Date: Tue, 12 Dec 95 02:41:18 EST From: mgerber@ao.net (Matthew Gerber) To: superchat@awenet.com Reply-To: superchat@awenet.com Errors-To: postmaster@awenet.com Precedence: bulk X-Mailer: PMMail v1.1 UNREGISTERED SHAREWARE Subject: 000REVIEWS Complete spoilers for all episodes from Tornado Knights #4 to Jackson Six #5. The "review crew" consists of myself, Mason Kramer, Jon Lennox and Rick Rechowicz. Mason and Rick do not review episodes they're affiliated with and anyone can choose to abstain from any review. I still write the capsules. Story type scale: 1: Full-tilt wacko 2: Generally humorous with serious elements 3: Equal balance of seriousness and humor 4: Generally serious with humorous elements 5: Lethal serious, perhaps with flashes of humor Rating scale: 0: Abysmal (As bad as it gets.) 1: Very Bad (Thoroughly wretched, few life signs.) 2: Bad (Still thoroughly bad, but less so.) 3: Very Poor (Might have potential, but needs a lot of work.) 4: Poor (_Does_ have potential, but needs work.) 5: Mediocre ("Eh." Okay, not bad, but not good either.) 6: Good (Genuinely good read. Basic Superguyage.) 7: Very Good (High basic Superguyage. The difference between 6 and 7 is fairly slim.) 8: Excellent (Very high quality writing.) 9: Exceptional (Really excellent, even for Superguy. Can have no serious flaws.) 10: Perfect (The kind of thing that leaves you sitting there in front of the screen going "whoa...." for a while. These are VERY, VERY RARE.) /// [Superguy] Tornado Knights #4 (Jesse Taylor) /// Sylia Stingray combined with Ukyou Kuonji is a genuinely... odd... thought, but Jesse pulls it off and makes it believable, not to mention amusing. Add an amusingly executed "fight" scene and a completely gratuitous Captain Happy appearance. Fold in a generous amount of hints for the running plot. Stir well. Yield: One good episode. /// Tornado Knights #4: Type 2, 7.00 incompetent Guest Narrators /// Matt: 7 Mason: 8 Rick: 6 Jon: 7 /// [Author's Altiverse] An Author Exposits (Chris Meadows) /// It's pretty difficult to make an expository AA very exciting, and this one, well, isn't very exciting. For what it needs to do (explain metaphysically something that has to happen for the plot to work) it's adequate. /// An Author Exposits: Type 3, 5.33 forged rmgroups /// Matt: 6 Rick: 5 Jon: 5 /// [Superguy] Team M.E.C.H.A. Journal #8 (The Odd Phobos Summer Special) (Mason Kramer and Chris Meadows) /// Nice to see Phobos get a spotlight; he hasn't had one in awhile. Good characterization, with a particularly amusing scene between Summer and Jenny. Also a nice job by the guest Narrator. (Always nice when you have a second job you can do as a backup.) /// Team M.E.C.H.A. Journal #8: Type 4, 6.67 Narrators on vacation /// Matt: 7 Rick: 6 Jon: 7 /// [Superguy] Good Guy Syndicate #2 (Ben Rawluk) /// It's.... Rawluk. Which says more than I wish it did. Characterization is nonexistent, we have no idea who these people are and why we should care what happens to them, the villains have no apparent motivation.... Rawluk has potential, but he's nowhere close to realizing it yet. /// Good Guy Syndicate #2: Type 3, 2.00 codename changes /// Matt: 2 Mason: 1 Rick: 3 Jon: 2 /// [Superguy] Sentries #16 (Jon Robertson) /// Basically more of the same, which in this case isn't a bad thing. Jon's getting better and better at his deadpan style. Sentries episodes are still a bit short, though. /// Sentries #16: Type 3, 6.50 secret underground bases /// Matt: 7 Mason: 7 Rick: 6 Jon: 6 /// [Superguy] Hero Patrol #20 (Mike Escutia) /// A genuinely interesting concept, very well-executed. Not much action this time around, but as usual from Mike, characterization is rock-solid. An excellent Television Dimension story, and one of Mike's better episodes--which is saying something. /// Hero Patrol #20: Type 4, 7.50 Malzi bushes /// Matt: 8 Mason: 8 Rick: 7 Jon: 7 /// [Superguy] Team M.E.C.H.A. #62 (Chris Meadows and Lawrence Brown) /// A very well-executed "Hi, it's going to hit the fan now" prelude episode.... um, issue.... um.... whatever. Characterization takes a back seat to action here, save for a nice scene with Spectrum and the British Airwave (although Lawrence still needs to work on his mechanics....) /// Team M.E.C.H.A. #62: Type 4, 7.33 two-panel splash pages /// Matt: 8 Rick: 8 Jon: 6 /// [Superguy] Teen Team #29 (Mason Kramer) /// Obvious setup for the last episode of the series, well done. Not much in the way of characterization, but the fight scene is genuinely funny, as is Scholarman's guest appearance. /// Teen Team #29: Type 2, 7.00 kidnapping stories in Los Angeles /// Matt: 7 Rick: 7 Jon: 7 /// [Superguy] Task Force Aurora #11 (Chris Angelini) /// The second half or so of this episode is advancement of the various plots going on, and is very well done, with a particularly nice letter- writing scene for Clarke, and a short piece that goes a long way toward making Peterson a sympathetic character. The first half or so of this episode is a very, very touching funeral scene. Of course, you'll want General Anaesthetic to die slowly, painfully, and screaming for his mother after you read his paragraph, but you're probably supposed to feel that way. It is followed by a beautifully handled flashback courtesy of Wishstar's memories. The midpoint, a single paragraph at the end of the first half, comes directly out of nowhere and hits with a force fairly well approximated by a sixteen ton weight dropped directly on the head. This episode is Chris' finest effort in Superguy so far. The Characterization comes off perfectly, and Chris' ability to combine the humorous with the _intensely_ disturbing has never been more in evidence. Really, really excellent work. /// Task Force Aurora #11: Type 5, 9.00 Doozers /// Matt: 10 Mason: 9 Rick: 9 Jon: 8 /// [MetaWorld] Tarnished Gold #1 (Chris Angelini) /// Just about anything would be anticlimactic after TFA #11, but-- MetaWorld is alive again! YAY! Chris again makes use of his talent for the disturbing here, creating an interesting world and an enjoyable episode. I'm very curious to see where this one will go. /// Tarnished Gold #1: Type 5, 7.75 ergs /// Matt: 8 Mason: 8 Rick: 8 Jon: 7 /// [Superguy] Hero Patrol #21 (Mike Escutia) /// An amusing episode, but things get a little out of control after Blue Falcon and Dynomutt show up (when characters start appearing left and right). Still more than worth reading. /// Hero Patrol #21: Type 2, 6.67 obscure cartoon references /// Matt: 7 Mason: 7 Jon: 6 /// [Superguy] Adventures of Force Ten #10 (Jesse Taylor) /// This episode.... is demented. It's amusingly demented, but there's no word other than demented for something that includes a villain group called the Potatochip Liberation Organization. Jesse, of course, pulls it off beautifully. Nice to see Force Ten again. /// Adventures of Force Ten #10: Type 2, 7.00 freed potato chips /// Mason: 7 Rick: 7 Jon: 7 /// [Superguy] Super Seven #35 (Greg Fishbone) /// Number Six is back! Yay! The Prizm/Transmat romantic link gets more development, and we get to hate Wanda Wong even _more_. We also find out that the next arc is named Cavern of Multiple Gratuitous Deaths (since shortened to Cavern of Gratuitous Death).... this should be suitably weird. /// Super Seven #35: Type 3, 7.50 annoying reporters /// Matt: 8 Mason: 8 Rick: 7 Jon: 7 /// [Superguy] Good Guy Syndicate #3 (Ben Rawluk) /// Type 3, 2.00 Tech-Rooms /// Matt: 2 Mason: 1 Rick: 3 Jon: 2 /// [Superguy] Impossible Guy #1(of 4) (Ben Rawluk) /// Type 3, 1.25 Decoder Rings /// Matt: 1 Mason: 1 Rick: 2 Jon: 1 /// [Superguy] Hero Patrol #22 (Mike Escutia) /// Mike does the Animaniacs well, and comes up with a truly original way of dealing with the Borg. Another fun episode, and Bruce Banner as the holographic doctor from _Voyager_ is hilarious. /// Hero Patrol #22: Type 2, 7.50 starships named after puzzles /// Mason: 8 Jon: 7 /// [Superguy] Jackson Six #5 (Roger Christman) /// Jackson Six has been an excellent new series, and this episode is no exception. The humor is still minimal, but it's there, although MetaWorld still would be at least as valid a setting for the series as Superguy. Still, wherever it is, it's nice to have on the list--the plot is coming along very nicely, and the characters are all extremely believable. /// Jackson Six #5: Type 5, 7.00 Kalishnikovs /// Matt: 7 Mason: 7 Jon: 7 -- Matthew Gerber - mbg84022@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~mbg84022/ (currently out of order)