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This is MJ, Author, Artist, Analyzer. Join me for another episode of Red Panda Report.

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This is episode 17 of Red Panda Adventures that I'm going to be covering. It is called Merlin's Tomb. Let me read the copy for it.

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Dark forces are gathering on the horizon. Powers that have long slept and now awaken to a new world ripe for the plucking. Ancient secrets are whispered that, were they spoken loudly, would threaten all that lives.

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Kind of a tall order for a masked mystery man and his trusty sidekick. But when a friend's life is at stake, the Red Panda must turn to a mystery figure from his past to help him seal Merlin's Tomb.

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So this was originally aired on or released on December 2nd, 2006, written and directed by Greg Taylor, voice of the Red Panda. And wow, wow, wow. This episode was a lot of fun.

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This episode, I believe, is the first... well, that's not true. It's the first instance of mystical, magical relics and items being a large part of the Red Panda universe.

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But that's not true because the very first episode, which is referenced in this episode, which is Riddle of the Sphinx, is actually the first episode where we have mystical happenings.

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And I don't know if Greg Taylor decided from the beginning that he would have magic and mystical forces be a large part of the Red Panda universe, because that was not really present at all in the original Red Panda universe, the comedic parody six-episode season of Red Panda.

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But, you know, it's here. You got magic in the first episode, you got magic coming back here. I don't feel like there's been another magic in between the first and, you know, from the second to the sixteenth episode.

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And... oh, actually, that's not true. The second episode, or sorry, the sixteenth episode, which is the previous one, does kind of feature magic. And I think... yeah, it's more of an alchemy, that's what it's called.

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And... Minak, whose name I didn't remember last week, but of course I remember now when I'm not talking about that episode, Mrs. Minak, or Mrs. Minak, whatever she is, she is alluding to the fact that she's been alive for many lifetimes, and that she's done that at the cost of the lives of innocent women, I would presume, whose souls she has somehow consumed and taken from them in order to heal herself and give herself an extra long life.

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Maybe she's 200 years old, I speculate on that last episode, and I'm not going to go on about it again.

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So, Maxwell Falcone, the stranger, who features heavily in this episode, he was one of the people who helped train Red Panda, he mentions this... I want to say Mordreal is the name of this guy, but that feels wrong. It's one of those names. It's one of those names. I think you'll know what I mean. But anyway.

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The villain in this episode is this M. Fellow, and apparently he has existed for a long time, and it's kind of funny that he says kind of the same thing that Minak said, which is that he's been around for a long time and he plans to be around for a lot longer, and that it's his great work, his magnum opus or whatever, that's keeping him doing these things and keeping him alive for so long, or that's his reason for living for so long, and that he plans to continue to do his work as long as he can.

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And as long as he has to. And I don't know when... this is such a cool line... Maxwell Falcone, the stranger, left him at the borders of creation. I think that's what he called it. I don't know when that was. Was that when Max was young? Was it when he was an old man already?

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I think Mordriel certainly mocks Max for being such an old man now while he is young. And yet, he mentions the fact that his youth and continued vitality has also come at a great cost. That's a cost to himself, where he is somewhat always existing on the edges of darkness, in shadow.

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He's like a non-permanent... how do you say that? Like state of existence. And part of him is, I think, existing in another world beyond our own. And that's where a lot of these other mystical, magical threads are going to come from, from this other world beyond our own.

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The next rollover, basically, is how they sum it up. And that's pretty interesting. And I think this is really seeding a major element of Red Panda storytelling that will go into the future and really... not carry the show, but it will be a large part of the show at different points.

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And Taylor shifts focus through different supervillains and through different types of threats. But World War II is coming, so it definitely plays a part in Red Panda, a major part at some point. So that's pretty interesting.

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It's interesting to see how much of it... how this magical stuff touches on that, and how early on he was messing around with magic items and the science of magic or the idea that magic is a sufficiently advanced form of science from another world, so to speak, even though it's not.

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It is magical, but it's also... it's traceable and detectable and quantifiable to some extent, even though I think that's disproven at one point or another. But it's very fuzzy and it's done in a very soft magic system kind of way, which I think is good.

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It gives maximum flexibility to the author. So anyway, I've talked about or around a lot of the stuff in this episode without talking about the episode very much. It was an enjoyable episode. I liked seeing the little moment between Kit, like...

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As much as Greg Taylor does a great performance, Clarissa Dornilorland also does a wonderful job as the flying squirrel. And she really steals the show and he writes the show so that she can steal the show a lot of the time, because as cool as Red Panda is, I feel like Taylor likes Kit better. He likes flying squirrel better.

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And that's fine. She does get a lot... like a lot of the... you know, there's a lot of mystery that's supposed to be preserved with Red Panda until there's less mystery that's supposed to be retained for him. And Kit's more of our point of view character who we get to see the world through.

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And that works for sure. But it's interesting. It's just interesting that he's, you know, the main character. He's carrying this thing. He's the main character, but really she carries so much of the narrative thrust and the narrative, like the hook and like she makes you care because she has her vulnerabilities and her...

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not weaknesses, but just things that she's, you know, sensitive about. And by listening to those stories, we kind of get to be sensitive about them too. You learn this episode specifically that she is sweet on the big guy. And you learn about how...

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this is a very romantic line that across like a thousand miles in a hundred years, you still would be connected and bonded with this Red Panda of yours. And that's a really cool idea. And it was... I didn't even get chills or anything. It just... it was a cool moment and a great line. And I thought, wow, that's pretty romantic. It's pretty romantic. So, you know, there's something brewing and you'll just have to stick around to see that come to fruition and blossom into something beautiful.

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But anyway, it was exciting. It was fun. We had a hammy villain who was threatening the professor. Professor C was great. Dr. Chronopolis is great. He's a ton of fun. And I love him being cheeky and like resisting this, you know, dark wizard or whatever.

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The guy's like, you know, how could you say that after you were summoned here by my dark power or carried here by my dark powers? And Chronopolis quips. Well, as I was unconscious at the time, I just as well assume that your dark sedan is what carried me here. That's a great line.

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And he's like, he's a weird character because he's like kind of like forgetful, nutty professor. Like at one point, I'll say this, at one point, I feared that he was losing his mind, but his mind always remains intact throughout the series, I believe. Minor potential spoilers.

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But yeah, he always seems a little out of it, but he really got the shine here and he was a lot of fun. I don't want to talk for too much longer because I want to keep these episodes shorter. It was a lot of fun to listen to. See stuff for the future, both the story and the character arcs.

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And it was very entertaining. First and foremost, it was entertaining. And I like it because of that. So anyway, if you'd like to share your thoughts on Red Panda Adventures with me, go ahead. The plan is to keep going at a steady clip and just do one episode a week from here on out.

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And yeah, hopefully I do that and hopefully you can join me in enjoying the Red Panda Adventures talking about them and having a good time.

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I hope you enjoyed that. Subscribe to keep up with me. Like and share to help me reach more people like you. And go to MJMunoz.com to find your next favorite thing.

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And don't forget to let your voice be heard. Stories are always better when you're part of the conversation. Until next time, be well. This is MJ signing out. This has been a Story Over Everything production.