This is MJ, I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. You can find all my work
at MJMunoz.com. Welcome to Red Panda Report. This is episode 11, I'm talking
about episode 11 of Red Panda Adventures called Duality. It originally aired May 26,
2006, and here is the copy for it. Simon Radford released this morning,
apparently cured, thought you should know. So reads the terse note from the Red
Panda's agent. But can a maniac like Radford, who once terrorized the city as
the villainous electric eel, ever truly be reformed? And if so, who is behind the
reign of terror that sweeps across the city? Can our heroes crack this case
while struggling with their own duality? So this episode is very interesting. Let
me see if there's anything negative I can point out about it first. I'm gonna
say no. I can't think of anything bad or negative in this episode that I objected
to or had a problem with. I mean, maybe a slightly, you know, socialist perspective,
but I can excuse that. Mostly because the heroism and altruism of Red Panda
kind of counteracts any of that, you know, capitalist guilt stuff. And also, let's
not get distracted with that. Let's go ahead and keep talking about the actual
content of the episode. So really there was nothing else for me to dislike. I
absolutely adored the use of the title, the name, the phrase, Queen Street
Sanitarium for the criminally deranged. That's a gem. A real, real gem. It has a
certain music to it, doesn't it? That's enough time trying to drudge up bad
stuff about this episode, because you know, that's not necessary. I want to talk
about all the good stuff. I got very emotional during this episode, both in
hearing Red Panda talk about what a wastrel he was and the guilt that he has
over his family, because while I feel it's a little silly and I won't, you know,
elaborate on that, I love and appreciate the drama that it makes for him. And it's
really great that he, you know, the line is specifically this. Basically, it's
basically this. My family was so wealthy that I had no choice or there was
nothing left for me to do but to make myself into somebody else. That is a
condemnation of his family. It's a condemnation of his father and his
grandfather. And anyway, I don't believe in condemning people for where they come
from. And I think that that ethic or concept is shown quite beautifully with
Red Panda here, because he comes from, let's just admit, or let's just, you know,
accept what he's saying. Let's say he comes from a terrible family and his father,
his fathers were not innocent businessmen. They were corrupt. They were
criminal. They were whatever in order to get all that money that he could just
fritter away, as he said. Okay, and what? What have you chosen to do with it, Red
Panda? You have chosen to become somebody else. You've chosen to become something
else. You've chosen to take on the plight of the downtrodden and stop the smaller,
arguably more honorable or more honest criminals who plague the streets, who, you
know, work at such a smaller level. But it's a... yes, who work at such a smaller
level. And not only those criminals, but also these super criminals like the
electric eel you use and you take and I think you redeem and make it worthwhile
everything, every sin that your family committed. And of course, that's not me
condoning doing bad stuff and saying, it'll work out for the good someday. Just
do bad. I'm saying what he's done with it is he's taken all of that negativity
and he's fixed it and corrected it by doing all the good that he's done. And
yes, could that have been done a different way? Yes, sure. But that's not
the story that Taylor wrote. And what Red Panda has chosen to do with that is good.
The fact that he feels guilty about his family's legacy, I believe, is a credit to
him. The fact that Kit feels sympathetic towards him and helps him to see the
other side of it is a credit to her. And it's a beautiful dynamic. If they weren't,
you know, potentially romantically involved, then it would just be proof of an
amazingly strong friendship that is very touching. With how things might go later,
you know, might add another dimension to it. Especially because she's a scrappy,
you know, less well-off young woman and she could end up marrying into the family
of one of the, you know, into one of the city's wealthiest families if they were
ever to go down that path. But anyway, I just think that's really interesting.
There's a duality for you to tie into the actual title of the episode. But yeah, I
think that's really interesting. And then honestly, the next time I got really
emotional was when Red Panda was going to draw Radford or Electric Eels' fire for
Kit so that she could take care of things. And that's what they ended up
doing. But her performance showed so much emotion that it felt like this image of
unrequited love or of fear of love lost. Because Red Panda was basically willing
to sacrifice himself in order to stop Radford. But to, you know, he sent himself
out to do that for Kit to stop Radford so that, you know, she would live even if he
died. And he was willing to make that sacrifice for the city, yes, but also for
her. I think something that makes it a little more profound is they were
actually not in their home city. I don't know how the whole Niagara Falls, you
know, northern or like, you know, American versus Canadian side of it works. But
there was something there. There's a difference. There's a border there. And,
you know, they weren't in Toronto, I think. Again, I'm not very strong with
geography and I didn't check. But they were out of the main city. They were in a
different area protecting it. And, you know, to me it sounds like there's a
little town of Toronto there. Or sorry, a little town of Niagara Falls there, not
the full-on, you know, it's not a big city or it's not necessarily a part of
the big city Toronto. So really, in a way, having the understanding that it's a
different place, then he really is putting his life on the line for Kit. And
just the emotional response she had to the idea of him, you know, drawing Radford's
fire to protect her and to give her the one chance to kill them. And even though
he said, if we don't take this chance now, we're dead either way, that's good.
There's a common writer show that's very popular. It was one of the most popular ones.
There's very good designs, but morally it's a little all over the place for me.
In that show, towards the end game, or towards the, you know, towards the
beginning of the series, which is 50 episodes long or so, there are partners.
They're detective superheroes basically, kind of like Kit and Red Panda, except...
kind of like them. So anyway, one of them is at risk of dying and they fight
together as a unit and they depend upon each other 100% to fight. Anyway, in
Comminator Double, the fate of the world is at stake, and if these guys
don't transform together into the fighter, they might, or they will doom the
rest of the world. And one guy is so attached to his buddy, his partner, that
he can't transform. The guy ends up dying anyway. Spoilers for this show that you'll
probably never watch. Whatever. And then, you know, things resolve in the end.
But I was furious that nobody else who would watch the show at the same time
seemed to have an issue with the fact that this guy was so weak when he was
wanting... he idolized hard-boiled detectives. He was so weak that he
couldn't make the sacrifice to let his friend die, who ended up dying anyway, in
order to save the rest of the world. That is such a moral failing. Like, it's a very
understandable thing. But like, I don't know, I'm still mad at Anakin for what he
did, even if I can kind of understand the motivation of wanting to save his wife.
And yeah, there's like, I don't know, no consequence, no payoff, or no come-upence
or anything like that. And you know, that's very frustrating, especially
because, you know, all these people had no issue with it whatsoever. Versus here
in Red Panda, they're willing to really commit to this whole superhero thing and
put their lives on the line just so they can save strangers, even if it also helps
them to save each other. But I just really love that. I mean, it's noble and
it's beautiful and it's really good. And it was actually very touching, even
though there's only... we're only 11 episodes into the show. This is the 11th
episode. And I think I felt similarly... I think I felt the intensity in a similar
way the first time I watched it. It's not just nostalgia that's making me feel
strongly, because I've disliked a couple episodes and I've had no problem saying
that. So I think these are genuinely held convictions or genuine beliefs that I'm
presenting to you about my feeling so emotional this episode because of what
was presented. The family guilt and moving beyond that and having a friend
help you do that... that's really special to me. It hits me right where I live, as
they say. So I thought that was all good. Electric Heel having electric power is
tying himself into the dam so that he can gain way more power. Super cool idea.
Super fun. The fact that he's basically vaporized or whatever. Anyway, that's
that's great superhero stuff. That's great super villain stuff. That's a lot
of fun. I mean, seeing that visualized would be great, but in the theater of my
mind it was plenty good. So that was exciting and it, you know, really raised
the stakes. And I like this idea of him using this jewel to amplify his powers.
Like that's... like okay, I talked a lot about these social issues or whatever or
like the character dynamics and the emotional aspect of it, but also there's
like really cool superhero type stuff going on here. Especially with the
concept of like the dual personalities being a real thing and that being
brought about. And that's what separates the electric eel from Radford. And
that's just a really neat idea. I think it's a really strong idea. And I like how
it parallels Red Panda and Flying Squirrel and their adventure and their
you know journey and their you know characters basically. And how you know
there's something deeper going on with them potentially as far as them and
their secret identities as well. The virtue of balance that's extolled. The
you know the seriousness of being able to be content with both sides of you.
Accepting the darkness within you as well as the light and learning how to
live with the two so that you can, I don't know, I guess kind of get the
darkness to serve the light as opposed to trying to squash and completely subsume
one into the other. That was really cool. And like you know they didn't get that
deep with it but it was good. And then they ended up making a joke about Red
Panda's alter ego going out with more dumb rich women. And that was a lot of fun.
That was a good gag to end the episode on. So anyway there was no new
lore stuff. They talked about you know they've talked about their boomerangs
before which I don't think I've ever specifically called it that they have boomerangs
that they throw like a Batman would. Let me see what else. By the way Bill
Finger and Bob Kane took a bunch of stuff from one of the Shadow stories for
the first Batman comic book. The Ace Chemicals or Acme Chemicals theft or
whatever. I'm trying to think if the batarangs or the boomerangs came from
the Shadow. I don't think they do but I could be wrong about that because I
don't know the books as well. I mean there's like 300 books I don't know them
all very well. Anyway yeah there wasn't really anything new as far as their tech
or gadgets are concerned. It's just using what they have. You know it's a great
effect. So you know that was good. There's nothing wrong with that. And yeah
Radford's an interesting villain. I like this electric eel. I like the idea of him.
I like Electro from Marvel Comics. You know from Spider-Man. He's a really cool
villain and I like this idea of this electric eel. Yeah these cool electric
powers are a lot of fun and oh yeah like I was saying too about like focusing
through them through the gems and stuff like that's all super cool like great
you know ridiculous sci-fi comic book logic and I love that kind of stuff.
All the gadgets and gizmos and like ways that people can amplify themselves, their
powers, their abilities. Those are all super fun and I really dig it. Good stuff.
So this was a great episode and I'm gonna do another one next week so stick
around for that. You know always check these things out at
dakotoringtheatre.com. Of course I suggest you listen to them in full
before you come over and hear my thoughts and commentary on them because I
think it's more fun and then we can have a bit of a conversation if you take
exception to something I say or if you like or want to add to something I've
said. So anyway with that folks I don't have much else to say except for check
out all my stuff. I'm doing lots of different reviews, lots of analysis and
I'm working harder and harder to get to writing superhero stuff as opposed to
the kids books I've been writing recently which have their own adventure
and mystery and super well heroics at least if not super heroics although some
of the kids do transform and turn into these fighters to fight the darkness so
you might like that if you enjoy Red Panda and maybe I'll even include a link
here in the show notes for you to find one of my kids stories. So anyway with
that folks I hope that you are well and that you be well this is MJ signing out.
I hope you enjoyed that. Go to MJMunoz.com to leave any questions comments
or other feedback you might have. There you can find all of my analysis art and
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