Plot Synopsis
The Satellite Admins with their final (for serious
this time) strength, attack Andromeda causing huge chunks of damage to it. Geo wakes up, and MegaMan strikes a final blow to Andromeda, disabling it. Dark Gemini Spark curses MegaMan, wishing that the Andromeda Key was fully charged. Then Light Gemini Spark stabs Dark Gemini Spark in the back, killing... uh half of himself, to fill the key all the way. Andromeda reactivates and makes a beeline for the center of the Earth to detonate itself.Gemini Spark makes a run for it, and MegaMan chases after him. When MegaMan catches up, Gemini Spark tells him he's too late, and chucks the Andromeda Key back at Earth. MegaMan rushes towards the key and destroys it just seconds before Andromeda detonates. As that happens, a huge blast from Planet FM engulfs Gemini Spark, killing him.
The FM King Cepheus makes a broadcast to the Earth, and appeals to them for forgiveness. He talks about how the strength of the Brother Band has purified the planet, and he apologizes to Omega-Xis for destroying his planet. King Cepheus then lets Geo speak to his father.
Kelvin tells Geo about the power of the Brother Band, and how it can be used to stop wars and help humans and aliens better understand each other and blah blah blah about the power of friendship. He then basically says, "I got more important shit to do than take care of my family, laterz," and runs off to connect more planets with the Brother Band. Geo is then transported back to Earth, where he finds Pat lying unconscious.
The next day, Geo is in a fantastic mood and runs off to school with a huge smile on his face. He runs past Luna, Bud and Zack, and Luna is in complete denial about Geo being MegaMan, but you can see some real embarrassment in her face, more than anger really. Geo catches up with Pat, who has completely lost his memory since the car crash where he met Gemini. Omega-Xis breathes a sigh of relief, and Geo says it's time to make new fun memories!
Critique
Of course the series finale is going to be good, the climax is the most important part of any story telling, it's where all the events come to a final collision! Geo comes across great this episode, showing an absolute fearlessness to protect the Earth and his friends. Gemini's betrayal of... uh himself, comes out of nowhere, and is actually a good surprise, really clever of the writers. Luna's reaction to Geo being MegaMan the next day is perfect as well.
The action is good, and Geo gets some resolution with his father, capping off just about every loose end left. Watching the series up to this point, and then stopping would just be dumb.
Rating: Thumbs up!
As a whole, this series is fantastically well written. Sure, I wish they could have spent more time with certain characters, developing the Pat-Rey relationship of the games or showcasing Sonia's loneliness, but having a different take on a series is what makes it worth watching in conjunction with playing the game. I really think few video game adaptations of anything are any good, and this show is proof that it can be done right.
There are very few episodes of this show that aren't all that good, but every episode has something entertaining about it. Geo and Omega-Xis are great characters working off of each other, and Luna's character really developed strongly with this show, in a different way than the game.
A lot of people dismiss Star Force for so many reasons. First, Geo definitely looks different from the typical MegaMan archetype character, with his red visor, alien buster cannon, and elf radio antenna ear things. Secondly, the games are a follow up to Battle Network, which already has its detractors, and some people flat out enjoy Battle Network more. I think some of that has to do with nostalgia reasons more than anything, but even most people that I've talked to that like Battle Network over Star Force admit that Geo is a better protagonist.
Lastly, in the games, the dialog is pretty terrible, and long winded. I like the narrative, but the games really need an editor to trim the fat. This show on the other hand, doesn't have time to spare with useless bits of dialog, and it moves much faster, and that really strengthens it.
If you're someone who doesn't like that MegaMan isn't fighting robots, or actually anything artificial at all, or if you don't even consider this to be a true Mega Man incarnation, then take a step back, and look at it without the rose tinted glasses of games past. This is a story about a kid growing up, and fighting aliens, and it is actually a good one, Mega Man or not.
Interestingly in Japan, they never took a break from making this show. Star Force: Tribes aired the very next week, with an all new adventure for Geo and Omega-Xis covering the events of the second game, except about a million times better. Stay tuned.
actually i like starforce waaaaay more than battle network and i think capcom must give it more time an some independence from battle network
ReplyDeleteI could go on about Star Force all day, and I think as a trilogy itself, it stands up fairly well.
ReplyDeleteIts biggest problem is that Capcom handled it very poorly as the bastard child to Battle Network. In a gesture of pure greed, they released the game in three titles, radically redesigned much of the premise of the franchise, then slapped the Mega Man name on the box hoping the cash would roll in.
Underneath the character cash in though, you have a great trilogy about a reluctant hero coming to terms with his responsibilities and growing up. It's too bad Capcom didn't finally throw any weight into the series development until the third game, which had much more care taken into it internally, and thus was much more well received.
After the mishap that was Operation Shooting Star though, I think this series is as dead as Legends and ZX. This could be a good thing though overall, as Star Force 3 gives a very satisfying conclusion to the series, and I'd hate for Star Force 4 to be as badly put together as Battle Network 4 was.