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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Monday, 10 October 2005 00:00 |
 Something of a run on final volumes at the moment - this time, it's Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040,
which seems to be one of those series where they had great fun making
it, but couldn't quite figure out how to end it. As a result, the
ending is a little disappointing...
22 - Physical Graffiti
While the boomers under Galatea's control try to break into the Knight
Sabers' base, Sylia and the others rush to get into their hardsuits
while they have the chance. No sooner are the girls ready to go
than the first of the boomers breaks through the tank glass and into
the base - but with Leon and the other men unable to do anything,
getting them safely away is more important than fighting. When
they get out of the building, they find the city overgrown with
organisms growing from the Dragon Line. When they eventually find
a placed that seems safe, the girls are mistaken for boomers by
survivors from the city, and boomers are the last things they want to
see...
23 - Hydra
Leon's wondering what the point is in continuing to fight - it's not
like there's anyone left in Tokyo to protect - but the girls don't
quite see it that way, especially after Galatea is able to link into
Mackey's mind and take control of him, deleting the 'faulty settings'
that make up his human personality. It's enough to push Sylia
into trying to finally defeat Galatea, and although she gives Linna,
Nene and Priss the option to stay out of her fight they're not about to
give up now. The four of them head out to the island that
Galatea's based on, but the closer they get to her, the more difficult
her defences become to penetrate - but Mackey, fighting to retain
control of himself, is able to offer some help through his link with
Galatea...
24 - Light My Fire
Rather than risk defeat, Galatea merges herself with her tower and
heads into orbit, leaving the girls behind. Nene uses her techy
skills to link into a spy satellite to pin down Galatea's position
above the Earth, from where she'll be able to spread her boomer
phenomenon clear across the planet. The only problem is how to
get into orbit to stop her, but Nene has come up with a plan - the
Skyhook...
25 - Walking on the Moon
Something of an 'episode of two halves', this one - it starts looking
at Galatea's origina through her own eyes, from her beginnings as an
'anti-seed' embedded in Sylia's brain, through her 'childhood' and the
realisation that humans saw her as a threat, and her discovery of her
power to control machinery. A nice little piece of background
into the reasons she thinks the way she does, and why boomers are such
a key part of whatever it is she's planning. Part two, and the
Skyhook arrives at the Umbrella, fortunately ahead of Galatea, giving
the girls an opportunity to thwart her. While Nene heads for the
station's control room to take control of its systems, Linna and Priss
doscover that Galatea's phenomenon has already reached the station -
and it may be too powerful there for them to defeat...
26 - Still Alive and Well
Nene and Linna have managed to prevent Galatea firing her Phenomenon
at Earth, but the blast from the resulting explosion has left them
falling towards the Earth - which is not a good situation to be
in. A little bit of lateral thinking from Nene provides a
possible solution, though, when she realises that her hardsuit is a
liquid metal with a mind of its own. Back at the station, Priss
finally comes face-to-face with Galatea, and seeing how Nene and Linna
have learnt to use their hardsuits, finds herself able to resist
Galatea's phenomenon - but just as she's in a position to take the
fight to her, her suit's battery metal runs out of power...
Plenty of mind-games in the final two episodes, with lots of
visions and memory sequences to confuse you and help you lose track of
what's going on - a classic case of the storywriters trying to be too
clever for their own good, I think. The ending itself is also
disappointing, with everyone getting what they wanted and it all ending
up okay. Add in some pacing issues - there are whole
half-episodes here where nothing really happens, which removes any
sense of urgency from the story, and you can't help but think it all
went horribly wrong at the end.
As a series overall, BGC2040 has been pretty good - the
centre segment in particular was hard to stop watching, it was so good,
but the good stuff is sandwiched between a monster-of-the-week
beginning and a badly paced ending. I'd still say it's worth
picking up, especially now the Complete Collection box is out, but be
aware that it's not without its faults.
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