Thanks for your comments, guys. I will reply to them in a later date, but for now... I actually found the text that I wrote after that one (this time regarding Season 3)! For the sake of preservation, it hasn't been changed... so grimmer might actually suck.
Ok, Season 3 was everything Season 2 tried so hard to accomplish, but couldn’t quite do it. It really brought the series back to the right path and allowed a lot of changes that made it one of the most memorable ones on the show’s history... which only adds to the frustration to know that there weren’t any more seasons after this one, because one can only wonder what would have come out of this now that the writers, animators and directors finally understood what Redwall was all about. In fact, I think that Season 3 was the best season on the show, because it took everything that made the first one so good and it multiplied it multiple times over.
Let’s go back to the intro one last time, shall we?
NOW this is what you would call an intro. I love this opening sequence so much because it brought back the dark, moody atmosphere that worked really well at the beginning of this show, but it also made all kinds of improvements to the formula: every key character is covered on this presentation, no one is left out and, for the first time in a long time, we actually got to see clips from several episodes, instead of the first couple of entries from the series. To top it off, we are facing a great amount of action here, with fiery arrows flying all over the place, a ship ramming another, action and adventure all in one single, master shot. But even if those elements weren’t part of this opening, we still wouldn’t been able to say that it wasn’t a good one, because it really knows when to push the limits and when it needs to slow down a bit and lets us taste the details (even if those were on for only a coupe of seconds, that’s a hard lesson they learned from their past experience). The tapestry is also given special attention and care here, appearing in multiple shots... man, I LOVE that. But I think that the thing that really sold me on the idea of watching this third season was the initial shot of those two monks opening a wooden door to the dark caves that were just behind it. That spells out “adventure” no matter how you look at it.
I guess that it is obvious to say that Season 3 was a breath of fresh air for me. Once again, I flew thru it in less than a week and I enjoyed the experience very much. The show used some silly tricks that I didn’t really appreciate (those guys trying to play a deadly game with the group were a bit pathetic in my opinion, but the show would do something amazing with them later on, so it was not that much of a big deal now that I think about it) but it kept it quality above average during its entire run time. I like how, for the first time in a LONG time, we actually got to met the characters on a more personal level (being able to actually met Rose’s hometown and relatives was a amazing detail that I didn’t actually expect) and thus, I really cared about them more than I did with anyone from either Redwall or Mattimeo. I also love the idea of having multiple foes to fight this time, instead of either Cluny or Slegar with Ironbeak... the idea works this time because the group fights these new enemies at the same time, instead of having one group taking charge of each of the “bad guys” (seriously, how many times am I going to have to go back to “Mattiemeo”?).
Another thing I really liked about this whole situation is that our two main villains actually interact on this, making for some great sub-plots. Not only Badrang and Clogg give their absolute best every time they have to share a common location, but it is also incredibly hilarious to see how they always try to sabotage or back-stab each other, usually creating ridiculously complicated and highly ineffective plots to get rid of the other one and rule Marshank at will. It is pretty cool to know that, when the action is not focused on our main characters, the show has something to offer... in fact, when everybody converges at said fort the results of the combined idiocy of these two would make for a strangely epic series finale.
There are some things that I don’t like, though. The character of Martin starts off really strong on the show, but, as the series progress, the attention is put almost exclusively on Rose. That wouldn’t be bad if played smoothly, but that sadly isn’t the case. Granted, Rose is a really interesting character (one of the most interesting ones to appear on this show) but the action and screentime should have been split a little more in between the main protagonists of this cartoon. I also find it kind of annoying that both Grumm and Pallum seem to be written out of some of the episodes (specially during the second part of the Season)... they do get some lines here and there, but their contribution seems less and less important as the series goes (this is especially true on Pallum’s side).
I’m also a little annoyed at the lack of care that is given to the character of Luke the Warrior. He appears on the intro (heck, he does it a few times during the entire sequence) and is directly responsible of the plot, by giving Martin his sword, but he’s never seen nor heard of again right after his job is done. I understand that the writers needed to cram a lot of stuff on a relatively short time-slot, but this was just lazy. Because, when we get down to it, what do we really know about that character? Not enough to fill up a napkin, that’s how much we know about him.
Now, I gotta admit that the “Fur and Freedom fighters” idea is one of the most clever, well-executed and even kind of epic that I have seen on this show. It is really obvious at first glance that a lot of love and care went into this particular part of the series. I like how for the first -and probably only- time on the program different people working towards a common goal have different approaches and even differences of opinions regarding how to achieve said goal. There’s no more “let’s all defend Redwall” or “do what Cluny says”, but instead we have people trying to attack and destroy Marshank to prevent more slavery from happening and the other group of slaves just trying to move on and leave the fort behind as a bad memory. The idea works so well because, as would later be implied, no side has the right angle nor the perfect solution... taking too much risks and being moved by sheer anger would only lead to tragedy, but avoid everything in its entirely would also lead to more unpleasant results. Heck, at the end only those who refused to take out the blindfold were the ones that ended up being killed or losing someone close to them. I find the message strong and the execution brilliant (and even a little moving).
All in all, I can’t really say that I liked every trick that this cartoon pulled off (the "recycled" models on Ballaw and Rowanoak were an unpleasant surprise) but it at least TRIED to do things right and, in that regard, Season 3 was a HUGE step in the right direction. It is a tremendous shame that the show had to die right after this new incarnation was done, but it at least went on a high note... and that’s something that not every cartoon can accomplish.
Topic: My thoughts on Redwall (Season 2) (Read 1122 times)