Gundam 00 — Episode 18
This post was delayed because I was at three separate Chinese New Year-related social functions over the 24-hour span of period between 8am Saturday and 8am Sunday. I only reached home this morning. But fret not, for this sudden spontaneous generation of what is common known as a “life” is an extremely rare occurrence that will probably not happen again for quite some time.
Anyway this episode was pretty good except for the fact that my brain was functioning like a half-dead zombie’s as I watched it. Or perhaps that was the reason. Either way, it’s a nice evasion from what had seemed like an inevitable descend into Destiny-ville.
Summary
The Trinity trio begins its campaign of merciless annihilation as it wipes out one military base after another without provocation. The Ptolemaios crew, along with almost everyone else, is confused as to whether these violent interventions are supposed to be part of the original plan.
Tax payers’ money
Apparently the creator(s), Aeolia Schenberg or whoever he turns out to be, of this gigantic secret organization didn’t think it through very well when he/they divided the organization into so many secret cells operating independently of one another, without providing any means for them to confirm each others’ identities.
Why must technical briefings always be done in the dark?
Ian, Celestial Being’s chief technician, discovers that the solar furnaces used by the Thrones are actually knock-offs. They lack some kind of implementation which results in them having limited operating time, unlike Exia and the rest which can operate indefinitely. This is pretty damning evidence that the Trinity siblings are evil and their Gundams are probably based on technology stolen from Celestial Being by a spy within the organization.
“Farewell Howard. We barely knew you. For real.”
With the lost of Howard Mason, a previously insignificant character, Senior Captain Graham has gained a renewed determination to beat the Gundams with his Flag and avenge his fallen comrade. Howard should be glad that he is achieving far greater good in his death.
These meetings always take place in bars
Kinue meets up with the Union soldier who claims to have seen a Gundam up close during the Taklamakan exercise. Apparently he was hidding behind some rocks when Nena exited her cockpit in enemy territory so as to give evil Haro instructions at a volume loud enough for everyone in a 100-metre radius around her to eavesdrop.
It’s good practice to stretch regularly if your job involves sitting in front of a monitor all day
The convenient plot hole aside, we learn from this conversation, and a later one, that the Trinity siblings report to an entity called “Ragna”, which sounds like a pirated copy of Veda. (Without Windows Genuine Advantage™) But it could really just be some grumpy old man with a mustache. There’s not enough information to make the call either way.
Weddings are…
On the way to one of their AEU targets, the trio passes through Spanish airspace and happens to fly over a wedding ceremony attended by the Halevy extended family, which includes Louise. Nena, being a psychotic bitch, is unhappy that some people get to have fun while she has to work her tight ass off (massacring people), so she decides to have some fun (massacring people) and fire on the ceremony. Twice.
…dangerous
This wipes out the whole Halevy lineage, except for Louise. Just think of all that inheritance…
My preciousssss
Okay, so I shouldn’t be mean. Louise is completely traumatized by the incident and she also lost her left hand, leaving her unable to accept the ring which Saji spent weeks saving up for.
Guro
Emo emo emo. I am somewhat reminded of Code Geass, in a good way.
Aim for the cockpit dammit!
Finally, Johann Trinity launches an attack against the Iris Corporation’s weapon factory, which is manned by civilians, and gets pwned by Graham in a one-on-one fight over Iowa airspace. Graham is smart because he steals Johann’s GN beam saber and uses it against the Gundam Throne. But he only manages to cut off an arm.
“Exia, exterminating targets.”
And uh, Setsuna decides to take on the Thrones. I’m guessing he’s going to get pwned, so that Exia can get upgraded into Ultra Hyper Exia Excellion Infinity, maybe?
Comments
All in all, it’s an enjoyable episode with nice pacing. It is heavily plot-based, which is a good thing because G00 is really weak when it comes to character substance.
Anyway, Louise lost part of her arm. Gundam Throne lost one of its arms. Am I the only one who thinks that something may come out of this coincidence? (Gundam Louise!)
Okay, that’s probably going too far. (I hope.) But seriously, I can just imagine Louise being abducted by some top secret joint Union-AEU-HRL black project to manufacture cyborg pilots for whatever super weapon they plan to build to counter the Gundams. Maybe some really, really huge mobile armour that shoots missiles from its fingertips and add some giant lasers for good measure. And name it something that invokes a sense of doom and destruction, like “Break”, “Kill”, “Annihilate”, or even “Destroy”. Yeah.
Also, it seems that the parent organization of Celestial Being is being set up by the story for a split-up into two factions, and the worst part: Wang Liu Mei sounds like she’s tempted to join the dark side! Oh no! :O
Screencaps
“Noooooooooo…”
My, what a huge head you have
Colin Powell’s descendant?
Tieria gets cock-blocked by Veda
“Maybe those mass murderers aren’t so bad after all…”
“Why did I volunteer to pilot the cannon fodder unit?”
The purple orb at the front looks like evil Haro
RIP
WTF? Wait… Wait… WTF!?
Graham lost a few internal organs from the acceleration
This is not the “Vader” you are looking for. *Waves hands*
Isn’t that bulge on the bed a little too big?
EMO
omg no guro pls kthxbye
“That ring was frigging expensive.”
I like to play Mahjong.
February 16th, 2008 at 9:23 am
I agree with shadow.
February 16th, 2008 at 10:15 am
As i already said, i understand how it supposedly works. The problem, again, is that most of the key assumptions have not been proven to any meaningful degree.
The [i]other[/i] problem is that DM is ignoring whatever he feels like, while at the same time deciding what i do or dont know. Which makes it entirely pointless to try and have a discussion.
February 16th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I was too bored looking at all the scientific stuff you guys typed but that is not cool: that girl loosing that arm
I like complaining about her.
:( MEeeany TRINITY >( GGGOOOOOO EXIA!!!!;D
February 16th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Guner:
I don’t see why it’s so hard for you to describe how relativity is supposed to work and why you think it doesn’t, that is of course assuming that you really do understand the theory behind it.
My opinion is that you don’t, and you aren’t doing much to change that.
If you can describe the processes and point out the ones you think are flawed, then I can either correct your mistakes or accept your argument.
But all you are giving are vague reasons, which have long since been resolved by science, that show a poor understanding of relativity. Examples of this include your bringing up of the false twin paradox, your insistence that light is an arbitrary barrier, your illogical remark that Lorentz factor only applies to light (which totally makes no sense and sounds like something one would say after 5 minutes on wikipedia) and your assertion that relativity has not been proven yet.
These poorly justified statements all boil down to one thing: You don’t believe in relativity because you find it unbelievable.
The results predicted by relativity have been tested and verified by countless experiments. To deny the existence of relativistic effects is rather similar to denying gravity. In both cases, we have equations that give meaningful experimental results and we have observed their effects. Sure, we may not know everything about why gravity exists and what exactly is its nature, and we may never find out, but that doesn’t mean that we should discard the entire theory and promote Intelligent Falling instead.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:11 am
So, lets get back to it then?
Lets get the issues already up there resolved first. Such as, if speed is not relative as you claim, how exactly would you measure absolute speed in space?
Also, would you mind fixing the quote and cursive tags?
February 16th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
DarkMirage, your arguments have been very enlightening. I only know my share of relativity from AP Physics B and some Scientific American articles, and it’s just enough to toss thoughts around on the toilet and speculate without really getting anywhere. Thus, I will take this chance to clarify my conceptual knowledge of relativity, if you don’t mind.
I was reminded of a key question by photon’s post 100, which stated, “speed of light is how fast information can travel in space”. How do we know this? Is it because light (vision) is what we have based our observations on in experiments? If it is, then would the theories of relativity be refined if we found another “sense” to rely on?
February 16th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Guner:
Increasing your velocity requires acceleration. Acceleration requires force. Force requires energy.
If velocity is just a matter of comparative difference, then where does all the energy used in acceleration go? If you claim that a spaceship accelerating away from Earth is really the same thing as Earth accelerating away from the spaceship, then what is the energy requirement?
I already explained this concept way up there in my analogy to enthalpy change.
A change in velocity results in a change of reference frame. A measurement of difference in velocity allows us to calculate the change in perceived mass and space due in the new frame. Space, mass and time are all perceived in all frames of references, and relativity allows us to compare one frame to another. The speed of electromagnetic radiation, that is to say the speed which we measure it to be in all frames of references, is the only constant that holds at all times.
Relativity doesn’t require the measurement of absolute speed neither does it imply that the term “absolute speed” holds any meaning, since all reference frames are held to be equally “valid”.
The reason why it seems paradoxical to say that one object perceives time faster than another object when they are moving at the same speed away from one another is because this fails to take account for the acceleration involved in bringing them to different reference frames and then back into a common one so that a comparison of time can be made. In special relativity, this paradox appears to be a valid concern, but general relativity resolves it by accounting for acceleration.
Once again, I have already explained this way up there and included links to the twin paradox.
Seriously, just stop this. You have no idea what you are talking about and I’m wasting my time because you seem to have no idea what I was talking about either.
Also, why is it that no one realizes you can edit your own comments now (within 6 minutes of posting)? >_>
Zanejin:
Think about this: If the speed of light is not constant, then we should be able to measure a different speed depending on the direction in which we travel in. For example, if we walk towards the sun, the speed of sunlight we measure should be lower than if we walk away from the sun. This is the result predicted by classical mechanics. (Relative velocity = v2 – v1)
Earth, the solar system and the entire galaxy are all traveling at thousands of km/s in space, therefore it follows that the speed should be different depending on the direction which we are facing.
Many experiments were conducted in the late 19th century to prove this, including the famous Michelson-Morley experiment where a beam of light is split into two and sent to travel through two perpendicular paths of equal distances and end point. The experiment is aligned to the Earth’s rotation such and classical mechanics predict that half of the beam should reach the endpoint slower than the other due to the difference in velocity in the two directions.
However, they both reached at the same time, implying that the speed of light is NOT relative to our own motion. Scientists came up with all sorts of hypothesis to explain this in terms of Newtonian physics, which often requires the presence of some invisible force working on the light beams, but they all proved to be unworkable. Until Einstein came up with special relativity. The result of this experiment has since been repeated with more precise modern setups using fine-tuned lasers.
Basically Newtonian physics says that light can travel faster than c: you just have to walk away from the source. But this is not true. Einstein figured out why and thanks to him a huge paradox was resolved. Space and time are not the universal constants as classical mechanicals assumed, the speed of electromagnetic radiation is.
As for the possibility light being “replaced”, I have no idea. But it would probably involve more dimensions than we can physically and mentally perceive. It is certainly possible that larger laws at at work at a more fundamental level than what relativity current explains, but that probably won’t invalidate the results of relativity within its current domain of four-dimensional time-space. Matter as we know it are bounded by c. It may be possible for something to be “faster” (if the concept of speed even holds any meaning at that point) than light, but only god knows how that would work, since light itself is massless and it doesn’t get any faster.
February 16th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
The quote tags never worked out of the gate. Always took some time before they kicked in, i assumed you were the one doing it.
Acceleration is not what people talk about when discussing this. Its always speed. But okay, acceleration then.
Yes, accelerating requires power. But the planet you are moving away from is also moving, and this acceleration also required power.
The key is what happens once the acceleration is over and you are traveling at a fixed speed. At this point your frame of reference is as valid as any other one. From this frame of reference everything around you is moving.
If it requires more power to accelerate here than it did at the start, then it would mean that speed is absolute. Either this is the case, or it isnt.
Time dilation may or may not play a part here. Personally im not convinced it exists until we perform some much more conclusive tests. But this is irrelevant since, even if it does, you are still in your own frame of reference and further acceleration should be possible from your perspective.
Further, since earth is already moving, it is already time dilated according to someone moving at a different speed. Who is to say that accelerating away from the earth doesnt slow you down?
February 16th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
So you are saying that accelerating a rocket away from Earth is the same as accelerating Earth away from the rocket?
The laws of thermodynamics stipulates that energy can not be destroyed nor created. Where are you getting the energy to make up for the difference in mass between the two objects?
Of course they are moving in respect to you. But whichever way you prefer to see it makes no difference to general relativity. Also you don’t seem to understand what “frame of reference” means.
Oh great.
I give up.
Basically you just repeated the entire argument of the twin paradox against special relativity, when I have already explained how general relativity has resolved it.
Relative speed is indeed what special relativity is concerned with. But when we say that “a person traveling away from Earth at 0.5c experiences time at a slower rate than a person on Earth”, it is implied that acceleration is involved to bring the first person back to the same frame of reference as Earth so that time can be compared. That jump in the frame of reference is what causes the difference in time measured.
P.S. It’s <blockquote>
February 16th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
to darkdestiny: what do u mean the last solar furnace?
if ur referring to the 4th one that Felt sed was on the trinity ship, it is the ship’s propulsion system and it powers its beam cannon
if thats wat u meant then question answered?
P.S. has anyone besides zerox seen the GN Arms, they’re awesome
February 16th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
to gundamnut: when the exia’s blade sharpness increased, it wasnt an anger thing, setsuna just used its sonic capabilities or its Gn particles or watever to amplify its cutting ability
February 16th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Of course it does. Unless you really mean that acceleration alone enables time travel, both the observer on the earth and the spaceship must be correct. Or wrong.
“You are wrong. I am not going to explain why you are wrong, you just are.”
February 16th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
DarkMirage: Wow, I never realized that the null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment and the resulting postulate of special relativity led to the conclusion that observation by light was “perfectly absolute”. I’d always thought we just relied on vision too much. Thanks so much for making that connection; we’d learned about all the steps leading up to Einstein’s theories, but I just never grasped everything. I guess the way our class rushed through AP Physics B was unwise; I ended up only knowing how to do calculations for the exam and a bit of terminology.
February 16th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Wow… so many technical stuff o_O
The green hair guy might most probably have smth to do with Aelio Swineburg or maybe he’s Ragna himself. And maybe Saji’s dad is part of CB, since the sis was so determined in finding out the truth.
Anyways, if they manage to built big mobile suits that fly & elevators going into space, they will most likely to have bio-spare parts for Louise to replace her lost limbs. And with her inheritance she’ll be on the ranking of the rich with Wang Liu-Mei.
February 16th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Guner:
You are wrong. I am not going to explain why you are wrong because I have already explained it one hundred times but you lack the physics foundation to comprehend my answers. It’s rather like explaining integration to someone who fails to grasp arithmetic.
There are perfectly fine reasons to question relativity, but the issues you are bringing up are the kind raised by students studying the topic for the first time in their lives, the kind of questions that are standard to introductory tutorials. Issues such as the twin paradox have long been resolved and are in fact part of any basic beginner’s course to special relativity.
I have nothing more to say.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
If my questions are so basic, it should be a simple matter to come up with answers.
For the lorentz factor to have any meaning, at least one of the following have to be true: There is such a thing as absolute speed, or acceleration is what causes time dilation, or the lorentz factor merely deals with perception of reality as opposed to actual reality. Which is it?
February 17th, 2008 at 2:25 am
It is a simple matter to come up with answers. I have answered you a hundred times before. What is difficult is getting you to understand them, because apparently you don’t.
1. There does not need to be absolute speed and there probably isn’t.
2. Difference in speed causes time dilation.
3. Relativity deals with reality.
For why there can be time dilation even though all speeds measured are relative, please refer to this the twin paradox. I can’t explain it any clearer than that. You also need to understand why simultaneity is relative and events happening at a certain time are only perceived to be simultaneous due to the particular reference frame one is in.
When I say that these concepts are basic, I don’t mean that they are easy to understand or that they can be properly conveyed through a few sentences. I just mean that they are the minimum understandings required to comprehend relativity, and they are well explained in any textbooks on the topic.
February 17th, 2008 at 2:55 am
And what determines who or what is dilated? The twins paradox doesnt explain it.
Even when accelerating, moving, turning or otherwise being in motion, at any given time you are in an inertial reference frame until you move again. So it cant be motion that causes it, especially given that everything is moving relative to eachother constantly. Acceleration then? In which case, why would the length of the trip past the point where acceleration is complete matter?
The relativity of simultaneity, of course, obviously deals with perception of reality. There is such a thing as things happening at the same time, even if we cant measure it.
February 17th, 2008 at 3:06 am
this argument is becoming a laugh!!
February 17th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
What does this have to do with gundam 00? Oo
February 17th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Nothing and im getting tired of it.
Final thoughts: My objection is that the lorentz factor can only work if there is either absolute speed, or multiple realities at the same time.
The first is implausible but possible, but has also been rejected by you and the scientific world. The second is fantasy.
If you think believing in something that is indistinguishable from magic is the smart thing to do, more power to you DM.
February 17th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Err first, this is dark mirages blog so he can say whatever the hell he wants.
2) multiple realities, um, some theories (such as superstring) do deal with multiple dimensions so multiple realities might not be such a fantasy after all.
3) WHY ARE YOU DEBATING THIS IN THE COMMENTS OF AN ANIME EPISODE?
February 17th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Damn, I read to see where this started and someone made the comment that it didn’t make sense that graham got hurt when people can go 3x faster than the speed of light. Its obvious that he meant the SPEED OF SOUND. And he is right since its clear that graham wasn’t going even mach 1 so it makes no sense that he would get hurt from sub sonic speed.
You guys just wasted time on an arguement started over one persons OBVIOUS mistake. *rolleyes*
And what determines who or what is dilated?
err, he answered that:
2. Difference in speed causes time dilation. (thats what determine it)
February 17th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Guner: When two objects A and B are at different velocities and not accelerating, each with speed less than c, we can discuss two ways to observe the motion (although there are actually infinite): one is in A’s reference frame, and the other is in B’s reference frame. This does not mean there are “multiple realities” but rather that observing the motion of the two objects in either reference frame is equally correct; the person observing from A’s reference frame can claim that A is stationary and B is moving at a non-zero velocity, while the person observing from B’s reference frame can claim that B is stationary and A is moving at a non-zero velocity. That’s why the Lorentz factor does not require “multiple realities”. Does that address your post?
February 17th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Guner:
For fuck’s sake. The twin paradox explains perfectly your so-called fatal argument against relativity. You just don’t understand why. I can’t help you with that.
Gravity is not all that different from magic. We have no concrete idea why objects of large mass create gravity, although there are generally accepted theories that seem to work. That doesn’t mean that you pretend gravity doesn’t exist. The effects of gravity and relativity are well documented and experimented upon.
Electricity is indistinguishable from magic to the tribal people who lack basic foundations in science. Imagine trying to explain induction to them and you’ll understand my frustration.
February 17th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
DARK you are right! That facts of which you speak of are just that, facts. They cannot be explained any other way. There is no such thing as an absolute speed, well that is my opinion anyway. DIFFERENCE IN SPEED DOES CAUSE TIME DILATION. This is just a simple thought! Next time you are outside, walk by the edge of the street and look at the cars passing by. Now think about it, when you’re in a car and see a person walking the on the street they seem to be moving slower then you, which is correct but with that speed difference between you two, it “feels” that “time” has either speed up for you or/and slowed down for them. Which is stupid. Now imagine traveling in the same car going to speed of light around the earth coming pass the same street over and over and over again. Now it would look as if the person would almost not be moving at all. Which is stupid again. This is the simplest to explain that theory that comes to mind.
February 17th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Err???
Damn, I read to see where this started and someone made the comment that it didn’t make sense that graham got hurt when people can go 3x faster than the speed of light. Its obvious that he meant the SPEED OF SOUND. And he is right since its clear that graham wasn’t going even mach 1 so it makes no sense that he would get hurt from sub sonic speed.
Anyone else find it funny that graham gets hurt by subsonic speeds or would like to point out what I’m missing that is hurting him or do people just want to ignore me. *cries*
February 17th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Unfortunately no. The twin paradox claims to represent reality, not just perception of reality. For this to happen the way described, each frame of reference can not be equally valid.
DM: Which is it? Absolute speed, multiple realities, acceleration, what?
February 17th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I feel that you’re asserting there is one absolute reference frame that represents reality. There are no absolute reference frames, so “perception of reality” is essentially all that matters, as long as you can go back and forth between relative reference frames.
February 17th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
The twin paradox claims to represent reality, not just perception of reality.
err, your missing the point. The theory states that while both A or B will think they are stationary, in truth both of them are moving.
Do you think the earth is still? No, the planet is moving but we don’t happen to feel it since the movement is constant. So from our frame of reference the earth is still and the sun seems to be moving.
Did I get that right dark, or do I need to be schooled? Oh well, I’m no expert in this matter.
edit: a big part of relitiveity is that it proved there was no one absolute reference frame
February 17th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Its exactly because there are no absolute reference frames the twin paradox cant happen. If there was, there would be no problem making everything fit.
February 17th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
The reason why Graham was injured was because of the g-force from the sub-sonic or transonic turns that he made with his Flag. The turns at that speed can lead to thousands of pounds of pressure on concentrated parts of your body, tearing you up from the inside, it’s not like just moving in a straight line.
February 18th, 2008 at 3:48 am
Ah, thank you Keiichi. Some listens to me.
February 18th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Actually I didn’t read your entire comment, basically all I read was “Graham got hurt” and I just felt like answering it, in fact, if I read that last part which I did just now I’d probably ignore you xD
February 18th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Reminder, never talk about physics again. LOL
February 18th, 2008 at 11:30 am
That reminder is to myself. :)
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:40 pm
i love this anime so much i look everywhere and time for this anime now i looked for episode 20 oh i must wait i can t wait too long it is my favorite