Lisa and the Devil (1974)

Introduction:

Due to an unfortunate mishap, I viewed and watched a horrible hacked and re-edited version of this film. It was called House of Exorcism and it was bad. But there was enough intriguing elements to that mess of a film that I figured I should check out the original version. Rumor has it, that this even director Mario Bava was displeased with the hacked up version. So the original should be good… I hope. But the devil is involved, so it could be bad in a whole new and exciting way!

Summary:

Lisa (Elke Sommer) is enjoying some touristy fun in Toledo, Spain when she runs across a very strange man with a mannequin. She is separated from her tour group and is picked up by a strange couple driving a car right out of The Great Gatsby. The car is on its last legs, and stops in front of a creepy mansion. Inside is a handsome but unstable young man Max (Alessio Orano) and his mother the Countess (Alida Valli).

Soon evil doings are afoot. People get killed, creepy dolls are manipulated, rotting corpses are revealed and most of the gals end up topless. Behind it all is a mysterious butler Leandro (Telly Savalas). Is he the sinister mastermind behind this dreamlike world, or has Lisa lost her mind? The tale of Lisa and Devil offers more questions than answers.

Good Points:

• Combines gothic horror and surreal really well
• Some good creepy moments
• Better than House of Exorcism

Bad Points:

• Parts of this movie don’t make a lick of sense
• Some pretty bad dubbing
• Very slow paced

Overall:

Bava’s vision was to make a surreal gothic horror flick, and he mostly succeeds. The major issue is the extremely show pacing. Some of these build a creepy atmosphere, but other sequences seem like padding. Still there is some creepy stuffing going on here, even if it all doesn’t make much sense in the end. Not bad for an evening of gothic horror. Just don’t think about it too much while you’re watching.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 3

Sound: 3

Acting: 3

Script: 2

Music: 3

Direction: 2

Entertainment: 3

Total:  3

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.    

Soundtrack Sample - Conan the Barbarian - Basil Poledouris

I mentioned in my review of the 2011 version of Conan the Barbarian that the score was adequate at best and abrasive and annoying at worst. It literally distracted me at times during the film, and in a way that made me wonder, "What the hell was that?"

A score should support the film, feel like a natural part of the movie at the very least. But a great score will make you take notice and say, "Where can I buy that one?"

Sadly, composer Tyler Bates had a huge problem. He had to compose music for a franchise that created one of the best fantasy scores of the modern age, and easily one of the best movie scores of the 1980s.

Basil Poledouris created a masterpiece with his score to Conan the Barbarian. Inspired by medieval rhythms and primal power, the score feels at once ancient and at the same time a perfect fit for a Golden Age epic film.  Nearly every track on the score is a joy to listen to. Much of the film goes by with little to no dialogue, and allowed Poledouris to tell the story musically.

There are so many great tracks to pick from, but I decided to go with the opening credits. The track is The Anvil of Crom, and it pretty much tells you all you need to know about Conan and the Hyborian Age.

Poor Tyler Bates didn't have much of a chance.

Conan the Barbarian (2011)

Introduction:

I discovered the work of Robert E. Howard a few years ago, and I really enjoyed his take on fantasy. The world of the Hyborian Age is a brutal and exciting place, and the character of Conan is intriguing. Of course he gets into all kinds of crazy adventures, usually involving plenty of battles, a naked woman or two and usually some kind of magical twist. The previous attempts to bring this world to the screen were moderately successful, but I was excited to hear that a new version was taking off in 2011. Would it stick closer to the world Howard created?

Summary:

The film begins with a prologue describing an evil mask made of human skulls and how it was smashed. If it were brought together, than a supreme evil would claim the land. You know how these ancient prophecies are. Then we jump forward to witness the birth of Conan (Jason Momoa), as he is ripped from his mother’s womb during a battle. Wow! That’s some entrance. We watch his childhood among the Cimmerians, and how he kicks ass even as a child. Sticking to fantasy cliché number 24, his village is raided and his people killed. This includes his father, played by Ron Perlman who is required to be in at least one fantasy movie per year due to fantasy cliché number 22.

This means that Conan now has vengeance in his heart for the folks that destroyed his people. But mostly he travels the world with his partner Artus (Nonso Anozie), has adventures and sleeps with hot babes. But a chance encounter puts him on the track of the evil king Zym (Stephen Lang) and his sorcerer daughter Marique (Rose McGowan). Seems that these two are trying to piece together the bone mask and fill it with “pure blood”. They’ve zeroed in on Tamara (Rachel Nichols) as the vessel they need. Little do they know that Conan the Barbarian remembers them very well and is coming to spill blood, get revenge and bed a hot babe.

Good Points:

• Retains some of the feel of the Howard books
• Momoa makes a good Conan
• The villains are having a great over the top time

Bad Points:

• Feels like a rehash of the 1982 film and other fantasy flicks
• The editing and camera work kills many of the action scenes
• The music is terribly underwhelming at best, distracting at worst

Overall:

This movie got slammed when it came out, and honestly it isn’t that bad. Strictly middle of the road fantasy fare, and that makes it a disappointment on some levels. It has lots of elements that Howard fans will enjoy, and the R rating keeps it closer to the spirit of the stories. If only the editing and camera work were able to make this film really click. Instead you end up distracted by the nonsensical scenes and the abrasive score. A shame, because a good movie was hiding in there somewhere.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 4

Sound: 4

Acting: 4

Script: 3

Music: 2

Direction: 2

Entertainment: 3

Total:  3

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.

Nostalgia Nugget: Tenchi Muyo – A Legacy

Tenchi's usual suspects

I reviewed several incarnations of the Tenchi Muyo franchise for this blog, and I still haven’t reviewed (or seen) everything. Obviously Tenchi was a pretty big hit at the time. Pioneer and AIC studios were making a mint off the series and continued to milk it (and still do). But what is most interesting is the impact the whole franchise had on anime during and after the 1990s.

One word you could never use to describe the Tenchi Muyo series is innovative. The story and the style had been done before. In most aspects, the creators simply took a bunch of existing tropes and situations and molded them into a new incarnation. It was the success of this combination that caused a ripple effect for a couple decades. It appears that only in the past couple years that anime started to veer away from the impact of Tenchi and the gals.

One of the obvious influences on the series was Star Wars. Our protagonist is a young hero whose dull life is turned upside down by intergalactic events. Tenchi is a chosen one. He has a wise old grandfather figure that teaches him how to use his Jurai powers, and to wield some kind of glowing weapon. There’s a princess with a feisty attitude to rescue. There’s a roguish space pirate. There is a villain with a connection to the grandfather’s past. There’s spaceship battles, energy weapon fights and even severed hands. Let’s not even get into all the sound effects and visual similarities to George Lucas’ original trilogy.

Tenchi and Star Wars go together
like chocolate and peanut butter

So right there, you’ve got something to grab the target male audience looking for an anime version of Star Wars. The next big change was to put a whole bunch of hot girls in key roles. Now Tenchi Muyo wasn’t the first to create the whole “harem” type anime – where one bland guy is surrounded by hot girls that are fixated on him. But the creators might have been the first to strategically pick the girls to fit just about any type the viewers might like. The other element is that all the girls have very distinct personalities. In the OAV version they are all pretty likable too.

The key to this is that Tenchi himself doesn’t have much a personality. He’s a good guy, brave, a bit naïve, but other than that he doesn’t have much else going for him. It’s easy for a viewer to put himself in Tenchi’s place. Contrast this to the follow-up series, El Hazard. In that series the lead, Mokoto, starts out very similar to Tenchi. He’s a good guy, a bit oblivious and one with a kind heart. But once he meets his one true love, Ifurita, we see a real fire in the guy. He’s does some pretty brave and selfless things for her, and Mokoto actually seems to grow through the series. Tenchi is always safe, unassuming Tenchi.

So perhaps the secret to the success of the series comes from combining Star Wars with the harem style show. This seems to be the formula that other anime companies grabbed onto because Tenchi Muyo spawned a whole slew of harem style shows. Many started off using the basic sci-fi tropes adding a dash of humor to the adventures. But it quickly spread to fantasy, romance, comedy and basically every kind of genre within anime you can imagine. Most of them featured a bland unassuming lead. Most include two especially catty members of the “harem” – one being bold and the other being proper. The progression became endless in the 90s and 00s. Hell I even reviewed a comedy harem show for DVD Verdict back in 2010, so the Tenchi inspiration is far from dead. But the blatant borrowing from this series became more than a little tired.

McFarlane's Ryoko figure

See the Tenchi Muyo franchise was very very popular. Now, some have attributed this to marketing in Japan, where Pioneer and AIC ramped up the advertising and merchandising for the show before it even hit the air. But the show was a huge hit with the anime community in North America. When I got back into anime fandom in the early 90s, Tenchi was already well liked and talked about constantly. There was even a bit of a rivalry between fans of Tenchi Muyo and the martial arts comedy Ranma ½.

Even before Tenchi hit the airwaves on Cartoon Network as part of their Toonami block, there was merchandising for the series. There was all kinds of Ryo Oki plushies to find, not to mention art books, key chains and soundtracks. There was even an anime inspired collectable card game (a huge industry in the 1990s) that featured characters and events from the Tenchi Muyo franchise.  After the show hit Toonami the merchandising increased to include action figures of all sizes. Including some highly detailed ones from Todd McFarlane.

Chibi versions of the Tenchi Universe cast

The Tenchi franchise was one of the few anime series of the 1990s to actually have merchandise in mainstream stores like Suncoast and Sam Goody. Most of the times, fans had to find specialty shops to pick up their favorite anime goodies. But I found my nifty Ryoko figure at Suncoast. Hey, I may not be a huge Ryoko fan, but the figure looked cool and I hoped that they’d get around to a sweet Ayeka figure. Sadly, only Ryoko and Tenchi were ever produced.

The release of the series on VHS and DVD were huge events. Both Tenchi in Love and Daughter of Darkness were some of the earliest releases on DVD from Pioneer. They came in a normal CD sized jewel case cocooned by a keepcase sized cardboard sleeve. Because the OAV and television series had not been released, Daughter of Darkness came with a Tenchi Encyclopedia that provided information about all the characters from the franchise up to that film and clips from the series.

Top: OAV Box set unflolded
Bottom: Pioneer's odd jewel case for their
early DVD releases

I remember how excited the anime community was about the box set with both OAV series on it. The whole thing was remastered in THX for picture and sound. On top of that it included an updated version of the Tenchi Encyclopedia and came in a really nifty looking fold out set. Sadly, fans found plenty to complain about, especially the missing Mihoshi Special episode. A bizarre episode of the franchise that introduced the character of Kiyone, but is not considered “cannon” by the kingdom of Jurai or some such nonsense.

The other aspect that the Tenchi Muyo franchise affected was animation style. Prior to the popularity explosion of the series, character design in anime took many forms. The “big eyes small mouth” style was one of many. In fact animators like Leiji Matsumoto and Hayao Miyazaki had very distinctive looks to their characters. It wasn’t uncommon to watch three different series and see three different styles of characters.

Post-Tenchi the AIC look took over. I’m sure the more simplistic character design was one of the major factors for this, but it had the unfortunate side effect of making all anime series appear to be the same from a character design point of view. It became so prevalent that when a new take on character design was attempted (such as giving noses to the characters in Vision of Escaflowne) viewers found the changes “ugly”.

The original release of the OAV series. Note
the THX remaster logo. That got anime fans
really excited back in the 1990s.

Some animators resisted this trend. Director Satoshi Kon always used more realistic character design in all his projects. It works wonderfully with the surreal imagery he crafted and grounds the viewer with the more realistic looking characters. No one is going to tell Miyzaki to mess with his character design. But for other productions unique character designs from the manga are lost.

This is one legacy that seems to have become entrenched in anime. Current shows all very much conform to that AIC style. Every once in a while something like Eden of the East comes along and does something a bit different, but even those changes are slight. Tenchi Muyo certainly made its mark on anime style.

The irony is, the Tenchi Muyo franchise is pure entertaining fun, but it’s nowhere near the pinnacle of animated storytelling that other series and films of the 1990s were. It lacks the thematic depth and emotional chaos of Neon Genesis Evangelion. It was never as funny as Ranma ½. It lacked the visual cool of Cowboy Bebop. Even it’s sister show El Hazard trumped it with a better story, better characters and a poignant ending. My revisit of the bulk of the franchise has revealed a decidedly average show.

Ryoko Oki plushes were all the
rage at anime conventions.

Not to say the show was horrible. It's not at all. But you'd think that something with this kind of legacy would have something innovative or artistic about it. Yes it's a fun show, and yes it's entertaining most of the time. But how can that account for the massive popularity in 1990s? I think the answer is easy enough, Tenchi Muyo hit at the perfect time, with the perfect combination of ingredients. In all forms of media there are examples of this kind of thing. Something strikes, influences countless artists and rakes in tons of money. Then a couple decade later folks look back and say… well it was good, not great. Describes Tenchi Muyo to a T. 

Anime Juke Box - Tenchi Muyo Opening Credits - Tenchi Muyo

Here is the opening theme music to the OAV Series Tenchi Muyo from 1992. Like it's sister series El Hazard this opening credits theme is purely instrumental and performed using syths and samples. This is a real rarity when it comes to OAV and television series in anime. You usually get some kind of J-pop song to start things off with. But I really like the atmosphere this sets up. May not be super close to some of the wacky comedy in the series, but it does capture the mystery and wonder elements of the show.

Oddly, whenever I think of the Tenchi Muyo series, this is the theme that pops in my head.

The Crawling Eye (1958) – MST3K Review

Summary:

The film begins with a couple climbers on a mountain in Switzerland being attacked by an off-screen horror. Whatever attacks them enjoys lopping off heads. Luckily Dr. Alan Brooks (Forrest Tucker) arrives shortly after to set things right. On the train he meets the lovely Pilgrim sisters, Ann (Janet Munro) and Sarah (Jennifer Jayne). Ann is a physic who travels and puts on demonstrations of her uncanny abilities, but something has drawn her to the mountain.

Meanwhile Tucker meets with some of his old scientist pals in their super high tech observatory on the mountain. They’ve been noticing some bitterly cold fog that appears to move in unnatural ways around the mountain. Soon enough more climbers are decapitated, missing climbers turn up acting strangely, Ann is called to the mountain and Tucker shouts at folks a bunch of times. The fog rolls in and with it the horrifying Crawling Eye. Will Forrest be able to save the village from this bizarre menace?

Movie Review:

The crawling eye... and brain... and tentacles?

In the long line of disembodied body parts that have come to life and tried to kill people, the enormous eyeball is rarely seen. Sure the gigantic Pancreas was all the rage, and who can forget the horror of the huge earlobe that tried to smash the city of Denver flat in the hit film “The Skulking Earlobe”. These are crowd-pleasing body parts that everyone loves to see go rogue and destroy towns. But the eyeball, well it just doesn’t get the exposure that others do. It was really quite daring for director Quentin Lawrence to pick it as the main antagonist.

What I’m saying is that The Crawling Eye is ridiculous. So why the hell is it so serious? Why spend the whole movie hiding the eponymous creature? Why have a psychic if you aren’t going to do anything interesting with her? Oh, we can ask these questions all day, but the answers are shrouded in mystery. Or you can just say, it was the 1950s and that is just how these types of movies were made.

That’s why bad movie watchers love them. If you’re up for the typical slow (tension free) build, the stiff acting, the doughy white hero and the hilarious creature in the final 10 minutes than it’s one to seek out. But at the same time, it could have been a bit more fun than it turned out to be.

Ann getting all psychic.

Like most movies of the era, The Crawling Eye is one talky monster movie. A huge amount of time is spent with characters that are basically fodder for the creature. We don’t really get to know them well, but we sit there and listen to them babble for scenes that run too long. There are hints at things that seem to be important. Brooks speaks about a something similar occurring in an expedition to the Andes, but nothing comes of it other than a sense that he must right a wrong from his past. Ann is given a huge build up with her psychic powers. But the filmmakers don’t let her do anything with it other than turn her into a damsel in distress. She didn’t need powers to be that. Her sister is there to look concerned and grave and… not much else. There’s even another male character to end up with Ann, and get some action scenes, but he’s so bland I can’t even remember his name.

Then you’ve got Tucker’s performance as Brooks. It’s typical 50s beefy male hero, who shouts a lot, is very earnest and punches a few people to get things done. In some ways he’s like Cal from This Island Earth but older and without the sonorous voice. Of course he figures out how to stop the creatures, when it’s been painfully obvious to the audience what’s going on. He acts like it’s a revelation, and we’re supposed to be impressed. Mostly I’m wondering if he felt silly doing battle with the tentacles in the finale scene.

Dry alien eyes? Try MST3K brand eye drops.

As for our creatures, well they are a hoot. Yes, they have an eye and they crawl, but they also have some kind of fleshy body that looks like a brain and tentacles that flail around and lift people up. These creatures are portrayed by puppets for the most part. The film does some fun things with them. When they finally show up near the end, you wish they had been present much earlier. A film like Fiends Without a Face did a much better job of creating horror with it’s devilish killer brains and spinal cords, and made them visible earlier in the film to great advantage.

The music in The Crawling Eye was actually pretty fun. It’s big, bombastic and injects some thrills and tension where they are needed. It kind of reminds me of the work of Albert Glasser without all the march-style tracks.

With a premise so silly you kind of wish the movie had embraced the inherent fun. Alas it seems to stumble along and never engage as it should. Luckily there is enough to riff on, and Joel and the bots are on hand for their first official riffing session for Comedy Central.

Episode Review:  

Forrest Tucker in a rare moment not shouting.

For the most part this episode will be a fan favorite because it was the very first episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 on Comedy Central. Prior to this, the show existed only on a cable access station in Minneapolis. This was the first crack that the crew at Best Brains had with their “cow town puppet show”. So they revamped the look of the robots, the sets, the premise, and then picked what they felt would be the iconic movie.

The Crawling Eye in a lot of ways is exactly what you’d expect to find on Mystery Science Theater 3000. It’s black and white. It’s got a ridiculous and yet memorable monster. It’s got star power in the form of Forrest Tucker. It’s completely serious and yet completely goofy. It was an excellent pick to start the series proper.

But keep in mind this is the first episode of the first season. And it is pretty rare that what you see here is the best representation of the series. While the basics are in place, it wouldn’t be until Robot Monster that season one really felt like it was taking off. But that doesn’t mean you can write this episode off.

The main issue with season one episodes is that the riffing is pretty sparse and tends toward comments that observe the action on the screen, instead of actually making a joke based on the action. For example, when some fake looking clouds descend down the matte painting of the mountain, you get Joel and the bots saying something like, “Wow those clouds look fake on Mt. Matte Painting”. While a season two episode would have Crow yelling, “Hey Earl stop smoking behind the matte painting, we’re rolling!” or something like that. These observations became known as “State Park Jokes”, and this episode has quite a few of them.

Joel and the bots are right under that arrow, honestly!

Season one’s pacing feels more like folks watching the movie for the first time and chiming in here and there, instead of the well oiled riffing machine that would evolve later. So there are long stretches of riff free action in The Crawling Eye. It wouldn’t be so bad if the movie weren’t so dull and so afraid to show it’s main monsters.

But there are some gems here. The opening credits contain a strange set of imagery, with arrows pointing at various members of the cast. When the “Directed By” credit appears, the arrow seems to be pointing at Joel and the bots, so they call out “Directed by us!”. The presence of Forrest Tucker leads to all kinds of F Troop jokes. Having never been a fan of the show, most of those went over my head, but they didn’t go crazy with them. In a scene where a snow globe is used a prop during one of Ann’s psychic performances, Crow adds, “Hey when you shake it, the climber’s heads come off.” Later on, Ann is using her ability to see the fate of two climbers. We cut from her babbling to scenes of the men doing exactly as she describes. Of course they get attacked in the fog. Tom realizes, “Hey maybe she’s controlling them. If she shuts up maybe they’ll be OK.”

To be honest the first half of The Crawling Eye is pretty weak. The riffing is infrequent and the state park jokes abound. The second half kicks in with one of the climbers returning to the cabin. This is were things get rolling. This clown is possessed by the creatures and goes around with one eye shut and trying to kill Ann. With his squinty eye and his murderous glowering, the boys start making Popeye jokes. Then there is the fiery finale with Forrest Tucker running around shouting, throwing Molotov cocktails, and battling tentacles. The eye puns come fast and furious. But one of my favorite riffs comes from Crow. Tucker is ordering the ingredients for the Molotov cocktails, and calling the local NATO base for a firebombing. As he barks orders over the phone Crow adds, “Also, deliver six tons of onions and a giant eye chart.”

Undead climber or murderous Popeye?

When it comes to performances in the host segments by our crew, everyone is pretty much in character. Josh Weinstein as Dr. Ernhardt and Trace Beaulieu as Dr. Forrester have the mad scientist shtick down pat. I was never a huge fan of Ernhardt’s character, but he is supposed to be annoying. I just think Weinstein did it too well. However Weinstein makes a great Tom Servo, and some of his riffing is top notch. Josh was only part of the show for this season, but he provided plenty of laughs and his work in the first episode is proof that he was a welcome member of the team. It wasn’t a surprise when he joined Joel Hodgson for his most recent riffing project Cinematic Titanic.

The Crawling Eye also brings us the Joel Robinson character fully formed. Hodgeson pretty much played himself for his entire run of the show, but it was nice to see the more fatherly relationship with the bots already in place in this first episode. Joel’s good-natured riffing is also obvious here, with few of the more aggressive riffs that would become a hallmark of the later years. Trace’s performance as Crow is also exactly what you’d expect. I think there is quite a bit of Crow in Trace and so the character was easy for him to express. All in all, most of the characters are in place in this first episode.

Joel quizes the bots about the film.

While the performances during the host segments are handled well, the segments themselves are pretty rough. This was typical of the first season, most of the host segments just doesn’t click like they did in later seasons. One of the things I always forget is that in these early episodes the mad scientists controlled the experiment, so you’d always start with them babbling about something or other. It works fine in this first episode, as they establish the premise of them controlling Joel’s fate on the Satellite of Love and the experiments with the bad movies. The first segment focuses on this and the invention exchange. Joel creates an Electric Bagpipe, which is a leaf blower and bagpipe combination. The mads come up with the ultimate antiperspirant, which turns you into a dog, because dogs don’t sweat. Dr. Ernhardt demonstrates and starts panting almost immediately. At the first break, Joel has to explain to the bots why humans die if they are decapitated. The second break Gypsy uncoils herself and makes a huge mess. At the third break Joel has to explain why a giant eyeball is horrifying to humans. This turns into a funny discussion on what kind of world would lead to the evolution of a giant eyeball as a dominant life form. The final host segment has Joel asking the robots to give him one good thing and one bad thing about the movie. If they do, they get a ram chip. Of course even the “good things” about the movie are backhanded compliments. This ram chip segment was something that occurred in a few season one episodes.

The Crawling Eye is definitely an episode that will intrigue fans of the show. It’s neat to see this first episode of a favorite series. But for casual fans, all the typical season one issues are here. It’s a slow movie, with a casual riffing session and host segments that aren’t terribly entertaining. I end up comparing the season one episodes to each other, but deduct one star when comparing to the entire series.

I give this one three headless mountain climbers out of five.

This episode is available on Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XVII boxset.

Tenchi Universe (1995)

Introduction:

For some folks, if you want to see the best in the Tenchi Muyo franchise, then look no further than the first television incarnation of the series. It’s got it all, tons of alien girls, explosions, starship battles, catfights, not-quite lightsabers and of course Tenchi, who is just as bland as ever.

Summary:

This might sound a little familiar. Tenchi Masaki (Matt Miller) is just a normal high school kid, who happens to live near his grandfather’s Shinto shrine. One day while heading to school he runs into a hot blue haired girl who falls from the sky. Her name is Ryoko (Petrea Burchard) and she brings a whole mess of trouble with her. Before you know it, a ditzy blonde galaxy police officer, Mihoshi (Ellen Gerstell) is chasing her down. Then the purple haired crown princess of planet Jurai, Ayeka (Jennifer Darling) and her little sister Sasami (Sherry Lynn) arrive as well. Turns out the intergalactic mad scientist Washu (Kate T. Voigt) was hidden away in a cave (don’t ask), and is freed. Then Mihoshi’s long suffering partner Kiyone (Sherry Lynn again) arrives to round out the cast.

After an incredibly silly adventure through time and space (thanks to one of Washu’s wacky inventions) the group finds themselves hurtling through the cosmos as intergalactic fugitives. Turns out the new Emperor of Jurai may be the infamous Kagato (Michael Scott Ryan). His goal is to remove anyone with the blood of Jurai from his path. This includes Ayeka, Sasami, Tenchi’s grandfather and of course Tenchi himself!

Good Points:

• The expansion of the interstellar kingdom of Jurai is interesting
• Kiyone is a great addition to the cast
• Some of the multiple episode storylines are fun

Bad Points:

• The cat fighting between Ayeka and Ryoko is mind numbing
• Mihoshi is worthless in just about every way
• The humor starts to feel really stale all too quickly

Overall:

For me this series just doesn’t hold up. Poor pacing in the storytelling and weak execution of humor really makes this series drag on and on. Mihoshi is the main source of my pain, with nearly every plot point or story line involving her making things hurt more. There are some fun moments here. The second half is much better than the first but as a whole this series just fell flat.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 4

Sound: 3

Acting: 4

Script: 2

Music: 3

Direction: 2

Entertainment: 2

Total:  2

In Depth Review

Ryo Oki the Cabbit signals the commercial break.

When it comes to the Tenchi Muyo series, there are those who prefer the OAV series, and those who think Tenchi Universe is the king. Obviously I’m a fan of the first OAV series (and choose to skip the second series when I can). But it’s hard to deny the fact that Tenchi’s most popular incarnation tends to be this first television series (a second series called Tenchi in Tokyo is usually on the bottom of most anime fans ranking of the franchise). Two of the three films followed this continuity, and most of the merchandise I’ve seen for Tenchi usually points toward this story line.

Visually the animation in Tenchi Universe is about what you’d expect from an anime of the period. It gets a little sloppy here and there. Crowd scenes lack detail, and there’s some reuse of animation. But for the most part it is solid. The character design is virtually the same as the OAV. Some scenes, like Ryo-Oki’s transformation from Cabbit to spaceship are taken right from the OAV.

Princess Ayeka attempts to make a deal with Ryoko.

The second half of the series features the cast fleeing across the universe, and so we get to see a bit of a shake up in the design. Some of it is interesting, mostly the Galaxy Police headquarters and the new fleet ships from Jurai. Other planets are less interesting, ending up being typical anime tropes: the space port looks like a Japanese mall, the “resort” planet is one giant beach, and so on.

The sound is also taken right from OAV. That means you’ve got the same raiding from Skywalker sound here as before. It works well enough. The music is also lifted right from the OAV, with some new material by composer Nagaoka Sikou. It’s good stuff, but very similar to his work on El Hazard.

As usual the opening and ending songs are a bit of fun. The opening song really takes the cake being pure fun 90s style J-pop. It’s called “Tenchi Muyo” and performed by the group Sonia. But the English version performed by Kit Thomas is just as addictive and is amazingly similar sounding in style. The end themes are light affairs. The show would alternate between the two and while they are pleasant enough neither makes much of an impression.

The acting in Tenchi Universe is still excellent. By this point the English voice cast well secure in their roles. Since the story is basically a rehash of the initial series, there wasn’t much new ground. All that was needed was for the gals to go a bit more extreme in the acting. Both Darling as Ayeka and Burchard as Ryoko get to shout and rant and rave quite a bit more in this series. The side effect is that Darling becomes more shrill and has been known to cause ear bleeding. Burchard can bellow with the best of them. When these two get going, well let’s just say it’s been known to drive some folks away from the show.

One of my favorite new voices is Sherry Lynn’s performance as Kiyone. I never knew until this review that Lynn was doing both Sasami and Kiyone – two characters that are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Sasami is cute as a button and her voice matches. Kiyone is a tough and dedicated Galaxy police officer, and Lynn changes her voice to match. She helps build Kiyone’s ass kicking personality, making her my favorite character in the series.

Tenchi, bland in any incarnation.

Sadly, as awesome as Kiyone is, the script just keeps failing to deliver for her and just about everyone else. Since this is basically a retelling of the first OAV series, there are few surprises in the story. Sure little things like, how Mihioshi arrives, or who Kagato turns out to be are slightly different. But the overall story is the same. Tenchi meets girls. Girls cause trouble. Kagato threatens everyone. Tenchi faces Kagato and wins. Everyone is happy ever after - fighting over Tenchi. The big issue here is the poor balance of plot and comedy. Yes, the OAV series had its lighter moments, and the second series was mostly played for laughs. But things just go to the extremes here.

There are whole episodes in Tenchi Universe dedicated to filler. Nearly all these filler episodes contain a fun moment or two, but mostly they consist of the following: Ryoko and Ayeka bicker, Mihoshi does something really stupid, Kiyone rues her lot in life, Washu laughs like a loony and shows an invention, Sasami and Ryo-Oki are cute, Tenchi is exasperated, Ryoko and Ayeka come to blows and things explode. This kind of thing plagues the first half of the series. The writers attempt to shake things up a bit with a bounty hunter named Nagi (Julia DeMita) pursuing Ryoko and making things complicated. But in the end she has a heart of gold, so no real threat there.

Sasami gets to play Sailor Moon in her alternate reality.

The first half does end with a fun three part story where one of Washu’s inventions sends the gang into their own ideal parallel worlds. While parts of it do drag a bit, some of it is very funny. I love Kiyone’s perfect world without Mihoshi (don’t blame her at all there). Sasami’s perfect world where she is a super hero like Sailor Moon is a blast. This storyline also gives Mihoshi and Ryoko a bit more to do than normal. Ryoko actually has a poignant moment in her world that plays out well. Washu fans will be disappointed; she ends up sitting around trying to fix her machine throughout the episodes.

The second half Tenchi Universe starts off well, with Jurai forces arriving on Earth to arrest Ayeka and Sasami for treason. Ryoko’s reaction to this is priceless. This type of comedy, built off the situations and not falling into pure catfights is what the writers should have gone for. Yes, Ryoko and Ayeka are rivals for Tenchi. Yes they are opposites, and don’t like each other. But unlike the OAVs, neither one gains respect for the other. The endless bickering and fighting end up dragging whole episodes down. This can’t help but affect the series as a whole.

Kagato is just as evil in this incarnation.

A few episodes are spent getting the heroes into space and escaping from the Galaxy police. Those work well enough, but the middle portion of the second half, as the characters wander around, falls on tired formula. One of the worst offenders is the “we have no money and can’t eat or power the ship” storylines. This occurs in at least three episodes in this series and was a staple of space travel anime in the 1990s (it was a running gag in Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star and wore out it’s welcome just as quick there). Anyone looking for fan service will enjoy the episode where the gals enter a bathing suit contest on the resort world. But most of the time, these episodes are pointless and dull. One exception was a nice episode where Sasami meets a ghost on an abandoned ship. The story has a nice resonance and gives Sasami a bit more of a personality.

Things pick up a great deal when the crew reaches the checkpoint around the borders of Jurai controlled space. Tension is raised from that episode forward. Revelations about Tenchi’s past build on the story and Kagato finally takes some action himself, instead of letting the galaxy police or Jurai military do all the work. These final five episodes are some of the best in Tenchi Universe and make you realize how entertaining the series could have been if it had toned down the humor and built a solid storyline from the beginning (kind of reminded me of George Lucas’ approach to the prequels of Star Wars actually).

The other huge benefit with the second half is that there is a full-blown antagonist actually creating conflict. Including Kagato in the story and having him actually attempting to thwart our heroes makes you realize how empty the first half feels. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy fun encounters and more humor based shows. But even something like Ranma ½ knew that including some kind of antagonist was key to helping the characters grow and create some momentum in the plot.

Kiyone is just as annoyed by Mihoshi as I am.

I already mentioned how old the cat fighting gets, but my other huge problem with this series is how they used Mihoshi. In the OAV series, she was blonde, a bit dense but still aware of what she needed to do as a Galaxy police officer. Yes she was a klutz, but she could pilot her ship well enough, and still managed to get her cases completed. But this version of Mihoshi is beyond dumb: she’s rock stupid. 

There is no way in hell this woman would be in any position of law enforcement, no matter how incompetent they were. Yes, I understand it’s supposed to be funny, but it is so against any common sense, I can’t laugh at it. If the character was a ditzy actress or something like that I’d be able to deal with Mihoshi. But the fact that she’s supposed to be an officer and the fact that she is teamed with Kiyone is just poor story construction. The writers basically create Kiyone as a foil to Mihoshi, but she is actually a much more interesting character. Mihoshi is just painful in this series, and her constant screw-ups that move the plot of the episodes forward feel like a really bad writer’s crutch. The worst thing of all, as dumb as she is here, she’s even worse in Tenchi in Tokyo. Yeah I didn’t think it was possible either.

Ryoko is the queen of this series.

The writing combined with some really poor pacing within the episodes keeps me from enjoying this series too much. In some ways, I can see why folks enjoy Tenchi Universe, more than the OAV. The world is expanded beyond what the OAV eventually did. The second half has a momentum that the OAV series never really got right. Some of the stories are pretty solid and entertaining. Some of the humorous episodes really work, like the festival episode or the time and space adventure series. But I think this might come down to the issue of which one you were exposed to first. I started with the OAV series and the Daughter of Darkness movie. That version of the characters seems the truest to me. Folks who started with this series or the movie Tenchi in Love often complain how flat the OAV characters are.

And there is one more thing to consider. If you like Ryoko, than you’ll enjoy Tenchi Universe more. The creators obviously liked her. She gets all the good lines, all the real good character moments and it is heavily implied that Tenchi connects with her over all the other girls. Tenchi Forever even further cements this fact. I’ve always been partial to Ayeka (gotta love purple haired anime girls who aren’t afraid to kick ass), and she comes across as a complete harridan in this series. For me, Kiyone is the best part, and even she is underutilized. When I first started this look back at the Tenchi franchise, I was hoping to find that this series aged well, and was really the backbone of the Tenchi Muyo collection. But it was really about as weak as I remembered it. Sad but true.