From postmaster@awenet.com Thu Jun 29 15:15:51 1995 Received: from vuse.vuse.vanderbilt.edu by marimba.cellbio.duke.edu via SMTP (920330.SGI/920502.SGI) for merlin id AA29088; Thu, 29 Jun 95 15:15:51 -0400 Received: from awenet.com by vuse.vanderbilt.edu (8.6.12/SMI-4.1/VUSE-1.15) id OAA16468; Thu, 29 Jun 1995 14:15:44 -0500 Received: from pegasus.cc.ucf.edu (132.170.243.2) by awenet.com with SMTP (MailShare 1.0fc6); Thu, 29 Jun 1995 12:06:46 -0700 Received: by pegasus.cc.ucf.edu (Smail3.1.29.1 #7) id m0sROvf-0001yKC; Thu, 29 Jun 95 15:07 EDT Message-Id: Date: Thu, 29 Jun 95 15:07 EDT X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Version 2.0.3 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: superchat@awenet.com Reply-To: superchat@awenet.com Errors-To: postmaster@awenet.com Precedence: bulk From: ind00597@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu (Matthew Gerber) Subject: 000REVIEWS Status: RO Complete spoilers for: Synapse #13 They Came From Schenectady #1-3 A Ramrod One-Shot 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: (new) 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.) /// SYNAPSE #13 (Louise Freeman) /// Richards confirms that Mary Agnes isn't a gestalt like the members of the Tribe of Behn were, and we find out two things about her: first, that she's not a psitech--her powers are based on her _voice_; second, that she's possibly half alien. Oh, and Cory's blood gets inadvertantly tested as well. Synapse is one of the most consistently enjoyable series on Superguy, and this episode is no exception. Rock-solid characterization and dialogue, even in a long explanation sequence that could have _very_ easily deteriorated into Star Trek-style technobabble. Synapse #13: TYPE: 4 RATING: 8 /// THEY CAME FROM SCHENECTADY #1-3 (Steven Powell) /// Since these came through simultaneously, I'll review them as a group. The first episode is your basic origin. Jeff Wittingham, apparently a Bad Guy, escapes from a GE Plant in (surprise) Schenectady. Volume Boy and the Rubber-Band Vigilante, apparently the Heroes, have themselves an introduction and get beat up by Franklin Planner, Out-of-Focus Woman and Flip-Chart Man, the Middle-Managers of Despair. They manage to survive, decide to form a superteam, and we see a couple of people reading their classified ad. In the second episode, Wittingham falls through a trapdoor looking for something. Meanwhile, Karaoke Man, HenPecked, and All in Good Time Man join the group, and Franklin Planner decides he's going to need more allies to cream them all. Finally, the group decides its name is The Schenectady Six. In episode 3, Hoefinger, The Mason, and Swiss-Army Manager join TMMoD, and the S6 decide to meet at the local mall. The mall, of course, gets attacked; specifically, by EpiLady and the Mall-Rat. And apparently Jeff finally gets to whatever it is he's looking for. This series isn't _bad_, but it needs work. The character designs are amusing, but actual characterization is basically nonexistent. There's quite a bit of potential for a humorous series here, though. They Came From Schenectady #1: TYPE: 2 RATING: 5 They Came From Schenectady #2: TYPE: 2 RATING: 5 They Came From Schenectady #3: TYPE: 2 RATING: 5 /// A RAMROD ONE-SHOT (Bill Dickson) /// Ramrod finds out Radian's in custody, and, um, doesn't take the news terribly well. The episode consists of him contacting various people to try to get help to stage a rescue, and being told exactly how bright an idea that is in very specific terms. Although it probably sets the record for most uses of any given four letter word in a Superguy episode, it's _extremely_ funny. A Ramrod One-Shot: TYPE: 2 RATING: 10 Matthew Gerber ind00597@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~ind00597/