On Feb 12, 10:45 am, Galen
nekomimicon.net> wrote:
Funny I can't remember if it played for a full season or not, one of
the affiliates in my area didn't even air the show at all, or moved it
to a different timeslot sometime before 8AM.
> But it was made by TMS, so I'll post to raam anyway.
At this point I'm more inclined to say, what the hell! It was another
nice attempt from a Japanese studio's U.S. subsidiary to get a show
going on Saturday morning much like with Mighty Orbots a couple years
before (if only to help fund for the production of Little Nemo movie
perhaps I thought).
> The series opens with two American teens chosen from Earth
> to attend "Galaxy High", a school on an asteroid (apparently
> in the Sol system). One student is a jock (Doyle), and the
> other is a bookworm (Aimee). The time is near future, and
> the Earth does not appear to be of any importance to interstellar
> society (which is non-human).
> Upon arrival, Doyle immediately gets into a dominance battle
> with cock-of-the-walk Beef Bonk (a giant rooster) and his Bonk
> Bunch, whereas Aimee wins immediate social acceptance, gets
> a makeover, and joins the cheerleading squad.
Did seem kinda interesting how the two's roles get reversed from the
way they had been on earth the way the had it in the opening sequence,
Doyle getting all the praise while Aimee is a bookworm.
> At this point, I have to wonder: why did these two apply to
> Galaxy High? Both are motivated solely by the desire to fit
> in and be popular, so why attend a school where profound
> alienation is not only normal, but required?
> In Doyle's case, he was clearly lied to: he's expecting hordes
> of gorgeous alien babes to swarm all over him, all the time.
> Aimee, apparently, came to be with Doyle, because she's
> infatuated. Which means that they didn't want to attend
> Galaxy High. So who chose them? And why? The series was
> canceled after 13 episodes, so those questions are never
> answered. However, the Founder's Day episode (11) does
> tell us why the school was created - to produce transcultural
> citizens. And by whom - a very wealthy man. (The principle of
> the school has her own reasons - she was oppressed on her home
> planet, and wants to help children develop gifts that are not
> valued in their own society.) (Since Galaxy High is a business
> venture, we might suppose that candidates with pre-existing
> loyalties elsewhere are not considered, which excludes anyone
> that society already recognizes as valuable.)
> Since the objective of the school is to produce transcultural
> citizens, it becomes reasonable that their first objective is
> to imbue the students with balanced physical, mental, and
> social skills that will allow them to be extremely adaptable.
> In Doyle's case, that means crushing his over-inflated ego;
> for Aimee, they have to build her up.
Funny I never thought of it that way when watching this show. Usually
cartoons that were a season or two usually never had much set-ups
other than generally giving you a backstory and going from there, with
much less resolution at the end in case they were optioned for another
season. Most American cartoons that aired this way pretty much lasted
a season or so on Saturday mornings unless repeated later on through
syndication or other outlets.
If Galaxy High have had a more suitable pilot of such made, it
would've involved how a decision was made by the principle to elect
two candidates from Earth to attend their school, a representative
heading to Earth, and discovering both Doyle and Aimee at a random
high school and finding them qualified. Of course if this was like
your typical anime plot, the whole point was to find the Earth worthy
of keeping than to destroy it should Aimee and Doyle fail in their new
school. This would probably be a 2-parter episode or such if the
second episode involves the two kids leaving Earth for Galaxy High and
going through the usual orientation deals resulting in Aimee and Doyle
being what the become in the series.
> Peach-Moon Academy, from the anime Pani-Poni Dash,
> features a school of misfits who are perfectly happy with
> their state of alienation and who wouldn't have it any other
> way - except for Kurumi, who is odd because she's the
> normal one. (Actually, most of the students seem to be
> cardboard cutouts - or at least, that's how the viewpoint
> characters see them. And Kurumi has her own issues.)
> In contrast, the students at Galaxy High are normal teenagers
> in every way except appearance - and being extreme examples.
> The gossip who never stops talking, the bubblehead with a
> 7 second memory, the reliable class president who's always
> there to lend a hand or six (Milo de Venus needs his own
> hentai doujin), the tart, the bully, etc. The main character
> is definitely Doyle, with Aimee in a supporting role, and Beef
> as the rival.
Being reminded John Kricfalusi was a graphic artists/character
designer on this show I think, a year later he would hook up with
Ralph Bakshi & Co. when they put out "Mighty Mouse: The New
Adventures" on the same network (and Saturday morning would never be
the same again).
> Next question: why are Doyle and Aimee arriving as transfer
> students with classes already in session, and not at start of
> classes?
> Maybe the cabbie was delayed.
>
> -- Galen
Makes me wonder how long is it from the Earth to Galaxy High for that
matter? Questions that were never in the minds of those writers who
just wanted to tell little stories of high school foibles and
frustrations with some pretty goofy archetypal aliens. You would
think this would work far better if it was something that took place
during the summer with them arriving at GH by the time normal fall
classes would begin, of course, time might be much different at GH if
classes began at a different part of the year from where it is on
Earth.
Again, I never thought of these things when I watched the show, but !
can see how some might think beyond the point to notice these things
(of course Japanese cartoons are better about that than some American
cartoons that may not have had a down-pat and fully-recognized
universe to lean on).
