u/Zaku71

Hello everyone! First, a little context. I'm Italian, and this series was rerun many times on various private Italian television networks in the 1980s and 1990s. This was my first exposure to Sherlock Holmes in serial form (the Jeremy Brett series aired only once in 1984, and only partially, and I didn't see it), and I'm quite fond of it.

With the arrival of the internet, I discovered that this series is considered quite obscure in English-speaking countries, overshadowed by the Jeremy Brett series, which seems to be the gold standard of TV adaptations. Anyway, I wanted to know what people who managed to see it thought. :)

Except for the reordering of some events and a bit of censorship, I'd always considered the old series a fairly faithful adaptation of the manga. I had to change my mind when I watched the new series! The old series had significantly toned down the manga's dark tones (rightfully so, since it was broadcast on TV), and the bright, vibrant colors didn't help much.

Here, however, it's much clearer that the post-nuclear apocalypse times are desperate. People are trying to survive; life is worth less than a glass of water. The desperation of ordinary people is clear.

What do you think?

(ovviamente spoiler).

A suo tempo vidi l'uno e anche se evidentemente non ero il tipo di pubblico per cui era stato fatto mi divertii abbastanza. Vuoi per la bravura di Meryl Streep, vuoi perché Anne Hathaway faceva benissimo il pesce fuor d'acqua, il film lo ricordo assolutamente come una esperienza gradevole. Quindi quando gli amici mi proposero di andare a vedere Il sequel, non mi dispiacque troppo.

Mamma mia quanto mi sono annoiato. Come ho scritto nel titolo, ma in teoria ci frega qualcosa dei protagonisti? Mi dovrebbe dispiacere se Miranda perde il lavoro? Roba che dovrebbe essere da un bel pezzo in pensione? A un certo punto stavo tifando per i cosiddetti "cattivi", che non si capiva da che punto di vista erano meglio del personaggio interpretato da Meryl Streep.

Sì, magari il film ha qualcosina da dire sulla morte del giornalismo o so come le ai ci stanno rubando il lavoro, è tutto diluito nella trama noiosina e i protagonisti che sembra che stanno lì solo per l'assegno. Suppongo che a chi piacciono queste cose, i vari vestiti e le varie sfilate possono essere interessanti.

In conclusione, un film noioso, che dura troppo, che non ti fa assolutamente appassionare al destino dei personaggi.

I know very well that world building is not HnK's strong point, however there are some clues in the various episodes.

Toki, Yuria, and Ken look practically identical in the pre-war flashbacks. Knowing that Ken is quite young (usually 18-21), if he were 10 in the flashbacks, it would have been noticeable!

On the other hand, a sort of new post-war order has emerged. There are self-governing villages; it doesn't seem like the chaos that could ensue immediately after such a traumatic event. In flashbacks, we even see Rei's sister getting married, which doesn't exactly strike me as a priority for people who have just escaped nuclear war.

Personally, I'd say 2 to 4 years (5 years at most, but that's already problematic). What do you think?

(sorry for the wall text!)

After John Rambo’s arrest at the end of First Blood, I think the authorities found themselves dealing with a case that could have become a massive legal and public-relations nightmare.

On one side, you had Rambo: a heavily trained former Green Beret who had effectively terrorized a town, destroyed public and private property, stolen vehicles and weapons, caused explosions, injured several law-enforcement officers, and nearly killed Sheriff Teasle.

On the other side, though, the State of Washington also had a serious problem: if the case went to a full public trial, the defense could have exposed everything that happened before Rambo snapped. The initial arrest was questionable, the treatment he received at the police station was abusive, and the local sheriff’s department handled the situation disastrously. A trial would not just have been “Rambo vs. the State”; it would also have put Hope’s police department, Sheriff Teasle, and possibly state authorities under a very uncomfortable spotlight.

So my theory is that the County Prosecutor / District Attorney, the Washington State authorities, and possibly federal officials all had strong reasons to avoid a high-profile trial. They probably did not want the full story of Hope becoming national news: a decorated Vietnam veteran with severe PTSD being mistreated by local cops, escaping custody, and then turning an entire town into a war zone.

The cleanest solution would have been a plea deal.

This is where I think Colonel Trautman may have played a major behind-the-scenes role. He was probably one of the few people Rambo still trusted, and he understood both Rambo’s military background and his psychological state. Rambo, at the end of First Blood, was not exactly in a stable frame of mind. It is not obvious that he would have calmly accepted a legal bargain, especially if he felt betrayed, cornered, or used again by the system.

So Trautman may have acted as a bridge between Rambo and the authorities. He could have helped negotiate a deal, or at least convinced Rambo that accepting a plea was the only realistic way to avoid something much worse. Not because Rambo was “innocent” of everything that happened, but because a full trial could have destroyed him completely.

The State of Washington may then have reduced, dropped, or quietly declined to pursue some of the state-level charges, while the federal government took over the most convenient part of the case: stolen military equipment, federal property, weapons, ammunition, and possibly destruction of government property.

That would also explain something in Rambo: First Blood Part II: Trautman offers Rambo a presidential pardon. A U.S. President cannot pardon state crimes, only federal offenses. So, for that line to make legal sense, Rambo probably had to be serving time for at least one federal conviction.

In that version of events, Rambo may have pleaded guilty to federal charges such as theft or destruction of government property, illegal possession/use of military-grade weapons, or related weapons charges. In exchange, the state charges were minimized or effectively buried, avoiding a trial that would have embarrassed everyone involved.

This would also make the implied eight-year sentence fairly believable: harsh enough to make an example of him, but not so harsh that it required airing the entire Hope disaster in open court.

So my headcanon is:

Rambo was not simply “sent to prison for what happened in Hope.”
He became the subject of a political/legal compromise: the state avoided a PR disaster, the federal government took the case on cleaner charges, Trautman helped sell the deal to the only man Rambo might still listen to — Rambo himself — and that is why a presidential pardon in Rambo II could actually work.

EDIT: GALT'S DEATH

My guess is that Sheriff Teasle would have badly wanted Rambo convicted for Art Galt’s death.

But that specific charge would have been extremely dangerous for the prosecution. Rambo would almost certainly never have accepted a plea deal that made him responsible for Galt’s death. From his point of view, Galt was shooting at him from a helicopter, and Rambo’s actions were about survival, not murder.

If prosecutors pushed that charge, Rambo would have had every reason to fight it in open court. And once that happened, the entire Hope incident would have been dragged into the light: the questionable arrest, the abuse at the station, Teasle’s obsession with pursuing him, and Galt’s own conduct during the manhunt.

So I can imagine Teasle being told, very bluntly, that trying to make Rambo take the fall for Galt’s death could backfire badly. It might not protect Galt’s memory — it might destroy it. A trial could turn Galt from “fallen deputy” into “the officer who was shooting at a traumatized veteran from a helicopter.” It could also complicate benefits, compensation, or any civil claims connected to his death.

So, reluctantly, Galt’s death may have been treated as an accident or as a tragic consequence of the manhunt, rather than something Rambo had to plead guilty to.

In other words: the authorities could punish Rambo for the weapons, the destruction, the stolen military property, and the chaos in Hope. But Galt’s death was probably the one charge Rambo would never accept — and the one charge everyone else had very good reasons not to put under a microscope.

I seem to remember that when Lupin takes something from his jacket it's always from the inside pocket, but maybe I'm remembering wrong!