DR. BELCH
01-19-2002, 03:24 PM
Jackie Chan Adventures #216: "Into the Mouth of Evil"
Did anyone else wonder if this episode got held back for several months due to sensitivity after Sep 11? Here we see a several Muslim-like worshippers of a prophet whose name sounds similar to "Mohammed", led by a guy who looks very similar to Osama Bin Ladin, and a whole scene involving Jackie at airport security.
Also, the curator of the museum reminded me weirdly of Floyd the barber from The Andy Griffith Show. I half expected Gomer Pyle to show up--after all, he's been doing radio spots for a hair-care place in Jonesboro for several weeks now.
While at the museum on assignment, Jackie is accosted by several men in turbans, and during the fight the curator accidentally bashes him in the face with a multarmed statue, knocking out his filling.
Jackie is forced to visit his dentist before he takes a plane trip to India. The leader of the men who attacked him earlier attempts to read the minds of the Chans--and the funny bit is, Jackie is so honest he says and thinks exactly the same thing (which reminded me of an old SNL bit).
In India Jackie (still hurting from his dental surgery) meets a strange, beautiful woman at a dinner party--and call it a cliche or my own cynicism talking, but dames like that are always poison. While running from the Indian men, Jackie is gassed and abducted--by the curator, the dame and the dentist. It seems they welded an ancient text onto his broken tooth to smuggle it to India, and Jackie was an unwitting mule (hence getting around the old man's mindreading trick), and now they remove it (without benefit of anesthesia this time).
Strange twist--it turns out that the men who chased Jackie were actually priests of some holy Indian order, and these three are the villains--they've schemed to use the ancient spell on the filling to dry up the Ganges and loot the sunken treasures at the bottom. Jackie realizes what a disaster that'd be and--with the help of Jade, who comes in about that moment--gets free and nabs the relic. There's a tussle, and it ends up going down the sink. Jackie thinks it's over, until he's reminded the sewers flow into the river, which plays right into the plan, and has to go underground to retrieve it.
There's a whole Fugitive scene here with a giant drainpipe, and the old man shows up in the end to claim the rune. He uses a little Charles Xavier hocus-pocus to stop the three thugs and to cure Jackie's toothache--and, since Jackie lost his cell phone in the sludge, deliver a personal message from Uncle. "This part I don't quite undertand, but--" [thwaps Jackie in the head]
Still no sign of Valmont/Chandu and The Dark Hand.
Watch for the scene with the curry powder smokescreen. Very insightful of Jade. Though was Uncle planning to use that in a spell, or one humbinger of a stir-fry, I wonder?
Pokémon #429: "UnBEARable"
A pretty mediocre episode, actually--Team Rocket pretty much phones in their part. They actually seem to be trying to go legit by selling corn to wayward travellers. It's a pity they stole it to begin with, though.
Misty--and later Jessy--becomes enamoured of a small bear-like Pokemon who seems to have a talent for charming women (men--and, oddly, Nurse Joy, seem immune to its "cute" routine). Unfortunately, like a new dog who doesn't know the rules and doesn't get along well with the other dogs in the house, it causes trouble. It steals food and tries to pin the blame on both Chikorita and Totodile...and Misty, like an overly doting mother who thinks her favorite child can do no wrong, is all too ready to believe him. Ash here is surprisingly the clear-headed and pragmatic one, not wanting to accuse before the evidence is all in.
Of course, Misty's little darling's ruse is soon exposed after it uses both Team Twerp and Team Rocket...and affer it gets caught and punished, it evolves into Ursuring. Nurse Joy figures without its cuteness, it can't perform its hustle any more--ignoring the fact that now it's seven feet tall and will probably just rip campers' arms out of their socket to get what it wants.
Oddly enough, Team Rocket befriend the Ursuring in the end--they seem overjoyed to find a Pokemon as cannily devious as they are. Friends are where you find them, I suppose....
Did anyone else wonder if this episode got held back for several months due to sensitivity after Sep 11? Here we see a several Muslim-like worshippers of a prophet whose name sounds similar to "Mohammed", led by a guy who looks very similar to Osama Bin Ladin, and a whole scene involving Jackie at airport security.
Also, the curator of the museum reminded me weirdly of Floyd the barber from The Andy Griffith Show. I half expected Gomer Pyle to show up--after all, he's been doing radio spots for a hair-care place in Jonesboro for several weeks now.
While at the museum on assignment, Jackie is accosted by several men in turbans, and during the fight the curator accidentally bashes him in the face with a multarmed statue, knocking out his filling.
Jackie is forced to visit his dentist before he takes a plane trip to India. The leader of the men who attacked him earlier attempts to read the minds of the Chans--and the funny bit is, Jackie is so honest he says and thinks exactly the same thing (which reminded me of an old SNL bit).
In India Jackie (still hurting from his dental surgery) meets a strange, beautiful woman at a dinner party--and call it a cliche or my own cynicism talking, but dames like that are always poison. While running from the Indian men, Jackie is gassed and abducted--by the curator, the dame and the dentist. It seems they welded an ancient text onto his broken tooth to smuggle it to India, and Jackie was an unwitting mule (hence getting around the old man's mindreading trick), and now they remove it (without benefit of anesthesia this time).
Strange twist--it turns out that the men who chased Jackie were actually priests of some holy Indian order, and these three are the villains--they've schemed to use the ancient spell on the filling to dry up the Ganges and loot the sunken treasures at the bottom. Jackie realizes what a disaster that'd be and--with the help of Jade, who comes in about that moment--gets free and nabs the relic. There's a tussle, and it ends up going down the sink. Jackie thinks it's over, until he's reminded the sewers flow into the river, which plays right into the plan, and has to go underground to retrieve it.
There's a whole Fugitive scene here with a giant drainpipe, and the old man shows up in the end to claim the rune. He uses a little Charles Xavier hocus-pocus to stop the three thugs and to cure Jackie's toothache--and, since Jackie lost his cell phone in the sludge, deliver a personal message from Uncle. "This part I don't quite undertand, but--" [thwaps Jackie in the head]
Still no sign of Valmont/Chandu and The Dark Hand.
Watch for the scene with the curry powder smokescreen. Very insightful of Jade. Though was Uncle planning to use that in a spell, or one humbinger of a stir-fry, I wonder?
Pokémon #429: "UnBEARable"
A pretty mediocre episode, actually--Team Rocket pretty much phones in their part. They actually seem to be trying to go legit by selling corn to wayward travellers. It's a pity they stole it to begin with, though.
Misty--and later Jessy--becomes enamoured of a small bear-like Pokemon who seems to have a talent for charming women (men--and, oddly, Nurse Joy, seem immune to its "cute" routine). Unfortunately, like a new dog who doesn't know the rules and doesn't get along well with the other dogs in the house, it causes trouble. It steals food and tries to pin the blame on both Chikorita and Totodile...and Misty, like an overly doting mother who thinks her favorite child can do no wrong, is all too ready to believe him. Ash here is surprisingly the clear-headed and pragmatic one, not wanting to accuse before the evidence is all in.
Of course, Misty's little darling's ruse is soon exposed after it uses both Team Twerp and Team Rocket...and affer it gets caught and punished, it evolves into Ursuring. Nurse Joy figures without its cuteness, it can't perform its hustle any more--ignoring the fact that now it's seven feet tall and will probably just rip campers' arms out of their socket to get what it wants.
Oddly enough, Team Rocket befriend the Ursuring in the end--they seem overjoyed to find a Pokemon as cannily devious as they are. Friends are where you find them, I suppose....