The friend of mine that I started doing these challenges alongside yesterday did her Day 30. Which basically means I lost four days somewhere along the line. I... I cannot for the life of me figure out how I missed four whole days. I mean, I missed deadlines, don't get me wrong. A lot, too. But I made up for them by having several posts in a day. Where did these four days go? How did I not notice until now? I'll rack my brains over that as you read today's answers for Doctor Who, otaku, and video games challenges. Euurgh.
Doctor Who Challenge, Day 26
Favourite Who actress.
I bet you think I'm going to say Liz Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith. You'd be... wrong. Now I think Liz Sladen is a fantastic actress and when I heard she had died I felt really bad for both those who were glued to Sarah Jane Adventures, and people who grew up with her watching Doctor Who as little tykes. She must have been a cornerstone of a lot of childhood entertainment, and her death is saddening as all death is. But... I did not like the character of Sarah-Jane. Call me a monster, but I prefer the likes of Ace, Romana, Peri, to Ms Sarah-Jane Smith.
I'm almost leaning to go with a secondary or incidental character, but I'm on the mindset that companions boast the best Doctor Who actresses, and - based solely on performance - I really liked Lalla Ward as Romana. She was really cool because she, like the Doctor, was a Time Lord, and could regenerate when killed just as he could. If I recall correctly, Ward played Romana II, who was significantly more whimsical than the first incarnation of Romana. I just remember, she was a lot of fun to be around, and with the advantage of knowing the Doctor well due to being the same species, I remember Ward played really well against Tom Baker as the Doctor. Also, she had a damn tight friendship with K-9 - to the point that she's the one that got to keep the original Mark IV K-9! (In the cannon, I mean, not real life. In real life she writes knitting books.)
Otaku Challenge, Day 26
Suckiest subtitle.
At first I was going to go with Elfen Lied's fansubs, which nonchalantly has "do you want to suck my breast" in the most inappropriate of places (this is the gist of the translation, but it's a little more out-of-the-blue than the actual Japanese... or so I'm told). No, the worst subtitles, for me, are the ones that take the time out to explain to you stuff about the context or narrative.
Don't get me wrong, some of the time - a lot of the time, even - this kind of subtitle is fine. I don't know everything about Japanese culture, and a little heads up to give context to a joke that wouldn't have worked in English, or to make something seem a little less weird, or what have you - do that. A short sentence, or dictionary quote - go for it. Sometimes, though, I swear I'm reading excerpts from the Wikipedia page. That information might be necessary, but condensing it a little won't cause any harm, and for fuck's sake, if you see that your subtitle covers up half of the screen with text, that's probably a good sign that you're doing it wrong. I've seen this sort of haphazard subtitling done a lot, and whenever it pops up it makes me slam my head straight through my desk. Grrr.
Video Game Challenge, Day 26
Best voice acting.
There have been a lot of wonderful voice performances in videogames of late, especially in this generation of consoles calling in big-names. I myself love John DiMaggio as Gears of War's Marcus Phoenix, Mike Patton as the Darkness in The Darkness, and Robert Culp as the slimy Dr Breen in Half-Life 2.
But Mark Hamill as the Joker in Batman: Arkham Asylum totally blew away all expectations. Sure, Hamill had been acting in Batman: The Animated Series in the same role for a long, long time, and basically already considered one of the quintessential incarnations of the character. But after The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger had basically shown the world the darkest, scariest, funniest and coolest interpretation of the Joker. Hamill was, effectively, standing under Ledger's massive shadow in Arkham Asylum, the game being the next "big" appearance of Joker after Dark Knight. Well, Hamill showed he's been playing the Joker for years for a damn good reason - he is brilliant with it. That laugh is spine-chilling stuff - and Hamill's combination of hammy over-acting and subtle darkness makes his Joker possibly the best of all time. His performance in Arkham Asylum proves this indefinitely.
Tune in next time for a Doctor Who episode I wish hadn't been made, an expression I get from watching anime (I assume they mean "emotion," but hey, let's run with it), and the most epic videogame scene ever!
No comments:
Post a Comment