I haven't actually seen 2040, although I have read spoilerific episode summaries, which only serve to reinforce the opinion of it being an exploitation of the original concept reconceived to market to a wider market.
As I'm not sure how long the intro and ending take up time wise I'm going to just deduct five minutes from total run time.
So 26*20 minutes each = 520 minutes.
OVA 1,5,6, and 8 are definitely 45 minutes long
OVA 2 & 3 are definitely 30 minutes long
I'm note sure on episode length of 4 & 7at the moment so I'm going to assume 30 minutes.
=> 260 minute long series, or approximately half the runtime of a normal half season.
Of these 1-3 & 4-6 continue with a developing plot. If Vision had been brought into the group as originally planned 7 would have effectively as well, although not continuing Mason's mechanations. Going by the interviews on the DVDs only the main characters and world were really fixed, with each director basically getting to setup their set of episodes and there wasn't a real master plan or dominating vision.
My main complaints with the original center around things where I suspect Sonada and the others weren't comunicating well. Thus we have Priss's motoslave carrying a big cannon in OVA 1, but it behaving like the lighter autocannon Linna used in OVA 3. Something they apparently got straightened out by OVA 5, when a similar cannon shows up. Of course, then they made a mistake with that in their attempt to overdramatize things. Namely Priss's Motoslave was reduced to scrap in OVA 5, and yet she has another Priss (Red) Motoslave in OVA 6 which serves no other purpose then to get her to Genom tower. Granted that by that point Sylia could have decided it was worthwhile to have a spare for Priss's Motoslave around.
If they'd just let the singer go instead of setting it up like they did, waiting to see whether she would otherwise have something else to do with her career, we could have Priss leave and Vision come in. Thus we could easily continue with Vision joining and becoming a part of the group in the next few episodes. Then proceed to wrap things up in what was left, preferably more by defining their role then deus exing Genom. Instead it kind of jumped the shark, and by Scoop Chase one of the directors had finally sunk low enough to break some of the principles that kept it higher making the Knight Sabers just the "good guys" vs the bad guys in their actions and ignoring various things.
After this Youmex and AIC broke up messing up this series among others. Youmex tried to continue it with Crash, but AIC sued cutting it down. From what I've read about Crash it wasn't really deserving as it abused the world and characters it was based on, and showed that no one by Sonada can apparently be trusted to design the hardsuits.
Recently AIC looks like it decided to make it's own bid. Take a successful cyberpunk series, burn off the solid stuff the Lowest Common Denominator doesn't really appreciate, reengineer what's left to appeal to a wider market in no small part by predigestion and ripping off other shows and apparently we get 2040. Something that looks more like the illegitimate child of El Hazard, Generator Gawl, and Evangelion then a sequel to Bubblegum Crisis.
If they remade BGC, in my opinion Sonada would absolutely have to be on the staff. Cannon God Exaxxion and Gunsmith Cats show he can handle the material in many ways as good if not better then anyone else. Plus, no one yet as far as I've seen has been able to treat his hardsuits right, but him. Also given Shinji Aramaki's work with Appleseed I think he should be brought back on project, with the associated staff, if such a project were ever undertaken. Not that I see that ever happening.
As I'm not sure how long the intro and ending take up time wise I'm going to just deduct five minutes from total run time.
So 26*20 minutes each = 520 minutes.
OVA 1,5,6, and 8 are definitely 45 minutes long
OVA 2 & 3 are definitely 30 minutes long
I'm note sure on episode length of 4 & 7at the moment so I'm going to assume 30 minutes.
=> 260 minute long series, or approximately half the runtime of a normal half season.
Of these 1-3 & 4-6 continue with a developing plot. If Vision had been brought into the group as originally planned 7 would have effectively as well, although not continuing Mason's mechanations. Going by the interviews on the DVDs only the main characters and world were really fixed, with each director basically getting to setup their set of episodes and there wasn't a real master plan or dominating vision.
My main complaints with the original center around things where I suspect Sonada and the others weren't comunicating well. Thus we have Priss's motoslave carrying a big cannon in OVA 1, but it behaving like the lighter autocannon Linna used in OVA 3. Something they apparently got straightened out by OVA 5, when a similar cannon shows up. Of course, then they made a mistake with that in their attempt to overdramatize things. Namely Priss's Motoslave was reduced to scrap in OVA 5, and yet she has another Priss (Red) Motoslave in OVA 6 which serves no other purpose then to get her to Genom tower. Granted that by that point Sylia could have decided it was worthwhile to have a spare for Priss's Motoslave around.
If they'd just let the singer go instead of setting it up like they did, waiting to see whether she would otherwise have something else to do with her career, we could have Priss leave and Vision come in. Thus we could easily continue with Vision joining and becoming a part of the group in the next few episodes. Then proceed to wrap things up in what was left, preferably more by defining their role then deus exing Genom. Instead it kind of jumped the shark, and by Scoop Chase one of the directors had finally sunk low enough to break some of the principles that kept it higher making the Knight Sabers just the "good guys" vs the bad guys in their actions and ignoring various things.
After this Youmex and AIC broke up messing up this series among others. Youmex tried to continue it with Crash, but AIC sued cutting it down. From what I've read about Crash it wasn't really deserving as it abused the world and characters it was based on, and showed that no one by Sonada can apparently be trusted to design the hardsuits.
Recently AIC looks like it decided to make it's own bid. Take a successful cyberpunk series, burn off the solid stuff the Lowest Common Denominator doesn't really appreciate, reengineer what's left to appeal to a wider market in no small part by predigestion and ripping off other shows and apparently we get 2040. Something that looks more like the illegitimate child of El Hazard, Generator Gawl, and Evangelion then a sequel to Bubblegum Crisis.
If they remade BGC, in my opinion Sonada would absolutely have to be on the staff. Cannon God Exaxxion and Gunsmith Cats show he can handle the material in many ways as good if not better then anyone else. Plus, no one yet as far as I've seen has been able to treat his hardsuits right, but him. Also given Shinji Aramaki's work with Appleseed I think he should be brought back on project, with the associated staff, if such a project were ever undertaken. Not that I see that ever happening.