Quarantine Control #100: A Roaring Success
The Quarantine Control series has officially reached the 100th entry, a sordid reminder of just how long us humans have remained within the clutches of a virulent pandemic. It’s difficult to think about the time when a bunch of people who weren’t ostensibly delusional thought COVID-19 would evaporate after, well, quarantining and social distancing a few months after the first cases officially arose in March 2020. It’s easy to feel sorry for anyone who ever thought that, because they sorely underestimated not only how quickly and easily the virus could spread, but the sheer level of stupidity that exists within the world.
Even now, it may seem like the pandemic is nearly over and shifting to an endemic. But there’s no way to be sure, and you can’t blame anyone for continuing to be skeptical. Another variant could always be waiting around the figurative corner.
Geoffrey Barnes
It’s incredible and horrifying that the Quarantine Control series has reached the 100th entry, even though it became inevitable with a virus that just wouldn’t go away and a worldwide populace unwilling to do what it took to significantly reduce cases. This sure as hell isn’t a good occasion for any kind of celebration, but I still intended to do so by talking about “something” special this week. But intentions don’t always come to pass, and that “something,” I’m afraid to say, never came to mind. So, I’ll just talk about a game I recently finished. I apologize in advance to anyone who expected the world here.
The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures (2015/2021)
Source: Nintendo Switch (also on 3DS in Japan and PS4 and Steam worldwide)
Episodes: The first game of two
A key expectation swirled through my head as I started The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures, the first game in the series and part of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles two-pack: I sincerely hoped the flow of this game and its characters wouldn’t simply be retreads of those from the earlier and “traditional” Ace Attorney games that take place in a modern-day setting. This was after I intentionally read little about what the titles in this particular sub series entailed in terms of story, to keep myself free of spoilers. A big part of me hoped it would stand above other recent Ace Attorney games (though they were hardly bad), considering this one was spearheaded by franchise creator Shu Takumi. The game fortunately avoided most of my fears and turned out to be a good mystery adventure game, though it’s held back by a few issues.
The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures takes place near the end of the 19th century, more than 100 years before the modern-day AA titles, in the late-1800s. It proved impossible for Capcom to change all the themes through localization like they did for prior titles; while those moved the settings from Japan to America and changed the characters accordingly, this one keeps all the Japan-centric and eventual European-centric themes. Protagonist Ryunosuke Naruhodo’s eventual quest to become an attorney starts off with him defending himself in this first case among the Empire of Japan’s court system, but he eventually makes the quest to London to participate in the British Empire’s juvenile justice system. Naruhodo, and young assistant Susato Mikotoba, have little idea of what they’re getting into, but it’s their potential that helps to push them forward.
It’s not too surprising that character personalities are reminiscent of those from prior games, with Ryunosuke himself being a fusion of Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice in terms of his design and personality. But his characterization nonetheless feels far enough from both of them that he becomes his own person and not just a past version of a modern character. The same goes for the other characters who reference those from the older AA titles, while others like Herlock Sholmes (their way of getting around the Sherlock Holmes estate), Iris Wilson (and not “Watson” for the same reason), and prosecutor Barok van Zieks feel even more unique. The game inherits most of the mechanics from those titles for investigations and court sessions, but none of them feel tired or rudimentary thanks to the small number of games that have used them since the AA series came on the scene.
Adventures is split into five chapters, each of which revolve around a crime — usually a murder — that’s happened, with Ryunosuke vowing to clear his client as a rookie defense attorney. In addition to the characters being different enough from their video game predecessors, another concern was whether the murders themselves would have enough good and unpredictable twists with all the ideas the development team used for previous games. Not all of them are winners, and there’s a particularly large case where the culprit is obvious, but they’re largely entertaining. It also makes solid attempts at being unpredictable, with one particular chapter being grim without resorting to violent means to do so. It shows the level of creativity these games are still capable of.
The game is held back by a few issues that bring the experience down a bit. The fourth case is the biggest sore thumb, with an investigation sequence that involves gathering little evidence, unlikable characters, and a bizarre case solution. It’s not down there with the legendary Turnabout Big Top case from Justice for All, but also not much better. The pacing is occasionally an issue when characters take time to figure out matters the player could work out in a minute at most, leading to needless verbosity, though it thankfully doesn’t happen often.
The biggest issue is how a good number of plot threads aren’t resolved by the first game’s end, making it feel like only the first part of two. It’s evident the team knew the second installment was green lit by the time work was finished on the first game, but it makes the end here feel unfulfilling. It’s possible, of course, that this could pay off with the second game’s answers and resolutions. Good thing it’s included with the Chronicles package, and that we didn’t have to wait two years for a resolution like Japan did with the 3DS titles.
The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures is a solid installment in the series that anyone who’s enjoyed previous Ace Attorney games should play, even if it’s not on par with the franchise’s best. But I’ll have to leave this here for the moment. I don’t plan to jump into the second game until at least another month, since playing two games like these right behind each other will increase the risk of burning out on the experience, which would unfairly color what could otherwise be a good time. Adventures was good enough that I know I’ll get to it soon — well before we reach #200.
Joseph Daniels
It’s almost hard to believe that there have been a hundred weeks of Quarantine Control, but we’ve made it to the big 1-0-0, and it’s time to celebrate with cake and, I guess, Russian nukes? Hopefully not the Russian nukes.
There have been shows I’ve been avoiding mentioning in Quarantine Control, simply because I think they’re too well known and popular to mention here. However, for column #100, I think it’s about time to promote five of the best shows of all time. These are not shows I watched during the last week, but are still absolute classics that I think everyone should watch.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
Source: Netflix and many other streaming services
Episodes: 178
I think this show represents the golden years of Star Trek. Argue all you want about Kirk vs. Picard, both shows had their good points. However, the franchise really came into its own with this series and earned its status as an indelible part of pop culture.
The Next Generation’s third season cliffhanger is also considered one of the greatest cliffhangers of all time, ranking up there with the shooting of JR on Dallas and the revelation that the flashbacks at the end of season three of Lost are actually visions of the future.
Today is the premiere of the second season of Star Trek: Picard, but perhaps it’s a good time to go back and watch the series for which Picard takes a lot of inspiration and does… controversial things with. I’ll still recommend Picard, and I did way back in the very first column, but if you really don’t like the direction that “New Trek” has been taking, Classic Trek will always be there to provide you with comfort food.
One of the things that Picard doesn’t seem to do well is pacing its narrative out, but I can’t help wondering if I feel this way because I’m not used to watching a single Star Trek story play out over the course of ten hours (approximately, since some episodes were longer than others). I had the same problem with the Xindi arc in Enterprise. It lasted for far too long and it felt like an entire season was wasted in a show that ultimately got cut short at four. I have also seen other serialized shows that are much better paced and have much more compelling stories.
I will still watch season two of Picard, but I think if you don’t enjoy it, there’s nothing wrong with going back and checking out one of the older shows in the franchise.
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005)
Source: Netflix
Episodes: 61
If you want a good serialized show, you can’t go wrong with the first Avatar series. As the story of a war between the Fire Nation and the rest of the world, with a young child stuck in the middle, it doesn’t dawdle. It feels like each episode moves forward at a brisk pace thanks in part to the way the show’s bending scenes are choreographed. Even the roadblock the Gaang faces in the second season when Appa goes missing and they’re stuck in Ba Sing Se still feels well paced, even though they’re pretty much forced into staying in one location for several episodes.
The Gaang in question consists of the young child Aang, who is the long lost Avatar, the only living person capable of learning how to use all four elements, and the allies he meets along the way, including a redeemed villain starting with the latter half of season three.
I liked that they don’t just redeem that villain out of the blue, they show their work. The villain’s given a lot of screen time and we see them wrestle with their own sense of honour. They see with their own eyes how the world sees the Fire Nation and eventually they realize that it’s the Fire Nation that has no honour. The show does its best to give most of the characters enough screen time that we get a good sense of who everyone is.
Unfortunately, those 61 episodes are over incredibly quickly, and that’s the only real problem with a show as well paced as Avatar. It’s over far too quickly. This, of course, just means it doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Cowboy Bebop (1998)
Source: Netflix
Episodes: 26
Speaking of a show that doesn’t overstay its welcome and definitely leaves you wanting more, Cowboy Bebop is the story of a bounty hunter and the small but ragtag crew of the Bebop who are basically along for the ride. It also ends in a manner some have found to be ambiguous, so more than twenty years later, there are still fans who want a second season. This may be the reason behind the oddly worded statement at the end of Carole & Tuesday which tell viewers that the story will continue, but only in their imaginations.
The reason the series has left a lasting impression is likely because the characters are fun to follow and the stories are fascinating to watch. One of my favourite episodes involves a videocassette arriving in the mail and so Spike and Jet search for a VHS player. The tape doesn’t work and in one of the most hilarious moments in the series, Ed glances at the tape and immediately identifies it as a Betamax. Amazingly, it’s both harder and a lot easier to find a Betamax player.
It’s episodes like those which make Cowboy Bebop fun to watch, and which kept it on television for many years.
MacGyver (1985)
Source: Paramount+
Episodes: 139 + 2 TV films
How do you know a series was and is still incredibly popular? They decide to remake it a couple decades later. A recent push to relive old glory brought back shows like Hawaii Five-0 and Fantasy Island (it was, in fact, the second time Fantasy Island came back). Among the remakes was a new MacGyver starring someone with douchebag hair. Someone on staff must’ve realized how bad his hair was because after the pilot episode, Lucas Till was sporting a much better hair style.
But that said, the Lucas Till incarnation of MacGyver doesn’t hold a candle to the original, Richard Dean Anderson version. The reason we watched the original series was to see how MacGyver could get out of whatever situation he found himself in, using just the material he found along the way. He was known for his seemingly unnatural ability to think his way out of a situation rather than using conventional weapons to escape. The series kept its focus on MacGyver by making him the star of the show and only featuring one other regular character, who acted as his boss at the Phoenix Foundation. The new series lost some of that focus by featuring a whole team of characters. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, every other show I mentioned this week features a larger cast of characters, but sometimes less is more.
The series ran for seven successful seasons and ever since then, there have been attempts to bring back the concept, including one which would’ve featured his nephew following in his footsteps. “Wait, what nephew?” Exactly.
The fifth show on my list this week is not something that’s currently available anywhere, so this is more like a call to Disney, for they currently own the show and can put it on Disney+ at any time.
Home Improvement (1991)
Currently unavailable
Episodes: 203 + 1 special
Home Improvement starred Tim Allen as the similarly named Tim Taylor, a man who juggled a job as the host of a low budget home improvement show, along with the responsibilities of raising three boys and keeping his wife happy. The show lasted for eight seasons before Tim Allen pulled the plug on it, but reports over the years differed as to why he did. However, no one can deny that the show went out on top and made Tim Allen a household name. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any plans to make the show available for streaming, and I suspect it might be because of Tim Allen’s politics, but I can’t be sure, because he doesn’t seem to be as problematic a Republican as Kevin Sorbo or Gina Carano. In fact, unlike Trump’s very public support of Putin as of late, Tim Allen has been pretty outspoken on Twitter about his support for the Ukrainian people and his disgust at the president of Russia. Besides, Disney hired him to reprise his role as Santa for a Disney+ exclusive series, so his politics can’t be that much of a problem.
So what do you say, Disney? When can we expect to see Home Improvement on your streaming service?
Openly acknowledging that the pandemic is still around isn’t enough to make it feel like it’s coming to an end — yes, again. This has a way of making signs about COVID-19 for the future look good for this milestone entry, even though the death count In the United States is slowly creeping to 1 million. It also partly feels this way because coverage of it, especially from nationwide and worldwide press outlets, has been drowned out by the pressing matters from Russia’s tyrannical invasion of Ukraine. That’s likely to remain the case for a good while. What a nice hell on Earth we have.
About The Author
dcstaff
The collective will of the Damage Control staff combined into a single article.
