Dreamation 2010: The Year We Made Con-Tact

[Malak the Mad]

Greetings Boys & Girls!

It's time to start planning for Dreamation in earnest and, as usual, I want to present a schedule containing as much AWESOME! as possible. I'm also planning on continuing the tradition of using a running theme for the entirety of Saturday. As it will be going down in 2010, it seems all too appropriate to use the concept of First Contact. In other words, every title will feature Humanity making contact with some form of alien life for the first time. The theme will also extend to the ever-present programming blocks we always offer, namely the Saturday Morning Cartoon Revival and Nostalgia @ Noon.

I want to have a preliminary schedule ready to post by the end of December so I'm looking forward to some input from any and all who want to participate in the process. Some titles have already been floated my way, such as...

Robotech/Macross
Urusei Yatsura
Birdy the Mighty/Tetsuwan Birdy Decode
Martian Successor Nadesico
Vandread
Gunbuster "Aim For The Top"

And other possibilities that might not make the cut as I've used them recently...

Irresponsible Captain Tylor
Galaxy Rangers

For the rest of the con there are some shows I screened at Dexcon but will probably continue so more people can get a chance to see them.

Soul Eater
Ga-Rei Zero
Shin Mazinger Z (the awesome reboot of the classic Mazinger Z done by the director of Giant Robo!)
Sword of the Stranger

One new show I was introduced to is a fantastic French animated series called Wakfu. It is as hysterical as it is cool. And for all the techno-savvy out there, it's done entirely in Flash, which gives it a very interesting feel. It's almost like 3D animation given a veneer of cel-painted animation. You will know what I mean once you see it.

So please keep the feedback coming my way. I want to make a schedule sharp enough that people will want to work their gaming schedule around what we have to offer.

Till then, be seeing you...
Brian T. Price
Malak the Mad

[Dr. Steed]

Brian;

As a change of pace, I'm not yelling at you for your programming choices. I will, however, yell at you for the subject-line pun.

And yes, I'm yelling at you because I didn't think of it first.

[Malak the Mad]

Greetings All!

Here it is, the finished schedule for Dreamation 2010! I hope everyone enjoys what we have in store for you, both new and classic.

Till then, be seeing you...
Brian T. Price
Malak the Mad



Dreamation 2010

THURSDAY

7PM - 9PM - "Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z Hen": A modern-day spin on the classic trend-setting 1970's mecha series "Mazinger Z" retold by Yasuhiro Imagawa, the director of "Giant Robo". Dr. Kabuto and the Photonic Institute are on the verge of a breakthrough in solving the world-wide energy crisis. But the forces of Dr. Hell want that power for their own nefarious purposes. To face this evil threat Dr. Kabuto has given his grandson, Kouji, command of Earth's mightiest robot, Mazinger Z.

9PM - 11PM - "Ga-Rei Zero": Picture, if you will, a world where supernatural creatures, evil spirits and demonic possession and are a serious enough threat that the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Defense have created rival organizations to combat these threats while preserving the secrecy of their existence. Not an easy gig, especially if it means maintaing your cover as an ordinary schoolgirl. But when you're a member of a clan of exorcists with a legacy spanning centuries, duty calls!

11PM - 1AM - "Rebuild of Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone": A newly animated retelling of the modern-day classic by Studio Gainax. Years after the Second Impact, a cataclysm that claimed the lives of half the human race, Angels are attacking Tokyo-3 and it's mysterious organization, NERV. Fourteen-year-old Shinji Ikari is summoned by his estranged father, the chief administrator of NERV, to pilot the biomechanical combat unit Evangelion. But beneath the obvious threat is a tangled web of conspiracy that runs to the heart of Mankind's evolution.




FRIDAY

12PM - 2PM - Nostalgia @ Noon - "Urusei Yatsura (Those Obnoxious Aliens)": From Rumiko Takahashi, creator of Ranma 1/2 and Inu Yasha. Ataru Moroboshi, an overly-flirtatious young man, probably has the worst luck in the world (born on a Friday the 13th AND the unluckiest day in the Buddhist calendar). And just when things were looking pretty good ALIENS INVADE! But in keeping with interstellar rules of civility a randomly-chosen member of the defending race must "tag" Mr. Invader's daughter, Lum, within a week. Guess who's picked to save the world! On the up-side, she's a total babe! On the down-side, she can fly!! But despite his earth-bound handicap, Ataru manages to defeat his airborne opponent (utilizing his embarrassingly lecherous skills). Once again things are looking up for our hero...until his declaration of victory is mistaken by Lum as a marriage proposal. Now he's stuck with a clingy, live-in alien who dishes out near-lethal electric shocks when his eye wanders too far. Sucks to be you, Ataru!

2PM - 4PM - "Rideback": Against the backdrop of a future-world subjugated by the militant Global Government Plan, Rin Ogata was a promising and up-and-coming second-generation dancer. However, all that came to an end due to a fractured foot. Years later Rin is enrolled in the theater department of Musashino University. It is here she first discovers Ridebacks, robot-motorcycle hybrids being built and customized by members of the University Rideback Club. Her first jaunt on a malfunctioning unit almost ends in disaster until her dancer's balance and finesse show her to be a natural. She quickly finds a new life amongst the enthusiasts and their competitors. But unknown to Rin, there are operatives of the G.G.P. and their enemies, the Borderless Military Alliance, among the students and faculty of Musashino.

4PM - 6PM - "A Certain Scientific Railgun":  A side-story to the series "A Certain Magical Index". In a world of psychics, espers, superpowers and magic, Academy City is still thirty years ahead of the rest of the world. 80% of it's population is made up of students and 60% partake in the Power Curriculum Program to develop, test and enhance one's supernatural abilities. People's talents are ranked from Level 0 to Level 5. Only seven people possess Level 5 power and one of them is Mikoto Misaka, an Electromaster nicknamed "Railgun". Underneath the idyllic city life lies a growing resentment of those with greater power and abilities. Between a gang of anti-esper thugs and a growing network of power-enhancing drugs how's a girl supposed to have a normal school life?

6PM - 8PM - "Wakfu": A fantasy/adventure series based on the popular French MMORPGs Dofus and Wakfu. Yugo seemed to be an ordinary yet bright and cheerful twelve-year-old villager like any other. All that changes when in a single day his entire world is turned upside down. Not only does he start exhibiting strange powers, but he comes to find that his "father" had adopted him at the behest of the dragon Grougaloragran to protect him from Nox, a merciless Xelor (chrono-mage). Nox is determined to capture the world's greatest sources of wakfu (lifeforce) for his mad ambitions. Can Yugo and his new-found adventuring friends find his true family and defeat the greatest threat the world has seen in over 1000 years?

8PM - 10PM - "Sword Of The Stranger": During Japan's medieval Sengoku (civil war) period power came and went at the edge of the sword. Under cover of this era of unrest a group of warriors in the service of the Ming Emperor are hatching a plot. All they need to bring their nefarious plan to fruition is Kotaro, a young orphan on the run. The only thing keeping him from their clutches is his faithful dog, Tobimaru, and a nameless ronin who has vowed to never unsheathe his blade.

10PM - 12AM - "Hell Girl": Vengeance is Mine, but can be yours...if you don't mind consigning your soul to Hell. Is someone making you life a virtual Hell? All you have to do is give their name to Hell Girl. Once named the trigger of retribution, a doll with a red thread wrapped around the neck, is placed in your hands. Should you want to complete the contract and send your tormentor to Hell, you need only untie the string and the deed will be done. Could you resist the temptation or would you gladly follow them to Hell once you die?

12AM - 2AM - "Black Blood Brothers": Ten years ago the Kowloon King, a vampire of terrible power, was defeated by an alliance of humans and vampires in a war that came to be known as the Hong Kong Crusade. The King and his spawn, the Kowloon Children, had the unique power to turn their victims, human and vampire alike, into one of their own with their bite. Nowadays people believe all the vampires to have been destroyed in the Crusade. In reality they live in a secret city called the Special Zone, away from the public eye. Jiro Mochizuki, aka The Silver Blade, vampire and hero of the Crusade, is trying to get himself and his brother, Jiro, to the safety of the Zone, but the remnants of the Kowloon Children have another idea...bloody revenge!

2AM - Viewer's Choice



SATURDAY: 2010 - The Year We Made Con-Tact

10AM - 12PM - Saturday Morning Cartoon Revival - "Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers": In 2086 two peaceful aliens journeyed to Earth, seeking our help. In return they gave us the plans for our first hyperdrive, allowing Mankind to open the door to the stars. We have assembled a team of unique individuals to protect Earth and our allies...courageous pioneers committed to the highest ideals of Justice and dedicated to preserving Law and Order across the New Frontier. These are the adventures of the Galaxy Rangers. No Guts...No Glory!

12PM - 2PM - Nostalgia @ Noon - "Urusei Yatsura (Those Obnoxious Aliens)": See Above

2PM - 3:30PM - "Gunbuster: Aim For The Top! (Part 1)": Leave it to Studio Gainax (Evangelion, FLCL, etc.) to combine Giant Robots, Cute Girls, Space Monsters and Relativistic Physics to create a groundbreaking space opera. It's 2023 and humankind is making it's first steps toward light-speed travel. It has also brought them in direct conflict with the Uchuu Kaijuu, a space-faring race of giant insects. In preparation for the impending swarm training schools everywhere are searching for candidates to pilot the Gunbusters, a pair of incredibly powerful giant robots. Noriko Takaya is doing her best to be worthy of her father, an admiral lost in space during the first head-on confrontation with the insects. But does her apparent lack of skill hide her true potential?

3:30PM - 5:30PM - "Martian Successor Nadesico": In the year 2196 Earth is at war with an alien threat commonly referred to as the Jovian Lizards. Akito Tenkawa was living on the Mars colony Utopia until the Lizards attacked. Now he resides on Earth with no memory of how he even got there. And for that matter, how does someone who hates fighting and only wants to be a cook end up with a starfighter pilot's surgically implanted neural link? Taking a cooking job on the newly christened starship Nadesico seemed like a good idea...until it's builders, the Nergal Corporation, decides to send it into the thick of battle. And to make matters worse, Akito can't even get a moment to cook in peace without being hounded for affection by several female members of the crew. Can't a guy get a break?!

5:30PM - 7PM - "Onegai Teacher!": Kei Kusanagi appears to be a normal 15-year old boy. But this is not exactly true. He's an 18-year old who suffers from "standstills", a stress-induced comatose state that even arrests the aging process. As if this isn't an awkward enough social secret to keep, he may have just had a run-in with an alien. Or was it just a dream? Probably so, until he recognizes the beautiful new homeroom teacher, Mizuho Kazami, from the hazy encounter. Realizing neither is going to reveal each other's secrets a new friendship is formed. But when they are discovered in an actually-innocent compromising situation, a desperate story is fabricated to protect Mizuho's true identity...they're married!

7PM - 9PM - "Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?": In honor of it's 25th Anniversary we proudly present one of the greatest space operas to come from Japan, recounting the love-triangle of Hikaru Ichijo, Misa Hayase and Lynn Minmay set against the backdrop of interstellar war. Ten years after a crippled alien ship crash-lands on Earth, a race of militaristic giants called the Zentraedi attack. Faced with an overwhelming armada, the Macross attempts to flee, but a space-fold accident causes the ship to warp to the fringes of our solar system, taking with it a nearby island and it's entire population. Now carrying a fully-functional city within it's hull, the Macross slowly makes the trek back home while caught between the warring factions of giant aliens.

9PM - 11:30PM - "Birdy the Mighty": Everyone knows it's not easy being a modern-day Japanese high-schooler, but Tsutomu Senkawa probably has it tougher than most. Not everyone has to deal with getting mortally wounded in the crossfire between a female alien cop and her quarry. But not all is lost! All he has to put up with is having his spirit merged with Birdy, an impulsive Altairian member of the Federation Police, while his body is being slowly repaired. How hard can it be to live with a time-share body while juggling school with interplanetary crimebusting?

11:30PM - 12:30AM - "Outlanders": Based on the manga by Johji Manabe. Photojournalist Tetsuya Wakatsuki may not have radioactive spider powers or a giant robot, but when the invading Santovasku Empire comes to Earth with a vengeance, he does all he can to save humanity...even if it means having to marry the gleefully-violent alien Princess Kahm.

12:30AM - 2:30AM - "Spaced Invaders" (Live-Action)": Prepare to die, Earth Scum! Such is the battle-cry of a crew of invading Martians drawn to Earth by a faint radio transmission. The only problem is that it's a rebroadcast of Orson Wells' "War of the Worlds" and they're supposed to be fighting in Arcturus instead. Not too big a problem...until their on-board and execution-happy Enforcer Droid learns of their incompetence. Then they're toast...or in your case, a whole loaf of toast!

2:30AM - Viewer's Choice



SUNDAY

10AM - 12PM - "Wakfu": See Above

12PM - 2PM - Nostalgia @ Noon - "Gunbuster: Aim For The Top! (Part 2)": See Above

2PM - 4PM - Dead Dog Anime