DR. BELCH
09-29-2001, 06:35 PM
Well, the new season is upon us at Kids' WB. For the most part, it's either mediocre or downright unwatchable...although I admit there's a couple of old favorites worth a second look--Jackie Chan Adventures and the mutant dark horse X-Men Evolution.
POK:JLC: "Hassle in the Castle"
One must question the intelligence of the whole of Team Twerp when it comes up a bad cloud and they decide to duck into a castle that's right out of a Boris Karloff or Lon Cheney movie.
Turns out it isn't home to some unspeakable monster, and those unspeakable noises aren't some poor villager being torn apart by Frankenstein, but the offices of a very pretty doctor who inherited her unorthodox offices from a grateful former patient (was her name Mrs. Tepes, I wonder?)
Brock falls in love with her imediately, and has these repeated fantasies about wooing and marrying Dr. Hottie. Sounds like some unresolved lust for Prof. Ivy, coupled with his quasi-Oedipal complex which leads him to transfer his unfullfilled mommy-longing onto older female authority figures like policewomen and nurses. Great line: after he starts rambling about affectionate nicknames she can use on him, he says, "What would you like to call me?" Misty, never one to miss a good straight line, suggests something like "insane". I'm thinking the Japanese equivalent of a four-leter word got dubbed out.
The doctor also owns a Zubat, which she uses to conduct her examinations (echolocation as sa sustitute for X-rays?), and Brock uses this as his "in" by whipping out his own. Her Zubat is, conveniently, a girl (one can tell by its little bow).
Meantime Team Rocket sneaks into the back door of the castle and invites themself to dinner. When the others enter the dining room they catch Jessy and James and Meowth pigging out. They try to make a break for it but end up falling into a boobytrapped hallway (it seems the doctor only got the lease recently and hasn't figured out where all the little extras the real estate agent never got around to mentioning are). Brock and the doc use their Zubats' echolocation to guide them out of the labyrinth while Ash, Misty, and the doctors assistant (who does very little in this script, and, although she looks about Brock's age, he never bothers to chat her up) uncover the exit, which is buried in the cliffside.
James and Meowth are actually pretty comfortable where they are in the maze...but Jessy flips out and literally tears the place apart looking for an escape. She finally decides to swipe the Zubats and make a run for it, but gets thwarted by the doctor. The others free the exit, and the Rockets grab Pikachu. Here Zubat evolves into Goldbat and makes short work of the Rockets.
Now the irony--the doctor says Golbat's attacks are too strong (in other words, it's echolocation attack will blow apart her patients like rotten pumpkins) and she can't employ it it her practice. Brock was so happy his Pokemon evolved, but I think it cost him what could have been a beautiful relationship. Poor bugger.
Note also that Wobafett, despite Jessy's constant berating and abuse, is the only one willing to back her up in her search for a way out of the maze. It s like a dog who's so fawning and obedient you don't know whether it's painfully loyal or just dang stupid.
Most dodgy exchange:
Jessy: To protect our skin from burning and itching!
James: To protect ourselves from Jessy's...[comic pause]-...complaining!
There's one for the Pokemopolis hall of fame, right there. :D
JCA: "The Stronger Evil" (?)
Since Tohru has left the Dark Hand and moved into Uncle's shop, a sizable void is left...which is filled by Hok Fu (Jim Cummings), the red-headed martial artist who shouts the animal-based names of his attacks.
Chandu is banished to hell, but promises his fellow demons that if allowed to return to our world, he will open a door for the lot (who sort of remind me of some of the ghouls on Ghostbusters--in fact, the setting looks rather like the dimension inside the basement containment unit). He is allowed to come back as a non-corporeal entity, and schemes to posses the body of his most hated enemy, Jackie.
The Dark Hand, armed with the talismans, robs a bank reserve--by far the best part of the episode, what with its Chan-style saniness and comic timing mixed with gymnastic feats--the whole thing plays like a scene from one of his movies (fav bit was seeing Hok Fu hand over his talismans to his fellow goon with hte "lame powers", and the big one with the bandage on his nose get turne dinto a walrus while driving). Chandu misses his target--thanks to Jade and a rocket pack--and winds up inside Valmont. He's none too happy about that. Neither one is, really.
Chandu, unhappy about Valmont's men using his talismans for petty theft, schemes to crush Jackie with the Shadow Khan. He invades Uncle's shop, clobbers Tohru, and steals an ancient book. Jackie is left to speculate what his next move is....coming up in part two.
THE MUMMY: "The Summoning"
I never saw the movie, so I really couldn't follow this one. An ancient mumy is bought to life and schemes to steal some ancient scroll, and theres some powerful magic bracelet that gets attaatched to the wrist of the son of a pair of married archaologist's wrist. The msot notable thing is the voice of Jim Cumings as the villain. I wonder if that bracelet is removable, and if not, how it will impact the kid's life? Seems it'd be an inconvenience to wear it constantly--I won't even wear my rings in the shower.
POK:JLC: "Hook, Line, and Stinker"
As Ash notes, it's a lot like the bug-catching competition...but with fish. Misty gets into a competition with a snotty punk who says her Polliwhirl is a wussy because it hasn't yet evolved. The object is to catch the biggest Seaking, and the prize is a mountain of chocolate bars.
The funniest bit comes when Team Rocket enters the competition (using Meowth as a lure, though Jessy knows cats dislike water) and her line gers tangled with Misty's underwater. The two pull and tug until their boats collide sharply and wreck. Ash unwittingly puns that Misty's catch was "probably a bottom-feeder, like a catfish".
Another subtle pun: both Jessy and Misty have lures modeled after themselves. Sicne botha are voiced by the same actress (Rachel Lillis) and are hot-tempered redheads, it's always funny to see the writers show they're more alike than they realize.
Note again Team Twerp fail to recognize their old enemies, even though Jessy isn't wearing anything to cover up her unmistakable red hair. Incidentally, she looks very fetching in her fishing outfit.
Both Misty's rival and she capture Seakings weighing exactly fifty kilos, so they have to battle. Misty gives her Polliwhirl a pep talk and sends it in, and it whips the other guy's Polliwrath. Team Rocket tries to make off with the chocolate--reminiscent of another competition where the prize was food (a year's supply of Ramens)--but are quickly dispatched by Pikachu.
Misty plans to send chocolate to all her family and friends--even Pikachu and Togepi (which I find odd, though I guess, unlike dogs, chocolate isn't deadly to Pokemon)...but for some reason leaves Ash out. Sort of a chocolate kiss-off, one might say. :p
XMEN: "Growing Pains"
The first thing I noticed about this episode was the depth of the animation as compared to the first season--the deep green hues of the grass on a soccer field, the 3-D effect of a soccer ball rolling, the bone-crunching effect of several girls tumbling to the ground that looked so real I actually cringed.
However, the script is still sufferieng from just as many holes. First of all, Xavier's mutants are still attending Bayville High , though "Darkholme" has resigned inexplicably--either she died as a result of the improvements she underwent in Magneto's machine, or she's in hiding plotting against him and too busy to serve as principal. Secondly, note that Lance seems to be behaving amorously towards Shadowcat--even being teased by his friends about trying to get "that Kitty up a tree" (I don't even want to tink about what that eupjhamism implies)--rather than behaving with the usual hatred...and acts like a spurned lover when she tells him to bugger off at an assembly. (BTW, it's refreshing to hear less "Valley" in Kitty's speech patterns, and even Rogue sounds a bit better. Logan's still got that Texas accent, but I'm getting more used to it).
There's also more mutants at Xaviers', although except maybe for a kid with ice powers who may be young Bobby Drake, I don't recognize a one of them or know if any will be focused on this season. Charles and Logan consider enlarging the teaching staff (Logan suggests a couple of tanks). Lance decides to "come out" at a public athletic event and tell the whole school he and his buddies are mutants, as are Scott and his friends.
Now here's where it started to fall apart for me: Xavier mind-wipes the entire crowd to make them forget what they've heard. It's wrong on two levels: one, it's such a deus ex machina, and two, it seems very against Charles' moral code. Xavier has only used his powers to this effect twice in his life that I know of from the comics: once as a young man he forced a woman he loved who was about to walk out on him to stay (after which he promised never to abuse his powers again). The second was to Eric Magnus after he magnetically murdered a fellow mutant at a graveside service and, later, during a battle, ripped all the adamantium after Wolverine's bones...reducing him to a catatonic state. So this mass mind-wipe seems very contrary to the character of Xavier. It didn't help matters when Storm questioned its effect on his health rather than the moral ramifications of the act, and he never really seemed to question/doubt himself (Xavier has always struck me as a deeply introspective sort).
In the end it's hinted that Magneto was in the area, as all the TV cameras suffered magnetic interference. I'm wondering how he'll be handled in the second season and whether his past will be delved into more. In other words, could Magnus have been a boy in a Nazi concentration camp, gotten out, emigrated to the States, attended med school, and graduated in time to serve in the war as a medical officer, where he met Charles and somewhere in there marry and lose Magda, and father Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch? Then again. I've been known to ask for too much before.... ;)
I skipped The Nightmare Room and Yugioh and watched The Ripping Friends (pretty good, although last week's was better) and a little of Alien: Evolution (though I dozed off, being worn out from some intense babysitting). Also watched a second installment of ABC's Lizzie McGuire, which is esentially a girlie gross between Student Bodies and Bailey Kipper's P.O.V. And as they tell us every five minutes, it's "powered by Zoog", which I remain convinced is one of the mystery lanthanide series elements of the periodic table. Beats the frig out of R.L. Stine though. (Now there's a charming notion...) ;) :D
POK:JLC: "Hassle in the Castle"
One must question the intelligence of the whole of Team Twerp when it comes up a bad cloud and they decide to duck into a castle that's right out of a Boris Karloff or Lon Cheney movie.
Turns out it isn't home to some unspeakable monster, and those unspeakable noises aren't some poor villager being torn apart by Frankenstein, but the offices of a very pretty doctor who inherited her unorthodox offices from a grateful former patient (was her name Mrs. Tepes, I wonder?)
Brock falls in love with her imediately, and has these repeated fantasies about wooing and marrying Dr. Hottie. Sounds like some unresolved lust for Prof. Ivy, coupled with his quasi-Oedipal complex which leads him to transfer his unfullfilled mommy-longing onto older female authority figures like policewomen and nurses. Great line: after he starts rambling about affectionate nicknames she can use on him, he says, "What would you like to call me?" Misty, never one to miss a good straight line, suggests something like "insane". I'm thinking the Japanese equivalent of a four-leter word got dubbed out.
The doctor also owns a Zubat, which she uses to conduct her examinations (echolocation as sa sustitute for X-rays?), and Brock uses this as his "in" by whipping out his own. Her Zubat is, conveniently, a girl (one can tell by its little bow).
Meantime Team Rocket sneaks into the back door of the castle and invites themself to dinner. When the others enter the dining room they catch Jessy and James and Meowth pigging out. They try to make a break for it but end up falling into a boobytrapped hallway (it seems the doctor only got the lease recently and hasn't figured out where all the little extras the real estate agent never got around to mentioning are). Brock and the doc use their Zubats' echolocation to guide them out of the labyrinth while Ash, Misty, and the doctors assistant (who does very little in this script, and, although she looks about Brock's age, he never bothers to chat her up) uncover the exit, which is buried in the cliffside.
James and Meowth are actually pretty comfortable where they are in the maze...but Jessy flips out and literally tears the place apart looking for an escape. She finally decides to swipe the Zubats and make a run for it, but gets thwarted by the doctor. The others free the exit, and the Rockets grab Pikachu. Here Zubat evolves into Goldbat and makes short work of the Rockets.
Now the irony--the doctor says Golbat's attacks are too strong (in other words, it's echolocation attack will blow apart her patients like rotten pumpkins) and she can't employ it it her practice. Brock was so happy his Pokemon evolved, but I think it cost him what could have been a beautiful relationship. Poor bugger.
Note also that Wobafett, despite Jessy's constant berating and abuse, is the only one willing to back her up in her search for a way out of the maze. It s like a dog who's so fawning and obedient you don't know whether it's painfully loyal or just dang stupid.
Most dodgy exchange:
Jessy: To protect our skin from burning and itching!
James: To protect ourselves from Jessy's...[comic pause]-...complaining!
There's one for the Pokemopolis hall of fame, right there. :D
JCA: "The Stronger Evil" (?)
Since Tohru has left the Dark Hand and moved into Uncle's shop, a sizable void is left...which is filled by Hok Fu (Jim Cummings), the red-headed martial artist who shouts the animal-based names of his attacks.
Chandu is banished to hell, but promises his fellow demons that if allowed to return to our world, he will open a door for the lot (who sort of remind me of some of the ghouls on Ghostbusters--in fact, the setting looks rather like the dimension inside the basement containment unit). He is allowed to come back as a non-corporeal entity, and schemes to posses the body of his most hated enemy, Jackie.
The Dark Hand, armed with the talismans, robs a bank reserve--by far the best part of the episode, what with its Chan-style saniness and comic timing mixed with gymnastic feats--the whole thing plays like a scene from one of his movies (fav bit was seeing Hok Fu hand over his talismans to his fellow goon with hte "lame powers", and the big one with the bandage on his nose get turne dinto a walrus while driving). Chandu misses his target--thanks to Jade and a rocket pack--and winds up inside Valmont. He's none too happy about that. Neither one is, really.
Chandu, unhappy about Valmont's men using his talismans for petty theft, schemes to crush Jackie with the Shadow Khan. He invades Uncle's shop, clobbers Tohru, and steals an ancient book. Jackie is left to speculate what his next move is....coming up in part two.
THE MUMMY: "The Summoning"
I never saw the movie, so I really couldn't follow this one. An ancient mumy is bought to life and schemes to steal some ancient scroll, and theres some powerful magic bracelet that gets attaatched to the wrist of the son of a pair of married archaologist's wrist. The msot notable thing is the voice of Jim Cumings as the villain. I wonder if that bracelet is removable, and if not, how it will impact the kid's life? Seems it'd be an inconvenience to wear it constantly--I won't even wear my rings in the shower.
POK:JLC: "Hook, Line, and Stinker"
As Ash notes, it's a lot like the bug-catching competition...but with fish. Misty gets into a competition with a snotty punk who says her Polliwhirl is a wussy because it hasn't yet evolved. The object is to catch the biggest Seaking, and the prize is a mountain of chocolate bars.
The funniest bit comes when Team Rocket enters the competition (using Meowth as a lure, though Jessy knows cats dislike water) and her line gers tangled with Misty's underwater. The two pull and tug until their boats collide sharply and wreck. Ash unwittingly puns that Misty's catch was "probably a bottom-feeder, like a catfish".
Another subtle pun: both Jessy and Misty have lures modeled after themselves. Sicne botha are voiced by the same actress (Rachel Lillis) and are hot-tempered redheads, it's always funny to see the writers show they're more alike than they realize.
Note again Team Twerp fail to recognize their old enemies, even though Jessy isn't wearing anything to cover up her unmistakable red hair. Incidentally, she looks very fetching in her fishing outfit.
Both Misty's rival and she capture Seakings weighing exactly fifty kilos, so they have to battle. Misty gives her Polliwhirl a pep talk and sends it in, and it whips the other guy's Polliwrath. Team Rocket tries to make off with the chocolate--reminiscent of another competition where the prize was food (a year's supply of Ramens)--but are quickly dispatched by Pikachu.
Misty plans to send chocolate to all her family and friends--even Pikachu and Togepi (which I find odd, though I guess, unlike dogs, chocolate isn't deadly to Pokemon)...but for some reason leaves Ash out. Sort of a chocolate kiss-off, one might say. :p
XMEN: "Growing Pains"
The first thing I noticed about this episode was the depth of the animation as compared to the first season--the deep green hues of the grass on a soccer field, the 3-D effect of a soccer ball rolling, the bone-crunching effect of several girls tumbling to the ground that looked so real I actually cringed.
However, the script is still sufferieng from just as many holes. First of all, Xavier's mutants are still attending Bayville High , though "Darkholme" has resigned inexplicably--either she died as a result of the improvements she underwent in Magneto's machine, or she's in hiding plotting against him and too busy to serve as principal. Secondly, note that Lance seems to be behaving amorously towards Shadowcat--even being teased by his friends about trying to get "that Kitty up a tree" (I don't even want to tink about what that eupjhamism implies)--rather than behaving with the usual hatred...and acts like a spurned lover when she tells him to bugger off at an assembly. (BTW, it's refreshing to hear less "Valley" in Kitty's speech patterns, and even Rogue sounds a bit better. Logan's still got that Texas accent, but I'm getting more used to it).
There's also more mutants at Xaviers', although except maybe for a kid with ice powers who may be young Bobby Drake, I don't recognize a one of them or know if any will be focused on this season. Charles and Logan consider enlarging the teaching staff (Logan suggests a couple of tanks). Lance decides to "come out" at a public athletic event and tell the whole school he and his buddies are mutants, as are Scott and his friends.
Now here's where it started to fall apart for me: Xavier mind-wipes the entire crowd to make them forget what they've heard. It's wrong on two levels: one, it's such a deus ex machina, and two, it seems very against Charles' moral code. Xavier has only used his powers to this effect twice in his life that I know of from the comics: once as a young man he forced a woman he loved who was about to walk out on him to stay (after which he promised never to abuse his powers again). The second was to Eric Magnus after he magnetically murdered a fellow mutant at a graveside service and, later, during a battle, ripped all the adamantium after Wolverine's bones...reducing him to a catatonic state. So this mass mind-wipe seems very contrary to the character of Xavier. It didn't help matters when Storm questioned its effect on his health rather than the moral ramifications of the act, and he never really seemed to question/doubt himself (Xavier has always struck me as a deeply introspective sort).
In the end it's hinted that Magneto was in the area, as all the TV cameras suffered magnetic interference. I'm wondering how he'll be handled in the second season and whether his past will be delved into more. In other words, could Magnus have been a boy in a Nazi concentration camp, gotten out, emigrated to the States, attended med school, and graduated in time to serve in the war as a medical officer, where he met Charles and somewhere in there marry and lose Magda, and father Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch? Then again. I've been known to ask for too much before.... ;)
I skipped The Nightmare Room and Yugioh and watched The Ripping Friends (pretty good, although last week's was better) and a little of Alien: Evolution (though I dozed off, being worn out from some intense babysitting). Also watched a second installment of ABC's Lizzie McGuire, which is esentially a girlie gross between Student Bodies and Bailey Kipper's P.O.V. And as they tell us every five minutes, it's "powered by Zoog", which I remain convinced is one of the mystery lanthanide series elements of the periodic table. Beats the frig out of R.L. Stine though. (Now there's a charming notion...) ;) :D