Why 'vegans don't want to eat meat so why do they want to eat meat substitutes?' is illogical

People get irate when they see vegans/vegetarians eating meat substitutes, claiming it doesn't make sense when they won't eat proper meat.

But it does make sense: it's actually rather simple.

The reason they are vegan/vegetarian is that they don't want animals to be harmed.

Immitation meat doesn't harm animals in any way so why would be an issue? 

If meat is a problem because it harms animals, and immitation meat doesn't harm animals, then immitation meat isn't a problem.

If immitation meat isn't a problem, there's no reason for vegans/vegetarians to avoid it.

Also, hating meat production is a seperate issue from liking the taste/smell/texture of meat.

Meat substitutes allow the experience of eating meat without the negative consequences.

So complaining about vegans eating meat substitutes makes no sense.

Faerie: the Land of the Fairies

Faerie, in Early Modern English, was the name for Fairyland, the land or abode of fairies. Nowadays, ‘faerie’ is used to mean fairies themselves, along with other terms like fays or the fae, fayre or fairye. Only in Modern English has ‘fairy’ transferred from the name of the realm to the name of its inhabitants.

 

 

Shifts from Place to People

 

Apothecary and laundry are other examples of this place-to-inhabitant shift. Apothecary can be both place and practitioner. Laundry used to mean the building but now it means the items intended for that place (the place now being named ‘laundrette’ to separate it from the items).

 

 

Etymology

 

Faerie comes from the Old French fae and -erie, meaning the sphere or realm of dream, enchantment, illusion or magic. The -erie suffix, present in Middle English and Anglo-Norman, forms nouns that mean ‘place of’. Immediate examples are bakery, brewery and nunnery. So, a bakery is the place of baking and Faerie is the place of faes.

 

 

Pronunciation

 

The pronunciation of Faerie is not the same as fairy: fA-ree instead of feh-ree. In French, an ae combo is the same sound as the é in café and fée; as Faerie is from French, this French pronunciation rule applies.

 

Fée is from Middle French, originating from the Old French fae; it is the origin of fey which is pronounced like the English word fay.

 

 

What about ‘Fey’?

 

The word ‘fey’ is often associated with fay. This is more fluke than anything else. Fey is an Old English word, meaning someone that’s either fated to die or who has second sight. (Two things associated with interactions with the fay.)

 

Fey shares a root with words in fellow Germanic languages meaning the same thing. These don’t share the same Indo-European origin with the French fay (a Romance language). So the fact these two words are homophones and their definitions are associated is quite a coincidence.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Fairy originates from Faerie, once used and pronounced the same. Then fairy changed in both use and pronunciation. It isn’t the only example of a change in use, from place to inhabitant. After this, these changes were applied retrospectively to Faerie. I personally like this distinction.

Critique: How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (Film)

Grimauld is set on killing all dragons. So Hiccup looks for the Hidden World, a place where dragons can live in safety from humans.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Plot Problems

 

Astrid is involved in two situations that make no sense.

Astrid is surprised that Hiccup is embracing change. Yet he’s the one who convinced Berc to love dragons instead of killing them. Hiccup’s the reason why Berc’s society has changed so much. So clearly Hiccup isn’t averse to change, so Astrid being surprised by Hiccup embracing change is faulty.

Astrid says to Hiccup, “We’re going to find him,” the ‘him’ being Toothless. Straight after this, Hiccup tells his friends that they’re going to free Ruffnut. Um, what? Then after this, they follow Toothless’ scent: they knew Ruffnut and Toothless weren’t in the same place, so which, so they clearly aren’t going to free Ruffnut. It’s just a mess.

 

Grimauld, the antagonist of this film, is also involved with two bits of nonsense.

The other warlords seemed surprised that Grimauld won’t give them Toothless. Considering the only way they convinced Grimauld to join them was telling him about Toothless, I don’t see why they would be surprised.

Grimauld captured Ruffnut and is surprised when she talks about New Berc. But Grimauld’s been following the Vikings of Berc and so was already heading for New Berc. How can he be surprised about New Berc existing when he’s on his way there anyway? Grimauld coming for New Berc was the reason Hiccup and his friends went to find Grimauld. If he didn’t know about New Berc, Hiccup and co wouldn’t have gone, so Ruffnut wouldn’t have been captured, meaning he couldn’t hear her talk about New Berc. So how could he be surprised?

 

 

Humour

 

Again, this film ramps up the seriousness of the plot and the frequency of humour is hence appropriately reduced.

However, there is still whimsy. For example, when Gobber throws the bouquet in the air at the wedding, his fake hand goes flying along with it.

The sheep are dressed as dragons, hiding their sheep behaviours, so that the dragons don’t bother them. At one point, a sheep baas, making the dragons look at it, so it does its best to be as unsheeplike as possible after this.

The way Hiccup talks about the lightfury is the same way a dad would talk about their teenage daughter’s boyfriend. Hiccup taking the role of father is funny, as is Hiccup being protective over one of the most fearsome dragon breeds out there.

Grimauld says Hiccup’s name, the only character to address how stupid the name is. He says says Hiccup’s name whilst doing pretend hiccoughs. Brilliant.

Tuffnut ties his long hair under his chin to give himself a beard. The fact he thinks he’s fooling everyone is fun. Tuffnut says, “You have my word, until I break it, that I’ll help.”

Everyone fireproofed their outfits, but Snotlout forgot to fireproof his bum. Then Snotlout tells Hiccup, “I’m the son your mum always wanted.” So funny. (But also gross because you’re flirting with her.)

They play fetch with Hiccup’s peg leg like it’s an entirely normal thing to do. Later, Grimauld is holding on to Hiccup via his pegleg so Hiccup detaches it, letting his peg leg and thus Grimauld fall.

Toothless performs dances for the lightfury. He looks to Hiccup, mimicking his arm movements with his wings. But when Hiccup does a chicken, Toothless rears up on his hindlegs and, instead of flapping his wings, he flaps his forelegs instead. Toothless annoys the lightfury so she bats at Toothless’ head repeatedly with a foot, much like a cat does with a paw when annoyed.

 

 

Problems

 

There were a few things that struck me as odd.

Why did they number the second film but give the third a subtitle? This is a lack of consistency. Calling this one ‘How to Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World’ would have removed this issue entirely.

Valka tells Astrid to convince Hiccup that he isn’t nothing without Toothless. So why would Astrid hear this then tell Hiccup they’d find Toothless? If someone thinks they’re nothing without something, don’t confirm it by taking them to that something! Of course they want to find Toothless so maybe Astrid could convince Hiccup he’s talented enough to rescue Toothless?

Fishlegs couldn’t find a sitter for his baby dragon. But Berc has plenty of humans and is infested with dragons. So him not finding a sitter is ludicrous.

 

There were also animation issues.

The animation of the lightfury is weird at time. When she stretches her neck up, it’s wildly out of her proportion with the rest of her body compared to Toothless’ neck:body ratio. Plus, when her neck is down, her head isn’t far enough from her body to account for this extra neck length. So that’s a lack of consistency. Also, when the lightfury is invisible, she’s pixilated. There are loads of ways to show an invisible character in animation that work. Showing pixilation in a natural, pre-modern setting just doesn’t work.

Stormfly, Astrid’s dragon, gains florescent colours in the darkness of the Hidden World. Yet when she returns to daylight, she retains those colours. That doesn’t make sense.

When Toothless dances for the lightfury, at one point he does a bird of paradise dance (wingtips touching in front of him). He holds his tail above his head. The fakefin that Hiccup fixed on Toothless’ tail isn’t visible. However, it is visible before and after this dance position. This is an inconsistency.

 

 

Good

 

There were many things that the film did well.

Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout have a bigger role in this film than in the other films. Considering they were basically sidelined in the second film, it was good to see them revitalised.

The lightfury is bright white instead of black like Toothless. It has blue eyes instead of green. Its tail fins were rounded instead of pointed like those of Toothless. The animators demonstrated the sexual dimorphism between the nightfury sexes but both were still clearly of the same species.

Hiccup and Astrid get married. Their wedding clothes were absolutely beautiful. After three films of warm, utilitarian clothing, seeing the gorgeous outfits was even more impressive.

Grimauld thinks dragons with humans means the end of civilisation. This conclusion doesn’t make sense. However, as Grimauld is always complaining about dragons, his conclusion make sense for him when put with his thought and behaviours.

The film ends in the future, where Hiccup has a beard and his shoulders have filled out. He, Astrid and their two kids visit their dragons in the Hidden World. We see Toothless has babies of his own: their eyes are teal, a mixture of Toothless’ green and the lightfury’s blue. Most have bodies that are both black and white, suggesting that the colours of their parents weren’t due to sexual dimorphism as was implied. So even as the film is ending, another dragon mystery is revealed.

 

 

 

This film was of quality, nicely finishing off a fun series. The characters have aged with the audience which is a nice touch. Also, each film is made to be appropriate for the age of the characters but still having enough fun in it to be relevant to a younger age group (the age the characters were in the first film). The second and third films weren’t disappointments like many sequels are, meaning the creators held onto the magic. Talent deserves to be recognised.

Critique: How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Film)

Hiccup and co are fighting with dragon trappers, including Eret. Hiccup decides to free these dragons, being controlled by a fierce person called Drago. Along the way, Hiccup meets someone he thought dead.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Animation

 

The talent in the animation department deserves celebrating.

As the dragons fly, their wings vibrate in the wind. This shows such impressive attention to detail.

When Drago’s dragon stabs Valka’s dragon, the angles allow the audience to clearly see the dragon was stabbed without having to ever see the actual wound. The animators thought that through very clearly.

Animation colour tones of natural objects like grass, rocks, water and sky are more natural without a colourful pop. Being more realistic and less fun, it helps add to the serious tone of the film. Bright colours, like the paint on the dragons during the games, thus help to highlight the fun moments.

Individual grass blades animated individually. Like the beard hairs. Beard hairs also covered with varying amount of snow as they fly. Specific details were given attention.

Hiccup’s been animated, showing that he’s gone through puberty: his face and body are wider, more angled. Stoic and Astrid also look like they’ve aged. Hiccup’s original friend group, however, lack any signs of aging.

 

 

Problems

 

Oh dear.

They play a sport called ‘dragon racing’. But the goal is to put sheep in a basket. Yes, they’re moving in laps, but the position of the fliers seems has to have no value. Rather, this is in regards to the amount of netted sheep.

Stoic wants to retire as chief. Considering Stoic has full mobility and Hiccup is only twenty, this seems premature on every front. Also, the chiefs have all come from Stoic’s paternal line, so Hiccup, as Stoic’s only son, shouldn’t be surprised he’s been picked as the next chief. Plus, who better to lead the Vikings in their dragon-riding era than the Viking who made the Vikings ride dragons in the first place?

Valka holds a hand in front of Toothless’ face and Toothless makes happy rumbles, rolling onto his back. What? How can proximity cause this?

Drago’s fleet attacks Valka’s ice nest. But the last time we saw Drago, he and his army were destined to Berc. Why say they’re going one place when they actually go to another? So coming to the ice nest makes no sense. If he changed his mind, it would have taken three seconds to show it: that’s a little additional time to prevent unnecessary senselessness.

Hiccup and Astrid’s companions, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Snotlout and Fishlegs, have a far reduced role in this film. They’ve become part of the background rather than having personalities.

 

 

Funny

 

Just like the characters have aged, so has the feel of the film. Yet it hasn’t lost the humour the first film was so efficient at.

Hiccup and Toothless playfighting is hilarious. It’s exactly like a dad dog playing with his pups. Another doglike activity was when Eret threw the sword into the see and Astrid’s dragon Stormfly kept on bringing it back, playing catch.

Tooth hangs Hiccup over cliff to force him to apologise.

Hiccup and Astrid fly to Eret’s ship of dragon trappers. Hiccup says, “We give up.” Usually people say that when they’ve unwillingly been caught, not when the willingly deliver themselves.

Tuffnut likes Eret so, when Eret shoots net, she says, “Take me.” So funny.

Stormfly drops Eret to which Astrid says, “Good girl.” Usually that would be the opposite response! When Stormfly catches Eret and he says he’ll show them to Drago, Astrid says, “Works every time.” Which means she’s done it before! Hilarious.

There were fewer repeated gags. This not only made the film feel more serious but also made the jokes that were repeated funnier than they otherwise would’ve been.

 

 

Clever

 

There were many intelligent things to note in this film.

Hiccup is gliding. Toothless lets off a blast of fire to heat the air, making the air and thus Hiccup rise up.

Gobber has a wheel at his forge. Each shelf has different attachments for his handless arm.

Hiccup’s mum Valka draws on the ice, then Toothless copies this with an icicle. It’s a cool adaptation from Toothless copying Hiccup drawing from the first film.

Valka’s dragon hangs from the ceiling and has hook-like bat claws. Considering dragon wings are basically bat wings, having this added association is a nice detail.

Dragons in Viking myths were much more serpentine than the dragons in this film. However, there’s no reason why these drake-dragons hadn’t moved north in Hiccup’s universe.

Valka’s dragon snatches Hiccup from Toothless’ back. Surely she of all people knows the strength of the huma-dragon bond, so why would she cause separation? However, it’s easier to snatch Hiccup up than have dragons try to herd the nightfury Toothless.

Drago, the dragon master, just screamed and whirled spear around head and that made the dragons bow their heads. But Berc’s Vikings did that sort of things during their dragon fights, but it didn’t have same affect. Maybe it’s because the dragon’s fire didn’t hurt Drago, so if their most potent weapon is useless then there’s no point resisting?

 

 

 

This was a pretty good sequel. The feel was aged to fit the older characters and more serious tone without losing the glee that made the first film so full of life. There was beauty and humour with a fair dallop of intelligence.

Critique: How to Train Your Dragon (Film)

Hiccup, a Viking of Berc, shoots down a nightfury, one of the most fearsome dragons. As a result, this dragon that he names Toothless is unable to fly by himself. Despite this, and the fact that dragons and Vikings kill each other, Hiccup and Toothless form a close bond.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Good

 

The animation was largely good.

The irises of the dragons were animated so well, in particular showcasing colour and pattern. Also, the pupils changed shape which beautifully expressed the dragon’s feelings.

My favourite small detail was that Toothless would burn the ground before lying down to sleep. Dragons are famed for being able to breathe fire yet most creators don’t think how dragons would incorporate that detail in their everyday lives. The fact the creators of this film did is commendable.

Vikings in real life didn’t wear helmets with horns on them. However, this choice is acceptable here because it’s faithful to the books. Furthermore, there’s no reason why these fictional Vikings couldn’t have developed helmets with horns on them.

When the Vikings prepare to go to Dragon Nest Island, they throw lots of weapons onto the ships. It’s a nice shot from underneath, seeing the weapons fall with the glint of the sun above. Also, this view is in the shade of the weapons, blocking the sun from the perspective of the viewer.

The characters have legs that are so thin that they are extremely out of proportion with the rest of the body. Also, Stoic’s head is absolutely tiny compared to the rest of his body. The fact that it is so exaggerated shows it isn’t a mistake but rather a creative choice, one that brings levity.

 

At the end of the film, all the Viking ships were burnt and only five dragons were left on the Dragon Nest Island.

So how did all the people get back home to Berc? Maybe the dragons did relays. Maybe the kids went back to Berc and they brought the leftover boats back (there were some adults left on the island to sail these spare boats).

Now, Hiccup blacked-out so he doesn’t know how everyone got home. The film is from Hiccup’s perspective. So it’s a fun decision for the audience not to know because Hiccup doesn’t know.

 

 

Problems

 

Unfortunately, much in the film simply did not make sense.

Toothless is stuck in a crater, unable to gain enough altitude to escape. He has lost one half of his tail sail, meaning he’s unable to fly. But a tail fin would be more to do with fine control and balance rather than creating life off. So being stuck in the crater due to a lost tail fin is not sensible. (Also, we see Toothless gain a lot of altitude just by flapping his wings; it doesn’t make sense that he can’t get any higher through this method.)

Toothless does a really quick dive, making the Queen Dragon follow. She had holes in her wings but as she dived they grew bigger really quickly. The only explanation for this was that the wing membrane was weakened. But to be weak enough to rip so easily, the membranes wouldn’t have been strong enough to lift the Queen Dragon into the air in the first place.

 

In particular, the behaviours of the Vikings were utterly bizarre.

The Vikings watch Hiccup defeat the dragons in nonviolent ways. Plus they know how weak he is. Why then do they expect him to kill the fire-covered dragon? Defeating dragons in nonviolent ways doesn’t mean he can defeat them in a violent manner.

In the arena with all the Vikings watching, Hiccup deals with this fire-covered dragon in a nonviolent way. So why would they be shocked or worried now that his methods remain the same? He was the talk of the town so even if someone didn’t watch him train, they’d know his methods. It makes no sense. (Other than his father, for obvious reasons.)

When the Vikings prepare to go to Dragon Nest Island, they throw lots of weapons onto the ships. Despite it being a nice shot, no warrior would ever treat their weapons like that. So for the Vikings, whose whole life is fighting, this is doubly wrong.

The dragons pour out of the hole the Vikings made. The Vikings cheer, thinking they’ve won. But dragons flying away means they’ll be going somewhere else. Like Berc. Considering the point of the trip was to eliminate the dragons so they couldn’t go to Berc, letting them fly away is clearly a loss, not a win.

 

 

Humour

 

The best humour plays around with basic expectations.

            Hiccup says they have a problem with pests. What kind of pests? Dragons. Considering ‘pest’ is most usually used for small creatures that cause a nuisance, and dragons are large creatures that cause death and destruction, the disjointedness between word and specimen is brilliant.

            Gobber (the Viking with a peg leg) says trolls steal your socks, “But only your left one.” This explains why socks go missing in the wash. Also, right socks and left socks are identical, so specifying only the left is funny. Most importantly, Gobber’s right leg is a peg leg, meaning his only socked-foot is the left one: if only the left socks are stolen, Gobber has no socks at all. This is the line in the film that has the most staying power for me.

 

Call backs/refrains are used well throughout.

The running refrain throughout the film of people gesturing the entirety of Hiccup when pointing out what’s wrong with him. Such as Hiccup being told, “That’s it, stop being you,” or “It’s not about what you look like. It's the inside he can’t stand.”

There are several other call back jokes throughout. Call backs are close to the original instance, meaning that different call back jokes don’t overlap. This increases how funny they are. By themselves without a call back, these jokes would have been merely smiles rather than full-on giggles.

 

There were so many simple yet good one-liners in this film that I simply couldn’t include all my favourites. But here are some.

When describing where Berc is, Hiccup uses words like ‘Hopeless… Death… Misery.’

Gobber calls a dragon an “overgrown sausage.” Objectively it’s not the best joke. However, of all the simple one-liners in this film, it’s definitely my favourite.

All the kids do a forward roll whilst holding their shields. Hiccup follows but the weight of the shield pulls him backwards instead of the momentum carrying him forward.

Fishlegs declares he’s okay then when a dragon lands on him, he says, “Less okay.”

Toothless mimics Hiccup, whether it’s smiling or drawing in the dirt. It really lets the dragon’s personality shine through.

Stoic thanks Toothless for saving Hiccup. Gobber, noticing Hiccup’s missing leg, says, “Well, most of him.”

Hiccup learning his helmet was made from his mother’s breast plate was hilarious.

 

 

 

At the end of the film, dragons and Vikings coexist on Berc. Enemies to friends. A sweet message for children. The film is clearly aimed at kids yet none of the humour was silly, making it a good watch for adults, too.

 

Most of the accents on Berc are Scottish. Now, Vikings controlled a lot of areas in Scotland. However, during Norse rule, would these places have retained a Scottish accent? Maybe an accent from Scandinavia would’ve been more appropriate?

 

Critique: Dinotopia Night Three (Channel 4)

This episode has David and Karl work to get sunstones to save Dinotopia. Crabbe uses Marion’s sunstone to power the submarine so they can reach the World Beneath. They find their father Frank alive. Meanwhile, because the sunstones are failing, Waterfall City is attacked by carnivores.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

 

Positive

 

Some things were clever.

David says, “Did you hear that?” and Karl snaps, “Would you stop doing that?” As this is the first time we hear David say this, Karl’s reaction gives the audience information about their journey without actually showing it. Very clever.

At dinner, Marion rebukes Mayor Waldo with one of the Dinotopian Codes: ‘Eat to live, don’t live to eat.’ The Mayor is unreasonably putting his anger on the boys, blaming them for Marion’s bad behaviour. No father would want to accept her daughter going against his wishes as her decision. Plus being the leader at such a horrible point in history would be stressful. So whilst his decisions aren’t logical, it’s logical that he would be illogical in this situation.

In the caves they find the bottom of the tablet that has the Codes of Dinotopia. Seeing the last letters of the last code, it reads, ‘Find the Light.’ Like what Marion’s grandmother said. Grandma got the sunstone she gave Marion from the exploring partner of Crabbe’s dad. So Grandma knows the last Code from this.

 

Other things were humorous.

Karl says that Dinotopia, “makes a deal about listening, but no one here listens.” Burn.

The chute they travel in out of the city is like a roller coaster. Zipeau says, “I think that’s it, now.” Then a steeper roller coaster slide starts.

 

 

Unanswered Questions

 

The Footprint language is shaped, unsurprisingly, like feet. Where the toes point determines the letter.

However, the feet they look like are like Zipeau’s. Yet the vast majority of Dinosaurs the humans interact with have elephant-like feet. One would expect the most common thing to be used.

However, being circular in shape, a different orientation wouldn’t render a different letter. Also, the dinosaurs with elephant-like feet don’t have hands, so they wouldn’t be able to write or unroll scroll/flip page. So their foot shape doesn’t make sense.

As dinosaurs like Zipeau can write and move paper documents with their hands, it makes sense that they developed the written language. Of course they’d be inclined to base the shape on their own feet.

 

There are two other things I wonder about.

The entrance to the sunstone cave is shining far into the ocean. Yet when they enter the breathable-portion of the cave, it’s gloomy. Maybe the sunstones were only at the entrance of the cave, meaning not much light could travel up.

The caves are the World Beneath. Here, dinosaurs survived in the past; recently, David and Karl’s father survived, too. Clearly we aren’t shown the entirety of the caverns but it’s hard to believe that there was enough food for one human adult, let alone a whole population of gigantic dinosaurs. Although maybe the sunstones helped to grow their food?

 

 

Problems

 

A lot of these mistakes would have been avoided if people just thought a little harder about them.

Guards are outside Zipeau’s house, keeping the boys under house arrest. They knock the guards out so they can get a map and sneak out. However, being the librarian, Zipeau could have gotten the map then come back without raising suspicion. Then when the guards were knocked out, the boys would have had more time to sneak away without being noticed.

When the boys and their father jump into the water (that leads to the world above), someone hold a sunstone in their left hand. Yet in the water, the sunstone is in their right. Being in watery is would have been slippery so switching sunstone hands isn’t a very sensible move. Most likely it’s a continuity error.

A Pteranodon is attacking a human and an ankylosaurus. A change of perspective show the ankylosaurus club the Pteranodon way. From this angle, we should have been able to see the human’s torso above the ankylosaurus, which we didn’t. There wasn’t enough time or space for the human to have changed location from one shot to another. It’s a continuity error. The human would have been in the way of the ankylosaurus’ tail strike, so no doubt the human was removed for the perfect shot.

 

Karl and Frank bring a wagon full of sunstones to Waterfall City.

They the morning right after the carnivores’ night attack on Waterfall City. Even if Karl and Frank had dived in an out the World Beneath multiple times, there’s no way they would have had a wagon-full of sunstones.

Where did the wagon come from? Marion, Zipeau and David were busy in Waterfall City so it’s not like any of them could have gotten a wagon to Karl and Frank at the Temple. Marion and Zipeau couldn’t have put a wagon by the Temple’s pool in preparation because with all refugees streaming into Waterfall City, it is unlikely they could have gotten something as large as a wagon through a desperate crowd.

Also, Marion and Zipeau didn’t even know the boys would exit via the Temple’s pool (for two reasons), so why would they have put a wagon there in preparation? One: the boys were travelling via submarine. Two: they didn’t know for sure the Temple’s pool led to the World Beneath, let alone that the boys would find the pool in the World Beneath.

Considering Frank’s afraid of water, him diving in and out the pool would have been cruel. He managed to do it once so leave him be! Maybe he didn’t dive back in, but considering how that amount of sunstones would be impossible for two people to get, it would be doubly impossible for one person to get.

It was clear that Karl and Frank arrived during the immediate aftermath of the attack. That last scene could have been animated in many different ways to show it wasn’t the immediate aftermath. If that were done, all these problems would have gone away.

 

 

Overall, this is a very enjoyable mini-series.  I first watched this at my grandparents’ house when I was quite young. Then they got the dvds for me, even though it wasn’t my birthday or Christmas. So having this as a surprise gift has always stuck with me. Between that and the nostalgia, watching this miniseries is comforting.