel, which was itself a novelization of a live action fantasy miniseries he worked on, which had an interesting premise but was fatally hampered by a low budget and production values, and like much other 80's-90's material, was a victim of that unfortunate technological era where they had stopped shooting TV shows with film stock, but didn't yet have the 1080p video standard, much less 4K, so everything was shot on horrible SD resolution video cameras. Anyway, Arcane takes place in a world somewhat reminiscent of that novel, and its outstanding quality makes me think that the studio responsible (Fortiche) could finally do justice to London Underground, the fictional setting of Neverwhere.

(Side note: If Neverwhere's London-flavoured urban fantasy is your bag, a few months back I read and greatly enjoyed the "Matthew Swift" series by Kate Griffin (aka Catherine Webb, aka Claire North), and it has much the same vibe.)

[Celedam]

Previously…

Regarding Critical Role Campaign 3, I think I’m out and I won’t be talking any more about it.

I still get video recommendations, though, and this one is stuck in my mind…



Official portrait of the character who's talking…

Spoiler: show

…so you can understand why the rest of them are intrigued by her.

What does it all mean, though?

Spoiler: show

Delilah Briarwood was a major recurring villain in Campaign 1, and some of her history was revealed in Campaign 2. She was a very powerful necromancer and essentially the high priestess of this world's version of Vecna (i.e., one of the all-time classic D&D villains, a super-lich who ascended to godhood). It is known that she researched necromantic methods for preserving her own existence (e.g., clones, lichdom), so it's plausible that some fragment of her survived Campaign 1 and is now attached to a Campaign 3 character.

The events described in this video — the arrival of the Briarwoods and the corruption of Whitestone — directly lead to the Campaign 1 story that will be depicted in the first season of the animated series on Amazon Prime Video.

This Campaign 3 character ran away from all of that and never looked back, so it's ancient history to her, but the players and viewers know what it means and are reacting accordingly. For example, 6:03 in this video. A multi-campaign BBEG? Yup, I'm interested again.

[erilaz]

(Side note: If Neverwhere's London-flavoured urban fantasy is your bag, a few months back I read and greatly enjoyed the "Matthew Swift" series by Kate Griffin (aka Catherine Webb, aka Claire North), and it has much the same vibe.)

Have you read China Miéville's Un Lun Dun? It's a fun YA fantasy in a similar vein.

[Zunu]

Nope, I've read a few of his books (The City & The City was such a unique premise; kind of as if Stanisław Lem and Kazuo Ishiguro got together to write a mystery novel) but I haven't gotten around to that one yet.

[erilaz]

^ The premise of Embassytown really appealed to me, not surprisingly.

[Zunu]

I've got that one lying around somewhere but it's still on the to-read stack. Having just finished Josiah Bancroft's The Fall of Babel last night, I'll try Embassytown next on your recommendation!

[Moh]

Well that was fast: Netflix cancels Cowboy Bebop after 1 season.

[Zunu]

Dang

[Amped]

I liked it. They should move it to HBO max.

[JonCC]

"A young woman led them across the galaxy, and it is she who will lead them again. Her name is Karan S'jet."