#oban

[cowboypo8]

Fishing boat coming back to Oban, Scotland

[dycus-was-here]

Oban: Star-Racers Ep. 6: Playful Like Para-Dice

Leave it to a cat to be a sadist, especially a space cat. The fun thing about having such a big roster of adversaries is that each of them get to have their own gimmicks, and this one was all about deception and subterfuge. I imagine that Para-Dice isn’t really that great at racing and has been sabotaging her opponents to get to this point in the competition. Throughout the episode she’s either messing with the main cast or just trying to blow them up! I don’t even think she tries to make it out of the arena after she thinks she’s blown up Molly and Jordan. I like to imagine she immediately got lost and spent an hour trying to find her way back out.

Para-Dice also has probably the most 2000s design in this series. The show has its moments that date it but the art direction has kept it pretty timeless and alien for that to be much of an issue. But suddenly in comes the hacker cat that’s obsessed with arcade games and computer tech! Complete with a ship that literally emotes on its opponents. Not necessarily a bad thing, I just find it very amusing coming twenty years after computer tech was seen as such a novelty.

Shout out to Molly covering for Jordan’s mistake in this one. She’s trying to make nice with the boy and in turn he’s doing all he can to be the best co-pilot for her. Seeing their dynamic grow has been a highlight of the series. And it’s a bit of a lurch to realize that we’re six episodes in and only now have we heard what the Ultimate Prize really is! I remember all the promotions and ads for the show back in the day and they made it clear it was a wish the whole time. So it’s funny to see the characters only now learning about it. Regardless, it’s nice to see the stakes rise.

This was a good episode, it’s nice to see them keep things fresh with new rivals and new gimmicks. Here’s to what comes next.

[dycus-was-here]

Oban: Star-Racers Ep. 5: Cruel Like Ceres

So Rick is back in the pilot’s seat and of course Molly’s not happy. But not because she’s no longer a pilot but because she seems to be the only one to realize something’s wrong with Rick. It’s nice to see her worried about the guy but also upsetting to see everyone ignore her because they think she’s just jealous. It’s also nice to see her so worried about her fellows that she’s willing to jump onto a speeding ship in order to stop it from crashing. Like, nice job kiddo but that’s how you break your spine! I should also mention how Satis has been trying to give Molly advice to her. He’s been hovering around the background popping up when Molly’s down. He seems to really like the girl and sees big things in her future. I imagine he was hoping that she would be the winner in the end. 

This episode is mostly about Rick though. He’s trying so hard to act like nothing’s wrong as he experiences seizures throughout the episode. He actually gets hostile with Molly who he’s been nothing but kind to up to this point. He even gets violent with the doctor when they tell him he’ll never be able to race again. Rick’s entire life and identity is wrapped up in being a champion. We see him basking in crowds cheering for him at the finish line fills him with pride nothing else could. So seeing him standing over the quiet arena and crying for what he’s lost is honestly sad. 

The dynamic with Molly and Rick is very fascinating here but I at least want to talk about their competitor. Ceres is a creepy character with a creepier ship and powers. He flaunts his ancientness and strange powers, leading to some freaky effects and visuals. The alien designs remind me of something that wouldn’t stand out in The Fifth Element. They’re all so provocative and unique. I look forward to seeing the other weird designs we’ll see later.

[dycus-was-here]

Oban: Star-Racers Ep. 4: In Like Flint

After the near disaster that was the race with Grooor, this was the pick-me-up that Molly needed. First she took on Grooor in a barfight and not only won but had backup willing to fight on her side. Aikka was introduced as a stalwart gentleman in previous episodes and he continues to prove that here. Then we get more bonding with Molly and Jordan as they join forces to fight off the big lug. They’re still getting to know each other but it’s good to see them getting along. 

As for the race itself we see Molly’s skill finally get to come out. Flint is the golden boy of the host planet of Alwas and gets special treatment because of it. This leaves him to have a massive chip on his shoulder and think he’s untouchable. I don’t even think he knows that the judges are fixing the race for him by letting him through the booby traps! Molly recognizes this and uses it to her advantage, baiting him into making some bad decisions. In the end it’s her own skill and cunning that gets her the win this episode, proving to everyone that her first victory was more than just a fluke.

At least everyone but Don. Don’s still doing everything in his power to get Molly out of the pilot’s seat. Molly thinks he’s just being bull-headed but it’s clear he’s worried about her survival on the track and putting the pressure of success on the shoulders of a teenage girl. So naturally he’s happy to see Rick up and about again. Though this ending is going to lead to some clear conflict in the episodes to come. 

So a good episode for Molly’s self-esteem but also one that leaves some clues about the greater picture. A meeting with the president of Earth reveals that the Oban race will tip the balance of power in the entire galaxy which immediately makes you wonder what’s actually going on here.

[cowboypo8]

The view across Oban Bay

[dycus-was-here]

Oban: Star-Racers Ep. 3: Grave Like Grooor

Here we have Molly’s debut as an official racer and it’s as rough as you imagine. I’d like to start by saying I love how we’re reminded of Molly’s resourcefulness as she builds her rocket scooter into the ship’s controls so she can drive it more easily. It’s a testament to her skills that she got it to work in the first place! It’s also amusing how Don tried to talk Stan and Koji into being pilots only for poor Koji to try and hide behind his computer pad. Very adorable.

As for the race itself I think it’s important that Molly nearly loses. It’s one thing to be willing and ready to take on the job but it’s very clear that she has no idea what she’s doing. In the end she only wins partly by an act of quick thinking to tell Jordan to blast Grooor’s ship where it was already damaged and partly from Grooor’s own cockiness. It’s also important how willing the rest of the team is to help her. Jordan, despite his hesitance, jumps into the ship to help and listens to Molly’s commands while Stan and Koji give her tips on how to stabilize the ship with the new controls. 

It’s still not enough to impress Don who’s understandably upset with her. I’m sure most of it comes from Molly’s flagrant disobedience and insistence on throwing herself into situations when she wasn’t even supposed to be on the crew. But there’s the ever-present fear that he’d see another young woman get hurt in a star race again. He’d been deliberately passing over her when choosing a new pilot, even deciding to pilot himself before considering choosing Molly. So despite the victory the tensions between him and Molly have only begun.

[dycus-was-here]

Oban: Star-Racers Ep. 1 & 2

Oban was one of those shows I only got to see the promotions for when it ran on television but even that was enough to interest me. It looked like such a strange but cool setting and the premise was fascinating. Finally got the chance to watch it years after it originally aired and was satisfied that it was just as cool as it seemed.

The series begins on Earth where the environmental designs start to pop. The future portrayed here is what I could describe best as “rocketpunk”, with the machines having a sleek but boxy look to them. Everything is meant to be futuristic with hologram projections and anti-gravity suspension but it also looks rough and practical. As if every piece of equipment was meant to be taken apart and worked on at a moment's notice, including the payphones. 

The story itself is rather quick to introduce us to our characters. We have no-nonsense Don Wei, smug but smart Rick Thunderbolt, excitable Jordan, confident Stan and shy Koji, and of course Molly. Molly is stubborn, reckless, and bullheaded here. But she’s also resourceful, inventive, and observant. We watch all this come to play in the first ten minutes with her daring escape from a boarding school on a homemade rocket scooter. 

I do want to say I do like how fast paced this first episode is. I usually prefer when the pacing in a show is slower but here it really pushes how much of a hurry the racing team is. No one in charge thought the Oban race was a serious thing until it was too late and now they’re scrambling to get everything together. It doesn’t help when they’re being actively sabotaged by an enemy alien attacking their trucks while driving to the rendezvous point. It sets the team’s underdog status that persists throughout the show.

When we finally get to the planet of Alwas we’re greeted with plenty of more naturalistic and organic designs for the alien world. It’s the complete opposite of the industrial designs that make up Earth. You can tell that everything from this world is technically more advanced than Earth but it’s all so old that it hardly seems to matter. We’re also introduced to Prince Aikka in this episode and it’s funny to see Molly immediately get flustered being around him. Not much to say about him now other than his giant beetle is a fun idea for a racing mount. Another example of how unique and varied the designs are in this show. You can have strange animals racing alongside massive machines and have a fighting chance.

But of course the biggest takeaways come at the end when we see Rick crash the ship. It’s a shocking way to start the series to have the star pilot get hospitalized this soon in the show but not too surprising. We already know Molly had to take over as the pilot somehow. But the biggest shock is this is what triggers Molly’s memory. The memory of how her mother died in her own race. We hadn’t been told why Molly’s father had been so distant before now and the mom hadn’t even been mentioned before now. We did get a line from Don about how “he feels about female pilots” but tossed it aside as plain sexism. But at that point everything starts to come together. 

I felt like these two episodes feed into each other to get us acquainted with this strange cool setting. It gets us into the action as soon as possible while also giving us a good idea of who our main character is along with the supporting cast. By the end we have an idea of the stakes, not to mention a peek into the wild ships and creatures the show will introduce us to. A great start to a great show.

[singlemalt-doublespaced]