Earthsea

[tikistitch]

So, we've been hankering to try out the region-free feature of the snazzy new DVD player, so, seeing as we can't wait for the SciFi channel to give over the rights to Earthsea for the official US release, we ordered the J version from CD Japan. And, after just a few short minutes of cursing and stomping around, we located the code to enter into the player to unlock its awesome seekrit powers, and started to watch.

But the best part?





When we busted open the box, the first thing we saw was an ad for Leroy and Stitch!

As for Earthsea, well, we still haven't finished watching, actually. Guess we kind of agree with Ursula LeGuin about the adaptation, it's a bit flat. Also wondering what's up with the first disk. We ordered the super fancy 4 disk set. The first two disks appear to both be versions of the movie, though only one has English subtitles. But, still very satistfying to Fight the Power and watch our anime without being bothered by The Man and his fascist regions.

Comments

[jeepersjournal.livejournal.com]

I know that with one of the versions of the DVD, the english subbed and dubbed versions were supposed to be on seperate discs. Mariska Hargitay=Tenar btw :)

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

O RLY? I know there's an English dub, but didn't know whether it was included in this set. I'll poke around some more and see if I can find it.

[jeepersjournal.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure..

http://global.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/code-j/section-index/pid-1004715918/ Digging around, this cover for the 4 disc version matches yours.

There should be english,french and korean dubs on the 2nd disc.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Well I'll be hornswoggled! You're right my friend, I have the British dub!

I think I'll try watching the dub--easier to look at the pictures that way.

Have you seen it yet?

[jeepersjournal.livejournal.com]

The english dub is actually Disney produced, so it'll show up on their DVD's whenever they hit here- I'm guessing Earthsea'll hit either when Miyazaki's current film [Ponyo... it's about a Goldfish Princess] is in theatres here, or when it's released on dvd here.

I've read all the Earthsea books [and some non-ES LeGuin stuff], and LeGuin seems to be warmer to this then the SciFi adaption, though her site does offer a lot of why it's so mixed [she had signed up w/the understanding Hayao would direct. I guess Goro ended up directing it due to some wacky behind the scenes Ghibli Executive machinations, resulting in the movie we got...I kind of wonder why she didn't got for a character/story approval of some sort after the SciFi fiasco, but who knows]

Disney also has a subbed version of Only Yesterday prepared for cable viewings and non-R1 releases, but no R1 release is in sight for the moment :(

Even if it's an odd adaption, I'm still looking forward to it since it looks to take some chunks from Tehanu, my favorite book in the series.

[jeepersjournal.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, and I'm waiting for the R1 release. Cause I dunno, 2009 doesn't seem too far away....

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

I got through it this time watching the dub. I also think it picks up in the second half. Will be interested in hearing what you think. I didn't *hate* it, but for me it wasn't first rank Ghibli.

I read the Earthsea books, but waaaaaay back, when there were only three of them, so really didn't recognize much in the plot. Need to read them again now, plus the new stuff. I thought they were awfully keen then, but I was in college, so I thought a lot of stuff was really keen.

[jeepersjournal.livejournal.com]

Just so you know, some editions of Tehanu [the 4th book ] have a banner saying "The Last Book of Earthsea" [it was published in the early 90's]. But then 10 years later, LeGuin went and published 2 more books, "Tales from Earthsea" [a short story collection, which isn't what the book is based on], and "The Other Wind".

The Ghibli movie looks to be a mashup of "The Farthest Shore:", "Tehanu" and "The Other Wind", and character ages/timelines are blurred a lot, given Arren's still a young prince and Therru's a teeanger in it.

Tehanu's a great book, probably my favorite [I need to get my own copy] though I can see why Goro only went for parts of it [though the book would of made a great Hayao Miyazaki movie... it's protaganists, an older Tenar and her disfigured adopted daughter Therru, make for unusual fantasy leads, part of it's charm].

The Other Wind is a nice enough conclusion, though it's a bit crowded with ideas...... the Tales from Earthsea story collection was published around the same time, and has way more interesting stories though.

[jeepersjournal.livejournal.com]

Thgough Tehanu more or less directly follows The Farthest Shore, so it kind of makes sense to mush them btw

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Oh, kinda like Dune, where Herbert just kept going on and on? Though it sounds like that later books of Earthsea are actually *good*?

Will be interested to see what he did and didn't grab for the movie. There's some bits from the original trilogy that he included that I thought would have been better omitted completely. But, I did want to give this movie a chance before I re-read the books, just so I wouldn't be spending the time comparing it--sounds like that might be what gets people into trouble with it.

BTW, thought the dub was quite nicely done.

[igrrl.livejournal.com]

The first disc doesn't have subtitles but it has better audio (DTS-ES 6.1). Think of the second disc as the Intl. version featuring the various language dubs and subtitles. I hope this helps.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Aha, that makes sense. Is there different video as well--I was hitting buttons at random and I think I made the first disk change from like widescreen to full screen or something. But I was mostly paying attention to finding the #$%@#$ subtitles.

[animejump.livejournal.com]

I'm envious. I've also read the reviews and LeGuin's commentary that seem to indicate that this is pretty firmly a two-star affair, but I'm a huge whore for Ghibli films.

My problem? I want an HD version, a fancy-shmancy blu-ray or HD-DVD version. If I get the regular version, I'm going to feel like a chump if HD versions start showing up in 3 months.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

I really haven't warmed up to this one. Though, sometimes it takes a while with Ghibli films--I left Howl the first time thinking it was good, not great, but I notice I compulsively watch it every time I catch it on cable.

I haven't actually seen any HD animation yet. I've seen my DVDs on this Oppo player, which supposedly tidies them up somehow, on our flatscreen, and they look pretty darned nice.

[animejump.livejournal.com]

I actually liked Howl from the outset, so much so that I bought the R2 DVD just so I could enjoy the movie 4 months before it came out on DVD stateside. For me, the worst (more like "least awesome") Ghibli movie is Pom Poko.

I wasn't too concerned with HD until I started seeing it regularly. Now I'll sit down and watch bad movies on HD On Demand (yep, DICK TRACY still sucks!) and linger on sports broadcasts that I ordinarily don't follow at all.

As far as anime goes, I don't insist on HD for everything yet, but for popular feature films, I've gotten really reluctant to buy, because I know that an HD version is coming sooner or later. I just don't want to place myself in a position wher I'm buying the same movies over and over, you know?

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Now I'll sit down and watch bad movies on HD On Demand (yep, DICK TRACY still sucks!) and linger on sports broadcasts that I ordinarily don't follow at all.

Heh. The trouble is, after HD, REAL LIFE sucks! In the months after we got the flatscreen, I must've spent hours every day just watching Sunrise Earth and squeaking, "Look, Mr. Tikistitch, it's HD polar bears!"

But, we still don't have the HD DVD player (we were the last people on earth to get a flat screen--we're not exactly early adopters), so that's not a worry yet.

I guess I have seen Nightmare Before Xmas in HD--not truly animation, but it was quite awesome.