Posted by the World Science Festival, this presentation is part of The Big Idea Series, and I could not stop watching it once I started. From the Big Bang to the Multiverse, they explore a wide range of ideas, all theoretically supported to some greater or lesser extent, and some of them even have some experimental results that support the possibility that they exist. This is fascinating stuff, and the implications keep getting more numerous the longer you think about them. The original panel and gathering happened as part of the 2009 World Science Festival, and was posted in 2015; enjoy.
In Divine Gate Adapters are folks with powers over their realms of Air, Water, Earth and Fire, each realm existing on a different plane of existence and each accessible to the others through a mundane gate. The Living, Heavens, and Underworld become connected to each realm after a Divine Gate is opened, adding another set of layers to the situation, and whoever opens a Divine Gate can change the universe as they desire, including changes in the past and future. Adapters use Drivers to control their powers and keep them from going into meltdown, but they don’t always (or often) work. I have been enjoying this one a lot this new season, and can’t wait to see more.
The summer season has just started, with most shows only having 1 or two episodes streamed so far, but I have already become addicted to one of them: Gate. When I saw the first episode, and a portal between parallel universes opened up, I was certain it had to be based on the Hell’s Gate series by David Weber and Linda Evans. The first book in 2006 saw two Parallel Universe crossing civilizations, one based on magic with dragons, gryphons, spells, and wizards, and one based on advanced steampunk science and technology, stumble across each other. During that first encounter, where neither side understood the others language or customs, a series of mistakes and misunderstandings led to a massacre, with subsequent encounters leading to all out war between the two cultures.
It turns out I was wrong. It was actually based on Takumi Yanai’s Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri, a 2006 Japanese Fantasy Novel series later turned into an assortment of Manga, and finally the Anime. In it, a portal between universes opens up in Ginza, and an invading hoard of dragons, elves, ogres and wizards attack Tokyo. They get beaten back by the JSDF, who go on to secure a foothold on the other side of the gate. Tanks, missals, and other modern weapons give the Self Defense Forces a noticeable edge in the combat theater, although the fighting is anything but one sided. The protagonist is Yōji Itami, a serious Otaku who is promoted because his quick thinking saved a lot of lives during the initial battle. He gets put in charge of a squad sent to do reconnaissance and see if they can find a way to get the other side to the peace talks table. This seems appropriate, since the author is also a serious Otaku (he has to be to write this kind of story) who is a former member of the JSDF.
You can watch the stream on Crunchyroll, the third episode just went live this afternoon for Premium members. If you are a free member (yes, membership is free, but the paid service doesn’t have commercials, comes in HD, and you can watch the shows the same day they air in Japan) you can watch the first two episodes right now, and today’s episode next Friday.
This week finally brings us The Age of Adaline, the story of the woman who had a strange accident and thereafter did not age. Somewhere around the time she turned 110 she fell in love again, and that changed everything. I have been waiting for this movie to get into the theaters for quite a while, and am quite pleased it is finally time. Their movie home page design is really well done, but needs a bit of work to create a proper navigation interface that you can actually find. The one it has is hidden, unless you have a 12 year old guide whose only computer has been their smart phone for all their life. Their Tumblr page is the best use of that resource to promote a movie I have seen, breaking the image set into the decades that span the timeline of the film, and telling its own story.
With time travel at the core of the story, Terminator Genisys is poised for a reboot in ways orther movies haven’t been able to touch, spinning off its own parallel timeline as part of the acknowledged plot. I loved the first two films in the franchise, the ones after not so much. This trailer makes me want to be in the theaters for a Terminator movie for the first time in a long while; hope to see you there. Too bad we have to wait until July of next year.
Syfy has a pitiful track record at made for TV movies, but both their original TV series and their miniseries have been excellent, and Ascension looks like it could be a winner. The premise is simple; what if the space race Kennedy started in 1962 didn’t collapse once humanity made it to the moon, but kept going. If that progress had been steady, by now we would be launching our first expeditions to the nearer stars… and what a different universe that would have been! Of course, to keep up that constant development, you would have needed someone to race against, who also didn’t falter or pause.