Anybody here been following Big O besides me? If so, can anybody explain what in the heck happened in the finale? I think my brain got frelled trying to make sense out of everything...
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
Yes! Someone besides me who's been watching The Big O! Man, "The Show Must Go On" was a real brain-bender, wasn't it? I've only seen from Act 16 on, so I'm anxiously awaiting for all the episodes to be rerun.
I'm slowly mulling the finale over in my head trying to make sense of everything. My head hurts, it really does. As far as I can figure out, I think it's implied that Angel is the director of Paradigm City. Maybe she's the one who really built everything as a way of finding her true self, and she got lost in her our creation. Or, maybe she's God, and she's trying to create the perfect existence since there are, apparently, numerous rewinding of the life of Paradigm City. Or, maybe the whole thing is similar to The Truman Show.
Dorothy seems to be much more important than we've been led to believe. She apparently has a backup memory unit. She apparently retains enough past memories to control and be connected with a Big. She, along with Gordon Rosewater, know more about her than they've led on.
I'm guessing that Paradigm City was reset at the end, but I don't think it was a complete wipe of everything. Just before Big Venus and Big O merged into nothingness, we see Dorothy introduce Roger Smith to Angel in that control room. I think Roger negotiated some changes for the reset. Angel and Dorothy are together following the reset watching Roger Smith drive past. And Roger Smith isn't wearing his communicator watch for Big O. He says in voiceover that Paradigm City is still a city of amnesia, but did he keep his memories from the previous cycle? Obviously there was a reset since Paradigm City is repaired, but how much changed?
There's still a lot I'm mulling over. The assembly line of Roger Smiths (similar to the Terminator assembly line) and the Dorothy doll are a couple. Plus, there's the other more damaged Big O we at the bottom of the sea with what looks like a dead Roger Smith. We know there was at least one reset where Roger was a military officer piloting Big O, does this mean there were other resets as well? So very confusing.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
I cant read your posts!!!!! I'm stuck working on sundays and missed the entire freakin' season!!!!
Shit.
I have season one on DVD....season two should start american DVD release next month....must avoid spoilers... must..
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
Whoo-hoo! A message board dedicated to The Big O. That's the good news. The bad news is the they all seem to be just as confused as well.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Japanese Cartoon Pointlessly Confusing: Huge World News!
But I kid the creepy subculture.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
It still leaves less guessing than the Matrix series.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Y'know....lots of characters seem to have intact memories.
The guy that assembled Dorothy. Mr. Wainwright himself. Both Rosewaters (Sr. and Jr.) Michael Zabok discovered the truth and (possibly) became Schwartzwald. The old man that gives the Sax player that chrismas ornament o' doom. The woman from Dustan's childhood. The old man manipulating Instro. Probably R.D. knew everything as well. Angel knows at least a larger part of it that Roger. And that's just from season one! The Big O and Big Duo themselves appear at least partially sentient and aware. As did the prototype "Big" . With the exceptions of Dorothy, Angel and the Rosewaters, everyone that know or leasrns the truth wants to destroy Paridgm. Mabye they know they're being endlessly manipulated?
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: With the exceptions of Dorothy, Angel and the Rosewaters, everyone that know or leasrns the truth wants to destroy Paridgm.
You'll be changing this statement once you get through season two. And, yay, Cartoon Network starts reairing both seasons this week!
quote:Mabye they know they're being endlessly manipulated?
This would definitely help explain several scenes in the finale.
I wonder if Cartoon Network is going to lay out a chunk of change again to get a third season made. It'd be interesting to see where things would go from events in the finale. Of course, I bet the season three finale would be just as unclear as this finale was (and the first season finale, if I understand correctly).
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
By "starts showing this week" do you mean nightly or on sunday only?
If you only saw Season 1 on cartoon network's Toonami, you missed some imporntant, cool and violent stuff. It was edited for content a lot. Like Pero's parents getting gunned down on Roger's roof. Or Beck killing that hostage to frame Roger. ...but you have'nt seen those episodes at all! You'll like them a LOT.
***********SEASON ONE TEASERS********
You'll also see lots of weird crap, like stores memories being stored at certain hidden locations, two androids besides Dorothy, giant monsters, murders galore, christmas in Pardigm, Dorothy's sister Dorothy One, stuff from Dustin's past, Norman with a biiiiig gun, nifty stuff about Roger's watch, Roger getting shot, knocked out, tied up, lied to, framed and woke up by loud piano playing. And lots of buildings get destroyed.
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
The Big O starts running Monday through Thursday at 11:30 p.m. central time. I got the first act today off of KaZaA just to see how the season two finale messed with the first episode. So I've already been exposed to Dorothy One. And Roger being woken up by piano playing was also in a season two episode.
I can't wait to see all the episodes. Should be interesting.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Sweet. Like the car? It's does more neat tricks in ....er...episode 13 (I think!).
As to the Megadues' under the water, I dont think that's changed by any "reset button". We'll talk after thursday's episode for that.
Roger is definitely NOT an android: he bleeds real good and doesnt weigh several hundred pounds.
The three robots that attack in the water in season two's opener are, I'm almost certain, made from parts of several of season one's robots. (notice the Megadues' face ubder the kooky one with the mask?).
Questions: Is Schwartzwald in season 2? He sure should be!
Is the Big Duo in season 2?
Have you seen a character called R.D. in season 2?
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
Yes, Roger's car is neat. Most of season two all it does is carry Roger around, but in the penultimate episode, it goes into a battle mode. Pretty neat. It gets wrecked after it and Roger fall through the street in the same episode, I believe.
I agree that Roger isn't an android. After much more time thinking about the season two finale, I think it was a metaphor about Paradigm City being rewound and reset numerous times and Roger being in each new cycle. And the Dorothy doll could be representing that they are all "toys" to the director. I think. Still darned confusing.
I didn't catch the season opener; I only started watchin at the third episode of season two. I do know that in Act 20 "Stripes," Roger battles a Megadeus made of parts of older ones he has fought.
As for your questions: Yes, Schwartzwald makes at least two appearances in season two. In the first, he dumps multiple copies of a letter about the truth on Paradigm City. The second time he shows up is as a ghost of the Dominus of Big Duo during Big Duo's fight with Big O in Act 24 or 25. I think those are the only two big appearances he's made.
Yes, Big Duo appears towards the end of season two. We also see Big Fau towards the end as well as Big Venus in the finale. I don't recall there being a R.D. in season two unless he/she/it was in the first two episodes.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
R.D.'s only in the season one cliffhanger, then. Intresting.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
I must be living Lee's sheltered life, cause I never have heard of this before....
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Well watch it tomorrow night at 11:30PM on Cartoon Network. Then tell us what ya think.
Basically, it's a mystery.
Kinda Batman meets James Bond in apocalyptic New York with David Lynch direction, rendered by some of the crew that made Cowboy Bebop, with giant robots, cute androids and many many many people getting killed. Plus: citywide amnesia of everything from before forty years before the first episode!
Downside: a theme song so bad, all your orifices will beed. Worse than the Starblazers theme.
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
Hey! I like the theme song! That's the whole reason I started watching The Big O.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
I'll give it a try, I may have to start watching the TV again, damn you people....
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Originally posted by Siegfried: Hey! I like the theme song! That's the whole reason I started watching The Big O.
Too "Flash Gorson" for me. You guys see the first episode?
Catch the cool little flash ofc a generator when Roger realizes Dorothy is an android? I love that touch.
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
I liked the Flash Gordon theme song, too.
The first episode I had to watch on my laptop because my roommate decided to be a dick about letting me watch the episode. We'll see if I get to see Act 02 tonight.
Anyway, good episode although it did puzzle me some. I thought Dastun and Roger were friends? They sure didn't act very friendly to each other in the episode. Also, I thought Dastun knew that Roger was the Dominus of Big O? He didn't make any sort of connection between Roger and the appearance of the Megadeus. One further thing, does Dorothy really weigh that much? In a couple episodes of season two, she was picked up like she didn't weigh any more than she looked.
I laughed when Dorothy says "You're a louse, Roger Smith." She says the exact same thing in the season two finale.
And, damn, that's a cool car.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Daustin seems to catch on about the Roger/Megadeus connection mid-season without the obligatory shock and suprise. Yes Roger and Daustin are freinds: you'll se more on it later in the season. Daustin was just pissed that Roger had left the police out of the deal...he's not too keen on Roger's "negotiating". Roger used to be Daustin's Leutanant in the military police sometime prior to the first episode he left: it's unclear when and why he started pilioting Big O. Roger's piloting skills are brought up later, as is Norman's ability to repair/ maintain Big O.
Dorothy is indeed heavy. Watch tonight's episode to see her inhuman strength put to use.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
You guys been watching the season one episodes? They just played Mr. Smith's first fight versus Big Duo and Schwartzwald.... And an intresting scene with Dorothy investigating Angel.
Your thoughts?
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
I'm a bit surprised that these first season episodes were originally shown during the Toonami block. I'm guessing that they were edited a lot. I can't imagine them showing all those people wearing those fiery masks during a time when little kiddies would be watching.
Anyway, I'm really enjoying what I've seen so far. Unfortunately, I've missed acts 7 through 10. I'll have to catch them on the next run-through. It's really interesting watching the interplay between Roger and Dorothy and Roger and Dastun. They act a bit differently towards each other than they did in season two. Still, very much fun indeed.
Also, that fight scene between Big O and Big Duo was very cool. I can't decide if it's better than the Big O/Big Duo fight in the last acts of season two, but this one was definitely the best fight scene of season one.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
They showed the "fiery masks" bit but not the victims diving out of the highrise's windows to their deaths.
Notice that Schwartzwald makes his exit from the highrise via one of those "instagrow" creeper vines that made up the christmas tree from hell? Was the old man that gave the Sax plyer Schwartzwald?
Or did you miss the "Founder's Day" episode?
Did you see "Missing Cat"? That's the really disturbing episode from season one.
[ November 28, 2003, 08:56 PM: Message edited by: Jason Abbadon ]
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
I missed the missing cat episode, but I did see the episode "Daemonseed." I don't think that it was Schwartzvald who gave the seed to Oliver (the sax player). He looked an awful lot like Gordon Rosewater, actually, but he was just a cranky mad scientist type introduced for the episode.
I had noticed that Schwartzvald made his entrance to and exit from the highrise party on a vine, but I hadn't connected that it was the vine from the Christmas tree monster from the previous episode. That's a nice bit of continuity there.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Man! You have to see the Missing Cat episode. They had to completely skip that episode on Toonami the first time around! You get to see Norman get to use a Very large gun in that episode as the penthouse is attacked.
If you use Kazaa you can probably download the episodes you've missed.
Monday's episode is (probably) Season One's finalle: R.D.
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
It wasn't my idea to miss those episodes. My roommate deemed it more important to watch whatever was on MTV at the time while doing his homework then it was for me to have the TV for half an hour.
I'll see if I can procure the episode in question. If not, I'll wait for Adult Swim to cycle back through the series. I'm assuming they will since they cycled through the six-episode FLCL about ten times earlier this fall.
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
Having just watched "The Greatest Villian" last night, I have to ask: is it common for anime to make fun of the Japanese by using caricatures to represent them? I mean, the Japanese technology workers in last night's episode were all severely slanty-eyed, buck-toothed, camera-toting stereotypes. I noticed this in a couple other shows, too. Just wondering for the reasoning behind it because it's the Japanese who originally produce these shows.