Thursday, February 5, 2009

Yesterday:

I read more Robotech. I ordered more Robotech. I ate. I slept. I watched another episode of Six Feet Under. I got Mark off to work around the time he usually leaves, expecting that he could just drop off Mollie's package at the UPS place (which when we drop stuff off there, we don't have to wait in line) - only he'd boxed it up for the post office and had to wait in line for 25 minutes, making him late for work. Not late by much, but anytime he's late it worries me.

I worked on my webpage a bit. I set up a page explaining how BSG is even more fun the 2nd time around because of all the character and plot revelations that change how you view the series. I can't really go in depth with the page yet though because there are still 7 more installments, plus "The Plan", which will surely effect the older episodes.

I went to bed around 4:30pm and woke up shortly before Mark got home from work, around midnight. I had a dream about my ex-gf Jennifer. I called her and left her a voicemail about it. I've not spoken to her in over a year; the longest we've gone without communicating since we met in early 1995. I've left her 20-30 messages in that time. She left me one on my birthday, but I got the impression that she was deliberately avoiding me, and I'm not sure why that is, but it hurts me.

Mark got home and we talked for a bit. Something's bothering him, but he's not telling me because he doesn't want to stress me out, which is sweet...but it makes me worry for him. It would actually probably be a lot worse if he told me, so I appreciate his thoughtfullness...but I worry about him just the same.

I'm making cookies. Yum. I might have to give them up soon, so I figured I'd have some while I can still enjoy them.

I tried watching the new Batman animated series...Batman: The Brave & the Bold. It's horrible. I can't stand it. It's not for me. It makes "The Batman" series look classic by comparison, and I didn't love that show either. I've had friends tell me that I'd love both of those shows, but they simply don't understand my attraction to characters in general. The thing about Batman, is that I like my characters to be complex and have a sprawling mythology. I've already had that with Batman: The Animated Series and it's multiple spin-offs. I'll probably never have that again, but that Batman will always be my Batman. This is probably why I have a hard time embracing Christian Bale's recent Batman appearances; because he pales in comparison to his animated counterpart.

Going back to the Robotech books I've purchased, I'll now have new copies of all the original 12 novels, plus 2 newer copies of 2 of the later novels. The Robotech series of novels (much like the series they're based on) have an interesting publishing history. The first 12 books of the series comprise the tv series Robotech, which is split into 3 generations. The first 6 books cover the First Generation. Books 7-9 cover the Second Generation. Books 10-12 cover the Third Generation. Robotech was meant to have a 2nd Season, called "The Sentinels", which would have picked up the story between the first 2 generations and explained where the main characters from the First Generation went to during the other stories, while setting up other storylines; ending at the same point in time as the Third Generation, but from a different perspective. For various reasons the 2nd season of Robotech wasn't finished, and the first few finished episodes were cobbled together for release. The authors of the first 12 Robotech books took the scripts for the 2nd season and injected them with their own ideas (just as they had the first season) and wrote a 5 book series "Robotech: The Sentinels" numbered 1-5. Then they wrote a 'final' book in the series that wrapped up both seasons, "Robotech #18: The End of the Circle". There were still some major time gaps between certain books, so 3 more books were written to fill those gaps (which are among my favorites): "Robotech #19: The Zentraedi Rebellion", "Robotech #20: The Masters' Gambit" & "Robotech #21: Before The Invid Storm" - the last one came out in 1996, which is when I read the entire series through the last time.

Now if you read the books in chronological order as I do, then the order goes like this:

Robotech:
#01 Genesis (1st Gen)
#02 Battlecry (1st Gen)
#03 Homecoming (1st Gen)
#04 Battle Hymn (1st Gen)
#05 Force of Arms (1st Gen)
#06 Doomsday (1st Gen)
#19 The Zentraedi Rebellion (Lost Gen)
The Sentinels:
#01 The Devil's Hand
#02 Dark Powers
#03 Death Dance
#04 World Killers
#05 Rubicon
Robotech:
#20 The Masters' Gambit (Lost Gen)
#07 Southern Cross (2nd Gen)
#08 Metal Fire (2nd Gen)
#09 The Final Nightmare (2nd Gen)
#21 Before the Invid Storm (Lost Gen)
#10 Invid Invasion (3rd Gen)
#11 Metamorphosis (3rd Gen)
#12 Symphony of Light (3rd Gen)
#18 The End of the Circle (Lost Gen)

Confusing huh? Well to make it just a bit more confusing, a few years later some of the novels were released in 3-in-1 volumes. The First Generation (split into 2 volumes), the first 3 books of the Sentinels, and then the 2nd Generation were all released in this format.

Then a few years ago, they released another set of 3-in-1 volumes. This time they did the 1st, 2nd and 3rd generations (the original 12 novels) - with new covers for the ones that had been released in this fashion previously.

This has raised the prices in most markets for the other 9 volumes.

See how this becomes complicated very quickly. And the thing is, I didn't buy a lot of the reprints, because I stupidly expected them to release the series in chronological order someday. Which still hasn't happened, and most likely never will. Oh well. Now that I've been ordering them I'll have new copies or the original 12, plus 2 of the others. I have passable reading copies of all the books, but I could use new copies of some of the other volumes and I'll probably try to get my hands on some of them at some point.

Blah.

   posted by Bald Jason at 03:03 AM
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