Today I received
Dexter's Laboratory: season 1 and
Night Court: season 4 in the mail.
I couldn't find the former in any stores around the Burbank area (not
too surprising, since Cartoon Network Studio is based here) .. and the latter is
only available online, via the Warner Archive program.
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Baree wrote:Well, so far I have seen two other studio Gibli movies. Spirited Away witch I found watchable but not much more, and Howl's Moving Castle which was way to weird for me. I don't know if they were both from Miyazaki or not, regardless, I am unlikely to ever go out of my way to see any anime.
At the risk of taking some flack from diehard Miyazaki fans, I feel that his first five Ghibli films are
far more 'accessible' to western audiences than anything he's made in the last 15 years, or so.
All of his films are gorgeous works of art .. but his more recent films are much more prone to venture into 'weird' territory (which is not, of course, in itself, a 'bad' thing).
For those who have never seen any Miyazaki films, I will generally recommend
Kiki's Delivery Service or
My Neighbor Totoro as a starting point .. then -- if they like those --
Castle in the Sky and
Porco Rosso. Of his more recent movies, I'd suggest
Spirited Away (but I see you've already 'panned' that one).
Actually, since you're a bit of a 'furry' fan .. you might wanna check out the TV series
Sherlock Hound (aka
Meitantei Holmes), on which Hayao Miyazaki was a co-creator. It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like: the
Sherlock Holmes mythos, in a world populated entirely by anthropomorphic dogs.
Miyazaki even directed six of the episodes himself:
The Little Client
The Abduction of Mrs. Hudson
The Blue Carbuncle
Treasure Under the Sea
The White Cliffs of Dover (personally, my favorite episode)
Where Did the Sovereigns Go?
The other 20 episodes are also enjoyable -- but these six are definitely a cut above the rest .. featuring Miyazaki 'trademarks' such as breathlessly-paced chase scenes, fantastic flight-related sequences, and strong female characters.
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As for VHS .. I never really got into it in a big way (I made the switch to Laserdiscs in the mid-1980's, since they were
much more durable). But I do still have a dozen or so pre-recorded tapes .. and one of them is
Animalympics (which I am now considering replacing with that german DVD release..!)
My primary use for VHS, though, was recording TV shows over-the-air .. some of which I keep around, because they've never seen disc releases. Stuff like
2 Stupid Dogs, Cartoon Network's
What A Cartoon! shorts, Ralph Bakshi's
Tattertown specials, etc. Although, come to think of it .. my VCR has been in storage for the past five years.
