Tiny Money Land

THE BIG O: Before I move on to part two of my 1960s double feature, I'd like to give my thumbs-up to the new season of Big O, which began last night as part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. The first episode was one of those "guess what's going on" shows that I enjoy from time to time, dropping lead character Roger Smith in a version of his world which, in the storyline, was supposed to have been destroyed. It also gets newbies like myself up to speed by presenting the backstory in a highly stylized way that works in context of this single episode. Basically, what's happened is that the world got collective amnesia as the result of some cataclysm some 40 years ago, which also wiped out all records of anything that came before. Roger Smith controls the giant robot of the title while unravelling all kinds of twisty-turny secrets. From some random episodes I've seen from the first season, I can also pick up that the people of Paradigm City, one of those domed cities that sci-fi folks dig, believe that they are the only ones left in the world, although that's not necessarily so. It'd probably pay with interest to see this series from the beginning.

Apparently, the first run of Big O went over so well that Cartoon Network is footing the bill (at least partially) for the new episodes, and I say if stuff like this keeps the anime industry without mucking up the editorial process, more power to 'em. Can't leave a good cliff hanging, I suppose.