Belch's Brief Reviews--Feb 2, 2002

[DR. BELCH]

Static Shock#22: Power Play
Richie meets up with a strange old man at a construction site who collapses...and when he touches the guy's hand, a bolt of lightning shoots through him. He soon finds himself gifted with powers to rival Virgil's--a dream come true, as earlier he had been "flying" about the garage in a towel cape and wished it had been him that had been exposed to the mutagen gas and been given the Static powers--after saving a puppy from getting pulped by a truck.
Unfortunately the feeling is fleeting. Richie seeks out the old man, who calls himself "Ragtag" and tells him his power is not active, but rather to give power to others--and all he asks is that Rich tell no one.
Rich soon starts living high on the hog with his newfound talent, making Virgil feel like less of a man...but when he starts feeling low he again seeks Ragtag. This time the old bum asks Rich to do a job for him, along with a couple of other recipients of Ragtag's "gift". The three use their powers to break into a museum--but Rich feels guilty and trips the alarm. Static appears, battles Ragtag's goons, then they meet up with old man himself at his hideout. Feigning illness, he grabs Static's hand (rule #1 is that sentiment always does the good guy in) and starts sucking him dry, saying he can take just as good as he gives.
Rich intervenes, and the old man ends up dangling off the ledge, pleading for Rich to grab his hand--but Rich wises up fast. The old man falls to his--dumpster. Wussy KWB execs.
Rich calls himself "Push", which is appropriate as this ep is a veiled anti-drug message, and Ragtag is a pusher. Not weed or coke or horse, but power...and the price isn't money--it's souls. Definitely a moral, but not as hamhanded as most.
DYN the name of the company on the sign at the construction site --"Dylan"? Apparently someone at WBA is a fan of old-school.
Listen as Phil Lamarr's voice deepens into its "Samurai Jack" mode
a couple of times.

Pokémon#431: Spring Fever
Team Twerp, still with Todd Snap in tow and chasing Articuno, meet up with the daughter of a deep-voiced Paul Bunyanesque hot-springs digger. Which struck me as odd, as I thought those things fornmed naturally.
The girl, Peggy, owns three pig Pokemon that it seems are able to sniff out hot water below ground as pour pigs do truffles.Jessy goes gaga when she hears about the potential spring in the area--forgetting her nasty experience with one in the mountains in "Snow Way Out"--and has dreams of going straight and opening an inn. Of course, before she can go all Newhart on us, Team Rocket has to find a spring first.
Threre's a great scene where, posing as fellow well-diggers (and naturally Team Twerp doesn't recognize them, though Jessy has long stopped bothering hiding her hair) they unwittingly strike oil (I thought for sure they'd hit a sewer pipe and get hosed with unspeakable sludge), only to learn they broke into a city oil main.
Another notable scene is, during a chase down a slope--TR on sleds and Team Twerp in cardboard boxes (which must be very well-made to stand the stress of ground friction and the weight of several teens, prepubescents, and a grown man), where Meowth slips them up with oil and pauses to do a commercial for it. It seems it's all-purpose--cooking, facial, and machine. He didn't say whether it was kosher-certified, though. I almost choked on my taffy when James asked what it's for--I'd think a man of his...well....dubious orientation would have a few ideas in that direction.
Another great scene comes during a Pokemon battle--Todd, still hoping for another chance at the ice bird--tries to get a few candid Pokemon shots, and all of a sudden Jessy turns into a Gallery girl. Unfortunately Snap isn't too impressed with her seductive legs-in-the-air cheesecake pose--from his angle nothing gets left to the imagination!--and she is visibly miffed! It seems she has had a modeling career of sorts (in the background of a watch ad) and is looking to build a portfolio...or at least make a man out of Ash's carnally-stunted little friend. But he won't have any of it. Poor Jess.
Team Rocket is dispatched, and the hunt continues for Articuno. Maybe if they catch it they can deep-fry the fella in some of Meowth's special oil...yummy....

[DR. BELCH]

X-Men: Evolution#26: Shadow Dance
This episode marks the return of Forge, the 70's-era teen genius last seen in "Middleverse"...though we never learn how he's adapted to the 21st century or if he ever found his folks. It's also unclear if he's a regular in the X-Men or just a freelancer.
Is seems he created a device that slows down and extends Kurt's teleportation abilities so it can be studied in detail--and we learn Kurt moves through a Dantean nightmare world while he's moving from point to point. Visibly spooked by the unholy beasts he sees there, he vows never to use his poofing power again.
Unfortunately by slowing down Kurt's commute, it's given several small dinosaur-like creatures the chance to observe Kurt and to follow him into our world, where they appear during a school dance and have to be dealt with.
There's a subplot about a girl Kurt likes that he's afraid will learn about his secret--he even wears gloves to hide his hands, although how do four-fingered gloves fit two-fingered mitts?--but it tuns out she knows his secret and still loves him. Now here I'm torn. On one hand it's nice that love can conquer all, but in my world the racial lines are drawn prettty boldly, to say nothing of love between a human and a mutie. I'm not sure I can concieve it. What would the children look like? (That may be whuy Kurt Wagner, in the mainstream comics, took vows and became a monk.)
It seems also that Kitty and Lance have been talking into the wee hours on the phone lately. Tempt me not O Muse of Naughtiness.
Jean still gets jealous when Scott talks to other girls, although she's been fooling around with Duncan--however, that may be going south.
Rogue little gal-pal's line about going to the dance with her may set off some X-shippers who are prone to misinterpret/spin it into a yaoi thing--which would be broaching Springer territory considering that's actually her stepmother--and Kurt's biological mother--in disguise. Which begs the question of her age--she'd have to be at least in her late thirties to accomplish all she has, from giving birth to adopting Rogue to gaining a position in a high-school administration...and now enrolling in the same institution as a student. Busy girl.
DYN that Blob has shaved his mohawk?
Boom-Boom is still with the Brotherhood. As the only girl in a boy's club, I shudder to think about the...ramifications.

Jackie Chan Adventures#210: The New Atlantis
Chandu is back! He has just released the water demon, and begs to be released from Valmont. However, she won't hear of it, citing that the other five demons are still rotting in limbo. Chandu insists that wasn't his fault, he ahsd held his part of the bargain. Jackie and Uncle show up jsut then with the chi spell--Uncle looking decidedly ill at ease in a motorcycle sidecar--but the demon escapes before the spell is completed.
Cahndyu adds a new talent to his repitoire--cosmetology. "Now hold still while I grow our tail." Hoever, Valmont is none too keen on the green-and-scaly-with a-horn look, and tries to kill Chandu by grabbing the Panku box. The shock doesn't kill the demon, but puts him to sleep long enough for Valmont to compose himself (not to mention lose the horn and the robe).
The demon sees, meanwhile, that her home, Atlantis, has been ravaged by time and decides to find a new home. SHe learns that San Fransciso lies over a fault line and decides to use that knowledge to her advantage.
Jackie, Uncle, Tohru, and Jade are researching the water demon when Valmont enters the shop and attempts to strike an uneasy truce. Neither of them care for Chandu, and Valmont is willing to work with Jackie to purge the worm from his body and defeat the waater demon. He apprises them of her paln to cause a massive earthquake that will sink San Fran into the Pacific, and tells thenmm she's haded for the aquarium.
Chi spell in hand--and a Chinese symbol painted on Valmont's forehead ("Looks better than a horn, I suppose") to keep the beast at bay, the Chans head out. Valmont, in his customarily oily style, tries to sow the seeds of discord in the group by noting that Tohru may turn traitor on Jackie at any minute just as he did with the Dark Hand. During the battle, later, he says, "You know, I'm not sure who I should root for." Not exactl yhte most pleasant of allies.
It gets worse when the symbol on his forehead gets wet after the water demon, realizing it isn't Chandu she's addressing, hoses him down, and it runs. Chandu awakens just in time to relaize he's been betrayed and defeated. He and Valmont, as well as his aquatic sister, get washed away in a whirlpool--I think she wasn't sealed away properly, so it looks like she'll be on the loose in the next episode, and may bring the resat of the family with her, unless I missed something.
High points--Jackie doing everyting he can to smudge the runes the water demon paints on the ground, she and Tohru playing "dueling chi spells" (I don't speak Chinese, so I felt a bit lost--why weren't there subtitles?), and Jade's litte "Panku breakfast" Freudian slip.
There was an odd moment in the beginning where I though the demon had possessed Uncle (strange camera cut)--now that would be a truly frightening proposition.
DYN Hok Fu in a nonspeaking role (he was the driver on the mission to the aquarium).
Irony--Tohru hates fish, yet has to walk around holding a big fat dead one as part of the chi spell.

[Anthonynotes]

>>On one hand it's nice that love can conquer all, but in my world the racial lines are drawn prettty boldly, to say nothing of love between a human and a mutie.

I've got at least three relatives in interracial relationships/marriages (plus one close friend who's in one, and a friend of my sister's to boot)... (shrug).

Admittedly, in the Marvel Comics universe, human-mutant relationships are presumably a strong "no-no" still.... in DC Comics, I guess no one might care (though there, there's no real distinction among being a "mutant" vs. being an ordinary "meta-human" [like Superman, Flash, Aquaman, etc.]---and of course, there, there's the whole "secret identity" to keep knowledge from the general public anyway I guess....the only character that immediately comes to mind as being promoted as a mutant is the now-obsucre character "Captain Comet" [created in the early 1950's, and was noted for being a mutant due to his being "100,000 years ahead of his time" evolution-wise....IIRC, he was mostly just really smart and had some sort of jet-pack for flight, or something...).


Re: "Teamo Burrito"....erm, "Taco Supremo"....erm, "Dream-o Team-o"...ahhh, forget it: Anyway, caught a few minutes of this one while flipping channels...something about catburglars doing something-or-other....didn't stick around for much else, but did catch the use of the Crandall kid's cape being stretched out like a trampoline and used to catch falling stuff, since it was supposedly invulnerable. Presumably, another Superman reference: in the old comics, Superman's costume/cape was made from the blankets he was wrapped in in the rocket that brought him to Earth--and since everything from Krypton became invulnerable under Earth's yellow sun, the costume was invulnerable to destruction as a result. It also gave the side-benefit of having a super-stretchable, invulnerable cape, which was seen used as a net/trampoline/to wrap dangerous objects in on occasion. I suppose it's nice to see someone at "Teamo Rocket-o" is apparently a Superman fan, but still doesn't make up for this being a lame-o PPG ripoff...um... -o. :-)


-B.

[Sharklady]

> ...but in my world the racial lines are drawn prettty boldly... <

Not as boldly as they used to be- I've seen changes within my own lifetime.

[Dub]

Waitasec - i havent been watching the new episodes of Pokemon in a while - Todd Snap from Pokemon Snap is back? Or was this a rerun I just missed or what?

Forever clueless I am ^^

[DR. BELCH]

Re: Snap--yes, it's a new episode, and the little shutterbug has returned. He may be the most despised character in the franchise, next to Richie (from the Indigo league), among hardcore Pokefans. Tracey continues to split them into two camps, but the general consensus is he ain't no Brock.

Re: the race lines--I'll concede we've seen some improvement in fifty or so years, but I still hear a lot of arguments against interracial marriage from folks who don't want their son/daughter bringing home "one of them" (a sentiment shared by both whites and blacks). Plus geographically speaking, the races tend to gravitate towards different area of a community, and the black half is seen as a place where one doesn't go at night. No less a man than Rev. Jesse Jackson--who as I've said before hasn't been politically viable since John Amos left Good Times yet still gets booked to make speeches, why I can't fathom--has said when he hears footsteps behind him at night, turns, and sees a white person, he feels relieved. Not to mention when an area gets too heavily minority, it causes the development of satellite communities around the larger city--smaller, cleaner, more secure, and decidedly white mini-suburbs. So you'll find plenty of pockets of the old thinking around....

Re: capes--Batman has used his as a weapon once or twice as well. In "The Demon's Head", he wrapped a puma that attacked him in a temple in it, and then gassed it...and in another ep, after Bane smashed some concrete structure on police h.q., Bats spread his cape like a net, caught the flying debris, tied it off, then slammed the big ugly upside the head with the makeshift club. He's also used its pieces as a splint when he broke his leg in "Robin's Reckoning" II. Which proves a cape's not just a fashion statement, but practical too....

[Anthonynotes]

>>>
Re: the race lines--I'll concede we've seen some improvement in fifty or so years, but I still hear a lot of arguments against interracial marriage from folks who don't want their son/daughter bringing home "one of them" (a sentiment shared by both whites and blacks). Plus geographically speaking, the races tend to gravitate towards different area of a community, and the black half is seen as a place where one doesn't go at night. No less a man than Rev. Jesse Jackson--who as I've said before hasn't been politically viable since John Amos left Good Times yet still gets booked to make speeches, why I can't fathom--has said when he hears footsteps behind him at night, turns, and sees a white person, he feels relieved. Not to mention when an area gets too heavily minority, it causes the development of satellite communities around the larger city--smaller, cleaner, more secure, and decidedly white mini-suburbs. So you'll find plenty of pockets of the old thinking around....
<<<

It might depend on what part of the country one lives in as well...guessing rural areas/more conservative parts of the country might not have progressed as much as other areas of the country in this regard... (for the record, all the relatives/friends I cited live here in the north or out on the east coast, in/near large or mid-sized cities).

>>>Re: capes--Batman has used his as a weapon once or twice as well. In "The Demon's Head", he wrapped a puma that attacked him in a temple in it, and then gassed it...and in another ep, after Bane smashed some concrete structure on police h.q., Bats spread his cape like a net, caught the flying debris, tied it off, then slammed the big ugly upside the head with the makeshift club. He's also used its pieces as a splint when he broke his leg in "Robin's Reckoning" II. Which proves a cape's not just a fashion statement, but practical too.... <<

There's also the movie "Batman Forever", where it apparently acts as some sort of heat-resistant shield...

-B.