DR. BELCH
03-23-2002, 03:23 PM
STSHK#19: "Bad Stretch"
When Static recieves a distress call on police band, he has to stop a metahuman outbreak--Talon, Shiv, and a new girl, Aquamaria, who seems to be a feminization of Marvel's Hydroman. When she shorts him out with her talents, he recieves unexpected help from a new ally--The Rubber Band Man. He manages to contain the liquid lass, in effect turning himself into a big water balloon.
Yes, R.B.M. is out of jail now and has been helping the police for the last few months. Static is both jealous of his newfound "friend", who is adored by the media and the ladies (Sharon is also none too happy about that!) and unsure of his intentions.
We learn that Ebon, leader of the group, knows R.B.M--in fact, they are brothers, and long-estranged since before the Big Bang. The living shadow throws a fit when he learns who stopped the heist and, when he later meets up with R.B.M., he gives a thinly-veiled threat about what'll happen if he betrays "our kind". This is triple-pronged--it means R.B.M. should never go against mutant, blood, or members of his own race.
Static begins to believe R.B.M. isn't the straight arrow he pretends to be when he saves Ebon from getting captured, then breaks the metahumans out of prison. It turns out, however, that Ebon had framed his brother, and R.B.M.'s reluctance to let Static catch Ebon was not turning traitor, but a desire to settle things personally and honorably. He figures if he went straight, so can Ebon, given enough time. In the end R.B.M. faces his biggest challenge--comforting an angry, jealous girlfriend! Trust me on this--playing vigilante is a much preferable endeavor.
DYN Ebon's headquarters is an abandoned Chuck E. Cheese type pizza parlor?
Note the shape of the double helix formed as R.B.M. and Ebon fight, as well as Static's electrolysis demonstration on Aquamaria. I wonder if he can also remove unsightly body hair?
It seems the mutie wing of the prison is a modern Bedlam, characterized by a sadistic guard and inhuman treatments (e.g. Talon's muzzle, the armadillo man being given flea powder like a dog).
JCA #228:"The Chosen One"
A group of ancient Tibetan monks adopt Tohru as the reincarnated form of their sainted leader. He dislikes the fawning, the rules, the pageantry. Jackie, being assigned to schlep his bags and fight his battles for him, isn't to'o pleased about it either.
A rogue order of blade-wielding ninjas led by a one-eyed sorcerer attempts to infiltate the sacred temple as Tohru is prepared to assume his duties as these monks' Buddah. It turns out the old man had defeated Uncle's mentor many years ago, and that makes the fight personal.
Supposedly a walking stick that had belonged to the former leader is said to hold great magic. Jackie attempts to use it but fails, yet Jade performs admirably.
Tohru is not the orders' master...but he is relieved by this because he can fight, and assume his duties as Uncle's apprentice. The easygoing giant isn't suited to leadership, he feels...but the monks wonder, noting Jade's adroitness with the staff, if she is the chosen one--?
Not much to say on this one, really...I had a feeling Jade was more than she seemed. What happened to Uncle's old sensei? Was he killed in that fight? And was he responsible for blinding the old wizard in the left eye, sort of the final blow before he was murdered?
naotable scene--the ninja blade makes a wonderful chopped salad. I should get one for my kitchen.
ZETA#13: "Absolute Zero"
The artwork still is a little on the bright side, and there's still too much emphasis on technology (cf. the gravitating janitor's cart).
But there is some pathos in seeing Z forced to sacrifice...first, when Selig is shut in the cryochamber and the computer fails due to the trigger-happy guards' laser blasts, Zeta has to connect himself to the machine to keep him alive. Secondly, when Ro is blown several feet in an explosion, he has to risk the doctor's life, and possibly his own freedom, by disconnecting briefly from the unit to check on her. Finally,when the chamber peters out Z has to enter the unit and risk becoming brittle as a dry leaf in the liquuid nitrogen fog. Ro seems totally bereft at the thought of losing her friend. Very dramatically done, seeing Zeta walking in slow-motion, covered in ice, although I thought in the next scene he thawed pretty fast with no ill effect. Zeta is very close to his goal, but the man whom he impersonated to get into the lab enters with a phalanx of guards, and the refugees are forced to flee again emptyhanded.
West is still as much a bumbler as ever, as noted by the training exercise. Bennett disobeys a direct order to cease and desist, and is heavily censured by his commanding officer. And Li, whom Bennett has had a suspicious eye on since the Taffy episode, decides to throw down her badge and walk. You have to love this girl. She may become the Oracle of the Zeta universe, minus the cripple angle.
All in all, a fairly good comeback, and I'm hoping they'll follow through strong in future eps. And no more Bucky!
POK JJ#438: "The Poke Spokesman"
Ash and company meet the Pokemon version of Dr. Doolittle in the woods, but are disheartened to learn that, though he seemed pretty knowledgeable about Pikachu's depletion sickness, he may not be able to walk with the Pokemon, talk with the Pokemon as he purports. Officer Jenny accuses him of being a fraud that she's recieved reports on as of late.
Speaking of frauds, Jessy and James and Meowth show up dressed in their "Old Man of the Mountain" garb from "the Problem With Paras" (Jessy wears a long grey beard but again neglects to hide her flaming red tresses). James, during the motto, comes out with the best line of the ep: "When it comes to energy...we're full of it!"
Simon is just a gentle old man who cares about Pokemon and, while he may not exactly be able to talk Nietzche with a Pidgey, he cares about animals and knows how to read signals. He might have the makings of a good veterinarian, but he's no magician.
He believes as a child sixty years ago he carried on a conversation in a storm cellar with a Rattata, and Oddish, and a Pidgey, but wonders often if it was all a delusion.
The actual con artists bilking the citizens inspire Jessy and James to start their own racket, but Meowth, strangely, takes offense. As the world's only real talking Pokemon, except maybe Lapras and Mewtwo, he beleives it's wrong to exploit people that way and disrespectful to his fellow beasts. This is one of those eps you actually care for the Rockets and think maybe, under the right circumstance, they could go straight. I've said many times that Meowth would be indispensible to Prof. Oak in his work as an interpreter..and who knows, the old man might just have a lady friend to set him up with, because, really, at the root of the Scratch-Cat's sorrows is a dame.
The fake Pokemon talker ring is busted by Samuel's ability to reach Pokemon on a deeper level than words, when he talks from his heart to a group of Magnemite and askes them not to drain the Pokemon center. The Rockets almost get a way with not blasting off again, but for their decision to fly their balloon in a lightning storm. But in the end they make up for their bad behavior by reaffirming an old man's faith in himself. Meowth speaks to him in plain English and basically tells him not to give up.
I wonder why the character of the Pokemon-language speaker wasn't Rex (as in Harrison, the actor), or maybe Hugh (after Lofting, the author of the Doolittle series).
I thought the Rattata in Samuel's reminisces sounded like Adam Sandler doing one of his bits (cf. "Whitey", from the Stan and Judy's Kid comedy album.
Next week--psycho Jessy and the golden mask.
Did anyone catch the J.K. Rowling Biography on A&E last night? Though I have yet to read the Potter series, I was inspired. I mean, this woman came literally out of nothing and virtual poverty to be a goddess in her field. Hopefully I can read the first four books in the series before the fifth comes at the end of the year.
When Static recieves a distress call on police band, he has to stop a metahuman outbreak--Talon, Shiv, and a new girl, Aquamaria, who seems to be a feminization of Marvel's Hydroman. When she shorts him out with her talents, he recieves unexpected help from a new ally--The Rubber Band Man. He manages to contain the liquid lass, in effect turning himself into a big water balloon.
Yes, R.B.M. is out of jail now and has been helping the police for the last few months. Static is both jealous of his newfound "friend", who is adored by the media and the ladies (Sharon is also none too happy about that!) and unsure of his intentions.
We learn that Ebon, leader of the group, knows R.B.M--in fact, they are brothers, and long-estranged since before the Big Bang. The living shadow throws a fit when he learns who stopped the heist and, when he later meets up with R.B.M., he gives a thinly-veiled threat about what'll happen if he betrays "our kind". This is triple-pronged--it means R.B.M. should never go against mutant, blood, or members of his own race.
Static begins to believe R.B.M. isn't the straight arrow he pretends to be when he saves Ebon from getting captured, then breaks the metahumans out of prison. It turns out, however, that Ebon had framed his brother, and R.B.M.'s reluctance to let Static catch Ebon was not turning traitor, but a desire to settle things personally and honorably. He figures if he went straight, so can Ebon, given enough time. In the end R.B.M. faces his biggest challenge--comforting an angry, jealous girlfriend! Trust me on this--playing vigilante is a much preferable endeavor.
DYN Ebon's headquarters is an abandoned Chuck E. Cheese type pizza parlor?
Note the shape of the double helix formed as R.B.M. and Ebon fight, as well as Static's electrolysis demonstration on Aquamaria. I wonder if he can also remove unsightly body hair?
It seems the mutie wing of the prison is a modern Bedlam, characterized by a sadistic guard and inhuman treatments (e.g. Talon's muzzle, the armadillo man being given flea powder like a dog).
JCA #228:"The Chosen One"
A group of ancient Tibetan monks adopt Tohru as the reincarnated form of their sainted leader. He dislikes the fawning, the rules, the pageantry. Jackie, being assigned to schlep his bags and fight his battles for him, isn't to'o pleased about it either.
A rogue order of blade-wielding ninjas led by a one-eyed sorcerer attempts to infiltate the sacred temple as Tohru is prepared to assume his duties as these monks' Buddah. It turns out the old man had defeated Uncle's mentor many years ago, and that makes the fight personal.
Supposedly a walking stick that had belonged to the former leader is said to hold great magic. Jackie attempts to use it but fails, yet Jade performs admirably.
Tohru is not the orders' master...but he is relieved by this because he can fight, and assume his duties as Uncle's apprentice. The easygoing giant isn't suited to leadership, he feels...but the monks wonder, noting Jade's adroitness with the staff, if she is the chosen one--?
Not much to say on this one, really...I had a feeling Jade was more than she seemed. What happened to Uncle's old sensei? Was he killed in that fight? And was he responsible for blinding the old wizard in the left eye, sort of the final blow before he was murdered?
naotable scene--the ninja blade makes a wonderful chopped salad. I should get one for my kitchen.
ZETA#13: "Absolute Zero"
The artwork still is a little on the bright side, and there's still too much emphasis on technology (cf. the gravitating janitor's cart).
But there is some pathos in seeing Z forced to sacrifice...first, when Selig is shut in the cryochamber and the computer fails due to the trigger-happy guards' laser blasts, Zeta has to connect himself to the machine to keep him alive. Secondly, when Ro is blown several feet in an explosion, he has to risk the doctor's life, and possibly his own freedom, by disconnecting briefly from the unit to check on her. Finally,when the chamber peters out Z has to enter the unit and risk becoming brittle as a dry leaf in the liquuid nitrogen fog. Ro seems totally bereft at the thought of losing her friend. Very dramatically done, seeing Zeta walking in slow-motion, covered in ice, although I thought in the next scene he thawed pretty fast with no ill effect. Zeta is very close to his goal, but the man whom he impersonated to get into the lab enters with a phalanx of guards, and the refugees are forced to flee again emptyhanded.
West is still as much a bumbler as ever, as noted by the training exercise. Bennett disobeys a direct order to cease and desist, and is heavily censured by his commanding officer. And Li, whom Bennett has had a suspicious eye on since the Taffy episode, decides to throw down her badge and walk. You have to love this girl. She may become the Oracle of the Zeta universe, minus the cripple angle.
All in all, a fairly good comeback, and I'm hoping they'll follow through strong in future eps. And no more Bucky!
POK JJ#438: "The Poke Spokesman"
Ash and company meet the Pokemon version of Dr. Doolittle in the woods, but are disheartened to learn that, though he seemed pretty knowledgeable about Pikachu's depletion sickness, he may not be able to walk with the Pokemon, talk with the Pokemon as he purports. Officer Jenny accuses him of being a fraud that she's recieved reports on as of late.
Speaking of frauds, Jessy and James and Meowth show up dressed in their "Old Man of the Mountain" garb from "the Problem With Paras" (Jessy wears a long grey beard but again neglects to hide her flaming red tresses). James, during the motto, comes out with the best line of the ep: "When it comes to energy...we're full of it!"
Simon is just a gentle old man who cares about Pokemon and, while he may not exactly be able to talk Nietzche with a Pidgey, he cares about animals and knows how to read signals. He might have the makings of a good veterinarian, but he's no magician.
He believes as a child sixty years ago he carried on a conversation in a storm cellar with a Rattata, and Oddish, and a Pidgey, but wonders often if it was all a delusion.
The actual con artists bilking the citizens inspire Jessy and James to start their own racket, but Meowth, strangely, takes offense. As the world's only real talking Pokemon, except maybe Lapras and Mewtwo, he beleives it's wrong to exploit people that way and disrespectful to his fellow beasts. This is one of those eps you actually care for the Rockets and think maybe, under the right circumstance, they could go straight. I've said many times that Meowth would be indispensible to Prof. Oak in his work as an interpreter..and who knows, the old man might just have a lady friend to set him up with, because, really, at the root of the Scratch-Cat's sorrows is a dame.
The fake Pokemon talker ring is busted by Samuel's ability to reach Pokemon on a deeper level than words, when he talks from his heart to a group of Magnemite and askes them not to drain the Pokemon center. The Rockets almost get a way with not blasting off again, but for their decision to fly their balloon in a lightning storm. But in the end they make up for their bad behavior by reaffirming an old man's faith in himself. Meowth speaks to him in plain English and basically tells him not to give up.
I wonder why the character of the Pokemon-language speaker wasn't Rex (as in Harrison, the actor), or maybe Hugh (after Lofting, the author of the Doolittle series).
I thought the Rattata in Samuel's reminisces sounded like Adam Sandler doing one of his bits (cf. "Whitey", from the Stan and Judy's Kid comedy album.
Next week--psycho Jessy and the golden mask.
Did anyone catch the J.K. Rowling Biography on A&E last night? Though I have yet to read the Potter series, I was inspired. I mean, this woman came literally out of nothing and virtual poverty to be a goddess in her field. Hopefully I can read the first four books in the series before the fifth comes at the end of the year.