Andy

Considering the time you may need for R&R, you might want the 3 out.

Serenity to wrap up all of the Firefly goodness.

TV to catch up on - Battlestar Gallectica (the New version), LOST, 24 - whatever seasons you missed.

Anime you CANNOT miss - Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Nausica and the Valley of the Wind.

Yeah, yeah Miyuzaki is the man.

If you like dark anime, you might like Fullmetal Alchemist. Alternate world where alchemy (aka magic) came about instead of technology, two boys try to resurrect their dead mother, and lose an arm, a leg, and a whole body in the process. The whole series is about trying to get their bodies back to what they were, and they find that there is an evil force pushing their world to war.

I tried one episode of Full Metal Alchemist and thought it was pretty horribly violent. I should give it more than one episode, but it's kind of a hard sell for me. I want to understand it, honest.

What's the first part of the Battlestar Galactica? Is it the miniseries or season 1?

I heard good things about Howl's Moving Castle. I will add it to my queue. Netflix wouldn't allow me to accept your friend request today. Hopefully that'll work tomorrow. If not we're probably not allowed to be friends anymore.

FullMetal is rather gorey, true, and I get the feeling that there is a lot that just doesn't translate. Big themes are loss, love, atonement, and sacrifice. It's dark and not a "fun" anime.

BSG started with the miniseries I think, then had the series.

The story hasn't changed from 1978, but he miniseries left me kind of cold. The first hour has a very 9-11 feel, 12 planets of humans get annhiliated in a matter of hours with no defenses. Then it starts up with Number 6 (hot leggy blonde-bombshell that seems to have no real purpose but to keep male viewership). I got really annoyed at the we-don't-really-have-a-plot-so-let's-bring-in-hot-women tool of getting ratings. If that's what I wanted to watch I would have just turned on reruns of sex in the city or desparate housewives.

But I hung in their through the end of the first season, and well it took.

LOST is just weird. Half the fun is coming up with theories the next morning at work. It's like Twin Peaks on an island. Nevermind if you don't get that reference.

Of course the first two episodes had a few minutes of seeing two to three female cast members in bikinis or underwear or the male lead shirtless. Again with the one trick pony. Yeah I got over it and am addicted again.

Oh wait, Firefly had a naked chick in a box in the first episode for a few seconds, how easily I forget. Maybe if they aired that one first they might have stayed on the air like the last two series I just mentioned. Wait, no, that's just me being bitter.

I don't know if the naked frozen woman should really count as sex appeal. There are other instances that surely do, but I think that Firefly at least integrated sex appeal with the story in a way that made it somehow less blatant. I respect that somewhat more than the gratuitous eye-candy approach used by most shows. It sounds like you think much the same.

That's what bothered me so much about the Star Treks after the Next Generation. I realize that the Next Generation itself attempted to sell sex appeal early, but they did it kinda poorly at least. Ha. Then you have 7 of 9 and that Vulcan woman on the later shows... give me a break. Neither one could act, and the plot suffered for both. Boo!

Sure, sex sells, but that doesn't make people obligated to sell it.