2005 Overview
As President Clinton would enter his second term, people were surprised at how fast the first half of the decade had flown by. The Clinton Administration had continued on over in looking where to make improvements or tweaks. The minimum wage increase kicked in this year for $8.00 and over all it seemed that the economic prosperity would keep on going for the most part. At the same time, things were a bit bumpy over with the housing market and so on as the infrastructure building was settling down, namely due to alot of the bigger works completed. Clinton's plans for his second term was continuing on with some modest political reforms and ensuring the growth of the economy. One path in particular that was being pushed thanks to Vice President Gore was the continued maintanance and growth of the American public ISP. After all, the internet would keep growing in variety and usage by the year, especially as the interns have become more curious at the new websites. If the youth were showing interest in these new sites, it would benefit to keep an eye on them as they could be signifers for future trends. Some of these new websites would be Youtube and Reddit, which would gather attention for hosting some of the recorded videos over from the Live8 concerts and discussion from them. Indeed, Vice President Gore brought up a proposal for a new office or position focusing over on the American digital landscape. While yes, cybercrime divisions have been relatively newly implemented, one wonders what more could be done or should be done in that matter. Of course, the quiet of the first half of the year would be broken with 2005 hurricane season, giving folks a reminder of the raw power of nature. The damage was devastating and mitigated only thanks to the foresight in reinforcing the flood protections of the areas, especially New Orleans. As such, the latter half of 2005 was busy with rebuilding, resettling and reinforcement through the hurricane-stricken areas. Following in the works of his predecessors, the Clinton Administration went in with a stimulus to help deal with a bit of the economic shock coming from the hurricanes.
This would not be the only big change in the world. The death of Zhao Ziyang marked the end of an era for China and the beginning of another. Ascending into power in the late 1980s, Ziyang was the main figure championing not just economic reform, but also political reform over for the People's Republic of China. He was the one who decided the course for the nation when the Cold War ended, he helped the economy through market socialist-like reform, growing relations with the outside world and empowering the people to take charge for themselves. His successor Wen Jiabao would have big shoes to fill and indeed, looking to focus back on the economy rather than to keep pursuing reforms for the political system. However, much has been set for the people to begin taking more and more power for themselves and Ziyang's death for a democratic China lives on. Elections would keep happening across the world as the left-liberal system was settling in with more central parties or newer ones flexing their muscles on stage. Internationally, things have remained calm for the most part. Some conflicts within various nations, such as in Africa would be ongoing though the growing regional powers would be doing their best to maintain order, even if they needed some outside help regarding the finanacing and the like. Despite this though, things were going pretty okay for the world. There was a general of global tranquility and growing more per year.
The film industry for the year would still be doing quite well. The biggest box office earner would be
Star Wars Episode VIII: Inheritance of Duty. Taking place a few years after
Episode VII, the film would confirm the long-rumored theories of the passing of the torch. Luke and Mara Jade's pair of twins in Ben and Sara Skywalker (played by Hunter and Scarlett Johansson) along with Han and Leia's son in Bail Solo and the trio becoming more involved in their parents' lives as the New Republic tries to stablize itself. From Sara's drive in being a Jedi compared to her more quiet and sagely brother Ben and Bail being the oldest one, responsible like his mother yet possessing his own sort of roguish streak over like his father. The three become involved in the search for Luke, who had gone missing to try and find the origins of the Jedi and they uncover a new sort of threat that they must try and prepare the Republic for. The film was considered a success with the growing attachment to the new characters and growing mystery on the new threat. Deeper Star Wars fans would note the subtle reference from prequel films and even a couple references from the Old Republic games. Followed up would be a bit of a new fantasy film series with
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It would recieve a healthy reception due to being aimed at the growing teenage audience along with fans of C.S. Lewis' works and even Tolkien fans given how Lewis and Tolkien were friends. Even some of the change made were well-received as it was done to the ease of transition. Already talks with in works for some future films to be made for it. Another would be the long waited final film of The Matrix trilogy in
The Matrix: Ascension. Having reached "Firmament", that being the support structure of the cosmos, Neo would continue exploring the depths of existence while having to fight off the "Archons", the creators and maintainers of the world. The final fight would see Neo squaring off against the Demiurge, who takes on his guise. While the clash of ideals start classic Gnostic talks, including referencing the Monad and the physical and spiritual worlds, Neo goes off the script and chastising the Demiurge on a failure to maintain the world properly. Neo seemingly breaks the Demiurge, only for the latter to claim Neo will replace him. Neo's fate was to be cast down or victory, resulting in the world being destroyed and recreated with Neo at the helm. Neo defies this, instead breaking himself into dust and mixing in with the world. In doing so, he recreated the world, but his essence is spread throughout humanity. Neo's final words says that humanity needs to take charge of its responsability and to become active caretakers of one another, indicating that by making himself into dust and speading to everyone, he has begun the awakening of everyone. The film did quite well, even if it was rather mind-blowing in its mix of Gnostic elements mixed with elements of virtual reality and "God as programmer. The film would also host a trailer for
The Animatrix, a collection of animated short films enveloped in one serving as a mix of prequels and side-stories to the trilogy. Other lauded films would be
Brokeback Mountain, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Hitch, Their Eyes Were Watching God and so on. Yet another major film would be famed director Christopher Nolan creating a Batman film over with
Batman Begins. Focusing on a more down-to-earth Bruce Wayne as Batman, it combined modern sensibilities and tech along with the unique comic atmosphere, with Christian Bale as the titular Batman himself along with a star-studded performance that would continue to get audiences over in superhero films, even with the lingering questions of live action vs animation.
Though speaking of animation, that would also do well here. Disney would dominate with the release of two films. One would be
Treasure Planet II, a sequel to the first
Treasure Planet. The film shows Jim as an exemplary if rebellious cadet and clashing with the other ace cadet, the intelligent and ambitious Katherine Blake. However, the two are forced to work together when they discover a conspiracy with the instigator being a notorious pirate known as Ironbeard. Despite Treasure Planet's destruction, much of the gold was salvagable and moreover, the tech would become priceless, with it being reengineered for the Terran Empire. One such result was an experimental new ship with greater speed and not reliant on the sails, "the Centurion". Said ship becomes the target of Ironbeard, who hopes to use it to achieve an unending crime spree. Long John Silver returns to aid them while the rest of the cast work to try and come up with a countermeasure. The film became a surprise hit with a couple of twists, including the death of Silver himself in a shocking scene. The film also had parallels to the sunset of the Age of Sail, with the Centurion representing the rise of steamships. The second film would be Pixar's superhero film in
The Incredibles, which would take place in early Cold War. Superheroes forced into hiding only for Mr. Incredible and his family coming up to save the day. The film became a blast and quite enjoyable, with a couple of commentators jokingly calling it the best "Fantastic Four" film (which also referenced the F4 film that was cancelled last year out of uncertaintly of viability.) Over all, it was another success over for Disney. Dreamworks meanwhile came out with something quirkier regarding zoo animals over with
Madagascar. It also would have a trailer over for with for another animated film in
Dreamworks' The Revenge of Monkey Island, the second in what would like be a series of
Monkey Island film adaptations, albeit being a bit more creative with source material and introducing a couple new characters over time. One infamous one would be Jack Sparrow, a quasi-mentor and eccentric friend to Guybrush on piracy, relationships and shannigans, being voiced by Johnny Depp. The film would continue to good success as Bluth continued with the charm and development of his style. The film would have trailer for two upcoming films. One would be the third
Monkey Island film and the second a
Dragon's Lair film which would be in 3D CGI albeit cel-shaded. Bluth noted he was excited on the latter for the chance to freshen up and revamp his characters. Of course, a dark horse hit would be from Warner Bros Feature animation with an animated adaptation of
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. While originally considered as a live action film, they switched gears out of concern of fitting with the original film and instead switched gears for doing it animated with more creative liberties, with one animato jokingly noted that the design was based on "Santa's workshop
on acid and based on candy." From the Oompa-Loompas being definitely not human (with them even mocking theorists in asking if they be fey, living toys or homunculi) to the eccentricity of Mr. Wonka himself. At the same time, the story focuses on Charlie, who is a little more proactive in his wonder and even interacts with the kids to a degree. In turn, the children have depths to them and nice moments (from Augustus sharing food with Charlie, Veruca sulking at lack of time with parents, Violet's inferioity complex along with being kind to Charlie and Mike's desire for recognition and importance), while showing their flaws. Flaws that albeit are more indicitive of their parents' failures (something Wonka himself reinforces). Wonka himself is fleshed out as a form of mad artist seeking an heir to share his wonder, and views Charlie as a superior successor for being cautious, proactive and caring. The film would be viewed as a cult classic even if still a fair bit are torn on the creative liberties. And of couse, another dark horse was
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Television also kept on growing. Crime drama saw a new
Law And Order show over with
Trial By Jury showcasing the events of the court while a new one in
NUMB3RS was one that promoted how mathematics is utilized in mystery-solving along with the logistics and importance of it. Medical dramas would see a big hit with
Grey's Anatomy while a new type of drama would be seen over in
The Office, showcasing office politics with eccentric humor along with showcasing the transition of the economy from what people recognized of the 1990s to something new. For the more fantastically minded, there was
Supernatural and and even something somewhat more down to earth with
Everybody Hates Chris, a semi-biographical account of Chris Rock's years as a teenager in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Animation meanwhile would continue to boom especially. Cartoon Network ventured further into action with a big hit in
Ben 10. Created by Man of Action, including the newcomer of Dwayne McDuffie, it showed biracial kid Benjamin Tennyson becoming connected to an alien device in the Omnitrix that allows him to shapeshift into ten different alien forms in Cannonbolt, Diamondhead, Four Arms, Grey Matter, Heatblast, Ripjaws, Stinkfly, Upchuck, Wildvine and XLR8. Alongside his cousin from his dad's side of the family in Gwen and their paternal grandfather Max, the two's summer is involved in crimefighting and fighting alien menaces. McDuffie's arrival was relatively last-minute, but his world building and efforts were very much appreciated. However, the bigger boom happened in Toonami with the additional of new anime, especially the power trio that would dominate the western anime scene for many kids growing up at the time and make it mainstream over with
Naruto, telling the story of the titular ninja,
Bleach, inspired by samurai and the afterlife and
One Piece, a pirate anime and for both, becoming major players. Other shows that would be introduced and become popular would be
Bobobo Bobo-Bobo and
Zatch Bell. Nick meanwhile continued with most old shows and planned Marvel stuff though one new original IP would catch on in large attention over with
Avatar: The Last Airbender, an anime-inspired wonderland that would really kick things into high gear over for the channel. Disney would be still doing well, riding high with successes like
Kim Possible though also expanding a bit more over on Disnippon more and more. MetroKids meanwhile would continue on despite a bit of the troubles though the creation of a new
Star Wars animated series would help keep it afloat and interest in the channel, allowing to experiment a little more, such as with a magic themed supehero in
American Dragon Jake Long along with still airing some other shows, including fom KidsWB, who many suspected may cut a deal regarding some of the shows, perhaps going to a new channel. As for adult animation, well
Futurama is still on going, but the big news would be the end of Family Guy, the project by Seth McFarlene, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The show would wrap up and McFarlene along with Stone and Parker were discussing ideas for a new show, especially as they had gotten to one another and share commong ground. Overall, things were looking good in animation.
Video game meanwhile would gain some attention as each of the big three would start leaking out information of potential new consoles. For now, the Nintendo Gamecube, the Sony Playstation 2 and the Microsoft-Atari Abox continued on in their console wars. The Nintendo Gamecube would see
Star Fox Assault, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Pokemon X/D: Gale of Darkness, Mario Party 7 and others, such as
Kameo: Elements of Power coming over from RARE, who had become a subsidiary over of Nintendo though could still make some games for other consoles, such as the aforementioned Kameo. Meanwhile, the Super GamePal would see a new Pokemon game in
Pokemon: Emerald Version and a new Mario game with
Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time along with a
Cyberknight Ziro and
Megaman Battle Network games. Sony's Playstation 2 meanwhile would keep strong with games like
Gran Turismo 4, Tekken 5, Dynasty Warriors 5, DragonQuest VIII, Devil May Cry 3, and
Sly III: Honor Among Thieves and so on, with fans eagerly awaiting the release of
Kingdom Hearts II for the west next year. The big fascinating game though would be
Wonder Woman: Demigoddess, a rated T game that shows Diana end up in conflicts with some of the Greek gods along with shoutouts both to Greek mythology, but also her own comic lore too. The Abox continued on over as well with a few games though it was becoming apparently, they were preparing for their new console in the
Abox NX while Sony would surprise with them entering the handheld console market over with the
Playstation Portable. Ubisoft continued with more main console games like
Rayman: Hoodlums' Revenge and indie titles as well like
Psychonauts. As for PC, World of Warcraft would become increasingly popular and more over the months with other games being
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords, Guild Wars, Quake 4, Call of Duty, Civilization IV and
Battlefield 2. Overall, it was a fascinatingly growing year,
. Hope everyone enjoys the political glimpse so far