Friday, March 29, 2013

A Fan Girly Post: I'm Going to Disney World


IT'S TIME FOR A FAN GIRLY POST
As many of you might know, I had only come back from Disneyland at the end of January. Sadly I never got to finish all my re-cap posts of this trip (I hope to soon!), and yet somehow by the magic that is pixie dust and believing, I am going to the other park - Disney World in October of this year! This particular trip has been in the works for almost two year, and for a split second looking like it wasn't gonna be able to happen, but now it is 100% happening and I am so excited, I can't even properly explain it all. But for a moment, let me try!

First off, this will officially be my first Disney trip without my mom. Its a bit bitter sweet to not have my casual Disney fanatic with me, but its a good stepping stone for me slowly growing up and doing these big fancy vacations all by my lonesome. But I actually won't be alone! This will also be my first big non-convention vacation that I take with friends. I will be going with my frilly friends near and some from far, and I can't wait spend some quality time with them.

This will also be my first Disney World trip where I am not staying at the Carribean Beach or Port Orleans Resorts. This time I will be staying with my friends at one of the value resorts, The Pop Century Resort to be exact. I am super excited to stay at this place, which has gotten a lot of good reviews from my friends in the past. I am really hoping we stay at either the 50's or 80's area of the resorts, especially the 50's since there is the super cute Tramp statue near the area (pictured above)! I also can't wait to check out all the cool stuff offered at the resort, including a bridge that connects to new resort Art of Animation, along with movies shown by the poolside. (And since we will be there during October, I am so hoping for some cool Halloween movies!)

Speaking of Halloween, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party will be going on during our stay and we plan to be there for that event as well. So who will I be? I am going to do a much better and wig adorn version of a Marie inspired coordinate. I have worn a similar coordinate at other events, but prior I had never been a fan of wigs. Now I LOVE wearing wigs, I am gonna rock this coordinate out. 

I want to also mention that as usual I can't wait for all the epic food! Last time back in 2008 I was at Disney World, I didn't research the places I wanted to eat as much and stuck to nostalgic favorites. Though I am doing that this trip too, I have been researching hardcore into this amazing blog called the disney food blog and have been looking into the best things I haven't tried yet! Look at it and I dare you to not get hungry to an extreme degree just seeing the pictures.

So, yeah, I am excited. And I can't wait to make a bunch of epic posts for you guys to see before and from it when it happens. Maybe even I'll do videos and be a fancy blogger like I wanna be.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

A Fan Girly Post: New Hayao Miyazaki Movie Gets Release Date!

It's time for a....
Fan Girly Post
Recently, Anime News Network announced that acclaimed animation director Hayao Miyazaki's next animated feature, title The Wind is Rising (or Kaze Tachinu) will be officially released on July 20th in Japan! I am so beyond excited for a new Miyazaki. Yes, I did mostly enjoy Ponyo. It is never going to be my favorite Ghibli/Miyazaki movie by a long shot even though it had its moments. So with a five year gap of new pure Miyazaki work, this news made me extremely happy. 

As far as I know this is based on a manga Miyazaki has been currently working on, and it seems really cool but I don't really know much of the story. But even with as little information as possible, I am still super super excited, as I am for anything new from Miyazaki or Ghibli itself. 

What are your thoughts on this news? Are you ready to see what fantastical world Miyazaki will take us to this time? Let me know in the comments!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Magical Revisited #4: Jem and the Holograms



In the past entries of Magical Revisited, we have taken a jump into the world of Anime's contributions. Though it can be said that Japan's contribution to the genre is the most prolific and memorable by many, but others can say the same about today's show. As we were speaking of Creamy Mami, a large plot point of the 80's was the fantasy of little girls or normal women turning into crazy and totally outrageous pop star idols. But as Creamy Mami was more of a one layered and confused sort of deal, our Magical Girl in discussion is a clear tale of duel personalities, romantic issues, rival bands, and the biggest hair possible.  So let's jump on into the rockin roadster and meet Jem and the Holograms


The story of Jem is one of a layered onion, to say the least. Beginning in 1983, Hasbro was looking to create a doll that would be a more profitable competition against doll giant Barbie and her new Rock N' Roll styled collection. Hasbro took inspiration from popular female rock idols of the time (Debbie Harry or Joan Jett), along with punk bands, and created the new doll line titled Jem. As the Jem dolls then became world wide successes, Hasbro decided to create a tag-a-long television series similar to their current hit G.I.Joe, but this time for the more female oriented demographic. Thus the Jem and the Holograms television series was born, and defined much of a generation.

Jem tells the story of Jerrica Benton, heiress to Starlight Records and Starlight House for Orphaned Girls. We meet Jerrica the night of her father passing and learn that competing businessman, Eric Raymond wants the rights to her father's company. Jerrica is then twisted into a mystery of her father's past and learns of the technology he created known as Synergy, a machine that could create any hologram with the call of it's name. With this, Jerrica, her sister Kimber, and their friends Aja and Shana, form the new band The Holograms, along with Jerrica transforming into her alter ego, Jem.

Jem as a character was the side of Jerrica that is more wild, confident, and out spoken. Though Jerrica featured a lot of those own qualities herself, it really was Jem that brought those to the forefront, especially when it came to the number one topic in her life: Rio. Rio is Jerrica's perfect purple haired boyfriend that is loyal as a loyal boyfriend can be. Rio would do anything and everything for Jerrica, until he met Jem, to which for him was sort of the forbidden fruit.


On the other hand, we have our "villains" or rival band of the series, The Misfits. These group of "rebels" were formed by Eric Raymonds record label, and with the ultra inspirations of bands like The Clash and The Dead Boys, created a much more complex and interesting band overall. Lead by green haired vixen Pizzazz, good hearted Stormer and past criminal Roxy, these three made a band that consistently was bizarre and yet somehow no matter how many times they tried to kill The Holograms (Yes, these were some intense situations) they never seemed to get arrested. 

Maybe its because these characters had a bit more depth and interesting inner demons then say a typical generic Barbie, or because these girls, regardless of which band, were definitely living an adventurous life, but Jem and the Holograms still remains a cult classic to many, and especially to me.

Sure, the animation is questionable and nothing stand out. Yes, the story lines much of the time now come off as cheesy and campy at best. But there was something about this show that no other had or has had for me since. Personally in my own right, I feel a lot of it has to do with the almost over the top antics that these characters would get into. From a decade that also born soap dramas like Dynasty, dramatic and over the top was the feel of the 80's overall, and maybe since I was a 90's baby I was still craving that sense of insanity, and Jem just happened to perfectly give me what I wanted from the decade prior to my existence. 

Another aspect that made this show memorable was the 3 new songs that would premiere per episode, with a special music video inspired sequence to go with it. Though later as the series went on certain songs were re-used, it was an element that no other show at the time had. Many shows have attempted to replicate a similar vibe, but not to the same incredibly awesome success. I will have to say, my absolute favorite is "Truly Outrageous", which includes Jem as a mermaid, princess on a unicorn, and traveling on rainbow clouds. And lets not forget that these sequences were specially animated by future Sailor Moon studio, Toei Animation. 



One thing that has always made me curious though was Jerrica and Rio's relationship, and how Jem effected it. I mean think about it from either perspective: Jerrica is seeing her perfect lavender haired god of masculinity going off with a girl that has a complimenting hair color and doesn't seem to give a crap about Jerrica's feelings towards their "relationship". But yet, for some bizarre reason, Jerrica is the one feeling guilty about lying to Rio that she is Jem? WRONG. Jerrica, if you go with the train of thought that you and Jem are different people then he is clearly doing something wrong on his end, and you are a beautiful girl even when you aren't a rockstar. I know this guy has been with you since the beginning of time, and has rocked that fantastic hair since then as well, and he makes your outfits ever so perfectly, but you need to get yourself a really loyal man. You even had a rockstar version of The Beast falling for you, so get yourself a real man honey!

But if we put these facts aside, Jem is a silly show for silly reasons and will always be memorable for those exact things. Its a product of its decade and I honestly find a hard time finding anything that was even relatively close to it in any sense. Sure there have been similar pop idol shows prior and after (case in point: This was around the same time as Creamy Mami) and it can easily be seen that many pop stars born in the 80's have taken influence, especially Lady Gaga and K-$-ha (Kesha), who literally look like modern day Jem and Pizzaz. Jem has even gotten enough of a cult status to have many of the Dolls and DVD box sets released in the last few years, along with tons of other amazing new merchandise! In a word it can be said that it is Truly Truly Outrageous!

But now begs the question, was there any other magical girl shows that came out in US? I know this might be one that stumps you, and because of this next time we are gonna exclusively speak about the mahou shoujo series you might have never heard of, forgotten, or wished you could watch again! Next time: The Other USA Magical Girls. Trust me, you might be surprised what you find. 




Friday, March 8, 2013

Magic a'la Mode Presents: "The Girl" Vs. "Hitchcock", A Deeper Comparison


Sometimes it becomes apparent that Hollywood choses to focus their energy on bringing to life on screen a persons previous life in droves. Maybe its the glamour they offered, the views one could take on their own existence, or just the publics fascination. But I always find it funny that not one but usually multiple similar bio-pics come out around the same year, focusing on such an individual.

This past year, Hollywood has chosen this individual to be the infamous icon of directing, Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock, as to many a film student, is considered genius across the board. His use of simplicity in his visuals are memorable beyond their initial release and yet are so completely hard to configure their perfection that future filmmakers still try but yet can't seem to completely capture the brilliance. Many say that Hitchcock's two most memorable films are Psycho (which defined the slasher genre from then on) and The Birds (which continued Hitchcock's brilliance) Those two would also be the subjects of these bio-pics.



First, lets discuss the TV movie equivalent The Girl, starring Sienna Miller and Toby Jones. The Girl speaks of the relationship between model turned actress Tippi Hedren and Hitchcock (mostly of them making The Birds), and how screwed up their interaction got. In many ways, one could compare this in a way to Beauty and the Beast, as even in the script a reference to a similar tale (The Frog Prince) is made in a scene where Tippi's stylist says Hitchcock "Is like a prince trapped in a frog's body", makes one think this could be a story of sympathy. But when this relationship is tied to one of the most infamous filmmaking moments of all time (In which Tippi was thrown onto a set with live birds eating her face, which took over five days to shoot), lets just say things never end up pretty.

But interestingly enough, some of my favorite moments from The Girl were the ones showcasing true pain, emotionally and physically from the characters. Listen, I am no fan of torture porn films like Saw, but I am always impressed with the level of talent it takes for an actor to truly dive into a controversial role, especially when they are two real people within the public eye as Hedren and Hitchcock were.

This is what makes The Girl so interesting, which really comes from Toby Jones performance. You can tell Jones is meant for these kind of chameleon like roles, in which he truly develops a relationship within himself with his character. Aside from the incredible make up, he really takes on Hitch full force. Miller on the other hand does the best she can. Its more impressive them her dreadful take in Factory Girl, but nothing beats her in Interview (Where she is, in fact, in another weird relationship, but with Steve Buscemi.)

You can also tell the visual attention to detail in this HBO production. Bird's Eye View like shots of Hitchcock on staircases, Miller's period appropriate hair styles, even the perfectly aligned cuts on her face during the infamous cage scene, you can't ignore the flawless take on this small section of history. Listen, I truly appreciate all that is mentioned above. But when you look at the facts, this is obviously only one side of the story (mostly on a sympathetic end for Hedren's side) which makes the film slightly hard to manage as a whole, but still has re-watch ability.



But then you have Hitchcock, which though probably made with a higher budget seems closer in relation to a Disney or PBS afternoon special - with every aspect of fluff humanly imaginable. As you can see from the detail and interest I had in The Girl above, I can honestly say that complete polar opposite when it comes to it's competition. Though clearly Hitchcock has the better and more well known cast, it has a huge issue at hand: What it is trying to convey? Yes, it visually is stunning. Yes, the make up on Anthony Hopkins is flawless, and of course, Helen Mirren is in it - nough said.

So then what is the problem? Simple, there is no real compassion in this. I can definitely see that there was effort made in this production, but if you were to compare it say to the infamous Mommy Dearest, it blows its subject matter way out of proportion and with so many fantasy elements of tong and cheek humor it ruins its message, if it ever had one to even begin with. The story of how Hitchock made Psycho should be one that brings people in droves because it is interesting. Instead, we are given the story of an overweight man with an addiction to looking at blondes, which is such an obvious mark about the man, if you know your Hitchcock history, that it seems almost cartoonish and silly.

I will say that Helen Mirren is the only saving grace of this movie, and is probably the only reason I stuck around. Of course, she is the Barbie like portrayal of her real life counterpart (Hitchcock's wife, Alma Reville) and in many occasions its clearly Alma's story all together, and not at all the story of how a movie is made. So, I ask then - what were the filmmakers hoping to accomplish? Because all I can conceive was their attempts at making a comedic parody of a interesting man's existence, especially coming from Hopkin's overall silly attempt, is unfortunate and disappointing in the eyes of many a Hitchcock fan such as myself.

Overall, it's clear that neither of these films are perfect, which is the case with most films in general. But my award for the better would have to go with the The Girl. It knows more of what it wants, even if thats campy, and Toby Jones is clearly the better and more believable Hitchcock. It's a film that is more sure of itself and its decisions and gives at least some sort of an interesting and less candy sweet rendition of a story we know too well about, even if it's coming from such a mysterious figure.
Thursday, March 7, 2013

Magical Revisited #3: Studio Pierrot



Now that we have gone over some very successful titles, I think its time to dust off some that you are most likely not that familiar with. Let's take a trip down memory lane shall we? As this article is gonna require a lot of hair spray, leggings, pastel tones, and bangle bracelets. I, readers, present to you my favorite Magical Girl show creators, and probably the birthplace of many modern traits of the anime industry itself. May I present to the works of Studio Pierrot, and their multitude of Mahou Shoujo oriented programming! 


In the beginning, Studio Pierrot was known by some as a small anime studio without a truly big hit on their hands. Urusei Yatsura took a good chunk of their time, but was a collaboration effort with other studios (and also brought about the departure of many future anime stars, including Ghost in the Shell's Mamoru Oshii). But then came 1983, and the creation of one of the biggest Shoujo titles and marketing franchises in Japan, the infamous and lavender covered pop idol "Angel", Creamy Mami.


When I started this blog, I actually posted about my love of the Mami in large volumes. Creamy Mami was created as a show that would also be a marketing strategy to have an up and coming pop idol voice the lead character, and ironically have a plot that is similar. This would be a formula that would become incredibly successful, even outside of Japan and Anime in general (Disney obviously took note, even though they had had similar success in the 60's) This would definitely become a staple for the anime industry in terms of its marketing of music and merchandise as a whole. 

But what about the story? Creamy Mami is the tale of ordinary little girl Yuu. Her parents own a cream puff business, and she happens to crush on the traditional perfect teenage boy, wishing she was older to grab his attention. One day, Yuu comes across a spaceship (just go with it) and gets trapped inside it. Because she helps the aliens within the ship, she is given a gift of a magical item that will allow her to become the grown supermodel looking lady she wishes she could be. Once she is transformed, she gets pulled into the world of becoming a pop idol and thus our story goes forth. 

Creamy Mami is one of the most successful magical girl franchises to date, and because of its success, this made the way for other series to come from Studio Pierrot. Though it has similarities to a show from the US, which I will discuss in the future, it is such a good piece of adorable lavender fluffy. But after Creamy Mami, what would be next? 



Persia, The Magic Fairy premiered in 1984, with also a good push of success. People were hoping for a new series in the vein of Mami, and Persia gave a much more unique take on the idea of Pierrot's formula (which will become apparent), which gives Persia a much more memorable fame. Taking place in Africa, Persia is a 11 year old who is growing up around the animals of the plains, who then is rescued by a family of twin brothers and their grandfather to their home in Japan. 

On her way to Japan, her mind falls into a place called "The Lovely Dream", a fairy tale world of perfection. There she is told that this magical world is dying, and with the request of its people, asked to help save this magical world. This is where the formula comes in! Persia is then given the power to become a fairy herself, along with becoming an older version of her 11 year old self, with the help of a magic item from the world.

If you couldn't tell, this is the beginnings of the Pierrot Formula. Most of the titles sort of dealt with the same basic plot of young girl likes older guy, wants to impress, is given powers by an "alien" force and thus becomes the perfect late teen/early 20's female. This could be considered a sort of anti-feminist story telling, the sort of general Barbie like stereotype that plagues that majority of our current media for young girls. 

But I feel that Studio Pierrot can be forgiven for these traits - because they have mastered the element of nostalgia. The precious feeling of childhood as a young girl is hard to capture in most media, but Pierrot has got it down. This tradition would be continued in the three series that would be soon to come, Magical Emi, Pastel Yumi and 90's series, Fancy Lala.



If you were to compare the Disney princesses to anything in the anime world, I would believe that outside of current magical girls (Pretty Cure Franchise mostly to name!), Studio Pierrot's girls have stayed very famously in the public eye, especially when it comes to merchandise and especially with Creamy Mami's fame. With many of the big number anniversaries coming up, Pierrot's girls (known as the Majokko Club) are perfect to capture the nostalgia wave in the Japanese street fashion movement, and for the ability to showcase these shows to a new generation.

If you are curious on how to watch these shows, many of them are easily available online because they are considered "anime public domain" in the world of the Japanese anime industry. Creamy Mami is easily viewable on demand in Japan, and I believe the other shows would be available as well. If you are curious to take a look at Mami, you can here thanks to Crunchyroll! 


Also to go with the Princess reference, the four original Pierrot girls are actually in a handful of crossover specials (or OVA's) together. These specials are nothing mind bending nor memorable, but they sure are fun and if you get enough into watching the series for yourself, you'll be in for a good set of giggles. With the girls fighting aliens in Flash Gordon styled action sequences, and silly situations that obviously were written in a rush, these are only to be viewed by the dedicated Mahou fan. But they can be easily seen online (here) Also, Creamy Mami was popular enough on her own to get a crossover with other Magical Girl super franchise Minki Momo. 

Studio Pierrot's contribution to the Magical Girl genre would leave a mark on many aspects of future series from other studios and franchises all together, and would also be parodied (as seen in its own OVA's) for many years to come. But at the same time as Studio Pierrot's efforts, an other show across in the United States was making an impression and would be one of the few internationally recognized Magical girls coming from the good ol' U-S of A. Next week, we'll get truly outrageous! Can you guess who?

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Magical Revisited #2: Magical Clamp Girls



Traveling back to the 90's, and in a time before Revolutionary Girl Utena, we were also given two popular Magical Girl shows from one group of fantastic women known as Clamp. Clamp is known for their fantasy dramas with giant groups of (very similar) looking male characters with strong female leads along side them. Prior to their first Mahou effort, Clamp was known mostly for their series X/1999, which is not cute and fluffy nor magical to any stretch of the imagination. But when they took a leap into the genre, they created two of its most well loved titles: Cardcaptor Sakura and Magic Knight Rayearth.



In Cardcaptor Sakura, Our story concerns that of a Sakura Kinomoto, a ten year old girl that deserves a book called The Book of Clow, that has inside an enchanted deck of cards. When she opens the book, the spirits within the cards are released, and with the help of the guardian of the book Kero, Sakura must go and lock all the spirits back within the cards. Along the way, Sakura gets help from her best friend, Tomoyo, and goes up against her rival (and later love interest) Syaoran Li. 

As the series continues, Sakura encounters other magical beings, relationship drama, and crazy fights along some of Tokyo's biggest and most famous buildings, all with Sakura wearing some of the cutest and coolest clothes. But what made Cardcaptor Sakura so memorable to my childhood was the true nature of the characters. Yes, this is definitely a fantasy piece, but these characters were very believable. Especially with Sakura's dad being a single parent, the series mirrored a lot of aspects of my younger life. 

Though shows that featured more grown up Magical Girls were fun to watch, it made it even more enduring and interesting to invest in a story that showcased a girl my age, going through the same issues and learning the same things I was at ten years old and even slightly later. I felt a very deep connected with the not perfect Sakura, more then I did prior with other heroines of a similar status. Sakura wasn't super skinny, she loved to eat, she was late a lot to school and she was shy around new people. Sakura was the every girl - except with a magical wand that could allow her to fly and a talking bear to help on her adventures.



Now if you look around the same time, on the opposite side of the spectrum is Magic Knight Rayearth. Though this title is less popular then Sakura, Rayearth offers a fresh take on the Magical Girl: A violent Magical Girl. Sure, there had been fantasy series with strong female character that would get a scratch here and there, but Rayearth was one of a few Magical Girl series that involved a lot of bloody fights (right along side shows like Sailor Stars). Rayearth was the Magical Girl's show for the tomboy in the world, and for the independent woman. None of the girls wore big frilly dresses, instead they scraped their knees and fought with a tough attitude. Though on occasion they would all have their annoying moments, Rayearth's main girl cast was very cool to look up to.

Rayearth is the story of three junior high school girls - Hikaru, Fuu and Umi, who don't know each other. But upon a random school field trip, are sent to the world of Cephiro, a fantasy world thats under attack and needs the help of the legendary Magic Knights (our main heroines). The three girls are given incredible powers and are entrusted with protecting Cephiro. Through their journey, they start off as timid school girls, but become strong and independent women towards the end. You could say in a way that much of the evolution of the girls magic comes with the evolution of a woman herself. 



I believe that both of these Clamp titles are a great beginners place for someone just getting introduced to the Magical Girl genre, outside of the most important title that is constantly mentioned throughout these articles, these are the shows to jump into. Both series give a great redefined look into the genre and the options it can have outside of its stereotypes, and offers a slightly more mature view of how Mahou Shoujo can be, along with life itself. (Utena would be the mature upgrade from these titles, if you were curious.)

Its easy to say that Clamp is an important figure in the world of Anime and Manga as a whole, but to ignore their efforts in the Magical Girl genre would be silly. But what about efforts prior to Clamp, to the bigger name titles? Was there anything before the Moon? Next week, we'll dive into the world of the first successful studio to make a collection of hit Mahou Shoujo shows, Studio Pierrot

Friday, March 1, 2013

Let's Compare It: Beauty and the Beast TV (1987 vs. 2012)



A couple of months ago, I wrote a first reaction article about seeing the teaser trailer for the Beauty and the Beast TV remake. If you read, you will see the nerd rage fuming. But after watching 13 episodes of pure CW cheese, I have given the show some more credit then prior. As someone that watched the original, watching the new series has given me some sort of deja vu, some flashbacks of grander moments from my viewing of the original. So with that, I thought I would take a look at my "favorite" obvious re-hashings of elements from the original to the new and who did it better, if one could even ask such a question.



1. Vincent's First Love 
Category: Evolved Concept
Which Is Better: Original

Vincent having any sort of romance outside of Catherine has always been a bit of a touchy subject - either it is handled with a pointless one episode arc ("The Child"). But when addressing Vincent's first love in the original series ("Arabesque"), we meet a girl from the tunnels that became a dancer due to Vincent's influence. This episode is paced very perfectly in terms of the dramatic tension between the two characters, giving enough time to develop an emotional reaction to the reasoning behind the results of their relationship (especially getting to know awkward teenage Vincent). With this story progression, plus one of my favorite Vincent and Catherine moments were, makes this an unforgettable episode. 

Now if we take a look at the 2012 series, we also get a similar arc, except it is blown out into multiple episodes. Vincent's childhood sweetheart turned finance discovers him roaming in the hospital, after believing him to be dead. Sadly, I think this discovery would have been better if it were drawn out further into smaller moments throughout the series. I feel like making their relationship start up so fast again wasn't realistic. Except I will give the general ending to the arc props, though it wasn't perfect (Spoiler Alert: There is gonna be more - unfortunately.) 

At the end of both these general arcs, we discover why this relationship probably won't work for the best. Vincent's "Beastly" issues got in the way, and prior to judgement free Catherine, these ladies just weren't getting it and got too scared or too Diva to commit. We all know Vincent deserves better then that, especially better then remake fiance Alex, who reminds me of every annoying girl in high school that ran for class president .



2. Catherine's Other Boyfriends

Category: Generally Same Concept
Which is Better: Remake

Now, in the original series, there were various moments in which Catherine would get a new romantic interest that would basically lead Vincent to lose his cool. This was fun and all, but I always found it to be a story line that was too rehashed and recycled, making it a  "Boyfriend of the Week" type show. Granted I get why it was done and it is fun to watch, but not handled the best way possible (and as much as I love Catherine, she ain't no Carrie Bradshaw!)

The remake though actually gets it right, by sticking to one major character who is Catherine's other interest: Evan. Evan works within the same magical perfectly lit Police Office as Catherine, and seems to be the perfect witty British coded match for Catherine. Evan definitely feels protective and secretly loves Catherine, almost to the point of going nuts trying to figure out who that secret creature is that always ends up near Catherine's crime scene work. (Spoiler alert: It's Vincent) 

Giving Catherine a romantic interest that is constantly a topic of discussion in almost every episode makes sense and is done very well without being too ridiculous. Sure, I love the original's short lived triangle of Elliot Burch and Vincent, especially with its fun take on the complete polar opposites of them as characters. But even with Evan and Vincent in the remake being only the battle of Blonde vs. Brunette, its still a bit more enjoyable, and even with the ridiculous nature of the story - more believable.



3. Vincent Loses His Mind (Or Control of the Rawr)
Category: Evolved Concept
Which is Better: Tie

Now we all know that Vincent is definitely a guy with a lot of feels. He has the feels with the inner Beast in him in the remake, and the feels of him being a Beast guy, period in the original. In the 1987 show, it took almost till the end of the series for Vincent to lose it. This of course was a slow build up from the beginning, with Vincent ever so perfectly losing control as each episode went on, especially at season two. This is shown perfectly from episodes 43 - 45, where we see Vincent just standing in a dark corner, drenched in the real sweat Ron Perlman must have had from being in that damn costume all day. Now thats some crazy stuff right there.

Now if we compare that to the remake, this sadly did not have a slow build up. But 
at the same time, in my opinion, its turning and building into something much more interesting and compelling. Yes, they started off the series with Vincent being a pretty boy - with some sort of Monster issue. Now it has been discovered that Vincent's DNA is changing constantly, and mutating him into something else that no one knows is coming. Now I will say, if the series goes the direction I believe its trying to, I will give the best slow clap humanly possible. But time will tell. 

Either way, each of the different versions in this aspect have a strength within this topic. One slowly builds on an all ready interesting premise, while the other makes something boring into something very intriguing. Either way, they equally showcase Vincent off in some regard, even though its hard to compare the supermodel to the real beast otherwise.

In Conclusion

Now with new episodes coming, it will be interesting to see what other plot points evolve from the original into the new. Will they be good? Will they be bad? I am sure some part of it will be campy. Sure, there are other aspects I didn't even get to touch upon (Catherine's Dad's Love Life, Vincent Having An Over Protective Watcher) and there will probably continue to be more and more, as this series goes further on the drama train. 

So, have you been watching Beauty and the Beast (2012)? What are you watching now? I love hearing about new series! 

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