21-Jul-2006 – Added some thoughts from ‘Dr’
01-May-2006: Added excerpts from Gérard Kraus’ dissertation on the Quest For Interactivity as part of MA in Science Fiction Studies on the Thoughts page
25-Apr-26: Added some thoughts on parallels with Stanislaw Lem from Arkadiusz Danilecki
14-Mar-2006: Added an analysis of the Arthurian aspects of the movie to the Thoughts page by Andrew King. Thanks to Andrew and everyone else who’s contributed over the past months and years. If you’re thinking of sending something in (and please do!) let me know if you give permission to add the item to the web site – I’ll only put things on once I have an explicit permission to publish.
05-Mar-2006: Doug Richardson has noted more connections between the game Wizardry and the story of Avalon. See the Thoughts page for more…
26-Jan-2006: I’m a bit late posting this, but in my defence life has been a little frantic of late. Rest assured, it’s a temporary situation and I’ll continue to update the site with any news that comes in. The BBC recently showed a series called Jonathan Ross’ Asian Invasion looking at the impact and developement of Asian cinema. The first episode includes an interview with Mamoru Oshii. Most of it dwells on GITS or GITS2: Innocence, but one Avalon question is posed – that of the dog’s disappearence. Oshii says that he inserts himself in his films as the dog so that he can look around the environment he has created. In the case of Ash the dog became unneccessary, and probably never existed outside of Ash’s perceptions. Ross describes the transition into Class Real as reaching reality, though most opinion on the Thoughts page – mine included – is that Class Real is simply a better level of simulation; something clearly (to me) proved by the effect when Murphy is shot rather than dieing in front of Ash. In any case, this does back up the theories that say that the whole movie is shot from Ash’s POV, from the static clouds and people in the tram to the dogs that are mobile and the lush colours in the food. As a total aside, I’ve recently been reading Masamune Shirow’s sequel to GITS, and if you think Oshii does oblique, Shirow takes it further!
10-Jan 2006: No sooner do I write that things have quietened down than another item comes in for the Thoughts page, from Simon Friend this time
06-Jan-2006: While things have certainly quietened down, several years after Avalon’s release, people are still coming to the film for the first time and finding those same puzzles that many of us have been pondering for some while. One such is Kalmar Nagy Andras, whose experiences have just been added to the Thoughts page
28-Jul-2005: Added some thoughts from Craig Tallentire
16-Jul-2005: Thanks to Linus Kerley for the latest addition to the Thoughts page
09-Jul 2005: I was recently re-reading Gérard Kraus’ essay (linked to from the Thoughts page) about whether Avalon can be considered a cult film. Now that we’re some years on from the film’s release, I think we can consider another criteria for cult status met – the film continues to attract new interest and new admirers. This leads me on today’s update – some thoughts from Nelson Giron; see the Thoughts page for more. I’m aware the Thoughts page is getting a little large, but at the moment haven’t really decided what to do about it… I don’t want to turn it into an index page with lots of links, and I rather like the current blog-like format. Something to ponder…
16 Jun 2005: Avalon continues to gain new fans even now, several years after its release. Some thoughts from Nicola Micheletti have just been added – I recommend reading them
09 Jun 2005: Added some thoughts from Aniket Jaaware
16 May 2005: Added some thoughts from Steve Franklin
22 Apr 2005: Added an item to the Thoughts page from Vadim Solomonik.
There appears to be a pirate single disc DVD around also claiming to be a Memorial Edition. More details when I get to check it over. Here’s a quick reminder of the position around the Memorial Edition(s). The authentic one is a two disc set complete with two books. One book is part of the packaging, the other is inside one of the Amaray cases. This is long out of print but a few places still have stock. It’s not cheap though… expect to pay around US$100 or more. There is a four disc set which I’m still unsure about because it has material I’ve not seen anywhere else (eg new navigation on Gate To Avalon to ‘hidden’ features). Lastly there’s the single disk. I haven’t seen the single disk yet, but in discussion with someone who bought it it seems fairly clear it is a pirate due to poor production standards.
26 Feb 2005: Updated the thoughts page with another instance where the Ghost appears in the movie
25 Feb 2005: Thanks to Gérard Kraus for reporting the release of Avalon on DVD for Region 4 (with the disc also coded for Region 2). Details are on the DVD page. It looks like a fairly standard release. Here’s a link to it on CD WOW (usual comments – not a recommendation, your mileage may very etc etc)
09 Feb 2005: Thanks to Wojciech Kosmala for alerting me to a four disc Memorial Box which is currently available. To be honest I cannot tell whether it’s a pirate or not, so I’ve given it the benefit of the doubt for now. If anyone can confirm for sure either way I’d appreciate it. There are details of this set on the DVD page