Belch's Brief Reviews--Oct 20, 2001

[DR. BELCH]

POK-JLC
*"Power Play"
Ash runs across Gary, making mincemeat out of an Alakazam in the woods with his Eevee--now evolved into a formidible-looking black beast. When he demands a match from his old rival however, Gary declines, saying he knows all Pikachu's attacks and he's bored with them. It doesn't help matters that when he calls out his other Pokemon, Nachtowl is asleep, Totodile just wants to boogie, Chikorita is pitching woo to his leg, and Cyndaquil has the attention span of a two-year-old. Ash drowns his sorrow in food, saying he wants to bulk up and be ready to force Gary to battle. Of course, it won't help matters either to have Ash looking like the world's fattest man in Monty Python and the Meaning of Life come next they meet.
Meanwhile, after watching Wobafett's counterattack put some nasty marks on Meowth's face when the blue blob interrupts the Scratch-Cat's sunset-gazing, Jessy gets an insidious idea: build a giant Wobafett robot. Unfortunately it taps all the power in the local power plant and leads Team Twerp--who are dining at the local Pokemon center (since when did those things have cafeterias?) when the lights go out (and Gary, who wonders what they're up to)-- straight to them.
The Wobafett-bot, which can return any attack in undefeatable...but has a short extension cord, which Gary's Pokemon makes short work of with its teeth. Jessy solves that problem by having James and Meowth pump exercycles to generate electricity. But for occassional pases due to fatigue, the Wobafett robot is an unstoppable juggernaut.
Now here is where I thought Ash really frigged up: he has Pikachu thundershock the 'bot, recharging its batteries. However, showing a surprising amount of strategy, or at least thinking on his feet, he quickly unleashes the other two parts of a three-pronged attack--Cynaquil feeds it fire, then Chikorita closes its release hatch with vinewhip, causing the pressure to build up inside. The giant Wobbafett gets the worst case of heartburn in history and goes kablooey.
Gary won't admit it willingly, but he does consider Ash an equal--maybe even a better fighter than he. He promises that maybe next time they meet, he'll give Ash the honor of a battle. Actually I suspect Gary's crapping bricks and he doesn't want to be anyplace Ash is, at least until after taking out a hefty new insurance policy and doing a whole Rocky-like training sequence with his Pokemon.

*"Mountain Time"
Ash and company meet up with a forest ranger and his daughter who are training evolved Liddyba, putting them through their paces with a Pigeotto wind attack. It seems the winds that blow through these mountains is very strong and erratic.
Team Rocket learns this the hard way after they show up in their balloon and kidnap Pikachu and Togepi with a giant vaccuum cleaner, but get swept off in a crosscurrent. The balloon cracks up on one of several stone spikes in the rock face and (in a disturbingly Freudian sequence) goes on a wild ride down a mountain trail on one of these long ponted ledges after it breaks free. In a scene reminiscent of a Wile E. Coyote short, the ledge lands teeter-totter-like on top of a stalagmite, with the Rockets, Togepi and Pikachu trapped on top of it. The slightest move will cause the ledge to fall, which leaves them in a very precarious predicament, trying to budget out their weight to keep things even.
It doesn't help when James first calls out Victoreebell, throwing off the balance, then starts a fight over a candy bar that he's apparently been hoarding ("You ate yours yesterday!" "You ate half of mine yesterday!" "I live for the moment!")
At one point the ledge does topple off, but Togepi saves it with a metronome attack and keeps everyone from getting pulped on the rocks below. Jessy, however, like Misty (again, it's doubly funny since Rachel Lillis plays both parts), dismisses it as "just a dream". Piikachu may know the truth, but he isn't talking.
Team Twerp eventually finds the stranded Rockets and Pokemon and sets out to rescue them...and once they no longer have to work together to survive, Jessy smoothly does her trademark revert bit and makes a grab for Pikachu and Togepi...but to no avail. They wind up getting blown away like a cloud of Weezing's noxious gas on the unpredictable mountain winds.
The evolved Liddyba show off their talent for mimicking the phases of the night stars in the spots on their back--useful, I suppose, if one is lost in the woods at night with one's evolved Liddyba...and the Rockets wind up somehow stranded on another precariously blanced ledge, which topples after Wobafett puts in an appearance and throws it off-kilter.
Great line from James after Jessy grabs him angrily by the shirt--he tersely warns her to be careful of the material. An odd, yet strangely in-character, fashion-concious moment from our yaoi friend.
Also nice use of Nachtowl, which we don't see too often. Being nocturnal, it seems that Pokemon would do best after dark, though surprisingly very few trainers like to fight after sundown. So it's sort of a catch--22, I suppose.

JCA: "Rumble in the Big House"
Note the title pays homage to Chan's Rumble in the Bronx movie, which will be on TNT next Friday at 11 PM, after Rush Hour. I half expected to see a caricature of Chan's co-star Chris Tucker show up in this episode, actually.
The second portal, that of the wind demon, is located on the "seventh continent" (I took that to mean Australia, but it was never made clear where the story was set). Unfortunately Valmont/Chandu, Finn, and Ratso find that a prison has been built on the spot where the Panku box indicates the door is. So the three have to pull a daring daytime bank robbery and intentionally get thrown into the clink.
Black knows something is up, and arranges for Jackie to go undercover in the joint as "Chance", a safecracker, wearing a butt-ugly rubber mask. He's got his own problems, as his superiors think he's cracking up what with all the demon talk and demand he see a psychiatrist. It doesn't do anything for Black's case when he looks at an inkblot test and sees things like sock-wearing demons, either.
After a food delivery to the prison (by Hok and the shades-wearing goon, just in case we were wondering where they were)Valmont gets thrown into solitary for messing up the warden's birthday cake--seems he's been watching too many prison flicks and was looking for the proverbial file baked inside. That was his second blunder--earlier he refused to listen to Finn, who'd done a stretch in that pokey and kept telling him about the secret tunnels under it. Finn and Ratso unearth the Panku box from a carton of bonbons and start a food fight to distract the guards...but Jackie gets unmasked during the riot. (Poor Ratso's heart is broken, because he thought he'd found a new friend...you almost pity the big lug.)
Jackie nabs the Panku box and ducks into the laundry room, figuring everything is fine...but it seems the box opens the door regardless of who handles it, whenever it's in the vacinity of the door. The froglike wind demon emerges and, disguising himself as a prisoner, meets up with Finn and Ratso, and later Valmont (after Chandu tunnels his way out of solitary) in the subterranian tunnels. Tohru, using several talismans, breaks Jackie out of prison to help Uncle gather chi spell ingrediants (including a hand-held fan, which he borrows, using rabbit speed, from a neighbor).
Jackie tries with no avail, having lost his "Chance" face, to get back into prison, but succeeds after a little help from Jade ("So that's what a chinchilla looks like! Cute!")
Uncle--with help from Tohru's great bulk as a windbreaker--manages to cast the spell with the enchanted fan to cork the wind demon, Valmont/Chandu and the boys get lost into the maze of tunnels...and the guards haul Jackie off to the slammer, just like he wanted.
"Well, Mr. Toad, you're going back to the wind in the willows!" Very cerebral allusion from Jade. Shows she actualy pays attention in Lit class, after all.
Great bit, also, with Jackie trying to contact Uncle from prison, with the old guy either unknowing of the plan or it having slipped his ancient mind. "You are very bad influence on Jade! Good thing this is not really Jackie."
One more thing! Earlier this week there aired another all new episode, "The Chupacabra". It seems KWB is airing A-list episodes (dealing with the Panku box) on Saturdays and B-list episodes (dealing with some aspect of a member of the J Team's private life). Don't ask me why. So far we've seen Tohru's mother, then El Toro Fuente struggle with the cursed bite of the goat-sucker (note Jade repeatedly mispronounces the beast's name). I suppose next we see into Viper's past...that promises to be fun.

XMEN: "Fun and Games"
When Charles learns of an impending power failure at Stonegate Prison, which threaten to release the Juggernaut, he is forced to head there to supervise the tranfer of power from the primary to the backup generators...but with Ororo and Logan, the mutants' erstatz parents, out of town, he's forced to leave the kids unattended. Immediately the junior mutants scheme to throw a party and invite every kid in school. But first Scott and Jean, who are in charge of the brood, have to be gotten out of the way.
Jean pitches a jealous hissy when she catches Scott talking to another girl (with a thing for boy's eyes), and he tries to smooth things over by taking her out into for a romantic evening. While they're parked in the woods, Kitty and Kurt use their powers (in a very funny little sequence) to steal their keys and strand them while the party gets underway.
One of Kitty's friends, a kid they call "Arcade", stumbles across the elevator to the danger room and, once he gets inside, wreaks havoc. He thinks the whole thing is a computer game (which at least saves the prof the trouble of mind-wiping him, which is just as well. It seems like such a cheap device, esp. when used so much, which not only lessens its effectiveness but seems so out-of-character for Charles to throw around his power that way).
Rogue's little goth-girl friend has a secret: when she's knocked unconcious, she reverts to her true form--Mystique. Athough she looks a bit different here, a bit leaner and younger. Either Magneto's treatment took years off, or Mysty has a daughter somewhere (which would be Kurt and Rogue's half-sister). Particularly confusing, since I've heard she wouldn't be in any season two storylines. Red herring or not, she has a burned DVD copy of the danger room specifics that Arcade made for her. Rule number one for mutants: be careful who you make friends with in this world, and even more whom you invite into your parlor.)
Also it appears that the electrical failure at the prison was sabatoge, which may indicate Magneto's presence, though his name is never spoken. Though that wouldn't explain Mysty's prescence, since those two dissolved their partnership in "The Cauldron". Is it one scheme, or two concurrent, unrelated ones? Whatever it was, it provided a perfect way to get Chuck out of the way for a night.
Major nit: it seems none of the partygoers from school are any of the wiser about the night's happenings, even though with all the bars and metal plates on every window and door the place was shut up tighter than the shell on a peanut--what, did nobody once look out a window, leave early, or step out on the porch to vomit/relieve themselves into the bushes?

Fox's Ripping Friends has been moved up to nine a.m., which gave me a chance to catch Yu-Gi-Oh again. Some interesting animation on the monsters--my favorite was the skeletal mammoth--but I don't know if that's enough to warrent a second viewing. Plus Yugi's opponent looked like a demented Harry Potter, with a voice like he'd been eating broken glass....

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Is there any reason to like Yugi-Oh? Even hardcore anime fans seem to hate it. I'm sure there are like 10 or 12 people out there who really like it, but really...

Sorry for the negative post.

[oranthal]

about today's JCA, the demon's name is "xiao fung" which loosely translates to "draw wind" in english and surprise, the demon had the power of wind.

on another note, the story arc about how the demons were contained by 8 people is somewhat related to a chinese story that talked about the 8 immortals. i assume the 8 immortals would be the dudes who sealed the demons. i think it is pretty cool that the show is based (although very loosely) on an old chinese story.

[Failure]

Oranthal, do you know what Uncle's chanting means? If it has any meaning?

[Kero]

Yu-gi-oh started in the UK on Saturday and...

IT STINKS!!!!!!!!!!!

The voices are the worst dubed Anime voises ever.

If those who say the voises on Cardcaptors make them dieing for the japanese ones Yu-Gi-Oh would really kill them.

Kero

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Heh. Cardcaptors. Has the show become THAT bad that Belch is ignoring the new episodes every Monday? Or is it because he doesn't know about the new episodes on Monday?

[DR. BELCH]

I saw it Monday...and I was happy to see Mei-Lin back! Well, if only for a visit, it's great to see her again. She noticed that Li and Sakura have gotten closer since her departure, and started feeling like a third wheel. Very heartrending. She seems to have calmed down some and realizes her limitations, though she also knows her strengths (e.g. hand-to-hand combat). But I didn't get the whole thing with the flying penguins. Is it just me or are Eriol/Eli's attacks getting more eccentric and silly? We know he's Clow Reed at this point, but the baby games seem decidedly odd--and borderline homicidal --if he's intending to test Sakura's mettle. I'd say it's about time he step forth, reveal himself, and give her one final winner-take-all test.

As for Uncle's chant, I think Orenthal (or another poster) translated it to something like, roughly, "demon, leave our midst". It seems to be an all-purpose chi spell, as he uses it for every mystical evil that comes their way....

[Lachesis]

Originally posted by Leaping Larry Jojo
Heh. Cardcaptors. Has the show become THAT bad that Belch is ignoring the new episodes every Monday? Or is it because he doesn't know about the new episodes on Monday?

I've been keeping track. The network seems determined to totally quash both Li and Yukito's storylines. They showed the Meiling episode last week and had her upset over not being able to help fight. Li's angst session the week before that was focused on failing the final judgement. They couldn't quite get rid of everything, though. I'll bet somebody out there is wondering why Yue was carrying a teddy bear around. . .

[don Jaime]

To heck with the dub. I picked up the latest CCS tape (with Meilin's introduction) and have seen some already. Blows the dub to heck. I'll give a review in the next couple of days.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

*Laughs*

Lachesis and I have already seen the original CCS, but we can't help wacthing and commenting on the inferior dub anyway. It's some kind of weird behaviour some people have.

You have to take some of the dub conversations with a grain of salt. The Li thing about failing judgement was crap, especially the elevator sequence. If you see a weird facial reaction, most likely your suspicions were correct. From now on, replace all of Li's bizarre dub dialogue with "how do I tell Sakura that I like her" type of dialogue.

But Belch already can fill in the blanks anyway, even without seeing the original--some of the visuals are pretty obvious, despite the dub script being incongruent with the animation.

[Failure]

Thanks Dr. B.

[Anthonynotes]

...anyone notice how, well, *quiet* Chandu was when his wind brother addressed him? Even when Valmont urged him to speak up to his brother's querey?

-B.

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by DR. BELCH
Fox's Ripping Friends has been moved up to nine a.m., which gave me a chance to catch Yu-Gi-Oh again. Some interesting animation on the monsters--my favorite was the skeletal mammoth--but I don't know if that's enough to warrent a second viewing. Plus Yugi's opponent looked like a demented Harry Potter, with a voice like he'd been eating broken glass....

Oh, so that's what happened to it. I turned it on at 11am and there was something else on. Left me feeling really steamed. Glad to hear it didn't vanish.

[RockItShipper]

Originally posted by DR. BELCH
[B]Plus Yugi's opponent looked like a demented Harry Potter, with a voice like he'd been eating broken glass....

Back in April, Yugi was having a far too long battle with someone who looked like "Mandy"(first competitor in the Pokemon League) gone goth.

While one of Yugi's 'pals' was dressed in a dog suit and beat up by a trio of cheerleaders- 2 kinda cute girls and some fat male-looking thing... Anyway, I suppose it comes in handing dressing this way, what with Yugi's bondage getup and alll...
Hope some of you saw the picture...

[DR. BELCH]

I noted it. Almost a throwaway thing, really...I wasn't sure whether to attribute it to great respect or intense hatred. Though he did greet his sister the mountain demon heartily the previous week.
Which reminds me...the other night my niece Saliah was babbling, and my brother thought it sounded like she was speaking Chinese. She has been watching Jackie Chan Adventures with me a lot lately...maybe she's learning chi spells. I haven't seen any demons around my house (except maybe that tree frog that relieved itself on my sister-in-law)...maybe they do work.
Of course, if Saliah grows up anything like Jade, her parents and I will be old and grey far before our time....

[Nftnat]

Originally posted by DR. BELCH

Of course, if Saliah grows up anything like Jade, her parents and I will be old and grey far before our time....

And you would be Jackie. You wouldn't happen to have a crotchety uncle who knows much more than he lets on, would you?