From postmaster@awenet.com Sat Jul 8 02:06:53 1995 Received: from vuse.vuse.vanderbilt.edu by marimba.cellbio.duke.edu via SMTP (920330.SGI/920502.SGI) for merlin id AA05376; Sat, 8 Jul 95 02:06:53 -0400 Received: from awenet.com by vuse.vanderbilt.edu (8.6.12/SMI-4.1/VUSE-1.15) id BAA13267; Sat, 8 Jul 1995 01:06:43 -0500 Received: from pegasus.cc.ucf.edu (132.170.243.2) by awenet.com with SMTP (MailShare 1.0fc6); Fri, 7 Jul 1995 22:59:50 -0700 Received: by pegasus.cc.ucf.edu (Smail3.1.29.1 #7) id m0sUSwB-0001yRC; Sat, 8 Jul 95 02:00 EDT Message-Id: Date: Sat, 8 Jul 95 02:00 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: Manchu's Gold #2 Spurned #15 Sentries #1 Preteen Patrol #12 Team M.E.C.H.A. Journal #4 Super Seven #33 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.) /// MANCHU'S GOLD #2 (Rob Furr) /// The good guys find the bad guy, and kill him. To be honest, that's all that really happens in the episode. The thing is that no synopsis, however complete, could hope to do it justice. The style of prose and writing is simply at another level. Chris Meadows has commented that Rob Furr could make the instruction manual for an instant coffee machine seem like a witty, insightful commentary on the human condition. I wouldn't put any money against the possibility. Rob has said that he considers this episode "crap". As long as he keeps writing crap like this, I'm happy. Manchu's Gold #2: Type 5, 9.75 gunshots Matt: 10 Mason: 9 Jon: 10 Rick: 10 /// SPURNED #15 (Todd Perlmutter) /// More or less everything hits the fan at once. In a nutshell (and somewhat dulled by memory): we find out that Al has two soul-mates of sorts, his "keepers". One is Todd--and the other is Storri. He also has two totems, an iguana and a butterfly, and needs to find the butterfly. Unfortunately, Reflex lets it loose in the fight.... oh yes, the fight. Hoodoo and Voodoo cut loose, and the result is zombies all over the place. The Toadettes, the Cannibal Cops, Reflex, Stitches and Swatches kill a _lot_ of zombies, and Al's entry at the end pretty much clinches the matter. This episode is a _monster_. Four times the size of a _large_ "regular" Superguy episode. The writing quality is good, and the episode as a whole is both amusing and enjoyable. Nothing spectacular here, just good solid Superguy. Spurned #15: Type 3, 7.0 trains Matt: 7 Mason: 7 Jon: 7 Rick: 7 Carrion My Wayward Son: Type 3, 7.0 zombie-summoning villains Matt: 7 Jon: 7 /// SENTRIES #1 (Jon Robertson) /// Four guys in a lab finish some sort of project on an unconscious teenage girl. Meanwhile, everyone practices in the Team Headquarters, and then they go off to buy a car. This series has some potential, but the Synopsis From Heck at the beginning of this episode hurt it, badly. The team should have been given their proper origin, and retroactively would be better than never; here's hoping the author does so. Sentries #1: Type 4, 4.25 Da--uh, Training Rooms Matt: 5 Mason: 5 Rick: 4 Jon: 3 /// PRETEEN PATROL #12 (Greg Fishbone) /// After a long and very amusing scene, Number Seven manages to convince Sal to let her make him the planet's absolute dictator. After making the necessary retcons, she visits Nobody Important to explain a bit of what's going on, then returns in time to have a conversation with Sal involving, ah, sleeping arrangements, the end result of which is that she ends up sleeping in a bottle in the living room. (Which she isn't particularly happy about.) Very nice job, as usual. The characterization of Sal and Number Seven this issue is particularly good. Looking forward to seeing how Greg gets himself out of this corner.... Preteen Patrol #12: Type 2, 7.75 Big Macs (without the ketchup packets) Matt: 8 Mason: 8 Jon: 9 Rick: 6 /// TEAM M.E.C.H.A. JOURNAL #4 (Chris Meadows) /// Spectrum shows up, and everyone has a _lot_ of Industrial Revolution angst. Short angst-filled talky episode, but a _good_ short angst-filled talky episode. How this proceeds should be interesting; there are a _lot_ of things that can play out here.... _ Team M.E.C.H.A. Journal #4: Type 4, 6.6 angst-filled reunions Matt: 7 Jon: 6 Rick: 7 /// SUPER SEVEN #33 (Greg Fishbone) /// Prizm and Transmat go on a date, with Shannon spying, of course. Meanwhile, the rest of the team is about to head to the funeral for the three dead members when they find out there's some kind of problem in the subway. Meanwhile meanwhile, the date is going great until the group calls Nick away from it, and after he leaves, the ball girl turns into a 100-foot tall insectoid monster.... Y'know, Prizm isn't too great at the reassurance thing. :) In general, another solid issue of S7. Laurel, however, is in danger of being a _completely_ unsympathetic character. Super Seven #33: Type 2, 8.25 baseballs Matt: 8 Mason: 9 Jon: 8 Rick: 8 Matthew Gerber ind00597@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~ind00597/