{"data":{"id":15524,"title":"Spectrum Spectator: Star Marine 2","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/spectrum-dispatch\/15524-Spectrum-Spectator-Star-Marine-2","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/15524","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/15524","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"News Update","images":[{"id":5091,"name":"SpecSpec_FI1.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/6r14ogp6otdosr\/source\/SpecSpec_FI1.jpg","alt":"","size":355264,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2016-07-12T19:06:11+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/5091","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/5091\/similar"},{"id":26463,"name":"source.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/media.robertsspaceindustries.com\/weozjmuuh3hwh\/source.jpg","alt":"","size":843046,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2019-09-19T15:49:32+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26463","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26463\/similar"},{"id":27892,"name":"source.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/media.robertsspaceindustries.com\/w3o9r4zgppm77\/source.jpg","alt":"","size":900916,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2021-09-06T14:48:40+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/27892","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/27892\/similar"}],"images_count":8,"translations":{"en_EN":"Hello and welcome to Spectrum Spectator. Thanks for joining us! That fine gentleman is Lars Gonall, and I, as always, am the indomitable Daisy Wences. If you were looking for a show with all the latest spectrum news, reviews, and a bunch of opinionated arguing, then you\u2019ve found the right place.\n\nLars: If, however, you were hoping for a show about cooking aboard your starship, then you are in the completely wrong place. What you probably want is Dinner Adrift with Chef Carmilla.\n\nGood point, Lars. We are not Dinner Adrift.\n\nLars: Now that I think about it, have we ever reviewed Dinner Adrift?\n\nI don\u2019t believe we have. We don\u2019t really talk too often about cooking shows.\n\nLars: Well, at least ones that aren\u2019t competition cooking shows.\n\nTrue, we both got a little too invested in Hot Out the Oven last season. Still think Beatrice should have won Best Baker. Her scones were objectively a million times better.\n\nLars: Did you hear that neither host will be returning for the premiere of Celebrity Hot Out the Oven this season?\n\nYeah, my guess is that neither one of them were willing to risk trying a cake that Ellroy Cass baked.\n\nLars: What would that even taste like?\n\nGlitter and sadness.\n\nLars: For those of you keeping track of the score, that\u2019s Daisy one hundred and fifteen and Ellroy Cass zero.\n\nIt\u2019s pretty easy to win an insult contest when the other person doesn\u2019t even know you\u2019re alive.\n\nLars: Sure, you say that now, but for all we know Cass is out there right now crying in a bathroom.\n\nSafe money is always on Cass being in a bathroom doing something.\n\nLars: One hundred and sixteen.\n\nAll right, playful banter achieved! Shall we move on to today\u2019s actual reviews? I\u2019ll even let you pick where we start.\n\nLars: Oh boy!\n\nWhat do you say? Rory or Star Marine?\n\nLars: Definitely going with the return of one my childhood heroes here. How could I not? I used to devour old Rory Nova episodes when I was a kid. People used to actually call me Rory.\n\nI\u2019m sure they did. For those of you who didn\u2019t catch it, this weekend marked the premiere of a brand new Rory Nova series titled Rory Nova: Ready to Blast Off. This is the first time an original Rory Nova program has been on the spectrum in over 15 years, and it\u2019s changed a fair bit from the wacky cat who flies a ship. Featuring a completely different animation style and a brand new cast of characters, this version has been updated to appeal to the kids of today, which apparently means a ton more missiles and transforming suits.\n\nLars: Yeah, they upped the action a bit, but that\u2019s to be expected when you see the other shows that RTBO is going up against.\n\nRTBO?\n\nLars: It\u2019s what people are calling the new show on the message boards. RNOS is the original series.\n\nRight \u2026\n\nLars: Don\u2019t give me that look. I love Rory Nova, no apologies. So trust me when I say as a fan, even I was in impressed by how deep RTBO dove into the show\u2019s mythology. All these little winks and nods to RNOS have been used to create this incredibly rich setting. For example, in the original, Rory flew out of Spaceport Ringeroo, and you never knew what it was there for or who was in charge. Now in the new series, the writers have gone out of their way to give a full backstory to the owner of the station, Chief Grummels, who was only featured once before as a guy who kept slipping in Rory\u2019s spilled soda. There is real storytelling going on here, and this is just the first episode. Makes me excited to see where they take it.\n\nI wasn\u2019t so sold. It felt like the show didn\u2019t know who they were trying to appeal to: kids who probably don\u2019t remember Rory at all, or the adults who do. I was expecting to see a silly cat get into trouble aboard his good ship Scootaloo, and instead there were all these new characters with complicated backstories. All of whom, I might add, just happened to be deeply scarred by personal tragedies they were trying to avenge.\n\nLars: I think a lot of the show\u2019s original whimsy is still there, they just added depth to it so that the laughs mean more.\n\nYou laughed?\n\nLars: If you go back and watch some of the older stuff, and then watch the new premiere, there\u2019s a lot of DNA being shared beneath the surface. The showrunners even went so far as having Eli Talloway, the widow of the original voice of Rory, Arthur Vin, come in to give the show her blessing.\n\nI can see you are well gone on this one, which is quite touching in sort of a weird way. So, the verdict is, if you are an adult who remembers the original or a kid who loves missiles, then Rory Nova: Ready to Blast Off may be just right for you. For everyone else \u2026 meh.\n\nLars: Always exciting when we have a split decision.\n\nYou mean pretty much every show.\n\nLars: Yup. Every show we do is exciting.\n\nSpeaking of pure unadulterated excitement, Star Marine 2: BloodLock premiered last week. This is the sequel to Star Marine, which itself was of course the financially successfully yet critically panned film version of the popular sim franchise with the same name.\n\nLars: Unadulterated? If anything I\u2019d say the action was full adulterated. Too adulterated even. They fell into the classic sequel trap of trying to outdo the first film by blowing up more stuff and killing even more people and lost sight of what made the first film such enjoyable camp.\n\nI actually liked the first Star Marine, too. It was a mess structurally, but the action sequences really captured the feeling of playing the game. Like during the big second set piece when Captain Bledsoe races down the corridor, snags the ammo, dives into zero g, pops the clip as he spins upside down, and unloads just as the thug lines up his rocket launcher. I swear I\u2019ve done that exact thing in the game.\n\nLars: It was a lovely bit of action choreography. Sadly, all the action in the sequel was a confused mess of dark close-ups, frantic cutting, random explosions and wide shots where you have no idea what you\u2019re supposed to be looking at.\n\nAnd it was just so much harder to get into the characters this time around. The story picks up where the first one left off: Captain Bledsoe has retired from the Star Marines and he\u2019s now trying to forget his blood-soaked past on a transfer station in Nexus, when they get attacked by a gang looking to take it over. Bledsoe has no choice but to form up a squad with some of the ne\u2019er do wells hanging around and take the outlaws down himself. Notice, I\u2019m saying outlaws here. That\u2019s because for the life of me I could not tell you what their name or motivation was in the film. I know from the press release that it was supposed be the Blinders, and that their fearsome leader lost an eye to Bledsoe in the past or something, but I\u2019d be hard pressed to say if any of that was in the movie.\n\nLars: Yeah, the generic-to-the-point-of-bland bad guys were bad, but nothing compared to the clich\u00e9 spewing compatriots. Were we actually supposed to root for these people to live? Holy crap, if I heard that mechanic say, \u201cScrew it twice with a wrench!\u201d one more time, I was going to snap my screen in half.\n\nYou don\u2019t screw things with a wrench!\n\nLars: I know!\n\nOne thing they did get right was the station itself, which was directly modeled off the OP Station Demien level from the game. Everything from the door placements, to the weapon stash, to the path they take to get the advantage in the final shoot out, all lined up pretty perfectly with what you can experience in-game. It made me wonder though, why didn\u2019t they just use the lore from that station in-game for the movie?\n\nLars: What do you mean?\n\nIf you dive into the Star Marine fiction, they have all this great stuff about how there was this terrible massacre there when these gang members slipped aboard the station and murdered almost everyone. One survivor managed to make it to a comm station and alert the authorities, and that\u2019s when they send in the Star Marines. How cool would that have been? Bledsoe being the lone survivor and having to hold out till the Star Marines arrive?\n\nLars: Well we can only hope they do better with the inevitable Star Marine 3.\n\nThat\u2019s a perfect spot to take a break. When we come back, we go from sequels to another remake; this time of the classic film One Way to Go which itself was a remake of another, even earlier film.\n\nLars: I actually didn\u2019t know that until Daisy pointed it out to me. Turns out nothing is original ever.\n\nPretty much. We\u2019ll give you plenty of history tidbits, and let you know how the new one stacks up, when Spectrum Spectator returns.","de_DE":"Hallo und willkommen beim Spectrum Spectator. Danke, dass du dich uns angeschlossen hast! Dieser feine Herr ist Lars Gonall, und ich bin, wie immer, die unbezwingbare Daisy Wences. Wenn Sie auf der Suche nach einer Show mit den neuesten Spektrum-Neuigkeiten, Rezensionen und einem Haufen von rechthaberischen Argumenten waren, dann sind Sie hier genau richtig.\n\nLars: Wenn du jedoch auf eine Show \u00fcber das Kochen an Bord deines Raumschiffs gehofft hast, dann bist du hier v\u00f6llig falsch. Was du wahrscheinlich willst, ist Dinner Adrift mit Chef Carmilla.\n\nGutes Argument, Lars. Wir sind nicht Dinner Adrift.\n\nLars: Wenn ich jetzt dar\u00fcber nachdenke, haben wir uns jemals mit Dinner Adrift besch\u00e4ftigt?\n\nIch glaube nicht, dass wir das haben. Wir reden nicht wirklich oft \u00fcber Kochshows.\n\nLars: Nun, zumindest solche, die keine Wettkampfkochshows sind.\n\nStimmt, wir beide haben in der vergangenen Saison ein wenig zu sehr in Hot Out the Oven investiert. Ich denke immer noch, dass Beatrice h\u00e4tte Best Baker gewinnen sollen. Ihre Scones waren objektiv eine Million Mal besser.\n\nLars: Hast du geh\u00f6rt, dass keiner der beiden Gastgeber zur Premiere von Celebrity Hot Out the Oven in dieser Saison zur\u00fcckkehren wird?\n\nJa, ich sch\u00e4tze, dass keiner von ihnen bereit war, einen Kuchen zu probieren, den Ellroy Cass gebacken hat.\n\nLars: Wie w\u00fcrde das \u00fcberhaupt schmecken?\n\nGlitzer und Traurigkeit.\n\nLars: F\u00fcr diejenigen unter euch, die den \u00dcberblick behalten, sind das Daisy einhundertf\u00fcnfzehn und Ellroy Cass null.\n\nEs ist ziemlich einfach, einen Beleidigungswettbewerb zu gewinnen, wenn die andere Person nicht einmal wei\u00df, dass du am Leben bist.\n\nLars: Sicher, das sagst du jetzt, aber soweit wir wissen, ist Cass gerade da drau\u00dfen und weint in einem Badezimmer.\n\nSicheres Geld ist immer auf Cass, der in einem Badezimmer ist und etwas tut.\n\nLars: 1.16.\n\nIn Ordnung, spielerisches Necken erreicht! Kommen wir nun zu den heutigen aktuellen Reviews? Ich lasse dich sogar w\u00e4hlen, wo wir anfangen.\n\nLars: Oh Mann!\n\nWas sagst du dazu? Rory oder Star Marine?\n\nLars: Definitiv mit der R\u00fcckkehr eines meiner Kindheitshelden hier. Wie k\u00f6nnte ich das nicht? Als Kind habe ich alte Rory Nova-Episoden verschlungen. Fr\u00fcher nannten mich die Leute eigentlich Rory.\n\nIch bin sicher, das haben sie. F\u00fcr diejenigen unter Ihnen, die es nicht bemerkt haben, war dieses Wochenende die Premiere einer brandneuen Rory Nova-Serie mit dem Titel Rory Nova: Ready to Blast Off. Dies ist das erste Mal seit \u00fcber 15 Jahren, dass ein originelles Rory Nova-Programm auf dem Programm steht, und es hat sich einiges von der verr\u00fcckten Katze, die ein Schiff fliegt, ge\u00e4ndert. Mit einem v\u00f6llig anderen Animationsstil und einer v\u00f6llig neuen Charaktere, wurde diese Version aktualisiert, um die Kinder von heute anzusprechen, was anscheinend eine Tonne mehr Raketen und verwandelnde Anz\u00fcge bedeutet.\n\nLars: Ja, sie haben die Action ein wenig gesteigert, aber das ist zu erwarten, wenn man die anderen Shows sieht, gegen die RTBO antreten wird.\n\nRTBO?\n\nLars: So nennen die Leute die neue Show auf den Messageboards. RNOS ist die urspr\u00fcngliche Serie.\n\nRichtig....\n\nLars: Schau mich nicht so an. Ich liebe Rory Nova, keine Entschuldigungen. Also vertrau mir, wenn ich als Fan sage, selbst ich war beeindruckt, wie tief RTBO in die Mythologie der Show eintaucht. All diese kleinen Zwinkern und Nicken von RNOS wurden verwendet, um diese unglaublich reiche Umgebung zu schaffen. Zum Beispiel flog Rory im Original aus dem Spaceport Ringeroo, und man wusste nie, wof\u00fcr es da war oder wer das Sagen hatte. Jetzt in der neuen Serie sind die Autoren aus dem Weg gegangen, um dem Besitzer der Station, Chief Grummels, eine vollst\u00e4ndige Hintergrundgeschichte zu erz\u00e4hlen, der nur einmal zuvor als ein Typ vorgestellt wurde, der immer wieder in Rorys versch\u00fctteter Limo rutschte. Hier wird wirklich Geschichten erz\u00e4hlt, und das ist nur die erste Episode. Es macht mich aufgeregt zu sehen, wohin sie es bringen.\n\nIch war nicht so begeistert. Es f\u00fchlte sich an, als w\u00fcsste die Show nicht, an wen sie sich wenden wollte: an Kinder, die sich wahrscheinlich \u00fcberhaupt nicht an Rory erinnern, oder an die Erwachsenen, die es tun. Ich hatte erwartet, dass eine dumme Katze an Bord seines guten Schiffes Scootaloo in Schwierigkeiten ger\u00e4t, und stattdessen gab es all diese neuen Charaktere mit komplizierten Hintergrundgeschichten. Alle, die, wie ich hinzuf\u00fcgen m\u00f6chte, zuf\u00e4llig tief von pers\u00f6nlichen Trag\u00f6dien betroffen waren, die sie zu r\u00e4chen versuchten.\n\nLars: Ich denke, ein Gro\u00dfteil der urspr\u00fcnglichen Laune der Show ist noch da, sie haben ihr nur noch mehr Tiefe verliehen, so dass das Lachen mehr bedeutet.\n\nDu hast gelacht?\n\nLars: Wenn du zur\u00fcck gehst und dir einige der \u00e4lteren Sachen ansiehst und dann die neue Premiere siehst, wird eine Menge DNA unter der Oberfl\u00e4che geteilt. Die Showrunner gingen sogar so weit, dass Eli Talloway, die Witwe der Originalstimme von Rory, Arthur Vin, hereinkam, um der Show ihren Segen zu geben.\n\nIch kann sehen, dass du bei diesem Thema, das auf eine seltsame Art und Weise sehr r\u00fchrend ist, gut weg bist. Also, das Urteil ist, wenn du ein Erwachsener bist, der sich an das Original erinnert, oder ein Kind, das Raketen liebt, dann ist Rory Nova: Ready to Blast Off vielleicht genau das Richtige f\u00fcr dich. F\u00fcr alle anderen.... meh.\n\nLars: Immer spannend, wenn wir eine gespaltene Entscheidung haben.\n\nDu meinst so ziemlich jede Show.\n\nLars: Ja. Jede Show, die wir machen, ist aufregend.\n\nApropos reine, unverf\u00e4lschte Aufregung, Star Marine 2: BloodLock hatte letzte Woche Premiere. Dies ist die Fortsetzung von Star Marine, die selbst nat\u00fcrlich die finanziell erfolgreiche, aber kritisch geschwenkte Filmversion der beliebten Sim-Franchise mit dem gleichen Namen war.\n\nLars: Unverf\u00e4lscht? Wenn \u00fcberhaupt, w\u00fcrde ich sagen, die Aktion war vollst\u00e4ndig verf\u00e4lscht. Zu verf\u00e4lscht, sogar. Sie fielen in die klassische Fortsetzung des Versuchs, den ersten Film zu \u00fcbertreffen, indem sie mehr Zeug in die Luft jagten und noch mehr Menschen t\u00f6teten, und verloren den \u00dcberblick dar\u00fcber, was den ersten Film zu einem so unterhaltsamen Camp machte.\n\nIch mochte auch die erste Star Marine. Es war strukturell ein Durcheinander, aber die Action-Sequenzen fingen wirklich das Gef\u00fchl ein, das Spiel zu spielen. Wie w\u00e4hrend des gro\u00dfen zweiten Satzes, als Captain Bledsoe den Flur hinunter rast, die Munition holt, in Null g taucht, den Clip knallt, w\u00e4hrend er sich kopf\u00fcber dreht, und sich entl\u00e4dt, w\u00e4hrend der Schl\u00e4ger seinen Raketenwerfer ausrichtet. Ich schw\u00f6re, ich habe genau das im Spiel getan.\n\nLars: Es war ein sch\u00f6nes St\u00fcck Action-Choreographie. Leider war die ganze Action in der Fortsetzung ein verwirrtes Durcheinander aus dunklen Nahaufnahmen, hektischen Schnitten, zuf\u00e4lligen Explosionen und Weitsch\u00fcssen, bei denen man keine Ahnung hat, was man sich ansehen soll.\n\nUnd es war einfach so viel schwieriger, diesmal in die Charaktere einzusteigen. Die Geschichte kn\u00fcpft dort an, wo die erste aufgeh\u00f6rt hat: Captain Bledsoe hat sich von den Star Marines zur\u00fcckgezogen und versucht jetzt, seine blutgetr\u00e4nkte Vergangenheit auf einer Transferstation in Nexus zu vergessen, als sie von einer Bande angegriffen werden, die sie \u00fcbernehmen will. Bledsoe hat keine andere Wahl, als eine Gruppe zu bilden, in der einige der Ne'er Brunnen herumh\u00e4ngen und die Gesetzlosen selbst zur Strecke bringen. Hinweis, ich sage hier Gesetzlose. Das liegt daran, dass ich dir f\u00fcr mein Leben lang nicht sagen konnte, wie ihr Name oder ihre Motivation im Film war. Ich wei\u00df aus der Pressemitteilung, dass es die Blinder sein sollten, und dass ihr furchterregender Anf\u00fchrer in der Vergangenheit oder so ein Auge auf Bledsoe verloren hat, aber ich w\u00e4re schwer zu sagen, ob irgendetwas davon im Film war.\n\nLars: Ja, die B\u00f6sewichte von der Stange waren b\u00f6se, aber nichts im Vergleich zu dem Klischee, das Landsleute spuckt. Sollen wir eigentlich so anfangen, dass diese Menschen leben k\u00f6nnen? Heilige Schei\u00dfe, wenn ich diesen Mechaniker sagen h\u00f6rte: \"Vergiss es zweimal mit einem Schraubenschl\u00fcssel\", noch einmal, dann w\u00fcrde ich meinen Bildschirm in zwei H\u00e4lften rei\u00dfen.\n\nDu versaust die Dinge nicht mit einem Schraubenschl\u00fcssel!\n\nLars: Ich wei\u00df!\n\nEine Sache, die sie richtig gemacht haben, war die Station selbst, die direkt vom OP Station Demien Level aus dem Spiel modelliert wurde. Alles, von der T\u00fcrplatzierung \u00fcber das Waffenversteck bis hin zum Weg, den sie einschlagen, um den Vorteil im letzten Shoot Out zu erlangen, ist perfekt aufeinander abgestimmt, was man im Spiel erleben kann. Es lie\u00df mich jedoch fragen, warum sie nicht einfach die \u00dcberlieferung aus dem Sender im Spiel f\u00fcr den Film verwendeten?\n\nLars: Was meinst du damit?\n\nWenn Sie in die Star Marine Fiktion eintauchen, haben sie all dieses gro\u00dfartige Zeug dar\u00fcber, wie es dort zu diesem schrecklichen Massaker kam, als diese Bandenmitglieder an Bord der Station schl\u00fcpften und fast alle ermordeten. Ein \u00dcberlebender schaffte es, es zu einer Kommandostation zu schaffen und die Beh\u00f6rden zu alarmieren, und dann schicken sie die Sternenmarines rein. Wie cool w\u00e4re das gewesen? Bledsoe ist die einzige \u00dcberlebende und muss durchhalten, bis die Star Marines ankommen?\n\nLars: Nun, wir k\u00f6nnen nur hoffen, dass sie es mit der unvermeidlichen Star Marine 3 besser machen.\n\nDas ist ein perfekter Ort, um eine Pause einzulegen. Wenn wir zur\u00fcckkommen, gehen wir von Fortsetzungen zu einem anderen Remake \u00fcber; diesmal des klassischen Films One Way to Go, der selbst ein Remake eines anderen, noch fr\u00fcheren Films war.\n\nLars: Das wusste ich eigentlich nicht, bis Daisy mich darauf hinwies. Es stellte sich heraus, dass nichts originell ist.\n\nSo ungef\u00e4hr. Wir geben Ihnen viele historische Leckerbissen und informieren Sie dar\u00fcber, wie sich der neue stapelt, wenn der Spectrum Spectator zur\u00fcckkehrt.","zh_CN":"Hello and welcome to Spectrum Spectator. Thanks for joining us! That fine gentleman is Lars Gonall, and I, as always, am the indomitable Daisy Wences. If you were looking for a show with all the latest spectrum news, reviews, and a bunch of opinionated arguing, then you\u2019ve found the right place.\n\nLars: If, however, you were hoping for a show about cooking aboard your starship, then you are in the completely wrong place. What you probably want is Dinner Adrift with Chef Carmilla.\n\nGood point, Lars. We are not Dinner Adrift.\n\nLars: Now that I think about it, have we ever reviewed Dinner Adrift?\n\nI don\u2019t believe we have. We don\u2019t really talk too often about cooking shows.\n\nLars: Well, at least ones that aren\u2019t competition cooking shows.\n\nTrue, we both got a little too invested in Hot Out the Oven last season. Still think Beatrice should have won Best Baker. Her scones were objectively a million times better.\n\nLars: Did you hear that neither host will be returning for the premiere of Celebrity Hot Out the Oven this season?\n\nYeah, my guess is that neither one of them were willing to risk trying a cake that Ellroy Cass baked.\n\nLars: What would that even taste like?\n\nGlitter and sadness.\n\nLars: For those of you keeping track of the score, that\u2019s Daisy one hundred and fifteen and Ellroy Cass zero.\n\nIt\u2019s pretty easy to win an insult contest when the other person doesn\u2019t even know you\u2019re alive.\n\nLars: Sure, you say that now, but for all we know Cass is out there right now crying in a bathroom.\n\nSafe money is always on Cass being in a bathroom doing something.\n\nLars: One hundred and sixteen.\n\nAll right, playful banter achieved! Shall we move on to today\u2019s actual reviews? I\u2019ll even let you pick where we start.\n\nLars: Oh boy!\n\nWhat do you say? Rory or Star Marine?\n\nLars: Definitely going with the return of one my childhood heroes here. How could I not? I used to devour old Rory Nova episodes when I was a kid. People used to actually call me Rory.\n\nI\u2019m sure they did. For those of you who didn\u2019t catch it, this weekend marked the premiere of a brand new Rory Nova series titled Rory Nova: Ready to Blast Off. This is the first time an original Rory Nova program has been on the spectrum in over 15 years, and it\u2019s changed a fair bit from the wacky cat who flies a ship. Featuring a completely different animation style and a brand new cast of characters, this version has been updated to appeal to the kids of today, which apparently means a ton more missiles and transforming suits.\n\nLars: Yeah, they upped the action a bit, but that\u2019s to be expected when you see the other shows that RTBO is going up against.\n\nRTBO?\n\nLars: It\u2019s what people are calling the new show on the message boards. RNOS is the original series.\n\nRight \u2026\n\nLars: Don\u2019t give me that look. I love Rory Nova, no apologies. So trust me when I say as a fan, even I was in impressed by how deep RTBO dove into the show\u2019s mythology. All these little winks and nods to RNOS have been used to create this incredibly rich setting. For example, in the original, Rory flew out of Spaceport Ringeroo, and you never knew what it was there for or who was in charge. Now in the new series, the writers have gone out of their way to give a full backstory to the owner of the station, Chief Grummels, who was only featured once before as a guy who kept slipping in Rory\u2019s spilled soda. There is real storytelling going on here, and this is just the first episode. Makes me excited to see where they take it.\n\nI wasn\u2019t so sold. It felt like the show didn\u2019t know who they were trying to appeal to: kids who probably don\u2019t remember Rory at all, or the adults who do. I was expecting to see a silly cat get into trouble aboard his good ship Scootaloo, and instead there were all these new characters with complicated backstories. All of whom, I might add, just happened to be deeply scarred by personal tragedies they were trying to avenge.\n\nLars: I think a lot of the show\u2019s original whimsy is still there, they just added depth to it so that the laughs mean more.\n\nYou laughed?\n\nLars: If you go back and watch some of the older stuff, and then watch the new premiere, there\u2019s a lot of DNA being shared beneath the surface. The showrunners even went so far as having Eli Talloway, the widow of the original voice of Rory, Arthur Vin, come in to give the show her blessing.\n\nI can see you are well gone on this one, which is quite touching in sort of a weird way. So, the verdict is, if you are an adult who remembers the original or a kid who loves missiles, then Rory Nova: Ready to Blast Off may be just right for you. For everyone else \u2026 meh.\n\nLars: Always exciting when we have a split decision.\n\nYou mean pretty much every show.\n\nLars: Yup. Every show we do is exciting.\n\nSpeaking of pure unadulterated excitement, Star Marine 2: BloodLock premiered last week. This is the sequel to Star Marine, which itself was of course the financially successfully yet critically panned film version of the popular sim franchise with the same name.\n\nLars: Unadulterated? If anything I\u2019d say the action was full adulterated. Too adulterated even. They fell into the classic sequel trap of trying to outdo the first film by blowing up more stuff and killing even more people and lost sight of what made the first film such enjoyable camp.\n\nI actually liked the first Star Marine, too. It was a mess structurally, but the action sequences really captured the feeling of playing the game. Like during the big second set piece when Captain Bledsoe races down the corridor, snags the ammo, dives into zero g, pops the clip as he spins upside down, and unloads just as the thug lines up his rocket launcher. I swear I\u2019ve done that exact thing in the game.\n\nLars: It was a lovely bit of action choreography. Sadly, all the action in the sequel was a confused mess of dark close-ups, frantic cutting, random explosions and wide shots where you have no idea what you\u2019re supposed to be looking at.\n\nAnd it was just so much harder to get into the characters this time around. The story picks up where the first one left off: Captain Bledsoe has retired from the Star Marines and he\u2019s now trying to forget his blood-soaked past on a transfer station in Nexus, when they get attacked by a gang looking to take it over. Bledsoe has no choice but to form up a squad with some of the ne\u2019er do wells hanging around and take the outlaws down himself. Notice, I\u2019m saying outlaws here. That\u2019s because for the life of me I could not tell you what their name or motivation was in the film. I know from the press release that it was supposed be the Blinders, and that their fearsome leader lost an eye to Bledsoe in the past or something, but I\u2019d be hard pressed to say if any of that was in the movie.\n\nLars: Yeah, the generic-to-the-point-of-bland bad guys were bad, but nothing compared to the clich\u00e9 spewing compatriots. Were we actually supposed to root for these people to live? Holy crap, if I heard that mechanic say, \u201cScrew it twice with a wrench!\u201d one more time, I was going to snap my screen in half.\n\nYou don\u2019t screw things with a wrench!\n\nLars: I know!\n\nOne thing they did get right was the station itself, which was directly modeled off the OP Station Demien level from the game. Everything from the door placements, to the weapon stash, to the path they take to get the advantage in the final shoot out, all lined up pretty perfectly with what you can experience in-game. It made me wonder though, why didn\u2019t they just use the lore from that station in-game for the movie?\n\nLars: What do you mean?\n\nIf you dive into the Star Marine fiction, they have all this great stuff about how there was this terrible massacre there when these gang members slipped aboard the station and murdered almost everyone. One survivor managed to make it to a comm station and alert the authorities, and that\u2019s when they send in the Star Marines. How cool would that have been? Bledsoe being the lone survivor and having to hold out till the Star Marines arrive?\n\nLars: Well we can only hope they do better with the inevitable Star Marine 3.\n\nThat\u2019s a perfect spot to take a break. When we come back, we go from sequels to another remake; this time of the classic film One Way to Go which itself was a remake of another, even earlier film.\n\nLars: I actually didn\u2019t know that until Daisy pointed it out to me. Turns out nothing is original ever.\n\nPretty much. We\u2019ll give you plenty of history tidbits, and let you know how the new one stacks up, when Spectrum Spectator returns."},"links_count":0,"comment_count":76,"created_at":"2016-09-20T00:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"9 years ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-05-08 00:41:24","valid_relations":["images","links"],"prev_id":15522,"next_id":15526}}