From postmaster@awenet.com Tue Dec 26 22:26:43 1995 Date: Tue, 26 Dec 95 23:17:43 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: Television's Toll Trying to give any idea of an episode that takes up the better part of two Logs in capsule format would be completely pointless; therefore, this full review of "Television's Toll", Mike Escutia and Chris Angelini's conclusion to "Don't Touch That Dial", their Television Dimension arc. The most impressive thing about this issue is probably the sheer amount of stuff that happens, and how well it's kept under control.... but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start with the SYNOPSIS DOYLE and Max try to help keep things under control in Manchester, and find out from Kent that things are getting worse. Meanwhile, about half the Hero Patrol (Jon, Starwave and EG) plus the Three Henchmen get assaulted by television characters. Dave and Benny decide it's time to go, but Joe decides to stay behind and try to help out. (We have Redeemed Henchman. Repeat, we have Redeemed Henchman.) An Aurora squad finally finds them.... although since Anaesthetic's with them, it's questionable whether or not that's a good thing. While Kent and Colleen realize that they're not under Anaesthetic's direct command, and decide to try to get something done directly, Anaesthetic "converses" with Jon in his inimitable, charming style.... and the first bad guys show up: the Tatooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills 90210. Yes, Mike, you may consider yourself NerfSledged. Severely. Doctor Entertainment and Doctor Count muah-hah-hah for a bit, and back with Jon, EG and SW, things excalate quickly. Anaesthetic orders most of Aurora's forces to converge on the TTAFfBH90210, with absolutely no effect whatsoever. Soundbyte "chooses" this point to make his entrance, crashing unceremoniously in the Falcon Car with a whole lot of cartoon characters in tow. DOYLE and Max find an odd Web link while observing the battle, follow it, and end up in Reboot. Meanwhile, Kent invokes Murphy, and he and Colleen run into Robert Hood.... and, wonder of wonders, dispatch him easily. Unfortunately, they then realize their map has no legend, and, therefore, they're lost. Fortunately, they find Hugs.... unfortunately, she isn't exactly in condition to help much. She is, however, able to guide them. Back at the fight, the combined forces of four out of six Hero Patrol members, Aurora's squads, and a hideous number of cartoon characters.... have no effect on the TTAFfBH90210 whatsoever. EG cuts loose and manages to faze one of them, but only temporarily. Soundbyte finds Magnetic Personality, and they're both about to get pummeled--when Kisses shows up with her pet BorgCube. Unfortunately, that doesn't help much either. The Dynaman characters appear, quickly accomplishing absolutely nothing. The Constructicons are much more effective-- unfortunately, they're on the wrong side. Meanwhile, Colleen, Kent and Hugs make it to the Doctors' hideout, and Doctor Entertainment muah-hah-hahs amusingly for a bit, refusing to believe the ADVANCE engineers--until Grim Reapers start coming out of the portal, very politely explaining that they're waiting for the universe to end. This causes him to give just a little more credence to Colleen and Kent's assertions that there's a Problem here. Back at the fight again, as if things weren't bad enough, the Con- structicons decide to form Devastator. The Hero Patrol (at this point the only effective good guys left on the scene) regroups and attacks-- and Starwave manages to take out the TTAF (I don't feel like typing the whole acronym out again) with her extradimensional energy blasts. That's the good news. The bad news is that Devastator's still there. At least, he is until DynaRed gives the HP access to the Mandatory Sentai Giant Robot. Jon, Kisses, Soundbyte, EG and Joe occupy it, and with Starwave's help proceed to pound Devastator into the ground. The robot disappears, and the HP heads for the Doctors' warehouse. (We have dovetail. Repeat, we have dovetail.) Max and DOYLE get caught in a Game--and, since they're both powerful artificial intelligencia, proceed to cheat, and basically wipe the floor with the User forces. Meanwhile, the HP reaches the warehouse--just as the power runs out on the Quantum Absurdity generator and all heck(sm) breaks loose. Starwave throws everything she has at the rift, trying to force it shut, and everything goes white.... ....until she successfully closes it. Everybody sighs in relief, cheers, et cetera. Anaesthetic gets a much-deserved outshouting from Jon (with Soundbyte's help, of course). Colleen quietly takes Jon aside and gives him a talking-to about Hugs before Aurora leaves. _After_ Aurora leaves, the group hears something from the warehouse, goes there--and finds the Hugs beating the living crap out of Doctor Entertainment. Soundbyte pulls her off, and she breaks down completely. Starwave gets a short epilogue, tying up most of the loose ends and putting things in order, and the episode ends, followed by a guide to all the television references made in it. EVALUATION The primary fault of this arc thus far has been that it's tended to get out of control at times. That doesn't happen here: things are suitably nutty, but coherent, and the plot moves along nicely. Mike and Chris are both typically very good at characterization, and don't disappoint here. In particular, Kent, Colleen and Hugs get some nice moments, the Doctors Entertainment and Count are beautifully over- the-top, and Starwave's epilogue is nice if short. Action scenes are played for humor value at least to a degree, saving them from becoming boring, and although we're probably never going to let Mike and Chris live down the TTAFfBH90210, they do make truly amusing (and _truly_ detestable) adversaries. If there's a major problem, it's Starwave's use as deus ex machina not once, but twice. The fact that it makes sense for her to be able to do what she does here makes this an annoyance instead of a crippling difficulty, but an annoyance it is. That aside, the episode is funny, enjoyable, a satisfactory conclusion to the arc and just plain one heck of a ride. It would be interesting to see Mike and Chris collaborate more in the future; their styles compliment each other nicely, and after this, any such collaboration would definitely be recommended reading. An excellent conclusion to an excellent arc. Well done! /// Episode: [Superguy] Hero Patrol #25/Task Force Aurora #13 /// Authors: Mike Escutia and Chris Angelini /// Story type: 3 (Equal balance of seriousness and humor) /// Ratings: Matt: 9 Mason: 8 Rick: 8 Jon: 9 /// Aggregate: 8.5 out of 10 Sentai parodies /// Story Arc: [Superguy] Don't Touch That Dial /// Authors: Mike Escutia and Chris Angelini /// Story type: 3 (Equal balance of seriousness and humor) /// Ratings: Matt: 8 Mason: 8 Jon: 8 /// Aggregate: 8 out of 10 Quantum Absurdity Generators -- Matthew Gerber mgerber@ao.net (preferred) mbg84022@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu