Okay, so maybe I took stupid pills today, or maybe I just missed something... where I'm going with this is, I didn't get it.
Was there no twist? Was it just a straight-up tragedy?
You are a bloody wrecking ball. You are an exploding cigar.
Yes, there was no particular twist ending to this one. This was another one, along with "Master of Destiny", that was written by Alejandro Jodorowsky, who is a well-known cult filmmaker, and is famous for mind-screws and all but impenetrable symbolism. I'm not so much familiar with his work in comics, which seems less dense than his films, if these stories are anything to go by. Maybe it's because the shorter format gives him less time for philosophical musings. I believe, on first viewing, that the point of this story was that one's own longevity is less important than making the necessary sacrifices to allow one's people to live.
"Master of Destiny" didn't have a twist ending, either, just one that was easy to guess, although I missed the importance of the Turtle-Sapiens' last line the first time I saw it.
Both have a common theme that longevity or immortality are not necessarily the best things one could wish for.
And it was so nice to see John Rhys-Davies again, he isn't around nearly as much as he used to be.
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"Oh, well" said Zanoni, "to pour pure water in the muddy well does but disturb the mud !"
According to http://www.humanoids.com/blog/ the story is collected in Alexandro Jodorowsky's Screaming Planet which is available in various formats from hardcover to digital comic.
Christians call it faith ... I call it the herd.
-- Friedrieh Wilhelm Nietzsche
Thank you! I found the Khondor's hissing speech very hard to listen to (it was as if my ear kept just wandering off), so I truly wasn't sure if I'd missed some crucial point. It was genuinely tragic... although, then again, maybe not. If he was the last of his kind, that could get awfully lonely over time.
I was pleased to see Rhys-Davies, too! According to his credits here, he does work a lot, but it seems like I used to see him just randomly turn up in things a lot more than I do now.
Also liked that they revisited the spaceport bar.
You are a bloody wrecking ball. You are an exploding cigar.
Well Loyal Khondar was the episode before Second Chances in the original airing. I wonder if the syfy airing may have left some content out for time since the closed captioning on the tv kept showing dialog not aired including the bit where Khondor runs into Joe Mada when he leaves the bar.
The Alchemist mentioned that Khondor's species didn't deserve to die and that he was the last of them. Of course that would get lonely and he was loyal to the princess and had a mission. Seems he couldn't take the elixir and give his blood. He had to give his life for the cure to work.
Christians call it faith ... I call it the herd.
-- Friedrieh Wilhelm Nietzsche
I was thinking that the episodes might make more sense if they were shown in the original order, as I notice details carried from one episode to another. Although it's an anthology series, I keep feeling like there's a larger backstory going on that I'm not quite getting.
I did find that article on humanoids.com, with some of the artwork from the original comics, and now I'm all ready to drop by Newberry Comics and see if they have Screaming Planet. Graphic collections like this tend to be priced out of my comfortable range, but I might get it anyway, as a special gift to myself. I've always liked Jodorowsky anyway, insofar as I ever understand what he's on about, so it would make a nice addition to my graphic storybook collection.
I find the odd foreign accents of some of the actors one of the pluses of the series, as it gives them a literal "alien" quality. I sometimes feel like I'm using the closed captioning as a kind of universal translator. The actor who played Khondor was terrific, making his character both alien and sympathetic at the same time, and his accent was certainly part of that.
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"Oh, well" said Zanoni, "to pour pure water in the muddy well does but disturb the mud !"
There's definitely a loose fabric weaving together certain of the episodes, though not others. I'd like to see them in order, too. Unfortunately I haven't DVRed them all, because I didn't realize I'd get so involved as to wish to review! And only the first season appears to be available for purchase, at a cost it simply isn't worth. No television show is.
I think I'll pick up Screaming Planet, though. Graphic works usually are not much my speed, but the samples I've seen of this one really grabbed me.
The actor who played Khondor was terrific, making his character both alien and sympathetic at the same time, and his accent was certainly part of that.Agreed there as well. Even though I had a hard time with the character's speech, at the same time, it was part of what made him who he was, which was someone I cared about. I wanted to know all his warrior stories from his earlier life...
I know they released it on dvd and bluray in region 2 as a complete set. The soundtrack is also available for sale. Amazon Instant video has it episode by episode with the first episode free. There is a difference in quality with no commericals, no annoying logos or popus from syfy, uncensored and it's unedited. However the airing order is the syfy order so it's out of sequence. Not that it really matters it's just weird why they did it. Mind you a complaint I heard that Season 1 half of the episodes which was three were terrible while season 2 was better overall. So maybe they decided to mixup it due to that.
Christians call it faith ... I call it the herd.
-- Friedrieh Wilhelm Nietzsche
Yeah, I'm in Region 1, and I don't like watching on the computer. So it's either DVD/Blu-Ray, or, maybe the whole bunch will get re-run, or maybe it'll go on Netflix at some point. Thanks, though! Appreciate the thought.
You are a bloody wrecking ball. You are an exploding cigar.
Hopefully netflix will get it. Or Region 1 dvd-blu-ray. Depending upon the model player you have it can be easy to hack it to be region free. Sometimes it just takes pushing some buttons on the remote to enable the player to play discs from other parts of the world.
Found this interesting web post http://journal.joe-flanigan.info/2011/joe-flanigan-in-metal-hurlant-chronicles
Has some nice making of episode pics of the episode he was in with the turtle sapiens.
Ooo, good stuff! The turtle sapiens look so weird and diminished in a real-world context... always fun to get a look at the nuts and bolts of green screen set-ups, too!
You are a bloody wrecking ball. You are an exploding cigar.
24 bucks for a hardcover trade isn't a bad price these days and it seems to be in print.
I think for the tv series they altered some details from the original stories to make it the same universe and have metal hurlant pay a visit in the stories where originally it didn't. I do like looking at the original art to see what they changed and kept because I know not everything can carry over. Due to budget/tech limitations and well not everything looks good when you translate from the comics to the world of film and tv.
http://www.humanoids.com/ has three comics to read for free for the month of may due to free comic book day. One of whom by an author of Metal Hurlant whose episode we were just talking about.
Karl E.Landler who played Khondor Did a really good job ! he was also in Second Son playing "Byron".
I am still impressed he did all his fight with that make up and whatever suit he had !
I wonder if the syfy airing may have left some content out for time since the closed captioning on the tv kept showing dialog not aired including the bit where Khondor runs into Joe Mada when he leaves the bar.THAT's interesting. I'll have to see if I can catch a re-run of this one and look for it.
Try CC. You won't miss anything. For the most part.
shareYeah, I will. Just didn't want to on first viewing because it's so intensely visual. And I didn't anticipate actually caring so much about the details! That really took me by surprise.
You are a bloody wrecking ball. You are an exploding cigar.
I couldn't understand a damn word Khondor said, which is why i came to the message boards to see if anyone else was complaining of the same issue. These plots are so intellectually simple that it really doesn't matter if you don't know what they're saying anyway.
Not sure why i waste my time watching them...
That one just bugged me. The guy's horrible accent ruined it for me. He ekpt speaking slowly and it made him sound like a mental patient.
The only time Democrats won't use children as a prop is at a Pro-Choice Rally. -Greg Gutfield
Straight up tragedy and two things bothered be about the final scene ...
1. Half his blood spilled on the floor, if she didn't need to drink all of his blood then couldn't he still live . I know the point was sacrifice.
2. It kind of looked like she was giving him oral while she was drinking.