sci-fi | Superior Realities

Guillermo Del Toro. Giant robots. Ellen McLain. Ron Perlman.

These are four things that, when combined, virtually guarantee I’m going to see a movie. Unfortunately, I no longer live anywhere near a movie theater, and I don’t drive, so I wasn’t able to see Pacific Rim when it came out. I’ve only now gotten around to seeing it on DVD.

It basically lived up to my expectations, which is a both a positive and a negative.

Bringing out your inner kid:

Pacific Rim is the movie every six year old boy would make if they were given a couple million dollars of budget. And I mean that as a compliment.

Giant robots! Horrible dinosaur monsters! Lasers go pew pew! Skyscrapers getting smashed like toys! Giant robots beating up dinosaur monsters with lasers as skyscrapers get smashed!

I mean, any movie where a robot beats a Godzilla-lookalike with an oil tanker gets my seal of approval.

It’s not a smart movie, but it doesn’t have to be. Pacific Rim was obviously never intended to be Shakespeare, and that’s okay. It’s a fun movie, and sometimes, that’s all you need.

The characters are simple, but they’re all quite endearing. The plot’s pretty basic and predictable, but I doubt anyone expected anything else. There were a few subtle little touches that showed real thought went into the writing, so it’s very clear that Pacific Rim’s simplistic nature was a deliberate choice, not the result of a lack of talent.

And while it’s definitely not smart, it’s not dumb, either. Despite its incredibly improbable premise, it never quite falls into outright stupidity, and while it’s made to appeal to the kid in all of us, it never lapses into immaturity or childishness.

Pacific Rim is sort of like what the Transformers movies would be like if they’d had a better director and actual writers. No, I don’t consider Orci and Kurtzman writers. They’re more like God’s revenge on language.

A movie for theaters:

With all that said, though, watching Pacific Rim was a pretty underwhelming experience. This was a movie made to be watched on the big screen. Watching it on my step-mother’s old TV just doesn’t cut it by comparison.

I’m sure the epic battle sequences between monsters and robots would have been absolutely mind-blowing in a dark theater, on a massive screen, with the sound vibrating in my very bones. But as it was, they were just moderately entertaining.

I did enjoy Pacific Rim, but I know I would have enjoyed it so much more in the theater, and in the end, it just made me miss Toronto all the more.

Overall rating: 7.9/10 It’s a good movie, but if you haven’t seen it by now, I can’t say I’d recommend renting the DVD.

I’m still working on building all my writing characters in Aion (and not actually playing Aion). I’ve gone beyond the World Spectrum and created many from my other works, but since you guys won’t be familiar with them, there’s little point in posting them.

Yesterday, though, I went back and made two more World Spectrum characters. You see, the act of world-building never really stops. I’ve already got plans for how Barria evolves in the years following Human Again. I don’t know if I’ll ever make use of any of these plans, but it’s nice to know they exist.

So I now present to you the next generation of the World Spectrum — two children of the previous cast members, already all grown up. In the (very) tentative fourth book idea I have, these are slated to be the main characters.

WARNING: This post will contain significant spoilers for Rage of the Old Gods and Children of the Gods and very minor (very minor) spoilers for Living for the Future and Human Again.

Spoiler free zone.

I once held a boa constrictor. It was really cool.

I like carob. There, I said it.

Let’s get to it.

Abiri Tor Lannis:Named for her aunt, Abiri is the beloved daughter of Yarnig Tor Lannis and Natoma. I made this image based on the idea of her being around eighteen or nineteen.

She’s a very cheerful and pleasant girl, an idealist and adherent to Aya’s humanist teachings. She has a minor magical talent and uses it to follow in her father’s footsteps, making sculptures and carvings of incredible beauty and subtlety.

Her hair isn’t 100% accurate. She’s supposed to have braided pigtails, a Tor style that contrasts with her largely Urannan appearance.

Hilda Tor Kellis:

A Reborn orphan formerly of the labourer cast, Hilda encountered Eranna Tor Kellis by chance, and the empress took pity on her and adopted her, raising Hilda as her own daughter and even going so far as to name her the heir of the Tor Kellis house. I made this image based on imagining her around twenty-three or twenty-four years old.

Needless to say, the idea of a Reborn potentially taking the throne of Tor Som caused a bit of a stir among Tor nobility. Having them to help rebuild your country is one thing, but bending a knee to a former Arcanid slave is another matter entirely. Ever since, there has been a fair bit of debate over whether Hilda should be considered the true heir to the throne, or Abiri.

Hilda may not be Eranna’s blood, but she is her daughter in spirit: a dour, serious woman who rarely smiles and is prone to brooding contemplation. Unlike most Reborn, who are free-spirited and contented, the dark legacy of the Arcanids hangs heavy over Hilda’s head.

* * *

Hmm, I wonder if enough people read The Wounding for it to be worth making an Enora?

Superior Realities

Tag Archives: sci-fi

Review: Pacific Rim

World Spectrum: The Kids