Sorry I am late with my first 12 Days post.  I had to spend yesterday studying for my final exam, which I took this morning.  So here I am, hat in hand, to do two posts in one day — as Pontifus and I are alternating, the even days I’ll be posting here and Pontifus at his site, then the odd days I’ll be at my site and Pontifus here.

So anyway.  Rideback.

It may not have left the best impression on everyone.  If I understand correctly, everyone was super-excited about the show and that excitement tapered off over time.  Apparently supporting that view, I haven’t even finished it yet.  But I do that with shows I like as well.

But that first episode of Ride Back did what I demand of my entertainment, whatever that is.  I remember walking to class right after watching it; it was the beginning of the spring semester and the only class I was taking (while working on my thesis) was Science Fiction.  So I left the house after watching Ride Back to go to SF.  So the whole day seemed to be themed on my beloved genre.

The “moment,” of course, is the end of the first episode, parts of the ED included.  Not only did Rin’s first flight on Fuego manage to be visually interesting, emotional, beautiful, and all that other stuff, it also got SF right!  A lot of people, SF authors included, forget that their SF ideas are literary ideas, not scientific ideas.  The beauty of the symbol gets lost under the attempts to explain why NASA should be doing what the author says.  But Ride Back, both through the series and in the first episode, allows the ridebacks to be literary, to provide a multiplicity of meanings without highlighting one as more important.  I include the ED because it allows us to see more of what Rin sees:  of course the rideback can stand in for freedom, but it also lets her have something to rely on the way she might have relied on her mother.

So.  Number one (of twelve)!  Ride Back ep. 1:  letting SF be itself, through beauty and emotion.